This template is for use on the talk pages of articles where there may be potential for confusion about the copyright status of parts of the text due to its re-use in a mainstream news article or publication. Editors often tend to see copyright violation as a one-way street, with all violations being on behalf of Wikipedia - however, there have been several demonstrable instances of news organisations or websites copying substantial portions of Wikipedia content for articles without providing attribution. There are also cases where Wikipedia content is reused and properly licensed, but the attribution is unclear. For additional advice see the section WP:BACKWARDSCOPY in the Wikipedia page Wikipedia:Copyright problems

This template aims to prevent editors from mistakenly tagging valid Wikipedia content as copyvio when the Wikipedia article is the original, not the copy.

Usage

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This template should be placed in the header section of the talk page of an article where backwards copying has occurred. Please fill in the basic, applicable parameters (borrowed from the {{citation}} tag) as this helps to ensure rapid verification that the material was indeed taken from Wikipedia.

{{Backwards copy
| title            = 
| year             = 
| author           = 
| display-authors  = 
| url              = 
| org              = 
| monthday         = 
| id               = 
| title2           = 
| year2            = 
| author2          = 
| display-authors2 = 
| url2             = 
| org2             = 
| monthday2        = 
}}

Parameters

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  • title (required): title of the work being referred to. Do not link; neither with a wikilink nor a link to an external site.
  • year (required): year of publication of the work being referred to.
  • author: author of the work being referred to. When there are multiple authors, set |author= to the name of the first or primary author and set |display-authors=etal. This template supports only one author name; the names of second and subsequent authors are not supported
  • display-authors: renders '; et al.' after the name supplied in |author=.
  • url: URL, if any, of an external site showing or providing additional identifying material for the work being referred to.
  • org: publisher or other source of the work being referred to.
  • monthday: month and day-of-month that, when combined with the year parameter, yields a date that complies with MOS:DATEFORMAT.
  • id: the version number of a particular version that predates publication of the referenced work. The text generated by the template will link to the specified version. For assistance with determining the version number of a particular version, see here.
  • comments: any additional comments that may be helpful to explain the basis for using the template.

Each of these parameters may be reused by appending a suffix 2-5 (e.g. title2, title3, title4, title5) to identify up to five works. See examples.

Examples

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Basic template:

  • {{Backwards copy|title=Title|url=http://www.example.com|year=2000}}

Complete template, year only:

  • {{Backwards copy|title=Title|url=http://www.example.com|author=John Doe|year=2000|org=Publisher or source|comments=The author acknowledges Wikipedia in a tiny footnote on page 27.}}

Complete template, month and day included, version number, and an auto-hidden comment:

  • {{Backwards copy|id=295134989|title=Title|url=http://www.example.com|author=John Doe|year=2000|monthday=1 January|org=publisher or source|comments=The subsequent history is confused as both the blog and the Wikipedia article have been updated.}}

Multiple cites (up to 5):

  • {{Backwards copy|title=Title|url=http://www.example.com|author=John Doe|year=2000|title2=A different article|author2=Jane Doe|year2=2003|url2=http://www.foo.com|comments=The subsequent history is confused as both the blog and the Wikipedia article have been updated.}}

Complete template, multiple authors (first author only), month and day included, version number, and an auto-hidden comment:

  • {{Backwards copy|id=295134989|title=Title|url=http://www.example.com|author=Jane Doe |display-authors=etal |date=1 January 2000 |org=publisher or source|comments=The subsequent history is confused as both the blog and the Wikipedia article have been updated.}}

Categories

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Errors and warnings about template usage are tracked using the following tracking categories:

This template also includes a hidden category for all uses:

For purpose of demonstration set |demo=yes to subdue the hidden category.

See also

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Deprecated redirects to this template: {{Backwardscopyvio}}, {{Notacopyvio}}, {{Reverse copyvio}}, {{Reversecopyvio}}. Please use {{Backwardscopy}} instead.


This template is for use on the talk pages of articles where there may be potential for confusion about the copyright status of parts of the text due to its re-use in a mainstream news article or publication.

Template parameters

This template prefers block formatting of parameters.

ParameterDescriptionTypeStatus
Pre-copy versionid

The version number of a particular version that predates publication of the referenced work. The text generated by the template will link to the specified version. For assistance with determining the version number of a particular version, see "Help:Page history#Linking to a specific version of a page".

Unknownsuggested
Second titletitle2

Title of the work being referred to. Do not link; neither with a wikilink nor a link to an external site.

