Template talk:Unreferenced section

Date not showing
Even when you specify the date parameter, it doesn't show up on the article page. See here. Also, why is this template styled different from other similar templates? See discussion here.--Bbb23 (talk) 23:05, 30 May 2012 (UTC)
 * The date doesn't show because of its compact nature here. Regarding that compact display, I've started a discussion at Template talk:Unreferenced.  Equazcion ( talk )  23:26, 30 May 2012 (UTC)
 * Great, thanks for presenting the issue more forcefully.--Bbb23 (talk) 23:54, 30 May 2012 (UTC)
 * The problem is not with either or with  but with.


 * As demonstrated above, that template is set up so that it only shows the date when full-width, not when small. -- Red rose64 (talk) 09:31, 31 May 2012 (UTC)
 * When the small ambox was designed, it was decided that it should be as small as possible to avoid the template taking up too much space (the idea was to make it small after all), so this behaviour is intentional and not a "bug". You might like to see the discussion, especially this part where this was briefly discussed. As this issue is something which has been brought up on other templates as well (e.g. Template talk:Expand section) we should probably take this to Template talk:Ambox and see whether there is consensus or not to display the date on the small version. &mdash; Martin (MSGJ · talk) 09:54, 31 May 2012 (UTC)
 * I feel like I've gone to a government office, only to be told to go to a different office, only to be told to go to a different one .... There is an issue here that transcends whether it should show the date or not show the date, which is consistency. Why is this template different from every other template? The discussion this change occurred 3 years ago. If the intent was to propagate this small version throughout the other maintenance templates, it sure hasn't happened. A second issue is the convenience of editors. The discussion states that the basis for the date is to sort it into the correct category, but that is not its sole basis. When I remove unsourced material from an article, one of the things I look at is how long the article has been tagged, and I use the date that is displayed. If there is no date, then I have to edit the article just to see it, an extra and unnecessary step. It may seem like a small step, but when you are watching hundreds of pages, it adds up. Finally, we're talking about a date, not an "essay", as one editor characterized it in the 2009 discussion. Surely, the date isn't going to destroy the narrow form of the display.--Bbb23 (talk) 23:48, 31 May 2012 (UTC)
 * Sorry you feel you are being chased around different "government offices"! It wasn't my intention to be overly beauracratic. Let's have the discussion here and I'll advertise it in some other places. I personally support the idea that these section templates should be small and less intrusive, but I am open to be convinced otherwise. I'll create a mock-up of what it would look like with the date, and we can compare. &mdash; Martin (MSGJ · talk) 21:26, 1 June 2012 (UTC)
 * Oh, that's okay, I was probably a bit frustrated. I also notice that you posted at ambox to alert them to this discussion, which I appreciate.--Bbb23 (talk) 00:48, 2 June 2012 (UTC)

With date
Okay so even with a "long" month like September it does not cause this template to take up another row, so I do not oppose the idea. &mdash; Martin (MSGJ · talk) 21:32, 1 June 2012 (UTC)
 * For the record, I don't see any reason the section parameter should also invoke small format. Most maintenance tags don't behave this way. It would be less intrusive if it didn't create the same amount of whitespace and maybe wrapped text, but it doesn't. If there's a central consensus demonstrated to make tags operate this way (or build it into ambox) then fine, but until then I don't think one or two tags should be mangled into this behavior.  Equazcion ( talk )  21:44, 1 Jun 2012 (UTC)
 * As far as I know, there is no "central consensus" that section tags should behave in this way. However there has been local consensus established on a handful of these templates which have decided to go down this route. What do you mean by "wrapped text"? &mdash; Martin (MSGJ · talk) 21:54, 1 June 2012 (UTC)
 * If the small version caused text to wrap around it (the box and article content sharing horizontal space), I could see it being a benefit, as then it would save space on the page and actually be less intrusive. Currently the small version just makes the box small and float left, filling the rest of the line with whitespace instead. Regarding consensus, I don't see any significant discussion on that. Someone presented the idea and a couple people agreed, then the edit was made. Also, this behavior is either good for all maintenance templates, or none of them. I don't see any discussion about why this particular template should be treated differently. If instead, someone thought section templates would work better this way, the discussion shouldn't have been held here, regarding just this one.  Equazcion ( talk )  22:10, 1 Jun 2012 (UTC)
 * Okay I see what you mean about wrapping now. You are talking about the text in the article not the text in the message box. Yes, this might be an interesting idea to explore. Regarding consensus, the discussion about this template was not particularly voluminous (although it did have more participants than this thread). However the discussion which took place on Template talk:Expand section (and which led to the development of the small ambox), was significant and cannot, I suggest, be overridden easily. That template is, in my opinion, a prime example of the small ambox because it has just one row of text and is noticeable yet does not spoil the appearance of the article. I agree that consistency is good but it is also possible that a one-size-fits-all approach is not the best. Perhaps this template would look better if the words were trimmed down, see below for example. &mdash; Martin (MSGJ · talk) 22:26, 1 June 2012 (UTC)


