Help:Commonly used templates

Use these tags either to help edit an article or create established formatted articles.

Off-Page Administration[edit]

{{deletion}}
Use this tag to mark a page for review for deletion by an Admin. Write your reason for deletion over Enter your reason here. Please review Help:Deletion before placing this tag.
#REDIRECT [[real article name here]]
This redirects a link to a different article than the one linked. The usual purpose for this is to directly link an acronym or abbreviation (ex: AFFS or 'Mech) to an article with the full name (ex: Armed Forces of the Federated Suns or BattleMech), but common titles that would all share the same article material also make use of this command. The redirect will then automatically send all so-named links (throughout the BattleTechWiki) directly to the proper page. Place this magic word on an otherwise empty article or it won't work. Note: it's also available as a button (#R) on the user bar above the edit field.

On-Page Administration[edit]

[[Category:Insert Category Name Here]]
Use this tag to automatically link an article with articles linked to the same name. Even if you don't know if a category exists, consider adding it, because you'll start the category yourself by doing so. Insert the tag at the bottom of the page, with the category's name in place of Insert Category Name Here.
{{cleanup}}
Use this tag to mark a page for generic cleanup. Currently, any problem falls into this category.
{{citation needed}} or {{cn}}
Use this tag following an article sentence, in order to request a proper reference be provided.
{{deletion}}
Use this tag to identify a page you feel needs to be deleted. Replace '1' with the reasoning for the deletion request.
{{details}}
Use this tag if you wish to highlight link providing more detail than the sub-section in which it's placed. e.g., in the Clans article, a subsection on Clan Blood Spirit would have '{{details}}', and would produce text saying "For more details on this topic, see Clan Blood Spirit.". The link would then direct the reader to the full Clan Blood Spirit article.
To use this tag, replace Article name with the name of the page which is being linked. If it would make more sense than using the default text, include the Optional parameter; replacing it with meaningful text. e.g., {{details}} which would produce text similar to the prior example only "this topic" would be "this particular clan".
{{disambig}}
Place this template at the bottom of a disambiguation article.
{{main}}
Use this template in an article (preferably under a section heading) to indicate the presence of a more detailed article about the subject of the section.
{{merge}}
To be placed at the top of an article of which a merge discussion is being held (specifically, an article to be merged with another). Replace the 1 with the name of the article in which the information is to be merged.
{{otheruses}}
To be placed at the top of an article where possible confusion may exist with other similarly named articles. The fourth parameter is optional. See Template:Otheruses for proper usage.
{{QuickLinks}}
Creates a line-long list of alphabetic shortcuts to other parts of the category.
{{quote}}
Place this one the page where you want the quote to stand out, and add in the actual quote in place of the statement here.
{{refimprove}}
This is placed on the top of an article that has no or few citations.
{{sectionstub}}
Place this tag at the top of a section you feel needs to be expanded. Expand on your concerns on the article's discussion page.
{{stub}}
Place this tag at the top of an article you feel needs to be expanded in order to be fully considered an article. Expand on your concerns on the article's discussion page.
{{Update Needed}}
Place this code on top of the article's page when only one new known source has information that may be used to update it. Wililink the source name, if it has an article written.
{{verify}}
Place this tag at the top of an article or in a section you feel needs to be referenced, possibly due to a statement that may not be commonly known. Expand on your concerns in the article's discussion page.
{{Wikipedia}}
Place this tag at the top of an article that has a sister article (with the same name) at Wikipedia. It will automatically make properly formatted link that leads to the sister page.

Talk Pages[edit]

{{sign}}
To provide an easy and stock-standard message for editors to use to explain to people the hows and whys of signing their posts. Place this template on the user's talk page (and don't forget to sign the entry yourself).
{{unsigned}} or {{unsigned}}
Place this tag at the end of an unsigned post. Replace Username with the name of the user who left the comment. If you use the second example, you can include a comment of your own by replacing Optional comment with your own text. This parameter is useful for adding a timestamp, should you happen to know when the unsigned post was originally made.

Templates[edit]

{{tl}}
This tag is for making links to templates. You may even include one or more optional parameters. Replace Template name with the name of the template you're linking to. Replace Optional parameter with a short, meaningful description of what you put as that parameter. You can have up to three optional parameters. Note that most editors will rarely need to use this tag; its primary purpose is to help with creating pages like this one, or giving an example to a new editor.