Wikipedia:Help desk/Archives/2016 August 25

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August 25

URL encoding again

I see in the archives this has been asked several times, but I tried the previous suggestions and nothing worked for me. How would I insert the following URL in the External links section of an article such that it can be clicked on?

https://digital.library.wayne.edu/digitalcollections/search.php?q=race+riot&fq[]=rels_isMemberOfCollection:%22info:fedora/wayne:collectionvmc%22&start=0&fq[]=facet_mods_year:%221967%22

I copied this URL from my Firefox URL bar. Firefox is doing something funny here. In the bar nothing appears encoded, but when I copy and paste the URL, I get percent encoding of the quote marks. So I'm not even sure I've got the right URL. Kendall-K1 (talk) 02:24, 25 August 2016 (UTC)

Hi Kendall-K1. Please see percent-encoding. In this case I simply replaced [ with %5B and ] with %5D, to make the working link:

https://digital.library.wayne.edu/digitalcollections/search.php?q=race+riot&fq%5B%5D=rels_isMemberOfCollection:%22info:fedora/wayne:collectionvmc%22&start=0&fq%5B%5D=facet_mods_year:%221967%22

Best regards--Fuhghettaboutit (talk) 02:33, 25 August 2016 (UTC)

By the way, I don't know what you're going to be doing with this, but a search link would generally not be acceptable as a en external link or a citation.--Fuhghettaboutit (talk) 02:37, 25 August 2016 (UTC)

Thanks, but why did you change my question? That's not the question I asked. Also I was hoping for some automatic way of doing this, similar to {{urlencode:string}}, but this will do for now. As for where I'm going with this, it's for the first EL at 1967 Detroit riot. There used to be a direct link, which became broken when the target re-organized their web site. Someone "fixed" the link by pointing it to the front page of that web site, but if you go there you don't see the expected result. The only way I could find to fix it was to use the search url. But I agree this is a bad idea and am tempted to just remove the link; does that seem like the right thing to do? Kendall-K1 (talk) 02:49, 25 August 2016 (UTC)

That was an error. To provide my answer, I was fixing the URL directly to get the working link and once copied I was going to cmd+z back but forgot. I don't know any automatic way; I just tried a search and found this but it doesn't work as I expected fixing some of it but also changing other parts making it non-working. Anyway, seeing what that link provides and the purpose in the article, I think it works. I'd just leave it, despite what I said. The specifics of merits always trumps the general.--Fuhghettaboutit (talk) 03:35, 25 August 2016 (UTC)

Thanks again for your help! Kendall-K1 (talk) 03:40, 25 August 2016 (UTC)

There is no automatic way. The link you copied is valid. The problem is just that we use [ and ] (and a few more) as special characters inside wikicode. The wikicode parser therefor has to assume that the link ends at that point. We should probably at least fix URL insertion dialogs in the toolbars etc, to automatically do this for you, because there we at least know that something is part of the url. Please file a ticket in phabricator for that —TheDJ (talk • contribs) 14:43, 25 August 2016 (UTC)

As a matter of fact... Seems both WikiEditor and the VisualEditor already do this. So my advice would be to use those. —TheDJ (talk • contribs) 15:08, 25 August 2016 (UTC)

Gladys Cooper

Ref number 6 is all wrong - I did not do this edit. I am just alerting you all. I will not be doing much editing from now on - I am not too good at it and David Biddulph gets annoyed!!! Srbernadette (talk) 03:40, 25 August 2016 (UTC)

It was showing error because only year was there in accessdate parameter. I added the access date. Fuortu (talk) 04:04, 25 August 2016 (UTC)

Mexico, South Carolina

This is Not Real and whom ever put it up is full of Bull Crap

There is no Mexico in Rock Hill SC

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talk:Mexico,_South_Carolina — Preceding unsigned comment added by 67.197.9.248 (talk) 05:35, 25 August 2016 (UTC)

According to the article it existed as an unincorporated community until the early 1960s. Though the links in the article are currently not working, several websites seem to think the neighbourhood exists. -- zzuuzz ^(talk) 06:11, 25 August 2016 (UTC)

It shows up on the 2006 version of Microsoft MapPoint as an "Other Place", same as other CDPs and unincorporated communities such as Mars Bluff, South Carolina. RegistryKey^(RegEdit) 11:20, 25 August 2016 (UTC)

I've done some searching and couldn't find anything substantial. What's more worrying is that this article has some history, some of which is currently only visible to admins. It's been at ANI before - the IPs involved are very similar to the OP. There's also some deleted discussion on the talk page where several editors conclude that it's a mistake (or something like a filling station) in the GNIS database. @Abductive and Eastmain: who have looked into it before. This should probably be sent to AfD for considered and lasting opinion. -- zzuuzz ^(talk) 11:39, 25 August 2016 (UTC)

zzuuzz, Abductive, and Eastmain, you may wish to see Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Mexico, South Carolina if you want to give input. Nyttend (talk) 13:27, 25 August 2016 (UTC)

