Wikipedia:Help desk/Archives/2022 March 31

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March 31

Fundraising

Not a question

I see this site constantly ask for donations yet I see how biased this website has become. Quite frankly, I used to depend on this site to provide dependable information. Unfortunately, this couldn't be further from the truth in 2022. You'll never see a dime from me or many visits to the site going forward. Shame on you. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 50.227.61.130 (talk) 02:43, 31 March 2022 (UTC) Bye then, I guess. Us volunteer editors never see a penny of the donations, so that doesn't really affect us. If you would like to have this site retain dependable information, you could contribute to pre-existing articles with reliable sources. —Tenryuu 🐲 ( 💬 • 📝 ) 03:01, 31 March 2022 (UTC) @Tenryuu: Do not reply to "questions" that are written to be inflammatory virtue-signaling; just revert them off. They're not after help, they're after a reaction. —Jéské Couriano v^_^v a little blue Bori 04:13, 31 March 2022 (UTC) @Jéské Couriano: Most times I do, though occasionally I respond to one to let others know what actually is the case. —Tenryuu 🐲 ( 💬 • 📝 ) 12:25, 31 March 2022 (UTC) Minimized and de-emphasized. -Arch dude (talk) 15:17, 31 March 2022 (UTC)

Nonce repetition of text on page without dedicated template

Is there a way have some piece of text, which appears once in the Wikitext, appear two or more times in arbitrary locations on the resulting page? Essentially, it would be like creating and using a one-off template, except all on a single page. Is there already some sort of lambda calculus-y metatemplate?

In case I'm having a brain fart, and to address the XY problem, I'll say that I'm specifically trying to make a table of template test cases like this:

Wikitext	Template	Sandbox
<testcase 1 Wikitext>	<testcase 1 output>	<testcase 1 sandbox output>
<testcase 2 Wikitext>	<testcase 2 output>	<testcase 2 sandbox output>
...	...	...

which the current testcase templates don't support (though someone proposed it a couple years ago). Because I want the cases to be easy to create and edit in the future, the Wikitext specific to each case should appear only once in the source Wikitext. Each case can thus be edited without having to synchronize copied text, and new cases are easily made by duplicating existing ones.

At first I tried:

{{Expand wikitext
| {{Unstrip
  | {{Replace
    | <nowiki>{{Testcase table|_showheader=no|_rowheader=$|$}}</nowiki>
    | $
    | TESTCASE_ARGUMENTS
    }}
  }}
}}

• Edit: Fixed nowikis not showing up — wqnvlz (talk · contribs) 05:27, 31 March 2022 (UTC)

but {{Replace}} doesn't work on text within nowiki tags (e.g., {{Replace|a<nowiki>a</nowiki>a|a|b}} produces 'bab'). Why is that?

I then discovered {{Make code}}, which exists to avoid nowikis, so I ended up with this:

{{Expand wikitext
| {{Make code
  | {{Replace
    | 1=<<Testcase table!_showheader=no!_rowheader=$!$>>
    | 2=$
    | 3=TESTCASE_ARGUMENTS
    }}
  }}
}}

which works, but is long and hard to understand, especially because of the {{Make code}} replacement. Is there a better way? And what about the general case, such as an article that contains multiple instances of a statistic that must be updated?

— wqnvlz (talk · contribs) 05:23, 31 March 2022 (UTC)

Edit: Formatted Wikitext — wqnvlz (talk · contribs) 05:33, 31 March 2022 (UTC)

I made a Wikipedia page why is it not published?

