Welcome to the dispute submission guide! This guide is for editors wishing to submit a dispute to Wikipedia:Dispute resolution noticeboard. Just follow the steps below, and your dispute will be listed on the noticeboard, where it will be checked by our mediators.
First, you will need to preload the dispute submission form in a new tab or a new browser window. (If you clicked on the "initiate new discussion" button at the dispute resolution noticeboard, you have already done this.) You should see something like this:
{{subst: NewDRNsubmission|<!-- Do not edit this line; things
may break. -->
<!-- Please leave the subject/headline box BLANK. (Otherwise, two
subject lines will be generated.) -->
<!-- Please write the name of the main article (or other page) that
the dispute is about. (It goes after the equals sign.) Do not
include [[ ]]. If the dispute is purely between users, you may
leave this blank. -->
|article=
<!-- The name of the second article in the dispute, if there is one.
(Use lowercase if appropriate; you can add fields up to "article8".)
-->
|article2=
<!-- Can you give us a quick explanation of what is going on? What
is the issue you are bringing here? (If this issue is regarding
conduct, you should provide a few diffs to illustrate your points.)
-->
|overview=
<!-- Who is involved in the dispute? Include one user per line, and
write the name only; do not use [[User: ]] or ~ ~ ~ ~. If you are
involved in the dispute, include yourself as well.
(You can add fields up to "user20". The fields user1 and user2 are
required; if you leave either of them out your own username will be
included.) -->
|user1=
|user2=
|user3=
|user4=
|user5=
<!-- If you have any additional comments about the users involved
in the dispute, you can put them below. (Remember to keep things
civil - negative comments do not belong here.) This is for comments
about user involvement ONLY. Other comments should go in the
"overview" section above. -->
|usercomment=
<!-- Please note that you must notify every user mentioned above
after you have made your submission. There will be instructions in
the post you create on how to do this. -->
<!-- Have you tried to resolve this dispute already? If so, what
steps have you taken? Note: You MUST have at least discussed the
issue on a talk page. -->
|resolutionsteps=
<!-- How do you think we can help? -->
|howwecanhelp=
<!-- Usually the thread title is generated from the article names
you specified above. However, if the dispute involves many articles
(usually more than three), or it is difficult to sum up with just
the article names, you can include a custom title below. -->
|alttitle=
<!--
Please leave the subject/headline box blank, and please do NOT
include your signature with ~ ~ ~ ~. The template does this
automatically. When you are ready, click "Publish page". The Wikipedia
software will warn you about not including a subject/headline.
Ignore this warning, and click "Publish page" again to submit your
dispute to the noticeboard.
When you're done, remember that you MUST notify the other users
involved. There will be instructions on how to do this in the
thread that you submit, and there will also be a question you must
answer to confirm whether you have notified the other users.
After you have notified all the other users involved, you can
relax - you are finished with your submission. You can now look
forward to receiving some sage advice on how to resolve your
dispute from our experienced noticeboard clerks. Thank you for
your patience while we get back to you.
--The dispute resolution noticeboard volunteers
-->
<!-- Do not edit this line; things may break. -->}}Add the name of the article the dispute is about, with no wiki formatting, to the parameter called |article=. For example:
|article=Spore (2008 video game)
If the page the dispute is about is in another namespace, then include the full name including the colon, but with no wiki formatting. For example:
|article=Wikipedia:Example
If the dispute involves more than one article, add the next to |article2=. You may add more parameters, up to |article8=. Example:
|article2=spore |article3=spore (disambiguation) |article4=Spore (1987 video game)
Please use the capitalization that the word would have in normal text. For example, spore above is in lowercase, while the first letter of Spore (1987 video game) is in uppercase. This ensures that the section headings will be capitalized correctly.
If your dispute purely involves other editors, you may leave these fields blank.The |overview= parameter is for a quick explanation of what is going on. Give us a general picture of the issue you are bringing here. Please keep it short, accurate, and civil, and try and include the views of all parties involved. If this is regarding conduct, it will be helpful for you to provide a few diffs. Also, make sure that you have discussed the issues on a talk page first.
