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For proposing article mergers {{merge}}, see WP:PM. For proposing category mergers {{cfm}}, see WP:CFD. For proposing template mergers {{tfm}}, see WP:TFD.
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WP:PMG

Articles proposed for merging
(refresh)
Subtotals
February 202618
March 202682
May 20263
June 202689
Undated articles0
All articles
192
Articles to be merged after
an AfD discussion
(refresh)
All articles 4
Welcome to
WikiProject Merge

Several Wikipedians have formed this collaboration resource and group dedicated to improving the merging process. This page and its subpages contain their suggestions and various resources; it is hoped that this project will help to focus the efforts of other Wikipedians interested in the merge process. If you would like to help, please join the project, inquire on the talk page and see the to-do list below.

The main project focus at this time is reducing the articles proposed for merging backlog!

Scope

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WikiProject Merge needs your help! Jump to a random article from the active mergers backlog!
   Merge a random article!

Goals

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Help contribute. Become a member!
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Guidelines

A merge is the process of uniting two or more articles into a single article. It is done by copying some or all content from the source article(s) into the destination article and then replacing the source article with a redirect to the destination article.

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Any editor can perform a merge. If merging is obviously needed and is not controversial, editors are encouraged to be bold and simply do it themselves. You do not need permission or prior discussion to proceed. While bold merges may be reverted entirely, the process and the discussion after the revert often result in better articles.

Nominating articles for merging

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If you have reason to believe that merging an article is controversial, nominate it for merging at AfD. If you want to nominate more than one article for merging into one or more destination articles, you can do so in the same nomination!

While young or short articles and stubs that only differ in wording can be boldly merged immediately, longer articles that have been separate for a long time are usually discussed first, especially if they concern controversial topics. If you want to first gauge whether there is opposition to a potential merge or want to hear other editors' opinions before nominating the article, you can seek input through standard consensus-building venues, such as the destination article's talk page or Wikipedia talk:Articles for deletion.

Reasons to merge articles

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"WP:DUPLICATE" redirects here. For other uses, see Wikipedia:Duplicate (disambiguation).

There are several good reasons to merge articles:

  1. Shortcut
    Duplicate: There are two or more articles on the same subject and with the same scope, also known as redundant content forks. If the content fork was unjustified, the article created more recently should be merged into the older one. If a duplicate article was created recently, it may also be a candidate for A10 speedy deletion.
  2. Shortcut
    Overlap: There are two or more articles on related subjects that have a large overlap and might be redundant. Wikipedia is not a dictionary; there does not need to be a separate entry for every concept. For example, "flammable" and "non-flammable" can both be explained in an article on flammability.
  3. Shortcut
    Short text: If an article is short and, in your opinion as editor, is unlikely to be expanded within a reasonable amount of time, it often makes sense to merge it into the article on the broader topic.
  4. Shortcut
    Context: Some topics that are independently notable are best covered in the same article in order to better serve reader understanding. For example, if a short article requires the background material or context from a broader article in order for readers to understand it, it should be merged into the broader article.
  5. Shortcut
    Insufficient notability: Articles about non-notable topics can have content which if added to another article would make that article better. While this can also be implemented through the AfD process, merging directly may be more efficient. For example, parents or children of a celebrity who themselves are otherwise unremarkable are generally covered in a section of the article on the celebrity.
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Merging should be avoided if:
  1. The resulting article would be too long or "clunky";
  2. The separate topics could be expanded into longer standalone (but cross-linked) articles.

Procedure

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The main reason that the merge backlog includes hundreds of articles is because the people who support the merge neglect to undertake this final step. Any editor, including the editor who originally proposed the merge, is permitted to perform a merge in accordance with consensus, as merging articles does not require intervention from an administrator.

