Cannabis Ruderalis

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? edit Frequently asked questions (FAQ)
Why doesn't Wikipedia require everyone to use exactly the same style for formatting citations on every single article, regardless of the subject?
Different academic disciplines use different styles because they have different needs and interests. Variations include differences in the choice of information to include, the order in which the information is presented, the punctuation, and the name of the section headings under which the information is presented. There is no house style on Wikipedia, and the community does not want to have the holy war that will happen if we tell people that they must use the style preferred by scientists in articles about history or the style preferred by artists when writing about science. Editors should choose a style that they believe is appropriate for the individual article in question and should never edit-war over the style of citations.
What styles are commonly used?
There are many published style manuals. For British English the Oxford Style Manual is the authoritative source. For American English the Chicago Manual of Style is commonly used by historians and in the fine arts. Other US style guides include APA style which is used by sociologists and psychologists, and The MLA Style Manual which is used in humanities. The Council of Science Editors and Vancouver styles are popular with scientists. Editors on Wikipedia may use any style they like, including styles they have made up themselves. It is unusual for Wikipedia articles to strictly adhere to a formally published academic style.
Isn't everyone required to use clickable footnotes like this[1] to cite sources in an article?
Yes. Footnotes (also called "<ref> tags") or shortened footnotes are now required in new articles, although some older articles may still use the now-deprecated citation system of inline parenthetical referencing (see WP:PARREF).
Why doesn't Wikipedia require everyone to use citation templates in every single article?
Citation templates have advantages and disadvantages. They provide machine-readable meta data and can be used by editors who don't know how to properly order and format a citation. However, they are intimidating and confusing to most new users, and, if more than a few dozen are used, they make the pages noticeably slower to load. Editors should use their best judgment to decide which format best suits each specific article.
Isn't there a rule that every single sentence requires an inline citation?
No. Wikipedia:Verifiability requires citations based on the content rather than the grammar. Sometimes, one sentence will require multiple inline citations. In other instances, a whole paragraph will not require any inline citations.
Aren't general references prohibited?
A general reference is a citation listed at the end of an article, without any system for linking it to a particular bit of material. In an article that contains more than a couple of sentences, it is more difficult to maintain text-source integrity without using inline citations, but general references can be useful and are not banned. However, they are not adequate if the material is one of four types of content requiring an inline citation. The article Early life of Joseph Smith, Jr. is an example of a featured article that uses some general references.
Can I cite a sign?
Yes, signs, including gravestones, that are displayed in public are considered publications. If the article is using citation templates, then use {{cite sign}}. You may also cite works of art, videos, music album liner notes, sheet music, interviews, recorded speeches, podcasts, television episodes, maps, public mailing lists, ship registers, and a wide variety of other things that are published and accessible to the public.

Contents of a product, or ingredients[edit]

How do I cite the contents of a product? Essentially I am trying to add to the "Uses" section on a chemical page.

so far other editors have refused the manufacture's website, pictures of the ingredients list, non scholarly articles. (scholarly articles do not cover the subject that I can find)


So I'm asking you all. How do I properly cite the listed ingredients on a product? TheAuthoritativeSource (talk) 22:57, 15 February 2022 (UTC)[reply]


Apparently the APA has a format for Product Labels... would that apply even though there would be no link? — Preceding unsigned comment added by TheAuthoritativeSource (talk • contribs) 23:18, 15 February 2022 (UTC)[reply]

Works of art in the "Aesthetics of Resistance"[edit]

Hi, how do you cite using sfn with an author with two different chapters in the same book. On the Works of art in the "Aesthetics of Resistance" article on reference 1 and 6, the "&" looks odd. It is right? scope_creepTalk 19:46, 19 February 2022 (UTC)[reply]

