Wikipedia:Help desk/Archives/2020 September 16

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September 16

How to properly translate an article from another language's wikipedia?

So uh, i intend to translate the Lontara Bilang-Bilang page into English. What is the best way to do this? Do i use the normal "create a new article" wizard/method and link it later, or is there a more proper "move/copy inbetween Wikipedias" feature that i can't found in my (admittedly short) peruse through the help section? Sorry if this has been asked several times. Terrabalt (talk) 04:01, 16 September 2020 (UTC)

@Terrabalt: Welcome to Wikipedia and thanks for wanting to add to it. Follow the guidance at WP:TRANSLATE RudolfRed (talk) 04:24, 16 September 2020 (UTC)

@RudolfRed:Thank you for the quick answer! I was able to create a draft page for now, and i will be following the linked guidance and related. Should've guessed that searching it on the "search wikipedia" bar was the way to go, but i instead somehow searched on the H:DIR. Sorry for the inconvenience! Terrabalt (talk) 05:48, 16 September 2020 (UTC)

Wikitext/PHP

On the page WP:SPEC, it says "They are not written in wikitext and can't be edited in the normal way..." I know that special pages are written in PHP. Other than wikitext and PHP, are there any other pages not written in either wikitext or PHP? What other scripts are used? Gioguch (talk) 04:28, 16 September 2020 (UTC)

@Gioguch: That's a fairly broad question. You will need to delve into the underlying Mediawiki software to get a complete answer. I know that modules are written in Lua. See Wikipedia:Lua. I also know that category pages contain autogenerated HTML. -Arch dude (talk) 04:59, 16 September 2020 (UTC)

@Gioguch: certain pages have other content formats than wikitext, notaby Special:MyPage/common.js in JavaScript and Special:MyPage/common.css in CSS. Also, there is MediaWiki:Spam-blacklist which is written in somewhat regex style and MediaWiki:Robots.txt which follows the spec for robots.txt files (See Robots.txt). Victor Schmidt mobil (talk) 07:45, 16 September 2020 (UTC)

@Victor Schmidt mobil: thanks a lot for your answers, however, I am curious, what content format are pages in the "Media:" namespace written in? Pages in Virtual namespaces cannot be created or deleted, but when you create a file, (e.g. Example,) automatically "Media:Example" is generated. If you delete a file, (e.g. Example,) automatically "Media:Example" is deleted? Gioguch (talk) 21:26, 19 September 2020 (UTC)

David Stratton

I am David Stratton, Australian Film Critic listed in Wikipedia. Two major corrections:- I did NOT make an appearance in the film HERCULES RETURNS. This error has often been made because my then-TV co-host Margaret Pomeranz DID make a guest appearance in that film accompanied by another critic, IVAN HUTCHINSON. I was unable to take part in the filming, although I was invited. I am NOT in the film!! I have had four books published, not three as listed. The fourth is: 101 MARVELLOUS MOVIES YOU MAY HAVE MISSED, published by Allen & Unwin (Australia), 2018.

DAVID STRATTON — Preceding unsigned comment added by 124.168.122.119 (talk) 05:38, 16 September 2020 (UTC)

Hello. The place to discuss correcting errors and making other changes to the article is Talk:David Stratton. Make a properly formatted and referenced edit request which will bring the matter to the attention of uninvolved editors. Cullen³²⁸ Let's discuss it 05:51, 16 September 2020 (UTC)

Although as there was no reliable source in the article for the alleged appearance, I have removed it. Joseph2302 (talk) 08:15, 16 September 2020 (UTC)

Adding Links to Academic Resource Marked as Spam

I work at a theological college which has just launched a new online archive for Coptic Theology (accot.stcyrils.edu.au); the site is to Coptic theology what the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy is to philosophy. I have been adding links to the website to the appropriate articles on Wikipedia but received an automatic warning that my edits looked like spam. Is there any precaution I need to take, or particular explanation I should attach to my edits, to prevent the site/my edits being removed as spam?--CopticTheology (talk) 07:45, 16 September 2020 (UTC)

CopticTheology I'm not sure what warning you are referring to, as your user talk page has no posts at all and few of your edits have been reverted. However, you seem to be saying that you have a conflict of interest with the college that has launched the archive; please review conflict of interest and paid editing. It would be best if you avoided directly adding links to the archive, and instead make formal edit requests on article talk pages for independent editors to review. 331dot (talk) 08:28, 16 September 2020 (UTC)

