Board Thread:Off Topic/@comment-35711173-20180806030424/@comment-10502460-20180806034822

If you think the Delete tag is being used to liberally by some people, I recommend mentioning it to an admin.

I sometimes mark some stories for review that should probably just be marked for deletion just to be safe. That said, during my time on this wiki there has only ever been one story deleted for QS that I strongly felt should not have been.

In general, when deciding which tag to use, I try to ask myself some of the following questions:

Does this story have any redeeming value at all even if it's not up to QS?

Do I believe there's any real chance this story could be improved without a complete rewrite?

Is there any evidence that the author put even the most basic effort into making the story not garbage, including reading it over at least once after composing?

Am I able to make it through the whole thing without starting to skim?

Is this story so bare-bones or poor that it may as well be borderline spam or unfinished with the only difference being intention?

Is the story so trash that the author is likely to be underage?

Would it be a waste of time to put the page in "Marked for Review" knowing that it could take up to a couple weeks for admins to get around to reviewing it?

What kind of example would marking the story for review vs deletion set? On one hand, I don't want new users who aren't yet familiar with the nuances of this wiki's quality standards marking every story that looks shaky for deletion, but on the other hand the longer a truly terrible story is kept up on the wiki, the greater chance that it will make other new wiki authors think such quality is acceptable.

If I marked the story for review rather than deletion, would the reviewing admin be confused as to what I possibly could have found redeeming or acceptable about the story, i.e. would they find any legitimate reason for giving it M4R instead of Delete other than trying to earn the next badge for M4R edits?

If you asked ten random prominent wiki users if the story should be deleted, is there any chance that even one of them would say no?

But like Skelly said, there's no hard line and with time I think you'll get the feel for which tag to use when.