Like this:
{{sfn|Badenberg|1995a|p=115}}
Badenberg 1995a, p. 115 – {{harvnb}} used here for demo purposes
{{sfn|Badenberg|1995b|p=210}}
Badenberg 1995b, p. 210
{{cite book |last1=Badenberg |first1=Nana |editor1-last=Honold |editor1-first=Alexander |editor2-last=Schreiber |editor2-first=Ulrich |editor3-last=Badenberg |editor3-first=Nana |title=Die Bilderwelt des Peter Weiss |date=1995a |publisher=Argument-Verlag |location=Hamburg |isbn=9783886192274 |pages=114–163 |edition=1st |language=de |chapter=Die Ästhetik und ihre Kunstwerke. Eine Inventur}}
Badenberg, Nana (1995a). "Die Ästhetik und ihre Kunstwerke. Eine Inventur". In Honold, Alexander; Schreiber, Ulrich; Badenberg, Nana (eds.). Die Bilderwelt des Peter Weiss (in German) (1st ed.). Hamburg: Argument-Verlag. pp. 114–163. ISBN 9783886192274.
{{cite book |last1=Badenberg |first1=Nana |editor1-last=Honold |editor1-first=Alexander |editor2-last=Schreiber |editor2-first=Ulrich |title=Die Bilderwelt des Peter Weiss |date=1995b |publisher=Argument-Verlag |location=Hamburg |isbn=9783886192274 |edition=1st |language=de|chapter=Kommentiertes Verzeichnis der in der Ästhetik des Wider-stands erwähnten bildenden Künstler und Kunstwerke|pages=163–231}}
Badenberg, Nana (1995b). "Kommentiertes Verzeichnis der in der Ästhetik des Wider-stands erwähnten bildenden Künstler und Kunstwerke". In Honold, Alexander; Schreiber, Ulrich (eds.). Die Bilderwelt des Peter Weiss (in German) (1st ed.). Hamburg: Argument-Verlag. pp. 163–231. ISBN 9783886192274.
This is explained in the {{sfn}} documentation at Template:Sfn § More than one work in a year.
Another alternative is to use {{harvc}}:
{{sfn|Badenberg|1995c|p=115}}
Badenberg 1995c, p. 115 – again, {{harvnb}} used here for demo purposes
{{sfn|Badenberg|1995d|p=210}}
Badenberg 1995d, p. 210
{{cite book |last1=Badenberg |first1=Nana |editor1-last=Honold |editor1-first=Alexander |editor2-last=Schreiber |editor2-first=Ulrich |editor3-last=Badenberg |editor3-first=Nana |title=Die Bilderwelt des Peter Weiss |date=1995a |publisher=Argument-Verlag |location=Hamburg |isbn=9783886192274 |pages=114-163 |edition=1st |language=de |chapter=Die Ästhetik und ihre Kunstwerke. Eine Inventur}}
Honold, Alexander; Schreiber, Ulrich; Badenberg, Nana, eds. (1995). Die Bilderwelt des Peter Weiss (in German) (1st ed.). Hamburg: Argument-Verlag. ISBN 9783886192274.
{{harvc |last1=Badenberg |first1=Nana |chapter=Die Ästhetik und ihre Kunstwerke. Eine Inventur |in=Honold |in2=Schreiber |in3=Badenberg |pages=114–163 |year=1995 |anchor-year=1995c}}
Badenberg, Nana (1995c). "Die Ästhetik und ihre Kunstwerke. Eine Inventur". In Honold, Schreiber & Badenberg (1995), pp. 114–163.
{{harvc |last1=Badenberg |first1=Nana |chapter=Kommentiertes Verzeichnis der in der Ästhetik des Wider-stands erwähnten bildenden Künstler und Kunstwerke |in=Honold |in2=Schreiber |in3=Badenberg |pages=163–231|year=1995 |anchor-year=1995d}}
Badenberg, Nana (1995d). "Kommentiertes Verzeichnis der in der Ästhetik des Wider-stands erwähnten bildenden Künstler und Kunstwerke". In Honold, Schreiber & Badenberg (1995), pp. 163–231.
—Trappist the monk (talk) 20:48, 19 February 2022 (UTC)[reply]

How do you reference theatre performances?[edit]

Hello, I have read through this article, but I am unsure on how to reference theatre performances/theatre plays. Does anybody know how to do that? Please get back to me as soon as you can. Thanks. - Therealscorp1an (talk) 23:14, 12 March 2022 (UTC)[reply]

If the performance was recorded, follow the section on recordings; if you're citing the written play, follow the format for books. You shouldn't cite unpublished performances. Nikkimaria (talk) 01:26, 13 March 2022 (UTC)[reply]
What about the “Author, play name, Act, Scene” format? Or is that now “old fashioned”? Blueboar (talk) 02:01, 13 March 2022 (UTC)[reply]
That's fine for published plays, sure. Nikkimaria (talk) 02:30, 13 March 2022 (UTC)[reply]

Template:Cite Q and WP:CITEVAR[edit]

Headbomb and I recently noticed that Int21h has been converting selected citation templates in articles to {{Cite Q}} (for example: diff). The current user talk comments about this concur that these conversions are against WP:CITEVAR and produce source code that is very difficult for content editors to evaluate. I would like to know if there are other opinions about this and whether {{Cite Q}} conversions should be explicitly mentioned in the WP:CITEVAR content guideline? Thanks, Biogeographist (talk) 17:28, 22 March 2022 (UTC)[reply]

