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January 5

Creating a link to another Wikipedia page.

Dear Help Desk,

I am currently working on a page https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jacob_Ben-Ami and would like to create a link to a play in which he acted called "We Will Never Die" which can be found at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/We_Will_Never_Die

How do I do this?

Thanks.

§ — Preceding unsigned comment added by Kaboodilski (talk • contribs) 07:19, 5 January 2021 (UTC)[reply]

@Kaboodilski: You can look at existing code to see how it does something. ''[[We Will Never Die]]'' produces We Will Never Die. The outer apostrophes make italics. PrimeHunter (talk) 07:41, 5 January 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Thank you PrimeHunter, it worked like a dream.

§ — Preceding unsigned comment added by Kaboodilski (talk • contribs) 08:00, 5 January 2021 (UTC)[reply]

@Kaboodilski: This is something for your bookmarks: Help:Cheatsheet. Victor Schmidt (talk) 09:16, 5 January 2021 (UTC)[reply]

@Kaboodilski: Please sign your messages on discussion (talk) pages by adding a space and four tildes to the end of the last line of your message, like this:

This is the last line of the message. ~~~~

The four tildes will be automatically converted to a signature that contains your linked username and a timestamp, which helps readers understand who said what. —[AlanM1 (talk)]— 10:21, 5 January 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Will do!

Kaboodilski (talk) 11:50, 5 January 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Mick Wheble MBE

Add to his Wikipedia profile that Mick Wheble MBE was a top under 17 amateur boxer winning the BRITISH AND COMMONWEALTH AND EUROPEAN UNDER 17 CHAMPION AND WAS A YOUNG ENGLAND INTERNATIONAL UNDER 17 BOXER. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 88.106.209.207 (talk) 09:57, 5 January 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Please provide a reliable source over at the article's talk page. —Tenryuu 🐲 ( 💬 • 📝 ) 12:39, 5 January 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Sorting search results

Is there a way to get search results of archives to be presented in chronological order? For example if I search this HD archive for my own username it will deliver quite a large number of hits. If I'm looking for something that I remember posting four or five months ago it would really help if the search result were sorted instead of (apparently) random. Roger (Dodger67) (talk) 10:01, 5 January 2021 (UTC)[reply]

@Dodger67: The ten possible sort orders are at mw:Help:CirrusSearch#Explicit sort orders. Click "Advanced search" and then "Sorting order" on search pages to choose "Edit date – current on top" or "Creation date – current on top" instead of the default Relevance. User:PrimeHunter/Search sort.js adds a link on search pages to repeat the search with any of the ten orders. PrimeHunter (talk) 10:12, 5 January 2021 (UTC)[reply]

[HELP] Uploading Image

Hello, I am in-charge of the creation of Party Animals (Video Game) wiki page (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Party_Animals_(video_game)) and I wanted to put an image on our infobox which is this https://www.flickr.com/photos/191390043@N06/50701798438/in/dateposted-public/ however, it's getting flagged and I know why but would you be able to tell me what is the best way for us to upload the image?

I'll be waiting for a reply. Thank you.

Mikobonits (talk) 10:42, 5 January 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Before you can think of copying the image to Wikipedia you will have to change its license, which at present says "all rights reserved". It need to be put into the public domain or given a CC BY SA-4.0 (or similar) license. Note that commercial use must be allowed. Mike Turnbull (talk) 11:01, 5 January 2021 (UTC)[reply]

@Michael D. Turnbull: a cover image like this will pass fair use so a re-license is not necessary. Arguably, it is not the "best way" for a business to publish their media, either. I've uploaded File:Party Animals cover.jpg and added it to the article. – Finnusertop (talk ⋅ contribs) 12:17, 5 January 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Hello, Mikobonits. If you are "in charge of the creation" of a Wikipedia article, you need to read about ownership of articles, about editing with a conflict of interest and possibly about Paid editing. --ColinFine (talk) 13:03, 5 January 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Lee J Hopper

How can I add this author to Wikipedia — Preceding unsigned comment added by Portico03140 (talk • contribs) 12:11, 5 January 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Portico03140, you would have to establish Hopper is notable by Wikipedia's standards. If you have around three or four reliable, independent sources it has a fighting chance as a draft. I'll caution you now that creating an article is one of the hardest things to do here, and it might be better to take smaller steps first like existing pre-existing articles or going through tutorials like The Wikipedia Adventure. —Tenryuu 🐲 ( 💬 • 📝 ) 12:38, 5 January 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Find which pages I created that are reviewed

If I search here, I can find the Curation log of specific pages, but I want to search for all pages that I edited, or at least created. link ~ Shushugah (talk) 14:37, 5 January 2021 (UTC)[reply]

@Shushugah: You've created 14 articles, according to this link. There's also this link which shows all pages you've created. Seagull123 Φ 15:13, 5 January 2021 (UTC)[reply]

@Seagull123: Thank you for the speedy reply. Which one of those pages are reviewed? Currently I'd need to enter each one manually in this Curated Page Review log Shushugah (talk) 15:43, 5 January 2021 (UTC)[reply]

@Shushugah: hmmm, I'm not sure how you'd do that, unfortunately. Perhaps one of the tools in this template (or this one) might help? Seagull123 Φ 16:55, 5 January 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Want to rectify the mistakes in MARAVAR

There are lots of mistakes and misconception in the artice MARAVAR — Preceding unsigned comment added by 49.207.136.13 (talk) 15:41, 5 January 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Please start a discussion on that article's talk page. RudolfRed (talk) 16:05, 5 January 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Courtesy link: Maravar TimTempleton ^(talk) ^(cont) 20:08, 5 January 2021 (UTC)[reply]

How to edit.

Can anyone please help me with some basic information over how to edit and put references in Wikipedia? Thank you in advance.Lemofe (talk) 15:57, 5 January 2021 (UTC)[reply]

@Lemofe: does WP:REFBEGIN help you? Victor Schmidt (talk) 16:20, 5 January 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Lemofe see WP:TUTORIAL. Gråbergs Gråa Sång (talk) 20:02, 5 January 2021 (UTC)[reply]

@Lemofe: You may also want to try the interactive learning game at WP:ADVENTURE RudolfRed (talk) 01:54, 6 January 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Mescalero Sands National Natural Landmark

I noticed that you were wanting more information about the Mescalero Sands NNL in New Mexico. I fought for 14 years (1961-1975) to get the three main dunes set aside as an Outstanding Natural Area (ONA) so I guess I may have the best advantage/knowledge to tell the history of that achievement. I have done several shows of my photography during the effort and have attached what I usually hand out at my presentations. However, I am also attaching what I sent to Wikipedia for review as outlined in your directions of format/editing but have not had a response. I made it clear that I am open to any changes and/or deletions/additions as requested. I am currently Library Coordinator and Scholar in Residence at Trinidad State in Trinidad, CO

