The following discussion is an archived debate of the proposed deletion of the miscellaneous page below. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page (such as the page's talk page or in a deletion review). No further edits should be made to this page.

The result of the discussion was: move to subpages of Wikipedia:WikiProject India. (non-admin closure) —  Godsy ^{( TALK} _CONT) 17:54, 1 August 2018 (UTC) reply

Portal:India/Quiz ( | talk | history | links | watch | logs)

Portal:India/India Quiz ( | talk | history | links | watch | logs)

This page and its sub-pages are already outdated and dead. The quiz itself was shut down around 2008. With the automation of portal India (the DYK page has already been automated) these pages will become redundant and obsolete and there will be no scope of reviving these processes at all. I am also nominating all the subpages for deletion.  —  F R  ⁺ 07:14, 24 July 2018 (UTC) reply

• Comment : The portals Wikiproject and Wikiproject India have been notified of this deletion discussion —  F R  ⁺ 07:40, 24 July 2018 (UTC) reply

• Speedy Keep-The quiz is still ongoing, at snail's pace.And, frankly I fail to understand the reason for deletion, if any.We don't delete all historical pages, which manifest to be obsolete. ∯WBG ^converse 07:35, 25 July 2018 (UTC) reply

Winged Blades of Godric - The quiz is an Esperanza like activity, it served no purpose to the encyclopaedia. It was supposed to generate blurbs for the DYK section of portal India but failed to do so. The last time a fact was posted in the Portal:India/DYK section was 5 years ago. Despite the quiz (which was supposed to facilitate the generation of blurbs) having gone on during those 5 years.

Thus, the quiz has failed to achieve its desired objective. I believe that the least that can be done is to move this out of portal space into project space, if marking it historical or nuking it is considered —  F R  ⁺ 11:48, 25 July 2018 (UTC) reply

I have no qualms on marking it as historical but choose to be meh.If two/three folks have some interest in it, not much is lost by letting them..... ∯WBG ^converse 12:02, 25 July 2018 (UTC) reply

• Tending towards delete - depending on whether there is any valid reason based in policy to keep. See questions below. · · · Peter (Southwood) ^(talk): 10:06, 27 July 2018 (UTC) reply
  • Questions.
    • Do these pages have any encyclopaedic value? (scope for mainspace)
    • Do they have any value for navigating the encyclopaedia or discovering content related to the portal topic? (scope for portal space)
    • Do they have any value as recording the processes by which the encyclopaedia is built? (scope for talk pages)
    • Are there any other similar examples in Wikipedia? (precedent)
    • Are there any other reasons for the pages to exist that are consistent with the aims and policies of English Wikipedia?

      I don't personally see any of these, but have not spent much time looking. Based on this I don't see any reason to keep them as part of the portal. If they were to be marked as historical, what would they be part of (where should they go), what potential use would they serve, and how would people find them? The most I can see is that they may illustrate a failed experiment (generating DYKs) and provided some entertainment for some users. · · · Peter (Southwood) ^(talk): 10:06, 27 July 2018 (UTC) reply

• Delete per WP:NOTQUIZ - There are plenty of quiz websites on the interwebz, FWIW I'm all for keeping anything and everything historical however I fail to see the point in keeping useless things like this. – Davey2010 ^Talk 21:21, 28 July 2018 (UTC) reply

@ FR30799386:@ Winged Blades of Godric:@ Pbsouthwood:@ Davey2010:Sir, this quiz is needed. Because this is a part of Portal:India and WP:IND. This quiz is now run very slowly because users didn't remember about this. Through this quiz Wikipedians can involve more in the Portal and wikiproject. The project and portal are for the articles and pages related to India. Through this page users can share their knowledge about India and it become a competition place like other Wikipedia competitions. It also helps the new users to learn editing by sharing the knowledge about country. If we think this quiz as serious and participate correctly we can improve the page and it become a good competition in Wikipedia. If we send the messages about quiz's situation and conditions to participants in quiz and members in wikiproject using Mass message sending, etc, so many people can involve in quiz and become a good stage to participants in WikiProject India.-- PATH SLOPU ^{( Talk)} 13:56, 30 July 2018 (UTC) reply

Maybe it's my complete lack of understanding but why would we need a quiz ? .... I mean after all we're not a quiz site - I don't mean to be funny but we're here to write and improve the Encyclopedia not waste time on silly little quizzes that in no way, shape or form help with this website..... – Davey2010 ^Talk 14:00, 30 July 2018 (UTC) reply

@ Davey2010:The quiz is a general knowledge quiz centred on India that any registered Wikipedians can enter. It is run as a friendly competition to test and improve our knowledge of India. Most importantly, it's supposed to be fun. The questions and answers would be condensed in the form of "Did you know..." facts on Portal:India. Also, the relevant articles that get quoted in these quiz questions would hopefully get a face-lift with increased attention as a result of the questions. Wikipedia is for write and improve the encyclopedia. But this kind of quiz will help the wikipedians to know more about Wikipedia articles. This page do not harm the encyclopedia. It only help Wikipedia. It do not waste time because this quiz won't block the mainspace editing of users. Please do not consider it as silly little quiz. If we give a good awareness about this type of competitions, it will always become beteer and good to wikipedia, So, kindly please do not delete this Portal page. PATH SLOPU ^{( Talk)} 14:12, 30 July 2018 (UTC) reply