Example:
|overview=Me and {{user|Example}} are having a bit of a dispute about
[[Spore (2008 video game)]]. Some of the references in the article support the
genre being a god game, others support the genre being a life simulation or a
simulation game. I think we need to come with a way to have both listed in the
article, as all references seem reliable.Please add the usernames of the users involved in the dispute to the parameters |user1=, |user2=, etc. If you are involved in the dispute, please also add yourself. Please write the usernames only, with no User: prefix and no wikicode. (Also, please do not use ~~~~.) Example:
|user1=Example |user2=Example2 |user3=Example3The
|user1= and |user2= parameters are required, but if you leave |user1= or |user2= blank they will use your own username. You can add up to 20 users, using similar parameters up to |user20=.If you want to clarify the nature of the involvement of one or more of the users, you can do this using the |usercomment= parameter. This is only for factual information about the involvement of users in the dispute; any other comments should be included in the dispute overview. Please keep comments short and civil. You may include wikicode in this parameter.
Example:
|usercomment=[[User:Example3]] is only involved in this dispute indirectly.
Please list the steps you have already taken to try and resolve the dispute in the |resolutionsteps= parameter. You must have at least talked about the dispute on a talk page before it can be brought to the dispute resolution noticeboard. Links to the relevant discussions will be very useful here. You can also include diffs if appropriate. For example:
|resolutionsteps=I have tried talking about the issue with Example2 on the [[Talk:Spore (2008 video game)|article talk page]], but I need some extra input on what I can do here to move forward with resolving this dispute, as there are numerous sources supporting the different genres.
Please write what kind of help you are expecting to get from the editors at the dispute resolution noticeboard. This goes in the |howwecanhelp= parameter. This information is useful for editors to know what kind of mediation is necessary. As before, you can include links, diffs, and wikicode in this parameter.
Example:
<!-- How do you think we can help? --> |howwecanhelp=Direct me to ways to resolve this dispute, or where I can get assistance in resolving the dispute. We need to come up with a compromise as how to move forward with the article.
Normally the title of the thread is generated automatically from the article names. This is recommended for the vast majority of disputes, as it keeps the section headings short and to-the-point. However, if the dispute involves many articles (usually more than three), or if the dispute cannot be summed up by just using article names, it is possible to use an alternative title for the thread. Simply add your custom title to the |alttitle= parameter. For example:
|alttitle=Spore articles
Now your template should be nicely filled in. My example is looking like this:
{{subst: NewDRNsubmission|<!-- Do not edit this line; things
may break. -->
<!-- Please leave the subject/headline box BLANK. (Otherwise, two
subject lines will be generated.) -->
<!-- Please write the name of the main article (or other page) that
the dispute is about. (It goes after the equals sign.) Do not
include [[ ]]. If the dispute is purely between users, you may
leave this blank. -->
|article=Spore (2008 video game)
<!-- The name of the second article in the dispute, if there is one.
(Use lowercase if appropriate; you can add fields up to "article8".)
-->
|article2=spore
|article3=spore (disambiguation)
|article4=Spore (1987 video game)
<!-- Can you give us a quick explanation of what is going on? What
is the issue you are bringing here? (If this issue is regarding
conduct, you should provide a few diffs to illustrate your points.)
-->
|overview=Me and {{user|Example2}} are having a bit of a dispute
about [[Spore (2008 video game)]]. Some of the references in the
article support the genre being a god game, others support the genre
being a life simulation or a simulation game. I think we need to
come with a way to have both listed in the article, as all
references seem reliable.
<!-- Who is involved in the dispute? Include one user per line, and
write the name only; do not use [[User: ]] or ~ ~ ~ ~. If you are
involved in the dispute, include yourself as well.
(You can add fields up to "user20". The fields user1 and user2 are
required; if you leave either of them out your own username will be
included.) -->
|user1=Example
|user2=Example2
|user3=Example3
|user4=
|user5=
<!-- If you have any additional comments about the users involved
in the dispute, you can put them below. (Remember to keep things
civil - negative comments do not belong here.) This is for comments
about user involvement ONLY. Other comments should go in the
"overview" section above. -->
|usercomment=[[User:Example3]] is only involved in this dispute
indirectly.
<!-- Please note that you must notify every user mentioned above
after you have made your submission. There will be instructions in
the post you create on how to do this. -->
<!-- Have you tried to resolve this dispute already? If so, what
steps have you taken? Note: You MUST have at least discussed the
issue on a talk page. -->
|resolutionsteps=I have tried talking about the issue with
Example2 on the [[Talk:Spore (2008 video game)|article talk page]],
but I need some extra input on what I can do here to move forward
with resolving this dispute, as there are numerous sources
supporting the different genres.
