Template:Failed Verification Span
The {{Failed verification span}} tag will categorise tagged articles into Category:All articles with failed verification. This template is a self-reference and thus is part of the Wikipedia project rather than the encyclopedic content.
When to use
Use this tag only if:
- an inline citation to a source is given,
- you have checked the source,
- the source does not support what is contained in the article, and
- despite the source not supporting the article, the source still contains useful information on the topic.
For example, if the article says that 14% of statistics are made up, and the source says that statistics are made up without giving a percentage, then that information has failed verification. If you are unable to fix the error or want to gain consensus for the edit, then you should tag the information as not matching the named source. If the discrepancy between the source and the article isn't obvious, then please explain the situation in detail on the talk page.
If the source given is an unreachable website, keep the source and mark it with {{Dead link}} instead. See Wikipedia:Link rot and WP:DEADREF for more information.
If no source is given, and you believe that an inline citation is necessary for that information, then use {{Citation needed}}.
If the source has absolutely no relevance to any part of the article, delete the reference and replace with {{Citation needed}}.
How to use
Placement
The template should be placed outside the reference (<ref> ... </ref>), within the article's text:
- Preceding text
{{failed verification span|text=text that failed verification should be placed here|date=January 2025}}following text. Next sentence.
Optional parameters
Link to the relevant section on the current page's talk page with:
|talk=Section title
or to a discussion elsewhere with:
|talkpage=Talk:Page name
or:
|talkpage=Talk:Page name#Section title
Add a brief note on the nature of the verification failure with:
|reason=A sentence here.
This is displayed as a mouse-over tooltip, and may be of use to later editors trying to resolve the verification issue. It must not contain any markup, like italics, links, etc., and any use of the double-quote character (") must be escaped, e.g. as " — otherwise the tooltip will break. This is a limitation of HTML, not of the template.
Template data
TemplateData for Failed verification span
The template will categorize articles into '[[Category:All articles with failed verification]]'.
| Parameter | Description | Type | Status | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Text | text 1 | The text failing verification | Content | required |
| Date | date | Month and year the tag was added
| Date | suggested |
| Reason | reason | A brief note, displayed as a mouse-over tooltip. May be of use to later editors. | String | optional |
| Current page's relevant talk section | talk | Title of the appropriate section of the current page's talk page, for further discussion of the verification failure (e.g. 'Section title'). | String | optional |
| Another page's relevant talk section | talkpage talk page | Title of the appropriate section of another page's talk page, for further discussion of the verification failure (e.g. 'Talk:Page name#Section title'). | String | optional |
Redirects
See also
{{Failed verification}}: Use when inline citations have been supplied, but they do not support the statement in question.{{Text-source inline}}: Use when multiple inline citations to a source are given, but not all of them support the same information.{{Unreliable source?}}: Use when an inline citation to a source is given, but it is questionable whether the source used is reliable for supporting the statement.{{Unreliable source?|certain=y}}: Use when an inline citation to a source is given, but it is an unreliable source.{{Cite check}}: Use when the article or section may have inappropriate or misinterpreted citations (generates a hatnote).
- Wikipedia:Citing sources, especially Unsourced material
- Wikipedia:Identifying reliable sources
- Wikipedia:Template messages/Cleanup#Verifiability and sources
- Wikipedia:Template messages/Sources of articles
- Wikipedia:Verifiability
- Wikipedia:WikiProject Fact and Reference Check
