Wikipedia:Help desk/Archives/2020 September 1

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September 1

Sourcing for video game articles

I would like to know if a link to a video game's official wiki page (in this case, a link to the Terraria wiki as a citation for the video game Terraria) is considered a reliable source. User:thegayfrenchbullie123 (talk) 03:41, 1 September 2020 (UTC)

Hello, thegayfrenchbullie123. A subject's own website is usually regarded as reliable, but not independent, so the information which can be cited from it is limited. See PRIMARY. --ColinFine (talk) 09:46, 1 September 2020 (UTC)

Okay, thanks ColinFine. User:thegayfrenchbullie123 (talk) 13:12, 1 September 2020 (UTC)

Micronation

so ummm I’d like to add a micronation to the the micronation list article but it’s protected so how do I bypass it. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Isaiah1213131415 (talk • contribs) 21:32, August 31, 2020 (UTC)

@Isaiah1213131415: On the talk page, read the inclusion criteria. If the micronation you want added meets those criteria, put {{edit semi-protected}}, then make your request, specifying the changes you wish to make and citing reliable sources. ~ ONUnicorn^{(Talk|Contribs)}problem solving 19:54, 1 September 2020 (UTC)

use of words and spelling

In your contact page the word organization is misspelled. An when contributors use the word entitled it is being misused. They are using it as the title of a book, tv program, etc. The meaning of entitled is: "believing oneself to be inherently deserving of privileges or special treatment. "kids who feel so entitled and think the world will revolve around them"" Googled this definition, but also found it https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/entitled & https://dictionary.cambridge.org/us/dictionary/english/entitled

Maybe you could have someone to edit these pages for punctuation and proper word usage. This word was a pet peeve of one of my professors at college and it has become one of my pet peeves. Especially when newcasters and documentaries.

Hello IP user. Wikipedia is written in several different varieties of English. Try not to let this upset you. See WP:ENGVAR for further information.--Quisqualis (talk) 01:33, 1 September 2020 (UTC)

And on the subject of entitled: you're referring to the meaning that the OED dates from 1977, as opposed to the older meaning (first cited from 1381). Many words have more than one meaning: see our article polysemy. --ColinFine (talk) 09:50, 1 September 2020 (UTC)

Dang, I did it again.

I tagged a page for speedy deletion for a page move, but didn't write it down. It's not showing up in my contributions, so presumably it was removed. I'd like to check if I need to do some cleanup/moving. Clarityfiend (talk) 04:59, 1 September 2020 (UTC)

@Clarityfiend: I imagine an admin might be able to see your deleted contribs. For the future, if you use Twinkle, it will log them for you (e.g. User:AlanM1/CSD log). You may need to create the log page or enable it in some other way – I forget. —[AlanM1 (talk)]— 06:17, 1 September 2020 (UTC)

Clarityfiend, I answered you by mail. ◅ Sebastian 12:16, 1 September 2020 (UTC)

Thanks. (It was Apepi.) Clarityfiend (talk) 22:14, 1 September 2020 (UTC)

Help:Cite errors/Cite error references missing key

I'm having problems with some references in the List of countries by rail transport network size. I really don't know how to fix it. Any ideas? --Metalpotato (talk) 06:39, 1 September 2020 (UTC)

@Metalpotato: Unfortunately, there is a known bug with list-defined notes. The only solution I know of at the moment is that the notes have to be placed inline instead of in the |refs= parameter to {{Notelist}}. So, for example, the whole first note: {{efn|name=EU-presence|The '''European Union''' ... country on these lists.}} has to be moved up to where it is being used in the first row of the table, replacing {{efn|name=EU-presence}}. The same goes for the other six notes, so you have just {{Notelist}} left at the end. Does this make sense? —[AlanM1 (talk)]— 07:08, 1 September 2020 (UTC)

@AlanM1: If I understand you properly, you mean it should be done like it was done in this previous version of the page? Because I was precisely trying to move the notes outside of the table to make it easier to edit it... --Metalpotato (talk) 08:28, 1 September 2020 (UTC)

@Metalpotato: Yes, unfortunately. I don't get why that version has the 'a' note right below the table and the others in a Notes section; it seems like they should all use {{Efn}} and appear below the table from the {{Notelist}} (and the Notes section and template should go away).

