Template:Backwards copy

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This template is for use on the talk pages of articles where there may be potential for confusion about the copyright status of parts of the text due to its re-use in a mainstream news article or publication. Editors often tend to see copyright violation as a one-way street, with all violations being on the part of Wikipedia - however, there have been several demonstrable instances of news organisations or websites copying substantial portions of Wikipedia content for articles without providing attribution. There are also cases where Wikipedia content is reused and properly licensed, but the attribution is unclear. For additional advice see the section WP:BACKWARDSCOPY in the Wikipedia page Wikipedia:Copyright problems

This template aims to prevent editors from mistakenly tagging valid Wikipedia content as copyvio when the Wikipedia article is the original, not the copy.

Usage

This template should be placed in the header section of the talk page of an article where backwards copying has occurred. Please fill in the basic, applicable parameters (borrowed from the {{citation}} tag) as this helps to ensure rapid verification that the material was indeed taken from Wikipedia.

{{Backwards copy
| title            = 
| year             = 
| author           = 
| display-authors  = 
| url              = 
| org              = 
| monthday         = 
| id               = 
| title2           = 
| year2            = 
| author2          = 
| display-authors2 = 
| url2             = 
| org2             = 
| monthday2        = 
}}

Parameters

• title (required): title of the work being referred to. Do not link; neither with a wikilink nor a link to an external site.
• year (required): year of publication of the work being referred to.
• author: author of the work being referred to. When there are multiple authors, set |author= to the name of the first or primary author and set |display-authors=etal. This template supports only one author name; the names of second and subsequent authors are not supported
• display-authors: renders '; et al.' after the name supplied in |author=.
• url: URL, if any, of an external site showing or providing additional identifying material for the work being referred to.
• org: publisher or other source of the work being referred to.
• monthday: month and day-of-month that, when combined with the year parameter, yields a date that complies with MOS:DATEFORMAT.
• id: the version number of a particular version that predates publication of the referenced work. The text generated by the template will link to the specified version. For assistance with determining the version number of a particular version, see here.
• comments: any additional comments that may be helpful to explain the basis for using the template.

Each of these parameters may be reused by appending a suffix 2-5 (e.g. title2, title3, title4, title5) to identify up to five works. See examples.

Examples

Basic template:

• {{Backwards copy|title=Title|url=http://www.example.com|year=2000}}

Complete template, year only:

• {{Backwards copy|title=Title|url=http://www.example.com|author=John Doe|year=2000|org=Publisher or source|comments=The author acknowledges Wikipedia in a tiny footnote on page 27.}}

Complete template, month and day included, version number, and an auto-hidden comment:

• {{Backwards copy|id=295134989|title=Title|url=http://www.example.com|author=John Doe|year=2000|monthday=1 January|org=publisher or source|comments=The subsequent history is confused as both the blog and the Wikipedia article have been updated.}}

Multiple cites (up to 5):

• {{Backwards copy|title=Title|url=http://www.example.com|author=John Doe|year=2000|title2=A different article|author2=Jane Doe|year2=2003|url2=http://www.foo.com|comments=The subsequent history is confused as both the blog and the Wikipedia article have been updated.}}

Complete template, multiple authors (first author only), month and day included, version number, and an auto-hidden comment:

• {{Backwards copy|id=295134989|title=Title|url=http://www.example.com|author=Jane Doe |display-authors=etal |date=1 January 2000 |org=publisher or source|comments=The subsequent history is confused as both the blog and the Wikipedia article have been updated.}}

Categories

Errors and warnings about template usage are tracked using the following tracking categories:

• Category:Pages with backwards copy errors (1)
• Category:Pages with backwards copy warnings (211)
• Category:Pages using backwards copy with unknown parameters (0)

This template also includes a hidden category for all uses:

• Category:Wikipedia article talk pages incorporating the backwards copy template

For purpose of demonstration set |demo=yes to subdue the hidden category.

See also

• {{Press}}

Deprecated redirects to this template: {{Backwardscopyvio}}, {{Notacopyvio}}, {{Reverse copyvio}}, {{Reversecopyvio}}. Please use {{Backwardscopy}} instead.

This template is for use on the talk pages of articles where there may be potential for confusion about the copyright status of parts of the text due to its re-use in a mainstream news article or publication.

Template parameters[Edit template data]

This template prefers block formatting of parameters.

