Wikipedia:Overview of date formatting guidelines: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 02:49, 19 July 2015

Revision as of 04:18, 19 July 2015

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*'''Year–month–day''' (YMD) format—e.g., {{xt|{{#time:Y-m-d}}}} (also called the "all-numeric" format; used only in places where space is limited such as references and some tables and infoboxes, but not in article text proper).

Which format should be used in a particular situation is controlled by the (somewhat confusing) interaction between the three sub-provisions outlinedof belowWP:DATEFORMAT. The priority among these provisions can be summarised as follows:

#'''Consistency ([[MOS:DATEUNIFY]]):''' Each article should use either DMY or MDY consistently, ''except'' that in references, access/archive dates (and in some cases publication dates) may use YMD.

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#*to conform with strong national ties (in accordance with MOS:DATETIES, as discussed in 2 above); or

#*for good reason, by consensus on the article's talk page (see below).

::Think carefully before changing established date formats of existing articles, especially changes to multiple articles in a particular subject area. Consider whether the proposed change would improve Wikipedia (beyond conforming the articles to your personal preference) and whether editors who have contributed to the article(s) may have reached a consensus to use a particular format. Other editors may feel justified in reverting a date-format changes made without prior discussion, even when that change is supported by the above guidelines.

As with any guidelines, [[Wikipedia:Ignore all rules|occasional exceptions will apply]]. If there is good reason to diverge from the guidelines in the case of a particular article, [[Wikipedia:What "Ignore all rules" means#Use common sense|use common sense]] and achieve consensus on your proposal with other editors on the article's talk page.