Draft article

Mescalero Sands of New Mexico National Natural Landmark By Calvin B. Smith "The solitude swept over me but so did an enriching, overwhelming peace." Beginning in 1961 Calvin B. Smith began an extensive reconnaissance of the Mescalero Sands of New Mexico. The Mescalero Sands National Natural Landmark lies just below the western edge of the Llano Estacado known as Mescalero Ridge, locally called "The Caprock". U. S. Highway 380 bisects this sandy region located midway between Roswell and Tatum, New Mexico. The most outstanding physiological feature from Mescalero Point, 4,511 feet above sea level are three very light colored mobile dunes named the Mescalero Sands by early pioneers and travelers through the area. The dune field is located 10 miles west of the small combination Post Office and general store of Caprock, New Mexico and from 6 to 10 miles south of U. S. 380. A separate mobile dune field is located just south of U. S. 380, 36 miles east of Roswell, New Mexico is open for All Terrain Vehicles (ATV's). The 610-acre recreational area designated by the Bureau of Land Management as the Mescalero Sands North Dune Off Highway Vehicles (OHV) Area. The three main dunes are located at the extreme northern limits of the Chihuahuan Desert and peripheral grasslands environment of the southern end of the Great High Plains making it ideal for ecotonal studies. The climate is typically semi-arid but influenced by both the Upper and Lower Sonoran vegetative groups with mesquite, creosote bush and occasional juniper with dominant "Quercus harvardii", called shin oak or shinnery, surrounding and separating the dune fields. The rainfall averages 15 inches a year and 200 days without a killing frost from April to October. The potential evaporation can reach 33 inches per year considering the 60-70 percent of sunshine. Temperatures are generally mild but can range from 110 to minus 25 degrees Fahrenheit. From Mescalero Point to the base of Mescalero Ridge the escarpment drops off steeply to 4,200 feet or about 300 feet to the sandy environments. There is a slight downward topographic change westward to the Pecos River approximately 40 miles away with a channel altitude of 3,600 feet at this point in its drainage. The escarpment is essentially composed of the Dockum-Lykins formation of the Upper Triassic and is overlaid by the Ogallala formation which is of a limestone composition commonly referred to as caliche which is of Pliocene age. There are Permian outcrops in the breaks around the Pecos River but the sandy regions are from Quaternary origins composed of Pleistocene and Altithermal period Aeolian deposits created during the Altithermal some 7,500 years ago. Unlike the White Sands National Monument to the west of Alamogordo, New Mexico which are composed of gypsum, the Mescalero Sands are fine grain quartz attributed to the Monahans deposition. They overlay the Judkin formation of the mid-Wisconsin glaciation some 18-20,000 years ago and are from lake beds that have been dated from snail samples to approximately 13,000 years ago. The oak forest of shin-high, Quercus harvardii, stabilizes most of the dune field with only a few mobile dunes which, due to the prevailing southwesterly winds move up to ten feet a year to the northeast. The dunes themselves are normally Barcan in form, reaching heights of 60-70 feet, but as they move perpendicular to the winds they become lenticular in shape. Being just above the alluvium, moisture bearing strata, there are a few seep springs within the three main dunes and windmills are pumping water from 35-65 feet deep. There were many springs at the base of the escarpment during the historic settlement period at the turn of the 20th century and best known was Mescalero Springs which supplied ample water for large herds of cattle and horses, but they rarely flow currently. The springs and atmospheric moisture running away from the escarpment never reach the Pecos River, with the sand serving as an entrapment thus all water percolates into shallow sub-surface catchment basins. The wetness within the sands may also contribute to the vast quantities of fulgurite found in the mobile dunes. Often called "petrified lightning" these tubes of glass are formed when lightning strikes the sand. The earliest evidence of humans occupying the region is from the Clovis-Folsom Paleo period from 13-11,500 years ago. Although there are remains of mammoths eroding out of the Judkin "hardpan" three miles south of the south dune and fragments of one at the edge of the remnant lakebed in the south dune there is no evidence of direct association with humans. There was, however the base of a Folsom Point found in the center dune. It is believed that the lakebed(s) forming the three main dunes were still active until the end of the Pleistocene or at the boundary of the Holocene. The Archaic Period appears to have been temporary occupations from the west and south with few concentrations representing the early Holocene up to the Formative Stage where large amounts of arrow points, pottery and tools are common on the surface throughout the immediate area. Several middens have also been surveyed and reported just below the escarpment mostly to the south. There is also evidence of later Native American cultures such as Comanches and Apaches utilizing the Llano Estacado and the edge habitat the sands offered in alternative resources. The first European contact was not by the Conquistadors but during the Spanish Colonial Period from early 1600's through the early 1700's when "Pearlers" made treks from Santa Fe down the Pecos River to lower Bosque Grande where the Sacramento River (now the Rio Penasco) flows into the Pecos River they then cut across the sands to the escarpment with fresh water and onto the treeless and waterless "Staked Plains" on over to the eastern edge of the Llano Estacado and down to Tobacco Creek ending up on the Concho River where they collected freshwater pink to purple pearls, one of the few treasures they were able to send back to Spain. The southern end of the western escarpment was described by Captain C. L. Taplin in March, 1854, who was assistant to Captain John Pope who was in command of exploring the southern route for the Pacific Railroad Survey. He found the travel extremely difficult discouraging any further wagon or rail passage through the area and early maps indicated, "Void of Wood and Water" that prevented homestead settlement in the region for many years. Lieutenant Colonel William Shafter entered the area in 1875 in an attempt to push the Apaches onto the reservation in the Sacramento Mountains and discovered "Dug Springs" where indigenous people had dug out several springs as well as Monument Springs where there was a natural flowing spring both at the southern edge of the escarpment. The first permanent Anglo resident of the Mescalero Sands was a buffalo hunter named George Causey. He had built a house in Yellowhouse Canyon west of present day Lubbock, Texas and established a camp at the springs near Ranger Lake north of present day Tatum, New Mexico but sold out to the Littlefield Ranch and he and his brother John built a way station just north and below Mescalero Point as a stopover and resting location for freighters transporting goods from the nearest railhead in Midland, Texas to Roswell, New Mexico. Another prominent figure in the settlement of the Mescalero Sands was a character called "Old Man Harry", an English sailor who jumped ship and swam to Padre Island, Texas and made his way up to the LFD (Littlefield) Ranch and eventually established a herd of his own and built a rock house east of the south dune at the base of the escarpment just south of Mescalero Springs. He was remembered for having the only phonograph in the area before he was buried just north of his house where the marker reads: "AT REST HARRY ROBINSON BORN KENT CO ENGLAND JAN 9 1836 DIED AUG 3 1911 Out of Sight but Memory Never". Another one of the original Anglo settlers was Clyde Browning, who moved to just below the escarpment as a child when his father homesteaded in the 1880's south of Old Man Harry's place. He became a valuable resource for this story and told the author that, "if it had not been for the deer that hung out in the three main dunes they would have probably starved out". Just after the turn of the 20th century "nesters" began to take advantage of the strips of free government land that were found between the larger ranches, often under the protest of gunfire. One of these homesteaders was a man by the name of Lon Levi who in the 1920's lived in a dugout on the east side of the north dune. He plowed a field and planted subsistence crops which included watermelons. Some of his farming equipment that remained consisted of a planter and a rake which perpetuated the erroneous story that a wagon train had been attacked by Indians because of the quantity of flint "arrowheads" that had been found in the hollows or "blowouts" adjacent to the field. Although a motorized vehicle got stuck between the Causey way station and Roswell and the occupants had to be rescued, there is no verifiable evidence of a wagon train being endangered in the area. Near the old field the last of an elk herd that had been brought in by Joe Lane who owned the Four Lakes Ranch northwest of Tatum had escaped their compound and made their way down into the sands in the late 1940's and survived until the 1960's when the last old cow was killed. She had been feeding with the cattle and was shot and left by poachers and the antlers of the last bull were at the Culp