Template:Correction/doc

This template is to be used for pages that need to be corrected. If the article is recent enough to simply edit and sight the edit, don't use this template. If it has been at least one day, then use this template instead.

To see a list of articles that use this template, see Category:Corrected articles.

Usual syntax
There is also an optional parameter  that can be used to override the Correction label in the banner. For example,

would produce

Retractions
Retraction signifies the article should not have been published. Currently about % of our article corrections are retractions. We have used three forms of retraction (at this writing, roughly the same number of each form), as deemed appropriate:
 * Retraction hatnote on intact article.
 * Retraction notice, content removed but still available in revision history; generally the retraction notice includes a link to a suitable contentful revision.
 * Retraction notice replacing deleted page.

When retracting an article,
 * either specify a  on the article starting with "retract" (any capitalization), or specify non-blank optional parameter , or both; and
 * reproduce the correction as a hatnote on the article's talk and opinions pages, if those pages exist.

Clarifications
Rarely, when we deem the reader is apt to misunderstand the article without some additional information that ought to be there but isn't, yet we aren't convinced the article should be considered actually wrong as such, we have applied this template with a variant label such as "note" and used optional parameter  to exclude the article from Category:Corrected articles (see next section re categorization). Most or all such cases are individually controversial.

Categorization
Ordinarily, when used in mainspace this template puts the article in Category:Corrected articles and Category:Published (to unpublish a corrected article, use Category:No publish), and, when marked as described above, Category:Retracted articles. Outside mainspace the template does not put the page in these categories.

If optional parameter  is non-blank, this template puts the page in hidden Category:Pages with nocat correction, regardless of whether the page is in mainspace.