Wikipedia:Help desk/Archives/2022 April 26

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April 26

I cannot Upload a Video

I am trying to upload a video for an article, but EVERY SINGLE TIME I get an error message saying the file name is not allowed. I changed the file name so many times with no luck. Here are some examples:

EMD_SD70ACe_Locomotive_Compilation

Electro-Motive_SD70ACe_Compilation

SD70ACe_Locomotive_Compilation

Please help!!! AmerailEdits (talk) 05:49, 26 April 2022 (UTC)

It may be the underscores causing the problem. Can you try a file name without underscores?--♦IanMacM♦ ^{(talk to me)} 06:41, 26 April 2022 (UTC)

I tried that too. No success. AmerailEdits (talk) 06:58, 26 April 2022 (UTC)

Did you use a filename extension; and if so, are you sure that this was the appropriate one? -- Hoary (talk) 08:08, 26 April 2022 (UTC)

See here for the video file types that can be uploaded. It is WebM, Ogg Theora, MPEG-1 and MPEG-2. If it's not on this list, it won't work.--♦IanMacM♦ ^{(talk to me)} 08:16, 26 April 2022 (UTC)

Ok, Ill try converting. I was trying to upload a .mp4 file, its very odd for Wikimedia to not support it. AmerailEdits (talk) 16:13, 26 April 2022 (UTC)

MP4 is the most common file extension for smartphone and home video cameras nowadays, but it isn't free from patents. This is why Wikimedia Commons uses WebM and Theora most of the time.--♦IanMacM♦ ^{(talk to me)} 17:04, 26 April 2022 (UTC)

Can someone remind me the Wikimedia related copyright rules for lists?

Hi all

I know I've read it several time but could someone link me to the page that relates to copyright for lists? I think its probably on Commons but can't find it. I'm sure it was along the lines of a complete list of all of the (e.g protected areas in a country) cannot be copyrighted because it is not a creative work, just a list of everything, like a phone book. A link to the relevant rules and page would be very helpful.

Thanks very much

John Cummings (talk) 09:37, 26 April 2022 (UTC)

Are you thinking WP:NONCREATIVE? —Cryptic 09:56, 26 April 2022 (UTC)

@John Cummings: Probably Wikipedia:Copyright in lists. Deor (talk) 16:03, 26 April 2022 (UTC)

Super, thanks so much :) John Cummings (talk) 16:08, 26 April 2022 (UTC)

Problem with talk page archive

Anyone know why archive 3 isn't appearing at the top of this talk page? I did something wrong, but can't find what. Popcornfud (talk) 12:34, 26 April 2022 (UTC)

@Popcornfud: The servers don't always update affected pages immediately. I'm seeing links to all three archives now; perhaps someone purged the page, forcing the servers to rethink the logic built into the headers. -- John of Reading (talk) 12:47, 26 April 2022 (UTC)

Ah, great. Thanks for the assistance. Popcornfud (talk) 12:50, 26 April 2022 (UTC)

Starting a new Wikipedia page

Hello we (about 60 active members to date) are part of a BDD (Body Dysmorphic Anonymous) support group since April 2020

We’d love to have a Wikipedia page as this group is unique and worldwide in membership

We’re listed on this site https://bddfoundation.org/ — Preceding unsigned comment added by Wiki BDA (talk • contribs) 15:08, 26 April 2022 (UTC)

Hello, Wiki BDA. It is unlikely that a 60 member support group would meet the rigorous standards described at Wikipedia:Notability (organizations and companies). Simply being listed somewhere is of no value. Cullen328 (talk) 15:15, 26 April 2022 (UTC)

@Wiki BDA: Unless the organisation is notable, Wikipedia will not have an article about it and any attempts to get even a draft started will be futile. Wikipedia also isn't a place for promotion. I strongly suggest you read Your first article and Conflict of interest, particularly the latter if you are thinking of writing it yourself. —Tenryuu 🐲 ( 💬 • 📝 ) 15:16, 26 April 2022 (UTC)

Delete Wikipedia Page

Good Afternoon,

I am the Director of Communications and Digital Media representing Randolph Township Schools. We would like the page representing our school district, Randolph Township Schools, deleted because it contains inaccurate and outdated information. I have tried to make edits to the page, with extreme difficulty, and without approval. We would like to have the page removed altogether as we are unable to edit our own page easily.