Your username has also probably been a problem, as it makes it appear even more likely that yours is an account created to spamlink articles in order to drive up traffic to your archive. --Orange Mike | Talk 14:27, 16 September 2020 (UTC)

CopticTheology Just adding an external link to the site without actually using a document as a reference is indeed spam: you are basically advertising the site. Finding a document on the site and using it as a source for new information that you add to an article (or even as an additional valid reference for specific information in the article) would not be spam, and indeed would be very valuable. We are not here to pormote any tyoe of external site, commercial, acedemic, or otherwise, regardless of how worthy it is. See WP:PROMOTE. -Arch dude (talk) 17:42, 16 September 2020 (UTC)

AdKid Continually removing informaton

User AdKid has been continuously removing relevant information on a page about Bill McCamley regarding fraternity membership.— Preceding unsigned comment added by 73.98.21.196 (talk • contribs)

Courtesy link:Bill McCamley. The editor's name is KidAd. They have, quite properly, been removing unsourced information from an article about a living person.

The unsourced material was added yet again (and I have removed it) with the edit comment "Fraternity membership very rarely needs a source because rolls are kept secret." Unfortunately that is not how Wikipedia works: please see WP:Verifiability and WP:BLP. AndrewWTaylor (talk) 08:32, 16 September 2020 (UTC)

Working on a new article

I have created a new article ( Headline ) and want to work on it. Does it have to be moved to the Sandbox for this?

Gabby 08:44, 16 September 2020 (UTC)

You can work on it as a userspace draft. You had mistakenly moved it to the user page of a non-existent user, where it was liable to deletion under criterion U2, but I've moved it back to User:Vedlagt/Reverend Johannes Arondeus (correcting your original spelling error in the title). You can work on it there. --David Biddulph (talk) 09:44, 16 September 2020 (UTC)

If eventually your draft (in a later version) is accepted for publication, the reviewer may well decide that the title should be merely Johannes Arondeus (without the "Reverend"), but that can be dealt with at the time. David Biddulph (talk) 09:51, 16 September 2020 (UTC)

Megan Hathaway Dimera - missing page

Hi!

I'm wondering where a page has gone. When I searched for the page, it was redirected to a List of DAYS OF OUR LIVES characters. However, similar characters were not deleted, and still have pages up. For example, Stefano Dimera still has a page. Renée DuMonde is linked from this page to a page about the character, rather than merely a list of names. But Megan Hathaway, on Stefano's page, is not linked to the page that has been on Wikipedia for about 10 years.

Where has this page gone? Why has it been removed? Can we get it back?

There are a bunch of fans wanting to get the show to bring this character back. This page was a link we used to remind others about the character's storyline. Do we have to start all over again?

Thanks! — Preceding unsigned comment added by Expressing Truth (talk • contribs) 10:57, 16 September 2020 (UTC)

@Ravenswing: You blanked and redirected this page [1] with no edit summary explanation. Shhhnotsoloud (talk) 11:20, 16 September 2020 (UTC)

Hello, Expressing Truth. Without looking at details of this, I would point out that using a Wikipedia page as "a link .. to remind others about the character's storyline" has nothing to do with any of the purposes of Wikipedia; in fact, I would argue that in Wikipedia terms it counts as promotion. If the character meets Wikipedia's criteria for notability, then we want an article on it, based almost entirely on the independent reliably published sources that are required for notability; if they do not meet the criteria, then we do not want an article on them. If a Wikipedia article is of benefit to the subject, or a campaign, or anybody else, that is fortunate for them. But creating or editing an article for the benefit of anybody other than Wikipedia and its readers is, at the very least, a conflict of interest. --ColinFine (talk) 14:00, 16 September 2020 (UTC)

Hi Shhhnotsoloud Thank you for your reply. Is there a way to 'unblank' it? Can I simply click undo? Who has the final say? And how would I have found this out, myself? Is it easily available? 😊

Hi ColinFine Thank you for your information. The fan group, one of the fan groups, set up the page maybe 10 years ago,for the benefit of those who are die hard fans. There was a call for the information, along the same lines as many other articles from characters of this show and others. There's no promotional benefit that I can see. We aren't raising money or anything like that. If there were a conflict, wouldn't all of the fictional character pages be deleted? Honest question. 🙂 In any case, the actress won an award for the role and the character has been talked about numerous times over the years. So, yes, the character has Notability - for fans on the show. Is that not what the fictional character pages are for? Honest question. We felt it was very relevant. 😉

