Template:Uw-blanking

Hello, I'm Example. I notice that you have blanked an item, either fully or partially, by removing some combination of sitelinks, claims, and labels, or by replacing valid labels with strings such as “DELETE THIS”. It's possible that you did this because you were attempting to delete the item, but I’m afraid that’s not how things work here.

If you want to request deletion of an item, please do so at Wikidata:Requests for deletions. Even once you have done this, you should still not be blanking the item in anticipation of its deletion. There are several important reasons for this:

• Anyone reviewing the item will want to assess for themselves whether it ought to be deleted. If you have already removed information, then this may make it harder for them to determine correctly whether the item is notable. In particular, a sitelink usually implies that the item is notable, so they need to be reviewed carefully.
• Your deletion request may be declined. In this case, your removals will need to be reverted.
• The item may be deleted but subsequently undeleted.
• The item may be a duplicate of another item. In this case, the two items will be merged using a merge tool, and everything will be copied from one to the other. It is helpful for this merge for the item to retain as much information as possible. Incorrect labels like “DELETE THIS” may end up in the result.
• Wikidata administrators have access to a special searchable archive of deleted items. This is used, for example, to determine if a newly-created item is a recreation of one that has been created in the past. For this reason, it is helpful if the deleted version of an item is as complete as possible.
• If we remove a sitelink, but the article remains on the client project, then someone on that client project may end up creating a new item, duplicating the original.

It is also possible that you were blanking an item because you want to repurpose it for another concept. Do not do this! There is no shortage of item numbers, and we never reuse an item for a different concept.

If you have any questions, you can leave me a message on my talk page. Thanks!  ~~~~

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