Wikipedia talk:It's a castle!

Motivation

There have been multiple AFDs about genuine castles or ruins of castles that are obvious historic sites, and obviously notable by dint of coverage over centuries. These AFDs should be stopped, or dealt with efficiently by invocation of this brilliant and convincing essay. Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Gorteens Castle was closed "Keep". Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Castel Savello is the current AFD which prompts me to start this now. Sure it can be improved as an essay, perhaps, but maybe in its first incarnation it will prove pretty effective, knock on wood. --Doncram (talk) 04:24, 1 August 2018 (UTC)

Uhh... Why Does This Exist?

Please explain why this page is still on Wikipedia. It sorta feels like a fandom for an obscure Monty Python and the Holy Grail quote... --- Clueless, Dwightol102 (talk) 20:47, 11 March 2022 (UTC)

Sure, Dwightol102, here goes: It is a useful _essay_ in Wikipedia-space (see Category:Wikipedia essays), not a mainspace article, so it is not seen by the public. But like some other Category:Wikipedia essays about deletion, it is cited occasionally in Articles For Deletion processes (see "what links here" for this page). Rather than writing out the same argument in many separate AFDs, it is helpful to have the argument written down in one place, then cited. I say it is useful because you can browse "What links here" about the essay and then read the AFDs where it was cited and helped "win" the day.

Sure, the essay is flip in tone, and may seem sort of unprofessional. It was itself nominated for deletion (see link on this page), but Kept. I was the primary author, and I and some others think it makes its point well, addressing numerous AFDs that should not have been opened at all. And deletion nominators of articles about castles (there was a flurry of them before this essay was written, now there are few if any) have taken note. And deletion nominators of articles about museums and some other topics mentioned in the essay are given some pause, too. Does this make sense? --Doncram (talk) Updated 11:07, 9 March 2023 (UTC)

note on dates

The current essay mentions the essay having been characterized a certain way in an AFD, and the AFD about this essay (of March 2019) also refers to that. The characterization was in Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Sardar Patel Museum, Surat, of January 2019. The essay itself was started in August 2018. --Doncram (talk,contribs) 18:02, 30 January 2023 (UTC)