• What ColinFine said. The page was notability tagged for failure to meet several of Wikipedia's requirements for over ten years. Wikipedia is an encyclopedia with set guidelines and policies that must be met for a subject to merit an article, and neither your fan group nor anyone else did any of the work to prove that this minor fictional character (who does not make the top two hundred characters by number of appearances on that show) met them. Ten years is far more than enough time to do so. If you'd like to host this information on a website or blog for the benefit of your fan group -- presuming that hasn't already been done multiple times over -- you're more than welcome to do so, but Wikipedia is not a web host. Ravenswing 21:39, 16 September 2020 (UTC)

  Expressing Truth, if you are looking to have more in-depth information about Hathaway, you and your fan group may want to contribute and carry on over at the Days of our Lives wiki on FANDOM. —Tenryuu 🐲 ( 💬 • 📝 ) 03:26, 17 September 2020 (UTC)

  Thanks, Tenryuu -- I figured there had to be at least one dedicated wiki/group to the show out there. Ravenswing 04:20, 17 September 2020 (UTC)

  Ravenswing, you're welcome. I'm kinda hoping that articles' external links would allow links to FANDOM wikis so that fans can learn about the media they're interested in can access them and not be frustrated at the absence of information here due to Wikipedia's notability policy. —Tenryuu 🐲 ( 💬 • 📝 ) 21:45, 17 September 2020 (UTC)

Edit summary box

When I start a new section using the tab on another user's Talk page, I don't get an Edit summary box. So, for instance, to post an RfD notice at User talk:UnitedStatesian, I have created the new Section using the tab, pasted a version of {{subst:Rfd notice|RedirectName}}, and not completed the Subject/heading box because the template includes a heading. I am unable to leave an edit summary. That Talk page owner now has an edit from me at User talk:UnitedStatesian#"That Man in the White House" listed at Redirects for discussion but with no edit summary to explain. Why is the edit summary suppressed (I have Twinkle installed)? Shhhnotsoloud (talk) 07:44, 16 September 2020 (UTC)

@Shhhnotsoloud: Using the UI, there is no option to create a seperate edit summary, it will be always /* Section title */ new section. Twinkle uses the API to deliver notifications, which has the ability to set a custom edit summary. Victor Schmidt (talk) 13:23, 16 September 2020 (UTC)

Status of draft submitted on 12.09.2020

kindly let me know the status of the draft submitted on 12.09.2020 titled Draft:Sunil Fernandes Prastut.dalvi (talk) 11:28, 16 September 2020 (UTC)

Prastut.dalvi, its status is dormant. Nobody has asked for it to be converted to an article. If anyone did ask for this, then the request would fail. Wikipedia articles should be based on specified, independent, reliable, published sources; and Wikipedia articles on living people must be. In this draft, nothing is attributed to a specific, independent, reliable, published source (or indeed to any source). This draft needs a thoroughgoing revision. (And it also has issues besides referencing.) Please compare it with this article, which I promoted from a draft earlier today. And remember, your biographee is alive, so requirements for the article about him are more stringent. -- Hoary (talk) 12:02, 16 September 2020 (UTC)

Why is my translation not being published

Hi, I tried to create my own wikipedia article. I thought it's going be the easiest to translate an english article to polish. I used the translate function and the translation is available at: https://pl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedysta:MeHow1985/Charles_Henry_Dessalines_d%27Orbigny I read in the help section that it takes between a few hours to a few days to get an article approved and published, but it's been 10 days since I made that translation. So did I something wrong or should I just keep waiting an translate new articles in the meantime?

sincerely, MeHow

@MeHow1985: the article seems to have been published as a Personal draft, which is one of the possibilities mentioned in Help:Content translation/Publishing. As it is on pl Wikipedia you should ask on the pl Wikipedia helpdesk how you should publish your translation to the encyclopedia as each Wikipedia has its own rules. Hopefully you speak Polish as I would advise against translating into a language that you can't speak. TSventon (talk) 12:58, 16 September 2020 (UTC)

Trying to update picture in infobox

Hi all, I'm trying to update the picture for the infobox in https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Skidelsky,_Baron_Skidelsky, so I uploaded the picture and in the infobox I inserted the code, but now only the name of the file is shown in the infobox, and it's red.

What's happening? Can anyone help?

Thanks

I would be willing to help you, but first we need to resolve the permission stuff on commons. More info is available at c:User talk:Amxbolo Victor Schmidt (talk) 14:00, 16 September 2020 (UTC)

Published Page moved to draft space

Received message 1292simon‬ left a message on your talk page in "‪Index Exchange moved to draftspace‬". An article you recently created, Index Exchange, does not have enough sources and citations as written to remain published. It needs more citations.

