Wikipedia:Help desk/Archives/2021 December 30

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December 30

Creating my biography on wikipedia

I have been trying to create my biography on Wikipedia just as I have seen for several people but the whole process is quite completed. I am willing to pay anyone that will teach me on how to go about it. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Omata David Omakoji (talk • contribs) 07:21, 30 December 2021 (UTC)

It's not a good idea to create an article about yourself on Wikipedia, as we aim to create a neutral reference encyclopedia. If you wish to write about yourself, do it elsewhere. If you are or become a notable person, you are free to request an article to be written by someone else, but be aware that policies strictly forbid promotion, and a neutral point of view may mean the inclusion of unflattering content. An article about yourself isn't necessarily a good thing – Anon423 (talk) 07:51, 30 December 2021 (UTC)

Omata David Omakoji Wikipedia itself cannot be used to provide payment to editors, who are largely volunteers. Third parties claim to offer paid editing services, but these are not endorsed by Wikipedia, and are of varying quality and reputatbility. Anyone you pay to edit for you must formally declare that, per the paid editing policy. Do not hand over any money until you see the completed offering. Also, despite what they might tell you in their sales pitch, they can make no guarantees(such as writing an article that will not be deleted).

Whether you pay someone or not, what matters is if you meet the special Wikipedia definition of a notable person and receive significant coverage in independent reliable sources, whether you pay someone or not does not change that. The best indicator of notability is when independent editors completely uaffiliated with you take note of you in such sources and choose to write about you, trying to force the issue yourself does not often work. As Anon423 correctly notes, there are actually good reasons to not want an article. 331dot (talk) 08:31, 30 December 2021 (UTC)

Need help with a biography of an Arabic subject

Jasim Abdulaziz is a new article about a Qatari journalist and tv presenter. Could someone able to read Arabic please check Wikidata for possible interlanguage links. Roger (Dodger67) (talk) 09:31, 30 December 2021 (UTC)

@Dodger67 You could try WP:TRLA. Gråbergs Gråa Sång (talk) 11:19, 30 December 2021 (UTC)

I want to change the title of my submitted page

I have submitted my draft of the Zaeem Ahmed page (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Draft:Zaeem_Ahmed), but unfortunately I forgot to rename the page. It is showing Draft:Zaeem Ahmed. How can I edit the title? — Preceding unsigned comment added by Foyjul90 (talk • contribs) 11:18, 30 December 2021 (UTC)

In the unlikely event of it being accepted (most of it is completely unreferenced), the accepting editor will do that. While you wait, I suggest you add a reliable source for every statement.--Shantavira|^{feed me} 12:02, 30 December 2021 (UTC)

Juvenile Oscars

I copied and pasted addresses for 4 magazine page of an article about Juvenile Oscars. I did not write an article. I have no interest in learning how this is all done. The info is there. I hope someone will put it in the article properly. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Sunshine Anderson (talk • contribs) 14:58, 30 December 2021 (UTC)

We cannot link to scans of print magazine pages, and I can't find a byline for that article, which is a massive issue as byline is a hard requirement for citing print magazine articles. —A little blue Bori v^_^v ^{Jéské Couriano} 15:52, 30 December 2021 (UTC)

@Sunshine Anderson:, OK, Academy Juvenile Award is the article in question. Thank your for contribution (on the talk page), I'll look into seeing if the material can be used in the article (possibly not, if the sources are not reliable). Your talk page edit should not have been reverted, no; that was a mistake; sorry about that, thank you again, and I hope you won't give up on Wikipedia because of that! (UPDATE: I wrote about the sources you gave in the article talk page; sadly, it looks like they are probably not usable for our purposes yet. But keep at it! It takes while to get the hang of all this. Herostratus (talk) 18:24, 30 December 2021 (UTC))

@Jéské Couriano:, we very frequently link to web pages in our refs, and this is fine, even tho they're copyrighted (as most are). You're misunderstanding the rule, I would say. Also, an author byline is not a requirement for most refs.Herostratus (talk) 18:03, 30 December 2021 (UTC)

@Herostratus: Hero, we link to articles which are online, yes. But we do not link to what purport to be scans of articles from print media. Completely aside from copyright issues, in this age of Photoshop no purported scan can be completely trusted unless from a source like the Library of Congress. --Orange Mike | Talk 20:24, 30 December 2021 (UTC)

User talk:Orangemike, I don't know who "we" is, but it sure doesn't include me. I've linked to microfilm images of news stories a number of times and don't intend to stop. I also intend to keep linking to the Los Angeles Times and other copyrighted sources.

