Template:Guideline
This page documents an English Wikipedia guideline. It is a generally accepted set of best practices that editors should follow, though it is best treated with common sense, and occasional exceptions may apply. Any substantive edit to this page should reflect consensus. When in doubt, discuss first on the talk page. |
Template usage notes
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This template is for formal Wikipedia guidelines that cannot be classified more specifically by {{Subcat guideline}}.
Usage
To include a shortcut (or shortcuts), pass a parameter: {{Guideline|WP:SHORT}}
To add a sort key to a guideline, add the parameter: {{Guideline|Sortkey=<sort key name>}}
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Up to five shortcuts can be used, with or without a sortkey: {{Guideline|WP:SHORT|WP:SHORT2|WP:SHORT3|WP:SHORT4|WP:SHORT5|Sortkey=<sort key name>}}
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For related Wikipedia header templates see Template messages/Wikipedia namespace.
New or greatly modified guidelines require community approval
If you or a wikiproject have drafted a new guideline or substantially revised one, the Wikipedia community must have significant time to consider the proposal and arrive at a consensus about it. See the WP:PROPOSAL policy for the current best practices on neutrally soliciting input on a proposal from as wide a selection of the community as is practical.
This is usually done with a request for comment (RfC) at the proposal's talk page, and advertised at Wikipedia:Village pump (proposals) (WP:VPPRO), or the RfC may be hosted at VPPRO itself. Give notice at the talk pages of other relevant parts of Wikipedia, such as those of closely related existing policies and guidelines, as well as wikiprojects likely to have a stake in the outcome. If the proposal is not highly topical and may affect the encyclopedia as a whole, or may be controversial, using WP:Centralized discussion may also be advised.
For more suggestions and background on how to go from a proposal to a Wikipedia guideline, see Category:Wikipedia proposals and Wikipedia:How to contribute to Wikipedia guidance.
See also
- {{Subcat guideline}} – to mark a specific type of guideline (content, behavioral, etc.); this is usually preferable to using this generic template
- {{MoS-guideline}} – for the few style guidelines that are actually part of the Manual of Style
- {{Supplement}} – for a special kind of Wikipedia essay that is a consensus-accepted supplement to a guideline
- {{Proposed}} – to solicit comments from the wider community before declaring a page to be a guideline; please also notify Wikipedia:Village pump (proposals)
- {{Rfc | policy}} – to solicit comments from the community about a proposed guideline, major changes to an existing guideline, or removing guideline status; please also notify Wikipedia:Village pump (policy)
- {{Rfc | style}} – to solicit comments from the community about a proposed style guideline, major changes to an existing style guideline, or removing guideline status; please also notify Wikipedia:Village pump (policy)
- For other Wikipedia header templates (for policies, essays, wikiprojects, etc.), see Template messages/Project namespace.