Template talk:Welcome to Wikipedia

Template-protected edit request on 3 February 2021
Hi, can we update the picture of "Don't get blocked" to Stop hand nuvola? And can we update the picture of "What Wikipedia is not" to Stop x nuvola? Thanks. Tested in sandbox Larryzhao123 (talk | contribs) 15:50, 3 February 2021 (UTC)
 * I think the images currently in use are clearer and match their fellow images better than those you suggest. Why do you want to change these images?  23:43, 3 February 2021 (UTC)
 * Red information icon with gradient background.svg Not done for now: please establish a consensus for this alteration before using the template. – Jonesey95 (talk) 16:15, 4 February 2021 (UTC)

did the template break?
I think the template broke. See here as an example VV 11:58, 26 April 2021 (UTC)
 * The template works correctly on a user talk page; you've accidentally placed it on the user page. -- John of Reading (talk) 13:01, 26 April 2021 (UTC)
 * LOL thanks after welcoming a few hundred folk.. My first "welcome" error :D VV 13:40, 26 April 2021 (UTC)
 * We've all done it. Check out the user pages for and  -- John of Reading (talk) 13:55, 26 April 2021 (UTC)
 * I suppose rendering something usefully explaining that it's in the wrong place when it is would be a good idea e.g. A sizable red box stating "REVISIONUSER has placed a welcome template here erroneously. It should have been placed on the user talk page. Please see documentation." (linked and substed as appropriate). That way, it makes sense to the user if the welcommer doesn't notice their error (if they didn't preview first or something), and to the welcommer if they do. Yea / nay?  16:00, 26 April 2021 (UTC)
 * Yea. -- John of Reading (talk) 16:24, 26 April 2021 (UTC)
 * We'll do that then ;)  17:34, 26 April 2021 (UTC)
 * yea VV 19:06, 26 April 2021 (UTC)
 * I started to work on it and decided that now might be a good time to convert the whole thing to a Lua Module, as it's frankly horrible to maintain. I've had this in mind for a while, but "if it ain't broke" right? Well, it might not be broke right now, but the idea of weaving anything new into it, gives me chills, so there's a thing.  22:26, 26 April 2021 (UTC)

Used of the "Static IP" template on opening salutations.
If I'm following the twisty transclusions, links, and substs correctly, this is the generic boilerplate welcome message -- or one of various? -- and it transcludes static IP, the documentation of which says it 'shows helpful information to IP users and those wishing to warn or ban them'. Now it's certainly possible that some users might not no know where they are, where their ISP thinks they are, or don't know that IP edits encode (one of) the above pieces of information. But is this tonally appropriate in a universal 'greeting'? I might be overthinking this, but the connotations seem to be 'SIGN UP FOR AN ACCOUNT OR ELSE WE'LL LOUDLY DISCUSS WHERE YOU ARE'. (I've seen these used before, but I wasn't aware they were quite as 'standard' as this one seems to be.)  109.255.211.6 (talk) 23:28, 29 April 2021 (UTC)
 * The template is not aggressive about account creation (a recent example), and links clearly to Why create an account?, which explains the pros and cons. Whenever an IP user talk page is created, a footer is added to the page (whether the Welcome template is there or not) that states "This is the discussion page for an IP user, identified by the user's IP address. Many IP addresses change periodically, and are often shared by several users. If you are an IP user, you may create an account or log in to avoid future confusion with other IP users. Registering also hides your IP address", which also contains a link to the advisory page. All these measures are in place to inform IP users, not bully or frighten them. It is Wikipedia policy to allow unregistered editors, and only decent to try to ensure they are properly notified about the inherent risks involved with one's actions being tied to one's publicly displayed IP address.  00:57, 30 April 2021 (UTC)
 * PS; if you check that example IP user talk page under preview or edit, under the edit summary and submit buttons, you'll see the option to see what templates, categories etc are present. You'll note that is not listed. Furthermore,  is not used in or by this template, and actually has little to do with it. Why are we talking about it here?   01:04, 30 April 2021 (UTC)
 * PPS; I see; you were Welcomed literally years before the static IP template was added. This order of operations is clear to read in the history of your IP's talk page  01:17, 30 April 2021 (UTC)
 * It seems to me that the only person "LOUDLY DISCUSS"-ing this is the IP user himself. I've already asked once, but I'm still not clear what the issue is. I do know that this user made no effort to ask me about it before all this... activity. - wolf  02:25, 30 April 2021 (UTC)

Reply button doesn't work
I've noticed that the reply button on the template doesn't work. Vincent-vst🚀 (talk) 15:14, 2 February 2023 (UTC)


 * from your VPT note, I'd love to get those manual h2 tags off of this if you are working on a refactor. — xaosflux  Talk 17:37, 2 February 2023 (UTC)
 * @Xaosflux I am mostly done with my rework on the sandbox, I just ran out of time and had to leave it before I could mention it here or implement it. (I added an actual header and used loop for the different heading levels). I should be able to get back to this in ~30mins. Terasail II  [✉️] 17:45, 2 February 2023 (UTC)
 * I have made the change to the main template. This should fix any problems with discussion tools and some other related issues that are caused when using h tags instead of wikitext markers. Terasail [✉️] 18:44, 2 February 2023 (UTC)

, in the current version, failure to subst doesn't emit an error, and generally places the template on the page correctly, but without a sig at the bottom. It's not clear to me if your changes introduced that bug, or if it was already doing that before. Just thought you'd like to know. Mathglot (talk) 08:14, 4 February 2023 (UTC)


 * Really? I just tested (Special:Diff/1137378093) and it worked correctly and has a signature. Are you sure you substituted the template, can you provide a diff for me to check I can't see why there would be any issues here. Terasail [✉️] 09:02, 4 February 2023 (UTC)
 * Forgot ping: @Mathglot Terasail [✉️] 09:06, 4 February 2023 (UTC)
 * If you intentionally didn't subst then this is standard since the signature can't be created with any template from a transclusion which is why the template is marked as requiring substitution. There wasn't any previous catching of such an occurance that I can see of so it isn't in the template currently. Terasail [✉️] 09:36, 4 February 2023 (UTC)
 * , I tested the substed version and that does work, as you noted, but the unsubsted version doesn't, and doesn't complain either, and since it generates so much output, a user is likely to miss the failure. Most templates I work with that require substitution enforce it, so if this one doesn't, that's not on you. Thanks for the reply. Mathglot (talk) 19:37, 4 February 2023 (UTC)