To avoid manually making many repetitive and time-consuming edits, it is recommended to install the easy-merge script before proceeding; the instructions below will explain where and how to use it. When performing a merge, remember to attribute copied content as required by copyright; at minimum, this means including a wikilink to the source article in your edit summaries, as described below. To merge articles, follow the steps below:

  1. Copy all or some of the content from the source article and paste it in an appropriate location at the destination article. If you think the merge is especially complex and will take you a lot of time to fully clean up, you can let other editors know by placing {{In use}} or {{Inuse-section}} atop the article. Then, immediately publish your edit, even if it duplicates some parts or it looks messy. In your edit summary, include a link to the source article and to the AfD discussion (unless this is a bold merge): 
    [[H:M|Merged content]] from [[SOURCEPAGE]]; see its history for [[WP:CWW|attribution]].
  2. Do any necessary rearranging and copy editing ideally in a second edit, to simplify attribution. In this edit, also remove any leftover {{Merge}}, {{Being merged}}, or {{In use}} templates from the destination article.
  3. Blank the source article whose content was just merged and replace it with a redirect
    • To do this more quickly, install the easy-merge script and reload the source article. Then, click the "easy-merge" link in the "Tools" section of your sidebar, enter the destination article or section, and keep this option enabled:
      Redirect this page to the target page
      If you want to enable other options, read the optional step 6 below before clicking Submit.
    • To do it manually instead, replace everything in the source article with: 
      #REDIRECT [[DESTINATIONPAGE]]

{{R cat|
{{R from merge}}
}}
      or, if you merged the content to a section: 
      #REDIRECT [[DESTINATIONPAGE#SECTION NAME]]

{{R cat|
{{R from merge}}
{{R to section}}
}}
      Then publish your changes using an edit summary such as: [[H:M|Merged content]] to [[DESTINATIONPAGE]].

And that's it! You've successfully merged two articles!

Optional steps

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  1. If the source article has a talk page, reconcile the talk page banners. Move any previously added {{Merged-from}} and {{Copied}} templates to the destination's talk page and copy the various {{WikiProject}} templates to the destination. If the merge was discussed at AfD but you are merging it to a different destination than the one selected by the closer, remove the {{Afd-merge from}} template from the talk page of the destination selected by the closer.
  2. Tag the talk pages with the relevant notices for posterity.
    1. If the merge was not discussed at Articles for deletion (for example if it's a bold merge or if it was discussed elsewhere) you can optionally note that the merge has taken place by adding a tag to the articles' talk pages:
      • This action is performed automatically when using the easy-merge script; simply enable these two options and click Submit:
        Add {{merged-from}} to talk page of target page
        Add {{merged-to}} to talk page of this page
      • To do it manually, place {{Merged-from|SOURCEPAGE|June 2026}} atop the destination's talk page and {{Merged-to|DESTINATIONPAGE|June 2026}} atop the source's talk page.[a]
    2. However, if the merge was discussed at AfD and the {{Afd-merge from}} template is already on the destination's talk page, do not add another banner to the destination's talk page. However, you can optionally add a tag to the source article's talk page:
      • If you are using the easy-merge script, simply keep this option disabled:
        Add {{merged-from}} to talk page of target page
        You can optionally enable the other one, and then click Submit.
      • To do it manually, place {{Merged-to|DESTINATIONPAGE|June 2026}} atop the source's talk page.
  3. Check whether you have moved any non-free files to the destination article. In the rare cases where there are any, the article mentioned in the rationale should be updated to the destination article's per the non-free content criteria. You can recognise non-free files from their file descriptions, as they have a red copyright icon and a non-free use rationale (a summary box with Non-free use rationale in the title, or a Fair use section: see examples).
  4. Fix any double redirects found at Special:WhatLinksHere. A bot does this automatically, but it may take a day or two.

If you've performed these optional steps, there's nothing else you can possibly do, besides improving the article further or merging another article!

Shortcut
"WP:MERGEAFD" redirects here. For the essays about "merge" !votes at AfD, see Wikipedia:Merge what?, Wikipedia:AfD and mergers, and Wikipedia:Merge and delete.

