Wikipedia:Help desk/Archives/2020 February 8

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February 8

Special:FilePath

What is Special:FilePath supposed to do? Specifically, what are all the links to subpages of that page in Vilém Flusser#Works supposed to do? Can they be made to do whatever it is they're supposed to do, or should they be removed? – Arms & Hearts (talk) 00:02, 8 February 2020 (UTC)

@Arms & Hearts: It's supposed to redirect directly to the actual file by that name instead of linking to the file page. Compare for example Special:Redirect/file/Example.jpg to File:Example.jpg. But I can find no sign those pdf files were ever uploaded to Wikipedia or Commons. It originates from a 2014 edit [1] by a user with no other edits. Google searches on some of the file names find them at monoskop.org, e.g. https://monoskop.org/File:Flusser_Vilem_1991_Projektion_statt_Realitaet.pdf. It's a site run by the MediaWiki software but not associated with the Wikimedia Foundation. The broken links could be replaced with url's to monoskop.org. The site is not at meta:Interwiki map so it's not possible to make a wikilink to them. PrimeHunter (talk) 00:54, 8 February 2020 (UTC)

Thanks PrimeHunter. So it's essentially a more cumbersome alternative to File:Example.jpg (with the leading colon)? That might explain why I've never come across it before. On the separate matter of links to Monoskop, uploads to that site seem to work on the basis of a much broader interpretation of fair use than we'd apply here (see About Monoskop), which probably means we shouldn't link to PDFs there at all per WP:COPYLINK, though I'll await a second (or third) opinion on that. – Arms & Hearts (talk) 12:24, 8 February 2020 (UTC)

All-Russian Central Executive Committee namespace question

Greetings to the Wikipedia community. I want to ask one question about the title of the article. I am currently working on an article about All-Russian Central Executive Committee of the Soviets of Workers' and Soldiers' Deputies. The question arose around the use of the "the" article. Should the article title be All-Russian Central Executive Committee of the Soviets of Workers' and Soldiers' Deputies or All-Russian Central Executive Committee of Soviets of Workers' and Soldiers' Deputies? Articles with similar topics do not use the "the" article (e. g. First All-Russian Congress of Soviets of Workers' and Soldiers' Deputies, Second All-Russian Congress of Soviets of Workers' and Soldiers' Deputies, All-Russian Congress of Soviets). I tried to search on the web, but both with the and without the names of the political body have nearly identical number of matches. So I hope that the Wikipedia community will help me to resolve this grammatical problem. MarcusTraianus (talk) 00:21, 8 February 2020 (UTC)

@MarcusTraianus: The direct translation of soviet is council. In English, we'd more fluidly say "City Council members said ..." versus "The City Council members said ...", so I'm going with the version without the "the". But is there an equivalent of an article "the" in the Russion spelling? Maybe you'd be better off asking on that article's talk page or if you need more eyeballs Wikipedia talk:WikiProject Russia.TimTempleton ^{(talk) (cont)} 04:23, 8 February 2020 (UTC)

@MarcusTraianus: I suggest that you follow the examples you have found (and Timtempleton's instinct) and omit "the". The "Union of Soviet Socialist Republics" didn't have a "the" either.

@Timtempleton: Russian grammar does not have "Definite and indefinite articles (corresponding to the, a, an in English)". TSventon (talk) 15:58, 8 February 2020 (UTC)

Reference help

Sorry for asking such a simple question here, but... My reference doesn't seem to show up in User:Melofors/sandbox#Southwest Academy. Help? —  Melofors  TC 

@Melofors: YOu need to place a {{reflist}} in your article at the point where you want the referenced to appear (in you case and in the vast majority of cases, this is right after the "References" section title. To find out more about referencing, please read Help:Referencing for beginners when you have some time. -Arch dude (talk) 06:37, 8 February 2020 (UTC)

If you are asking about the ref in the Southwest Academy section, the red error message "Cite error: The <ref> tag name cannot be a simple integer" means the ref tag you used is invalid. You used "1960"; the tag can't be a number. If you change it to "bsun1960", for example, the ref will appear as expected. MB 06:40, 8 February 2020 (UTC)

