Wikipedia:Help desk/Archives/2023 January 13

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January 13

blacklisted

Hi, I would like to know why this account was blackisted. We did not do any promotional edits to any article. Sanction Scanner (talk) 07:23, 13 January 2023 (UTC)

Wikipedia does not blacklist user accounts (it does blacklist unreliable sources). So your account has not been blacklisted. Nor has it been banned, or blocked. The content of your user page has been removed, because it was in some ways against Wikipedia policies. I'm not an admin, so I can't see it and tell you why; but the links WP:U5 and WP:G11 may help to explain. Maproom (talk) 08:30, 13 January 2023 (UTC)

The above was accurate when written; but the user account is now (amicably) blocked. -- Hoary (talk) 11:55, 13 January 2023 (UTC)

Note that a userpage is for letting other users (if you like) know a little about you and your interests as a Wikipedia editor. If you were trying to create an article, you were in the wrong place. Also, see WP:ISU and WP:NOSHARE. Gråbergs Gråa Sång (talk) 08:39, 13 January 2023 (UTC)

@Sanction Scanner: Who is "we"? User accounts must be personal, and not shared. See WP:NOSHARING. Bazza (talk) 09:49, 13 January 2023 (UTC)

According to the deleted page, "we" meant/means "Sanction Scanner", "an Anti-Money Laundering solutions provider established in 2019". -- Hoary (talk) 11:46, 13 January 2023 (UTC)

That "userpage" was a shameless advert (not very grammatical) for their company. They were already softblocked for bad user name; I've upgraded it to a spamuserblock. --Orange Mike | Talk 11:58, 13 January 2023 (UTC)

Signature and timestamp button

I have been doing some work in the Template:Did you know nominations area recently, and I've found that there is no "signature and timestamp" button to automatically add my signature as there is in most of the rest of Wikipedia. Here at the Help Desk, for exampkle, when editing, I see a B for boldface, an I for italics, an "x and cursive l" for signature and timestamp, two chainlinks for a link, etc., but over at, say, Template:Did you know nominations/Berta Berkovich Kohut there's no "x and cursive l" for signature and timestamp. Why is it different over there? I don't see any reason why it should be so that I have to type ~~~~ by hand. --Metropolitan90 (talk) 18:54, 13 January 2023 (UTC)

@Metropolitan90: The template namespace is not meant for discussions with signed posts so the signature button is omitted from the toolbar like in articles and some other namespaces (a signature would often break actual templates). "Did you know" nominations use the template space inappropriately. It has been discussed to move the nominations but it was deemed too much work. Below the edit area you may have have a drop-down list which inludes "Wiki markup" with a clickable ~~~~ to insert a signature. PrimeHunter (talk) 19:10, 13 January 2023 (UTC)

Out of curiosity I tried to see if I could use the 2017 editing toolbar to add a signature in templatespace, and it can, but it takes three clicks: Insert → More → Your signature. It'd be faster to press the ~ key four times. —Tenryuu 🐲 ( 💬 • 📝 ) 20:30, 13 January 2023 (UTC)

Fair use photos

If I want to edit a Wikipedia page about a person, is it allowable to upload a non-free photo of that person under fair use? The ones I have seen on other pages were all for deceased persons - is that a rule that you can't do it if the person is still living? I'm also wondering about the maximum allowed resolution. The photos I've seen on other pages all had maximum dimensions of 400 pixels or less is that a general rule? Fracton (talk) 19:04, 13 January 2023 (UTC)

Fracton, the WP:FAIRUSE criteria #1 states that fair use is unapplicable if a free equivalent could be created, or a picture of the living person be taken. Sungodtemple (talk • contribs) 19:10, 13 January 2023 (UTC)

WP:IMAGERES has recommended dimensions. Sungodtemple (talk • contribs) 19:11, 13 January 2023 (UTC)

Ok, though that's unfortunate since in a lot of cases it will be impractical to obtain the photo and so a lot of pages will never display a photo of the person they are about. Fracton (talk) 20:46, 13 January 2023 (UTC)

@Fracton: WMF is obliged to obey the law, and this is the most reasonable conservative interpretation of copyright law. It's the law that is "unfortunate" in this case. -Arch dude (talk) 21:08, 13 January 2023 (UTC)

Have you read Wikipedia:Non-free content criteria? Under WP:NFCC#1, non-free content is used only where no free equivalent is available, or could be created, ... For a living person, someone could take a photo, so that crierion isn't met. - David Biddulph (talk) 19:13, 13 January 2023 (UTC)

@Fracton You didn't link the BLP article where you wanted to add a photo so I can only give general advice. One possibility is to do a Google image search for their name and then use the "Tools" menu on the results page to seek images with Creative Commons licenses. Such images can be uploaded to Wikimedia Commons (as long as the license doesn't include "NC"=no commercial use). Alternatively, if the biography includes a link to their website or the name of their institution you could reach out to them via email and offer assistance in getting a selfie they have taken uploaded to Commons. Mike Turnbull (talk) 17:46, 14 January 2023 (UTC)

How do I request to get this redirect deleted?

There’s a redirect from Dr. Gay Hitler to Pickaway County, Ohio. Dr. Gay Hitler is not even mentioned on the redirect article. Can anyone tell me how to request for the direct to be deleted? Thanks. Abdul Akter (talk) 20:30, 13 January 2023 (UTC)

I suggest taking it to redirects for discussion and opening a discussion. There are instructions on that page. ~ ONUnicorn^{(Talk|Contribs)}problem solving 20:34, 13 January 2023 (UTC)

Incidentially, I've since updated the redirect target to Circleville,_Ohio#Early_history, where he is discussed. In cases like that, where there is a more appropriate target, feel free to just update it. But keep RFD in mind for future reference. ~ ONUnicorn^{(Talk|Contribs)}problem solving 20:41, 13 January 2023 (UTC)

@Abdul Akter, @ONUnicorn: Looks like it was in the article once but since yesterday, 12 January 2023, is considered no longer important by @Mucube. Bazza (talk) 20:43, 13 January 2023 (UTC)

Massive bug

Hello,

On the page "Maurice Duplessis", there is a genealogical tree that I completed with names. After I put the reference link in the box, the genealogical tree box disappeared and now it is written "Cite error: The ref tag has too many names (see the help page). I tried to undid my edits, but it doesn't work. Now I feel bad because I know some people have worked on this genealogical tree before me, and bug has disappeared their work. I would be glad if someone could help me by putting the genealogical tree back (because I tried and failed) and to undo some of my edits so to not putting too much pressure on the box, or to expand the box.

Thank you very much in advance. FaChol (talk) 21:10, 13 January 2023 (UTC)

@FaChol: I've reverted the genealogy tree to look like what it was before it was broken. Mucube (talk • contribs) 21:23, 13 January 2023 (UTC)