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This is an old revision of this page, as edited by Arch dude (talk | contribs) at 09:41, 16 November 2020 (→‎False information). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

    Welcome—ask questions about how to use or edit Wikipedia! (Am I in the right place?)

    November 13

    Redirect Tagging

    There are a few hundred categories that can be assigned to redirects, and there is a long list of the categories. Some of these categories can be assigned to redirects via Twinkle using the 'tag' feature. The 'tag' feature is set up so that it works differently with redirects than with article or draft pages. With redirects it is used to tag the redirect with a redirect category. That is what I know. Here are my two questions.

    First, where (in project talk space) can I discuss redirect tags? That is, where can I ask a question about what tag is appropriate in a particular case, or where can I propose to add a tag to the choice list?

    Second, where is the long list of redirect categories available? I had it once, but I lost my bookmark to it. Where can I view or browse the long list of redirect categories? Robert McClenon (talk) 00:00, 13 November 2020 (UTC)[reply]

    @Robert McClenon: Check out Wikipedia:Categorizing_redirects for guidance on when and how to categorize redirects. At the bottom, there is a long list of templates that will put redirects into categories. RudolfRed (talk) 00:54, 13 November 2020 (UTC)[reply]
    @Robert McClenon: BTW, the navbox ({{R template index}}) is included (collapsed) at the bottom of all (or most) of the {{R to ...}} templates. In case anyone is interested, there are 74 Rcat templates that are in the navbox (which has 100 templates) but not in Twinkle, listed at User:AlanM1/Twinkle Missing Rcats. There are apparently another 106 templates that are in Category:Redirect templates and its subcats (total 280), but not in the navbox or Twinkle (assuming that all the navbox and Twinkle templates are in the category tree). —[AlanM1 (talk)]— 04:33, 13 November 2020 (UTC)[reply]

    Help improving articles

    I am a new and am here with the intention to contribute,learn and know more about Wikipedia's guidelines. I have been accussed of having a close connection with someone i know of but not on a personal level and on the other wise being the subject itself https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vappala_Balachandran

    Another page https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/N._Ravikiran which i have tried to improve resulted in me being blocked and warned when i mean no harm.I admit there are people out there who know much more on improving articles,about neutrality and removing templates.Can someone please help and is being rude,as cold as winter in sweden - a norm with the genius wikipedians or a one-off targetted thing.

    I admit i might have made mistakes but not with malicious intent.Rajeshbm (talk) 00:03, 13 November 2020 (UTC)[reply]

    Rajeshbm, since you claim to be Vappala Balachandran, please completely read and understand WP:AUTO, and that writing about yourself is strongly discouraged, as Bonadea has told you on your talk page. —Tenryuu 🐲 ( 💬 • 📝 ) 04:40, 13 November 2020 (UTC)[reply]

    Sir,I have not claimed I am Vappala Balachandran.His profile interested me and he is well known.You probably misunderstood.I am not Vappala Balachandran for the record Rajeshbm (talk) 04:58, 13 November 2020 (UTC)[reply]

    @Rajeshbm: Special:Diff/987791156 is pretty unambiguous. —[AlanM1 (talk)]— 05:50, 13 November 2020 (UTC)[reply]
    There's also Special:Diff/987792939 at Talk:Vappala Balachandran, which appears to refer to File:Vappala Balachandran.png, and Special:Diff/987817627 at User talk:Rajeshbm#Managing a conflict of interest. —[AlanM1 (talk)]— 06:00, 13 November 2020 (UTC)[reply]

    Sir,I am aware that I have made mistakes but they were not intentional.I just though that i knew too much and did not follow guideines which I should have.If you can correct or help improve them i shall be grateful.My intention is not to be Vandal or cause any trouble.I will go back to the sandbox and start working on how things are done and apologize for not following guidelines.Regarding the image,I contacted the subject and these were his words When you give a press interview there are times when you need to have your photograph in hand which one has to arrange for.That is how it works in india.So by default the image becomes the subjects property but I am not Vappala Balachandran .I put up the wrong icense/attribution which was a mistake. Rajeshbm (talk) 10:41, 13 November 2020 (UTC)[reply]

    My guess is that English is not his first language, so he can't precisely explain himself. But taking his comments here and on his user talk in the most comprehensible light amounts to being ordered to do this by Balachandran or someone associated with same.A little blue Bori v^_^v Takes a strong man to deny... 22:20, 13 November 2020 (UTC)[reply]

    Help changing company name

     Courtesy link: Action on Hearing Loss

    Hi, I am interested in changing the company name of Action on hearing Loss to RNID. How can I have access to do this? I can't seem to "move" the article. Thanks sonja — Preceding unsigned comment added by RNID2020 (talkcontribs) 09:46, 13 November 2020 (UTC)[reply]

    RNID2020 First, please review the important information I have placed on your user talk page regarding your username, which you will need to change. Second, I gather you are a company representative; please review conflict of interest and paid editing for information on formal disclosures you are required to make.
    Regarding your question, you may request a page move at Requested Moves. New users cannot move articles to new titles. 331dot (talk) 09:51, 13 November 2020 (UTC)[reply]

    status of a new article

     Courtesy link: Draft:Eugene McCown

    Hello,

    I wrote yestedray, as a draft, an article on the American artist Eugene McCown (1898-1966).

    I am not sure what the current status of this document is. Is it in proofreading / validation? Do I have to do something more now that it's finished -for me) ?

