Courtesy blanking is undertaken on pages where content there is, for one reason or another, not appropriate to be displayed as the current page revision. In such cases, the page is replaced with this template, a process known as courtesy blanking.

Courtesy blanking does not entail any revision deletion (see, Wikipedia:Deletion policy and Wikipedia:Hiding revisions). The content previously on the page will be visible through the page history; to view it, simply click the "history" tab at the page top, and view an older revision.

This template must be substituted: use {{subst:Courtesy blanked}}. Wikipedia and search engines shouldn't index courtesy blanked pages, and substituting this template adds the __NOINDEX__ magic word to the page being blanked.

Make sure not to blank categories the page may be included in.

In some situations, {{Afd-privacy}} may also be useful.

arb

If using this on the final decision page (main page) of an Arbitration case, type {{subst:courtesy blanked|arb=yes}} instead, so that people know the decision is still in effect, and how to find it.

index

If anything is sent to this parameter, will give a notice about the page being blanked to avoid indexing.

oldid

If the page is expected to receive more comments (for example, if only a section is being blanked), use the |oldid= parameter to link directly to the last version before the section/page was blanked.

reason

If a reason other than the default reason is desired, pass the reason to this parameter

type

Defines the type of blanking. Common usage is "section", "subpage", or "discussion". Defaults to "page".

{{subst:courtesy blanked|arb=yes}}

This page has been blanked as a courtesy. The Arbitration Committee's decision is still in effect, and can be viewed in the page history.

{{subst:courtesy blanked|type=section}}

This section has been blanked as a courtesy.

{{subst:courtesy blanked|type=discussion}}

This discussion has been blanked as a courtesy.

{{subst:courtesy blanked|index=yes}}

This page has been blanked to prevent its contents being indexed by search engines.

{{subst:courtesy blanked|reason=per VRTS ticket <insert ticket number here>}}

This page has been blanked per VRTS ticket <insert ticket number here>.

{{subst:courtesy blanked|type=section|reason=to show what it looks like to link to an oldid|oldid=910923429}}

This section has been blanked to show what it looks like to link to an oldid. The removed contents can be viewed in this prior revision.