Template:Supplement/doc

History
This "explanatory essay" template was originally intended as a separate "supplement" template used for essays like The difference between policies, guidelines and essays. In discussions about how to improve and explain policies and guidelines, many editors thought that it would be easier to handle significant, yet overly detailed or instructional material on separate pages, instead of trying to shoehorn them directly into the official policy or guideline pages causing instructional creep. See also and.

Current usage
Use this template carefully, only when there is a well-established consensus at the relevant policy or guideline page to use this template on an essay that links from the relevant policy or guideline.

The noun supplement does not mean "an interpretation" nor just "something added". It means precisely "something added, especially to make up for a ", in this case a lack or gap in an official Wikipedia's policy or guideline. The intent is to further elaborate on Wikipedia's policies or guidelines in an impartial and informative manner.


 * Note: this template does not indicate a "higher status" within the community for an essay, but is used to denote  that the essay in question has wide acceptance to be linked from said policy or guideline page. If consensus changes or content is outdated and the essay is no longer referenced in a policy or guideline, change the tag to the more common   or  template, as appropriate.

Parameters
This template has an interprets a.k.a. pages parameter that must be used. Replaces "such guidance" with "the foo" where "foo" is a link to one or more policies or guidelines label(s) for what they are, e.g.:
 * No original research policy
 * Manual of Style guideline
 * No original research and Neutral point of view policies
 * Verifiability policy and Identifying reliable sources guideline
 * Wikipedia:Reliable sources – this simpler syntax will automatically link to the page if it exists.

You can also use to produce better-looking links to page sections, e.g.: the policy, which renders as "the  policy".

The template also has optional shortcut, shortcut2, shortcut3, and shortcut4 parameters that can be used to add a Shortcut: box to the right-side, with up to four shortcuts. {	"params": { "1": {			"aliases": [ "shortcut1" ],			"description": "first shortcut", "example": "WP:PGE", "type": "string", "suggested": true },		"2": {},		"3": {},		"4": {},		"interprets": { "aliases": [ "pages" ],			"label": "Interprets", "description": "Parameter that must be used. Replaces \"such guidance\" with \"the foo\" where \"foo\" is a link to one or more policies or guidelines and label(s) for what they are", "example": "Verifiability policy", "type": "string", "required": true },		"shortcut": { "label": "Shortcut", "description": "Parameters that can be used to add a \"Shortcut:\" box to the right-side", "example": "WP:DRAFT" },		"shortcut1": {}, "shortcut2": { "label": "Shortcut2" },		"shortcut3": { "label": "Shortcut3" },		"shortcut4": { "label": "Shortcut4" },		"category": {} },	"format": "inline" }

Examples

 * becomes:
 * becomes:


 * becomes:
 * becomes:


 * becomes:
 * becomes:

Categorization
This template adds a page to Category:Wikipedia supplemental pages, by default. If the page is in userspace (e.g. is a draft of a supplement, or is a mistaken use of the template for something intended to remain a user essay), it will instead be put into Category:User essays.

If there is a need to put the page in an eventual more-specific subcategory, this can be accomplished with category, using a fully wikilinked category as input. E.g.:

This feature should not be used to add an additional category (as this would remove inclusion in Category:Wikipedia supplemental pages or any subcategory thereof). To add additional categories, simply put them at page-bottom, as usual.