Wikipedia:WikiProject User warnings/Help:Template usage

In general
All standardized templates take several parameters that are entirely optional. For example, you can use instead of ; the template will automatically insert generic text. Further, all parameters are designed to be very flexible; you can typically write anything in them, including diff links, in-depth messages, and HTML.

User warning templates
Usage depends largely on the particular series of templates. See the documentation on the template talk pages or summary instructions in the list of templates.

Block templates
Block templates differ from user warning templates in two fundamental ways. First, they're enclosed inside a message box, which means that placing your signature outside the template will place it visually separate from the message. This is resolved by typing out your signature (typically ~ ) as the first parameter.

The second difference is the order of the parameters: whereas user warning templates are in order of use, block templates are not. This is because some of the parameters are less optional than in user warning templates, and they happen to be at the end.
 * The signature should always be used; although there's an auto-signature as default value, it converts the username link to plain text (ie, Pathoschild ).
 * The time parameter is almost always used, as it signifies when the block expires.
 * The reason parameter is rarely used, and by default blames the block on vandalism.

As such, although the order of parameters in the templates are time-reason-signature, the template parameters are input as signature-time-reason. This way, you can ignore the more optional parameters by using "" instead of "".