Wikipedia:Help desk/Archives/2020 December 19

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December 19[edit]

REQUEST EDIT[edit]

 Courtesy link: Larisa Oleynik

Larisa Oleynik is NOT married and she has never been married. How are we able to take this down, as well as change the picture? — Preceding unsigned comment added by LA NY LA (talkcontribs) 01:52, 19 December 2020 (UTC)[reply]

@LA NY LA: You're going to want to discuss this at the article's talk page. (Please remember to sign your posts on talk pages by typing four keyboard tildes like this: ~~~~. Or, you can use the [ reply ] button, which automatically signs posts.)Tenryuu 🐲 ( 💬 • 📝 ) (🎁 Wishlist! 🎁) 02:26, 19 December 2020 (UTC)[reply]
For info: removed as unsourced at 06:36, 19 December 2020‎ by Enjoyer of World (talk · contribs). Looking at the Edit history, various people seem to have been trying to add details about an alleged partner/spouse for at least several months, always without a cited reliable source: one or another of we volunteer editors remove such uncorroborated material as and when we notiice it.
With reference to the photo, we require any photo of a living person for use on Wikipedia to be placed on Wikimedia Commons (a separate though related site) with a copyright release entered by the legal copyright holder (usually, though not always, the photographer) that permits the photo's re-use by anybody in the world for any purpose (including commercial) provided that the source is attributed. Entertainment industry persons and their managements are often not prepared to do that, which severely limits the availability of photos: often we have to use photos taken by fans who are prepared to donate them in this way. {The poster formerly known as 87.81.230.195} 2.122.56.237 (talk) 07:22, 19 December 2020 (UTC)[reply]
Yep. I removed it after reading this very thread. Enjoyer of WorldTalk 07:45, 19 December 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Can I ask why you want to change the picture? I presume that it is a good likeness unless it shows the wrong person entirely. Spinney Hill (talk) 11:03, 19 December 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Bee gees 1976 tour[edit]

The bee Gees played at the kitchener Auditorium in 1976 in the winter. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 2607:F2C0:EEBE:26:3921:F159:BD0:8DB0 (talk) 02:33, 19 December 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Hello. If you have information to add to a Wikipedia article, supported by a reliable published source (personal knowledge or recollection is never acceptable as a source in Wikipedia) you are welcome to add it to the article. Alternatively, you can make a suggestion on the article's Talk page - it is possible that somebody else there could find a published source for the information you want to add. --ColinFine (talk) 12:30, 19 December 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Can't see text posted to discussion threads[edit]

Sometimes when I or another editor post to discussion threads, the text is not visible. Then when someone adds to the discussion, it becomes visible. This happened most recently at Talk:Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez#AOC's disputes with Jewish groups. The posting at 02:05, 19 December 2020 was not visible when I posted to the discussion at 02:30. But once I posted then I could see both my posting and the earlier posting. Does anyone know why this happens? TFD (talk) 02:36, 19 December 2020 (UTC)[reply]

The Four Deuces, what are you using to post? Reply-link.js? Old wikitext source editor? New wikitext source editor? —Tenryuu 🐲 ( 💬 • 📝 ) (🎁 Wishlist! 🎁) 02:52, 19 December 2020 (UTC)[reply]
I don't know. I either write directly in Chrome or write in Notepad and copy it in. TFD (talk) 03:03, 19 December 2020 (UTC)[reply]
Okay, that doesn't sound like you're using a script. Do you have "New wikitext mode" enabled in "Beta Features" in your preferences? —Tenryuu 🐲 ( 💬 • 📝 ) (🎁 Wishlist! 🎁) 03:37, 19 December 2020 (UTC)[reply]
@The Four Deuces: Did you click edit after 02:05? If you clicked before 02:05 then your edit [1] was merged automatically without giving an edit conflict. I think this only happens when you start with a blank line (which you shouldn't do per Wikipedia:Talk page guidelines#Layout). If you clicked after 02:05 then maybe your browser cached the page before 02:05 and you didn't notice the 02:05 post appeared in the edit window when you edited. Bypass your cache to see the current version of a page. PrimeHunter (talk) 08:17, 19 December 2020 (UTC)[reply]

How to use WikiBlame tool?[edit]

I am using it, but it's always gives me 0 versions as result. IMAGE Rizosome (talk) 03:51, 19 December 2020 (UTC)[reply]

