Main namespace ghost wick removal

Occasionally, a wick will appear on a page's "Related to" subpage, but the page in question doesn't actually contain the link listed. In fact, sometimes nonexistent pages will appear to have this nonexistent link. This is called a "ghost wick": it is a ghost haunting pages past. There are a couple of ways these wicks could've surfaced, which are related to administrative/mod deletions and reversions. The details aren't important.

Elimination of a ghost wick depends on where the wick is occuring.

On an existing page:

• If the page is a redirect, make a null edit. It might force earlier changes to the page to register. Please leave an edit reason so others know what's going on. If that doesn't work...
• If the page has content but no internal links at all, create one. Wicks only update if there's at least one wick on the page, so adding one will make the ghost wick disappear. If you feel there's nowhere to place an appropriate link, add a link arbitrarily (such as to the page itself), save the edit, and delete it after. Please leave an edit reason so others know what's going on.
• If the page is ghost-indexing (creating index bars on other pages even though it's not an index), do a null edit to its page type (under Page Info; in the sidebar on desktop, bottom of the page on mobile). If it's a redirect, you'll first have to break the redirect so you can access the page type in the first place. After you're done, restore the redirect.

On a nonexistent page:

• Post the page where the ghost wick is supposed to exist.
• Alternatively, if the page is not in the Main namespace, you can recreate the page with "Ghost Wick" and a wick to the page, then add it to the Cut List where a moderator will delete it.^note  Unfortunately, some nonexistent pages with invalid characters cannot be handled even by moderators. These will have to be left alone.

Edited by Twiddler on Jul 8th 2023 at 1:55:52 AM