Wikipedia:Help desk/Archives/2019 February 20

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February 20

Two Quick Questions

1: What is the most appropriate way to request for feedback on a drafted article before publishing as an official article?
2: What is the most appropriate way to gear in help from other users to realize a rough draft of an article?
Thanks. Hope non of ya'll get snowed out tonight although it very well may be inevitable...
Best regards, Dr. S DoctorSpeed^{Want to talk?}

DoctorSpeed, put {{subst:submit}} at the top of your article to invite reviews Jimfbleak - talk to me? 07:06, 20 February 2019 (UTC)

Also, your references each need to follow the piece of text that they are verifying. Jimfbleak - talk to me? 07:09, 20 February 2019 (UTC)

Quote's

if someone makes a negative quote why is that quote not allowed to be posted on Wikipedia. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Themaninblack1969 (talk • contribs) 01:24, 20 February 2019 (UTC)

@Themaninblack1969: Depends on the context and the source of the quote. See WP:UNDUE and WP:RS. What is the source of the quote and what article are you trying to add it to? RudolfRed (talk) 01:29, 20 February 2019 (UTC)

@Themaninblack1969: Wikipedia is not a forum for you to share your personal opinions on something. – Teratix ₵ 02:02, 20 February 2019 (UTC)

Unable to find content typed in the page while creating it

Was in between creating a page but didn't publish it. The browser crashed now I am unable to find the changes within in the User ID. I would like to recover the data that was lost as i have to recreate the entire page from the start. Kindly help. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Srisrischoolofyoga (talk • contribs) 06:55, 20 February 2019 (UTC)

Srisrischoolofyoga this message is the only contribution you have made while logged in. Either you didn't save it at all in which case we can't help you, or you edited while logged out, in which case you will have to check your logged-out edits. I've blocked your username, and I'll post editing advice on your talk page. Jimfbleak - talk to me? 07:01, 20 February 2019 (UTC)

What is (or should be) the policy regarding spellings, pronunciations and foreign names in the first sentance of an article?

I was just looking at the article on the Khazars, which has (IMO) an absolutely horrible first sentence:

The Khazars (/ˈkɑːzɑːrz/, /ˈxɑː-/; Persian: خزر‎, Azerbaijani: Xəzərlər; Turkish: Hazarlar; Bashkir: Хазарлар; Tatar: Хәзәрләр, Xäzärlär; Hebrew: כוזרים‎, Kuzarim;[9] Xazar; Ukrainian: Хоза́ри, Khozáry; Russian: Хаза́ры, Khazáry; Hungarian: Kazárok; Greek: Χάζαροι, Házaroi; Latin: Gazari[10][11]/Gasani[12][13]) were a semi-nomadic Turkic people with a confederation of Turkic-speaking tribes that in the late 6th century CE established a major commercial empire covering the southeastern section of modern European Russia.[14]

This is by no means the only article where you have to wade through multiple foreign/alternative names (often in foreign scripts) and IPA pronunciations before you get to the actual definition of the subject. In my opinion, this is very poor style: the first sentance should be clear and to the point, whereas this makes it hard to read and delays getting to the point. Plus, the English Wikipedia surely only needs to give the common English names for a subject in the first sentance. Other language names, where relevant, can go in an etymology or other appropriate section. Iapetus (talk) 15:04, 20 February 2019 (UTC)

See the guidance at MOS:FORLANG. --David Biddulph (talk) 15:09, 20 February 2019 (UTC)

Consider the solution in David. Gråbergs Gråa Sång (talk) 17:17, 20 February 2019 (UTC)

Good solution - took me a second to see it though because I didn't think to look at the footnote at first. For a more targeted location, check out David#Notes. TimTempleton ^{(talk) (cont)} 18:22, 20 February 2019 (UTC)

Account Delete

Can you please delete my account. Thank you. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Hair123443215 (talk • contribs) 18:32, 20 February 2019 (UTC)

User accounts cannot be deleted. Shellwood (talk) 18:35, 20 February 2019 (UTC)

Template:Sister project links

I would like to draw attention to this inquiry by Czar, since I was looking for the same thing with respect to the transclusion in that section. Additionally, I wanted to ask why exactly it says "Do not place this template in a section containing columns." here.--Hildeoc (talk) 18:45, 20 February 2019 (UTC)

Best place to ask is on the template's talk page, so we can continue there (not watching, please {{ping}}) czar 01:43, 21 February 2019 (UTC)

How do I fix errors on a page that was made about me?

How do I fix errors on a page that was made about me? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 2605:E000:1701:42A2:D0B8:136F:1898:1EE4 (talk) 19:41, 20 February 2019 (UTC)

Place a note on the article's talk page, along with the template {{Edit request}}. RudolfRed (talk) 19:49, 20 February 2019 (UTC)

Also if the page in question is about you, please see WP:Conflict of interest. If you want other editors to do the editing for you, please provide more details such as the page and the specific errors that needs to be corrected. Regards, Darwin Naz (talk) 01:19, 21 February 2019 (UTC)

changes

My question is why when I make a change to MY wikipedia page profile it keeps getting changed back? I have done this three times stating its my page. Yet I keep getting messages questioning my changes. Really?? Wallrace500 (talk) 20:00, 20 February 2019 (UTC)

Wally Dallenbach Jr. is not yours, it is WP:s article about Wally Dallenbach Jr. If you are the subject, read and follow the guidance in Wikipedia:Conflict of interest. Gråbergs Gråa Sång (talk) 20:10, 20 February 2019 (UTC)

Wallrace500: Also look at AUTOPROB for advice for your particular situation. --ColinFine

(talk) 20:26, 20 February 2019 (UTC)

