Wikipedia:Content removal

This is an essay. It contains the advice or opinions of one or more Wikipedia contributors. This page is not an encyclopedia article, nor is it one of Wikipedia's policies or guidelines, as it has not been thoroughly vetted by the community. Some essays represent widespread norms; others only represent minority viewpoints.

Shortcuts WP:REMOVAL WP:CRV WP:RMV WP:UCR

This page in a nutshell: When removing content from a page, it is important to be sure there is consensus to do so.

Content removal is the removal of material that provides information from an article, without deleting the article itself. While an entire page can be deleted only via the deletion process (ultimately completed by an administrator), even a single unregistered editor can boldly remove part of a page. It is an editorial decision that is easy to reverse, and does not damage the edit history.

Removing a section of an article needs to be at least explained and in some cases discussed. Unexplained content removal (UCR) occurs when the reason is not obvious; the edit is then open to being promptly reverted.

Changes which remove one or more words without affecting the content need not be explained, though for all but the most minor ones it is a good idea to at least describe them in the edit summary.