@Rizosome: User:Flominator/WikiBlame#Start date says: "The search works backward from the Start date". There are no revisions to search when Start date is before page creation. When I use WikiBlame, Start date defaults to today. PrimeHunter (talk) 08:01, 19 December 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Can you show me picture how to use it. Rizosome (talk) 13:42, 19 December 2020 (UTC)[reply]

@Rizosome: It looks just like your image except with "Startdate: December 19 2020". When I click "Start" it takes a while and ends with
treating the belt was already present in the oldest revision searched dating from 21:00, 12 March 2016.
Execution time: 38 seconds
PrimeHunter (talk) 15:12, 19 December 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Hello![edit]

I’m new, how do I do hyperlinks?--Namilex 04:42, 19 December 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Beat Saber, most of the information is over at the help page on links, but in general, [[ ]] for links to Wikipedia and related Wikimedia projects, and [ ] for external links. —Tenryuu 🐲 ( 💬 • 📝 ) (🎁 Wishlist! 🎁) 06:20, 19 December 2020 (UTC)[reply]

wikitable lighttable help[edit]

Looking for information about the use of wikitable lighttable. not found in help:table. Where is it? tnx Petersam (talk) 05:36, 19 December 2020 (UTC)[reply]

I dont recognise this. Trying to pass "wikitable lighttable" rather than "wikitable" for table creation has no effect, and (at least this spelling) is found nowhere on Wikipedia expect here. Victor Schmidt (talk) 06:34, 19 December 2020 (UTC)[reply]
@Petersam: Where did you see "lighttable"? If it was another wiki then it may be a CSS class they defined locally. PrimeHunter (talk) 07:53, 19 December 2020 (UTC)[reply]
Yes it is another wiki. i thought they were all the same. LOL. always learning something new everyday... tnx Petersam (talk) 08:55, 19 December 2020 (UTC)[reply]
@Petersam: Maybe we have a way to do something similar but we would have to see their lighttable code to know what it does. You didn't name the wiki. If you don't want to apply the feature here but just wonder what class="wikitable lighttable" means then it applies two separate CSS classes wikitable and lighttable which can be defined in different places and specify styling of content. wikitable is defined in MediaWiki but we make some local changes to it in MediaWiki:Common.css. lighttable is not defined in the English Wikipedia and will just be ignored. PrimeHunter (talk) 09:28, 19 December 2020 (UTC)[reply]
PrimeHunter, is this thread about Light Table (software)? If not, would you please drop the link here?--Quisqualis (talk) 18:05, 19 December 2020 (UTC)[reply]
Quisqualis, it's not about the software. When I do a quick Google search, it doesn't seem to have proper documentation. —Tenryuu 🐲 ( 💬 • 📝 ) (🎁 Wishlist! 🎁) 18:50, 19 December 2020 (UTC)[reply]
To be a bit more accurate, the code class="wikitable lighttable" is still passed to the browser which then looks for a CSS definition of the two classes and applies it if something is found. Here it's only found for wikitable. PrimeHunter (talk) 09:38, 19 December 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Lighttables are tables where the rows or cells can be clicked to mark/unmark them. Just found a guide at RuneScape Wiki - https://runescape.wiki/w/Help:Editing/Tables There it is used by gamers to keep track of their progress. Example - https://runescape.wiki/w/Technology_tree#Technology What is the best way to include a Wikipedia article about this since i did come here to find information about it; did not find much with Google. It would probably be part of a broader article about wiki tables or wiki in general or something else? Petersam (talk) 19:42, 19 December 2020 (UTC)[reply]

@Petersam: I doubt they satisfy Wikipedia:Notability. It may just be a random class name chosen at a couple of websites. wikiquote:no:MediaWiki:Common.css define it as another table styling (but doesn't appear to use it anywhere in the wiki). PrimeHunter (talk) 08:12, 20 December 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Help to make a custom Wikipedia US election map[edit]

Hello I've been trying to make a custom Wikipedia-style US election map (Example) for a personal project for several weeks, but I've had no luck. Is there any tutorial out there? — Preceding unsigned comment added by ComplexNumbers (talkcontribs) 09:57, 19 December 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Hello, ComplexNumbers. Try the WP:Graphics Lab/Map workshop. --ColinFine (talk) 12:33, 19 December 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Moving pages[edit]

I am having difficulty finding out how to move pages. I would like to move a page I created just yesterday. There is no reason why I should not have the power to move it myself, but when I follow the instructions to move a page, I cannot see the move option there at all. Please can anyone help? This is not the first time I have had this problems moving pages. I dont know if it is to do with the way my account is set up or if there are restrictions on my account which should not be there.

