Talk:January 6 United States Capitol attack

This is the talk page for discussing improvements to the January 6 United States Capitol attack article.
This is not a forum for general discussion of the article's subject.

Put new text under old text. Click here to start a new topic.
New to Wikipedia? Welcome! Learn to edit; get help.

Article policies

Find sources: Google (books · news · scholar · free images · WP refs) · FENS · JSTOR · TWL

Archives: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22: 30 days

This page is not a forum for general discussion about January 6 United States Capitol attack. Any such comments may be removed or refactored. Please limit discussion to improvement of this article. You may wish to ask factual questions about January 6 United States Capitol attack at the Reference desk.

This article is written in American English, which has its own spelling conventions (color, defense, traveled) and some terms that are used in it may be different or absent from other varieties of English. According to the relevant style guide, this should not be changed without broad consensus.

A news item involving January 6 United States Capitol attack was featured on Wikipedia's Main Page in the In the news section on 6 January 2021.

Wikipedia

Crime and Criminal Biography Mid‑importance

	This article is within the scope of WikiProject Crime and Criminal Biography, a collaborative effort to improve the coverage of Crime and Criminal Biography articles on Wikipedia. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page, where you can join the discussion and see a list of open tasks.Crime and Criminal BiographyWikipedia:WikiProject Crime and Criminal BiographyTemplate:WikiProject Crime and Criminal BiographyCrime-related
Mid	This article has been rated as Mid-importance on the project's importance scale.

Disaster management Low‑importance

	This article is within the scope of WikiProject Disaster management, a collaborative effort to improve the coverage of Disaster management on Wikipedia. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page, where you can join the discussion and see a list of open tasks.Disaster managementWikipedia:WikiProject Disaster managementTemplate:WikiProject Disaster managementDisaster management
Low	This article has been rated as Low-importance on the project's importance scale.

Law Enforcement Low‑importance

	Law portal This article is within the scope of the WikiProject Law Enforcement. Please Join, Create, and Assess.Law EnforcementWikipedia:WikiProject Law EnforcementTemplate:WikiProject Law EnforcementLaw enforcement
Low	This article has been rated as Low-importance on the importance scale.

Politics: American Mid‑importance

	Politics portal This article is within the scope of WikiProject Politics, a collaborative effort to improve the coverage of politics on Wikipedia. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page, where you can join the discussion and see a list of open tasks.PoliticsWikipedia:WikiProject PoliticsTemplate:WikiProject Politicspolitics
Mid	This article has been rated as Mid-importance on the project's importance scale.
	This article is supported by American politics task force (assessed as High-importance).

Sociology: Social Movements Low‑importance

	Society portal This article is within the scope of WikiProject Sociology, a collaborative effort to improve the coverage of sociology on Wikipedia. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page, where you can join the discussion and see a list of open tasks.SociologyWikipedia:WikiProject SociologyTemplate:WikiProject Sociologysociology
Low	This article has been rated as Low-importance on the project's importance scale.
	This article is supported by the social movements task force.

United States: District of Columbia / Presidential elections / Government / History High‑importance

	United States portal This article is within the scope of WikiProject United States, a collaborative effort to improve the coverage of topics relating to the United States of America on Wikipedia. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page, where you can join the ongoing discussions. Template Usage Articles Requested! Become a Member Project Talk Alerts United StatesWikipedia:WikiProject United StatesTemplate:WikiProject United StatesUnited States
High	This article has been rated as High-importance on the project's importance scale.
	Washington, D.C. portal This article is supported by WikiProject District of Columbia (assessed as High-importance).
	This article is supported by WikiProject U.S. presidential elections (assessed as High-importance).
	This article is supported by WikiProject U.S. Government (assessed as Mid-importance).
	This article is supported by WikiProject U.S. history (assessed as High-importance).

United States Presidents: Donald Trump Top‑importance

	This article is within the scope of WikiProject United States Presidents, a collaborative effort to improve the coverage of United States Presidents on Wikipedia. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page, where you can join the discussion and see a list of open tasks.United States PresidentsWikipedia:WikiProject United States PresidentsTemplate:WikiProject United States PresidentsUnited States Presidents
Top	This article has been rated as Top-importance on the importance scale.
	This article is supported by the Donald Trump task force.