Ranch just east of the north dune. The first time the author entered the three main dunes was in 1961 and he began to take 35mm slides using an Argus C-3 Matchmatic with 25 ASA film of the environs, the cultural and natural elements of this unique area which both surprised and lured him into the distinctive expanse time after time. He began to see the Sandhill Whitetailed deer that were often referred to as "midgets" but he found them to be comparable in size to the Texas Whitetail that he had hunted, in fact some of the bucks appeared to be larger than typical, Odocoileus virginianus texanus, but smaller than the Plains Whitetail, O.v. macrourus. He found that Vernon Bailey, a prominent naturalist of the early 20th century, also believed them to be a separate sub-species. J. Stockley Ligon an early conservationist in New Mexico in his 1927 book, "Wildlife of New Mexico" found them ranging from Blackwater Draw between Portales and Clovis, New Mexico all the way down to the Monahans Sands in Texas but also thought them to be isolated enough in both time and space to be considered unique. By 1943-44, H. Ernest Hall compiled a report entitled, "Sandhill White-tailed Deer Restoration" for the New Mexico Department of Game and Fish wherein he found only two remaining herds split by U. S. Highway 380 with not more than 30 individuals in each herd. In 1964 the author found his "white whale" that Ahab had pursued in, Moby-Dick or The Whale, the novel by Herman Melville published in 1851, which was a complete skull with the antlers attached buried in the north dune. The challenge was to determine if these deer were in fact an undefined sub-species and to approach the question through the scientific method he would have to know a lot more about their environment. He began by placing several nine-foot galvanized stakes marked in alternate red and white one inch intervals in specific locations in and around the north dune. The resulting evidence showed that the shinnery was holding the sands in place but that the entire north dune was moving up to ten feet a year to the northeast due to the prevailing southwesterly winds. He and a colleague, Dr. Roy Blizzard, hauled a 55 gallon drum a mile into the north dune that had both ends cut out but with a removable lid and calibrated in one inch intervals on the inside to show groundwater fluctuation in a seep spring in the north dune. Unfortunately, it was covered by a sand dune and never found again. An accumulative rain gage was placed on an abandoned windmill tower on the west side of the south dune but was destroyed by vandals. The author was greatly encouraged in observing the deer he discovered they had several morphological variations between the Texas species and those living in the Mescalero Sands. The latter were much lighter in color throughout the year with only dark patches between the eyes, on the chest and on the outside tip of the tail in difference to the "texanus" which had much darker pelage and larger dark spots in each of the same locations. However, that alone was not enough to determine sub-speciation. So, it was decided that the most sensible approach would be to try to trap some specimens and record more specific data and attach easily identifiable collars on them in order to observe behavioral characteristics. During the summer of 1967 the author and his wife, Shirley East-Smith, spent the three months on the northwest corner of the north dune in order to gather an ecological accounting of the multiple habitats within the biome. They collected 183 reptiles, 53 mammals, over 100 plants, many insects and recorded numerous bird species all of which are in the natural history collections at Eastern New Mexico University in Portales, New Mexico where they both received their Master's degrees. Another survey was also initiated during this same period to determine if different portions of the north dune were utilized by diverse indigenous peoples through time. Sequentially numbered wooden stakes were placed in adjoining blowouts with all lithics, pottery and ground stone being recorded revealing that certain areas were indeed being occupied by dissimilar groups at different times. As a result of this research showing that a non-structural site can be used for archaeological interpretations the Mescalero Sands were placed on the State Register, "giving public recognition to the cultural value of the property aiding in protection against destruction by certain State and Federal programs of construction". By the end of the study it was evident that there were only about two dozen deer south of U. S. 380 and probably only a dozen north of the highway. It was also confirmed that mule deer, Odocoileus hemionus, were beginning to move into the region having already been taken during hunting season on the southern end of Mescalero Ridge which as they moved north from the Guadalupe Mountains certainly would be a threat to the whitetail population. On January 1, 1968 the author rode into the area on horseback and found where approximately ten deer were feeding on the wild watermelons that had evolved from Lon Levi's plantings in the 1920's. About a dozen shed antlers had been collected in and around the old field and Walter Rogers, a predator control officer for the New Mexico Department of Game and Fish, had told the author that they were commonly found there during the winter months depending on the melons as a food source. The author approached the regional conservation officer, John Mechler, about borrowing some of the department's Thompson type deer traps that could be used to capture and release the deer but he and others warned me that it was probably an effort in futility because of the whitetail's cautious behavior. Due to unforeseen circumstances the five traps were not delivered until the 28th of December of 1968 and after recognizing that the deer would not enter the trap unless all the excess melons were removed from the old field with the help of Sam McCallum removed all of the melons except those being used as bait. Even then they found where the deer had dug out melons that had been covered by the constantly moving sand, the author began to cut off a portion of one of the melons and wipe down the trap and his tracks before finally capturing a buck with secure antlers on January 12, 1969. Using 10 milligrams of a muscle relaxant, sucostrin (succinylcholine chloride) administered by a Cap-Chur CO2 powered pistol, the buck could be safely handled in 5 minutes and after many measurements and blood samples taken, a neck collar affixed, a numbered metal tag placed in his ear, he regained his faculties and exited the field exactly one hour after being injected with the drug. Unfortunately, the buck was later found by seeing his collar in an aerial survey but after investigating he was too mutilated to determine cause of death and probably died around April which ruled out the possibility of a blood disease, black leg, which usually occurs within two weeks of blood samples being taken. During the next season dune-buggy enthusiasts kept the deer out of the area almost continuously but after a determined effort the second buck was captured on January 25, 1970. He had lost his antlers and was immobile 10 minutes less than the one previously using the same dosage. The same procedure for taking tests was followed but this was before DNA analysis had been developed and the electrophoresis available to the University was not adequate to distinguish sub-speciation. Both deer, by using live tooth analysis would have been 8-10 years old, but with the skull of the first buck the teeth showed an excessive amount of abrasion due to the sand accumulated in their diet so both were probably considerably younger. The second buck was observed by plane two, three and a little more than four weeks after his capture and release. During the 1800's and early 1900's a wave of new species were identified based on taxonomic characteristics alone but there was a concern that there had been an oversimplification of the differences, however with the advent of recent serological methods and techniques it has been shown that most of the original classifications were sound. Unfortunately, it was too late for the author to publish on the Sandhill Whitetail as, O. v. arenarius (sand loving) by the time the Bureau of Land Management, with encouragement of the New Mexico Department of Game and Fish, the New Mexico Wildlife and Conservation Association, the New Mexico Academy of Science and Eastern New Mexico University, deemed it suitable as an Outstanding Natural Area (ONA). By then the whitetail deer north of U. S. 380 were essentially hunted out and only a few had been seen in the late 1970’s in the Mescalero Sands and only mule deer in the 1980’s which are currently plentiful in the region. It was a small lizard, which had been taken during the summer of 1967, that helped establish the 6,293 acre preserve, now accessible only by foot or horseback and secure the dune’s permanency for future generations. The Dunes Sagebrush Lizard, Sceloporus arenicolus, (occurring, burrowing or inhabiting in sand) was declared threatened by the U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service with a great deal of pressure from numerous conservation societies and organizations but has been pulled from the list until further research on the species can be conducted. The three main dunes were declared a National Natural Landmark in 1982, as “The best example of an active sand dune system in the southern Great Plains” and the author is still seeking answers.

