This is the talk page for discussing improvements to the Cite errors page.

Put new text under old text. Click here to start a new topic. New to Wikipedia? Welcome! Learn to edit; get help. Assume good faith Be polite and avoid personal attacks Be welcoming to newcomers Seek dispute resolution if needed

Archives: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8Auto-archiving period: 30 days

This help page does not require a rating on Wikipedia's content assessment scale. It is of interest to the following WikiProjects:

Wikipedia Help High‑importance This page is within the scope of the Wikipedia Help Project, a collaborative effort to improve Wikipedia's help documentation for readers and contributors. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page, where you can join the discussion and see a list of open tasks. To browse help related resources see the Help Menu or Help Directory. Or ask for help on your talk page and a volunteer will visit you there.Wikipedia HelpWikipedia:Help ProjectTemplate:Wikipedia Help ProjectHelp High This page has been rated as High-importance on the project's importance scale.

To help centralize discussions and keep related topics together, the talk pages for all help pages, categories, MediaWiki messages and templates related to cite errors redirect here. Centralized discussions Category talk:Pages with broken reference names Category talk:Pages with incorrect ref formatting Category talk:Pages with missing references list Help talk:Cite errors/Cite error empty references define Help talk:Cite errors/Cite error group refs without references Help talk:Cite errors/Cite error included ref Help talk:Cite errors/Cite error no link label group Help talk:Cite errors/Cite error ref no input Help talk:Cite errors/Cite error ref no key Help talk:Cite errors/Cite error ref numeric key Help talk:Cite errors/Cite error ref too many keys Help talk:Cite errors/Cite error references group mismatch Help talk:Cite errors/Cite error references invalid parameters group Help talk:Cite errors/Cite error references invalid parameters Help talk:Cite errors/Cite error references missing group Help talk:Cite errors/Cite error references missing key Help talk:Cite errors/Cite error references no backlink label Help talk:Cite errors/Cite error references no key Help talk:Cite errors/Cite error references no text Help talk:Cite errors/Cite error refs without references Help talk:Cite errors/Cite error MediaWiki talk:Cite error empty references define MediaWiki talk:Cite error group refs without references MediaWiki talk:Cite error included ref MediaWiki talk:Cite error no link label group MediaWiki talk:Cite error ref no input MediaWiki talk:Cite error ref no key MediaWiki talk:Cite error ref numeric key MediaWiki talk:Cite error ref too many keys MediaWiki talk:Cite error references group mismatch MediaWiki talk:Cite error references invalid parameters group MediaWiki talk:Cite error references invalid parameters MediaWiki talk:Cite error references missing group MediaWiki talk:Cite error references missing key MediaWiki talk:Cite error references no backlink label MediaWiki talk:Cite error references no key MediaWiki talk:Cite error references no text MediaWiki talk:Cite error refs without references MediaWiki talk:Cite error refs without references category MediaWiki talk:Cite error MediaWiki talk:Cite link label group-decimal MediaWiki talk:Cite link label group-error-test MediaWiki talk:Cite link label group-lower-alpha MediaWiki talk:Cite link label group-lower-greek MediaWiki talk:Cite link label group-lower-roman MediaWiki talk:Cite references link many format backlink labels Template talk:Broken ref Template talk:Template reference list

Centralized talk page archives MediaWiki talk:Cite error refs without references MediaWiki talk:Cite error refs without references/Archive1 MediaWiki talk:Cite references link many format backlink labels MediaWiki talk:Cite references link many format backlink labels/Archive1 Template talk:Broken ref Template talk:Broken ref/Archive1

To-do list for Help:Cite errors: edit · history · watch · refresh · Updated 2018-09-05 There are no active tasks for this page

Hi, I was editing Gabrielle Carteris to add birth date and when I did, I got the Cite error: The named reference btva was invoked but never defined error. What's this error? Kartagis (talk) 16:22, 15 August 2025 (UTC)[reply]

You broke the page's formatting by removing the code -->, which signals the end of an HTML comment. As a result, most of the page was processed as a comment, including the definition of that reference. See MOS:COMMENT for more information. —Mx. Granger (talk · contribs) 02:14, 16 August 2025 (UTC)[reply]

I was very careful to remove that part and that part only but it seems I wasn't that careful. Thanks. Kartagis (talk) 06:10, 16 August 2025 (UTC)[reply]

This edit request to MediaWiki:Cite error ref too many keys has been answered. Set the |answered= parameter to no to reactivate your request.