 * I understand that one size may not fit all, but I'm not quite sure why yet, as no reason was given yet, anywhere. The point of ambox was to make them all uniform, on the premise that there's no reason any of them should be formatted differently. Your tinier version does serve the small purpose better, but again, this isn't something that should be discussed for this one template alone. I might take this to village pump.  Equazcion ( talk )  22:34, 1 Jun 2012 (UTC)

See WP:VPR.  Equazcion ( talk )  01:27, 2 Jun 2012 (UTC)
 * The thing that I do not understand is this: why is the  tag small but the  tag (by default) large?  shouldn't it be the other way around?  Frankly I like the way that the  tag allows users to override its default behavior. 69.243.26.39 (talk) 17:05, 24 July 2012 (UTC)

Layout problems
I've requested a fix for some layout problems at Template talk:Refimprove (although this template has the least problems). -84user (talk) 14:05, 23 June 2012 (UTC)

Restore to long version
Per this discussion there appears to be consensus for returning this template tag to standard full length size to match other section tags. Currently it makes articles look cluttered because it is a different size and shape to other tags, and because it has less room for the text, it oddly takes up more space than the long ones. Unless there is an objection, I will restore this to the standard size within the next few days.  SilkTork  ✔Tea time  10:42, 13 December 2012 (UTC)
 * You might like to look at Template talk:Orphan, Template talk:Third-party; and Template talk:Unreferenced, where there are moves to send those banners in the opposite direction. -- Red rose64 (talk) 14:28, 13 December 2012 (UTC)
 * I think there are some other users who also feel that way, but we've had such discussions previously, and the consensus is that tags should be placed in a prominent position - such that they can be seen by both editors and readers.  SilkTork  ✔Tea time  16:35, 13 December 2012 (UTC)
 * I see that you have gone all the way back to the . This, to me, is an unnecessary regression: in the meantime, a lot has happened to the banners built around in general, and to  . For instance, the issue and fix parameters were introduced to replace text; there is better detection and handling of  ; and there is improved category handling. Your change also means that  behaves differently from . It would have been far better to leave  alone, and simply switch off the forced "small" feature by altering one line in  from this:

| small =
 * to this

| small =
 * In view of all this I have reverted your change. -- Red rose64 (talk) 12:29, 17 December 2012 (UTC)

Thanks - I have done as you suggest.  SilkTork  ✔Tea time  20:39, 17 December 2012 (UTC)
 * -- Red rose64 (talk) 22:24, 17 December 2012 (UTC)

Challenged and removed
Currently in the template there is the sentence, "Unsourced material may be challenged and removed." Why does it say "challenged and removed" instead of just "removed"? Please note that I'm not proposing anything but just asking for info. Thanks. --Bob K31416 (talk) 15:21, 21 January 2013 (UTC)


