Wikipedia:Edit requests

This is an information page. It is not an encyclopedic article, nor one of Wikipedia's policies or guidelines; rather, its purpose is to explain certain aspects of Wikipedia's norms, customs, technicalities, or practices. It may reflect differing levels of consensus and vetting.

Shortcuts WP:EDITREQ WP:ER

Edit requests are used to request edits to a page when the requesting editor cannot or should not make those changes themselves. Each request should include a clear, specific description of the desired edit. For potentially controversial changes, obtain consensus before submitting the request. Use the edit request wizard or add an appropriate talk page template (see Making requests below). Clarity in edit requests is essential, and including the exact text of the proposed change, if possible, will help expedite the process.

When edits are approved and implemented, the responder must include copyright attribution in the edit summary, as outlined below in Responding to requests.

Errors on the main page require special handling and should not be submitted as standard edit requests. To report an error on the current main page or tomorrow's main page, add it to the appropriate section on Wikipedia:Main Page/Errors.

For moving or renaming an article, see Wikipedia:Requested moves.

In general, if you want to make an edit request:

1. Propose a specific change on a talk page. Don't add an edit 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 edit 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.

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

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

1. Shortcuts

   • WP:EDITXY
   • WP:SUNS
   • WP:CHANGEXY
   Is your request specific? Any edit 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 edit requests that demonstrate how to be specific and detailed in your edit 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 editors, 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 {{edit 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 edit requests with unactionable requests that still take time to clear out. Instead, try to get opinions by appropriately notifying any editors 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 edit request, you can post comments on the talk page, but not add the edit 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 edit yourself. B. If the page is semi-protected, then autoconfirmed users can edit it. How close are you to becoming autoconfirmed? You can edit semi-protected pages yourself after you have made at least ten edits 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 editors may decline to make any edit, and are especially likely to reject edits 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 edits to a protected page for requesting or discussing edits to protected pages, including edits to locked discussion pages, and edits that may be significant or controversial. The direct shortcut to the section is WP:RFED, (in Wikipedia's namespace, the Requests For Editing).

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 editor 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 edit request wizard. The wizard guides you through the process of making the edit request.

Please establish a consensus with editors engaged in the subject area before using the relevant edit 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 edit request an editor would simply apply your desired changes.

In a limited amount of cases you may make the edit 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 edits, 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 edits, then the best thing to do may be making one edit request for each one—after the previous one you make gets resolved. If the text in question is sufficiently long and if you think it would be helpful, you may use the {{textdiff}} template to format the "before" and "after" to make the differences between them clearer. Example:

{{textdiff|Slithy toves are green and yellow. They are scaly and have an orange crest.|Slithy toves are green, speckled with yellow spots. They are scaly and have a crest consisting of two parallel rows of horny orange bumps that run from the top of their skulls to the base of their necks.}}

Result:

−

Slithy toves are green and yellow. They are scaly and have an orange crest.

+

Slithy toves are yellow. They are scaly and have .

If you submit a request that

• consists of several edits,
• is too long or too complicated, or
• includes any citations you're offering to support your request but that sit behind a paywall,

editors might quickly lose interest or be unable to help. This may delay any response to your request or cause it to be declined or to go unanswered.

The simplest approach for edit 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 edit 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 {{Edit COI}}, 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:

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

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

When similar edits are needed across multiple pages, such as adding the same category, only a single request should be made on one talk page. Include a list of all pages requiring updates and provide a clear description of the requested changes (see § Making requests. This approach saves time for both the requesting editor and the responding editor. For large-scale edits that require administrator privileges, consider submitting the request on the administrator's noticeboard. Sometimes, the same or similar edits 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 editor making the request and for the editor responding to the request. Requests for large-scale edits that require administrator privileges consider asking on the administrator's noticeboard. However, this should only be for significant edits, as edit request templates automatically categorize the page into the appropriate administrative category.

Please be patient: it can take anywhere from a day to several months for an edit request to be acted upon. If you want more editors to be 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 edit requests (from {{edit fully-protected}}) for edits to fully protected pages. Administrators routinely check this category for protected edit requests to process. Other relevant categories, Category:Wikipedia semi-protected edit requests, Category:Wikipedia extended-confirmed-protected edit requests, Category:Wikipedia template-protected edit requests, Category:Wikipedia interface-protected edit requests and Category:Wikipedia conflict of interest edit requests, are monitored by other editors.

Sometimes, responding editors may request further information, and disable the template by changing the |answered= parameter to "yes" — e.g. {{edit 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 edit request.

If your request is denied, analyze the discussion or the reason why it was declined and make the relevant changes to the request or follow the advice in the thread if any and if appropriate. You may be directed to seek consensus, which means that your request is probably unclear or needs more discussion. In this case, simply open a new thread (not a new request) to discuss the edit you want and try to reach consensus. If you disagree with the response of the edit request or the discussion, you can follow the dispute resolution process.

In responding to requests, consider the four points listed under "General considerations". In particular, edits likely to be controversial should have prior consensus, and edits to templates should be appropriately tested beforehand. Responding editors 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 edit 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 editor'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 a request without a description of the requested change (an "empty edit request") from a Talk page. Consider using {{Empty edit request}} on the User Talk page of a user who has posted an empty edit request.

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

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

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

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 edit requests (for an overview of the tables below, click here):

• User:AnomieBOT/IPERTable: interface-protected edit requests (currently 0 requests—add to watchlist)
• User:AnomieBOT/PERTable: protected edit requests (currently 1 request—add to watchlist)
• User:AnomieBOT/TPERTable: template-protected edit requests (currently 12 requests—add to watchlist)
• User:AnomieBOT/EPERTable: extended-confirmed-protected edit requests (currently 77 requests—add to watchlist)
• User:AnomieBOT/SPERTable: semi-protected edit requests (currently 103 requests—add to watchlist)
• User:AnomieBOT/COIREQTable: COI edit requests (currently 41 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 edits.

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 edit requests that have previously been closed. AnomieBOT also includes the number of pending requests in its edit summary when it updates the list, making it possible to monitor new edit requests directly from the watchlist.

If the article talk page has archiving enabled, edit requests may occasionally be archived before being answered. If the request might still be considered, move the edit request back to the Talk page. Otherwise, if you believe the archiving shows there was no consensus, simply close the request by changing the |answered= parameter to "yes".