Wikipedia:Help desk/Archives/2013 April 6

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April 6

Page: Dorian Davies

I just created a page about Welsh artist Dorian Davies. I have 3 different sources on it but I got a message on my talk page almost immediately after creating the page saying that a lot of the text seemed to be copied from one of the sources. I admit it wasn't changed completely from the original text, but there was not a huge amount of text to work with from the beginning so I don't really know how to make it original without adding irrelevant fluff to it.

Any tips on how I can make the article more "my own" or is it okay as it is? Thanks in advance! Leiservampir (talk) 21:08, 6 April 2013 (UTC)

Sorry, it was deleted as an "Unambiguous copyright infringement of http://dorianspencerdavies.com/", though there may still be hope.

This advice was given elsewhere: please see Wikipedia:Your first article and Wikipedia:How to write a great article, and please consider taking a tour through the Wikipedia:Tutorial so that you know how to properly format the article before creation. An Article Wizard is available to walk you through creating an article.— Vchimpanzee · talk · contributions · 19:53, 8 April 2013 (UTC)

And if any of the content of the deleted article is useful you may be able to get a copy so you can work on it further. But the problems have to be addressed or the article will just get deleted again.— Vchimpanzee · talk · contributions · 20:13, 8 April 2013 (UTC)

Editing an existing page

How do I edit an existing page that I did not create? There is a page with false information on it and I've pasted the link below.

Will Beall

Thank you,

Adam Riback — Preceding unsigned comment added by 76.79.200.2 (talk) 00:05, 6 April 2013 (UTC)

You linked to the mobile version of that page. Go to the normal site at Will Beall, and click the edit link in the upper right of the page. Help for learning to edit is at WP:HOW. RudolfRed (talk) 00:14, 6 April 2013 (UTC)

Check the sources on this page Will_Beall. If the information is inaccurate and has no source attached it can be deleted right away because it is a biography of a living person. If there is a source but it is unflattering you will have to take the discussion to the talk page and post your concerns under a new topic. You will have to determine if the source is unreliable or not. 97.85.168.22 (talk) 00:19, 6 April 2013 (UTC)

WP:RS provides some guidance. RudolfRed (talk) 00:22, 6 April 2013 (UTC)

Sites used as sources that are not blacklisted by Wikipedia but are blacklisted by Sucuri or other security websites.

Upon reading about the Flip Video there was a bright red circle from World of Trust (WOT) on one of the sources so I went and checked it at sucuri.net [1] and found that McAfee has blacklisted the site for spreading malware. That doesn't necessarily invalidate the source but I deleted the reference. Is there a template to add to a source, like the dead link template {{Dead link}} along the lines of notification for a compromised server? It's possible that once the domain deals with it's security issues the site will be unlisted but then I will have deleted the reference.

• Is going through and deleting compromised servers source references the correct procedure or do we tag them with some template that I do not know about? 97.85.168.22 (talk) 00:08, 6 April 2013 (UTC)

The only relevant advice I can find is from WP:DEADREF, "Do not delete a citation merely because the URL is not working today". I can't find a suitable warning template for this case, though. It would be simple enough to create something like to warn readers. Apparently the place to propose this would be Wikipedia talk:WikiProject Inline Templates. -- John of Reading (talk) 20:28, 6 April 2013 (UTC)

I think this is well worth doing. --Demiurge1000 (talk) 20:58, 6 April 2013 (UTC)

OK, I've begun a new thread at Wikipedia talk:WikiProject Inline Templates#A template to mark a reference URL as compromised. Please add comments there, not here. -- John of Reading (talk) 21:14, 6 April 2013 (UTC)

Thankyou. Now if we only had a Wikibot that patrolled links and compared them to the blacklist and automarked them.. 97.85.168.22 (talk) 07:36, 8 April 2013 (UTC)

article Kevin Hearne author Iron Druid Series

Resolved

Last hyperlink in external link section takes you to page that says it is not associated with the iron druid series. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 108.199.188.231 (talk) 02:49, 6 April 2013 (UTC)

The last link I see on Kevin Hearne leads to the Iron Druid wiki, which doesn't seem out of place. RudolfRed (talk) 03:18, 6 April 2013 (UTC)

That link have been removed --Ushau97 ^talk 09:17, 6 April 2013 (UTC)

