Wikipedia:Help desk/Archives/2023 February 25

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February 25

How to style userboxes

How does one put userboxes into tables? I've seen them when viewing user pages and cannot figure out how to do so. DrowssapSMM (talk) 02:42, 25 February 2023 (UTC)

@DrowssapSMM: Hi there! When you view a user page that you like, you can click the "Edit source" button to see how it was made. Feel free to copy the code and paste it into your sandbox to play with it. Just be careful to not make any changes to the user's page. Happy editing! GoingBatty (talk) 04:14, 25 February 2023 (UTC)

Ok, thank you! DrowssapSMM (talk) 13:09, 25 February 2023 (UTC)

Which kind of flags should I put at "Flags of micronations"?

Like, micronations that exist. Flag Creator (talk) 05:33, 25 February 2023 (UTC)

@Flag Creator I assume you intend to add material to the list article Flags of micronations. Like most lists, this covers only those micronations which have a Wikipedia article because they are notable enough to do so. Then the appropriate flag is whatever has been reported in reliable sources. Mike Turnbull (talk) 11:59, 25 February 2023 (UTC)

And if you mean "which kind" in a technical sense, then we prefer .svg files rather than other file formats. Mike Turnbull (talk) 12:02, 25 February 2023 (UTC)

Ok. Thanks! I really appreciate it. Somebody removed my edit where I added the micronation called "Vienne", located in Austria. But that page exists. Is it possible if I can keep it? Flag Creator (talk) 14:23, 25 February 2023 (UTC)

What on earth makes you think that Vienne is a micronation? It is the French name for the capital of Austria - Vienna. And if you have a dispute about content for a specific article, discuss it on the relevant talk page. Asking vague questions here isn't going to resolve that sort of dispute. 14:30, 25 February 2023 (UTC)

I think the previous reply was Andy the Grump. David10244 (talk) 05:24, 27 February 2023 (UTC)

Yup, apologies for that, most likely down to carelessness on my part. AndyTheGrump (talk) 05:29, 27 February 2023 (UTC)

I find it a bit difficult to WP:AGF when the OP pipes the name of a supposed micronation to Pepe the Frog [1] Meters (talk) 09:44, 27 February 2023 (UTC)

Ah, I see that there is a section about Kekistan embedded in that article. Pretty tenuous connection, and I'm not sure it should even be there, but the pipe is probably just misguided, not bad faith. Meters (talk) 09:58, 27 February 2023 (UTC)

@AndyTheGrump Under the radar, eh? No worries! David10244 (talk) 11:35, 28 February 2023 (UTC)

Clearing Pages of Known LTA

Please blank the page User:Sakda Kulnaphang (and its talk page) or replace them with appropriate message tag. The account has been locked as a LTA and a sockpuppet, and the user attempted to use Wikipedia as a host for its content, which is not what the user page is for. Other users/IPs are blocked from editing due to abuse filter. Thank you. --49.229.138.73 (talk) 09:58, 25 February 2023 (UTC)

 Done, thanks IP Justiyaya 14:50, 25 February 2023 (UTC)

Linking articles

Hi. Is it OK if I link a title to it's related article in wikipedia that is in another language? (For moments that an article is not available in the language of the current article)

• Example:The Friendly Ghost

Ehsancdn (talk) 17:45, 25 February 2023 (UTC)

It's allowed, but follow the principle of "No surprises". Your link may lead readers to expect an English article, and possibly the article The Friendly Ghost.

I would say something like [[:fa:روح مهربان|روح مهربان (Rooh Mehraban - "The Friendly Ghost")]]. ColinFine (talk) 18:22, 25 February 2023 (UTC)

Thanks.

You mean I have to be careful to link the same article and not something that is totally different? (For example we're talking about a movie but the link is an article about an event or a book that has nothing to do with the movie and it's just an accidental similarity) and the linked phrase should be written in both languages so that somehow we notice the reader that the link might be in a different language? Ehsancdn (talk) 18:31, 25 February 2023 (UTC)

@Ehsancdn: We have {{Interlanguage link}} for this situation. PrimeHunter (talk) 22:19, 25 February 2023 (UTC)

I don't think that is the situation, PrimeHunter. I think Ehsancdn is linking to a fa-wiki article that, if its name were translated into English, would be the same as an existing en-wiki article, but refers to a different thing. I can't see how you could use {{ill}} for this, because it would link to the (irrelevant) en-wiki article. ColinFine (talk) 23:00, 25 February 2023 (UTC)

See Template:Interlanguage link#Displaying different text. {{Interlanguage link|lt=''The Friendly Ghost''|The Friendly Ghost (TV series)|fa|روح مهربان}} produces The Friendly Ghost. PrimeHunter (talk) 23:13, 25 February 2023 (UTC)

You guys are wonderful ! That was exactly what I was looking for. Thanks Ehsancdn (talk) 23:44, 25 February 2023 (UTC)

Yes, that's right, Ehsancdn. I don't know the best way to express it in the text - mine is a suggestion - but it would be unhelpful if a link apparently to a film took the reader to a foreign-language article about a different TV series without warning them! ColinFine (talk) 23:05, 25 February 2023 (UTC)

Text box in user space

Hi there! I wanted to add some text boxes to my own pages to make their purpose more clear. Is there any template for text boxes with e. g. bold blue border? Minihaa (talk) 18:59, 25 February 2023 (UTC)

Like this? Maproom (talk) 20:16, 25 February 2023 (UTC)

About List of time travel works of fiction

There is a problem in List of time travel works of fiction. The List is broken. I've tried to fix it but couldn't fix it. Can someone fix it? --Serratovic (talk) 20:48, 25 February 2023 (UTC)

 Done Martin of Sheffield (talk) 20:54, 25 February 2023 (UTC)

what's a sanbox

Is that how you make articles? Mm37. (talk) 23:19, 25 February 2023 (UTC)

It's one way. Another is to use Draft space. See your first article for more explanation. BUt please be aware that creating a new article successfully is much more difficult than it looks, so you will probably save yourself a lot of frustration and disappointment if you spent some weeks or months making improvements to existing articles and learning how Wikipedia works before you try it. ColinFine (talk) 00:09, 26 February 2023 (UTC)

(edit conflict):@Mm37.: A sandbox is used to test wikicode to see what it produces. You can use it for just about any type of experiment. While it can be used to create an article, it is much better to create your proposed article in "draft space". See WP:YFA. However, the very first thing to realize is that any Wikipedia article must be about a notable subject, as we define notability. This is the only absolute requirement: see WP:N. Do not attempt to create an article unless you are sure that other editors will think that the subject is notable, or you will just be wasting your time ans ours. -Arch dude (talk) 00:11, 26 February 2023 (UTC)

Oh ok well I'll just edit articles I like 2600:1008:B193:2A9C:E494:3FF:FEEC:8A9C (talk) 17:14, 26 February 2023 (UTC)