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Wikipedia:Help desk/Archives/2017 January 16

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January 16

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Change Username

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Is it possible to change my username? Does anyone know how I would go about doing that?Jordan Latimer (talk) 06:25, 16 January 2017 (UTC)[reply]

Jordanjlatimer, take a look at the instructions on how to change your username. DonFB (talk) 06:47, 16 January 2017 (UTC)[reply]

Chinese text: traditional characters

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Dear Readers and Technicians,

how do i translate all simplified chinese characters to traditional chinese characters. im based in singapore, so theres a chance the system automatically translated pages to simplified. im using my wikipedia app on my iphone. thanks — Preceding unsigned comment added by 116.88.81.183 (talk) 04:31, 16 January 2017 (UTC)[reply]

Hi there. I am able to view all kinds of languages as a user with an account under "Preferences", however this is not available for IP users. I would recommend creating an account if you'd like these options  --Jennica✿ / talk 06:50, 16 January 2017 (UTC)[reply]
This in not what the question is about. --Moscow Connection (talk) 07:52, 16 January 2017 (UTC)[reply]
See zh:Help:中文维基百科的繁简、地区词处理. If it's not what you need or it doesn't work on iPhone, ask on Chinese Wikipedia. Maybe even here: zh:维基百科:互助客栈/技术.
(I don't think there is anyone here on this page who can help you. I remember when I needed to transliterate Chinese characters, I just copy-pasted text into Google Translate. It worked for me, but useless to anyone who needs to transliterate more than a few sentences once in a while. :-))
--Moscow Connection (talk) 07:52, 16 January 2017 (UTC)[reply]

Corsican Wikipedia

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At the main page of wikipedia.org, I see Corsu (Corsican) listed at the top right, above Deutsch (German) and Русский (Russian). What gives? Maproom (talk) 08:47, 16 January 2017 (UTC)[reply]

  • I don't see it (from a Russian IP address). But I'm suprised to see Russian in the top left. Cause it's not the most popular wiki and previosly the wikis were ordered by the number of views. Could it be that now the order is based on the viewer's IP? --Moscow Connection (talk) 08:52, 16 January 2017 (UTC)[reply]
I find I only see this using Chrome, on two different and unconnected computers. So it may be something Google is doing. Also, a few days ago (so I may have the details slightly wrong), I was looking at a page on de:Wikipedia when Google Translate offered to translate it for me. I agreed - and it translated it into Corsican. Maproom (talk) 08:59, 16 January 2017 (UTC)[reply]
Same thing in IE for me, Russian is at the top left. I don't really remember when I last visited the main page, but quite some time ago Russian was listed after Spanish. (With the exception of 2014 when Russian Wiki was more popular than Spanish one. Probably because of Crimea, etc.) --Moscow Connection (talk) 09:10, 16 January 2017 (UTC)[reply]
I have an idea.
Chrome > Settings > Show advanced settings > Languages > Language and input settings > "Add languages and drag to order them based on your preference" and "Use this language for spell checking". --Moscow Connection (talk) 09:12, 16 January 2017 (UTC)[reply]
↑ I've had some success with this. After I set "English (United States)" as preferred, Russian Wiki moved to the top right. (It's English that's in the top left corner now.) --Moscow Connection (talk) 09:18, 16 January 2017 (UTC)[reply]
Thank you! That's fixed it. I wonder how that mis-setting got into all three of my computers. Maproom (talk) 09:35, 16 January 2017 (UTC)[reply]


Wikipedia database schema

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Does the Wikipedia database schema equal the schema of a normal mediawiki? Does the dump "All pages with complete page edit history" include tables wich can be safely truncated? (like cache tables). Does this dump include the complete WP including META pages, logging, user pages, user related tables and so on? --91.17.61.9 (talk) 10:18, 16 January 2017 (UTC)[reply]

All right, thank you. Seems like the WP has the same schema then a regular mediawiki. And thanks for the link to the schema, that was way better then the version that i found. There are still the questions about whats included in the database dump. I am not very happy with the size of that database :). So i want to cut out everything i do not need. Any multimedia tables for example. Caching tables sounds like i can drop that also without any consequenses or data loss. I do not want to set up a mediawiki based on that. I need only the database itself for metadata analysis. Wich leeds to the next question. Are there all the user and logging tables included? --2003:76:4E00:B261:E5FC:DF01:1157:CE9F (talk) 12:24, 16 January 2017 (UTC)[reply]
Let me request PrimeHunter for inputs here. Thanks. Lourdes 04:05, 17 January 2017 (UTC)[reply]
I don't know anything about this. PrimeHunter (talk) 13:20, 17 January 2017 (UTC)[reply]
omg that's a first :) Lourdes 07:21, 18 January 2017 (UTC)[reply]

Insurance

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I have a provisional license how do I go about getting insurance for my ex husbands car — Preceding unsigned comment added by Kizzy123 (talk • contribs) 15:16, 16 January 2017 (UTC)[reply]

An article that has different titles but have the same content

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Hello Wikipedia!

