Help desk
< October 28	<< Sep \| October \| Nov >>	October 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.

October 29[edit]

Getting columns to render properly next to an infobox[edit]

I'm trying to get the columns on my userpage under the "Recommended Reading" heading to render so that all three headings are next to each other, with the last column directly next to the infobox. The current version is as close as I've gotten, and you can see a couple failed attempts in the page history, but if you look you'll see that its forcing the headings down so that they all render underneath the infobox instead of next to it. Any tips here? ThadeusOfNazereth(he/him)^{Talk to Me!} 04:43, 29 October 2022 (UTC)[reply]

As a note, please don't judge the reading - I'm gonna get around the updating it eventually but I think its been there since 2016! ThadeusOfNazereth(he/him)^{Talk to Me!} 04:45, 29 October 2022 (UTC)[reply]

BCE, CE/BC, AD[edit]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Habiru has both BC and BCE, sometimes in the same sentence; in one of them BCE was changed to to BC recently. From a quick look at Teahouse archives I get the impression that the policy is to to use BCE rather than BC in articles like this. Is there a general policy about the use of BCE and CE rather than BC and AD? Presumably use should be consistent in all articles. I've read https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Manual_of_Style/Dates_and_numbers#Era_style but it doesn't really answer my question apart from the consistency point.

Would it be better to ask at Village Pump? Mcljlm (talk) 07:52, 29 October 2022 (UTC)[reply]

@Mcljlm: Check out WP:BCE. TimTempleton ^(talk) ^(cont) 09:26, 29 October 2022 (UTC)[reply]

Tim Templeton: Mcljim says they have already checked that page. ColinFine (talk) 09:36, 29 October 2022 (UTC)[reply]

Isn't that article now consistently "BCE"? I fixed it a few days ago: see its recent edit history. Feline Hymnic (talk) 13:13, 29 October 2022 (UTC)[reply]

@Feline Hymnic: thanks, it is OK now; I hope it stays that way. I originally posted this at Teahouse before your edit and should have checked before posting here. (BTW I'm a male).

Generally, is it WP policy to use BCE in all articles about non-Christian cultures (together with CE when relevant)? Mcljlm (talk) 15:20, 29 October 2022 (UTC)[reply]

It can't be summed up in a single sentence. It's more complex and nuanced than that, which is why we have the section to which the link WP:BCE takes you. --Orange Mike | Talk 15:27, 29 October 2022 (UTC)[reply]

who is …[edit]

The who is paid should be just who it is. Not who is black or who is the first black or the first Italian for example the prima ballerina is Misty Copeland the fact that she’s black is secondary. Please get your pages together. 2601:201:300:7C50:D586:1B95:37E7:C4C (talk) 17:16, 29 October 2022 (UTC)[reply]

Get your argument together first; this is word salad and nonsensical. —Jéské Couriano v^_^v ^{a little blue Bori} 18:34, 29 October 2022 (UTC)[reply]

Being a little kinder than Jeske - I am struggling to understand what you are saying, but I think you are objecting to people being characterized as "the first Italian to..." or "the first Black person to...". It would be helpful if you would give specific examples of what you are talking about. But if I have your meaning right, the answer (as usual) lies in the sources. If a reliable independent source describes somebody as "the first Italian to ..." then that information may go into an article about the person. It doesn't have to: this is a matter of editorial discretion, usually settled by discussion on the article's talk page. If there isn't a source that says this, then it should not go into the article, and any editor may remove it (including you - but make sure you give an edit summary explaining why you are removing it). ColinFine (talk) 22:17, 29 October 2022 (UTC)[reply]

Courtesy link: Misty Copeland Maproom (talk) 07:02, 30 October 2022 (UTC)[reply]

Choice of words[edit]

I was reading Wikipedia to research Informed Consent Action Network (ICAN). In Wikipedia it is described as a “misinformation” organization. Because an organization questions the efficacy of a medical procedure does not mean they are spreading “misinformation”. In fact who determines what information is “misinformation”? I would like to have corrected the article but I do not know how to do so and I do not believe that the information provided by Wikipedia should be subject to capricious editing by readers. Octogenarian grandma (talk) 18:01, 29 October 2022 (UTC)[reply]

Octogenarian grandma Wikipedia summarizes what independent reliable sources say about a topic. If the preponderance of reliable sources describe an organization as spreading misinformation, Wikipedia does too. If the sources in the article are not being accurately summarized, please go to Talk:Informed Consent Action Network and detail the specific errors. If you have additional sources that provide different perspectives, please offer them there, though that will not mean other sources will be outright removed. If you just disagree with what the sources say, but they are accurately summarized, you will have to discuss that with the sources. 331dot (talk) 18:10, 29 October 2022 (UTC)[reply]

CA-SCR-177 -- Title issues[edit]

Hello,

I wrote the first draft of this article with a different title. I was notified (in Nov 2021) that there was a discussion about the title. It seemed that a decision was made to change the title to CA-SCR-117 --- even though editors thought that no one would ever look it up this way or find it this way. I am wondering how to petition for a change or to edit it-- for a title that is more user accessible such as "The Scotts Valley site" or the Scotts Valley Pleistocene Lake site." Would you let me know? Thank you for your help. RkOLOGUY (talk) 20:02, 29 October 2022 (UTC)[reply]

Courtesy link: CA-SCR-177

If you dont think anyone will object, you can just move the page yourself. Otherwise, see Wikipedia:Requested moves. ■ ∃ Madeline ⇔ ∃ Part of me ; 20:07, 29 October 2022 (UTC)[reply]

An alternative approach is to leave it where it is and add The Scotts Valley Site (for example) as a WP:redirect. The question really is what the sources call it: see WP:COMMONNAME. ColinFine (talk) 22:24, 29 October 2022 (UTC)[reply]

Mathias Luna[edit]

Brazilian Jiu Jitsu Black Belt Mathiasluna21 (talk) 22:54, 29 October 2022 (UTC)[reply]

We recommend NOT writing about yourself on Wikipedia. —Jéské Couriano v^_^v ^{a little blue Bori} 22:55, 29 October 2022 (UTC)[reply]