Wikipedia:Help desk/Archives/2024 March 2

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March 2

Regarding other users editing my talk page

Hello all, I recently noticed that I have received two notifications regarding my talk page. One comment/question was posted and then, before I could get to it, another random (to me, based on this user's edit log) user removed it for no reason. This wasn't a case of users asking me to remove anything inappropriate or anything; my talk page is a pretty bare place where I mostly tend to receive notifications for occasionally accidentally linking to disambiguation pages. I guess my question is: can anyone explain a situation like this, or has anyone experienced a situation like this? I still have the links to the two edits, if that would help with anything.

Thanks!! EPBeatles (talk) 01:02, 2 March 2024 (UTC)

Hi, anyone can see your talk page history, it looks as though a new editor posted on your talk page and another editor thought the edit wasn't constructive and reverted it. Generally editors shouldn't delete posts on other editors' user pages, see Wikipedia:User pages. TSventon (talk) 01:43, 2 March 2024 (UTC)

Pinging user:14 novembre, who removed the edit in question. Meters (talk) 01:46, 2 March 2024 (UTC)

It appears that the IP you undid on Summer Days (And Summer Nights!!) [1] created an account to ask you about the edit, but did not add a link or diff, so it should not have been removed from your talk page. Meters (talk) 01:53, 2 March 2024 (UTC)

Thank you @Meters and @TSventon. So I can revert that back so I can respond to the IP who created an account? I was even more surprised by the "random" edit because it appears that that user does not engage in much (if any) editing for music-related articles here on Wikipedia. Thanks!! EPBeatles (talk) 22:46, 2 March 2024 (UTC)

It's your talk page, so yes, you can undelete the edit. TSventon (talk) 22:50, 2 March 2024 (UTC)

Okay, great, just wanted to make sure. Thanks again!! EPBeatles (talk) 00:02, 3 March 2024 (UTC)

@Meters one caveat, experienced editors often remove obvious vandalism from other editors’s talk pages. Doug Weller talk 21:32, 3 March 2024 (UTC)

It was User:TSventon who made the more general comment, or did you mean to ping User:EPBeatles? I simply said that in this case the revert should not have been made. Meters (talk) 23:56, 3 March 2024 (UTC)

@Doug Weller and Meters:, possibly what I said was too simplistic, but I did start with "generally" and refer to the guidance. TSventon (talk) 01:10, 4 March 2024 (UTC)

@TSventon Agreed, I just wanted to clarify. Doug Weller talk 09:20, 4 March 2024 (UTC)

@Meters No idea what happened there, you are right. Doug Weller talk 09:19, 4 March 2024 (UTC)

I need help in removing a "ghost" category

w:es:Teresa Broseta is for some reason included in w:es:Categoría:Personas intersexo (Which is FALSE).

However when I try to edit the page to remove the category it simply disappears from the list and does not show up in the editing mode at all. CLick back to read mode and it's there again. Please help. Dascomb1812 (talk) 01:30, 2 March 2024 (UTC)

Dascomb1812, this is an en Wikipedia helpdesk, but I think the es article may be using Wikidata, where the gender was changed in November 2023. TSventon (talk) 01:59, 2 March 2024 (UTC)

Apololgies for the wrong use of the forum, I did not realize. However your help was exactly what I needed so I wanted to thank you. Dascomb1812 (talk) 02:14, 2 March 2024 (UTC)

How to revert bulk incorrect changes?

(UPDATED - SEE BELOW) I noticed that Wondabyne has changed a large number of articles about Australian places to insert a timezone of UTC+10. The problem is that this is wrong. Entire states observe Daylight Saving Time ("summer time") for much of the year, including right now. Is there some way to do a bulk revert? Gronk Oz (talk) 05:26, 2 March 2024 (UTC)

There might(?) be an admin tool that can do it, without that using redwarn or twinkle and doing them individually is probably fastest, although some (including [2] [3] [4] [5] [6]) have AEST as the "normal" time and AEDT as the summer time, so (from what I understand) some are right, since both are observed. (Although I don't see any sources so there's that and I'm not sure how similar the daylight time observations in Australia compare with Arizona) Shaws username . talk . 05:43, 2 March 2024 (UTC)

