Wikipedia:Help desk/Archives/2020 August 13

Welcome to the Wikipedia Help Desk Archives
The page you are currently viewing is an archive page. While you can leave answers for any questions shown below, please ask new questions on one of the current Help Desk pages.

August 13

Kamala Harris

She is Not African American. She is of Indian & Jamaican heritage. Please correct. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 47.144.241.119 (talk) 08:43, 13 August 2020 (UTC)

Please discuss at the article talk page; you will need to provide reliable sources to corroborate any changes you would liken to see made. (Please remember to sign your posts on talk pages by typing four keyboard tildes like this: ~~~~. Or, you can use the [ reply ] button, which automatically signs posts.) Thank you. Eagleash (talk) 08:47, 13 August 2020 (UTC)

There is already an answer at Talk:Kamala Harris in the Frequently asked questions (FAQ) section. Joseph2302 (talk) 08:50, 13 August 2020 (UTC)

How can I get a template for writing my biography?

Hi, can someone assist me by putting my biography on Wikipedia or send me a template for writing my biography? — Preceding unsigned comment added by Proflawal (talk • contribs) 09:53, 13 August 2020 (UTC)

Proflawal Wikipedia is not a place for people to post their biographies or otherwise tell the world about themselves. This is an encyclopedia, and as an encyclopedia Wikipedia summarizes what independent reliable sources with significant coverage have chosen on their own to say about a person, showing how they meet the special Wikipedia definition of a notable person.(there are also more specific criteria for certain fields like musicians, athletes, politicians) Wikipedia is not interested in what someone wants to say about themselves. In order for you to succeed in writing about yourself, you need to forget everything you know about yourself, everything on your website and social media, and only write based on the content of independent sources completely unaffiliated with you say.(no press releases, no interviews) Most people cannot do this. Please review the autobiography policy for more information.

If you meet the notability criteria, someone will eventually take note of your career in reliable sources and choose to write about you. Please understand that a Wikipedia article is not necessarily desirable. There are good reasons to not want one; you cannot lock it to the text you might prefer or prevent others from editing it. Any information about you, good or bad, can be in an article about you as long as it appears in an independent reliable source and is not defamatory. 331dot (talk) 10:00, 13 August 2020 (UTC)

I mucked it up

An External Link in "Bayeux war cemetery" was broken. I tried to fix it - didn't work. I have noted my failure in the Talk, but I think I've even mucked that up by using === as a separator. Where are the tutorials? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 1.136.105.222 (talk) 11:45, 13 August 2020 (UTC)

Hello, the revised link is working OK AFAICT and I have re-formatted the talk page. I will leave some useful links at your talk page. Eagleash (talk) 12:51, 13 August 2020 (UTC)

Changing title of the article

There is this organization I am working for and they have changed their name recently. They have a page on Wikipedia, I have updated the description but Wikipedia doesn't allow me to change the title of the article? How can I change the Title? Also, Can the URL be amended? if yes, how can I do it? I want to remove the previous name from the URL and add the new one. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 39.48.6.184 (talk) 14:06, 13 August 2020 (UTC)

It might help to know what article this is about. JIP | Talk 14:12, 13 August 2020 (UTC)

Changing the title of an article requires a page move, which you can request at Requested Moves. 331dot (talk) 14:13, 13 August 2020 (UTC)

KAMALA HARRIS (2)

I am disappointed in wikipedia because it always shows a lack of integrity when any source does not include "critics."

To be considered accurate and objective, the source must include both pros and cons of any person or thing. Your support of Kamala Harris is not only disturbing, but I shall cut my funding of wikipedia immediately. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 76.176.123.236 (talk) 14:37, 13 August 2020 (UTC)

Donating or not donating has no bearing on article content; if it did, users could influence content by withholding (or making) donation, and this would cease to be a neutral encyclopedia. Donations are handled by the Foundation, which does not involve itself in day to day operations. If you have specific concerns about the Kamala Harris article, feel free to bring them up on the article talk page if you can source your concerns to independent reliable sources. Wikipedia only summarizes what independent sources state. Wikipedia is not a voter guide that provides pros and cons.

Wikipedia does not claim to be free of bias; any bias in sources will be reflected in Wikipedia. The sources are provided so that readers can evaluate them and judge them for themselves. 331dot (talk) 14:43, 13 August 2020 (UTC)

You may be under the mistaken belief that the donations go to the people who write the Wikipedia articles. This is not, and has never been, the case. None of the people who write Wikipedia articles ever see a single cent from the donations. Most of the donations go to pay the cost of keeping the Wikipedia servers up and running. JIP | Talk 16:07, 14 August 2020 (UTC)

banglore riot wikipedia page

Hello sir/madam, This is Rahul Singh i want to inform you this wikipedia page is written to the according to the source of quint this is a website which has anti india agenda and this is the site is run by isis supporting group and supporting radical islamic terrorism why you not write this article according to govt offficials and any other national tv news channel. if wikipedia have anti india or anti hindu agenda the close this site. just check videos of bangolre riot you clearly know this is radical islamic terrorists. Thank You Rahul Singh — Preceding unsigned comment added by 103.77.42.79 (talk) 18:09, 13 August 2020 (UTC)

Wikipedia is a lot of things, however, it is not run by ISIS. If you have changes you would like to be made to the article or would like to identify a source as potentially unreliable, please see Talk:2020 Bangalore riots. Thanks ‡ Єl Cid of Valencia ^talk 18:48, 13 August 2020 (UTC)

There is no "group" running Wikipedia. We are all individual volunteer editors. Most of us don't even know each other. JIP | Talk 22:07, 13 August 2020 (UTC)