Amirah (talk) 14:32, 19 December 2020 (UTC)[reply]

@AmirahBreen: You edit in the mobile version which omits some of the interface. Most help pages are written for the desktop version available on "Desktop" at the bottom of the mobile version. This should work in the mobile version: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:MovePage/Council_of_Opposition_Candidates_in_Somalia. But I don't know how to reach that url without either switching to desktop first or manually inserting Special:MovePage/ in the url. PrimeHunter (talk) 15:05, 19 December 2020 (UTC)[reply]
@PrimeHunter: Many thanks for your help and advice Amirah (talk) 15:14, 19 December 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Content change[edit]

I have used Wikipedia a lot. I noticed when I was researching a person that content changed just enough to make persons views seem different within a day of viewing. Since then, I have not trusted YOUR content. I would have donated several months back but I only want to hear facts. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 2601:CE:C180:3830:14C0:69E4:473C:9F1B (talk) 18:17, 19 December 2020 (UTC)[reply]

IP editor, when this happens, just notify other editors on the talk page of the article and they will fix it if necessary. If you don't get the desired response, wait a few days. What article is it, BTW?--Quisqualis (talk) 18:20, 19 December 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Request for deletion[edit]

Be so kind to delete the following articles I have written for Wikipedia:

It is clear to me that I made the wrong decision by contributing to Wikipedia. Royalty & Nassau Expert (talk) 19:45, 19 December 2020 (UTC)[reply]

 Not done By publishing changes, you agreed to the Terms of Use, and you irrevocably agreed to release your contribution under the CC BY-SA 3.0 License and the GFDL. May I ask what makes you think you made the wrong decision? --Orange Mike | Talk 20:31, 19 December 2020 (UTC)[reply]
A legal agreement in which it is not possible to revoke consent is null and void. I hereby officially revoke my permission to publish those on Wikipedia. And therefore I repeat my request to delete the articles above.
I made the wrong decision as I thought Wikipedia is an encyclopedia were the addition of articles is welcome. But it is not. It's just a community of people who indulge themselves as tyrants by imposing rules and regulations that are either illogical or plain stupid to anyone who has the knowledge and experience as a professional editor, as I have for more than 30 years. Royalty & Nassau Expert (talk) 20:46, 19 December 2020 (UTC)[reply]
@WMFOffice: looks like this is something you have to look into, since this possibly includes stuff releated around the TOU. Victor Schmidt (talk) 21:49, 19 December 2020 (UTC)[reply]
Your belief that any legal contract can be abrogated at any time by either party is . . . unusual. Maproom (talk) 23:23, 19 December 2020 (UTC)[reply]
As a (sometime) professional editor I find I am pretty much obliged to conform to the 'house style' of the organisation involved. Eagleash (talk) 07:41, 20 December 2020 (UTC)[reply]
  • Royalty & Nassau Expert I'm sorry that you feel that way. I don't think that's an accurate account, but you are free to think what you wish. You are free to challenge any guideline you feel is inappropriate for some reason. You are free to not make future contributions to Wikipedia, but once you click "publish changes" what you wrote is no longer yours; that is necessary for the functioning of this freely available encyclopedia, whose content can be reused by anyone for any purpose(including commercial) with attribution. As noted, it is unusual for any legal contract to be abrogated at any time by either party; contracts would seem to have little meaning if that were the case. However, you will probably need to communicate with the Foundation regarding your request; that's not something we can address here, I'm fairly sure. 331dot (talk) 07:52, 20 December 2020 (UTC)[reply]
I'm not going to start a legal discussion here or at any other place. I will simply quit and will note on my user page which articles have been corrupted by other users. It is now clear to me why the quality of articles about members of royal families is so poor, and why royalty experts do not want to contribute to Wikipedia. I thought they were wrong and did contribute, but I found out I was wrong and they were right. Royalty & Nassau Expert (talk) 15:36, 20 December 2020 (UTC)[reply]
@Royalty & Nassau Expert:Wikipedia is crowdsourced by anonymous editors who are supposed to cite reliable sources. You appear to prefer to publish in a curated medium of some sort instead. Please feel free to do so. If you end up publishing in a reliable source (e.g. a book published by a reputable academic press), then your work will be available for citation by our anonymous amateur editors. On the other hand, if you can identify specific "corruption" in our articles, we can fix it. "Corruption" by our definition would be deletion of assertions that were properly sourced, or addition of assertions that were not properly sourced. -Arch dude (talk) 16:32, 20 December 2020 (UTC)[reply]
"deletion of assertions that were properly sourced" is exactly what I have seen happen here. Therefore Wikipedia is a no go area for me from now on. Royalty & Nassau Expert (talk) 20:14, 20 December 2020 (UTC)[reply]
Royalty & Nassau Expert please give examples of this behaviour so that we can investigate. Theroadislong (talk) 20:20, 20 December 2020 (UTC)[reply]
Too late, I am not going to put any more time and energy into Wikipedia. I am completely done with it. Royalty & Nassau Expert (talk) 21:33, 20 December 2020 (UTC)[reply]
If you are a professional, surely you have encountered obstacles before- or conflicting opinions. Have you really found the best way to handle them is to pack up and run away? Why not try to improve the situation instead? Nightenbelle (talk) 16:39, 22 December 2020 (UTC)[reply]
Also, claiming that people have "corrupted" pages because they changed paragraphs to comply with Wikipedia:Manual of Style/Layout is not constructive, collaborative behaviour. Frankly, this discussion and the current version of your userpage saying everything has been corrupted all demonstrate clear ownership issues, incompatible with this collaborative Wikipedia. Joseph2302 (talk) 16:44, 22 December 2020 (UTC)[reply]

