Wikipedia:Don't attack the nominator

This essay is about the appropriate use of WP:BEFORE in WP:Articles for Deletion discussions based in relevant policies. The core synopsis of which can be summed up as "Don't attack the nominator".

How not to use WP:BEFORE

• 1. Don't use WP:BEFORE as an argument against the nominator. This is an ad hominem argument at AFD per WP:ATTP.

• 2. Don't use WP:BEFORE as a way to shame or humiliate the nominator. Core policies such as Wikipedia:No personal attacks, WP:CIVIL, and WP:BATTLEGROUND make this clear.

• 3. Don't use WP:BEFORE to shift the burden of evidence onto the nominator. The core policy of WP:BURDEN makes it clear that it is the responsibility of those adding content to also add supporting evidence, and not the responsibility of those challenging material to provide or find evidence. Articles lacking evidence are often brought to AFD, and justifiably so under the core policies of WP:Verifiability and WP:GNG.

• 4. Don't use WP:BEFORE as a way to interrogate the nominator on their research or searching practices prior to making a nomination in the AFD discussion itself. Such discussions inevitably become ad hominem arguments at AFD per WP:ATTP, shame the nominator, become personal attacks, or shift the burden of evidence onto the challenger per above.

• 5. Don't use WP:BEFORE to demand more rigorous research than the process outlined at WP:BEFORE. Demanding more than the basic search required is shifting burden onto the challenger and a violation of policy at WP:BURDEN.

• 6. Don't use WP:BEFORE to demand the use of specialized search engines, more specific archive searches, more specific regional databases, offline newspapers or books, subscription websites like newspapers.com, or anything beyond the basic google tools provided in the AFD nomination template. Such demands violate the spirit of policies at WP:BURDEN, WP:NOTCOMPULSORY, and WP:BATTLEGROUND. These demands are unreasonable, unproductive, and inappropriately shift the focus of the AFD nomination to the nominator and not the article being nominated.

• 7. Don't use WP:BEFORE inside AFD discussions as it has no practical application in how articles nominated for deletion are evaluated. It doesn't impact the outcome of the nomination, and it doesn't change the way articles are evaluated in relation to wikipedia's policy pages relating to WP:Notability.

How to use WP:BEFORE

1. Follow it when making a nomination

2. When others may not follow it, have a civil conversation about that policy on that individual's talk page.

See also

• Wikipedia:Don't demand that editors solve the problems they identify
• Wikipedia:Don't shoot the messenger
• Wikipedia:Arguments to avoid in deletion discussions
• Wikipedia:Encourage full discussions
• Wikipedia:Do attack the nominator