Wikipedia:Help desk/Archives/2015 January 12

Welcome to the Wikipedia Help Desk Archives
The page you are currently viewing is an archive page. While you can leave answers for any questions shown below, please ask new questions on one of the current Help Desk pages.

January 12

Authority of Wikipedia.

I am having an argument with someone who questions the authority of Wikipedia. First I want to desribe my position. I trust Wikipedia, have been helped by it on multiple occasions, I have donated funds to it, and generally consider it a top reference source. The issue was an article on Aromatherapy which in my judgment gives an objective overview of this controversial and murky subgect. This person says: "I don't trust Wikipedia, when I was in college, the professors forbade us to use it as a reference."

I recall that at one time, perhaps about 15 or 20 years ago a blind test was done comparing Wikipedia articles with Encyclopedia Britannica's and as far as I remember the Wikipedia articles came out on top. I think an eclectic collection of articles from both publications were given to a group of experts and they evaluated their quality.

My question is: "Is there any objective measure of the Wikipedia as a reference source?"

Thanks, - A. --AboutFace 22 (talk) 00:00, 12 January 2015 (UTC)

@AboutFace 22: Wikipedia isn't quite that old. The Encyclopædia Britannica study from 2005 is mentioned in Reliability of Wikipedia which also has other information and an external links section. Most of them are to Wikipedia project pages which are considered external for our encyclopedia articles. PrimeHunter (talk) 01:39, 12 January 2015 (UTC)

We don't trust Wikipedia as a reliable source. And professors and teachers should still be telling their students not to trust Wikipedia or any "source" that is open for any jerk off the street to edit. Check the sources that are used in the article, see what is being argued about on the talk page, check the page history to see how much older version differ from the current, and go from there. Its usually pretty good for settling bar bets and "did so-and-so die last year?" I wouldnt go by the article for anything vaguely important.-- TRPoD aka The Red Pen of Doom 05:46, 12 January 2015 (UTC)

Wikipedia...bringing heart transplantation procedures to the unwashed masses! InedibleHulk (talk) 06:03, 12 January 2015 (UTC)

I don't know about everyone else's teachers but mine stopped allowing any encyclopedias as a source around 7th or 8th grade. Dismas|^(talk) 06:15, 12 January 2015 (UTC)

And that's good - regardless of reliability, Wikipedia shouldn't be used in any academic writing as a source, along with most other tertiary sources. The cited sources are what should be used instead. ~SuperHamster Talk Contribs 06:50, 12 January 2015 (UTC)

I'm not a heart surgeon but I did stay at a Holiday Express and I read heart transplantation procedures last night .--ukexpat (talk) 13:53, 12 January 2015 (UTC)

That is an unbeatable combination - Sign me up! -- TRPoD aka The Red Pen of Doom 19:12, 12 January 2015 (UTC)

Thank you for comments. It is kind of surprising. I did not expect it. On the other hand I am not in academia, I don't do any research but very often I need some information, quite often in math, algebra, special functions, groups, etc. I think Wikipedia is superb in this area. I also read some science, etc. Well, it is nice to know. --AboutFace 22 (talk) 20:28, 12 January 2015 (UTC)

Yanchep National Park

Hi there

Could you please update your information that is displayed when 'Yanchep National Park' is typed into google search.

Yanchep National Park has a licenced Inn (Yanchep Inn)with accommodation on the premises and as such does not close - ie it is open every day of the year. The entry station at the park is staffed from 8am - 5pm daily to provide information to visitors, Crystal Cave tours also run every day of the year currently at 10:30am. 11:30am, 1pm, 2pm and 3pm

We are constantly receiving phone calls from international, national and state visitors regarding the advertised 'Closure' on Saturdays and Sundays that is simply untrue.

Wikipedia is obviously a fantastic source of information that is widely used so we would sincerely appreciate your quick response in updating this important information.

Should you require any clarification, please contact Yanchep National Park on <redacted>

Thanking you Regards Julia Coggins, Park Manager, Department of Parks and Wildlife, Yanchep National Park202.1.16.77 (talk) 02:51, 12 January 2015 (UTC)

If you wish to propose changes to the Wikipedia article on Yanchep National Park, the place to do so is on the article's talk page, supplying references to independent published reliable sources, but the point you make regarding an advertised closure on Saturdays and Sundays doesn't seem to be in the Wikipedia article. If, therefore, you are referring to something that Google have published, independent of Wikipedia, then you need to raise it with Google, not here. I think you'll find that the Google page has a "Send feedback" link. -David Biddulph (talk) 03:02, 12 January 2015 (UTC)

Are you by any chance referring to a photo or text shown to the right of a Google search? Google's Knowledge Graph uses a wide variety of sources. There may be a text paragraph ending with "Wikipedia" to indicate that particular text was copied from Wikipedia. An image and other text before or after the Wikipedia excerpt may be from sources completely unrelated to Wikipedia. We have no control over how Google presents our information, but Google's Knowledge Graph has a "Feedback" link where anyone can mark a field as wrong.

