Wikipedia:Talk page guidelines

Maintain Wikipedia policy

There is reasonable allowance for speculation, suggestion, and personal knowledge on talk pages, with a view to prompting further investigation, but it is usually a misuse of a talk page to continue to argue any point that has not met policy requirements. Pay particular attention to Wikipedia:Biographies of living persons, which applies to talk pages as well as to articles: "Editors must take particular care adding information about living persons to any Wikipedia page."

Creating talk pages

Talk pages are generally created by clicking a red "Talk" tab and creating the page, like any other page.

Do not create an empty talk page simply so that one will exist for future use. There is no need to add discussion warning templates to every talk page, or even to every talk page that contains a discussion.

How to use article talk pages

Although this section is specific to article talk pages, many of the general themes apply to all discussion pages that are used for collaboration.

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  • WP:TALK#COMMUNICATEWP:TALK#COMMUNICATE
  Communicate: If in doubt, make the extra effort so that other people understand you. Being friendly is a great help. It is always a good idea to explain your views; it is less helpful for you to voice an opinion on something but not explain why you hold it. Explaining why you have a certain opinion helps to demonstrate its validity to others and reach consensus.
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  • WP:TALK#TOPICWP:TALK#TOPIC
  Stay on topic: Talk pages are for discussing the article, not for general conversation about the article's subject (much less other subjects). Keep discussions focused on how to improve the article. Comments that are plainly irrelevant are subject to archiving or removal.
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  • WP:TALK#NOMETAWP:TALK#NOMETA
  No meta: Extended meta-discussions about editing belong on noticeboards, in Wikipedia-talk, or in User-talk namespaces, not in Article-talk namespace.
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  • WP:TALK#POSITIVEWP:TALK#POSITIVE
  Be positive: Article talk pages should be used to discuss ways to improve an article; not to criticize, pick apart, or vent about the current status of an article or its subject. This is especially true on the talk pages of biographies of living people. However, if you're not sure how to fix something, feel free to draw attention to this and ask for suggestions.
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  • WP:TALK#POLITEWP:TALK#POLITE
  Be polite: Article talk pages are at the end of the day civil discussions between users who have lives outside of Wikipedia, that influences their behaviors and manners. In serious discussions it is key to remain calm, respectful and patient with the other user. If a fallacy (see list of fallacies) is noticed when debating Wikipedia's general guidelines, remain civil and above all do not use this to anger the other user. Respectful arguments are relaxing!
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  • WP:TALKPOVWP:TALKPOV
  Stay objective: Talk pages are not a place for editors to argue their personal point of view about a controversial issue. They are a place to discuss how the points of view of reliable sources should be included in the article, so that the end result is neutral. The best way to present a case is to find properly referenced material.
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  • WP:TALK#FACTSWP:TALK#FACTS
  Deal with facts: The talk page is the ideal place for issues relating to verification, such as asking for help finding sources, discussing conflicts or inconsistencies among sources, and examining the reliability of references. Asking for a verifiable reference supporting a statement is often better than arguing against it.
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  • WP:TALK#SHAREWP:TALK#SHARE
  Share material: The talk page can be used to "park" material removed from the article due to verification or other concerns, while references are sought or concerns discussed. New material can be prepared on the talk page until it is ready to be put into the article; this is an especially good idea if the new material (or topic as a whole) is controversial.
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  • WP:TALK#DISCUSSWP:TALK#DISCUSS
  Discuss edits: The talk page is particularly useful to talk about edits. If one of your edits has been reverted, and you change it back again, it is good practice to leave an explanation on the talk page and a note in the edit summary that you have done so. The talk page is also the place to ask about another editor's changes. If someone questions one of your edits, make sure you reply with a full, helpful rationale.
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  • WP:TALK#PROPOSEWP:TALK#PROPOSE
  Make proposals: Proposals for improving the article can be put forward for discussion by other editors. Such proposals might include changes to specific points, page moves, mergers or making a section of a long article into a separate article.

Good practices for talk pages

These guidelines apply specifically to discussion pages which are used for collaboration, which includes just about all talk pages other than user talk pages. The application of these guidelines to user talk pages should be governed by common sense and should not supersede guidelines and policies specific to those pages.