 References During the Initial Investigations

Bailey, Vernon 1931 Mammals of New Mexico, North American Fauna, No. 53, U.S. Department of Agriculture, Bureau of Biological Survey, U. S. Government Printing Office, 412 pp.

1913 Life Zones and Crop Zones of New Mexico, North American Fauna, No. 35, U. S. Department of Agriculture, Bureau of Biological Survey, U. S. Government Printing Office, 100 pp.

1905 Biological Survey of Texas, No. 25, U. S. Department of Agriculture, Bureau of Biological Survey, U. S. Government Printing Office, 262 pp.

Findley, James S., Arthur H. Harris, Don E. Wilson and Clyde Jones 1975 Mammals of New Mexico, University of New Mexico Press, Albuquerque, New Mexico, 360 pp.

Hall, H. Ernest 1944 “Sandhill White-tailed Deer Restoration”, Project Record Report, New Mexico Department of Game and Fish, Santa Fe, New Mexico

Hibbler, Charles 1969 Personal communication

Johnson, Carl Lane 1969 Personal communication

Ligon, J. Stokley 1927 Wildlife of New Mexico Its Conservation and Management, New Mexico State Game Commission, Santa Fe, New Mexico, 212 pp. Oetking, P., H. B. Renfro, D. E. Feray and A. P. Bennison 1967 Geological Highway Maps for the Regions: Great Plains, Mid-Continent and Texas, USGS Map Series No. 2, Tulsa, Oklahoma

Pope, Capt. John 1854 Route Near the Thirty-Second Parallel, From the Red River to the Rio Grande, Explored by Bvt. Capt. John Pope, Top. Engineers, in 1854, 52 pp.

Rogers, Walter 1968 Personal communication

1966 Smith, Calvin B. "The Paleo-Indian in Southeastern New Mexico," Transactions of the Second Regional Archaeological Symposium for Southeastern New Mexico and Western Texas, Special Bulletin No. 1, Midland Archaeological Society, pp. 3-8, Midland, Texas

1971 Mescalero Sands Natural Studies Plan, Natural History Museum and the Paleo-Indian Institute, Eastern New Mexico University, 50 pp. Taylor, Walter P. 1965 The Deer of North America, The Wildlife Management Institute, Washington D. C., 668 pp. Tuan, Yi-fu, Cyril E. Everard and Jerold G. Widdison 1969 The Climate of New Mexico, State Planning Office, Santa Fe, New Mexico, 169 pp.

Wendorf, Fred, Alex D. Krieger, Claude C. Albritton and T. D. Stewart

1955 The Midland Discovery: A Report on the Pleistocene Human Remains from Midland, Texas, University of Texas Press, Austin, Texas 139 pp.

Whitlock, Vivian 1970 Cowboy Life on the Llano Estacado, University of Oklahoma Press, Norman, Oklahoma, 320 pp.

Link: National Park Service 1982 “Mescalero Sands South Dune”, National Natural Landmarks, https://www.nps.gov/subjects/nnlandmarks/site.htm?Site=MESA-NM

Sent to Wikipedia previously:

Mescalero Sands National Natural Landmark

The Mescalero Sands of New Mexico designation was established in 1982, as the National Natural Landmark known as the Mescalero Sands South Dune, consisting of a dune field with three large mobile dunes separated by a vast oak forest of "shinnery" visible from Mescalero Point at the edge of the Mescalero Ridge escarpment delineating the Llano Estacado or "Staked Plains" at the southwestern edge of the Great High Plains from the Querecho Plains and the Pecos River valley in southeastern New Mexico. Calvin B. Smith worked with the New Mexico Department of Game and Fish, the Bureau of Land Management, the New Mexico Wildlife Conservation Association, the New Mexico Academy of Sciences and Eastern New Mexico University for 14 years to get the pristine sand biome known as the Mescalero Sands set aside as a protected research/resource environment. One of his goals was to determine if an isolated population of white-tailed deer were a unique sub-species. Surveys revealed there were only about 30 remaining in their habitat and were declining. It was not until the early 1980’s that the ONA designation was achieved and by this time, this population of white-tailed deer was doomed to extinction. One small lizard, Sceloporus arenicolus, because of its endangerment from the petroleum exploration and production in the region was the deciding factor in creating the preserve. Contents Prologue

	The Setting 
	Physiography   
	Geology 
	Natural History

Cultural Affiliations

	Archaeology 
	History 
Ecology  
In Search of Justification 
In Pursuit of an ONA 
Epilogue: Still Seeking the Answers

