The following template messages may be added to articles that need a cleanup. The purpose of such templates is to inform other editors and readers at a quick glance what potential problems there are with article content and to spur improvement in the spirit of Wikipedia. In obscure articles with few editors, the templates can serve to attract attention to problems that have not been addressed. In articles that are heavily edited or discussed, templates can be used to indicate ongoing problems or disputes in order to attract outside help and caution readers that the content may be shortly subject to change. Unless otherwise noted, they should be placed at the top of the article—before other templates, images, or infoboxes (for the short notes placed at the top of an article before the primary topic, see WP:Hatnote#Placement). Please do not insert tags that are too similar or redundant with each other. For example, all articles that read like essays have an inappropriate tone, and in fact they end up in the same category, so it is unnecessary to tag with {{Inappropriate tone}} in addition to {{Essay-like}}. Similarly, if an article has many problems, please consider tagging only the most important problems. A very lengthy list is often less helpful than a shorter one. Remember that tags are not intended as a badge of shame (see also: tag bombing).
Note that the date parameter will be added by a bot if it is left off. Some tags have alternative versions that apply to situations of greater specificity. Some editors may refer to these as flags or banners, as in "I flagged this article because . . ." or "I added a banner to the top of the article because . . ."
Does the article meet inclusion requirements?
Before placing templates on a page it is worthwhile to cast a critical eye over the page to determine whether it should, in fact, be included in Wikipedia. Some articles can be tagged for speedy deletion or marked as an article for deletion.
Best practices in obscure or unpopular articles
On pages that have received little attention from editors or readers, cleanup templates can be used as a way to call attention to problems that need to be addressed by editors. Editors who want to help address these problems should look through the various cleanup categories such as maintenance and articles with content issues and try to address the problems so that the templates can be removed. Editors who do a lot of tagging of articles should also address the backlogs.
Best practices in heavily monitored articles
On pages that are being edited by a number of users, cleanup templates are used to inform readers and editors of ongoing discussions and attempts to fix the problems on the page. Such templates can be used to attract uninvolved users to discussions and cleanup efforts, and they can also serve as a warning to casual readers that the article may have problems and be subject to dramatic changes. In general, an editor who places a template message to indicate a problem like this should explain their rationale fully on the talkpage of the article. If the consensus of the other editors is that there is a problem or an editorial dispute that deserves such a clean-up template, then the editors should work to fix the problem as quickly and cleanly as possible so the template message can be removed. If the consensus is that there is no problem, then the message can be removed immediately. For heavily monitored articles, please do not add or remove template messages of this sort without using the talk page.
Use in sections
Many of these cleanup tags require you to place |article
as the first parameter when you use the tag at the top of an article. When you want the template to refer to just one section, however, you replace |article
with |section
(where the |
is a pipe key found on most keyboards as a shift-backslash (\
). See the specific template below to determine if such "section use" is supported and appropriate.
Tag consolidation
If too many tags are put at the top of an article, the article can become eclipsed by the tags, especially with short or stub articles. Consider consolidating the tags into the {{article issues}} template.
Tag | Text that will be shown (and usage notes) |
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{{Article issues}} |
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Cleanup
General cleanup
Use one of these general tags when none of the more specific tags fit.
Tag | Text that will be shown (and usage notes) |
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{{cleanup}} category |
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{{cleanup-section}} category |
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{{cleanup-remainder}} category |
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{{cleanup-reorganize}} category |
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{{cleanup-rewrite}} category |
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Plain old editing
Some articles just need someone with a good grasp of editing technique to give them a once-over.
Tag | Text that will be shown (and usage notes) |
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{{copyedit}} category |
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{{copyedit-section}} category |
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{{capitalization}} category |
Style of writing
Wikipedia is an encyclopedia. Wikipedia is not a dictionary, soapbox, how-to guide, blog, billboard, résumé, or crystal ball.
