Welcome to
WikiProject Merge

Several Wikipedians have formed this collaboration resource and group dedicated to improving the merging process. This page and its subpages contain their suggestions and various resources; it is hoped that this project will help to focus the efforts of other Wikipedians interested in the merge process. If you would like to help, please join the project, inquire on the talk page and see the to-do list below.

The main project focus at this time is reducing the articles to be merged backlog!

• All articles in Category:Articles to be merged, categories, subcategories and Category:Articles to be merged after an Articles for deletion discussion.

  These categories are populated by templates (see Category:Merge templates and § Templates).

• The information and help pages, WP:Merging and Wikipedia:Copying within Wikipedia.
• Wikipedia:Proposed mergers backlog.

Goals[edit]

WikiProject Merge needs your help! You can assist by merging a random article from the backlog, by clicking the icon below.

A merge is a process by which the content of two pages are united on one page for one or more of the following reasons:

• Unnecessary duplication of content

• Significant overlap with the topic of another page

• Minimal content that could be covered in or requires the context of a page on a broader topic.

A copy paste merge creates "attribution dependency". To license the content from the originating article you must, at minimum, provide a direct link to the original article in the edit summary of the page where content is being placed. You should also place the ((Copied)) tag on the originating article as well as the target article.

Merging should be avoided if the articles are sufficiently distinct to stand on their own and the resulting article will be too long or "clunky"; the separate topics could be expanded into longer standalone (but cross-linked) articles; the topics are discrete subjects and deserve their own articles even though they may be short.

If you need direction for making a new merge proposal see Wikipedia:Proposed mergers. On Wikipedia, articles may be boldly merged without any proposal taking place, though it is recommended where the merge is expected to be controversial. If you boldly merge an article and it is reverted, this should be considered part of the BOLD, revert, discuss cycle and not undone until discussion takes place—do not edit war.

Listing and Delisting[edit]

A merge is listed once a tag is placed on the article, such as ((Merge)) or ((Merge to)). Removing the tag delists the article. Never remove a proposed merge tag unless you are intending to delist the article and only do so when all issues have been addressed. If the proposer of the merge did not start a discussion for the merge, and it is not obvious why the articles should be merged, it is acceptable to remove the tags. If the reason for the merge is obvious, you can either merge the articles boldly, or start a new discussion.

Editors should always close a proposal uncontroversially. Complex cases can be referred to the project's talk page. Merging an article where there was a consensus-based decision to do so at an AfD discussion that has been closed by an administrator is not controversial, and may be undertaken with no further discussion or closing procedure.

Stale merge proposals[edit]

If there has been no discussion generated after a reasonable amount of time then the merge proposal is stale. If there are no active AfD, ANI, or other dispute resolution discussions involving any of the affected pages (see below), stale merge proposals with no discussion after six months should be immediately delisted if any of the following apply:

• The merge has been completed already.
• Either the target or destination article has been deleted.
• Either the target or destination article is a redirect to a different topic. (This does not include redirects for capitalization, spelling or formatting)
• The merge discussion doesn't name both articles to be merged. (Close the discussion as void due to confusion about what articles are involved)
• The tags propose a merge from a very narrow topic to a very wide topic, or vice versa (Example - merging Killdeer, North Dakota to United States)
• The tags propose merging a biography to another biography without justification. This almost never makes sense, and there is a strong burden of proof on the proposer.
• The article qualifies for speedy delete. Redirect it to a logical target if there is one, otherwise nominate for speedy deletion.
• The article faced an articles for deletion discussion while the merge tag was on the page and not a single user proposed the merge in the discussion. Be sure to check the article history to make sure the merge tag was there during the deletion discussion.

If the articles listed for merge meet the above standards then you may simply remove the tags as a stale merge/old proposal with no consensus. No merging takes place. Otherwise, you may participate in the discussion if you have an opinion on the merits of the proposed merge, or consider closing the discussion according to merge discussion closing procedures.

Merging content[edit]

To carry out the merge, be sure and follow the steps as laid out by Wikipedia:Merging#How to merge.

Editing and merging during disputes[edit]

Editors should not merge content during an AFD. AfD participants should not work "around" consensus by beginning a merge process on their own, before discussion. While preservation of content is a good consideration, copying may be contentious and may create additional steps and administrative work if undoing any copying is necessary. Such a merge also causes an attribution dependency breakage between articles that may require the merging of article history that would be lost if the source page is deleted. AFD participants may offer proposals and negotiate with the other participants during the discussion. If needed, editors may ask the closing admin how to rescue the content or what additional steps that need to be taken.