Yes in this age of Photoshop anything could be an elaborate hoax. These scans were hosted at "davidcassidy.com" which is Cassidy's official website, and attributed to various editions of Movieland and TV Time magazine, which is a defunct rag. Yes it possible that the folks at David Cassidy's website decided to make an elaborate hoax and create magazine pages that didn't exist in Photoshop, using professional-level skills, about a very obscure subject that is not central to their mission (Cassidy is mentioned in passing and shown in a group photo) and for no good reason, and reffing to a magazine which of which hard copies could be obtained. It's also possible that the folks at David Cassidy's website are all Reptilians. But how far down that rabbit hole do we we want to go. Since it's the age of Photoshop, should we be deleting all our images that aren't from sources like the Library of Congress? We'll have to get rid of most of our images. We don't need to operate as if we are afflicted by clinical paranoia.

And not only that. The scans in question were on the talk page, presented with the as "here are some sources if anybody finds them useful". They were still deleted on grounds of "you can't link to material which is copyrighted" which if true would make {{cite web}} 95% unusable. This was OPs complaint. (In fact, it turns out that the sources aren't useable in the article. The question was can they even be discussed?) Herostratus (talk) 03:00, 31 December 2021 (UTC)

Herostratus it would be more accurate to say we don't link to copyvios, and those scans would definitely be copyright violations. It has no bearing on cite web. — The Hand That Feeds You:^Bite 20:11, 2 January 2022 (UTC)

Mobile Editing Error

I've recently noticed weird outcomes when editing Wikipedia from my phone using the Desktop view and I believe it has been mostly while doing the source view rather than the visual editor. When publishing an edit the line after where I editted appears to duplicate. For instance, Talk:CBC_Radio, WNYC Studios, and even on my own user page. Is there a known issue related to editing from a phone or perhaps it has something to do with one of my preferences/settings? I would like to avoid accidentally causing disruptions while editing. TipsyElephant (talk) 19:57, 30 December 2021 (UTC)

@TipsyElephant: I don't see any duplicate text at the link you shared. Do you still see duplicate text there on your phone? TimTempleton ^{(talk) (cont)} 23:05, 30 December 2021 (UTC)

Yes. For instance, the talk page for CBC Radio now has two wikiproject banners for Media and when editing WNYC it appears that it duplicated a newline character or carriage return at the end of some subsections. I was able to fix the duplicate text on my user page, but I believe I did that from my computer. TipsyElephant (talk) 03:28, 31 December 2021 (UTC)

Creating a states-specific map

How do I edit File:BlankMap-USA-states.PNG to shade Alabama, Mississippi, and Georgia? It's for the Southern States Conference infobox. I want it to appear like the map in the American West Conference infobox. SportsGuy789 (talk) 20:09, 30 December 2021 (UTC)

@SportsGuy789: I downloaded the file, used Paint 3D to fill the three states with black color, saved with a new file name, used Wikipedia:File Upload Wizard to upload to Wikimedia Commons as File:Southern States Conference-USA-states.png, and then added to the Southern States Conference infobox. Hope this helps, and happy editing! GoingBatty (talk) 22:00, 30 December 2021 (UTC)

@GoingBatty: Thank you it looks awesome! SportsGuy789 (talk) 00:06, 31 December 2021 (UTC)

