Template:MoS guideline/doc

{{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

Main article: Wikipedia:How to contribute to Wikipedia guidance

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.