Wikipedia:Help desk/Archives/2014 April 1

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April 1

Ryan Seacrest

Hello,

I am a PR rep for Ryan Seacrest and requesting assitance from an editor to make some updates to his Wikipedia page. I am unable to make the edits myself due to a conflict of interest. We would like to update the page with news of his investments, new TV shows, and growth of RSF.— Preceding unsigned comment added by Seacrest123 (talk • contribs) — Seacrest123 (talk • contribs) has made few or no other edits outside this topic.

The edit request template goes on the talk page of the article you'd like to request an article of. In this case, that would be Talk:Ryan Seacrest. Dismas|^(talk) 00:23, 1 April 2014 (UTC)

But please note, Seacrest123 that the information you want added should be referenced to reliable sources independent of Seacrest, and that the decision whether or not the information is appropriate to the article will be made by editors unconnected with him. --ColinFine (talk) 10:42, 1 April 2014 (UTC)

Which template?

Is there a template if we know that someone was Xyears old in December of a certain year that it will calculate the age appropriately? {{Birth year and age}}, is currently being used but it is giving an age range. We know what the age is in every month except December when he will be one age up until the unknown day in December and then one year older the next day. -- TRPoD aka The Red Pen of Doom 00:31, 1 April 2014 (UTC)

I'm not sure it's correct, but {{BirthDeathAge}} may work. - Purplewowies (talk) 00:39, 1 April 2014 (UTC)

I couldnt find any of them that didnt also want the day. but thanks!-- TRPoD aka The Red Pen of Doom 01:55, 1 April 2014 (UTC)

Check out mw:Help:Extension:ParserFunctions#.23time, the now feature for time calculations is nice. –Be..anyone (talk) 03:16, 1 April 2014 (UTC)

referencing

I created my page but is marked to be deleted on April 8th unless I include reliable source. I have many reliable sources but I do not know how to include them. I tried to follow the write up on it but didn't understand. I have also uploaded a picture of myself which it does not seem to appear on the page.Can you help me with these issues please? Thanks. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Sgsajjadi (talk • contribs) 01:26, 1 April 2014 (UTC)

According to the "Conflict of interest" policy you may not create an article about yourself. So the article will be deleted. Jc3s5h (talk) 01:34, 1 April 2014 (UTC)

To editor Jc3s5h: That page does not state that it is completely forbidden (and certainly not grounds for deletion, unless CSD G11 applies).

To editor Sgsajjadi: You can learn how to add references by going through the introduction to referencing. Alternatively, you can leave a message on the talk page of the article (Talk:Shahrdad G Sajjadi) with some sources. Anon126 (talk - contribs) 02:13, 1 April 2014 (UTC)

universal log in question

I am trying to log onto Wikipedia Commons. I do have a Wikipedia account. Do I use the same name and password at Wikipedia Commons? I can't figure it out. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Red Mars Mom Ann Norman (talk • contribs) 01:49, 1 April 2014 (UTC)

yes, you can use the same user name (if it had not already been taken by someone else at Commons prior to the establishment of universal login)-- TRPoD aka The Red Pen of Doom 01:54, 1 April 2014 (UTC)

Talk tab colour

Hello, when the word Talk of the talk page tab of an article is blue, I often click on it to see if there are any disagreements about the content of the article. I am used to do this as well when using Wikipedia to learn something, not only when editing.

On the English Wikipedia however, many talk pages only consist of a template with information about ratings, Wikiprojects, etc. I am not interested in those templates, so this causes many times a disappointment about unnecessary page loading. I once read that other people sharing this feeling made some gadget or so which changes the colour of 'Talk' in these cases. So there is not only red (when there is no talk page) and blue but also green, for example, for template-only 'Talk' pages. The word Talk only being blue when there is really talk.

I forgot to bookmark the place where I read this and now I can't find it any-more. Does anybody know about this?

