deleted photos

Volunteer editors of Wikipedia delete articles on the online encyclopedia on a regular basis, following processes that have been formulated by the site's community over time. The most common route is outright deletion of articles that are clearly in violation of rules of the website (speedy deletion). Other mechanisms include an intermediate collaborative process that bypasses a full discussion (proposed deletion or PROD), and full discussion at the dedicated forum called Articles for deletion (AfD). As a technical action, deletion can only be carried out by a subset of editors who have been assigned particular technical privileges by the community, called administrators. A deletion that has been carried out can be contested by appeal to the deleting administrator, or on another discussion board called Deletion review (DRV).
Unless an administrator deletes an article on sight, the deletion process involves the addition of a template to the article by an editor, indicating to readers and other editors which kind of deletion process is sought for that article. The removal of a template proposing speedy deletion or proposed deletion often precipitates a formal nomination for deletion through AfD, whereas the removal of an AfD template is not permitted until the discussion has concluded. When an article is deleted, the article's talk page is generally also deleted, as are links that redirect to the deleted article. Deletion discussions are carried out on separate pages dedicated to that purpose and are not deleted. Wikipedia administrators have the ability to see content that has been deleted, but other editors and visitors to the site do not. Processes exist for editors to request access to deleted content to use for other purposes.
Occasionally, instances of deletion attract public attention, causing controversy, or criticism of Wikipedia or other entities. Conventions and practices of deletion have caused a long-lasting controversy within the Wikipedia community itself, with two schools of thought forming, one generally favoring deletion as a conventional and quite routine practice (deletionism), and the other proposing broader retention (inclusionism).
Almost 500,000 articles have been deleted from the English Wikipedia since its inception in 2001. In 2021, about 20,000 articles were deleted from the English Wikipedia. About 60% of articles nominated for deletion are deleted, about 25% of articles are kept, and the remainder are either merged with another article, redirected to another article, or met with another fate.

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