Fountain of Youth Theory

The Fountain of youth was a group of pools fed by an underground spring . Surrounding the pools were Macuna Prureins plants . Over the years so many of its fruit had fallen in that whoever drank it felt vigorous . Upon departure Ponce De Leon had his men remove all of the Macuna Prureins plants to make the spring more visible . He had his men clean the springs of all the rotted fruit to improve its appearance . Upon return all that was there was pools fed by an underground spring but no vigorous water . Mystery Solved — Preceding unsigned comment added by 24.179.56.64 (talk) 11:50, 25 August 2016 (UTC)

Dd you have a question about editing Wikipedia? --David Biddulph (talk) 11:53, 25 August 2016 (UTC)

I suspect, based on your question, that you found one of our over 5.2 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. Robert McClenon (talk) 17:26, 25 August 2016 (UTC)

Disambiguation issue.

I am Joe Francis and have been a member of Wikipedia since 2006. Just recently, I have decided to set up a wiki page. My concern is that my page will fall into the disambiguation area and not as the original Joe Francis that signed up before the other Joe Francis entries that seems to come up first . Can you help me understand what is my right and what is not? Thank you.

Twitter @joefrancis (talk) 14:08, 25 August 2016 (UTC)

Joefrancis, no one has a "right" to have anything put on Wikipedia about them, although in many cases, you may have a type of "right" to have unsourced or poorly sourced contentious material removed under the biographies of living persons policy.

If you would like to set up a user page for your account on Wikipedia, you can do this by clicking your user name at the very top of the screen (assuming you are on a pc). Otherwise, users are strongly discouraged from writing autobiographical articles. TimothyJosephWood 14:13, 25 August 2016 (UTC)

I see that you were trying to edit the disambiguation page to add a link to a photo. That is not how disambiguation pages work; they provide links to Wikipedia articles. If there is not a Wikipedia article about you (nor a redlink from anywhere else), then there isn't an entry for you on the disambiguation page. I've reverted your confused edits. --David Biddulph (talk) 14:45, 25 August 2016 (UTC)

Management of WP

I find the question pages extremely confusing to use, so I hope this is the right section to ask these questions.

Who is in overall charge of Wikipedia? To whom should complaints be directed? Who decides policy? Who are those whose view prevails in a dispute? Who are the 'volunteers' who answer questions / reverse changes, etc? Are they appointed or what?

I seem not to be able to find the answers to all these questions. Please advise.

T A Francis (talk) 14:32, 25 August 2016 (UTC)

@T A Francis: To answer a few of your questions:

1. Policy on Wikipedia is decided by consensus among all of its editors, not by one individual
2. Again, whichever view has consensus prevails in a dispute
3. Literally anyone in the world can create an an account on Wikipedia and start answering questions, etc.

Pppery (talk) 14:37, 25 August 2016 (UTC)

(edit conflict):Hey T A Francis. Wikipedia is owned by the Wikimedia Foundation, a non-profit based in California. With a few exceptions (those mandated by law, such as copyright), policy is decided by consensus among editors. The volunteers on Wikipedia are just that, volunteers. Anyone can register an account (with very very few exceptions), and anyone can edit an article (with some execptions). Some users are "appointed" by the community, such as administrators, who have permissions most other's don't, like the ability to block a user or delete a page. Hope this helps. TimothyJosephWood 14:44, 25 August 2016 (UTC)

Disambiguation page DJ Paul

I like to create a disambiguation page for the name: DJ Paul, but I don't know how to do so. When I enter this name I get the rapper that is active under this name, but there is also a (famous) (happy-)hardcore producer called DJ Paul (Elstak). Could someone help me out on this? OXYGENE 7-13 (TALKPAGE) 15:40, 25 August 2016 (UTC)

There's no need for a disambiguation page before we have three or more articles that need disambiguating. When you or someone else creates the page DJ Paul (hardcore producer, a note can be added to the top of both articles, saying something like "For the rapper, see DJ Paul". When a third DJ Paul shows up, then we will need to create DJ Paul (disambiguation). Rojomoke (talk) 15:49, 25 August 2016 (UTC)

