Edit requests are requests for edits to be made to a page where editors cannot or should not make the proposed edits themselves. Requests should be accompanied by a clear and specific description of the requested change, and consensus should be obtained before requesting changes that are likely to be controversial. Requests are made using an appropriate talk page template (see making requests below). Clarity in edit requests is important, and providing the exact change in your request, if possible, will expedite the process.

To see a listing of current edit requests, go to WP:Dashboard § Requested edits.

When requested edits are found suitable and made to a page by the responder, copyright attribution must be provided in the edit summary, as instructed below.

Errors on the main page are a special case and should not be handled via standard edit requests. To report an error you have noticed on the current main page or tomorrow's main page, please add it to the appropriate section on Wikipedia:Main Page/Errors.

To request that an article be renamed or moved, see Wikipedia:Requested moves.

Planning a request

In general, if you want to make an edit request:

  1. Propose a specific change on a talk page. Don't add an edit request template yet.
  2. Once there is consensus for the change, and any final details have been worked out, put a template on the talk page along with a short, clear explanation.
  3. A user who can make the edit will notice the template has been added, and will respond to the request.

Consensus isn't needed if a change is not controversial. Uncontroversial changes don't require sourcing, such as correcting typographical errors or disambiguating links. If this is the case, you don't need to establish consensus, but instead propose the change as stated above.

General considerations

Edit requests for articles or templates should meet the same four basic requirements. Note, however, that edit requests for templates should meet the additional requirement of adequate testing—see § Requests for templates below.

Before requesting an edit, please consider the following requirements (SUNS—Specific, Uncontroversial, Necessary, Sensible):

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    Is your request specific? Any edit request must be accompanied by a detailed and specific description of what changes need to be made. Clearly indicate which sections or phrases should be replaced or added to, and what they should be replaced with or have added. Examples: Change X to Y; Insert X after/before Y; Remove X. See some sample edit requests that demonstrate how to be specific and detailed in your edit requests.
  2. Is your request uncontroversial? Edit requests for fully protected pages must be handled by an administrator. Administrators can respond only to requests that are either uncontroversial improvements (correcting typos, grammar, or reference formatting; improving the reliability or efficiency of template code) or are already supported by a consensus of editors, usually on the protected page's talk page. If consensus is required for your request, and you would like to see action on it sooner, please explain how a clear consensus came about, rather than hoping that the admin will read pages of discussion. Please do not add the ((edit fully-protected)) template merely to attract attention to a post, even in the name of finding consensus, as it clutters up the category that administrators check to find unanswered edit requests with unactionable requests that still take time to clear out. Instead, try to get opinions by appropriately notifying any editors who have already worked on the page or a related WikiProject about your post.
  3. Is your request necessary? Could you do it soon yourself? Just as in the first stage of creating an edit request, you can post comments on the talk page, but not add the edit request template, and then wait until you can do it yourself: A. If the page protection is of short duration or is about to expire, consider waiting that short time for the opportunity to make the edit yourself. B. If the page is semi-protected, then autoconfirmed users can edit it. How close are you to becoming autoconfirmed? You can edit semi-protected pages yourself after you have made at least ten edits and your account is at least four days old.
  4. Is your request sensible? For example, if you perform basic tidying such as ensuring that all references are properly formatted using citation templates, be certain that the section still flows correctly after the text is changed.

Responding editors may decline to make any edit, and are especially likely to reject edits that are controversial, violate Wikipedia policy, or do not have evidence of consensus. There is a forum at WP:Requests for page protection § Current requests for edits to a protected page for requesting or discussing edits to protected pages, including edits to locked discussion pages, and edits that may be significant or controversial. The direct shortcut to the section is WP:RFED, (in Wikipedia's namespace, the Requests For Editing).

Requests for templates

If you are requesting a complex change to a template, place the required code on the template's sandbox page. This gives the opportunity to test the code before changing the live template. Instead of pasting the code on the talk page, which can affect its readability, just place a link to the /sandbox along with the request and rationale.

Making requests

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For a more detailed explanation about making requests where you have a conflict of interest, see Wikipedia:Simple conflict of interest edit request.

For examples of edit requests, see Wikipedia:Sample edit requests.

See also: Wikipedia:Guide to effective COI edit requests

If you are a newer user, it is recommended that you use the edit request wizard. The wizard guides you through the process of making the edit request.

Please establish a consensus with editors engaged in the subject area before using the relevant edit request template for your proposed change. If you think your proposal is uncontroversial and won't face debate or opposition, then make the request. Because the ideal situation is that after you make an uncontroversial edit request an editor would simply apply your desired changes.

In a limited amount of cases you may make the edit yourself without asking others and without getting reverted. For example, if you have a conflict of interest and are not prevented by the page from making edits, and you just want to fix a typo or small grammar mistake.

Make requests as short, well formatted, and simple as possible. If you want several different edits, then the best thing to do may be making one edit request for each one—after the previous one you make gets resolved.

