" itation needed''" is a tag added by

Wikipedia editor The Wikipedia community, collectively known colloquially as Wikipedians, is an informal community that volunteers to create and maintain Wikipedia, an online encyclopedia. Since August 2012, the word "Wikipedian" has been an '' Oxford Diction ...

s to unsourced statements in articles requesting citations to be added. The phrase is reflective of the policies of verifiability and no original research on

Wikipedia Wikipedia is a multilingual free online encyclopedia written and maintained by a community of volunteers, known as Wikipedians, through open collaboration and using a wiki-based editing system. Wikipedia is the largest and most-read refer ...

and has become a general

Internet meme An Internet meme, commonly known simply as a meme ( ), is an idea, behavior, style, or image that is spread via the Internet, often through social media platforms. What is considered a meme may vary across different communities on the Internet ...

. On the

English Wikipedia The English Wikipedia is, along with the Simple English Wikipedia, one of two English-language editions of Wikipedia, an online encyclopedia. It was founded on January 15, 2001, as Wikipedia's first edition, and, as of , has the most arti ...

, the display effect looks like this:

Usage on Wikipedia

The tag was first used on

in 2006. By Wikipedia policy, editors should add citations for content, to ensure accuracy and neutrality, and to avoid

original research Research is "creativity, creative and systematic work undertaken to increase the stock of knowledge". It involves the collection, organization and analysis of evidence to increase understanding of a topic, characterized by a particular att ...

. The on needed tag is used to mark statements that lack such citations. , there were more than 350,000 pages on Wikipedia containing at least one instance of the tag. Users who click the tag will be directed to pages about Wikipedia's verifiability policy and its application using the tag.

Usage outside Wikipedia

In 2008, Matt Mechtley created stickers with " n needed, encouraging people to stick them on

advertisement Advertising is the practice and techniques employed to bring attention to a product or service. Advertising aims to put a product or service in the spotlight in hopes of drawing it attention from consumers. It is typically used to promote a ...

In 2010, American television hosts Jon Stewart and

Stephen Colbert Stephen Tyrone Colbert ( ; born May 13, 1964) is an American comedian, writer, producer, political commentator, actor, and television host. He is best known for hosting the satirical Comedy Central program ''The Colbert Report'' from 2005 to ...

led the

Rally to Restore Sanity and/or Fear The Rally to Restore Sanity and/or Fear was a gathering that took place on October 30, 2010, at the National Mall in Washington, D.C. The rally was led by Jon Stewart, host of the satirical news program ''The Daily Show'', and Stephen Colbert ...

at the

National Mall The National Mall is a Landscape architecture, landscaped park near the Downtown, Washington, D.C., downtown area of Washington, D.C., the capital city of the United States. It contains and borders a number of museums of the Smithsonian Institut ...

Washington, D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

, where some participants held placards with " n needed.

Randall Munroe Randall Patrick Munroe (born October 17, 1984) is an American cartoonist, author, and engineer best known as the creator of the webcomic ''xkcd''. Munroe has worked full-time on the comic since late 2006. In addition to publishing a book of th ...

has frequently used " n needed tags for humorous commentary in his writings, including in his 2014 book '' What If?'' The subdomain of citation download for

Springer Nature Springer Nature or the Springer Nature Group is a German-British academic publishing company created by the May 2015 merger of Springer Science+Business Media and Holtzbrinck Publishing Group's Nature Publishing Group, Palgrave Macmillan, and Macm ...

journals is "on-needed", e.g., https://citation-needed.springer.com/v2/references/10.1038/nature14539?format=refman&flavour=citation . From 2014 to 2018, Tom Scott, Chris Joel, Gary Brannan and Matt Gray a.k.a. 'The Technical Difficulties' had a YouTube panel show titled "on Needed". Will Seaward and

Matt Parker Matthew Thomas Parker (born 22 December 1980) is an Australian recreational mathematician, author, comedian, YouTube personality and science communicator based in the United Kingdom. His book ''Humble Pi'' was the first maths book in the UK to ...

also featured as guest panelists in episodes 6x03, 6x04, 7x03 and 7x04 standing in for Gray.

References

External links

*
Citation needed
at Know Your Meme {{Wikipedia, state=collapsed 2005 introductions Internet memes introduced in the 2000s Wikipedia