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Wikipedia:Help desk/Archives/2020 July 13

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July 13

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Christopher Biggins Date of Birth

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Hi there Wikipedia has him born in 1900. Can you please update, per IMDB, 1948? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 76.14.125.120 (talk) 03:05, 13 July 2020 (UTC)[reply]

This was vandalism of the article that occurred about eight hours ago. The change has been reverted. MB 03:24, 13 July 2020 (UTC)[reply]
As a small aside, IMDb should not be used as a reliable source for Wikipedia as much of its content is user-generated. Consider WP:IMDB/BLP. —Tenryuu 🐲 ( 💬 • 📝 ) 05:02, 13 July 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Lupton family

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Ref numbers 75 and 71 are the same and I cannot do the technical alterations to have them "double up". Can you please help. Sorry. Please help.175.32.11.165 (talk) 04:36, 13 July 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Lupton editor, hello! Yes you can. Just try harder. Incidentally, did you notice what's written at the top of this page? It says: "If you have comments about a specific article, use that article's talk page." -- Hoary (talk) 04:41, 13 July 2020 (UTC)[reply]
Incidentally, the "technical alterations" are explained here. -- Hoary (talk) 04:55, 13 July 2020 (UTC)[reply]
(edit conflict) I'm going to help here because this is not an issue that is specific to the page in question. IP editor, for more help in using the same reference please refer to WP:REFBEGIN (or WP:EASYREFBEGIN). Are you using the source or visual editor? If you're using the visual editor:
  1. Find reference 71 and note its details.
  2. Find reference 75 and delete it.
  3. Where reference 75 was, click on Cite in the toolbar.
  4. Where the Cite dialogue box shows up, click on "Re-use".
  5. Start typing reference 71's details and it should autocomplete. The reference number should also appear in square brackets at the beginning of each result
  6. Click on the result that remains. Voila! Reference 71 should appear a second time.
—Tenryuu 🐲 ( 💬 • 📝 ) 04:59, 13 July 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Issue submitting changes to template documentation

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Hi, bit of a strange issue. I've just made some changes to {{Infobox fire department}} that require changes to the documentation. But when I try to submit the changes, the submission fails and I'm simply returned to the editing view. Here is the text I'm trying to submit. Would appreciate some help. Triptothecottage (talk) 08:18, 13 July 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Forgot to mention the page renders correctly in preview and diff preview modes. It just won't publish. Triptothecottage (talk) 08:20, 13 July 2020 (UTC)[reply]
@Triptothecottage: Invalid TemplateData can cause a save to fail. I added and removed a comma in your attempted edit and it went through. A list should have a comma between each element but not after the last. PrimeHunter (talk) 08:47, 13 July 2020 (UTC)[reply]
@PrimeHunter: Thanks - I assumed it was something of that nature but couldn't find it for the life of me. Fresh eyes do the work! Triptothecottage (talk) 08:50, 13 July 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Warnings

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Hello,

I have been doing some patrolling of the edit filter, and recently came across this edit. [1] I was wondering if something like this warrants a 4im warning, and if it doesn't, what does?

Regards, Giraffer (munch) 09:32, 13 July 2020 (UTC)[reply]

I have blocked the user. Warnings and which level to use are largely a matter of judgement. There is no requirement that one go through every level of warning before being blocked. That attempted edit probably would be serious enough to use such a warning, though. 331dot (talk) 09:36, 13 July 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Request edit to typingweb wikipedia

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Hello,

I'm a current employee of Typing.com and have noticed that the Wikipedia page (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TypingWeb) isn't updated to align with our current branding and legal entities. Please help me: 1. change the official name of the page accordingly from typingweb to Typing.com, and 2. change the owner from FTW Innovations to Teaching.com

