Wikipedia:Patent nonsense: Difference between revisions

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Latest revision as of 19:47, 2 June 2025

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{{Short description|Wikipedia content guideline}}

{{shortcut|[[WP:PN]]}}

{{redirect|WP:PATENT|the policy on self-published sources|WP:SPS|the essay on patents as reliable sources|WP:PATENTS}}

On Wikipedia, writers and editors contribute lots of [[wikipedia:brilliant prose|brilliant prose]], but occasionally some '''patent nonsense'''. This falls into a couple of categories:

{{redirect|WP:PN|the how-to guide on creating and modifying editnotices|WP:EDN|Wikipedia page names|WP:Page name|guide of post-nominal letters|WP:Manual of Style/Biography#Post-nominal letters}}

{{redirect|WP:NON|the essay about no Nazis|WP:NONAZIS}}

{{subcat guideline|content guideline|Patent nonsense|WP:PN|WP:NON|WP:NONSENSE|WP:PATENT}}

{{Nutshell|Wikipedia writers and editors improve articles in the site, but sometimes, they contribute patent nonsense. There are various ways to deal with patent nonsense.}}

{{Guideline list}}

On Wikipedia, writers and editors contribute lotsa lot of [[wikipediaWikipedia:brilliantFeatured prosearticles|brilliantfeatured]] and [[WP:Good articles|good prosearticles]], but occasionally, they contribute some '''patent nonsense'''. This falls into a couple oftwo categories:

# Total nonsense, i.e.,g. text or random characters that purposefully has no assignablerelevant meaning at all (e.g. [[lorem ipsum]]) and random text (banging on the keyboard).

# Content that, while apparently intended to mean something, is so confusing that no reasonable person can be expected to make any sense of it, such as "The land attests that agriculture shafts the uncontrollably mild delicacy and wistfully inanimates the fresh spruce tango jumpsuit impressively in one month" (see [[word salad]]). If the meaning cannot be identified, it is impossible to accurately copy-edit the text.

# Stuff that, while apparently meaningful after a fashion, is so completely and irremediably confused that no intelligent person can be expected to try to make head or tail of it.

==What is not patent nonsense==

== Not to be confused with... ==

The following should '''not''' be speedily deleted ''as patent nonsense'' (though some might meet [[Wikipedia:Criteria for speedy deletion|other speedy-deletion criteria]]). There are other ways to deal with these things: editing to fix the problem(s); possibly [[Help:Reverting|reverting]] or [[Help:A quick guide to templates|tagging]]; or see the [[Wikipedia:Deletion policy |deletion policy]].

The following, while often regrettable, '''are not''' patent nonsense. Check the [[Wikipedia:Deletion policy|Deletion policy]] for information on how to handle these things:

* '''Disinformation and factual errors''', including citations to unreliable sources.

* [[Patent]]ed content or copyrighted works

* '''[[Wikipedia:Libel|Libelous]], defamatory, or slanderous comments, no matter how silly.''' They should be removed immediately if not supported by a reliable source, and possibly [[Wikipedia:Revision deletion|revision deleted]] by an [[Wikipedia:Administrators|administrator]]. In extreme cases, libellous edits may be [[Wikipedia:Suppression|suppressed]], making that information hidden even to administrators. See [[Wikipedia:Biographies of living persons]].

* Really poorly written stuff (See [[Wikipedia:Why Aren't These Pages Copy-edited|Why Aren't These Pages Copy-edited?]])

* '''Poorly written content that could be improved''', such as text containing many grammar errors. See [[Wikipedia:Basic copyediting]].

* Partisan screed, or opinion masquerading as fact

* '''Text without links.''' Consider tagging it with {{tl|Underlinked}}.

* Religious excogitations

* '''Text not written using the [[Latin alphabet]] or otherwise not written in English''', unless it is genuinely gibberish in whatever language it was written in. See [[Wikipedia:Pages needing translation into English]].

* Incompetent and/or immature stuff

* '''Text poorly written in, or similarly translated to, English.''' For examples of this type, see [[All your base are belong to us]] or [[Engrish]].