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  • WP:SEETALKWP:SEETALK
  • WP:FETAWP:FETA
  Check whether there's already a discussion on the same topic. Duplicate discussions (on a single page, or on multiple pages) are confusing and time-wasting, and may be interpreted as forum shopping. If the subject is a controversial or popular one, consider checking the talk-page archives before opening a new thread. (Many talk pages have a Search archives box near the top.)
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  • WP:READFIRSTWP:READFIRST
  Read before commenting: Familiarizing yourself with a discussion before participating makes it easier to build consensus.
• Comment on content, not on the contributor or It's the edits that matter, not the editor: Keep the discussions focused on the topic of the talk page, rather than on the editors participating.
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  • WP:ENGLISHPLEASEWP:ENGLISHPLEASE
  Use English: This is the English-language Wikipedia; discussions should normally be conducted in English. If using another language is unavoidable, try to provide a translation, or get help at Wikipedia:Embassy. Do not expect readers to translate your content themselves, not even when modern browsers have machine translation built-in.
• Be concise: Long posts risk being ignored or misunderstood. Talk pages with a good signal-to-noise ratio tend to attract continued participation. If you really need to make a detailed, point-by-point post, see below for tips.
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  • WP:EXHAUSTWP:EXHAUST
  Keep discussions focused: Discussions naturally should finalize by agreement, not by exhaustion.
• Avoid repeating your posts: Your fellow editors can read your prior posts, so repeating them wastes time and space and may be considered bludgeoning the discussion. In surveys, don't make multiple bolded !votes.
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  • WP:MULTIWP:MULTI
  • WP:CROSS-POSTWP:CROSS-POST
  Avoid starting similar discussions on multiple pages, which fragments discussion. Instead, start the discussion in one location and, if appropriate, advertise it elsewhere by linking to it; templates such as {{subst:Please see}} and {{For your information}} are available for this. If you find a fragmented discussion, consider closing the old discussion or moving all posts to one location and linking from the old locations to the new one. State clearly in your edit summaries and on talk pages what you have done and why. (See Wikipedia:Content forking/Internal § Discussion forks.)
• Do not bite the newcomers: If someone does something against custom, assume it was an unwitting mistake; gently point out their mistake (referencing relevant policies and guidelines) and suggest a better approach.
• Link abbreviations: To assist newbies, consider linking to Wikipedia abbreviations and terms of art when they first appear in a thread.
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  • WP:SHOUTWP:SHOUT
  Avoid excessive emphasis: ALL CAPS and enlarged fonts may be considered shouting and are rarely appropriate. Bolding may be used to highlight key words or phrases but should be used judiciously. Italics are often used for emphasis or clarity but should be avoided for long passages. Exclamation marks similarly should be used judiciously. Overuse of emphasis can undermine its impact! If adding emphasis to quoted text, say so.
• Keep the layout clear: Use standard formatting and threading. If you include references, add {{reflist-talk}} or {{sources-talk}} after your comment, to keep citations within your thread. See Talk page layout.
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  • WP:TALKSUBHEADINGWP:TALKSUBHEADING
  Use separate subsection headings to discuss multiple changes: If you arrive at the "discussion" part of the "bold, revert, discuss" (BRD) cycle, and the subject involves a number of separate changes you would like to see, try to break down the different changes, and your reasons and reliable sources for each one, under separate subsection headings (===Example===). Mixing it all into one long post complicates discussion.
• Sign your posts. In most cases, your comments are signed automatically. To sign manually, append four tildes (~~~~), which will turn into your username and a timestamp:

  Example (talk) 08:18, 22 October 2026 (UTC)

• The minor flag is only for typographical corrections, formatting fixes, and similar changes that do not substantively change content.
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  • WP:TALKLINKWP:TALKLINK
  Use talk page permalinks to reference other editor's comments or threads on a talk page. Individual editors' comments and any thread or section title on a talk page are now permalinked as of June 2024, so even if a thread is archived, users will be able to follow it through automatic detection. This is a much better user experience than manual links to diffs of a comment.

