Wikipedia:Help desk/Archives/2022 April 27

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April 27[edit]

Applying NOTCENSORED when the source is censored[edit]

In the article Roy Chubby Brown, there's a direct quote containing the phrase "just being a complete and utter ****hole really". I was going to replace the bowdlerized word with the actual word, presumably "asshole", per WP:NOTCENSORED. I went to the source[1] to confirm the reading, and found that the source actually prints the asterisks in place of the actual word. What's the correct thing to do here? CodeTalker (talk) 02:57, 27 April 2022 (UTC)[reply]

@CodeTalker: My opinion: our article quotes the source. It does not quote Brown directly. I would work around the problem by saying
[the source] quotes Brown as saying ...
and then leave in the asterisks, since our quote marks now refer to the source, not Brown, and when you quote a source, with quote marks, you are not supposed to make any changes. If we were paraphrasing, you would be free to use the word instead of the asterisks. Arch dude (talk) 04:19, 27 April 2022 (UTC)[reply]
I guess you could argue MOS:TYPOFIX... But not exactly "typographic error". Gråbergs Gråa Sång (talk) 07:37, 27 April 2022 (UTC)[reply]
CodeTalker's suggestion for the four asterisks only has three letters, but I can think of two other replacements each with four letters. Choosing any of these for the article would be editorial guesswork, i.e. original research. In cases like this I think we should stick with the source. -- John of Reading (talk) 07:53, 27 April 2022 (UTC)[reply]
Good point on guesswork. Gråbergs Gråa Sång (talk) 08:02, 27 April 2022 (UTC)[reply]
As Roy Chubby Brown is English he probably meant arsehole. - LCU ActivelyDisinterested transmissions °co-ords° 21:36, 28 April 2022 (UTC)[reply]
If you can't find another source, you'll have to report what the censored source says. You can't presume what the source means by "starhole". In a famous piece of German literature, Götz von Berlichingen, there is a sentence usually written as "tell him he can — — — — —" and you have to go back to the original source to find out it means "lick me in the arse" instead of the (in German) more commonly used "lick me on the arse" that I had thought it meant for most of my life. What I'm trying to say: don't presume, it can introduce errors. And yes, censorship is ****ing stupid. —Kusma (talk) 07:59, 27 April 2022 (UTC)[reply]
Sounds like Mozart. Gråbergs Gråa Sång (talk) 08:05, 27 April 2022 (UTC)[reply]

Article use and category sorts for Stage Names.[edit]

The following discussion is marked as answered. If you have a new comment, place it just below the box.

For George Washington, in later usage, it is often "Washington lost the battle of..." and George Washington is sorted under W in categories. How are Stage names and Drag names handled? For example, Marilyn Monroe and Martin Sheen are both treated in article as if those are their actual names (and thus Monroe and Sheen as subjects in later sentences). The question is whether Drag Names should be treated similiarly and what guidance to be used for three part names such as Monica Beverly Hillz. (and for additional fun, I'm also dealing at least one queen who I don't have the birth name for (but I know the birth name isn't a deadname). I presume the answers for both Subject and Catsort should be the same for the article.Naraht (talk) 12:49, 27 April 2022 (UTC)[reply]

We do use common names (see CM Punk for example), but only in the professional capacity. The parts about the career uses Punk, whilst personal life and such is Brooks. This can get a bit more confusing for items where they might use more than one name. In terms of using a "three part name", it'll be on a case by case basis, but I'd ask on the talk. MOS:NICK has a bit more Best Wishes, Lee Vilenski (talkcontribs) 13:03, 27 April 2022 (UTC)[reply]
CM Punk actually seems like a good example of where the last half of the name *shouldn't* be treated as a last name. (CM standing for Chick Magnet certainly isn't a personal name. Where is the policy on this?Naraht (talk) 13:07, 27 April 2022 (UTC)[reply]
Why not? Merely because the stage name is CM Punk and not Martin Sheen doesn't mean we don't treat the word "Punk" anymore like a last name than "Sheen". It seems perfectly reasonable to do so. --Jayron32 13:43, 27 April 2022 (UTC)[reply]
Because Martin is a not unusual first name, I guess. That's why I'm looking for *policy*.Naraht (talk) 14:41, 27 April 2022 (UTC)[reply]
What's unusual? Moon? River? North? A person's name is their name; unless they come from a well-documented cultural tradition that has different naming practices than English-speaking countries, like Hungary, or Spanish, or Chinese, or something like that, then is they're from an English-language culture, use English-language naming practices and collation process for such names. Whether the name is a birth name, a stage name, a changed name, whatever, if it is their name, follow the standard practices. --Jayron32 16:22, 27 April 2022 (UTC)[reply]
MOS:NICK has a paragraph that mentions " pseudonymous surnames". I'll use that as a guide.Naraht (talk) 19:53, 27 April 2022 (UTC)[reply]
@Naraht, Some of those drag names are funny. I remember "Virginia Hamm" (from before Drag Race, I think). 73.127.147.187 (talk) 03:03, 29 April 2022 (UTC)[reply]

