Help talk:Citation style 1

Accept-as-written markup for archive url?

On the Wayback Machine's Wikipedia page, there is a source (#8) citing one of the oldest archives, and it dates to 1995, which triggers a cs1 error even though the url works and is legitimate. As far as I know there is no way to use accept-this-as-written markup for the archive-url parameter. Is there a way this could be added or some other way to fix the error? Thanks. BlaqWiedow (talk) 04:59, 30 May 2026 (UTC)

I think it was triggered because the archive-url was the same as the url. By omitting the archive-url and archive-date, I think it does what you want. (And this is logical because we're citing the Internet Archive as the source, not as the archive of itself.) TheFeds 04:01, 18 June 2026 (UTC)

Cite is completely unfriendly for mobile web editing

As I’ve been reading article after article by Wiki admins and trustees etc saying that Wikipedia is literally dying - and mostly admin edits not genuine contributions, i’d like to point out that creating new references was a nightmare today because of the specific use of straight speech marks that are present on the normal keyboard of approx zero mobile users - changing the cite tag to use “” instead of "" would be a winner Manboobies (talk) 10:53, 16 June 2026 (UTC)

if it’s the case that you can either use one or the other but not mix them, that also needs changing please -Manboobies (talk) 10:58, 16 June 2026 (UTC)

"Hello" - Written on my Pixel 8. Headbomb {t · c · p · b} 10:59, 16 June 2026 (UTC)

More importantly, how does the use of straight quotes prevent you from using cite templates? Headbomb {t · c · p · b} 10:59, 16 June 2026 (UTC)

it’s the use of curly quotes “” - not straight quote marks / typewriter quotes (or whatever they’re called) that prevent the template from working. Curly quotes are used by default on iPhone. There are no typewriter quotes by default. This blocks citing sources for most young mobile users who use iOS not Android. It will discourage them, as it discouraged me working through the error messages caused by curly quotes disrupting reference names. I had to spend 45 minutes the other day fixing it. I know it does it now, but for most new users this will be off putting and may make them leave the platform. Manboobies (talk) 17:08, 28 June 2026 (UTC)

See also my message further down for more technical info on the error Manboobies (talk) 17:25, 28 June 2026 (UTC)

Many of my edit, all on mobile, have been the creation of cites and I've never had an issue with speech marks. What exact issue are you having?
Also the death of Wikipedia is massively overblown. The amount of active editor is much the same as it ever have been, the amount of edits and the proportion of those edits that are content related are at all all time high and although page views are down from a bubble in 2024/2025 they are at exactly the same level as they have been for the past decade. -- LCU ActivelyDisinterested «@» °∆t° 11:58, 16 June 2026 (UTC)

Manboobies, it is more important to add valid citations, per WP:V, than to get the formatting exactly right. If your phone's keyboard doesn't type straight quote marks, don't worry about it. It is much easier for other editors to straighten quote marks than to add valid citations. Thanks for contributing! – Jonesey95 (talk) 17:51, 18 June 2026 (UTC)

@Manboobies: I don't understand when you might need to use quote marks in a cite template. But if you have an Apple device, try: Settings → General → Keyboard → Smart Punctuation. Turn that off. --Redrose64 🌹 (talk) 21:50, 18 June 2026 (UTC)

Elaborately altering default phone settings is not a fix, neither is using Android. Most young people are using iPhones. It should just work.

it’s the use of curly quotes “” rather than straight quote marks / typewriter quotes that prevent the template from working with the <ref name="Sourcename"/> and <ref name="Sourcename"> tags used outside the cite web structure to label sources. I’m not sure if it’s mixed usage of straight and curly when used with reference names that does it, or any usage of curly quotes.

Curly quotes are used by default on iPhone. There are no typewriter quotes by default. This blocks citing sources for most young mobile users who use iOS not Android. It will discourage them, as it discouraged me working through the error messages caused by curly quotes. I had to spend 45 minutes the other day fixing it. I know Wikipedia is broken in this way now so I can fix it quicker in future, but for most new users this will be off putting and may make them leave the platform. I note the insert buttons under this dialogue box with various symbols has curly quotes, not type writer quotes, adding to the impact Manboobies (talk) 17:08, 28 June 2026 (UTC)

This is not a template issue, this is a general HTML issue.