Unknownoptional
Commentscomments

Any additional comments that may be helpful to explain the basis for using the template

Unknownsuggested
Authorauthor

Author of the work being referred to. When work has multiple authors, this parameter gets the first, or primary author; set |display-authors=etal; second and subsequent author names not supported.

Unknownrequired
Display authorsdisplay-authors

Whether or not to display the authors of the work.

Unknownsuggested
Month and daymonthday

Month and day-of-month that, when combined with the year parameter, yields a date that complies with MOS:DATEFORMAT.

Unknownsuggested
Yearyear

Year of publication of the work being referred to.

Unknownsuggested
datedate

no description

Unknownoptional
URLurl

URL, if any, of an external site showing or providing additional identifying material for the work being referred to.

Unknownsuggested
articlenamearticlename

no description

Unknownoptional
Titletitle

Title of the work being referred to. Do not link; neither with a wikilink nor a link to an external site.

Unknownsuggested
Publisherorg

Publisher or other source of the work being referred to.

Unknownoptional
Second authorauthor2

Author of the work being referred to. When work has multiple authors, this parameter gets the first, or primary author; set |display-authors=etal; second and subsequent author names not supported.

Unknownoptional
Display second authorsdisplay-authors2

Whether or not to display the authors of the work.

Unknownoptional
Second month and daymonthday2

Month and day-of-month that, when combined with the year parameter, yields a date that complies with MOS:DATEFORMAT.

Unknownoptional
Second yearyear2

Year of publication of the work being referred to.

Unknownoptional
date2date2

no description

Unknownoptional
Second URLurl2

URL, if any, of an external site showing or providing additional identifying material for the work being referred to.

Unknownoptional
articlename2articlename2

no description

Unknownoptional
Second publisherorg2

Publisher or other source of the work being referred to.

Unknownoptional
Third titletitle3

Title of the work being referred to. Do not link; neither with a wikilink nor a link to an external site.

Unknownoptional
Third authorauthor3

Author of the work being referred to. When work has multiple authors, this parameter gets the first, or primary author; set |display-authors=etal; second and subsequent author names not supported.

Unknownoptional
Display third authorsdisplay-authors3

Whether or not to display the authors of the work.

Unknownoptional
Third month and daymonthday3

Month and day-of-month that, when combined with the year parameter, yields a date that complies with MOS:DATEFORMAT.

Unknownoptional
Third yearyear3

Year of publication of the work being referred to.

Unknownoptional
date3date3

no description

Unknownoptional
Third URLurl3

URL, if any, of an external site showing or providing additional identifying material for the work being referred to.

Unknownoptional
articlename3articlename3

no description

Unknownoptional
Third publisherorg3

Publisher or other source of the work being referred to.

Unknownoptional
Fourth titletitle4

Title of the work being referred to. Do not link; neither with a wikilink nor a link to an external site.

Unknownoptional
Fourth authorauthor4

Author of the work being referred to. When work has multiple authors, this parameter gets the first, or primary author; set |display-authors=etal; second and subsequent author names not supported.

Unknownsuggested
Display fourth authorsdisplay-authors4

Whether or not to display the authors of the work.

Unknownoptional
Fourth month and daymonthday4

Month and day-of-month that, when combined with the year parameter, yields a date that complies with MOS:DATEFORMAT.

Unknownoptional
Fourth yearyear4

Year of publication of the work being referred to.

Unknownoptional
date4date4

no description

Unknownoptional
Fourth URLurl4

URL, if any, of an external site showing or providing additional identifying material for the work being referred to.

Unknownoptional
articlename4articlename4

no description

Unknownoptional
Fourth publisherorg4

Publisher or other source of the work being referred to.

Unknownoptional
Fifth titletitle5

Title of the work being referred to. Do not link; neither with a wikilink nor a link to an external site.

Unknownoptional
Fifth authorauthor5

Author of the work being referred to. When work has multiple authors, this parameter gets the first, or primary author; set |display-authors=etal; second and subsequent author names not supported.

Unknownoptional
Display fifth authorsdisplay-authors5

Whether or not to display the authors of the work.

Unknownoptional
Fifth month or daymonthday5

Month and day-of-month that, when combined with the year parameter, yields a date that complies with MOS:DATEFORMAT.

Unknownoptional
Fifth yearyear5

Year of publication of the work being referred to.

Unknownoptional
date5date5

no description

Unknownoptional
Fifth URLurl5

URL, if any, of an external site showing or providing additional identifying material for the work being referred to.

Unknownoptional
articlename5articlename5

no description

Unknownoptional
Fifth publisherorg5

Publisher or other source of the work being referred to.

Unknownoptional
Demo modedemo

If set to yes, subdues the hidden category.

Booleanoptional