Template:WPBiography

This template is used on 760,000+ pages. To avoid large-scale disruption and unnecessary server load, any changes should first be tested in this template's /sandbox or /testcases subpage, or in your own user space. The tested changes can then be added in one single edit to this template. Please consider discussing any changes on the talk page before implementing them.

Shortcut: {{WPBIO}}

If you must edit this template:

• Please give a detailed edit summary to explain what you're doing.
• If the changes are significant discuss it on the talk page first.
• Don't mark major edits as minor.
• Do the changes in a sandbox first and then paste them in in a single edit.
• Template:WPBiography/sandbox can be used to carry out tests and provide code for major changes.

The template is used on over 760,000 pages and it's a big strain on the servers every time it's updated (see the job queue); please be careful when updating the template.

Contents 1 Usage 1.1 Basic usage 1.2 Extended usage 1.3 Living people, active politicians and other BLP issues 1.4 Quality assessments 1.5 Work group parameters 1.6 Maintenance parameters 1.7 Listas 1.8 Template layout 1.9 Special

Usage

Please note: This template should be transcluded and not substituted because it employs conditional code, i.e. {{WPBiography}} not {{subst:WPBiography}}. 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 put 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:WPBiography/category list.

Place this template on the talk page of biography articles.

Basic usage

{{WPBiography|living=|class=|listas=}}

Extended usage

{{WPBiography
|living = yes/no (MANDATORY FIELD)
|activepol = 
|blpo = 
|class = 
|auto = 
|a&e-work-group = 
|a&e-priority = 
|filmbio-work-group = 
|filmbio-priority = 
|musician-work-group = 
|musician-priority = 
|military-work-group = 
|military-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 = 
|attention = 
|needs-photo = 
|needs-infobox = 
|needs-persondata = 
|needs-filmography = 
|needs-discography = 
|past-collaboration = 
|peer-review = 
|old-peer-review = 
|A-Class = 
|listas = 
|small = 
}}

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.
  • If |living=yes, this parameter adds {{BLP}} above WPBiography 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 WPBiography 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 WPBiography.
  • Can only be used if |living=no.

Note: The {{BLP}}, {{Active politician}} and {{BLP others}} banners will not be visible if WPBiography is used within {{WikiProjectBannerShell}}, 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 {{WikiProjectBannerShell}}; 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, A, GA, B, C, Start, Stub, FL, List, Category, Disambig, Template or NA. If blank, this will default as 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: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:FL-Class biography articles; Category:List-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 group parameters

Shortcut: T:WPBIO

• |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.
• |a&e-priority= Options are Top, High, Mid, Low or NA. If blank, this will default as 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 as 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 as 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 as 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 as 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 as 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 as 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 as 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 as Unknown.
  • These parameters populate the categories listed here.

Maintenance parameters

• |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-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.

• |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-persondata= Answer yes if the article needs persondata, otherwise remove this line.
  • This parameter populates Category:Biography articles without persondata. Additional categories will be populated if one or more work groups are specified.

• |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-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.

• |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 paramaters 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.