Cite Q is not a citation style.
I have not changed any citation styles. Cite journal is called with the same parameters as before. int21h (talk · contribs · email) 00:32, 23 March 2022 (UTC)[reply]
@Int21h: Look at the heading: WP:CITEVAR refers to "variation in citation methods" not only "variation in citation style". It includes "changing where the references are defined", according to the current text of WP:CITEVAR. Now look at the diff of your edit: You say that change is not a variation in citation method? I say you're wrong! It's a huge change in citation method: it makes the content of the citation invisible in editing mode. On your talk page you said that Cite Q evaluates on Visual Editor for newer editors, but not all of us are using Visual Editor, and the change of citation method is very apparent and very debilitating for editors who don't use Visual Editor. Biogeographist (talk) 02:23, 23 March 2022 (UTC)[reply]
"Cite journal is called with the same parameters as before" It is not. It mass imports everything from Wikidata, including the stuff that's deliberately left out. It's also a change in how citations are handled. Converting clear and easily editing inputs into impossibly obscure ones. Headbomb {t · c · p · b} 04:27, 23 March 2022 (UTC)[reply]
As noted above, this is absolute a change that is against WP:CITEVAR. There is no consensus for changing citations to "Cite Q". Peter coxhead (talk) 07:40, 23 March 2022 (UTC)[reply]
I tend to think that migrating citation metadata to Wikidata is a good idea; that sort of thing is what Wikidata is good at. Despite that, though, I completely agree with others here that it should not be done en masse, and not to individual articles against consensus, per WP:CITEVAR. Among other things, Cite Q has a viral effect, in that once a citation is formatted using Cite Q, it becomes much more difficult to copy it to other articles without using Cite Q again. —David Eppstein (talk) 07:59, 23 March 2022 (UTC)[reply]
I almost forgot, but there's another reason not to use Cite Q (as currently implemented) and not to replace citations with it: because its default behavior cannot properly split authors into separate last and first names, as many styles use and as required when linking to citations with harv templates. You could spell out the authors yourself but then what's the point of even using the template. —David Eppstein (talk) 07:34, 24 March 2022 (UTC)[reply]
  • This should be nuked from space. We have discussed citations to Wikidata before… and firmly rejected them every time. Repeatedly. Blueboar (talk) 12:20, 23 March 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    The template was discussed in 2017 for deletion with an outcome of "no consensus"; the closer gave some options for renomination should certain issues not be addressed. Primefac (talk) 13:20, 23 March 2022 (UTC)[reply]

Please Someone Do a BOT To Eliminate the Spaces in Citations[edit]

Administrators should do a routine automatic to clean the blank spaces. Those spaces serves nothing, but increase a lot of servers disk spaces clusters and costs to store the edit data.

As it is : Rawls, John (1971). A Theory of Justice. Harvard University Press. p. 18.

As must be : Rawls, John (1971). A Theory of Justice. Harvard University Press. p. 18.

--188.96.90.63 (talk) 17:28, 10 April 2022 (UTC)[reply]

Don't worry about performance. Besides, using bots for pointless edits like this would also take up resources. Nikkimaria (talk) 18:10, 10 April 2022 (UTC)[reply]
I actually want spaces in my citations and I see far too many scripts that condense out these spaces already which technically go against WP:CITEVAR. --Masem (t) 18:33, 10 April 2022 (UTC)[reply]
Agree with Masem; a lack of spaces in the wikitext makes editing harder and tends to make lines break in awkward places while editing in source mode. Jc3s5h (talk) 20:01, 10 April 2022 (UTC)[reply]
Agree per above. The spaces help. Carlstak (talk) 20:48, 10 April 2022 (UTC)[reply]
I also agree with the above. Removing the spaces would make the article harder to read when editing for no clear benefit. Egsan Bacon (talk) 20:59, 10 April 2022 (UTC)[reply]
I'm not aware of any scripts or bots that strip spaces out of citation templates. If anyone sees such an edit, would you please ping me with a diff? WhatamIdoing (talk) 21:18, 10 April 2022 (UTC)[reply]
First, let me say that there is appropriate usage of scripts when it is to retain the style. For example, while I personally add refs using spaces on articles where the prevailing style is compact, using a script like User:Meteor_sandwich_yum/Tidy_citations.js is reasonable, eg: [1]. (That is, this is a fully legit CITEVAR script fix). But I've seen cases of articles I've started with my preferred "breathing room" for citations then get have a user use one of these scripts to compact down the citations (eg: [2] (I'm the original editor of that article). That's a annoyance when that happens, for certain. Scripts can exist, but they should be used for maintaining only the established CITEVAR. --Masem (t) 21:37, 10 April 2022 (UTC)[reply]
The opposite might actually be usefull, have a bot add these spaces where they are lacking. The spaces vastly improve the readability of source text. The "cost" is negligible - a couple of dozen bytes per article will not bankrupt the WMF. Roger (Dodger67) (talk) 21:28, 10 April 2022 (UTC)[reply]
To Masem, Jc3s5h, Carlstak, Egsan Bacon, Dodger67: I'm using Firefox with the alternative syntax highlighter (enabled in Preferences/Gadgets/Editing), and it doesn't break lines at | and =, so such unspaced template invocations sometimes produce lines twice wider than my editor window, which makes editing and even viewing them really painful (I have to scroll it right and left). Do you experience similar problems? I was thinking to raise the question about adding somewhere a recommendation to use spaces between named parameters (as all WP guides and template documentations currently do anyway, but without a formal rule). Not that a bot should add them, but I think that the complete removal of spaces must be at least discouraged. — Mikhail Ryazanov (talk) 20:06, 11 April 2022 (UTC)[reply]