This was also discussed at Wikipedia talk:WikiProject RuPaul's Drag Race#Referencing Queens by Drag name "Last Name" in Articles. (sort of a rant). TSventon (talk) 13:45, 27 April 2022 (UTC)[reply]

TSventon. I presume that note is for others, since I'm the one who did the Rant and wanted to check with the wider community before I started making changes. (And we've got truly lovely situations where the two RuPaul Drag Queens with Michaels will be treated differently, Kameron Michaels is a drag name, Chad Michaels's Birth name is Chad Michaels.)Naraht (talk) 14:41, 27 April 2022 (UTC)[reply]

How to clean up/archive my talk page[edit]

Hello,

I am wondering how to clean up my talk page. There is too many old and expired discussions there, and it is time for me to clean it all out. But, I dont know how to. I looked up relevant information but it seems to be vague to me. Is it possible for someone to guide me in steps on how to do it? Thanks a lot. WatanWatan2020 (talk) 13:22, 27 April 2022 (UTC)[reply]

See Help:Archiving (plain and simple) for instructions on how to flag your talk page so a bot will automagically archive it. --Jayron32 13:41, 27 April 2022 (UTC)[reply]

forgot username[edit]

I wanted to log in, but can't remember my user name. I have the email address, but no username. How do I do that? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 71.173.155.125 (talk) 15:51, 27 April 2022 (UTC)[reply]

Can you think of some articles that you have edited in the past while logged in? If you can, have a look at the edit history as this may jog your memory. This is one of the suggestions at Help:Logging in.--♦IanMacM♦ (talk to me) 16:00, 27 April 2022 (UTC)[reply]
Go to Special:PasswordReset and enter your email address. The system will email you your username RudolfRed (talk) 16:18, 27 April 2022 (UTC)[reply]
This works only if "you did not tick the preference checkbox "Send password reset emails only when both email address and username are provided."--♦IanMacM♦ (talk to me) 16:27, 27 April 2022 (UTC)[reply]

Village or Town articles[edit]

Can I create and submit a article of any village or town? It will be accepted or not?103.249.7.132 (talk) 17:53, 27 April 2022 (UTC)[reply]

As with all articles on Wikipedia, any article about a village or town must cite multiple, independant sources which meet Wikipedia's definition of reliable. See general notability guidelines. For villages and towns specifically we also have WP:GEOLAND, which indicates that "populated, legally recognized places are typically presumed to be notable, even if their population is very low." However, you still need to cite sources indicating that it is a populated, legally recognized place. ~ ONUnicorn(Talk|Contribs)problem solving 17:58, 27 April 2022 (UTC)[reply]

Is there a way to see a list of articles I've significantly contributed to?[edit]

Hi

I'm going back over my edit history to try to make a list of all the articles I've created or significantly improved. I found a list of articles I've created but is there a way to filter my mainspace contributions by size so I can see which articles I've added a lot of information to? I know that there are several articles I've taken from a stub to much larger but don't remember them all.

Thanks

John Cummings (talk) 18:32, 27 April 2022 (UTC)[reply]

See "top edited pages" at this link here. Good luck. Ktin (talk) 18:36, 27 April 2022 (UTC)[reply]
If you want to know how Ktin got there, go to your contributions, and at the bottom of the page is a link that says "Edit count". Clicking that link will bring you to a page with all sorts of analytics and data on your Wikipedia editing history. --Jayron32 18:59, 27 April 2022 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks very much indeed Ktin and Jayron32, do I understand that this is number of edits to a page not size of edits? Is there a counter for largest edits? :) John Cummings (talk) 21:36, 28 April 2022 (UTC)[reply]

Looking for a bot[edit]

Is there a bot that enforces MOS:STRAIGHT or MOS:NUMERAL that I could use? TipsyElephant (talk) 19:28, 27 April 2022 (UTC)[reply]

