Template talk:UNSCEAR RE type

ref in template
Hi Fluffernutter. I am a very beginner of template. This is my first template and I noticed that red warning about the lack of reflist. I thought if I add a reflist in this template, it may cause problem with the reflist of the main page which use this template. I had pasted this template to two pages, United Nations Scientific Committee on the Effects of Atomic Radiation and Radiation exposure. I am not sure how reference appear in these pages is ok or not. let me know. Thank you --Masaqui (talk) 04:15, 14 July 2011 (UTC)
 * You were actually mostly right - just adding to a template, while it makes the error disappear on the template itself, often then causes errors when the template is transcluded onto an article (because, as far as I've been able to figure out, the mediawiki software can't handle having two reference list templates, and throws the same error it would if there were none!). The way around this is to do what I did and use a reflist group. You can group references and then display two groups on an article at the same time. So when mediawiki goes to parse an article that has this template in it, it'll see the article's usual reflist, and display that, and the template's seperately-grouped reflist, and also display that. REFGROUP gives you some information about the syntax for ref groups.
 * I checked the pages this template appears on, to make sure everything is displaying ok, and it looks fine to me. I set the template reflist to display in small type, because I thought it looked better, but that's just an aesthetic choice, and you could change it if you want. Same with not using a "references" heading. A fluffernutter is a sandwich! (talk) 13:26, 14 July 2011 (UTC)
 * Thank you for your kind explanation. I like reflist in small too. I got it. I will study about ref group and I will add it next time in the template with ref. Thank you again.--Masaqui (talk) 20:32, 14 July 2011 (UTC)
 * I don't wish to discourage a thoughtful editor who wants to try new things, but why a template? The reasons mentioned in Help:A quick guide to templates do not seem relevant in a matter that could just as well be handled as a section of an article, unless I'm missing a point as often happens.  Jim.henderson (talk) 14:17, 16 July 2011 (UTC)
 * Hi, Jim. I had typed in the content of this template (type of exposure) in Radiation exposure, then I thought it also belong to UNSCEAR. Then I found that Template can be used to avoid "Copy and Paste", as said in Help:A quick guide to templates quote "Templates are used to add recurring messages to pages". I used to think that the template is created by special user group for many times repeating common messages used by the rest of community, but recently ja wikipedia administrator told me that I can use it to post same content to different pages. That's how I created this template. I prefer this way because if UNSCEAR revise itemization in future, I have to update only this template. And something already happened is other user had edited original posting in the page "Radiation exposure" at that time same content was not posted in another page, if it was, it may have created discrepancy in two pages. by the way I am trying to change this template in the form of table instead of current list. I am not quite sure about the usage of the template. let me know it is ok or not. --MasAqui (talk) 23:53, 16 July 2011 (UTC)

There is surely no rule or guideline against it, but Wikipedia_talk:Template_namespace suggests to me the difficulties such a template may raise in future. A template that's only used in two articles, and is mostly plain narrative, makes editing more difficult for the majority who haven't studied templates. Templates are normally short, and used in large numbers of articles, and are made for an appearance that contrasts strongly with ordinary inline text. This one is only made for two articles, which may evolve in directions that call for this section to look different for those articles.

For example the UNSCEAR article might collect several later official reports, whose summaries ought to minimize redundancy, while only one of the reports might be relevant to the other article. Yes, the template can be abolished then and the contents transferred as appropriate, or additional plain text can be adjusted to accommodate the format of the template, but who knows whether you or I or anyone else who remembers this template will still be editing then? So, I'm in no great hurry to abolish the template, since it is used only in articles having relatively light activity, but I do urge reticence in creating maintenance problems by using such personal shortcuts. Jim.henderson (talk) 21:19, 19 July 2011 (UTC)


 * I understand that this page is not quite fit to the name "template". I will change this list to the form of table so that this section stand out(not masquerade) from the main article. Watch-ability is remain as a concern. I noticed that editing template does not show up as main page edit. Also while editing, editor can not see which pages are using this template. this is inconvenience too. In the case of this page(template), it may remain as used only twice. I will refrain to use this function as a convenient tool.--MasAqui (talk) 00:50, 20 July 2011 (UTC)