Using "name=x" ref shortcut for books

I'm editing an article where there are multiple references to a book, with each ref distinguishing a unique page or pages. I'd like to use the < ref name=X > shortcut so that the full listing (title, author, ISBN, etc.) is not listed in the reflist multiple times. However, I'm not sure how to do this, seeing as each ref currently uses a different page or set of pages. Any advice? Thanks in advance... Girona7 (talk) 04:21, 6 April 2013 (UTC)

{{rp}}. Don't even mention page numbers inside the ref tags, while each </ref> tag should be followed by the rp template. It's easy to use; typing {{rp|5}} will be sufficient for citing page 5, for example. If I didn't explain clearly enough, look at Mummy Cave, where it's used extensively. Nyttend (talk) 05:03, 6 April 2013 (UTC)

You may read about what you are trying to do on WP:CITE#Repeated citations. Happy editing! Technical 13 (talk) 14:22, 6 April 2013 (UTC)

Great, thanks for the tips! Girona7 (talk) 14:34, 6 April 2013 (UTC)

Or; Help:References and page numbers. --  Gadget850 (Ed) ^talk 18:56, 6 April 2013 (UTC)

CSD A7 question

Hi, The A7 Criteria on Criteria for speedy deletion states that This criterion applies only to articles about web content and to articles about people, organizations, and individual animals themselves, not to articles about their books, albums, software, or other creative works. This criterion does not apply to species of animals, only to individual animal(s). So does this criteria applies to movie articles (eg:18 Vayasu or Big Trouble in Little China)? BINOY ^Talk 06:23, 6 April 2013 (UTC)

I am having a little difficulty understanding why you are asking this question but I can tell you that speedy deletion is for newly created articles. To have either of the articles deleted that you have linked to you will have to go through the WP:AFD process. I can tell you that you will have little chance of getting them deleted as they both meet the criteria for WP:NOTABILITY MarnetteD | Talk 06:30, 6 April 2013 (UTC)

I find it interesting that you say above that "speedy deletion is for newly created articles". I see the "recently created" proviso in A10 and R3, but not in the other criteria, and indeed some even warn specifically against using them on very recently created articles. Could you clarify for us where the restriction of speedy deletion to newly created articles is defined? I had always assumed that the "speedy" referred to the amount of time that the deletion process takes, rather than how quickly it occurs after article creation. - David Biddulph (talk) 06:57, 6 April 2013 (UTC)

My apologies DB. The only articles that I have ever seen a speedy on on were new ones. Of course one could slip through the cracks and been here for some time and still be eligible for a speedy. That is what I get for assuming (and it only applies to me) something based on my experience. Again my apologies for adding to the confusion. MarnetteD | Talk 07:04, 6 April 2013 (UTC)

No, A7 does not apply to films and you can't tag either of those articles with db-a7. The criteria clear states not to articles about their books, albums, software, or other "creative works". Both of them meets WP:NF. --Ushau97 ^talk 06:38, 6 April 2013 (UTC)

Thanks,

I asked this because an editor speedy deleted the article Kan Pesum Vaarthaigal, a Tamil movie, stating A7 Criteria. I was given references including news articles from CNN, Times of India etc. Here is he sandbox page of the article. User:Binoyjsdk/sandbox/KPV. Does this article meets A7 criteria? BINOY ^Talk 07:27, 6 April 2013 (UTC)

You will have to ask the admin who deleted the article or another admin if they are unavailable. I think there may be some confusion as I cannot see where the article was ever put into mainspace. Perhaps someone else can check on that. MarnetteD | Talk 06:54, 6 April 2013 (UTC)

You can see the deletion log here :). BINOY ^Talk 07:02, 6 April 2013 (UTC)

For the non-admins in this discussion, the deleted article is identical to the draft at User:Binoyjsdk/sandbox/KPV. I don't deal with deletions so I can't really help you with this, but I suggest you contact Jimfbleak who deleted the article if you want to know why he thought it falls under A7. That said, I don't think the article meets Wikipedia:Notability (films). Chamal ^T•C 07:08, 6 April 2013 (UTC)

... and one of the previous versions was subjected to the PROD process on that basis, as notified at User talk:Pola2222222#Proposed deletion of Kan Pesum Vaarthaigal. - David Biddulph (talk) 07:14, 6 April 2013 (UTC)