U.S. Congress Top‑importance

	United States portal This article is within the scope of WikiProject U.S. Congress, a collaborative effort to improve the coverage of the United States Congress on Wikipedia. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page, where you can join the discussion and see a list of open tasks.U.S. CongressWikipedia:WikiProject U.S. CongressTemplate:WikiProject U.S. CongressU.S. Congress
Top	This article has been rated as Top-importance on the project's importance scale.
	This article is about one (or many) Events(s).

Guild of Copy Editors

This article was copy edited by Dhtwiki, a member of the Guild of Copy Editors, on February 15–17, 2024.Guild of Copy EditorsWikipedia:WikiProject Guild of Copy EditorsTemplate:WikiProject Guild of Copy EditorsGuild of Copy Editors

This article has been mentioned by multiple media organizations:

Alex Pasternack (2021-01-14). "As a mob attacked the Capitol, Wikipedia struggled to find the right words". Fast Company. Archived from the original on 2021-01-15. Retrieved 2021-01-15.
Alex Hern (2021-01-15). "Wikipedia at 20: last gasp of an internet vision, or a beacon to a better future?". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 2020-01-15. Retrieved 2020-01-15. At 6.34pm UK time on 6 January this year, one Wikipedia editor, with the username Another Believer, decided that events in Washington looked important enough to warrant an article. Tentatively titled "January 2021 Donald Trump rally", the initial entry was brief: "On 6 January 2021, thousands of Donald Trump supporters gathered in Washington DC to reject results of the November 2020 presidential election." {{cite news}}: |archive-date= / |archive-url= timestamp mismatch; 2021-01-15 suggested (help)
Heather Kelly (2021-01-15). "On its 20th birthday, Wikipedia might be safest place online". The Washington Post. Archived from the original on 2021-01-15. Retrieved 2021-01-15. This month, the online encyclopedia's strengths and quirks were on full display as hundreds of volunteers furiously worked to create a page for the Capitol riots as events unfolded Jan. 6. As it transitioned from a protest to something more violent, Wikipedia's volunteer editors added key details while debating the article title, as shared by editor Molly White. Was it a protest, an insurrection or a riot? It ended up the "2021 storming of the United States Capitol." Hundreds of people were working on the ballooning document at a time, which has now been touched by nearly 1,000 editors, is more than 10,000 words long and has been viewed nearly 2 million times.
Stephen Harrison (2021-01-15). "To Celebrate Wikipedia's 20th Birthday, Try Editing It". Slate. Archived from the original on 2021-01-16. Retrieved 2021-01-15. Take the recent debate over the nomenclature that Wikipedia should use to describe last week's frightening events. Should that destruction and violence be described as President Donald Trump's supporters "storming" the United States Capitol, an "insurrection," or a "coup attempt"? Is it "terrorism"? "The long-standing consensus is that article titles on events, such as this, should reflect how reliable sources have described the event," said Chet Long, one of Wikipedia's long-term volunteer administrators, who edits under the username Coffee. The issue here was that reliable sources have covered the event using all of that nomenclature. At publication time, the Wikipedia article is named "2021 storming of the United States Capitol" based on the consensus of editors that the majority of media sources have also characterized it as a "storming." Of course, reasonable minds can disagree on that decision, which developed after spirited, reasoned debate. One thing is clear: That's not a boring issue. The language that the world's most popular internet encyclopedia uses to describe the events of Jan. 6, 2021, will affect how that day will be perceived by the public in both the short and long term.
Grace Gedye (2021-02-04). "When the Capitol Was Attacked, Wikipedia Went to Work". Washington Monthly. Retrieved 2021-02-04. As protestors at the Capitol turned violent, one major debate among Wikipedia editors was how to describe the event in the page's title. Was it a protest? A riot? An insurrection? A coup attempt?
Stephen L. Carter (2022-08-02). "Are We in a Recession? Don't Ask Wikipedia". The Washington Post. Retrieved 2022-09-02. And nobody will be surprised to learn that the page designated "2021 United States Capitol Attack" is also partly locked. Fierce argument rages even over what the page should be called.

