Wikipedia:Help desk/Archives/2013 September 25

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September 25

Watchlist question

Is there an easy way to delete articles from my Watchlist? I've got way too many. Thanks. Malke 2010 (talk) 00:13, 25 September 2013 (UTC)

If you just want to quickly clear large quantities from your watchlist Special:EditWatchlist/raw is the way to do it. Short of manually choosing what you want to remove and keep, there is not a good way of cleaning it out selectively, at least as far as I know. If you figure out a good way to do that, I think there would be a number of interested editors. Monty₈₄₅ 00:19, 25 September 2013 (UTC)

Brilliant, thank you. Malke 2010 (talk) 01:06, 25 September 2013 (UTC)

Combining edit history under the same user name

If I would like all of my edits to appear under the same user name, is there a way to "claim" past anonymous edits under my IP address? Sonofawoman (talk) 00:57, 25 September 2013 (UTC)

IP edits cannot be listed in your account contributions. See Wikipedia:Changing attribution for an edit. PrimeHunter (talk) 01:53, 25 September 2013 (UTC)

Thanks! Sonofawoman (talk) 02:24, 25 September 2013 (UTC)

Blatant wrong/misleading information, important

This whole article should be deleted: List of U.S. states by HDI Check the source of that article, no index is mentioned with a scale of 0 to 1. Its purposefully misleading to make it look like the individual American states are comparable with the National HDI index, so Mississippi would have a higher HDI than the UK (which is not the case). The article even mentions "he measurement scale used by the AHDI is different from that used in the UN's Human Development Index, and these values can not be compared to those". There is no reason at all with this list is there.

There is already an article about the HDI of the different American states List of U.S. states by American Human Development Index

Both rankings use 'Measure of America' as source. But the former ranking is wrong and has never existed. It was created by someone on Wikipedia to mislead people into thinking that the index is comparable to the national ones.

greetings — Preceding unsigned comment added by 178.117.249.20 (talk) 02:50, 25 September 2013 (UTC)

You may be right. I looked at both articles and you are making a convincing case to me. I am not an administrator who can delete articles, but Wikipedia has a process for getting one to do exactly that. Do you feel comfortable going to this page: Wikipedia:Articles for deletion and following the instructions there? That is the proper way to go about this, and Wikipedia appreciates your help. Let me know if you are not able or if you need help. Cheers. —Prhartcom (talk) 04:39, 25 September 2013 (UTC)

The IP editor cannot complete the AfD process (without creating an account), since it involves creating a deletion-discussion page. IPs can't create pages. Deor (talk) 11:49, 25 September 2013 (UTC)

Actually Talk pages are the exception to that restriction so an IP editor should be able to do it. However, I'm not sure how it's done without Twinkle - it's been years since I last did anything like an AFD nomination manually. Roger (Dodger67) (talk) 12:03, 25 September 2013 (UTC)

AfD discussion pages are in the Wikipedia namespace, not Talk. IPs can't create them. Deor (talk) 12:46, 25 September 2013 (UTC)

Deor, so I assume you are going to handle this for the IP user, then? —Prhartcom (talk) 14:10, 25 September 2013 (UTC)

I have't looked at the article taken issue with in the original post above, and I have no idea what an HDI is. You're the one who seemed to agree with the OP and who offered to help; why don't you do it? Deor (talk) 14:59, 25 September 2013 (UTC)

Pull edit history of a specific section of an article

Is there a way to see a list of the editors and their contributions to given part of an article, sort of like git blame in Git or as with other revision control software? — MusikAnimal ^talk 03:36, 25 September 2013 (UTC)

Yes. It sounds like you are looking for WP:BLAME. It is available from every History page. Let me know if the first few sentences at this link do not help you use the tool. Cheers. —Prhartcom (talk) 04:27, 25 September 2013 (UTC)

<span class="notranslate" onmouseover="_tipon(this)" onmouseout="_tipoff()">

How is it possible to produce such errors? Which button was used?
[1] [2] [3] [4] [5]
Thanks. --Frze ^{> talk} 05:12, 25 September 2013 (UTC)

Hi Frze. This one is still a mystery to me, perhaps others can comment, but until then I am going to assume that the people that made these edits got their content by doing a copy/paste from a website, capturing everything including the JavaScript and HTML code. I don't think the MediaWiki software produced this by clicking any button on Wikipedia. I'm glad you reverted it. —Prhartcom (talk) 05:56, 25 September 2013 (UTC)