Best regards, Bever (talk) 02:13, 1 April 2014 (UTC)

Curious as well, that sounds like an interesting tool.Naraht (talk) 10:23, 1 April 2014 (UTC)

The people who know about such things may be found at WP:VPT.— Vchimpanzee · talk · contributions · 20:17, 2 April 2014 (UTC)

Thank you, I copied the above to that page. Bever (talk) 14:32, 3 April 2014 (UTC)

Email notification

Hello, I want to get email notification, and I've confirmed my email address by clicking the message which was sent to my mailbox. However, it is not activated... Would anyone be able to help me out with this? Thank you !! Sincerely, Db9023 (talk) 02:35, 1 April 2014 (UTC)

Click here to set your preferences. You might also read this page. -- Fauzan^{✆ talk} _{✉ email} 03:55, 1 April 2014 (UTC)

Mir_Enayatullah_Ahmadi

Enayatullah Ahmadi was born 1990s Iraq,Shibar — Preceding unsigned comment added by 212.21.62.66 (talk) 04:36, 1 April 2014 (UTC)

We don't have an article on either Mir Enayatullah Ahmadi or Enayatullah Ahmadi. Could you clarify what you are trying to point out? Dismas|^(talk) 08:07, 1 April 2014 (UTC)

Can I add a specific editor's contributions to my watchlist?

Hi. Is it possible to watch contributions pages like other articles/pages? Thanks. --Zyma (talk) 07:20, 1 April 2014 (UTC)

After reading WP:HOUND, it doesn't look like it. And no, I'm not following you around. I just happen to watch both this page and the template that we were discussing over the last few days. Dismas|^(talk) 08:00, 1 April 2014 (UTC)

I should discuss my question. I want to use this feature if WP has it. Because it's useful and I don't like to add many articles to my watchlist. For example, an user makes problematic changes to many articles. Instead of watching targeted articles, I want to watch his contributions (when he targets new articles and does not return to old targeted articles, it'll be much easier to review and verify his edits). I don't like to check his contributions page manually every time. A watchlist is better and more useful. --Zyma (talk) 09:35, 1 April 2014 (UTC)

Multiple user pages, all basically the same

While reverting a few non-sense edits, I found a user page for User:Zesttimids. Seeing as how their only edits were to add pointless links, I figured they wouldn't have a user page. But they do. The quality of the layout is far superior to most newbie editors though. I thought that maybe they had copy/pasted some other editors user page. So I did some checking and found that George Molsbarger was linked on their user page. When I checked what linked to the George Molsbarger article, I found a list of 30-40 other user pages. I haven't looked at them all but all that I have looked at are quite similar in layout and text. Most say something like "I'm John Doe. I have a PH.d in <insert science> and I like Music, watching Movies, and the George Molsbarger Foundation." Looking at the history on the George Molsbarger article, I see that it was created just a couple days ago and has had only two editors. Neither of which are on the What Links Here page of George Molsbarger. So, what is going on here? Is this part of some class at the George Molsbarger Foundation where all the students make very similar user pages? Dismas|^(talk) 10:30, 1 April 2014 (UTC)

Feels like a class. If adding pointless links was a crime they'd have shot most of us a while ago. I'm going to pick a few of the class members and check their contribs later (could be a daily class, could be a weekly one or anywhere in between). However the George Molsbarger article is junk. Five of the Six references on it are references copied from Foundation for Economic Education that don't even come close to applying. I believe that this is the same George Molsbarger.... http://www.fbi.gov/newyork/press-releases/2012/twenty-five-individuals-indicted-in-multi-million-dollar-illegal-nationwide-sports-betting-ring Naraht (talk) 11:05, 1 April 2014 (UTC)

No, the pattern here (and some other things in common which I won't mention here) tell me that this is a vandal creating sleeper autoconfirmed accounts. They will all be blocked. I also deleted George Molsbarger as a blatant hoax - note that the source cited in the article is a user-created PR release, and there is no evidence at all on Google that Mr. Molsbarger is a philanthropist. NawlinWiki (talk) 14:16, 1 April 2014 (UTC)

Update - it's all a huge hoax. See this Facebook page, which includes a brag about vandalism to another Wikipedia page, Ronald M. George. NawlinWiki (talk) 14:26, 1 April 2014 (UTC)

Deletion without consideration

Hello,

I am having issues communicating with one of the editors, Mr. RHaworth who keeps disregarding my messages and rushed to delete my article. As per Wiki's instructions, I have marked my article as Work in Progress and I quickly received a warning that it qualified for speedy deletion. I replied saying I was still working on it (as marked by the template) and not to please delete it. I have also asked for more clarification on why it was deemed promotional content. I then got the same message back with no additional explanation and I once again replied that I was still working on it (I hope you appreciate that the formatting guidelines are not that easy to follow and it actually takes a while to get everything formatted correctly). I just checked back as I wanted to go in and make my final amends and discovered that the page was deleted by RHaworth. I have tried to speak to him but quite frankly I am not sure how to do this and I've read his previous conversations with other people who have complained about similar issues and he seems very rude and offensive. He isn't helpful, he just replies to everyone in a very superior and rude tone implying that his decision is final and he's not providing any indication on what was done wrong.