    I thank you in advance for your help. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Pariswasafeast (talkcontribs) 09:58, 13 November 2020 (UTC)[reply]

    Pariswasafeast I have added the appropriate information to allow you to submit your draft for review. You will need to do that in order for it to be considered for formal placement in the encyclopedia. 331dot (talk) 10:06, 13 November 2020 (UTC)[reply]

    Film with wrong title

    Beyond the Law (1992 film) was first released in 1993 as seen in the actual article and on IMDb]. Title needs to be changed to Beyond the Law (1993 film). Greetings Aquatic Ambiance (talk) 11:40, 13 November 2020 (UTC)[reply]

    @Aquatic Ambiance:  Done by @Dq209 today with this edit. For future reference, Wikipedia:Moving a page explains how pages are moved/renamed on Wikipedia. Seagull123 Φ 15:20, 13 November 2020 (UTC)[reply]
    Thank you @Dq209: and @Seagull123:. Aquatic Ambiance (talk) 16:03, 13 November 2020 (UTC)[reply]

    VG Images

    Do screenshots of video game gameplay (as requested by the image department) need to be free use, or can fair use off the internet work as well? Le Panini Talk 12:38, 13 November 2020 (UTC)[reply]

    It might help others to understand the situation if you identified "the image department" and linked to its request. (In the meantime, "fair use" must be fair for a specific and tightly constrained purpose.) -- Hoary (talk) 13:24, 13 November 2020 (UTC)[reply]
    I'll save you the trouble: Unless the game itself is under a copyleft licence, any screenshot is fair-use (and in the case the game is under a copyleft licence, then any use of that photo would have to comply with that licence - which means the ND and NC prongs would be fair-use if they are used at all). —A little blue Bori v^_^v Takes a strong man to deny... 22:10, 13 November 2020 (UTC)[reply]
    Jéské Couriano, when you say "any screenshot is fair-use", the most obvious interpretation is one that I don't suppose you intend. How about this: Unless the game itself is either (i) explicitly released under a copyleft license acceptable for Wikipedia or (ii) explicitly released into the public domain, then any screenshot of it used in Wikipedia would have to specify its copyright status and cite "fair use". This doesn't mean Any time you want to illustrate a game, forget all the "Creative Commons" and similar mumbo-jumbo and just claim "fair use", which I fear is how what you say could be interpreted. Additionally NB "fair use" does not mean "any use that's convenient for building an article": indeed, it's pretty hard to claim "fair use" convincingly. And I still wonder what/who "the image department" is. -- Hoary (talk) 09:25, 14 November 2020 (UTC)[reply]
    @Le Panini: a screenshot from a copyrighted game is copyrighted, so you can use it only if you can claim fair use. Our fair-use policy is very restrictive. You must meet all 10 of our criteria. See WP:FAIRUSE. -Arch dude (talk) 17:22, 14 November 2020 (UTC)[reply]

    Question about formatting | Dropdown/tabs

    Hello! So I am the Lead Coordinator of the Current Events WikiProject. The project was revived earlier this year and it currently doing a massive re-formatting.

    The WikiProject's "main page" will have a list of every article the WikiProject is currently active in. As we know, COVID-19 is always a 'current event', so every COVID-19 (Pandemic) article will be listed in its respective place on the WikiProject's list. To prevent just a gigantic list of articles, we would like to have a drop down menu, so when a person clicks on an arrow "For example like a button for COVID-19 pandemic in the United States, it would have a drop down and show each of the articles related with the parent article.

    How do you create that type of drop down? (We aren't thinking of multipage tabs yet, just a large list of drop downs).

    Also, if you have any advice on extra formatting/organization for the WikiProject, it would be greatly appreciated.

    -Thanks, (Lead Coordinator of WikiProject Current Events) Elijahandskip (talk) 19:45, 13 November 2020 (UTC)[reply]

    See Template:Drop_down_list.   Maproom (talk) 21:50, 13 November 2020 (UTC)[reply]
    It's simple! Use {{Drop down list}} and you are good to go. SMB99thx my edits 23:46, 13 November 2020 (UTC)[reply]
    ... though I now see that the lists are restricted to eight items. Maproom (talk) 08:42, 14 November 2020 (UTC)[reply]

    Watch a section of an article

    I'm learning how to use the watchlist. Rather than watching a whole page I only want to watch a particular section of a page for changes. Example is watching the 'sequel' section of a movie article. How can I do it? — Preceding unsigned comment added by Meorioa3 (talkcontribs) 22:28, 13 November 2020 (UTC)[reply]

    You can't. You either watch the whole page or none of it. —A little blue Bori v^_^v Takes a strong man to deny... 22:30, 13 November 2020 (UTC)[reply]
    @Meorioa3: This idea comes up periodically. There is short explanation of why this can't be done here: Wikipedia:Perennial_proposals#Allow_watchlisting_individual_sections_of_a_page RudolfRed (talk) 22:44, 13 November 2020 (UTC)[reply]
    Meorioa3, the only tool available to do that is User:Enterprisey/section-watchlist, which I don't think is currently functioning. It's very beta and thus not something I'd recommend to a new user. {{u|Sdkb}}talk 08:27, 14 November 2020 (UTC)[reply]

    Vandalism/false info

    Is there something staff can do when someone is repeatedly vandalizing a pager to include false information?

    Someone has been editing the page for Noonbory and the Super 7 constantly and including false info (i.e stating the series had 4 seasons when it only had 2, one of which was never broadcast outside South Korea). They use a different alt-account every time, so it cannot be traced back to a specific person.

