Template:Controversial

The subject of this article is controversial and content may be in dispute. When updating the article, be bold, but not reckless. Feel free to try to improve the article, but don't take it personally if your changes are reversed; instead, use the talk page to discuss them. Content must be written from a neutral point of view. Include citations when adding content and consider tagging or removing unsourced information.

Template documentation[view] [edit] [history] [purge]

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.

This template categorises articles about controversial topics into Category:Wikipedia controversial topics. It is placed in the article's talk page with {{Controversial|date=October 2025}}. It will raise an error if used on an article with Wikipedia:Contentious topics restrictions due to being redundant.

TemplateData

This template categorises articles with controversial topics into [[Category:Wikipedia controversial topics]].

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

{{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.

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

The above documentation is transcluded from Template:Controversial/doc.
Editors can experiment in this template's sandbox and testcases pages.
Add categories to the /doc subpage. Subpages of this template.

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