Hello —Prhartcom - I don't think that this is made by Copy and Paste, because I'm working on categories Pages with incorrect ref-formating/missing reference list, and this error already happened hundreds of times... --Frze ^{> talk} 08:36, 25 September 2013 (UTC)

Could this be yet another of the Visual Editor malware behaviours? Roger (Dodger67) (talk) 09:18, 25 September 2013 (UTC)

I think I may have solved the mystery! It looks like these IPs are perhaps copypasting text translated into English from Google Translate. If you take a look at this article discussing Google Translate, at the very end it says that "Upon copying the text ... I noticed that both languages were put onto the clipboard. Intrigued, I had a look at the source code ... both the original texts are included 'side-by-side' in the source code, with the original text enclosed between "google-src-text" <SPAN> tags," which is a lot like what we see in the examples you provided. Sophus Bie ^(talk) 09:19, 25 September 2013 (UTC)

This appears to happen if you let Google Translate to translate you a Wikipedia page, and then edit the page from the translated text out. Try and error ... --Frze ^{> talk} 09:51, 25 September 2013 (UTC)

Aha! That's pretty interesting! Do you think perhaps one of us should bring this issue up at WP:Village Pump (technical)? If you've run into it hundreds of times, then it's probably going to keep on happening. The quickest fix I can think of would be for someone to create an WP:Edit filter for edits that turn out like that. Sophus Bie ^(talk) 10:08, 25 September 2013 (UTC)

Tried and errored: It is impossible to edit the page from the translated text out directly in Google translator. Only by COPY AND PASTE from Google translator.
What I do is clearing up as little "Wiki Janitor" a lot (thousands) of petty minor ref-errors of other editors, pages with missing references list or incorrect ref-formating. I checked such errors and simply reverted (by <undo> or <rollback>), but User:Acalamari told me not to do so. They are good-faith accidents and should have been reverted with a proper explanation.
Now we know the cause of this errors. There is no need for action in my opinion. Is it very difficult to detect such errors automatically?? It's going to keep on happening. But if a filter can be programmed to detect: <span class="notranslate" onmouseover= and stop saving (like website spam filter) instead saying: Do not use Google Translator text. It causes errors. - it would be helpfull. Wikipedially Yours Frze ^{> talk} 11:08, 25 September 2013 (UTC) Sorry for my limited language skills.

I'll watch the discussion at WP:VPT. And don't be sorry for your language skills! Your English is quite good! And it's certainly better than my German... Sophus Bie ^(talk) 11:39, 25 September 2013 (UTC)

copied and pasted to Wikipedia:Village pump (technical) --Frze ^{> talk} 11:30, 25 September 2013 (UTC)

Article: Psychomotor retardation.

Who the hell wrote this article? You are wrong . retards are born with brain chemical imbalances. seriously need to do some research.... — Preceding unsigned comment added by 173.51.75.242 (talk) 05:26, 25 September 2013 (UTC)

Hello, welcome to Wikipedia. I took a look at the Psychomotor retardation article that you suggest is wrong. It appears at first glance to be fine; it cites appropriate references for the statements it makes. Do you have published information stating otherwise? If so, anyone is welcome to improve articles on Wikipedia provided the information they add to the article is verifiable, citing reliable sources. Let me know if you need help, but be sure to take your tone down a notch when you reply. —Prhartcom (talk) 05:45, 25 September 2013 (UTC)

Looks fine to me. I think the OP is seeing the word "retardation" and then jumping to an innapropriate conclusion. Their use of the word "retards" (which is highly offensive in most contexts btw) leads me to believe this is a case of not actually understanding what the article is about. Roger (Dodger67) (talk) 09:35, 25 September 2013 (UTC)

Precisely. The base meaning of "retardation" is "slowing down" (q.v. "tardiness") a form of which is exactly what that article is about..--ukexpat (talk) 18:20, 25 September 2013 (UTC)

Darren Ritchie (actor)

Why the Personal Life of Darren Ritchie was deleted? He did get married with Denny Alfonso , who is a female journalist from the AP. There are posted and articles about that wedding. We will provide pictures and info. We are also authorized by Darren and His wife Denny to edit his wikipedia page. Also will like to open an internal investigation on those modifications. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Broadway News (talk • contribs) 06:02, 25 September 2013 (UTC)