Behavior that is unacceptable

Please note that some of the following are of sufficient importance to be official Wikipedia policy. Violations (and especially repeated violations) may lead to the offender being blocked or banned from editing Wikipedia.

• Personal attacks. This includes:
  • Insults: Do not make ad hominem attacks, such as calling someone an idiot or a fascist. Instead, explain what is wrong with an edit and how to fix it.
  • Personal threats: For example, threatening people with "admins [you] know" or with having them banned for disagreeing with you. However, explaining to an editor the consequences of violating Wikipedia policies, like being blocked for vandalism, is not considered a threat.
  • Legal threats: Threatening a lawsuit is highly disruptive to Wikipedia for reasons given at Wikipedia:No legal threats.
  • Posting other editors' personal details: A user who maliciously posts what they believe are the personal details of another user without that user's consent may be blocked for any length of time, including indefinitely.
• Misrepresenting other people: The record should accurately show significant exchanges that have taken place and in the correct context. This usually means:
  • Being precise in quoting others.
  • When referencing other people's contributions or edits, use "diffs". The advantage of diffs in referring to a comment is that the diff will always remain the same, even when a talk page gets archived or a comment gets changed.
  • Generally, do not alter others' comments, including signatures. Exceptions to this are described in the next section.
• Asking for another's personal details.
• Attempting to impersonate another editor.
• Claiming to be an administrator or to have an access level that you do not have. User access levels can always be verified at Special:ListUsers.
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  • WP:TALKNOTFORUMWP:TALKNOTFORUM
  Using the talk page as a forum for discussing the topic, or as a soapbox for promoting your views. The talk page is for discussing how to improve the article, not venting your feelings about it.
• Violating the policy on biographies of living persons, particularly through unsourced or poorly sourced information.
• Generating comments using large language models/generative AI. Editors must demonstrate an ability to communicate productively with others. Limited exceptions for simple corrections and translation apply per WP:NOLLM.

Editing existing comments

Non-compliance

Persistently formatting your comments on a talk page in a non-compliant manner, after friendly notification by other editors, is a mild form of disruption. After you have been alerted to specific aspects of these guidelines (such as indentation, sectioning, and signatures), you are expected to make a reasonable effort to follow those conventions. Other editors may simply ignore additional posts that flagrantly disregard the talk page formatting standards. You can also expect to have your mis-formatted posts refactored to comply.

Disputes

If you have a disagreement or a problem with someone's behavior, please read Wikipedia:Dispute resolution.

Closing discussions

Closing a discussion means summarizing the results, and identifying any consensus that has been achieved. A rule of thumb is that discussions should be kept open at least a week before closing, although there are some exceptions to this.

Any uninvolved editor may write a closing statement for most discussions, not just admins. However, if the discussion is particularly contentious or the results are especially unclear, then a request specifically for a closing statement from an uninvolved administrator may be preferable.

{{Archive top|result=Consensus below is in favor of this proposal, (detailed explanation) ~~~~}}
Discussion text...
{{Archive bottom}}

Layout

• Start new topics at the bottom of the page: If you put a post at the top of the page, it is confusing and can easily be overlooked. The latest topic should be the one at the bottom of the page, then the next post will go underneath yours and so on. This makes it easy to see the chronological order of posts. A quick way to do this is to use the "New section" tab next to the "Edit" button on the talk page you are on.
• Avoid excessive use of color and other font gimmicks: The advice at Wikipedia:Manual of Style/Accessibility § Color is as applicable to talk pages as it is anywhere else. And your post is not more important than anyone else's, so it should not be in huge, purple text.
• Separate multiple paragraphs with whitespace: If a single post has several points, it makes it clearer to separate them with a paragraph break (i.e. a blank line). Exception: Do not use blank lines between lines starting with asterisks (*), colons (:), semicolons (;), or number/hash signs (#). (See section below.) An alternative is using the {{pb}} ("paragraph break") template inline in the text without manually linebreaking on either side of it: Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit.{{pb}}Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation.

