Wikipedia:Merging

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Shortcut: WP:MERGE

This page in a nutshell:

Merging means performing a non-automated procedure by which the contents of two pages are united within a single page.
For uncontroversial merges, no permission is needed to merge; just do it.
To start a merge discussion, follow the instructions below.

Main pages: Wikipedia:Copying within Wikipedia and Help:Merging

A merger is a non-automated procedure by which the contents of two pages are united within a single page. Merging two pages creates a redirect from the source page to the target or surviving page, with some or all of the content copied-and-pasted into that page.

Do not use this procedure to propose:

Category mergers - Category merger should be requested at Wikipedia:Categories for discussion, which uses a separate {{cfm}} template.
History mergers - History mergers cannot be proposed using this procedure. See Wikipedia:How to fix cut-and-paste moves#Parallel versions for the reason why this is so.
Template mergers - Template mergers should be requested at Wikipedia:Templates for discussion, which uses a separate {{tfm}} template

1 Reasons for merger
2 Proposing a merger
- 2.1 Tagging multiple articles
- 2.2 Mergers as a result of deletion discussions
3 How to merge
4 Pages to merge
5 See also
6 Notes

Reasons for merger

There are several good reasons to merge a page:

Duplicate: There are two or more pages on exactly the same subject and having the same scope.
Overlap: There are two or more pages on related subjects that have a large overlap. Wikipedia is not a dictionary; there does not need to be a separate entry for every concept in the universe. For example, "Flammable" and "Non-flammable" can both be explained in an article on Flammability.
Text: If a page is very short and is unlikely to be expanded within a reasonable amount of time, it often makes sense to merge it with a page on a broader topic. For instance, parents or children of a celebrity who are otherwise unremarkable are generally covered in a section of the article on the celebrity, and can be merged there.
Context: If a short article requires the background material or context from a broader article in order for readers to understand it. For instance, minor characters from works of fiction are generally covered in a "List of characters in <work>", and can be merged there; see also WP:FICT.

Merging should be avoided if

The resulting article is too long or "clunky"
The separate topics could be expanded into longer standalone (but cross linked) articles
The topics are discrete subjects and deserve their own articles even though they may be short

Merging—regardless of the amount of information kept—should always leave a redirect or, in some cases, a disambiguation page in place. This is often needed to allow proper attribution through the edit history for the page the merged text came from. Superfluous redirects do not harm anything, and can be helpful in finding articles, e.g. from alternative names.

You may find that some or all of the information to be merged is already in the destination page. That is fine; you can feel free to delete the redundant information and only add the new stuff. If there is no information to be added to the destination page, you can simply redirect the other page there, but please make this clear in the edit summary.

Proposing a merger

Main page: Help:Merging#Proposing a merger

Need help? List your articles at the bottom of Wikipedia:Proposed mergers, and someone will list it for you

Users may determine whether the pages need to be merged. In most circumstances, a local discussion should be started to attract sufficient input. This will usually occur on the proposed destination page's discussion page, but it is recommended not to start discussion on a talk page that is regularly archived. This should include proposal itself (the intent), the list of the affected articles, and a merger rationale.

Perform the following steps:

Tagging multiple articles

If multiple articles are proposed to be merged, it helps to be as informative as possible so that other editors know what exactly is going on with a certain topic.

On the tops each of the articles that are being proposed to be merged, add the following template:

{{Merge|OtherPage1 |OtherPage2 |OtherPage3 |target=<destination article> |discuss=Talk:<destination article>#Merger proposal |date=May 2012}}

Add to the top of the destination article the following template:

{{Merge from |OtherPage1 |OtherPage2 |OtherPage3 |discuss=Talk:<destination article>#Merger proposal |date=May 2012}}

Mergers as a result of deletion discussions

While mergers are generally not proposed (as well as discouraged) from the onset of Articles for Deletion (AfD) discussions (also see Wikipedia:Deletion policy#Alternatives to deletion), it is not uncommon for editors, in an effort to mediate and/or compromise, to suggest that the article(s) nominated for deletion be instead merged to a parent article. If there is a rough consensus for a merger at the end of a deletion discussion, the following template will be placed on the top of the nominated article:

{{Afd-merge to|destination article|debate name|debate closure date}}

The following template would also similarly be on the destination article's discussion page if such a consensus for merging has occurred:

{{Afd-merge from|nominated article|debate name|debate closure date}}

This lets as many users involved in those pages know that content is to be merged as a result of a deletion discussion. It is the involved editors' job, not the closing administrators' job, to perform this merger. Perform the merge in the similar fashion as described above and in Help:Merging to perform the merger.

How to merge

Main page: Help:Merging#Performing the merger

There are two types of mergers, "full mergers" and "selective mergers" (also known as "smerges"). While some mergers can be done boldly, most others (as described above) need a rough consensus that support a merger.

Perform the following steps to merge an article into another article:

Copy the content from the merged page(s) (either all the content for a full merger or some of the content for a selective merger) and paste the content in an appropriate location at the destination page. Save the edit on the destination article, leaving the following edit summary (Note: this is required by the Creative Commons Share-alike 3.0 license):

Merged content from [[<source article>]] to here. See [[Talk:<destination article>#<merger section>]].
Redirect the article whose content was just merged by replacing everything with the following:

#REDIRECT [[<destination article>]] {{R from merge}}

If the content was merged to a single section within the destination article, then it is recommended that the article be redirected directly to that section. In that case, replace everything with the following:

#REDIRECT [[<destination article>#<section name>]] {{R from merge}} {{R to section}}

Save the page, leaving the following edit summary: (Note: this is also required by the CC-BY-SA):

Merged content to [[<destination article>#<destination section, if applicable>]]. See [[Talk:<destination article>#<merger section>]].
Tag the destination article's talk page with {{merged-from|source article|date}}, and the source article's talk page with {{merged-to|destination article|date}}. Place these tags at the top of the talk pages.

As an alternative, experienced users can add {{Copied|from|from_oldid|to|to_diff|to_oldid|date}} to both talk pages. Place at the top of the talk pages.
Optional: Check Special:WhatLinksHere on the source article's page (i.e. type the source article's name in the "Page" box) and fix any double redirects. This is optional because usually a bot will fix any such problems within a day or two.
Provide further attribution by using the {{Copied}} template, if not already done in step 3. See the template's documentation and Help:Merging#Performing the merger for more details. If the source page has any merged or copied templates, for example, you will need to copy those tags to the destination page.

Pages to merge

Current pages tagged for merging can be found at Category:Articles to be merged and Category:Merge by month lists pages that have been tagged for merging on a particular month (tagging was begun in September 2006).

Notes

^ If the intended destination is a combination article that does not exist, do not create its Talk page, as it may be speedy-deleted WP:CSD#G8 or nominated at Wikipedia:Miscellany for deletion.

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