Wikipedia:Help desk/Archives/2023 October 18

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October 18

Noah's Flood

Hi there there's false info on Noah's Flood. It states "there's no scientific evidence for a global flood." That's not true. There is a ton of scientific evidence that prove that it happened. Please do your research before you boldly state false info.

Noah's Ark 2601:1C0:8380:B150:3FB9:BC87:F2AB:9EEA (talk) 01:05, 18 October 2023 (UTC)

Please raise your concerns about that article on its talk page, Talk:Noah's Ark, along with your reliable sources to support your claims. 331dot (talk) 01:18, 18 October 2023 (UTC)

Also, please do not accuse us volunteers at the help desk of inserting "false information" as most of us here may not have edited the article even once. 🛧Midori No Sora♪🛪 ( ☁＝☁＝✈) 01:21, 18 October 2023 (UTC)

no. sorry. we won't pander to christianity. ltbdl (talk) 10:55, 18 October 2023 (UTC)

we won't pander to christianity small nitpick: Noah’s story (ark, flood, divine retribution etc.) is considered canon by all Abrahamic religions (which includes Jews and Muslims in addition to Christians). Of course, flood myths exist in many (all?) cultures. And there is scientific evidence of many past large floods (though not world-covered-by-water-scale floods, which would cause problems of conservation of mass etc.). Tigraan^{Click here for my talk page ("private" contact)} 13:51, 18 October 2023 (UTC)

British Film Institute:

• "We have removed pages about films, TV programmes, people and companies from the BFI website. You can now find this information in our Collections database." at site:www2.bfi.org.uk/films-tv-people/
• Sorry, there's a problem. The site is still in development, and changes regularly, so please try again later if this error persists. Collections Search | BFI | British Film Institute
• Template:BFI

.... 0mtwb9gd5wx (talk) 01:29, 18 October 2023 (UTC)

I do not understand what you are trying to ask here. 🛧Midori No Sora♪🛪 ( ☁＝☁＝✈) 02:15, 18 October 2023 (UTC)

{{BFI}} is marked as depreciated and there is a deletion discussion at Wikipedia:Templates_for_discussion/Log/2023_October_16#BFI_templates_and_categories RudolfRed (talk) 03:30, 18 October 2023 (UTC)

wikipedia ?

When I accessed a Wikipedia article from Google,but the PDF download started without permission and I was logged out. So, I think it's probably a fake site. What should I do ? I made a memo of the that url, but I don't would not like to publish this, because it starts downloading the PDF without permission. So I would like to contact to Wikipedia by e-mail, but I don't know how to contact. thanks ! SilverMatsu (talk) 05:39, 18 October 2023 (UTC)

@Silvermatsu: The correct URL of every page on the English Wikipedia starts with en.wikipedia.org. Another URL could be a legitimate mirror site or a fake site. GoingBatty (talk) 05:47, 18 October 2023 (UTC)

Thank you for your reply. When I checked that URL, the "org" part was a other characters, so it seems like a mirror or fake site. --SilverMatsu (talk) 06:15, 18 October 2023 (UTC)

By the way, should I change my password ? I'm anxious because the download of the pdf file started without permission. --SilverMatsu (talk) 06:46, 18 October 2023 (UTC)

@Silvermatsu: I don't see how changing your Wikipedia password would prevent your browser from automatically downloading a PDF from another site. GoingBatty (talk) 15:29, 18 October 2023 (UTC)

@Silvermatsu: Websites can request an automatic PDF download on a link and most browsers with default settings will probably comply. It's not a sign of a security hole in your computer. If you were not at a real Wikimedia site but an external mirror or imitator then you are meant to be logged out. You should only be worried if you tried to log in there and gave them your password. In that case I would certainly change password. PrimeHunter (talk) 21:47, 18 October 2023 (UTC)

@GoingBatty and PrimeHunter: Thank you for your reply. Thanks to you, I have calmed down. There was a login button similar to Wikipedia, but I didn't click it because it automatically started downloading a PDF file with a title written in characters similar to Cyrillic. Also, it was the first time I saw a domain name, and it was "su". --SilverMatsu (talk) 04:13, 19 October 2023 (UTC)

There was an article on wikipedia about su (country code top-level domain). --SilverMatsu (talk) 16:21, 20 October 2023 (UTC)

Questions about a music score: layout, and source/original content issues

I added a score to Weela Weela Walya but the line break on the first line is one beat too early and I can't see why. I was expecting to get something like this result. Also the first line is indented; I would prefer it not to be.

I think I need some specialist help here, someone that's familiar with ABC notation and with the <score>...</score> element in wikitext.

Also, more generally, maybe there's a problem with this score as it's unsourced. Would it be okay if I were to put it on my blog, and then cite that? I'm not an academic, nor a renowned musician nor scholar, so maybe that's not the right sort of source. I'm not aware of any other place to put this score; it seems to be a bit outside the scope of eg thesession.org.