Repinging Wallrace500 as I got the username wrong. --ColinFine (talk) 20:27, 20 February 2019 (UTC)

You can also check the article's "View history" tab, there you see who did what, and it is considered helpful to leave a short description of your edit in a Help:Edit summary. Talk:Wally Dallenbach Jr. is for discussing the article with other editors, there is no guarantee that there will someone who answers, but it is worth trying. Gråbergs Gråa Sång (talk) 20:29, 20 February 2019 (UTC)

Responding to Grabergs, I understand WP is not mine. But the information on me is incorrect. Not a big deal. If it wants to have incorrect information on it so be it. I did my best to make it right. Didnt realize it was going to be this much trouble. All very confusing to make changes. ThanksWallrace500 (talk) 20:49, 20 February 2019 (UTC)

@Wallrace500: If there is incorrect information in the article about you, we want to know what it is, but you should not edit the article yourself. Instead, you should make an edit request on the article talk page(which someone linked to above) detailing the changes you feel are needed and any reliable sources you have to support the changes. Keep in mind that we can't just take your word on something, as all information needs to be verifiable. 331dot (talk) 20:55, 20 February 2019 (UTC)

Thank you for your reply, Wallrace500. Yeah, some things about WP is difficult, editing an article about yourself is one of the worst, but for good reasons. For example, there is no (easy) way for the editors of the article to know if you are Dallenbach or someone who think it is fun to mess with his (sorry, WP:s article about him) article. However, we also want the article to be correct based on the WP:Reliable sources we can find, so we can probably get there but it may require some patient discussion. Gråbergs Gråa Sång (talk) 21:02, 20 February 2019 (UTC)

Understand. Patience is not one of my stong suits lol. Thanks for the info.Wallrace500 (talk) 21:11, 20 February 2019 (UTC)

A problem with a fellow editor

You have probably gotten many messages about a certain user named Jingiby. He edits articles and no one seems to be checking up the things he is writing. He is also writing the articles in a rather sarcastic and humorous way, which I think is completely inappropriate for the public. I would like to inform you that he is constantly watching over Macedonian-themed articles and propagates the Bulgarian Agenda. I have gathered true information from Macedonia and have incorporated it into the articles I edit. To have it deleted is a big disappointment to me. I am patiently waiting your reply.

Thank you, Voas355 — Preceding unsigned comment added by Voas355 (talk • contribs) 22:16, 20 February 2019 (UTC)

@Voas355: Please provide WP:DIFFs of his edits. You can find them by checking his contributions page, opening the links that say "diff," and sharing those to show where he has been editing inappropriately. Ian.thomson (talk) 22:20, 20 February 2019 (UTC)

Suspicions that an article is being policed by shills

I tried to edit a (controversial) article recently (using proper style and using sources), but I was reverted by a user who frequently edits the page. Involved in an edit war, I then added an NPOV tag to the page (since I was discussing the POV of the article in its talk page) - however this was also reverted. The user threatened to report me to an admin if I again tried to add an NPOV tag.

I have gone on to discuss the edit in the talk page, where I have been subjected to abusive language, accusations of incompetence, personal attacks, threats of outright bans - generally a suite of tactics, rather than objective, rational discussion. The editors I'm talking to do around 50 edits every single day on Wikipedia, on the same topic/group of articles. They know each other and talk to each other on their talk pages about edits.

Is there any process I can pursue? I feel like there is a clear group of users (possibly shills) who are coordinating their efforts and harming the neutrality and pleasant atmosphere of the articles. They own them completely and any attempt to change the article's content is impossible. Is there anything I can do? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 185.213.154.161 (talk) 23:25, 20 February 2019 (UTC)

Please let us know which article this is about, so we can look at the talk page discussion you are referring to. RudolfRed (talk) 23:45, 20 February 2019 (UTC)

Thank you for your offer to help. However I'm reluctant to be specific just yet, as I don't want to be punished for making accusations in the middle of a discussion - although I'm pretty sure the discussion won't go anywhere because they all seem to have an agenda to prevent me from making any changes whatsoever. Is it possible for you to investigate without revealing my identity? Can I report them anonymously? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 185.213.154.166 (talk) 01:00, 21 February 2019 (UTC)

We literally can't help you unless you tell us what article it is. Also, editing while logged out to avoid scrutiny is specifically not allowed per WP:SOCK. shoy (reactions) 13:43, 21 February 2019 (UTC)

If you have describe their behavior objectively, then it warrants review by others. However, your behavior in coming here and asking for an anonymous review has the appearance of forum shopping and may prejudice others against you. You should read and follow WP:DISPUTE, since your attempts to reach consensus and work with other editors has failed. You should stick to objective argument about specific actions by other editors and not make sweeping accusations about motives. Let those actions speak for themselves: if you are correct, then outside reviewers will not need you to tell them that the others are acting improperly. -Arch dude (talk) 03:42, 21 February 2019 (UTC)

Email me the name of the account and I’ll review the incident for you. TimTempleton ^{(talk) (cont)} 14:39, 21 February 2019 (UTC)

Thank you very much for this information and the offer of help, much appreciated. Rest assured this was merely an anonymous query about policy - I would never have made any reports anonymously if it was against policy. Discussions are still ongoing so I'll refrain for now - if I do report anything I will absolutely do so with my actual account. thanks again. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 185.213.154.162 (talk) 21:51, 23 February 2019 (UTC)

inserting a photograph into the page of an article

I want to insert a photo into the article of Frances E. Williams. The photo has been uploaded into the wizard. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Sulamama (talk • contribs) 23:58, 20 February 2019 (UTC)

Sulamama, it seems that you've figured this out. If you'd like more information, see Help:Pictures. †dismas†|^(talk) 00:53, 21 February 2019 (UTC)