Prologue: The Setting Beginning in 1961 Calvin B. Smith began an extensive reconnaissance of the Mescalero Sands of New Mexico. The Mescalero Sands National Natural Landmark [1] lies just below the western edge of the Llano Estacado known as Mescalero Ridge, locally called "The Caprock". U. S. Highway 380 bisects this sandy region located midway between Roswell and Tatum, New Mexico. The most outstanding physiological feature from Mescalero Point, 4,511 feet above sea level are three very light colored mobile dunes named the Mescalero Sands by early pioneers and travelers through the area. The dune field is located 10 miles west of the small combination Post Office and general store of Caprock, New Mexico and from 6 to 10 miles south of U. S. 380 [9]. A separate mobile dune field is located just south of U. S. 380, 36 miles east of Roswell, New Mexico is open for All Terrain Vehicles (ATV's). The 610 acre recreational area designated by the Bureau of Land Management as the Mescalero Sands North Dune Off Highway Vehicles (OHV) Area [2]. Physiography The three main dunes are located at the extreme northern limits of the Chihuahuan Desert and peripheral grasslands environment of the southern end of the Great High Plains making it ideal for ecotonal studies [2]. The climate is typically semi-arid but influenced by both the Upper and Lower Sonoran vegetative groups with mesquite, creosote bush and occasional juniper with dominant "Quercus harvardii", called shin oak or shinnery, surrounding and separating the dune fields. The rainfall averages 15 inches a year and 200 days without a killing frost from April to October. The potential evaporation can reach 33 inches per year considering the 60-70 percent of sunshine. Temperatures are generally mild but can range from 110 to minus 25 degrees Fahrenheit [15]. Geology From Mescalero Point to the base of Mescalero Ridge the escarpment drops off steeply to 4,200 feet or about 300 feet to the sandy environments. There is a slight downward topographic change westward to the Pecos River approximately 40 miles away with a channel altitude of 3,600 feet at this point in its drainage. The escarpment is essentially composed of the Dockum-Lykins formation of the Upper Triassic and is overlaid by the Ogallala formation which is of a limestone composition commonly referred to as caliche which is of Pliocene age. There are Permian outcrops in the breaks around the Pecos River but the sandy regions are from Quaternary origins composed of Pleistocene and Altithermal period Aeolian deposits created during the Altithermal some 7,500 years ago. Unlike the White Sands National Monument to the west of Alamogordo, New Mexico which are composed of gypsum, the Mescalero Sands are fine grain quartz attributed to the Monahans deposition. They overlay the Judkin formation of the mid-Wisconsin glaciation some 18-20,000 years ago and are from lake beds that have been dated from snail samples to approximately 13,000 years ago [16]. Natural History The oak forest of shin-high "Quercus harvardii" stabilizes most of the dune field with only a few mobile dunes which, due to the prevailing southwesterly winds move up to ten feet a year to the northeast. The dunes themselves are normally Barcan in form, reaching heights of 60-70 feet, but as they move perpendicular to the winds they become lenticular in shape. Being just above the alluvium, moisture bearing strata, there are a few seep springs within the three main dunes and windmills are pumping water from 35-65 feet deep. There were many springs at the base of the escarpment during the historic settlement period at the turn of the 20th century and best known was Mescalero Springs which supplied ample water for large herds of cattle and horses, but they rarely flow currently. The springs and atmospheric moisture running away from the escarpment never reach the Pecos River, with the sand serving as an entrapment thus all water percolates into shallow sub-surface catchment basins. The wetness within the sands may also contribute to the vast quantities of fulgurite found in the mobile dunes. Often called "petrified lightning" these tubes of glass are formed when lightning strikes the sand [13a].

Cultural Affiliations Archaeology The earliest evidence of humans occupying the region is from the Clovis-Folsom Paleo period from 13-11,500 years ago. Although there are remains of mammoths eroding out of the Judkin "hardpan" three miles south of the south dune and fragments of one at the edge of the remnant lakebed in the south dune there is no evidence of direct association with humans. There was, however the base of a Folsom Point found in the center dune. It is believed that the lakebed(s) forming the three main dunes were still active until the end of the Pleistocene or at the boundary of the Holocene [12]. In places where the same calcareous silt base that formed the three main dunes is exposed Clovis and Folsom Points as well as representative samples The Archaic Period appears to have been temporary occupations from the west and south with few concentrations representing the early to middle Holocene. However, Maljamar Points have been found in the vicinity representing a late archaic presence utilizing the Sacramento Mountain region in the spring into the summer and the plains along the escarpment in the fall and possibly winter [13d]. The Formative Stage is well represented with large amounts of arrow points, pottery and tools common on the surface throughout the immediate area. Several middens have also been surveyed and reported just below the escarpment mostly to the south indicating a very active intrusion and/or trading of pottery from early brownwares through Glaze III. A large percentage is Chupadero Black on White with Jornada variants also being common. There is also evidence of later Native American cultures such as Comanches and Apaches utilizing the Llano Estacado and the edge habitat the sands offered in alternative resources [13]. Historical Connections The first European contact was during the Spanish Colonial Period from early 1600's through the early 1700's when "Pearlers" made treks from Santa Fe down the Pecos River to lower Bosque Grande where the Sacramento River (now the Rio Penasco) flows into the Pecos River they then cut across the sands to the escarpment with fresh water and onto the treeless and waterless "Staked Plains" on over to the eastern edge of the Llano Estacado and down to Tobacco Creek ending up on the Concho River where they collected freshwater pink to purple pearls, one of the few treasures they were able to send back to Spain [13]. The southern end of the western escarpment was described by Captain C. L. Taplin in March, 1854, who was assistant to Captain John Pope who was in command of exploring the southern route for the Pacific Railroad Survey. He found the travel extremely difficult discouraging any further wagon or rail passage through the area and early maps indicated, "Void of Wood and Water" that prevented homestead settlement in the region for many years. Lieutenant Colonel William Shafter entered the area in 1875 in an attempt to push the Apaches onto the reservation in the Sacramento Mountains and discovered "Dug Springs" where indigenous people had dug out several springs as well as Monument Springs where there was a natural flowing spring both at the southern edge of the escarpment [10]. The first permanent resident of the Mescalero Sands was a buffalo hunter named George Causey. He had built a house in Yellowhouse Canyon west of present day Lubbock, Texas and established a camp at the springs near Ranger Lake north of present day Tatum, New Mexico but sold out to the Littlefield Ranch and he and his brother John built a way station just north and below Mescalero Point as a stopover and resting location for freighters transporting goods from the nearest railhead in Midland, Texas to Roswell, New Mexico. Another prominent figure in the settlement of the Mescalero Sands was a character called "Old Man Harry", an English sailor who jumped ship and swam to Padre Island, Texas and made his way up to the LFD (Littlefield) Ranch and eventually established a herd of his own and built a rock house east of the south dune at the base of the escarpment just south of Mescalero Springs. He was remembered for having the only phonograph in the area before he was buried just north of his house where the marker reads: "AT REST HARRY ROBINSON BORN KENT CO ENGLAND JAN 9 1836 DIED AUG 3 1911 Out of Sight but Memory Never". Another one of the original Anglo settlers was Clyde Browning, who moved to just below the escarpment as a child when his father homesteaded in the 1880's south of Old Man Harry's place. He became a valuable resource for this story and told the author that, "if it had not been for the deer that hung out in the three main dunes they would have probably starved out" [17]. Just after the turn of the 20th century "nesters" began to take advantage of the strips of free government land that were found between the larger ranches, often under the protest of gunfire. One of these homesteaders was a man by the name of Lon Levi who in the 1920's lived in a dugout on the east side of the north dune. He plowed a field and planted subsistence crops which included watermelons. Some of his farming equipment that remained consisted of a planter and a rake which perpetuated the erroneous story that a wagon train had been attacked by Indians because of the quantity of flint "arrowheads" that had been found in the hollows or "blowouts" adjacent to the field. Although a motorized vehicle got stuck between the Causey way station and Roswell and the occupants had to be rescued, there is no verifiable evidence of a wagon train being endangered in the area [13c].