There are 30 citations and references. I don't know what I'm doing wrong here. Although I've made edits before this is my first publishing a page from start. Any advice would be appreciated. — Preceding unsigned comment added by DVColorblind (talk • contribs) 14:14, 16 September 2020 (UTC)

I've looked at the first few sources cited in the draft, and found none that help to establish the subject as notable.

1. has a brief mention of the subject, but no discussion.
2. is to the company's own web site, so not independent.
3. (was unable to access source)
4. is to an interview with the CEO, so not independent.
5. (was unable to access source)
6. is to an interview with the CEO, so not independent.
7. does not mention the subject

Maybe there are some good sources cited further down the list. If there are, you could help any potential reviewer to find them by removing most of those that don't help to establish notability. Maproom (talk) 14:44, 16 September 2020 (UTC)

@DVColorblind: The reviewer did you the courtesy of moving the article to draft space instead of immediately nominating it for deletion. Some sources are useful to support assertions about the subject but do nothing to establish notability. Here, you have lots of sources, some of which may be relevant, but none that establish notability. You should remove any irrelevant sources, and if that is not enough to make it easy to identify the ones that establish notability, you may wish to put a note on the article's talk page identifying those for a reviewer. Please see WP:NCORP and WP:CSMN. -Arch dude (talk) 15:12, 16 September 2020 (UTC)

@DVColorblind:almost all of your edits at Wikipedia relate to this article about a relatively small company. This pattern often indicates that an editor has an association with the company. If this describes you, then you have a least a "conflict of interest" that you should disclose: see WP:COI. If you work for the company directly or indirectly, you are otherwise being compensated for your editing in any way, then our terms of service require that you disclose the relationship: see WP:PAID. In either case It's OK to keep working on the article in draft space, but do not move it into main space: submit it for review instead. -Arch dude (talk) 01:52, 17 September 2020 (UTC)

User Page

Please how do I connect my sandbox to a user page? I keep getting messages saying I need to connect itJbrayseven (talk) 16:23, 16 September 2020 (UTC).

Jbrayseven, you don't appear to have created a sandbox, or ever edited any other page than this. Did you edit a sandbox under a different account? GirthSummit _(blether) 16:24, 16 September 2020 (UTC)

Jbrayseven the term "sandbox" is used somewhat informally here at Wikipedia. Any subpage of a user page can be a sandbox and can have any reasonable page name of the form <youruserpagename> slash <some sandbox name>. For example User:Jbrayseven/Foo might be your sandbox to develop an article on the subject of "Foo". -Arch dude (talk) 17:31, 16 September 2020 (UTC)

Service Awards

Hey guys, I just stuck the {{Service awards}} template on my user page, and find it a little bothersome to have to update the edit count for the template manually. Does anyone know of a way to get it to update automatically? Like maybe some sort of personal edit count variable that I could have the template reference? Any help would be greatly appreciated. Angry Red Hammer Guy (talk) 16:47, 16 September 2020 (UTC)

Angry Red Hammer Guy, How often do you anticipate needing to edit it? Fiddle Faddle 17:16, 16 September 2020 (UTC)

Timtrent, Certainly not very often; you have a good point. It would still be neat if it could do it automatically though. Angry Red Hammer Guy (talk) 18:01, 16 September 2020 (UTC)

Angry Red Hammer Guy, Part of the fun of these is knowing you have qualified. Auto-update would take the fun away, surely? Fiddle Faddle 18:14, 16 September 2020 (UTC)

Timtrent, Huh, I didn't really think about it that way, but now that you say it, yes. It does seem like it would be more fun. Thanks dude! ;] Angry Red Hammer Guy (talk) 18:27, 16 September 2020 (UTC)

Angry Red Hammer Guy, there is always another way of looking at it. 🌷 Fiddle Faddle 18:39, 16 September 2020 (UTC)

I am the lyricist of the theme song; also the executive producer of the show. I am the cite for myself. Can be authenticated by looking by ascap.