Tag | Text that will be shown (and usage notes) |
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{{Review}} category |
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{{Abbreviations}} category |
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{{Advert}} category |
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{{Newsrelease}} category |
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{{News release section}} category |
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{{Buzzword}} category |
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{{Essay-like}} category |
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{{Howto}} category |
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{{Travel guide}} category |
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{{Inappropriate person}} category |
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{{Inappropriate tone}} category |
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{{Like resume}} category |
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{{Plot}} category |
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{{Proandconlist}} category |
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{{All plot}} category |
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{{Quotefarm}} category |
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{{Cleanup-images}} category |
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{{Cleanup-gallery}} category |
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{{Story}} category |
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{{Cleanup-tense}} category |
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{{Cleanup-jargon}} category |
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{{Repetition}} category |
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{{Obituary}} category |
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{{Crystal}} category |
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{{Debate}} category |
Structure and sections
Tag | Text that will be shown (and usage notes) |
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{{importance-sect}} category |
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{{cleanup-combine}} category |
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{{restructure}} category |
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{{Condense}} category |
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{{sections}} category |
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{{section-diffuse}} category |
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{{spacing}} |
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{{Very long}} |
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{{Duplication}} category |
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{{trivia}} |
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{{Too many see alsos}} category |
Introduction
Tag | Text that will be shown (and usage notes) |
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{{lead}} category |
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{{lead too long}} category |
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{{lead too short}} category |
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{{lead rewrite}} category |
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{{lead missing}} category |
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{{POV-lead}} category |
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Potentially unwanted content
Some things just don't belong.
Message boxes
Tag | Text that will be shown (and usage notes) |
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{{Overlinked}} category |
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{{MOS}} category |
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{{External links}} category |
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{{cleanup-spam}} category |
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{{non-free}} category |
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{{copypaste}} category |
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{{Close paraphrase}} category |
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{{schedule}} category |
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{{trivia}} category |
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{{in popular culture}} category |
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{{criticism-section}} category |
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{{Unencyclopedic}} category |
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{{fancruft}} category |
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{{Remove-section}} category |
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{{Further reading cleanup}} category |
Inline with article text
Tag | Text that will be shown (and usage notes) |
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{{Linkspam}} |
[spam link?] |
{{contact info}} |
Contact information deleted (see Wikipedia's guidelines on inappropriate promotion). |
Context and detail
Tag | Text that will be shown (and usage notes) |
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{{whereisit}} category |
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{{time-context}} category |
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{{context}} category |
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{{generalize}} category |
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{{gen-section}} category |
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{{technical}} |
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Off-topic
Articles occasionally contain content which is otherwise valid, but is unrelated to the nominal topic of the article.
Tag | Text that will be shown (and usage notes) |
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{{off-topic}} category |
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{{Off-topic-other}} category |
Expand and add
Tag | Text that will be shown (and usage notes) |
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{{Expand}} category |
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{{Expand section}} category |
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{{Missing information}} category |
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{{Cleanup-biography}} category |
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{{reqdiagram}} category |
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{{reqphoto}} category |
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{{ISBN}} category |
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{{Formula missing descriptions}} category |
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{{Biblio}} category |
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Expert needed
Tag | Text that will be shown (and usage notes) |
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{{Expert-verify}} |
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{{Expert-subject}} |
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{{Expert-subject-multiple}} |
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Time-sensitive
Tag | Text that will be shown (and usage notes) |
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{{Update}} category |
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{{Recently revised}} category |
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{{Time-context}} category |
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{{Out of date}} category |
Inline with article text
Tag | Text that will be shown (and usage notes) |
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{{Update after}} category |
For facts that need updating now or at a specific future date [dated info] |
{{Citation needed}} |
For something that needs a cite [citation needed] |
{{Who}} |
For something that needs an attribution [who?] |
Contradiction and confusion
Tag | Text that will be shown (and usage notes) |
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{{contradict}} |
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{{contradict-other}} |
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{{contradiction-inline}} category |
[contradiction]
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{{cleanup-confusing}} category |
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{{incoherent}} |
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{{incoherent-topic}} |
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{{uncleardate}} category |
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{{misleading}} category |
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{{vague}} category |
[vague]
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Content forks
Tag | Text that will be shown (and usage notes) |
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{{bad summary}} category |
Importance and notability
Tag | Text that will be shown (and usage notes) |
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{{notability}} category |
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{{puffery}} category |
Neutrality and factual accuracy
All articles should maintain a Neutral point of view. Sometimes, editors dispute the truth of statements. See also: Wikipedia:Verifiability.
