Wikipedia:Help desk/Archives/2021 May 7

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May 7[edit]

Samuel De Veaux[edit]

I have written a more extensive article about Samuel De Veaux, which includes a copy of his portrait, and I do not understand how to submit it. Could you please tell me how to submit it? Thank you.Bdaikin (talk) 00:24, 7 May 2021 (UTC)[reply]

@Bdaikin: This is the only post you've made to Wikipedia. Are you referring to Samuel DeVeaux? You can help add content there. —Tenryuu 🐲 ( 💬 • 📝 ) 02:08, 7 May 2021 (UTC)[reply]
@Bdaikin: Wikipedia articles are written using one of several wiki editors. If you have created a document on your computer in some other form, you will need to convert it into a Wikipedia article by pasting it in plain unformatted text into the edit window of a new draft page. You can then format it by learning our wikitext format and applying it. You should probably take the time to learn our formatting style, etc. perhaps by staring with the "Wikipedia adventure" (WP:ADVENTURE). Arch dude (talk) 05:06, 7 May 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Reclassify minor edit[edit]

If I have made an edit and marked it as minor, but later realise that was a mistake, can I go back and remove the marker for "minor edit"? Tak Kovacs (talk) 11:53, 7 May 2021 (UTC)[reply]

You can't change edit summaries (see tasks 12105 and 15937 on Wikimedia's Phabricator), so no. Kleinpecan (talk) 12:12, 7 May 2021 (UTC)[reply]
You can do a WP:Dummy edit. And no, that doesn't mean you're a dummy. ‡ Єl Cid of Valencia talk 14:41, 7 May 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Duplicate item in Talk:Oliver Lodge[edit]

In Talk:Oliver Lodge there are two sections titled "Anecdote". The second is a corrected version of the first. I have no idea how to fix it. (Maybe that goes for the original editor too!) 1.136.104.193 (talk) 13:29, 7 May 2021 (UTC)[reply]

I've removed it. Thanks for telling about this. Kleinpecan (talk) 13:37, 7 May 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Large edit sections - requesting a Bot[edit]

As a small-time editor making small corrections on my small tablet, I find it intimidating trying to make a change in an edit section that goes on for screen after screen after screen. Could you pass on to the appropriate area my request for a bot that would modify all pages generally, inserting edit sections so they are "not too big" on some appropriate scale? (Yes I realise a tablet is not a good start but practicalities...) 1.136.104.193 (talk) 13:44, 7 May 2021 (UTC)[reply]

This seems to me to be Declined Not a good task for a bot.; the best way of splitting an article into sections cannot be decided fully robotically. * Pppery * it has begun... 14:00, 7 May 2021 (UTC)[reply]
I haven't used it, but does anyone know if the feature that allows users to edit when double-clicking in a section places the caret directly where they clicked, and if it's usable on tablets? Could be a potential solution. —Tenryuu 🐲 ( 💬 • 📝 ) 14:01, 7 May 2021 (UTC)[reply]
As far as I know this tablet doesn't recognise double-clicks. Just how complicated is it to add an edit section anyway? - I suspect beyond both me and my tablet. What about a magic word (in curly brackets) which at the Publish stage inserts the new section (at the place where the human editor inserted the magic word) - or perhaps says "Not appropriate here"? But the newby editor would still have to tackle the long section the first time, AND know the magic word. Probably simpler to just make the small edits. 1.136.104.193 (talk) 15:14, 7 May 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Clarified my comment 1.136.104.193 (talk) 15:19, 7 May 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Section edit links are made automatically by section headings. A bot cannot insert suitable section headings. Wikipedia:Manual of Style/Layout#Headings and sections only warns against very short sections. I don't know a guideline about when to insert more section headings but it could be suggested at Wikipedia talk:Manual of Style/Layout. PrimeHunter (talk) 23:11, 8 May 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Wikicounsellor.com[edit]

The following discussion is closed. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made in a new section.