Ah, thank you! —  Melofors  TC  06:43, 8 February 2020 (UTC)

My article

HI,

I posted an article titled "Freshman Interest Groups" early in 2019. It was reviewed and found to be unacceptable. I re-wrote it and thought I submitted it, but it has not been edited and someone named Hastuer said that my article was subject to deletion, because nothing had been done for five months. I am not sure what I did wrong. — Preceding unsigned comment added by KToke69 (talk • contribs) 06:18, 8 February 2020 (UTC)

It's not an article but a draft (here). A human didn't say this; a bot did. The immediate problem is that nothing has been done to the draft for five months. So, improve the draft. (An extremely simple start: For any heading surrounded by single "=", double this for "==".) AngusWOOF turned down your last attempt with the comment Wikipedia is not a how to guide for local college programs and organizations. I agree, it isn't. But this draft doesn't look to me like a how-to guide for local college programs and organizations. It's about a strategy that has been discussed in academic papers. (Incidentally, it would be a good idea to add the DOI for each academic source.) During the five months, you have edited a related draft here. In some ways, this slightly newer draft is better. I suggest that you copy the good bits from it and paste them into Draft:Freshman Interest Groups. (Incidentally, shouldn't the latter be "Freshman interest groups"?) Good luck with the draft! -- Hoary (talk) 07:09, 8 February 2020 (UTC)

One other suggestion, KToke69, is to add categories to your article.--Quisqualis (talk) 07:20, 9 February 2020 (UTC)

This isn't an article; it's a draft. So you shouldn't add categories. However, you're welcome to indicate the categories you think should be added: just put an extra colon before "Category". So, which categories? Think of phenomena that are similar to freshman interest groups, see how they are categorized, and use the same categories, where they apply. (Work can be done elsewhere: (i) We read that FIGs are a "structure", a "learning community", a "program" -- well, which? (ii) FIGs, plural, are collectively referred to as "it". And more.) -- Hoary (talk) 09:26, 9 February 2020 (UTC)

Wrong photo

The main photo that comes up for ISLA BLAIR is a photo of Sophie Louise Dann. It needs to be deleted. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 2A00:23C6:4A06:4100:44BC:B8F2:9F79:A710 (talk) 08:26, 8 February 2020 (UTC)

Are you by any chance referring to a photo or text shown to the right of a Google search? Google's Knowledge Graph uses a wide variety of sources. There may be a text paragraph ending with "Wikipedia" to indicate that particular text was copied from Wikipedia. An image and other text before or after the Wikipedia excerpt may be from sources completely unrelated to Wikipedia. We have no control over how Google presents our information, but Google's Knowledge Graph has a "Feedback" link where anyone can mark a field as wrong. – Teratix ₵ 09:27, 8 February 2020 (UTC)

To amplify: the Wikipedia article Isla Blair doesn't have a photograph. --ColinFine (talk) 14:36, 8 February 2020 (UTC)

Editing templates

I'm a little nervous about editing a template myself: could someone help please? See Template talk:Self-reference tool. Thanks, Shhhnotsoloud (talk) 09:22, 8 February 2020 (UTC)

Username change

Hi, how do i change my wikipedia username? — Preceding unsigned comment added by Onyekachilorenz (talk • contribs) 09:34, 8 February 2020 (UTC)

The process is outlined here. Since you have so few edits, you should probably just create a new account with your preferred username. However, judging by your edit summary here, you may have misunderstood the purpose of Wikipedia. It is not a place to promote your services. – Teratix ₵ 09:44, 8 February 2020 (UTC)

Editing a table to add new colum

I am trying to update https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Stranger_(Australian_TV_series) and want to add a column about episode summary. There is a field there but I cannot make it visible. Can someone help me? Thanks. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Michael from the Shire (talk • contribs) 10:01, 8 February 2020 (UTC)

@Michael from the Shire: Fixed by [2]. If {{Episode list/sublist}} is used then it must be called with the page name to display the summary, e.g. {{Episode list/sublist|The Stranger (Australian TV series)|...}}. This is part of feature where the episode list can be transcluded on another page which omits the summary. This series only had 12 episodes so everything fits in one article and I used {{Episode list}} instead. PrimeHunter (talk) 13:32, 8 February 2020 (UTC)

Question about an edit filter

Brakkar (talk · contribs · deleted contribs · logs · filter log · block user · block log), who I am pretty sure is a sockpuppet of a blocked user[3] -- I am not 100% sure which of several possible blocked users he is a sock of -- has been making dubious changes to NATO phonetic alphabet (edit | talk | history | links | watch | logs).

