There are currently 573 unused templates on wikiHow
, forgotten by editors, essentially unimportant, and/or useless because of very little content. My going on a personal campaign to clear this backlog would see me contacting the original editor to see if they would like their template kept or if they would prefer it deleted. If they desire keeping it, I will move the template into their respective userspace (User:Username/Templatename). If no reply is received after a week of sending the message, the template will be deleted due to the editor being deemed inactive. Is there any objections to this personal campaign? I’d like a general consensus before I start this.
system
2
I think those were “Archived”. Even though they don’t use them anymore, it’s like a historical thing I guess.
Ttrimm
3
I have no issues with that, but I rarely use templates…well…maybe a few!
Go ahead, I have no problem with this.
system
5
Please leave my namespace templates alone. I still use them from time to time.
The templates in your namespace will not be affected. It is only those listed in the Template namespace that will be affected.
VC
8
In concept, I have no objection. However: 1. I think 2 weeks will be more appropriate (same as the nfd) 2. You might wanna check what uses the template before you delete it so as not to create a “red link” somewhere. Don’t know if that will be one place or 100 pages, but hey, it’s just a thought
And thanks for thinking that up @Tiagoroth
Regarding #2
, the templates are unused so they have nothing linking to them
List of really good reasons why not: 1) This takes effort and accomplishes literally nothing
I see no issues with it. It would be nice to get rid of unused templates, as this will help avoid confusion for new editors.
system
12
Are you sure they are unused? Check out the list at the bottom, or click on the “what links here” off on the right to be certain.
Oliver
14
While it does take effort, I think that this project would accomplish something, even if it were small. There are a lot of back-end-like pages on wikiHow that were created because someone one day thought it was a great idea, and then fell out of use (case in point: the Suggested Topics to Delete
page that I created, which hasn’t been edited in 3 months
). I think it would actually be much simpler and easier to use the site if things like this and templates weren’t just left lying around after people had finished with them. Having random cruft confuses new editors who want to help out but aren’t sure how. I sure know it confused me. I applaud your idea, Tiagoroth.
I’m all for this. Spring cleaning. Unused templates cause confusion. I agree with Lois thought that it is imperative to check “what links here” before deleting. If a template is deleted that actually is on a page, it will create problems. If pages do link to the old template there is a safe way to delete it, but it’s complicated.
