Wikipedia:Help desk/Archives/2022 March 7

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March 7

Syntax Question

I don't think 'govt' is an acceptable shorthand for government. I've seen this in several pages; would it be nitpicky to change it to government or just leave it as is? Beansohgod (talk) 00:52, 7 March 2022 (UTC)

It certainly is a standard abbreviation: Chambers, American Heritage, Collins, Merriam-Webster. But do you have specific examples of where govt. is being used? That would make it easier to see if it conforms to MOS:ABBR. Umimmak (talk) 01:05, 7 March 2022 (UTC)

@Umimmak: Here are 613 instances of lowercase " govt. " Those within references are probably quoting the title of a magazine/newspaper/web article. GoingBatty (talk) 03:57, 7 March 2022 (UTC)

The one that caught my attention was on Lukashenko's page, but I've seen it on at least half a dozen other pages. I was just wondering because I've seen the non-abbreviated version more often.

Also, I know that if it's in a quote then I don't mess with it. Beansohgod (talk) 12:43, 7 March 2022 (UTC)

@Beansohgod: "govt." is not in the standard list of WP abbreviations so I think, subject to the notes about not messing with quotes and references above, you would be doing a service in replacing any occurrences you find in normal text with "government". Any which others find troublesome can be dealt with by WP:BRD. Bazza (talk) 14:02, 7 March 2022 (UTC)

@Beansohgod: Your Lukashenko example is in a sentence copied directly from the source [1] but it's not in quotation marks so it seems OK to change govt to government. PrimeHunter (talk) 14:18, 7 March 2022 (UTC)

Alright, thanks, I just replaced it. Time to start my crusade against govt shorthand! Beansohgod (talk) 16:22, 7 March 2022 (UTC)

@Beansohgod: I just added a typo fixing rule at WP:AWB/T to change "govt." to "government" only when immediately followed with a space and a lowercase word. These typo rules ignore quotes and references. GoingBatty (talk) 17:58, 7 March 2022 (UTC)

@Beansohgod: We're now down to Here are 401 instances of lowercase " govt. " GoingBatty (talk) 21:31, 7 March 2022 (UTC)

Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Wayne Cotter

Hi! Does anyone know how to close this malformed AfD? It was created by a blocked sock, so no need to discuss with nominator. I can G6 it since it doesn't have any contributions and was never technically available for discussion, but not sure how to record the AfD in the article history. Thanks! Star Mississippi 02:31, 7 March 2022 (UTC)

never mind, @Liz: took care of it (thanks!). Feel free to close/archive. Star Mississippi 03:14, 7 March 2022 (UTC)

Official website template

I’m trying to figure out how to use the official website template, and I don’t know how to add the url to wikidata. I know there is a more simpler way to add the url by just adding the parameters to the template, but I want to know how to add the url to wikidata. ― Kaleeb18^Talk_Caleb 14:13, 7 March 2022 (UTC)

@Kaleeb18: You can go to https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Wikidata:Tours and scroll down to the "Items" section, and click the "Start this tutorial" button. Happy editing! GoingBatty (talk) 14:23, 7 March 2022 (UTC)

Thank you @GoingBatty: that helped. ― Kaleeb18^Talk_Caleb 14:37, 7 March 2022 (UTC)

@Kaleeb18: Please always say which page a post is about. If it's about User:Kaleeb18/sandbox then userspace pages are not connected to Wikidata so {{Official website}} cannot be used without parameters. If it's about Space 220 Restaurant#External links then the url is already at Wikidata so you can just say {{Official website}}. If it's about the infobox in Space 220 Restaurant then infoboxes should display the url as information so {{Official website}} should not be used. Use {{URL}} instead as shown at Template:Infobox restaurant. PrimeHunter (talk) 14:33, 7 March 2022 (UTC)

@PrimeHunter: Yes, I figured that out when I took the tutorial. ― Kaleeb18^Talk_Caleb 14:38, 7 March 2022 (UTC)

What are the notability requirements for a list of protected areas in a country?

Hi all

Are a list of protected areas recognised either by a national government or internationally inherently notable? E.g List of protected areas of South Africa. I want to write a similar list for Malta however I'm finding it difficult to find more than two references.