What's the general policy about simple scores for simple tunes? I don't think copyright applies here as it's a folk tune. GoPlayerJuggler (talk) 09:01, 18 October 2023 (UTC)

@GoPlayerJuggler: Hi there! If your technical issues aren't resolved by looking at Help:Score, then I suggest asking for assistance at Help talk:Score. Publishing the score on your own blog and then using that as a Wikipedia source isn't the right process. Instead WP:SAYWHEREYOUREADIT by referencing where you found the score. GoingBatty (talk) 15:28, 18 October 2023 (UTC)

Thanks for your answer. I wrote the score! GoPlayerJuggler (talk) 15:51, 18 October 2023 (UTC)

Perhaps I should have mentioned your name @GoingBatty in my reply above? I don't know.

I wrote the score, after first checking if there was a score available elsewhere. I didn't find any - free or not. My score is not plagiarised. GoPlayerJuggler (talk) 15:59, 18 October 2023 (UTC)

@GoPlayerJuggler: I'm not accusing you of plagiarism. You mentioned the issue that the score you added to Wikipedia is unsourced, and suggested that you provide a reference to a published source for the score you added. GoingBatty (talk) 16:19, 18 October 2023 (UTC)

@GoingBatty I didn't accuse you of accusing me of plagiarism! :)

My question is, is there an issue with including unsourced material like this (i.e. my original score)? I thought everything here had to have a source. Perhaps that is not the case? GoPlayerJuggler (talk) 16:42, 18 October 2023 (UTC)

@GoPlayerJuggler: Trying a third time: Yes, there is an issue with including unsourced material. Please provide a reliable published source for the score. GoingBatty (talk) 16:45, 18 October 2023 (UTC)

Thanks @GoingBatty. As there is none (a reliable published source) that I'm aware of, I will remove the score from that entry. GoPlayerJuggler (talk) 16:56, 18 October 2023 (UTC)

Link preview vandalism

It appears there is ongoing vandalism of preview links as quite a few show a plate covered in vomit. 158.36.93.227 (talk) 13:49, 18 October 2023 (UTC)

Image vandalism is rather common. Can you give at least one example, so someone can attempt to track down the issue? 57.140.16.12 (talk) 13:58, 18 October 2023 (UTC)

See Wikipedia:Administrators' noticeboard#image displayed on the Labour Party (UK) page preview. The template vandalism has been reverted and the responsible account blocked. It may take a while for the cache to catch up. Deor (talk) 13:59, 18 October 2023 (UTC)

Young editors

I often wish to welcome obviously younger editors but there doesn't seem to be an appropriate welcome template? I can send them to Wikipedia:Guidance for younger editors but wonder if there is something else I am missing? Theroadislong (talk) 20:33, 18 October 2023 (UTC)

I don't think there is one, specifically. Template:Welcome emoji might be a good starting point for one. 57.140.16.12 (talk) 21:00, 18 October 2023 (UTC)

If one were to be created (I'm up for it if no-one else is), I'd think including a link to WP:TWA might be a good idea. It'd probably be engaging enough for younger editors and more likely to teach them how to edit than reading policies. Sincerely, Novo Tape (She/Her)^{My Talk Page}

Good idea, I was also concerned about the amount of personal information that some younger editors disclose, (age, location etc) so perhaps some warnings against that too? Theroadislong (talk) 21:57, 18 October 2023 (UTC)

I'll start working on a mock-up at User:Novo Tape/Welcome Young; feel free to edit it. Sincerely, Novo Tape (She/Her)^{My Talk Page} 21:59, 18 October 2023 (UTC)

I've made the first draft, but I'm not sure what emoji to put for the bullet point about requesting oversight on private information. Sincerely, Novo Tape (She/Her)^{My Talk Page} 22:16, 18 October 2023 (UTC)

@Novo Tape: The template looks great! There have been reports of bugginess in WP:TWA in the past. Have they been resolved, or are they not significant, or are they significant enough that it might turn off new editors? GoingBatty (talk) 02:46, 19 October 2023 (UTC)

GoingBatty, the biggest problem that I have heard of is that the WP:TWA training game only works in the source editor, not in the visual editor or various apps. Therefore, recommending it to new editors without elaborate explanations often leads to frustration for the very new editors that TWA was intended to help. Cullen328 (talk) 07:03, 19 October 2023 (UTC)

Thank you so much Novo Tape that is exactly what I was hoping for, well done! Theroadislong (talk) 07:11, 19 October 2023 (UTC)

Got it. I'll replace it with another tutorial as soon as I'm on a laptop as kids/teens are likely to be the ones most easily frustrated. Sincerely, Novo Tape (She/Her)^{My Talk Page} 15:19, 19 October 2023 (UTC)