Wikipedia:Help desk/Archives/2021 June 24

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June 24

Ron Johnson

Don't feed the trolls JIP | Talk 10:44, 24 June 2021 (UTC)

How do you, Wikipedia justify your LIES about Ron Johnson. You are obviously Liberal Communists pushing lies. I would like to edit out all your lies. More than likely NO ONE can edit your crap and you lie about that too! — Preceding unsigned comment added by 2601:246:4A80:7B60:D5C8:4C5:C21F:9B5F (talk) 02:03, 24 June 2021 (UTC) Which Ron Johnson would that be? DuncanHill (talk) 02:15, 24 June 2021 (UTC) (edit conflict) Wikipedia has articles for many people named Ron Johnson. If you would like to provide constructive comments to improve the article, please post your suggestions on the article's talk page, with reliable sources. (Please remember to sign your posts on talk pages by typing four keyboard tildes like this: ~~~~. Or, you can use the [ reply ] button, which automatically signs posts.) GoingBatty (talk) 02:17, 24 June 2021 (UTC) They never intended to read this. Just revert this crap off as trolling. —A little blue Bori v^_^v Jéské Couriano 04:29, 24 June 2021 (UTC)

My Article

Hi guys, I don't know why my article is nominated for speedy deletion, even after the addition of the reference articles to it. I don't know whether my article is deleted or not. if not, please check the reference articles and approve my article. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Shabarish Gudisi (talk • contribs)

We are not social media, and you hijacked a userpage. Don't do that again. —A little blue Bori v^_^v ^{Jéské Couriano} 05:40, 24 June 2021 (UTC)

Spell Check BOT invocation

search: genious, a misspelling of genius, occurs 44 times. (Genious redirects to Genius) .... 0mtwb9gd5wx (talk) 06:04, 24 June 2021 (UTC)

@0mtwb9gd5wx:There are no "spell check bots", since checking spelling is too difficult - see WP:SPELLBOT - but a post at Wikipedia talk:Typo Team might attract the attention of willing editors. At first glance, most of the search results are proper names or in quoted text. -- John of Reading (talk) 06:41, 24 June 2021 (UTC)

All the search results are proper names, titles, quotes or redirects. Do not change any of them unless you have checked the source doesn't say genious. PrimeHunter (talk) 10:54, 24 June 2021 (UTC)

I'm looking for a spell checker script or tool

Is there a good script/tool for spell checking? Wario-Man ^talk 09:23, 24 June 2021 (UTC)

See Wikipedia:Typo Team#Methods for searching and correcting typos, or ask at Wikipedia talk:Typo Team. Use with caution as a lot of apparent typos are obscure or foreign words or in quotations. TSventon (talk) 10:58, 24 June 2021 (UTC)

Wario-Man, please do not revert badly formatted questions. You could add a heading, or leave it to a helper to do so in due course. TSventon (talk) 11:08, 24 June 2021 (UTC)

Noted, thanks. Wario-Man ^talk 13:42, 24 June 2021 (UTC)

Larry Heinemann

The page on Larry Heinemann does not mention the fact that Larry taught at DePaul University as a "Writer at Large," along with author Ana Castillo. I attended one of Larry's classes in 2002, at DePaul, but I'm not sure how long Larry taught there. I didn't want to add it without the proper research on his tenure. Any suggestions on if it should be added without knowing the exact amount of time? — Preceding unsigned comment added by Mikecataldo (talk • contribs) 09:42, 24 June 2021 (UTC)

Mikecataldo you would need to find a published reliable source for the appointment, see WP:RS. Wikipedia doesn't rely on editors' own knowledge, known as original research. TSventon (talk) 11:18, 24 June 2021 (UTC)

Clarification on citing most followed accounts

In article Koo (social network), the most followed accounts section has a table with 5 most followed accounts. It refers to their respective profiles. I tagged it with external links and OR issues at the top. I'm now wondering if it is allowed? Per WP:EL and WP:NOSOCIAL, it's not allowed. Or is there a provision for this exact purpose? Thanks! -- DaxServer (talk) 10:46, 24 June 2021 (UTC)

