Wikipedia:Help desk/Archives/2016 June 6

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June 6[edit]

Referencing errors on Draft:Brendan Dassey[edit]

Reference help requested.

I am very new to WIkipedia and I am learning to do my citations correctly, I believe there is also an error already on the page as referenced by the bot, would appreciate any guidance.

Thanks, 00:25, 6 June 2016 (UTC)Tracy Symonds-Keogh (talk)

Tracy Symonds-Keogh, in the lined near the top that starts with "Brendan had been a student...", you call for a reference by naming it but you don't actually define that reference name. You might want to check out WP:REFB. And though you didn't ask, you're going to want to move all the references that you've tacked on to the end of the article to the end of passages that they are being used to reference. That will keep you from having that long string of numbers at the end of the "The Making A Murderer Effect" section. Dismas|(talk) 00:59, 6 June 2016 (UTC)[reply]

I have stuffed up 3 new citations: 112, 113 and 114. I do not know what went wrong. Please leave in quotes - I have now seen all of the refs on this page and most are in red!!!! I hope I did not do this to the page. Urgent fix up needed. ThanksSrbernadette (talk) 00:31, 6 June 2016 (UTC)[reply]

Greetings, Srbernadette. It seems something weird was going on with the server's cache of some or all of the page. I was able to purge the cache and now everything seems to be back to normal. Thanks for calling attention to the issue! JPG-GR (talk) 00:41, 6 June 2016 (UTC)[reply]
Not sure what JPG-GR did but there were two refs missing titles. I've fixed it here. Dismas|(talk) 00:45, 6 June 2016 (UTC)[reply]
The behind-the-scenes code at Module:Citation/CS1 was broken for a few minutes, but it was quickly fixed. See Help talk:Citation Style 1#Citation template broken. -- John of Reading (talk) 06:02, 6 June 2016 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks for helping above. Please check (old) bibliography section on this page - citation is wrong. Thanks Srbernadette (talk) 00:48, 6 June 2016 (UTC)[reply]

If you click on the word "Help" in the error, it goes to Help:CS1 errors#deprecated params which tells you exactly what to do: "To resolve this error, use |author1=, |author2=, etc., or use |last1=, |first1=, |last2=, |first2=, etc. to individually list all authors." Is there some reason you can't follow those instructions? Dismas|(talk) 00:53, 6 June 20=16 (UTC)

Someone keeps vandalizing this page. I keep 'undoing' it but they always come back to undo my correction. It is an unregistered user with only an IP address. What would be my next step other than asking for help here?Juve2000 (talk) 01:28, 6 June 2016 (UTC)[reply]

See Wikipedia:Conflict resolution and WP:RFPP. Dismas|(talk) 01:48, 6 June 2016 (UTC)[reply]
The edits do appear to be vandalism as the IP is changing information in the same fields in a different way from visit to visit. The IP should have been warned on their TP after at most the first 2 or 3 of their edits. Then taken to WP:AIV. That's not an option at the moment as no warnings have been issued. Eagleash (talk) 10:45, 6 June 2016 (UTC)[reply]

They're Violating the MOS[edit]

Someone keeps rolling back my undo to their edits on Kirby: Planet Robobot. I've told the IP user that they are violating MOS:TMRULES, but they keep rolling back my edits. The IP users so far are Special:Contributions/73.114.26.55, Special:Contributions/76.119.224.157, and Special:Contributions/73.114.25.114. This is the third time they've undone my undo to their edit. According to Wikipedia's Geolocate feature, these IP addresses are most likely the exact same person. What should I do? -- Super3588 (talk) 02:51, 6 June 2016 (UTC)[reply]

Have you requested semi-protection of the page? Robert McClenon (talk) 04:01, 6 June 2016 (UT
I hadn't thought about that as it's only one user, but I will now. Thank you. And, yes, I changed my username. -- Gestrid (talk) 04:33, 6 June 2016 (UTC)[reply]

Please check - the above page - which I have not touched - is all over the place in the first section - vandalism maybe? Cheers Srbernadette (talk) 04:26, 6 June 2016 (UTC)[reply]

 Fixed - the most recent edits misplaced a bracket. -- John of Reading (talk) 05:58, 6 June 2016 (UTC)[reply]

AmericanExpat (talk) 11:54, 6 June 2016 (UTC)[reply]

The above page is purely a personal opinion page. Compare to another "Racism" page such as the one for "Racism in France." The latte is completely factual citing historical incidents.

The "Racism in South Korea" page makes sweeping generalization then cites "newspaper articles" to support author drawn conclusions. Even so, many links do not even work. How can we know such a link/article really existed at some point?