When I looked at the filter log[4] I saw "Filter description: Wikipedia:Long-term abuse/Filter description: Wikipedia:Long-term abuse/Best known for IP". Was that a false positive, or am I dealing with Wikipedia:Long-term abuse/Best known for IP? --Guy Macon (talk) 11:12, 8 February 2020 (UTC)

You can always look at the edit in question and decided for yourself. Ruslik_Zero 12:36, 8 February 2020 (UTC)

You are assuming that I know Best known for IP's habits as well as the person who wrote the filter. if I knew what the filter was looking for and triggered on I could look at the edit in question and decide for myself, but not if I don't know what triggered the filter. (it may be appropriate to tell me via email so as to avoid training Best known for IP in filter evasion). --Guy Macon (talk) 15:47, 8 February 2020 (UTC)

I'm not familiar, but looking at the filter hit it's the type of thing that could create a false positive (indeed there's dozens of distinct hits with no blocks in the last few days alone). I'd recommend either reading up or finding an expert on the subject, because I don't think knowledge of the filter will help you. -- zzuuzz ^(talk) 16:06, 8 February 2020 (UTC)

Task force

How can I start a task force for a football club?  S A H A  11:23, 8 February 2020 (UTC)

You need to read WP:WikiProject Football/Task forces and sub-projects. --David Biddulph (talk) 11:39, 8 February 2020 (UTC)

Regarding Elham Malekpoor Arashlu

Dear who concerns about this letter,

I am Elham Malekpoor Arashlu, an Iranian poet and activist. I have found a Wikipedia page about myself on the link below which has been made without my awareness and containing wrong information about me. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elham_Malekpoor_Arashlu

I would like to ask you to remove or edit the page.

Kind regards, Elham Malekpoor Arashlu — Preceding unsigned comment added by 2A02:1810:CD2C:7600:3509:DB10:FFBA:FAFA (talk) 12:03, 8 February 2020 (UTC)

Please feel free to go to Talk:Elham Malekpoor Arashlu and describe any errors in the article along with any reliable sources to support what you would like to see done. In general, as Wikipedia summarizes what independent reliable sources state about article subjects, the subject's consent is not required for the existence of an article about them. However, if you don't meet the criteria for an article, its deletion can be considered. I would be willing to start that discussion for you if you wish. 331dot (talk) 12:10, 8 February 2020 (UTC)

WP:Autobiography#Problems in an article about you is the general guide to what to do in this situation, Elham. --ColinFine (talk) 14:41, 8 February 2020 (UTC)

Tried to upload pictures. Also updated article

I have updated my page and tried to add o\pictures which are owned by me. Its telling me there is no ref. I don't understand how to fix it! — Preceding unsigned comment added by Kinskilove9 (talk • contribs) 14:16, 8 February 2020 (UTC)

You had added an empty reference tag. I have, however, reverted all of your edits because they were completely unsourced. Before making further edits, please ensure that you have references to published independent reliable sources. --David Biddulph (talk) 14:49, 8 February 2020 (UTC)

(edit conflict) Hello, Kinskilove9. From your words "my page", it appears that this is an article about you: is that so? If so, please read AUTOBIOGRAPHY and WP:COI. You should not be editing the article directly, but should only make {{edit request}}s for it. You certainly should not be adding promotional text such as " You can download his shows at ..." and "Can be ordered on ...", which don't belong in any encycvlopaedia article.

