Help desk
< March 7	<< Feb \| March \| Apr >>	March 9 >

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.

March 8[edit]

Listing by article size[edit]

Hi. Does anyone know if there is a tool available that will output a list of articles in a given category sorted by article size? Thanks - Dumelow (talk) 01:18, 8 March 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Umm... ping a recent person to help me when I needed computer magic: @Galobtter:. GMG ^talk 15:55, 8 March 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Dumelow PetScan is the tool you're looking for. This, for example, is the pages in Category:African-American players of Canadian football sorted by page size descending Galobtter (pingó mió) 16:03, 8 March 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks Galobtter and GreenMeansGo, looks like a very useful tool. Is there a way to get it to use talk page categories instead of article categories (I see you can ask it to use talk page templates)? - Dumelow (talk) 18:39, 8 March 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Dumelow You'd just enter in the talk page category in the category list, and under page properties change the namespace to talk namespace. But the list generated will be of the talk pages, and can't figure how to change that Galobtter (pingó mió) 06:08, 9 March 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks Galobtter. I was trying to generate a list of articles in a given Wikiproject by size that have also been assessed as an article (eg is within "Start-Class military history articles") as it would be useful for identifying incorrectly assessed redirects and disambiguation pages. However, as you say, there seems to be no way for PetScan to output the results sorted by article size if a talk page category is used. I had previously been using User talk:Dr pda/generatestats.js, which has this functionality but limits results to the first 500 articles. I have looked into it and been able to modify the Dr pda script to increase the number of articles queried so I have solved this issue. Thanks for your help (Petscan is certainly a very powerful tool and I am sure I will have other applications for it) - Dumelow (talk) 10:28, 9 March 2018 (UTC)[reply]

About changing User name[edit]

Is this possible to change my User name? I would like to change it 'Sishaykh' to 'Shafaat'. Could you please help me? -- Shafaat Islam (talk) 04:49, 8 March 2018 (UTC)[reply]

WP:RENAME has all the relevant information. Beeblebrox (talk) 05:29, 8 March 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Is it possible to see football player nationality flags next to player names on the Wikipedia Android app?[edit]

Hello,

I am frequently visiting football club pages on Wikipedia. I especially like understanding what nationalities a squad is made up of. One important element that is available in the desktop version which is lacking on the Android app version is the flag of a player's nationality next to a player's name in the 'Current Squad' or 'Players' section.

Is there any way this compatibility could get added to the app version?

Thank you for considering my request!

Todd — Preceding unsigned comment added by 212.123.193.250 (talk) 12:27, 8 March 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Italics[edit]

Hi, can someone remind me how to italicise only part of a pagename, so you get Name of work in italics and then (film etc.) in standard render, please? Thank you. Eagleash (talk) 15:35, 8 March 2018 (UTC)[reply]

I'm pretty sure (and others will correct me if I'm wrong) you use {{DISPLAYTITLE:''Name of work'' (film)}}. I should add that in the case of films I think this is now done automatically but this may not apply to other articles. MarnetteD|Talk 15:43, 8 March 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Isn't that how {{Italic title}} normally works? {{3x|p}}ery (talk) 15:44, 8 March 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Yes, I think so; but does that still work where infobox:Album or infobox:Film seems to italicise the page title automatically? E.g. Sherlock Holmes (2009 film) where I've failed, when trying to see anything in the source, to find how it is done. Cheers. Eagleash (talk) 16:54, 8 March 2018 (UTC)[reply]

For me the title of Sherlock_Holmes_(2009_film) is italicized correctly as you want it. The code is in the template. (|italic title=no can disable that italicization if you want) Galobtter (pingó mió) 16:57, 8 March 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Yes, how it is at the Holmes page is what I'm looking for. I don't want to disable the italics, but I need to know how to do so for the disambiguation only. Thanks. Eagleash (talk) 17:04, 8 March 2018 (UTC)[reply]

@MarnetteD: After some experimentation that worked. Thanks. Eagleash (talk) 18:05, 8 March 2018 (UTC)[reply]

You are welcome Eagleash. I am glad things worked out. MarnetteD|Talk 18:58, 8 March 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Publish page[edit]

Please help me to publish this page: User:Divyagupta1002/sandbox.--Divyagupta1002 (talk) 16:51, 8 March 2018 (UTC)[reply]

@Divyagupta1002: Hello, the page is not ready for publishing to article mainspace. There is only one reference for the entire page and you will need far more than that. I have left some links at your talk page. The page should probably be moved to draftspace so you can continu to develop it. Please ask if you need help with that. Thank you. Eagleash (talk) 17:32, 8 March 2018 (UTC)[reply]

This reads like a paid for article. Full of puffery etc. It should not been moved into main space just yet as Eagleash said. So, can it be moved back until it is ready? --Aspro (talk) 22:29, 10 March 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Agreed it should not be in mainspace. The OP has not edited since posting here and the page was seemingly moved by a different editor. I think moving to draftspace so it can be cleaned up, properly referenced etc. is probably the best option. If it had been submitted for review in the normal way it would very likely have been rejected. Pinging @Aspro: and @LittleGun:. Eagleash (talk) 22:56, 10 March 2018 (UTC)[reply]

First edit of this user was to award a barn star. Why would he do that, unless he was already editing WP before under a different 'user name' and is now a sock. Smells even more fishy. --Aspro (talk) 22:54, 10 March 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Yep. Eagleash (talk) 23:01, 10 March 2018 (UTC)[reply]

I was helping Divyagupta1002 to publish the article, and found this page for the user to ask the question. It is not a perfect article, but I found it good enough and that the source is sufficient to show notability. I could not understand why the user could not publish it h*self. I did not know about the draft space and I could not figure out what was happening or how it was working. Then I tried to move it myself with the move-button, and it worked fine, in a technical sense. There is no sock-puppetry, just a newbie to Wikipedia in general (Divyagupta1002), and me, a newbie at publishing new articles to English Wikipedia. My apologies for any inconvenience.

