This page in a nutshell: Add template messages to inform readers and editors of specific problems with articles or sections, but do not use them as a badge of shame.
Template messages may be added to articles needing a cleanup. Their purposes are to foster improvement of the encyclopedia by alerting editors to changes that need to be made. Cleanup tags are meant to be temporary notices that lead to an effort to fix the problem, not a permanent badge of shame to show that you disagree with the article or a method of warning the readers against the article.
Unless otherwise noted, the cleanup messages, or tags, should be placed at the top—before other templates, images, or infoboxes, but after hatnotes (see WP:Hatnote#Placement). Certain tags can be placed at the top of an individual section, and others can be placed within the text itself (inline).
Avoid tagging articles if you can easily and confidently fix the problem.
The goal is an improved article, not a tagged article.
Avoid "drive-by" tagging
Tags should be accompanied by a comment on the article's talk page explaining the problem and beginning a discussion on how to fix it, or, for simpler problems, a remark using the reason parameter as shown below; tagging editors must be willing to follow-through with substantive discussion
Don’t insert tags that are similar or redundant.
For example, most articles that read like essays have an inappropriate tone, and in fact they end up being automatically grouped in the same category, so it is unnecessary to tag with both {{tone}} and {{essay-like}}.
If an article has many problems, tag only the highest priority issues.
A lengthy list is often less helpful than a shorter one. (See also: tag bombing and over-tagging)
Don't add tags for trivial or minor problems, especially if an article needs a lot of work.
For example, there is little point in polishing the grammar of a section that needs to be dramatically re-written to comply with content policies. Focus on the biggest one, two, or three problems.
A date parameter is added by a bot, or you can add it yourself with |date=June 2016.
Does the article meet inclusion requirements?[edit]
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 nominated for a deletion discussion at article for deletion.
Best practices in obscure or unpopular articles[edit]
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[edit]
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.
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.
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 {{multiple issues}} template.
This article may have been copied and pasted from a source, possibly in violation of Wikipedia's copyright policy. Please remedy this by editing this article to remove any non-free copyrighted content and attributing free content correctly, or flagging the content for deletion. Please be sure that the supposed source of the copyright violation is not itself a Wikipedia mirror.
To comply with the Wikipedia quality standards, this book-related article may require cleanup.
This article contains very little context, or is unclear to readers who know little about the book.
See this article's talk page before making any large and/or controversial edits.
To comply with the Wikipedia quality standards, this film-related article may require cleanup.
This article contains very little context, or is unclear to readers who know little about the film.
See this article's talk page before making any large and/or controversial edits.
This article may contain material discouraged by the guidelines for video game subjects. Please help by removing content such as lists of minutiae or a detailed description of how to play a game, and rewriting the article in an encyclopedic style.
This article has too much, and/or needs to reorganize, minor gaming-related detail. Please help by removing encyclopedically irrelevant information, relocating relevant material to more appropriate places, and rewriting the article in a more encyclopedic style.
This article or section is written in the wrong direction. U.S. road articles are generally written in a south-to-north and west-to-east direction in order to follow the order of their mileposts. Please help by rewriting the article or section in the correct direction.
This article appears to contain a large number of buzzwords. Specific concerns may be found on the talk page. Please help improve this article if you can.
This article is written in the style of a debate rather than an encyclopedic summary. It may require cleanup to meet Wikipedia's quality standards and make it more accessible to a general audience. Please discuss this issue on the talk page.
This article contains a pro and con list, which is sometimes inappropriate. Please help improve it by integrating both sides into a more neutral presentation, or remove this template if you feel that such a list is appropriate for this article.
This article is written like a travel guide rather than an encyclopedic description of the subject. Please help improve it by rewriting it in an encyclopedic style. If a travel guide is intended, use of Wikivoyage is strongly suggested.
This article's text uses more words than are necessary. Please help improve this article by using fewer words whilst keeping the content of the article.
This article should be divided into sections by topic, to make it more accessible. Please help by adding section headings in accordance with Wikipedia's Manual of Style.
This may overuse or misuse colour, making it hard to understand for colour-blind users. Please remove or fix instances of distracting or hard-to-read colours. See the category page and WP:COLOUR for guidelines.
This article needs copy editing in order to create readable prose, proper spacing, and/or standard section length. You can assist by editing it now. A how-to guide is available.
This "see also" section may contain an excessive number of suggestions. Please ensure that only the most relevant suggestions are given and that they are not red links, and consider integrating suggestions into the article itself.
This page may be too long to read and navigate comfortably. Please consider splitting content into sub-articles, condensing it, or adding or removing subheadings.
This article's lead section may not adequately summarize key points of its contents. Please consider expanding the lead to provide an accessible overview of all important aspects of the article. Please discuss this issue on the article's talk page.
