Template talk:Welcome-auto

Parameter query

what is the format to get something to appear right after Hello? I keep getting {{subst:PAGENAME}}. See this. --Clubmarx (talk) 17:53, 26 October 2008 (UTC)

I get a slightly different problem when trying to use this through Friendly as a custom welcome item. The code {{#if:{{{1}}}|was [[{{{1}}}]], which}} is putting in my username, not the name of the page in question. I pretty much suck at templates, so I have no idea how to fix it. :(--Fabrictramp | talk to me 15:46, 28 October 2008 (UTC)

Here's the diff--Fabrictramp | talk to me 15:47, 28 October 2008 (UTC)

Poster's talk page

Any ideas why when manually subst-ing welcomeauto to a user's talk page it is putting their talk page into the "my talk page" section? See here - when I forgot to add my sig after subst-ing, it actually showed the user's talk page link which would really confuse people.  7  02:52, 7 December 2009 (UTC)

Too specific

This template is too specific:

• I notice that one of the first articles you created appears to be an article about yourself.

It'd be helpful to have a welcome template to address people who come to edit bios which have already been created.   Will Beback  talk  10:22, 27 November 2010 (UTC)

Instructions for using "helpme"

I've been using a version of this template to welcome new users who find strange places to write their autobiography. I noticed that one of them placed a {{helpme}} by itself on their user page, exactly as directed by the text I'd copied from an old version of this template. I've fixed this by copying the second half of the latest {{Welcome}} template into this one. -- John of Reading (talk) 16:53, 2 November 2012 (UTC)

Encouraging WP:U5 violations

{{Welcomeauto}}, meant for welcoming someone who has just joined the encyclopedia, may encourage the creation of user pages that are quickly deleted per WP:U5. This can lead to frustration and is not really a welcoming experience.

The template {{uw-autobio}} does not have this problem. We should take its wording. ~ ToBeFree (talk) 22:45, 16 April 2020 (UTC)

Ping creffett for input/opinion ~ ToBeFree (talk) 22:47, 16 April 2020 (UTC)

ToBeFree, what, are you pinging me because those are probably my most-used welcome and warning templates? :) I agree that welcomeauto probably encourages editors to make problematic userpages (or, at least, they're probably going to skip right over that link to userpage guidelines). I like the idea of copying part of uw-autobio (maybe Please understand that this is an encyclopedia and not a personal web space or social networking site?). Might also be worthwhile to link the userpage guidelines in this welcome template as one of the bulleted items. I do feel like there might be a happy medium here, but I'm not quite sure how to strike the right balance in the wording...I'll mull this over a little. creffett (talk) 23:04, 16 April 2020 (UTC)

Haha, creffett, nah, I didn't know this – I just saw you using it 5 minutes ago or so, and thought you may have an opinion about this. A middle ground sounds like a fine proposal, and in general, creating a user page is not always a bad idea. I just think that the intended audience will very likely over-interpret the friendly gesture and end up more frustrated than before. ~ ToBeFree (talk) 23:07, 16 April 2020 (UTC)

(for what it's worth, the phrase "Please understand" may be suboptimal, since understanding is one of the few things that can not be asked for) ~ ToBeFree (talk) 23:08, 16 April 2020 (UTC)

Oh, I had even discussed this here before. Well, it's gone now. :) ~ ToBeFree (talk) 19:24, 31 May 2021 (UTC)

Change "user page" to "user space"?

I was just reading the results of this welcome template and noticed that it proposed to bring back the deleted page to the "user page". That may be good enough for new users, but in general the retrieval should end up in the user's userspace, but not overwriting their user page (even if that was where it was originally deleted from). Would saying that be too likely to be confusing to new editors? — jmcgnh^{(talk) (contribs)} 08:25, 24 January 2021 (UTC)

Notability criteria

I added a sentence about how people have to meet WP:BIO for an article to be accepted about them. It seems a lot of new users believe that a Wikipedia article is equivalent to a social media page, so hopefully that will emphasize that they are not. --Drm310 🍁 (talk) 15:04, 18 July 2021 (UTC)

Add text "or draft for an article"

So I notice that {{uw-autobio}} includes the text "or a draft for a Wikipedia article" while this template does not. Considering that this sort of thing might commonly be used to greet users who created an autobiographic draft, should it be added to this template as well? TornadoLGS (talk) 02:32, 10 January 2025 (UTC)

Template-protected edit request on 20 August 2025

I'd like to add "or draft of an article" to the text "I noticed that one of the first articles you created or edited appears to be an article about yourself" so it reads "I noticed that one of the first articles you created or edited appears to be an article (or draft of an article) about yourself." This would I think make the message a little broader in scope, as some new editors create drafts about themselves via AFC. Gommeh 📖/🎮 14:35, 20 August 2025 (UTC)

 Done. Seems reasonable. – Jonesey95 (talk) 15:36, 21 August 2025 (UTC)

Template-protected edit request on 2 October 2025

Please add in the changes that are in the sandbox here.

I've made the "or a draft" text specific to whatever's passed into for the "art" parameter. This does mean in the parameterless case it'll just say "article" but I feel like that's okay? If anyone disagrees I can make it so it shows the current text in the parameter-less case, though it'll make it a bit messy. Perryprog (talk) 22:01, 2 October 2025 (UTC)

Looks good, although I would personally prefer for the default (parameterless) case to have the current text to be as broad in scope as possible – the messiness shouldn't be too much of a problem since pretty much everything is substed. Chaotic Enby (talk · contribs) 10:52, 11 October 2025 (UTC)

 Done Chaotic Enby (talk · contribs) 17:51, 18 October 2025 (UTC)

Thanks! Forgot to subscribe to this thread so didn't catch your first reply, but agreed on that point. Thanks for adding that in too! Perryprog (talk) 18:18, 18 October 2025 (UTC)

Template-protected edit request on 10 December 2025

Add "Creating autobiographical pages may be seen as promotional editing, which is not permitted." Or something to that effect.

Considering that most autobiographical drafts are self-promotion, a new editor coming here with promotional intentions should be aware of that policy from the get-go. TornadoLGS (talk) 03:33, 10 December 2025 (UTC) TornadoLGS (talk) 03:33, 10 December 2025 (UTC)

 Not done for now: please establish a consensus for this alteration before creating an edit request. – Jonesey95 (talk) 15:45, 11 December 2025 (UTC)

Warn against promotion in the template

See my above edit request. I do think this should be at least considered to include a line telling editors abou the policy against promotional editing. Many, if not most people who make autobiographical pages are here for self-promotion and should be made aware that promotional editing is not allowed. I see that some people could see this as biting but I don't think it is. New editors should be informed of policies they may be violating, and letting them continue without knowing of those policies will likely lead to frustration for both them and editors handling the case. TornadoLGS (talk) 22:57, 12 December 2025 (UTC)