List of portals on main page includes Biography, should be Biology?[edit]

I seem unable to edit even the talk page of the main page (perhaps because my account does not have much history). Looking at the list of topics at the top of the page (the arts, history, society, biography, mathematics, technology, geography, science, ...) the "biography" one seems a bit odd. I would have expected "biology" here instead. Might it be an unintentional mixup, or is it indeed intentional? Given that this is the front page, I'd assume it if was a mixup it would be cought quickly, but I am not sure. At least something to consider? Northernscholar (talk) 20:21, 19 December 2020 (UTC)[reply]

@Northernscholar: Talk:Main Page is semiprotected. You can edit it when your account becomes autoconfirmed after three more edits. Portal:Biography is intentional. It has been there since 2006 [2] and via a redirect Portal:People since we started showing portals in 2005.[3] Biographies are a major part of encyclopedias. We have about a million in Category:Living people and then there are the dead ones. Portal:Biology is linked at top of Portal:Science so it's fairly easy to get there from Main Page. PrimeHunter (talk) 20:59, 19 December 2020 (UTC)[reply]
Thanks for the clarification, PrimeHunter. Northernscholar (talk) 04:55, 20 December 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Help editing title of a page, or name of page.[edit]

I am asking someone to tell me how to or to change the primary searchable name for Lyman Ward Military Academy to Southern Preparatory Academy. The school changed its name two years ago and no one can edit the page on wiki.

Thank you. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Frog1983 (talkcontribs) 21:05, 19 December 2020 (UTC)[reply]

@Frog1983: Page names are changed by moving to a new location. This facility will not be available to you until your account is at least 4 days old and has made a minimum of 10 valid edits. In the meantime, you can request changes at the article talk page (Talk:Lyman Ward Military Academy). Please see Template:Request edit for instructions on how to do this. (Please remember to sign your posts on talk pages by typing four keyboard tildes like this: ~~~~. Or, you can use the [ reply ] button, which automatically signs posts.) Thank you. Eagleash (talk) 21:17, 19 December 2020 (UTC)[reply]
Thanks for the heads-up, Frog1983. I was able to rename it in under a minute using WP:MOVE. Southern Preparatory Academy is the new name for the same article; PS: thanks for editing the article.--Quisqualis (talk) 21:26, 19 December 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Edit vanished but not REVDELed?[edit]

I was manually reverting historic vandalism and came to Larry Page, where an unconstructive editor made an unconstructive edit, yet the edit does not show up in the article's edit history. How is this possible?--Quisqualis (talk) 21:20, 19 December 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Perhaps it was Wikipedia:Oversighted? Adam9007 (talk) 21:24, 19 December 2020 (UTC)[reply]
REVDEL leaves a clear trace, in that the original editor and time stamp are visible. I an not sure about suppression, which appears to be the current form of the old oversight.
Does suppression "leave no trace"? After all, a clueless individual linked Alphabet (company) with the Bible, which, while absurd, is hardly in need of total erasure. Would anyone like to clarify?--Quisqualis (talk) 21:37, 19 December 2020 (UTC)[reply]
@Quisqualis: The vandalism was here and it was reverted a couple of weeks later by someone else here. -- zzuuzz (talk) 21:52, 19 December 2020 (UTC)[reply]
It does show up in the page history: [4]. Maybe you were looking for it in 2020. PrimeHunter (talk) 21:54, 19 December 2020 (UTC)[reply]
HaHa, you are so right! At my age, one year is indistinguishable from another...--Quisqualis (talk) 22:11, 19 December 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Donations[edit]

