Help desk
< August 22	<< Jul \| August \| Sep >>	August 24 >

Welcome to the Wikipedia Help Desk Archives
The page you are currently viewing is an archive page. While you can leave answers for any questions shown below, please ask new questions on one of the current Help Desk pages.

August 23[edit]

Sources from Malta?[edit]

According to a blog and National Enquirer, Madeleine Collinson has died. Neither source is reliable though. According to our article, Collinson moved back to Malta when she stepped out of the lime light here in the States. Since we're having trouble finding a reliable source, what is the best way to maybe contact someone in Malta who might have a better idea as to where to get an RS for her possible death? Dismas|^(talk) 00:04, 23 August 2014 (UTC)[reply]

It's in IMdB (yes I know that some people have doubts about that site) and google is telling me that her death was reported in the National Enquirer, but I can't access their site from the UK. It seems to be widely reported across the internet, including this site, couldn't say how reliable they are though. SpinningSpark 00:37, 23 August 2014 (UTC)[reply]

Thank you. Yes, those are the unreliable sites I was referring to. IMDb is not reliable for biographical info. See WP:RS/IMDB for the argument there. Since you're from the UK, you might not know that the NE is a trashy tabloid and not reliable. And the link you provided claims a blog as its source. Dismas|^(talk) 00:44, 23 August 2014 (UTC)[reply]

At least one traces to http://www.ourdisappearingplanet.com/ which seems a bit more than a blog, not sure I'd count as an RS though.Naraht (talk) 04:52, 23 August 2014 (UTC)[reply]

Saving history[edit]

The Internet in Asia redirect, which is used in the {{Asia topic}} template, should be deleted. It redirects to a deleted section of the Internet article. Some alternatives were discussed at Template talk:Asia topic#Internet in Asia, but I think the permanent solution is to delete the redirect. I don't think I should change the redirect target because I didn't find another article that would be useful to someone clicking Internet in Asia, as it appears at the bottom of articles like Internet in Yemen. So it would be better to unlink than to falsely promise the reader information specifically about the Internet in Asia. And editing the template is apparently impractical.

I have authority to delete the redirect, but I stopped when the instructions mentioned history. There are more instructions for saving history, but they all assume that the history was from an article that was moved to one article. But this article was split into a list of articles, before becoming a redirect to a section that no longer exists. So where does the history go so we can find it?

The same problem occurs for at least North America, Oceania, South America, and the Americas (but not Africa, because the Internet in Africa article exists.) Art LaPella (talk) 00:20, 23 August 2014 (UTC)[reply]

In some similar cases I have moved the history to a sub-page of the target article talk page. You could also leave the history where it is and rename the redirect to something less misleading. SpinningSpark 00:44, 23 August 2014 (UTC)[reply]

Done [1] Thank you. Art LaPella (talk) 01:07, 23 August 2014 (UTC)[reply]

Delete my user name profile[edit]

Hello there,

Can you please help me to delete a website I created accidentally,

Here is the link

User:Daladier Bach

Thanks

Done. JIP | Talk 06:11, 23 August 2014 (UTC)[reply]

Editing article[edit]

H i just edited an article and added a reference to the article as i thought that article was helpful however within minutes i got a message telling my my edit was flagged as a promotional move ? i even didn't know who owns the site and just added because i thought that was helpful

Please advise how to add the sources we trust

thanks — Preceding unsigned comment added by Kahuta123 (talk • contribs)

You seem to be referring to Affiliate marketing. Your edit was removed for a couple reasons but I'll address the promotional one to start. We don't accept blogs as reliable sources per WP:SELFPUB. Basically, anyone can post a blog about any subject. We have no way of gauging their qualifications and therefore don't accept them as sources.

Also, we don't generally just post various web sites to the references section of an article. If a reference is used in the article to support some fact, then the reference will appear in that section.