This article's introduction may be too long for the length of the article. Please help by moving some material from it into the body of the article. Please read the layout guide and lead section guidelines to ensure the section will still be inclusive of all essential details. Please discuss this issue on the article's talk page.
This article or section contains embedded lists that may be poorly defined, unverified or indiscriminate. Please help to clean it up to meet Wikipedia's quality standards. Where appropriate, incorporate items into the main body of the article.
For use in articles or sections where potentially unwanted lists need to be salvaged before being deleted
This article may have been copied and pasted from a source, possibly in violation of Wikipedia's copyright policy. Please remedy this by editing this article to remove any non-free copyrighted content and attributing free content correctly, or flagging the content for deletion. Please be sure that the supposed source of the copyright violation is not itself a Wikipedia mirror.
This article may contain excessive or improper use of non-free material.Please review the use of non-free media according to policy and guidelines and correct any violations. The talk page may have details.
This only describes one highly specialized aspect of its associated subject. Please help improve this article by adding more general information. The talk page may contain suggestions.
This focuses too much on specific examples without clearly discussing its abstract general subject. Please help by consulting secondary sources for general statements made about the subject and improving this by adding more general information.
This article is about an event or subject that may not be current but does not specify a time period. Please help improve it to include this information as Wikipedia is viewed by a worldwide audience. The talk page may contain suggestions.
This article appears to be written from a human-centric perspective but ignores other animals to which it may also apply. Please help by rewriting it from a biologically neutral point of view that treats humans as one of many relevant animals rather than the only animal to which it applies.(Learn how and when to remove this template message)
Articles occasionally contain content which is otherwise valid, but appears unrelated to the nominal topic of the article. However, such stray may be subject of interpretation and must not lead to common understanding.
The citations in this article lack sufficient bibliographical information (e.g. author, title, date of publication, publisher, ISBN, pages cited, etc.). Specific concerns can be found on the talk page. See Help:Referencing for beginners with citation templates for guidance about writing citations.
This biographical article needs more biographical information on the subject.Statistical information, such as date and place of birth, information on historical significance, and information on accomplishments is desired. Please remove this message when done. See this article's talk page for more information.
When calling this template, you may pass it a parameter. A template call like {{expand section | examples and additional citations}} generates: "This section requires expansion with: examples and additional citations."
Some Information/Formula presented in this article have missing or incomplete descriptions . Please assist in recruiting an expert or improve this article yourself. See the talk page for details.
Place {{Lacking ISBN|date=June 2016}} at the head of the relevant section(s). Remember that books published before 1974 may not have ISBNs (though more recent editions should).
This contains an enumeration of examples, but lacks a general overview of its topic. You can help by adding an appropriate introductory section. Editing help is available.
This article is missing information about . Please expand the article to include this information. Further details may exist on the talk page.
When calling this template, you must pass it a parameter. A template call like {{Missing information | why bananas are yellow}} generates "This article is missing information about why bananas are yellow."
This article needs attention from an expert in PROJECTNAME. Please add a reason or a talk parameter to this template to explain the issue with the article. WikiProject PROJECTNAME (or its Portal) may be able to help recruit an expert.
Before adding this template, start a section on the article discussion page describing what you wish the expert to address, and put the section name in the |talk= parameter. {{Expert needed talk}} may be used on the talk page for this purpose.
This article is about an event or subject that may not be current but does not specify the time period.. Please help improve it to include this information as Wikipedia is viewed by a worldwide audience. The talk page may contain suggestions.
This Wikipedia page is outdated. Please update this Wikipedia page to reflect recent events or newly available information and see the talk page for possible discussion on this.
The factual accuracy of this Wikipedia page may be compromised due to out-of-date information. Please update this Wikipedia page to reflect recent events or newly available information and see the talk page for possible discussion on this.
This article appears to contradict another article. Please see discussion on the linked talk page. Please do not remove this message until the contradictions are resolved.
This article appears to contradict the articles example and illustration. Please see discussion on the linked talk page. Please do not remove this message until the contradictions are resolved.
Use these tags in articles that appear to contradict themselves or each other.
This article may lack focus or may be about more than one topic. Please help improve this article, possibly by splitting the article and/or by introducing a disambiguation page, or discuss this issue on the talk page.
Use this tag when the writing is clear, but the article as a whole doesn't concentrate on a single theme.
An optional parameter can be added to specify the applicable guideline; e.g.: {{notability|biographies}}, {{notability|fiction}}. See the template documentation for a list of supported values.
This article relies extensively on quotations that were previously collated by an advocacy or lobbying group. Please improve this article or discuss the issue on the talk page.