I am the creator of Draft: List of Billboard 200 top 10 albums in 2017 When I created the page, I was not sure how to drop the Draft part in my title. Recently, Another Wikipedia account created List of Billboard 200 top 10 albums in 2017 which has the same ideas as mine regarding Billboard 200's Top 10 albums for each week. Knowing that I created my page before this account created theirs, I think their account might have some false information. What should I do to take action? Or is their nothing I can do since the page is already created? Thank You! — Preceding unsigned comment added by Cgodw226 (talk • contribs) 15:39, 16 January 2017 (UTC)[reply]

If you find false information in the current article, you can remove it or correct it. But if you believe that the current article is copied from your draft, you can complain that it has been copied from the material you created (and in which you have the right to be credited) without due credit. I wouldn't bother myself, it would be hassle for no real benefit, but I believe the Wikipedia authorities would support your complaint. Maproom (talk) 16:22, 16 January 2017 (UTC)[reply]
See Wikipedia:Copying within Wikipedia – Finnusertop (talk ⋅ contribs) 17:46, 16 January 2017 (UTC)[reply]
Can't you request a history merge at someplace lika WP:AN?--TonyTheTiger (T / C / WP:FOUR / WP:CHICAGO / WP:WAWARD) 17:49, 16 January 2017 (UTC)[reply]
The page in mainspace seems to have been created by an editor of some years standing who has created or edited multiple similar pages in the past. Unfortunately it looks as if the OP may have been 'pipped at the post'. This can happen with "time-sensitive" articles and the two pages could be merged and the article edited as appropriate or the draft blanked (by the author) and tagged {{Db-g7}}. Eagleash (talk) 18:05, 16 January 2017 (UTC)[reply]
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Doing this edit made me type in the captcha because I was adding an extra link. Removing a comma shouldn't set off something that only looks for new external links. Is something broken? 208.95.51.72 (talk) 16:47, 16 January 2017 (UTC)[reply]

  • Well, yes and no. The software thinks that you removed the whole paragraph, then put a new paragraph (the same minus the comma), which contained an external link, so it went through the "naughty links" verifications. (I would have thought time.com was in the whitest list possible of external links, though...)
That the software checks "new" links is the intended behaviour.
The problem is that it perceived a larger diff than what really happened. It would be more reasonable to view that edit as "removed a comma" than as "remove a paragraph, add a paragraph", but is that really possible? Many diff tools suffer from similar "issues" (see e.g. line 17 of the example at Diff_utility#Usage). You should probably ask at the computing reference desk if you want a better explanation of the theory behind this. TigraanClick here to contact me 18:16, 16 January 2017 (UTC)[reply]

Starting a new article.

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Where can i find red links for new articles? --Sorvol99 (talk) 18:43, 16 January 2017 (UTC)[reply]

You may be looking for Wikipedia:Requested articles. †dismas†|(talk) 18:46, 16 January 2017 (UTC)[reply]
Also, if you link to any article that doesn't exist (e.g. Article title), it will automatically appear as a redlink. —MRD2014 (talk • contribs) 01:54, 17 January 2017 (UTC)[reply]

Fake Plot in a movie article

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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Berserker_(1987_film)

The plot its nothing like that. See for yourselves.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0eMU_oGF9yY

Warning its really bad.

189.203.254.196 (talk) 19:30, 16 January 2017 (UTC)[reply]

Remove invalid reference? Or edit it?

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I found an invalid reference on [Boston_Police_Department] and wonder: What to do. Should I remove it, or should I edit it with the info that it is no longer valid? When accessed it says "URL signature expired", trying to find it in internet archive I got told due to robots.txt it could not be shown. I tied searching the phrase "remove invalid reference" in wikipedia FAQ and the help desk archive but to no prevail. --Rava77 (talk) 19:32, 16 January 2017 (UTC)[reply]

It depends on the reference. It can be simply removed if it can be replaced with another source of information. If the reference is really irreplaceable, it is better to find an archived copy. Ruslik_Zero 19:40, 16 January 2017 (UTC)[reply]
... but if you can't find a replacement immediately, you can tag with {{dead link}}. In general you shouldn't just remove the link, see WP:link rot. --David Biddulph (talk) 19:43, 16 January 2017 (UTC)[reply]
Thanks, I included a {{Dead link|date=January 2017}}, since I have no clue where to find another ref like the one used. Cheers. --Rava77 (talk) 19:56, 16 January 2017 (UTC)[reply]
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