Help:CS1 errors

This page describes the error messages reported by the Citation Style 1 and Citation Style 2 citations, what they mean, and how editors might resolve the errors.

Category:CS1 errors is the general errors category and Category:CS1 maintenance is the general maintenance category.

While most of the Citation Style 1 and Citation Style 2 error messages are visible to all readers, some remain hidden. Editors who wish to see all of the CS1|2 error messages can do so by updating their or CSS stylesheet to include:

Even with this css installed, older pages in 's cache may not have been updated to show these error messages even though the page is listed in one of the tracking categories. A WP:NULLEDIT will resolve that issue.

The above code is required if you wish to see maintenance category messages:

Editors who do not wish to see any of the CS1 error messages can hide them all by updating their or CSS stylesheet to include:

|access-date= requires |url= (error message hidden by default)

The |access-date= (or its alias, |accessdate=) is the date that the online resource addressed by |url= was added to the article. If |access-date= has been included in the citation without |url= then this message appears. If the citation does not use a web link, then |access-date= is redundant and should be removed.

When the online resource has a publication or other fixed date associated with it, |access-date= is of limited value though may be useful in identifying an appropriate archived version of the resource. Without |url=, |access-date= is not considered useful.

To resolve this error, provide a value for |url= or remove |access-date=. Editors should try to determine why the citation has |access-date= without |url=. For example, the citation may never have had a |url=, or |url= may have been removed because it links to a site that violates the creator's copyright (see WP:COPYLINK), or because |url= was deemed to be dead and (mistakenly) removed. If the citation never had |url= or it was removed for copyright violations, remove |access-date=. When a dead |url= has been removed, restore the |url= and if possible repair it (see WP:LINKROT).

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