@gronk oz: mass rollback, but it requires rollback. ltbdl (talk) 05:51, 2 March 2024 (UTC)

UPDATE - on closer inspection, I found that (at least some of) these articles already had DST entries. So those ones will be okay. (I know I should have checked more thoroughly before wasting everybody's time, sorry about that - for some reason, some articles already had the DST parameter but not the standard time.) I have asked the editor concerned to confirm whether they checked them all before making their changes. If so, I am happy to apologize and move on...--Gronk Oz (talk) 05:58, 2 March 2024 (UTC)

I noticed this case independently; I've mass-reverted the edits as block evasion. Graham87 (talk) 09:39, 2 March 2024 (UTC)

Help pages

Are help pages policy? 2003LN6 06:05, 2 March 2024 (UTC)

@2003 LN6: no. ltbdl (talk) 06:54, 2 March 2024 (UTC)

Hello, 2003 LN6. Policy pages are marked clearly as policy at the top of the page. Help pages may not formally be policy pages, but most help pages are widely accepted and many of them do a very good job of explaining and clarifying policy. Cullen328 (talk) 09:03, 2 March 2024 (UTC)

@Cullen328 and @Ltbdl: Thank you 2003LN6 19:26, 2 March 2024 (UTC)

How to fix a NET::ERR_CERT_AUTHORITY_INVALID error.

I've been receiving a NET::ERR_CERT_AUTHORITY_INVALID error which means I cannot visit en.wikipedia.org at all because the website uses HSTS.

This is a new problem that has popped up in the past couple of days. I am running a browser called Brave at version 1.41.100 which has been working fine up until a couple days ago.

Does anyone have any idea how I can fix this? Thanks for your help! Cbird1057 (talk) 06:25, 2 March 2024 (UTC)

@cbird1057: to bypass this, click "advanced" and "proceed to en.wikipedia.org". or is this something different? ltbdl (talk) 07:06, 2 March 2024 (UTC)

I can't seem to get it to work using the standard HSTS modification methods. I've got Wikipedia running fine in Firefox. Perhaps I need to wait for the network error to expire, although it's been messed up since March 1st. Cbird1057 (talk) 03:12, 4 March 2024 (UTC)

search online for how to clear the HSTS cache in the browser. It should help with getting the browser to load the updated SSL certificate. – robertsky (talk) 00:12, 4 March 2024 (UTC)

Creating portal as draft

Can i create a portal as a draft and later move it as a portal? MAL MALDIVE (talk) 08:49, 2 March 2024 (UTC)

Creating a totally new page with the same/similar subject

As I explained the situation before, I would like to edit (but I see that it's not possible) the content of the Transactional Analysis wikipedia page. It will be more than an edit because I think this content needs to be fully changed so that people who are interested in it could get a much better insight on it. My question is now; can I create a totally new page about Transactional Analysis with a new content and proper references, with the same name or maybe with a very similar name? Would this be accepted and approved by Wikipedia team? many thanks in advance for your support and response. BowlbyMaya (talk) 09:01, 2 March 2024 (UTC)

If you think that the article needs to be wholesale rewritten, it might be a good idea to discuss this on the talk page first, to see if other editors agree or have other ideas, before you invest the time needed to perform the rewrite. 331dot (talk) 09:33, 2 March 2024 (UTC)

BowlbyMaya, the answer is "no". Wikipedia has one and only one article about each discrete topic. We do not have multiple articles about Issac Newton or Taylor Swift or Astronomy, although each of those articles have appropriate spinoff articles. But each discrete, narrowly defined topic should have a single article. Your statement that I would like to edit (but I see that it's not possible) the content of the Transactional Analysis wikipedia page appears to be false. Transactional analysis is unprotected, and any editor is free to edit that article, in compliance with Wikipedia's Policies and guidelines. Efforts to edit so that people who are interested in it could get a much better insight on it are a violation of WP:Righting great wrongs. That objective is contrary to the purpose of Wikipedia. We do not care at all about "better insights" on Wikpedia, but rather whether or not a specific article accurately summarizes what reliable sources entirely independent of the topic say about the topic. Literally nothing more and nothing less. As a matter of policy, acceptable Wikipedia articles are written from the Neutral point of view and cannot promote the topic in Wikipedia's voice in any way. Cullen328 (talk) 09:49, 2 March 2024 (UTC)

