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Usage

Use this template to "tag" dubious information or analysis which cites references produced by a fringe-theory or pseudo-science source, so that other editors can know to back up the statement with reliable citations or remove the claim, per Wikipedia:Verifiability.

It produces a superscripted notation like the following:

It is evidence of extraterrestrial life.^{[unreliable fringe source?]}

Articles tagged with this template will be categorized into Category:All articles lacking reliable references.

Place this template inline, ((Unreliable fringe source|date=March 2024)) following the questionable claim (and any punctuation attached to it). The template should be placed outside the reference (<ref> ... </ref>), within the article's text:

Potentially controversial statement.<ref>some alleged source for this</ref>((Unreliable fringe source|date=March 2024)) Next sentence.

When to use and not use this template

This template should be used to express doubt about the credibility of a source for a claim that is or should be subject to scientific verification.

For improperly sourced medical claims, use the more specific ((Unreliable medical source)) instead.

This tag should not be used on unreliably sourced contentious statements about living persons; if the source is not reliable, the statement should be removed immediately.

For whole articles or article sections that rely on fringe sources, considering using just ((fringe theories)) or ((fringe theories|section)), respectively, rather than individually tagging a large number of statements.

For sources unreliable for reasons other than promotion of fringe ideas, the more general template ((Unreliable source?)) can be used.

This tag should not be used to indicate that the sourced material could not be found within a given source. In that case, ((failed verification)) is a better template. For statements that have failed verification and have a questionable would-be source, consider removal of the source (and possibly the statement) over using both tags.

Parameters

The template has the following optional parameters:

date: should be set to the month and year when the article was tagged. Example: ((Unreliable fringe source|date=March 2024))
reason: a note explaining why you think the source is unreliable as per WP:FRINGE and WP:RS. Displays as a tool tip. Keep it short (one sentence) as longer material belongs on the talk page. It is good to reiterate the reason in your edit summary. Example: ((Unreliable fringe source|reason=Your WP:FRINGE-based reason here.|date=March 2024))
sure or certain: if set to "y" or "yes" will remove the question mark from the template's output to denote a degree of certainty that the source is unreliable. Please use this with a reason parameter. Example: ((Unreliable fringe source|sure=y|reason=your WP:RS-based reason here.|date=March 2024))

((Better source)), an alternative to ((Unreliable source|certain=y)); especially useful for tagging sources that are low-quality but not necessarily wrong
((Obsolete source)), for when a source has been surpassed by more recent works
((Unreliable medical source)), for fringe medical sources in particular
((Unreliable source?)), for unreliable but non-fringe sources
((Primary source inline)), for misuse of primary source material
((Dubious)), for questionable claims that seem unlikely to be properly sourceable

More templates

((Fringe theories)), a banner template for flagging an entire article or section as relying on fringe sources
((Refimprove)), a banner template for flagging entire article or section as needing better sourcing generally
Wikipedia:Template messages/Cleanup/Verifiability and sources
Wikipedia:Template messages/Sources of articles

Policies, guidelines, essays, and wikiprojects

Inline cleanup tags

Attribution

Clarity

Miscellaneous

Neutrality

Precision

((By how much)) ((Definition)) ((Definition needed)) ((Example needed)) ((Example needed span)) ((Explain)) ((How)) ((How often)) ((Misquoted)) ((Quantify)) ((Specify)) ((Vague)) ((When)) ((Where)) ((Which)) ((Who else)) ((Why)) ((Year needed))
Excessive	((Overly detailed inline)) ((Duplication span)) ((Importance inline)) ((Relevance inline)) ((Undue weight inline)) ((Globalize inline))

Time-sensitivity

Verifiability

Dubious	((Contradictory inline)) ((Disputed inline)) ((Dubious)) ((Dubious span)) ((Inconsistent)) ((Needs independent confirmation)) ((Speculation inline))
Bare URLs	((Bare URL inline)) ((Bare URL non-HTML)) ((Bare URL AV media)) ((Bare URL PDF)) ((Bare URL image)) ((Bare URL DOC)) ((Bare URL plain text)) ((Bare URL spreadsheet))
Incomplete or broken citation	((Author incomplete)) ((Author missing)) ((Date missing)) ((Dead link)) ((Edition needed)) ((Episode needed)) ((Full citation needed)) ((Incomplete short citation)) ((ISBN missing)) ((Moved resource)) ((Page needed)) ((Place missing)) ((Publisher missing)) ((Season needed)) ((Time needed)) ((Title incomplete)) ((Title missing)) ((Volume needed)) ((Year missing))
Missing or problematic reference	((Additional citation needed)) ((Better source needed)) ((Better source needed example)) ((Check quotation)) ((Chronology citation needed)) ((Citation needed)) ((Citation needed span)) ((Citation not found)) ((Close paraphrasing inline)) ((COI source)) ((Deprecated inline)) ((Excessive citations inline)) ((Failed verification)) ((Failed verification span)) ((Image reference needed)) ((Irrelevant citation)) ((Medical citation needed)) ((Medical citation needed span)) ((Nonspecific)) ((Not verified in body)) ((Obsolete source)) ((Page range too broad)) ((Primary source inline)) ((Promotional source)) ((Quote without source)) ((Request quotation)) ((Request quotation span)) ((Retracted)) ((Scientific citation needed)) ((Self-published inline)) ((Tertiary source inline)) ((Third-party inline)) ((Unreliable fringe source)) ((Unreliable medical source)) ((Unreliable source?)) ((Verify quote)) ((Verify source))

Wording

General advice

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

Usage

When to use and not use this template

Parameters

See also

Inline templates

More templates

Policies, guidelines, essays, and wikiprojects