I searched and found this company Wikicounsellor.com unfortunately i paid them and it seems they may be a fake company. If anyone had this same experience with this or any other company please advise. Thank you — Preceding unsigned comment added by 174.93.212.126 (talk) 15:03, 7 May 2021 (UTC)[reply]

I'm sorry you got scammed. But, Wikipedia does not approve of paid editing and it certainly does not advise people to pay a company to promote their company. In no way is Wikipedia associated with Wikicounsellor or any other paid article creation companies. See Wikipedia:Spam. This website is not for advertising your company or cause. Try social media or your local newspaper. I am closing this discussion because it is off-topic and cannot conceivably lead to the improvement of Wikipedia. Cheers. ‡ Єl Cid of Valencia talk 15:18, 7 May 2021 (UTC)[reply]
The discussion above is closed. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page. No further edits should be made to this discussion.

Edit Collisions[edit]

Is there any way to tell if someone is editing a section? I had an edit collision with Wikicounsellor.com when adding to my comment above (and had to re-type the lot. Oh the pain!) 1.136.104.193 (talk) 15:27, 7 May 2021 (UTC)[reply]

AFAIK no, and even then, the software behind Wikipedia is somewhat bugg when it comes to automatically solving edit conflicts. I, for example commonly get an edit conflict message when I am editing the bottom section, and somebody appends a section below it while I am working. Victor Schmidt (talk) 15:37, 7 May 2021 (UTC)[reply]

That is exactly what happened to me. 1.136.104.193 (talk) 16:01, 7 May 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Whenever editing a "popular" page, such as this one, I always copy my edit to my clipboard prior to pressing the "Publish changes" button. This makes overcoming a complex edit-conflict far simpler - Arjayay (talk) 16:23, 7 May 2021 (UTC)[reply]
@Victor Schmidt and Arjayay: The template {{in use}} is designed for just this purpose, you can use the parameter |section for (surprise!) individual sections. Cheers, MinorProphet (talk) 21:50, 7 May 2021 (UTC)[reply]
MinorProphet I don't think we want to encourage people to add that to this page, WP:AIV or multiple other high use pages, which is where the problem most frequently occurs, as per the IPs explanation, above. - Arjayay (talk) 09:27, 8 May 2021 (UTC)[reply]
@Arjayay: Yes, sorry, I realised that just as I clicked 'Publish'. Having now trawled through the archives at the Pump and at MediaWiki I can see how much effort people have been making to resolve the problem. I'll crawl back under my stone. Best wishes, MinorProphet (talk) 12:59, 8 May 2021 (UTC)[reply]
Your text is in the edit conflict window (at least if you use the desktop source editor) so you can copy it without having to retype. See Help:Edit conflict#Layout of the edit-conflict page. If you made changes in multiple places then it can still be annoying to merge it to the current version. If you just made a discussion post then it should be simple. PrimeHunter (talk) 23:34, 8 May 2021 (UTC)[reply]

page approval[edit]

how do I get my new page approved so it is viable to the public? — Preceding unsigned comment added by Jmalone140 (talkcontribs) 15:52, 7 May 2021 (UTC)[reply]

In its current state, your "page" (actually your user sandbox) is completely unacceptable on Wikipedia because it is nothing but pure advertising and promotion. To get your page approved, you need to completely rewrite it so that it conforms to the neutral point of view and does not advertise your business. JIP | Talk 16:15, 7 May 2021 (UTC)[reply]

How to cite both an actual document and a summary[edit]

I'm using the markup

{{citation|title = Coupling Thin Interrupts and Coupling Facility Performance in Shared Processor Environments|id = 6355445|author = Barbara Weiler|date = 6 January 2014|url = https://www.ibm.com/support/pages/system/files/inline-files/Coupling_Thin_Interrupts_20131217.pdf%7Clay-url = https://www.ibm.com/support/pages/node/6355445%7Cpublisher = IBM}}