(edit conflict) We have an article DJ Paul Elstak which comes up in the autocomplete box when I get to the "a" in Paul, but there appear to only be 2 DJ Paul articles (although one has a discography page as well).
WP:TWODABS states "If there are only two topics to which a given title might refer, and one is the primary topic, then a disambiguation page is not needed—it is sufficient to use a hatnote on the primary topic article, pointing to the other article. (This means that readers looking for the second topic are spared the extra navigational step of going through the disambiguation page.)"
What is suggested, therefore, is a Hatnote (italics at the top of the page) pointing to the other article - for more information and the "how-to" of the syntax, please see Wikipedia:Hatnote - Arjayay (talk) 15:55, 25 August 2016 (UTC)

I have added hatnotes to both articles - Arjayay (talk) 16:02, 25 August 2016 (UTC)

Thanx a lot! I didn't know about the 3-article-rule but this will do just fine! Once again, thanks guys! OXYGENE 7-13 (TALKPAGE) 16:13, 25 August 2016 (UTC)

How to post an bio of an actor

Im finding that wikipedia is not straightforward. I just want to post a article about an African Actor possibly a stub. How do I go about posting this information and having it go into the right subheadings i.e bio ( early life), personal life , videography ect — Preceding unsigned comment added by Saneema (talk • contribs) 17:15, 25 August 2016 (UTC)

There are a number of useful links on your user talk page, including to WP:Your first article. --David Biddulph (talk) 17:17, 25 August 2016 (UTC)

How do I search an article for a specific phrase?

How do I search an article for a specific phrase?84.111.241.87 (talk) 17:42, 25 August 2016 (UTC)

You can try using Special:Search. Fuortu (talk) 17:51, 25 August 2016 (UTC)

Google is your friend. Put the following into Google:

site:en.wikipedia.org your_phrase_goes_here

Replace that last bit with the words you're looking for. If it's an exact match you're looking for, it would help to put it in quotes. The "site:" part limits your search to just the English Wikipedia. †Dismas†|^(talk) 17:57, 25 August 2016 (UTC)

As you are just searching "an article", Control F brings up a find option in most browsers - enter the phrase you are looking for and click "next" or "search" - Arjayay (talk) 17:58, 25 August 2016 (UTC)

Bah! I read it as "...search for an article for a...". Must stop reading so quickly... †Dismas†|^(talk) 21:37, 25 August 2016 (UTC)

But your answer helped me, so thanks! Leschnei (talk) 13:04, 26 August 2016 (UTC)

Arjuna P. de Silva

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arjuna_P_de_Silva

On the above page, by mistake the name was redirected by me as Arjuna P de Silva. Please recitfy the correct name as Arjuna P. de Silva Thanking you for your kind assistance.

අනුරාධ (talk) 19:35, 25 August 2016 (UTC)

Please, see Wikipedia:Move. Ruslik_Zero 20:15, 25 August 2016 (UTC)

Request for moving over redirect lodged on 25 August.-- Elmidae (talk · contribs) 11:33, 28 August 2016 (UTC)

Techincal template question

Is there a template that counts the number of times a string appears in another string? Pppery (talk) 21:40, 25 August 2016 (UTC)

Are you just looking for a boolean or the specific number? Because there's {{str sub find}}, but it doesn't count the occurrences. Bruto (talk) 22:31, 25 August 2016 (UTC)

@Bruto: Sorry, but I want the specific number. Pppery (talk) 22:33, 25 August 2016 (UTC)

Module:PatternCount will do that. Count the occurrences of the pattern 'bob' (without quote marks):

{{#invoke:PatternCount|count|bob the dog, bob the cat, bob the man|bob}}

—Trappist the monk (talk) 22:52, 25 August 2016 (UTC)

Page Creation - Bernie Matthew (Bernie Matthew Rau)

Trying to create a page for Bernie Matthew also known as Bernie Matthew Rau an American born Television Presenter, Contributor, Activist, and Actor.

Here are the sources:

• http://www.imdb.com/name/nm4004628/
• http://taramacqueen.com/tag/bernie-matthew-rau/
• http://www.famousbirthdays.com/people/bernie-matthew.html
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kxh_pVZR_0s
• https://haligonia.ca/marplot-hits-the-stage-36960/
• http://celebrityimages.org/celebrity/4004628/2216874
• http://juliaphillipssmith.com/news/
• http://www.famousfix.com/topic/primer-impacto-edicion-nocturna/characters
• http://www.tvbuzer.com/celebrity/Bernie-Matthew-Rau — Preceding unsigned comment added by KevinOCarole (talk • contribs) 22:02, 25 August 2016 (UTC)

Hello, KevinOCarole. Please read Your first article, especially about reliable sources. Most of the sources you mention are certainly not regarded as reliable. Personally I would advise any new editor to spend a few weeks improving existing articles and learning how Wikipedia works before embarking on the difficult task of creating a new article. I reformatted your list of URLs for clarity. --ColinFine (talk) 22:10, 25 August 2016 (UTC)