 | This page in a nutshell: Warnings should not generally appear in articles. All articles are already covered by the Bharatpedia disclaimers. |
This page documents a content guideline for Bharatpedia. It is a generally accepted standard that editors should attempt to follow, though it is best treated with common sense, and occasional exceptions may apply. Any substantive edit to this page should reflect consensus. When in doubt, discuss first on the talk page.
Warnings should not generally appear in articles. All articles are already covered by the Bharatpedia disclaimers.
A disclaimer in a Bharatpedia article is a statement or warning that the article is not appropriate, suitable, or guaranteed for some specified purpose. There are disclaimers linked at the bottom of all pages on Bharatpedia. From time to time, editors insert additional disclaimers into an article either as text or as a template — for instance, "This article contains profanity" or "This article is not suitable for children" or "Spoiler ahead".
While ideas like this have been continually proposed, the consensus is that they should not be used. Additional disclaimers in encyclopedia articles should generally be removed, and disclaimer templates should be removed and deleted.
For the purpose of this guideline[edit source]
For the purpose of this guideline, disclaimers are templates or text inserted into an article that duplicate the information at one of the five standard disclaimer pages:
- Bharatpedia:General disclaimer — Bharatpedia makes no guarantee of validity
- Bharatpedia:Content disclaimer — Bharatpedia contains content that may be objectionable
- Bharatpedia:Legal disclaimer — Bharatpedia does not give legal opinions
- Bharatpedia:Medical disclaimer — Bharatpedia does not give medical advice
- Bharatpedia:Risk disclaimer — Use Bharatpedia at your own risk
Why disclaimers should not be used[edit source]
- They are redundant with the disclaimer linked at the bottom of every page. Every Bharatpedia page already includes a link to the general disclaimer, which itself links to the five standard disclaimers.
- Bharatpedia is not censored. Flagging individual articles as containing objectionable material implies that unflagged articles are safe, which they are not.
- Bharatpedia is an encyclopedia, and is not a how-to guide or a manual. Warnings of the kind found on consumer products or in instruction manuals do not belong in an encyclopedia article.
- It is hard to define which articles should have a disclaimer. What defines an "adult content" article varies dramatically by culture and individual. Allowing some disclaimers would generate a significant overhead of disputes regarding where to draw the line, which draws editors away from more productive tasks.
- The lack of a disclaimer on certain pages as opposed to others might be taken to imply that flagged pages are unsafe and unflagged pages are safe, which is misleading.
- They take up large amounts of page space when used in banner form, disrupting the reader's access to the article content.
Acceptable exceptions[edit source]
There are a few notable exceptions to this guideline:
- "Technical" warnings assisting the user with display problems, such as {{Contains special characters}}. These do not refer to article content but to issues related to the proper display of article content.
- Current event and temporal templates such as {{Current}} or {{Recent death}}. These alert the reader that the article content may be subject to a flux of recent and upcoming significant changes for reasons beyond the control of Bharatpedia.
- Cleanup templates, such as {{POV}}, {{Original research}} or {{Cleanup}}. These point to deficiencies in the article that should be corrected promptly. Maintenance templates should not be used to "warn the reader" that an article needs improvements or that a Bharatpedia editor disagrees with the current state of the article.
Unacceptable disclaimers[edit source]
Here are some examples of unacceptable disclaimers. These are not permitted in articles, whether in template form or as text:
- Spoiler alert: "This article contains spoilers." Bharatpedia does not use spoiler warnings.
- Content warning: "This article contains media that may potentially trigger seizures for those diagnosed with photosensitive epilepsy."
- Malware warning: "Opening this link may expose you to malware."
- Medical warning: "This article is not a substitute for professional medical advice."
- Legal warning: "This article does not constitute legal advice."
Why this guideline exists[edit source]
Were disclaimers permitted on some articles but not others, they could create a false sense of security, by creating a misleading impression that all potentially problematic content is flagged, and therefore that articles without disclaimers are inherently "safe". The community consensus to prohibit such warnings also avoids time-consuming debates over culturally subjective issues such as what constitutes "adult content".
By longstanding policy, Bharatpedia is not censored.
Status of this guideline[edit source]
This content guideline represents a solid and longstanding consensus on Bharatpedia. It has not been elevated to the status of policy, because of the few possible exceptions listed above, and a certain room for disagreement about precisely how far these exceptions should be taken. Unlike the fundamental policies of neutral point of view, verifiability, and no original research, the current consensus on disclaimers is still negotiable.
Nonetheless, any future modifications of this guideline should be implemented only after consensus for the change has been achieved.