Wikipedia:Section move

For broader coverage of this topic, see Wikipedia:Copying within Wikipedia.

The start and end result of a section move

A section move is the act of moving a block of content from one page to another. It's a mix of WP:MERGE and WP:SPLIT. A section move might be performed when material is off-topic on one article, but would fit the topic of another.

When to perform a section move

You should perform a section move a page has content that would be better suited on a different article in Wikipedia. If it's already on that article, you should delete the duplicate information or start a discussion. If the two pages are similar you should consider Merging the two articles.

Example

For an example see Wikipedia:Section move/Page A and Wikipedia:Section move/Page B.

Procedure

Step 1: Create a discussion

Skip to step 5 if making a bold section move. Create a discussion on the talk page of the page from which the content is to be split. Include what sections are to be split and what the new page name should be. Example:

== Section move proposal ==

I propose that sections ''sections'' be moved to ''[[page #2]]''. These sections are more related to the topic of ''[[page #2]]'' <!-- more reasons here -->. ~~~~

Step 2: Add notice

Use {{section move from|target page|sections=sections|date=December 2024}} ({{SM|target page|sections=sections|date=December 2024}}) for the page you are removing content from and add {{section move to|source page|sections=sections|date=December 2024}} ({{SM2|source page|sections=sections|date=December 2024}}) to the page you are adding content to. You may want to contact contributors with {{SMnotice}}.

Step 3: Discuss

The discussion takes place on the talk page of the page the content is being removed from. In many cases, a hybrid discussion/straw poll is used, but remember that polling is not a substitute for discussion. Example formatting:

* '''Agree''' – <!-- insert reason for supporting section mover here --> ~~~~

* '''Oppose''' – <!-- insert reason for opposing section mover here --> ~~~~

Step 4: Close the discussion and determine the consensus

Close the discussion and determine the consensus by using the following:

== Section move proposal ==

{{Discussion top|result=The result of this discussion was to ... ~~~~}}

<!-- Start of discussion -->
.
.
.
<!-- End of discussion -->

{{Discussion bottom}}

Step 5: Move the content

If the consensus was to move the content, then you can do so.

It is recommended to make a draft/sandbox with the new pages to reduce server load and to make sure the pages are readable during the process.

To perform the merger you may just copy and paste from one article to another, also copying over references. If some references do not copy over, you may need to copy them from elsewhere in the article as they may have been reused.

When copying or moving content within Wikipedia, attribution is required. This is done by (at a minimum) providing an edit summary at the destination page stating where the material came from and providing a wikilink to the source article. Here is a sample edit summary: copied content from [[page name]]; see that page's history for attribution. Please see WP:Copying within Wikipedia for more information. It is also a good idea to provide a reason for the removal of the content in your edit summary at the source article.

Use Special:WhatLinksHere to detect any inline links that need to be changed in the destination article.

If the material is still useful to include in the original article, you might create a shorter version and include {{Main|second article name#section}} at the top.

Step 6: Clean up

During clean up you should check for any spelling errors. A {{copied}} template can be added to the talk pages of both the source and destination articles. You should also remove the notices about the discussion if they were not removed already. You may also want to include {{See also}} on some sections that were moved.

Templates

See Template:Section move templates for a table of relevant templates for section moving. The most prominent ones are {{Section move from}} and {{Section move to}}, which go on the source and target articles respectively.

Progress

A list of articles that have been tagged for consideration for splitting are at Category:Articles to have a section moved.

Articles to have a section moved

All articles

23

See also

• Template:Off topic
• Wikipedia:Merging
• Wikipedia:Splitting
  • {{Split portions}}
• Wikipedia:Copying within Wikipedia