Template:Selfref

A checked version of this page, approved on 19 October 2020, was based on this revision.

This content is in the Template Namespace. Used for page-templates that can be re-used across the wiki.

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This template is used on many pages and changes may be widely noticed. Test changes in the template's /sandbox or /testcases subpages, or in your own user subpage. Consider discussing changes on the talk page before implementing them.

The {{Selfref|text}} template adds to a Wikipedia article a hatnote (in this case, merely: text) that will not appear in any reuse of Wikipedia article content. In Wikipedia terminology, self-references in an article usually mention Wikipedia directly or tell readers to take an action that has to take place on Wikipedia, such as editing the article. Typically, self-references within Wikipedia articles to the Wikipedia project should be avoided. Reading such information off-site would only cause confusion.

With this template, you can safely make a self-reference where needed, but that need is rare. Before using this template, make sure the self-reference that you're thinking of adding doesn't fall into one of the types listed at Wikipedia:Self-references to avoid. Most other hatnote templates, such as {{for}} and {{about}} support a |selfref= parameter which may be more convenient to use.

To see this behavior, view a printable version of an article that has a self-reference hatnote, and notice how this template masks its content.

Usage

This template should not be substituted.

In most cases, {{Selfref}} is used to create a disambiguation link to a page in the "Wikipedia:" namespace from article-space; for instance, the page Objectivity (disambiguation) could have a self-referential "hatnote" link at the top: {{Selfref|For Wikipedia's policy on avoiding bias, see [[Wikipedia:Neutral point of view]].}}.

When using {{Selfref}} in this way, use the following format:

{{Selfref|The self-referential notice to display, including [[MOS:LINK|links]].}}

which produces:

italicized (Wikipedia house style for self-referential notes), and both preceded and followed by a linebreak.

For inline use (in body text, mid-sentence, and not in hatnotes), without the indentation and line breaking, use {{Selfref inline}}:

{{Selfref inline|the self-referential text to display, including [[MOS:LINKS|links]]}}

which produces: Template:Selfref inline (illustrated here on the same line as other content).

Template {{Selfref}} also has the parameter |inline:

{{Selfref|the self-referential text to display, including [[MOS:LINKS|links]]|inline}}

However, as of early 2019,^[update] it does not always function properly, and may cause a line break under some circumstances.

Unprintworthy content

Rarely, there is other, non-self-referential content which shouldn't appear in mirrors, print editions, or other off-Wikipedia reuses of Wikipedia content, and which shouldn't be italicized as a self-reference.

It is preferable to mark such unprintworthy content with the {{Unprintworthy inline}} template (which includes the noprint CSS class, but not the plainlinks class, since links in such content will not be internal self-references). Although not all mirror sites do so, the content in question can be removed by reusers of WP content, without any reformatting, by ignoring or removing content marked up by this template, or more accurately by the selfreference CSS class that it (and some other templates) use.

Note: The following syntax has been obsolete since 2008, and if you see it, replace it as described below.

There was a deprecated, pre-2008 legacy usage of {{Selfref}} that was used for such unprintworthy cases, and pre-dates the {{Unprintworthy inline}} template. This is to simply end the template with a pipe character – |:

~~{{Selfref|the unprintworthy text to display without self-ref styling|}}~~

This method cannot be depended upon. For one thing, many editors would interpret the ending pipe as an error and remove it, turning the template into an indented self-ref hatnote! It also has not been used since 2008. Any remaining uses of it should be replaced with {{Selfref inline}} (if real a self-references) or {{Unprintworthy inline}} (if simply unprintworthy).

Example

Code	Page on Wikipedia	Page on [some] mirrors
`{{Selfref\|For the Wikipedia Sandbox, see [[Wikipedia:WP:SAND]]}}` `The Wikipedia Sandbox is a page on Wikipedia. {{Selfref\|(You can edit it by clicking "edit" on the page.)\|inline}} It has been edited many times.`	For the Wikipedia Sandbox, see Wikipedia:WP:SAND The Wikipedia Sandbox is a page on Wikipedia. (You can edit it by clicking "edit" on the page.) It has been edited many times.	The Wikipedia Sandbox is a page on Wikipedia. It has been edited many times.