Help:Deleting a page

A user with delete-rights (typically a sysop) can delete a page. They have a delete link linking to http:// meta.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?title=pagename&action=delete

The content of and, if applicable,

appears.

This makes the current and old revisions inaccessible for non-sysops. Sysops see on the "non-existent" page the content of linking to http:// meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:Undelete/pagename. This leads to a page with the deletion log and deleted page history, with the texts and

Combining edits
Multiple, consecutive edits can be combined in the page history by deleting the page and restoring all versions except those resulting from edits to be combined, and restoring the version resulting from the last of the edits to be combined.

Conditions to make this suitable:
 * all edits to be combined are by the same user
 * there are not too many edits apart from those to be combined (the reason for this condition is that all versions to be restored have to be marked)
 * the edit summary of the last edit of those to be combined, if any, is suitable for the combined edit as well

To keep the time of edit fairly accurate (e.g. to keep the order correct with respect to related edits of other pages, by the same or another user) one may add the condition:
 * all edits to be combined are made within a short time

The condition "there are not too many edits apart from those to be combined" seems to limit the usefulness of the procedure most, since shortening the list of revisions is not very needed if it is not very long.

Alternatively, if import is enabled (currently it is disabled on Wikimedia), that can be used in combination with export; in that case a new edit summary can be put.