Message boxes
Tag | Text that will be shown (and usage notes) |
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{{POV}} category |
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{{POV-section}} category |
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{{POV-intro}} category |
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{{POV-title}} category |
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{{POV-check}} category |
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{{coatrack}} category |
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{{weasel}} category |
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{{cherrypicked}} category |
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{{COI}} category |
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{{peacock}} category |
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{{unbalanced}} category |
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{{Geographical imbalance}} |
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{{recentism}} category |
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{{Disputed}} category |
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{{Disputed-section}} category |
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{{BLP dispute}} category |
Inline with article text
Tag | Text that will be shown (and usage notes) |
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{{Clarify}} |
[clarification needed] |
{{POV-statement}} |
[neutrality is disputed] |
{{Lopsided}} |
[opinion needs balancing] |
{{POV assertion}} |
[neutrality is disputed] |
{{or}} |
[original research?] |
{{Dubious}} |
[dubious ] |
{{When}} |
For ambiguous or vague time references of various kinds. [when?] |
{{Who?}} |
For weasel words ("Many say..." Some people think...") [who?] |
Verifiability and sources
Message boxes
Tag | Text that will be shown (and usage notes) |
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{{unreferenced}} category |
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{{Unreferenced section}} |
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{{refimprove}} |
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{{BLPunsourced}} |
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{{BLP sources}} |
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{{original research}} category |
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{{unreliable sources}} category |
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{{primarysources}} |
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{{self-published}} category |
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{{onesource}} |
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{{citecheck}} |
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{{citation style}} category |
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{{no footnotes}} |
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{{morefootnotes}} |
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{{citations missing}} |
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{{cleanup-link rot}} |
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{{citations broken}} |
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{{Ibid}} |
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{{pagenumbers}} |
Inline with article text
Lists
Lists serve useful purposes, but sometimes need cleanup, too.
Tag | Text that will be shown (and usage notes) |
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{{cleanup-laundry}} category |
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{{listtable}} category |
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{{Prose}} |
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{{create-list}} category |
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{{example farm}} |
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{{fictionlist}} |
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{{fictionrefs}} |
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{{MOSLOW}} category |
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{{Disputed-list}} |
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Images
For tips on requesting images see Wikipedia:Requested pictures.
- For template messages related to the clean up of images, see Wikipedia:Template messages/Image namespace#Image format and quality.
Tag | Text that will be shown (and usage notes) |
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{{reqphoto}} |
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{{reqscreenshot}} |
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{{reqmap}} |
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{{reqdiagram}} |
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{{Too many photos}} |
Categories
Tag | Text that will be shown (and usage notes) |
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{{Catimprove}} category |
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{{Too many categories}} |
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{{uncategorized}} category |
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{{Uncategorized stub}} |
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{{Category relevant?}} category |
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{{Category unsourced}} category |
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Wiki tech
Most of these issues are covered in the main Wikipedia:Manual of Style.
Tag | Text that will be shown (and usage notes) |
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{{wikify}} |
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{{disambig-cleanup}} |
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{{uncategorized}} |
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{{orphan}} |
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{{deadend}} |
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{{Incoming links}} |
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Infobox needed
Tag | Text that will be shown (and usage notes) |
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{{newinfobox}} |
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{{single infobox request}} |
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{{ship infobox request}} |
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{{Reqinfobox}} |
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Infobox cleanup needed
Tag | Text that will be shown (and usage notes) |
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{{Cleanup-infobox}} |
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Cleanup of specific subjects
These templates are all "general cleanup" templates, but tie into a specific subject matter or WikiProject.