@GoingBatty: I hate to ask you for this, but in my additional newspapers.com research I discovered that the University of West Florida was a member for 19 years. Could you please re-do the map to include Florida as well? SportsGuy789 (talk) 22:05, 31 December 2021 (UTC)

@SportsGuy789:  Done! GoingBatty (talk) 23:16, 31 December 2021 (UTC)

Thanks again! SportsGuy789 (talk) 23:30, 31 December 2021 (UTC)

@GoingBatty: I hope you dont mind it. I just uploaded a version with better visible outlines. --Momo17 (talk) 13:47, 1 January 2022 (UTC)

Photo

Hi, I found a photo from your website. I want my friend to paint from the photo. She will charge me to buy it. May I ask your permission for me to use your photo?

Jeanne — Preceding unsigned comment added by 174.56.42.5 (talk) 21:13, 30 December 2021 (UTC)

If you click on the photo it will show you the license info. In many cases, no additional permission is needed. RudolfRed (talk) 21:21, 30 December 2021 (UTC)

Are you allowed to use slashes in Wikipedia articles?

/

Ak-eater06 (talk) 21:40, 30 December 2021 (UTC)

Do you mean the article name? Yes, for example 9/11 (2017 film). Otherwise please clarify your question. RudolfRed (talk) 21:42, 30 December 2021 (UTC)

See MOS:SLASH for how to use slashes within articles. Bazza (talk) 10:35, 31 December 2021 (UTC)

Is an old newspaper cutting public domain or fair use? Help!

Hello, I want to use photo of a small cutting from a newspaper article in an update to an article of mine. The newspaper was published in 1960 in Australia. The cutting contains text only and no picture. Could someone point me in the direction of determining the copyright status on Wikipedia.

Under Australian copyright law "The copyright in the layout expires 25 years after the end of the year in which it was first published". Is this of relevance to a newspaper clipping? If so is it public domain for Wikipedia Commons?

Or is it a classified a "non-free newspaper image" for Wikipedia fair-use purposes? — Preceding unsigned comment added by Beau.mitchell (talk • contribs) 22:25, 30 December 2021 (UTC)

Why exactly would you want an image of the clipping, rather than just summarising the info if there is no image? Best Wishes, Lee Vilenski ^{(talk • contribs)} 22:31, 30 December 2021 (UTC)

Beau.mitchell, I know nothing about Australia's copyright law about "layout" which sounds like graphic design to me. But in the U.S., where the Wikimedia Foundation is headquarted, newspaper text is copyrighted for 95 years, and so the text must be assumed to be copyrighted unless there is solid evidence to the contrary. It would be unusual that an image of of a 1960 newspaper cutting (clipping in the U.S.) would add encyclopedic value to an article. Normal practice would be to cite it and summarize it in your own words. Cullen328 (talk) 02:32, 2 January 2022 (UTC)

How Do I Move An Image On Wikipedia?

I want to place an image onto an already existing Wikipedia article. But it always appears at the very top-right of the page. And I was wondering, how do I move this image down to other parts of the page.

Google doesn’t help either. Instead of telling me how to move an image, it tells me how to move a page. Google’s Quick answer doesn’t help either. Instead, that tells me how to add an image to the article, not moving the already added image.

I’m on Mobile if that helps. Roastedbeanz1 (talk) 23:56, 30 December 2021 (UTC)

@Roastedbeanz1: When you view the source of a Wikipedia page, the code for the image looks like this: [[File:Map_of_fertile_crescent.svg|thumb|260px|Map showing the larger area including Cyprus]] If I wanted to move that image to a different part of the Fertile Crescent article, I would cut that text, paste it to the section of the article where I want it, and preview the article. If it looked better in the new position, I would then click "Publish changes". Hope this helps, and happy editing! GoingBatty (talk) 03:57, 31 December 2021 (UTC)

@Roastedbeanz1: also, [[File:Map_of_fertile_crescent.svg|thumb|left|260px|Map showing the larger area including Cyprus]] will move the image to the left side Jimfbleak - talk to me? 16:16, 31 December 2021 (UTC)