— Preceding unsigned comment added by 2606:a000:1124:4338:9851:4f0b:ef64:447 (talk) 17:57, 16 September 2020 (UTC)

• (response to imperfectly formed message) Regrettably not. You do not pass our need for references. WP:42 is a good primer page for what is required. By the way, no-one here has any idea of the topic you are referring to. Fiddle Faddle 17:06, 16 September 2020 (UTC)

• Ah, it is The People Next Door (American TV series).The addition was made in good faith. However you display a substantial conflict of interest. Please see WP:PAID Fiddle Faddle 17:12, 16 September 2020 (UTC)

Merging across namespaces

Hi all, someone proposed a merge for Dewayne Perkins, an article I created, with a draft of the same name. The person who proposed the merge didn't add details about the merger on either talk page, and since then the draft article has been declined by Afc because Dewayne Perkins already exists. Are merger proposals across namespaces procedurally allowed? And, is it okay for me to just remove the merger tag since the draft has now been declined? Thank you.--Citrivescence (talk) 17:33, 16 September 2020 (UTC)

Vandalism help request from Sdkb

I have noticed some vandalism at [[2]]. Namely,

Under: 2. HISTORY

    2.1 - Origins - First sentence begins "Largely on the basis of donald trump theories and prolific work on Ethiopian history . . .".

Would an editor please assist me with fixing it? Thank you, 173.228.124.212 (talk) 17:43, 16 September 2020 (UTC)

Thank you for pointing this out. I've reverted the vandalism. Maproom (talk) 18:07, 16 September 2020 (UTC)

Table styling border with rowspan

I'm editing List of teams to overcome 3–1 series deficits (linked to the table), and in the 1992 row, I added a green border around Pittsburgh Penguins. However, the left column has a rowspan of 3, so the green border has overlapped on the left (top, bottom, and right, are fine). Is there a way to make sure the green border only stays around Pittsburgh Penguins? Thanks. Strangewrite385 (talk) 19:22, 16 September 2020 (UTC)

FYI - this appears to have been fixed. TimTempleton ^{(talk) (cont)} 20:31, 16 September 2020 (UTC)

It's not fixed. The left green border stretches to Detroit and Vancouver instead of only the Pittsburgh Penguins.

Year and series	Overcame 1-3 deficit	Blew 3-1 lead	Notes
1992 Division Semifinals	Pittsburgh Penguins*	Washington Capitals	Trailed 2–0 in the series before rallying to win the series and eventually the Stanley Cup
	Detroit Red Wings	Minnesota North Stars	Trailed 2–0 in the series before rallying to win the series
	Vancouver Canucks	Winnipeg Jets

Recreated the issue above, in case of any edits to that page. Strangewrite385 (talk) 20:43, 16 September 2020 (UTC)

@Strangewrite385: Looks OK to me (Win10/Firefox 80.0). Why not just highlight the cell (i.e., change it's background color to #DFD), which may be generally more bullet-proof, IME? —[AlanM1 (talk)]— 22:48, 16 September 2020 (UTC)

Ah, the issue seems to happen on just Chrome, Opera, and Safari. It looks fine on Firefox (I'm using Mac). I can't change to highlight, because that cell might be highlighted with a different color later (to indicate something else). Worst case, I'll just divide the 3-span cell into a 1-span and 2-span cell, but hopefully there's another way. Strangewrite385 (talk) 23:38, 16 September 2020 (UTC)

@AlanM1: Your comment helped me look for other table examples, one of which gave me a hacky way to fix it:

Year and series	Overcame 1-3 deficit	Blew 3-1 lead	Notes
1992 Division Semifinals	Detroit Red Wings	Minnesota North Stars	Trailed 2–0 in the series before rallying to win the series
	Pittsburgh Penguins*	Washington Capitals	Trailed 2–0 in the series before rallying to win the series and eventually the Stanley Cup
	Vancouver Canucks	Winnipeg Jets

Just switched the first two rows, not sure why, but that fixes it. Thanks for the discussion. Strangewrite385 (talk) 00:01, 17 September 2020 (UTC)

@Strangewrite385: Ah-ha - I didn't think to use another browser - I use Firefox. Glad it's fixed. TimTempleton ^{(talk) (cont)} 00:03, 17 September 2020 (UTC)

Draft:Bánh Tét Lá Cẩm

Can you please submit Draft:Bánh Tét Lá Cẩm for me? I cannot submit on my own. --Gioguch (talk) 21:45, 16 September 2020 (UTC)

I could, but I'm not going to. If I did, it would fail. You need to present reliable, published sources for what it says. -- Hoary (talk) 22:51, 16 September 2020 (UTC)

@Gioguch: Follow the guidance at WP:YFA to improve your draft. When it is ready, add {{subst:submit}} to the draft and it will be submitted for review. RudolfRed (talk) 23:46, 16 September 2020 (UTC)