Wikipedia:Help desk/Archives/2022 February 21

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February 21

IP Address

Hi there, I have edited wikipedia accounts but i just noticed now my IP address is showing. I created a account to conceal it, how does it change to my account instead of my IP address showing? — Preceding unsigned comment added by Mahmoudahmed180018 (talk • contribs) 02:36, 21 February 2022 (UTC)

@Mahmoudahmed180018: Hi there, and congratulations on creating an account! From now on, edits that you make while logged in will be attributed to "Mahmoudahmed180018" and not disclose your IP address. However, those edits you made before you created your account will forever be identified with the IP address. GoingBatty (talk) 04:56, 21 February 2022 (UTC)

As long as you don't say which IP it was, nobody will be able to connect your account and IP. Skarmory (talk • contribs) 10:11, 22 February 2022 (UTC)

Resetting template sandbox

Hello!

I do work on Template:Infobox UK legislation - its sandbox (Template:Infobox UK legislation/sandbox) has drifted quite far from the live version. What's the best way to reset a template sandbox and ensure in future it clears properly? Thanks --Thunderstorm008 (talk · contributions) 02:53, 21 February 2022 (UTC)

@Thunderstorm008: Hi there! You could open both pages in edit mode, copy all the text from Template:Infobox UK legislation and paste it into Template:Infobox UK legislation/sandbox, and click "Publish changes". Happy editing! GoingBatty (talk) 04:57, 21 February 2022 (UTC)

@GoingBatty: Ah okay, that would've been my first instinct. There's not a good way to automatically clear the sandbox? --Thunderstorm008 (talk · contributions) 05:06, 21 February 2022 (UTC)

@Thunderstorm008: If there's an automatic way to make the sandbox code the same as the template code, I'm not aware of it. GoingBatty (talk) 05:36, 21 February 2022 (UTC)

There is a user script for this. Skarmory (talk • contribs) 10:12, 22 February 2022 (UTC)

@Thunderstorm008: forgot to ping. Skarmory (talk • contribs) 10:13, 22 February 2022 (UTC)

@Skarmory and GoingBatty:great! Thanks both for your help! Thunderstorm008 (talk · contributions) 14:11, 22 February 2022 (UTC)

Grandfather

My great, great, great grandfather, Thomas Parish Murphy, watched the Monitor and the Merrimac engage. He witnessed the confederates destroying the Merrimac. His diary reads, "Sunday, May 11, 1862: Windy. Merrimac burned by the rebels. Blew up at daylight.

He was born in 1840 in Villiarstown, Northern Ireland and immigrated the same year to Roxbury, Vt. In 1861, he enlisted in the 6th Vermont Volunteers. After the war, he settled in Halstead, KS as a rancher. He later was elected to two terms as a state representative followed by two terms as a state senator.

Richard P. Murphy — Preceding unsigned comment added by 47.185.148.160 (talk) 05:58, 21 February 2022 (UTC)

Did you have a question about using or editing Wikipedia? It sounds like this is in regards to an article. —Tenryuu 🐲 ( 💬 • 📝 ) 06:12, 21 February 2022 (UTC)

Hello, IP editor. Anyone who was elected to two terms as a state representative followed by two terms as a state senator is presumed notable and eligible for a Wikipedia biography, per WP:POLITICIAN. If you (or anyone else) were to go to the oldest newspaper archives of the cities in his district and in the Kansas state capital, you would be almost certain to uncover lots of coverage that could be used to build a Wikipedia biography. In many states (I do not know about Kansas), the state legislature maintains a database with facts about their present and past members going back to statehood. Being a great, great, great grandchild is perhaps a conflict of interest but a pretty minor one, since your genetic connection is only about 3%. You are not allowed to add family lore to Wikipedia, since that is original research, which is not permitted. I suggest that you read and study Your first article, which should give you a good understanding of what is required to write an acceptable Wikipedia article. Feel free to return to the Help desk at any time to ask further questions. Cullen328 (talk) 07:28, 21 February 2022 (UTC)

I can confirm he served in both the Kansas House and Senate, though there is a different Thomas Murphy who did the same about 30 years before.[1][2][3] So he does merit an article. Clarityfiend (talk) 11:18, 21 February 2022 (UTC)

I make something of a specialty of state-legislator articles, and would be delighted to try to help. But unless his diary has already been published and commented on somewhere, we can't use it in the article, since it's a primary source. --Orange Mike | Talk 19:50, 21 February 2022 (UTC)

Although Wikipedia cannot use his diary as a primary source without it being published, you may be able to find a historian who would be interested in reading/making use of the diary. Check with universities near you. ~ ONUnicorn^{(Talk|Contribs)}problem solving 19:54, 22 February 2022 (UTC)