 * The wording "challenged and removed" seems to have been the result of a flurry of edits in April - June of 2007...
 * Originally the template did not mention challenges or removals ...
 * The words enters the template in April of 2007 as: "Any unsourced material that has been or is likely to be challenged may be removed at any time" (see this diff)... a close paraphrase of WP:V at the time.
 * In early May 2007 it was shortened to: "Any unsourced material may be removed at any time" (dif: )
 * Then, later that month the word challenge was added back, as: Any material not supported by sources may be challenged and removed at any time (dif: )
 * The words "challenged and removed" seem to have remained in place since then.
 * I don't see any talk page discussion on any of these changes... and the edit summaries don't really explain why the wording choices were made. Blueboar (talk) 14:57, 22 January 2013 (UTC)
 * Thanks. I just realized it may have been discussed more at Template talk:Unreferenced with corresponding edits at Template:Unreferenced. However, if anyone else has anything helpful to add, they're invited to respond here. --Bob K31416 (talk) 20:11, 22 January 2013 (UTC)
 * As tagging itself is a legitimate challenge per WP:MINREF, it seems redundant and possibly misleading to say that the material may be challenged. I'd take that part out. Doniago (talk) 15:37, 23 January 2013 (UTC)
 * Good point. Could it be that challenged originally meant that the material's credibility was challenged? --Bob K31416 (talk) 00:44, 24 January 2013 (UTC)
 * That doesn't seem very clear to me, though I can't rule it out. This is a stretch, but I find myself wondering whether the way it's supposed to be read is "Material that is not presently sourced may be considered challenged by the addition of this tag". If that was the intention then I don't think that's very clear either. I still think losing the wording is the best option at this point. Doniago (talk) 04:42, 24 January 2013 (UTC)

The addition of the template is a challenge. A removal would be a challenge as well. That is all it is saying. I say leave it in.--Amadscientist (talk) 07:02, 24 January 2013 (UTC)
 * I'm a little confused...it sounds like you're making a good argument for removing the "may be challenged" text here by acknowledging that the addition of the template is itself a challenge. If the material has already been challenged by the insertion of the tag, isn't it redundant to say it "may be challenged"? I apologize if I'm coming off as adversarial here. Doniago (talk) 14:31, 24 January 2013 (UTC)

When is removal appropriate?
I am browsing through some articles that contain this template (some of which are kind of a shocker -- like Warrant (law) has been unreferenced since 2007?!). If an editor adds one reference to a section, does that merit the removal of the template from that section? To me, that seems kind of sketchy -- one reference doesn't "fix" an entire section's sourcing problems, right? Yet, with even one reference, a section no longer can be described as "unreferenced". - AppleBsTime (talk) 14:27, 21 August 2015 (UTC)
 * I feel like this is somewhat an "I know it when I see it" scenario, in that a lot could come down to what remaining text is specifically uncited. If it's statements that you believe are "obviously" true and generally well-known, than I don't see the harm in de-tagging (of course, another editor may disagree...). If it's, given the article you linked to, legalese or technical information or things that couldn't be reasonably considered to be well-known, I'd likely leave the template in. That said, nothing beats asking the question at the article's Talk page to see what other editors think (though speaking from experience, if you're pushing for leaving the template in, you may run into a distressing amount of opposition). DonIago (talk) 14:55, 21 August 2015 (UTC)
 * This is very much like the decision of what to do when an article is found to have references, but there is also applied earlier to the article as a whole. It was, I hope, explained at Template talk:Unreferenced. -- Red rose64 (talk) 17:53, 21 August 2015 (UTC)

Move discussion in progress
There is a move discussion in progress on Template talk:Unreferenced which affects this page. Please participate on that page and not in this talk page section. Thank you. —RMCD bot 07:44, 30 October 2015 (UTC)

Change to "This section does not cite any sources."
Please change the first sentence of the template from "This section does not cite any references (sources)" to: This section does not cite any sources.

This involves the removal of "references" and the parentheses. This will bring it into line with Template:Unreferenced, which recently had the same change made to it following discussion at Template talk:Unreferenced.

The current wording of "references (sources)" implies that "sources" is another word for references, which is not accurate. Sources are things external to Wikipedia. Citations, or references, are text we write in Wikipedia about those external sources. This is clear at Citing sources, where the first sentence reads, "A citation, or reference, uniquely identifies a source of information". The proposed wording is consistent with the next sentence in the template, which talks about "citations to reliable sources". Nurg (talk) 09:03, 17 December 2015 (UTC)

Template-protected edit request on 23 December 2015
Please replace "references (sources)" with "sources" to match the version for the entire article, which is Template:Unreferenced.