The "ref" problem was that that youaccidentally inserted an empty <ref></ref> pair near the beginning; but that has gone because all your recent edits have been reverted by David Biddulph as unsourced. I don't know what you mean about pictures: I see no attempt by you to add any --ColinFine (talk) 14:54, 8 February 2020 (UTC)

Blind redirect

I have often found that a redirect from a slightly obscure term takes me to a more mainstream page, where that term is neither explained nor used. I think this is unfortunate. (For an example of this, check Elephant curve.) Is there a policy on this? Should there be a policy on this? Is there an accepted way of resolving this when the term may be deemed too obscure to deserve a mention on the page it redirects to? Yes, obvioulsy, one could write a proper page instead of the redirect. Also, in some cases a hat-note on the target page may clarify a redirect - but in a case like Elephant curve, (a) the redirect goes to a sub section, hence the reader is unlikely to see a hat note, and (b) it's hard to think of a hat note wording that would make sense, considering all readers of the target page would see it. So ... how is this best resolved? --Nø (talk) 15:43, 8 February 2020 (UTC)

That's a great question. I can think of three bad answers, but I am not seeing a really good answer.

BAD OPTION ONE: When someone types in "Elephant curve" bring them to a section that talks about the curve without calling it that. This is bad because it confuses the reader.

BAD OPTION TWO: Insert the phrase "Elephant curve" into the article just because someone called it that, whether or not this factoid meets our standards. Bad because it puts constraints on article content that have nothing to do with the 99% of readers that didn't search for "Elephant curve".

BAD OPTION THREE: When someone types in "Elephant curve" they get nothing.

Can we use create a Wictionary entry for Elephant curve and make a Wikipedia:Hatnote#Further information… link in the subsection point to it?

Related:[5][6] --Guy Macon (talk) 16:10, 8 February 2020 (UTC)

The guideline is WP:R#ASTONISH. "Elephant curve" apparently refers to the shape of the curve in File:Global changes in real income by income percentile - v1.png, but that isn't clear enough to readers. I think the redirect should either be deleted or explained. If the term "elephant curve" isn't considered significant enough to explain then we don't need a redirect for it. But based on Google, the term has significant use and could be explained, e.g. in the caption. It doesn't have to say "because it looks like an elephant" but it could say "This is called the elephant curve." It sounds like vandalism so a reference would be needed, and maybe a source comment saying "Elephant curve" redirects here so don't delete the explanation. PrimeHunter (talk) 16:27, 8 February 2020 (UTC)

I agree that the curve looks like an elephant, a large animal with its trunk uplifted to the right. I consider this to be unhelpful because I don't see any explanation about the curve. Robert McClenon (talk) 16:53, 8 February 2020 (UTC)

You can nominate such a redirect for discussion at WP:RFD, with a short explanation of the concern, and optionally a proposed solution (e.g. delete, change target, etc). This will being attention. MB 17:08, 8 February 2020 (UTC)

@Nø: If we had a way to redirect to a file in commons, we could try that, since that picture is really what the term refers to. Then, add the name and references to the description at commons. But, I'm not sure how to create a redirect to commons. -Arch dude (talk) 18:09, 8 February 2020 (UTC)

Nø, it is the common case of a redirect created when there was material about the topic and that material later being removed. Looking at the version of an article at the date the redirect was created is the way to solve these things. I'll put the removed material into Branko Milanović, the originator of the graph, and redirect there. StarryGrandma (talk) 22:51, 8 February 2020 (UTC)

Thanks, that's a good solution in this case (and a good way to investigate). As for the more general question I tried to rise, the guideline WP:R#ASTONISH makes good sense; I didn't know it existed, so thanks for that reference. In conclusion, I was right in thinking something was not quite right in the case of the elephant curve (too astonishing, so to speak), and other similar cases should be resolved too, per WP:R#ASTONISH.--Nø (talk) 15:31, 9 February 2020 (UTC)

Changing of a link to someone who has the same name as I do

Hello My name is Pete York, I have been working with the biggest DJ in the world in Fatboy slim, I featured on Fatboy Slim's album in 2006, album name is Pallookaville, which was amazing, however, when you click on my name highlighted in blue 'pete york' the link takes you to another Pete York, a famous drummer, which is very very frustrating as all the traffic coming through is being directed to him and not myself, I highlighted this way back in 2006 and was told nothing could be done, however I would like the link to be changed Pete York which is me.

