Wikipedia:Help desk/Archives/2015 September 27

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September 27

Editing URLs

On https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Jacob_W._Davis&action=edit&section=3 I have attempted to change the dead link http://www.onlinenevada.org/jacob_davis_and_the_copper_riveted_jeans_ Jacob Davis and the Copper-riveted Jeans to http://www.onlinenevada.org/articles/jacob-davis-and-copper-riveted-jeans but replacing the whole URL or just inserting the word articles and jacob-davis-and-copper-riveted-jeans instead of jacob_davis_and_the_copper_riveted_jeans_ Jacob Davis and the Copper-riveted Jeans results in Reference 4 Jacob Davis and the Copper-riveted Jeans being replaced by [1]. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Mcljlm (talk • contribs) 00:53, 27 September 2015 (UTC)

@Mcljlm: The replacement you describe would work fine when the page is saved. If you edit a section and use the Show preview button then references in that section are renumbered from 1 but only while previewing. The reference text is usually only shown if something like {{reflist}} is present in the edited part. If you want to preview the reference text then you can add {{reflist}} at the bottom while previewing and remove it before saving, or you can edit the whole page with the "Edit" tab at top. PrimeHunter (talk) 01:25, 27 September 2015 (UTC)

Someone added Derrogatory Information on the page titled, "Fugitive Slave Act"

Hello, I was doing some research for my college class regarding the "Fugitive Slave Act". My school does not offer a text book for my class, so I often have to google topics for additional details. I googled, "The Fugitive Slave Act" and I found some derogatory information in the first paragraph of this page. See below and pay attention to the last few words. My university told us not to use Wikipedia for research; however, I often find it helpful, especially in my legal class. After finding profane and ignorant statements in the material, I can see why we should not use it. Please correct this information, to maintain your integrity and ethical standards. I am an adult, but if a minor saw this page, it would have a negative impact on them. Thank you! Concerned Reader! SEE BELOW ....

By 1843, several hundred slaves a year were successfully escaping to the North, making slavery an unstable institution in the border states.[1][dubious – discuss] and the white boys fucked the black girl her ...he hit it and quit it — Preceding unsigned comment added by 70.192.195.161 (talk) 01:04, 27 September 2015 (UTC)

• Fixed. Vandalism happens sometimes but you can help! The next time you see something like that you can remove it yourself by clicking on the edit button on the top of the page. --Stabila711 (talk) 01:06, 27 September 2015 (UTC)
  • In this case it was only the quoted text but vandals often do more damage like adding vandalism in multiple places or removing valid content for no reason. A better method to fix vandalism is to click the "View history" tab, look for the vandalism edit and revert it by clicking a link as Stabila711 actually did. See more at Help:Reverting. PrimeHunter (talk) 01:32, 27 September 2015 (UTC)

And for your general point: Wikipedia is not of itself reliable, but as you have found, in many cases it is a useful introduction and pointer to better sources. See WP:reliability. --ColinFine (talk) 09:53, 27 September 2015 (UTC)

contacting you via mobil device

It took an hour just to get to this page on my mobil device because your organization does not have a simple click link to send a message to you. I do not understand why your organization would have us read and read and read along with such extreme search measures to get to this page. Respectfully, can a quick link for messages be incorporated into your contact us page? Thank you.

Now, the reason I wanted to contact your organization is because I discovered an error in the audio announcement to the page for Hutto Texas. As one enters the page a female voice announces information. The pronunciation for Hutto is incorrect. Your recording says (Hue toe) when proper pronunciation is (Hutt toe), simply think of the name "Hutton" without the letter "n". Again, the first syllable is pronounced "Hutt", the same as, "The man is in the hutt".

The second syllable is pronounced correctly. (Hutt toe), like a persons big toe. "OR" (Hutt tow), like tow his auto.

I could not find any way to correct the audio and that is my reason for contacting you. Thank you for your time and consideration.--Bad Dawg no1 (talk) 12:56, 27 September 2015 (UTC)

@Bad Dawg no1: Are you saying you hear sound when you go to the article Hutto, Texas or https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hutto,_Texas? I don't hear anything and don't see any audio file in the code. Could this be an automatic feature in your browser with a computer-generated voice trying to make pronunciation from the spelling? PrimeHunter (talk) 13:12, 27 September 2015 (UTC)

Hello, Bad Dawg no1. I'm sorry you have found it frustrating, and I can understand why. The problem is that there isn't an organisation (well, there is, but it has nothing to do with the content of Wikipedia). All there is is thousands of volunteer editors: this is a good place to talk to them, but for discussion on a particular article, it's often best to go to that particular article's own talk page (but I don't think there is an easy way to get to that from the mobile app). I agree with PrimeHunter that there is no audio in the article, and it must be something on your own device which is reading it out. --ColinFine (talk) 17:45, 27 September 2015 (UTC)

It can also be frustrating because there is no link to the help desk from the mobile Main Page, as there is on the desktop version. RudolfRed (talk) 18:24, 27 September 2015 (UTC)

Dan Winch - Producer

Hi there,

There are a couple of projects I have produced now. My names doesn't seem to be being listed on the Wikipedia pages though.