Hello. I took a look at the Darren Ritchie (actor) you mentioned. The editor who deleted the content you mentioned left their reason in their edit summary: "Removed unsourced material per WP:BLPREMOVE and WP:BLPSOURCES". What they mean is Wikipedia is only supposed to contain information that has been published somewhere else, like a website or newspaper, provided it is a reliable source. The information that was removed did not cite any sources. We have to be especially careful in articles about living people, because imagine the worst case scenario if the information was wrong and that person decided to take legal action. The good news here is that it sounds like this information wasn't wrong. Do you think you can find a reliable source that you can reference? If so, you are certainly welcome to edit this article and make that improvement, citing the reliable source. Many of us here can help you if you get stuck. Please don't threaten the volunteers here at Wikipedia; that's kind of against the rules too. One last thought: It sounds like you may personally know the person who is the subject of the article, and that could be a problem, as the person improving the article must have no conflict of interest and and everything must written be from a neutral point of view; This is an encyclopedia, after all. Let us know if you need help. Cheers. —Prhartcom (talk) 06:24, 25 September 2013 (UTC)

I'm sorry, Broadway News, but Wikipedia neither wants nor requires authorisation from Darren Ritchie: anybody in the world may work on an article about him, provided the material they add is neutral in tone, and referenced to reliable published sources. But you, having a conflict of interest, are likely to find it harder than most people to write in a neutral way, and so are advised not to edit the article directly (see the link Prhartcom gave you for how best to proceed). One more point: I'm afraid your username contravenes Wikipedia's rules (see WP:ISU), and you should change it to a username that relates to you personally and does not suggest that you are editing for an organisation. --ColinFine (talk) 07:49, 25 September 2013 (UTC)

I am Unable write an article

Respected One,

Dear sir/Madam after log in where i can start to create the articles about my Organisation. Please help me to start the article

Regards Gandasi Sadananda Swamy Bangalore India — Preceding unsigned comment added by GandasiSadanandaSwamy (talk • contribs) 09:20, 25 September 2013 (UTC)

Hello, GandasiSadanandaSwamy! You may want to take a look at Wikipedia:Your first article, which is a good guide about article creation. However, creating an article about an organization of which you are a member is a conflict of interest, and editing with a conflict of interest is strongly discouraged. I suggest also reading Wikipedia:Best practices for editors with conflicts of interest. Cheers! Sophus Bie ^(talk) 09:38, 25 September 2013 (UTC)

@Sophus Bie: Hi, his User Page reads like an attempt to create an article. Should this be blanked/deleted, moved to sandbox or tagged with "not an article"? (I'm not certain what to do in these situations.) Cyphoidbomb (talk) 20:23, 25 September 2013 (UTC)

@Cyphoidbomb: The relevant policy seems to be located at Wikipedia:Userspace#Handling_inappropriate_content. I've noindex'd the page, and left them Template:uw-userspacenoindex on their talk page. (Unless it's a copyvio, in which case we should blank the page.) Thanks for pointing that out! Sophus Bie ^(talk) 02:41, 26 September 2013 (UTC)

@Sophus Bie: Cool, thanks for the info! Cyphoidbomb (talk) 03:03, 26 September 2013 (UTC)

thermal engineering

thermal gas? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 122.175.128.54 (talk) 10:13, 25 September 2013 (UTC)

I think you will need to be more specific with your question. - David Biddulph (talk) 11:00, 25 September 2013 (UTC)

Issues publishing Wikipedia talk:Articles for creation/Yapp, Inc.

Trying to put together Wikipedia talk:Articles for creation/Yapp, Inc. and have been rejected multiple times. It's sourced and cited, and I'm not sure what else is necessary to get it published. Any suggestions? — Preceding unsigned comment added by Yapp Inc (talk • contribs) 14:50, 25 September 2013 (UTC)

Hello, Yapp Inc. Yes. The problem with your attempts to improve Wikipedia are listed on your user talk page, where they have twice attempted to tell you that the article you are creating is not notable and therefore is not actually an improvement to Wikipedia, but rather more an attempt to help the company which is the subject of the article. They suggest you take a look at guidelines on the notability of organizations and companies. Additionally, I notice that your username is a problem. You may be too close to the subject of the article and therefore are not the best person to make objective contributions, and as well, your username does not meet the guidelines for a username. Ordinarily I would make suggestions how to get your article written but in this case, really, I think the best suggestion is drop your idea of creating this article. I hope you are able to make other types of contributions to other articles, however. —Prhartcom (talk) 15:15, 25 September 2013 (UTC)

The user has been blocked, indef, due to an inappropriate username. -- John Broughton (♫♫) 00:58, 26 September 2013 (UTC)

Document Mapping?