to produce the citation Barbara Weiler (6 January 2014), Coupling Thin Interrupts and Coupling Facility Performance in Shared Processor Environments (PDF), IBM, 6355445 {{citation}}: Unknown parameter |lay-url= ignored (help) with links to both a summary and the document itself. It's not really a lay summary, but I can't find a better keyword. What is the proper markup? Shmuel (Seymour J.) Metz Username:Chatul (talk) 16:29, 7 May 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Were it up to me, I would make |lay-date=, |lay-format=, |lay-summary=, and |lay-url= all go away – cs1|2 templates really are designed to properly cite only one source at a time; the |lay-...= parameters are simply a kludge that piggybacks an incomplete secondary-source citation onto the primary-source citation.
I presume by 'summary' you mean 'abstract' ('summary' is not a term used on the study's landing page). If you are citing something that only exists on the landing page, write a separate {{cite web}} citation for it. Anything else that is supported by the "Coupling Thin Interrupts..." study gets its own cs1|2 template with appropriate in-source-locators. So, for the landing page:
{{cite web |mode=cs2 |title=Coupling Thin Interrupts and Coupling Facility Performance in Shared Processor Environments |website=IBM Support |url=https://www.ibm.com/support/pages/node/6355445 |date=6 January 2014}}
"Coupling Thin Interrupts and Coupling Facility Performance in Shared Processor Environments", IBM Support, 6 January 2014
and for the study:
{{cite web |mode=cs2 |last=Weiler |first=Barbara |title=Coupling Thin Interrupts and Coupling Facility Performance in Shared Processor Environments |website=IBM Support |url=https://www.ibm.com/support/pages/system/files/inline-files/Coupling_Thin_Interrupts_20131217.pdf|date=6 January 2014 |id=6355445}}
Weiler, Barbara (6 January 2014), "Coupling Thin Interrupts and Coupling Facility Performance in Shared Processor Environments" (PDF), IBM Support, 6355445
Trappist the monk (talk) 21:51, 7 May 2021 (UTC)[reply]
As Trappist points out, it is vital to use |last= and |first= and not |author=, since the latter leads into all kinds of darkness and despair when trying to sort out failed {{sfn}}s etc. MinorProphet (talk) 21:59, 7 May 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Automatic edit filters have identified problematic content in your translation. Filter hit: Caractere repetate[edit]

Hi all, Beginner here. I have successfully translated and published a page on the subject of Neck dissection in Romanian. I have now translated another one on the subject of Cholesteatoma except I am unable to publish it and I receive the above error. "Caractere repetate" means "Repeated characters" in Romanian. For me this error message is quite criptic and I don't know how to overcome the problem. Can somebody help please? — Preceding unsigned comment added by Pardaillan81 (talkcontribs) 2021-05-07T17:46:22 (UTC)

I suggest you ask at the Romanian Wikipedia, Pardaillan81. because that is presumably where you are hitting the error. --ColinFine (talk) 17:20, 7 May 2021 (UTC)[reply]
You might also want to look at mw:talk:Content translation, it seems others are having a similar issue. Zoozaz1 talk 22:45, 7 May 2021 (UTC)[reply]

How to move a page.[edit]

Hello,

I'm new in Wikipedia (though I admit I have edited in the past under a different account). I was in the middle of creating a film article for Wikipedia using my sandbox. I would like to "move" User:The Film Creator/sandbox to Draft:Rainy Day Friends. How do I list it at WP:Requested Moves? The Film Creator (talk) 17:41, 7 May 2021 (UTC)[reply]

@The Film Creator: why not just create the article directly? Rainy Day Friends TimTempleton (talk) (cont) 17:47, 7 May 2021 (UTC)[reply]
@Timtempleton: I guess I could do that the next time I create my second article. As for my first, I've already submitted it to Articles for Creation. I take it I just wait? The Film Creator (talk) 17:51, 7 May 2021 (UTC)[reply]
@The Film Creator: It looked ready to go so I would’ve just created the article directly, and then you would’ve just had to wait for it to get patrolled. Also, FYI, the ping doesn’t work if you edit the user name after you already signed the post. TimTempleton (talk) (cont) 17:18, 8 May 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Request Edit[edit]

Hello,

I work for Brynn Thayer https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brynn_Thayer and wanted to update her Wikipedia photo. I went in to add the new photo from 2021. Uploaded it 100A2123_FNL_WEB.jpeg and replaced the image from 2008. When I went to publish it I got this message.

