Wikipedia:Help desk/Archives/2016 March 20

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March 20

Sketchy edits by User:Iching4096, User:HeSeaBlueDogJueyin, and User:Xiangzi9

These users seem to have added a lot of cryptic, obtuse text to Chinese mysticism pages that just doesn't sit right with me. Although I believe that this editor (I assume they are the same person-- IMO they have highly similar editing patterns) is editing with good faith, it seems like the content they add, to put it as candidly blunt as possible, is crackpot mystic BS. Perhaps another more experienced editor could look at it? —suzukaze (t・c) 02:46, 20 March 2016 (UTC)

In the context of Chinese mysticism, some editors can find it difficult to distinguish crackpot bullshit from the rest of the content. Ideally you could mention the problem edits at the project page for Chinese mysticism; but if there is such a project, I can't find it. Maybe you could start at Wikipedia:WikiProject China, and hope to find someone competent to assess the contributions of these editors. Maproom (talk) 09:14, 20 March 2016 (UTC)

By the way, I love (as in hate) the fact that you used the word "bullshit". Genius way to make Wikipedia a more welcoming place for new users... not! Please refrain from vulgarity. There are plenty of people afraid of it.--96.58.203.254 (talk) 22:54, 23 March 2016 (UTC)

I see that your own preferred term is "utter garbage". It's just a matter of personal taste. Maproom (talk) 11:11, 24 March 2016 (UTC)

Exception encountered, of type "Exception"

I have been getting this error: Exception encountered, of type "Exception", when trying to login to my account. I cannot find anything by searching google or wikipedia on why this is happening and why I can't access my account. I tried to reset my password, and I get the same message. I created a new account, and this new account works. Why does my old account not work? My old account is Khafre78, and my new acccount is Hakkodasan. I'd like to keep my old user name if possible. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Hakkodasan (talk • contribs) 06:04, 20 March 2016 (UTC)

• Seems like a software error to me. Something for WP:BUG's procedure, I'd say.Jo-Jo Eumerus (talk, contributions) 09:28, 20 March 2016 (UTC)
• @Hakkodasan: I have added your case to phab:T119736. PrimeHunter (talk) 09:55, 20 March 2016 (UTC)

Someone is undoing all my edits

There is a person who removes everything I edit and reverts each page back to his original work. I am a radio professional and I try to properly edit and add information to the Wikipedia pages for different radio stations. Within a couple of hours this person reverts everything I wrote back to his original article. It's amazing. It's almost like he's watching everything I do and within hours he erases everything!

On Saturday I tried to improve the article on WHJJ, a Providence, Rhode Island radio station. I included new info on the station, added to the info box and updated some facts. I checked back this morning (Sunday) and everything I did was undone. Not a word was left. I checked the History page for WHJJ and this person did the same thing to someone else who tried to edit the WHJJ page in February. That person also had all his edits removed by this same culprit.

In the past, when this person has removed all my edits to a page about a Roanoke, Virginia radio station, I returned my writing. He again reverted the page back to where it was before, and reported me as being involved in an edit war. I suppose that's what this person does to others who try to change his favorite pages.

This is very discouraging and makes me not want to help improve Wikipedia. Even if you say, maybe I was incorrect in some of my edits, surely I'm not wrong in EVERYTHING I've written. What can I do?

More on Removing Edits from my previous post above

I just checked another radio station, WOAI (AM) in San Antonio. According to the "History Page" I see this same person, on March 15th, removed all the edits someone else made to the WOAI (AM) page. One person made revisions in the morning and the culprit removed all the revisions by the afternoon. So I guess he's not just doing it to me, but to anyone who attempts to edit his favorite pages.

What can we do about someone who keeps removing others work in its entirety?

Hi, Steve1reg. First, when you post on a talk or discussion page like this one, please sign your contribution with four tildes (~~~~) so that we can see who is posting, and find your contributions easily. Also, please don't start a new section to add to a topic here: just continue the existing section.

