Author: FT2.wiki
Description:
A cite missing a </ref> tag will be reported as missing a <references /> tag instead. Example:
Fact fact fact.<ref>source.com More fact fact fact... ==References== <References />
renders with the error "There are <ref> tags on this page, but the references will not show without a <references/> tag", not "there is a missing </ref> tag".
Version: unspecified
Severity: enhancement
See Also:
https://bugzilla.wikimedia.org/show_bug.cgi?id=45415
| Status | Subtype | Assigned | Task | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| · · · | ||||
| Invalid | None | T40638 [DO NOT USE] Interface messages needing rewording or documentation and other issues with existing messages [superseded by #Voice_&_Tone] | ||
| Resolved | None | T23798 No error message for omitted </ref> tag | ||
| · · · |
chinchi29 wrote:
Suggest WONTFIX. A <references /> tag after a </ref> won't be detected because everything after the unclosed <ref> will be parsed as a reference (so the nested <references /> won't work). So, while the current message is a bit misleading, in a certain way it's correct.
FT2.wiki wrote:
Surely it's easy to check every <ref> is followed by a </ref>. REF tags can't presently be nested, so this is trivial to check. If an unclosed <ref> is detected, indicate this in the error message.
When there are no missing </ref>'s then show the current message instead.
Adding many blockers of bug 38638 to the list of "easy" bugs, to mark them as candidates for [[mw:Google Code-in]] tasks (gci2013). If you think this bug is not suitable, remove the keyword.
With the resolution of Bug 66860, there is no longer any error generated for this issue, it just renders the rest of the page oddly. See bug 67845.
Patch doesn't do what we want and clearly isn't going to be fixed - setting NEW status. Are we sure this is an easy bug? Sounds like it would require a good knowledge of the parser to do...
Change 119743 abandoned by Alex Monk:
Adding proper error message
Reason:
Seems abandoned to me at this point. Feel free to restore if you're going to address the issues though.
With the resolution of Bug 66860, a missing reference list is now automatically added. Before this was deployed, a page with a missing </ref> tag near the end of a page would eat the <references /> tag; this would trigger the error for a missing <references /> tag and editors were alerted that there was a problem. Now, there is no error and the following markup is rendered oddly.
Simple example:
<ref>1
<references />
Since there is no error detection, this is going to be a persistent issue and will be very difficult for novice editors to sort out. On enwiki, we had customized the error message so it linked to a help page that noted that the issue could be due to a missing </ref>.
(In reply to Gadget850 from comment #12)
Duplicate of Bug 15712
Agreed.