Template:By whom

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

Usage

You may append a date to the template in the following format:

• {{By whom|date=February 2025}}

An optional link to a discussion about the concern may be added using:

• {{By whom|section=Discussion about whom|date=February 2025}}

The section argument will be appended to a link to the associated talk page, and displayed as

For ease of use, the optional parameter can also be |talk= or |discuss=

When to use

This tag is for placement after mention of a vague, third-party claim that is not sourced, such as "considered", "noted as", "nicknamed", "lauded as the world's ..." (best / largest / finest / etc.), "labeled", and the like.

Use this tag when no specific examples of identifiable individuals or groups are named who could be used to verify the statements or beliefs that appear in the tagged passage of the article.

Do not use this tag for material that is already supported by an inline citation. If you want to know who holds that view, all you have to do is look at the source named at the end of the sentence or paragraph. It is not necessary to inquire "By whom?" in that circumstance.

Alternatives

• Sometimes, the offending statement should be made more specific by using in-text attribution to identify particular individuals who hold this position, and then either supplied with an inline citation showing that this person or group holds this position, or tagged as needing citation.
• Do not use this tag if naming the individuals who hold a position would be silly because of the number. Facts that are widely held should be asserted as simple facts. Do not use in-text attribution to imply that a widely held view is a minority position. Thus, we write simply that "the Earth is round", not "scientists like Suren Ayvazyan, Teki Biçoku, Donald Canfield, Ricardo Cirera, Hartley T. Ferrar, Nicolae Frolov, Khandaker Mosharraf Hossain, Manuel Santillán (and about a million others) say that the Earth is round".
• Extremely vague statements ("Alice Expert enjoys broad support") should normally be removed.
• Unsourced statements that say or imply something controversial about a living person should be removed immediately.

This tag will categorize tagged articles into Category:Articles with specifically marked weasel-worded phrases.

TemplateData

This is the TemplateData for this template used by TemplateWizard, VisualEditor and other tools. See a monthly parameter usage report for Template:By whom in articles based on its TemplateData.

TemplateData for By whom

Use this tag when no specific examples of identifiable individuals or groups are named who could be used to verify the statements or beliefs that appear in the tagged passage of the article. See [[WP:WEASEL]].

Template parameters

This template prefers inline formatting of parameters.

Parameter		Description	Type	Status
date	date	no description Auto value {{subst:CURRENTMONTHNAME}} {{subst:CURRENTYEAR}}	Date	suggested
section	section talk discuss	no description	Unknown	optional

See also

• {{Peacock}} – message-box noting that an article or section promotes the subject in a subjective manner
• {{Weasel}} – message-box noting that an article or section contains vague phrasing
• Wikipedia:Avoid weasel words
• Wikipedia:Template messages/Cleanup#Neutrality and factual accuracy, including boxes flagging weasel words, as well as inline templates such as {{When}}

Maintenance categories

• Category:Pages using by whom template with unknown parameters (0)

