Wikipedia:Drafts

This page is about the Draft namespace. For other uses, see Wikipedia:Draft.

Wikipedia data structure

Namespaces
Subject namespaces		Talk namespaces
0	(Main/Article)	Talk	1
2	User	User talk	3
4	Wikipedia	Wikipedia talk	5
6	File	File talk	7
8	MediaWiki	MediaWiki talk	9
10	Template	Template talk	11
12	Help	Help talk	13
14	Category	Category talk	15
100	Portal	Portal talk	101
118	Draft	Draft talk	119
126	MOS	MOS talk	127
710	TimedText	TimedText talk	711
828	Module	Module talk	829
Former namespaces
108	Book	Book talk	109
442	Course	Course talk	443
444	Institution	Institution talk	445
446	Education Program	Education Program talk	447
2300	Gadget	Gadget talk	2301
2302	Gadget definition	Gadget definition talk	2303
2600	Topic		2601
Virtual namespaces
-1	Special
-2	Media
Current list

Drafts are administration pages in the Draft namespace where new articles may be stored. They help facilitate new articles to develop and receive feedback before being moved to Wikipedia's mainspace. If you are logged in, creating a draft before directly publishing the article is optional. Editors may instead choose to create draft pages in their userspace, or directly into mainspace, if they prefer.

How drafts work

Finding drafts

Drafts are not indexed by most search engines including Google, meaning most readers will not find them. Anyone may search and view drafts on Wikipedia directly using Wikipedia's built-in search engine: simply choose "Advanced", then tick "Draft" or "Draft talk" on the list of options (i.e. in this manner). The list of all Draft pages is at Special:AllPages or Special:PrefixIndex. You may also view recent Draft changes to the namespace, newly created drafts or visit a random draft.

Creating and editing drafts

Anyone, including users who are not logged in, may create and edit drafts. Drafts in the namespace have "Draft:" before their normal title, and also have an associated draft talk page. Users who have VisualEditor enabled will be able to use VisualEditor just like on articles. Registered editors may also move a userspace draft in to the Draft namespace if they choose.

Create a new draft

Incubation

"WP:DRAFTIFY" redirects here. For for the gadget, see User:Mr. Stradivarius/gadgets/Draftify.

Incubation was previously done at the Wikipedia:Article incubator. Once in draftspace, incubated articles have the same status as other drafts.

Moved to incubation...
in need of loving care and gentle handling

• Articles are incubated as a result of i) a deletion discussion, ii) an undeletion request, or iii) userfication
• An editor moves the article or userfication into draftspace. For example: [[Foo article]] is moved to [[Draft:Foo article]], and [[Talk:Foo article]] is moved to [[Draft talk:Foo article]]. The redirects left at [[Foo article]] and [[Talk:Foo article]] must be tagged for speedy deletion as a cross-namespace redirect using {{db-r2}}.
• It would be helpful to link to the original deletion discussion and the decision to move the article into draftspace.
• A helpful tool for incubating articles is User:Evad37/MoveToDraft. Especially for users with the page mover user-right, which allows moving without leaving a redirect. For those without the page mover user-right, it is important to tag the redirect for deletion with CSD R2 after moving the article to draft.

Preparing drafts

• (Optionally) add the template {{Draft article}} at the top of the draft (not the talk page), along with the template's parameter |subject=. A list of appropriate subject fields can be found here.
• Disable any categories by inserting a colon before the word "Category". Example: change [[Category:Living people]] to [[:Category:Living people]]
• Non-free content cannot be included in draft articles per Wikipedia's policy on where non-free media is allowed. Any desired non-free content should be added to the article once it has been moved to the mainspace.

Publishing a draft

Publishing a draft will (for now) require an editor to use the page move function to move it in the Main (article) namespace. This means that anonymous editors, or registered editors not autoconfirmed, will need to request publication by inserting into their drafts the relevant template for page move. Editors may also optionally submit drafts for review via the articles for creation process.

An article created in draftspace does not belong to the editor who created it, and any other registered user can decide that it is done and can be published. Editors who do not want that to happen should use their sandbox or talk page subsections.

What draftspace is not

• Draftspace is not a permanent holding place for material unlikely to be promoted to mainspace. The longer a page remains in draftspace, the more critically the community may evaluate its likelihood of progress to mainspace.
• Draftspace is not for placeholder pages on Notable or potentially Notable topics. Pages should be expanded with significant useful content in a timely manner.

Deleting a draft

Drafts are meant to be works in progress, and most will not meet Wikipedia's standards for quality at first.

Speedy deletion

The general section of the criteria for speedy deletion may be applied to drafts. Drafts that are copyright violations, vandalism, BLP violations, or blatant advertising or promotion will be speedily deleted. No special deletion policy for drafts has been decided.

Miscellany for deletion

Drafts are not subject to article deletion criteria like "no context" or no indication of notability. Drafts may be nominated for deletion at Wikipedia:Miscellany for deletion, but not on a primary concern of notability.

Deletion of old AfC drafts

Drafts that were created through the articles for creation process and include the {{AFC submission}} template may be deleted under criterion for speedy deletion G13. Most G13 deletions are listed for deletion by bots, which may also warn and inform the draft creator. Pages deleted under G13 may be restored upon request at WP:REFUND (see Wikipedia:Requests for undeletion/G13).

Redirects from drafts moved to mainspace

Redirects that are a result of page moves from the draft namespace to the main namespace should be retained.

See also

• Request for Comment for the new namespace on the Village pump (proposals)
• Wikipedia:Namespaces

Learn more

• See the technical requirements and future development ideas on MediaWiki.org