Wikipedia:Help desk/Archives/2020 January 28

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January 28

Making edits, and getting them accepted

Hi, I tried making some edits to correct some errors in an article about Ellen Ternan. They were rejected by Gogolwold withing 30 seconds----hardly sufficient time to read them, let alone verify the facts! I replied to Gogolwold explaining the need for the corrections, but received no response. Can someone please advise how one can make edits with the confidence that they will be verified before being peremptorily rejected. Thankyou — Preceding unsigned comment added by 2001:8003:5499:4A00:150E:540:106F:7A6C (talk) 00:24, 28 January 2020 (UTC)

It isn't clear where you attempted to reply to User:Gogolwold; apparently not at User talk:Gogolwold and there were no further edits from Special:Contributions/Slingsbyb other than your attempted edit to Ellen Ternan. If you wish to discuss the article, the place to do it it as Talk:Ellen Ternan, supporting your proposed changes by references to published reliable sources. --David Biddulph (talk) 00:44, 28 January 2020 (UTC)

You made a number of changes in the form of parenthetical editorial comments and with no references. Any new changes patroller would revert such a contribution "within 30 seconds" without further analysis. But that's OK! See WP:BRD. It does not mean Wikipedia completely rejects your changes, it merely means that one other editor (well, two other editors of you count me) thinks you need to discuss them first. Proceed to the articles talk page and raise your issues there. You will have a bigger impact if you can provide reliable sources. -Arch dude (talk) 02:43, 28 January 2020 (UTC)

Greetings, Slingsbyb. Please note that not only is it better if you use reliable sources to support your editorial asides in the article Ellen Ternan, it is absolutely essential. The article is not a place to battle for the victory of one's chosen perspective. Even with very good sources in support of your views, your wording was entirely unencyclopedic. Wikipedia is not a public forum. Please take this to heart in your future Wikipedia edits, new editor. And kindly make the effort to sign in to your account prior to editing. It will save your fellow editors a lot of work.--Quisqualis (talk) 04:19, 28 January 2020 (UTC)

Thankyou all for your help-. As a first time 'editor' , I was not sure how to proceed---so I just inserted my comments with the expectation that someone would contact me for verification/refutation before publication. I have found it very difficult, as an aging beginner, to find my way through all these 'talk' pages. Is there a simple step by step user guide somewhere in the system for establishing these 'talk pages'?

Cheers, Slingsbyb — Preceding unsigned comment added by 110.144.7.135 (talk) 04:59, 28 January 2020 (UTC)

Help:Talk pages may show you a thing or two. Also check the articles it links tto.--Quisqualis (talk) 05:06, 28 January 2020 (UTC)

information

Is there any way to stop someone from adding personal information about you on a page you didn't create? — Preceding unsigned comment added by Susansteinberg (talk • contribs) 00:40, 28 January 2020 (UTC)

What can I do about someone repeatedly adding personal information to a page about which I'm the subject? I didn't create the page. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Susansteinberg (talk • contribs) 00:48, 28 January 2020 (UTC)

See WP:Autobiography#Problems in an article about you. --David Biddulph (talk) 00:51, 28 January 2020 (UTC)

Susansteinberg If the information in question is publicly available, it will be difficult to just remove it. If it is not publicly available, you should discuss the issue with the other editors involved, either directly or on the article talk page. You may also want to verify your identity with Wikipedia by following the instructions at WP:REALNAME. 331dot (talk) 00:58, 28 January 2020 (UTC)

@Susansteinberg: You might also wish to read WP:BLP to see the policy on what is appropriate and what is not appropriate information about living people. -Arch dude (talk) 02:25, 28 January 2020 (UTC)

Gary Owen

You are insensitive and racist!!! Calling Gary Owens a “wigger”. Look up your explanation of a wigger. Shame on you Wikipedia. Maybe we should put you on the tv news or send these comments to a national talk show!!!! — Preceding unsigned comment added by 47.196.167.108 (talk) 03:17, 28 January 2020 (UTC)

Gary Owen (comedian) had been vandalised. The vandalism has now been reverted. --kingboyk (talk) 03:28, 28 January 2020 (UTC)

Saving A page (to book Creator??)

I have made "Book creator" SEVERAL times on this site while signed in and once again it says "o pages"; ALSO, tonight when I was trying to save a page, I tried to "help myself first" by going to the help page about book creator and EVEN THOUGH IT SEEMS LIKE IT IS ENABLED I did not see the supposed box on the article I was reading that says "save this page" SOOOO 1) how does one create a book to save pages that STAYS UNDER YOUR NAME --just to save articles, not to edit or add an article 2) if Book creator isn't working, do you just add the apge to your watchlist to try to save it??? THX!!!Ruthhstraussmd (talk) 06:57, 28 January 2020 (UTC)