Text has been copied to or from this article; see the list below. The source pages now serve to provide attribution for the content in the destination pages and must not be deleted as long as the copies exist. For attribution and to access older versions of the copied text, please see the history links below.

Copied 2021 storming of the United States Capitol (oldid, history) → Aftermath of the 2021 storming of the United States Capitol (diff)
Copied 2021 storming of the United States Capitol (oldid, history) → International reactions to the 2021 storming of the United States Capitol (diff)
Copied 2021 storming of the United States Capitol (oldid, history) → Domestic reactions to the 2021 storming of the United States Capitol (diff)
Copied 2021 storming of the United States Capitol (oldid, history) → Death of Brian Sicknick (diff)
Copied 2021 storming of the United States Capitol (oldid, history) → Law enforcement response to the 2021 United States Capitol attack (diff)

Before requesting any edits to this protected article, please familiarise yourself with reliable sourcing requirements.

Before posting an edit request on this talk page, please read the reliable sourcing and original research policies. These policies require that information in Wikipedia articles be supported by citations from reliable independent sources, and disallow your personal views, observations, interpretations, analyses, or anecdotes from being used.

Only content verified by subject experts and other reliable sources may be included, and uncited material may be removed without notice. If your complaint is about an assertion made in the article, check first to see if your proposed change is supported by reliable sources. If it is not, it is highly unlikely that your request will be granted. Checking the archives for previous discussions may provide more information. Requests which do not provide citations from reliable sources, or rely on unreliable sources, may be subject to closure without any other response.

The contentious topics procedure applies to this page. This page is related to post-1992 politics of the United States and closely related people, which has been designated as a contentious topic.

Editors who repeatedly or seriously fail to adhere to the purpose of Wikipedia, any expected standards of behaviour, or any normal editorial process may be blocked or restricted by an administrator. Editors are advised to familiarise themselves with the contentious topics procedures before editing this page.

Current consensus on size and organization:

The specific subjects of international and domestic reactions, the aftermath, the death of Brian Sicknick, the law enforcement response, and the events at state capitols and other cities, are not covered in full detail here but in the linked articles. Portions of those articles are transcluded here, if opportune, per WP:SYNC.
As long as the article is too long (true as of Nov 5) it should be shortened, but the Very long tag should not be used (for the whole article); instead, Very long section tags could be used. An idea to use more refined methods of managing length (copyediting, moving information to notes, refining/trimming transcluded sections, etc.), instead of further splitting and more routine removal was agreed on here and here.

Current consensus on naming and terminology:

The page's title was moved to 'January 6 United States Capitol attack' after this move request.
The decision to not use the word "urge" in the lead, in reference to Trump's actions, was agreed in this subsection.
There is no consensus to call this event Terrorism as per this RFC

WP:ACDS actions:

~~Under ACDS, starting Jan 16, a move request cannot be opened nor be closed to move to a title using the word "insurrection" for a month. See the Arbitration enforcement log (diff) for details.~~ Expired since Feb 16, 2021
Under ACDS, only users who possess the extended-confirmed user right may close discussions for this page. See the Arbitration enforcement log (diff) for details.

This article has previously been nominated to be moved. Please review the prior discussions if you are considering re-nomination.

Discussions:

RM, 2021 United States Capitol protests → 2021 United States coup d'etat attempt, Not moved, 6 January 2021, discussion
RM, 2021 United States Capitol protests → 2021 storming of the United States Capitol, Moved, 6 January 2021, discussion
RM, 2021 storming of the United States Capitol → United States Capitol insurrection, Procedural close, 7 January 2021, discussion
RM, 2021 storming of the United States Capitol → 2021 breach of the United States Capitol, Procedural close, 8 January 2021, discussion
RM, 2021 storming of the United States Capitol → The Trump insurrection, Procedural close, 9 January 2021, discussion
RM, 2021 storming of the United States Capitol → 2021 breach of US Capitol, Not moved, 15 January 2021, discussion
RM, 2021 storming of the United States Capitol → Storming of the United States Capitol, Procedural close, 16 January 2021, discussion
RM, 2021 storming of the United States Capitol → Insurrection at the United States Capitol, Not moved, 16 January 2021, discussion
RM, 2021 storming of the United States Capitol → 2021 Terrorist Attack on the United States Capitol, Not moved, 21 January 2021, discussion
RM, 2021 storming of the United States Capitol → 2021 United States Capitol riot, Not moved, 23 January 2021, discussion
RM, 2021 storming of the United States Capitol → 2021 United States Capitol attack, Not moved, 4 February 2021, discussion
RM, 2021 storming of the United States Capitol → Storming of the United States Capitol, Procedural close, 16 February 2021, discussion
RM, 2021 storming of the United States Capitol → January 6 United States Capitol attack, Moved to 2021 United States Capitol attack, 31 May 2021, discussion
Move Review initiated 1 June 2021. Overturned, moved to 2021 storming of the United States Capitol, 1 August 2021, discussion
RM, 2021 storming of the United States Capitol → 2021 United States Capitol attack, Moved to 2021 United States Capitol attack, 2 August 2021, discussion
RM, 2021 United States Capitol attack → January 6 attack, Not moved, 7 November 2021, discussion
RM, 2021 United States Capitol attack → January 6 United States Capitol attack, No consensus, 8 January 2022, discussion
RM, 2021 United States Capitol attack → January 6 United States Capitol attack, Moved, 28 July 2022, discussion
RM, January 6 United States Capitol attack → 2021 United States Capitol attack, Not moved, 9 January 2023, discussion
RM, January 6 United States Capitol attack → 2021 United States coup d'état attempt, Not moved, 31 January 2023, discussion
RM, January 6 United States Capitol attack → January 6, 2021 United States Capitol attack, No consensus, 21 January 2024, discussion
RM, January 6 United States Capitol attack → January 6 insurrection, No consensus, 26 January 2024, discussion

Other talk page banners

If you came here because someone asked you to, or you read a message on another website, please note that this is not a majority vote, but instead a discussion among Wikipedia contributors. Wikipedia has policies and guidelines regarding the encyclopedia's content, and consensus (agreement) is gauged based on the merits of the arguments, not by counting votes.

However, you are invited to participate and your opinion is welcome. Remember to assume good faith on the part of others and to sign your posts on this page by adding ~~~~ at the end.

Note: Comments may be tagged as follows: suspected single-purpose accounts: {{subst:spa|username}}; suspected canvassed users: {{subst:canvassed|username}}; accounts blocked for sockpuppetry: {{subst:csm|username}} or {{subst:csp|username}}.

This article has been viewed enough times in a single week to appear in the Top 25 Report 2 times. The weeks in which this happened:

January 3 to 9, 2021 (5th)
January 10 to 16, 2021 (7th)