This sort of bot task is not merely pointless, but actually forbidden. See both WP:CITEVAR (which prohibits out-of-consensus changes to citation formatting including how the templates are coded) and WP:COSMETICBOT (which forbits bot tasks that only make this sort of invisible-to-readers change). —David Eppstein (talk) 22:20, 10 April 2022 (UTC)[reply]

What the others said (with the clarification that WP:COSMETICBOT only forbids these cosmetic edits in the absence of consensus for them, which this will never get). Additionally, these spaces are actually a good thing (see this old discussion and editor-hostile wikitext), because they greatly improve code readability and line breaking. Headbomb {t · c · p · b} 01:57, 11 April 2022 (UTC)[reply]
Can we please add this recommendation about spaces (to use  |parameter=value or  |parameter = value or  | parameter = value – always with a space (or newline) before |) to some user guidelines as well? Because in addition to the complete lack of spaces, discussed above, I also sometimes see crazy things like (line breaks exaggerated to demonstrate the effects)
{{cite
web|last =
Surname|first
= Name|title
=
Something|url
= ...}}
or a more tolerable but still strange multiline format
{{cite web|
  last = Surname|
  first = Name| 
  title = Something|
  url = ...
}}
with pipes immediately at ends of values instead of before parameter names. — Mikhail Ryazanov (talk) 20:24, 11 April 2022 (UTC)[reply]
I sometimes use no-space formats, for the following good reason: I have software that generates citations in multiline format but for inline references that can use too much space and a more compact format without line breaks may be preferable. But a global search and replace from "\s*([|=])\s*" to " \1 ", to convert to spaced parameters without the line breaks (as advocated here) will often break urls containing equal signs, such as those from Google books. Instead, replacing to "\1" to create an unspaced format, is safer for the urls in the citations. I would strongly object to recommendations to use only one format, based on some individual's aesthetic preferences for what the coding should look like, but failing to take into account practicalities like this. —David Eppstein (talk) 20:34, 11 April 2022 (UTC)[reply]
First of all, "recommending" ≠ "forbidding other". I mean, if possible and feasible – please use spaces; if not – somebody else can add them later. Second, the | character is not allowed in URLs (it can be present in wikilinks, but they tolerate spaces), so if you just process | without touching =, nothing should break. Third, if your software can't produce readable wikicode (as recommended in WP:BOTDICT#editor-hostile wikitext), it's a good reason to improve your software, not to declare that poorly formatted wikicode is perfectly fine and must be retained no matter what. — Mikhail Ryazanov (talk) 21:12, 11 April 2022 (UTC)[reply]
If you cannot read wikicode without spaces, perhaps you should be the one to upgrade the software in your eyes. Or write yourself a special script to reformat the code in a special format that you can read. Or in whatever other way do the work yourself rather than whining that others should do the work because you don't think it's pretty. —David Eppstein (talk) 21:22, 11 April 2022 (UTC)[reply]
It isn't a question of "software in your eyes"; accessibility is better with spacing. Those of us who are older need the help that good layout can give. Peter coxhead (talk) 13:25, 12 April 2022 (UTC)[reply]
I use spaces around | for the reasons mentioned. A bot to make the format consistent (which I don't see a crying need for) should be required to leave urls alone. Zerotalk 11:13, 12 April 2022 (UTC)[reply]

Linking short citations[edit]

WP:CITESHORT says: "The short citations and full citations may be linked so that the reader can click on the short note to find full information about the source." Shouldn't we recommend such linking instead of merely allowing it, as it is an obvious improvement in reading experience without any drawbacks? With reference tooltips enabled (they are by default), even clicking is not required to see the full reference (and then possibly open the actual source by clicking the link directly in the tooltip). On the contrary, without such linking, getting to the source requires nontrivial manual work (even "select text"/"find in page" wouldn't always help much, since strings like "Author & Author" are most likely not present in corresponding full citations, and searching for just "Author" is likely to find many irrelevant occurrences). — Mikhail Ryazanov (talk) 18:49, 11 April 2022 (UTC)[reply]

source: https://web.archive.org/web/20220408130300/https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia_talk:Citing_sources

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