Dismas|^(talk) 07:52, 23 August 2014 (UTC)[reply]

Password reset E-mail not received[edit]

I created Sillyvalley in 2008 after the 2008 Sichuan Earthquake, and made frequent edits in related pages. I still receive E-mails at the address I used to create this account, although I haven't logged on for years. (Shame on me:-) When I tried to reset password today, I alternated between user name and E-mail address. But no E-mail has arrived in 6 hours. I have verified that no mail has dropped in spam folder. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 50.131.89.216 (talk • contribs)

You say that you've received emails at that account but have those emails been from Wikipedia? In order for Wikipedia to send a password reset to your email address, you must have put that address in your preferences when you were logged in. Did you do that? Dismas|^(talk) 07:55, 23 August 2014 (UTC)[reply]

And can you share which email provider ? There have been some problems with both yahoo and gmail lately for instance. —TheDJ (Not WMF) (talk • contribs) 09:08, 23 August 2014 (UTC)[reply]

Those are problems where the Wikimedia servers "spoofs" the From field to show the e-mail is from the user rather than where it is really from, the Wikimedia servers. I would hope there is not a problem with e-mails from Wikipedia. SpinningSpark 09:15, 23 August 2014 (UTC)[reply]

User:Sillyvalley is not showing the "e-mail this user" option, so unless they disabled it in preferences it means they never registered an e-mail address at all. If that's the case then they will need the original password to recover the account. SpinningSpark 09:15, 23 August 2014 (UTC)[reply]

I do not recall how E-mail options were set. AIM mail was my primary during that period. If Wikipedia allowed account creation without E-mail, that could explain why I can't find a single E-mail from Wikipedia.org in any of my mailboxes. On the other hand, I thought that the reset function would not tell me "mail sent" when the mail address wasn't even in the database. I made a couple password changes during that period. Wish I hadn't. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 50.131.89.216 (talk • contribs) 10:59, 23 August 2014‎

@50.131.89.216: Ok, I just tried this with a test account. The reset password e-mail gets sent (and received) if an e-mail address is provided, even if the address is never confirmed. On the other hand, if no e-mail address is provided, the reset password page puts up an error. If you are getting the "e-mail sent" message then that would indicate that you did provide an e-mail address. It looks like there is something up with your e-mail account rather than the Wikipedia end. Are you sure you are looking in the right account? Also, if you are using an e-mail client like Outlook, you might check the e-mail account web page directly (and its spam folder). It is possible the message got took out before it ever reached Outlook. SpinningSpark 11:49, 23 August 2014 (UTC)[reply]

I finally decided to try the E-mail provider that I had firmly believed to be unrelated to Wikipedia and presto, here we are. To clarify test procedure a bit: If the user name exists, an E-mail is indeed sent if the UI says so; on the other hand, if you enter an E-mail address that Wikipedia doesn't recognize, the UI will still say it has sent an E-mail even though you will never see it. (On a side note, glad I decided against the bait when that E-mail provider (in)famously reclaimed inactive user names and redistribute them to new users, which I adamantly claimed to be of security-privacy consequences despite the provider's counter claims. Gee, here is a clear use case.)

change marital status[edit]

How do you change spouse information?— Preceding unsigned comment added by 2602:30a:c0ce:2b60:3d68:523e:c421:773c (talk • contribs)

The short answer is you edit the article. In what article do you want to change the spouse information? Do you have reliable sources that say the spouse has changed? GB fan 11:08, 23 August 2014 (UTC)[reply]

In general, you just marry or divorce her/him. sorry, bad joke. —TheDJ (Not WMF) (talk • contribs) 11:49, 23 August 2014 (UTC)[reply]

OP is probably talking about Austin Stoker. Dismas|^(talk) 13:08, 23 August 2014 (UTC)[reply]

mistake I am not qualified to correct[edit]

I discovered that the History of Glass article (first paragraph) dates the first man-made glass to 3500BC and, two lines later (repeated further down), to the middle of the third century BC (which is 1000 years later). I do not know which is correct so cannot correct it. What should I do? David jd Johnson (talk) 12:57, 23 August 2014 (UTC)[reply]

Re: the above request, this user's name is almost the same as mine. Is there anything that can be done to ask them to change their user name? David J Johnson (talk) 13:09, 23 August 2014 (UTC)[reply]

I'd consider asking him in the nicest possible.way on his talk page, keeping in mind that he's likely been using that name most of his life, not just here. Don't take it badly if he's reluctant, just explain the reasons he might wish to do so. LeadSongDog come howl! 13:23, 23 August 2014 (UTC)[reply]