GeoffreyT2000 (talk) 03:51, 23 December 2015 (UTC)
 * ✅ — xaosflux  Talk 04:45, 23 December 2015 (UTC)

Problem with Usage section of documentation
There appears to be a problem with the Usage section of the documentation. A date is not being displayed, though it looks as if that is the intention. --Boson (talk) 01:00, 12 February 2016 (UTC)
 * Looks fine to me. -- Red rose64 (talk) 23:33, 12 February 2016 (UTC)

Unreferenced section and Unreferenced
Perhaps we should merge these two template, or at least replace this one by ? Until this fairly recent edit my SMcCandlish, that is precisely what this template looked like, and I see no reason not to go back to that version, or even completely merge the two. Debresser (talk) 18:30, 1 May 2016 (UTC)
 * My position on "section" versions remains unchanged: regardless of the implementation both { { section}} and { {|section}} should function.
 * All the best: Rich Farmbrough, 20:00, 1 May 2016 (UTC).

I came into a similar problem. When I tried to check which pages had to be converted to BLP sources section I checked which with pages transcluded Unreferenced section and were in Category:Living people. If the template was not in Ambox I would have to make extra checks. So for me the current status was really helpful. I understand the wrapper thing but then I would need to have some extra categorisation for pages with section parameter. I just converted 15,000 pages using my trick and any change back to wrapper will make my method useless. -- Magioladitis (talk) 21:08, 1 May 2016 (UTC)


 * Unreferenced has the following categorization code:, so you could look just in that category. By the way, this template didn't use that category, and I'll fix that right away. Debresser (talk) 21:35, 1 May 2016 (UTC)

Thanks. I worked with the 5 templates mentioned in Bots/Requests for approval/CheckBot 2. -- Magioladitis (talk) 21:43, 1 May 2016 (UTC)


 * Sorry, I misunderstood that code for a second. Nothing to fix, it is already using the correct category. I did make some other changes. SMcCandlish introduced some strange things. Debresser (talk) 21:51, 1 May 2016 (UTC)

Is there any way to autochange text based on the placement? Or based on page's categorisation. If yes, we could also merge the BLP versions. Otherwise, I would prefer if the template remain unmerged. It's easier to handle them instead of having a supercategory. -- Magioladitis (talk) 22:25, 1 May 2016 (UTC)
 * see also User talk:Magioladitis -- PBS (talk) 10:23, 8 May 2016 (UTC)

Template-protected edit request on 14 June 2016
Please add  inside the ambox template. Many of the other maintenance templates contain this and this one should be the same. See Village_pump_(proposals)/Archive_131.

 Omni Flames ( talk ) 06:28, 14 June 2016 (UTC)
 * Yes check.svg Done — Andy W. ( talk  · ctb) 06:41, 14 June 2016 (UTC)

Fully protected edit request on 24 July 2016
A protected redirect, Template:Unreferencedsection needs redirect category (rcat) templates added. Please modify it as follows:


 * from this:


 * 1) REDIRECT Template:unreferenced section


 * to this:


 * 1) REDIRECT Template:Unreferenced section

The This is a redirect template is used to sort redirects into one or more categories. When pp-protected and/or pp-move suffice, the This is a redirect template will detect the protection level(s) and categorize the redirect automatically. (Also, the protection categories will be automatically removed or changed when and if protection is lifted, raised or lowered.) Thank you in advance! Wikipedian Sign Language  Paine  16:09, 24 July 2016 (UTC)
 * WHEN YOU COPY & PASTE, PLEASE LEAVE THE SKIPPED LINE BLANK FOR READABILITY.
 * Yes check.svg Done -- Red rose64 (talk) 19:38, 24 July 2016 (UTC)
 * Thank you again, Red rose64, for the kazillionth time!  Wikipedian Sign Language  Paine   07:08, 25 July 2016 (UTC)

Template-protected edit request on 17 January 2017
The tfd tag at the top should be moved to be inside of the Module:Unsubst invocation. Diddo for unreferenced P p p er y 20:04, 17 January 2017 (UTC)
 * ✅ —&thinsp;JJMC89&thinsp; (T·C) 20:12, 17 January 2017 (UTC)

Edit request 5 August 2017
I think that "any" should be replaced by "many", so this template can be used when only 1 or 2 references are places. – Nixinova ⟨T|C⟩ 02:01, 5 August 2017 (UTC)
 * That's what Template:Refimprove is for. DonIago (talk) 05:17, 5 August 2017 (UTC)

