Template:Round in circles

Discussions on this page often lead to previous arguments being restated. Please read recent comments and look in the archives before commenting.

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Please consider using {{FAQ}} to create a list of the most commonly-discussed matters instead of using this template if possible. This is more helpful to newcomers than a template which forces them to search for answers themselves.

This template is a talk page message box advising editors about the propensity for the tagged page to engender discussions that will not die. Basic usage is to simply add {{Round in circles}} to the top section of a talk page.

Template:FAQ, which provides a "frequently asked questions (and answers)" or FAQ list, may be used as an alternative to this template, or they can be used together.

Parameters

To allow editors to search the archives of a talk page, a search bar is also displayed by default. This can be turned off using the parameter |search=no. This usually should only be done if some other template, such as {{Talk header}}, is already providing this feature. There is no need to specify "|search=yes".

{{Round in circles|search=no}}

Discussions on this page often lead to previous arguments being restated. Please read recent comments and look in the archives before commenting.

If the talk page has a /FAQ subpage (with or without a corresponding {{FAQ}} tag), mention of this feature will automatically be made in the {{Round in circles}} tag. Otherwise, mention of it is omitted so as not to mislead and frustrate readers who may look for it in vain.

The |faqlink= parameter can be used to link to a specific archive page or even section in such a page, e.g. because the FAQ subpage is not named "/FAQ" or because there's a FAQ somewhere else that covers this and related pages:

{{Round in circles|faqlink=Wikipedia:WikiProject Foo/FAQ#BarBaz}}

Discussions on this page often lead to previous arguments being restated. Please read recent comments, look in the archives, and review the FAQ before commenting.

Use of |archives=no is for the unusual case of pages subject to {{Round in circles}} but which do not use standard archive subpages. It necessarily disables the archive search box which only works on such subpages. The grammar is automatically accounted for when archives are not present but a FAQ is. Examples:

{{Round in circles|archives=no}}

Discussions on this page often lead to previous arguments being restated. Please read recent comments before commenting.

{{Round in circles|archives=no|faqlink=Wikipedia:WikiProject Foo/FAQ#BarBaz}}

Discussions on this page often lead to previous arguments being restated. Please read recent comments and review the FAQ before commenting.

The |archivelink= parameter can be used to link to a specific archive page or even section in such a page (but, like |search=, requires that |archive= not be no). It is usually used to point to a /Archives page that is an overview or index of the talk page's archived content:

{{Round in circles|archivelink=Wikipedia talk:Quux/Archives}}

Discussions on this page often lead to previous arguments being restated. Please read recent comments and look in the archives before commenting.

The |topic= parameter can be used to give more specific wording if the talk page only has one particular perennially rehashed subject. Please make sure the value used leads to a grammatical sentence when the template renders. This parameter can take styling, such as italics.:

{{Round in circles|topic=''"nationality" vs. country of citizenship''}}

Discussions on this page often lead to previous arguments being restated, especially about "nationality" vs. country of citizenship. Please read recent comments and look in the archives before commenting on that topic.

The |canvassing=yes parameter can be added if the page is frequently subject to attempts to thwart consensus by re-raising the same issue again and again in hope that today's group of editors at the page will, this time, act as a "different parent" and agree with the debator:

{{Round in circles|canvassing=yes}}

Discussions on this page often lead to previous arguments being restated. Please read recent comments and look in the archives before commenting.

Restarting a debate that has already been settled constitutes disruptive editing, tendentious editing, and "asking the other parent", unless consensus changes.

A really maximal example:

{{Round in circles
| faqlink     = Wikipedia:WikiProject Foo/FAQ#BarBaz
| archivelink = /Archives
| canvassing  = yes
| topic       = stinky feet
}}

Discussions on this page often lead to previous arguments being restated, especially about stinky feet. Please read recent comments, look in the archives, and review the FAQ before commenting on that topic.

Restarting a debate that has already been settled constitutes disruptive editing, tendentious editing, and "asking the other parent", unless consensus changes.

Finally, recurring themes can be enumerated as follows:

{{Round in circles
| Recurring theme #1
| Recurring theme #2
}}

Discussions on this page often lead to previous arguments being restated. Please read recent comments and look in the archives before commenting, and read through the list of highlighted discussions below before starting a new one:

Recurring theme #1
Recurring theme #2

Parameters

See also