FWIW, I tend to use Efn-ua/Notelist-ua or Efn-ur/Notelist-ur so as not to get confused with the numbers and lower-case letters used by refs. BTW, I reported it at Wikipedia:Village pump (technical)#Bug in list-defined references?. It's not clear whether it matched an existing bug or was a new one, and I don't think there's a time frame for resolution, so it probably has to be worked around for now. —[AlanM1 (talk)]— 08:55, 1 September 2020 (UTC)

Another case of this, noticed independently: Help talk:Citation Style 1/Archive 69#Help needed with CS1 "no key" error. @AlanM1:, this appears to be related to T22707. Mathglot (talk) 00:44, 4 September 2020 (UTC)

How does Windows know to use Wikipedia favicon?

Sometimes, my Windows 10 Explorer displays the Wikipedia favicon for links to Wikipedia. Sometimes the same program instead displays a globe (a blue marble without any additions). Checking the properties (▶ in Explorer, right-click on the icon ▶ select Properties ▶ in the Properties dialog, select the Web Document tab ▶ Click Change Icon...) shows %SystemRoot%\System32\SHELL32.dll in both cases, and both time the first item in the list is selected – a plain white paper icon. The unadorned blue marble is nowhere in that list – and of course not the Wikipedia favicon. So where does Windows Explorer take the information for both these icons, and why does it change? ◅ Sebastian 10:57, 1 September 2020 (UTC)

SebastianHelm, generally the favicon is displayed until you purge the relevant cache. I haven't used IE for many years considering its use to be to download a suitable browser and then never be used again, though Fiddle Faddle 11:00, 1 September 2020 (UTC)

Thank you for the quick reply. I'm not using IE myself; for web browsing I use Chrome. My question was about the File Explorer; sorry about using its old confusing name. Oh, and I did refresh the display with F5. ◅ Sebastian 11:09, 1 September 2020 (UTC)

@SebastianHelm: As a former (and still occasional) Chrome user, I'm hooked on Vivaldi (which is based on Chrome, but much better). Try it. Mathglot (talk) 17:38, 1 September 2020 (UTC)

Thanks for the tip; I'll ask you on your talk page about that. But here, please let's try and stick with the question of this section. So, is there any Windows File Explorer user out there who might be able to answer it? ◅ Sebastian 18:02, 1 September 2020 (UTC)

@SebastianHelm, depending on your configuration, internet shortcuts just use the favicon for the root domain, i.e. en.wikipedia.org/favicon.ico. This is a feature of Windows and the icon cache and is set automatically, but you won't see this in the properties menu as it is only cached and not actually written to the shortcut file (to my knowledge). In addition, all "select icon" dialogs usually default to SHELL32.dll. Hope this helps :) Ed talk! 18:19, 1 September 2020 (UTC)

Thank you, Ed, this helps, and I now can see an explanation for the strange behavior. First of all, I now realize that that is probably not specific to Wikipedia, and I realize I should have better asked that at WP:RD/Computing. A possible explanation for this behavior might be that when I opened instance of File Explorer that displays the globe, for some reason it could not access the internet. If that had been the case, it would make sense that it used the default icon instead. Apparently, that isn't changed by refresh. ◅ Sebastian 18:47, 1 September 2020 (UTC)

d mmmm yyyy → d mmmm

I'm trying to remove the year part from the d mmmm yyyy date rendered by {{COVID-19 pandemic in Nepal|date}}. I looked into Template:Date, and tried {{date|{{COVID-19 pandemic in Nepal|date}}||DMY}}, but it didn't do the trick. How do I get around this?

• {{date|{{date}}|DMY}} → 29 November 2024
• {{date||DMY}} → 29 November
• {{date|{{COVID-19 pandemic in Nepal|date}}|DMY}} → 26 July 2022
• {{date|{{COVID-19 pandemic in Nepal|date}}||DMY}} → 26 July 2022

Best,

Inimesh (talk) 10:59, 1 September 2020 (UTC)

Parser time function:

{{COVID-19 pandemic in Nepal|date}} → 26 July 2022

{{#time:j F|{{COVID-19 pandemic in Nepal|date}}}} → 26 July

Is {{COVID-19 pandemic in Nepal}} supposed to have trailing newlines in its output?

