Wikipedia:WikiProject Military history/Academy/Using external media
 | This page is part of the Military history WikiProject's online Academy, and contains instructions, recommendations, or suggestions for editors working on military history articles. While it is not one of the project's formal guidelines, editors are encouraged to consider the advice presented here in the course of their editing work. |
External media has the same sourcing and maintenance requirements, as explained in "Using external links."
If an image, audio or video clip is available online but cannot be uploaded to Wikipedia, it may be appropriate to use {{external media}} to provide a direct link to the file and a referenced description of what it contains. External media should be removed as soon as an adequate replacement is available on Wikimedia Commons. A Commons file of low quality or accuracy is not an adequate replacement.
External media can be used multiple times in an article, and in each instance, more than one file can be linked to. External media can be used in the body of the article and outside the external links section (see Late Roman army and War against Nabis).
Copyright[edit]
According to WP:ELNEVER, you're discouraged from linking to content that violates copyright. If there is doubt regarding the copyright (YouTube videos, for example), make it clear in the template or reference that the material is from a rightful distributor (examples can be found at Grindcore).
Verifiability[edit]
When adding a link to an external media source, it is essential that the source page also be linked with the date of retrieval. This is required to satisfy Wikipedia's sourcing criteria and to ensure that the link can be corrected should the source URL be changed. Reference tags can be used for this purpose.
Deep linking[edit]
It's polite to inform the owner of the linked page that you are deep linking to the content and marking it as an external source. If the owner doesn't like it, a script to disable deep linking can be used.