[ec} Path slopu,If you ignore the comment about silly and little, which are not particularly relevant, we are left with the question of how a quiz improves the encyclopaedia, which was not answered in any meaningful way. As Davey2010 states, we are not a quiz site. Can you demonstrate with examples just how the quiz has improved the encyclopaedia, and in particular the portal, during the time it existed, and why it should be part of the portal? I am open to persuasion by logic and examples, not by rhetoric. It may be more appropriate to move the quiz to the WikiProject if it is for project members. The portal is primarily for readers. · · · Peter (Southwood) ^(talk): 14:42, 30 July 2018 (UTC) reply

[ec] Davey2010 What I am trying to establish is if this quiz is useful, This can be established by showing how it is useful. Proponents should be allowed the opportunity to make their case. What we should do about it depends on whether it is useful and how it is useful, which is not clear at this point. By all means challenge any arguments, and rebut them with logic and evidence. Volunteers are free to spend their time on the encyclopaedia in any way they like that is not harmful, and provides some useful development within the accepted scope of Wikipedia. · · · Peter (Southwood) ^(talk): 14:39, 30 July 2018 (UTC) reply

I don't think it was really necessary for you to nitpick over my wording .... The point still stands however I agree with you on that it needs to be proven on how this is any way useful and like yourself if It can be proven then I'd be more than happy to retain but at present nothing has really been presented that's convinced me but like I say I'm all ears. – Davey2010 ^Talk 15:03, 30 July 2018 (UTC) reply

The underlying concept of an encyclopedia is to share knowledge. Isn't it? A quiz is just a less verbose and more entertaining way to share the knowledge. There may be some instances when someone contributed to the encyclopedia using knowledge from the quiz. Or may be not. I can't prove it. But what I am not able to understand is, what harm it is doing? The pages are only text format so server load should not be the issue. Why the rules has to be this much strict that anything on wikipedia that doesn't looks like an article, shouldn't be on wikipedia? This is not a new page thread, it is significantly old. So why remove it? I'll be highly obliged if someone can give a reasoning behind deletion of this quiz. I am not very much emotionally attached to the quiz. I am just expecting a reason behind the proposed action. But whatever be the final decision, I recommend to archive it, instead of completely deleting it. -- Ritwik.m07 ( talk) 18:40, 30 July 2018 (UTC) reply

• Keep or move to project space. While I can see that the quiz does not contribute directly to the encyclopedia, it does serve a sort of editor retention purpose. Sort of like - with tongue firmly in cheek - WT:RFA. Moving it to project space is probably a good idea because it might attract more attention and might also fill the DYK goal. Regardless of other uses, I don't see much value in deleting it and do see some value in retaining it. -- regentspark ( comment) 14:28, 30 July 2018 (UTC) reply

I am inclined to agree with RegentsPark that it could go to project space. · · · Peter (Southwood) ^(talk): 14:45, 30 July 2018 (UTC) reply

If it is moved to project space, please inform us how can we access it, edit it or update it (in project space)? Basically what is a project space? -- Ritwik.m07 ( talk) 18:45, 30 July 2018 (UTC) reply

• Keep but Move to project namespace (perhaps to Wikipedia:WikiProject_India/Quiz). Although the quiz has been active/dormant intermittently, it has helped (1) guide attention to project articles and help in their creation/improvement, (2) attract/retain editors. As RegentPark proposes, moving to project space makes perfect sense though. Abecedare ( talk) 20:19, 30 July 2018 (UTC) reply

@ Pbsouthwood:@ Abecedare:@ Ritwik.m07:@ Davey2010:@ RegentsPark:I gave a suggestion that using Mass message sending we can send messages to users involved in quiz and members in wikiproject about quiz's current condition and situation. It make quiz more attractive to participants. It will increase the participation in quiz. Through this so many users can involve in quiz and it never become dead. It is a good place for sharing knowledge among Wikipedians.-- PATH SLOPU ^{( Talk)} 13:07, 31 July 2018 (UTC) reply

Path slopu, Mass messaging to project members should not be a problem, after all, joining a project pretty much means subscribing to messages from that project. Mass massaging to anyone else might be considered spamming, so not a good thing. This would make the quiz an internal feature of the project, and not a thing that everyone reading the portal would find necessarily out about, but as portals can legitimately direct readers to the related project in the hope of getting them to contribute, it would be possible to have a box section which links the reader to the project, including the quiz, which would be in the project space.

Ritwik.m07, Project space is the part of Wikipedia that has page names that start with "Wikipedia:", like the actual WikiProject India which is at Wikipedia:WikiProject India. The page name suggested by Abecedare would be an obvious choice. The move would have to be accepted by the WikiProject. I will leave a notification there about this discussion in case there are other members who wish to comment. · · · Peter (Southwood) ^(talk): 16:21, 31 July 2018 (UTC) reply

@ Path slopu: We can consider ideas on how to increase participation and improve the quiz's focus after this MFD is closed (see Portal_talk:India/Quiz and the archives of WT:INB for previously proposed ideas). But please do not mass-message PINQ participants yet since, despite your good intentions, that will unnecessarily raise canvassing concerns. Abecedare ( talk) 16:44, 31 July 2018 (UTC) reply

• Keep but Move to project namespace, as Abecedare mentioned. Although the activity in the quiz has decreased in the last year, it often follows a cyclic pattern, within waxing and waning enthusiasm!. During its heydays, the quiz indeed led to many new article creation and a few DYKs, and of course helped in editor retention. Thanks.-- Dwaipayan ( talk) 16:23, 31 July 2018 (UTC) reply

The above discussion is preserved as an archive of the debate. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page (such as the page's talk page or in a deletion review). No further edits should be made to this page.