Wikipedia:Help desk/Archives/2016 January 19

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January 19

Joel Barnes WeatherNation page deleted, Alex Wilson Weather channel page still up?

Why was Joel Barnes WeatherNation page deleted, Alex Wilson Weather channel page still up? The two people seem to be quite similar besides working for different national TV weather channels? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 2607:FB90:128:B6C1:0:3:EBF8:B901 (talk) 02:37, 19 January 2016 (UTC)

Joel Barnes was properly deleted because nobody at Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Joel Barnes could find significant coverage of him in independent reliable sources. Judging by the references at her article, I can’t explain why Alexandra Wilson (meteorologist) has not been deleted too; maybe just that nobody has got around to it yet. —teb728 t c 03:30, 19 January 2016 (UTC)

They have now.--ukexpat (talk) 03:53, 19 January 2016 (UTC)

Note that this editor has been WP:FORUMSHOPPING on this subject trying to get an answer he likes. - The Bushranger _{One ping only} 06:45, 19 January 2016 (UTC)

That's too bad: Now I can't thank them for pointing out the needed deletion. —teb728 t c 10:23, 19 January 2016 (UTC)

Thank you. Please assist with some more answers.

Help desk volunteers. Thank you. With your continuous help and guidance, I have written around 25 articles, got three DYKs and one Good Article. May I request help in a few more queries?

1. Can a WP:List be nominated for WP:Good Article? I know a list can be nominated as a featured list. But I don't know about whether it can be nominated as a good article or as a good list.
2. What is Sinebot and other bots? I replied to a message left on my talk page by SInebot and am now feeling that I did something amusing. I want to be doubly careful. Is it right to reply to the messages bots leave on my talk page?
3. There is always a place left for Edit Summary. Most of my edits are simple edits. I leave edit summaries when I am doing something like reversing some other editor's edit. But is writing edit summary important for each and every edit I do?

Thank you Help Desk editors for guiding me always. Xender Lourdes (talk) 02:44, 19 January 2016 (UTC)

Xender Lourdes

• You cannot have a good list
• Usually pointless talking to bots, they are software scripts performing simple tasks automatically
• Not compulsory, but helps those checking the history

Jimfbleak - talk to me? 07:09, 19 January 2016 (UTC)

@Xender Lourdes: It's pointless talking to a bot on your talk page, but if the bot is making a mistake, it would be good to leave a message for the bot's human operator on the 'bot's talk page. —teb728 t c 09:26, 19 January 2016 (UTC)

If someone pings a bot is it possible to redirect the ping to it's operator? Roger (Dodger67) (talk) 20:01, 19 January 2016 (UTC)

• Jimfbleak, teb728, thank you. This is enlightening. Xender Lourdes (talk) 14:46, 21 January 2016 (UTC)

a gif image

Hi ! I often seen an image which tells old wikipedians, "Please don't eat new editor" or some thing. Like this in that image pacman eating something text. Can someone tell me name of that image ? NehalDaveND (talk) 09:14, 19 January 2016 (UTC)

It is File:Pacman-cutscene.png —teb728 t c 09:20, 19 January 2016 (UTC)

Not this. "Please don't eat new editor" this text is in that image. The image instructs old wikipedians. NehalDaveND (talk) 09:23, 19 January 2016 (UTC)

I think the guideline you're talking about is Wikipedia:Please do not bite the newcomers, but I don't know the image.--Gronk Oz (talk) 10:14, 19 January 2016 (UTC)

If you are saying it had a non-free Pacman together with that text, it sounds like something that would be deleted as copyvio. It might have been File:SuarezBite.jpg which was on Wikipedia:Please do not bite the newcomers in October/November 2014 before being deleted as a copyvio. —teb728 t c 10:18, 19 January 2016 (UTC)

NehalDaveND, it doesn't have pacman, but there is File:Pdnbtn.png. Or there are several userboxes at Wikipedia:Userboxes/Wikipedia/Views#New_editors (again no Pacman, but some do feature smiley faces).--Gronk Oz (talk) 10:31, 19 January 2016 (UTC)

It is okay. Thank you. NehalDaveND (talk) 10:42, 19 January 2016 (UTC)

Knights Hospitaller

The article mentions "mimic orders". is the Soveriegn Order of St John of Jerusalem, Nights Hospitaller, website sosjinternational.org a mimic order? And what is the significance of the designation "mimic order"? Does it mean the order is not valid in some way (i.e. there is no ligitimate way to confer knight or dame status to members). Please advise. Thank you — Preceding unsigned comment added by Tanyamarietta (talk • contribs) 10:51, 19 January 2016 (UTC)

Here's a section link to mimic orders, to help everyone. This page (the Wikipedia Help Desk) isn't really the correct place for general questions about what content means, how to interpret it, general knowledge, etc, as it states at the top of the page. Despite that, on the principle of "be nice to the newbies", I'll give some personal opinions briefly. The cases of fraud are clearly criminally or legally invalid. Other cases, where fraud has not been an issue, that's up to you to decide, or to debate in an appropriate forum (sorry, I don't have any suggestions of where that would be).