When the merge is a result of a formal discussion at Articles for deletion, editors should not add a new banner to the destination's talk page or change the existing one (see the optional step 6b above). These notices are usually added automatically by the closer and are updated automatically by AnomieBOT several hours after the merge is complete (example diff). These templates inform users involved in those pages that content is to be merged as a result of an AfD discussion. Note that it is any editors' job, not necessarily the closing editors' job, to perform the merge. If these templates have been changed, removed, or if they are not already on the talk pages, you can optionally place this atop the source article's talk page: 

{{Afd-merge to |DESTINATIONPAGE |discuss=AFDDISCUSSION |date={{subst:CURRENTMONTHNAME}} {{subst:CURRENTYEAR}} }}

Similarly, you can place this template atop the destination's talk page: 

{{Afd-merge from |SOURCEPAGE |discuss=AFDDISCUSSION |date={{subst:CURRENTMONTHNAME}} {{subst:CURRENTYEAR}} }}

Merging pages in non-article namespaces

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Pages in certain other namespaces can also be merged, usually also on a bold basis, but merging on a consensus basis relies on different venues. For most non-article namespaces, the counterpart to AfD is MfD; unlike the former, it does not accept merge nominations, though a deletion discussion can yield "merge" as an alternative to deletion. Templates can be explicitly nominated for merging at TfD. The CfD process governs category merges; these fall entirely outside the scope of this page because "merging" categories is not merging in the usual sense (and is not done boldly either).
  1. ^ To collapse many similar merge banners into one, experienced users may alternatively place the {{Copied}} template atop one or both talk pages: {{Copied |merge=yes |from= |from_oldid= |to= |to_oldid= |to_diff= |date=June 2026}}
Help contribute. Become a member!

2 people Participants

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Please feel free to add yourself here, and indicate any areas of particular interest.
Please post new entries at the end of the list.