Yes. That version was deleted because the user didn't given any citation and also contained copyrighted content and was deleted under CSD G12. BINOY ^Talk 07:21, 6 April 2013 (UTC)

(edit conflict)As I say you will have to ask that editor directly. As it looks now the admin did not use the correct criteria for deletion. You might also leave a note at the Wikipedia talk:WikiProject Film and ask other members of the project to take a look at the sandbox version to see if it needs anything else to have it be an article in good standing. MarnetteD | Talk 07:10, 6 April 2013 (UTC)

I notified Jimfbleak. Waiting for his reply. Thank you for helping :) Have a nice weekend. BINOY ^Talk 07:16, 6 April 2013 (UTC)

The best thing to do in this case was to PROD or AfD if it does not meet notability --Ushau97 ^talk 08:10, 6 April 2013 (UTC)

Comment: If Jimfbleak uses Twinkle, there is a HUGE section of A7 in between A5 and A9, it may have simply been a miss-click and he intended one of the adjacent reason. Not sure if that helps you much, but it was a thought that crossed my mind (because other editors are human, and I've seen mis-clicks before). Happy editing! Technical 13 (talk) 14:15, 6 April 2013 (UTC)

 Note: Page have been undeleted and is now at AfD: Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Kan Pesum Vaarthaigal --Ushau97 (talk) 16:09, 6 April 2013 (UTC)

Redirecting mail

Is there any rule which provides a post man to send the registered letter addressed to one person to redirect to a new person even if by consent of the addresse? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 202.83.61.96 (talk) 11:11, 6 April 2013 (UTC)

I suspect, based on your question, that you found one of our over 6 million articles and thought we were affiliated in some way with that subject. Please note that you are at Wikipedia, the free online encyclopedia that anyone can edit, and this page is for asking questions related to using or contributing to Wikipedia itself. Thus, we have no special knowledge about the subject of your question. You can, however, search our vast catalogue of articles by typing a subject into the search field on the upper right side of your screen. If you cannot find what you are looking for, we have a reference desk, divided into various subject areas, where asking knowledge questions is welcome. Best of luck. - a boat that can float! (watch me float) 11:18, 6 April 2013 (UTC)

And if you ask at the reference desk, I suggest you mention which part of the world you are in. --ColinFine (talk) 17:09, 6 April 2013 (UTC)

2nd request ,,,best selling albums

I placed I request on this page two days ago and nothing happened in regards to the request,,,( originally I placed a request for an edit on the best selling album page, with a semi protected edit template,,that was 8 daysago and nothing ever happened on that talk page),,,,I cant edit if not I would have done it myself,,,,so is it possible someone can genuinely help ??,,,,,thank you,,,--65.8.190.94 (talk) 13:02, 6 April 2013 (UTC)

The only edit you have made is to this page. What page are you referring to?--Launchballer 13:09, 6 April 2013 (UTC)

Talk:List of best-selling albums#Michael_Jackson's_HIStory Past Present and Future.....this is the page, for some reason my ip address changes, im not sure why.--65.8.190.94 (talk) 13:12, 6 April 2013 (UTC)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talk:List_of_best-selling_albums... — Preceding unsigned comment added by 65.8.190.94 (talk) 13:37, 6 April 2013 (UTC)

It's not just your request. There is a backlog at WP:SPER. You just need to be patient. RudolfRed (talk) 15:55, 6 April 2013 (UTC)

General Hospital

I'd like to know why there is nothing on Cari Shayne. She originally played Karen Wexler from 1992-1994. Thank you.2600:1013:B01B:EA20:0:3D:FEBE:8701 (talk) 16:19, 6 April 2013 (UTC)ladymcd10

That actress and character are mentioned at List of General Hospital characters which redirects from Karen Wexler. There's a link to Karen Wexler in the General Hospital article. RudolfRed (talk) 16:30, 6 April 2013 (UTC)

Nightmare on Admin Noticeboard Street

If you want to appeal a block, follow the procedure at WP:APPEAL. Do not evade the block by posting here.Singularity42 (talk) 18:28, 6 April 2013 (UTC)

