Category:CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list

The citation module code looks for multiple comma or semicolon separator characters in the value assigned to |author=, |last=, their aliases, and enumerated equivalents (e.g. |author2=, |last2=, etc.). This test displays an error message for multiple authors' names in a single parameter, as well as single author names that include a comma-separated list of post-nominals: |author=FC White, RN, MD, Ph.D.


To fix these errors in citations:


Editors should not simply replace |author= with |authors=. Using the plural |authors= parameter to replace a singular |author= or |last= parameter that holds multiple authors' names is discouraged because automatically decoding lists of human names is an extraordinarily difficult task. Because of this difficulty, names listed in |authors= are omitted from the template's COinS metadata. Enumerating the author list with |authorn=, or |lastn= / |firstn=, or, where appropriate, |vauthors=, preserves the associated metadata.


Pages in this category should only be added by Module:Citation/CS1.


Pages with this condition are automatically placed in Category:CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list.^[a]


By default, Citation Style 1 and Citation Style 2 error messages are visible to all readers and maintenance messages are hidden from all readers.


To display maintenance messages in the rendered article, include the following text in your common CSS page (common.css) or your specific skin's CSS page and (skin.css).


(Note to new editors: those CSS pages are specific to you, and control your view of pages, by adding to your user account's CSS code. If you have not yet created such a page, then clicking one of the .css links above will yield a page that starts "Wikipedia does not have a user page with this exact name." Click the "Start the User:username/filename page" link, paste the text below, save the page, follow the instructions at the bottom of the new page on bypassing your browser's cache, and finally, in order to see the previously hidden maintenance messages, refresh the page you were editing earlier.)


To display hidden-by-default error messages:


Even with this CSS installed, older pages in Wikipedia's cache may not have been updated to show these error messages even though the page is listed in one of the tracking categories. A null edit will resolve that issue.


To hide normally-displayed error messages:


You can personalize the display of these messages (such as changing the color), but you will need to ask someone who knows CSS or at the technical village pump if you do not understand how.


Nota bene: these CSS rules are not obeyed by Navigation popups. They also do not hide script warning messages in the Preview box that begin with "This is only a preview; your changes have not yet been saved".