Template talk:Dead link

Space before closing square bracket

@Paine Ellsworth: I'm spotting a weird space in the output of this template—right before the closing square bracket. I'm not sure I follow the above discussion, but it does look like something that was introduced in your edit from that timeframe. Would you be able to explain the reason for the space more simply? My concern is that it looks asymmetrical, and also inconsistent with similar inline templates such as {{Citation needed}}:

• Dead link.
• Citation needed.
• Title missing.

— voidxor 18:38, 2 April 2025 (UTC)

Yes, hi editor voidxor, and thank you for pinging me! I used template {{px2}}, a two-pixel template to slightly increase the gap between the letter k and the closing square bracket. There is a table in the documentation of template {{Hair space}} that explains the spacing templates in detail. When italics are used, as in [dead link], final letter is often too close to the next symbol. Compare with [dead link‍] ([''dead link''{{px2}}]). P.I. Ellsworth , ed. ^{put'er there} 22:26, 2 April 2025 (UTC)

@Paine Ellsworth: Thank you for the explanation. It always looked fine on the Chromium-based browsers I use; now it looks a little weird. From the above conversation I take it certain browsers (Firefox?) or fonts were less well behaved, hence the workaround.

I don't see anything on the documentation of {{Hair space}} about the letter k. Would a hair space ({{Px1}} instead of {{Px2}}) work? — voidxor 13:53, 3 April 2025 (UTC)

The problem with workarounds like this is that they make all sorts of assumptions about the other person's user interface. Many things can affect it: operating system; browser; installed fonts (in either the OS, browser or both); browser font settings like kerning or aliasing; browser zoom setting; Wikipedia skin; style sheets; etc. etc. Basically: if one person percieves the two characters ^k] as having been run together, that doesn't necessarily mean that everybody else will as well. --Redrose64 🌹 (talk) 14:34, 3 April 2025 (UTC)

On my screen ^{[dead link]} (no space) the bracket sort of looks like a "J", because the top-left of the bracket touches the italic K top-right. It causes a minute nearly imperceptible double-take, like my eyes are playing tricks, though one I could get used to. I think the 2px improves, but this appears to be a subjective matter. With {{Px1}} ^{[dead link ]} that also works to separate the characters. -- GreenC 15:17, 3 April 2025 (UTC)

The spacing template has been removed per the above. P.I. Ellsworth , ed. ^{put'er there} 06:03, 22 April 2025 (UTC)

Semi-protected edit request on 28 March 2026

Change:

• The date= parameter need not be added by the editor: if not entered, a bot will soon add it.

to:

• The date= parameter does not need to be added by the editor: if not entered, a bot will soon add it. Petabacho (talk) 15:08, 28 March 2026 (UTC)

 Not done: No reason was given for the proposed change, and the existing wording seems fine. Day Creature (talk) 16:22, 28 March 2026 (UTC)

Making subst add the date automatically

When you subst something like tm:cn, it adds the date automatically (in fact, that's the only thing it does). This is so ubiquitous that I was surprised substing dl actually substs it. Would it be a good idea to make subst just add the date here, instead? Dingolover6969 (talk) 22:10, 5 August 2026 (UTC)

I don't understand your question. Using {{subst:dl}} is exactly equivalent to {{subst:Dead link}} because Template:DlTemplate:Dl is a redirect to Template:Dead link. Using {{subst:dl}} works to add a date because Template:Dead link contains the following two portions of wikimarkup:

{{<includeonly>safesubst:</includeonly>#invoke:Unsubst||date=__DATE__ |$B=
<!--{{Dead link}} begin-->{{Fix

and

}}<!--{{Dead link}} end-->
}}

it's actually just the first line and the last pair of double braces that do it. More at Module:Unsubst. --Redrose64 🌹 (talk) 16:58, 6 August 2026 (UTC)

Sorry, in that case I must have gotten confused (about whether the subst trick works for {{Dead link}}) due to trying to subst in a ref tag (where substing doesn't work)... case closed. Dingolover6969 (talk) 18:34, 7 August 2026 (UTC)

Consistency within examples?

I'm confused. At the top of the page, it is clearly stated that all uses of the template must be substituted. But then every other example on the page does not use "subst:"?

Also, does this template not work during preview when using "subst:"? Because the template only works in the source editor preview if I remove the "subst:".

Thanks, JordyGrey _talk🧸 02:32, 24 August 2026 (UTC)

@JordyGrey: I don't see anything like all uses of the template must be substituted. Please give the exact text. --Redrose64 🌹 (talk) 14:39, 24 August 2026 (UTC)

Apologies! I did not notice I had been redirected from the talk page for permanent dead link to here. I was actually trying to talk about the Template:Permanent dead link page. It says:

This template should always be substituted – use {{subst:Permanent dead link}}.

It looks like the bot replaced permanent dead link with dead link + "fix attempted"? Is the permanent dead link template being phased out, or something?

Anyway this is a pointless question. I would prefer not to need a bot to fix my edits but I s'pose it doesn't matter.

Thanks, JordyGrey _talk🧸 15:15, 24 August 2026 (UTC)