Wikipedia:Help desk/Archives/2019 May 29

Help desk
< May 28	<< Apr | May | Jun >>	May 30 >

Welcome to the Wikipedia Help Desk Archives
The page you are currently viewing is an archive page. While you can leave answers for any questions shown below, please ask new questions on one of the current Help Desk pages.

May 29

Question about Visual Editor

Hello everyone. Apologies in advance if this question has already been asked. I prefer editing prose in the visual editor, and I have noticed that sometimes when I use the visual editor, additional spaces are added between paragraphs or between a paragraph and a section title. I have not noticed this happening when doing source editing, so it seems restricted to the visual editor. I was wondering if there was something that I was doing wrong or if it was just a glitch/issue with the visual editor tool. I have noticed this with other articles edited by other contributors too. It is nothing too serious, but I was just curious on why this was happening. Thank you in advance! Aoba47 (talk) 00:26, 29 May 2019 (UTC)

Hi @Aoba47:! I’m not sure about the solution (I kinda remember having similar issues) but perhaps posting this over at Wikipedia:Village pump (technical) could help. On that page it says you should read Wikipedia:Village pump (technical)/Before posting before posting. Hope this helps! (Also when you hit publish can you still see the additional spaces or is it just while editing?) OkayKenG (talk) 07:23, 29 May 2019 (UTC)

• Thank you for the response. I will definitely check out the Village pump (technical) and read over its before posting guidelines. I do not see the additional while editing. They only appear (for me at least) after I hit publish. It is not a big problem, but I was just curious about it. Aoba47 (talk) 16:38, 29 May 2019 (UTC)

Error on Talk:Jennie Alexander

Talk:Jennie Alexander shows "Template:WP Woodworking" rather than "WikiProject Woodworking". I don't know what's causing the error, so I don't know how to correct it. Eddie Blick (talk) 01:25, 29 May 2019 (UTC)

@Teblick: It was just because someone wrote {{WP Woodworking}} inatead of {{WikiProject Woodworking}}.  Fixed Eagleash (talk) 01:40, 29 May 2019 (UTC)

Eagleash, thanks for taking care of that. I appreciate your help. Eddie Blick (talk) 01:45, 29 May 2019 (UTC)

User:NeoBatfreak/sandbox

Dear Wikipedia

I have just started a draft of the article of James Patterson's novel Swimsuit. I just ask if there are any advices that you can give me, and also, I would be the appropriate name for this article once I am finished?--NeoBatfreak (talk) 04:26, 29 May 2019 (UTC)

Whenever you create an article, you should start by finding references to reliable independent sources that discuss the subject. Then you should study them, and write the article based entirely on what they say. Maproom (talk) 07:10, 29 May 2019 (UTC)

The logical title for the article you propose would be Swimsuit (novel).Quisqualis (talk) 04:38, 30 May 2019 (UTC)

Thanks, I will keep in touch, and hopefully, other James Patterson's readers would eventually join me.--NeoBatfreak (talk) 06:16, 30 May 2019 (UTC)

My Userpage is wrongly categorized

My Userpage is wrongly categorized. Please help me correct it. My Userpage is categorized under Wikipedia Humor and LGBT+ Wikipedians. I don't know why I'm categorized under LGBT+. Please remove it from my Userpage. Thanks in advance. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Jake The Great 908 (talk • contribs) 06:21, 29 May 2019 (UTC)

@Jake The Great 908: I've removed the LGBT category from {{User alien}}, clearly a mistake. The other category will disappear if you edit your user page to change {{humour}} to {{humour|nocat=yes}} -- John of Reading (talk) 06:36, 29 May 2019 (UTC)

Bulldog Drummond page spelling error

Page with the error is located at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bulldog_Drummond Overview: Paragraph 2 Bulldog Drummond's client name is Phyllis Benton. In the third line of the second paragraph you've misspelled Benton as Bention.