@DaxServer: Looking at this from an outsider's perspective, I don't see why the section is even necessary for a Wikipedia article. It doesn't seem to convey any notability (especially with the sources used), and could be construed as promotional. Either way, those external links shouldn't be in the body. —Tenryuu 🐲 ( 💬 • 📝 ) 12:25, 24 June 2021 (UTC)

They were removed by User:OrangeMike less than an hour ago. JIP | Talk 13:50, 24 June 2021 (UTC)

Thanks for the updates! -- DaxServer (talk) 14:25, 24 June 2021 (UTC)

Redlink to Heathrow Airport

I've just added a wikilink to Heathrow Airport at Uxbridge College#History, but it is showing and behaving as a redlink. I copied and pasted the article name and it is exactly as above, which is appearing here as a valid blue link, so am a bit baffled. Can anyone advise me? Thanks. Tacyarg (talk) 15:18, 24 June 2021 (UTC)

Tacyarg somehow there must have been a non standard character in the link. I copied and pasted the article name and that seems to have fixed it. My best advice when something goes wrong is that trying again and using preview sometimes works. And the Helpdesk often works as well. TSventon (talk) 15:36, 24 June 2021 (UTC)

Yes, there was a zero-width space in there just before the closing square brackets. – Rummskartoffel 15:42, 24 June 2021 (UTC)

Rummskartoffel, how can you tell there was a zero-width space in there? TSventon (talk) 16:55, 24 June 2021 (UTC)

@TSventon:. In the source editor, with syntax highlighting on (pen icon to the left of "Advanced" in the edit window) the space appears as a red dot. I've included a copy here as an example. [[Heathrow Airport​]] only visible in edit mode. Mike Turnbull (talk) 17:06, 24 June 2021 (UTC)

@TSventon: I suspected there might be some kind of invisible character there because the wiktext looked correct, so I copied the relevant wikitext from the diff into my browser console and then used a JavaScript one-liner

"[[Heathrow Airport​]]".split("").map(c => [c, c.codePointAt().toString(16)])

to get a list of all of the characters side-by-side with their Unicode code point. The code points for this kind of special character are much higher numbers than those for your typical English Latin letters, so finally I just looked up the one that stood out to find out what character it was. – Rummskartoffel 13:15, 25 June 2021 (UTC)

@Rummskartoffe:. Wow, I would never have thought of doing that! This just shows how powerful the syntax highlighter is: toggle it on and off in an edit here and you'll see the offending character at once.... Mike Turnbull (talk) 13:26, 25 June 2021 (UTC)

Yeah, I think I chose an unnecessarily complicated method... but I mess with that kind of stuff often, so that's the first idea I had. – Rummskartoffel 14:10, 25 June 2021 (UTC)

@Rummskartoffel:, @Michael D. Turnbull:, thanks for your answers. I want to be able to answer similar questions better next time. The syntax highlighter works in this case, but doesn't seem to work for Cyrillic characters used in "wаs а mоrning" mentioned in an earlier question. How could I use the JavaScript one-liner above as a complete novice? TSventon (talk) 09:42, 26 June 2021 (UTC)

@TSventon: I typed up a long rant on this, but I decided I'll dump it on your talk page instead of cluttering up this one. – Rummskartoffel 22:02, 26 June 2021 (UTC)

Thank you all. I'm guessing copying and pasting into a text editor might also work to solve this if it comes up again for me? Tacyarg (talk) 09:32, 3 July 2021 (UTC)

Notability:William E. McClusky - opinions wanted.