I agree that Stereorock seems to have been following you around undoing your edits. That doesn't mean that either of you is right or wrong. What it means is that you need to be engaging with each other on a talk page: either the user talk page of one of you, or the talk page of one of the articles. So far, as far as I can see, neither of you has done this. I observe that Stereorock's edit on WKOX (AM) has the comment "WP:NOTRADIOGUIDE". This means that, in Stereorock's opinion, your edits there are inappropriate because they break the policy in WP:NOTRADIOGUIDE - it might not be obvious to you what that comment meant, but you should have asked Stereorock on a talk page rather than bringing the question here. On WHJJ, your edits were more substantial, and Stereorock's did not make a comment explaining their reversion: there I think Stereorock should have engaged with you rather than just reverting.

So the upshot is: you two need to have a discussion and try to reach agreement (and if you can't, follow the procedure for dispute resolution). One last point: Wikipedia is not very impressed by people describing themselves as professional. While we welcome people with expert knowledge to help improve articles, that does not necessarily privilege their contributions over other editors: what matters is whether the material is well expressed, and (most importantly) cited to reliable sources. --ColinFine (talk) 12:06, 20 March 2016 (UTC)

Unfortunately, the content dispute procedures in dispute resolution are intended for dispute about one (or at most a few) articles, and this pattern has to do with many articles. Try discussing on talk pages anyway. Robert McClenon (talk) 16:30, 20 March 2016 (UTC)

The original poster forgets to sign their posts, and appears to have robotic signing turned off. That makes it difficult to see the history of what the original poster is complaining about. Remember to sign your posts, and turn robotic signing back on. As the other editors have said, discuss on the article talk pages. However, this applies to many pages, and that indicates a more general problem. The problem may be that Stereorock is stalking the edits of Steve1reg for no good reason, or it may be that Stereorock thinks that Steve1reg is violating policy. Try to discuss on at least one talk page. Is there a WP:WikiProject Radio? If so, try discussing there also. Robert McClenon (talk) 16:28, 20 March 2016 (UTC)

Poorly considered category move has created a mess

The WP:Categories for discussion/Log/2016 February 11#Category:Disabled artists move decision has created exactly the mess it was intending to avoid - the conflation of two different categories. It has resulted in several artists, as in painters, sculptors, etc. being recategorized as "entertainers" - even articles about seriously famous artists such as Frida Kahlo and Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec have been affected. They should be in Category:Artists with disabilities, not Category:Entertainers with disabilities. I have an idea that cleaning up this mess might need an admin mop. Roger (Dodger67) (talk) 11:20, 20 March 2016 (UTC)

Nevermind, I managed to fix it. Roger (Dodger67) (talk) 17:43, 20 March 2016 (UTC)

Additions references for page Rose

1. The practical book of outdoor rose growing for the home garden. By Thomas, George Clifford, 1873-. Published 1914.
2. A book about roses; how to grow & show them by Hole, S. Reynolds (Samuel Reynolds), 1819-1904.

— Preceding unsigned comment added by Shuxrat Eshmurodov (talk • contribs) 13:12, 20 March 2016 (UTC)

@Shuxrat Eshmurodov: Hey there, those look like some great references but this is not the place to discuss page improvements. Try posting your suggestion on the talk page for rose and be sure to put {{edit semi-protected}} at the top of your message because you can't edit the article due to its semi-protection; the template will call over another editor to add the info on your behalf. Also, don't forget to say why you want these references added and how they'll be useful for the article. Happy Wikipedia-ing! —Skyllfully ^(talk | _contribs) 16:53, 20 March 2016 (UTC)

How to upload own file ?

Hi, I would like to upload file / write my own autobiography. Please help as to how this could be done on this site. Thanks — Preceding unsigned comment added by Syedraza621 (talk • contribs) 13:56, 20 March 2016 (UTC)

Hello,
unfortunately, Wikipedia does not exist for people to write an autobiography. It is an encyclopedia and not a directory or guide or a form of social media. Biographies are created by volunteer editors without close connection to the subject and are only written for people who can pass Wiki's fairly stringent rules on notability and who have received significant coverage in reliable independent third-party sources (see WP:RS for more information). Sorry not to be able to offer more encouragement. Eagleash (talk) 15:08, 20 March 2016 (UTC)