I can’t donate to keep you going. Too many times your articles are left-leaning and biased. Unbalanced. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 2603:8080:5808:54F5:549E:659F:4A3E:26E9 (talk) 22:02, 19 December 2020 (UTC)[reply]

If you have reliable right-leaning sources, please provide them. The Wikimedia Foundation, to my knowledge, is still pretty healthy in monetary contributions. —Tenryuu 🐲 ( 💬 • 📝 ) (🎁 Wishlist! 🎁) 22:13, 19 December 2020 (UTC)[reply]
We can do very little to answer vague, sweeping claims of bias across many unspecified articles. Naming an article and explaining why you believe it is biased is more likely to cause an appreciable change. Threats to withhold donations are not an effective strategy; dozens of people try every year, but it never achieves the intended result. – Teratix 23:39, 19 December 2020 (UTC)[reply]
I think this article:Premiership of Boris Johnson is right leaning and biased because I do not believe it contains enough justified criticism of the Prime Minister but I do not send questions to this page about it and I do not link complaints to donation. In fact I have donated £10 nevertheless. What article or articles are you complaining about?Spinney Hill (talk) 13:59, 20 December 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Looking for resources[edit]

Since the pandemic has been raging my partner suggested I take up editing Wikipedia to learn new stuff and edit things I know about. Are there any pages resources or books that can help accelerate the learning curve? Thx in advance. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Spongecob Flairpants (talkcontribs) 23:33, 19 December 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Welcome! Help:Introduction should get you started. My advice: once you know the basic principles, don't stress too much over the finer details and just start editing – you can always ask questions here or at the Teahouse (another Q&A forum with more focus on newcomers). – Teratix 23:58, 19 December 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Cheers Teratix. So far I learned [citation needed]! Are there any other tags like that? Do you know any books on wikipedia editing? I feel like such a noob. Also can someone please help me create a User Page? — Preceding unsigned comment added by Spongecob Flairpants (talkcontribs) 00:34, 20 December 2020 (UTC)[reply]

@Spongecob Flairpants: Tags similar to {{citation needed}} are listed at {{Inline cleanup tags}}, and you can follow the links from there to read how each is intended to be used. There are plenty of books about Wikipedia; some are listed at Bibliography of Wikipedia, and one is updated online at Help: Wikipedia: The Missing Manual. To create your user page, just click your user name, currently displayed in red, type something in the editing box, and click "Publish" as usual - there's no need to include any complicated formatting, though some editors do. For [too much] advice on user pages, see Wikipedia:User pages. -- John of Reading (talk) 08:56, 20 December 2020 (UTC)[reply]
Nothing personal, @Spongecob Flairpants:, but extensive subject knowledge is great to have, but it is not the source of Wikipedia's content. Wikipedia is based on reliable published sources, not anything anecdotal (unless already published in reliable sources). So just keep in mind that your expertise will primarily be applied to finding those sources and evaluating the worth of articles and the edits to them. Happy editing.--Quisqualis (talk) 16:14, 20 December 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Solicitation[edit]

I see you keep reminding me of the number of times I deferred your recent solicitations. Please don't overlook the fact that roughly 10 years ago, I wrote you a check for $100. Please tone down your appeals to people like me. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 73.52.165.127 (talk) 23:59, 19 December 2020 (UTC)[reply]

If you create an account, you can disable the fundraising banners. RudolfRed (talk) 00:08, 20 December 2020 (UTC)[reply]
Wikipedia has no knowledge of your donation history or that you have seen donation requests. If you create an account, you can suppress the donation requests in your account preferences. If you have comments about the requests, you should email the Foundation that collects the donations at donate at Wikimedia dot org. 331dot (talk) 00:11, 20 December 2020 (UTC)[reply]
The software cannot tell who is at the other end of an IP address. Please create an account. Go to your Preferences, navigate to the Gadgets tab, and check the "Suppress display of fundraiser banners" box. For additional concerns please contact the Wikimedia Foundation at this email address: donate@wikimedia.org. —Tenryuu 🐲 ( 💬 • 📝 ) (🎁 Wishlist! 🎁) 01:55, 20 December 2020 (UTC)[reply]