 | This page documents an English Wikipediaediting guideline. Editors should generally follow it, thoughexceptions may apply.Substantive edits to this pageshould reflect consensus. |
Asoft redirect is a replacement for the usual"hard" redirect. They differ in that they leave the reader on the redirect page, requiring them to click through to the redirected link as opposed to automatically taking them there. Unlike normal redirects, asoft redirect does not use special code or functionality of the wiki software. All they consist of is a notification to users, showing the destination to another site to obtain the information they were seeking.
Soft redirects are intended mostly for external use, where hard redirects will not function. For internal use in general, hard redirects should be used instead. Soft redirects are used when the destination is:
meatball: targets.In English Wikipedia, categories with the{{Category redirect}} template are also called "soft redirects", due to their similarity to interwiki soft redirects. SeeWikipedia:Categorization § Redirecting categories for the policy. Do not putredirect categorization templates on soft redirects ({{R category with possibilities}} and{{Wikidata redirect}} are exceptions).
The following templates are used to create a soft redirect link:
Soft redirects to targets outside Wikipedia (e.g. to meta.wikimedia.org) do not require any categories to be added manually. For soft redirects that go from Wikipedia'smainspace to targets outside Wikipedia or to targets in any other Wikipedia namespace, addCategory:Unprintworthy redirects to mark them unsuitable for any printable version of Wikipedia.
For any soft redirect that goes from one Wikipedia namespace to another Wikipedia namespace, add the relevant category placing it within the appropriate sub-category ofCategory:Cross-namespace redirects, i.e. describing it by the target namespace:
For purposes of administration, particularly deletion, soft redirects are subject to the same administration processes as regular redirects, and should not be handled by processes that are intended for articles. For deletion, this means that soft redirects are subject to theR2–R4 andG8 speedy deletion criteria and are not subject to theA1–A10 speedy deletion criteria. For more deliberative deletion, they should be handled throughRfD and are not subject toproposed deletion andAfD. In AfD discussions,soft redirects are considered an alternative to deletion.