When checking items which have no statements or sitelinks, I keep coming across items which were merged but not redirected, leaving behind an empty item. I'm not sure how the users are creating the edits, but it seems like unintended behaviour.
Some examples from this month:
https://www.wikidata.org/w/index.php?title=Q9919933&action=history
https://www.wikidata.org/w/index.php?title=Q10055090&action=history
https://www.wikidata.org/w/index.php?title=Q9956781&action=history
https://www.wikidata.org/w/index.php?title=Q9964632&action=history
https://www.wikidata.org/w/index.php?title=Q9924553&action=history
https://www.wikidata.org/w/index.php?title=Q9826553&action=history
It doesn't appear to be a new problem though, I'm also finding items where the merge took place months ago, e.g.
https://www.wikidata.org/w/index.php?title=Q9918772&action=history (November)
https://www.wikidata.org/w/index.php?title=Q12296651&action=history (October)
https://www.wikidata.org/w/index.php?title=Q12149749&action=history (August)
Looking at those examples, it seems like they all still have some descriptions set, even though most of the information was removed.
Sitelink conflicts: Part of the merge is also performed when there is a sitelink conflict and a description conflict:
- https://www.wikidata.org/w/index.php?title=Q4761387&action=history
- https://www.wikidata.org/w/index.php?title=Q527834&action=history
(QuickStatement merges were then done by api without ignoreconflicts=description ). Expected behavior: items shouldn't be edited at all.