Wikipedia:Help desk/Archives/2015 August 15

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August 15[edit]

Reference help requested.

Hello! I got a notification that I may have an error of one of the articles I recently copyedited here. The notification stated that one of my edits may have caused a duplicate page number error. I'm new to copyediting - not sure what this means and if someone could help me fix it (the bot also notified me that it might be a false positive - not sure how to check) Thanks!

John Vitzileos (talk) 00:34, 15 August 2015 (UTC)[reply]

@Johnvitzileos: The bottom of the article displays a reference with a red error message:
Scott, Allen J. (1998). The City: Los Angeles and Urban Theory at the End of the Twentieth Century. San Francisco, California: University of California Press. p. 476. Retrieved 14 August 2015. More than one of |pages= and |page= specified (help)
The problem is that the reference says |page=476|pages=476. Only use one of the page and pages parameters. PrimeHunter (talk) 00:52, 15 August 2015 (UTC)[reply]
@PrimeHunter: Thank you! Problem solved. John Vitzileos (talk) 00:57, 15 August 2015 (UTC)[reply]
@Johnvitzileos: You're welcome. Thanks for helping out. A couple more notes for a new copyeditor: When a message says "fix the errors highlighted" it should generally mean there is a red error message somewhere on the reported version (sometimes it has been fixed if you view the current version). And I suggest you enable "Show hidden categories" at Special:Preferences#mw-prefsection-rendering. This would show Category:Pages with citations using conflicting page specifications on the version with the problem. PrimeHunter (talk) 01:13, 15 August 2015 (UTC)[reply]

Many problems with cut and paste merger without discussion (several articles)[edit]

Editor Lfstevens recently manually cut and pasted several pages. However, as i pointed out, the merging of several articles lacks in many regards (subjective content deletion, rewrite of lede per none RS, selective reference removal, just to name a few issues). The user edit history contains many summaries with merge, all appear to be not in line with WP procedure. The user also was notified on his talk page on August 12 by editor shoy to follow WP:Merge and contact admin Moonriddengirl, which he didn't. I also asked the editor to respond on his talk page.prokaryotes (talk) 05:22, 15 August 2015 (UTC)[reply]

Posted now here Wikipedia:Administrators' noticeboard/Incidents#Many problems with cut and paste merger without discussion (several articles) prokaryotes (talk) 11:34, 15 August 2015 (UTC)[reply]

Dear sir,my name is Aneel Mahat from Nuwakot,Nepal.I would like to mention about mahat,it's not cleat and proved that who is one of the jumli malla king given them as mahat title. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 182.50.64.74 (talk) 06:53, 15 August 2015 (UTC)[reply]

who is one of the jumli malla king ? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 182.50.64.74 (talk) 06:54, 15 August 2015 (UTC)[reply]

Here, it is mentioned that Dharma Malla is the son of Jayasthitimalla (King). But in 'Mahat' article, Dharma Malla is a younger brother of the king. I am not sure if they are two persons or Mahat article is wrong. Supdiop (Talk🔹Contribs) 08:08, 15 August 2015 (UTC)[reply]

The sample code at the top of Help:Using the Wayback Machine didn't work for me[edit]

I've commented on the pertinent talk page, but upon creating that comment, that talk page warned me that "Talk pages in this namespace are generally not watched by many users. Please consider visiting the Help desk for a more prompt response or reviewing the Help contents for quick tips." So I figured I'd take their advice and flag it to the attention of the good users here.

Thanks! --Mathieu ottawa (talk) 14:39, 15 August 2015 (UTC)[reply]

I've fixed it. It resulted from a recent edit in which nowiki tags that were used in the code were displaying as what you should copy, rather than functioning for their intended purpose of making certain templates in the code not show their output.--Fuhghettaboutit (talk) 15:46, 15 August 2015 (UTC)[reply]

Adding pictures or links to signatories[edit]

How do I add a picture or new link to one of the signatories in this article?: 1940 Constitution of Cuba Devin 99.105.16.218 (talk) 15:20, 15 August 2015 (UTC)[reply]

  • To add a picture to their article, you will first have to find the file that you would like to use. Try an advanced search for their name here or on Wikimedia Commons. If no picture comes up you will have to upload your own. Once you have located/uploaded the appropriate picture, see Wikipedia:Picture tutorial to learn how to add it.
  • To link their name to their article, put double brackets around their name. For a more detailed explanation, see Wikipedia:Tutorial/Wikipedia links Rainbow unicorn (talk) 03:31, 16 August 2015 (UTC)[reply]

Adding a copy of a UK Will to an article[edit]

this article - James Stevens lifeboats - is about a legacy left in a Will.