@TipsyElephant: I'm not sure about bots, but there is a script available for STRAIGHT at least: User:DemonDays64/Scripts/Dumb quotes. I am not sure there's anything for NUMERAL. Ctrl-F at Wikipedia:User scripts/List didn't work but perhaps a more thorough search will turn something up. Hopefully someone who knows more about the bots can point you toward those. Firefangledfeathers (talk / contribs) 01:25, 28 April 2022 (UTC)[reply]
@Firefangledfeathers: I've never used a script before. I added the line that it says to copy to User:TipsyElephant/common.js and I see "Dumb quotes" in the sidebar, but when I click on it it does not appear to do anything. I tried it in my sandbox User:TipsyElephant/sandbox on the text from MOS:STRAIGHT and it doesn't do anyting. Did I do something wrong? TipsyElephant (talk) 16:13, 28 April 2022 (UTC)[reply]
Hi TipsyElephant. Can you try again, but start editing the page before clicking on "Dumb quotes"? Firefangledfeathers (talk / contribs) 16:17, 28 April 2022 (UTC)[reply]
@Firefangledfeathers: it's still not working for me. It doesn't matter if I'm in the visual editor or the source editor. I've also tried highlighting curly quotes and clicking on the dumb quotes link and that doesn't do it either. TipsyElephant (talk) 14:36, 3 May 2022 (UTC)[reply]
Sorry to hear that TipsyElephant. I checked your common.js and it looks good there. Can you run through the following steps and describe what happens:
  1. Use a non-mobile device
  2. Bypass your cache
  3. Head over to User:Firefangledfeathers/sandbox
  4. Click Edit source
  5. Click Dumb quotes
  6. Tell me what happens, publishing the edit if you're able
Firefangledfeathers (talk / contribs) 15:15, 3 May 2022 (UTC)[reply]
@Firefangledfeathers: I tried those steps on Google Chrome, Microsoft Edge, and Internet Explorer. I tried in both the visual editor and the source editor for each browser. I tried bypassing the cache on each browser and then I tried deleting all my browsing history and clearing the cache on each browser. No matter what I do it doesn't change anything. I'll start editing the page and then I click on the dumb quotes link under the tools sidebar and nothing changes. I can't publish the page because no changes were made. I can right click on dumb quotes and select "open link in a new tab" but that just opens the same page in editing mode without any changes. TipsyElephant (talk) 18:34, 3 May 2022 (UTC)[reply]
Thanks for the thorough testing. Sorry this isn't working out yet! Classic IT fix: let's try turning it off and back on again. Could you blank your common.js, save, and then copy in:
{{subst:iusc|User:DemonDays64/Scripts/Dumb quotes.js}}
After saving, make sure to bypass your cache again. I just tried that process using an alt account, and I can confirm that a fresh installation worked. If this doesn't work, we might want to reach out to the script's author. Firefangledfeathers (talk / contribs) 20:10, 3 May 2022 (UTC)[reply]
@Firefangledfeathers: I tried that and it didn't work. I also tried downloading Firefox and giving that a try as well. TipsyElephant (talk) 12:51, 4 May 2022 (UTC)[reply]
That stinks. Are you interested in reaching out to DemonDays64, the author of the script? Firefangledfeathers (talk / contribs) 12:55, 4 May 2022 (UTC)[reply]

Missing Order[edit]

I ordered the Maxium Magazine a long while back I sent a check for $24.00 and still never received not one Magazine. If you would look into this, I would really appreciate your time for a customer to start a long time of order . I want to thank you for your time in finding out about my problem. [details removed] — Preceding unsigned comment added by 2001:558:6033:160:44A1:B2F:5433:EC86 (talk) 22:05, 27 April 2022 (UTC)[reply]

I suspect, based on your question, that you found one of our over 6.4 million articles and thought we were affiliated in some way with that subject. Please note that you are at Wikipedia, the free online encyclopedia that anyone can edit, and this page is for asking questions related to using or contributing to Wikipedia itself. Thus, we have no special knowledge about the subject of your question. You can, however, search our vast catalogue of articles by typing a subject into the search field on the upper right side of your screen. If you cannot find what you are looking for, we have a reference desk, divided into various subject areas, where asking knowledge questions is welcome. Best of luck. RudolfRed (talk) 22:06, 27 April 2022 (UTC)[reply]