Log in problem

I cannot log in — Preceding unsigned comment added by 24.193.153.238 (talk) 15:36, 20 March 2016 (UTC)

@24.193.153.238: Hey there, have you tried reading this article? It should help you with the most common log in problems! And to upload an image, make sure you're logged in and then navigate to Wikipedia's File Upload Wizard. —Skyllfully ^(talk | _contribs) 16:45, 20 March 2016 (UTC)

Accounts created by other users without account creator permissions

While scrolling through the user creation log, I see many accounts "created by" new accounts with similar usernames, how can this be? They don't have account creator permissions. Example image —Skyllfully ^(talk | _contribs) 16:40, 20 March 2016 (UTC)

@Skyllfully: Anyone can create a new account by going to Special:CreateAccount while signed in (the form will change to include a reason box). The account creator only adds a a few extra rights. ACs have three additional rights that normal people do not have. The ability to override the anti-spoof feature that blocks similar usernames, the ability to override the username blacklist, and the ability to override the username creation limit. This last one is the one they use most often and is why AC is given for edit-a-thons. The MediaWiki software has a strict limit of 6 accounts create per IP in a 24 hour period (see WP:ACCP). The right will allow edit-a-thons coordinators to override this limit. --Majora (talk) 17:12, 20 March 2016 (UTC)

Thank you! That makes more sense now... —Skyllfully ^(talk | _contribs) 17:14, 20 March 2016 (UTC)

Help needed with MfD

Hello,
today I had 2 draft templates to nominate for deletion via MfD. The first one went fine here, but in the second instance something went wrong and I accidentally saved the page due to a jumpy cursor (laptop needs a service!). I thus created this muddle and cannot figure out how to put it right! Would really appreciate some assistance. Thanks. Eagleash (talk) 17:20, 20 March 2016 (UTC)

@Eagleash: Done I have fixed it, as per this edit. —Skyllfully ^(talk | _contribs) 17:28, 20 March 2016 (UTC)

And this edit which listed it on WP:MfD. —Skyllfully ^(talk | _contribs) 17:31, 20 March 2016 (UTC)

@Skyllfully: Excellent: Aptly named! Thanks. (I tend to to forget that bit till later too!) Eagleash (talk) 17:35, 20 March 2016 (UTC)

New (to me) mobile site - where is it discussed?

Sorry my Wikipedia-foo is failing me and I cannot find out where even to ask this. I've been using the mobile site on ios (not the app) and it has an image at the top of the screen, which is generally the same as the one in the infobox. Where is it pulling this from - Wikidata? Is it the image property on a page's wikidata entry? Two copies of the same image in close proximity is sub-optimal and like to debug this. Thanks. Secretlondon (talk) 18:01, 20 March 2016 (UTC)

Hi, Secretlondon. Questions about how the software works (including the Apps) are best posed at WP:VPT. --ColinFine (talk)

Thanks for your help - I've asked there. Secretlondon (talk) 19:36, 20 March 2016 (UTC)

reference desk 'edit' option disappeared

posted a question in science reference desk...someone responded etc..but the 'edit' option has disappeared there for me...it hasn't disappeared throughout Wikipedia generally for me but it's gone within the reference desk....68.48.241.158 (talk) 18:07, 20 March 2016 (UTC)

Hi - IP from Saline, Michigan
Unfortunately, due to repeated racist questions, Wikipedia:Reference desk/Science has been semi-protected, so unregistered users, like yourself, and non- Autoconfirmed users cannot ask questions at the moment - perhaps you should consider creating an account? although you would still have to have 10 edits and wait 3 days before you could edit a semi-protected page - Arjayay (talk) 18:17, 20 March 2016 (UTC)

68.48.241.158 can request that an edit be made by posting {{edit semi-protected}} at the bottom of Wikipedia talk:Reference desk, followed by the text of the desired edit or comment (with an explanation of where it should be added). Deor (talk) 20:55, 20 March 2016 (UTC)

At the moment, the reference talk page is also semi-protected (for rather longer than any of the actual desks). To ask questions, non-autoconfirmed users will need to go to the global request page at WP:RFED. Tevildo (talk) 21:34, 20 March 2016 (UTC)

• The page is currently unprotected, and you should now be able to edit. -- The Voidwalker ^Discuss 21:00, 20 March 2016 (UTC)

Well meaning, but I don't know where to start ....