Personal opinions are "cited" with personal blogs or thesis paper from a graduating college senior or an "automatic online submittal summary" to the US Education Department (anyone can submit an article to the US Education Department), i.e. not published articles. I put an actual published article as a rebuttal to an opinion. It was taken down.

And that's just from the introductory paragraph.

I requested to have the page removed. The request was removed.

Anyone can publish a Wiki page filled with his defamatory personal opinion and "cite" it with opinions from personal blogs, ghost articles, unpublished essays and so forth.

Are Wiki editors allowed to defame an entire country in such a manner without consequences? Does not Wikipedia consider potential lawsuits from defamed parties?

AmericanExpat, first, don't get involved in an edit war with Phoenix7777 which could lead to both of you being temporarily blocked. Try to reach consensus on the article talk page or Phoenix's talk page. If consensus can't be reached or editors won't talk, we can take it from there
The tone is unsettling, but it's been similar in tone for more than five years, and it is referenced. It could go to WP:AFD, but I strongly suspect that would fail, although the article might be cleaned up a bit
Threats of legal action result in an immediate block (I know you haven't made that threat), but anyway you can't defame a nation under US law, which is where our servers are based.
Perhaps others can see a way forward?
Jimfbleak - talk to me? 12:23, 6 June 2016 (UTC)[reply]
It was at AfD and was snow kept: Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Racism in South Korea. – Finnusertop (talkcontribs) 12:38, 6 June 2016 (UTC)[reply]
The user !voted delete at 16:36, 5 June 2016 (UTC) and the AfD was closed as SNOW keep at 07:54, 6 June 2016 (UTC). Then the user added a Proposed deletion at 09:15, 6 June 2016 (UTC). This is clearly a disruptive edit. Also what I added to the article was a source published by the Korea Herald. Removing the source is disruptive.―― Phoenix7777 (talk) 13:10, 6 June 2016 (UTC)[reply]

What if the article has been inflammatory for five years or even ten years? Is it a factual and NEUTRAL page, as a reference page is supposed to be? Aside from the fact that the tone is more than unsettling, it cites personal blogs, unpublished college senior thesis and a random uncited one paragraph online submission to an education website. And as I stated, that's just in the introduction.

Do the above really count as "references"? Anybody on the web who can click "submit" or maintain a blog can be considered a legitimate reference?

I think the page could be acceptable if it stuck to actual historical events and cited those, per the "Racism in France" page. But it's pretty clear to me the tone of the page will not change and neither will the shoddy "attempts at citation."

I tried to clean up just the bad citations. But the counter editor will not allow it. So I do recommend that the article be submitted for AfD (again?) if it's the only way that the article can be edited to acceptable reference standards.

And am I to understand that an AfD can be approved or disapproved depending on the majority vote? So if someone writes a page refuting gravitational "theory" and cites personal blogs, a random senior thesis, etc., it can just stay if everyone who keeps tab on that page says it should stay?

It is a travesty that something so readily used and referenced as Wikipedia can thus be manipulated to vent personal grievances and further personal agendas.

But yes, I'd like to submit the page for AfD (again?). Please let me know if I need to take action to do so. And please let me know if it's just a matter of the relative number of Wikipedia users who vote "delete" that's considered for deletion.

Jim, I tried to post a message on your talk page to thank you and to alert you to my latest reply (not sure necessary) but couldn't figure out how. Sorry. And thanks. AmericanExpat (talk) 14:36, 6 June 2016 (UTC)[reply]

AmericanExpat, you can reply on my talk page. You can alternatively leave a message on this page, and I will know you have done so if you start it with my user name, User:Jimfbleak and sign it with four tildes ~~~~ when you post it (as I have done with yours. It looks as if there is a major clean-up there. FWIW, AFd isn't a majority vote, an admin will decide if there is a consensus, and may ignore "votes" is lacking reasons Jimfbleak - talk to me? 18:06, 6 June 2016 (UTC)[reply]
At this point, when the previous AFD was submitted one week ago, submitting another AFD would probably be considered tendentious editing. If the article needs major rework, then it needs major rework, not deleting. The use of AFD to cause rework is deprecated, and repeated submission of failed AFDs is disruptive. Robert McClenon (talk) 18:53, 6 June 2016 (UTC)[reply]