You do not have permission to upload this file, for the following reason: The action you have requested is limited to users in one of the groups: Autoconfirmed users, Administrators, Confirmed users.

Can you please publish this photo?

Here is her imdb page to confirm this is her new photo: https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0857201/?ref_=fn_al_nm_1

Thank you — Preceding unsigned comment added by Cdevact (talkcontribs)

@Cdevact: You're going to have to confirm that the copyright holder is willing to release the photo under a CC BY-SA licence; if they are, you may want to read WP:DONATEIMAGE. Be aware that if the image is released, anyone can use it for any reason, not just Wikipedia. Since you're also in a paid relationship with Thayer, please disclose your affiliation on your user page; you may use {{paid}} to do so. —Tenryuu 🐲 ( 💬 • 📝 ) 20:18, 7 May 2021 (UTC)[reply]
@Cdevact: A less bureaucratic solution is that you take a new picture of her and upload it here. That is a link to Commons, a sister-site to WP where free images are stored. WP is very strict about copyright, and the basic assumption is that any random pic on the web can't be used because copyright. Gråbergs Gråa Sång (talk) 20:53, 7 May 2021 (UTC)[reply]
Also, when you upload your new photo, please give it a sensible name like "Brynn_Thayer_in_2021.jpg" (the .jpg extension and underscores are not visible in Commons, although that's what the file itself will be called) so that anyone editing her article will know immediately what it is. Thanks for helping to improve Wikipedia's coverage of a notable living people. Mike Turnbull (talk) 12:19, 8 May 2021 (UTC)[reply]
What do you mean, the .jpg extension and underscores are not visible in Commons? At least when I view an image in Commons, the title on the top of the page is the exact same as the filename. JIP | Talk 15:22, 8 May 2021 (UTC)[reply]
Yes, strike that, JIP! I was getting confused because I normally use underscores in local file names on my PC but replace them with spaces during the process of uploading them to Commons. Mike Turnbull (talk) 16:41, 8 May 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Weird invisible red-linked category[edit]

Hi all, at the end of Parody mass there is a red link to a category Articles containing Minderico-language text. But there is no such [[Category:Articles containing Minderico-language text]] anywhere in the copy. I imagine it might have been placed there once because the titles in Old French by Josquin might be somehow similar to Minderico language. Any ideas, please? MinorProphet (talk) 22:14, 7 May 2021 (UTC)[reply]

@MinorProphet: It was generated by a {{lang}} in the text. I changed drc to grc here and that seems to have fixed it. DuncanHill (talk) 22:34, 7 May 2021 (UTC)[reply]
@DuncanHill: Ha! Thanks for fixing my typo, O eagle-eyed one. And now I see there are hundreds of pages like Category:Articles containing Ancient Greek (to 1453)-language text. I suppose it's useful somehow... Cheers anyway :>MinorProphet (talk) 23:19, 7 May 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Biography Page[edit]

Can someone please help me and write a biography page or aticl about me because I'm a Musician and I need Wikipedia to help increase my presence on the internet? Popiey14 (talk) 22:38, 7 May 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Certainly not! Wikipedia articles are written about people who are already notable, not about people who want to become notable. --Orange Mike | Talk 01:06, 8 May 2021 (UTC)[reply]
Hello Popiey14. That is not the purpose of Wikipedia. I suggest you take a look at Wikipedia:Directory_of_alternative_outlets.--Shantavira|feed me 08:37, 8 May 2021 (UTC)[reply]
Popiey14 Yes, Wikipedia has no interest in your internet presence or in enhancing search results for you. 331dot (talk) 08:39, 8 May 2021 (UTC)[reply]
That's right but may sound a little harsh on somebody who hasn't actually tried to save content about themselves. Wikipedia is for the readers, not for the subjects. PrimeHunter (talk) 23:48, 8 May 2021 (UTC)[reply]