FWIW, from the db perspective, we don't really delete wikis (drop database), we only close them which means "an actual wiki but only stewards can edit it". I‌ personally want to change that and start getting rid of the databases too but we are not there yet :(

In T418494#11662806, @Ladsgroup wrote:

FWIW, from the db perspective, we don't really delete wikis (drop database), we only close them which means "an actual wiki but only stewards can edit it". I‌ personally want to change that and start getting rid of the databases too but we are not there yet :(

The usual process (not counting a previous one-time mass dropping of databases) is at https://wikitech.wikimedia.org/wiki/Delete_a_wiki. This will make MediaWiki claim that the wiki does not exist. Then the tables are truncated but left as-is.

Making a wiki redirected elsewhere but not in deleted.dblist causes issues. See T168436: `maintain-meta_p --all-databases` timeout on labsdb1009 contacting uk.wikimedia.org

In T418494#11663087, @Bugreporter wrote:

In T418494#11662806, @Ladsgroup wrote:

FWIW, from the db perspective, we don't really delete wikis (drop database), we only close them which means "an actual wiki but only stewards can edit it". I‌ personally want to change that and start getting rid of the databases too but we are not there yet :(

The usual process (not counting a previous one-time mass dropping of databases) is at https://wikitech.wikimedia.org/wiki/Delete_a_wiki. This will make MediaWiki claim that the wiki does not exist. Then the tables are truncated but left as-is.

I‌ am aware of that page. We haven't done a delete wiki in the past six years: https://github.com/wikimedia/operations-mediawiki-config/commits/master/dblists/deleted.dblist (labstestwiki doesn't count, it never was part of the production) many part of documentation is either broken or outdated.