THIS QUESTION WAS PREVIOUSLY POSTED AND DELETED FOR "BLOCK EVASION" WHEN I'M ASKING FOR HELP ABOUT WHAT TO DO ABOUT ABUSIVE ARBITRARY ADMINS BLOCKING A USER INAPPROPRIATELY HAS NO ONE READ Franz Kafka or Catch-22 ? What do we do about bizarre, arbitrary acts by admins in the Admin Noticeboard forum? I've just been through an absolute, literal Franz Kafka story of almost getting a serious issue with an article resolved... until some random admin appears and just closes this completely constructive, non-argumentative thread. No "I'm thinking we should close this thread" -- just it's suddenly closed and NOTHING in the world to do about it. No one may question, criticize, ever mention the subject again. My new post constructively listing outstanding issues still to be dealt with, deleted. Account. Banned. Post with a different account asking to discuss this arbitrary behavior. You know what happened. Of all the links in Wikipedia, one distinctly not easy to find is the one to complain about admins. Perhaps the admins thought it best to delete that one. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 98.180.30.161 (talk) 15:42, 6 April 2013 (UTC) — Preceding unsigned comment added by 98.180.30.161 (talk) And yeah I'm waiting for someone to delete this too -- so I can get the URL for its permanent home in Help Desk History, and the Wikipedia user name of the clueless apparatchik only following Official Policy, for worldwide mockery as the ultimate and concise reason for falling Wikipedia editor participation. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 98.180.30.161 (talk) 17:38, 6 April 2013 (UTC)

Problems with "remember me", continued

This is Rourke, and I still have the same problem that I had 22 days ago: Wikipedia's "remember me" won't actually remember me for more than about a day, maybe a day and a half at most, before it logs me back out. I've tried logging back out and logging back in again repeatedly -- that doesn't work, the problem persists. It just might have something to do with my browser (version 18.0.2 on Mac OS X 10.6.8 using a MacBook). If so, however, I can't figure out what in particular is wrong, since I've checked Firefox's settings and I'm not auto-deleting cookies. AlanM1 appears to be having the same problem. I'm currently using the default skin, so it can't be that I was using the wrong skin. Assuming that this is a Wikipedia problem and not a Firefox problem, are there any actions I can take to stay remembered? Rourke (talk) 20:22, 6 April 2013 (UTC)

Have you tried other browsers, such as Safari? If you see the problem with other browers (or don't), that would help determine if it is a browser issue or not. I use the same OS as you do, and I am not having any problems with Wikipedia remembering me, but I use Safari and not Firefox. RudolfRed (talk) 21:21, 6 April 2013 (UTC)

I also use Firefox (version 18.0.2 on Mac OS X 10.6.8 with a MacBook) and I too have problems with being logged out, sometimes mid session.Theroadislong (talk) 21:35, 6 April 2013 (UTC)

Hmmm. RudolfRed, no, I haven't used Safari in years, but I still have it. If it doesn't keep logging me out on Safari, that would indicate a problem with Firefox. Theroadislong, I suggest you try the same thing. That way we'll know for sure whether it's a Firefox problem or a Wikipedia problem. Rourke (talk) 13:15, 8 April 2013 (UTC)

Lcpl James Thomas Duane Ashworth

James Thomas Duane Ashworth was born in Munster west Germany at the British military hospital, so can you correct the information please

Regards his mum Kerry ashworth — Preceding unsigned comment added by 176.27.70.70 (talk) 21:50, 6 April 2013 (UTC)

Firstly, could you please say which article you're referring to? Secondly, Wikipedia needs what we call reliable sources for articles; you may well be his Mum but from this side of a Web browser you may be his mate or just some troublemaker trying to get information changed; without reliable sources of verifiable information Wikipedia's unlikely to change something on an anonymous IP editor's say-so. If you're genuinely his Mum I'm sure you won't mind supplying a bit of information to verify the details on his Wikipedia entry. Regards Tonywalton ^Talk 22:36, 6 April 2013 (UTC)

I guess that's the heroic James Ashworth VC. Same applies, though, Wikipedia needs some sources (apart from yourself) to say that your information is verifiable. Tonywalton ^Talk 22:45, 6 April 2013 (UTC)

I removed the unsourced birthplace from James Ashworth. —teb728 t c 22:48, 6 April 2013 (UTC)

My page deleted

Hi,

My page has been deleted and username blocked because I was daft when I wrote it. Its my own fault, I misunderstood wiki, its policies and posted about my business when setting up a page that I thought would be okay, silly I know now. Basically I was classed as spam. I was trying to set up a page similar to that of some other businesses but being inexperienced at this I messed it up.

