Wikipedia:Help desk/Archives/2020 May 30

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May 30

Difference between resources and external links?

Not a serious question: disruptive user copying questions from other sites.
The following discussion has been closed. Please do not modify it.
Difference between resources and external links? Ram nareshji (talk) 02:58, 30 May 2020 (UTC) @Ram nareshji: Here's the difference: Wikipedia:Reliable sources states "Articles should be based on reliable, third-party, published sources with a reputation for fact-checking and accuracy." Wikipedia:External links states these links "include those that contain further research that is accurate and on-topic, information that could not be added to the article for reasons such as copyright or amount of detail, or other meaningful, relevant content that is not suitable for inclusion in an article for reasons unrelated to its accuracy." You can read each document for further information. Hope this helps! GoingBatty (talk) 03:49, 30 May 2020 (UTC) I want to edit Hillary Clinton wiki article using CNN News website. Will it comes under Reliable Source or External Link? Ram nareshji (talk) 04:58, 30 May 2020 (UTC) @Ram nareshji: for an extensive article like that one, an "external link" is probably inappropriate. Add any useful information from your source into the correct place in the body of the text somewhere and use your source as a reference for that information. You don't add the reference by editing the "References" section. Instead you use special syntax. If you are unsure how to add a reference, see WP:Referencing for beginners. Use the "Show preview" button to check your work, and if you have problems, come back here. -Arch dude (talk) 05:07, 30 May 2020 (UTC) So News articles like CNN, fox & BBC etc are not allowed to take as source for wikipedia articles? Ram nareshji (talk) 05:10, 30 May 2020 (UTC) @Ram nareshji: News articles from CNN, Fox, and BBC are allowed as sources for Wikipedia articles. See Wikipedia:Reliable sources/Perennial sources#Sources for more details. GoingBatty (talk) 05:30, 30 May 2020 (UTC) But User:Arch dude says it's inappropriate. See in his reply. I am confused. Ram nareshji (talk) 05:33, 30 May 2020 (UTC) @Ram nareshji: What Arch dude said is yes, you can use news articles from those cites as references. You should not put their URLs as is in the "External links" section, and you should follow the steps outlined in WP:REFBEGIN (an easier version that Nick Moyes made can be found at WP:EASYREFBEGIN). —Tenryuu 🐲 ( 💬 • 📝 ) 05:37, 30 May 2020 (UTC) (edit conflict)@Ram nareshji: Those are reliable sources (WP:RS) and they can be used. As a general rule, in a well-developed article we use our sources as references instead of putting them in the "external links" section. Inside the reference, you will add the URL of your source, so it is an fact a link to an external site, but on Wikipedia we usually use the words "external links" to refer to entries in the "external links" section. In the past, we used to encourage editors to create "stub articles", with perhaps one or two paragraphs of text and an "external links" section instead of properly-formatted references, and we used those stubs as starting points. Now that we have articles for most major topics, we prefer to try for higher quality articles from the start, and major articles like Hillary Clinton do not have an "External links" section. -Arch dude (talk) 05:45, 30 May 2020 (UTC) If I did not put their URLs as is in the "External links" section, then wikipedia shows me This section does not cite any sources Ram nareshji (talk) 05:48, 30 May 2020 (UTC) Ram nareshji, have you read WP:REFBEGIN or WP:EASYREFBEGIN and followed them? —Tenryuu 🐲 ( 💬 • 📝 ) 06:22, 30 May 2020 (UTC) Ok resolved. Ram nareshji (talk) 17:28, 30 May 2020 (UTC)

How wikipedia lost its old edits?

Not a serious question: disruptive user copying questions from other sites.
The following discussion has been closed. Please do not modify it.
How wikipedia lost its old edits? What went wrong while upgrading wikipedia back then? I think Edits before 2003 Ram nareshji (talk) 05:16, 30 May 2020 (UTC) Ram nareshji, are you asking about edit histories of articles? —Tenryuu 🐲 ( 💬 • 📝 ) 05:39, 30 May 2020 (UTC) Yes Ram nareshji (talk) 05:49, 30 May 2020 (UTC) See Wikipedia:Wikipedia's oldest articles. PrimeHunter (talk) 07:23, 30 May 2020 (UTC)

IsiXhosa

I-Robben Island sisiqithi esidumileyo ehlabathini.Kulapho kwavalelwa khona amabanjwa ezopolitiko.Omnye Wala mabanjwa ngowayesakuba nguMongameli woMzantsi Afrika,uNelson Mandela.Ekuhambeni kwexesha onke amabanjwa ayevalelwe apha akhululwa.Namhlanje esi siqithi,emva kokukhululwa kwamabanjwa ezopolitiko,sajikwa saba yimuziyamu.Sinomtsalane kubakhenkethi abaninzi.Ngoku esi siqithi sesifunqula imicimbi namatheko. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 41.113.92.238 (talk) 08:02, 30 May 2020 (UTC)

