Template:BLP sources/doc

This is a documentation subpage for Template:BLP sources.
It may contain usage information, categories and other content that is not part of the original template page.

This template is used on 100,000+ pages.
To avoid major disruption and server load, any changes should be tested in the template's /sandbox or /testcases subpages, or in your own user subpage. The tested changes can be added to this page in a single edit. Consider discussing changes on the talk page before implementing them.

If you plan to make breaking changes to this template, move it, or nominate it for deletion, please notify Twinkle's users and maintainers at Wikipedia talk:Twinkle as a courtesy, as the standard installation of Twinkle adds and removes this template. Thank you!

Contentious material that is unsourced or poorly sourced must be removed immediately, especially if potentially libelous or harmful.

Alternatives:

In BLP articles that have no sources at all created after March 18, 2010, the {{subst:prod blp}} template should be used. Otherwise, use {{BLP unsourced}}.
In non-BLP articles that require additional sources, the {{refimprove}} template should be used instead.
Be bold! Consider searching for references and adding them to the article, instead of this template.
Consider not adding this template to extremely short articles.

Usage

This template is intended to be placed at the top of articles about living persons that need additional references, and therefore in need of immediate attention. If the article is not about a living or recently deceased subject, you may wish to use {{Refimprove}} instead.

Please add a date parameter. Adding a date parameter sorts the article into subcategories of Category:BLP articles lacking sources and out of the parent category, allowing the oldest problems to be identified and dealt with first.

Finally, if the article has a defaultsort, this is used for these categories as well. Otherwise, it is sorted on the first word (usually the first name).

Parameters

date = December 2024 - required parameter, will be added by bot
reason = text - optional parameter which appends advisory text

Examples

Paste-ready example: {{BLP sources|date=December 2024}}

Example with reason: {{BLP sources|date=December 2024|reason=}}

This template can be used with a "section" parameter to tag specific sections: {{BLP sources|section|date=December 2024}}

Redirects

TemplateData

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

TemplateData for BLP sources

A template to display that a biography of a living person needs additional sources

Template parameters
Parameter		Description	Type	Status
Date	`date`	The month and year the template was added, in the form "July 2013"	String	optional
Reason	`reason`	A reason for adding the tag	String	optional
Suffix	`1` `suffix`	Add "section" if the tag applies to a particular section	String	optional

v t e Citation and verifiability article maintenance templates
Sourcing	{{Circular}} {{Better sources needed}} {{Dubious}} {{Excessive citations}} {{Further reading cleanup}} {{More citations needed}} {{More citations needed section}} {{More footnotes needed}} {{No footnotes}} {{No reliable sources}} {{No significant coverage}} {{One source}} {{One source section}} {{Only primary sources}} {{NRIS only}} {{Primary sources}} {{Primary sources section}} {{Religious text primary}} {{Self-published}} {{Self-reference cleanup}} {{Self-sourcing examples}} {{Refexample section}} {{Sources exist}} {{Text-source}} {{Third-party}} {{Unreferenced}} {{Unreferenced section}} {{Unreferenced category}} {{Unreliable sources}} {{Unreliable sources section}} {{User-generated}}
BLP-specific	{{BLP unreferenced}} {{BLP unreferenced section}} {{BLP primary sources}} {{BLP self-published}} {{BLP sources}} {{BLP sources section}} {{BLP IMDb-only refimprove}} {{BLP IMDb refimprove}} {{BLP no footnotes}} {{BLP more footnotes needed}} {{BLP one source}}
Topic specific	{{Localist}} {{Media IMDb refimprove}} {{More medical citations needed}} {{More science citations needed}} {{Neologism}} {{Science review}} {{Unreferenced law}} {{Unreferenced-law section}} {{Unreferenced medical section}}
Dispute-related	{{Cite check}} {{Cite check section}} {{Content}} {{Disputed}} {{Dispute about}} {{Disputed section}} {{Disputed chem}} {{Disputed list}} {{Disputed map}} {{Expert needed}} {{Hoax}} {{Original research}} {{Original research section}} {{Speculation}} {{Speculation section}} {{Synthesis}} {{Verifiability}} {{Verify sources}}
Citation improvements	{{Citation style}} {{Citations broken}} {{Cleanup bare URLs}} {{Format footnotes}} {{Full citations needed}} {{Ibid}} {{Page numbers improve}} {{Page numbers needed}} {{Shallow references}}
General advice	Citing sources Reliable sources Maintenance template removal Citation needed Find sources Combining sources Referencing styles

Usage

Parameters

Examples

Redirects

TemplateData

See also