    The only solution I can think of is locking the page, but I don't know if that can be done on Wikipedia or if that's just a Miraheze thing. — Preceding unsigned comment added by NoonboryKedabory (talkcontribs) 22:47, 13 November 2020 (UTC)[reply]

    Hello NoonboryKedabory. You can report vandalism at WP:AIV and you can request page protection at WP:RFPP. Cullen328 Let's discuss it 23:04, 13 November 2020 (UTC)[reply]

    Wrong information

    There is a wrong information on an article that is locked cannot delete. About explaining President Elect laws. There is Constitutional law being violated here. There is no president elect at this time 11/13/2020 when there is a dispute. The correct info was up last week and has been changed in the last few days saying Biden is president elect. There is a recount going on and courts will decide some disputes filed. Until it’s resolved Biden hasn’t won the election. That should be updated. A link should be there on Presidential election law and process as well as Constitutional laws on Presidential election and disputes. https://www.usa.gov/election — Preceding unsigned comment added by 2601:185:C100:1F5C:15CA:6AF7:B7D2:DB54 (talk) 23:02, 13 November 2020 (UTC)[reply]

    Wikipedia summarizes what independent reliable sources state, not necessarily what is official or legal. If you disagree with the sources, you will need to take that up with them. Most of the sources also state the legal cases are without merit and will not change the results. 331dot (talk) 23:05, 13 November 2020 (UTC)[reply]
    Care to mulligan on the topic area you've chosen to edit?A little blue Bori v^_^v Takes a strong man to deny... 23:31, 13 November 2020 (UTC)[reply]
    The help desk is for questions about using or editing Wikipedia. Discussions about changing article content belong on the talk pages of those articles. -Arch dude (talk) 03:08, 14 November 2020 (UTC)[reply]

    November 14

    A Pro-Israel group is harrassing users expressing different viewpoints

    "I only came here to fix punctuation on the global warming article!"

    Hi,

    I found this group here who is advocating attacking users whose edits they deem unacceptable:

    https://theisraelgroup.org/wikipedias-war-against-israel/

    It is also seen here:

    https://www.jewishpress.com/news/media/the-israel-group-launches-battle-to-expose-anti-israel-wikipedia-editors/2019/11/21/

    This group creates an unsafe environment where people express opinions they deem unacceptable. This violates Wikipedia's commitment to neutrality and I ask that Wikipedia looks into this to see if this group is trying to intimidate people with opposing viewpoints. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 2603:8080:2001:4300:EC7F:8230:DEA7:227F (talk) 04:29, 14 November 2020 (UTC)[reply]

    Well, this happens outside of Wikipedia and Wikipedia admins have no power there. Not actionable. Everybody and their dog can watch what Wikipedians write and publish comments about that. I'm in the proper position to tell you this, since I have been called rat and traitor of my country, Antichristian and pro-porn activist (while at least some people insisted that I wrote ads for born-again Christians and that I would be an anti-porn activist). Tgeorgescu (talk) 06:03, 14 November 2020 (UTC)[reply]
    Wikipedia has no control over what other websites say or do on the internet. If they do things here on Wikipedia, that's actionable. 331dot (talk) 08:19, 14 November 2020 (UTC)[reply]
    Fascinating website, though. Achar Sva (talk) 10:18, 15 November 2020 (UTC)[reply]

    Seconds message

    I got a message saying 10s. I made my account only 1 second ago. What is this stuff? Leanne Sepulveda (talk) 08:14, 14 November 2020 (UTC)[reply]

    Leanne Sepulveda It's not clear what exactly you are referring to. 331dot (talk) 08:17, 14 November 2020 (UTC)[reply]

    Hi, looking at this Afd. An editor has stated she is notable, i.e. meets WP:AUTHOR as the Ospinas book is heavily cited. I've never came across that before in a AFD discussion. Would it be normal to say the person is notable, if their book was heavily cited? scope_creepTalk 08:28, 14 November 2020 (UTC)[reply]

    @Scope creep WP:AUTHOR does mention "widely cited" and you can search for "widely cited" at Wikipedia:Articles for deletion#Search current and archived AfD discussions by topic for examples of kept and deleted articles about "widely cited" authors. Some evidence that he is "widely cited" is needed, then it can be challenged or accepted. TSventon (talk) 12:18, 14 November 2020 (UTC)[reply]
    Thanks @TSventon:. I'll keep it in mind. scope_creepTalk 12:20, 14 November 2020 (UTC)[reply]

    language option

    from all the european languages,beside missing a lot of them,you missed the oldest language,that happens to be the first latin language,called ROMANIAN. you have listed dialects,even the kurd language,though there is no country named kurdistan.you should feel ashamed about this! — Preceding unsigned comment added by 24.237.40.162 (talk) 10:48, 14 November 2020 (UTC)[reply]

    Romanian language? Victor Schmidt (talk) 10:51, 14 November 2020 (UTC)[reply]
    Hello. I am guessing that you found the list of links to other-language versions of a particular article, yes? Romanian doesn't appear on that list because nobody has yet created an article on the subject in the Romanian language. Wikipedia is a volunteer project, and editors work on what they choose to work on. If you want Romanian to appear on that particular list, write the corresponding article in the Romanian Wikipedia. --ColinFine (talk) 13:01, 14 November 2020 (UTC)[reply]

    false locked information

    how can locked pages be removed or corrected? I have come across many things that are incorrect especially those related to so called explorers. In actual fact most of them are terrorists and not hero's or anything as they murdered, stole, raped and much more. Allowing people or the governments to bullshit to make them look go just makes it all biased.

    No matter what NO explorer or whatever you want to call them should be allowed to be portrayed as good as they are not. Same with all wars since once a military person leaves their country for another for anything but a holiday is considered to be terrorism.

    at school we are taught not to bully, not to steal and so on but this is exactly what the explorers and war mongers did, they are evil no matter what as is how they should be portrayed since it's the truth. — Preceding unsigned comment added by User:TruthOfTheWorlds (talkcontribs) 12:51, 14 November 2020 (UTC)[reply]

    If you see such an article (on your computer, though perhaps not on your phone), it should have a link saying "Talk". Click on that, and you'll arrive at the article's talk page. Argue there that the "explorer" stole or raped. Link to your sources. Or argue there that the article is biased. -- Hoary (talk) 13:08, 14 November 2020 (UTC)[reply]
    Hello, TruthOfTheWorlds. Wikipedia reports what the Reliable sources say: it does not (and must not) make judgments of its own, however worthy these might be: see righting great wrongs. In some cases, there may be recent scholarship that should be referred to, and articles have their focus changed: you can help by pointing to the new studies. In other cases, even through it might be desirable to alter the articles, there are not yet any reliable sources to base such a change on. --ColinFine (talk) 16:19, 14 November 2020 (UTC)[reply]
    @TruthOfTheWorlds: Editing with the purpose of supporting a particular point view is contrary to the purpose of Wikipedia, which tries hard to remain objective. Your rhetoric and your user name seem to show that you do not intend to remain objective. You will have more success if you find specific statements in articles that are not supported by a reliable source, or add statements that are supported by a reliable source. We do support Wikipedia:countering systematic bias, but that is mostly about adding articles about neglected subjects. -Arch dude (talk) 17:13, 14 November 2020 (UTC)[reply]

    Edit Summary search tool

    Can anyone remind me if we have a tool able to search the edit summaries of any page for specific text strings, irrespective of who posted there.

