Warhammer 40k - Lexicanum:Citation marking

ATTENTION: Please do note that marking missing or insufficient citations should be reserved to historic content added before 01 August 2024. Newer unsourced/ insufficiently sourced content is subject to deletion on sight and without the need for a case-by-case evaluation. Also do note that in the case of unsourced/ insufficiently sourced historic content that suspiciously looks like for example fan-made content (e.g. a romance between an Imperial assassin and an Eldar farseer), false or otherwise highly dubious information the Quarantining process should be applied. If in doubt, discuss the issue with fellow editors, Administrators or Bureaucrats.

What is Citation marking?

Citation marking is the clear visual marking of unsourced/ insufficiently sourced historic content (i.e. content added before 01 August 2024). These visual markers serve two purposes:

• 1.) They alert readers that specific information is to be regarded with a certain apprehension as it is insufficiently sourced.
• 2.) They direct the attention of editors to specific sections of articles that need to be improved.

When is Citation marking applied?

Citation marking should only be applied if the unsourced/ insufficiently sourced content was added before 01 August 2024 and is a generally known "fact" (e.g. "Orks are green") or seems probable enough.

Procedure

Who decides if content is citation marked?

Any Editor can decide if content should be citation marked. Or if it is warranted just to delete it. Remember: Any and all content that has been added after 01 August 2024 and that is not properly sourced is subject to deletion on sight without need for a case-by-case decision. If in doubt if specific content could/should merit a citation marking feel free to contact an Administrator or other, more experienced editors via their User Talk Pages or go to the Lexicanum's Discord server which has a dedicated Helpdesk channel.

How to citation mark content - a step-by-step guide

1.) Place the Citation issues template at the very top of the article in question by inserting {{Citation issues}} (for advanced users: {{CI}} is a shortcut for this}}. The template will look like this and alert readers that there is citation marked content in the article they are currently reading:

This article contains text passages or images with citation issues. The concerned content is marked with "Citation issue" tags. Please help to improve this article by fixing those issues as described in the corresponding Help article. Do also note that it is absolutely forbidden to add new information or content to these marked passages as long as the pre-existing citation issues have not been completely resolved.

2.) Mark all unsourced/ insufficiently sourced content in the article as follows:

• Regular text/ main body text: Insert {{Cite Marker Start}} at the beginning of the concerned sentence or passage and {{Cite Marker End}} behind it. For advanced users: {{CMS}} and {{CME}} are shortcuts for this.

This will for example look like this: Text text text text text, text text text - text. Text text text.^[Help]

• For list items, image captions and sources from the "Sources" section of an article you only use the {{Cite Marker End}} template at the end of the element in question.

This will for example look like this:

List of items

• Item A^[27a]
• Item B^[3]
• Item C^[Help]
• Item D^[Help]
• Item E^[16c]

Gallery

• 

  Image A^[27a]

• 

  Image B^[5d]

• 

  Image C^[Help]

• 

  Image D^[4]

• 

  Image E^[Help]

• 

  Image F^[Help]

• 

  Image G^[12b]

Sources

• 1: Source A, pg. 24
• 2: Source B:
  • 2a: pgs. 5-7
  • 2b: pg. 12
  • 2c: pgs. 16-18
• 3: Source C^[Help]
• 4: Source D, pg. 32

Where to find citation marked content

Articles that contain the Citation issues or Cite Marker End templates are automatically listed in the Category for pages needing citation.

Additional remarks

You can use the article's Talk page to mention already checked sources or if there are questions regarding the citation problem. Another possibility is to use the Lexicanum's Discord server to discuss the issue at hand - either in the "helpdesk-general" or "40k-en" subchannels.