Template talk:USGS
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Untitled
[edit]Should websites be replaced with publications? Vsmith (talk) 12:40, 21 July 2008 (UTC)
Update to use source parameter
[edit]This edit request has been answered. Set the |answered= parameter to no to reactivate your request. | 
This template calls {{Include-USGov}}, which now has a source parameter. That parameter allows us to pass in formatting templates, such as {{cite web}}. The sandbox version of {{USGS}} now converts its arguments to {{cite web}} and passes them along to {{Include-USGov}}. This will promote uniformity in formatting of PD references and in reference metadata. Please see the test cases to see how this affects the formatting.
Admins: please copy the sandbox version of the template to the main template. Thank you. —hike395 (talk) 19:10, 26 February 2012 (UTC)
 Not done: {{edit protected}}is not required for edits to unprotected pages, or pending changes protected pages. Assuming there is consensus, you should be able to make the change yourself. Anomie⚔ 04:24, 27 February 2012 (UTC)
 Gosh, I'm embarrassed. So many templates have been admin-protected that I thought this one had been, too! I'll go ahead and make the change. —hike395 (talk) 04:32, 27 February 2012 (UTC)
sandbox
[edit]Blue Mountains (ecoregion) has this:
{{USGS|author=Thorson, T.D., Bryce, S.A., Lammers, D.A., et al. | article=Ecoregions of Oregon|comment=color poster with map, descriptive text, summary tables, and photographs; with a [ftp://ftp.epa.gov/wed/ecoregions/or/or_back.pdf Reverse side]|url=ftp://ftp.epa.gov/wed/ecoregions/or/or_front.pdf}}
 This article incorporates public domain material from Thorson, T.D., Bryce, S.A., Lammers, D.A.; et al. Ecoregions of Oregon (PDF). United States Geological Survey. {{citation}}: Explicit use of et al. in:|author=(help)CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) (color poster with map, descriptive text, summary tables, and photographs; with a Reverse side).
This template misuses |author= by including more than one author-name and by including explicit 'et al.' text.  In cs1|2, |author= is used to name a single author and 'et al.' is controlled by |display-authors=.  The live version of {{USGS}} supports an extremely limited subset of the {{cite web}} parameters.  I have modified the {{USGS/sandbox}} to use Module:template wrapper so that editors don't need to abuse those parameters that {{USGS}} currently supports.
Rewriting the example above:
{{USGS/sandbox |author=Thorson, T.D. |author2=Bryce, S.A. |author3=Lammers, D.A. |display-authors=etal |article=Ecoregions of Oregon |comment=color poster with map, descriptive text, summary tables, and photographs; with a [ftp://ftp.epa.gov/wed/ecoregions/or/or_back.pdf Reverse side] |url=ftp://ftp.epa.gov/wed/ecoregions/or/or_front.pdf}}
 This article incorporates public domain material from Thorson, T.D.; Bryce, S.A.; Lammers, D.A.; et al. Ecoregions of Oregon (PDF). United States Geological Survey. (color poster with map, descriptive text, summary tables, and photographs; with a Reverse side).
This change will allow editors to provide more complete referencing.
As its use shows in Blue Mountains (ecoregion), this attribution template is used as a reference template. Because editors will misapply this template, it would, perhaps, be sensible to provide a mechanism to inhibit the rendering of the attribution text and icon:
 This article incorporates public domain material from ...
perhaps |attrib=no?
