Wikipedia:No disclaimer templates
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This page is considered a guideline on Wikipedia. It is generally accepted among editors and is considered a standard that all users should follow. However, it is not set in stone and should be treated with common sense and the occasional exception. When editing this page, please ensure that your revision reflects consensus. When in doubt, discuss first on the talk page. |
Rather frequently, someone proposes a new disclaimer template - for instance, "This article contains profanity". While the consensus is that these kinds of templates should not exist, the constant creation of new ones shows a need for a clearer exposition of why they should not be used. When spotted, such templates tend to be speedily deleted because they're similar to templates we've debated and deleted in the past.
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[edit] What are disclaimer templates
Disclaimer templates are templates that duplicate the information at one of the five disclaimer pages:
- General disclaimer
- Use Wikipedia at your own risk
- Wikipedia does not give medical advice
- Wikipedia does not give legal opinions
- Wikipedia contains spoilers and content you may find objectionable
[edit] Why they should not be used
- Redundant with the Disclaimer link at the end of every page.
- Hard to define which articles should have a disclaimer (how would you define an "adult content" article, for instance, given that it varies wildly by culture).
- Wikipedia is not censored.
- The lack of the disclaimer on certain pages as opposed to others might open Wikipedia to lawsuits.
- By the time you see them, it's too late — the article has already been loaded.
[edit] Why people say they should be used
- People might be upset to see some sort of information on Wikipedia. (For a discussion of this see WP:NOT Censored above)
[edit] The exception
Template:spoiler and related templates are the exceptions from this guideline, but this guideline does not make them compulsory. For the relevant guideline on spoiler warnings, see Wikipedia:Spoiler warning.
- [...] The only disclaimer on wikipedia should be the spoiler warnings, because you don't know where they are, and they ruin things for you. You can choose to ignore medical-related content on Wikipedia, but once you've read a spoiler, you can't just pretend you never read it. -Frazzydee|✍ 12:45, 30 Apr 2005 (UTC)
[edit] Previous discussions
A small list of previous discussions is at Wikipedia talk:Risk disclaimer#More disclaimer templates.
Some older discussion can be found at the top of Wikipedia talk:Risk disclaimer, or at the templates for deletion archives.
