Template:Controversial/doc

This is a documentation subpage for Template:Controversial.
It may contain usage information, categories and other content that is not part of the original template page.

This template is used on approximately 2,700 pages and changes may be widely noticed. Test changes in the template's /sandbox or /testcases subpages, or in your own user subpage. Consider discussing changes on the talk page before implementing them.

Usage

This template categorises articles into Category:Wikipedia controversial topics. To use this template, add {{Controversial|date=August 2025}} to an article’s talk page. It will raise an error if used on an article with Wikipedia:Contentious topics restrictions, as it is redundant.

{{Criticism section}}, for use within articles that have a Controversy section that may compromise the article's overall neutrality
{{Controversial-issues}}, for articles that contain controversial issues, instead of being controversial in of themselves.
If the dispute is narrow, consider using {{POV section}} or initiating Talk page discussion.

Template data

for Template:Controversial

Template parameters
This template has custom formatting.
Parameter		Description	Type	Status
small	`small`	no description	Unknown	optional
category	`category`	no description	Unknown	optional

Wikipedia project pages

Templates

Disputed factual accuracy

Boxes:
- {{Disputed}} For disputing entire article
- {{Dispute about|what}} For disputing part of an article
- {{Disputed section}} For disputing a section in an article
- {{Disputed tag}} For disputing recent promotions or amendments of policies and guidelines
- {{Under discussion}} For use on project pages (e.g., policies and guidelines), not on articles

Inline:
- {{Dubious}}, and {{Disputed inline}} Statement
- {{Under discussion inline}} Statements on project pages

Both accuracy and POV

Boxes:
- {{Controversial}} Talk page

Disputed neutrality (POV)

Boxes:
- {{POV}} Article, {{POV section}} Section
- {{POV map}} Map

Inline:
- {{Unbalanced opinion}} Statement
- {{POV statement}} Statement

Wiki

v t e Citation and verifiability article maintenance templates
Sourcing	{{Circular}} {{Dubious}} {{Excessive citations}} {{Further reading cleanup}} {{Independent sources}} {{More citations needed}} {{More citations needed section}} {{More footnotes needed}} {{No footnotes}} {{No reliable sources}} {{No significant coverage}} {{One source}} {{One source section}} {{Only primary sources}} {{NRIS only}} {{Primary sources}} {{Primary sources section}} {{Religious text primary}} {{Self-published}} {{Self-reference cleanup}} {{Self-sourcing examples}} {{Refexample section}} {{Sources exist}} {{Text-source}} {{Unreferenced}} {{Unreferenced section}} {{Unreferenced category}} {{Unreliable sources}} {{Unreliable sources section}} {{User-generated}}
BLP-specific	{{BLP unreferenced}} {{BLP unreferenced section}} {{BLP primary sources}} {{BLP self-published}} {{BLP sources}} {{BLP sources section}} {{BLP IMDb-only refimprove}} {{BLP IMDb refimprove}} {{BLP no footnotes}} {{BLP more footnotes needed}} {{BLP one source}}
Topic specific	{{Localist}} {{Media IMDb refimprove}} {{More medical citations needed}} {{More science citations needed}} {{Neologism}} {{Science review}} {{Unreferenced law}} {{Unreferenced medical section}}
Dispute-related	{{Cite check}} {{Cite check section}} {{Content}} {{Disputed}} {{Dispute about}} {{Disputed section}} {{Disputed chem}} {{Disputed list}} {{Disputed map}} {{Expert needed}} {{Hoax}} {{Original research}} {{Original research section}} {{Speculation}} {{Speculation section}} {{Synthesis}} {{Verifiability}} {{Verify sources}}
Citation improvements	{{Citation style}} {{Citations broken}} {{Cleanup bare URLs}} {{Format footnotes}} {{Full citations needed}} {{Ibid}} {{Page numbers improve}} {{Page numbers needed}} {{Parenthetical referencing}} {{Shallow references}}
General advice	Citing sources Reliable sources Maintenance template removal Citation needed Find sources Combining sources Referencing styles