Wikipedia:Help desk/Archives/2023 April 8

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April 8

Talk page citing

In a recent discussion on the Talk:Donald Trump page, an editor said this: editors are not required to cite sources in talk page discussions. Do you actually need to cite sources in talk page discussions? I was under the impression that you should (or at least, a good argument should) cite sources in talk page discussions when you argue for something that isn't WP:SKYISBLUE or explicitly stated in the article text. For example, if I state that the reason that X belongs in the text because X is part of a broader Y or because X is directly tied to Y, yet Y does not exist anywhere in the article, surely an outside RS needs to be brought in to qualify that statement? And even if X is directly tied to Y, and an outside source is brought in, an argument that argues that X is tied to Y must find a way to work Y into the article, since Y is the reason why X is notable/non-fringe/non-trivial? Thanks in advance, Cessaune [talk] 00:16, 8 April 2023 (UTC)

You are not required to cite sources in a talk page discussion. But if you can cite a source in support of your view, and your opponents can't or don't, you are likely to win the argument. Maproom (talk) 06:45, 8 April 2023 (UTC)

The exception being talk pages of articles about living persons, if the material is possibly negative or controversial, you must have a good source. You can't just say "Should we mention that Smith is a convicted embezzler?" or even "Should we mention that Smith is a convicted embezzler, as the Akron Daily News says?", it has to be like "Should we mention that Smith is a convicted embezzler, as the Akron Daily News says, here: [link]". And the source has to be reliable/notable enough to use in the article. And even then you should be as circumspect as possible. "Should we use this source [here] and include the allegation made there?" would be much preferable. WP:BLP applies to all pages in the Wikipedia. Herostratus (talk) 22:13, 8 April 2023 (UTC)

Fix the Women's Volleyball Tokyo 2020

Please fix and restore the new Gold Medalists and the Next Olympic Champions is:the United States of America in Women's Volleyball Tokyo 2020 Olympics. Brazil wins the Silver. And Bronze goes for Serbia. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Volleyball_at_the_2020_Summer_Olympics_%E2%80%93_Women%27s_tournament Please report it about the user 2804:2FA4:90C6:7600:4DFA:7F88:F4A7:533D for the user has done. I undo the damages. 100.2.149.243 (talk) 05:06, 8 April 2023 (UTC)

Thanks, IP editor for restoring the page correctly. It can be difficult to spot that type of vandalism but the person who did it was from Brazil and was presumably annoyed by the real result. That set of edits yesterday seems to be their only contribution so far. Mike Turnbull (talk) 12:21, 8 April 2023 (UTC)

New to Wikipedia; want to edit, don't know what to edit

I'm sorry if this question doesn't quite fit the criteria of this page but I am new to this site and really like writing and editing but can't really find anything interesting to write about, how do people even find good articles to edit? I've been thinking of translating pages from English to Bulgarian but I don't know how that works. Could anyone tell me how to find fresh, interesting articles to write and edit on? (I don't want you to send me articles, I want a way of finding articles) Thanks. RadoGaming7 (talk) 08:48, 8 April 2023 (UTC)

RadoGaming7 The Community Portal is a good place to find things to do. If you are interested in translation, please read more about it at this page. You may find using the new user tutorial helpful. 331dot (talk) 08:51, 8 April 2023 (UTC)

Thanks! Will check them out. :) RadoGaming7 (talk) 08:58, 8 April 2023 (UTC)

Judging by your Username, RadoGaming7, you might be interested in some of these Projects: the live ones are marked in green. Mike Turnbull (talk) 12:12, 8 April 2023 (UTC)

@RadoGaming7, you also might try finding an article in your area of interest and scroll down to look at what categories it's in. Click on a category that sounds interesting and see which articles are in it. You can visit those articles to see if they need improvement. Valereee (talk) 12:23, 8 April 2023 (UTC)

Haven't thought of that. Thanks RadoGaming7 (talk) 12:57, 8 April 2023 (UTC)

