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Help - Maintenance Template Removal

The document provides guidance on removing maintenance templates from Wikipedia articles. It explains that templates should not be removed until the flagged issue is addressed. It provides examples of when removal is appropriate, such as when an issue has been resolved by the editor or by someone else. The document instructs editors to carefully read explanatory pages linked from templates to understand the problem before removing templates. It outlines the basic process of removal, which involves editing the page and removing the template code while providing a descriptive edit summary.

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Biswajit Mohanty
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113 views3 pages

Help - Maintenance Template Removal

The document provides guidance on removing maintenance templates from Wikipedia articles. It explains that templates should not be removed until the flagged issue is addressed. It provides examples of when removal is appropriate, such as when an issue has been resolved by the editor or by someone else. The document instructs editors to carefully read explanatory pages linked from templates to understand the problem before removing templates. It outlines the basic process of removal, which involves editing the page and removing the template code while providing a descriptive edit summary.

Uploaded by

Biswajit Mohanty
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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6/2/2016

Help:MaintenancetemplateremovalWikipedia,thefreeencyclopedia

Help:Maintenancetemplateremoval
FromWikipedia,thefreeencyclopedia

Furtherinformation:Wikipedia:ResponsibletaggingandWikipedia:Tagbombing
Thisessayisahowtoguidedetailingprocessonsomeaspector
aspectsofWikipedia'snormsandpractices.ItisnotoneofWikipedia's
policiesorguidelineswheresomethingisinconsistentwiththispage,
pleasedefertothose.
Thispageinanutshell:Ifyouhavetheability,pleaseboldlyassist
Wikipediabyfixingtheissuesflaggedbymaintenancetemplates!
AllproblemsonWikipediaareresolvedthroughtheeffortsofvolunteers
likeyou.Ifyouunderstandtheproblemthatthetemplatehighlights,such
asbyreadingtheexplanatorylinksitcontainsorfoundguidancethrough
thispageandhavethoroughlyfixedtheissuesyoumaysimplyremove
themaintenancetemplateitwillnotberemovedautomatically.
ManyWikipediapagesdisplaymaintenancetemplatesaddressedtoproblemswiththetopicorcontentof
thepage.Youmayhavearrivedatthispageafteryouclickedonalinkinjustsuchamaintenancetemplate,
thatsaid"Learnhowandwhentoremovethistemplatemessage".Thesemaintenancetemplatesareadded
andremovedbyvolunteers,andthishelppageexplainstheprocessthroughwhichthishappens.

Contents
1 Overview
2 Addressingtheflaggedproblem
2.1 Anexample
3 Whentoremove
4 Whennottoremove
5 Removal
6 Changingtemplate
7 Specifictemplateguidance
7.1 Researchingthetaggedissue
8 Stillneedhelp?
9 Seealso

Overview
Maintenancetemplates(or"tags")areneverremovedautomatically.Ifyoufixtheissue,thetagwillstill
remainuntilyouorsomeoneelsemanuallyremovesit.Themechanicsofremovalisusuallyassimpleas
clickingeditatthetopofapageorinthesectioninvolved,removingthecodethatproducesthedisplayof
thetemplate,leavinganeditsummary,andsavingthepage.However,itisnotokaytoremovemaintenance
templatesuntiltheissueflaggedbythetemplateisremediedfirst.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Help:Maintenance_template_removal

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Help:MaintenancetemplateremovalWikipedia,thefreeencyclopedia

Wikipediaworksbecauseoftheeffortsofvolunteerslikeyouandtheirboldeditstoassistusinbuilding
thisencyclopediaproject.Fixingproblemsandthenremovingmaintenancetemplateswhenyou'redoneis
importantinthateffort.

Addressingtheflaggedproblem
Wedon'tknowwhichmaintenancetagbroughtyoutothispage,andthuswhatproblemneedsattention.
However,everymaintenancetemplatecontainslinkstohelppages,policies,guidelines,orotherrelevant
pagesthatprovideinformationontheproblemthetemplatewasplacedtoflag.Youmayalsofindguidance
onsomeofthemorecommonlyseentemplatesbelow.
Manycommontemplatesaddressproblemswitharticlecitationsandreferencesortheirlackbecause
reliablesourcingisthelifebloodofWikipediaarticlesandatthecoreofallofWikipedia'scontentpolicies
andguidelines,suchasnotability,verifiability,neutralpointofviewandnooriginalresearch.Butthereare
ahostofotherissuesthatmaybeflagged,fromtoneandstyleofwriting,tostructureandformatting,lack
oflinkstootherarticlesoroflinkstothearticleatissue,compliancewithWikipedia'smanualofstyle,the
lackofaleadsectionandothers.
Fixingtheissueistheconditionyouneedtofulfillbeforeremovingthetemplate,andthatdoesrequire
someeffortonyourparttounderstandboththeproblemanditssolution.

