Wikipedia:Help desk/Archives/2017 February 3

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.

February 3

How to edit the article description that can be seen in wikipedia app?

When I access the page Electric locomotive, I see there is a description under the article title that say "Locomotive powered by an external source of electrivity". However, as I believe the explanation is not accurate in the sense that locomotives powered by on board batteries are also electric locomotives, I tried to edit the page to remove the word external source from that description. However, I can't find out which part of the page I should edit to change that description and I can't find the description on desktop version wikipedia either. How should I edit that and where can I read it on desktop? C933103 (talk) 00:11, 3 February 2017 (UTC)

Seems this is a popular topic this week. C933103, see the response up above at WP:HD#Summaries at the top of the page when viewing on mobile. †dismas†|^(talk) 00:12, 3 February 2017 (UTC)

The feature was enabled on the English Wikipedia mobile version 20 January 2017. Maybe it should be added to a FAQ. PrimeHunter (talk) 00:35, 3 February 2017 (UTC)

Ah I see, thanks. If those summaries are deemed useful, I think it would be a good idea to display them in desktop and mobile browser version too?C933103 (talk) 01:00, 3 February 2017 (UTC)

See the top of WP:VPT for how to make a feature request. †dismas†|^(talk) 01:03, 3 February 2017 (UTC)

Best way to cite a FRA Accident report.

I am editing the page List of rail accidents (2010–present). I want to expand one of the incidents (13 May 2010 – United States) with information I found on the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) website. I am running into an issue as to how to write the citation. As far as I can tell, the FRA receives reports from the railroads involved, and then publishes those aggregated reports.

While it is on the web, there is no simple URL I can provide that will link to the data. You have to go to a FRA site, fill out a form and submit the form to get the data back.

There also is no single identification number that I see that would uniquely identify the incident or the report. There are two report numbers, but they seem to be numbers assigned by the reporting railroads, not the FRA.

So that you can see what I am dealing with, here are the steps I used to get the report data I want to use:

1. go to 3.11 - Accident Detail Report and fill out the form as follows:
   1. State: North Carolina
   2. Passenger Trains Only: Yes
   3. Search Time Frame: 2010 and May
2. Click "Generate Report"

Any ideas? --Arg342 (talk) 01:11, 3 February 2017 (UTC)

I found the reference from your description without any difficulties and, yes, there doesn't seem to be any URL. You can add a searching description to a normal reference. Something like:

<ref>{{cite web|title=3.11 - Accident Detail Report|url=http://safetydata.fra.dot.gov/officeofsafety/publicsite/Query/incrpt.aspx|website=safetydata.fra.dot.gov|publisher=Fereral Railroad Administration Office of Safety Analysis|accessdate=3 February 2017|at=Search for North Carolina, passenger trains only, 2010, May|language=en}}</ref>

References

Would that do? Thincat (talk) 08:49, 3 February 2017 (UTC)

Ah, using the at parameter to specify search parameters. That had not occurred to me! Very clever. I think it will do nicely. Many thanks!

I may also add that idea to the instructions for the cite web template.--Arg342 (talk) 12:16, 3 February 2017 (UTC)

This is now being discussed at Help talk:Citation Style 1#Use of at parameter to specify web searches where there is no direct URL to source material.--Arg342 (talk) 14:22, 4 February 2017 (UTC)

Hereditary peer

Ref. number 6 is all wrong. Please note that I did not add this ref. thanks Srbernadette (talk) 01:57, 3 February 2017 (UTC)

 Done Eagleash (talk) 02:05, 3 February 2017 (UTC)

The existing citation redirected to a general info page; an Archive url shows the specific information expected. Corrected with this edit. DonFB (talk) 02:29, 3 February 2017 (UTC)

Ta, I was looking for that but had to give up (RL). Don't suppose it matters greatly but the title is now incorrect as it is correpondence (no 'S') in the source which is what the 'sic' in the 'old' reference indicated. I.e. something that looks wrong but is in fact correct. Eagleash (talk) 02:37, 3 February 2017 (UTC)

I could not see what "sic" was supposed to be referring to, nor was there evidence of an "author" "Mosley," so I dropped both in a follow-up edit to the citation. DonFB (talk) 02:56, 3 February 2017 (UTC)

I see. "Correspondence" was misspelled. DonFB (talk) 03:00, 3 February 2017 (UTC)

More importantly, the {{sic}} template is not to be used in cs1|2 templates because it corrupts the citation's metadata (this is stated right at the top of the {{sic}} template documentation). This:

{{sic|nolink=y|correpondence}}

produces this:

correpondence [''sic'']

which becomes part of the citation's title metadata as:

&rft.btitle=Forms+of+Address+for+use+orally+and+in+correpondence%26%2332%3B%26%2391%3Bsic%26%2393%3B

clearly a corrupted title.