Many thanks! — Preceding unsigned comment added by Teachingcom (talk • contribs) 13:08, 13 July 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Hello Teachingcom. Unfortunally I am unable to perform your request. I have the following concerns:
Hello, Teachingcom. While Victor Schmidt's reply is entirely correct, I think he could have been a little more helpful to you. The place to suggest improvements to a Wikipedia article is the article's talk page: see edit request for how to do this when you have a conflict of interest. However, I see that the article TypingWeb has now been deleted as "Unambiguous promotion". Wikipedia is not a place for companies (or anybody) to promote themselves, but an encyclopaedia, which contains neutrally written articles about notable subjects, based almost entirely on what independent commmentators have published about the subject. --ColinFine (talk) 13:58, 13 July 2020 (UTC)[reply]
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Hello from german Wikipedia! We just discuss a problem when someone posts a link to wikipedia in facebook or twitter or somewhere in the internet. When such a link contains a dot at the end, this dot is (often) not rendered as part of the link, instead it is considered to be the end of some sentence. For example clicking on a link like https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_Bank_St_Peters_F.C. ends up on the non existing page https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_Bank_St_Peters_F.C (without the dot). Did you already discuss this somewhere / somewhen? Thanks! --Wurgl (talk) 13:08, 13 July 2020 (UTC)[reply]

@Wurgl: This is a known issue when software tries to detect and link url strings in unformatted text. If you percent-encode the period as %2E then most software will include it in the link: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_Bank_St_Peters_F.C%2E Note that the top of https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_Bank_St_Peters_F.C says: Did you mean: South Bank St Peters F.C.? The English Wikipedia does this with MediaWiki:Noarticletext which is displayed by MediaWiki at the top of a non-existing page. Our customized message calls {{No article text}} where our actual code is. The code tests whether there exists a page name with an added period. If there does then the page is suggested. We also test for other things including an added ')' which is also omitted by some software. This can produce links like https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Example_(musician. PrimeHunter (talk) 13:44, 13 July 2020 (UTC)[reply]
Oh! I did not see the message "Did you mean: South Bank St Peters F.C.?" since I have German language in my global settings, but in a private window I see it. Nice idea! Thanks!
And as you said, %2E is one solution, the permanent link https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=South_Bank_St_Peters_F.C.&oldid=947187436 is another solution, but we are few and those who are posting links are much, much more, so explaining this problem is a full-time job ;^) However, that message is a really nice idea! Thanks! --Wurgl (talk) 13:52, 13 July 2020 (UTC)[reply]
The question should probably go to WP:VPT.
I do think there could be a solution on Wikipedia's side, better than percent-encoding everything. Make a bot create redirect pages: from every page whose name ends with a dot, create the undotted version redirect if the undotted page title does not exist yet (e.g. South Bank St Peters F.C → South Bank St Peters F.C.). We probably want some sort of categorization (on en-wp there is {{r restricted}} but it does not exactly fit). This needs community approval but I would argue it falls under the "common misspellings" use of redirects, even if the misspelling is done by a computer rather than by a human.
Technical note: if I read Uniform_Resource_Identifier#Generic_syntax correctly, paths ending with . are kosher under internet rules (RfC some number), but it must be the autolinkers that fail to guess where the URL stops. Imagine the autolinking program receives the following input:
Go check this wonderful website: www.example.com/some/path.
How do you know if the final dot is the end of the sentence or part of the URL? I suppose[original research?] most autolinkers assume it is part of the sentence because that is the most common case (but maybe it is the most common case because websites know autolinkers work like this and avoid dots inside the path component of URLs!). TigraanClick here to contact me 14:14, 13 July 2020 (UTC)[reply]
(ping Wurgl) TigraanClick here to contact me 14:20, 13 July 2020 (UTC)[reply]
I agree, a dot is not nice, maybe other characters are not nice too. But real life does not care about RFCs ;^) In German all those numbers in kings and nobles names end up with a dot. A German de:Georg VI. (with the dot at the end) roughly corresponds the english George VI (without a dot).
Using a bot is one solution which we do not really like, ~5500 redirects would be needed. And the bot need to run once every month or so. Not so nice.
Lets see, what we decide. --Wurgl (talk) 14:30, 13 July 2020 (UTC)[reply]

OANN ERRORS

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Claiming "Freeing the Slaves [...] actually turned out horribly wrong" is not a valid criticism of anything, it's a sign that we're dealing with a white supremacist who should have been immediately reverted
The following discussion has been closed. Please do not modify it.