I think an "Hours" field in Google's Knowledge Graph is usually copied from Google+ where your page [1] also says closed Saturday and Sunday when I click a link in the "Contact Information" box. Change it there if you have access. PrimeHunter (talk) 05:54, 12 January 2015 (UTC)

why there is a wiki article on yify torrents?

Few days back, i posted a question: "please create wikipedia article on yify torrent site this site has alexa rank below 1000 but it lacks wiki article" in help desk, i got reply like this: "it is bad to write an article promoting a site that regularly violates US federal law and many international laws by illegally reproducing and distributing copyrighted content", so i never raised this question, but now i found wiki article on yify-torrents. proof:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/YTS.re if it violates US federal law and many international laws, then why there is article on yify-torrents? Ram nareshji (talk) 05:25, 12 January 2015 (UTC)

There are articles in Wikipedia about genocide, coprophilia, Stalinism and Ayn Rand. Neither evilness, vileness nor illegality of a subject prevents us from having an article about it in Wikipedia. --Orange Mike | Talk 05:53, 12 January 2015 (UTC)

Those establish their subject's notability a lot better, though. YiFy's claim to fame seems to be being blocked in the UK, and it isn't mentioned at that article. A primary about the boss retiring, and another from the webmaster about his own "sophisticated" system. If someone wanted to nominate this for deletion, that'd be reasonable. Nothing to do with US law.

It is bad to write an article promoting a site, though. Or to give undue weight to the disgusting aspects of a product. Just the facts. InedibleHulk (talk) 07:54, 12 January 2015 (UTC)

Now at AFD: Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/YTS.re.--ukexpat (talk) 16:04, 12 January 2015 (UTC)

Anyone good with nested tables?

I've been beating my head against a wall a bit on the syntax to properly align three tables nested within a single larger frame (please see User:Snow Rise/sandbox). I've tried about three dozen variations on the syntax, but cannot for the life of me get the frames to attain the relative orientations I'm looking for. What I would like is exactly the present layout, but with the right-most frame (that with a yellow background) running the entire vertical length of the encapsulating frame (black-blue), such that left-most frames (green and brown) share the vertical space on the left and there is no empty space bellow the yellow frame on the right. If anyone can help me out with this before my last wit abandons me, I would be immensely grateful! Please feel free to edit the sandbox to give the desired effect, if you so wish. Snow talk 12:26, 12 January 2015 (UTC)

@Snow Rise: Done. [2] Is that what you needed? --CiaPan (talk) 12:30, 12 January 2015 (UTC)

Yes! Absolutely brilliant, CiaPan. Thanks so much for the assistance - for the life of me I couldn't get the elements to subordinate properly, but I feel like a bit of a dunce now; I'm used to using rowspan in conventional tables, but it didn't even occur to me to use it here to orient the nested elements. D'oh! Thanks again, I was about to go nuts. :) Snow talk 12:40, 12 January 2015 (UTC)

Well... 'Programming is a bit like mathematics in this regard. There are only two categories of problems: not yet solved ones and obvious ones :-) – Angew' [3] --CiaPan (talk) 13:25, 13 January 2015 (UTC)

Add visual content to articles and write articles about summer destinations in Greece, Spain, Italy, France and more

We own a huge number of photos and videos for the whole coastline of Greece, Spain, France, Italy, Malta, Sardinia, Sicily and Corsica. We want to use a large amount of our content in order (1) to enhance existing articles about the above mentioned destinations and (2) to create new articles for destinations. For example there are more than 110 islands in Greece with no information, and more than 180 with minimum information. Furthermore, our contribution with visual content for the existing articles could enhance the available info since our photos and videos show a completely different view of the destination. I wonder which is the best and the proper way of doing it. Can I add a link to our website @ related articles (i.e View Crete from an helicopter)? Or Can I upload relevant photos or videos (under CC BY-SA v.4.0)? Thanks in advance — Preceding unsigned comment added by VasDion (talk • contribs) 15:45, 12 January 2015 (UTC)

You probably need to ask at: Wikivoyage help page.--ukexpat (talk) 18:51, 12 January 2015 (UTC)

Links to your website would be immediately deleted as spamlinks. Are you willing to license these images and videos under our rules, with the possibility of re-use and commercial use? Because that's the only way we accept them. --Orange Mike | Talk 16:23, 12 January 2015 (UTC)

Hello, VasDion. I'd like to expand a little on what Orangemike has said. Adding suitably licensed and appropriate pictures to Wikipedia articles is always welcome: since you mention CC-BY-SA, it sounds as if you do understand the point about licensing, so with such a licence you may upload them to Wikimedia commons and use them in any Wikimedia project. But I have a concern (and I'm guessing that Orangemike has as well) about your use of the word "destinations". A Wikipedia article about a place (or anything else) must be a summary in neutral and non-promotional language of what independent reliable sources have said about a subject. But to refer to a place as a "destination" is inherently promotional: it is the language of travel agencies and publicity departments. I suspect that an article about a "destination" will probably be promotional in general, which is why I think Orangemike suggested you look at Wikivoyage. --ColinFine (talk) 17:12, 12 January 2015 (UTC)

What ColinFine wrote is absolutely correct. I think that the right place to do what you want is Wikivoyage. Alex2006 (talk) 10:50, 15 January 2015 (UTC)

Forgot to login and still edited an article

Is there a way to add my username to an ip address? Or to change the ip adress of the editor in my username? I forget to login and started editing an article. A stupid mistake.