Please post in English; this appears to be in Xhosa. As noted below and in a previous instance, please discuss at the appropriate article talk page. Thank you. Eagleash (talk)

English

After Steve left medical school in June 1972,he remained in Durban and worked full-time for the Black Community Programmes which he had helped to build.He knew the needs of the black community and he believed in self-help.The apartheid laws and inferior Bantu education and medical services made it very difficult for black people to learn skills and to have the medical care that they needed.Black Community Programmes taught people how to read and write, and skills such as weaving and dress-making. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 41.113.92.238 (talk) 08:14, 30 May 2020 (UTC)

As noted above, please discuss this edit at Talk:Steve Biko. 331dot (talk) 08:24, 30 May 2020 (UTC)

Delsort archiving

I created Wikipedia:WikiProject Deletion sorting/Biology and for some reason despite being linked from the flat delsort page, AnomieBOT is not archiving closed discussions delsorted to this page, which has necessitated me archiving them myself (example). Can someone please explain to me why AnomieBOT is not archiving deletion discussions on this subpage? IntoThinAir (talk) 12:58, 30 May 2020 (UTC)

IntoThinAir, Probably a good question for @Anomie:, who of course runs the bot. CaptainEek ^{Edits Ho Cap'n!}⚓ 15:49, 30 May 2020 (UTC)

@IntoThinAir: You need to add it to Wikipedia:WikiProject Deletion sorting/Compact for the bot to find it. Anomie⚔ 17:09, 30 May 2020 (UTC)

 Done Done, thanks. IntoThinAir (talk) 17:28, 30 May 2020 (UTC)

If wikipedia is free for everyone/editors why donation banner at the top?

Not a serious question: disruptive user copying questions from other sites.
The following discussion has been closed. Please do not modify it.
If wikipedia is free for everyone/editors why donation banner at the top? I know it's free for all. Its just a text site with pictures & videos but very few . For this , why wikipedia prompts me to donate? Sorry for rude if I am.[[User:|Ram nareshji]] (talk) 17:27, 30 May 2020 (UTC) @Ram nareshji: While access to Wikipedia is free, Wikipedia still has expenses they need to pay for. GoingBatty (talk) 17:47, 30 May 2020 (UTC) Pay for what? Pretty sure I believe total data of wikipedia will be less than 1 TB due to text & pics and less videos Ram nareshji (talk) 17:50, 30 May 2020 (UTC) @Ram nareshji: It's more than just a single 4TB hard drive sitting on a server in the cloud somewhere. The Wikimedia foundation has 800 servers and 350 staff. See Wikimedia_Foundation#Finances. The WMF projects as a whole are consistently in the top ten most active sites on the Internet, so the aggregate bandwidth is high. That requires lots of servers, each with lots of bandwidth, all of which costs money. -Arch dude (talk) 18:37, 30 May 2020 (UTC) @Ram nareshji: See WP:DUMP. The English Wikipedia alone, just text, is several terabytes, not including pictures. You need to add to that all the other language wikipedias, plus commons, plus the other projects the foundation runs. And as mentioned above, data storage is just one part of the cost. RudolfRed (talk) 19:24, 30 May 2020 (UTC) In addition to what the others have said, Wikipedia is asking for ‘’voluntary’’ donations. That doesn’t mean it isn’t free. ‡ Єl Cid of Valencia talk 19:29, 30 May 2020 (UTC)

Long-running vandalism

Hi,

There has been long-running vandalism on the Hamid Shirvani article (specifically removing negative coverage about Shirvani). There are examples here [1] and here [2] from earlier today and last January, respectively. Both IP addresses removed the exact same info and used the same edit summary. It just feels very strange. David O. Johnson (talk) 17:52, 30 May 2020 (UTC)

Report at ANI page. Change title to serial vandalism. Ram nareshji (talk) 17:55, 30 May 2020 (UTC)

Why do editors risk their accounts by editing?