Indentation and screen readers

This page in a nutshell: WP:LISTGAP fixes: don't change list type, don't skip indentation levels, no extra spaces between replies.

• Avoid adding blank lines between any lines that begin with wikitext symbols for lists, because this increases the complexity of the generated HTML code and creates accessibility problems for people using screen readers. These symbols include:
  • asterisks (*), which make bulleted lists;
  • hash symbols (#), which make numbered lists;
  • semi-colons (;), which make the first half of an HTML association list (rendered as bold-faced text); and
  • colons (:), which make the second half of an HTML association list, but which are popularly used for the resulting visual indentation effect.
• Thread your post: Use indentation as shown in Help:Using talk pages § Indentation, to clearly indicate to whom you are replying, as with usual threaded discussions. Normally colons are used, not bullet points (although the latter are commonly used at AfD, CfD, etc.).

New topics and headings on talk pages

• Start new topics at the bottom of the page: If you put a post at the top of the page, it is confusing and can also get easily overlooked. The latest topic should be the one at the bottom of the page.
• Make a new heading for a new topic: It will then be clearly separated into its own section and will also appear in the TOC (table of contents) at the top of the page. A heading is easy to create with == on either side of the words, as in ==Heading==. The "Post a comment" feature can be used to do this automatically. (If you are using the default skin, you can use the "New section" tab next to the "Edit this page" tab instead.) Enter a subject/heading in the resulting edit page, and it will automatically become the section heading.
• Don't create a new heading that duplicates an existing heading: If you are responding to a comment or adding to a discussion on a particular topic, respond after the comment or at the bottom of the existing section.
• Make the heading clear and specific as to the article topic discussed: It should be clear from the heading which aspect of the article (template, etc.) you wish to discuss. Don't write "This article is wrong" but address the specific issue you want to discuss. A related article Edit, actual or potential, should be traceable to that Talk-page heading.
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  • WP:TALKHEADPOVWP:TALKHEADPOV
  Keep headings neutral: A heading should indicate what the topic is, but not communicate a specific view about it.
  • Don't praise in headings: You might wish to commend a particular edit, but this could be seen in a different light by someone who disagrees with the edit.
  • Don't criticize in headings: This includes being critical about details of the article. Those details were written by individual editors, who may interpret the heading as an attack on them.
  • Don't address other users in a heading: Headings invite all users to comment. Headings may be about specific edits but not specifically about the user. (Some exceptions are made at administrative noticeboards, where reporting problems by name is normal.)
  • Never use headings to attack other users: While no personal attacks and assuming good faith apply everywhere at Wikipedia, using headings to attack other users by naming them in the heading is especially egregious, as it places their names prominently in the Table of Contents, and can thus enter that heading in the edit summary of the page's edit history. As edit summaries and edit histories are not normally subject to revision, that wording can then haunt them and damage their credibility for an indefinite time period, even though edit histories are excluded from search engines. Reporting on another user's edits from a neutral point of view is an exception, especially reporting edit warring or other incidents to administrators.
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  • WP:SHOWNWP:SHOWN
  • WP:SECTIONHEADINGOWNWP:SECTIONHEADINGOWN
  Changing section headings: Because discussions are shared by multiple editors, no one, including the original poster, "owns" a talk page discussion or its headings. It is generally acceptable to change or add new headings when appropriate, e.g., one more accurately describing the topics discussed, less one-sided, more accessible, etc. Whenever a change is likely to be controversial, avoid disputes by discussing a heading change with the editor who created it, if possible. It can also sometimes be appropriate to merge entire discussions under one heading (often preserving the later one as a subheading) if they are redundant.
  In order to ensure links to the old title continue to work, you should add the {{subst:Anchor}} before the new title as so: == {{subst:Anchor|Old title}} New title ==. Wikimarkup such as links and templates may be removed from section headings as they create technical issues.
• Create subsections if helpful: Talk page discussions should be concise, so if a single discussion becomes particularly long, it may then become helpful to start a subsection (to facilitate the involvement of editors with a slower computer or Internet connection). Since the main section title will no longer appear in edit summaries, choose a connotative title; for example, in the section References used more than once, the subsection title References: arbitrary break might be used. If creating arbitrary breaks, ensure that sections end with a clear indication of the poster. (This method is preferable to using templates like {{Hidden}}.)