Section sizes

Section size for January 6 United States Capitol attack (59 sections)
Section name	Byte count	Section total
(Top)	95,979	95,979
Background	35	70,234
Attempts to overturn the presidential election	14,873	14,873
Planning of January 6 events	14,360	26,539
Seditious conspiracy by Oath Keepers and Proud Boys	12,179	12,179
Predictions of violence	16,219	16,219
Law enforcement and National Guard preparations	12,568	12,568
Trump supporters gather in D.C.	14,944	50,548
January 5 meetings	3,724	3,724
Bombs placed	5,338	5,338
January 6 Trump rally	13,208	26,542
Trump's speech	13,334	13,334
Attack on the Capitol	4,112	83,407
Proud Boys march to Capitol as mob assembles	4,065	4,065
Bombs discovered near Capitol Complex	168	168
Attack begins near Peace Monument, led by Proud Boys	13,386	13,386
Attackers on west terrace breach Senate Wing hallway	16,496	16,496
Evacuation of leadership amid Capitol lockdown	27,665	27,665
Oath Keepers arrive and breach Rotunda	2,419	2,419
Ashli Babbitt killed by police while attempting to breach Speaker's Lobby	7,543	7,543
Attack on the tunnel	5,919	5,919
Police clear the Capitol and Congress reconvenes	1,634	1,634
Federal officials' conduct	31	51,288
Trump's conduct	11,525	30,997
Inflammatory speech while knowing of weapons	2,934	2,934
Allegation of assaulting a Secret Service driver	4,650	4,650
Endangering Mike Pence	8,959	8,959
Failure to end the attack	2,929	2,929
Capitol Police leadership's failure to prepare	2,779	2,779
Department of Defense leadership's refusal to send Guard	12,174	12,174
Congressional conduct	2,885	2,885
Deletion of Secret Service and Homeland Security text messages	2,422	2,422
Participants, groups, and criminal charges	6,751	64,184
Proud Boys	4,090	4,090
Oath Keepers	6,247	6,247
QAnon	9,287	9,287
White supremacists, neo-Nazis, and neo-Confederates	12,298	12,298
Others	8,256	8,256
Police and military connections	6,169	6,169
Analysis	11,086	11,086
Results	12	26,855
Casualties and suicides	14,713	14,713
Damage	8,255	8,255
Laptop theft and cybersecurity concerns	3,875	3,875
Aftermath	16	14,742
Political, legal, and social repercussions	7,003	7,003
Domestic reactions	3,141	3,141
International reactions	131	131
14th Amendment disqualification	3,462	3,462
Sarbanes–Oxley Act prosecutions ruling and impact	989	989
Analysis and terminology	1,754	12,290
Historians' perspectives	10,536	10,536
See also	1,403	1,403
Notes	31	31
References	17,438	17,438
External links	964	10,494
Federal government	3,127	3,127
Video	2,140	2,140
Timeline	4,263	4,263
Total	498,893	498,893

Edit request from Wikipedia:Requests for page protection/Edit

This edit request has been answered. Set the |answered= or |ans= parameter to no to reactivate your request.

Add US Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms to Parties list Add US Marshal Service to Parties list Add Arlington County Police to Parties list Add US Park Police to Parties List

Nhryan122 (talk) 05:32, 24 November 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Not done: please provide reliable sources that support the change you want to be made. FifthFive (talk) 03:59, 8 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]

#Invoke

I noticed that the portal bar and the authority control templates were replaced with #invoke call in this edit, along with many other template calls, in an attempt to reduce post-expand include size. Can these two be reverted as the rest have, or is there some special reason not to? All the best: Rich Farmbrough 13:43, 8 December 2024 (UTC).[reply]

Interim report December 17, 2024

On page 69 it says that Miller disobeyed an order from Trump because Miller did not want the public to view him as a "Trump crony." I think this may be relevant enough to add to the article, but I'd like to know what others think.

https://cha.house.gov/_cache/files/6/d/6dae7b82-7683-4f56-a177-ba98695e600d/145DD5A70E967DEEC1F511764D3E6FA1.final-interim-report.pdf#page71

The Last Hungry Cat (talk) 19:23, 18 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Describing the riot as a "coup" may not be the best thing to call it.

Yes, this was a violent attack on the US government and there are many sources that support the characterization of the event as a coup, but not many of these sources are of high reliability or high neutrality, and some seem to just say that the labeling of the event as a "coup" has been popular (not saying that that's what the event actually was). If you need me to show some reliable sources of my own, here are some that call the "coup" term into dispute or use the word "riot" instead: https://www.maxwell.syr.edu/news/article/was-jan-6-an-insurrection-a-failed-coup-cleary-discusses-with-politico https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2022/01/04/a-look-back-at-americans-reactions-to-the-jan-6-riot-at-the-u-s-capitol/ https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2022/08/19/jan-6-coup-authoritarianism-expert-roundtable-00052281 https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-67889403

LordOfWalruses (talk) 02:24, 5 January 2025 (UTC)[reply]

A source not saying coup, is not the same as a source saying it was not a coup. Slatersteven (talk) 11:29, 5 January 2025 (UTC)[reply]