    The specific use I have in mind is to report on the use of the word "head" in any edit summary by anyone at The Teahouse over the last year. Thanks, Nick Moyes (talk) 14:45, 14 November 2020 (UTC)[reply]

    Hey Nick. (The way you worded your question leads me to believe you're well aware of the edit summary search tool for a specific user's contributions.) Unfortunately, I have looked for this type of more versatile edit summary search tool in the past and failed. Looking again today, I found this: T60698, which makes me think it truly does not exist. Best regards--Fuhghettaboutit (talk) 15:10, 14 November 2020 (UTC)[reply]
    @Fuhghettaboutit: thanks very much. I've been going mad thinking I had seem something like it in the past, and being unable to find any such tool. I wouldn't even need to worry if they hadn't reduce the max search limit to just 500 edits. In the wonderful days when we could display up to 5,000 edits at a time, it would have been a simple matter to Ctrl-F for the term you needed to find. That was a really, really retrograde step the technical people made to reduce the search result limit, when there could have been a very easy work-around to prevent automated scripts from overloading our systems. Nick Moyes (talk) 15:24, 14 November 2020 (UTC)[reply]
    Nick: you still can change the URL of the edit history to 5,000, i.e., go to the teahouse, click history, change to 500 results, then add a 0 to the URL where the 500 appears in it; voila (then open "older 5000" in a new tab on the resulting page, then again on the next...) and then use your find function on however many tabs you have open.--Fuhghettaboutit (talk) 15:35, 14 November 2020 (UTC)[reply]
    @Fuhghettaboutit: That used to be true, but if you try it you'll find you only get 500. I think this is phab:T234450. -- John of Reading (talk) 15:50, 14 November 2020 (UTC)[reply]
    No, I tried it before posting above; it works perfectly... and I just went back as I still had the tab opened and did a quick count, to make sure it wasn't just saying "5000" when it was really displaying 500; it really does work.--Fuhghettaboutit (talk) 15:55, 14 November 2020 (UTC)[reply]
    @John of Reading: P.S. that Phab page says "Request of limit of 50000(!) (which MW moderated down to 5000)" (emphasis added).--Fuhghettaboutit (talk) 16:05, 14 November 2020 (UTC)[reply]
    @Fuhghettaboutit: Apologies; I must have mistyped my test. -- John of Reading (talk) 16:24, 14 November 2020 (UTC)[reply]
    @Fuhghettaboutit and John of Reading: Brilliant! I wasn't aware that that functionality had been restored. I used to use it all the time for routine admin tasks, and have missed it so much. Perhaps I overlook an announcement somewhere. It will make life so much easier again, knowing it's back. Nick Moyes (talk) 16:52, 14 November 2020 (UTC)[reply]
    Great! (There's a lot of unannounced fiddling. This time it was a good thing.)--Fuhghettaboutit (talk) 16:59, 14 November 2020 (UTC)[reply]

    Art

    How do I create a small page about my art and poetry? — Preceding unsigned comment added by ClarkSheila (talkcontribs) 16:16, 14 November 2020 (UTC)[reply]

    Hello, ClarkSheila. I'm afraid that the answer is almost certainly, "You don't". Wikipedia is not a place to promote or advertise something - commercial or not, worthy or not. Wikipedia is not interested in what anybody says or wants to say about themselves or their own activities or affiliations: it is only interested in what other, unconnected people have published about them. If several people who have no connection with you have been interested enough to write about your art and poetry, and been published in reliable sources, then you may meet the criteria for notability. and there could be an article about you; it not, then no article about you will be accepted, however it is written. If you do meet these criteria, then, as I say, an article about you will be possible. It will not be your article, you will not control its content, it could end up containing content you don't want, and you are strongly discouraged (though not forbidden) from writing it yourself. Please see an article about yourself isn't necessarily a good thing, autobiography, and Alternative outlets. --ColinFine (talk) 16:27, 14 November 2020 (UTC)[reply]

    Payments to Wikipedia

    Dear Sir or Madam Please would it be possible for Wikipedia to be funded by Google who are a vast organisation making vast profits ? With thanks . Yours sincerely D Cronin — Preceding unsigned comment added by 86.8.202.127 (talk) 17:22, 14 November 2020 (UTC)[reply]

    Hi, the Wikimedia Foundation's 2018-2019 Annual report's section about donors can be found at https://wikimediafoundation.org/about/annualreport/2019-annual-report/donors/
    You will see that several prominent corporations (including Google) are among the major funders. Roger (Dodger67) (talk) 17:33, 14 November 2020 (UTC)[reply]
    Note that some of the more significant donations come from the principals of companies or their own charitable foundations instead of the companies themselves (e.g. major contributor Brin Wojcicki Foundation is Sergey Brin (Google co-founder) and ex-wife Anne Wojcicki). —[AlanM1 (talk)]— 21:57, 14 November 2020 (UTC)[reply]
    Note also that Google and many other big companies match employee contributions to non-profit organizations. When this occurs, the non-profit must follow the proper accounting and tax rules for reporting, and this may or may not cause the company portion of the contribution to be attributed to the company and not the employee. So, 1000 Google employees contributing $100 each will trigger $100,000 in donations from Google, and this will probably be reported by WMF as a $100,000 donation from Google if they have a 1-for-1 match policy. Some companies have higher matches. I have seen a 10-for-1 match in one recent case. -Arch dude (talk) 23:22, 14 November 2020 (UTC)[reply]

    writing my own bio/page

    Hello, first time ever on the Wikipedia community. I'm a musician and composer and I'd like to know if it might be acceptable me to contribute by creating my own page. I see different positions about possible COI around the net and I want to make sure before I start working on that. Many thanks, Luca — Preceding unsigned comment added by Unguitar (talkcontribs) 19:50, 14 November 2020 (UTC)[reply]

