Wikipedia:Clarify the cleanup
 | This is an essay. It contains the advice or opinions of one or more Wikipedia contributors. This page is not an encyclopedia article or a Wikipedia policy, as it has not been reviewed by the community. |
 | This page in a nutshell: Use a specific cleanup template other than {{cleanup}}. |
 | This Wikipedia page may require cleanup to meet Wikipedia's quality standards. No cleanup reason has been specified. Please help improve this Wikipedia page if you can; the talk page may contain suggestions. |
The above is a useless template. It tells an editor that a certain page may require cleanup. However, most articles are quite long, and finding the section that needs "cleanup" is very boring and an unpleasant task to do. Please discuss the specific cleanup issue on the talk page or replace the generic cleanup tag with a more specific message. This greatly helps the cleaners.
Reason parameter
[edit]Set a reason parameter! {{Cleanup|reason=paragraphs mixed up}}
More specific message
[edit]
At Wikipedia:Template index/Cleanup, there are many messages that you can use to clarify what you're talking about when you think the article needs to be changed. Even {{cleanup-section}} is more useful than saying that the whole article needs cleanup.
Discuss on the talk pages
[edit]This is another great way to help cleaners. On the template, there is a "Discuss on talk page" link. This helps out more than you can possibly imagine. Just leaving a note on the talk page, stating why you posted the message, and where you think a spot may need cleanup is a great way to help those people who correct your criticism.