Help desk
< July 4	<< Jun \| July \| Aug >>	July 6 >

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.

July 5

Referencing errors on John Saxby

Reference help requested. I have had error messages from the references for my edits for John Saxby and Crawley railway station because the publication concerned has two ISSNs {one for the printed version one for the online). I am not sure how to deal with this - please can you help.

Thanks, Das48 (talk) 10:22, 5 July 2015 (UTC)[reply]

Done. Das48 the issn parameter must be exactly 8 digits separatedby a hyphen, such as 1234-5678. If it is not in that format, an error message is displayed. Multple issns cannot be displayed with that parameter. Also that ref had the page number outside the cite template instead of using the pages= parameter, and had an improperly formatted edition= parameter. I hav fixed all these. DES ^(talk) 12:41, 5 July 2015 (UTC)[reply]

Trying to help a new user but can't make talk page

Hi. There is a new user called LOGGERHEAD who is making new articles about existing subjects in what looks like confused good faith. I want to warn them of this before they waste too much of their time but I can't create their talkpage. When I try to create it it says "The title "User talk:LOGGERHEAD" has been banned from creation. It matches the following blacklist entry: .*GGER.* <casesensitive>". Am I right in guessing that this is some filter to stop people putting the "N word" in their usernames? If so, it seems over-broad as it is also affecting LOGGERHEAD and also applied in the wrong place. A user who really does have the N word in their username should not be created at all, rather than just being unable to have a talk page. Anyway, "LOGGERHEAD" is not obviously a bad username (as far as I can tell) and I don't see why I should not be able to make a talk page for them and try to guide them away from making unnecessary new articles before they get discouraged by the speedy deletion tags and go away. --DanielRigal (talk) 10:53, 5 July 2015 (UTC)[reply]

Talk Page has now been created. It might still be worth looking at that blacklist rule but the immediate problem is resolved. --DanielRigal (talk) 11:45, 5 July 2015 (UTC)[reply]

I think it's meant to stop the guy whose activities are detailed at Wikipedia:Long-term abuse/JarlaxleArtemis; he routinely creates pages (including sock usernames) with some form of "HAGGER", almost always in all caps. Nyttend (talk) 15:12, 5 July 2015 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks for explaining that. It makes more sense than my theory. --DanielRigal (talk) 21:02, 5 July 2015 (UTC)[reply]

Cleaning up my sandboxes

I want to delete some sandboxes, but I'm unsure how to delete them, or if I'm even able to do it without an Admin. Those I want to get rid of are: User:Lou Sander/Sandbox2, User:Lou Sander/Sandbox4, and User:Lou Sander/Sandbox3, which is a redirect to another sandbox. I only want to get rid of the redirect, not the article to which it redirects. What do I need to do to accomplish all this? Lou Sander (talk) 15:14, 5 July 2015 (UTC)[reply]

Lou Sander, I'll do it, it's an admin task Jimfbleak - talk to me? 15:17, 5 July 2015 (UTC) OK, done Jimfbleak - talk to me? 15:20, 5 July 2015 (UTC)[reply]

In the future, just edit the redirect and place {{db-user}} on top of the page, before the #REDIRECT text. Click on the link to the sandbox page, and while this redirects you to the article, you'll see "Redirected from User:Lou Sander/Sandboxnumber" in small type just below the article title. Click the "Redirected from..." link, and you'll be at the redirect itself; from here you can edit the page. Nyttend (talk) 15:25, 5 July 2015 (UTC)[reply]

Google Maps Feedback

Google Maps sometimes provide the Wikipedia article of the city/Town/Village I click. However, sometimes it does not display; is it because the coordinates are wrong (sometimes they are way off), how long does it take for Google to reindex Wikipedia. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Sewerload (talk • contribs) 17:42, 5 July 2015 (UTC)[reply]

That would be something on their end and in their control, not ours. Unless Google has publicly released that information, I suspect that Wikipedia won't be the best place to get that answer. Ian.thomson (talk) 17:53, 5 July 2015 (UTC)[reply]

I was told on Google Products Forum that I should correct Wikipedia coordinates, which I did, but it doesn't show the Wikipedia article. I ll just wait and see in a couple of months if the correct information is going to appear. PS in Bosnia we have Cities with a mayor but people also call much smaller places cities. Would it be correct to say Simin Han is a village in the City of Tuzla? Tuzla is a city in the City of Tuzla? Thanks for your answers. Sewerload (talk) 18:00, 5 July 2015 (UTC)[reply]

WikiProject for climate sections?

Hello!

Sorry if this is the incorrect place for posting such requests.

I have some concerns about some descriptions in climate sections of city articles not following the rules laid out in WP:NPOV (namely, the use of words such as 'cold', 'mild', 'hot', and other subjective language), and I want to post something relating to this on a project page relating to climate sections. However, the only one that I could find had been marked as inactive.

Could someone please show me where I could post a message relating to the aforementioned concerns? -- Bad Weather 2014 ^{My work • What's wrong?} 18:51, 5 July 2015 (UTC)[reply]

This is a fine page to ask the question. I would suggest that you check out Wikipedia talk:WikiProject Cities . -- TRPoD aka The Red Pen of Doom 20:56, 5 July 2015 (UTC)[reply]

Thank you very much, TheRedPenOfDoom! Bad Weather 2014 ^{My work • What's wrong?} 12:06, 6 July 2015 (UTC)[reply]

Complicated disambiguation of "VA-16" and "VA 16"

I think I know what needs to be done here, but my skills at handling disambiguation don't seem to be up to the task.