Matthew Pfouts Director of Communications and Digital Media Randolph Township Schools (Redacted) — Preceding unsigned comment added by Mpfouts (talk • contribs) 16:41, 26 April 2022 (UTC)

@Mpfouts: Hello Mpfouts! Unfortunately we won't be deleting the article for the reasons you state. However, you can make suggestions to the article on the talk page, outlined in WP:COI. ― Blaze Wolf^Talk_{Blaze Wolf#6545} 17:00, 26 April 2022 (UTC)

I am speaking with someone else too, how are we supposed to update this page so it's accurate if our edits aren't going to be approved? As I just shared with another Wikipedia representative I am trying to get help from, we are unable to update the page so it continues to contain false information such as people who are employed by the district who no longer are. We just want the page to be accurate because we are a public school district with a duty to ensure we are sharing accurate information with the public. Mpfouts (talk) 17:04, 26 April 2022 (UTC)

As I have explained to you now three times, you have never once made an edit request- you directly edited the article, poorly at that. I have already linked you to the talk page where you can request updates with sources: Talk:Randolph Township Schools click this link, then edit. PRAXIDICAE💕 17:05, 26 April 2022 (UTC)

Mpfouts, the correct place to discuss this is Talk:Randolph Township Schools, and you should make a series of formal Edit requests. Cullen328 (talk) 17:09, 26 April 2022 (UTC)

I just did one, did I do it correctly? Mpfouts (talk) 17:11, 26 April 2022 (UTC)

@Mpfouts: No you didn't. If you read the Edit request page Cullen linked, it says "If you are a newer user, it is recommended that you use the edit request wizard. The wizard guides you through the process of making the edit request." ― Blaze Wolf^Talk_{Blaze Wolf#6545} 17:13, 26 April 2022 (UTC)

I just had another Wikipedia representative say that I did it correctly? I am beyond confused. Can you please visit my personal talk page? I have completed the edit requests in Talk: Randolph Township Schools. Mpfouts (talk) 17:22, 26 April 2022 (UTC)

@Mpfouts: Technically it was incorrect since it was lacking an edit request template and a section header. 331dot added the edit request template and I've added a section header for you. ― Blaze Wolf^Talk_{Blaze Wolf#6545} 17:29, 26 April 2022 (UTC)

There's quite a few requests I want to make. Our enrollment as an example is nowhere near that high, we have several new principals and vice principals, etc. The logo that is being used is also outdated, and I can give Wikipedia access to the real logo. It's the same seal, just the correct one. We have no idea where that hand drawn one came from. I just want make sure I am making requests appropriately because there's a lot to change and even add to the page. I don't know if it's easier just to do all of the requests at once, or just do each one by one? Mpfouts (talk) 17:32, 26 April 2022 (UTC)

@Mpfouts I would do no more than 3 at a time. The people who respond to edit requests (who are volunteers, just like everyone here) can be intimidated by a lengthy request with lots to be changed. However, it would be tedious for you to do a separate request for every single change. ~ ONUnicorn^{(Talk|Contribs)}problem solving 17:40, 26 April 2022 (UTC)

De-link redirect

Please de-link redirection of Prehistory of Ethiopia/Prehistoric Ethiopia. The Supermind (talk) 16:56, 26 April 2022 (UTC)

Why? Clarityfiend (talk) 21:03, 26 April 2022 (UTC)

Why? Those look like useful redirects. ColinFine (talk) 21:06, 26 April 2022 (UTC)

@Clarityfiend and ColinFine: Because I've created a page for it in a draft. The Supermind (talk) 22:06, 26 April 2022 (UTC)

 Courtesy link: Draft:Prehistoric Ethiopia TimTempleton ^{(talk) (cont)} 22:18, 26 April 2022 (UTC)