Not showing on mobile correctly
I'm sure this is part of a larger discussion someplace, but why doesn't using, e.g., show up in the section tagged when in the mobile view? I expect the majority of users/editors now use the mobile view (I know, citation needed), but the tiny flag in the header "This page has issues" seems particularly useless when using a local tag like this. Could someone clarify? TSamuel (talk) 13:01, 14 June 2018 (UTC)

RfC of potential interest
An RfC is underway that could affect this template and may therefor be of interest to watchers of this page. The discussion is located at Wikipedia talk:Twinkle. Thank you.--John Cline (talk) 05:34, 28 January 2019 (UTC)

Template-protected edit request on 9 November 2019
Please add find sources mainspace to the template. Thanks. Jalen Folf  (talk)  23:57, 9 November 2019 (UTC)
 * ❌ see note at Template_talk:Unreferenced. If you want to just request someone else to make this later they can follow up below. —  xaosflux  Talk 00:20, 10 November 2019 (UTC)

Feedback sought in discussion about find sources in reference templates
Your feedback would be welcome at this discussion concerning the impact of using find sources in templates that have "section" variants, such as unreferenced section, and others. Thanks, Mathglot (talk) 01:02, 23 June 2020 (UTC)
 * Almost a week having elapsed, the changes described at the linked discussion will be implemented soon. Mathglot (talk) 21:02, 29 June 2020 (UTC)
 * ✅. Mathglot (talk) 02:49, 2 July 2020 (UTC)

Merge with ?
Hi! This template is as far as I can tell the same as what shows, but missing the "find sources" thing that is in that template. Why not essentially redirect this one to the other by making this template's content simply ? I see no reason to have these be separate. DemonDays64 (talk) 00:45, 23 October 2020 (UTC)
 * They already are merged, see Templates for discussion/Log/2017 January 16. If you want the "find sources" thing, use, as shown in the doc. -- Red rose64 &#x1f339; (talk) 22:08, 23 October 2020 (UTC)
 * , They both have the "find sources" thing, now; including the addition of the two "find" params to each template. The article Weimar Republic is a good working example of this usage; it carries a number of the section templates, where judicious use of find and find2 have, I dare say, greatly boosted the quality of the find sources output. Mathglot (talk) 10:32, 4 July 2021 (UTC)

Edit request to complete TfD nomination
Template:Unreferenced section has been listed at Templates for discussion (nomination), but it was protected, so it could not be tagged. Please add:

to the top of the page to complete the nomination. Thank you. 🐶 EpicPupper (he/him &#124; talk) 21:25, 4 April 2022 (UTC)
 * ✅.  P.I. Ellsworth &numsp;- ed.  put'r there 06:22, 5 April 2022 (UTC)

Edit request to complete TfD nomination
Template:Unreferenced section has been listed at Templates for discussion (nomination), but it was protected, so it could not be tagged. Please add:

to the top of the page to complete the nomination. Thank you. QuietHere (talk &#124; contributions) 16:22, 19 August 2023 (UTC)


 * ✔️ – this template transcludes the Unreferenced template, and displays that template's TfD notice.  P.I. Ellsworth &thinsp;, ed.  put'er there 18:05, 19 August 2023 (UTC)

Template-protected edit request on 20 June 2024
In #TemplateData, there is an un-linked mention of Template:Refimprove section, which has been redirected to Template:More citations needed section. Please change the template name and add a wikilink to the new one. Kind regards, Wilhelm Tell DCCXLVI ( talk to me!/my edits ) 05:15, 20 June 2024 (UTC)
 * Template-protection-unlocked.svg Not done: According to the page's protection level you should be able to edit the page yourself. If you seem to be unable to, please reopen the request with further details. – Jonesey95 (talk) 05:30, 20 June 2024 (UTC)
 * I'm very flattered, but unfortunately I am only a lowly extended-confirmed editor, not a TE or admin, and this template really is pink-locked :) Wilhelm Tell DCCXLVI ( talk to me!/my edits ) 05:48, 20 June 2024 (UTC)
 * Try clicking the "edit" link inside the green Documentation section. It's actually a separate, unprotected page. – Jonesey95 (talk) 05:55, 20 June 2024 (UTC)
 * Huh, neat! Sorry for bothering you. Wilhelm Tell DCCXLVI ( talk to me!/my edits ) 08:08, 20 June 2024 (UTC)