The Wikipedia page on the OANN is wrong and incredibly "LIBELOUS."

It is full of Left Wing Anarchist lies and makes many baseless claims as reality. Such as: Confederate Revision; which is an obvious attempt by Wikipedia to re-write Civil War history to its own liking. And, not taking into accounts that the Civil War was not fought over slavery at all.

It was a pure Economic War by the North on the South for its selling cotton to Europe and going around the Yankee factories. Which were the real Slave dealers. Who setup the Southern Plantation slave base to feed it cheap cotton for their mills. With New England, i.e., Rd. Island, Conn., New York, etc. sending ships to Africa to buy the slaves. Then selling them to the few Southern Plantations that they had deals with. In 1860 slave ownership was only profitable in 2 States, South Carolina and Georgia. By all real undoctored accounts; slave ownership would have been abolished by 1870 as unprofitable and not necessary.

Thus, not having a Civil War at all. Where over 1 million people died on all sides. A war the BLM Marist (true check out the 3 black women that own the Black Lives Matter organization, they are all 3 publicly stated Maxist), want you to forget. And, replace with their own lies that it was all about Slavery. Which it was not, it was an invasion of the North against the South in order to enforce Un-Constitutional Laws that were clear violations of Southern State's Rights. The same State's Rights Oregon and Washington State would like to enforce today. Freeing the Slaves was a side benefit, that actually turned out horribly wrong. Destroying the Nation for over 100 years, creating hatred for blacks vs whites, and creating problems that still go on today. It was a disaster for all sides, and particularly for black citizens. Which ended up suffering the most, when their freedom was so close, without resentments that live on today.

There are many more outright lies, and propaganda in this OANN Wikipedia site. And, it should be taken down immediately. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 98.122.60.254 (talk) 17:48, 13 July 2020 (UTC)[reply]

If you have a suggestion for an edit to a specific Wikipedia page, please post a concise request at the article's talk page. Note that reliable sources are required for any disputable content (which is most of what you're going on about). Please also take note of WP:NLT – throwing around words like "libelous" can be taken to be a legal threat, which will result in your being blocked. —[AlanM1 (talk)]— 17:57, 13 July 2020 (UTC)[reply]
Wow. Just wow. 331dot (talk) 18:48, 13 July 2020 (UTC)[reply]
Has anyone else noticed how these people pretty much always complain about "left wing anarchists" and never about right wing fascists or the like? To me it speaks volumes about the mindset of these people. JIP | Talk 19:51, 13 July 2020 (UTC)[reply]
Freeing enslaved people "was a side benefit, that actually turned out horribly wrong." Um. —valereee (talk) 20:13, 13 July 2020 (UTC)[reply]
That and saying the Civil War created "hatred for blacks vs whites" (instead of, ya know, centuries of chattel slavery). In other words, OP is a white supremacist who we don't have to assume any good faith from, and we could have just reverted. I will collapse this momentarily. Ian.thomson (talk) 22:19, 13 July 2020 (UTC)[reply]

help with an existing page.

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Hello,

I am brand new to wikipedia and have been attempting to create a page for a local professional in my region. She seems to already have a page in German, I'm wondering what steps I would have to go through in order to get her an English page. She is a well known author and psychologist who helps a lot of people with her work. Here is her current page: https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Margaret_Paul

I can see that her page was declined from another user, I'm wondering what we have to do in order to get her page up and running because she is a real live person and I'd very much like her page to be in English.

Can you please help?