Hi, I made a page about an artist a few months ago and it’s still not published? Any idea of why this would be? https://en.m.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=User:Frida1984&oldid=1047399556 — Preceding unsigned comment added by Frida1984 (talk • contribs) 06:37, 31 March 2022 (UTC)

You created a draft of an article in your user page, which is the wrong place for an article or draft. I suggest that you move it to draft space – or ask someone else to, if you don't know how. Maproom (talk) 07:33, 31 March 2022 (UTC)

See WP:DRAFT and WP:AFC. It's unlikely that anyone has seen the article about Studio Lenca because it is currently on your user page. It should also be said that it can take months for AFCs to be reviewed.--♦IanMacM♦ ^{(talk to me)} 08:10, 31 March 2022 (UTC)

I have moved your draft to Draft:Studio Lenca and added the submit template, please also not the comment that they need to pass the criteria at WP:NARTIST. Theroadislong (talk) 08:20, 31 March 2022 (UTC)

It looks like you inserted a link to the {{submit}} template (like the one I have here) instead of using the template. This happens when you add the template text using the default editor, VisualEditor, since it thinks that you want to write that text in the article verbatim. You can apply the template by switching to the source editor using the pencil icon and adding the {{subst:submit}} text there (on its own line at the top of the page).

When a template is applied, you should, when viewing the page, see its output (in this case the 'Review pending' header) instead of a name in brackets. {{submit}} is one of the minority of templates used with the subst: prefix, which causes it to be substituted. That is, when you save the page, {{subst:submit}} is replaced in the Wikitext source by the 'Pending' header. Most other templates are transcluded instead of substituted, which means {{<name of template>}} remains saved in the Wikitext source and will be visible when source editing. More on templates at Help:Templates.

It is possible to inserting templates with VisualEditor, but only on desktop. Use Insert > Template, and include the subst: prefix when entering the template name.

Oh, also, on pages where you're talking to other users, you should sign by putting ~~~~ after your message.

 — wqnvlz (talk · contribs) 08:26, 31 March 2022 (UTC)

{e/c) @Frida1984: I notice that you posted copies of the artist's work to Wikimedia Commons, claiming that you are the person who produced them. Are you Studio Lenca also known as Jose Campos? If so, you should be aware that Wikipedia strongly discourages people writing autobiographies and there are strict constraints on them - see Wikipedia:Autobiography. I took the liberty of making some changes to bring the article's layout more in line with Wikipedia's standards: you can always undo that if you don't approve.--Gronk Oz (talk) 08:37, 31 March 2022 (UTC)

As we often end up saying on the help desk, Wikipedia articles should not be created purely for promotional purposes by someone with a conflict of interest. The article would probably be declined for creation in this form. Please find reliable secondary sources that mention Studio Lenca to establish its notability.--♦IanMacM♦ ^{(talk to me)} 11:59, 31 March 2022 (UTC)

Editing etiquette: adding explanation to published change

I recently made a small change to the following article: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CPUID#EAX=80000006h:_Extended_L2_Cache_Features

I clumsily pressed enter before filling out the reasoning behind the change. Was going to add a reference showing previous code contained a typo.

Browsing through FAQ, help pages and how-to's leads me to several options:

   1) "undo" the change and republish the same change with an explanation (leads to three changes for a tiny typo-correction in history)
   2) Publish a "dummy-change" with an explanation
   3) Leave a note on the articles talk page
   4) Leave "as is" since the change is self-explanatory to anyone who has used fputs() in C

Q1: What is the preferred way to provide a clarification in this instance?

Q2: If I stumble into the same situation again. And I feel an explanation must be provided to motivate a change, what is the best way to go back and provide such an explanation? — Preceding unsigned comment added by Vospup (talk • contribs) 10:37, 31 March 2022 (UTC)

Vospup If you are just doing something simple like fixing a typo, and forget to write an edit summary, I wouldn't necessarily worry about explaning it too much as long as it is obvious that is what you were doing. If you feel it necessary, I would just edit the article talk page leaving an explanation. Anything more complicated than a typo, I don't think there is a preferred method, but if the explanation is anything longer than a short sentence, the talk page should be used. 331dot (talk) 10:42, 31 March 2022 (UTC)

Thank you for the clarification 331dot!

