Wikipedia:Help desk/Archives/2019 March 11

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March 11

Keeping an eye on naughty editors

I'd like to "watch" the contribution pages of a couple of prolific editors who choose not to cite sources at all, so as to approach them on their next misstep in a timely manner. Contributions pages cannot be "watched". Is there any way of being notified when they strike again?--Quisqualis (talk) 07:09, 11 March 2019 (UTC)

Hello, Quisqualis. Watch their talk pages and see if other editors express concern about specific matters. Watch their favorite pages to edit. When you are motivated, take a look at their contributions. Look for patterns. Are they mostly productive but occasionally screw up? Then assist them kindly. Engage in discussion, assuming good faith. Are they persistently disruptive? Then report them to the appropriate noticeboard. Cullen³²⁸ Let's discuss it 07:23, 11 March 2019 (UTC)

@Quisqualis: do be sure not to cross the line into wikihounding, however. – Teratix ₵ 08:44, 11 March 2019 (UTC))

Thanks, my plan is to escalate the template warnings if they persist in refusing to cite sources, then get others involved (WP:AIV).--Quisqualis (talk) 08:49, 11 March 2019 (UTC)

@Quisqualis: That feature likely doesn't exist native on Wikipedia, to prevent hounding, but there's no reason you couldn't install a plugin that alerts you when the contributions page changes. I found at least two that you could try: https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/check4change/ or https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/distill-web-monitor-ff/ TimTempleton ^{(talk) (cont)} 00:41, 12 March 2019 (UTC)

Quisqualis: this feature actually does exist via Atom or RSS feeds. Eman235/talk 22:26, 13 March 2019 (UTC)

Eman, thank you for that suggestion. Tim's Firefox plugins may not be useful to me, as the first only works during a given activity session on the computer (I shut down nightly), and the second appeared not to have much documentation.--Quisqualis (talk) 22:48, 13 March 2019 (UTC)

Help:Cite errors/Cite error included ref

Young Lords article. Could not configure the reference and tried to get rid of it. Can you please help. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 173.46.224.240 (talk) 14:19, 11 March 2019 (UTC)

@173.46.224.240:I notice that Dismas edited the page just after your post here, and closed a ref - did that resolve your problem? --Gronk Oz (talk) 23:06, 11 March 2019 (UTC)

My Article was deleted

Team, I wanted to confirm the reason for my article deletion which has some steps in order to activate a particular Gadget. As we all know the steps to anything will remain same and can be guided or documented in same order. I have used my own words and designed it in a user friendly way, as there was no article for the same. I apologize if there was some issues with the policy metrics, but there was nothing Illogical or Copied content. Please share how can i fix it and replace the same with a new article — Preceding unsigned comment added by Sethkaran (talk • contribs) 16:43, 11 March 2019 (UTC)

@Sethkaran: The reason your material was deleted is that Wikipedia does not deal in manuals, how-to's or guides. It's just not our ambit as an encyclopedia. You wouldn't expect to find this kind of guide in the Encyclopedia Britannica, would you? There's plenty of places on the web where this kind of content is exactly what is wanted, however. For example, you might wish to have a look at WikiHow. --Elmidae (talk · contribs) 16:51, 11 March 2019 (UTC)

More to the point, the above is irrelevant since your article was a verbatim copyright violation of this page. We don't accept copyright violations under any circumstances, even if the article is on a topic that's suitable for Wikipedia. ‑ Iridescent 17:09, 11 March 2019 (UTC)

@Sethkaran: Welcome to Wikipedia! Please keep in mind that Wikipedia is not a manual. Your article was useful, but it is better posted in another outlet, such as a blog or forum post. You are more than welcome to continue contributing in different ways, as long as your articles can fit well into a general encyclopedia. — Stevey7788 (talk) 04:17, 12 March 2019 (UTC)

@Elmidae and Stevey7788:, that's now two of you who have advised the OP to do something illegal. Copyright violations are never "better posted in another outlet", and are equally illegal whether posted to Wikipedia, WikiHow, or a personal blog. ‑ Iridescent 07:25, 12 March 2019 (UTC)

Iridescent is correct and nobody should post copyright violations, anywhere close, whether on Wikpedia or on more lenient websites. If you want to post original content anywhere online, then write that content in your own 100% originally written words. Cullen³²⁸ Let's discuss it 07:35, 12 March 2019 (UTC)

@Iridescent: Iridescent, thanks for pointing this out. Sorry I missed your other reply. I agree with you fully on this one if it's copyrighted material. I would by no means recommend copyright violations. Sethkaran, please refrain from posting any copyrighted information anywhere, whether on this site or elsewhere. All information must be your own work, but make sure you follow the Wikipedia:No original research policy as well. — Stevey7788 (talk) 07:47, 12 March 2019 (UTC)

Yes, mea culpa; should have checked the deletion reason more carefully before chiming in here. (Note that the OP states that there was "no copied content"; eh.) --Elmidae (talk · contribs) 14:42, 12 March 2019 (UTC)

The OP also states that the words are their "own", which either is a second whole-cloth prevarication, or else means that the OP wrote the words in an employment context, and now wishes to use them as if owned outright--Quisqualis (talk) 22:41, 13 March 2019 (UTC)