If you add a request of several edits at once, too long, too complicated, or behind a paywall, editors might quickly lose interest or might not be able to help. In this case, there are more chances that your request might take a long time, be declined, or go unanswered.

The simplest approach for edit requests for fully protected, template-protected, or semi-protected pages is to use the View source tab on that page and use the "Submit an edit request" link at the bottom right; this automatically loads the correct talk page tag.[1]

If you are making a request because of a conflict of interest (COI; see Wikipedia:Suggestions for COI compliance), use ((Edit COI)), which is specifically made for the reason of CoI; it must be added manually to the relevant page's talkpage.

Alternatively, you can use a tag directly, adding it manually to the relevant page's talkpage:

Remember that all editors are volunteers, and a polite request (rather than a demand) is more likely to be acted on promptly.

Edits affecting several pages

Sometimes, the same or similar edits are needed on several pages, such as adding the same category to many pages. In this case, add the tag to only one talk page, with a list of all the pages that need updating and a clear description of what needs to be done. This saves work both for the editor making the request and for the editor responding to the request. Requests for large-scale edits that require administrative abilities can also be made at the administrator's noticeboard.

Response

Response time

Please be patient: it can take anywhere from a day to several months for an edit request to be acted upon. If you want more editors willing to respond to your request, try heeding advice on how to properly make the requests.

Edit request templates automatically add the name of the relevant page into an appropriate administrative category, such as Category:Wikipedia fully protected edit requests (from ((edit fully-protected))) for edits to fully protected pages. Administrators routinely check this category for protected edit requests to process. Other relevant categories, Category:Wikipedia semi-protected edit requests, Category:Wikipedia extended-confirmed-protected edit requests, Category:Wikipedia template-protected edit requests, Category:Wikipedia interface-protected edit requests and Category:Wikipedia conflict of interest edit requests, are monitored by other editors.

Further information needed

Sometimes, responding editors may request further information, and disable the template by changing the |answered= parameter to "yes" — e.g. ((edit fully-protected|answered=yes)). Feel free to re-enable the template when the additional information has been provided or additional consensus has been obtained by changing the "yes" in the template to "no". If you're unable to do this, you can simply respond on the talk page. If you do not receive a response in a day or two, then submit a new edit request.

Declined requests

If your request is denied, analyze the discussion or the reason why it was declined and make the relevant changes to the request or follow the advice in the thread if any and if appropriate. You may be directed to seek consensus, which means that your request is probably unclear or needs more discussion. In this case, simply open a new thread (not a new request) to discuss the edit you want and try to reach consensus. If you disagree with the response of the edit request or the discussion, you can follow the dispute resolution process.

Responding to requests and mandatory copyright attribution

See also: Wikipedia:Conflict of interest § Responding
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In responding to requests, consider the four points listed under "General considerations". In particular, edits likely to be controversial should have prior consensus, and edits to templates should be appropriately tested beforehand. Responding editors should use their judgement to respond appropriately to requests, and take into account relevant Wikipedia policies such as neutral point of view, verifiability and reliable sourcing.

The following are standard templates for responding to edit requests, and their usage:

Adjust response according to the template documentation, then depending on the context you may add the reason for implementing or not implementing the request.

These templates should be subst:ed and added at the beginning of the editor's description of the request. For example, for the request "Under the title, add the word Malumba." The template ((subst:ESp|?)) can be used, which renders:

 Not done: it's not clear what changes you want to be made. Please mention the specific changes in a "change X to Y" format and provide a reliable source if appropriate.

It is acceptable to remove a request without a description of the requested change (an "empty edit request") from a Talk page. Consider using ((Empty edit request)) on the User Talk page of a user who has posted an empty edit request.

Once the request has been responded to, the responding editor should disable the protected edit request template by changing the |answered= parameter to "yes" — e.g. ((edit fully-protected|answered=yes)).

Maintaining copyright attribution

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Copy and paste edits made on behalf of other editors must be appropriately attributed. You may use the edit summary to add this to the page history. An example copyright attribution edit summary is:

Implementing talk page edit requested by [[Special:Contributions/NAME|NAME]] – short description of changes made

Monitoring new requests

Purge this page to update the number of requests in this section.

Editors may wish to use the following lists to keep track of new edit requests (for an overview of the tables below, click here):

For a directory of current requests, see WP:Dashboard § Requested edits.

These pages are automatically updated by AnomieBOT. Because they are regular Wikipedia pages and not categories, it is possible to inspect the page histories to see edit requests that have previously been closed. AnomieBOT also includes the number of pending requests in its edit summary when it updates the list, making it possible to monitor new edit requests directly from the watchlist.

Notes

  1. ^ Technical details: The link is provided by MediaWiki:Protectedpagetext, and it uses Template:Submit an edit request/preload as the preload and an appropriate tag as the editintro. For protected pages, this is Template:Edit fully-protected/editintro, for semi-protected pages, Template:Edit semi-protected/editintro, and for template-protected pages, Template:Edit template-protected/editintro
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