The correct solutions are either to silently correct the spelling in the citation or to leave it as is.

Is this one of those British v. American spelling differences?

—Trappist the monk (talk) 04:03, 3 February 2017 (UTC)

NO, Trappist the monk, it isn't. --ColinFine (talk) 20:39, 6 February 2017 (UTC)

Is there really a need to shout? The intended meaning of your response is not clear to me. Are you saying that the solutions that I suggest to be correct are not correct? Or, are you saying that this is not one of those British v. American spelling differences?

—Trappist the monk (talk) 20:46, 6 February 2017 (UTC)

A little DAB page help needed, please

I'm a longtime wikieditor who rarely creates articles anymore, but I've come across a notable American woman author/editor who deserves an article: Margaret Cousins (1905-1996). I can create easily the article with no help, and I've found plenty of good sources, but there's already an existing article on Margaret Cousins, an unrelated Irish-Indian suffragette (1878-1954). Could someone more up to speed on creating DAB links kindly resolve this problem for me? I'm content for the existing Margaret Cousins to remain the primary article. Thanks in advance. Textorus (talk) 02:51, 3 February 2017 (UTC)

• Hi Textorus, disambiguation pages only assist in navigation and their absence does not impinge upon your ability to create a new article. You could create the new article under the name Margaret Cousins (senator) or under any other name, while distinguishing her from the original article. I've used senator as an example. You could replace that with your subject's most distinguishing notability. Hope this helps. Lourdes 03:14, 3 February 2017 (UTC)
  • Thanks, Lourdes, I didn't think of that. I'll go create the article now. Textorus (talk) 03:25, 3 February 2017 (UTC)
    • Textorus: you could then add a hatnote per WP:SIMILAR to both pages. (That option is described in Lourdes' link, though buried fairly deep.) Tigraan^{Click here to contact me} 08:55, 3 February 2017 (UTC)
      • Exactly, yes - thank you, Tigraan. I'm delayed now by chores/errands but that's what I'll do when I get the article posted. Textorus (talk) 04:00, 4 February 2017 (UTC)

User is reverting edits without engaging in discussion

A user User:FreeKnowledgeCreator keeps reverting my edits to Holocaust_denial and David Irving, immediately after I have made them, without read or responding to my arguments on their talk pages. When I have explained my reasons for the edits, he argues WP:FORUM seemingly to avoid discussing it further. His reverts are reinstating material which is not WP:NPOV, and also implies a personal attack (e.g. antisemitism), which stifles debate on the subject and has a "chilling effect". The talk page at Holocaust_denial explains my reason for the edits, but so far his arguments have not really explained his reasons for adding the material he is adding. --Rebroad (talk) 08:36, 3 February 2017 (UTC)

Anyone who looks through the talk pages and the revision histories of those two articles will find that Rebroad is making disruptive edits that are supported by literally no one other than him. In Holocaust denial, in particular, there is a clear consensus against his changes, but Rebroad has continued making them anyway. His edits to talk pages are increasingly running afoul of WP:NOTFORUM, as he is effectively trying to use them to try to debate the issues of anti-semitism and Holocaust denial, and promote his personal views on these and related subjects. A block would be in order if the user persists in all this. FreeKnowledgeCreator (talk) 08:42, 3 February 2017 (UTC)

• Technically, it's Rebroad who started the edit war with this edit.

In any case, this looks like a content issue; please follow WP:DR and do not argue it on the Help Desk. I am fairly sure you know the place to go if there are conduct issues. Tigraan^{Click here to contact me} 08:51, 3 February 2017 (UTC)

Any option or paid services?

hi is there any option or any paid services on wikipedia? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 203.199.18.162 (talk)

• No. You might want to consider donating to the Wikimedia Foundation, but it entails no advantage whatsoever. You can also register an account for free, which has some "options" that can not be accessed without it, but nothing like a "premium package". Tigraan^{Click here to contact me} 11:57, 3 February 2017 (UTC)

Personal profile amendment

Hey Cam and Wikipedia team

First of all thanks for the work you do on wikipedia - we couldn't have this amazing resource without get efforts of you and your fellow scrutineers

Secondly; one of the many pages you have edited is the page for minor Australian media celebrity Adam Spencer. I am him. There is an edit as to my marital status that I've tried to post a couple of times. I am now separated from my wife. Melanie. Each time I've posted. Such it's been removed. How do I get this edit to stay on my page?