    Unguitar You have a common misconception of Wikipedia in that it is not a place like social media where people have "pages" about themselves; Wikipedia is an encyclopedia that has articles, written by independent editors. Wikipedia is not a place for people to tell the world about themselves. In order for you to be successful in writing about yourself, you would need to forget everything you know about yourself and only write based on what independent reliable sources say about you; most people cannot do that. 331dot (talk) 19:57, 14 November 2020 (UTC)[reply]

    Thank you for the info. I've made my research about the topic and this is the reason because I'm asking. I fully understand the meaning and function of Wikipedia and don't confuse it with social media or an advertisement platform. I've seen that on this page https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Conflict_of_interest there are guidelines about COI where it is stated that you should disclose your relation with the subject as in a case like mine. I was just wondering, given that any contribution will be reviewed, can't I write about myself, declare it and wait for the content to be verified as it would be if someone else wrote about me? I really don't want to be intrusive, I surely value Wikipedia for what it is, as an old internet user should do. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Unguitar (talkcontribs) 20:27, 14 November 2020 (UTC)[reply]

    Unguitar If you truly feel that you meet the Wikipedia definition of a notable musician, you can certainly use Articles for creation to attempt to create an article about yourself, as it is not forbidden, only discouraged- but in my many years here, I have never seen someone succeed at doing so. It is very hard for people to edit about themselves dispassionately and only based on what independent reliable sources say about them in depth. (that does not include press releases, brief mentions, or routine coverage)
    Also understand that a Wikipedia article about you is not necessarily a good thing. There are good reasons to not want one. You cannot lock it to the text you might prefer, or prevent others from editing it. Any information about you, good or bad, can be in an article about you as long as it appears in an independent reliable source. 331dot (talk) 20:38, 14 November 2020 (UTC)[reply]

    Many many thanks for such a precise and detailed answer! All is very clear now. Thank you for your time & all the best. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Unguitar (talkcontribs) 20:52, 14 November 2020 (UTC)[reply]

    How to link to Wikipedia from Wikivoyage?

    I am trying to link to an article in Wikipedia from a Wikivoyage page. My reading of Help:Interwiki_linking#Prefix_codes_for_linking_to_Wikimedia_sister_projects is that [[wikipedia:Interstate_35_in_Texas]] should work, but it does not produce anything. I tried using prefix en: instead but it produces a red link. What am I doing wrong? RudolfRed (talk) 21:42, 14 November 2020 (UTC)[reply]

    @RudolfRed: You need to prefix the link with a leading colon. [[:wikipedia:Interstate 35 in Texas]]. * Pppery * it has begun... 21:53, 14 November 2020 (UTC)[reply]
    @Pppery: That works. Thank you! RudolfRed (talk) 22:07, 14 November 2020 (UTC)[reply]
    As an aside, the code you had did do something, it would add the article to the list of languages on the left hand side of the page. This is handled by wikidata, so it doesn't need to be done. Best Wishes, Lee Vilenski (talkcontribs) 23:15, 14 November 2020 (UTC)[reply]

    car

    i have a 2013 Hyundai electra. How would I get service connected? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 207.11.72.160 (talk) 22:03, 14 November 2020 (UTC)[reply]

    This is the help desk for how to use Wikipedia. We can't help with your car. You can try asking at WP:RDM or calling a service shop for advice. RudolfRed (talk) 22:09, 14 November 2020 (UTC)[reply]

    Abuse of administration privilege

    On the page Ethnic groups in the United Kingdom There is a warning box that states that the the English of the entry is poor. This is patently untrue. The entry is very clear and informative. #I can only assume that the comment is politically motivated and this gravely concerns me. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 2A02:C7F:144D:4600:ACB4:A026:62B9:4E76 (talk) 22:09, 14 November 2020 (UTC)[reply]

    Hello, IP user. That tag was added (by an anonymous user who was probably not an admin) a year and a half ago, and there has been substantial editing since then. If you believe that the tag is no longer applicable, it contains a link explaining how and when to remove it. --ColinFine (talk) 22:22, 14 November 2020 (UTC)[reply]
    For comparison, you can see the article when that message was added (04:14, 26 April 2019): Old revision of Ethnic groups in the United Kingdom --107.15.157.44 (talk) 22:31, 14 November 2020 (UTC)[reply]
    Please consider renaming this thread since a) it does not involve an admin and b) there has been no abuse of proviledge (sic) MarnetteD|Talk 22:40, 14 November 2020 (UTC)[reply]
    I have skim-read the article and the template may refer to the final section Ethnic groups in the United Kingdom#Political representation, which is separately tagged for rewriting. The rest of the article looks fine. I think we should assume good faith in this case. TSventon (talk) 22:44, 14 November 2020 (UTC)[reply]
    The editor(s) who added those tags may have believed that the writing is unfit for Wikipedia, as the project is intended to inform, not persuade (WP:TONE). —Tenryuu 🐲 ( 💬 • 📝 ) 22:54, 14 November 2020 (UTC)[reply]

    November 15

    Is it possible to make global replacement changes?

