Wikipedia:Splitting

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Shortcuts: WP:SPLIT WP:SPLITTING WP:SPINOUT

See also: Wikipedia:Article size

If an article becomes too large or a section of an article has a length that is out of proportion to the rest of the article it is recommended that a split is carried out.

[edit] Article size

There are no hard and fast rules for when an article should be split. A guideline for article size is:

Readable prose size	What to do
> 100 KB	Almost certainly should be divided
> 60 KB	Probably should be divided (although the scope of a topic can sometimes justify the added reading time)
> 40 KB	May eventually need to be divided (likelihood goes up with size)
< 30 KB	Length alone does not justify division
< 1 KB	If an article or list has remained this size for over a couple of months, consider combining it with a related page.

[edit] Procedure

If an article meets the criteria for splitting editors can be bold and carry out the split, although discussion on the article talk page or associated WikiProject is a way of seeking a consensus. Alternatively, adding one of the templates below will list it at Category:Articles to be split. This will bring it to the attention of editors who check this category. If a comment is added on the appropriate WikiProject talk page editors who can carry out the split would be advised.

To conform with §4(I) of the GFDL, the new page should be created with an edit summary noting "split content from [[article name]]". (Do not omit this step or omit the page name.) A note should also be made in the edit summary of the source article, "split content to [[article name]]", to protect against the article subsequently being deleted and the history of the new page eradicated.

If a section is split from the original article, a summary section should be left in the original ("main") article. At the top, it should contain a link to the newly created page, easily achieved with {{main|Newly created page name here}} template.