Wikipedia:Accuracy dispute

It has been suggested that Wikipedia:Disputed statement be merged into this page or section. (Discuss)

While this essay is not a policy or guideline itself, it is intended to supplement Wikipedia:Verifiability. Please defer to the relevant policy or guideline in case of inconsistency between that page and this one.

Shortcut: WP:AD

Some articles on Wikipedia may contain significant factual inaccuracies, i.e. information that is verifiably wrong. Articles for which much of the factual accuracy is actively disputed should have a {{disputed}} warning place at the top, and they are listed at Category:Accuracy disputes. Also see a recent list of disputed articles, and the current list of articles that link here.

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Contents 1 Handling content that may be inaccurate 2 Handling factual inaccuracy warnings 3 Resolving disputes 4 See also

Handling content that may be inaccurate

If you see an article that may be inaccurate, please do the following:

• Correct it yourself if you can. Add citations to reliable sources to verify the information.
• If the neutrality of the content is in question, please see at Wikipedia:NPOV dispute.
• If only a few statements seem inaccurate, see Wikipedia:Disputed statement.
• If there are several dubious statements, or if a dispute arises:
  • Begin a "Disputed" section on the talk page to describe the problem, to alert other editors and gain more opinions on whether the content is inaccurate and how to handle it.
  • Paste {{disputed}} at the beginning of the article to add a general warning.
  • If only the accuracy of a section is disputed, add {{Disputed-section}} at the beginning of the section.

Handling factual inaccuracy warnings

If you see an article with a factual accuracy warning, please do the following:

• Don't remove the warning simply because the material appears reasonable: please ensure that content is verifiable using reliable sources, that it is unbiased, and that it contains no original research before removing the notice.
• Visit the talk page to see what the issues are.
• Correct it yourself if you can. Add citations to reliable sources to verify the information.
• If you are sure that a statement is factually inaccurate then remove it, or move it to the talk page for further discussion. If you are familiar with subject matter contained in the article, but are not sure about the accuracy of a statement, then add "{{fact}}" at the end of the statement. If you are not familiar with subject matter contained in the article, but wish to ask about the accuracy of a statement, then raise the issue on the article's talk page. Please see WP:BURDEN and WP:HANDLE for a more detailed explanation of how to handle potentially false or misleading information.

Resolving disputes

• Check dispute resolution for ways to resolve it.
• There are several noticeboards at which accuracy disputes may be listed to gain the views of other editors, particularly the content, reliable sources, no original research, neutral point-of-view, and biographies of living persons noticeboards (see {{Noticeboard links}} for a fuller list).
• Once you've found the correct information, edit the page to correct it, remove the warnings, and put something like the following in your edit summary:

Verified article – removed accuracy dispute

See also

• Wikipedia:NPOV dispute
• Wikipedia:Disputed statement
• Wikipedia:WikiProject Fact and Reference Check
• Wikipedia:Template messages/Disputes
• Category:Wikipedia articles needing factual verification

• Note: This page was previously a noticeboard for accuracy disputes. See the archive for previous disputes, and also the talk page archives for further disputes.