Wikipedia:Help desk/Archives/2020 September 5

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.

September 5

Wikipedia zoomed out

for some reason my wikipedia page is zoomed way far out, like i cant read anything. how do i fix this? please email me at <redacted> as i cant read anything on wiki. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 129.119.235.26 (talk) 00:44, 5 September 2020 (UTC)

Hello, this may be a browser issue. In most browsers pressing Ctrl and either + or - (top right) will alter the 'zoom'and Ctrl+0 will reset to nil zoom either way. Please do not leave contact details as this is a publicly viewable area and Wikipedia will only converse via talk pages. (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) 02:18, 5 September 2020 (UTC)

Can't login

Hi I'm Chandan Dolui. My previous wikipedia account is/was "iamchandandolui"(username), but when I login it's showing wrong username or password (I know password is right). How to open the account? And also change email address which was corrupted and deleted. Please help me. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Chandandolui1 (talk • contribs) 00:51, 5 September 2020 (UTC)

@Chandandolui1: User names are case sensitive. Try logging in with Iamchandandolui. After you log in you can set the e-mail address for the account. RudolfRed (talk) 02:39, 5 September 2020 (UTC)

Note: Iamchandandolui was created 2019-07-01, Chandandolui was created 2019-05-26, and Mr.chandandolui was created 2019-11-14, none of which have made any contributions. This is Chandandolui1's first post since being created 2020-08-29. —[AlanM1 (talk)]— 05:05, 5 September 2020 (UTC)

Need help for Sahala Hamonangan Simatupang

So as you can see in the article, there's this same book but with a different volume. How could I cite different volumes of the books without confusion? Thanks Regards, Jeromi Mikhael ^(marhata) 01:27, 5 September 2020 (UTC)

@Jeromi Mikhael: Take a look at {{rp}}. I've never seen to used with multiple volumes, but its parameter is not restricted to being the page number. Thus one multivolume work could be referred to by volume and page number. -Arch dude (talk) 02:43, 5 September 2020 (UTC)

@Jeromi Mikhael: Note that {{cite book}} will render the |volume= parameter, even though it's not in the cite dialog; you just have to add it manually. Here are two ways of handling it with an example source, the first pair with the volume as part of the title (as it is in gBooks):

• Needham, Joseph; Wang, Ling (1956). Science and Civilisation in China: Volume 2, History of Scientific Thought. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 9780521058001.
• Needham, Joseph; Wang, Ling (1959). Science and Civilisation in China: Volume 3, Mathematics and the Sciences of the Heavens and the Earth. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 9780521058018.

or, using the |volume= parm:

• Needham, Joseph; Wang, Ling (1956). Science and Civilisation in China. Vol. Volume 2, History of Scientific Thought. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 9780521058001. {{cite book}}: |volume= has extra text (help)
• Needham, Joseph; Wang, Ling (1959). Science and Civilisation in China. Vol. Volume 3, Mathematics and the Sciences of the Heavens and the Earth. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 9780521058018. {{cite book}}: |volume= has extra text (help)

(view in source editor to see the syntax if needed) —[AlanM1 (talk)]— 03:30, 5 September 2020 (UTC)

Hello, AlanM1, the author is still the same, how could I differentiate it? Regards, Jeromi Mikhael ^(marhata) 03:41, 5 September 2020 (UTC)

@Jeromi Mikhael: I see you're probably talking about Panitia Perumus, both of whose books (vol III and IV) are dated 1990. The article uses Harvard cites. The documented way to do this is to add a lower-case letter suffix to the year. So, for volume III, set the date parm to "1990a". For volume IV, set the date to "1990b". In the text, when citing them, use {{sfn|Panitia Perumus|1990a|p=nnn}} or {{sfn|Panitia Perumus|1990b|p=nnn}}.

References

How to remove ref tag which has no content and insert URL link from public webpage please help?