Thanks

John Cummings (talk) 14:22, 7 March 2022 (UTC)

@John Cummings: Hi there! The notability requirements for a stand-alone list article are at WP:NLIST. GoingBatty (talk) 14:24, 7 March 2022 (UTC)

Table formatting issues

I've been having troubles with the formatting of tables for a while now and figured I had had enough and would ask here. The question is basically this: are there certain formatting aspects that cannot be done in the visual editor? I'm talking about text appearance, cell appearance, etc. I've been able to fix things once I go into source editor, but frankly that isn't the most intuitive system for me as of now, and the help pages, while helpful, haven't quite gotten to the core of the issues I'm seeing.

An example of what I mean: mau5trap discography - (I know this page has a LOT of issues and is severely out of date. I recently just found a source that will help; don't worry about it) How do I make the later tables match the style of the earlier ones while using VE? Superlucer (talk) 18:44, 7 March 2022 (UTC)

@Superlucer, you can copy one of the earlier tables and replace with the new table content. That should give you the same appearance. StarryGrandma (talk) 19:37, 7 March 2022 (UTC)

@Superlucer, Visual Editor is a work in progress. Help:Table#Tables and the Visual Editor (VE) provides some explanation of what can and can't be done. Also see the work board for VE development. StarryGrandma (talk) 20:04, 7 March 2022 (UTC)

I've created an article for every plant species in Malta, could someone help me with some tasks using an automated tool?

Hi all

As the title says I've completed articles for every species listed at Flora of Malta. I think I created about 300 of them in total. I'd really appreciate some help with some tasks that I think can be done with AWB or similar, they include adding images, adding categories and creating redirects for synonyms. I've listed them at Wikipedia:Village_pump_(technical)#I've_created_an_article_for_every_plant_species_in_Malta,_could_someone_help_me_with_some_tasks_using_an_automated_tool?

Wasn't sure which place was best to ask for help.

Thanks

John Cummings (talk) 20:02, 7 March 2022 (UTC)

@User:John Cummings I'm wondering one thing. Although Malta is an island, I would have thought that most of its plant species would be found somewhere else around the Mediterranean. I'm wondering how there happen to be so many species that didn't have articles here before. P.S. I fixed a redlink in a category; you're welcome. Uporządnicki (talk) 20:15, 7 March 2022 (UTC)

Hi AzseicsoK, thanks, yes you're right, many species are also in other countries, although Malta has a few subspecies which are unique. The reason so many are missing is that English Wikipedia 'only' has around 400,000 species articles, a species database like Encyclopedia of Life lists about 2,000,000. So English Wikipedia has an article for about 20% of all species. John Cummings (talk) 20:24, 7 March 2022 (UTC)

@John Cummings: Wikipedia:AutoWikiBrowser/Tasks is one place you could ask. GoingBatty (talk) 21:35, 7 March 2022 (UTC)

(ส่วนใหม่) คุณ

แก้ไขWikipedia:Help desk (ส่วนใหม่)  — Preceding unsigned comment added by 223.24.95.133 (talk) 21:33, 7 March 2022 (UTC) 

Hi there! Did you have a question for the Help desk? GoingBatty (talk) 21:37, 7 March 2022 (UTC)

How do I get my Parapsychology Group listed on Wikipedia

I am trying to get our Parapsychology group that has existed since 2000 listed. Currently when you google our name a picture of a painting at the statehouse comes up as the first portion of our name is shared by the painting. I can provide all the relevant information and history needed?70.225.22.148 (talk) 22:15, 7 March 2022 (UTC)

Useful reading: WP:COI, WP:N, WP:FRINGE. If you are here to try to promote a 'Parapsychology Group', your experience here is unlikely to be a happy one. AndyTheGrump (talk) 22:20, 7 March 2022 (UTC)

Please read about conflict of interest. You seem to have a misunderstanding of what Wikipedia is. Wikipedia has no interest in affecting or enhancing search results for your organization, and is not a place where organizations list themselves or tell the world about themselves. An organization merits a Wikipedia article if it receives significant coverage in independent reliable sources, showing how it meets Wikipedia's special definition of a notable organization. Please read Your First Article. 331dot (talk) 22:21, 7 March 2022 (UTC)

Hi, have you seen the What Wikipedia is not policy? Is says (under the section WP:NOTDIRECTORY) that Wikipedia is not a place to just LIST things, so your intention seems missed and not compatible with Wikipedia rules. Additionally, the linked policy also says (under WP:PROMOTION) that Wikipedia is not a place to PROMOTE yourself, your organization, your community or anything else. If the subject is notable enough (in a specific, Wikipedia-defined sense), it probably will get described in a separate article. But that will have to be supported by appropriate references to reliable sources, written by people unconnected with the subject. First-hand information, provided by you about your group, is not acceptable in general and if you write an article yourself you will appear in Conflict of interest, which is hard to maintain properly for most editors (and certainly for all new editors).