Not sure if there is a more specific place to ask. Could someone take a look at https://history.nycourts.gov/biography/william-e-mcclusky/ and let me know if based on the information there if he would meeting notability? I've taken a look at WP:JUDGE and I'm unfamiliar with the legal structure of New York to know whether that is enough, and I'm not sure if anything else in his bio is enough.Naraht (talk) 15:44, 24 June 2021 (UTC)

Sabel Starr and Corel Shields

You have inaccurate information posted about Corel and the year she was born, which put her in bed with Iggy Pop at 13-14. Why the hell is it constructive to leave lies on Sabel Shields's (aka Sabel Starr) page? Nope, not gonna contribute to Wikipedia's requests for donations anymore, you also have some bogus information published about my late brother in law, who was in the band Social Distortion. search the name Corel Shields on Intelius, she was born in 1955, not 1959. You weren't there, I was. And the information you published is a LIE. What a joke, the loser here who basically informed me that the truth isn't relevant to Sabel's biography. IF YOU REFUSE TO PUBLISH THE TRUTH, THE INFORMATION ON THIS SITE IS NO MORE BELIEVABLE THAN THE TRASH FOUND IN THE NATIONAL ENQUIRER. WAY TO GO!!!

The donations go to the WikiMedia Foundation to maintain and run the WikiMedia servers. They do not go to Wikipedia editors and do not influence Wikipedia content in any way. JIP | Talk 15:54, 24 June 2021 (UTC)

Based on research I have done, I have reason to believe that the information about Corel Shields is inaccurate, and so I have removed all mention of her from Sabel Starr on the grounds of WP:BLP policy. Cullen³²⁸ Let's discuss it 17:42, 24 June 2021 (UTC)

log in

   When i attempt to log in(I've changed my password), 

the system will not recognize me.....WHY?

Michael Burke — Preceding unsigned comment added by 2600:1700:5AA0:1B20:10E4:3342:7AFA:3A9E (talk) 15:58, 24 June 2021 (UTC)

Hello Michael Burke, what was the account's name? There is a user account named Michael Burke (talk · contribs · deleted contribs · logs · filter log · block user · block log), which has never made an edit since its registration in 2013. If you do not remember the account name, folllow the procedure under Help:Logging in § What if I forget my username?. Victor Schmidt (talk) 16:39, 24 June 2021 (UTC)

question/user page

is it possible to/how would I go about customizing the wiki globe logo on my user page to WP20_EnWiki20_SimplifiedLogo_BillionEdits its the 20 anniversary version, thank you--Ozzie10aaaa (talk) 17:09, 24 June 2021 (UTC)

[[File:WP20_EnWiki20_SimplifiedLogo_BillionEdits.svg|thumb]] Placing the code as here on your page should do it, Ozzie10aaaa. Mike Turnbull (talk) 17:14, 24 June 2021 (UTC)

thank you--Ozzie10aaaa (talk) 17:16, 24 June 2021 (UTC)

Actually, that won't work if you mean to replace the logo top left. I was assuming you were a new user who just wanted to know how to place an image but I see that is far from the case as you've been around for a long time and must have wanted something more advanced! Apologies, Ozzie10aaaa. Mike Turnbull (talk) 17:20, 24 June 2021 (UTC)

no problem, thank you--Ozzie10aaaa (talk) 22:21, 24 June 2021 (UTC)

Our page was removed and it should not have been

Hi, Could you lease help us with a page that has been removed. It was for "Brendan P. Keegan". It was recently removed and the wiki editor we hired said. "someone removed it they placed a tag that he isn't notable and the article is promotional (which was not) and Wikipedia removed it. You may request the un-deletion of the page because when I published I am not if someone added anything to it later"

Please let me know what can be done.

Thanks, Jimmy Haines Merchants Fleet

Courtesy link: Brendan P. Keegan

@Jimmyhaines: Greetings, and welcome. Several different points to consider here:

• It is/was not "your page". It was an article about Mr. Keegan and neither you, he, or his company own the article or any of the content therein.
• I did not see the article prior to its deletion, and I am not an administrator and therefore cannot see deleted content, so I can't comment on the state of the article prior to its deletion. However, in general Wikipedia is not interested in what a subject has to say about itself. As an encyclopedia article, it needs to be sourced from reliable sources which are independent of the subject.
• As a matter of procedure, the place to request undeletion of an article is at Wikipedia:Requests for undeletion‎, and as a contested proposed deletion such a request would be perfectly in order. There is a certain amount of administrator discretion allowed here, and the request could be denied if the article is deemed to be overly promotional. Further, restoring the article would not exempt it from possibly getting nominated for (re-)deletion via the more formal Articles for Deletion process where the status of the article is put up for discussion by the community at large.