I am trying to create what I assume is a document mapping on my wikipage. I am referring to the box on most wikipages with the heading "Contents [hide]". The rest of the box is then made up of each of the headings on the wikipage. When you click on one of these, it then takes you to that section of the wikipage. i hve to believe this is an easy task, but I can't figure out how to do this. Please let me know if you can help. thanks.

134.223.116.201 (talk) 17:06, 25 September 2013 (UTC)

I think your referring to a table of contents. The software will automatically add a table of contents when the page has a certain number of sections. You can force a table of contents by adding __TOC__ where you want it to appear. (requires the __ on both sides) Monty₈₄₅ 17:11, 25 September 2013 (UTC)

For further info, see Wikipedia:Table of contents. - David Biddulph (talk) 17:13, 25 September 2013 (UTC)

A "Table of contents" is automagically created on pages with more than three properly formatted section headings, unless it has been "forcibly" created by a TOC, or inhibited by a NOTOC "tag". Roger (Dodger67) (talk) 20:14, 25 September 2013 (UTC)

my page Dvora Ancona

Hello, iam not good in english buit wanna publish this side in english. I need help because it says there are some issues on the page. PLS PLS PLS help me. Thanks

Lars — Preceding unsigned comment added by Lars Bohlen (talk • contribs) 18:11, 25 September 2013 (UTC)

The relevant messages on your talk page appear to be self-explanatory.--ukexpat (talk) 18:24, 25 September 2013 (UTC)

Lars, click "Talk" at the top of the page and you will see the messages others have been leaving you about this. —Prhartcom (talk) 20:51, 25 September 2013 (UTC)

How quick are pages to be updated?

I was reading a page and then clicked "edit" and the information was different there to what was shown on the page and the different information was the most current, why has it not been updated on the page?--82.37.71.243 (talk) 18:13, 25 September 2013 (UTC)

Well, unless you reload the page, whatever version you have up on your screen will stay there until you do something like click "edit", and then the page will update for you. So, the same version will remain on your screen until you do something else. Hope this answers your question! Howicus (Did I mess up?) 18:25, 25 September 2013 (UTC)

Edits appear immediately when you save the page. As an IP user, you may not be seeing the most recent version of the page, so please bypass your browser cache and/or perform a server purge.--ukexpat (talk) 18:27, 25 September 2013 (UTC)

Edit For Adam Croasdell Wiki Page Removed

Dear Team,

I have recently put up a new, perfectly accurate edit for the Adam Croasdell Wiki page. This is my first time trying this and it was because much of the information contained previously on it was very incomplete and at times completely wrong.

My edit of the page was up for a few days and then was taken down and reverted to the inaccurate page. How do I ensure that this doesn't happen again?

Sincerely, Adam Croasdell — Preceding unsigned comment added by 360Management (talk • contribs) 19:35, 25 September 2013 (UTC)

Hi. Well, firstly, you are strongly dissuaded from editing articles about yourself, because you have a conflict of interest. Secondly, please don't submit them from accounts that violate Wikipedia's username policy. Lastly, by checking the article's edit history, you can see the reversion here, which explains why it was reverted. Your perfectly accurate edit removed inline references, links and formatting, further, the editor who reverted it seems to have caught on to the conflict of interest issue. If you wish to edit the page, you are encouraged to start a new discussion on the article's talk page, and use the {{request edit}} template. An example edit request would look like this:

{{request edit}}Hi, please change Croasdell's birthplace to Zimbabwe. Here is a source to confirm it: http://www.wsj.com/croasdell-returns-home-for-the-zimbabwe-strawberry-festival.php

Hope that helps. Cyphoidbomb (talk) 20:01, 25 September 2013 (UTC)

Edit Summary Question

I have seen several times in edit summaries of Wikipedia history pages a "+" or "-" sign in front of a word/words. Are these symbols being used to replace the words "added" or "removed", or do they mean something else altogether? Thanks. 24.90.156.140 (talk) 23:27, 25 September 2013 (UTC)

Yes, some editors do use these symbols to shorthand additions and subtractions of content: "+ space" "+ their" "- and", etc. But, it's not like a law or anything.  :) Cyphoidbomb (talk) 23:50, 25 September 2013 (UTC)

It's preferable (in my opinion) that an editor provide a summary of what he/she did (as in, "minor copyedit", or "added new information and sources", or "reverted vandalism") than it is to try to list (in a limited number of characters) the details of what he/she did. And the time saved by entering only a summary can be used to do more actual editing. -- John Broughton (♫♫) 01:01, 26 September 2013 (UTC)