FYI

 – Renamed heading to not break page. Question asked by SylviaHardy. —Tenryuu 🐲 ( 💬 • 📝 ) 03:20, 5 September 2020 (UTC)

@SylviaHardy: Perhaps you can tell us which page and where on the page the problem is? —[AlanM1 (talk)]— 03:32, 5 September 2020 (UTC) (edit conflict)

SylviaHardy If you're referring to the small mess that appeared on Temple School, I've fixed it. The section you were trying to amend should not have been there, since lists of notable alumni should only have entries for people who are 'notable' in the Wikipedia sense of having an article about them already. Perhaps we'll give the Vanity Fare singer a temporary pass, since the band has a page. But if the singer doesn't have individual notability and there's nothing in the Vanity Fare article that mentions Temple School, this entry might well be challenged.

As to how you managed to add a bunch of empty ref tag pairs, I can only guess that you were misguidedly clicking on buttons in the editor. If you use the 'Show preview' button before committing your changes, you may be able to back out from mistakes like this. — jmcgnh^{(talk) (contribs)} 03:45, 5 September 2020 (UTC)

So....

Grandfather's grandfather

Grandfather's grandmother

Grandfather's father

T.B. Simatupang

Sahala Hamonangan Simatupang (article I created)

Grandpa

Mom

Me

Is the article I created a COI? Regards, Jeromi Mikhael ^(marhata) 04:11, 5 September 2020 (UTC)

Just disclose the relationship on your user page. It's a distant enough connection that COI is of least concern, but it should nevertheless be disclosed. — jmcgnh^{(talk) (contribs)} 04:48, 5 September 2020 (UTC)

@Jmcgnh: What userbox should I use? Regards, Jeromi Mikhael ^(marhata) 07:20, 5 September 2020 (UTC)

Jeromi Mikhael, I recommend that you simply write out a statement of your connection. You could even include the family tree diagram. The templates and userboxes for COI are much blunter instruments.

That page you created has a number of problems, though,including broken sentences, an external link in body text that I believe may have been intended as a reference, and perhaps too much reliance on primary documents. You might have worked on it a bit more as a sandbox before moving it to article space. — jmcgnh^{(talk) (contribs)} 08:29, 5 September 2020 (UTC)

@Jmcgnh: Thanks for your advice! Regards, Jeromi Mikhael ^(marhata) 10:29, 5 September 2020 (UTC)

Rejected AfC

I need help with my page — Preceding unsigned comment added by Calvinfoss (talk • contribs) 07:18, 5 September 2020 (UTC)

@Calvinfoss: it was declined, not rejected. Thats a difference. Declined means "Eh, no, this is not yet ready for mainspace. Please improve it" while rejected means "Sorry, that cant be a valid article, please stop wasting everyone's time." I see you have resubmitted the draft. Victor Schmidt (talk) 08:25, 5 September 2020 (UTC)

A "TO-DO" list

I regularly use the "watchlist", but I'm looking for something like a "TO-DO" list or queue where I can mark an article as one I need to come back to in 2 months. Say, I put an "OR" tag on a section and I want to come back in 2 months and delete if the issue hasn't been fixed. But the article will never pop on my watchlist if no one edits it.VR _talk 15:12, 5 September 2020 (UTC)

Vice regent, maybe you would be interested in using the {{todo}} template on your talk page? —Tenryuu 🐲 ( 💬 • 📝 ) 15:23, 5 September 2020 (UTC)

Bethel Bible College, Prospectus, 2005.

— Preceding unsigned comment added by 103.217.212.56 (talk) 15:38, 5 September 2020 (UTC)

Hello, IP user. I take it that this is about the article Bethel Bible College, Guntur? Serols did not give a reason for reverting your edits, but the obvious reason I see is that they do not cite an independent source. Please understand that everything in a Wikipedia article must be available in a reliable published source; and that generally the sources must be independent. Wikipedia has basically no interest in what Bethel Bible College says or wants to say about itself: it is only interested in what people who have no connection with the college, and have not been prompted or fed information by the college, have chosen to publish about it in reliable places. Please see REFB. --ColinFine (talk) 16:17, 5 September 2020 (UTC)

Hello ColinFine, unsourced and IP created an error. Regards --Serols (talk) 17:33, 5 September 2020 (UTC)