@ONUnicorn: off-topic, but such a query would be unlikely to succeed. I have heard from three sources working in history-like academia settings that the limiting factor is most often the time of researchers (rather than the availability of documents). History departments, museum collections etc. are full of boxes containing documents that are not sorted/catalogued yet, and also of sorted/catalogued documents that have not been read by anyone yet. Unless the OP is lucky and there happens to a PhD student currently studying e.g. Ireland immigrants in Kansas during the Civil War, the best-case scenario is "thank you for your donation, we will put the diary in our online collection, and maybe in twenty years someone will write about it". Tigraan^{Click here for my talk page ("private" contact)} 13:30, 24 February 2022 (UTC)

Amir Dossal

Why was Amir Dossal's wikipedia page removed? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 102.38.236.223 (talk) 10:22, 21 February 2022 (UTC)

A deletion debate resulted in a consensus to delete the page, as per the deletion log on the now-empty page. —A little blue Bori v^_^v ^{Jéské Couriano} 10:26, 21 February 2022 (UTC)

How to get permission from a (big) company for a copyrighted image?

Since last year I've been doing a lot of work on articles related to the TV franchise Degrassi. I've been illustrating the character articles with images but I would like to minimize the use of non-free content whenever possible. The show is currently owned by a big children's media company named WildBrain. I've read everything about requesting permission for an image, and I found their licensing/sales email on their website, but I was wondering if asking an entire company for the potential free licensing of a few publicity images is any different than asking a single person...or more importantly, whether it's worth it? ToQ100gou (talk) 11:21, 21 February 2022 (UTC)

@ToQ100gou: Probably not worth it. They are highly unlikely to license CC-BY-SA, which is the most restrictive license we still consider to be "free" enough. CC-BY-SA allows anyone to use the image for any purpose (with attribution). "Any purpose" includes derivatives, so anyone could reconstruct a derivative of the entire Degrassi franchise, including satires in poor taste, etc., on Youtube, and the company could not demand a take-down -Arch dude (talk) 16:37, 21 February 2022 (UTC)

@ToQ100gou: I think it's worth asking nicely. There are some templates at Wikipedia:Example requests for permission. You can't use publicity stills to recreate the entire franchise. If you're successful, you might want to write up how you figured out who to ask and the approach you used. grendel|khan 07:44, 24 February 2022 (UTC)

Editing a top level page title?

For the band page “The Nymphs”, the title is incorrect. The band’s name is simply “Nymphs”. I have been able to make all the appropriate edits to the page article content, but not for the page title which remains as “The Nymphs”. (Link below)

The Nymphs

The page title should either be “Nymphs” or “Nymphs (Band)” for the purpose of disambiguation with the term “Nymph”.

Is it possible to make this change? If so, can someone ideally reference the instruction section of the FAQ for that? I was unable to find it on my own.

HandOfKwll (talk) 12:17, 21 February 2022 (UTC)HandOfKwll

HandOfKwll Changing a title requires a page move, you may request one at Requested Moves. You may wish to first discuss this on the article talk page. 331dot (talk) 12:22, 21 February 2022 (UTC)

@HandOfKwll I checked some of the non-dead sources, and it doesn't seem clear what the WP:COMMONNAME is. Gråbergs Gråa Sång (talk) 13:58, 21 February 2022 (UTC)

Search button doesn't work

I have a problem on used search button it not working. I wanna ask why does not working? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 2A03:2880:31FF:18:0:0:FACE:B00C (talk) 15:52, 21 February 2022 (UTC)

Hi there! Could you please state exactly which Wikipedia search button is not working for you? Which browser or app are you using to access Wikipedia? Are you using desktop or mobile view? Thanks! GoingBatty (talk) 16:17, 21 February 2022 (UTC)

Change my name

Hi i would like do change my name to Superlegal Brinquedos, instead Superlegal only. Because I created this to write an article about my company, however, "Superlegal" is so generic and doesn't work well. Thanks — Preceding unsigned comment added by Superlegal (talk • contribs) 18:41, 21 February 2022 (UTC)

@Superlegal: Hello Superlegal! You say you created this account to write an article about your company. First, what is your companies name? If it's "Superlegal Brinquedos" then you cannot be renamed to that as your username must represent you as an individual and not your company. Second, are you being paid by your company to write the article? If so please read WP:PAID and WP:COI and know that disclosing that you are being paid is not optional and failure to do so may result in a block. ― Blaze Wolf^Talk_{Blaze Wolf#6545} 18:46, 21 February 2022 (UTC)