The neutrality of this article's title, subject matter, and/or the title's implications, is disputed.
This is a dispute over the neutrality of viewpoints or other implications of the title, or the subject matter within its scope, rather than the actual facts stated. Wikipedia articles may have only one unique title; the use of the current title does not imply an endorsement of that title. Please see the relevant discussion on the talk page.
This article may be unbalanced towards certain viewpoints. Please improve the article by adding information on neglected viewpoints, or discuss the issue on the talk page.
This section may lend undue weight to certain ideas, incidents, or controversies. Please help to create a more balanced presentation. Discuss and resolve this issue before removing this message.
This article may have been copied and pasted from a source, possibly in violation of Wikipedia's copyright policy. Please remedy this by editing this article to remove any non-free copyrighted content and attributing free content correctly, or flagging the content for deletion. Please be sure that the supposed source of the copyright violation is not itself a Wikipedia mirror.
This article needs attention from an expert in PROJECTNAME. Please add a reason or a talk parameter to this template to explain the issue with the article. WikiProject PROJECTNAME (or its Portal) may be able to help recruit an expert.
Before adding this template, start a section on the article discussion page describing what you wish the expert to address, and put the section name in the |talk= parameter. {{Expert needed talk}} may be used on the talk page for this purpose.
Individual message boxes: Biographies of living persons[edit]
Tag
Individual message boxes, text that will be shown, and usage notes.
(Boxes for both the top of an article, or a specific section of an article)
Some of this article's listed sourcesmay not be reliable. Please help this article by looking for better, more reliable sources, or by checking whether the references meet the criteria for reliable sources. Unreliable citations may be challenged or deleted.(Learn how and when to remove this template message)
Individual message boxes: Issues with style or format[edit]
Tag
Individual message boxes, text that will be shown, and usage notes.
(Boxes for both the top of an article, or a specific section of an article)
This article may be in the wrong category or belong in further categories. Please re-categorize this article to list it with similar topics or add further categories if required. If you are satisfied that the article is in the correct category please remove this tag.
This article has not been added to any categories. Please help out by adding categories to it so that it can be listed with similar articles, in addition to a stub category. Please remove this tag after categorizing.
Place this at the bottom of an article if it is only categorized into a stub category and you are unsure of which categories apply.
This article or section contains embedded lists that may be poorly defined, unverified or indiscriminate. Please help to clean it up to meet Wikipedia's quality standards. Where appropriate, incorporate items into the main body of the article.
For use in non-list articles or sections where potentially unwanted lists need to be salvaged before being deleted
This list of "famous" or "notable" persons has no clear inclusion or exclusion criteria. Please help to define clear inclusion criteria and edit the list to contain only subjects that fit those criteria.
For use in articles with unclear criteria for a list of "famous" or "notable" persons.
This list of "famous" or "notable" sporting persons has no clear inclusion or exclusion criteria. Please help to define clear inclusion criteria and edit the list to contain only subjects that fit those criteria.
For use in articles with unclear criteria for a list of "famous" or "notable" sports persons.
For use in fiction-specific articles that have way too many trivial examples. (Ex.: For an article specifically about famous fictional horses that mentions the fact that Sesame Street once told kids how to spell "horse", or that one of the animals you can kill in an online game is a horse.)
For use when a nonfiction article has become overcrowded with too many references to fiction or other pop culture. (Ex.: Article on horses having a long section of TV shows, movies, video games, etc. that have "horse" in the name or feature horses in some way.)
This contains a list of works that does not follow the Manual of Style for lists of works (often, though not always, due to being in reverse-chronological order) and may need cleanup. Please improve this if you can.
This article is in a list format that may be better presented using prose.You can help by converting this article to prose, if appropriate. Editing help is available.
This uses HTML markup. Please help by changing HTML markup to wiki markup where appropriate. For more details, see HTML in wikitext. Bear in mind that some HTML elements (e.g., the <sup></sup> and <sub></sub> tags) should not be removed. See Help:Wikitext examples for a list of non-deprecated HTML tags.
If the article needs HTML changed into wiki-markup
This disambiguation page lists articles associated with the same title. If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change the link to point directly to the intended article.
Note: This page may need to be cleaned up to meet Wikipedia's quality standards. Further information might be found on the talk page. Tools: DabFix
This article lacks an infobox. You may wish to add one, so that the article resembles the standard display for this subject. This talk page may contain the banner of a relevant project, that provides the standardized infobox for this type of article. See also Category:Infobox templates, and Wikipedia:WikiProject Infoboxes.
This template should be used on talk pages.
Also has functionality to indicate that only a section in a page needs one. See the template page for more info.
![[icon]](/web/20160630014445/https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Wiki_letter_w_cropped.svg){kind=small}