    Some years ago I edited a number of articles about the American Civil Rights Movement. Many of the citations and references I entered at that time were to the Civil Rights Movement Veterans website (https://www.crmvet.org). That website has now changed its name to "Civil Rights Movement Archive," though the URL remains unchanged. It will be very tedious and time-consuming for me to track down all my citations to manually change "Veterans" to "Archive." Is there anyway to do that globally across all of Wikipedia? Or, if not across all of Wikipedia, at least globally on each individual page?

    Brucehartford (talk) 01:18, 15 November 2020 (UTC)[reply]

    @Brucehartford: If there are a lot of such links, you can make a request at WP:BOTREQ to see if a bot can do it. Otherwise, WP:AWB might be able to make the task less of a chore. RudolfRed (talk) 01:48, 15 November 2020 (UTC)[reply]

    Am I allowed to move Draft:EmailSanta.com into article space?

    Draft:EmailSanta.com I did not write that article draft, but I think it is ready for the article space. Am I allowed to move it there and remove the AfC box? (I know I am able to, because I am extended confirmed.) Thanks! Félix An (talk) 04:29, 15 November 2020 (UTC)[reply]

    @Félix An: You may, if you think it is ready. I looked at the article history and see you have been reverted a few times on your recent edits to this draft. Instead of moving the draft, I recommend starting a discussion on the draft's talk page so you and the other editors can get consensus on how to improve it. RudolfRed (talk) 05:31, 15 November 2020 (UTC)[reply]
    Thanks! Félix An (talk) 05:54, 15 November 2020 (UTC)[reply]

    Some creep calling themselves Fuzheado reverted my edit. I don't have time for this, please sort this out.

    I added this documentarian's own box to her own page, and updated the website link with an archived version since it expired. I'm not going to edit war with this bot. Thank you. I was just fixing a page I was reading. --184.20.10.253 (talk) 06:46, 15 November 2020 (UTC)[reply]

    Reverted edits: https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Alexandra_Pelosi&type=revision&diff=988762731&oldid=986571847

    Message, quoted below: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=User_talk:184.20.10.253&oldid=988767823

    Information icon Hello, I'm Fuzheado. I wanted to let you know that I reverted one of your recent contributions —specifically this edit to Alexandra Pelosi—because it did not appear constructive. If you would like to experiment, please use the sandbox. If you have any questions, you can ask for assistance at the Help desk. Thanks. Fuzheado | Talk 03:33, 15 November 2020 (UTC)[reply]

    If this is a shared IP address, and you did not make the edits referred to above, consider creating an account for yourself or logging in with an existing account so that you can avoid further irrelevant notices.


    Hi, the diff link you provided was invalid, so I replaced it with a current revision link of your talk page. There is no diff link for your talk page, for reasons stated here. Colathewikian (talk) 07:23, 15 November 2020 (UTC)[reply]
    The probbably best solution would be to ask Fuzheado. Victor Schmidt (talk) 08:26, 15 November 2020 (UTC)[reply]
    FWIW, the official website is actually linked at her wikidata entry, which is probably a better location to archive the site. Best Wishes, Lee Vilenski (talkcontribs) 10:16, 15 November 2020 (UTC)[reply]
    @184.20.10.253: Apologies, as I had seen the Nancy->Alexandra diff as vandalism because of how it was displayed in the interface, but the string of three edits you made were good edits. I have restored the changes and thanks for changing it in Wikidata. I'd recommend you register for an account and edit more, as doing edits under a registered username is more conducive to patrolling for valid vs. invalid edits. Good luck. -- Fuzheado | Talk 12:41, 15 November 2020 (UTC)[reply]

    List of films

    Hello all, I have a question about the list of films, I was checking these: List of Argentine films of 1993, List of Romanian films of 1993, List of Dutch films of the 2000s and List of American films of 2020 and noticed that it's not very consistent with each other. Some lists only cover one year, others a whole decade. And the presentation and options in the table vary too. What's the guidelines for these lists? I thought films that aren't on Wikipedia shouldn't be added in these lists? Aquatic Ambiance (talk) 11:33, 15 November 2020 (UTC)[reply]

    Hello, Aquatic Ambiance. Consistency over many articles is something which is often lacking in Wikipedia, because of the nature of the project: everybody is a volunteer and works on what they choose. Only if somebody, or some group of people, puts effort into consistency will it happen. The most likely place to find people who are working for consistency in an area is at an appropriate WikiProject, here WikiProject Film. --ColinFine (talk) 11:50, 15 November 2020 (UTC)[reply]
    (ec) Aquatic Ambiance, good question. If you don't get any good answers here, you could try Wikipedia talk:WikiProject Film. It's possible that some of these lists don't get a lot of attention, and occasional editors just add what they think they should, while for example List of American films of 2020 has a lot of pageviews [1]. Gråbergs Gråa Sång (talk) 11:52, 15 November 2020 (UTC)[reply]
    Aquatic Ambiance, Wikipedia has some guidance on your questions
    • WP:TOOBIG says that articles which are "> 60 kB Probably should be divided". The length of a list of US films released in one year is too great to be merged into a decade, while the Dutch lists can be merged into a decade. (The Argentine, Romanian and Dutch articles are linked to lists in es, ro and nl wikis, which may also be a reason for choosing between year and decade lists.)
    • WP:LISTN says "Because the group or set is notable, the individual items in the list do not need to be independently notable, although editors may, at their discretion, choose to limit large lists by only including entries for independently notable items or those with Wikipedia articles." TSventon (talk) 23:31, 15 November 2020 (UTC)[reply]

    Special:BookSources search message code

    Hello, where is the Special:BookSources search results message code? I'm admnistrator on It wiki. I wish to change it in my wiki. Thanks a lot. Regards--Pierpao (talk) 14:26, 15 November 2020 (UTC)[reply]

    Hello, Pierpao. Probably in System messages. --ColinFine (talk) 15:03, 15 November 2020 (UTC)[reply]

    Mark juncaj

    I wrote a small bio on myself and was wondering how I did? I checked football player Tom Brady’s for some type of background in hopes to learn how to write mine.