Hope this helps. Feel free to ask more questions. Thank you. --Finngall ^talk 17:43, 24 June 2021 (UTC)

Noting for the record that the OP has been blocked as a sock of the article's original author, who in turn had been indef'd for promotional editing and likely UPE. --Finngall ^talk 18:29, 24 June 2021 (UTC)

Yes, I was wondering about that. Why would a sock tell us that the original editor was a UPE? --ColinFine (talk) 19:57, 24 June 2021 (UTC)

please believe to ss. meaning forget about "Offkinglear" 'account'

let the USA prevail. please oh please forget about dre.

What is your question about editing Wikipedia? --ColinFine (talk) 18:20, 24 June 2021 (UTC)

Mickey Cohen

I’ve read the page. There is inaccurate information. Rather than edit it, I would like it to be removed. I have been a law abiding member of the federal government. I’m still attached to it. I’m resentful of what it has done to me, a known relative of his.

Please remove and block all current and past editors from reinstall the page. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 174.250.194.10 (talk) 17:54, 24 June 2021 (UTC)

Wikipedia won't delete articles or block editors at a random person's behest. If there is something inaccurate, please discuss it as an edit request at the article's talk page, as you have a conflict of interest. —Tenryuu 🐲 ( 💬 • 📝 ) 18:08, 24 June 2021 (UTC)

False information about our company

Someone is labeling us as a "spamming" service on this page. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ArcaMax_Publishing ( I have just reversed that edit).

ArcaMax Publishing Inc is not and never has been a "spammer." Our business health relies on our reputation as dependable newsletter mailers for the past 20 years. Is the erroneous description is an intentional act by the editor to mis-categorize our business? This is libel. If it continues we may seek legal action against Wikipedia and the moderator/s who keep mis-labeling our company. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 184.183.132.12 (talk) 18:00, 24 June 2021 (UTC)

You need to read Wikipedia:No_legal_threats. If there is something wrong in the article, you can start a discussion on that article's talk page. RudolfRed (talk) 18:03, 24 June 2021 (UTC)

The article has been repeatedly vandalized by IPs to mark it as a "spamming" service, and reverting this vandalism is perfectly in bounds. There might very well be merit in a request to prevent anonymous users from editing the article for a while to forestall further vandalism, but keep in mind that you do not "own" the article. --Finngall ^talk 18:24, 24 June 2021 (UTC)

184.183, retract the legal threat or be blocked. You would have gotten the same result without trying to intimidate the same people who're trying to help you. —A little blue Bori v^_^v ^{Jéské Couriano} 21:16, 24 June 2021 (UTC)

The IP has a legitimate complaint. A company cannot be called a spammer or a scam without references to the highest quality reliable sources. I have semi-protected the article for three months because the disruption has gone on for months and comes from IP addresses. Notify me if disruption resumes. Cullen³²⁸ Let's discuss it 21:28, 24 June 2021 (UTC)

I'm not criticising the motive for their complaint; I'm criticising how they went about making the complaint. —A little blue Bori v^_^v ^{Jéské Couriano} 00:19, 25 June 2021 (UTC)

Creating a Page for my Grandfather

Hi, I need to create a page for my late grandfather, he was a Journalist, translator and author. In the page we -the family- need to list his life & work. So, is this allowed ? Thanks, MM Genifox (talk) 18:22, 24 June 2021 (UTC)

Hello, Genifox. I'm sorry about your grandfather. It is possible that Wikipedia could have an article about him, provided that he meets Wikipedia's crietira for notability - roughly, that there are enough reliable published sources, wholly independent of him, that talk about him, to ground an article on. As you have directly expressed your conflict of interest (to be frank, Wikipedia is not interested in what you need, only in its own needs as an encyclopaedia), you would be discouraged from creating it, but not forbidden. But please note that Wikipedia is not interested in what the subject of an article says or wants to say about themselves, or what their associates say about them. Wikipedia is only interested in what people who have no connection with the subject, and who have not been prompted or fed information on behalf of the subject, have chosen to publish about the subject in reliable sources. This means that you would need to set aside everything that you know about him, unless it was corroborated by an independent published source.