Unable to load Wikipedia over my wifi/ broadband connection

Hi,

Hope you are doing well, i tried opening Wikipedia my laptop on all browsers trued cleaning cookies nothing worked, checked my connection too seems everything fine and other websites are working fine, Then i tried opening Wikipedia via my mobile data so it works is something going on ? Could you please help! — Preceding unsigned comment added by 27.63.44.236 (talk) 16:08, 5 September 2020 (UTC)

Hi IP editor, this page may be of help to you: Wikipedia:Troubleshooting. Seagull123 Φ 10:54, 6 September 2020 (UTC)

Edit Article

 Courtesy link: Fred Pincus

I tried updating my wikipedia entry by adding 3 additional books that I published and received the communication pasted in below. I don't understand how this is a conflict of interest unless you folks have a policy of people not being able to edit articles about themselves. Please explain.

@Pincusfl: Looking at the article in question and your username, it appears you're directly editing an article about yourself, which, while not prohibited, is strongly discouraged. Generally in these cases users with a conflict of interest like you would make edit requests on the article's talk page. —Tenryuu 🐲 ( 💬 • 📝 ) 17:31, 5 September 2020 (UTC)

@Pincusfl: You hit the nail on the head: I don't understand how this is a conflict of interest unless you folks have a policy of people not being able to edit articles about themselves. Please see the (blue) links in that message and the response above for more details. —[AlanM1 (talk)]— 21:06, 5 September 2020 (UTC)

Could the problem here be that Pincusfl didn't realize the blue text was a link because it wasn't underlined? (Not sure if that's the default setting for a new account.) ◅ Sebastian 07:25, 6 September 2020 (UTC)

@SebastianHelm: The default setting for new accounts it "let the browser decide", i.e. If the user's browser underlines links by default, links will be underlined, otherwise, they don't. Victor Schmidt (talk) 09:53, 6 September 2020 (UTC)

Thanks, Victor. So, Prof. Pincus, the takeaway from this may be to change your browser setting – or, if you prefer, specifically the setting for Wikipedia in your Preferences ▶ Appearance ▶ Advanced options ▶ Underline links. ◅ Sebastian 11:01, 6 September 2020 (UTC)

Understanding and using Wikipedia

Is it possible for me to get a comprehensive explanation of how to use the Wikipedia platforms and how best to stay out of trouble emailed to me so i can read offline? --Linda Matukane (talk) 16:55, 5 September 2020 (UTC)

On the comprehensive explanation part, see WP:TUTORIAL. You can always copypaste text and save off-line. Gråbergs Gråa Sång (talk) 20:29, 5 September 2020 (UTC)

Permission to Edit Your Page on Chodo Airport

I Served on Chodo Island North Korea in the USAF during the period from October 1962 till July 1953. I find that your Wikipedia page for Chodo (i.e. Chodo Island) is seriously lacking. While the information shown is somewhat accurate, some of it is in error and overall very incomplete. It appears to me that it was created rather early and leaves out an enormous amount of information of the happenings during that war. It was far more than an incomplete airport, and in fact was a well manned Air Control & Warning site which, among many other things, during that year controlled ALL fighter operations in MIG Alley, all bombing missions on the west side of Korea and yes, performed numerous rescue operations for downed pilots. Having been there during those years, I'd like permission and to edit and add to that page to tell about all the valiant men who served there and even some who paid the ultimate price for doing so.

Please tell me how I can go about getting permission to edit and add information to that page. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Capt Chodo (talk • contribs) 21:11, 5 September 2020 (UTC)

You don't need anybody's "permission" to edit an article. Please be aware, though, that we need published sources for the changes you want to make. "I know because I was there" and "everybody back then knew this" are total non-starters. We need verifiable neutral information published by reliable sources. --Orange Mike | Talk 21:32, 5 September 2020 (UTC)

