Template:User-generated

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This template is for when multiple sources used in an article are user-generated content. User-generated means that the source was written and published by random members of the public (e.g., another wiki, a reader-editable database like IMDb, an Internet forum, a Usenet newsgroup or Internet mailing list, etc.), rather than by separate authors and formal publishers (e.g., news media websites or traditional book publishing). User-generated content is a form of self-published source, and these are usually not permissible as citation on Wikipedia.

This template will categorize tagged articles into Category:Articles lacking reliable references.

This template is a self-reference.
Please do not subst: this template.

When to use

Please try to improve the article, e.g. by looking for better sources to cite, before adding this template, and discuss the matter on the talk page. If the problem is not widespread, consider instead using inline templates, {{User-generated source}} if only one citation is problematic, or {{User-generated inline}} for particular statements with more than one such citation.

The simplest way to add this template to an article is to copy and paste {{User-generated|date=November 2026}} at the top of the article. To flag only an affected section, use {{User-generated|section|date=November 2026}}.

Use a more appropriate template for articles that have different sourcing problems or have neutrality problems.

Alternatives include:

{{independent source}} – When the source is written by or paid for by the subject (e.g., an op-ed written by the subject, an advertisement).
{{self-published source}} – When the source is written by and published by the subject (e.g., a personal or business website).
{{user-generated source}} – When the source is written by ordinary people on the internet (e.g., a wiki).
{{primary source}} – When the source contains no analysis, comparison, evaluation, etc. of the subject (e.g., WP:PRIMARYNEWS).

Many sources fall into multiple categories. It's best to use the most specific or important one, instead of filling the page with similar tags.

Technical details

This template has two optional fields.

The first permits the user to specify what needs to be cited. For instance, if the entire article needs to be cited, a user would enter {{User-generated|article}}; but should the user wish to be more specific on which section of the article needs to be cited, then the user could enter {{User-generated|section called "Childhood"}}. Leaving the parameter undefined is acceptable, as it will print out the default text "article or section."

The second field is a date parameter, entered as |date=November 2026. Adding this sorts the article into subcategories of Category:Articles lacking reliable references, allowing the oldest problems to be identified and dealt with first. If the date parameter is omitted, a bot will add it later.

Note that order does not matter with respect to the above optional parameters. Both {{User-generated|section|date=November 2026}} and {{User-generated|date=November 2026|section}} will produce the same result.

{{User-generated inline}} – small inline version, for flagging a particular fact as being cited to a user-generated source (use outside <ref>)
{{User-generated source}} – a similar inline template for flagging the citation itself as being to a user-generated source (use inside <ref>)
{{Self-published}} – a banner template for flagging an entire article (or section) for over-reliance on self-published sources (more broadly than just user-generated content sites)
Wikipedia:Template index/Sources of articles
Wikipedia:Template index/Cleanup

The above documentation is transcluded from Template:User-generated/doc.
Editors can experiment in this template's sandbox and testcases pages.
Add categories to the /doc subpage. Subpages of this template.

No description.

Template parameters[Edit template data]
Parameter		Description	Type	Status
Scope	`Scope`	Which part of the article is affected Suggested values `section` Auto value `article`	String	required
Source	`Source`	The user-generated source(s) in question Example IMDB, Forums, Reddit, iNaturalist	String	suggested
Date	`Date`	no description Auto value `{{subst:CURRENTMONTHNAME}} {{subst:CURRENTYEAR}}`	String	required

v t e Citation and verifiability article maintenance templates
Sourcing	{{Circular}} {{Deprecated archival service}} {{Dubious}} {{Excessive citations}} {{Further reading cleanup}} {{Independent sources}} {{More citations needed}} {{More citations needed section}} {{More footnotes needed}} {{No footnotes}} {{No reliable sources}} {{No significant coverage}} {{One source}} {{One source section}} {{Only primary sources}} {{NRIS only}} {{Primary sources}} {{Primary sources section}} {{Religious text primary}} {{Self-published}} {{Self-reference cleanup}} {{Self-sourcing examples}} {{Refexample section}} {{Sources exist}} {{Text-source}} {{Unreferenced}} {{Unreferenced section}} {{Unreferenced category}} {{Unreliable sources}} {{Unreliable sources section}} {{User-generated}}
BLP-specific	{{BLP unreferenced}} {{BLP unreferenced section}} {{BLP primary sources}} {{BLP self-published}} {{BLP sources}} {{BLP sources section}} {{BLP no footnotes}} {{BLP more footnotes needed}} {{BLP one source}}
Topic-specific	{{Localist}} {{Media IMDb refimprove}} {{More medical citations needed}} {{More science citations needed}} {{Neologism}} {{Science review}} {{Unreferenced law}} {{Unreferenced medical section}}
Dispute-related	{{Cite check}} {{Cite check section}} {{Content}} {{Disputed}} {{Dispute about}} {{Disputed section}} {{Disputed chem}} {{Disputed list}} {{Disputed map}} {{Expert needed}} {{Hoax}} {{Original research}} {{Original research section}} {{Speculation}} {{Speculation section}} {{Synthesis}} {{Verifiability}} {{Verify sources}}
Citation improvements	{{Citation style}} {{Citations broken}} {{Cleanup bare URLs}} {{Format footnotes}} {{Full citations needed}} {{Ibid}} {{Page numbers improve}} {{Page numbers needed}} {{Parenthetical referencing}} {{Shallow references}}
General advice	archive.today guidance Citing sources Reliable sources Maintenance template removal Citation needed Find sources Combining sources Referencing styles

When to use

Technical details

See also