I have <span style="color:blue">blue</span> eyes → I have blue eyes

I have <span style=“color:blue”>blue</span> eyes → I have blue eyes

Headbomb {t · c · p · b} 18:12, 28 June 2026 (UTC)

Discussion at BRFA to remove archive.today standalone links

You are invited to join the discussion at Wikipedia:Bots/Requests for approval/CutlassBot. (apologies for the two notifications) Dw31415 (talk) 12:18, 16 June 2026 (UTC)

Can anyone help me construct a before and after wikitext for the change here that hides archive.today links? I’ve proposed a bot that seeks to propagate the same behavior to stand alone links. Dw31415 (talk) 12:41, 16 June 2026 (UTC)

Wikipedia:Bots/Requests for approval/CitationCleanerBot 7

This may interest some of you, like @Trappist the monk:.

Basically it's a bot to cleanup the vast majority of Category:CS1 maint: work parameter with ISBN. Headbomb {t · c · p · b} 17:50, 18 June 2026 (UTC)

Citing geo-blocked websites

I cited a website in an article and went back to read it again, only to find that the website has now been blocked in my country and any links to the domain give a message saying it's "not available in your region". The domain in this example is the Australian news site https://10.com.au/ (Network 10), which cannot be accessed by IP addresses in the US and presumably other countries as well. I want to propose an additional parameter, similar to the url-access parameter, where this can mentioned so it doesn't come across as a dead link. (Of course, ideally another non-geoblocked source should be used in its place, but sometimes that's not an option.) –Dream out loud (talk) 18:59, 24 June 2026 (UTC)

I can't think of a citation style that does this. It feels like including the approximate cost of a book in its citation. Rjjⁱⁱⁱ (talk) 07:50, 25 June 2026 (UTC)

Url's unusual top-level domain?

In this article, the top-level domain of the reference ("La Grande histoire César". Digitised Manuscripts. British Library. 1479.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: deprecated archival service (link)) is today. It returns a Script warning maintenance message. How should the reference be handled? —GoldRingChip 15:13, 26 June 2026 (UTC)

The use of archive.today has been deprecated due to issue with service, it should be replaced with a different archiving service. Wikipedia:archive.today guidance explains more about the issue. -- LCU ActivelyDisinterested «@» °∆t° 20:43, 26 June 2026 (UTC)

infixes in last names

A short time ago there was a "discussion" on infixes in last names. See: Help talk:Citation Style 1/Archive 102#Please make provisions for correct handling of infixes in last names Especially in Dutch (but perhaps in other languages as well; German?) this is a serious problem. A solution like "|last=Vreeze, |first=M. de" is not a real solution. The last name is "de Vreeze", not "Vreeze". But the problem is in the ordering in lists, like sources. Here the name is listed under "Vreeze". So a separate treatment of the infixes really deserves a serious discussion. --Dick Bos (talk) 17:28, 26 June 2026 (UTC)

Couldn't |author-mask= be used for this issue?
{{cite book |last1=Vreeze |first1=M. de |author-mask1=de Vreeze, M. |title=Example title}}
Comes out as:
de Vreeze, M. Example title.
It will display as de Vreeze, but will be listed under Vreeze. -- LCU ActivelyDisinterested «@» °∆t° 20:48, 26 June 2026 (UTC)

That's extremely hackish and shouldn't be done. If you want to sort de Vries under "V", then you place the citation in the Vs. Headbomb {t · c · p · b} 18:06, 28 June 2026 (UTC)

Agreed. Just put it in the right place, and put the correct first and last names in the correct parameters. The incorrect citation above yields a CITEREF (for {{sfn}}) of "CITEREFVreeze" instead of the correct "CITEREFde_Vreeze". Leave out the author-mask, which is not needed. de Vreeze, M. Example title. – Jonesey95 (talk) 19:00, 28 June 2026 (UTC)