What is an Articles for Deletion nomination on Wikipedia?

Articles for Deletion (AfD) is the process by which the Wikipedia community decides whether an article should continue to exist. It is a structured discussion, not a vote, and it runs through a fixed sequence of stages.

How an AfD unfolds

1. Nomination with a rationale. Any editor can nominate an article for deletion by citing a specific rationale, commonly failure to meet notability, lack of reliable sources, promotional content that cannot be repaired, or duplication of an existing article.
2. ~7-day discussion. The nomination opens a discussion that normally runs for at least seven days. During this window any editor can argue keep, delete, merge, or redirect, backed by policy citations and reliable sources.
3. An uninvolved administrator reads consensus. At the end of the period, an administrator who has not participated in the discussion assesses it for consensus. The outcome turns on the quality of policy-based arguments, not on a count of votes.
4. Outcome. Based on that consensus, the article is kept, merged into another article, redirected, or deleted.

Why it matters for a company or executive

When a company or executive’s article is at AfD, the stakes are real: the outcome can remove the article entirely. The response that works is to participate through editors who can address each concern with the strongest independent secondary sources. Flooding the discussion with new accounts does not work, because experienced editors recognize the pattern quickly.