Help:Wiki University--Maintenance Templates

Maintenance flags or templates
Maintenance flags or templates are special templates you can add to an article to show that the article has a problem you need help resolving. The flags alert an administrator that this page needs attention of some sort.

Explanations

 * When placing these maintenance templates, you need to add an explanation as to what is the issue with the article that requires a maintenance template.
 * The explanation is added to the template inside the curly brackets separated by a pipe shown in red as in this example:

Your explanation will now appear after the description of the template

Common maintenance templates

 * Here are some common maintenance flags and the wikitext you will use.

How a flag works

 * When you added the category (the second line of wikitext in the chart), it signaled the wiki to place your page into a category that is being checked regularly by an assigned missionary. That missionary will study the details and resolve the problem.
 * These flags are especially valuable for solving problems you have no authority to fix. For example, if a page needs deleted, only a missionary with administrator rights can delete it.
 * Be helpful and add enough details to the Talk Page that this administrator can quickly grasp the problem.
 * What is causing the concern?
 * Where exactly (what section) is the problem found on the page?
 * What have you maybe already tried that did not work?

There are many more flags available

 * There are so many flags designed to fit a variety of situations that you will never remember them all! Instead, when you come to a problem you feel unable to solve, consult this listing of maintenance templates to see if a flag fits your problem.
 * If nothing seems to be an exact match, use the "I am looking for help!" flag (in the first row of the above chart).

Try these out


 Exercises Check your answers
 * Flag your sandbox page for a copyright violation.
 * After checking the answer, remove the flag, so your trainer does not hear from a mildly irritated but nevertheless polite administrator.

 Quick Quiz
 * When placing a maintenance template, you:
 * A. Place the name of the template between two opening and closing square brackets.
 * B. You place it at the bottom of the page.
 * C. You type the reason you are placing the template after a pipe that follows the name of the template.
 * D. None of the above


 * To place a maintenance flag, you add the appropriate wikitext to the Talk Page of the article.
 * True
 * False


 * It is just fine if you only put the wikitext on the Talk Page and add no other explanation.
 * True
 * False


 * If no other flag seems to fit the problem, feel free to use the "I am looking for help!"
 * True
 * False


 * A diligent and effective missionary should memorize all the available maintenance flags, reviewing them on a daily basis.
 * True
 * False

Check your answers