Thanks. 81.247.149.34 (talk) 15:51, 12 January 2015 (UTC)

I'm afraid not. --Orange Mike | Talk 16:23, 12 January 2015 (UTC)

There's a little more advice at WP:LOGGEDOUT. -- John of Reading (talk) 16:30, 12 January 2015 (UTC)

"Sickle"

Please see the article entitled "sickle". Someone has inserted racial slurs and "jokes" into the article. 2602:306:B88B:6A60:C62C:3FF:FE11:AD73 (talk) 16:54, 12 January 2015 (UTC)

Vandalism. Reverted. AndyTheGrump (talk) 16:55, 12 January 2015 (UTC)

Livingston Taylor entry

I represent the popular music artist Livingston Taylor and someone has added a middle name "Cheryl" to his page. Livingston has no middle name--just Livingston Taylor and we wish to have this error removed immediately.

Thank you. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Pugaf (talk • contribs) 21:34, 12 January 2015 (UTC)

@Pugaf: I've removed the name and will follow up with the editor who initially added it. --NeilN ^{talk to me} 21:43, 12 January 2015 (UTC)

There's some web support for that, reliability unknown. ―Mandruss ☎ 21:57, 12 January 2015 (UTC)

Totally unreliable as all the hits I looked at are mirroring the erroneous version of the Wikipedia article.--ukexpat (talk) 22:02, 12 January 2015 (UTC)

Biography of Admirals of the US Navy

Your website has the biographies of most Admirals and Vice Admirals. I wish to add one that is missing. Is there a template or other aid to do this? I also note a picture attached to the biography. Is there a protocol for adding a picture?

Thank you. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 76.176.10.11 (talk) 22:09, 12 January 2015 (UTC)

If you have a reliable source for the biography of an admiral or vice-admiral, please use the WP:Article Wizard to create a draft article where it can be reviewed. Robert McClenon (talk) 04:02, 13 January 2015 (UTC)

Is the picture copyrighted, or freely licensed? If the picture is freely licensed by the photographer, see WP:Uploading images. Robert McClenon (talk) 04:02, 13 January 2015 (UTC)

An official USN photo will be public domain per the US federal government copyright policy, so such a photo can be used. Roger (Dodger67) (talk) 15:25, 13 January 2015 (UTC)

Under Wikipedia:WikiProject_Military_history/Notability_guide pretty much anyone who has rank equivalent to an O-7 or higher (so even Commodores) is considered notable. Not sure this guideline applies to USCG, PHS or NOAA personnel with that rank, but I believe so. Also Wikipedia talk:WikiProject Military history is a fairly active talk page for a Wikiproject. Drop a note there and I'm fairly sure you'll get an appropriate response. Naraht (talk) 16:32, 13 January 2015 (UTC)

howard style referencing

please show me the howard style reference for journal, book, article, magazing — Preceding unsigned comment added by 144.120.8.67 (talk) 23:09, 12 January 2015 (UTC)

For Wikipedia referencing, you may find this helpful -- TRPoD aka The Red Pen of Doom 23:11, 12 January 2015 (UTC)

I believe you are referring to Harvard or parenthetical style; see Wikipedia:Parenthetical referencing. --  Gadget850 ^talk 23:42, 12 January 2015 (UTC)

Roger Caron

To whom it may concern:

I am the widow of the late Roger Caron and noticed an error in your posting concerning my husband.

I am not sure where you obtained your information regarding our relationship; however, I do wish to advise that your write-up infers that Roger and I had only been dating prior to his arrest and married in 1993. The date of the marriage is correct but we had been common-law prior to our marriage for close to five years. If you wish to update your information you may contact me.

Thank you.

Barbara Caron (Mrs.) — Preceding unsigned comment added by Barbara129 (talk • contribs) 23:40, 12 January 2015 (UTC)

Please post any suggested changes to the article to the article talk page, Talk: Roger Caron. Robert McClenon (talk) 04:04, 13 January 2015 (UTC)

Signed by — Vchimpanzee • talk • contributions • 23:07, 14 January 2015 (UTC)

copied to Talk: Roger Caron. --Thomprod (talk) 18:48, 15 January 2015 (UTC)