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The Draft namespace (draftspace) is not a "free" drafting space. Though deletion procedures in the draftspace and mainspace differ, drafts often face deletion just as live articles do. Drafts in the draftspace are commonly deleted for any number of reasons, including:
- they have not been edited for 6 months (see G13)
- they have been declined at Articles for Creation too many times
- they duplicate an existing article, even if they are intended for drafting improvements to that article
- they do not demonstrate plausible notability
- they appear to be "hopeless"
Since the draftspace is not a "free" drafting space, all editors—and especially newbies who do not understand how to avoid draft deletion—should use their userspace for "free" drafting instead. These userspace drafts should not be tagged with {{userspace draft}} (or similiar templates), nor should they be submitted to Articles for Creation (AfC), as this adds no benefit and makes it more likely that the draft will draw attention and be listed at Miscellany for Deletion or, in the latter case, deleted per G13. The use of draftspace, AfC, or {{userspace draft}} should be reserved for cases where community feedback on the draft is desired, with the understanding that this feedback may include deletion.
Users currently working on pages in the draftspace should consider moving them to userspace if they wish to have a "free" drafting space. G13 does not apply to non-AfC userspace drafts, though STALEDRAFT may be invoked upon prolonged user inactivity. Note that while userspace is a good "free" drafting area, it is not okay for user pages to contain work that is unrelated to the purpose of Wikipedia.
Completed drafts can be unilaterally moved to the mainspace (turned into articles) without going through any special channel, provided that the mover's account is 4 days old and has made 10 edits. This 4 days and 10 edits requirement should be easily reached simply by developing the draft.