Going back to my article on Hotels4u.com - this has been built following the content already published and live for LateRooms.com: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LateRooms. I was given another warning of not trying to add spammy links but I cannot believe that the person has actually checked the references I listed! These are perfectly legit URLs and I am more than willing to remove some if someone can explain to me why they are deemed spammy. Having looked at the links used by Laterooms.com they look a lot spammier than the ones for Hotels4u.com and I actually wonder why they don't class as spam if mine are definitely spam!

I am asking for help because I want to create a legit page and it seems I have no chance given the editors reply with an ambiguous answer and delete my work before I can even finish writing it! Surely this is not a race against the clock, right? I still can't understand why a page marked as work in progress has been deleted like that!

Please help?

Jinxy11 (talk) 10:49, 1 April 2014 (UTC)

Suggest you read the message on your talk page, and then read WP:CSD#G11.--ukexpat (talk) 13:08, 1 April 2014 (UTC)

@Jinxy11: You can create a draft article through articles for creation where we give much more leeway for development until a draft article is ready to go "live" by a move to the article mainspace. I can assure you though that it will be declined (as opposed to deleted) if it continues to contain corporate ad-speak like "... have developed into a market leader for selling beach-based products with strong and enduring relationships with the trade." It will also need reliable independent sources, which it appeared to have few of. Please note that your comparison of what you wrote to other pages (and this applies to linking as well) is not relevant. See WP:OTHERSTUFF. Indeed, though the deleted content was far more promotional than that in the article on LateRooms.com, that article looks like a good candidate for deletion as non-notable, at least based on the lack of independent sources cited (though they may exist and have not been used), and that article is tagged right now as being written like an advertisement and needing better sources.--Fuhghettaboutit (talk) 13:27, 1 April 2014 (UTC)

emails

do I give my email password when asked for a password or do I do a different one — Preceding unsigned comment added by 86.161.47.198 (talk) 10:52, 1 April 2014 (UTC)

I'm not sure which situation you refer to. What did you do before being asked for the password? For example trying to log in, create an account, get a password reset, enable email from other users. If your email account outside Wikipedia has a password then you should not use that password at Wikipedia. If you have a username then it may clarify the situation to post it here. Never post passwords. PrimeHunter (talk) 12:10, 1 April 2014 (UTC)

How do I find volunteers and trainers for a Wikipedia editathon I want to hold?

I'm planning on holding a day of sessions in Central London to help people in my organization and beyond learn how to edit Wikipedia. I'd like to have an expert to lead the sessions (giving a presentation and demonstrating editing to all), plus a few people who can support on a one-to-one basis when the attendees start editing themselves. Is there a place I can advertise for such people? Thanks very much in advance, and sorry if this is the wrong place to ask! — Preceding unsigned comment added by Cdonovan7757 (talk • contribs) 11:08, 1 April 2014 (UTC)

I've dropped you an email, but generally speaking Wikimedia UK are probably the best people to approach for "real life" Wikipedia tuition. Yunshui 雲‍水 13:20, 1 April 2014 (UTC)

Disambiguation links

On my talk page, you will see a notification I had about disambiguation links in connection with an edit I made on 31st March. I had altered the way some film/TV series names appeared in an article on Gary Olsen; I highlighted them in blue as they had not been mentioned in the article earlier and they do have Wiki articles on them. It said clicking on these links now leads to disambiguation pages. I have tried to correct this, following the not very clear instructions on what to do to avoid this, but I don't think I have done it correctly. The notification mentions Party Party (in the list of films at the end of the article), Gimme, Gimme, Gimme and Prospects (these two in the body of the article), although I could not find anything wrong with the last link, as it led straight to the right Wiki page, not a disambiguation page. Could you please correct any mistakes I have made and tell me how to do this properly in future? --P123cat1 (talk) 14:40, 1 April 2014 (UTC)thi

If you use the link [[Gimme Gimme Gimme (TV series)|]] it will display as Gimme Gimme Gimme; this is known as the pipe trick. - David Biddulph (talk) 15:02, 1 April 2014 (UTC)