    Also, I enjoy writing very much! How can I join Wikipedia as a board member or where can I start as an editor or some type of starting role?


    Having trouble Understanding administrative response.

    Will my page Mark Juncaj be published in Wikipedia?— Preceding unsigned comment added by Albo2121 (talkcontribs)

    Thanks for your interest, Mark! All Wikipedia articles are written by volunteers like you. You are welcome to create an account and start editing right away. However, due to the conflict of interest, writing an autobiography (one about yourself) is strongly discouraged. Best of luck! Félix An (talk) 16:12, 15 November 2020 (UTC)[reply]
    Albo2121 - there are no sources and no indication that the subject is notabile. Please see WP:GNG  Courtesy link: user:Albo2121 (Please remember to sign your posts on talk pages by typing four keyboard tildes like this: ~~~~. Or, you can use the [ reply ] button, which automatically signs posts.) TimTempleton (talk) (cont) 16:19, 15 November 2020 (UTC)[reply]
    Draft has been deleted. TimTempleton (talk) (cont) 16:23, 15 November 2020 (UTC)[reply]

    Four tides signing

    Timtempleton sis gjon Juncaj page workout? Where are those located on your keypad? — Preceding unsigned comment added by Albo2121 (talkcontribs) 17:09, 15 November 2020 (UTC)[reply]

    Uppercase just left of the 1/! key. - Samf4u (talk) 17:11, 15 November 2020 (UTC)[reply]
    @Albo2121: That's true of US keyboards and some others; for other keyboard layouts see the chart at Tilde#Keyboards. -- John of Reading (talk) 17:36, 15 November 2020 (UTC)[reply]
    Another option is to use the Edit toolbar at the top of the edit box, the icon looks like ; or use the "wiki markup insert" tool beneath the text input in the edit box. --Jules (Mrjulesd) 17:52, 15 November 2020 (UTC)[reply]

    You guys keep deleting my drafts what am I doing wrong please?

    @Albo2121: Are you Gjon or Mark Juncaj? —Tenryuu 🐲 ( 💬 • 📝 ) 23:55, 15 November 2020 (UTC)[reply]

    I’m Mark my friend

    Actor Justin Smith

    I just finished reading article on Justin Smith, who starred with Elle Fanning, in "All the Bright Places." In your background on him you state "he came out queer."

    I must say that in today's world, using 'queer' is a most objectionable word. It still denotes a bad connotation regarding a person's life choice, which in this case should use either the word 'gay' or homosexual. Please update Mr. Smith's background profile; and even if he did say 'queer', I am most certain in today's world, he would not use it. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 65.128.31.37 (talk) 18:10, 15 November 2020 (UTC)[reply]

     Courtesy link: Justice_Smith. That statement has sources backing it up, so it seems that the person self-identifies as Queer, which is up to them and is not necessarily perjorative now. Wikipedia reports what comes from reliable sources. RudolfRed (talk) 18:23, 15 November 2020 (UTC)[reply]
    Neither of the articles we have on actors named Justin Smith use the word "queer" in it. The American one hasn't been edited since 2019 (which is a shame because the article desperately needs sources) and the Australian one hasn't been edited for a month. You're thinking Justice Smith, and that claim is cited to two sources. In addition, "queer" is an umbrella term for LGBTQ+ identity. —A little blue Bori v^_^v Takes a strong man to deny... 18:28, 15 November 2020 (UTC)[reply]
    The "Q" in "LGBTQ+" stands for "queer", and no longer has the pejorative meaning it had a couple decades ago. It's a subset of (not a synonym for) LGBTQ+, as I understand it. See the queer article for more. —[AlanM1 (talk)]— 01:08, 16 November 2020 (UTC)[reply]
    I'm going to also point out that Wikipedia is not censored. If the sources mention him referring to himself as such, it can be included into the article. —Tenryuu 🐲 ( 💬 • 📝 ) 01:13, 16 November 2020 (UTC)[reply]

    Gjon juncaj

    Was gjon Juncaj page written ok? How long does it take to show up on Wikipedia and search engines?

    Thank you! Btw am using iPhone 12

    Never. We are not interested in a rerun of the Seigenthaler incident, and userpages are NOINDEXed. You seem to have mistaken Wikipedia for social media or a who's-who. We are an encyclopaedia, and especially for articles about living people sources are a requirement. —A little blue Bori v^_^v Takes a strong man to deny... 18:45, 15 November 2020 (UTC)[reply]

    I did not hear back if gjons page was published and when it will appear on search engine as gjon juncaj — Preceding unsigned comment added by Albo2121 (talkcontribs) 15 November 2020 19:39 (UTC)

    @Albo2121: Please see the response above. The page will not be published. Wikipedia is an encyclopedia not a form of social media where indviduals can write about themselves. Multiple links have been left at your talk page; please study them carefully before attempting any further edits. Thank you. Eagleash (talk) 19:50, 15 November 2020 (UTC)[reply]
    @Albo2121: In addition, your user page exists for you to tell the community a little about yourself and how you intend to contribute to the project. It should not contain anything resembling artiocle-like content. If you want to create a draft article, go via WP:WIZ or WP:AFC and create a draft which can be submitted for review. Note that autobiographies are discouraged and may not be a good idea. Properly sourced articles about notable topics written by persons without a connection to the topic are welcomed. Eagleash (talk) 20:00, 15 November 2020 (UTC)[reply]

    This wasn’t a page about me. It’s my cousin. He didn’t even ask for it but he is an American hero and I wrote it short and unbiased. Tell me what I did wrong because when I look at other peoples pages, I simply mimicked what they had.

    I’m trying to take part anyway I can. I thought I wrote from an unbiased place though he’s my cousin. I just said who he is and what he does.