As Orangemike said, your personal experience is not directly useful to us. We are a crowdsourced encyclopedia and we have no way (and no staff) to validate your identity or veracity, so we must depend solely on information that has been published in other sources that we can trust (what we call "reliable sources"). However, experts such as yourself have a huge advantage in identifying the areas that need improvement in the article, and in finding and evaluating reliable sources. Please help us with this if you can. -Arch dude (talk) 01:07, 6 September 2020 (UTC)

@Capt Chodo: Hi Captain! You might try to search some books to support your claims for anything you want to add on the article. You can ask me if you're confused with the referencing system. Regards, Jeromi Mikhael ^(marhata) 02:57, 7 September 2020 (UTC)

If you're confused, don't worry. Wikipedia's so-called "referencing system" is nothing of the sort, and remains opaquely and deliberately shite. Yes, I have some unified suggestions, but no-one will like them. >MinorProphet (talk) 00:54, 9 September 2020 (UTC)

CSS animations supported?

I've noticed Wikipedia is a good place to test HTML and CSS, so I am wondering if CSS animations are supported? I've tried doing one (from W3Schools) but it's not working, maybe I'm doing something wrong. Positron832 (talk) 21:35, 5 September 2020 (UTC)

@Positron832: Please read WP:NOT. Wikipedia is not here to be a general webtool testing platform. That said, a bit of casual generalized use for learning is tolerable. However, why not just use W3schools for this? It's what they do, after all. -Arch dude (talk) 00:56, 6 September 2020 (UTC)

@Arch dude: Don't worry, I like to style up my userpage a lot, I do small contributions to articles every now and then. I did use an example from W3schools, but I'm not sure how to correctly type it, some things like <style> doesn't seem to be used in Wikipedia. Anyways, thanks for your response. Positron832 (talk) 12:31, 6 September 2020 (UTC)

@Positron832: Cool. I like the bouncing Wikilogo on your user page. Your question made me think you just wanted to use Wikipedia as a tool primarily to then use the result elsewhere, but I now see that you are mostly editing here. -Arch dude (talk) 14:58, 6 September 2020 (UTC)

@Arch dude: Thanks for understanding, I think I might figure out how to do the code soon. Wish you a good day. Positron832 (talk) 18:42, 6 September 2020 (UTC)

@Positron832: Some people (like me) find those bouncing-ball animations very distracting. I don't get why you'd want to distract the user's eyes from what they're trying to read. You can do as you like with your user page (within reason), but please keep that in mind, and please don't do it outside your own user space without a very good reason (I can't easily find an example, but it might be something like where a single animated image could replace multiple images that show a change over time). Thanks. —[AlanM1 (talk)]— 08:39, 7 September 2020 (UTC)

@AlanM1: It is not meant to distract, I think it is nice with animation to add some life to an otherwise static page. I will only use animations on my own userpage, and there are only five words on it which I don't think craves much focus to read. Whenever I will expand my userpage I'll consider making it less noticeable. I have now centered the text and made it 25% more bigger for people who get distracted by the bouncing logo, thanks for letting me know. Positron832 (talk) 15:24, 7 September 2020 (UTC)

@AlanM1: You probably haven't seen other weirder user pages... Regards, Jeromi Mikhael ^(marhata) 23:46, 7 September 2020 (UTC)

@Positron832: Yes, I have seen some really terrible ones in my 12 years here. The relative size doesn't matter – the movement is distracting in the same way, and for the same reason, that ads with motion in them are distracting. The purpose of motion is exactly that – to draw attention to the thing that is moving. Thanks for listening. —[AlanM1 (talk)]— 00:02, 8 September 2020 (UTC)

@AlanM1: I think you accidentally replied to the wrong person, but you have convinced me to replace the bouncing logo with a still image. @Jeromi Mikhael:. Positron832 (talk) 14:01, 8 September 2020 (UTC)

wrong bio inserted by someone in German- how do I insert correct bio in English

Hello!

Someone inserted the wrong bio of an American filmmaker - using German. I am trying to delete this German bio and insert the correct info in English, but the old bio keeps popping back up after I publish. Can you please help me delete the German version, and insert the new English version?

