This page documents an English Wikipedia
content guideline. Editors should generally follow it, though
exceptions may apply. Substantive edits to this page should reflect
consensus. When in doubt, discuss first on the
talk page. |
This page in a nutshell: Disclaimers should not be used in articles. All articles are already covered by a general disclaimer. |
A disclaimer in a Wikipedia article is a statement or warning that the article is not appropriate, suitable, or guaranteed for some specified purpose. There are disclaimers linked at the bottom of all pages on Wikipedia.
From time to time, editors insert additional disclaimers into an article either as text or as a template – for instance, "This article contains profanity" or "This article is not suitable for children" or "Spoiler ahead". While ideas like this have been continually proposed, the consensus is that they should not be used. Additional disclaimers in encyclopedia articles should generally be removed, and disclaimer templates should be removed and deleted.
There are a few notable exceptions:
For the purpose of this guideline, disclaimers are templates or text inserted into an article that duplicate the information at one of the five standard disclaimer pages:
Dissenting arguments in favour of disclaimers have included:
This content guideline represents a solid and longstanding consensus on the English Wikipedia. It has not been elevated to the status of policy, because of the few possible exceptions listed above, and a certain room for disagreement about precisely how far these exceptions should be taken.
Unlike the fundamental policies of WP:NPOV, WP:V, and WP:OR, the current consensus on disclaimers is still negotiable. Indeed, several non-English Wikipedia projects do allow certain disclaimers which this guideline precludes (e.g., de:Vorlage:Gesundheitshinweis and it:Categoria:Template disclaimer).
Nonetheless, any future modifications of this guideline should be implemented only after consensus for the change has been achieved.
A short list of discussions from 2004 and 2005 is at Wikipedia talk:Risk disclaimer/Archive 1 § More disclaimer templates. Some older discussions are at Wikipedia talk:Risk disclaimer or in the templates for deletion archives.
This page documents an English Wikipedia
content guideline. Editors should generally follow it, though
exceptions may apply. Substantive edits to this page should reflect
consensus. When in doubt, discuss first on the
talk page. |
This page in a nutshell: Disclaimers should not be used in articles. All articles are already covered by a general disclaimer. |
A disclaimer in a Wikipedia article is a statement or warning that the article is not appropriate, suitable, or guaranteed for some specified purpose. There are disclaimers linked at the bottom of all pages on Wikipedia.
From time to time, editors insert additional disclaimers into an article either as text or as a template – for instance, "This article contains profanity" or "This article is not suitable for children" or "Spoiler ahead". While ideas like this have been continually proposed, the consensus is that they should not be used. Additional disclaimers in encyclopedia articles should generally be removed, and disclaimer templates should be removed and deleted.
There are a few notable exceptions:
For the purpose of this guideline, disclaimers are templates or text inserted into an article that duplicate the information at one of the five standard disclaimer pages:
Dissenting arguments in favour of disclaimers have included:
This content guideline represents a solid and longstanding consensus on the English Wikipedia. It has not been elevated to the status of policy, because of the few possible exceptions listed above, and a certain room for disagreement about precisely how far these exceptions should be taken.
Unlike the fundamental policies of WP:NPOV, WP:V, and WP:OR, the current consensus on disclaimers is still negotiable. Indeed, several non-English Wikipedia projects do allow certain disclaimers which this guideline precludes (e.g., de:Vorlage:Gesundheitshinweis and it:Categoria:Template disclaimer).
Nonetheless, any future modifications of this guideline should be implemented only after consensus for the change has been achieved.
A short list of discussions from 2004 and 2005 is at Wikipedia talk:Risk disclaimer/Archive 1 § More disclaimer templates. Some older discussions are at Wikipedia talk:Risk disclaimer or in the templates for deletion archives.