Wikipedia:Help desk/Archives/2020 October 4

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Help desk
< October 3 << Sep | October | Nov >> October 5 >
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.


October 4[edit]

How do I upload photo files[edit]

Hello, I’m MadScientistX24. I am here to know how to upload a file onto an article, either on the article wizard or in the sandbox. I am set to make a few articles based on science in a few days, so please may I learn how to upload files? —Preceding undated comment added 07:56, 4 October 2020 (UTC)

Please, see Wikipedia:Uploading_images and Help:Pictures. Ruslik_Zero 08:07, 4 October 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Vandalism[edit]

I was charged with vandalism n would like to know what did I vandalize please.It occurred when I was comparing Wickie wigs with others n I was barred because someone thought I was"spying" — Preceding unsigned comment added by 2001:8003:3715:300:C8E4:697F:8B7D:4DDD (talk) 09:17, 4 October 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Your IP address has no other edits attiributed to it(other than your post here) so it is difficult to help you. If you are using an account, remember to log in; if your IP changes, please provide links to the specific claims. 331dot (talk) 09:23, 4 October 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Top tourist destination in the world[edit]

I have looked at your site and it is clearly wrong. Everyone and I mean everyone knows France is number one and you show Pakistan? France doesnt even show at all. Clearly nonsense. But it shows as number one on your Europe list. With the correct figure and Pakistan shows correctly under Asia. You have taken the figures of France as number one and showed a random country. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 94.174.18.104 (talk) 09:38, 4 October 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Please direct any comments about an article's content to its associated talk page. 331dot (talk) 09:39, 4 October 2020 (UTC)[reply]
The IP is presumably referring to vandalism this morning to World Tourism rankings. Another IP partly reverted, and I have completed the reversion and warned the vandal. David Biddulph (talk) 10:27, 4 October 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Can't publish the file linked to the page even if the link is correct[edit]

Please, referring to page https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/La_vita_non_perde_valore, I can't understand what's the problem related to the "red issues" just published there, and the reason why I can't publish the file (two files) linked to the page, even if the link is for both the files correct. Thank you. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 151.68.190.201 (talk) 11:51, 4 October 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Hello, I have fixed the line feed error messages. These occur when the title runs over several lines and are usually fixed by removing and re-inserting the space at the position indicated in the message. Please clarify the two files you refer as linked and what it is you are trying to do, together with details of any error message you receive. (Please remember to sign your posts on talk pages by typing four keyboard tildes like this: ~~~~. Or, you can use the [ reply ] button, which automatically signs posts.). Thank you. Eagleash (talk) 13:55, 4 October 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Help:Cite errors/Cite error ref no input[edit]

How do you cite sources (I want to cite a page on www.acepediafandom.com)? Please say it in simple words so I don't have to read a crazy long document. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 73.230.178.114 (talk) 12:54, 4 October 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Afraid you will have to read WP:REFB for the guides to adding sources; there is rather too much information to repeat it here. Having said that, that source does not look as if it could be considered reliable; it contains two elements that are not looked upon favourably. I.e. 'pedia' (suggesting user generated content without editorial oversight) and 'fandom' suggesting not neutral point of view. Eagleash (talk) 13:41, 4 October 2020 (UTC)[reply]
Assuming you mean https://acecombat.fandom.com/wiki/Main_Page, don't use it as a source. See WP:USERG, it's short. Gråbergs Gråa Sång (talk) 22:04, 4 October 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Need help but I am French[edit]

Hello ! I would like to delete my account on wikipedia but I can't delete it in my country in France. I read somewhere : This proposal gathered community consensus from the wikipedia community and is currently under discussion with the developers at Bug 6614. Brion Vibber rejected its implementation, though, and closed the bug.

Delete unused username after 90 days is a proposed Wikipedia policy to delete usernames with zero edits that have not logged in for 90 days. Registered usernames with emails will be warned after 60 days of inactivity. Usernames with at least one edit will be kept for the entire life of the database.

So I didn't publish articles on wikipedia and I would like to delete my profile registred in June 2020. Is it possible to delete it after 60 days of inactivity in France ? Or somebody can do it for me please ? Thank you for your answer and take care. Best regards. --Joanne Pilanon 1971 (talk) 13:52, 4 October 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Joanne Pilanon 1971 It is not technically possible to delete accounts, and it cannot be done for legal reasons(at least in the US) as all edits must be attributable to someone. If you no longer intend to use your account, just abandon it. You are allowed to request a courtesy vanishing in which your account is renamed to a random string of letters and numbers. 331dot (talk) 13:55, 4 October 2020 (UTC)[reply]
In other words, Joanne Pilanon 1971, your account can't be deleted because of the four edits you've made to this WikiMedia project (including this post). If you're concerned that there is personal information you want redacted, see 331dot's link to WP:VANISH. —Tenryuu 🐲 ( 💬 • 📝 ) 23:33, 4 October 2020 (UTC)[reply]
It's not a matter of US law, actually - it's a matter of the copyright licence Wikipedia uses, which requires attribution. Deleting accounts breaks that attribution, violating the licence. —A little blue Bori v^_^v Hasteur Hasteur Ha-- oh.... 06:22, 5 October 2020 (UTC)[reply]
Isn't there some process to change the username to a random string of characters as a way of retiring the account? John Cummings (talk) 12:14, 5 October 2020 (UTC)[reply]
John Cummings, that's covered in WP:VANISH:

Vanishing typically involves the following:

  • A global renamer or steward responds to a rename request and renames the account to, for example, "Renamed user 157yagz5r48a5f1a1f".
Tenryuu 🐲 ( 💬 • 📝 ) 14:26, 5 October 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Collapsed image in ATP top material[edit]

I want to add a PNG image (a graph) to the top material of an article talk page, in its own collapsed box. {{cot}} and {{cob}} don't work because the collapse bar is wider than the rest of the top material (and the wrong color, although I could probably fix that if I knew the color's hex value). Does a template exist to accomplish something like this in a somewhat standard way, or is there a non-template solution? ―Mandruss  22:41, 4 October 2020 (UTC)[reply]

@Mandruss: the {{cot}} template takes several parameters that control its size, color, and placement: take a look at its documentation. -Arch dude (talk) 23:14, 4 October 2020 (UTC)[reply]
@Arch dude: I'll look into that, but I would still need to know the color of the other boilerplate stuff, so I can match it. I'm usually fairly resourceful, but I wouldn't know how to find that. ―Mandruss  06:01, 5 October 2020 (UTC)[reply]
@Mandruss: the "correct" way to find that color would be to view the sources of the various templates that generate the boilerplate: good luck with that. An alternative brute-force hack is to use an application program running on your computer than can tell you the RGB value of the color of a displayed pixel on your screen. The tool to use will vary depending on your OS. -Arch dude (talk) 16:37, 5 October 2020 (UTC)[reply]
@Arch dude: See "Historical file size", here (permalink). This is the best I can do with {{cot}}, and it leaves a lot to be desired. It's a hack and it looks like one, even before you expand the box. Apparently no one has seen the need for a general-purpose article talk page boilerplate template. ―Mandruss  22:25, 5 October 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Semicolons[edit]

Why are titles with semicolons at the end so hard to get to? Take for example, User:; will give Special:Badtitle because the semicolon at the end is not interpreted, and User: is invalid title? ; will redirect to the main page because what's getting interpreted is "", and no text will default to the Main Page? On the article Semicolon, it says "For technical reasons, ; redirects to the main page." It never says why the semicolon causes problems on WP:NCTR, is there a reason for the semicolon technical restriction? Gioguch (talk) 22:41, 4 October 2020 (UTC)[reply]

The problem is not MediaWiki itself, but rather whatever method Wikimedia's servers are using to handle the short URL scheme ("/wiki/article" instead of "index.php?title=article"). Servers using the Nginx rule listed there handle semicolons correctly. You can bypass their incorrect handling of short urls by using full urls, such as /w/index.php?title=User:; which is a valid user. (Added minor formatting to your post since I got confused on what was an example)Thjarkur (talk) 12:49, 5 October 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Group right losses[edit]

How many group right losses are there in the history of Wikipedia? I know that there are at least four examples, namely the ones below:

  1. Account creators have lost the ability to create edit notices or other pages in the title blacklist. (Currently requires sysop, templateeditor, or extendedmover)
  2. Bureaucrats have lost the ability to rename users. (Currently requires a global renamer or steward)
  3. Autoconfirmed users have lost the ability to mark new pages as patrolled. (Currently requires sysop or patroller)
  4. Autoconfirmed users have also lost the ability to move category pages. (Currently requires sysop, extendedmover, or bot)

Are there any others besides the above four? GeoffreyT2000 (talk) 23:23, 4 October 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Administrators lost the ability to edit JS and CSS outside of their own userspace. (Currently requires interfaceadmin) Jackmcbarn (talk) 23:29, 4 October 2020 (UTC)[reply]
(edit conflict) Admins have lost the ability to unblock themselves. * Pppery * it has begun... 23:35, 4 October 2020 (UTC)[reply]
Non-autoconfirmed users have lost the ability to create articles. * Pppery * it has begun... 23:40, 4 October 2020 (UTC)[reply]
Admins have lost the ability to delete pages with more than 5,000 revisions. I believe the question of "how many of these there are" is going to be difficult to answer accurately. * Pppery * it has begun... 23:46, 4 October 2020 (UTC)[reply]