That's exactly how I've observed it working.
And because none of the defenders were wikipedia insiders there was nothing anyone could do.
Re:The Quiet Wikideath of BBS History
by Turing_Machine on Wednesday December 12, 2012 @10:02PM
(#4913918)
The policy must've changed then. My new article was deleted within minutes after creation by one person.
It seems likely to me that a lot of people who are up in arms about "deletionism" really do think individual admins randomly zorch articles for no reason. That's not generally how it works.