Near the old field the last of an elk herd that had been brought in by Joe Lane who owned the Four Lakes Ranch northwest of Tatum had escaped their compound and made their way down into the sands in the late 1940's and survived until the 1960's when the last old cow was killed. She had been feeding with the cattle and was shot and left by poachers and the antlers of the last bull were at the Culp Ranch just east of the north dune [7].

The Ecology of the Landmark

The first time the author entered the three main dunes was in 1961 and he began to take 35mm slides using an Argus C-3 Matchmatic with 25 ASA film of the environs, the cultural and natural elements of this unique area which both surprised and lured him into the distinctive expanse time after time. He began to see the Sandhill Whitetailed deer that were often referred to as "midgets" but he found them to be comparable in size to the Texas Whitetail that he had hunted, in fact some of the bucks appeared to be larger than typical "Odocoileus virginianus texanus" but smaller than the Plains Whitetail "O.v. macrourus". He found that Vernon Bailey, a prominent naturalist of the early 20th century, believed them to be Plains whitetails and saw their survival questionable due to the numbers being taken by the settlers in the region [1 & 3]. J. Stokley Ligon an early conservationist in New Mexico in his 1927 book, "Wildlife of New Mexico" found them ranging from Blackwater Draw between Portales and Clovis, New Mexico all the way down to the Monahans Sands in Texas but also thought them to be isolated enough in both time and space to be considered unique [8]. By 1943-44, H. Ernest Hall compiled a report entitled, "Sandhill White-tailed Deer Restoration" for the New Mexico Department of Game and Fish wherein he found only two remaining herds split by U. S. Highway 380 with not more than 30 individuals in each herd [5].

In 1964 the author found his "white whale" that Ahab had pursued in "Moby Dick" which was a complete skull with the antlers attached buried in the north dune. The challenge was to determine if these deer were in fact an undefined sub-species and to approach the question through the scientific method he would have to know a lot more about their environment. He began by placing several nine-foot galvanized stakes marked in alternate red and white one inch intervals in specific locations in and around the north dune. The resulting evidence showed that the shinnery was holding the sands in place but that the entire north dune was moving up to ten feet a year to the northeast due to the prevailing southwesterly winds. He and a colleague, Dr. Roy Blizzard, hauled a 55 gallon drum a mile into the north dune that had both ends cut out but with a removable lid and calibrated in one inch intervals on the inside to show groundwater fluctuation in a seep spring in the north dune. Unfortunately, it was covered by a sand dune and never found again. An accumulative rain gage was placed on an abandoned windmill tower on the west side of the south dune but was destroyed by vandals [13a&c].

The author was greatly encouraged in observing the deer he discovered they had several morphological variations between the Texas species and those living in the Mescalero Sands. The latter were much lighter in color throughout the year with only dark patches between the eyes, on the chest and on the outside tip of the tail in difference to the "texanus" which had much darker pelage and larger dark spots in each of the same locations. However, that alone was not enough to determine sub-speciation. So, it was decided that the most sensible approach would be to try to trap some specimens and record more specific data and attach easily identifiable collars on them in order to observe behavioral characteristics [14].

In Search of Justification

During the summer of 1967 the author and his wife, Shirley East-Smith, spent the three months on the northwest corner of the north dune in order to gather an ecological accounting of the multiple habitats within the biome. They collected 183 reptiles, 53 mammals, over 100 plants, many insects and recorded numerous bird species all of which are in the natural history collections at Eastern New Mexico University in Portales, New Mexico where they both received their Master's degrees [13].

Another survey was also initiated during this same period to determine if different portions of the north dune were utilized by diverse indigenous peoples through time. Sequentially numbered wooden stakes were placed in adjoining blowouts with all lithics, pottery and ground stone being recorded revealing that certain areas were indeed being occupied by dissimilar groups at different times. As a result of this research showing that a non-structural site can be used for archaeological interpretations the Mescalero Sands were placed on the State Register, "giving public recognition to the cultural value of the property aiding in protection against destruction by certain State and Federal programs of construction" [13].

By the end of the study it was evident that there were only about two dozen deer south of U. S. 380 and probably only a dozen north of the highway. It was also confirmed that mule deer, "Odocoileus hemionus" were beginning to move into the region having already been taken during hunting season on the southern end of Mescalero Ridge which as they moved north certainly would be a threat to the whitetail population [11].

In Pursuit of an ONA

On January 1, 1968 the author rode into the area on horseback and found where approximately ten deer were feeding on the wild watermelons that had evolved from Lon Levi's plantings in the 1920's. About a dozen shed antlers had been collected in and around the old field and Walter Rogers, a predator control officer for the New Mexico Department of Game and Fish, had told the author that they were commonly found there during the winter months depending on the melons as a food source. The author approached the regional conservation officer, John Mechler, about borrowing some of the department's Thompson type deer traps that could be used to capture and release the deer but he and others warned me that it was probably an effort in futility because of the whitetail's cautious behavior [13].

Due to unforeseen circumstances the five traps were not delivered until the 28th of December of 1968 and after recognizing that the deer would not enter the trap unless all the excess melons were removed from the old field with the help of Sam McCallum removed all of the melons except those being used as bait. Even then found where the deer had dug out melons that had been covered by the constantly moving sand, the author began to cut off a portion of one of the melons and wipe down the trap and his tracks before finally capturing a buck with secure antlers on January 12, 1969. Using 10 milligrams of a muscle relaxant, sucostrin (succinylcholine chloride) administered by a Cap-Chur CO2 powered pistol, the buck could be safely handled in 5 minutes and after many measurements and blood samples taken, a neck collar affixed, a numbered metal tag placed in his ear, he regained his faculties and exited the field exactly one hour after being injected with the drug [13].

Unfortunately, the buck was later found by seeing his collar in an aerial survey but after investigating he was too mutilated to determine cause of death and probably died around April which ruled out the possibility of a blood disease, black leg, which usually occurs within two weeks of blood samples being taken. During the next season dune-buggy enthusiasts kept the deer out of the area almost continuously but after a determined effort the second buck was captured on January 25, 1970. He had lost his antlers and was immobile 10 minutes less than the one previously using the same dosage. The same procedure for taking tests was followed but this was before DNA analysis had been developed and the electrophoresis available to the University was not adequate to distinguish sub-speciation. Both deer, by using live tooth analysis would have been 8-10 years old, but aided with the skull of the first buck the teeth showed an excessive amount of abrasion due to the sand accumulated in their diet so both were probably considerably younger. The second buck was observed by plane two, three and a little more than four weeks after his capture and release [6].