I'm at www.adamspencer.com.au and would love to connect

Adam s — Preceding unsigned comment added by 121.217.203.196 (talk) 11:09, 3 February 2017 (UTC)

I have replied to this on the WP:Teahouse. Please do not post questions in two different places. --ColinFine (talk) 12:07, 3 February 2017 (UTC)

Nishanth

Hi,

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nishanth The above link is my article which has been deleted . I am an actor in tamil film industry . I have also send you the details of my previous films where you could find my Name under casting,please help me to create an article on "NISHANTH" so i could link all the wiki articles to my profile.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Renigunta_(film) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thoonga_Nagaram https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Naan_Rajavaga_Pogiren https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metro_(2016_film) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pazhaya_Vannarapettai

Thank you Nishanth. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Yugimrlonely (talk • contribs) 12:18, 3 February 2017 (UTC)

• @Yugimrlonely: Some explanation was already given at your talk page. The previous content of the article has been moved to Draft:Nishanth.

However, we don't just create articles about any possible subject. The topic of articles has to be "notable", which means (very roughly) "already covered by external sources".

For this reason, you are strongly discouraged to create a page about yourself. Tigraan^{Click here to contact me} 12:32, 3 February 2017 (UTC)

Deleted 4 times at Nishanth (but not necessarily the same subject), and twice at Nishanth (actor) with a speedy deletion nomination for the 3rd incarnation. The latter, as well as the draft at Draft:Nishanth, has no references, so no evidence of notability. --David Biddulph (talk) 12:59, 3 February 2017 (UTC)

NBRC-ELE and NBRC-WRE

I work for the NBRC and the title of the NBRC-ELE page needs to change to NBRC-TMC and the NBRC-WRE needs to be deleted. The NBRC-ELE and NBRC-WRE were merged into one exam, the NBRC-TMC. I am updating the pages to reflect this change.

Jennifer Banek Examinations Coordinator for the NBRC — Preceding unsigned comment added by Watcher303 (talk • contribs) 15:02, 3 February 2017 (UTC)

Convenience links: National Board for Respiratory Care, NBRC-ELE, NBRC-WRE.

Hello, Jennifer. I have tagged those two and another exam as unreferenced/no third party references, and as probably not notable, and have suggested they be all be merged into the main article. I would be very surprised if the individual exams met our criteria for notability, so I don't believe there should be individual articles on them. The article about the Board is the proper place for discussion of these: at most a paragraph or two on each, more only if there is substantial material on the exams specifically, from reliable sources completely independent on the Board.

Please note that as Examinations Coordinator, you need to read and comply with WP:Conflict of Interest, and probably WP:PAID before you work on any articles associated with the Board. --ColinFine (talk) 21:01, 6 February 2017 (UTC)

Tool to sort category by article size?

Is there a tool that will list the articles in a category sorted by size of the article? (I don't know of one but I'd feel silly if the only reason I never found it is because I never asked.) Thank you. RJFJR (talk) 16:09, 3 February 2017 (UTC)

I don't know such a tool. An incategory: search like incategory:"Jazz events" will display the size. It's not sorted but may be better than nothing. PrimeHunter (talk) 16:25, 3 February 2017 (UTC)

Hello @RJFJR:, PetScan has the ability to sort its output depending on article size (and to restrict the list with specified size limits). I just tested the sort feature with a small cat, and it seems to work fine. GermanJoe (talk) 16:30, 3 February 2017 (UTC)

Thank you! I'm glad I asked. RJFJR (talk) 18:08, 3 February 2017 (UTC)

NFL Kickoff

Can you fix the article on NFL Kickoff please I put Sept 7 that's when the pats or falcons host the kickoff game on NBC fix it please. 2600:8803:7A00:19:6DB1:E944:6CF6:6B48 (talk) 23:24, 3 February 2017 (UTC)

I think you meant that the table was broken in the National Football League Kickoff game article. If so, I fixed it here. You just needed to look at the way the rest of the code is laid out. You would have seen what was missing. †dismas†|^(talk) 23:47, 3 February 2017 (UTC)