Tag | Text that will be shown (and usage notes) |
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{{CIA}} category |
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{{Cleanup Congress Bio}} category |
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{{cleanup-book}} category |
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{{cleanup-comics}} category |
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{{cleanup-school}} category |
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{{cleanup-university}} category |
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{{local}} category |
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{{ToLCleanup}} category |
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{{gamecleanup}} category |
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{{gameguide}} category |
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{{Hadith authenticity}} category |
Fiction
Tag | Text that will be shown (and usage notes) |
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{{In-universe}} category |
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{{In-universe/Anime and manga}} |
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{{Fiction}} category |
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{{Book-fiction}} |
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Miscellaneous
Message boxes
Tag | Text that will be shown (and usage notes) |
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{{metricate}} category |
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{{bad unit conversions}} |
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{{globalize}} category |
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{{cleanup-afd}} category |
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{{examplefarm}} |
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{{cleanup-ipa}} category |
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{{cleanup-chartable}} category |
Inline with article text
Tag | Text that will be shown (and usage notes) |
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{{dubious conversion}} |
[dubious conversion]
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{{Need IPA}} |
[IPA] |
Merging
The following tags should be placed on top the pages or sections which require merging.
Tag | Text that will be shown (and usage notes) |
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{{merge}} |
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{{mergeto}} |
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{{mergefrom}} |
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{{merging}} |
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{{merged-from}} |
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{{merged-to}} |
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{{convert template}} |
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Splitting
These templates are used for splitting articles.
Tag | Text that will be shown (and usage notes) |
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{{Split}} category |
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{{Split}} category |
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{{Split-apart}} category |
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{{Split-apart}} category |
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{{Split section}} category |
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{{Split section}} category |
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{{Split sections}} category |
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{{Sub-sections}} category |
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{{Split dab}} |
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Moving
The following cleanup tags are to be used for, during, and after proposing a move on Wikipedia:Requested moves.
Tag | Text that will be shown (and usage notes) |
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{{ subst:RMlink|old|new|why }} |
This template already includes the bullet, and it's for use only on Wikipedia:Requested moves (aka WP:RM, hence the name). Be sure to use the subst: and always sign it (four tildes ~~~~) after it. |
{{ subst:RMlink?|old|why }} |
This template is an alternative to RMlink. It already includes the bullet, and it's for use only on Wikipedia:Requested moves (aka WP:RM, hence the name). Be sure to use the subst: and always sign it (four tildes ~~~~) after it. The newname part has been replaced with ?. |
{{ subst:move|new|why }} |
old → new why ~~~~ Be sure to use the subst: and always sign it (four tildes ~~~~) after it. |
{{moveoptions}} category |
Use {{subst:move|?}} instead.
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{{Cleanup-articletitle}} |
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{{ subst:Afd-mergeto|New|Old|12 March 2010 }} |
Copying to other projects
The following templates should be placed atop articles desired to be moved to other Wiki foundation web site projects:
Tag | Text that will be shown (and usage notes) |
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{{Copy to Wiktionary}} category |
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{{Copy to Wikiquote}} category |
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{{Copy to Wikisource}} category |
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{{Copy to Wikibooks}} category |
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{{Copy to Wikibooks Cookbook}} category |
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{{Copy to Wikiversity}} category |
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{{Copy to Wikimedia Commons}} category |
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{{Convert to SVG and copy to Wikimedia Commons}} category |
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{{NowCommons}} category |
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{{ShadowsCommons}} category |
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{{Copy to Meta}} category |
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{{Copy to gaming wiki}} category |
The following related cleanup templates are also available:
Tag | Text that will be shown (and usage notes) |
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{{TWCleanup}} category |
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{{TWCleanup2}} category |
Translation
Tag | Text that will be shown (and usage notes) |
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{{Not English}} category |
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{{TranslatePassage}} category |
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{{cleanup-translation}} category |
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{{RoughTranslation}} category |
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{{Translation WIP}} category |
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{{Expand Spanish}} |
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{{Translated page}} |
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See also
- Wikipedia:Template messages/Disputes
- Wikipedia:Template messages/Maintenance#Copyright violations
- Wikipedia:WikiProject Stub sorting/Stub types
- Wikipedia:Tagging pages for problems
- Wikipedia:Responsible tagging
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