Wikipedia:Help desk/Archives/2024 November 16

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November 16

Need advice on unknown birth-dates

I am trying to get a birthday of Hamida Salim yet can't find any sources stating her full birthday, only 1922. I am just wondering how can I tell the reader that the woman's full birthday is unknown.

For clarification, I checked every single page and none of them state her full birthday, closest I could get is 1922.

Thank you! ミラへぜ (talk) 00:05, 16 November 2024 (UTC)

Without reliable sources establishing a full date of birth, then there really isn't anything to be done. A lack of information itself isn't necessarily indicative of anything, unless there was a notable reason for it's omission. TiggerJay (talk) 00:43, 16 November 2024 (UTC)

It would be presumptious to actually say in the article that "[her] full birthday is unknown" – that suggests no-one now knows it, which is possible but unlikely (for example, Javed Akhtar likely knows it). It may be published somewhere you haven't seen yet, or she may not have wanted it published. However, in the absence of a reliable (or any) source, there is no need to make any further mention beyond the existing "Salim was born in 1922 in Rudauli, in Uttar Pradesh." 94.7.95.48 (talk) 00:46, 16 November 2024 (UTC)

I've added Category:Date of birth missing to the article; this is a hidden category, so most readers will not see it, but it's still useful for maintenance. jlwoodwa (talk) 04:54, 16 November 2024 (UTC)

What does 'authority control' do / mean?

I see it added to various articles I have uploaded and am interested to know what it does, Thank you BJCHK (talk) 05:31, 16 November 2024 (UTC)

BJCHK The {{Authority control}} template "links Wikipedia articles (and user pages) to the corresponding entries in library catalogs of national libraries and other authority files all over the world." (from Wikipedia:Authority control). The library catalogue codes, etc., need to be added to the article's Wikidata item. TSventon (talk) 05:40, 16 November 2024 (UTC)

@TSventon thank you for the quick reply. Is it something I can/should add to each of my articles, or is that call made by someone higher up the chain? ThanksBJCHK (talk) 06:02, 16 November 2024 (UTC)

I am afraid that is a bit beyond my knowledge, the information page says it is most useful for people and book titles and "similar well-defined entities", so perhaps start with people. It is likely to be people with a specialised interest who add missing templates, rather than "higher ups". TSventon (talk) 06:20, 16 November 2024 (UTC)

@BJCHK: Authority control is a term of art used by information scientists. It refers to the use of an authoritative name to use to find information about a subect in a catalogue or a database. In my opinion, it is a gross disservice to our readers to use this obscure term of art. The typical reader will not know that the funny "authority control" thingee at the bottom an article provides access to a large number of databases that contain entries about the article's subject. -Arch dude (talk) 06:39, 16 November 2024 (UTC)

BJCHK, you might want to read the Purpose section of Wikipedia:Authority control to see more about what it does when used on a WP article. You might also want to click on "show" for one of the examples (or in an article where you noticed it) and then click on a few of the Authority control links, to see what kind of info they display. I first noticed it on an article about an academic, and it linked to his research, and when I added it to the page of another academic, it autopopulated (though I'm not sure that it always does that). There's no reason to add it to all articles, as it doesn't apply to the subjects of all articles. But it sometimes does make sense to add it, and you're free to add it yourself, no need for a "higher up." FactOrOpinion (talk) 19:02, 16 November 2024 (UTC)

@FactOrOpinion: In case you're curious, {{authority control}} autopopulates with identifiers from Wikidata. If there is no Wikidata item associated with an article, or if its item doesn't have any of the identifiers that {{authority control}} uses, then the template will not display. jlwoodwa (talk) 02:39, 17 November 2024 (UTC)

Link to Wikisource

How can I link to Wikisource in my userpage for a book title? Is there any template? CometVolcano (talk) 15:58, 16 November 2024 (UTC)

CometVolcano, you can use raw interwiki syntax like [[:s:A History of Japanese Literature]], or {{Ws}} / {{Ws2}}. Folly Mox (talk) 16:26, 16 November 2024 (UTC)

How to creat a Wikipedia page

S Snahwh (talk) 18:13, 16 November 2024 (UTC)

See WP:YFA, but you should get experience by working to improve existing articles first. RudolfRed (talk) 19:26, 16 November 2024 (UTC)

Email Service Believes the best on Earth

Please could u teach me to put a Website Host redirection through Wiki Timo Nirvana (talk) 21:31, 16 November 2024 (UTC)

It sounds like you're trying to create some kind of spamlink or spam "page" in Wikipedia. We have zero tolerance for such efforts. --Orange Mike | Talk 21:53, 16 November 2024 (UTC)

incorrect information in preface

the preface for the information on Castroville Texas is incorrect; the town was colonized by Henri Castro, not "alsatians". The moniker "The Little Alsace of Texas" is a misnomer and came about when Ruth Lawler (then mayor and teacher at St. Louis Catholic School-see historical records) held a contest only for St. Louis Catholic Students. Students were asked to submit a nickname for Castroville. The winner was a Haby boy with ...the little alsace of texas...Castroville Council then adopted the moniker to promote tourism through segregation. Pasrsvp (talk) 21:53, 16 November 2024 (UTC)

1. Such topics should be discussed at Talk:Castroville, Texas, the article's talk page.

2. Do you have any reliable sources for your assertion? --Orange Mike | Talk 21:57, 16 November 2024 (UTC)

Methanogen entry has a nonsensical sentence

I was reading the “Methanogen” page when I saw a sentence in the “Ecology” section (immediately after the “21”footnote), which would appear to be key, except that it appears not to make grammatical sense, and gives no obvious sense of what word or words are missing. To wit: “Most of those environments are not categorized as extreme and thus methanogens that inhabit them.” (Something missing after “thus”, perhaps?). I looked for a way to contact the most recent editor of the page but that was beyond my Luddite skill level, so I searched and found this page. Hopefully, I’m correct on this sentence and haven’t wasted your time. And hopefully someone will know the answer. Thank you from Australia 1.158.12.125 (talk) 21:59, 16 November 2024 (UTC)

I don't know anything about the subject but I think that "Most of those environments are not categorized as extreme and thus methanogens that inhabit them" should be followed by " are not extremophiles." TSventon (talk) 22:22, 16 November 2024 (UTC)

1.158.12.125, like TSventon, I have no expertise here. One solution would be to delete the text "and thus methanogens that inhabit them." But if you go to the article's talk page, at the top it lists two WikiProjects that have an interest in that article, and the people who participate in those projects are more likely to be able to help. I'd ask on the Talk page of the Microbiology Wikiproject. (FWIW, it looks like that text was introduced by Microvenator in this edit. In theory, you could ask Microvenator on either their user talk page or by pinging them on the Talk page for Methanogen, but it doesn't look like Microvenator edits regularly, so you might not get a response for a long time. If you're wondering how I found that edit, click on the "View history" tab for Methanogen, and towards the top of the history page you'll see an external tool called "Find addition/removal," which lets you search for the edit where text was added or removed; I found that insertion by searching on the word "inhabit.") FactOrOpinion (talk) 22:48, 16 November 2024 (UTC)

Thank you @FactOrOpinion. Indeed it makes no sense. I don't remember now what was the reason I wrote it that way. But it should be as was suggested by @TSventon. Microvenator (talk) 17:36, 18 November 2024 (UTC)