  1. Markvs88 (talk · contribs) (I am going to start with all merges beginning with the letter "M"... for no particularly good reason!) 20:28, 27 February 2012 (UTC)[reply]
  2. Ebe123 (talk · contribs) Overpopulated backlog. ~~Ebe123~~ → report 20:40, 27 February 2012 (UTC)[reply]
  3. Mark Miller (talk · contribs) This user has merged 1 article from the February articles for merger list Drakula (1920 film)
  4. Extra999 (talk · contribs) going to help and keep this project going 03:32, 28 February 2012 (UTC)[reply]
  5. Cerebellum (talk · contribs) - Working on AfD merges. --Cerebellum (talk) 01:02, 8 March 2012 (UTC)[reply]
  6. Wikishagnik (talk · contribs) - Working Merge and wikify tags
  7. OlEnglish (talk · contribs) - Certainly support this project and will try to help when I have time.
  8. Thegreatgrabber (talk · contribs) - Work on some random things, applying templates, just help along.
  9. Gsingh (talk · contribs) - I have begun merging articles starting from Feb 2009, will work on articles of any topic. Gsingh (talk) 04:28, 25 April 2012 (UTC)[reply]
  10. Coastside (talk · contribs) - Interested in working on scientific articles
  11. BDD (talk · contribs) I like working on the full backlog rather than the AfD one, where there are many simple fixes, including stale tags and discussions just waiting to be closed.
  12. Wbm1058 (talk · contribs) I operate User:Merge bot, which updates Wikipedia:Proposed mergers/Log; Longer term project: analyzing procedures in search of improvements to alleviate the backlog here.
  13. GenQuest (talk · contribs) I have been working on mergers (through the PM noticeboard) since October 2012. I have been doing a bunch of the Afds also, since the backlog has grown to over 125. I try to do a copyedit on the finished product whenever my editing time allows. GenQuest "Talk to Me" 22:52, 29 January 2013 (UTC)[reply]
  14. --NickPenguin(contribs) 01:22, 25 February 2013 (UTC)[reply]
  15. Skr15081997 (talk · contribs) I had done more than 50 mergers last year, and I am already a member of Mergist Association . Skr15081997 (talk) 17:16, 15 January 2014 (UTC)[reply]
  16. Iamozy (talk) 02:29, 6 February 2014 (UTC) Interested in science, especially, biology, neurology, and medicine.[reply]
  17. P199 (talk · contribs) (Working on long-overdue dead or stale merges. Have been working on this sporadically for the last few years already...) 21:16, 3 March 2014 (UTC)[reply]
  18. Capankajsmilyo (talk · contribs · count)
  19. Klbrain (talk · contribs), particularly Pharmacology and Medicine. I'm working on old merge proposals.
  20. Onel5969 (talk · contribs), will try to help out as I can. Came here through the AfD merge backlog.Onel5969 TT me 21:40, 24 April 2016 (UTC)[reply]
  21. Serial Number 54129 (talk · contribs) Anything except lists, which seem extra complicated.
  22. Kvng (talk · contribs), 21 June 2016
  23. Adityavagarwal (talk) 18:29, 21 February 2017 (UTC)[reply]
  24. Sophie means wisdom (talk · contribs)
  25. AmericanAir88 (talk) 01:50, 6 November 2017 (UTC)[reply]
  26. Million_Moments (talk) 12:10, 13 July 2018 (UTC)[reply]
  27. BRES2773 (talk · contribs) Will really work on anything.
  28. Path slopu (talk · contribs)14:28, 23 September 2018 (UTC)[reply]
  29. Samee (talk · contribs) 20:10, 18 March 2019 (UTC)[reply]
  30. Trialpears (talk · contribs) Hoping to reduce the backlog and discuss potential improvements to the process. Trialpears (talk) 10:08, 20 April 2019 (UTC)[reply]
  31. Robertsky (talk · contribs) Willing to help in any way possible. robertsky (talk) 14:07, 20 September 2019 (UTC)[reply]
  32. Newslinger (talk · contribs) 08:23, 22 October 2019 (UTC)[reply]
  33. MarcMyWords (talk · contribs · count)
  34. WikiAviator (talk · contribs) 04:42, 6 April 2020 (UTC)[reply]
  35. TimothyBlue as part of NPP and AfD.   // Timothy :: talk  14:14, 24 October 2020 (UTC)[reply]
  36. Tsistunagiska (talk · contribs) If I offer both hands to help then it will keep me out of trouble. A concept my brothers will agree I need to do more often. So here I am. --ARoseWolf 17:19, 22 April 2021 (UTC)[reply]
  37. Felix QW (talk · contribs) Will help where I can, when I can.
  38. Karthanitesh (talk) 00:44, 19 January 2022 (UTC)[reply]
  39. Joyous! | Talk 02:35, 8 November 2022 (UTC) I love chipping away at a backlog. I've settled in working on the articles whose AfD discussions concluded with a "merge" consensus.[reply]
  40. Mooonswimmer (talk · contribs) I have tons of free time, a great portion of which I devote to Wikipedia. Tackling backlogs and doing tedious maintenance work sounds quite appealing to me!
  41. Kautilyapundit (talk · contribs) As an impartial editor, I can assist in merging articles while following proper procedures.
  42. Lililolol (talk · contribs)Im still learning. 01:14, 22 April 2023 (UTC)[reply]
  43. Queen of Hearts ❤️ (no relation) 02:37, 23 November 2023 (UTC)[reply]
  44. Robertjamal12 (talk · contribs) Robertjamal12 ~🔔 14:35, 21 February 2024 (UTC)[reply]
  45. Choucas Bleu (talk · contribs) No preferences, but happy to help! Choucas Bleu (T·C) 17:24, 12 March 2024 (UTC)[reply]
  46. Penultimate supper (talk · contribs) I like working on articles focused on religion and history, as well as countries I'm interested in learning more about, but honestly anything. They're nice to do when I have 20 minutes free at work, and I'll mostly focus on the AfD merge backlog. 18:54, 27 October 2024 (UTC)[reply]
  47. Unknown Lifeform | Talk 09:24, 1 February 2025 (UTC) Excess articles just kinda annoy me.[reply]
  48. Go D. Usopp (talk · contribs) 16:10, 25 August 2025 (UTC)[reply]
  49. happypenguins82 (talk · contribs) i enjoy random articles, will do my best to help out :)
  50. Royz-vi Tsibele (talk) 17:44, 22 May 2026 (UTC) Merging is the epitome of quality over quantity. It's mergin' time![reply]

