[when?]
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{{When|date=August 2024}}
{{When|reason=Your explanation here|date=August 2024}}
{{As of?|date=August 2024}}
{{As of?|reason=Your explanation here|date=August 2024}}
Use when a lack of precision prevents you from understanding the material.
Add {{When}}
or {{As of?}}
after a time period to indicate that the time period is so vague or ambiguous that you do not understand what is being said. Wikipedia does not ban the use of general or relative time descriptions, like "before", "after", "since then", "now", or "in modern times" if the context is sufficiently clear for you to understand what time period is being referred to. For example, the typical reader will easily understand that the word now in the sentence, "In the Roman era, most people died before age 25, but now it is typical for a person living in the developed world to live well past age 70," refers to the time at which the reader is reading the sentence (e.g. this year).
You may append a date to the template in the following format:
{{When|date=August 2024}}
{{As of?|date=August 2024}}
Notes:
|reason=
parameter is optional but often helpful. It is displayed as a tooltip in some browsers.Do not use for disputes: If the date in question is disputed (controversial, unlikely, impossible, or otherwise more problematic than simply needing clarification), use {{Citation needed}}, {{Dubious}}, {{Disputed-inline}} or some other dispute template.
After placing the template in the article, it is a good idea to create a new When heading on that page’s talk page, so as to provide a forum to discuss the unclear time phrase.
The following are some examples of unclear time phrases along with examples of how to fix them.
Wikipedia pages may exist for decades, and any time phrase tied to the present "now" will not only be incorrect or misleading in a year or two, but is also immediately unclear as to when exactly is meant, because Wikipedia readers cannot easily determine when a particular statement was written.
Words that will show you that the sentence is tied to the present include:
Forward- and backward-looking statements may also be unintentionally anchored in the present:
One way to correct such usage is with an introductory phrase such as "In April 2007" or "As of 2007" (best used with the {{As of}}
template). Another way is to omit the present reference altogether (e.g. replace "He has worked there for the past 10 years and still works there today" with "He first began work there in 2014".)
Some phrases are vague and/or ambiguous. "Recent", "lately", "soon", are relative temporal relationships and, therefore, not appropriate for Wikipedia. Does "recent" mean last week, last month, last year, last century? Ambiguity and vagueness diminish the utility of Wikipedia articles and should not just be eschewed, but eliminated.
There are many words and phrases that imply the passage of time, but these implications are ambiguous and should be replaced with explicit, unambiguous, and referenced, statements of fact. Examples include:
Another example is the phrase "used to" when applied in a context, such as "He used to go there every day."
A date written in the format mn/xy/2009 may mean different things in different places — and even in the same place. To some, 1/4/2009 means "1 April 2009"; to others, "January 4, 2009".
Seasons fall in different ranges of time depending on the area, and so using them to describe a particular range of time is vague and misleading to the reader. You'll often see this type of description in phrasing like the following:
When describing time of year rather than local conditions or a more formal use of a seasonal name (e.g., summer school), be as precise as your source of information will allow, from a date range to a calendar-related description of part of a year:
You can also find other systems to which you can anchor the time-frame, as long as they relate to the subject of the article:
See WP:MOSNUM for more details.
Do not change ambiguous material in a direct quotation. Instead give an appropriate clarification in brackets:
TemplateData for When
Use after a statement of a time period in an article that is so vague or ambiguous you do not understand which period is being referred to.
Parameter | Description | Type | Status | |
---|---|---|---|---|
Month and year | date | The month and year you added this template to the article, use the full month name and four digit year, e.g. August 2013
| String | required |
Reason | reason | The explanation for why this was added. | String | suggested |