Jimfbleak - talk to me?, I still can't figure out how to leave a message on your talk page and the reply here to your name is a bit arduous because I can't figure out how to insert you instead of myself with the tildes. But no matter. I understand that the page might not be deleted. That's fine. But, yes, it needs a MAJOR clean up. I can start the major clean up myself as long as an admin can oversee the process so that other editors cannot undo the changes without legitimate reasons. So if there's a way to start that, we can avoid an AfD. Please let me know and thanks again.
One other thing, I propose that these pages not be named "Racism in XYZ" but "Racial Conflicts in XYZ." It is difficult to determine the motivation behind some of the conflicts listed on these "Racism" pages. For example, there was an attack on a group of Chinese students cited in the "Racism in France" page. While certainly, there was a racial element to the attack, we cannot know for certain that the attacks were racially motivated instead of gender opportunistic or simply random and drunken. And the "Racism in South Korea" page catalogs a bar owner's having hung a sign prohibiting Africans from entering the premises due to concerns over the Ebola virus. Again, we cannot know if it was racism or simply excessive caution over what was a dramatized threat portrayed in the media. Simply calling all of them "Racial Conflicts" would accurately and objectively describe the incidents. Please let me know. AmericanExpat (talk) 14:33, 7 June 2016 (UTC)[reply]

play hearts card game[edit]

I just want to be able to play your card game of hearts — Preceding unsigned comment added by 209.221.35.250 (talk) 13:43, 6 June 2016 (UTC)[reply]

I suspect, based on your question, that you found one of our over 5 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. Dismas|(talk) 13:50, 6 June 2016 (UTC)[reply]

Submitting my page[edit]

Hi,

I would like to submit my page for review. Please can you inform me on how to do this?

Thanks, Rob. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 123oxborough (talkcontribs) 15:03, 6 June 2016 (UTC)[reply]

Add at the top of your page: {{subst:submit}} – Finnusertop (talkcontribs) 15:07, 6 June 2016 (UTC)[reply]
(edit conflict) I have moved your draft from User:123oxborough‎ (where it was misplaced,as it was not a WP:user page) to User:123oxborough/Generator Hostels, and I have added a {{userspace draft}} template to allow you to submit it when it is ready. It is, of course, not ready to be submitted yet. I have put some useful links onto your user talk page. --David Biddulph (talk) 15:16, 6 June 2016 (UTC)[reply]

Writing a new article in another language than english[edit]

Hello, I'm writing an article in my native language (dutch) but I've noticed that when I take a look at the page information that article I'm writing is registered as english. I can't seem to change it to dutch even though every other setting is set to dutch. Is there any way I can change it to dutch, or does this happen automatically when the page is published?--Absintalsem (talk) 20:14, 6 June 2016 (UTC)[reply]

Hi Absintalsem the Dutch Wikipedia's help desk is at nl:Help:Helpdesk, I presume you are writing the article there because posting this question is the only thing your username has ever done on the English Wikipedia. Roger (Dodger67) (talk) 20:19, 6 June 2016 (UTC)[reply]
Hello, Absintalsem. Could you explain what you ean by "when I take a look at the page information that article I'm writing is registered as english"? I don't believe Wikipedia has "page information" which contains the language. Are you perhaps looking at a setting in your browser? --ColinFine (talk) 20:45, 6 June 2016 (UTC)[reply]

At the left of the webpage there is a column named "Tools", there is a link named "page information" which directs you to the basic information of the article you are trying to write or edit. It tells me: "Page content language English (en)", even though I've been writing everything in dutch on the dutch wikipedia (nl.wikipedia). I've been asking for help on the Dutch Wikipedia's helpdesk but they don't seem to know what I'm talking about and also suggested that the information I'm referring to is my browser information. They also told me that, although my question was written in dutch, the system(?) claims it's in english. So something somewhere must be wrong as this website keeps thinking I'm writing in english.--Absintalsem (talk) 21:15, 6 June 2016 (UTC)[reply]

Thank you, Absintalsem. I've learnt something about Wikipedia! I can't find anything about where that information comes from: m:Page information doesn't specifically mention it. --ColinFine (talk) 08:04, 7 June 2016 (UTC)[reply]
I think you mean mw:Page information doesn't mention it. mw:Page content language does. PrimeHunter (talk) 09:48, 7 June 2016 (UTC)[reply]
Does [1] mean the issue is resolved? If not then please post a link to the page where you see "Page content language English (en)". PrimeHunter (talk) 22:20, 6 June 2016 (UTC)[reply]

Goodmorning, yes the issue ha been resolved. There was something in preferences set to English, changed it to dutch and now it works. Thanks for the help.--Absintalsem (talk) 11:03, 7 June 2016 (UTC)[reply]