Parameter		Description	Type	Status
Pre-copy version	id	The version number of a particular version that predates publication of the referenced work. The text generated by the template will link to the specified version. For assistance with determining the version number of a particular version, see "Help:Page history#Linking to a specific version of a page".	Unknown	suggested
Second title	title2	Title of the work being referred to. Do not link; neither with a wikilink nor a link to an external site.	Unknown	optional
Comments	comments	Any additional comments that may be helpful to explain the basis for using the template	Unknown	suggested
Author	author	Author of the work being referred to. When work has multiple authors, this parameter gets the first, or primary author; set |display-authors=etal; second and subsequent author names not supported.	Unknown	required
Display authors	display-authors	Whether or not to display the authors of the work.	Unknown	suggested
Month and day	monthday	Month and day-of-month that, when combined with the year parameter, yields a date that complies with MOS:DATEFORMAT.	Unknown	suggested
Year	year	Year of publication of the work being referred to.	Unknown	suggested
date	date	no description	Unknown	optional
URL	url	URL, if any, of an external site showing or providing additional identifying material for the work being referred to.	Unknown	suggested
articlename	articlename	no description	Unknown	optional
Title	title	Title of the work being referred to. Do not link; neither with a wikilink nor a link to an external site.	Unknown	suggested
Publisher	org	Publisher or other source of the work being referred to.	Unknown	optional
Second author	author2	Author of the work being referred to. When work has multiple authors, this parameter gets the first, or primary author; set |display-authors=etal; second and subsequent author names not supported.	Unknown	optional
Display second authors	display-authors2	Whether or not to display the authors of the work.	Unknown	optional
Second month and day	monthday2	Month and day-of-month that, when combined with the year parameter, yields a date that complies with MOS:DATEFORMAT.	Unknown	optional
Second year	year2	Year of publication of the work being referred to.	Unknown	optional
date2	date2	no description	Unknown	optional
Second URL	url2	URL, if any, of an external site showing or providing additional identifying material for the work being referred to.	Unknown	optional
articlename2	articlename2	no description	Unknown	optional
Second publisher	org2	Publisher or other source of the work being referred to.	Unknown	optional
Third title	title3	Title of the work being referred to. Do not link; neither with a wikilink nor a link to an external site.	Unknown	optional
Third author	author3	Author of the work being referred to. When work has multiple authors, this parameter gets the first, or primary author; set |display-authors=etal; second and subsequent author names not supported.	Unknown	optional
Display third authors	display-authors3	Whether or not to display the authors of the work.	Unknown	optional
Third month and day	monthday3	Month and day-of-month that, when combined with the year parameter, yields a date that complies with MOS:DATEFORMAT.	Unknown	optional
Third year	year3	Year of publication of the work being referred to.	Unknown	optional
date3	date3	no description	Unknown	optional
Third URL	url3	URL, if any, of an external site showing or providing additional identifying material for the work being referred to.	Unknown	optional
articlename3	articlename3	no description	Unknown	optional
Third publisher	org3	Publisher or other source of the work being referred to.	Unknown	optional
Fourth title	title4	Title of the work being referred to. Do not link; neither with a wikilink nor a link to an external site.	Unknown	optional
Fourth author	author4	Author of the work being referred to. When work has multiple authors, this parameter gets the first, or primary author; set |display-authors=etal; second and subsequent author names not supported.	Unknown	suggested
Display fourth authors	display-authors4	Whether or not to display the authors of the work.	Unknown	optional
Fourth month and day	monthday4	Month and day-of-month that, when combined with the year parameter, yields a date that complies with MOS:DATEFORMAT.	Unknown	optional
Fourth year	year4	Year of publication of the work being referred to.	Unknown	optional
date4	date4	no description	Unknown	optional
Fourth URL	url4	URL, if any, of an external site showing or providing additional identifying material for the work being referred to.	Unknown	optional
articlename4	articlename4	no description	Unknown	optional
Fourth publisher	org4	Publisher or other source of the work being referred to.	Unknown	optional
Fifth title	title5	Title of the work being referred to. Do not link; neither with a wikilink nor a link to an external site.	Unknown	optional
Fifth author	author5	Author of the work being referred to. When work has multiple authors, this parameter gets the first, or primary author; set |display-authors=etal; second and subsequent author names not supported.	Unknown	optional
Display fifth authors	display-authors5	Whether or not to display the authors of the work.	Unknown	optional
Fifth month or day	monthday5	Month and day-of-month that, when combined with the year parameter, yields a date that complies with MOS:DATEFORMAT.	Unknown	optional
Fifth year	year5	Year of publication of the work being referred to.	Unknown	optional
date5	date5	no description	Unknown	optional
Fifth URL	url5	URL, if any, of an external site showing or providing additional identifying material for the work being referred to.	Unknown	optional
articlename5	articlename5	no description	Unknown	optional
Fifth publisher	org5	Publisher or other source of the work being referred to.	Unknown	optional
Demo mode	demo	If set to yes, subdues the hidden category.	Boolean	optional

The above documentation is transcluded from Template:Backwards copy/doc. (edit | history)
Editors can experiment in this template's sandbox (edit | diff) and testcases (edit) pages.
Add categories to the /doc subpage. Subpages of this template.