Wikipedia:Help desk/Archives/2018 December 14

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December 14[edit]

My First edit - did I get it right?[edit]

Hi,

I just added my first edit to Wiki. I hope that I got it right. I added some content to this page - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tumescence

Was my reference correct?

J — Preceding unsigned comment added by Sexologicalbody (talkcontribs) 03:16, 14 December 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Hey, your edit was reverted, possibly because it didn't help the article be better. Not seeing any refrences. also, sign your comments by typing ~~~~ WelpThatWorked (talk) 20:48, 14 December 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Pics[edit]

How can I add pics to my own Wikipedia page? — Preceding unsigned comment added by David Bedella (talkcontribs) 10:21, 14 December 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Hi, David. First please note, there's no such thing on Wikipedia like your OWN page. You may want to see WP:OWN for more detailed explanation.
Second, please visit WP:IMAGE to find some guidelines concerning selecting and preparing images for Wikipedia, uploading them and finally using them in Wikipedia pages. --CiaPan (talk) 13:04, 14 December 2018 (UTC)[reply]
@David Bedella: You can add one or two images to your user page using the above instructions. That page is a bit closer to being "owned" by you than other Wikipedia pages. Do remember that the purpose of your user page is to tell others about yourself as a Wikkipedian: it's not a general-purpose blog or vanity page. (Well, unless you are vain about being a Wikipedian.) -Arch dude (talk) 14:47, 14 December 2018 (UTC)[reply]

updates being reverted[edit]

I am the public information officer for the police, and I revised the information as it was very old, but it reverted. Everything I posted was cited to the official police web site. The old citations were for pages that no longer existed. Even the specifics, like the name of our current police chief reverted, thus the entire page is outdated or completely wrong. Why did it revert? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Key_West_Police_Department Alyson crean (talk) 13:54, 14 December 2018 (UTC)[reply]

It appears that Sphilbrick reverted some of your earlier additions for being copyright violations. Wikipedia cannot accept copyrighted content at all. shoy (reactions) 14:22, 14 December 2018 (UTC)[reply]
@Alyson crean: copyright law protects creative content and structure, but not facts. You can copy facts, not sentences. You can re-state the content in your own words. Wikipedia chooses to be very conservative in our interpretation of copyright law. Our server are in Florida, and we don't want the police to bust us. As a separate issue, you have a conflict of interest (WP:COI) and you are a paid editor (WP:PAID). This is not a problem, just a fact. You must declare your paid status to comply with our terms of service. (Not a big deal, just a note on your user page will do.) You can still make direct non-controversial changes to facts in the article directly, yourself, but for anything more etensive, you should instead suggest changes on the article's talk page, and then add the magic incantation {{request edit}} (with the curly brackets) and another editor will come along and change the article for you. These rules may seem overly restrictive, but ask yourself: what rules would you like to be in place for an article about some organization you need information about? -Arch dude (talk) 14:59, 14 December 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Why can't I simply make a new article?[edit]

I thought that if you wanted to make a new Wikipedia article, all you had to do was type it up and publish it. But it seems that I can't do that whenever I try to create a new article. I get a long message saying the following:


The article that you're looking for doesn't exist.

You can create it, but... Before you create an article, you should read this guide. New to Wikipedia? See the contributing to Wikipedia page for everything you need to know to get started.

Need interactive help? You can ask questions at the Teahouse, help desk or through live chat. There are different ways to edit Wikipedia:

Sandbox Ready to try editing? You can experiment in your own sandbox to get a feel for editing Wikipedia. This is a great place to start without affecting live articles. Start editing

Improve Wikipedia needs your help. Pick small editing tasks from a list, such as fixing spelling and grammar. Learn by making improvements to existing articles. Start helping

Article wizard If you already have experience with editing, you can use our article wizard to create new articles. In just a few steps, you'll be on your way to contributing to Wikipedia. Start creating


I know how to make a new article. So why do I have to go through all this to make a new article? Sei Noelle (talk) 19:02, 14 December 2018 (UTC)[reply]

You can not create a new article directly until your account is autoconfirmed which typically happens when you have at least 10 edits and your account is at least 4 days old. Until then, you can use the wizard at WP:YFA to create a draft article for review. RudolfRed (talk) 19:05, 14 December 2018 (UTC)[reply]
@Sei Noelle: Above is the technical reason you can't create new articles. The reason Wikipedia has these requirements is to reduce the number of new problematic pages (e.g. advertising) in the "article-space" and keep them in the "draft-space" where readers won't generally find them. Of course, this means that some high-quality pages will be stuck in draft-space for a while because their authors are not confirmed. But, in general, a page created by a confirmed user is less likely to be problematic than a page created by a non-confirmed user, because it usually takes a little while for newer editors to learn the Wikipedia interface and good editing practices like citing sources.
This change was in the making for seven years and was implemented less than a year ago, see WP:ACTRIAL. – Teratix 23:19, 14 December 2018 (UTC)[reply]
For info, this sock puppet account has been blocked and talk page access revoked Jimfbleak - talk to me? 07:38, 15 December 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Catriona Gray[edit]

Hello,

Catriona Gray's web page already has mentioned that she is the winner of Miss universe 2018, while in fact, the pagent is going to take place on December 17th! I know people are enthusiastic about her winning this time, but does that give a right for them to declare as a winner before the judges decide on the day of the competition? If that much liberty is there, why at all should she even participate in the pagent?! — Preceding unsigned comment added by Riya kr (talkcontribs) 21:12, 14 December 2018 (UTC)[reply]

The article Catriona Gray does not describe Ms. Gray as the winner of the 2018 Miss Universe pageant. It merely says she is competing in it. General Ization Talk 21:15, 14 December 2018 (UTC)[reply]
I did find that the infobox included the 2018 Miss Universe pageant among Gray's "Major competition(s)", and the notation "(Winner)" next to it. I have removed that pageant from the infobox, as it does not belong there until she has actually appeared in the pageant. General Ization Talk 21:18, 14 December 2018 (UTC)[reply]
Riya kr, this was corrected in 13 minutes. She was listed as the winner by an anonymous editor as what appears to be an act of WP:VANDALISM. †dismas†|(talk) 21:34, 14 December 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Deleting versions[edit]

I ran across a new draft where the author initially included a copyvio but later removed it. Is there a maintenance tag or forum to request deletion of the copyvio versions? Or is it maybe OK to leave a copyvio in the history? —teb728 t c 23:57, 14 December 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Hello @Teb728:, you can use Template:Copyvio-revdel on top of the page to request a revdel from an admin (you'll need to list the specific versions to be deleted as template parameters). GermanJoe (talk) 00:11, 15 December 2018 (UTC)[reply]