This question seems to be related to User:Ruthhstraussmd/Books/ruthhstraussmd/books, but I'm not familiar with this part of WP. Anyone else? Gråbergs Gråa Sång (talk) 08:21, 28 January 2020 (UTC)

changing username

Wikipedia has suggested I change my username but I don't know how--can't find out and when I click on my name, it doesn't give an option to change--THX!!!! — Preceding unsigned comment added by Ruthhstraussmd (talk • contribs) 07:02, 28 January 2020 (UTC)

Ruthhstraussmd, see WP:Changing username. In your case, I think "Users who have made very few edits are encouraged to register a new account and discard the old one." is the simple way to go. "Discard" in this case means "stop using". Gråbergs Gråa Sång (talk) 08:13, 28 January 2020 (UTC)

JAlbum -

I have been making edits to a page which was called Jalbum. My last change was a MOVE to "JAlbum -" because the real name as used by the creator of the software is "jAlbum" and when I tried to change the name to "JAlbum" it was disallowed because there was already a redirection page called "JAlbum". Apparently the history is that there was originally a page called JAlbum that has been deleted for irrelevance. (see the "talk page" at Talk:JAlbum -- and also User pages at User_talk:MichaelJanich#JAlbum and User_talk:Pamonwiki)

After the MOVE, my earlier edits seem to have disappeared from the content of "JAlbum -" Is there anything which can be done to correct this situation without destroying history? Jimberryau (talk) 08:08, 28 January 2020 (UTC)

JAlbum has no relevant edit history, you can request a technical move WP:RM#TR, i.e., ask for admin help for a non-controversial "move over redirect". –84.46.53.165 (talk) 14:27, 28 January 2020 (UTC)

 Done Page moved to JAlbum, and {{lowercase title}} added so that the title renders as jAlbum. --kingboyk (talk) 01:54, 29 January 2020 (UTC)

Help with correct syntax/formatting to use with occupation edits (and is there a simpler way?).

Hello there, Finding this all a bit overwhelming - so hoping for a kind soul to explain. I'm definitely on visual editing rather than source as this is early days! I can not see a simple way to update a person who only has one occupation listed (in the infobox person section) and now has another job role to add. Firstly, am I looking in the right place to update/edit? I can not find anywhere apart from the infobox to add occupation details. If I select infobox person edit: I see occupation is: { { hlist|Author } } I would like to add Radio Presenter to that so 2 occupations show in the infobox. Would it look like this: { { hlist|Author, Radio Presenter } } or { { hlist|Author } } { { hlist|Radio Presenter } }

(Minus the spaces - done so you could see the formatting)

Or am I completely missing the mark - I've looked at other pages and seen different layouts and formatting just to confuse me more. I'd be grateful if you could go easy on me as this is my first edit and want to figure things out without impacting on existing information in a messy/unhelpful way. The visual editing for beginners is great, but as soon as you need to stray from the basic text, it becomes a steep learning curve. Hope that made sense and thank you in advance for any help. — Preceding unsigned comment added by FrankenElvis (talk • contribs) 09:18, 28 January 2020 (UTC)

Hello, FrankenElvis. The place to look is Template:hlist, which shows that you need {{hlist|Author|Radio Presenter}}. (Don't look at the source of this post: it's how it appears on the published page that you must put into the source of the article). When you see double curly brackets, it's almost always using a template, which you can look at by typing the name into the search box with "Template:" on the front. --ColinFine (talk) 16:01, 28 January 2020 (UTC)

Many thanks, I will give that a go. Appreciate the help. FrankenElvis (talk) 16:21, 28 January 2020 (UTC)

ColinFine Thank you, worked exactly as stated - cheers. FrankenElvis (talk) 09:05, 30 January 2020 (UTC)

Can not upload photo :-(

I like to upload a photo but i receive this message:

We could not determine whether this file is suitable for Wikimedia Commons. Please only upload photos that you took yourself with your camera, or see what else is acceptable. See the guide to make sure the file is acceptable and learn how to upload it on Wikimedia Commons.

The photo was made by my father as slide wich I scanned to a jpg file. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Frans Netherlands (talk • contribs) 10:54, 28 January 2020 (UTC)

• @Frans Netherlands: For starters, questions about Wikimedia Commons (a separate but related project) should be asked at commons:Commons:Help Desk rather than here on Wikipedia. That being said I can try to answer.

First of all, there are some copyright questions to determine. Be careful that holding the physical photograph does not automatically mean you have the copyright as well. If your father is still alive, he retains the copyright to the photograph (unless he was a work-for-hire photographer). He will need to agree to the Commons license (which basically says anyone, anywhere, can use the picture for free, for any use) before uploading it. Assuming your father is dead, you might have inherited the copyright to the photograph. Furthermore, I assume the photograph does not contain copyrighted elements (for instance, if you take a photograph of the screen during a movie projection, you will not be able to publish it yourself without violating the film director's copyright).

If you have the copyright or the assent of the copyright holder (your father), you can release it under the Commons license. I assume your problem is due to the Wikimedia Commons upload wizard wording: during the "release rights" step you ticked "this file is not my own work", and none of the subsequent options work. I would think you can tick "this file is my own work" (because even if it is an incorrect answer to the question asked, the real question is whether you hold the copyright) in that case. Make sure to describe precisely the actual author of the work in the file description later on.