Epilogue: Still seeking the answers

During the 1800's and early 1900's a wave of new species were identified based on taxonomic characteristics alone but there was a concern that there had been an oversimplification of the differences, however with the advent of recent serological methods and techniques it has been shown that most of the original classifications were sound. Unfortunately, it was too late for the author to publish on the Whitetail Deer as, “O. v. arenarius" (sand loving) by the time the Bureau of Land Management, with encouragement of the New Mexico Department of Game and Fish, the New Mexico Wildlife and Conservation Association, the New Mexico Academy of Science and Eastern New Mexico University, deemed it suitable as an Outstanding Natural Area (ONA). By then the whitetail deer north of U. S. 380 were essentially hunted out and only a few had been seen in the late 1970’s in the Mescalero Sands and only mule deer in the 1980’s which are currently plentiful in the region [4].

It was a small lizard, which had been taken during the summer of 1967, that helped establish the 6,293 acre preserve, now accessible only by foot or horseback and secure the dune’s permanency for future generations. The Dunes Sagebrush Lizard “Sceloporus arenicolus”, (occurring, burrowing or inhabiting in sand) was declared threatened by the U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service with a great deal of pressure from numerous conservation societies and organizations but has been pulled from the list until further research on the species can be conducted [3]

The three main dunes were declared a National Natural Landmark in 1982, as “The best example of an active sand dune system in the southern Great Plains”.

Reverences

1. Bailey, Vernon. 1931. Mammals of New Mexico, North American Fauna, No. 53, U.S. Department of Agriculture, Bureau of Biological Survey, U.S. Government Printing Office, 412 pp.

2. Bailey, Vernon. 1913. Life Zones and Crop Zones of New Mexico, North American Fauna, No. 35, U.S. Department of Agriculture, Bureau of Biological Survey, U.S. Government Printing Office, 100 pp.

3. Bailey, Vernon. 1905. Biological Survey of Texas, No. 25, U.S. Department of Agriculture, Bureau of Biological Survey, U.S. Government Printing Office, 262 pp.

4. Findley, James S., Arthur H. Harris, Don E. Wilson and Clyde Jones. 1975. Mammals of New Mexico, University of New Mexico Press, Albuquerque, New Mexico, 360 pp.

5. Hall, H. Ernest. 1944. “Sandhill White-tailed Deer Restoration”, Project Record Report, New Mexico Department of Game and Fish, Santa Fe, New Mexico

6. Hibler, Charles. 1969. Personal communication, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, Colorado

7. Johnson, Carl Lane. 1969. Personal communication, Tatum, New Mexico

8. Ligon, J. Stokley. 1927. Wildlife of New Mexico Its Conservation and Management, New Mexico State Game Commission, Santa Fe, New Mexico, 212 pp.

9. Oetking, P., H. B. Renfro, D. E. Feray and A. P. Bennison. 1967. Geological Highway Maps for the Regions: Great Plains, Mid-Continent and Texas, USGS Map Series No. 2, Tulsa, Oklahoma

10. Pope, Capt. John. 1854. Route Near the Thirty-Second Parallel, From the Red River to the Rio Grande, Explored by Bvt. Capt. John Pope, Top. Engineers, in 1854, 52 pp.

11. Rogers, Walter. 1968. Personal communication, Portales, New Mexico

12. Smith, Calvin B. 1966. The Paleo-Indian in Southeastern New Mexico, Transactions of the Second Regional Archaeological Symposium for Southeastern New Mexico and Western Texas, Special Bulletin No. 1, Midland Archaeological Society, Midland, Texas, pp. 3-8

13. a.) Smith, Calvin B. 1971. Mescalero Sands Natural Studies Plan, Natural History Museum and the Paleo-Indian Institute, Eastern New Mexico University, 50 pp. 13. b.) Smith, Calvin B. 1971. Proposed Study Area in the Mescalero Sands, Southeastern New Mexico, The New Mexico Academy of Science Bulletin, Vol. 12, No. 2, Santa Fe, New Mexico, pp. 19-20 13. c.) Smith, Calvin B. 1985. To Save A Dune, The Greater Llano Estacado Southwest Heritage, Vol. 14, No. 1, Hobbs, New Mexico, pp. 5-3, 12 and 19

14. Taylor, Walter P. 1965. The Deer of North America, The Wildlife Management Institute, Washington D. C., 668 pp.

15. Tuan, Yi-fu, Cyril E. Everard and Jerold G. Widdison. 1969. The Climate of New Mexico, State Planning Office, Santa Fe, New Mexico, 169 pp.

16. Wendorf, Fred, Alex D. Krieger, Claude C. Albritton and T. D. Stewart. 1955. The Midland Discovery: A Report on the Pleistocene Human Remains from Midland, Texas, University of Texas Press, Austin, Texas 139 pp.

17. Whitlock, Vivian. 1970. Cowboy Life on the Llano Estacado, University of Oklahoma Press, Norman, Oklahoma, 320 pp.

External links

National Park Service 1982 “Mescalero Sands South Dune”, National Natural Landmarks, https://www.nps.gov/subjects/nnlandmarks/site.htm?Site=MESA-NM

Bureau of Land Management 2020 "Mescalero Sands North Dune OHV Area" https://www.blm.gov/visit/mescalero-sands-north-dune-ohv-area

Biological Diversity 2011 "Dunes Sagebrush Lizard" https://www.biologicaldiversity.org/species/reptiles/dunes_sagebrush_lizard/index.html

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164.47.227.50 (talk) 16:06, 5 January 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Hello 164.47.227.50, welcome to Wikipedia. This isn't an appropriate place to post a draft article, but I can move this to a draft location if you'd like so that you can continue working on it. Please note that we do not accept nor publish original research, but if you would like to write an encyclopedia article about the landmark based on published, independent sources (of which you seem to have many already) I think you've got a pretty good basis here. Ivanvector (^Talk/_Edits) 16:12, 5 January 2021 (UTC)[reply]

There is already an article on Mescalero Ridge to which Mescalero Sands is a re-direct. This probably means that relevant portions of the contribution which are well sourced should be added there. Mike Turnbull (talk) 16:21, 5 January 2021 (UTC)[reply]

@Michael D. Turnbull: Mescalero Ridge is an article about the geographic feature. We do normally create separate articles about geographic features and national protected areas when they are both notable. There is a list at List of National Natural Landmarks in New Mexico which lists the Mescalero Sands NNL but the article it links to does not exist.