Your company name Superlegal Brinquedos (https://www.superlegalbrinquedos.com.br/) would not be acceptable as a Wikipedia user name, see WP:CORPNAME. Even with your current name you need to be aware of the policy regarding conflict of interest, and the mandatory requirement to declare paid editing. --David Biddulph (talk) 18:49, 21 February 2022 (UTC)

@Superlegal: The editors just above here have given great advice: Yes, you have a conflict of interest. Just to clarify one thing: Maybe you think your username should match the name of the article you are writing -- it should not. After all, each user can start (or add information to) several articles. Good luck! 73.127.147.187 (talk) 03:23, 23 February 2022 (UTC)

Can't create more than 15 cladograms in my sandbox page

Hello Wikipedia, I've been using the "clade" function to make several cladograms in my user sandbox but as soon as i finished the 15th one and clicked "Publish" nothing appeared except for this piece of text: #invoke:Clade It showed as a link to something, and when I clicked it didn't send me anywhere, it just added #invoke:Clade to the url I was in, such as this: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Snoteleks/sandbox#invoke:Clade I put that same cladogram in an actual page and it worked perfectly fine. What's going on?

Snoteleks (talk) 19:15, 21 February 2022 (UTC)

You've exceeded the post-expand include size limit. * Pppery * _{it has begun...} 19:18, 21 February 2022 (UTC)

@Snoteleks: You can have multiple sandboxes if you like, such as User:Snoteleks/sandbox2 or User:Snoteleks/Animal ToL. GoingBatty (talk) 19:51, 22 February 2022 (UTC)

@GoingBatty: thank you so much, I had no idea! I'll go make multiple sandboxes now Snoteleks (talk) 07:33, 23 February 2022 (UTC)

Creating lang- template

Is it possible for me to make a template page for a language that doesn't already have a template? Ue3lman (talk) 20:11, 21 February 2022 (UTC)

What template do you mean? {{lang}}? Ruslik_Zero 20:19, 21 February 2022 (UTC)

With the hyphen in their title it might also be a new {{Lang-x}} template: compare Das ist auf Deutsch geschrieben and German: Das ist auf Deutsch geschrieben. Which language are you asking about in particular? Umimmak (talk) 20:55, 21 February 2022 (UTC)

@Umimmak: The {{Lang-x}} is what I mean. The template I need is for use in translation on articles: like German: Das ist auf Deutsch geschrieben.. I want to create one on the Sidama language and Afar language. Ue3lman (talk) 01:55, 22 February 2022 (UTC)

Instead of creating whole new templates, you can do this:

{{lang|fn=lang_xx_italic|code=sid|Sidama text}} → Sidamo: Sidama text

{{lang|fn=lang_xx_italic|code=aa|Afar text}} → Afar: Afar text

For language text that should not be italicized (non-Latn-script text) use |fn=lang_xx_inherit (or set |italic=no).

—Trappist the monk (talk) 02:13, 22 February 2022 (UTC)

but there is already a {{lang-aa}} template...

—Trappist the monk (talk) 02:18, 22 February 2022 (UTC)

I didnt see the Afar one, thanks for the tips. Ue3lman (talk) 03:50, 22 February 2022 (UTC)

Save without publishing

I am trying to create a new Wikipedia page called Brumley Bridge. Plan to have a lot of dates on my subject and would like to be able to save my date until ready to Publish.

How do I save my work and be able to edit later without doing a Publish? — Preceding unsigned comment added by Onejimb (talk • contribs) 21:08, 21 February 2022 (UTC)

@Onejimb: The "Publish" button is actually a save button. The word just indicates that it's not private. Others can see any saved edits but you can save drafts and work on them before submitting to the encyclopedia. See Wikipedia:Articles for creation. PrimeHunter (talk) 21:20, 21 February 2022 (UTC)

The button used to be called "save page" but people complained that their edits were immediately visible, so they changed it to "publish". Now we get complaints that people want to save, but not publish. —A little blue Bori v^_^v ^{Jéské Couriano} 21:22, 21 February 2022 (UTC)

Onejimb you could do some work in a sandbox, see Wikipedia:About the sandbox, save/publish it there and then copy to an article or draft when you were ready. TSventon (talk) 14:28, 22 February 2022 (UTC)

Idaho

Wikipedia states that the Idaho Attorney General is responsible for providing representation to property owners. The Att. Gen. says they represent only state institutions,in Idaho (eg: Governor, Sec of State, Departments, Agencies, etc). Is this accurate or, are they shirking their responsibilities? Idaho has a posture of doing what they want & not what is required! Please advise. Thank you, for your time & attention. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 72.22.255.79 (talk) 22:38, 21 February 2022 (UTC)

Contact a legal expert. —A little blue Bori v^_^v ^{Jéské Couriano} 22:50, 21 February 2022 (UTC)