Wikipedia:Template index/Cleanup

Template messages (maintenance tags, cleanup tags, cleanup messages) may be added to articles needing cleanup. Their purposes are to foster improvement of the encyclopedia by alerting editors to changes that need to be made. Cleanup tags are meant to be temporary notices that lead to an effort to fix the problem, not a permanent badge of shame to show that you disagree with an article, or a method of warning readers about an article.

Unless otherwise noted, cleanup messages should be placed at the top of the page, before other templates, images, or infoboxes, but after hatnotes (see ). Cleanup messages should be placed directly on the article or file, not on its talk page. Certain tags can be placed at the beginning of an individual section, and others can be placed within the text itself (inline).

A date parameter is added by a bot, or you can add it yourself with.

Before you tag an article, please remember the following:
 * Don't tag an article if you can easily and confidently fix the problem.
 * The goal is an improved article, not a tagged article.


 * Do some research to attempt to solve the problem before tagging.
 * Don't put the burden of doing so on another editor if you are capable of fixing the problem yourself with a simple search or consulting a reference work.


 * Don't do "drive-by" tagging.
 * Tags must be accompanied by either a comment on the article's talk page explaining the problem and beginning a discussion on how to fix it or, for simpler and more obvious problems, a remark using the reason parameter (available in all templates, regardless of whether it appears in the documentation) as shown below. At the very least, tagging editors must be willing to follow through with substantive discussion.


 * Don't do "drive-by" de-tagging.
 * Likewise, please provide a similar rationale for removing a template, unless your preceding edits have clearly fixed the announced problem. See also when not to remove a template.


 * Don't insert tags that are similar or redundant.
 * For example, most articles that read like essays have an inappropriate tone, and in fact they end up being automatically grouped in the same category, so it is unnecessary to tag with both tone and essay-like.


 * If an article has many problems, tag only the highest priority issues.
 * A lengthy list is often less helpful than a shorter one.


 * Don't add tags for trivial or minor problems, especially if an article needs a lot of work.
 * For example, there is little point in noting grammatical problems for a section that needs to be completely re-written to comply with content policies. Focus on the biggest one, two, or three problems.

Does the article meet inclusion requirements?
Before placing templates on a page it is worthwhile to cast a critical eye over the page to determine whether indeed it should be included in Wikipedia. Some articles can be tagged for speedy deletion or nominated for a deletion discussion at Articles for deletion.

Best practices in obscure or unpopular articles
On pages that have received little attention from editors or readers, cleanup templates can be used as a way to call attention to problems that need to be addressed by editors. Editors who want to help address these problems should look through the various cleanup categories such as maintenance and articles with content issues and try to address the problems so that the templates can be removed. Editors who frequently tag articles should also address the backlogs.

Best practices in heavily monitored articles
On pages that are being edited by a number of users, cleanup templates are used to inform readers and editors of ongoing discussions and attempts to fix the problems on the page. Such templates can be used to attract uninvolved users to discussions and cleanup efforts, and they can also serve as a warning to casual readers that the article may have problems and be subject to noticeable changes. In general, an editor who places a template message to indicate a problem like this should explain their rationale fully on the talk page of the article. If the consensus of the other editors is that there is a problem or an editorial dispute that deserves such a clean-up template, then the editors should work to fix the problem as quickly and cleanly as possible so the template message can be removed. If the consensus is that there is no problem, then the message can be removed immediately. For heavily monitored articles, please do not add or remove template messages of this sort without using the talk page.

Use in sections
Many of these cleanup tags require you to place  as the first parameter when you use the tag at the top of an article. When you want the template to refer to just one section, however, you replace  with   (where the   is a pipe key pipe found on most keyboards as a shift-backslash Shift. See the specific template below to determine if such "section use" is supported and appropriate.

Tag consolidation
If too many tags are put at the top of an article, the article can become eclipsed by the tags, especially with short or stub articles. Consider consolidating the tags into multiple issues.

Combined message boxes
Do not use this as the message box on the article or section; it should be used with at least two other message boxes sandwiched inside it.

General cleanup
Use one of these general tags when none of the more specific tags fits.

Copy editing
Some articles just need someone with a good grasp of editing technique to give them a once-over.

Cleanup of specific subjects
These templates are all "general cleanup" templates, but tie into a specific subject matter or WikiProjects.

Off-topic
Articles occasionally contain content which is otherwise valid, but appears unrelated to the nominal topic of the article.

Contradiction and confusion

 * Note: Templates relevant for when articles are confusing or hard to understand due specifically to translation issues can be found at Template index/Translation.

Images and other media
For tips on requesting images see: Requested pictures.


 * For template messages related to the clean up of images, see: Template index/File namespace.

Wiki tech
Most of these issues are covered in the main Manual of Style.

Other article tags
There are also tags available for:
 * merging articles;
 * moving articles;
 * splitting articles; and
 * translation of articles.

Open tasks
Backlog lists tasks that should be done to improve Wikipedia (assuming the cleanup templates were placed correctly). Helping reduce backlogs is an important issue, so please feel free to help out.