IP, are you Museumsmithc (talk · contribs) by any chance? There is already a draft located at Draft:The Mescalero Sands of New Mexico which already contains your submission above, or perhaps an older revision of it. It was rejected, but the reason it was rejected was overwritten in a subsequent edit. I'll restore it, then you can have a look there to see why it was rejected and work on improving it. Ivanvector (^Talk/_Edits) 16:30, 5 January 2021 (UTC)[reply]

I think I see why it was rejected now: what you've submitted, though well-written and referenced, reads more like a promotional brochure for the park or possibly for yourself or your work, and it needs changes to become an encyclopedia article. An encyclopedia article should be a summary of key information about a notable topic. As an example, see Chaco Culture National Historical Park, another national park in New Mexico. This article is a featured article, meaning it has been peer-reviewed and identified as one of the best articles on Wikipedia. Of course we don't expect anyone to write a perfect article on the first try, but this should help give you a sense of the sort of material we include in Wikipedia articles, and how the information is laid out and presented. You can find more resources at WikiProject Protected Areas.

You might also be interested in contributing some of your work to WikiVoyage or one of the other Wikimedia sister projects. I'm much less familiar with the editing standards on those projects, though. Ivanvector (^Talk/_Edits) 17:05, 5 January 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Ira Needles

Article about Ira G Needles states he died in Iowa January 6, 1986. This is incorrect. He died in Kitchener Ontario on that date and is buried in Stratford Ontario. It also states that his wife - Marian Westover died on January 6,1986. This is also incorrect - she died in May 1987 in Stratford, Ontario and is also buried there along with their sons William and Myron. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 174.89.235.218 (talk) 16:23, 5 January 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Please provide a reference to a source for this information, such as an obituary. -Arch dude (talk) 16:54, 5 January 2021 (UTC)[reply]

I fixed it with a reference. It looks like saying he died in Iowa was a mistake meant to refer to his place of birth. The article does not say anything about his wife's death, and should not as she is not a notable person. Ivanvector (^Talk/_Edits) 17:14, 5 January 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Report about wrong information

Your information about current caliph of islam is wrong delete that page of yours don't write without confirming first — Preceding unsigned comment added by 103.12.198.92 (talk) 18:02, 5 January 2021 (UTC)[reply]

We have no control over how Google indexes our pages, even if it portrays them in a misleading way. See WP:CALIPH. Pahunkat (talk) 18:05, 5 January 2021 (UTC)[reply]

If you can find where such a thing is claimed on any Wikipedia article, by all means tell us. --Paul ❬talk❭ 18:48, 5 January 2021 (UTC)[reply]

You are late to the party. See Wikipedia:Help desk/Archives/2020 December 13#Caliphate requests for previous complaints which could not mention anything wrong that was actually in Wikipedia. PrimeHunter (talk) 19:09, 5 January 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Ukraine article in safari is not showing its flag

ukraine article in safari is not showing its flag in its artcile — Preceding unsigned comment added by 5.107.246.104 (talk) 20:09, 5 January 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Is this about the flag at the top left of the infobox in Ukraine, below "Ukrayina"? I see it in Safari on an iPhone. PrimeHunter (talk) 20:24, 5 January 2021 (UTC)[reply]

OPERATION TAYLOR COMMON (Vietnam)

Marines from 2nd Battalion, 1st Marine Regiment participated in this significant operation. Several of our Marines were killed or badly wounded. We have been disgusted for some time because we are NOT listed among the participates, nor are we referenced in the content. I was a Marine Platoon Sergeant. I led these men into battle on this operation. I was there! I have written comments in Wikipedia's article on th

Captain Thomas Michael Rutherford, Sr. U.S. Marine Corps (Ret)
Executive Director, Special Security, Space & Defense (Ret)

Sources include myself, and all the Marines from 2nd Battalion, 1st Marine Regiment who participated in Operation Taylor Common. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 160.3.130.108 (talk) 21:50, 5 January 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Wikipedia summarizes what published independent reliable sources state. While I absolutely believe you, for verification purposes we cannot accept your word as a source for information. If you have a published source for the information, please offer it on the article talk page. If you just want to document the participation of the soldiers in this battle, there may be military history websites or other alternatives with less stringent requirements to do that. 331dot (talk) 21:55, 5 January 2021 (UTC)[reply]

The talk page where you should discuss this and provide sources is Talk:Operation Taylor Common. —[AlanM1 (talk)]— 23:53, 5 January 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks for your service. It occurs to me that there may have been some upper-level medals awarded, citations for which may appear in the Congressional Record or elsewhere. You might want to search those types of sources, which Google doesn't always do a great job on. —[AlanM1 (talk)]— 23:59, 5 January 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Lisl Frank article

I'm wondering what the best thing to do with this article is. It's been tagged for 8 years as needing references as it's entirely original research ("Ronny Roberts, Aufrichtig family historian. Personal papers, documents and photographs").

There are three external links - one is to a nl:wp article, one is what looks like someone's family history page and the other is a porn link.

Google returns some mentions of her on various Holocaust-related sites but nothing substantial and the article doesn't demonstrate if she meets WP:musicbio.

What would be the best way to proceed?

Thanks!

PrincessPersnickety (talk) 22:07, 5 January 2021 (UTC)[reply]

The racy link is now gone, for a start. Thanks for the heads up. TimTempleton ^(talk) ^(cont) 22:39, 5 January 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks Tim. PrincessPersnickety (talk) 00:22, 6 January 2021 (UTC)[reply]

The Merced Gateway News

The Merced Gateway News was founded in 2008. This company is a LLC and there are two people who own it. The Merced Gateway News is focused on non-biased and non-political news for the area of Merced County, California. Located in the heart of California, The Central Valley. The website to the original Merced Gateway News is https://www.thegwnews.com

United States Patent and Trademark Office Trademark Registration #88696082

The Merced Gateway News has won numerous awards for Journalism & Photography. The most recent is 2020 Top 50 % best photography. Source Viewbug.

Two friends in 2008 came up with the name when another buddy of theirs was arrested for trying to make a super drug. They both claim rights to the company, along with some other news companys who was infringing on Merced Gateway News. These two owners are still friends and they run day to day opperations. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Merced Gateway (talk • contribs) 22:14, 5 January 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Merced Gateway, you're going to want to choose a different username, as Wikipedia's username policy does not allow promotional names, which corporations typically fall under. —Tenryuu 🐲 ( 💬 • 📝 ) 22:20, 5 January 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Guidelines for election pages

1967 Andhra Pradesh Legislative Assembly election is tagged for copy editing and I was going to take a crack at it, but the more I look, the more it just seems like an enormous mass of non-notable (but sourced) trivia. Are there any guidelines about what should be included on pages like this? Wikignome Wintergreen^talk 23:44, 5 January 2021 (UTC)[reply]

I don't think there is currently - WikiProject Elections and Referendums don't seem to have a template on offer but they do have a lot of Good and B-Grade level articles to get an idea from. Looking at that article, I think my first concern would be all the ALL CAPS: SENTENCE FRAGMENTS that just make an article look kinda amateurish. --Paul ❬talk❭ 06:38, 6 January 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Wikipedia:Help desk/Archives/2021 January 5