Wikipedia:Edit requests

This is an information page. It is not one of Wikipedia's policies or guidelines, but rather intends to describe some aspect(s) of Wikipedia's norms, customs, technicalities, or practices. It may reflect varying levels of consensus and vetting.

Shortcuts WP:EDITREQ WP:ER

Edit requests are requests for s to be made to a page where ors cannot or should not make the proposed s themselves. Requests should be accompanied by a clear and specific description of the requested change, and consensus should be obtained before requesting changes that are likely to be controversial. Requests are made using an appropriate talk page template (see making requests below). Clarity in requests is important, and providing the exact change in your request, if possible, will expe the process.

To see a listing of current requests, go to WP:Dashboard § Requested s.

When requested s are found suitable and made to a page by the responder, copyright attribution must be provided in the summary, as instructed below.

Errors on the main page are a special case and should not be handled via standard requests. To report an error you have noticed on the current main page or tomorrow's main page, please add it to the appropriate section on Wikipedia:Main Page/Errors.

To request that an article be renamed or moved, see Wikipedia:Requested moves.

In general, if you want to make an request:

1. Propose a specific change on a talk page. Don't add an request template yet.
2. Once there is consensus for the change, and any final details have been worked out, put a template on the talk page along with a short, clear explanation.
3. A user who can make the will notice the template has been added, and will respond to the request.

Consensus isn't needed if a change is not controversial. Uncontroversial changes don't require sourcing, such as correcting typographical errors or disambiguating links. If this is the case, you don't need to establish consensus, but instead propose the change as stated above.

General considerations[]

Edit requests for articles or templates should meet the same four basic requirements. Note, however, that requests for templates should meet the additional requirement of adequate testing—see § Requests for templates below.

Before requesting an , please consider the following requirements (SUNS—Specific, Uncontroversial, Necessary, Sensible):

1. Shortcut

   • WP:EDITXY
   Is your request specific? Any request must be accompanied by a detailed and specific description of what changes need to be made. Clearly indicate which sections or phrases should be replaced or added to, and what they should be replaced with or have added. Examples: Change X to Y; Insert X after/before Y; Remove X. See some sample requests that demonstrate how to be specific and detailed in your requests.
2. Is your request uncontroversial? Edit requests for fully protected pages must be handled by an administrator. Administrators can respond only to requests that are either uncontroversial improvements (correcting typos, grammar, or reference formatting; improving the reliability or efficiency of template code) or are already supported by a consensus of ors, usually on the protected page's talk page. If consensus is required for your request, and you would like to see action on it sooner, please explain how a clear consensus came about, rather than hoping that the admin will read pages of discussion. Please do not add the {{ fully-protected}} template merely to attract attention to a post, even in the name of finding consensus, as it clutters up the category that administrators check to find unanswered requests with unactionable requests that still take time to clear out. Instead, try to get opinions by appropriately notifying any ors who have already worked on the page or a related WikiProject about your post.
3. Is your request necessary? Could you do it soon yourself? Just as in the first stage of creating an request, you can post comments on the talk page, but not add the request template, and then wait until you can do it yourself: A. If the page protection is of short duration or is about to expire, consider waiting that short time for the opportunity to make the yourself. B. If the page is semi-protected, then autoconfirmed users can it. How close are you to becoming autoconfirmed? You can semi-protected pages yourself after you have made at least ten s and your account is at least four days old.
4. Is your request sensible? For example, if you perform basic tidying such as ensuring that all references are properly formatted using citation templates, be certain that the section still flows correctly after the text is changed.

Responding ors may decline to make any , and are especially likely to reject s that are controversial, violate Wikipedia policy, or do not have evidence of consensus. There is a forum at WP:Requests for page protection § Current requests for s to a protected page for requesting or discussing s to protected pages, including s to locked discussion pages, and s that may be significant or controversial. The direct shortcut to the section is WP:RFED, (in Wikipedia's namespace, the Requests For EDiting).

Requests for templates[]

If you are requesting a complex change to a template, place the required code on the template's sandbox page. This gives the opportunity to test the code before changing the live template. Instead of pasting the code on the talk page, which can affect its readability, just place a link to the /sandbox along with the request and rationale.

• As above, clearly indicate which lines of code need to be changed, or (ideally) provide a link or diff to a sandbox that contains the entire code of the template, with the required changes. The responding or can then simply replace the code in the live template with the code from the sandbox.
• Edits to protected templates, except when they are trivial, must be tested in a sandbox first to make sure that they do not cause problems or corrupted output.

If you are a newer user, it is recommended that you use the request wizard. The wizard guides you through the process of making the request.

Please establish a consensus with ors engaged in the subject area before using the relevant request template for your proposed change. If you think your proposal is uncontroversial and won't face debate or opposition, then make the request. Because the ideal situation is that after you make an uncontroversial request an or would simply apply your desired changes.

In a limited amount of cases you may make the yourself without asking others and without getting reverted. For example, if you have a conflict of interest and are not prevented by the page from making s, and you just want to fix a typo or small grammar mistake.

Make requests as short, well formatted, and simple as possible. If you want several different s, then the best thing to do may be making one request for each one—after the previous one you make gets resolved.

If you add a request of several s at once, too long, too complicated, or behind a paywall, ors might quickly lose interest or might not be able to help. In this case, there are more chances that your request might take a long time, be declined, or go unanswered.