Please say what you actually want. Do you want to move Draft:Prehistoric Ethiopia with its page history to Prehistoric Ethiopia and redirect Prehistory of Ethiopia to it? If you don't want to move the page history then you can just edit the redirects. See Wikipedia:Redirect#How to edit a redirect or convert it into an article. PrimeHunter (talk) 22:42, 26 April 2022 (UTC)

@The Supermind, when your new draft is approved as an article, an admin will take care of the existing redirect -- you don't need to worry about the redirect now. I see some issues with the wording in the draft. It needs some light copyediting at least. I am not an article reviewer, so there might well be additional things that need to be fixed in the draft before it becomes an article. So, please ignore the redirect. 73.127.147.187 (talk) 02:54, 29 April 2022 (UTC)

@The Supermind, making sure the ping is right. 73.127.147.187 (talk) 02:59, 29 April 2022 (UTC)

You can do it by yourself, go to the page and click edit button in top corner of the page. The Supermind (talk) 06:35, 29 April 2022 (UTC)

Maplink

Hi, I added a map to the infobox of the Texas City Refinery explosion. This map looks broken, until it is being clicked on. What is wrong here? PhotographyEdits (talk) 19:57, 26 April 2022 (UTC)

@PhotographyEdits You were missing the |zoom= parameter - I added one, but you can change it if you want. casualdejekyll 23:36, 26 April 2022 (UTC)

@Casualdejekyll Ah! Thank you. PhotographyEdits (talk) 16:21, 27 April 2022 (UTC)

How To Create A Page

Hello, please how do I create a page? I want to create a page for my website.— Preceding unsigned comment added by Praizsports (talk • contribs)

Praizsports We don't have pages, we have articles, typically written by independent editors. This isn't the place for you to tell the world about your website; it is a place to summarize what independent reliable sources with significant coverage have chosen on their own to say about your website, showing how it meets Wikipedia's special definition of a notable website. Most people have great difficulty with doing that about topics related to themselves, but if you think you can, please visit Articles for creation. Please read WP:COI. 331dot (talk) 21:28, 26 April 2022 (UTC)

Suggested New WikipediA page

I would like to suggest a new page named " Fast Light" for Wikipedia. There is presently some confusion in technical literature about this topic that needs to be straightened out. I along with three colleagues published the first paper on the measurement of this phenomena back in 1970 for my PhD work at the University of Minnesota. Our publication appeared almost simultaneously with a paper from two other authors at the Bell Labs in 1970 which covered the complete theory and how the phenomena does not defy the theory of relativity. There still remains a few misconceptions in some non-referred papers about this phenomenon so I recommend it should be included as a Wikipedia article ASAP. I suggest that I provide a draft authored by me and one of the authors (the other has passed away) of the theoretical paper that appeared simultaneously with our published experimental paper back in 1970. Your suggestions please? Do you need more information? Thanks, Fred R Faxvog, PhD 1970, University of Minnesota — Preceding unsigned comment added by Frederick R Faxvog (talk • contribs) 22:51, 26 April 2022 (UTC)

Hi Frederick R Faxvog. It sounds like you're mistaking Wikipedia for something that it's not really intended to be. You might want to take a look at this, this and this for more specifics, but Wikipedia isn't really intended to be a way to resolve disagreements over something like this or serve as a publisher of academic papers. — Marchjuly (talk) 23:27, 26 April 2022 (UTC)

​It seems that the concept of "Fast Light" is somehow related to photonics. So, you might want to ask about this at Wikipedia:WikiProject Physics since that were your likely going to find users who may heard of this before and might be able to provide you with more specific guidance. Whether a new stand-alone article about the subject matter can be created is unclear, but it might be possible to incorporate relevant content into an already existing article relevant to the subject matter. -- Marchjuly (talk) 01:16, 27 April 2022 (UTC)

The 1970 research paper in question appears to be Measured Pulse Velocity Greater than c in a Neon Absorption Cell, describing a slightly counter-intuitive but very real phenomenon where pulses in a wave (not the wave itself) can propagate faster than the speed of light. This phenomenon seems to be described at Faster-than-light § Group velocities above c, although it doesn't use the "fast light" or "slow light" terminology. RoxySaunders (talk · contribs) 05:01, 29 April 2022 (UTC)