Thank You — Preceding unsigned comment added by 120.20.119.240 (talk • contribs) 29 May 2019 10:07 (UTC)

 Fixed Eagleash (talk) 10:38, 29 May 2019 (UTC)

Javan Elephant

I’ve tried to edit the Javan Elephant page but my edits are getting reverted by this person called AUH20Republican saying it’s unsourced so, I doing some research and saying it’s sourced from the internet please just speak to him because He or she’s doing something wrong 92.11.252.221 (talk) 10:28, 29 May 2019 (UTC)

I've just reverted your changes again for the same reason that AUH20Republican gave, they are unsourced. To add this claim to the article you need to have a reliable source (seeWP:RS) that clearly supports it. Mikenorton (talk) 12:22, 29 May 2019 (UTC)

And you need to cite the source in the article. It means nothing to say something is sourced without giving the source.[1] PrimeHunter (talk) 12:51, 29 May 2019 (UTC)

It is though! I looked it up I saw YouTube vids just leave it alone it’s sourced! — Preceding unsigned comment added by 92.11.252.221 (talk) 13:24, 29 May 2019 (UTC)

That's not enough. We need to have that source recorded as a citation, so that everyone who looks at the page knows where the information came from. Our article on the Borneo elephant has some sourced information on this topic. Mikenorton (talk) 13:32, 29 May 2019 (UTC)

I left a link to Referencing for beginners on your talk page. Hopefully reading that will help you. ~ ONUnicorn^{(Talk|Contribs)}problem solving 15:06, 29 May 2019 (UTC)

Merging WikiProjects

Hello, There's talk about possibly merging WP:MCB, WP:GEN, WP:BIOP and possibly WP:COMBIO (discussion). I've a few questions:

1. What's the most logical war to merge their talk page archives? Are there useful precedents?
2. What's the easiest way to merge the various talk page templates whilst retaining some sort of 'task force' tag similar to {{wikiproject medicine}}? Because of the overlapping scopes, many talk pages have have two or three of them.
3. If the projects, WP:MCB has the most equivalents in other languages. Is it logical to effectively merge into it and rename, or effectively tart a new one from scratch?
4. What other processes would been to be done to complete a merge? WP:WikiProject Cell Signaling was just sort of abandoned, and I'd be keen to avoid something similar.

Let me know if there's anything else I'm not thinking of! T.Shafee(Evo&Evo)^talk 12:01, 29 May 2019 (UTC)

Map problem

Hi, considering today's featured article – how come the map in the infobox is not displayed (at least on my desktop PC using Firefox) in the read mode, but only in the edit mode?--Hildeoc (talk) 12:40, 29 May 2019 (UTC)

PS: I also disabled my adblock, but the issue still remained.--Hildeoc (talk) 12:44, 29 May 2019 (UTC)

A purge fixed it for me. PrimeHunter (talk) 12:45, 29 May 2019 (UTC)

@PrimeHunter: Thank you for commenting, once again! Now, for whatever reason, it works totally fine … Best wishes--Hildeoc (talk) 20:22, 31 May 2019 (UTC)

Identifying a conspiracy theory

I just want to know how you decide something is a conspiracy theory. Are you just repeating stuff or did you actually investigate it? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 2606:A000:1218:C1BF:75C1:721:234C:2B2C (talk) 14:45, 29 May 2019 (UTC)

I gave your question a title to separate it from the previous question. Are you asking why certain things are identified as conspiracy theories on Wikipedia? If so, we use what appears in reliable sources. We don't do our own research - see WP:NOR Mikenorton (talk) 14:56, 29 May 2019 (UTC)

All we or any other legitimate encyclopedia can do is "repeat stuff". We "repeat stuff" from reliable sources. If reliable sources disagree, we present material about the disagreement from all relevant sources. By the way, Searching for information on the Internet is not "research" in the sense we use the term. Our use of reliable sources is what some people would call "research". In that sense, yes we "do research". Furthermore, we document that research in the form of citations to our sources. If your find an unsupported assertion of fact in a Wikipedia article, you should open a new section on the article's talk page, challenge the assertion there, and if you have a citation to a reliable source, provide it. We will remove challenged unsupported assertions.-Arch dude (talk) 17:46, 29 May 2019 (UTC)

Strange looking infobox

Could someone help me figure out why the infobox at Delroy Allen looks odd? It's showing up for me large and in the middle of the page, rather than off to the side. Thanks. Marquardtika (talk) 18:22, 29 May 2019 (UTC)

I've put in a couple line breaks for the Youth Career field. That compacted it a bit. I never saw it "in the middle of the page" though it was wider than I expect infoboxes to be. †dismas†|^(talk) 18:32, 29 May 2019 (UTC)

(EC)Which browser are you using? I've looked at the page in Chrome using both desktop and mobile views and the same again using Safari and I can't recreate your problem. It does look rather wide in desktop view, but not in the middle. Mikenorton (talk) 18:35, 29 May 2019 (UTC)

It looks normal to me now--I think @Dismas's edit fixed it. Thanks! Marquardtika (talk) 18:40, 29 May 2019 (UTC)

