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VisualEditor automatically writes out self enclosed <references /> tags (unintended diff)
Open, Needs TriagePublicBUG REPORT

Description

Steps to replicate the issue:

  • Create the following wikitext on betawiki:
Text.<ref name="Test" details="Page 1.">Content</ref> More Text.

== References ==
<references />
  • Save the page and edit the content in VisualEditor

What happens?:

  • VE automatically changes the <references /> syntax.
Text.<ref details="Page 1." name="Test">Content</ref> More Text. Random test edit.

== References ==
<references>
</references>

Screenshot from 2025-09-01 11-41-24.png (283×1 px, 25 KB)

What should have happened instead?:

  • No changes to the (sub-)reference syntax.

Event Timeline

We'll work on the order of name= and details= in T389363: Fix attribute order round-tripping for sub-references (dirty diff) and use this task for the bug of VE changing <references /> to <references></references> if the wikitext contains sub-references.

WMDE-Fisch renamed this task from VisualEditor automatically changes the sub-reference wikitext syntax to VisualEditor automatically writes out self enclosed <references /> tags.Sep 3 2025, 6:38 AM

Triage:

  • unexpected change in wikitext, but no content loss
  • Assumption: experienced users (wikitext) will notice this issue and assume newcomers are causing 'dirty diffs' leading to reduced VE acceptance.
Lina_Farid_WMDE renamed this task from VisualEditor automatically writes out self enclosed <references /> tags to VisualEditor automatically writes out self enclosed <references /> tags (unintended diff).Sep 3 2025, 12:53 PM