<!-- How do you think we can help? -->
|howwecanhelp=Direct me to ways to resolve this dispute, or
where I can get assistance in resolving the dispute. We need to
come up with a compromise as how to move forward with the article.
<!-- Usually the thread title is generated from the article names
you specified above. However, if the dispute involves many articles
(usually more than three), or it is difficult to sum up with just
the article names, you can include a custom title below. -->
|alttitle=Spore articles
<!--
Please leave the subject/headline box blank, and please do NOT
include your signature with ~ ~ ~ ~. The template does this
automatically. When you are ready, click "Publish page". The Wikipedia
software will warn you about not including a subject/headline.
Ignore this warning, and click "Publish page" again to submit your
dispute to the noticeboard.
When you're done, remember that you MUST notify the other users
involved. There will be instructions on how to do this in the
thread that you submit, and there will also be a question you must
answer to confirm whether you have notified the other users.
After you have notified all the other users involved, you can
relax - you are finished with your submission. You can now look
forward to receiving some sage advice on how to resolve your
dispute from our experienced noticeboard clerks. Thank you for
your patience while we get back to you.
--The dispute resolution noticeboard volunteers
-->
<!-- Do not edit this line; things may break. -->}}Once you have filled in all the relevant fields and you have checked that there are no problems with your comments, then it's time to submit your dispute to the dispute resolution noticeboard.
You should see a "subject/headline" box above the edit box. Leave this blank; the template will add a subject for you. Also, do not include your signature, as this is also done by the template automatically. After you click submit the first time, the Wikipedia software will warn you about not including a subject in your message. Ignore this warning, and press submit again. You should then see your newly-created thread on the noticeboard.Once posted on Wikipedia:Dispute resolution noticeboard, your template should look something like this:
Spore articles
- Spore (2008 video game) (edit | talk | history | links | watch | logs)
- Spore (edit | talk | history | links | watch | logs)
- Spore (disambiguation) (edit | talk | history | links | watch | logs)
- Spore (1987 video game) (edit | talk | history | links | watch | logs)
Dispute overview
- Can you give us a quick explanation of what is going on? What is the issue you are bringing here?
Me and Example2 (talk · contribs) are having a bit of a dispute about Spore (2008 video game). Some of the references in the article support the genre being a god game, others support the genre being a life simulation or a simulation game. I think we need to come with a way to have both listed in the article, as all references seem reliable. Users involved
- Who is involved in the dispute? (Make sure you let them know you have posted here)
- Example (talk · contribs)
- Example2 (talk · contribs)
- Example3 (talk · contribs)
User:Example3 is only involved in this dispute indirectly.
- Have you informed all the editors mentioned above that you have posted this dispute? (If not, once you have informed them come back and replace the text "Not yet" with "Yes".)
Not yet.
- N.B. To inform the other users you may place the text
{{subst:DRN-notice|thread=Spore articles}} --~~~~on each user's talk page.
Resolving the dispute
- Have you tried to resolve this dispute already? If so, what steps have you taken?
I have tried talking about the issue with Example2 on the article talk page, but I need some extra input on what I can do here to move forward with resolving this dispute, as there are numerous sources supporting the different genres.
- How do you think we can help?
Direct me to ways to resolve this dispute, or where I can get assistance in resolving the dispute. We need to come up with a compromise as how to move forward with the article. --Example (talk) 13:57, 30 June 2011 (UTC)
Spore articles discussion
The last step is to notify the other users mentioned in the thread you submitted. Unfortunately, at the moment there is no way to do this automatically; you need to go to the user talk page of each user mentioned and leave a message yourself. In most cases you should leave your message in a new section - you can click the "new section" button at the top of the page to do this. You can either leave a custom message, or to speed up the process slightly, you can use the following template:
{{subst:DRN-notice|thread=thread name of the discussion}} --~~~~
For my spore articles example above, it would be:
{{subst:DRN-notice|thread=Spore articles}} --~~~~
Once you have notified everyone, you need to go back to the section on Wikipedia:Dispute resolution noticeboard that you created. There will be a question there under the list of users involved in the dispute that says, "Have you informed all the editors mentioned above that you have posted this dispute?" To show that you have done this, edit the text underneath that says
Not yet.
to
Yes.
and save (i.e. Publish) the page. After you have done this, congratulations! You have finished the submission process. You can now look forward to some sage advice on your dispute from our experienced noticeboard clerks. We thank you for your patience while we get back to you.
- --The dispute resolution noticeboard volunteers