Thank you very much for your reply and explanation! BowlbyMaya (talk) 09:56, 2 March 2024 (UTC)

Extended confirmed protection

Jane Parker (academic) has a number of issues including conflict of interest, failed sources and notability, the article's subject (using multiple ip addresses) has repeatedly added details of forthcoming publications to the already large list, how do I request extended confirmed protection? Theroadislong (talk) 10:27, 2 March 2024 (UTC)

Hi Theroadislong - apply at Wikipedia:Requests for page protection, although as the vandalism is from IP adresses, I suspect they will only add semi-protection. - Arjayay (talk) 10:37, 2 March 2024 (UTC)

Thank you. I'm not sure how I failed to find that page during my searches. Theroadislong (talk) 10:58, 2 March 2024 (UTC)

Delete a redirect

How do I delete a redirect? GLSpres (talk) 13:24, 2 March 2024 (UTC)

GLSpres, see Wikipedia:Redirects for discussion. TSventon (talk) 13:28, 2 March 2024 (UTC)

In addition to the above, non-administrators cannot delete redirects. – 64andtim 🤔 (problem?) 16:13, 2 March 2024 (UTC)

Alternatively, to publish a draft over a redirect, see Wikipedia:Requested moves/Technical requests. However the OP is currently blocked, so this is moot. TSventon (talk) 20:49, 2 March 2024 (UTC)

syntax coding error

The is a syntax coding error in a Wikipedia page edited by me. Please help me how to fix it

A branch of this order was introduced in Singapore by the followers of Shaikh Muhammad Said al-Linggi (d.1926). Idrisiyya was introduced in Pakistan by Shaikh Hafiz Muhammad Amin bin Abdul Rehman (b.1941 d.22.Aug.2023).Cite error: A <ref> tag is missing the closing </ref> (see the help page).), and Ja'fariyya. Hamin99 (talk) 16:33, 2 March 2024 (UTC)

 Courtesy link: Idrisiyya. I've fixed the error. Maproom (talk) 16:44, 2 March 2024 (UTC)

Greek island written weirdly

My last post on the help desk, this time about a Greek island written weirdly.

Hello, in the article Leros, the article is what I say it’s written weirdly. It mentions the article Mile, as well as the nautical mile and the kilometer, as well as the “Traditional music” section and finally, this mention. It says “from which it can reach from a nine-hour ferry ride or a 45-minute flight to Athens.” Aegean and Olympic serve the main airport of the island on a 1-hour flight. Can someone explain why this? (P.S. This is my last post on the help desk. Also mentions the Italian language. Finally, the ferry departs from Piraeus. I’ve been to Greece in 2021, specifically Athens.) 2.103.231.248 (talk) 18:28, 2 March 2024 (UTC)

The lede is just a brief summary. The Transportation section says the ferry leaves from Piraeus and also other locations. Information in an article must come from pubished sources, not personal knowledge. RudolfRed (talk) 22:39, 2 March 2024 (UTC)

Then who added such sections? Let me know if you finished looking up the edit history and found that user/IP. 2.103.231.248 (talk) 10:40, 3 March 2024 (UTC)

The references to mile and nautical mile are simply parenthesised conversions for those more familiar with these units. It's not weird, putting in conversions is normal practice. I've also tidied up the "20 miles to Turkey" putting the kilometres in the prose and the miles in the parentheses. Martin of Sheffield (talk) 15:40, 3 March 2024 (UTC)

Who added that section? IP? User? Once again, as I said earlier, look up the edit history. Any answers are highly appreciated. 2.103.231.248 (talk) 17:12, 3 March 2024 (UTC)