Inline cleanup tags
Attribution
{{Among whom}} {{According to whom}} {{Attribution needed}} {{By whom}} {{From whom?}} {{Like whom?}} {{To whom?}} {{Who}} {{With whom}}
Clarity
{{Ambiguous}} {{Clarify}} {{Clarify span}} {{Clarify timeframe}} {{Context inline}} {{Expand acronym}} {{Incomprehensible inline}} {{Incomprehensible span}} {{Key needed}} {{Non sequitur}} {{Sentence fragment}} {{Which calendar}}
Miscellaneous
{{Chinese script needed inline}} {{Copyright violation}} {{Copyvio link}} {{Data missing}} {{Disambiguation needed}} {{External links inline}} {{Improve caption}} {{Needs IPA}} {{Original research inline}} {{Original research span}} {{Pronunciation needed}} {{Script needed inline}} {{Spam link}} {{Synthesis inline}} {{Synthesis span}} {{Under discussion inline}} {{Verify spelling}} {{Whose translation}}
Neutrality
{{Buzzword inline}} {{Compared to?}} {{Editorializing}} {{Fact or opinion}} {{Opinion}} {{Peacock inline}} {{POV statement}} {{Promotion inline}} {{Unbalanced opinion}} {{Weasel inline}}
Precision
* {{By how much}} * {{Definition}} * {{Definition needed}} * {{Example needed}} * {{Example needed span}} * {{Explain}} * {{How}} * {{How often}} * {{Misquoted}} * {{Quantify}} * {{Specify}} * {{Vague}} * {{When}} * {{Where}} * {{Which}} * {{Who else}} * {{Why}} * {{Year needed}} Excessive * {{Overly detailed inline}} * {{Duplication span}} * {{Importance inline}} * {{Relevance inline}} * {{Undue weight inline}} * {{Globalize inline}} * {{Infobox clutter}} * {{By how much}} * {{Definition}} * {{Definition needed}} * {{Example needed}} * {{Example needed span}} * {{Explain}} * {{How}} * {{How often}} * {{Misquoted}} * {{Quantify}} * {{Specify}} * {{Vague}} * {{When}} * {{Where}} * {{Which}} * {{Who else}} * {{Why}} * {{Year needed}} Excessive * {{Overly detailed inline}} * {{Duplication span}} * {{Importance inline}} * {{Relevance inline}} * {{Undue weight inline}} * {{Globalize inline}} * {{Infobox clutter}}
Time-sensitivity
{{Anachronism inline}} {{Clarify timeframe}} {{Current event inline}} {{Is this date calibrated?}} {{Update after}} {{Update inline}} {{Update span}}
Verifiability
Dubious * {{Contradictory inline}} * {{Disputed inline}} * {{Dubious}} * {{Dubious span}} * {{Inconsistent}} * {{Needs independent confirmation}} * {{Speculation inline}} Bare URLs * {{Bare URL inline}} * {{Bare URL non-HTML}} * {{Bare URL AV media}} * {{Bare URL PDF}} * {{Bare URL image}} * {{Bare URL DOC}} * {{Bare URL plain text}} * {{Bare URL spreadsheet}} Incomplete or broken citation * {{Author incomplete}} * {{Author missing}} * {{Date missing}} * {{Dead link}} * {{Edition needed}} * {{Episode needed}} * {{Full citation needed}} * {{Incomplete short citation}} * {{ISBN missing}} * {{Moved resource}} * {{Page needed}} * {{Place missing}} * {{Publisher missing}} * {{Season needed}} * {{Time needed}} * {{Title incomplete}} * {{Title missing}} * {{Unused source}} * {{Volume needed}} * {{Year missing}} Missing or problematic reference * {{Additional citation needed}} * {{Better source needed}} * {{Better source needed example}} * {{Check quotation}} * {{Chronology citation needed}} * {{Circular reference}} * {{Citation needed}} * {{Citation needed span}} * {{Citation not found}} * {{Close paraphrasing inline}} * {{COI source}} * {{Deprecated inline}} * {{Excessive citations inline}} * {{Failed verification}} * {{Failed verification span}} * {{Image reference needed}} * {{Irrelevant citation}} * {{Medical citation needed}} * {{Medical citation needed span}} * {{Nonspecific}} * {{Not verified in body}} * {{Obsolete source}} * {{Page range too broad}} * {{Primary source inline}} * {{Promotional source}} * {{Quote without source}} * {{Request quotation}} * {{Request quotation span}} * {{Retracted}} * {{Scientific citation needed}} * {{Self-published inline}} * {{Tertiary source inline}} * {{Third-party inline}} * {{Unreliable fringe source}} * {{Unreliable medical source}} * {{Unreliable source?}} * {{Verify quote}} * {{Verify source}} Dubious * {{Contradictory inline}} * {{Disputed inline}} * {{Dubious}} * {{Dubious span}} * {{Inconsistent}} * {{Needs independent confirmation}} * {{Speculation inline}} Bare URLs * {{Bare URL inline}} * {{Bare URL non-HTML}} * {{Bare URL AV media}} * {{Bare URL PDF}} * {{Bare URL image}} * {{Bare URL DOC}} * {{Bare URL plain text}} * {{Bare URL spreadsheet}} Incomplete or broken citation * {{Author incomplete}} * {{Author missing}} * {{Date missing}} * {{Dead link}} * {{Edition needed}} * {{Episode needed}} * {{Full citation needed}} * {{Incomplete short citation}} * {{ISBN missing}} * {{Moved resource}} * {{Page needed}} * {{Place missing}} * {{Publisher missing}} * {{Season needed}} * {{Time needed}} * {{Title incomplete}} * {{Title missing}} * {{Unused source}} * {{Volume needed}} * {{Year missing}} Missing or problematic reference * {{Additional citation needed}} * {{Better source needed}} * {{Better source needed example}} * {{Check quotation}} * {{Chronology citation needed}} * {{Circular reference}} * {{Citation needed}} * {{Citation needed span}} * {{Citation not found}} * {{Close paraphrasing inline}} * {{COI source}} * {{Deprecated inline}} * {{Excessive citations inline}} * {{Failed verification}} * {{Failed verification span}} * {{Image reference needed}} * {{Irrelevant citation}} * {{Medical citation needed}} * {{Medical citation needed span}} * {{Nonspecific}} * {{Not verified in body}} * {{Obsolete source}} * {{Page range too broad}} * {{Primary source inline}} * {{Promotional source}} * {{Quote without source}} * {{Request quotation}} * {{Request quotation span}} * {{Retracted}} * {{Scientific citation needed}} * {{Self-published inline}} * {{Tertiary source inline}} * {{Third-party inline}} * {{Unreliable fringe source}} * {{Unreliable medical source}} * {{Unreliable source?}} * {{Verify quote}} * {{Verify source}}
Wording
{{Buzzword inline}} {{Colloquialism}} {{Copy edit inline}} {{Idiom}} {{Neologism inline}} {{Technical inline}} {{Tone inline}}
General advice
Citing sources Reliable sources Maintenance template removal Citation needed Find sources Combining sources Referencing styles
Inline cleanup templates WikiProject Inline Templates

The above documentation is transcluded from Template:By whom/doc. (edit | history)
Editors can experiment in this template's sandbox (create | mirror) and testcases (create) pages.
Add categories to the /doc subpage. Subpages of this template.