Wikipedia:Miscellany for deletion/7 single-navbox automated portals (repostings of sockpuppetry)

The following discussion is an archived debate of the proposed deletion of the miscellaneous page below. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page (such as the page's talk page or in a deletion review). No further edits should be made to this page.

The result of the discussion was: delete . — JJMC89 (T·C) 02:04, 24 April 2019 (UTC)[reply]

7 single-navbox automated portals (repostings of sockpuppetry)

Every one of the 7 portals nominated here is based on a single navbox. That is, their list of selected articles (using {{Transclude list item excerpts as random slideshow}} or {{Transclude linked excerpts as random slideshow}}) is drawn solely from a single navbox. For example, Portal:Government of Singapore is drawn solely from {{Government of Singapore}}.

This makes each of these portals merely a WP:REDUNDANTFORK of the navbox, with much less utility than the navbox because:

the navbox displays a full list of the articles. The portal displays only one page at a time, out of a randomly selected subset of up to 50 articles.
the navbox should be present on every page in the set. The portal always requires navigation to a separate page.

The topic's main page works much better as a navigational hub, because it includes:

both the topic navbox and related navboxes
A full summary of the topic rather than an excerpt of the lede.

I propose deleting all these portals in one go because:

Being each built on a single navbox, they add no navigational utility, and are an inferior WP:REDUNDANTFORK of another navigational tool
Portals are not content; they are merely a means of navigating between content. So their mass deletion removes precisely zero encyclopedic content.
There is no non-automated version to revert to. (However, the pages do have prior history; see below)

Note that 5 of these 7 portals use a poorly-suited navbox:

Portal:Hydrogen uses Template:Hydrogen compounds, which is a small subset of the topic
Portal:History of art uses Template:Westernart. But what about Asia and Africa and Oceania?
Portal:Jet engines uses Template: Aircraft gas turbine engine components, which seems a good fit
Portal:German language uses Template:Germanic languages, a much broader topic
Portal:Government of Singapore uses Template:Government of Singapore, which seems a good fit
Portal:Government of Malaysia uses Template:Malaysia topics, a much broader set
Portal:History of North America uses Template:North America topics, which is mostly not about hsitory

All these portals were created by the admin User:Ancheta Wis of 4 or 5 February 2019. They were not part of any bot-like process, but they are all re-creations of mass-deleted pages created by the banned sockpuppet User:Emoteplump. AFAICS, they are all exact copies of the deleted pages. I am very surprised to see an admin simply re-posting the low-quality work of a blocked sock.

Note that the set of recreations by User:Ancheta Wis of User:Emoteplump sockpuppetry includes two portals which have been MFDed separately by @Legacypac:

Found later: Portal:Government of Russia, also a User:Ancheta Wis re-creation of User:Emoteplump sockpuppetry, deleted at WP:Miscellany for deletion/Portal:Government of Russia (nominated by ~~User:Premeditated Chaos~~User:Robert McClenon) --BrownHairedGirl (talk) • (contribs) 15:50, 16 April 2019 (UTC)[reply]

Some of these portals cover broad topics which would be capable of supporting a thoughtfully-designed and properly-curated portal which used a selected article list extending way beyond the navbox, if enough editors were willing to do the sustained the hard work needed to curate and maintain it.

So, I propose that these pages be deleted without prejudice to recreating a curated portal not based on a single navbox, in accordance with whatever criteria the community may have agreed at that time. --BrownHairedGirl (talk) • (contribs) 15:34, 16 April 2019 (UTC)[reply]

Discussion (7 single-navbox automated portals)

add your keep/delete/comment here

Delete all as useless crud that nobody uses. CoolSkittle (talk) 15:43, 16 April 2019 (UTC)[reply]
No big, but WP:Miscellany for deletion/Portal:Government of Russia was nominated by Robert McClenon, not me. I was the closer. ♠PMC♠ (talk) 15:53, 16 April 2019 (UTC)[reply]

Oops! Apologies to both User:Premeditated Chaos and User:Robert McClenon. Now corrected. --BrownHairedGirl (talk) • (contribs) 15:59, 16 April 2019 (UTC)[reply]

Comment interesting Portal:German language is likely built off the same nav box as Portal:Germanic languages was. Legacypac (talk) 15:57, 16 April 2019 (UTC)[reply]
- Comment Doesn't that make it a G4 or P1#A10 speedy candidate? — Arthur Rubin (talk) 09:26, 17 April 2019 (UTC)[reply]
Delete the Newsletters discussed these recreations [1] and make a good read in light of the pushback against this automated spree.For example by Nov 2018 they had reworked 1400 out of 1500 of the old design. Legacypac (talk) 15:57, 16 April 2019 (UTC)[reply]
Delete these portals

Listing one by one, to be sure

- Automated portal, 0 subpages, created 2019-02-05 10:33:00 by User:Ancheta Wis, to be deleted: Portal:Hydrogen

- Automated portal, 0 subpages, created 2019-02-05 10:26:38 by User:Ancheta Wis, to be deleted: Portal:History of art

- Automated portal, 0 subpages, created 2019-02-05 09:58:06 by User:Ancheta Wis, to be deleted: Portal:Jet engines

- Automated portal, 0 subpages, created 2019-02-05 10:43:09 by User:Ancheta Wis, to be deleted: Portal:German language

- Automated portal, 0 subpages, created 2019-02-05 10:50:35 by User:Ancheta Wis, to be deleted: Portal:Government of Singapore

- Automated portal, 0 subpages, created 2019-02-05 11:53:44 by User:Ancheta Wis, to be deleted: Portal:Government of Malaysia

- Automated portal, 0 subpages, created 2019-02-05 12:21:02 by User:Ancheta Wis, to be deleted: Portal:History of North America

Pldx1 (talk) 20:50, 16 April 2019 (UTC)[reply]

Delete with the following comments:
- - We are not discussing deletion in German, but we are discussing deletion using a Germanic language.
  - Bad choices of navboxes are a secondary reason to delete.
  - All deletions are without prejudice to re-creation, but re-creation is subject to challenge. Robert McClenon (talk) 00:18, 18 April 2019 (UTC)[reply]
Delete – Seems like a textbook case of WP:REDUNDANTFORK. Navboxes already do the job. --Deeday-UK (talk) 12:13, 18 April 2019 (UTC)[reply]

The above discussion is preserved as an archive of the debate. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page (such as the page's talk page or in a deletion review). No further edits should be made to this page.