Links, time, and page name

• Make links freely: Links to articles are as useful on talk pages as anywhere else, and links to non-existent articles can help get them onto the most-wanted articles list.
• Use Coordinated Universal Time, when referring to a time, e.g., the time of an edit or page move.
• When mentioning the name of the page, cite the current name: This applies when a page is moved (i.e. retitled). In such a case, the Talk page is usually also moved. If you continue to use the old name, it will be confusing, especially for new editors to the article.

Archiving

Large talk pages are difficult to read and load slowly over slow connections. As a rule of thumb, archive closed discussions when a talk page has numerous resolved or stale discussions – see Help:Archiving a talk page. Apart from the exception described in § User talk pages, discussions should be archived, not blanked.

If a thread has been archived prematurely, such as when it is still relevant to current work or was not concluded, unarchive it by copying it back to the talk page from the archive, and deleting it from the archive. Do not unarchive a thread that was effectively closed; instead, start a new discussion and link to the archived prior discussion.

In the past, it was standard practice to "summarize" talk page comments, but this practice has fallen out of use. On regular wikis with no "talk" tab, the summary would end up as the final page content. Wikipedia has separate tabs for article content and discussion pages. Refactoring and archiving are still appropriate, but should be done with courtesy and reversed on protest.

Centralized talk pages

Often, there are a number of related pages that would benefit from one single talk page for discussions. For example, a list article may have grown too large and was split alphabetically. Or there may be a set of templates that are used together or interrelated MediaWiki interface pages.

Before implementing a centralized talk page, consider first gaining consensus for your proposal. The main discussion would usually be on the proposed centralized talk page with notices on the pages to be redirected. Notices may be placed on related pages as needed; for example, a relevant WikiProject page or Wikipedia:Village pump (proposals). {{Centralize notice}} may be used to note the proposal.

If consensus is gained, then:

1. Archive current discussions on all the talk pages to be centralized; see Help:Archiving a talk page
2. Check each talk page for subpages. These are usually archived discussions, but other subpages are sometimes created, such as drafts or reviews. See Wikipedia:Subpages#Finding subpages.
3. On the centralized talk page, list the redirected pages. {{Centralized talk page}} is useful for this.
4. On the centralized talk page, list all of the archived talk pages. {{archives|banner=yes}} is useful for this.
5. Redirect each talk page to the desired talk page; see Wikipedia:Redirect. It is recommended that an editnotice be created for the redirected talk pages; see Wikipedia:Editnotice. {{Editnotice central redirected}} is useful for this.
6. It is recommended that an editnotice be created for the centralized talk page. {{Editnotice central}} is useful for this.
7. Ensure that involved editors realize that they need to add the centralized talk page to their watchlist.

Examples of centralized talk pages: Talk:List of aircraft, Help talk:Cite errors, Help talk:Footnotes, and MediaWiki talk:Common.css.

Using a FAQ

If the same issues arise repeatedly, it may be desirable to preserve a list of frequently asked questions and their answers using the {{FAQ}} template.

The {{FAQ}} template is especially useful in cases in which:

1. The discussion forming the consensus was long, and not easy to follow
2. The talk page gets archived such that old discussions are not readily available

It may be useful to add hidden text into the article (in the portion(s) of the article where an edit against the existing consensus would most likely occur) alerting editors of the FAQ, to discourage the edits against the existing consensus.

Personal talk page cleanup

The length of user talk pages, and the need for archiving, is left up to each editor's own discretion.

Although archiving is preferred, users may freely remove discussions or comments from their own talk pages. Users may also remove some content in archiving. The removal of a warning is taken as evidence that the warning has been read by the user; this is true whether the removal was manual or automatic, and includes both registered and unregistered users. Note that deleted comments can always be retrieved from the page's history, as user talk pages are almost never deleted (although a courtesy blanking may be requested).

There are certain types of notices that users may not remove from their own talk pages, such as declined unblock requests and speedy deletion tags.