Wikipedia:Help desk/Archives/2023 November 14

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November 14

Removing italics from article title

Is there a way to remove the italic format from an article title? For example, Together in Electric Dreams is styled in italics, but it's a song—not an album/EP—so it should not have that styling. There is no "italic title" template on the page, so I don't know how to fix this. ResPM (T🔈🎵C) 13:44, 14 November 2023 (UTC)

Italic title is almost always the results of the "italic title" template or an infobox that forces italicization. This was the latter, with the use of Infobox album lower on the page leading to unwanted consequences. I think I fixed it. Firefangledfeathers (talk / contribs) 13:51, 14 November 2023 (UTC)

Looks good to me. Thanks. ResPM (T🔈🎵C) 13:53, 14 November 2023 (UTC)

Trigon (game)

Is "Trigon" a term to be put in italics? JackkBrown (talk) 14:51, 14 November 2023 (UTC)

@JackkBrown: I don't think so, just like we don't italicize football, baseball, or basketball. GoingBatty (talk) 15:17, 14 November 2023 (UTC)

Or Pasuckuakohowog. Gråbergs Gråa Sång (talk) 15:30, 14 November 2023 (UTC)

@GoingBatty: @Gråbergs Gråa Sång: why then are "Caid (sport)" and "Episkyros" put in italics? JackkBrown (talk) 15:40, 14 November 2023 (UTC)

Someone thought it was a good idea? It may be. Gråbergs Gråa Sång (talk) 15:46, 14 November 2023 (UTC)

@JackkBrown: I think your questions about italicization would be better asked at Wikipedia talk:Manual of Style/Text formatting. GoingBatty (talk) 16:09, 14 November 2023 (UTC)

Request rollback

I made a mess, could you kindly undo all my changes on the Trigon (game) page? JackkBrown (talk) 15:45, 14 November 2023 (UTC)

 Done. Maproom (talk) 15:53, 14 November 2023 (UTC)

Italicising words written in the Greek alphabet seems weird. It's not like anyone would mistake them for English words. Maproom (talk) 15:58, 14 November 2023 (UTC)

@JackkBrown: As you will know from reading MOS:FOREIGNITALICS which you have been directed to many times, MOS:BADITALICS forbids it. You have also been told not to use direct italics, but to place non-English words inside the appropriate {{lang}} tag. Ecco un esempio: {{lang|it|Ecco un esempio}}. And, εδώ είναι ένα άλλο παράδειγμα: {{lang|el|εδώ είναι ένα άλλο παράδειγμα}}. Bazza (talk) 16:12, 14 November 2023 (UTC)

It is wrong to italicize words written with the Greek script per MOS:FOREIGN.

—Trappist the monk (talk) 16:16, 14 November 2023 (UTC)

Notability Question

I'm interested in writing my first BLP. My articles to date have all been listings on the National Register of Historic Places, so inherently notable. I'm reasonably sure my potential subject meets our notability threshold, but I would appreciate a second opinion so as to not waste my time. My question mainly involves the balance of regional vs. national coverage: the person is a real estate developer who has received extensive regional independent news coverage. I've only found one national source so far, but it's a good one: a 1,300-word profile in the New York Times (an abridged version of the same article ran in the Seattle Times). Am I correct in assuming the combined coverage lends notability, or would more national coverage be necessary? DrOrinScrivello (talk) 16:15, 14 November 2023 (UTC)

It is not possible to give you a definite answer without particulars, but on the basis of what you've said: a single source is rarely adequate; the NYT is generally a reliable source but reliability does not depend only on the publisher, but on other factors as well.

And it depends very much on what you mean by a "profile" - that often means something that will basically have been provided by the subject or their associates, which is not what is required. Is this the result of independent research, or has it been written up from an interview or press release?

I do wonder why people so often think that they can get an answer to a question about a specific case without telling us what that specific case is. ColinFine (talk) 16:23, 14 November 2023 (UTC)

@ColinFine My apologies for being vague; it was more out of a mindset of trying to give enough information without making someone actually scan through a half dozen sources. The subject's name is Ed Walker from Roanoke, Virginia - the NYT piece contains quotes from an interview but seems independently written. I don't have a WP Library-friendly link, but the citation is Ryzik, Melena.  "Virginia Developer Is On A Mission To Revive His Town". New York Times; New York, N.Y.. 25 July 2012: A.11.