Not a serious question: disruptive user copying questions from other sites.
The following discussion has been closed. Please do not modify it.
Suppose I edited some animal species (mostly not locked for new editors). I provide proper source. Next day, I may get ban due to wrong edit which also known as vandalism. Ram nareshji (talk) 17:54, 30 May 2020 (UTC) A merely wrong edit is not vandalism, and a wrong edit is not going to get an innocent editor blocked for vandalism. --Orange Mike | Talk 18:43, 30 May 2020 (UTC) [Edit Conflict] Editing in good faith, even if mistakenly, is never seen as vandalism: vandalism is editing with deliberate intent to damage Wikipedia – believe me, we can tell the difference. Everybody who edits Wikipedia makes some mistakes at first, and hopefully fewer as they go on and learn more about the project. When someone makes a mistake (such as not providing an acceptable source, or providing an acceptable source in an incorrect way), someone else will usually revert it, and then the two (plus others) can (calmly) discuss what the best solution is, usually on the article in question's Talk page. This is called the Bold, Revert, Discuss cycle cycle and is how editing mistakes are meant to be handled. {The poster formerly known as 87.81.230.195} 2.125.72.102 (talk) 18:46, 30 May 2020 (UTC) Ram nareshji, if your intention is to behave this time, welcome back. Please, however, refrain from wasting everybody's time asking inane and pointless questions, particularly those drawn in from elsewhere. You will be banned again if you do that as some of us here do remember you. Britmax (talk) 19:33, 30 May 2020 (UTC)

how to use help channel

I want to retrieve for improvement an article I wrote that was rejected. I just want the text back so I can park it in my own sandbox. Clearly I am an idiot because the instructions added to my userpage are incomprehensible, or at least do not take me to anything that appears usable. I was trying to find the help channel but that is even worse; there is no place on the irc page that accepted a text message. I would be grateful if a real live administrator could contact me. thanks. user:alteripse Yes I wrote hundreds of articles here and was an administrator for years and helped people whenever I could. That was then; now the operations seem unrecognizable. Sorry.

• If you're referring to the article User:Alteripse/Philadelphia Association for Critical Thinking, you can get it restored by asking at WP:REFUND. Crow^Caw 19:03, 30 May 2020 (UTC)

Thanks Crow. that is the article. I had not recognized wp:refund. That was far simpler than trying to figure out the IRC channel. I got the banned message several times without having successfully typed a single letter. But the article is all I wanted. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Alteripse (talk • contribs) 19:13, 30 May 2020 (UTC)

using text from website on wiki about page?

Dear Sir/Madam, I maintain the website and the wiki page for my organization. I am trying to update the wiki page with the same history text as on the website but it won't allow it saying it is a violation of copyright. How can I have the text be the same? How can I fix it so the information is the same for consistency? Thank you. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Sitesantafe (talk • contribs) 19:06, 30 May 2020 (UTC)

Hello, Sitesantafe. I'm afraid you are mistaken. You do not "maintain the wiki page": in fact the only role that you (and anybody else in your organisation) have in respect of Wikipedia's article about your organisation is to suggest changes on the article's talk page.

Many many people are under the misapprehension that Wikipedia is a vehicle for people and organisation to tell the world about themselves: it is not: that is called promotion, and is forbidden on Wikipedia. Wikipedia is an encyclopaedia, which contains neutral, sourced articles about notable topics. If your organisation is notable in Wikipedia's special sense - roughly, that several people who have no connection with the organisation have chosen to publish material about it in reliable places - then we can have an article about it, which should be almost entirely based on what those independent authors have published: Wikipedia has very little interest in what an organisation (or a person) wants to say about themselves. It in no way belongs to the organisation.

There are three other issues I must mention. First, editing with a conflict of interest is not forbidden, but you need to understand what this means, and be cautious; if in addition you are in any way remunerated for this work (eg if you are employed, even as a volunteer, and are doing this as part of your duties) it is mandatory that you make a declaration that you are a paid editor.

Secondly, the material on your own website, even if it is suitable in tone for a Wikipedia article, is copyright, and Wikipedia does not accept copyright material unless it has been explicitly licensed with a suitable copyleft licence: see donating copyright materials.

Thirdly, user accounts must be for individuals, and may not have names that suggest that they are representing an organisation. "Joanna at SITE Santa Fe" would be acceptable, but not what you have at the moment. Please either change it, or abandon it and make a new account. You still need to look at COI though. --ColinFine (talk) 19:38, 30 May 2020 (UTC)

error when i want to publish an edited article

"Error contacting the Parsoid/RESTBase server (HTTP 500)" this is the error message i got when i try to publish an article i edited. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Gladson10 (talk • contribs) 20:39, 30 May 2020 (UTC)

@Gladson10: Unfortunately, technical glitches do occur from time to time, but they usually don't last long. If you see it repeatedly, report it at WP:VPT. RudolfRed (talk) 20:53, 30 May 2020 (UTC)