Using reference merge[edit]

Any editor may add contents and references if the prose used is completely original. In this manner the merged content is not merely copied and pasted but all original content makes use of the available references (see Wikipedia:EDITATAFD). Rather than merging, the content can be rewritten. In this case, there is no attribution problems as the content is new. However, one should exercise extreme caution BEFORE undertaking such a controversial merge. While it is not strictly prohibited, Wikipedia:WikiProject Merge recommends that all editors refrain from such tasks in the spirit of collaboration. Unless there is a strong case for the merge specified by deletion policy it is preferred that editors wait until the discussion period is complete.

== Header ==
((Discussion top|1=The result was '''merge''' into DESTINATION PAGE. -- ~~~~))
Hi, I would like to discuss...
((Discussion bottom))

Full-content paste merge

Full-content paste merge[edit]

_{From Help:Merging}

Full content merge in a nutshell: A full merge copies all the text from the source page.

Shortcut

• WP:FMERGE

1. Open the source and destination pages in two separate edit windows/tabs.
2. Cut/paste the entire content from the source page into the destination page and remove the ((mergefrom)) tag.
3. Save the destination page, with an edit summary noting "merged content from [[article name]]" (This step is required in order to conform with Wikipedia's licensing requirements. Do not omit it nor omit the page name.)
4. Delete all the text from the source page and replace it with #REDIRECT [[PAGENAME]] ((R from merge)), note the merge (including the page name) in the edit summary, and save the page.
5. Edit the destination page again and delete the redundant content, editing until it looks good and consistent. The destination can be tagged with ((In use)) temporarily to prevent edit conflicts.
6. Save the destination page. (Edit summary of "cleanup after paste/merge" is appropriate.)
7. Optional: Check "What links here" on the source page for double-redirects.
   • Double-redirects will fail to link, and must be renamed to redirect to the current page name.
   • This is only necessary if an old redirect needs to be retargeted. If you do not to do this, a bot will usually fix it in a day or two.
8. Add ((Copied|from=source|to=destination|diff=permanent diff)) onto the talk pages of both articles. This not only helps clarify attribution at the destination, but helps prevent inadvertent later deletion of the source history. This step is optional but recommended.
9. Do not ask for a history merge between the two articles. See this link for the reason

Performing a merge in this manner is beneficial when you want to include all the content from both articles in the article history of the final article.

Selective paste merge

Selective paste merge[edit]

_{From Help:Merging}

Selective merge in a nutshell: A selective merge transfers only some of the text from the source page into the target article.

Shortcut

• WP:SMERGE

1. Open the source and destination pages in two separate edit windows/tabs.
2. Cut/paste the non-redundant content from the source page into the destination page.
3. Be sure to remove the ((mergefrom)) tag from the destination page before previewing
4. Preview and edit the destination page until it looks good and consistent.
5. Delete all the text from the source page and replace it with #REDIRECT [[PAGENAME]] ((R from merge)).
   • Note that PAGENAME in the code above should be the title of the destination page.
6. Save both, and note the merge (including the page names) in the edit summaries. (This step is required in order to conform with Wikipedia's licensing requirements. Do not omit it nor omit the page name.)
7. Optional: Check "What links here" on the source page for double-redirects.
   • Double-redirects will fail to link, and must be renamed to redirect to the current page name.
   • This is only necessary if an old redirect needs to be retargeted. If you do not to do this, a bot will usually fix it in a couple of days
8. Add ((Copied|from=source|to=destination|diff=permanent diff)) onto the talk pages of both articles. This not only helps clarify attribution at the destination, but helps prevent inadvertent later deletion of the source history. This step is optional but recommended.
9. Do not ask for a history merge between the two articles. See this link for the reason

Performing a merge in this manner is beneficial when the source document includes a great deal of material that is not needed in the final article.

Redirecting[edit]

Once the content is merged do not forget to blank the originating page and add:

• #REDIRECT [[PAGENAME]] ((R from merge))

Attribution of originating content[edit]

At minimum, attribution must be provided in the edit summary of the page into which content is placed. This step is required in order to conform with Wikipedia's licensing requirements. Do not omit it nor omit the page name. It is important to remember, once a merge has been made and the redirect set or even when a redirect is not set in place, to add this template on both the target and originating article talkpage and fill out completely:

((Copied |from= |from_oldid= |to= |diff= ))

See the Template:Copied documentation for instructions.