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This page describes how pathways that do not meet the relevant criteria for pathway content can be identified and removed from WikiPathways. Deletion removes a pathway and all previous versions from public view and can only be performed by administrators. Administrators can also view deleted pathways and reverse ("undelete") any deletion. All such actions are logged. If in doubt as to whether there is consensus to delete a page, administrators will normally not delete it.

== Reasons for deletion ==
Possible reasons for which a pathway can enter the [[#Deletion_proccess|deletion process]] include:
* The pathway does not contain relevant biological content
* The pathway is too redundant with another pathway
* The pathway violates copyrights

== Alternatives to deletion ==
Users are encouraged to take actions to prevent a pathway from being deleted.

=== Editing ===
If possible, prevent a deletion by editing the pathway to improve it. Please take a look at the [[Help:Guidelines|guidelines for contributors]] for general information on how to improve a pathway.

=== Discussion ===
Objections to a proposed deletion can be made on the discussion page of the pathway. Disputes over pathway content should not be dealt with by deletion, but also be discussed on the discussion page.

== Proposing deletion ==
All users can propose a pathway for deletion by adding the [[Help:CurationTags|curation tag]] [[CurationTags|''"Proposed deletion"'']] to the pathway. If you propose a pathway for deletion, please specify the reason for doing so, in order to give other users the possibility to act upon it. After a pathway is tagged with the "Proposed deletion" tag it will enter the [[#Deletion_proccess|deletion process]].

== Deletion process ==
The process for deleting a pathway on WikiPathways is as follows:
* The "Proposed for deletion" tag is added to the pathway
* Authors and other users can respond by:
** Editing the pathway to solve the problems that gave reason for the proposed deletion
** Object to the proposed deletion by posting a message to the discussion page of the pathway
* If no objection is made after '''5 days''', an administrator will remove the pathway