Template:Why

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Usage

To tag a statement as being in need of clarification, add the following code:

{{Why|reason=Your explanation here|date=October 2026}}

• This tag adds pages with tagged statements into Category:Wikipedia articles needing clarification, or a dated subcategory thereof.

• To automatically add the current date, you can use substitution: {{subst:Why?}}.
• The <syntaxhighlight lang="wikitext" inline style="display: none;" />|date= parameter need not be added by the editor: if not entered, a bot will soon add it. The date parameter consists of the full English name of the current month with initial capital, a space, and the year, not full dates; e.g., "January 2013", but not "jan13". Any deviation from these two rules will result in an "invalid date parameter" error.
• The <syntaxhighlight lang="wikitext" inline style="display: none;" />|reason= parameter is optional but often helpful. It is displayed as a tooltip in some browsers (hover the mouse here to check behavior of your browser). For example, the following usage might be appropriate to the claim that "Humphrey Bogart has won several snooker world championships":

  {{Why|reason=This claim isn't clear.|date=October 2026}}

  • Use only plain text for the <syntaxhighlight lang="wikitext" inline style="display: none;" />|reason= parameter. It does not support wiki markup like wikilinks, which can "mess up" the tooltip.
  • Double quotation marks used within the <syntaxhighlight lang="wikitext" inline style="display: none;" />|reason= parameter will likewise "mess up" the tooltip; use single quotes or the HTML code " instead.
• This template should be installed directly after punctuation, such as a full stop (period) or a comma.
• Remove the template when you add an explanation for a statement.

TemplateData

This is the TemplateData for this template used by TemplateWizard, VisualEditor and other tools. See a monthly parameter usage report for Template:Why in articles based on its TemplateData.

TemplateData for Why

<templatedata> { "params": { "reason": { "type": "string", "label": "Reason asked", "description": "Explanation of why causal clarity is needed", "example": "It's unclear how oil expropriation led to prosperity. Please explain." }, "date": { "label": "Month and year", "type": "string", "autovalue": "{{subst:CURRENTMONTHNAME}} {{subst:CURRENTYEAR}}", "suggested": true, "description": "Provides the month and year of the citation request; e.g., 'January 2013', but not 'jan13'" } }, "description": "A cleanup tag to indicate that a statement is in need of causal clarification.", "format": "inline" } </templatedata>

The above documentation is transcluded from Template:Why/doc. (edit | history)
Editors can experiment in this template's sandbox (create | mirror) and testcases (create) pages.
Add categories to the /doc subpage. Subpages of this template.