Hello, RadoGaming7. For information about how to translate English language Wikipedia articles into another language, please read WP:TRANSLATEUS. The attribution part is important. Cullen328 (talk) 16:10, 8 April 2023 (UTC)

Captions

For months I have been working mainly on MOS:CAPTIONS; since every page I open presents problems with this rule, and since, faced with almost 7 million pages, it's impossible to correct all the captions by myself, would there be any other person very knowledgeable about this rule who would like to contribute to this work? JackkBrown (talk) 14:41, 8 April 2023 (UTC)

It's great to hear that you've been working on improving the captions on Wikipedia pages and following the MOS:CAPTIONS guideline. This is an important task that can greatly enhance the quality and accessibility of Wikipedia articles.

As for finding other people knowledgeable about this rule to help with your work, you might consider reaching out to WikiProjects or task forces related to the subject matter of the articles you're working on. These groups often have members with specialized knowledge and experience in particular areas, and they may be able to provide guidance or assistance with captioning.

You could also try posting a request for help on relevant WikiProject talk pages or the MOS talk page, where other editors and volunteers can see your request and potentially offer their assistance.

Overall, collaboration and community engagement are essential to improving Wikipedia and ensuring that articles are accurate, informative, and accessible. Thank you for your efforts in working to improve captions on Wikipedia, and best of luck with your continued work! Someone who's wrong on the internet (talk) 03:22, 9 April 2023 (UTC)

Adding conflict of interest box?

Hello! The discography & videography in the Peter Alsop article appears to have been edited by Alsop himself in 2021. The information is very likely accurate, but is it still worth adding a conflict of interest box to the article? And if so, how would I do that? I haven't done it yet 😭 Wizard Derk (talk) 15:37, 8 April 2023 (UTC)

@Wizard Derk: Hi there! The information added by User:Peter Alsop doesn't seem significant enough to add a {{COI}} template. Instead, I suggest adding {{more citations needed section}} to the "Career" section, as the discography and videography are completely unsourced. Or, you could find sources for these. Happy editing! GoingBatty (talk) 18:09, 8 April 2023 (UTC)

Thank you for your reply! I will do; I appreciate your help! Wizard Derk (talk) 18:27, 8 April 2023 (UTC)

Added! Wizard Derk (talk) 17:23, 14 April 2023 (UTC)

What license do the lua/css/template code fall under?

Would like to use the import/export feature to add a wikipedia template to another site, but I'm not clear under what license this type of wikipedia "software" is being offered. Can someone enlighten me? 2601:1C0:6800:31C0:80E5:842C:F91C:D9A (talk) 18:25, 8 April 2023 (UTC)

Want to delete fake page?

Hey I hierd someone to create a page for me on the site and we didn't go along till the end so he left the work unfinished now I need to delete thae page that he did to create a correct one from the beginning and have the ability to edit it whenever I need so how can we do this ? 156.222.217.147 (talk) 18:44, 8 April 2023 (UTC)

Hello. It would help if you would tell us the name of the article: I can only give you a general answer.

If you hired somebody to "create a page for you", you have probably been scammed: maybe not, but probably.

They should have declared their status as a paid editor, researched to find reliable independent sources about you, and written an article based on what those sources say, not on what you say or want to say. If they have done all that, then it is likely that you cannot get it the article deleted, because if they have done that, it probably meets Wikipedia's criteria.

If they failed to declare their status, they should be blocked for breaking Wikipedia's terms of use, but the article will not necessarily be deleted. However, if they did not find and cite adequate sources to establish that you meet Wikipedia's criteria for notability, then the article probably will be deleted. If such sources do not exist, then no article about you will be accepted, whoever writes it. ColinFine (talk) 19:45, 8 April 2023 (UTC)

(ec) I gather that you hired someone to write an article (the preferred term, not page) because you wanted to write about yourself or your business; it is inadvisable for you to contribute about yourself or your conflict of interest. We can delete the article or draft if you tell us what it is. 331dot (talk) 19:47, 8 April 2023 (UTC)