If what you want is to get your grandfather's life and work into print, then Wikipedia is almost certainly not the place to do it. But if after these warnings you decide to try, please start by reading your first article. --ColinFine (talk) 19:15, 24 June 2021 (UTC)

Email confirmation

After changing my e-mail address, the web server said:

A confirmation email has been sent to the specified email address. Before any other email is sent to the account, you will have to follow the instructions in the email, to confirm that the account is actually yours.

The “confirmation” e-mail did arrive at the new address, but it contains no confirmation actions. Just what to do if the change is bogus. I guess doing nothing would be interpreted as confirmation, but it might be confusing to folks, especially if they’re not skilled in English.

You're doing better than me. I can't get the system to send me a confirmation e-mail at all! Elemimele (talk) 19:35, 24 June 2021 (UTC)

I just changed my email. It sent me a message which said to press the "Confirm email address" button, which I did. It then had me log in again, at which point I was told "Your email address has now been confirmed." Elemimele, maybe your confirmation went to your junk folder? Clarityfiend (talk) 20:11, 24 June 2021 (UTC)

After reading those response, I went to check whether my address had been changed. That page had a Confirm button that it did not have before. Clicking that generated an e-mail with different content, including a "Confirm email address" button, which did send me to a page saying the change had been made (without asking me to log in again. Weird. 伟思礼 (talk) 06:12, 25 June 2021 (UTC)

Experienced editors needed

We could use some experienced editors at Surfside condominium building collapse. Even though this is a major event, very few editors with much experience are editing this article. It's going off the rails a bit. Thank you. Moncrief (talk) 22:17, 24 June 2021 (UTC)

• Imagine the trouble that would be saved if we imposed a three-month moratorium on current events. EEng 04:38, 25 June 2021 (UTC)

  Despite the chaos in the heat of the moment, it's much easier to write articles live than to try and do them several month after the event. Mjroots (talk) 07:04, 25 June 2021 (UTC)

  Sorry, but that makes no sense. The article has to be written several months after the event no matter what, in the sense that what's written in early days is a series of throwaways full of rumor, speculation, and misinformation, because that's what early sources are full of. The question, therefore, is not whether to replace the throwaways with a decent article months from now, but whether we'll invest large amounts of editor time, attention at the drama boards, and other resources in producing those temporary throwaways, or just let readers get current news directly from news sources. EEng 11:47, 25 June 2021 (UTC)

  @EEng: It does make sense. Stuff gets added, then refined/removed as newer info comes to light. Edit conflicts can be frustrating, but you just have to accept that they can happen. Look at the early edit history of Ryanair Flight 4978 (edit | talk | history | protect | delete | links | watch | logs | views) and you will see what I mean. Mjroots (talk) 16:22, 25 June 2021 (UTC)

  Well, DUH, I'm quite aware of the process, and what you say doesn't address the senselessness of what you said. The edit conflicts, the frustration, the refinement and removal, the arguments over which of several conflicting sources to believe, the vandal fighting -- all of it, minute after minute, hour after hour, for days and weeks on end -- could just be skipped for the first week or two, and a calm, decent article written starting then, from rationalized, fairly comprehensive sources, instead of writing and rewriting and rewriting and vandal-fighting and editwarring and then rewriting some more. EEng 00:29, 26 June 2021 (UTC)

Editors who are interested in the long-term state of Wikipedia will avoid such articles until a few months have passed. Those who enjoy the edit conflicts and other interactions, and take pride in being the first to find and cite a good new source, will start work right away. As an editor, I'm in the former group; but as a reader, I prefer a messy and volatile Wikipedia article to what I find in the news media. Maproom (talk) 08:07, 26 June 2021 (UTC)