If you believe any of the content is incorrect, unclear, or needs an update, please feel free to leave a message at Talk:Knights Hospitaller, but article talk pages are also not for general knowledge type questions, they are for discussions of an editorial nature (i.e. improving the content).

You could also try Wikipedia:Reference desk.

--Murph9000 (talk) 17:06, 19 January 2016 (UTC)

Tanyamarietta: I believe that the website sosjinternational.org belongs to the organisation described in Wikipedia as a mimic order. (Speaking in my own voice only, not that of Wikipedia: Some people respect knighthoods and other honours conferred by sovereign powers. The real Knights Hospitaller are, in a sense, a sovereign power. The organisation to which you refer is not a sovereign power, and has as much, and as little, right to confer knighthoods as I have.) Maproom (talk) 17:23, 19 January 2016 (UTC)

How to reference properly

Hello,

On the Kreayshawn page (Kreayshawn), I've added extra information about her bankruptcy along with a source, but instead of the source being named where all the references are, only a number shows up (in this case, a 1). I have no idea how to fix this and so decided to ask for help on here.

Thanks in advance. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 92.232.15.225 (talk) 15:55, 19 January 2016 (UTC)

I have fixed the citation (I used the "Templates" option in the top left of the edit panel, selected "cite web", and filled in the necessary fields there). I am not confident that the source cited is as reliable as Wikipedia requires, I will leave that to other editors with more knowledge of the entertainment industry. Maproom (talk) 17:06, 19 January 2016 (UTC)

Thanks for the help! --92.232.15.225 (talk) 18:21, 19 January 2016 (UTC)

API access to Special:Linksearch

Resolved

 – Edent (talk) 20:30, 19 January 2016 (UTC)

I understand from the Help:Linksearch page that I can search for links to non-Wikipedia sites.

For example https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?target=*.example.com&title=Special%3ALinkSearch

Is there API access to the Linksearch?

I can't see anything at https://en.wikipedia.org/w/api.php

Thanks!

Edent (talk) 17:09, 19 January 2016 (UTC)

mw:API:Exturlusage may be what you are looking for. I don't know exactly what your intention is here, but please be aware that unapproved bots are prohibited by the bot policy. --Murph9000 (talk) 17:20, 19 January 2016 (UTC)

Possible to link infoboxes?

I'd like to create a timeline article about Winston Churchill, similar to Timeline of the presidency of Barack Obama (2016) and Timeline of the presidency of John F. Kennedy. Common practice is to include an infobox in the timeline page. The existing Winston Churchill article includes a well-maintained infobox. This brings me to my question:

Can I insert the Winston Churchill infobox into another page (say, Timeline of the prime ministership of Winston Churchill), in such a way that whenever the timeline on Winston Churchill updates, the infobox on Timeline of the prime ministership of Winston Churchill automatically updates to match?

For example, is there some syntax like:

{{Copy Infobox|Winston Churchill}}

Thanks! Retrent (talk)

It requires the wanted part of Winston Churchill is marked in some way. See Help:Labeled section transclusion for one of the methods. PrimeHunter (talk) 19:52, 19 January 2016 (UTC)

Retrent and PrimeHunter, Proceed with caution regarding section transclusions as any named references in this format: <ref name="reference name" /> will not completely transclude. Such references will be left behind. The section being transcluded from must be free of such named references or big giant red errors will appear on the target page. Cheers! {{u|Checkingfax}} {Talk} 02:11, 20 January 2016 (UTC)

Frustrated with table

I'm not the most experienced editor so I apologize if this is an easy fix. I need someone to help me out with the award table here. Everything is perfect except the awards listed from 1998-2001. I have no idea how to fix the table code so it shows properly. Some of the awards listed aren't even showing up on the table.