Creating A New Article With A Name That's Already In Use

Hi! I'm interested in creating a new wikipedia article. From what I've gathered, the way to create a new page is to search for the topic, find the red link, and go from there. The issue I have is that the name of what I want to write about is already in use by a different meaning of the same word. (I'm wanting to create a page about my artist name, Fluorescence, but there is already an entry about Fluorescence, but the kind used in geology) Every tutorial I have found doesn't go over this and I was wondering what I need to do to get around this predicament. — Preceding unsigned comment added by FluorescenceMusic (talk • contribs) 18:31, 13 August 2020 (UTC)

Welcome to Wikipedia, FluorescenceMusic. To answer your question: the way we separate articles that would have the same title is by disambiguation; briefly, you would probably title your article Fluorescence (artist) or something like that. However, before you do, please see our guideline on writing about yourself, and also take a look at our plain and simple conflict of interest guide. Thank you. Ivanvector (^Talk/_Edits) 18:35, 13 August 2020 (UTC)

Additionally, see WP:NMUSIC. Unfortunately, I don't see how you could meet the notability requirements. WP is not for promoting your music. ‡ Єl Cid of Valencia ^talk 18:41, 13 August 2020 (UTC)

Mari Katayama

I was creating a draft in my sandbox about the artist Mari Katayama for Wikipedia:WikiProject Women in Red, a page which was previously deleted due to lack of information. I think I have found enough information to start a new article or draft, but the current page at Draft:Mari Katayama contains another user's draft that seems to have been abandoned about a year ago. How should I go about adding/merging the content I wrote to the draftspace? —Preceding undated comment added 18:43, 13 August 2020 (UTC)

The draft you reference hasn't been significantly edited in over two years. The sourcing is too light for it to be approved. If you think you have better sourcing that demonstrates notability per WP:NARTIST, you can recreate the draft, but be also careful to not include unsourced info or your draft will be challenged. Good luck! TimTempleton ^{(talk) (cont)} 19:08, 13 August 2020 (UTC)

Okay, however, I already created a draft in my userspace and I can't move it into draftspace because that page already exists. I don't want to add it directly into article space because I think it could still use review from other users, but I also don't just want to copy and paste into the existing draft page. Sorry for not explaining better. What should I do? Emflazie (talk) 20:21, 13 August 2020 (UTC)

Hello, Emflazie. I think you can make a request at RM for your sandbox to be moved over the existing draft. I'm not sure whether this would count as a technical move or a potentially controversial one. --ColinFine (talk) 21:36, 13 August 2020 (UTC)

Fwiw, userspace and drafts are pretty similar. You can nominate userspace articles for WP:AFC the same as if it was in draftspace. Best Wishes, Lee Vilenski ^{(talk • contribs)} 22:05, 13 August 2020 (UTC)

Yes, Lee Vilenski, I thought of that, but doesn't the existence of a draft on the same subject give a problem in AFC? --ColinFine (talk) 22:48, 13 August 2020 (UTC)

In case no one else noticed, Draft:Mari_Katayama is a redirect to a userspace draft. Since this was redirected 11 months ago, perhaps the redirect could be deleted to make way for new drafts? RudolfRed (talk) 02:18, 14 August 2020 (UTC)

Done. --Orange Mike | Talk 15:49, 14 August 2020 (UTC)

Help writing a user space essay

I take a fair number of photos for Wikipedia and from time to time I find myself having to explain the logic for images that qualify for the article page image. Rather than repeating myself on talk pages, I’m wondering if I could create a user space essay and link to it with something like WP:PAGEIMAGE. Is there an approval process for getting a WP:-style short link to go to a user space essay? - Scarpy (talk) 21:08, 13 August 2020 (UTC)

Scarpy, why not just make a user template? Create a subpage for yourself, write what you want, and transclude it with something like {{User:Scarpy/photoessay}}. —Tenryuu 🐲 ( 💬 • 📝 ) 21:28, 13 August 2020 (UTC)

Tenryuu I suppose I could do that, I just have never seen anyone use a template in that way in a talk page discussion before so it seems unconventional and maybe confusing. - Scarpy (talk) 22:05, 13 August 2020 (UTC)

Scarpy, I'm assuming that the essay won't be too long, so it shouldn't be an issue. I regularly use {{User:Tenryuu/GOCE talk}} and {{User:Tenryuu/process}} on user and article talk pages to leave templated messages for people. —Tenryuu 🐲 ( 💬 • 📝 ) 22:22, 13 August 2020 (UTC)

@Scarpy: It's probably more common for people to substitute such templates, so you may not notice it unless there's a comment in it with the source location, or you recognize the same text being repeated. A number of help desk and Teahouse hosts use them for our common responses. E.g., I use a hotkey sequence (with WinCompose) that inserts {{subst:User:AlanM1/Template/Sign}}. To address your question, I don't know if there is a process for approval of a WP: shortcut. Perhaps Nick Moyes can comment from his experience. —[AlanM1 (talk)]— 03:02, 14 August 2020 (UTC)

Capitalization of first letter of "island" in "Sakhalin Island"

Whether it should be capitalized or not seems inconsistent on this website, judging by these search results, thought most seem to favor capitalization. Could anyone here please tell me if it should be capitalized?

(Edit: Forgot to include link to search results at first. Sorry about that.)--Thylacine24 (talk) 23:23, 13 August 2020 (UTC)

@Thylacine24: AFAIK, it should be capitalized, since it's part of the name. —[AlanM1 (talk)]— 03:04, 14 August 2020 (UTC)

... part of the name in English, that is. —[AlanM1 (talk)]— 03:09, 14 August 2020 (UTC)

@AlanM1: Thanks. Sorry to be so late in getting back to you on this.--Thylacine24 (talk) 19:51, 14 August 2020 (UTC)