Votes for deletion can be a seemingly unfriendly place, especially for new users. Part of this derives from the quick, short statements some people make when voting to delete articles. While some people take on inappropriate tones, most people are just being efficient in their voting. Above all, remember that people who frequent VfD are experienced Wikipedians who are trying to help Wikipedia. Many have been through hundreds of deletion discussions, and have heard hundreds of arguments. Very rarely will an experienced user ever intend to attack a person or an article. If they use some clever phrasing to say something, it's usually just because typing "keep, delete, keep, delete" over and over gets boring and they're trying to be a little bit creative.

Please note that many of the phrases below or their definitions do not reflect Wikipedia's established norms for deletion, and should be taken only as indicative of the users' opinions, not of Wikipedia policy.

Lastly, if you feel different about any vote for deletion, explain your point of view, and if possible, modify the article in question to comply better with various policies in question.

Here are some common things you might come across that seem rude, but actually aren't meant to be.

Votes are not an attack on, or endorsement of, the article's merits, points, factual basis, or future potential. Votes are an opinion of the encyclopedic value, based on consensus, policy, and guidelines.

Keep

The article meets the minimum requirements for inclusion, or has potential.

Delete

This is not an attack, but indicates that the voter considers the article unencyclopedic, for reasons such as below.

Redirect

Commonly paired with merge, a redirect makes the article point to a longer, more notable or general topic.

Merge

This means that the user thinks the article should be merged to a more central topic, a common solution to things which are non-notable on their own or are otherwise redundant with an existing article. A merged article must be redirected to the more central article once the merge is completed.

Move

The article should be renamed, moved to a different namespace, or moved to a more appropriate Wikimedia project.

Rename

The article's name is seen as misleading, inappropriate or biased, and must be moved to a new title if kept.

Speedy or Speedy delete or CSD

The article may be a candidate for speedy deletion.

Transwiki

Copy to another Wikimedia project: Wikibooks, Wikisource, Wiktionary or the Wikimedia meta pages. Often used in conjunction with delete to delete from this project.

Strong.../Weak...

Modifier sometimes used with a vote (usually keep or delete). Generally the strong modifier is used when someone feels that fundamental Wikipedia policy clearly supports inclusion or deletion of the article. A strong vote is not an attack on the authors or other voters, merely a statement that the voter stands firmly behind the vote. Generally the weak modifier means that the voter is only somewhat sure that their suggested action should be taken, or could be convinced otherwise.

Bad Jokes and Other Deleted Nonsense (BJAODN)

This refers to a page where wikipedians archive pages they deem to be worthy of saving for humor value. People do not necessarily consider the article a bad joke or nonsensical; indeed, a number of amusing and coherent articles that simply do not meet Wikipedia's standards for inclusion have been partially preserved in this form.

Cleanup

The article is seen as being in poor condition and must be reworked if kept; this usually results in the article being listed on Wikipedia:Cleanup if the consensus does not support deletion.

Copyvio

Copyright violation; these articles should be listed on Wikipedia:Copyright problems, or if you have permission, point that out on the article's talk page, or the copyright discussion.

Dicdef/Dictdef

This simply is shorthand for "This is a dictionary definition and Wikipedia is not a dictionary" and is not meant to be rude. Dictionary definitions belong at Wiktionary, and the content will often be moved there if no Wiktionary entry exists.

Essay

The article is an original essay rather than an encyclopedic article. This goes against Wikipedia's NPOV policy, and sometimes also against the no original research policy. See also What Wikipedia is not.

Fancruft

The subject is trivia of interest only to hardcore fans of a specific film, television series, book, game, etc. Where the line is drawn is highly subjective and can be controversial.

How-to

The article is a set of instructions on doing something rather an article than on the thing itself. Although articles should discuss how a particular activity is accomplished, they should generally not provide step-by-step guides directing the reader on how to do so; that is the province of our sister project Wikibooks.

Neologism

This means that the word or phrase used is not well-established enough to merit a Wikipedia article. This will be either a literal neologism (a new word which is not well-established), or a vanity neologism (a word coined in a small community but not used outside it). The article may need to be renamed or simply deleted.

Non-encyclopedic

Something that traditionally does not belong in an encyclopaedia, and doesn't fit the traditional definition of things that do. This in itself is usually not enough to justify a reason for deletion. Note that some users use this term and "non-notable" interchangeably.

Non-notable

This means that the page is about something that the voter thinks is unimportant due to its obscurity (a comic book that only its creator and a few friends have heard of, for instance). If it's related to something more common or well-known, consider merging it with that.

Original research

The article is someone's private theory, critique, rant, or essay.

Patent nonsense

A nonsensical article. Nonsensical articles are usually either labelled such for their writing style or for containing fabricated, nonsensical material; in the case of the former, rewriting is a possibility.

Personal attack

The article specifically attacks some person, group, idea or thing, which is a violation of both Wikipedia policy and basic manners. Criticism, however, is welcome on Wikipedia, provided that it is factual, non-biased and civil.

POV

Sometimes people believe an article's title, or mere existence make it inherently biased, thus violating Wikipedia's neutral-point-of-view policy, and that it should therefore be deleted. They don't mean you are not entitled to a point of view, simply that the article must not support one point of view exclusively or over contrary points of view.

Promotional, Advertisement, Ad, Advertorial, Wikispam

The article's central intent is to promote a website, product or business.

Recipe

The article is a recipe, giving preparation instructions rather than discussing the foodstuff in question. Although articles on foods should discuss how the food is made and what is used to make it, they should not provide step-by-step guides directing the reader on how to do so; that is the province of our sister project Wikibooks.

Vanity page

This means that the page is about a person, institution or organization who Wikipedia's guidelines (Wikipedia:What Wikipedia is not) suggest does not merit an article; probably most Wikipedians fit into this category. Use of this term as reasoning is supposed to suggest that the voter believes that the article was created or edited by the subject of the article, but sometimes the term is used simply to express the opinion that the article lacks usefulness.

Wrong namespace

The article is an article about Wikipedia, its workings, and/or its participants. Such articles should be moved into either the Wikipedia namespace (in other words, ArticleAboutWikipedia becomes Wikipedia:ArticleAboutWikipedia) or into a user subpage (in which case the article would become User:Article'sCreator/ArticleAboutWikipedia). Some articles may instead be moved to the Wikimedia meta pages. Note that articles may be moved by any logged-in user, so these typically should not be listed for this reason.

Wikibooks

The article contains a how-to, which should be moved to Wikibooks.

Wikisource

The article contains original source text, which should be placed on Wikipedia's sister project, Wikisource.

Wiktionary

The article contains a dictionary definition, which should be moved to Wiktionary, as Wikipedia is not a dictionary.

• Wikipedia:Glossary, a more comprehensive Wikipedia glossary.
• Wikipedia:Deletion policy#Commenting on a nomination for deletion, the official list of valid choices for VfD votes.