You may visit Wikipedia:Requested articles instead, find appropriate general topic area there and add a proposed topic at a specific sub-page. Please be sure to read the notes at the top of the Requested Articles page before adding your request. --CiaPan (talk) 13:56, 8 March 2022 (UTC)

I've lost count of the number of times that someone complained about how something did or didn't appear in search engine results, as though this was somehow Wikipedia's fault. Wikipedia has no control over this, and it is a common misconception.--♦IanMacM♦ ^{(talk to me)} 17:50, 8 March 2022 (UTC)

Undeletion process - how are all relevant articles restored?

I've never paid much attention until Naveen Jain (edit | talk | history | protect | delete | links | watch | logs | views) was deleted and overturned (Wikipedia:Deletion_review/Log/2022_February_24). The restoration process seemed slow, and I'm unclear if everything was restored or what the process is supposed to be for restoration of all associated files, links, etc. --Hipal (talk) 22:55, 7 March 2022 (UTC)

@Hipal: The article was restored. You can see in the deletion review that one file was not restored due to copyright problems. What do you see missing? RudolfRed (talk) 00:17, 8 March 2022 (UTC)

I notified multiple admins that the talk pages hadn't been restored right away (User_talk:Spartaz#Naveen_Jain_article_undeleted).

I went ahead and restored multiple links to the article (eg [2]).

I don't know what to search for to see if anything further needs to be restored. --Hipal (talk) 01:27, 8 March 2022 (UTC)

@Hipal: generally, when an article is undeleted, all associated talk pages and files are also undeleted. from the deletion log at 24 February, I can gather that the only thing not yet restored are the two redirects Naveen jain and Naveen K. Jain. The former is probbably not going to be undeleted (as far as I am aware it would be a {{R from misspelling}}, after all, and it doesn't appear to have any uses), however, I will request that the latter will be undeleted. Victor Schmidt (talk) 07:46, 8 March 2022 (UTC)

How did you determine those two files were remaining? --Hipal (talk) 15:53, 8 March 2022 (UTC)

I personally looked at the deletion log of around the time of deletion. Redirects and talk pages of deleted pages are genrally deleted relatively quickly (often in the same minute) if automated tools are used to close the discussion (as here). Note that this method is not 100% reliable if non-automated ways are used to close the discussion, as in these cases redirects and talk pages as well as potentially orphaned images can be deleted several hours later. In that case the only option is often to use Crtl+F in the browser to find them, as links in edit summaries don't appear in Special:WhatLinksHere. mages which were deleted as orphaned after an article was deleted will also be identifyable by the red links they leave behind in the restored article. Victor Schmidt (talk) 19:21, 8 March 2022 (UTC)

It can help to look at the closer's logs and contributions around the time of the close, especially if they're using xfdcloser. Logs, contribs. While that doesn't turn up Talk:Naveen Jain/GA1, which didn't get noticed and deleted for three more days, it looks like all similar pages have already been found: other than the Naveen jain redirect, some copyright-infringing revisions in Naveen Jain, and discussion of the latter in Talk:Naveen Jain, there aren't any relevant revisions deleted under any title matching *aveen*ain* in the main or talk namespaces. (Naveen Kumar Jain was about a different person.) —Cryptic 19:40, 8 March 2022 (UTC)

It shouldn't be this complicated to find out what redirects have been deleted when a page is deleted. But this is the only way I know how to do it, comb through the Deletion log and see what other pages were deleted at the same time. How laborious. I don't know how you figured out the parameters of that log search, Cryptic, I haven't figured out how to specify a log entry. Liz ^{Read! Talk!} 02:58, 9 March 2022 (UTC)