—Trappist the monk (talk) 11:26, 1 September 2020 (UTC)

@Trappist the monk: Thanks for the comment. Nope, the template's output is not supposed to have trailing newlines. I don't quite understand why they're showing up. Inimesh (talk) 01:51, 2 September 2020 (UTC)

@Inimesh:

{{str crop|31 August 2020|5}} → 31 August

—[AlanM1 (talk)]— 11:28, 1 September 2020 (UTC)

@AlanM1: Thank you. Inimesh (talk) 01:51, 2 September 2020 (UTC)

When will my article be live?

Hello. I just finished my bio for Wikipedia but cannot get it to publish live. Am I doing something incorrectly? Is there a wait period? Malcolm MacKinnon (talk) 11:06, 1 September 2020 (UTC)

You haven't yet submitted User:Dan Skye/sandbox for review, but there is no point in doing so in its current state. You need to sort out the referencing, placing each reference after the text which it supports, see Help:Referencing for beginners. You should also remove external links from the article text. --David Biddulph (talk) 11:13, 1 September 2020 (UTC)

The bio clearly exhibits a talent for writing; something we value here at Wikipedia. However, if that talent is only applied on an article about oneself, it is generally frowned upon. I would advise you to have a look at Wikipedia:Conflict of interest before investing further time in this. ◅ Sebastian 11:25, 1 September 2020 (UTC)

See the advice against autobiography. --David Biddulph (talk) 11:42, 1 September 2020 (UTC)

Good link. That's more to the point than the link I offered above. ◅ Sebastian 11:57, 1 September 2020 (UTC)

Recovering a Deleted Sandbox Page

Hi. While I have learned I should not have done it, I created the article Cheating in bridge on June 1, 2016 by a 'cut and paste' method instead of the proper 'Move' method. I wish to retrieve my original work history in order to verify a reference. I have tried to recover the page but was bumfuzzled by the process. The draft of the material was in my Sandbox probably under a subpage Cheating in bridge (draft) as best as I can determine. I would like to get the Sandbox page I used to cut and paste from together with its edit history. Advice please? - or can some give me a link? Newwhist (talk) 12:10, 1 September 2020 (UTC)

I sent this by e-mail to User:Newwhist. ◅ Sebastian 12:27, 1 September 2020 (UTC)

This can be done by any administrator. Ruslik_Zero 18:39, 1 September 2020 (UTC)

@SebastianHelm: @Ruslik0: I have not received an email. Please resend. Alternatively, advise me how and where to ask an Administrator to do this (is this not what I am asking here?). Newwhist (talk) 12:33, 2 September 2020 (UTC)

I can do this if you want. Ruslik_Zero 18:43, 2 September 2020 (UTC)

@Ruslik0: Yes, please and thank you! Newwhist (talk) 18:52, 2 September 2020 (UTC)

 Done Ruslik_Zero 19:07, 2 September 2020 (UTC)

Indentation within articles?

Is it possible to indent text in prose within an article without increasing the amount of space between lines (as using colons causes)? I'm asking because of the poem used at Rusco Tower. In its original publication, some of the lines are indented. I'd like to show it as close to the original typesetting as possible, but can't seem to find a way of doing it - spaces are ignored, colons create an unwanted increase in space between the lines. Any clever thoughts? Thanks GirthSummit _(blether) 12:35, 1 September 2020 (UTC)

@Girth Summit: {{In5}}? —[AlanM1 (talk)]— 12:39, 1 September 2020 (UTC)

AlanM1, cool - that looks perfect, thank you. :) GirthSummit _(blether) 12:41, 1 September 2020 (UTC)

@Girth Summit:

"3" by e. e. cummings, from Seven Poems

3 infinite jukethrob smoke & swallow to dis  gorge)         a sulky gob with entirely white  eyes of elsewhere                    jabber while (infinite  fog & puking jukepulse hug) large less  than more magnetic pink unwhores                                     a wai  ter lugs his copious whichwhat skilfully here  &(simply infinite)there &                           (smoke)a fair  y socked flopslump (& juke) ing shrieks Yew May  n't Dew Thiz Tew Mee                          as somebody's almost moth  er folds (but infinite) gently up                                    the with  a carroty youth blonde whis (gorgedis reswal  lowing spewnonspew clutch)pers again & again  (jukejog mist & strict)                           & again                                  (ly infin)  It's Snowing Isn't That Perfectly Wonderful