The wording is fairly misleading, I will raise it with the Commons folk soon. Tigraan^{Click here to contact me} 12:57, 28 January 2020 (UTC)

Suggesting of edits to the protected pages by unregistered users

Greetings, there should be a suggest edit link on protected pages for suggesting of edits by unregistered users to those who can edit if deemed fit. This may not be the right place for posting this suggestion, if so, please help it reach right place. Thank you — Preceding unsigned comment added by 106.198.201.253 (talk) 11:15, 28 January 2020 (UTC)

The talk page of each article exists for that purpose, either informally or as a formal edit request. 331dot (talk) 11:20, 28 January 2020 (UTC)

If you click the "View source" tab then there is a link "Submit an edit request". PrimeHunter (talk) 11:20, 28 January 2020 (UTC)

Draft

Hello how do i make a draft a published article please help. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Magadu emily (talk • contribs) 15:52, 28 January 2020 (UTC)

At the moment your draft isn't suitable to be a mainspace article. You need to read the advice at WP:Your first article, and also the manual of style and Help:Referencing for beginners. --David Biddulph (talk) 16:14, 28 January 2020 (UTC)

Agency

Hello, I've just started doing some freelance editorial and marketing work for a musicians' agency and I am quite confused about the parameters of how I can use Wikipedia, so I would appreciate some advice.

I need to set up a page for the company itself as well as sometimes making changes to their artists' pages. A few years ago, the company did this incorrectly and was blocked.

From what I've read, if I'm employed by the agency I'm not allowed to make changes or create a page. However the company would be able to hire someone outside the company to do this. I don't really understand this and wonder if it's correct?

We absolutely understand the imperative for objectively verifiable information and don't want to break any rules, but many companies seem to be able to create and change pages, so I would really appreciate some advice on how to take this forward in a proper manner!

Thank you for any help! — Preceding unsigned comment added by 88.98.226.11 (talk) 17:23, 28 January 2020 (UTC)

You (and your employer) seem to have a fundamental misunderstanding as to what Wikipedia is. Wikipedia has articles, not mere "pages". This is a subtle but important distinction. Wikipedia is an encyclopedia and not a place for organizations to tell the world about themselves(or their clients). As an encyclopedia, Wikipedia summarizes what independent reliable sources with significant coverage state about article subjects that meet Wikipedia's special definition of notability. (the notability for musicians is defined at WP:BAND) Wikipedia is not interested in what a musician (or their PR people) want to say about themselves, in enhancing search results for them, or helping their fans. You seem to be aware of it already, but please review conflict of interest and paid editing(you will need to comply with the latter, this is a Terms of Use requirement and mandatory) Reliable sources does not include press releases, interviews, routine announcements, or other primary sources. We're only interested in what third parties say, in what third parties that have chosen on their own to give significant coverage to. Feel free to show your employer this message.

"Companies seem to be able to create and change pages"; that's not entirely accurate. Companies can propose changes on article talk pages as edit requests, and can create and submit drafts for independent reviews using Articles for Creation. However, most people in your position have difficulty doing this. It can succeed, but not always. You should review carefully the notability criteria for musicians(after making the needed declarations) and use the processes I mention here. Be advised, however, the vast majority of editors here are volunteers doing this on their own time for the benefit of this project, and will look upon your contributions skeptically. 331dot (talk) 17:35, 28 January 2020 (UTC)

To answer one of your specific questions: no, you are not "able to hire someone outside the company to do this". From our perspective, such a person stands in exactly the same relationship (i.e., WP:PAID) with you clients as you do and they must adhere to exactly the same conditions to comply with the "terms of use" of the Wikimedia foundation that owns and run this web site. Each editor agrees to these terms each time they hit the "publish changes" button. Thank you for taking the time to ask here instead of trying to work around our rules. -Arch dude (talk) 23:04, 28 January 2020 (UTC)

Accessing a deleted user page

I'm trying to build a case for a sockpuppet investigation, but some of the diffs I need for evidence are on the history of this deleted user page.[1] Is there any way to access this? Thank you.
Alivardi (talk) 18:54, 28 January 2020 (UTC)

The full text of the userpage, when it was deleted, was as follows:

{{Infobox royalty|name=Maharaja Karam Singh|title=[[User: Karama Kingdom|Maharaja of Karama Kingdom]]|more=|image=Aurangzeb.jpg|birth_name=Karam Dev|birth_date={{Birth date|1484|04|05|df=yes}}|death_date={{Death date and age|1526|05|23|1484|04|05|df=yes}}|birth_place=[[Barnala|Karampura]],[[Punjab]],[[Lodi dynasty|Lodi Empire]] (Present day [[Barnala]],[[Punjab, India|Punjab]],[[India]])}} .

I hope that helps. --Jayron32 18:58, 28 January 2020 (UTC)

It actually does help. Thank you!
Alivardi (talk) 19:00, 28 January 2020 (UTC)