Anexample
Iftheissueflaggedbythemaintenancetemplateisthatthearticlecontainsnoreferences,thetemplateused
mightbe{{Unreferenced}}typicallyplacedbythecodethatyouwouldseewhenediting:
{{Unreferenced|date=June2016}}.Itisimportanttounderstandthatwhatyouseewhenreadinganarticle,
andwhatyouseewheneditingit,isdifferent.Thus,thiscode,onlyseenwhenediting,resultsinthedisplay
whenyouarereadingofthe'called'templatebelow:
Thisarticledoesnotciteanysources.Pleasehelpimprovethisarticle
(https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Help:Maintenance_templat
e_removal&action=edit)byaddingcitationstoreliablesources.
Unsourcedmaterialmaybechallengedandremoved.(June2016)(Learn
howandwhentoremovethistemplatemessage)

Thistemplatecontainsanumberoflinksindicatedbywordsandphrasesshowninblue.Threeofthese
linksarepagesthatwhenexplored,shouldprovidecontextandresourcesforyoutounderstandwhythe
templatebelonged,andhowtoaddresstheissueofthearticlebeingunreferenced:
"cite",whichlinkstothecontentguidelineWikipedia:Citingsources
"sources",whichlinkstothepolicyWikipedia:Verifiabilityand
"addingcitationstoreliablesources",whichlinkstoahelppageprovidingahowtoguidetothe
basicsofcitingreferences.
Whatevermaintenancetagbroughtyouhereshouldlikewisecontainrelevantexplanatorylinksaddressedto
whateveritsissueis.Readtheseexplanatoryandcontextualpagestolearnabouttheproblemandwhatitis
youneedtodototakecareofit.Thisparticulartemplate,beingverycommon,isfurtheraddressedinthe
specifictemplateguidancesectionbelow.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Help:Maintenance_template_removal

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Whentoremove
Mosttemplatesarenotmeanttobeinarticlespermanently.Anyuserwithoutaconflictofinterestmay
removeatemplateinanyofthefollowingcircumstances:
1.Whentheyhaveaddressedtheissuethetemplateraises
2.Whentheydeterminethattheissuehasbeenresolved(perhapsbysomeoneelse)
3.Ifitreasonablyappearsthatthetemplatedidnotbelongwhenplacedorwasaddedinerror
(discussingthematterwiththeoriginalplacerofthetemplateisadvised,thoughiftheuserisno
longeractivethisbecomesmoothowever,iftheissueappearscontentious,seekconsensusonthe
talkpage)
4.Whenthereisconsensusonthetalkpage(orelsewhere)astotheflaggedissue
5.Whenitreasonablyappearsthatthetemplateisnolongerrelevant,suchasa{{Current}}template
appearinginanarticlethatnolongerdocumentsacurrentevent.
6.SomeneutralitytagssuchasConflictofInterest(COI)andNeutralpointofview(POV)requirethat
thetaggingeditorinitiateadialog(generallyonthearticle'stalkpage),tosustaintheir
placement.[underdiscussion]

Whennottoremove
Atemplateshouldnotberemovedifanyofthefollowingapplies:
1.Whentheissuehasnotyetbeenresolved
2.Whenthereisongoingactivityordiscussionrelatedtothetemplateissue
3.Whenyoudonotunderstandtheissuesraisedbythetemplate
4.Whenyousimplydisagreewiththetemplate(seekconsensusfirst).
5.Youhavebeenpaidtoeditthearticleorhavesomeotherconflictofinterest.[underdiscussion]

Removal
Okay?Youcarefullyreadthehelppagesandhavethoroughlyfixedtheproblem?Alternatively,youhave
madeaconsidereddeterminationthatthetemplateisnot,orisnolonger,applicable?Good.Thankyou!
Now,toremovethemaintenancetemplate:
1.Eitherclickon"edit"atthetopofthepage,orifthemaintenancetemplateisnotatthetopbut
somewhereinthebodyofthearticle,youmightuseinsteadasectioneditlink
2.Removethetemplatecode.Thetemplatecodeyouwillseeineditmodewillusuallybeintheform
(asintheexampleabove):{{Nameoftemplate|date}}
3.Leaveadescriptiveeditsummary,e.g.,"removed[insertthenameoftemplate]asIhavefixed
theissue."
4.Click Savepage .
That'sit.

Changingtemplate
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Help:Maintenance_template_removal

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