I don't think it should be necessary in this case. But in the future I will make sure to leave a note on the talk page when needed. Vospup (talk) 10:52, 31 March 2022 (UTC)

Vospup If you would like, you can set your account preferences to prompt you for an edit summary if you don't provide one. 331dot (talk) 10:59, 31 March 2022 (UTC)

@Vospup: H:ES#Fixing tells you when and how to fix an edit summary using a dummy edit. Bazza (talk) 11:39, 31 March 2022 (UTC)

@Vospup: Use editorial judgement. These fixes are intended to help other editors. You are an editor, so you can apply the golden rule: for each fixup you need to make, what fixup would you like to see if another editor had made the mistake? -Arch dude (talk) 15:07, 31 March 2022 (UTC)

331dot, Bazza_7, and Arch_dude thank you all for the tips, greatly appreciated! Vospup (talk) 13:12, 2 April 2022 (UTC)

Link

Hello,

On the page 2022 French presidential election, the link "R!" below the candidate Éric Zemmour in the infobox is "Reconquête (political party)", which should simply be "Reconquête" to avoid a redirection. If the link is corrected directly on the page (which I tried to do), the colour below the candidate in the infobox disappears. Could someone fix that please, i.e. create a new colour template for the link "Reconquête" alone, as I do not know how to do that? Thank you.

2A02:A452:7DDC:1:3D9D:FC45:B61A:238D (talk) 11:41, 31 March 2022 (UTC)

Fixed in Module:Political party/R.[1] The link to the redirect was not broken so it didn't have to be updated but I have done it [2] and checked it works. PrimeHunter (talk) 13:47, 31 March 2022 (UTC)

Convert template pound parameter needed

I can see how to use this template with the "s" ...intending to run the 21,000 pounds (9,500 kilograms) locomotive... However I want to drop BOTH "s"s to where it reads ...intending to run the 21,000 pound (9,500 kilogram) locomotive.... Can someone add the needed parameter to drop the "s"s. Please reply here with the example corrected template to use and I will see it. Thanks.--Doug Coldwell (talk) 14:26, 31 March 2022 (UTC)

Hi Doug Coldwell. You may want to use the "adj=" parameter to get the hyphenated, singular, adjectival form. "intending to run the {{convert|21,000|lb|kg|adj=on|abbr=off}} locomotive" renders as "intending to run the 21,000-pound (9,500-kilogram) locomotive" Firefangledfeathers (talk | contribs) 14:36, 31 March 2022 (UTC)

@Firefangledfeathers: That's it!!! Thanks. Appreciate the help.--Doug Coldwell (talk) 15:07, 31 March 2022 (UTC)

Link to open edit window?

Hi all, is it possible to link to the open edit window with an internal link rather than an external? SN54129 16:34, 31 March 2022 (UTC)

Special:Edit/Wikipedia:Help desk. * Pppery * _{it has begun...} 16:36, 31 March 2022 (UTC)

That's very clever! :) thanks Pppery, much appreciated. SN54129 17:01, 31 March 2022 (UTC)

Question about consensus and variatns of languages in the main lead of article

I have a problem for editing as one the editiors is reverting my edits and I have discussed that here.Can anyone help me with it.the problem I had was that the current version includes the variant of a language in the lead of an article.Is that normal!?should we add all variants of a language in the lead of an article and make in overwhelmed with unnecessary information?!Simsala111 (talk) 19:08, 31 March 2022 (UTC)

Using a URL with "|" in with cite web

Hi, I'm trying to use the following page as a reference {{cite web|url=https://www.hertfordshire.gov.uk/services/schools-and-education/schools-directory/school-directory.aspx?searchInput=&page=1&resultsPerPage=50&view=List&categoryfilters=|&schoolTypes=Primary&schoolLocation=Ware%20and%20surrounding%20villages#resultsContainer |title=help}} Unfortunately it has "|" in the URL which is breaking the cite web template. I can't find anywhere in the template documentation that addresses this. Is there a workaround? RicDod (talk) 19:12, 31 March 2022 (UTC)

@RicDod, the usual workaround is to replace | by {{!}} inside template calls. —Kusma (talk) 19:17, 31 March 2022 (UTC)

Thanks, that's worked. I knew it would be something simple! RicDod (talk) 19:19, 31 March 2022 (UTC)