I accept that its been deleted, even agree with it, and have spoken to the admin who deleted it afterwards to explain.

Only problem I have is that now, google shows in search results at the very top of its results for my business name, my business as having a page blocked on wiki. This has led to a complete lose of sales since the 31st. I have spoken to two customers who said they searched for my info before ordering and this was a factor that almost influenced them. They said in essence that my feedback thankfully saved their sales.

I literally am a new start tiny/small business and six days of lost sales so far is a big thing.

Anyone able to advise how long it will be listed as blocked or how I can request its removal. I can no longer get in touch with anyone as my account was removed.

Cannot believe that a silly mistake on my part casued this. I would never have thought a block notice would appear against my name.

Thanks guys, — Preceding unsigned comment added by 94.12.210.157 (talk) 21:55, 6 April 2013 (UTC)

At this point, your problem is with the search engines and not with us. We have no control over search engine results; but because Wikipedia is one of the globe's most widely used websites (one reason we watch so fiercely for spamming), what happens here does have consequences. --Orange Mike | Talk 22:11, 6 April 2013 (UTC)

You didn't mention the page or username so I cannot check what happened. Wikipedia displays a deletion log for deleted pages but also returns a HTTP 404 Not Found error message. When Google and other search engines try to revisit the page they should detect this and remove the page from their search index. We don't control when that happens. If your account has a user or user talk page then that page may still exist and be indexed by search engines. PrimeHunter (talk) 22:26, 6 April 2013 (UTC)

I assumed that this was one of those situations where Joe Social, owner/creator of JoePageBook, opens an account named User:JoePageBook and creates an article JoePageBook bragging about how wonderful JoePageBook is and how everybody's migrating there from MySpace, etc. Then the article is deleted as spam, Joe Social complains here and on the talk page of the deleting admin and maybe at the Teahouse that he's being prevented from committing public relations, the account is blocked as a spamusername by a vigilant admin, and various notices about these processes become a high-ranking result on search engines for the term "JoePageBook". --Orange Mike | Talk 22:49, 6 April 2013 (UTC)

Thanks for your advice orangemike and primehunter. I will look into it with the search engines. I did'nt think I would get banned etc if it was not okay. I thought the page might/would be suspended and I would be told that I had to change anything that was not acceptable and this I would do. Plus if I had spent time reading the info on setting up a page, I would not have made this mistake, in the first place. Unfortunately this was not the case. I did however not complain to any one, as I accepted the admins reasons. Most of the advice I sought from the admin was about what ther block notice mean't etc etc, as I did not understand the jargon.

None the less, lesson lean'nt and again thanks for your advice.(UTC) — Preceding unsigned comment added by 94.14.202.23 (talk)

We are still unable to see what happened without knowing the username so we cannot say whether there remains pages which will be kept by search engines like Google. We would probably be able to tell search engines not to index such pages if you want it. I guess your account was blocked for having a company or product as username. In that case you would be allowed to create a new account with another username. That means you are not banned in Wikipedia's sense of the word. PrimeHunter (talk) 11:30, 8 April 2013 (UTC)

I see Special:Contributions/94.14.202.23 now reveals the username. While investigating I discovered an apparent bug I have reported at Wikipedia:Village pump (technical)#Deleted user pages don't give a 404 error. I didn't mention your username because I didn't want it to cause search engine attention. PrimeHunter (talk) 12:28, 8 April 2013 (UTC)

I have put some code on your talk page so that the search engines should no longer pick it up - I am unsure if this was your actual problem. Mdann52 (talk) 12:37, 9 April 2013 (UTC)

Trouble with subst Dead link-now

I'm trying to use Template:Dead link-now for one of the references on Johnny_Polygon. Per the instructions, I subst: it. But, it is showing literally as {{subst:Dead link-now}}. Can someone take a look and tell me what's going wrong? I've never used this template before, but it appears to be a handy short cut over Dead link + remembering to add the date. RudolfRed (talk) 22:51, 6 April 2013 (UTC)

I moved the tag outside of the ref, and that fixed it. Perhaps a subst does not take effect inside a ref. —teb728 t c 23:05, 6 April 2013 (UTC)

That's correct: Help:Substitution#Limitation. -- John of Reading (talk) 07:35, 7 April 2013 (UTC)