User:Rp2006/sandbox

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We're so glad you're here! RobP (talk) 03:27, 28 August 2016 (UTC)

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Notes

Citation issue

Yes in this dif you added content based on this source. inquisitr.com. That source looked pretty dicey to me and in general we don't cite popular media stories about science papers. The journal in which the paper published, Environmental Research Letters is pretty good. However the scientific paper is what we call a "primary" source, in which the research that was done is reported by the people who did it. In general, it is way, way better to use what we call "secondary sources" - for science, a literature review paper in which other scientists put the primary source in its larger context. Sometimes we use primary sources, most times not.

Creating a sandbox

Search for and then save... User:Rp2006/sandbox/xyz

Citation Template coding problem on WP

Problem: A citation using a Template that has missing data may misbehave in such a way as to mask that an error is occurring.

Example: Scientific American Frontiers Template was used but the name field was left blank.

Result: When such an incomplete Template is used on a page, this uses the WP page's name for the missing citation name. (As the two are not likely the same, this puts erroneous information on the page.)

I noticed this when I copied a citation from the Graphology page to my sandbox and in the citation the supposed name, "Graphology" (a reasonable possibility - BUT INCORRECT - name for a cited source on this page!), changed to the CLEARLY wrong "Rp2006/sandbox/graphology" and this jumped out at me during a scan of the page. I realized that a pointer substitution had occurred, and tracked down the cause to a missing field in the use of the Template.

There is also a problem seen with an External Link using the DMOZ Template with the name missing on the very same page. So there are two separate errors of this sort on the same WP page. My concern is that this is a widespread problem on WP and countless citations relying on Templates are incorrectly using the WP page name in place of the correct (but missing) name.

As a solution, I believe leaving out the name when applying a Template should throw an error (or at least leave the field blank) rather than substitute the wrong information which is VERY likely to go unnoticed.)

Incorrect use of the Scientific American Frontiers template as found on Graphology page

Corrected use of the same template

References

Using quote template

For example see Alan Hale's page.

This is a test.(add ref tags here)

RobP (talk) 23:21, 18 September 2016 (UTC)

Ref name tag

First use: ref name = xyz (Citation...)
Following uses: ref name = xyz/

Authorlink

Use this tag in citations to link to WP page: authorlink=First Last RobP (talk) 19:02, 17 September 2016 (UTC)

Using Reflist

Here is a youtube video of Tracey Spicer.

Have another look here

And more videos. and then we can point to times on each citation.. The video will not start at these times.