Help:Cite errors/Cite error references no text

— Preceding unsigned comment added by Joie1215 (talk • contribs) 19:34, 29 May 2019 (UTC)

@Joie1215:, on what article did you see the error? – Þjarkur (talk) 19:39, 29 May 2019 (UTC)

Dr Ravi Prakash Mishra

Dr Ravi Prakash Mishra (Senior Registrar,Surgeon Emergency Division )

Dr Ravi Prakash Mishra (born 17 November 1987 ) is a Senior Registrar Surgeon Emergency Division at the Dr Ram Manohar Lohia Institute of Medical Sciences , Lucknow UP India . Dr Ravi Prakash Mishra born 17 November 1987. Sultanpur , Uttar Pradesh, India

Nationality Indian

Senior Registrar (Surgeon)

Academic background

Education UP RURAL INSTITUTE OF MEDICAL SCIENCES SAIFAI ETAWAH UP NATIONAL BOARD OF EXAMINATIONS NEW DELHI DR RML COMBINED HOSPITAL & DR RML INSTITUTE OF MEDICAL SCIENCES LUCKNOW UP FELLOWSHIOP MINIMAL ACCESS SURGEON'S OF INDIA MEMBERSHIP OF NATIONAL ACADEMY OF MEDICAL SCIENCES. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Drravi06 (talk • contribs) 21:15, 29 May 2019 (UTC)

Do you have a question? Mikenorton (talk) 21:20, 29 May 2019 (UTC)

How does a famous person correct his Wikipedia page

I know a person who is notable enough to have a Wikipedia page about his singing group. When I asked him about it he said "That stuff is 'all wrong'. The people in the article who were listed as playing a'significant role' were actually very minor" I wanted to help him set the record straight but I don't know how to cite it because it's not written down. I am getting the information first-hand. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Donmark144 (talk • contribs) 21:51, 29 May 2019 (UTC)

@Donmark144: You can discuss this on the article's talk page. However, first hand info is not allowed, it must come from a published reliable source (See WP:RS). RudolfRed (talk) 22:56, 29 May 2019 (UTC)

@Donmark144: If the assertions in the article are not cited to a reliable source that actually supports the assertions, you may remove the assertions. If the assertions are contradicted by a different reliable source, you may describe this conflict in the article and cite your source. If the "true" story is not in any reliable source, then your principal will need to contact the publisher of the source and get then to retract it or report the "true" story so we can cite it. Your principal might also try to get some other publisher to report the 'true" story. -Arch dude (talk) 02:24, 30 May 2019 (UTC)

Note also that some uncontroversial stuff, like birthdate and place of birth, can be sourced to selfpublished (by the subject) sources, like an official webpage, Facebook etc. More at WP:SELFPUB. Gråbergs Gråa Sång (talk) 08:24, 30 May 2019 (UTC)

Agreed, but one problem with self-published sites is that some celebrities deliberately falsify their year of birth (for example, recently, to avoid having a fortieth birthday.) The problem wouldn't occur in this case. Dbfirs 16:58, 30 May 2019 (UTC)

Newbie here: how can I interact in a talk page?

Hello everyone,

I'm new around here and I'm very confused, to say the least. I did my first edit yesterday, after having signed up ages ago, and I received a message saying I did it wrong. I'm more than happy to add the edit summary, but I have two issues: for one, the part I corrected, thought it said it was restored, is completely gone, and I don't know how to talk to the person who sent me a message through his talk page (I don't have the "new edition" tab if that's what I need to be looking for). Please send help... — Preceding unsigned comment added by Wdewoman (talk • contribs) 23:31, 29 May 2019 (UTC)

Wdewoman: for reference, Mattythewhite reverted (i.e., undid) your edit with this edit. Now, I can see that you might have a problem contacting Mattythewhite. Normally, you would click "new section" on a user's talk page, but User talk:Mattythewhite has been protected, presumably due to harassment of some kind, so that only autoconfirmed editors can edit it. (Make two more edits and you'll be able to edit it too.)

You may want to bring the issue up at Talk:John Carew, where I note that someone mentioned the tattoo in 2014. Eman235/talk 00:48, 30 May 2019 (UTC)

Wdewoman, I've unprotected my talk page so you shouldn't have any problem posting there now. Mattythewhite (talk) 20:21, 30 May 2019 (UTC)

Thank you for your help! Wdewoman (talk) 21:09, 30 May 2019 (UTC)