Template:MoS guideline
 | This guideline is a part of the English Wikipedia's Manual of Style. It is a generally accepted standard that editors should attempt to 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 documentation | Template usage notes
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{{MoS guideline}} is used on guideline pages (or sections thereof) that are formally part of the Wikipedia Wikipedia:Manual of Style. For style guides that do not belong to the MoS, use the {{Subcat guideline}} instead. For wikiprojects' topical style advice pages, use {{Wikiproject style advice}}.
This template does not auto-categorize. Manually add the appropriately subcategory of Category:Wikipedia Manual of Style, with an alphabetical sorting key, e.g.: [[Category:Wikipedia Manual of Style (sports)|Underwater wrestling]]
If your wikiproject's style-advice page has not been accepted as a site-wide guideline in a WP:PROPOSAL at Wikipedia:Village pump (proposals), WP:Village pump (policy), or Wikipedia talk:Manual of Style, then do not use this template. Wikiproject advices pages are essays, not guidelines, and are not part of the Manual of Style.
Usage
{{MoS guideline|section= |SHORTCUT1 |...|SHORTCUT5}}
This template should only be used on pages that have received a general consensus as belonging to the Manual of Style.
If you're writing a new guideline, or substantially revising one, please remember to give the community significant time to consider your proposal. See WP:PROPOSAL for the current best practice on advertising proposals.
For a short introduction on how to go from a proposal to a Wikipedia style guideline, see Category:Wikipedia proposals and How to contribute to Wikipedia guidance.
To use, place one of the following usage strings at the top of the page and fill in the parameters:
Parameters
The template supports up to five numbered or unnamed parameters that specify shortcut links for the style guideline page ([[...]] markup does not need to be added, it can just be something like MOS:FOO).
The parameter |section=y can be used to change "This guideline" to read "This guideline section". This is only used when an MoS guideline is a section in a larger combined guideline, as at WP:Stand-alone lists which also contains a naming conventions guideline; it is not to be used for each section in an all-MOS page.
Examples
Code with one or more parameters for shortcut links:
{{MoS guideline|WP:MOS|WP:STYLE}}
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.
For style guidelines, this is usually done with a request for comment (RfC) at the proposal's talk page, and advertised at Wikipedia talk:Manual of Style (WT:MOS) and Wikipedia:Village pump (proposals) (WP:VPPRO), or the RfC may be hosted directly at WT:MOS or WP:VPPRO. 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
- {{Style}} – the Manual of Style navigation sidebar
- {{Subcat guideline}} – to mark a specific type of guideline (content, behavioral, etc.); this is usually preferable to using this generic template
- {{Guideline}} – for the rare case of a guideline that does not fit within the categorizations available in the {{subcat guideline}} template
- {{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 | 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.