Template:WikiProject Biography

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This template is used on 1,780,000+ 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.

This template employs intricate features of template syntax. You are encouraged to familiarise yourself with its setup and parser functions before editing the template. If your edit causes unexpected problems, please undo it quickly, as this template may appear on a large number of pages. You can conduct experiments, and should test all major changes, in either this template's sandbox, the general template sandbox, or your user space before changing anything here.

This template uses Lua: Module:Check for unknown parameters

Because the {{WikiProject Biography}} template is used on over one million pages and that it puts a big strain on the servers every time it is updated (see the job queue), the template is currently protected and can be edited only by template editors and administrators.

If you would like to propose a change to this template:

• If the changes are significant, then discuss it on the talk page first.
• Test the changes in the Template:WikiProject Biography/sandbox and then request an edit to the template on the talk page.

Usage

Please note: This template should be transcluded as {{WikiProject Biography}} and not substituted, because it employs conditional code. Transclusion also allows easy updating of all the Project's talk pages without having to edit hundreds of thousands of pages. Many of these parameters place the talk page of the article into an appropriate category. A manually generated (though sporadically updated) list of all the categories used in this template is at Template:WikiProject Biography/category list.

Place this template on the talk page of biography articles.

Basic usage

If the person is living:

{{WikiProject Biography
| living=yes 
| class= <!--Start, Stub, etc.--> 
| listas= <!--see note below -->
}}

If the person is not living:

{{WikiProject Biography
| living=no 
| class= <!--Start, Stub, etc.--> 
| listas= <!--see note below -->
}}

Note for |listas=: For most articles this will be "Surname, Given Names" but this is not always true. See WP:NAMESORT and Category:Names by culture for further details.

Extended usage

If you have a lot of time on your hands:

{{WikiProject Biography
| living = <!-- yes/no (MANDATORY FIELD) -->
| class = 
| listas = 
| a&e-work-group = 
| a&e-priority = 
| filmbio-work-group = 
| filmbio-priority = 
| military-work-group = 
| military-priority = 
| musician-work-group = 
| musician-priority = 
| peerage-work-group = 
| peerage-priority = 
| politician-work-group = 
| politician-priority = 
| royalty-work-group = 
| royalty-priority = 
| s&a-work-group = 
| s&a-priority = 
| sports-work-group = 
| sports-priority = 
| A-Class = 
| activepol = 
| attention = 
| auto = 
| blpo = 
| needs-discography = 
| needs-filmography = 
| needs-infobox = 
| needs-photo = 
| past-collaboration = 
| peer-review = 
| old-peer-review = 
| small = 
}}

Parameters

Living people, active politicians and other BLP issues

• |living= Answer yes or no. If yes, this also affects the |needs-photo= parameter, to emphasize the fact that free images must be used. This parameter must be specified whether or not the person is living. In case of music bands or any other list of people that is under the scope of this WikiProject the parameter should be set to "yes" if at least one of the people in that list is alive.
  • If |living=yes, this parameter adds {{BLP}} above WikiProject Biography and populates Category:Biography articles of living people.
  • Articles lacking this parameter are found in Category:Biography articles without living parameter.
• |activepol= Answer yes if the article is about a currently active politician, otherwise remove this line.
  • This parameter adds {{Active politician}} above WikiProject Biography and populates Category:Active politicians.
  • Can only be used if |living=yes.
• |blpo= Answer yes if the subject of the article is not a living person, but the article contains sensitive information about other living persons, otherwise remove this line.
  • This parameter adds {{BLP others}} above WikiProject Biography.
  • Can only be used if |living=no.

Note: The {{BLP}}, {{Active politician}} and {{BLP others}} banners will not be visible if WikiProject Biography is used within {{WikiProject banner shell}}, but the relevant categories will still be added. In such cases, these banners can still be added to a talk page by using the relevant parameters in {{WikiProject banner shell}}; please refer to that template's documentation for further instruction.

Any changes to the wording of these banners should be requested on the corresponding template talk page, not here.

Quality assessments

• |class= Options are FA, FL, A, GA, B, C, Start, Stub, List, Book, Category, Disambig, Template or NA. If left blank, this will default to Unassessed. Descriptions of the options can be found at Wikipedia:WikiProject Biography/Assessment#Quality scale.
  • This parameter populates the following categories: Category:FA-Class biography articles; Category:FL-Class biography articles; Category:A-Class biography articles; Category:GA-Class biography articles; Category:B-Class biography articles; Category:C-Class biography articles; Category:Start-Class biography articles; Category:Stub-Class biography articles; Category:List-Class biography articles; Category:Book-Class biography articles; Category:Category-Class biography articles; Category:Disambig-Class biography articles; Category:Template-Class biography articles; Category:NA-Class biography articles; and Category:Unassessed biography articles. Additional categories will be populated if one or more work groups are specified.
• |auto= This parameter is for the use of bots. |auto=yes indicates that an article has been assessed as Stub-Class because it has one or more stub tags.
  • This parameter populates Category:Automatically assessed biography articles. Additional categories will be populated if one or more work groups are specified.