Thank you,

Michael Grinnell username m52grinnelly — Preceding unsigned comment added by M52grinnelly (talk • contribs) 18:54, 13 July 2020 (UTC)[reply]

I would note that each language version of Wikipedia is its own project, with their own editors and policies. What is acceptable on one version is not necessarily acceptable on another. 331dot (talk) 19:01, 13 July 2020 (UTC)[reply]
Indeed, M52grinnelly. It does not look to me as if a single one of the references in de:Margaret Paul is such as would establish her as notable for the purposes of English Wikipedia. (It is possible one of the books may do, if they have substantial material on Paul herself, not just about her work). En-wiki requires that articles are based almost 100% on reliably published sources wholly independent of the subject. Note also that nobody in the world "has a page" on en-wiki: Wikipedia has articles on millions of notable subjects, but these do not belong to the subject, or necessarily say what the subject would want them to say.
Please look at Translation, at your first article, and at NSCIENTIST before you go any further. --ColinFine (talk) 19:11, 13 July 2020 (UTC)[reply]
Actually, "have a Wikipedia page" is idiomatic English, like it or not: iWeb currently has almost a hundred hits for the string, as does NOW. Not that the matter of wording affects the eligibility of this person: my reaction to what I see in de:Margaret Paul is, I think, very similar to yours. -- Hoary (talk) 02:25, 14 July 2020 (UTC)[reply]
But, Hoary, it is idiomatic English that is technically incorrect and which a great many people, used to the customs of social media but not yet of Wikipedia, misunderstand. While we shouldn't jump down anyone's throat about it, a polite heads-up such as ColinFine's above is (I would suggest) always useful. {The poster formerly known as 87.81.230.195} 90.200.41.197 (talk) 08:40, 14 July 2020 (UTC)[reply]
Margaret Paul has an article in de:WP. The OP thinks that she should have one in en:WP too. An article in Wikipedia is a kind of web page, so the OP thinks that she should have a page in en:WP. I'd suggest this: Note also that nobody in the world "has a page" on en-wiki while Wikipedia has articles on millions of notable subjects, but these do not belong to the none belongs to its subject, or necessarily says what the subject would want them it to say. This gets across the message (which I agree is worth getting across), but skips the odd talk about the innocuous (and non-"technical") verb have. -- Hoary (talk) 11:39, 14 July 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Image captions

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Why do some article images display their captions when opened and others do not? Often there are long explanatory captions visible within the article with the thumbnail image, yet when one opens the thumbnail these explanations are no longer visible. They are not even listed in the Details. How do the captions become detached from the images if they are attached to the thumbnails? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 174.2.25.212 (talk) 19:09, 13 July 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Please post an example. Maybe it doesn't have an image caption with MediaWiki syntax but just displays some text below the image. That is very common for infobox images. PrimeHunter (talk) 19:47, 13 July 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Language list no longer alphabetical

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I use the full language list, and until recently it would display article languages in alphabetical order of the language code, so for many articles it would start with Arabic (ar) and end with Chinese (zh). But recently it changed to some order that seems to put the more frequently used languages on top. For example, the language list for the Barack Obama article now starts with Deutsch, Français, Español, Русский, etc, and ends with Bali. Is there a way to get the old alphabetical list back?Blacktrance (talk) 23:08, 13 July 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Tracked in Phabricator
Task T257625
@Blacktrance: This is a known issue that is being worked on. List is supposed to be alphabetical. RudolfRed (talk) 23:18, 13 July 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Irish slavery the truth

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There are pages that says the Irish were never enslaved and offensively falsifying any allegations. A woman has stated a very true story that her great great uncle was born in the 19th century in Ireland. His mother had sent him back to Ireland after they came to the America’s because she thought that he would have a better life there do to her poverty. He was then captured by a British family and forced to do labor with no pay(slavery). there are pictures everywhere of white Irish people in cages. The practices remained until the 20th century. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 2600:1010:B023:24E9:5D52:E893:6AE5:ABE3 (talk) 23:34, 13 July 2020 (UTC)[reply]

If you have a suggestion for an edit to a specific Wikipedia article, please post a concise request at the article's talk page. Note that reliable sources are required for any disputable content. —[AlanM1 (talk)]— 00:07, 14 July 2020 (UTC)[reply]
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