Forum:AR:Unjustified redirect deletion

Recently, the redirect I placed at Challenger that linked to The Essential Guide to Force Exile/Challenger light tank was deleted. And why was it deleted?

"Unused redirect: Someone else might want to use the name for something else, like a warship."

Now, let's take a look at the deletion policy. It doesn't say anything about deleting "unused redirects." It's not in the naming conventions either. You won't find anything in any policy about deleting unused redirects.

Moreover, many users have them. I have them (FE II, FE III, Hawk-bat). Brandon has them (The Tragedy). The admin who deleted my redirect has them (or had, as of this writing) in places such as TGLF and AMW2JC).

They are navigational redirects, because it is significantly easier to type "FE II" as opposed to "Force Exile II: Smuggler" in the search bar, or on a talk page, or on any mention where the full name of the page isn't spelled out fully. There is nothing wrong with them. Many legitimate users employ these types of redirects on a regular basis. And that's what "Challenger" was. It was a logical, sensible redirect to a page with a much longer title, used solely for navigation. The fact that it wasn't linked to anything is entirely irrelevant.

Now, the case has been made "Well, it's a broad name. What if some noob wants to make an article there?" That's what the naming convention policy is for. They can disambiguate the page and then allow multiple users to create entities with the same root name. If they don't know how, we have helpful admins and users who can render assistance. If someone posted on my talk page and said "Hey, I saw you're using Challenger. I'd like to make a ship with the name 'Challenger'", I would disambiguate it for them and help them set up "Challenger (Random user)". But since nobody else has bothered to express interest anywhere obvious on this site for the use of that name, I see no reason to not have it redirect to something that makes logical sense to redirect it to, like a tank type named "Challenger."

And lastly, I'd like to point out that SWF has traditionally not allowed administrators to delete things without a justifiable policy basis. The view held by an admin who doesn't think users should make redirects in that fashion, last I checked, was not valid grounds for deletion. If SWF needs to have a conversation about this type of redirect in the SH or CT, then fine, so be it, but there's no good reason outside of personal preference to delete them now.

I'd like my redirect back if at all possible. Atarumaster88  ( Talk page ) 01:53, June 14, 2011 (UTC)