Work groups

• |a&e-work-group= Answer yes if the article is within the scope of the arts and entertainment work group, otherwise remove this line. If the article is about an actor or filmmaker, please use |filmbio-work-group=yes instead; if the article is about a musician, please use |musician-work-group=yes instead. Note: setting either |filmbio-work-group=yes or |musician-work-group=yes will cause |a&e-work-group=yes to be ignored.
• |a&e-priority= Options are Top, High, Mid, Low or NA. If blank, this will default to Unknown.
  • These parameters populate the categories listed here.
• |filmbio-work-group= Answer yes if the article is within the scope of WikiProject Actors and Filmmakers, otherwise remove this line.
• |filmbio-priority= Options are Top, High, Mid, Low or NA. If blank, this will default to Unknown.
  • These parameters populate the categories listed here.
• |military-work-group= Answer yes if the article is within the scope of the military biography work group, otherwise remove this line.
• |military-priority= Options are Top, High, Mid, Low or NA. If blank, this will default to Unknown.
  • These parameters populate the categories listed here.
• |musician-work-group= Answer yes if the article is within the scope of WikiProject Musicians, otherwise remove this line.
• |musician-priority= Options are Top, High, Mid, Low or NA. If blank, this will default to Unknown.
  • These parameters populate the categories listed here.
• |peerage-work-group= Answer yes if the article is within the scope of WikiProject Peerage and Baronetage, otherwise remove this line.
• |peerage-priority= Options are Top, High, Mid, Low or NA. If blank, this will default to Unknown.
  • These parameters populate the categories listed here.
• |politician-work-group= Answer yes if the article is within the scope of the politics and government work group, otherwise remove this line.
• |politician-priority= Options are Top, High, Mid, Low or NA. If blank, this will default to Unknown.
  • These parameters populate the categories listed here.
• |royalty-work-group= Answer yes if the article is within the scope of WikiProject Royalty and Nobility, otherwise remove this line.
• |royalty-priority= Options are Top, High, Mid, Low or NA. If blank, this will default to Unknown.
  • These parameters populate the categories listed here.
• |s&a-work-group= Answer yes if the article is within the scope of the science and academia work group, otherwise remove this line.
• |s&a-priority= Options are Top, High, Mid, Low or NA. If blank, this will default to Unknown.
  • These parameters populate the categories listed here.
• |sports-work-group= Answer yes if the article is in the scope of the sports and games work group, otherwise remove this line.
• |sports-priority= Options are Top, High, Mid, Low or NA. If blank, this will default to Unknown.
  • These parameters populate the categories listed here.

Maintenance

• |attention= Answer yes if the page needs immediate attention, otherwise remove this line.
  • This parameter populates Category:Biography articles needing attention. Additional categories will be populated if one or more work groups are specified.
• |needs-discography= Answer yes if the article needs a discography section, otherwise remove this line.
  • This parameter populates Category:Musicians work group articles needing discographies.
  • Can only be used if |musician-work-group=yes.
• |needs-filmography= Answer yes if the article needs a filmography section, otherwise remove this line.
  • This parameter populates Category:Actors and filmmakers work group articles needing filmographies.
  • Can only be used if |filmbio-work-group=yes.
• |needs-infobox= Answer yes if the article needs an infobox, otherwise remove this line. Remember that infoboxes are not suitable for all articles, and can overwhelm short articles.
  • This parameter populates Category:Biography articles without infoboxes. Additional categories will be populated if one or more work groups are specified.
• |needs-photo= Answer yes to request that a photograph or picture of the subject be added to the article, otherwise remove this line.
  • This parameter populates Category:Wikipedia requested photographs of people or relevant subcategories if one or more work groups are specified.
• |past-collaboration= If the article was previously a WikiProject Biography Collaboration, set this variable as a date (e.g. 1 June - 14 June 2006), otherwise remove this line.
  • This parameter populates Category:Past Biography collaborations.
• |peer-review= Answer yes if the page is currently nominated for peer review by WikiProject Biography, otherwise remove this line.
  • This parameter populates Category:Requests for Biography peer review.
• |old-peer-review= Answer yes if the article has received a peer review from WikiProject Biography per the option above, otherwise remove this line.
  • This parameter populates Category:Old requests for Biography peer review.
• |A-Class= Answer pass if the article has passed an A-Class review, or fail if the article has failed a review, otherwise remove this line.
  • |A-Class=pass populates Category:Successful requests for biography A-Class review.
  • |A-Class=fail populates Category:Failed requests for biography A-Class review.
  • Please note that the A-Class review department of WikiProject Biography is currently inactive. This parameter cannot be used to request a new review.

Listas

• |listas= This parameter, which is the equivalent of the DEFAULTSORT sortkey that should be placed on all biographical articles, is a sortkey for the article talk page (e.g. for Elvis Presley, |listas=Presley, Elvis, so that the talk page will show up in the P's and not the E's of the various assessment and administrative categories). This is important because it is one source used by those who set DEFAULTSORT on the article; consider also setting the DEFAULTSORT for the article when setting this parameter. For more information about this, please see Wikipedia:Categorization of people#Ordering names in a category.
  • If undefined, this parameter populates Category:Biography articles without listas parameter.

Template layout

• |small= Answer yes to display a small version of the template aligned along the right side of the page (as opposed to at the top), otherwise remove this line.

Special

The following parameters should not normally be used.

• |core= Answer yes if, and only if, the article is listed at Wikipedia:WikiProject Biography/Core biographies.
  • This parameter populates the categories listed here.
• |category= Answer no if, and only if, a banner is being used for demonstration or testing purposes, to prevent unnecessary or undesirable categorization.

Tracking category

• Category:Pages using WikiProject Biography with unknown parameters (17)

See also

• {{BLP}}