Any help would be sincerely appreciated — Preceding unsigned comment added by Filmenthusiast2020 (talk • contribs) 22:37, 5 September 2020 (UTC)

Hello, Filmenthusiast2020. I think you must have got confused. Apart from this message here, all your edits have been to the article de:Joel Moffett in the German Wikipedia, so of course the article should be in German. English Wikipedia does not currently have an article on Moffett: if you want to create one, you are welcome, but please be aware that creating a new article is one of the most difficult tasks for an inexperienced editor. I suggest you spend time improving some of our six million existing articles first; but when you want to try it, please read your first article. If you want to try translating the German article into English, please read WP:Translation; but it looks to me as if the German article does not have an acceptable level of referencing for a new English article, so it would be better to start from scratch. --ColinFine (talk) 23:03, 5 September 2020 (UTC)

Can someone advise me as to how to create a page for Andrew Jacobs, the actor ? I need to post his bio as it is also on imdb and he is currently interviewing for his recent release on Trinkets - thank you in advance

Born into a Mexican family in Los Angeles, Andrew was raised in MacArthur Park. At a very young age, unfortunately, he was in and out of foster homes and then adopted by a French mother.

Early on Andrew was recognized for his dancing and acting abilities and was challenged to excel in school in exchange for working in film and television. It became a creative time for the whole family to accompany Andrew on his adventures.

Andrew's birth family was a lineage of gang families and he inevitably made bad choices, resulting in some very bad times. He became a father at the age of 18, and the love for his son convinced him to change his ways.

He started his career with a lead role in Paramount Pictures’ Paranormal Activity:The Marked Ones, followed by the lead in the modern take of Emily Bronte's novel Wuthering Heights: Wuthering High renamed The Wrong Boyfriend, followed by Lasso, which is now available on New Media Channels. Then a Series Regular for NBC / USA Channel's pilot called Run For Your Life, and Season 2 Trinkets Regular on Netflix based on the novel Trinkets by Kirsten "Kiwi" Smith. Andrew loves his work and is involved daily with its developments.

Andrew realizes the passion for acting is branded in him. He truly thrives reading for amazing characters and being around remarkable film making. — Preceding unsigned comment added by MMPRGROUP (talk • contribs) 2020-09-06T00:01:10 (UTC)

Hello, MMPRGROUP. I'm afraid that it appears that (like many people) you are under a misapprehension that a Wikipedia article is in any way shape or form for the benefit of the subject. It is not. If the subject of an article gains some benefit from there being an article, fine; but Wikipedia has absolutely no interest in promoting anybody or anything, furthering anybody's career, or satisfying anybody's timetable.

Having got that out of the way, the next thing is to consider who you are. Judging from your account name, I'm guessing that you are from a publicity company or agency? If so, then absolutely the first thing you need to do is to read about paid editing, and make the mandatory declarations specified therein. The next thing you need to do is to change your user name to one that does not suggest that you are editing on behalf of a company. "Joe at MMPRGroup" would be fine, but all accounts must be used by individuals (and it's fine to use a pseudonym: I don't but many users do).

When you have done all that, then you should look at NACTOR to determine whether or not Jacobs meets Wikipedia's criteria (not yours) for notability: if he does not, then any further time and effort you put in will be wasted. If he does, then read your first article and you may create a draft. Remember that Wikipedia is basically not interested in anything that Jacobs says or wants to say about himself, or that his associates, employers, or agents say about him: it is only interested in what people who have no connection with him (and not prompted or fed information by him) have chosen to publish about him in reliable places.

Be aware that creating a new article is one of the most difficult tasks there is for new editors. Doing so with a conflict of interest is even harder.

Does this sound discouraging? I'm afraid it is meant to be. Promotion of any kind is forbidden on Wikipedia. If Jacobs is notable by Wikipedia's standard, then in time somebody uninvolved will write an article on him. --ColinFine (talk) 23:17, 5 September 2020 (UTC)

I find it interesting that User:MMPRGROUP had had an account on Wikipedia for over twelve and a half years but this Help Desk request was their only edit ever. JIP | Talk 23:41, 5 September 2020 (UTC)