If you're that concerned, you can always look it up yourself. Click on the "View history" tab and explore. Martin of Sheffield (talk) 17:19, 3 March 2024 (UTC)

Well sometimes the history is so long on some articles. 2.103.231.248 (talk) 17:13, 4 March 2024 (UTC)

There is or was an outside utility (which I never used) to tell you when a given passage was added to an article; perhaps someone here can tell us how to find and use it. —Tamfang (talk) 00:21, 6 March 2024 (UTC)

Wikiblame [7]
I think it's available in the External tools section at the top of every article history page, unless I'm seeing it there because of some script I've installed. CodeTalker (talk) 01:43, 6 March 2024 (UTC)

But it literally asks for the “start date” when that edit was made. 2.103.231.248 (talk) 20:28, 6 March 2024 (UTC)

Signature issue

• I'm starting this with a bullet point to illustrate the issue: any time I respond on a Talk page with a bullet point (such as !votes in a discussion) or pound sign (for a numbered list), it kicks my signature onto a new line. This only happens for bulleted discussions. Any idea what's causing it & how to correct the behavior?

— The Hand That Feeds You:^Bite 19:11, 2 March 2024 (UTC)

@HandThatFeeds: You should be able to fix this by adding ~~~~ in the location where you want your signature to appear. For example, * This is a message. ~~~~ produces:

• This is a message. Tollens (talk) 19:16, 2 March 2024 (UTC)

This is just because of how the reply tool works – it will add your signature outside of any lists unless you specify where exactly you want it to go. Tollens (talk) 19:16, 2 March 2024 (UTC)

Hm, that's somewhat annoying. But thank you, that explains what's happening, and at least gives me some control over it. — The Hand That Feeds You:^Bite 19:21, 2 March 2024 (UTC)

how do i request an article becomes protected?

Scientology officials

the above article needs protected status NotQualified (talk) 20:34, 2 March 2024 (UTC)

@NotQualified: The place to request page protection is WP:RFPP, but there does need to be a history of frequent disruption on the page you are asking for protection on – articles are not protected preemptively. That page doesn't appear to have such a history so that request would almost certainly be declined. Tollens (talk) 20:40, 2 March 2024 (UTC)

ahhh i see, okay good to know thank you. NotQualified (talk) 21:06, 2 March 2024 (UTC)

Is it just me?

When i click in the search box, a list of previous searches pops up of things i don't remember searching at all. At first I thought it was only me, but now i'm thinking of a similar case that happened on youtube years ago, in which i thought it was only me and then i found out it was happening to lots more people. Maybe this is similar? - Joaquin89uy (talk) 23:11, 2 March 2024 (UTC)

When you just click in the search box, your web browser may bring up some suggestions on its own, which likely have nothing to do with Wikipedia. Once you start typing, then there will be some suggested matches from Wikipedia articles. Bear in mind that the Wikipedia search is extremely primitive compared to the typical web search engine. It's mostly useful when you know the name of the article, or at least the beginning of the article name, though it does search article content if you don't accept any of the suggestions. There are slightly advanced and more advanced features, but nothing that "just works" the way that Google does. Fabrickator (talk) 03:19, 3 March 2024 (UTC)

Eeli Aalto's photographs of Jumalan teatteri

Eeli Aalto, a Finnish artist and director, was the only member of the audience at the "Jumalan teatteri" event in Oulu on 17 January 1987 who watched the entire performance, and took the only known photographs of the event. His photographs can be seen at least here and here. The photographs are of quite bad quality because of the hectic situation at the time and because photography technology 37 years ago was less advanced than now. Can these pictures be used in the article Jumalan teatteri? And if so, how would I go about using them? JIP | Talk 23:49, 2 March 2024 (UTC)

JIP the photographs are likely to be covered by copyright, so they can't be uploaded to Commons. As the group is no longer active, it may be possible to claim fair use and upload an image to Wikipedia following the guidance in Wikipedia:Non-free content. I have not done this myself. TSventon (talk) 10:14, 3 March 2024 (UTC)