Please update the system message so that it resembles the updated default message more by using the new parameters $1 and $2. The new message should be updated to look something like this:

{{broken ref
|msg=Unknown parameter "$1" in <code><ref></code> tag; supported parameters are $2
|lang=en
|help=Cite error ref too many keys
|nocat={{{nocat|}}}
}}

Documentation for the message can be found at translatewiki.net here. Eyesnore ^talk💬 20:39, 30 August 2025 (UTC)[reply]

I don't know how localization here works exactly, but there are five subpages for different languages: Special:PrefixIndex/MediaWiki:Cite error ref too many keys, including en-ca and en-gb for two varieties of English. —⁠andrybak (talk) 21:18, 30 August 2025 (UTC)[reply]

They will have to be updated manually. This is the English-language Wikipedia by the way, so having foreign-language localizations of Cite error messages is pointless. Eyesnore ^talk💬 21:42, 30 August 2025 (UTC)[reply]

I am just trying to understand how "unknown parameter ?? in ref tag; supported parameters are ??" could be an equivalent to The ref tag has too many names — Martin (MSGJ · talk) 07:11, 2 September 2025 (UTC)[reply]

The default message has changed since then; it currently appears as:

Invalid parameter "$1" in <code><ref></code> tag. The supported parameters are: $2.

This is because this error is also shown if unknown parameters are passed to the ref tag. Eyesnore ^talk💬 17:54, 2 September 2025 (UTC)[reply]

 Done — Martin (MSGJ · talk) 20:58, 2 September 2025 (UTC)[reply]

This edit request to MediaWiki:Cite error references no backlink label has been answered. Set the |answered= parameter to no to reactivate your request.

Message was dropped from the Cite extension (gerrit:1088295) and should be deleted; exhausting custom backlink labels will now fall back to the numeric backlink labels instead of showing an error. Also delete all pages in Special:PrefixIndex/MediaWiki:Cite error references no backlink label/. Eyesnore ^talk💬 21:16, 30 August 2025 (UTC)[reply]

 Done Sohom (talk) 03:52, 2 September 2025 (UTC)[reply]

this edit triggered an error, but i have no idea where. the notes all look okay. — kwami (talk) 04:07, 10 September 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Did you follow the links in the error message? --Redrose64 🌹 (talk) 21:01, 11 September 2025 (UTC)[reply]

i did. it brought me here. — kwami (talk) 22:01, 11 September 2025 (UTC)[reply]

They shouldn't have done. THe first link is:

• list-defined reference

and the second is:

• help page

Neither one reaches this page. --Redrose64 🌹 (talk) 16:55, 12 September 2025 (UTC)[reply]

the 'help page' link has this page as its talk page. it also instructs me to discuss problems here.

the first link describes how the refs should be used; afaict that's the way we use them.

the error says, 'A list-defined reference has no name,' but i can't find such a ref. they all have names, and they're all used. — kwami (talk) 21:46, 12 September 2025 (UTC)[reply]

It's the <ref>...</ref> inside the {{efn-lg|name=lessrounded|These are relative to the cardinal value ...}} --Redrose64 🌹 (talk) 22:43, 12 September 2025 (UTC)[reply]

ah, thanks. i thought one of the main points of those templates was that you could embed refs in them. — kwami (talk) 22:56, 12 September 2025 (UTC)[reply]