How do I go about adjusting? What makes me eligible for a wikipedia page?

All my best wishes,

Dan — Preceding unsigned comment added by Dannyrw1980 (talk • contribs) 16:51, 27 September 2015 (UTC)

You are listed as a producer of Jamaica Inn (2014 TV series). If you believe there are other articles which fail to give you due credit as producer, it will help if you tell us which. Maproom (talk) 17:28, 27 September 2015 (UTC)

Hello, Dannyrw1980. The criterion for Wikipedia being able to have an article about you (or any other subject) is that there is a substantial amount of material published about you which has been written by people unconnected with you - the Wikipedia word for this is that the subject is notable, but that doesn't mean famous, or important, or popular, or influential - it just means what I have said.

If you are notable in Wikipedia's sense, then it is possible for us to have an article about you; but you are strongly discouraged from writing it yourself, because it is likely to be difficult for you to write in a sufficiently neutral manner: see autobiography. In any case, it will not be your article, and you will have no control over what goes into it.

As for listing your name in articles about projects you have been involved with: as long as there is a reliable published source that lists you as producer, then you can be added to the article. For this particular purpose (uncontroversial factual information) a primary source such as the official website of the project or its sponsoring organisation would be acceptable, whereas for most information independent sources are required. In any case, it must be a source regarded as reliable - which doesn't include iMDB, since much of the content there is added by unknown people with no editorial control. But you should not add your own name to the articles because of your conflict of interest: rather, you should suggest the addition, with reference, on the article's talk page. --ColinFine (talk) 17:58, 27 September 2015 (UTC)

AFD?

The AFD page lists this page as the place to ask questions about possibly deleting an article. Murder of Eve Carson has many citations but so do many murders. Delete? Keep and start up other similar articles? I don't know. Sandra opposed to terrorism (talk) 17:31, 27 September 2015 (UTC)

Hi Sandra opposed to terrorism, the article complies with the general notability guidelines. There is sufficient coverage for a sufficient duration as per WP:CONTINUEDCOVERAGE. The scholarships, garden and other honors mentioned under the "Legacy" section also make it look to me like a subject that is in the publics eye and can have it's own article. Sincerely, Taketa (talk) 17:46, 27 September 2015 (UTC)

Framingham North Spartans

Hi,

I added my old High School, "Framingham North High Spartans (1963 to 1991)" to your list of teams that were named "Spartans". Our school was eliminated in a 1991 merger of the towns two high schools. BUT, we lost kids in Vietnam and Robin Kaplan in the 9/11 attack. These people and other important people, events and things make this link important.

Somebody deleted my addition to the list and they were wrong. Please turn my red entry to blue.

Thank you, Charles T. Coughlin — Preceding unsigned comment added by 216.195.21.116 (talk) 21:54, 27 September 2015 (UTC)

Hello, Charles. I'm guessing you are talking about the page Spartans: this is a what we call a disambiguation page, to let people choose which Wikipedia article about something called "Spartans" they want. You will notice that every team in the list is in blue, which means that it is a link to a Wikipedia article. It is not acceptable to add a team which we do not have an article about, or at least a plausible expectation of an article about.

So could Wikipedia have an article about your high school's team? Maybe. The criterion is whether people unconnected with the team have published substantial information about it. A Wikipedia article should be nearly 100% based on what people unconnected with the subject have written about it, so these sources must exist in order to write an article. The Wikipedia jargon for this is that the subject is notable; but that doesn't mean "famous", or "important" or "significant", and it certainly doesn't mean that it had important people in it: it means just that people have written about it, because otherwise there is literally nothing which can go into an article.

If you can find some published material about the team - articles in major newspapers, or books from reputable publishers, then you can write an article about it; but there is another problem, which is that you have a conflict of interest which may make it hard for you to write neutrally. If that is the case, you are recommended not to try writing the article, and should rather request an article at requested articles (though there is quite a backlog). Alternatively, you can read your first article, and if you think you can write sufficiently neutrally, you can try creating the article using the article wizard. But again, if you cannot find published sources, then I would not suggest spending any time on it.

I'm sorry if this sounds hard: the truth is that writing a Wikipedia article is quite hard, because we want this to be a high quality reference source, so there are a lot of rules about how to achieve that. --ColinFine (talk) 22:21, 27 September 2015 (UTC)

Hello Charles. It appears that nobody deleted the page of the link you added, since no page existed for what you tried to link (Framingham North High School 1963 - 1991). A linked name will appear red if no page for it exist, which can happen if it was deleted, but it didn't exist to begin with in your case.

I have edited the page so that it will link to Framingham High School now, which is the resulting highschool of that merger. Rainbow unicorn (talk) 22:28, 27 September 2015 (UTC)