In the UK, once a person dies and the will is enacted, it becomes public information - for a small fee (£6) you can get a paper copy of any will - some are also available on-line.

I have a paper copy of the will which I have scanned and I wish to add a copy of the will to this article, but I have been unable to get the file to upload as I found the series of questions about copyright never let me. Help!

James — Preceding unsigned comment added by Jrc.stevens (talkcontribs) 16:54, 15 August 2015 (UTC)[reply]

I dont think you need an actual copy of the will in the article, you can mention it without actually linking or displaying it, any reason why you think the will is that important to display, the article already mentions the legacy without resorting to using the actual will? MilborneOne (talk) 19:49, 15 August 2015 (UTC)[reply]

undoing a bulleted list command[edit]

Hi:

Suppose I "cut and pasted" an item below from a previously prepared text file as shown below:

This is line 1 This is line 2 This is line 3

This is line 3000

Then I clicked the "bulleted list" icon in the tool bar above to get a bulleted list. I got a bulleted list.

Then I wanted to boldface this list. So I selected the matter (all 3000 lines) and clicked the B icon above. I am only getting the first line bold-faced - not all.

Then I wanted to try by UNDOing the bullets so I can boldface the list first and then bulletize it.

How do we UNDO the "bullet command?" Thanks

Vemurione (talk) 17:57, 15 August 2015 (UTC)[reply]

I would copy it out into a word editing program and do a find > replace all changing * to *''' . you may want to put it into a table and add the closing ''' in the next column. But pray tell, what unusual circumstance is having 3000 lines of bold text? -- TRPoD aka The Red Pen of Doom 18:43, 15 August 2015 (UTC)[reply]
If you want to do it within Wikipedia, you can press "Advanced" in the editing window and on the far right is a button called "Search and replace" which can do the same thing. But I agree that 3000 lines of bold is probably not necessary; which article/page is in question here? Bilorv(talk)(c)(e) 19:05, 15 August 2015 (UTC)[reply]
with regard to the "undo", you can just go to the page history and select the page prior to the change. -- TRPoD aka The Red Pen of Doom 20:40, 15 August 2015 (UTC)[reply]

Edit and add to existing page[edit]

The following discussion is closed. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page. No further edits should be made to this discussion.


Hello, I would like to know your recommendations on editing the below page with updated info of my own expertise. I am an expat myself, supporting other expats with their integration abroad as I find PREPARATION the KEY to success!!! So, I would like to write or add a website or perhaps video links to support expats. What can I do? What is allowed? What is not? Please advise.

It regards this page: Expatriate Below the page this comment is placed: Expatriate preparation[edit]

This article contains instructions, advice, or how-to content. The purpose of Wikipedia is to present facts, not to train. Please help improve this article either by rewriting the how-to content or by moving it to Wikiversity, Wikibooks or Wikivoyage (April 2015)

Thank you Rachel — Preceding unsigned comment added by Rachelisme (talkcontribs) 19:05, 15 August 2015 (UTC)[reply]

Sorry, Wikipedia is an encyclopedia and does not publish any practical advisories, instructions or How Tos or any other original research. Ruslik_Zero 19:58, 15 August 2015 (UTC)[reply]
The discussion above is closed. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page. No further edits should be made to this discussion.

Articles created[edit]

Is there a way I can find out how many articles I have created?--Doug Coldwell (talk) 22:37, 15 August 2015 (UTC)[reply]

Yes. At the bottom of Special:Contributions/Doug Coldwell is a link labelled "Articles created" that should count the number of non-redirect pages in the main namespace you've created, although it doesn't work for me at the moment (xTools is a bit dodgy). But you can use the contributions page itself, checking the box "Only show edits that are page creations" (e.g. your created pages, your created articles). Based on this page, you appear to have created 683 pages, although the word "redirect" appears in the edit summaries for 263 of those creations, which would leave a maximum of 420 actual pages created. To use a different method, because you've created a lot of pages, you're listed at Wikipedia:List of Wikipedians by article count (#2136 at the moment), which counts 364 non-redirect pages you've created. Bilorv(talk)(c)(e) 22:54, 15 August 2015 (UTC)[reply]
Thanks!--Doug Coldwell (talk) 12:47, 16 August 2015 (UTC)[reply]
Good work. Have you considered applying for admin, or would you prefer to focus on creating articles? Robert McClenon (talk) 13:51, 16 August 2015 (UTC)[reply]