The table looks similar to those found on other artists' pages, so I know its probably an easy fix. But it's frustrated me ever since I stumbled upon it and looks horrible, so any help is appreciated. Thank you Thechased (talk) 20:14, 19 January 2016 (UTC)

 Done, maybe. I fixed the table up so it at least looks sane, but I can't be certain that it's factually accurate, i.e. if the correct stuff is in the correct rows. Please take a careful look and make sure that the result is what you wanted and correct. --Murph9000 (talk) 20:38, 19 January 2016 (UTC)

Can't open page. it says: The page "Karat Faye" does not exist. You can ask for it to be created.

Hello, When I then try to create the page it tells me that the page already exists or the name is to close to an existing name. As you will see I am very much alive. Thank You, Karat Faye — Preceding unsigned comment added by 72.49.212.221 (talk) 20:28, 19 January 2016 (UTC)

It is account user:Karat_Faye that does exist, not the page. You was probably confused. Ruslik_Zero 20:47, 19 January 2016 (UTC)

Hello, Karat. It sounds as if you are confused between accounts and articles. Somebody (presumably you) has created an account on English Wikipedia called 'Karat Faye'. If the person who created it logs into that account, they can edit almost anything anywhere on Wikipedia.

If they choose, they can create a User page called User:Karat Faye (which at present doesn't exist, so that link appears in red). On that page they may put more or less anything they like that is related to them editing Wikipedia. This can include a certain amount of information about themselves, but it must not be made to look like a Wikipedia article. Separately from that, if Karat Faye is notable (in Wikipedia's special sense - meaning that there is substantial published information about Karat Faye written by people who have not connection with Faye), there could be an encyclopaedia article Karat Faye (also a red link at present). However if you are Karat Faye, you are strongly discouraged from writing such an article, because you are likely to find it hard to write in a suitably neutral manner.

Does this clarify matters for you? --ColinFine (talk) 23:12, 19 January 2016 (UTC)

Furthermore, it appears that back in 2008 someone attempted to create an article called Karat Faye, and therefore it will be subject to additional scrutiny when being recreated. Since you state that you are Karat Faye, then I would suggest you use the Article for Creation process which requests another editor to create the article on your behalf. Tiggerjay (talk) 02:18, 20 January 2016 (UTC)

I think you meqan Requested articles, Tiggerjay. The AFC process lets people create their own articles, but encourages them to submit them for review before they are moved to mainspace. --ColinFine (talk) 09:57, 20 January 2016 (UTC)@

to remove or archive talk page entry?

I'd like to improve an article's talk page that has become too long and at times contentious, by cleaning it up a bit. Many topics posted have had no response or issues have been resolved like having updated sources cited in the article when requested. Can I delete a topic that I posted, if it has no replies? Or something that has been resolved in the article? Or should everything just be archived? This talk page has no archive yet so one would need to be created, is there a simple cut n paste template to place in the header box? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 1305cj (talk • contribs) 20:42, 19 January 2016 (UTC)

@1305cj: You should not just remove sections from article talk pages. We even have a specific guideline about that. See WP:ARCHIVENOTDELETE. If you want to set up automatic archiving see this help page and pick either the lowercase sigmabot or cluebot template and paste it at the top of the article's talk page. --Majora (talk) 20:50, 19 January 2016 (UTC)

1305cj, You can easily create an archive page manually by adding: /Archive 1

after the Talk page long URL in your web browser address bar and hitting the enter key. Then copy and paste the sections from the active Talk page and save the adds.

If you put this template at the top of the talk page it will create a search and index for the Talk page: {{talk page|search=yes|index=auto}} (include the four curly brackets

Ping me back if I need to clarify this. Cheers! {{u|Checkingfax}} {Talk} 02:23, 20 January 2016 (UTC)

Could someone please add Jenny's_Wedding on the List_of_lesbian,_gay,_bisexual_or_transgender-related_films_of_2015?

I'm having trouble doing it. 64.114.70.78 (talk) 22:51, 19 January 2016 (UTC)

 Done Gap9551 (talk) 22:59, 19 January 2016 (UTC)

Category rename

I just renamed Category:Members of the Institute of Medicine to Category:Members of the National Academy of Medicine, and I would like some help with moving the articles in that cat to their new title. Everymorning (talk) 23:21, 19 January 2016 (UTC)

Everymorning. You can use the category link above to find them. If there is a lot of them to change, AutoWikiBrowser can generate a list from the old Category name, then you can create a task for AWB to change the categories to the new category name, then you can review and approve each edit one-by-one and AWB will save it and move on to the next edit. Alternatively, you can use HotCat from your user Preferences, or you can just open each page in the text editor, go to the bottom of the page and paste the new category over the old category and save it. Cheers! {{u|Checkingfax}} {Talk} 02:15, 20 January 2016 (UTC)