* Flame bait entries

* '''[[Wikipedia:Vandalism|Vandalism]]''' (i.e., ''intentionally'' harmful edits), '''including joke edits''', [[Wikipedia:Don't create hoaxes|hoaxes]], (irrelevant) obscenities and other immature material, might (or might not) be patent nonsense, but it still needs to be removed. Other nonsense may be mistakes, badly formatted text, or [[Wikipedia:Test edits|test edits]], without malicious intent, and [[WP:AGF|tact may be needed]].

* [[Wikipedia:Vandalism|Vandalism]] (See [[Wikipedia:dealing with vandalism|dealing with vandalism]])

* [[WP:Copyright violations|'''Copyright violations''']], nonsense or not. These should be removed immediately (not merely [[Wikipedia:Deletion policy#Incubation|moved]]).

* Text translated or written by someone who is not a native English speaker

* '''[[Wikipedia:Plagiarism|Plagiarism]].''' Instead, the plagiarized content should be properly attributed (or paraphrased) unless it is also a copyright violation.

* Hoaxes

* Fictional story material (characters, settings, etc. which are only interesting to fans)

== Dealing with patent nonsense==

There are various ways to deal with total nonsense - —use your good judgment to decide which is most appropriate:

* Replace it with [[WP:DEV|a well-written article]].

* [[Wikipedia:Text move|Move]] it to the articlepage's [[wikipediaWikipedia:talk page|talk page]].

* [[Wikipedia:Userfication|Move]] it to the user's talk page.

* Remove it from the article if there is anythingany acceptable content left in the article after that. Often patent nonsense is easy to [[WP:UNDO|undo]].

Do consider that it might have been a test edit, and [[WP:BITE|don't bite the newbies]] by calling them vandals in this case, but instead warn them with a personal note or by using the uw-test series of warning templates ([[Template:Uw-test1]]). Where vandal intent is clear [[WP:WARN|warn]] using the uw-vandalism series of warning templates, and [[Wikipedia:Guide to administrator intervention against vandalism|report them as vandals]] if they continue.

* Replace it with [[wikipedia:brilliant prose|brilliant prose]].

* Move it to the latest [[Wikipedia:Bad jokes and other deleted nonsense|Bad jokes and other deleted nonsense]] page.

* Move it to the article's [[wikipedia:talk page|talk page]].

* Move it to the user's talk page.

* Remove it from the article if there is anything left in the article after that.

However, if anybodya user objects, because they believe that the content is not totalpatent nonsense, then it's best to discuss the issue with them, and try to reach a consensus. In particular, if someone saysoffers that they think they canto rework the "nonsense" into somethingworthwhile worthwhilecontent, then please giveallow them somereasonable time and space to do so.

If ana articlepage contains nothing but patent nonsense, use your good judgment to decide whether to:

* First, examine the page history to determine whether the patent nonsense present replaced other earlier content. If so, restore the page to the latest revision before the content was replaced by patent nonsense. [[WP:WARN|Warn]] users responsible for introducing patent nonsense as above.

* list it on [[Wikipedia:Votes for deletion]]

* Otherwise, identify it for [[WP:G1|speedy deletion under the G1 criterion]] by placing {{tl|db-g1}} or {{tl|db-nonsense}} at the top of the page. [[WP:WARN|Warn]] and report as above.

* replace it with a link to [[Wikipedia:Speedy deletions]]

* delete it straightaway (only if you are a [[Wikipedia:Administrator|sysop]])

* add the tag '''<nowiki>{{nonsense}}</nowiki>''', which automatically lists it on [[:CAT:CSD]]

==See also==

{{Wikipedia glossary}}

*[[patent]]

*[[de:Wikipedia:WirresComplete Zeugbollocks]]

*[[nonsense]]

*[[Wikipedia:PoliciesDeleted andarticles guidelineswith freaky titles]]

*[[Wikipedia:deletionEditing policyunder the influence]] (humor)

===Articles===

[[de:Wikipedia:Wirres Zeug]]

*[[Colorless green ideas sleep furiously]], a notable instance of grammatically correct nonsense

[[ja:Wikipedia:&#28961;&#24847;&#21619;&#12394;&#35352;&#36848;]]

*[[Sokal affair]], nonsense that made it into ''[[Social Text]]''

[[zh:Wikipedia:&#32993;&#35328;&#20081;&#35821;]]

*[[Word salad]]

{{Wikipedia policies and guidelines}}

[[Category:Wikipedia semi-policy|Patent nonsense]]