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Community Central

An edit conflict occurs in the situation when two or more users edit the same part of a page at the same time and make significantly different changes that they then try to save. If the wiki cannot merge the edits, it will display an edit conflict notification.

In this context, conflict refers to different versions of the article, not the users' actions. Remember, always assume good faith!

What happens when an edit conflict occurs?[]

If you are editing a page and another user makes an edit in the meantime, the wiki will attempt to merge the two edits. However, if you both alter the same section (for instance, modify the lead paragraph on an article), the wiki will display the following notification:

EditConflict1

The initial screen in an edit conflict

How to resolve edit conflicts?[]

When the conflict window appears it has three components:

  • The most recent version of the article below the notification, inside an edit box.
  • The difference between the saved version and your edit, highlighting conflicting sections. Fragments in red are present in your version of the article, but not in the most recent version of the article.
  • The wikitext for your version of the article.

To resolve the conflict, you have to manually add the changes from your article into the edit box. Once you're done, simply click Publish to save your article.

Remember: Only the contents of the edit box are saved when you click Publish.
EditConflict3

Your version is in the bottom box, and it can be added into the main editing screen on the page.

How did I get into an edit conflict with myself?[]

It's possible! In this case, it's usually caused by using the browser's "Back" button to return to the edit box (for instance, if you forgot to add something minor), rather than clicking on "Edit" again, or double-clicking on the "Publish" or "Save" button, which sometimes causes two revisions to be submitted.

See also[]

Further help and feedback[]