Wikipedia:Help desk/Archives/2021 May 8

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May 8

Errors in reporting vandalism

I had reported an incorrect change as vandalism but it was made in good faith. Is it possible to request the invisibility of the change summary? Dr Salvus 09:49, 8 May 2021 (UTC)

@Dr Salvus: Edit summaries can be revision deleted, but your edit doesn't meet the criteria for it. You could make a dummy edit (i. e., a small edit such as adding a whitespace character somewhere) and then write in the edit summary that the previous revert was wrong. Kleinpecan (talk) 10:06, 8 May 2021 (UTC)

Can I limit the list of displayed categories?

Hello everyone,

I have a question about limiting the displayed list of categories at the bottom of an article. As I am not sufficiently familiar with the hierarchy system, I will ask my question using examples and links to articles.

I would like to re-use the titles of Wikipedia’s categories for my film review blog. The existing categories are incredible, but I find that the displayed categories at the bottom of the article pages are much too specific. For example:

Tinker Bell and the Great Fairy Rescue - Wikipedia Why is the category Tinker Bell films displayed at the bottom, but not Films about fairies and sprites?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Amazing_Spider-Man_(film) Why is the category 2010s superhero movies displayed, but not the superhero films one, which I prefer?

Are there any settings I can change in my account to achieve what I am trying to do? I do hope my examples are clear enough.— Preceding unsigned comment added by 109.133.88.180 (talk • contribs) 8 May 2021 10:34 (UTC)

Please see Category:Films about fairies and sprites where 'Tinker Bell films' is shown as a sub-category. Please see WP:SUBCAT for more information. Essentially, articles are typically placed in the most specific subcat, although there are some exceptions to this practice. (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.) Thank you. Eagleash (talk) 11:54, 8 May 2021 (UTC)

What this means in practice, IP user, is that if you are linking to the categories from your blog you can go up through the hierarchy until you reach the level likely to be of most interest to your readers and use that link. So, up yet one more level you'll find Category:Fantasy films which has Category:Films about fairies and sprites included but of course also includes many more genre. Mike Turnbull (talk) 12:07, 8 May 2021 (UTC)

When is it acceptable to change the name on biography of a living person?

The page for M._A._R._Koehl seems oddly named. Koehl publishes scientific papers as Mimi A.R. Koehl (e.g.,example paper). However, Koehl's website and other locations use "Mimi R. Koehl" (example 1 and example 2). While the Wikipedia page starts out talking about Mimi A.R. Koehl, the name at the top is M. A. R. Koehl. When it is appropriate to change the main name on a page, and how is that done?--DaffodilOcean (talk) 18:11, 8 May 2021 (UTC)

Hello, DaffodilOcean. I recommend that the title be changed to "Mimi R. Koehl" as that is how the MacArthur Foundation describes her, and that award is probably her strongest claim of notability. Wikipedia:Moving a page describes the procedure. Cullen³²⁸ Let's discuss it 18:20, 8 May 2021 (UTC)

DaffodilOcean, I moved the article for you since it looks like your account is not yet autoconfirmed. Cullen³²⁸ Let's discuss it 18:26, 8 May 2021 (UTC)

Cullen328 - This make sense, thanks for sharing how you came to the conclusion, what should be done, and then doing it. Cheers. DaffodilOcean (talk) 18:29, 8 May 2021 (UTC)

Cullen328 - Here's another one, this one is M. Sivapalan - which I think should be Murugesu Sivapalan based on the listing as a fellow at the American Geophysical Union.DaffodilOcean (talk) 22:28, 8 May 2021 (UTC)

I'd be cautious with that one, and have close regard to what he uses himself. Some Indian names do use just an initial and a name. DuncanHill (talk) 22:31, 8 May 2021 (UTC)

Several of the reliable sources use his full name, so I moved it. I know that this initial thing is common among Indian academics, but in this case, I do not think it is appropriate. He is a professor at a major U.S. university. Cullen³²⁸ Let's discuss it 22:34, 8 May 2021 (UTC)

@DaffodilOcean: Autoconfirmed only requires 4 days and 10 edits. You easily pass that and can move pages. Autoconfirmed is assigned automatically and doesn't appear in some user right lists which are for manually assigned rights. That may have misled Cullen328. But you are still considered a new editor and may not know our article title rules well enough to move pages without discussion. We often use titles some people call wrong because they aren't official (but common) or aren't from the subject's language (but common in English sources). PrimeHunter (talk) 22:42, 8 May 2021 (UTC)

(ec) This "initial thing"? It's a Tamil name. I know cultural sensitivity isn't high on the "Wikipedia list of things we're good at" but come on. DuncanHill (talk) 22:43, 8 May 2021 (UTC)

I made the mistake of moving an article about an Indian person listed with only an initial to his full name, only to have it moved back. I was not aware of the custom of listing Indian names. JIP | Talk 23:17, 8 May 2021 (UTC)

I believe that many Tamils and south Indians don't have a surname as such, and the initials represent patronymics. Indian Naming Conventions explains things clearly, as well as the linked UK Guide to Names and Naming Practice. According to this site surnames are relatively recent, as a result of British colonisation. I found this blog interesting, including this quote: "V.P. Venugopalan said: I think we South Indians do it right! We use the name that is given to us (and truly belongs to us), rather than the family name (which incidentally belongs to all in the family). Binomial nomenclature does it the same way. Homo sapiens is abbreviated as H.sapiens, not as S.Homo!" On the other hand, some last names consist only of a single letter. Let's be careful out there. MinorProphet (talk) 00:20, 9 May 2021 (UTC)

Additional proof I have no life outside Wikipedia

I just replaced hyphens in Mano River Union, so why does it say I added 16 bytes? Clarityfiend (talk) 19:22, 8 May 2021 (UTC)

• It's because of character sets. You replaced eight hyphens, but as Wikipedia uses the UTF character set which is a multi-byte character set, characters outside the basic 256-character range deriving from ASCII use multiple bytes. So each of those eight hyphens added two bytes. JIP | Talk 19:25, 8 May 2021 (UTC)

Your edit summary "proper hyphen" was a little misleading. You changed hyphen to en space which is not a type of hyphen but a type of dash. It was correct to do it per MOS:RANGE. We also use em dash for some things, and minus for some things. There are a lot of those horizontal lines of different length and use. Most readers probably don't care or notice. Maybe screen readers treat some of them differently. PrimeHunter (talk) 22:24, 8 May 2021 (UTC)

Those are actually en dashes—just to be pedantic. No sign of external existence here, either... MinorProphet (talk) 23:24, 8 May 2021 (UTC)

Hrmph, hrmph, dash it all! Clarityfiend (talk) 23:54, 8 May 2021 (UTC)

In a peer—reviewed, double—blind study, it was discovered that approximately 68-71% of readers do not know⸺or do not care⸺about the typographical distinction between hyphens, en dashes, and em dashes. RoxySaunders (talk · contribs) 00:09, 10 May 2021 (UTC)

Yes, but we are the ones who do know and care, and we keep the flame burning. MinorProphet (talk) 00:24, 10 May 2021 (UTC)

Thanks. Clarityfiend (talk) 23:56, 8 May 2021 (UTC)