A bit off-topic: Now that I found out about "draftspace", and still not understanding how it works though, I do not like the concept at all. It is in no way "Wikipedish", and it is really biting newbies. Wikipedia to me is about "just do it", making mistakes is OK and any editors edits is improved on the fly, learning newbies best practice by doing. At least that was what made me becoming a Wikipedian, and to me that is the normal way. Draftspace is an exception.--LittleGun (talk) 22:19, 11 March 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Placing an persons image on a Bio Page[edit]

I have been asked to build a BIO page by my employer. I have built the page (Philip Hanes) but am having no luck placing his photo on the page. I have looked over the "tutorials" but find them to be utterly useless and completely confusing. Can anyone assist me? — Preceding unsigned comment added by Twilder43 (talk • contribs) 17:08, 8 March 2018 (UTC)[reply]

@Twilder43: I am sorry to hear that you find the tutorials useless. That might mean you missed reading the following:

Wikipedia:Conflict_of_interest

If that's confusing, I'll give you the short summary — you should not be writing that article.S Philbrick (Talk) 17:55, 8 March 2018 (UTC)[reply]

And WP:PAID in the meantime the page seems to have an image, which has been uploaded as 'own work'. Did you take the image yourself? If not, there are probably copyright issues. Eagleash (talk) 18:10, 8 March 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Massive list underneath talk page archives[edit]

Can anybody explain what's going on underneath the archive box on the Talk:Brendan Fraser page? Chaheel Riens (talk) 17:36, 8 March 2018 (UTC)[reply]

@Chaheel Riens: I've made an edit to the archiving instructions and blanked the incorrect list. If I've got it right, the bot should rebuild the index correctly sometime in the next 24 hours. -- John of Reading (talk) 17:44, 8 March 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Super - thanks. Chaheel Riens (talk) 17:45, 8 March 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Don't know much about history[edit]

Hi!

"Don't Know Much About History" redirects to Kenneth C. Davis.

What's the best way to also lead/point to the Sam Cooke song? Redirect to a new DAB page?

Thanks. Saintrain (talk) 18:17, 8 March 2018 (UTC)[reply]

...*whistling* dunno much about redirects / dunno much Wiki-syyyyntax... :) good suggestion, Saintrain—I retargeted it in a bold move. Seeing as Wonderful World has has >12,000 page views in the last sixty days, and Kenneth C. Davis has received less than 1,500 in the same period, I think it's pretty safe bet. Except for his fans, of course; they won't approve ( by whom I'm referring, of course, to those who inserted all the cruft I just removed). —SerialNumber54129^{...speculates} 18:25, 8 March 2018 (UTC)[reply]

I don't claim to be an A student, but it's plain to see that a redirect hatnote is appropriate in the song article. Clarityfiend (talk) 22:19, 8 March 2018 (UTC)[reply]

You've changed a good redirect because the same phrase is buried in the lyric of a song? That seems like a questionable thing to do. Dorsetonian (talk) 10:36, 9 March 2018 (UTC) (not a Kenneth C. Davis fan)[reply]

No, it's the correct thing to do because the song lyric is the primary topic; the historian is much less known. It was a bad redirect because most readers who search for the term would be looking for the Sam Cooke song. --Jayron 32 13:08, 9 March 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Jayron32 is right. Good redirect. --Guy Macon (talk) 13:55, 9 March 2018 (UTC)[reply]

In fact, the song predates the book. The book's title was taken from the song, and the book's instant popularity (arguably) resulted from the fact that the title phrase was so well-known. So (IMO) the redirect is even more justified. It would be justified by the "expected search results" rule even if the phrase originated with the book, but here, where the historian struck it rich by borrowing the phrase from the song, there is not even a "moral" argument to direct to the historian first. -Arch dude (talk) 18:04, 9 March 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks, all, for the explanations. Should Don't Know Much About change its target too? I was unaware (and am surprised) that "memorable phrases" from song lyrics are in general considered good redirects. Is there any further guidance on that? Would "Warm smell of colitas", for example, be considered a good redirect also? Dorsetonian (talk) 11:56, 10 March 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Note to self: when suggesting an obscure edit/template (e.g. a 'redirect hatnote') to a complete stranger, add WHICH redirect hatnote. You know, for clarity's sake. :-) Did you know that WP has NO articles about 'redirect hatnotes'? Saintrain (talk) 19:26, 10 March 2018 (UTC)[reply]

I was not "suggesting" anything. I added the hatnote, which you could see (and easily figure out how to use) in the article. Clarityfiend (talk) 01:18, 11 March 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Wikipedia:Help desk/Archives/2018 March 8