Wikipedia:Restoring part of a reverted edit

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This essay contains the advice or opinions of one or more Wikipedia contributors. Essays are not Wikipedia policies or guidelines. Some essays represent widespread norms; others only represent minority viewpoints.

This page in a nutshell: It is sometimes better to remove the content that is objectionable, instead of entirely reverting an edit.

Restoring part of a reverted edit is a recommended practice in on-line collaborative writing.

Often when an article version contains more than one disagreeable passage, it is easy to revert to a previous version. This gets rid of all the "mistakes" in a few seconds, but it also can eliminate "good stuff," discourage other editors, and spark an edit war.

Don't throw out the baby with the bath water[edit]

If 50% of an edit is bad, but the other half is good, please do not revert 100%. It's better to mine the old version for good stuff and selectively keep it. Just throw out the bad stuff.

Save my baby![edit]

If someone discarded some good stuff when reverting, please don't revert the reversion. This can spark an edit war.

Just find some of the good stuff and put it into the current version. Then do a diff and look for more good stuff. Repeat as needed.

See also[edit]

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Deletion	Adjectives in your recommendations AfD is not a war zone Arguments to avoid in deletion discussions Arguments to avoid in deletion reviews Arguments to avoid in image deletion discussions Arguments to make in deletion discussions Avoid repeated arguments Before commenting in a deletion discussion But there must be sources! Content removal Delete the junk Does deletion help Don't overuse shortcuts to policy and guidelines to win your argument Follow the leader How to save an article proposed for deletion I just don't like it Immunity Liar Liar Pants on Fire Nothing Overzealous deletion Relisting can be abusive Wikipedia is not Whack-A-Mole Why was the page I created deleted? What to do if your article gets tagged for speedy deletion When in doubt, hide it in the woodwork

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Wikipedia:Restoring part of a reverted edit

Don't throw out the baby with the bath water[edit]

Save my baby![edit]

See also[edit]

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