Last modified: 2014-04-21 21:09:02 UTC
Unwary editors occasionally remove a principal named reference (<ref name="foo">bar</ref>) in an article where it is still being used elsewhere in the form <ref name="foo" />, thus silenting breaking references & often leading to another (or the same :p) editor simply removing all instances of the reference, presumably under the assumption that the initial inclusion was improper. A check — & subsequent warning, if prudent — for remaining references with a name matching a non-empty reference being removed in the current edit would likely prevent most such happenings.
This error check has been in place for some time. The base Cite.php message is Cite error references no text. On en.wiki, this shows as "Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named $1; see Help:Cite error."
That's after the damage is done. There should be a check before the edit is allowed to be committed.
(In reply to comment #2) > That's after the damage is done. There should be a check before the edit is > allowed to be committed. I can see a check if you edit the whole article, but I don't see how it can be done if you edit a section. That will take someone with some programming smarts.
Yes... fixing bugs in software requires programming knowledge...
*** Bug 57364 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***