I found The best girlfriend (painting) article - which seems to be (it is that obscure) a long ramble about what the captain of a boat (possibly the article's editor) thought when seeing a painting.
The editor has written similar long, rambling, incoherent pieces at SS Nezhin, SS Karaganda, SS Metallurg Anosov, MS Toyvo Antikaynen and MS Sarny and possibly numerous other places.
My guess it is a Russian seaman who is creating articles in order to add his stories of travelling around the world.
I had some interaction with User:Грищук ЮН about the Leninsky Komsomol class of cargo ships article, but his grasp of English seems poor. Can a Russian speaker explain what Wikipedia is about?
I don't know where to start - nominate this article for deletion? under what category? - and then all the other articles? or has someone assumed User:The Red Pen Of Dooms's mantle and fancy a mass delete? - Arjayay (talk) 19:17, 20 March 2016 (UTC)

The reason for their deletion may the lack of notability. The painting is unlikely to be notable as we do not have even an article about the artist. I am less sure about the ships. Ruslik_Zero 20:24, 20 March 2016 (UTC)

User_talk:TheLongTone#Women_.28picture.29_2 put this up for deleation before it got redirected. The artist, although prolific, appears not to be notable so a painting of his less so. So put in for Deletion – not notable.--Aspro (talk) 21:14, 20 March 2016 (UTC)

I've started an AfD here. Joseph2302 (talk) 22:14, 20 March 2016 (UTC)

It is not just that article - this editor has over 3,300 edits. Have a look at one of the ship articles listed above - they start off about the ship and end up discussing Stalin's secret codes, or the importance of being born in the year of the tiger, or small unknown beasts, or catch phrases in movies ..... - Arjayay (talk) 08:41, 21 March 2016 (UTC)

Wow... the current SS Nezhin is like having an amiable drunk at a bar giving you his annotated life story. It's actually quite interesting, but encyclopedic, well-sourced or even coherent it is not. That needs to be nuked in some way!-- Elmidae (talk) 15:27, 21 March 2016 (UTC)

I've removed some vast, irrelevant, unsourced sections from the articles, but still a hell of a long way to go to fix them. Joseph2302 (talk) 18:07, 21 March 2016 (UTC)

I alerted Wikipedia talk:WikiProject Russia. — Sebastian 23:53, 21 March 2016 (UTC)

I noticed that Joseph2302 also left a message on User talk:Грищук ЮН titled "please stop". I don't think that is appropriate; as several people here wrote, it appears that the new user is well meaning and rather needs some guidance. Even if the user's English isn't that good, they still provide material such as pictures of the ship, which is useful for Wikipedia. I therefore changed the section heading to the neutral "Problems with your edits". — Sebastian 00:12, 22 March 2016 (UTC)

To clarify, I wanted them to temporarily stop editing and stsrt talking - happy for them to edit, but I think they need help with editing. They've replied on my talkpage, but it doesn't make a huge amount of sense. Joseph2302 (talk) 07:21, 22 March 2016 (UTC)

Getting access to a digitised source

A few days ago I was working on Uvavnuk, improving the biography of a C19 Inuit woman whose poetic work is still being used today. I found my way to the relevant part of the ten-volume work by Arctic explorer Knud Rasmussen, who collected her tale. The text I was reading was raw, with plenty of machine transcription errors, but it served my purpose. Now I can't find it anywhere online: Google Books acknowledges its existence, but I can't see more than occasional snippets. I seem to recall that there is a resource somewhere in Wikipedia that might help me. Specifically, I want to read The Fifth Thule Expedition, especially the volume entitled The Intellectual Culture of the Copper Eskimos. Any ideas? Carbon Caryatid (talk) 23:07, 20 March 2016 (UTC)

I think you're looking for WP:RX, Carbon Caryatid. --ColinFine (talk) 23:19, 20 March 2016 (UTC)

Thanks; I've re-posted there. Carbon Caryatid (talk) 23:43, 20 March 2016 (UTC)