Template:Edition required/doc

If you see this warning on an article, it is most likely because someone (perhaps you?) has attempted to cite a book, but there are multiple versions or editions of that book. Sometimes, information has changed between editions, meaning that a reader might attempt to use the cited book as a reference, only to find that the information is not present. Also, if a reference cites a page number for a particular book, but not the edition, this page number might be incorrect.

It is not necessary to cite a specific edition when referencing books with only one edition, although it is not inconceivable that further editions might be published in the future, introducing a need to change all the existing references for that particular book.

Rectification
If you have encountered this warning on a page you have edited, please specify which edition of the book you are referencing. To do this, you can examine the article for the "no-edition" template you were trying to use. For example, Template:Cite book/Dungeon Master's Guide contains a list of links to valid citation templates that refer to specific editions, so choose the appropriate template from that list and alter your citation to use it.

Often, there might not be a list of editions on the "no-edition" template article. If the article lacks this information, please try to add it.

If you have encountered this warning on a page you did not edit, it might be difficult to summize which edition the original author of the cited text was meaning to use. Do not simply guess – you could easily introduce further inaccuracies. If you have any of the editions of the book in question, check to see if the citation is accurate. If not, there will be no choice but to remove it.