Mathglot (talk) 10:12, 2 September 2020 (UTC)

Mathglot, interesting. If I'm reading that correctly (the code, rather than the poem!), the <poem></poem> tags will allow you to use spaces to indent text. Looking at Rusco Tower, it appears already to be using those tags, and so I could have just used spaces rather than the in template to achieve the same effect - that wasn't working for me earlier, I definitely tried it, but perhaps it was before I'd put those tags on. Oh well - I've learned two things from asking this question :) GirthSummit _(blether) 10:19, 2 September 2020 (UTC)

RE: Frank Wright (painter) page; copyright clarifications ArtofFrankWright (talk) 15:27, 1 September 2020 (UTC)artoffrankwright

 Courtesy link: Frank Wright (painter)

Hi, I really need your help!

I am clearly a first time contributor to Wikipedia and made mistakes!

I am the copyright holder of Frank Wright (painter). Frank Wright recently died. I am his daughter, the executor of his estate and have power of attorney.

I manage my father's web page, 1 as well as his email.

A former student of my father's Robert Liberace started the Frank Wright (Painter) Wikipedia page without my father's consent and with A LOT of incorrect information.

Recently I added a great deal of text to his Wikipedia page from his paid death notice for the Washington Post, which I wrote.

It was taken down because copyright infringement.

How do I do this right?

ArtofFrankWright (talk) 15:27, 1 September 2020 (UTC)ArtofFrankWright (Suzanne Wright)

Welcome to Wikipedia. There are a few concerns:

• You should address your conflict of interest with the subject.
• You should find a reliable, independent source to find the information from. The information that you are using should not be copied and pasted, but rather paraphrased. —Tenryuu 🐲 ( 💬 • 📝 ) 15:41, 1 September 2020 (UTC)

​Pinging this time. —Tenryuu 🐲 ( 💬 • 📝 ) 15:42, 1 September 2020 (UTC)

Hello, ArtofFrankWright. I'm sorry for your loss. But, to expand on what Tenryuu said: Wikipedia does not accept copyright material from anywhere, unless it is released under a suitable licence such as CC-BY-SA (which allows anybody to reuse or change it for any purpose as long as they attribute it). It is possible for you to release the material under that licence if you wish - see donating copyright materials; but there is probably no point in doing so, because it is unlikely to be appropriate. Wikipedia has basically no interest in what the subject of an article says about themselves, or what their associates say about them: it is only interested in what peopkle who have no connection with them have chosen to publish about them. So an article about your father should be based close to 100% on what people who have no connection with him - not yourself, not his agents or galleries - have published about him in reliable places. Your best course is to find such sources, and (after declaring your conflict of interest) is to post Edit requests on the article's talk page. --ColinFine (talk) 17:28, 1 September 2020 (UTC)

Adding a photo to a company Wiki

Hello!

I am trying to upload a logo for my companies Wiki, but when I do so, it says I cannot because I am not an administrator. At the bottom of the message it states "request access", but when I click on that, this appears: Administrators' noticeboard/Blocks and protections From Wikimedia Commons, the free media repository Jump to navigationJump to search This page does not currently exist. You can search for this page title in other pages or create this page.

My boss is the administrator, but he got kicked out and cannot edit the page any longer.

Here is the link to the page I am trying to upload a photo to: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Texas_Alliance_of_Energy_Producers — Preceding unsigned comment added by Katiemulloy (talk • contribs) 16:15, 1 September 2020 (UTC)

@Katiemulloy: I will reply in more detail on your talk page at User talk:Katiemulloy. Please take no further action until you read that reply. -Arch dude (talk) 16:55, 1 September 2020 (UTC)

First of all, please read WP:PAID and make the required disclosure. This is a terms of Use requirement (Section 4) and not negotiable. This equally applies to the account of your boss. Secondly, we will need OTRS permission here. Thirdly, I would like to know you'r bosses account name so we can look how he got kicked out and what's the way forward. Thirdly, it's not your company's page but Wikipedia's article about your company, and your boss isn't the administrator of that page. If you want to add that to the article, try this:. Victor Schmidt (talk) 17:08, 1 September 2020 (UTC)