... and the link to the Prospects dab page was corrected by another editor earlier today. - David Biddulph (talk) 15:04, 1 April 2014 (UTC)

Thanks. I have just found the pipe trick you refer to via one of the help links given in the notification, but only because I knew what I was looking for! It is sometimes quite a challenge to work one's way through the maze of information that is often thrown up by these Wiki help links - pages and pages of it, reached via strings of yet more links, going in all directions - to find the specific help you are looking for! --P123cat1 (talk) 19:07, 1 April 2014 (UTC)

P123cat1, that's true; but in the case of the pipe trick, it is only a short cut: if you don't know the pipe trick you can always manage it by using the full piped link: in this case [[Gimme Gimme Gimme (TV series)|Gimme Gimme Gimme]]. --ColinFine (talk) 10:50, 2 April 2014 (UTC)

Thanks, Colin. -P123cat1 (talk) 11:00, 2 April 2014 (UTC)

Template reference on Magazine web page

We are editing the magazine wiki page to update and in the 25th Reference on this page: Moment (magazine)#Notable article subjects, The page does not link to the magazine. Instead, it opens with language that Wikipedia does not have a template for this exact name.

Is this something that is fixed upon review or do I need to do something else?

Thank you.

Johnna Assistant to the Editor/Publisher — Preceding unsigned comment added by Missjohnnam (talk • contribs) 15:05, 1 April 2014 (UTC)

I turned it into a bare link for now, but it should use the {{Cite web}} template. In view of your conflict of interest, please also read WP:COI. Thanks.--ukexpat (talk) 15:17, 1 April 2014 (UTC)

(edit conflict) I've corrected it, but you ought to fill in more parameters of {{cite web}}. - David Biddulph (talk) 15:18, 1 April 2014 (UTC)

Wilcox County High School#References

Information on wiki about the Wilcox County High School Prom is incorrect and we are requesting that it be removed. You may contact us at this email address or at (Redacted) — Preceding unsigned comment added by 168.10.30.5 (talk) 16:35, 1 April 2014 (UTC)

Please add what changes you would like to the talk page for the article, at Talk:Wilcox County High School since you appear to have a Conflict of Interest. The blanking of the page was automatically reverted.Naraht (talk) 16:39, 1 April 2014 (UTC)

Referencing errors on Fortinet

Reference help requested. I got my first ReferenceBot error but I have no idea how to fix it, please help! Thanks, ForrestLyle (talk) 16:48, 1 April 2014 (UTC)

You used the code for a named reference without actually defining the reference, hence the error. I have removed the code for now. Please see WP:NAMEDREFS for further assistance.--ukexpat (talk) 16:57, 1 April 2014 (UTC)

Thanks! ukexpat — Preceding unsigned comment added by ForrestLyle (talk • contribs) 17:47, 1 April 2014 (UTC)

Content created by sockpuppet?

Dear editors: This old Afc draft: Wikipedia talk:Articles for creation/Kyparissi, Phthiotis was created through a sock puppet account that is now blocked. What is the policy about this? Should the draft be deleted? —Anne Delong (talk) 17:31, 1 April 2014 (UTC)

CSD G5 Anon126 (talk - contribs) 20:09, 2 April 2014 (UTC)

Thanks —Anne Delong (talk) 13:57, 4 April 2014 (UTC)

Referencing errors on Demonoid

Reference help requested. I edited the Demonoid entry and eliminated much unfounded rumor and speculation. In the process of doing so, I apparently caused broken links to citations that are no longer there, but was unable to eliminate them. Now there are error messages in the footnotes that I'm unable to correct. I've gone in and checked or corrected those citations I was able to find links to, but the others were vague or improperly done before I began the edit. I don't know if you can help, but I'm pretty much at sea here. Thanks, 99.73.91.2 (talk) 18:40, 1 April 2014 (UTC)

It was fixed by a bot, here. Basically you had deleted two of the references. But they were used again in another section and called by name only. When the name didn't match up with any full reference, it threw the error. Dismas|^(talk) 18:46, 1 April 2014 (UTC)

Harry Potter is incorrect

The first Harry Potter is "the sorcerer's stone" I dont know why it would say "philsophers stone". fyi — Preceding unsigned comment added by 153.48.247.250 (talk) 18:47, 1 April 2014 (UTC)

It's all explained in the lead paragraph of Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone.--ukexpat (talk) 18:51, 1 April 2014 (UTC)