Template:Self-contradictory
 | This article or section appears to contradict itself. |
Template documentationThis template will categorize tagged articles into Category:Self-contradictory articles.
- This template is a self-reference.
- This template is not useful for substitution.
- After posting this template
Please start a section on the article's talk page to discuss and specify the specific section that contradicts itself. The third optional parameter is the name of a specific section on the specified talk page.
It is possible to specify the subject about which the article or section is contradictory with the optional parameter about.
- Example of use
{{Self-contradictory|about=the cause of death|date=December 2025}}
This renders as:
| This article or section appears to contradict itself on the cause of death. (December 2025) |
Adding the optional text |section or |article changes the vague default wording to be more specific:
- Default: "This article or section appears to contradict ..." followed by "itself" or a link to an article named with
|article= |articleor|1=article– "This article appears to contradict ..." followed by "itself" or a link to an article named with|article=|sectionor|1=section– "This section appears to contradict ..." followed by "itself" or a link to an article named with|article=|othersectionor|1=othersection– "This section appears to contradict another section of this article" (this parameter is ignored if mutually exclusive parameter|article=has a value; the default output will result).
- More complex examples of use
{{Self-contradictory|section|date=December 2025}}{{Self-contradictory|about=the cause of death|1=article|date=December 2025}}{{Self-contradictory|othersection|date=December 2025}}{{Self-contradictory|section|article=John F. Kennedy|about=the cause of death|date=December 2025}}
Notes:
- The date-substitution template may be used to automatically generate the date, e.g.,
{{Self-contradictory|{{subst:DATE}}}}. See Help:Substitution for more information. - The
|date=parameter need not be added by the editor: if not entered, a bot will soon add it. The date parameter consists of the full English name of the current month with initial capital, a space, and the year, not full dates, ISO date order, or other formatting; e.g., "January 2013", but not "jan13" or "7 January 2013" or "2013-01". Any deviation from this rule will result in an "invalid date parameter" error.
See also
- Category:Self-contradictory articles
- {{Contradicts other}}, an equivalent when the contradiction involves not just one article, but two
- {{Contradicts others}}, an equivalent when the contradiction involves many.
- {{Inconsistent}}, inline variant indicating a single statement that is in conflict with the rest of the article.
- {{Contradict-inline}}, inline equivalent of {{Contradicts other}}
- Wikipedia:Template messages/Cleanup
TemplateData
TemplateData for Self-contradictory
This template will categorize tagged articles into "Category:Self-contradictory articles".
| Parameter | Description | Type | Status | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Scope | 1 scope | Whether the whole article or one section is contradictory; enter either 'article' or 'section' | Line | optional |
| Talk page section | 2 talksection discuss | The section on the talk page where the contradiction is discussed or explained | Line | optional |
| About | about | The subject about which the article or section is contradictory. Optional but recommended parameter. | String | suggested |
| Date | date | The month and year the template was added
| Content | suggested |