The simplest approach for requests for fully protected, template-protected or semi-protected pages is to use the View source tab on that page and use the "Submit an request" link at the bottom right; this automatically loads the correct talk page tag.^[1]

If you are making a request because of a conflict of interest (COI; see Wikipedia:Suggestions for COI compliance), use this {{request }} tag which is specifically made for the reason of CoI; it must be added manually to the relevant page's talkpage.

Alternatively, you can use a tag directly, adding it manually to the relevant page's talkpage:

• {{ interface-protected}} (shortcut: {{IPER}}) for sitewide JavaScript or style sheet pages;
• {{ fully-protected}} (shortcut: {{FPER}}) for fully protected and move-protected pages;
• {{ template-protected}} (shortcut: {{TPER}}) for template-protected pages;
• {{ extended-protected}} (shortcut: {{EPER}}) for extended-protected pages;
• {{ semi-protected}} (shortcut: {{SPER}}) for semi-protected pages;
• {{request }} for conflict-of-interest s.

Remember that all ors are volunteers, and a polite request (rather than a demand) is more likely to be acted on promptly.

Response time[]

Please be patient: it can take anywhere from a day to several months for an request to be acted upon. If you want more ors willing to respond to your request, try heeding advice on how to properly make the requests.

Edit request templates automatically add the name of the relevant page into an appropriate administrative category, such as Category:Wikipedia fully-protected requests (from {{ fully-protected}}) for s to fully protected pages. Administrators routinely check this category for protected requests to process. Other relevant categories, Category:Wikipedia semi-protected requests, Category:Wikipedia extended-confirmed-protected requests, Category:Wikipedia template-protected requests, Category:Wikipedia interface-protected requests and Category:Wikipedia conflict of interest requests, are monitored by other ors.

Edits affecting several pages[]

Sometimes, the same or similar s are needed on several pages, such as adding the same category to many pages. In this case, add the tag to only one talk page, with a list of all the pages that need updating and a clear description of what needs to be done. This saves work both for the or making the request and for the or responding to the request. Requests for large-scale s that require administrative abilities can also be made at the administrator's noticeboard.

Further information needed[]

Sometimes, responding ors may request further information, and disable the template by changing the |answered= parameter to "yes" — e.g. {{ fully-protected|answered=yes}}. Feel free to re-enable the template when the additional information has been provided or additional consensus has been obtained by changing the "yes" in the template to "no". If you're unable to do this, you can simply respond on the talk page. If you do not receive a response in a day or two, then submit a new request.

In responding to requests, consider the four points listed under "General considerations". In particular, s likely to be controversial should have prior consensus, and s to templates should be appropriately tested beforehand. Responding ors should use their judgement to respond appropriately to requests, and take into account relevant Wikipedia policies such as neutral point of view, verifiability and reliable sourcing.

The following are standard templates for responding to requests, and their usage:

• {{subst:ECOI}}, for conflict of interest
• {{subst:EEp}}, for extended-confirmed-protected
• {{subst:EIp}}, for interface-protected pages
• {{subst:EP}}, for fully protected
• {{subst:ESp}}, for semi-protected
• {{subst:ETp}}, for template-protected

Adjust response according to the template documentation, then depending on the context you may add the reason for implementing or not implementing the request.

These templates should be subst:ed and added at the beginning of the or's description of the request. For example, for the request "Under the title, add the word Malumba." The template {{subst:ESp|?}} can be used, which renders:

 Not done: it's not clear what changes you want to be made. Please mention the specific changes in a "change X to Y" format and provide a reliable source if appropriate.

It is acceptable to remove empty requests from a Talk page, if considered necessary. Consider using {{Empty request}} on the User Talk page of a user who has posted an empty request.

Once the request has been responded to, the responding or should disable the protected request template by changing the |answered= parameter to "yes" — e.g. {{ fully-protected|answered=yes}}.

Maintaining copyright attribution[]

Copy and paste s made on behalf of other ors must be appropriately attributed. You may use the summary to add this to the page history. An example copyright attribution summary is:

Implementing talk page requested by [[Special:Contributions/NAME|NAME]] – short description of changes made

Monitoring new requests[]

Purge this page to update the number of requests in this section.

Editors may wish to use the following lists to keep track of new requests (for an overview of the tables below, click here):

• User:AnomieBOT/IPERTable: interface-protected requests (currently 0 requests—add to watchlist)
• User:AnomieBOT/PERTable: protected requests (currently 7 requests—add to watchlist)
• User:AnomieBOT/TPERTable: template-protected requests (currently 4 requests—add to watchlist)
• User:AnomieBOT/EPERTable: extended-confirmed-protected requests (currently 8 requests—add to watchlist)
• User:AnomieBOT/SPERTable: semi-protected requests (currently 17 requests—add to watchlist)
• User:AnomieBOT/COIREQTable: COI requests (currently 183 requests—add to watchlist)
• User:AnomieBOT/PREQTable: Partial-block requests (currently 0 requests—add to watchlist)

For a directory of current requests, see WP:Dashboard § Requested s.

These pages are automatically updated by AnomieBOT. Because they are regular Wikipedia pages and not categories, it is possible to inspect the page histories to see requests that have previously been closed. AnomieBOT also includes the number of pending requests in its summary when it updates the list, making it possible to monitor new requests directly from the watchlist.