    Instead of ripping me can u please help me. There are millions of people part of Wikipedia and I just want to be part of it.

    Thank u

    @Albo2121: Try reading what's been said above instead of accusing us of ripping you. Nobody is going to approve a draft about a living person that has no sources what-so-ever. We don't have articles based on the moral fortitude of the subject; it might surprise you to learn we have articles on Pol Pot, Adolf Hitler, John Wayne Gacy, and Stephenie Meyer. We have articles based on how much a subject and their deeds has been discussed in news and scholarly sources. —A little blue Bori v^_^v Takes a strong man to deny... 21:37, 15 November 2020 (UTC)[reply]
    Hello, Albo2121. Several people have tried to explain what you are doing wrong. I will put it a bit differently. Wikipedia is not interested in what you know, or what I know, or what any random person on the internet knows. Ever. It is only interested in information which has been published by somebody with a reputation for editorial control and fact checking. Trying to create an article without finding such sources first is like building a house without bothering about foundations, or even checking if the house is on rock or sand. Furthermore, writing an article as the first or nearly the first thing you do in editing Wikipedia is like going to one French lesson and then trying to do a podcast in French. Wikipedia is the encyclopaedia that anybody can edit, but that doesn't mean that it is easy to edit. You will add far far far more value to Wikipedia by choosing some of our six million existing articles that need improvement and working on them than by trying to create a new article when you haven't learnt the skills or how Wikipedia works. Please see YFA. --ColinFine (talk) 21:40, 15 November 2020 (UTC)[reply]

    Thank u your information was helpful. The facts on this are on the internet with story after story about both.— Preceding unsigned comment added by Albo2121 (talkcontribs)

    Article trouble

    Hi, one of the article is continously being spammed by someone. How to avoid this?— Preceding unsigned comment added by Hunter1471 (talkcontribs)

    I added a header to this question. Same question at Tea House and I posted a reply there. RudolfRed (talk) 21:14, 15 November 2020 (UTC)[reply]


    November 16

    Wikipedia thanks feature

    Wikipedia has this nice thanks feature which allows editors to send thanks to each other without actually making a Wikipedia edit. I have both sent thanks and received them. However, once I get a notice about receiving thanks and viewing it, the notice vanishes. I have no way of keeping a record of whom I have thanked or who has thanked me. Is this by design, or is there some way to do this? JIP | Talk 01:12, 16 November 2020 (UTC)[reply]

    Hello JIP. Please read Help:Notifications/Thanks, which explains the function, including the Thanks log. Cullen328 Let's discuss it 01:23, 16 November 2020 (UTC)[reply]
    @JIP: from and to. —[AlanM1 (talk)]— 01:25, 16 November 2020 (UTC)[reply]
    Thanks (pun intended), I see how the log works now. JIP | Talk 01:26, 16 November 2020 (UTC)[reply]
    BTW, does anyone know how to form the "internal link" version of the "to" log (i.e. [[Special:Log/thanks/what?]])? —[AlanM1 (talk)]— 01:30, 16 November 2020 (UTC)[reply]
    @AlanM1: not possible yet. Wikipedia currently has no way of linking to an internal page with ? in them, with the exceptions at Special:Redirect. This is unfortunally none of them. Victor Schmidt mobil (talk) 08:50, 16 November 2020 (UTC)[reply]

    Merle Robbins

    Can someone fix Merle Robbins? Thanks GrahamHardy (talk) 01:16, 16 November 2020 (UTC)[reply]

    Done. Someone had vandalised it. I also removed irrelevant text at the bottom of the article. JIP | Talk 01:27, 16 November 2020 (UTC)[reply]

    How To Edit A Logo On Page Infobox

    Good day,

    I hope this mail finds you well.

    I work in the Bank Windhoek Marketing and Corporate Communications Department and would like to update the logo on our page to our latest logo, however don't know how to upload and change it in the infobox, could you please assist by providing guidance on how to do this?

    The page I am referring to is: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bank_Windhoek

    Warm regards,

    Looks like this has already been done. TimTempleton (talk) (cont) 07:36, 16 November 2020 (UTC)[reply]

    Providing an English (or any other) language version of an article that I already wrote on German Wikipedia

    Hello, I'm trying to provide an English version of an article I wrote in German, without wanting to replace the German one... I also plan to provide a Polish version.

    The article concerned is about Jan Jaroslawski

    Thanks for help

    If there’s good sourcing demonstrating notability, you’re welcome to try to start the article. Please also read WP:YOURFIRSTARTICLE (Please remember to sign your posts on talk pages by typing four keyboard tildes like this: ~~~~. Or, you can use the [ reply ] button, which automatically signs posts.) TimTempleton (talk) (cont) 07:33, 16 November 2020 (UTC)[reply]
    @R. Montheureux: To explain a little more in-depth as to what Timtempleton is talking about, English Wikipedia's standards are not the same as German Wikipedia (e.g., reference policy). Just be aware that creating an article about Jaroslawski here isn't as easy as a direct copypaste and translation. —Tenryuu 🐲 ( 💬 • 📝 ) 07:38, 16 November 2020 (UTC)[reply]

    False information

    Dear Wikipedia There is an article published known as delhi riots 2020 which shows false information about the recent riots happening , which can cause communal pressure so please remove the article

    Any subject that is notable by Wikipedia's definition can and should have an article. "Communal pressure" is not a consideration. Delhi riots 2020 meets our criteria (WP:N) so we will not delete it. If the article contains any asssertion that is not supported by a cited reliable source, then that assertion should be removed. If an assertion is supported by a reliable source, it will not be removed, but if you have a different source that contradicts the assertion, then the fact taht the assertion is disputed should be added to the article. You should discuss this at Talk:Delhi riots 2020. -Arch dude (talk) 09:41, 16 November 2020 (UTC)[reply]