Help:URL recommends replacing the pipe character with %7C, as in {{cite web|url=https://www.hertfordshire.gov.uk/services/schools-and-education/schools-directory/school-directory.aspx?searchInput=&page=1&resultsPerPage=50&view=List&categoryfilters=%7C&schoolTypes=Primary&schoolLocation=Ware%20and%20surrounding%20villages#resultsContainer |title=help}} Firefangledfeathers (talk | contribs) 19:20, 31 March 2022 (UTC)

Examples for requests at a site

I want to request a site to release their works under a compatible license. Where can I find an example of email to request the permission? Dr Salvus 19:46, 31 March 2022 (UTC)

Please, see Wikipedia:Example_requests_for_permission. Ruslik_Zero 20:06, 31 March 2022 (UTC)

URGENT: Recover an account

Hello, my problem is the following; my employer has a Wikipedia page about him which he unfortunately lost access to. The difficulty comes from the fact that it is a former employee with whom we are no longer in contact who had created the account and therefore who has access to the email address used to create the account. We tried to contact him for months without any return on our request. How can we regain access to this account? We can provide you with any required document to prove the identity of my employer as the page is about him and his achievements. Also, the text was written by him so there should be no copyright issues. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 41.140.176.186 (talk) 22:33, 31 March 2022 (UTC)

Wikipedia accounts belong to individuals. There are no circumstances whatsoever in which control of an account can be handed over to anyone else. AndyTheGrump (talk) 22:36, 31 March 2022 (UTC)

Further to this please note that (a) the individual creating an article has no more control over it than any other contributor, and (b) under the Wikimedia Terms of use [3], anyone editing on behalf of an employer is obliged to disclose such a relationship. AndyTheGrump (talk) 22:56, 31 March 2022 (UTC)

That's the bad news. The good news is that the former employee's account has no special privileges with respect to that page and neither does anyone else. You are free to set up an account yourself as an individual, and after you do, you have all the rights and privileges that other editors have to edit almost all of the Wikipedia articles. There is one exception: you are not free to directly edit the article about your employer. You must comply with the TOU for paid editors: see WP:PAID. Once you have done so, you may make suggestions for changes to the article. -Arch dude (talk) 23:43, 31 March 2022 (UTC)

Can you tell us the name of the article in question?

It only takes a moment to create a new account that you can use. Note that Wikipedia accounts are for one individual's use only. It would be against the rules for that ex-employee to allow somebody else to log on using their account. There is no such thing as a "company account" - see WP:SHAREDACCOUNT and WP:CORPNAME for details.--Gronk Oz (talk) 07:34, 1 April 2022 (UTC)

English-language films with Internet Archive links

Is there a way to get the intersection of: Category:Articles with Internet Archive links and Category:English-language films ? for Category:English-language films with Internet Archive links ... 0mtwb9gd5wx (talk) 22:54, 31 March 2022 (UTC)

Wikipedia:PetScan * Pppery * _{it has begun...} 23:26, 31 March 2022 (UTC)

Stop at a redirect

If I type a redirect page title (eg First Falcon Cliff lift) into the search bar, it takes me straight to the destination article, namely Cliff railways in the Isle of Man. Since this example is a redirect-to-section, it scrolls the article to the correct section. To get to the redirect page itself, I have to scroll back to the top, then click on the 'Redirected from...' link under the article name.

If I enter the redirect page URL into the address bar, I can add &redirect=no to open the redirect page immediately.

Is there anything I can enter into the search bar, that will stop the redirect and open the redirect page itself? And if so, where is it documented? --Verbarson ^talk_edits 23:22, 31 March 2022 (UTC)

Not as far as I'm aware. If you want to edit that particular redirect, you'll have to scroll to the top of the page, where the link to the redirect appears, and click on the link to take you to the redirect page. Mjroots (talk) 09:41, 1 April 2022 (UTC)

Thanks. At least I'm not missing something obvious. --Verbarson ^talk_edits 10:28, 1 April 2022 (UTC)