And I do realize a single source would likely be insufficient. The article would be combined with the considerable amount of regional coverage, I just don't know how much weight that hold towards overall notability. Thanks for the assistance either way. DrOrinScrivello (talk) 16:38, 14 November 2023 (UTC)

@DrOrinScrivello: See this archived version. When writing the citation in a Wikipedia article, you don't need to write that the New York Times is published in New York. The location would be more important for a smaller publication, or an ambiguous name such as The Record. GoingBatty (talk) 17:01, 14 November 2023 (UTC)

@GoingBatty Thanks for the link and the tip. I copy pasted from Proquest and thought to remove the "Late Edition (East Coast)" but didn't think about the location.

I'll add that this is particular occasion is not a big deal, I have plenty to occupy my time with the project Ed Walker article or no, but it has piqued my interest for future reference regarding national vs. regional coverage and notability. In doing research before coming here I came across WP:AUD, but that is only specific to organizations. Is there an exisiting essay or guideline that applies to people? DrOrinScrivello (talk) 17:17, 14 November 2023 (UTC)

@DrOrinScrivello: Yes, WP:NBIO. GoingBatty (talk) 17:53, 14 November 2023 (UTC)

@GoingBatty I'm aware of WP:NBIO, but it doesn't seem to make any distinction between national and regional coverage. I found some discussion in the archives of its talk page, but nothing definitive. I'll likely just stay away from any fringe cases and stick with my corner of the encyclopedia that's a little more straightforward. DrOrinScrivello (talk) 18:38, 14 November 2023 (UTC)

If you are unsure, start a draft in your userspace. As long as it's in your userspace and not draft space, it won't be subject to G13, so you can take your time. If you are unsure about the sourcing, ask someone to take a look at it once you're relatively happy with it. If you really want to subject it to some scrutiny, you can send it through articles for creation, but don't feel obligated. I would encourage you to go for it though. ~ ONUnicorn^{(Talk|Contribs)}problem solving 22:16, 14 November 2023 (UTC)

@ONUnicorn Thanks for the suggestions and encouragement. I only recently discovered how useful the userspace can be. I'll work up a draft eventually and see how it goes. DrOrinScrivello (talk) 22:51, 14 November 2023 (UTC)

I wanted to Change my user name.

I made my user name Fortune2725, then went back and tried to change it to my Name Ryan Hyman, and it now added another account that is somehow linked to the Fortune2725 user name. I do not want to use Fortune2725 as my user name. I would like to use my name Ryan Hyman. Fortune2725 (talk) 22:30, 14 November 2023 (UTC)

@Fortune2725: Hi there! I see you successfully created the Ryan Hyman user. Log out of Wikipedia, and log in as Ryan Hyman, and you'll be all set. GoingBatty (talk) 22:34, 14 November 2023 (UTC)

It said the account already exists now. Fortune2725 (talk) 22:36, 14 November 2023 (UTC)

Yes; assuming you were the one who created Ryan Hyman, you can log out of this account and enter the credentials to use that one. —Tenryuu 🐲 ( 💬 • 📝 ) 22:42, 14 November 2023 (UTC)

Special:Log/Fortune2725 shows it was you who created Ryan Hyman. As the others say, just log out and back in as Ryan Hyman. The account Fortune2725 will still exist but you can ignore it. If you want to edit beyond this section with both accounts then see Wikipedia:Sockpuppetry. PrimeHunter (talk) 23:19, 14 November 2023 (UTC)

Wikilinking Special:Log

Is there a way to Wikilink rather than external-link a Special:Log? Specifically, a Wikilink instead of https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Special:Log&page=Selby+Abbey Something like [[Special:Log&page=Selby+Abbey]] which doesn't work. Special:Log&page=Selby+Abbey If you could point me to a help page, that would be great. help:log doesn't seem to have any such info. Thank you Adakiko (talk) 23:05, 14 November 2023 (UTC)

It doesn't look as if you can: you can specify the kind of log in a wikilink, but not the "target". See Help:Special page. ColinFine (talk) 23:11, 14 November 2023 (UTC)

@Adakiko: I think you can only wikilink by log type and performer, not target. See mw:Help:Log. Query strings with "&" never work in wikilinks. PrimeHunter (talk) 23:14, 14 November 2023 (UTC)

You can also link to single specific log entries with Special:Redirect, like Special:Redirect/logid/155248539. But no, you can't wikilink by target, which is the most glaring omission, nor by subtype (like only restorations in the deletion log). —Cryptic 23:18, 14 November 2023 (UTC)

Thank you! Adakiko (talk) 03:56, 15 November 2023 (UTC)