Back to the original question, just posting here is likely to get some eyes on the problem. You could also post your concerns on the talk page of the article which is Talk:History of glass. Going even further, you could check the article's history to see who the most recent active editors are and post on their talk pages (You'll see their talk pages linked next to their names in the history) requesting some help with the problem. That should get someone to look at it. Dismas|^(talk) 14:29, 23 August 2014 (UTC)[reply]

You probably meant third millennium, not third century. I expect this is confusion over millennia numbers and fourth millennium was really meant. It probably doesn't help that the source in the article mentions third millennium (I don't think the source is confused but that may have confused the Wikipedia editor). However, a quick trawl on gbooks came up with at least one source dating the origins of glass making to the third millenium. SpinningSpark 14:40, 23 August 2014 (UTC)[reply]

Re Deleted Article on 'Gary Tedman'[edit]

Hello

I loaded up an article on 'Gary Tedman" some while ago. It was deleted yesterday. I forgot to copy it and would like to keep a copy and perhaps work on it. Can you provide me with access to it, if only temporary, or with a copy.

thank you

Aestheticinfo 15:40, 23 August 2014 (UTC)

Pinging Salvidrim!, who deleted the page and will retrieve it for you.

Concerned page: Gary Tedman.

Concerned User: Aesheticinfo. --Fauzan^{✆ talk}_{✉ mail} 15:50, 23 August 2014 (UTC)[reply]

Will not be restored - I only userfy deleted articles when they were deleted uncontroversially, and not articles deleted after a deletion discussion. Since the article you are here about was deleted after a discussion took place at Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Gary Tedman, it cannot be undeleted. However, if you believe that the outcome of the discussion did not reflect the consensus of the participants, a request may be made at deletion review. At the present time, this is not an appropriate topic for inclusion on Wikipedia. Please see Wikipedia's notability guidelines. ☺ · Salvidrim! · ✉ 16:41, 23 August 2014 (UTC)[reply]

@Aesheticinfo: Check your e-mail. SpinningSpark 17:17, 23 August 2014 (UTC)[reply]

Much obliged! Aestheticinfo 17:21, 23 August 2014 (UTC)

Lauren McLaughlin[edit]

Hi, I am trying to request undeletion of the page, Lauren McLaughlin, which I created, and when I filled out the form, it was asking a question I don't understand so I don't know if the request for undeletion when through...can you tell me if it went through? Also, she got some message from wikipedia saying her book is now part of the public domain and she has relinquished all copywrite? What does that mean, how could that happen? thank you, Karen Hunter— Preceding unsigned comment added by Karenhu (talk • contribs)

Yes, your request went through and was answered. [2].

@Karenhu: It appears there were a number of issues with your proposed article:

1)You started it with Wikipedia:XXXXXX. That means the page you created was in "Wikipedia" space which is for back office work like this help desk and not actual articles.

2) The content itself was promotional in nature and not encyclopedic.

3) In order for a subject to have a Wikipedia article, the topic of the article must have been covered in a significant manner by third party, reliably published sources and McLaughlin does not appear to meet those criteria.

4) Based on the fact that you claimed to be the author of an uploaded photo which appears to show the subject in a private residential home, you probably have a personal or professional relationship with the subject and therefore a conflict of interest which places limits on your editing about the subject- and one of the limits is not creating such articles. -- TRPoD aka The Red Pen of Doom 20:28, 23 August 2014 (UTC)[reply]

With regard to the copyright question, you will need to be more specific in what the letter said and what it was referring to.-- TRPoD aka The Red Pen of Doom 22:21, 23 August 2014 (UTC)[reply]

"Only the diff" as default[edit]

Hi. I know that if I want to view only the diff, I can add &diffonly=1 to the url. Is there some way I can make it so that this is the default, when I click on the "diff" link in the watchlist? Kingsindian (talk) 23:48, 23 August 2014 (UTC)[reply]

Special:Preferences#mw-prefsection-rendering: "Do not show page content below diffs". PrimeHunter (talk) 23:54, 23 August 2014 (UTC)[reply]

@PrimeHunter: Thanks. Kingsindian (talk) 23:58, 23 August 2014 (UTC)[reply]