The various disambiguations and cross references of these terms are now confusing. The goal is to come up with a complete, harmonious, and useful way of disambiguating the things that might be referred to by the two abbreviations.

At the moment, these are the pages that are involved. None of them would seem to be a "primary topic":

VA-16 (U.S. Navy), an Attack Squadron of U.S. Navy aircraft (a page which does not mention any other pages)
Virginia's 16th congressional district, an obsolete U.S. congressional district (a page the top of which also mentions other VA-16 pages)
Virginia State Route 16, a state highway in Virginia (a page the top of which also mentions other VA-16 pages)
State_Route_16_(Virginia_1918-1940)#SR_27, a former state highway in Virginia (note that this is a Section of List of former state highways in Virginia)
VA 16, a redirect to Virginia State Route 16, above
VA-16, a redirect to Virginia's 16th congressional district, above.

(Note how VA-16 and VA 16 redirect to different pages.)

A proper disambiguation page might look like this, and be reached from either VA-16 or VA 16 (but I'm no expert):

VA-16 or VA 16 may refer to:

VA-16 (U.S. Navy), an Attack Squadron of U.S. Navy aircraft
Virginia's 16th congressional district, an obsolete U.S. congressional district
Virginia State Route 16, a state highway in Virginia
State Route 16 (Virginia 1918-1940), a former state highway in Virginia

I don't know how the individual pages should refer to the others. Probably the two state highways should cross-reference one another, but I don't know about the rest. I'm hoping that someone with greater skills than mine might take up this challenge. Lou Sander (talk) 20:02, 5 July 2015 (UTC)[reply]

I think your proposal sounds appropriate. I would probably use the one without the dash as the DAB page itself. -- TRPoD aka The Red Pen of Doom 21:37, 5 July 2015 (UTC)[reply]

Done. Clarityfiend (talk) 00:27, 6 July 2015 (UTC)[reply]

Help:Cite errors/Cite error included ref

Article: Tommy McDonald (American Football) Difficulty getting reference entered properly.

Attempted to clarify that Tommy McDonald was not the painter of portraits done and sold/auctioned by Tommy McDonald Enterprises, but rather this was a company he owned and had 2 people painting the portraits.

Reference this was based on was an interview conducted by ESPN with McDonald and published on February 19, 2003

http://espn.go.com/classic/s/Where_now_mcdonald_tommy.html.

Actual title of the article was "Classic Catches up with Tommy McDonald" by Philip Lee for ESPN Classic

Mike Bingham

I wish to take legal action against malicious remarks posted on Wikipedia by Wee Curry Monster on 2nd June 2015, attacking my education and scientific reputation in the article 'Mike Bingham' - URL https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Mike_Bingham&oldid=665241031

Amongst the false information were included a few facts that could only have come from a Falkland Islands official, because the article contained confidential government information not in the public domain. I have nearly 2 million Facebook likes on my web pages www.seabirds.org and www.falklands.net, and my penguin research is entirely funded by a penguin adoption programme, which relies on my good reputation to maintain that financial income. That funding has now been damaged as a result of these malicious and untruthful remarks, and I wish to know how I go about taking legal action against Wikipedia and/or the editor responsible. I have the full backing of the Argentine government in pursuing this matter.

Mike Bingham190.178.230.223 (talk) 21:47, 5 July 2015 (UTC)[reply]

If you "wish to know how I go about taking legal action ...", you should consult a lawyer. Wikipedia does not give specific legal advice. Making legal threats is likely to get you banned from editing Wikipedia. This issue is already being discussed at the BLP noticeboard. Maproom (talk) 22:18, 5 July 2015 (UTC)[reply]

(edit conflict) Mr Bingham this page cannot and will not provide legal advice. You will no doubt want to consult a legal professional. However, Wikipedia does have a policy no legal threats. Accordingly I am blocking the address from which you posted this message. As long as you are persuing such legal action, you must not post to Wikipedia. DES ^(talk) 22:22, 5 July 2015 (UTC)[reply]

Kaso disambiguation

Hello, I think it's a good idea to create the page Kaso (only administrators can do that atm):

Kaso may refer to:

KASO, a radio station broadcasting a Classic Hits format
Kasō, the twelfth single by L'Arc-en-Ciel
Kásó, a village and municipality in south-eastern Slovakia

Book Creator Down?

I am trying to create a printed version of the Apple Inc. book, but I keep seeing the following error message:

Rendering failed

Generation of the document file has failed.

Status: Bundling process died with non zero code: 1

The first time I tried this, it hung for some minutes at "Creating attribution page" before failing; the second time, it got to about 12% before it failed; now, it fails in this way immediately. Does anyone know what is going on here? Thanks! SupremeUmanu (talk) 23:28, 5 July 2015 (UTC)[reply]

Please see Wikipedia:Village_pump_(technical)#Conversion_to_PDF where that problem was reported, and resolved. If it still fails, you might contribute to the bug report.--S Philbrick (Talk) 18:27, 6 July 2015 (UTC)[reply]

Wikipedia:Help desk/Archives/2015 July 5

Contents