Inactive

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  1. Quasihuman (talk · contribs) (I plan on working on closing merge discussions and doing simple merges. Also interested in working out new ways of streamlining the system.) 23:03, 25 February 2012 (UTC)[reply]
  2. Intwizs (talk · contribs) Badam.. tsss (drum sounds)
  3. Dondegroovily (talk · contribs) still grinding thru them 21:34, 27 February 2012 (UTC)[reply]
  4. The_mobot (talk · contribs) - Working on merge - going to try and get as much of it done as I can
  5. Khatie Lou (talk · contribs) - Will work on random articles to merge.
  6. DoctorKubla (talk · contribs) - I'll do what I can.
  7. Karl.brown (talk · contribs) - I'm still learning... 05:27, 5 April 2012 (UTC)[reply]
  8. Kelpso1 (talk · contribs) - I'll do as much as I can starting right now. 05:47, 11 April 2012 (UTC)[reply]
  9. Dark Silver Crow (talk · contribs) - Working on random articles to merge when able.
  10. Logical1004 (talk · contribs) Working on dead, or Indian election related or Physics related merges. Logical1004 (talk) 17:40, 24 March 2014 (UTC)[reply]
  11. MartinZ02 (talk · contribs)
  12. NewYorkActuary (talk · contribs) 14:59, 29 June 2016 (UTC)[reply]
  13. nerdgoonrant (talk · contribs) 24 Aug 2017
  14. The Duke of Nonsense (talk · contribs) 20:26, 30 July 2018 (BST)
  15. Pcamellon (talk · contribs) (I am interested in working on articles realted to technology, science music, computer science and electronics. Maybe other topics but these are my prefered ones.19:31, 24 October 2018 (UTC)[reply]
  16. kashmorwiki (talk · contribs)Hoping to reduce the backlog Kashmorwiki (talk) 17:13, 17 October 2020 (UTC)[reply]
  17. Ophyrius (talk · contribs)

Open tasks

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Categories

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To display all subcategories click on the "►":
Articles proposed for merging (7 C)
To display all subcategories click on the "►":
WikiProject Merge (2 C, 12 P)
Merge templates (3 C, 36 P)
WikiProject Merge pages (56 P)

Tagged articles

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This section is updated by Merge bot.

Milestones

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  • 16,000 to be merged: March 2, 2012
  • 15,000 to be merged: May 7, 2012
  • 14,000 to be merged: June 16, 2012
  • 11,500 to be merged: January 9, 2014
  • 12,400 to be merged: November 26, 2015
  • 9,600 to be merged: December 12, 2016
  • 5,861 to be merged: July 1, 2018
  • 4,626 to be merged: October 7, 2018
  • 3,000 to be merged: May 2, 2020
  • 2,000 to be merged: December 1, 2022
  • 900 to be merged: January 3, 2026

Templates

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User box templates

{{User WikiProject Merge}} produces:
This user is a participant in
WikiProject Merge.
{{User merge}} produces:
merThis editor is a mergist.
{{User mergist}} produces:
This user is a member of the Association of Mergist Wikipedians.
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Talk page templates

The following template can be placed along with other project banners. Rate the article for class and importance to project. This template also has the additional attribution template added to be used on each page after merge.

  • {{WikiProject Merge Copied}}
produces:
WikiProject iconMerge
WikiProject iconThis page is within the scope of WikiProject Merge, an attempt to reduce the articles to be merged backlog and improve the merging process. If you wish to help, you can edit the page attached to this talk page, or visit the project page, where you can join the project and/or contribute to the discussion.MergeWikipedia:WikiProject MergeTemplate:WikiProject MergeMerge

which contains contents copied from:

{{Copied}}

This template goes on the merge article talk page and target article project listings

  • {{Merge done}}
produces:

  checkY Merge completed

If a nomination for deletion results in a merge with delete, add:

  • {{afd-merged-from}}

For a list of all merge templates, go to Category:Merge templates or Wikipedia:Template messages/Merging.


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Barnstars for WikiProject

This barnstar could be given to a prolific merger or a user who has contributed significantly to the project. It is the official barnstar for this project.

{{subst:WikiProject Merge Barnstar|Message}}

produces:

The WikiProject Merge Barnstar The Merging Barnstar
Message Here



See also

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Logo of Association of Mergist Wikipedians
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Wikipedia:WikiProject_Merge&oldid=1358229519"