Please can you help in this very frustrating situation

Thank you Pete York — Preceding unsigned comment added by 213.205.194.246 (talk) 16:54, 8 February 2020 (UTC)

There are hundreds of people in the world named or called "Pete York", and all of them have the same problem you do. Only one of them has a Wikipedia article. Therefore the article is named "Pete York". If we had a Wikipedia article about you, we would use one of several methods to "disambiguate" the name so that people could find your article. We do not have such an article, probably because you do not meet our definition of notability: see WP:N. I do not see your name in either the Palookaville or the Fatboy slim article. If you are being referred to in any Wikipedia article and your name in that article is incorrectly linked to Pete York, please provide the name of the article and we will leave your name in but de-link it. -Arch dude (talk) 17:59, 8 February 2020 (UTC)

Question About Commons

I realize that Commons, like the non-English Wikipedias, is a separate library. However, I can't find the Help Desk for Commons. So I have a question which can be answered in either of two ways. First, is there a Help Desk in Commons where I can ask a question about Commons? Second, even better, how do I tag an image on Commons for review by an administrator as a probable copyright violation? If the image were in the English Wikipedia, there are two procedures, speedy deletion with the G and F subspecies, and Files for Discussion. How do I either ask for help about an image on Commons (or how do I ask for help on Commons, but Commons is mostly an image library), or tag an image on Commons for deletion-review? Robert McClenon (talk) 16:58, 8 February 2020 (UTC)

Try Commons:Commons:Help desk. --David Biddulph (talk) 17:01, 8 February 2020 (UTC)

User:David Biddulph - I was about to say I found the answer. Thank you. I have nominated the image for deletion. Robert McClenon (talk) 17:20, 8 February 2020 (UTC)

Questionable Image in Draft

A page in draft space contains an image in Commons that is almost certainly copyrighted. Is there anything in particular that I (as an AFC reviewer) should do about the draft other than nominating the image for deletion from Commons? For instance, is there any policy as to whether I should tag the draft to indicate that the image has been tagged for deletion from Commons? Robert McClenon (talk) 22:14, 8 February 2020 (UTC)

Robert McClenon, I would nominate it for deletion on commons, and stick commons:template:Copyvionote on their commons talk page.

I usually wouldn't do anything here. There is a bot that delinks commons images that get deleted. Although I probably wouldn't move a draft to mainspace with a copyrighted image on it, so I suppose if the image is the only thing wrong with the article then you could delink it then promote, but if there's other issues I'd just leave it and let the bot do it's job. Maybe leave a comment on the draft saying not to use copyrighted images. ~~ Alex Noble - talk 10:25, 9 February 2020 (UTC)

The draft is also questionable. I don't intend to accept the draft in its current condition with or without the image. Am I correct that the image will be nominated for deletion for seven days, just like files or pages in Wikipedia that are tagged for deletion? In that case, the draft will just sit in draft space with the image for another six days, and then the image may be deleted from Commons and delinked by the bot. So for the next six days. it is a matter of waiting, just as with other deletion processes. Robert McClenon (talk) 05:13, 10 February 2020 (UTC)

Robert McClenon, yes, DR typically runs for 7 days, although if it is found to be a copyright violation (or another speedy deletion type) they can be closed earlier. Then the bot waits 10 minutes, before removing or replacing the links to the image on all wikis. ~~ Alex Noble - talk 08:47, 10 February 2020 (UTC)

Canvassed talk page template?

I should know this, but is there a template like {{canvassed}} on AfD's that is more appropriate on talk pages? There have been eight very similar edit requests to Talk:Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale, four in this month alone. This seems like the result of an off-wiki campaign to "clear the name" of a religious and social leader. I think a notice similar to the one we put in AfD's that are off-wiki coordinated would be useful but I can't for the life of me find a talk page template of that nature. Eggishorn (talk) (contrib) 19:04, 8 February 2020 (UTC)

As far as I can determine, you may try using that template on the Talk page. It should prove more effective than no template at all.--Quisqualis (talk) 06:23, 9 February 2020 (UTC)