Template:In use/doc

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

Please remember to remove this template as soon as you're finished editing. Anyone is allowed to remove the template two hours after the time of last edit.

This template notice is intended for pages actively undergoing a major edit process. Wikipedia does not use pre-emptive software article locks on pages, because this would be contrary to the policies of Wikipedia and spirit of openness. When this message is placed, the article remains open to editing, but courteous users should leave it alone until you're done.

You are expected to remove this message in a relatively short while.

The template is placed at the top of a page you are actively editing for a short period of time, no greater than a few hours at a time. The tag is intended to inform people that someone is currently working on the article, thereby reducing edit conflicts. Please do not leave it in place for longer than necessary, as doing so may unnecessarily discourage others from contributing to the article. Specifying periods of around a day or longer for this template goes against the spirit of simply avoiding edit conflicts; please only use it for sessions where you are actively editing the article. If you plan to take a break from your major edit activity longer than two hours, please remove it during the break.

Using this template will place the including article in Category:Pages actively undergoing a major edit.

Basic usage

{{In use}}

This puts a notice saying the major edit is undergoing "for a little while", adding the time of last edit.

Estimated time needed

{{In use|40 minutes}}

This replaces "a little while" with the supplied unnamed parameter. In this case you believe you need about 40 minutes (from the time of last edit), signaling that any user may remove this notice after such time.

This notice was added

{{In use|time=~~~~~}}

The |time= parameter adds the text "This notice was added" followed by the value of the parameter at the start of the notice. While you could supply any value, you are recommended to supply the current time stamp: {{In use|time=~~~~~}} at the top of any page you want to work on. The five tildes converts to a datestamp of the current time (see WP:5TILDES).

section notice

{{In use|section}}

If a specific section of the page is being edited, adding "section" as the first unnamed parameter changes the notice from "This article" (or "this template" etc) to "This section".

You can alternatively use {{In use section}}. It used to be a stand-alone template but when this template gained the section notice ability in 2009 it was converted to a call to {{In use|section}} with "a little while" supplied as the default parameter for the estimated time needed unnamed parameter. While currently superfluous since this template's default message is the same, the defaults are independent of each other.

section notice and estimated time needed

{{In use|section|40 minutes}}

If you want to estimate a time needed for a section notice, you must supply "section" as the first unnamed parameter.

all three parameters

{{In use|section|40 minutes|time=~~~~~}}

If you wish to indicate that an article is being rebuilt over a longer period of time consider the {{Under construction}} template. That template encourages others to edit the article while indicating that it is a work in progress.

Please be aware that this template does not actually prevent further edits or lock out other editors. It asks other editors to hold off editing as a courtesy.

Wikipedia does not use pre-emptive software article locks on pages, because this would be contrary to the policies of Wikipedia and spirit of openness. Page protection is never to be used for closing down an article's normal development and community editing, and should be used only to prevent actual disruption.

So you cannot or should not freeze pages. But what about accessing a stable page version? For instance, if you are creating a spoken Wikipedia reading of an article, you definitely want to access the one and same version of that page between recording sessions; you don't want the text you are recording to change half-way through.

Wikipedia offers the Help:Permanent link functionality, where you are assured page stability. Instead of working on the regular version of any article, first click "Permanent link" which you will find in the Tools section of the left sidebar of each Wikipedia article. You can access this page, share it with others, bookmark it etc and you will get the exact same version of the page each time, no matter how much other editors change the actual live page.

If this template has been left in place for more than two hours since the last edit as reported by this template.

This template uses {{time ago}} to round and display time passed, so once the time since last edit exceeds 2 1/2 hours, the message changes from "2 hours ago" to "3 hours ago", and you can safely assume the placing editor has forgotten to remove it, and you may remove it yourself.

• {{In use section}}, section-specific version of this template
• {{Closing}}, similar template used to notify readers that a discussion closure is taking place
• {{In creation}} to use this template when multiple edits are being made to add content immediately after creating the article
• {{recently revised}}, if you are unsure about your revision/major changes and want a second opinion
• {{Under construction}} for articles actively undergoing construction to list them in Category:Pages actively undergoing construction
• Wikipedia:Deletion of newly created pages, an essay urging not to list pages having {{New page}} for deletion, unless they have been abandoned or contain serious infractions
• {{Being translated}}