Maybe this article can be merged

European countries by forest area is a smaller version of List of countries by forest area. It doesn't really add much over the latter. Maybe it should be merged? Aquatic Ambiance (talk) 16:17, 1 September 2020 (UTC)

You can propose this merge yourself as outlined in WP:Merging. Ruslik_Zero 18:35, 1 September 2020 (UTC)

Ok I think I meant removing it, since it really doesn't add anything to the already existing page :) Sorry, I didn't knew the right word. Aquatic Ambiance (talk) 19:19, 1 September 2020 (UTC)

For a merger, adding a continent column to the table in List of countries by forest area would be nice. Clarityfiend (talk) 22:18, 1 September 2020 (UTC)

Aquatic Ambiance You could always move any unique information in European countries by forest area to List of countries by forest area, then boldly redirect European countries by forest area to List of countries by forest area.~ ONUnicorn^{(Talk|Contribs)}problem solving 23:15, 1 September 2020 (UTC)

Permission Request to Move/Rename Page (DJO)

The page currently listed as DJO Global https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DJO_Global has legally changed its name to DJO, LLC. This page needs to be renamed to "DJO". I have updated the page copy but need permission to update the name since the "move" option is not shown. I am logged in as "djo account". Please advise. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Djo account (talk • contribs) 16:46, 1 September 2020 (UTC)

Djo account, if you would like a page to be moved, start a discussion on the article's talk page and ping recent contributors using the {{u|Username}} template. Giraffer (munch) 17:51, 1 September 2020 (UTC)

@Djo account: your username is not in compliance with our rules for usrnames: see WP:USERNAME, because it appears to represent a company (or perhaps a corporate position) instead of you as an individual. Please either go through the hassle of changing the name, or simply abandon it and create a new account. Under your new account, please comply with the requirements at WP:PAID. -Arch dude (talk) 00:13, 2 September 2020 (UTC)

Converting text to lower case

Is there a way to easily convert words in capital letters to lower case within the edit box, i.e. without having to retype everything? If not how would I request such a feature? (The offending page is here).--Shantavira|^{feed me} 17:04, 1 September 2020 (UTC)

I don't know of a way in WP to do it easily. So, I searched the internet and found this site that changes the case of text. After a couple tweaks (changing "Of" and "The" to "of" and "the"), the text should be pretty grammatically sound. †dismas†|^(talk) 22:22, 1 September 2020 (UTC)

Archiving using Roman numerals

Might seem stupid, but is there a way I can get a bot (ClueBot or Lowercase sigma) to archive my TP using Roman numerals instead of numbers or dates. I have started doing it manually because I didn't see a way but have I missed something? Thanks, Giraffer (munch) 17:48, 1 September 2020 (UTC)

Giraffer, I wouldn't have used the word “stupid”, but it does seem odd. Why should this be worth anybody's time? ◅ Sebastian 19:56, 1 September 2020 (UTC)

Eh. I'm weird about these things... Giraffer (munch) 20:02, 1 September 2020 (UTC)

This is not the place to be judgmental, not even about oneself. Understanding how this would help you would just give the helpers a bit of a motivation. ◅ Sebastian 20:33, 1 September 2020 (UTC)

Sebastian, ever seen a Wikipedian with a custom signature, such as EvergreenFir? Custom signatures are an example of personalization. Giraffer just wants to personalize his talk page. It seems like this should be self-evident. MrThunderbolt1000T (talk) 03:41, 2 September 2020 (UTC)

Aloha! EvergreenFir (talk) 04:19, 2 September 2020 (UTC)

@Giraffer: The bot can be instructed to archive to any subpage. Something like this should work...

{{User:MiszaBot/config
| algo=old(90d)
| archive=User talk:Giraffer/Archive I
| archiveheader={{Archive navigation}}
| minthreadsleft=5
| minthreadstoarchive=2
}}

...but it will be up to you to increment the roman numeral when you think the current archive is big enough, and you will have to fix the {{Archive navigation}} template at the top of each archive to fill in the prev and next. -- John of Reading (talk) 06:33, 2 September 2020 (UTC)

Just what I needed, thanks! Giraffer (munch) 06:49, 2 September 2020 (UTC)