Help desk
< March 24	<< Feb \| March \| Apr >>	March 26 >

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.

March 25

Church of Our Lady of Lourdes Klang

Ref. number 8 should list the publication as "The Star" - please fix this if possible - thanks 58.179.137.31 (talk) 01:51, 25 March 2023 (UTC)[reply]

Done! GoingBatty (talk) 04:33, 25 March 2023 (UTC)[reply]

Reporting flags

Hello, I wish to report a serious problem with many Wikipedia articles and seek guidance on how to rectify it.

Some time ago I had removed some fictional flags from articles on Bengal Subah and Battle of Plassey. The flags were from the game EU4 and were about a much older Bengal Sultanate in the game. Unfortunately, the flags have been re-introduced.

Even more concerning, it just does not stop at that, I have recently come to see many fictional flags primarily from the same game being used for many many articles of the polities and battles of pre colonial Indian kingdoms.

This is deeply concerning as it jeopardises the credibility in front of those informed and misinforms the uninformed. Just as all written material on Wikipedia needs citations, I suggest that it be made essential that flags too require references.

Kodombo (talk) 02:43, 25 March 2023 (UTC)[reply]

@Kodombo: Your removals of File:Flag of the Principality of Bengal (15th-18th century).svg were both reverted by User:Cookersweet [1][2] who has been blocked along with other accounts controlled by the same person. The file is hosted at commons:File:Flag of the Principality of Bengal (15th-18th century).svg and not the English Wikipedia. You can change the description to say it's a fictional flag from w:Europa Universalis IV. The initial w: is used in links from Commons to the English Wikipedia. If the other flags are also hosted at Commons then you can bring up the issue at commons:Commons talk:WikiProject Flags. I don't think it's practical for the English Wikipedia to require a reference when a flag is used. PrimeHunter (talk) 03:18, 25 March 2023 (UTC)[reply]

Citing a reference that contains an incorrect detail

Hello, I sometimes find myself wanting to cite a reliable source but realize that some detail in the article is incorrect. For instance, this article by El País (in Spanish) mentions that Iran Air started flying from Caracas to Tehran in March 2007 but that Conviasa took over the flight just 2 months later. However, this source (in German) provides evidence that Iran Air was still flying the route in June 2007, and this article states that Conviasa did not start operating the flight until October 2007. I was hoping to use the El País article because it is written by a reliable news organization and contains lots of notable information, but it appears to get this one detail wrong. Would it be acceptable to cite such a source? Sunnya343 (talk) 03:24, 25 March 2023 (UTC)[reply]

@Sunnya343 You might be right, but why do you trust one source over the other? David10244 (talk) 06:16, 25 March 2023 (UTC)[reply]

@David10244: I was thinking that the German article is a first-hand account of the author's experience on the flight, although now that I think of it, perhaps the author took the flight prior to June 2007. The article from Iran Daily was published 2 days after Conviasa's inaugural flight took place (if we take the article to be accurate). On the other hand, the El País article was written a couple of years later. Sunnya343 (talk) 15:07, 25 March 2023 (UTC)[reply]

@Sunnya343 You could mention that there is conflicting information and cite all three sources. Random person no 362478479 (talk) 22:03, 25 March 2023 (UTC)[reply]

Request to Change Page Title for Trademark Infringement

I am writing to request a change in the title of a Wikipedia page that infringes on my trademark. The current page title, "Virtuos", is identical to my registered trademark, "Virtuos"

The use of my trademark in the Wikipedia page title is causing confusion among consumers, and I am concerned that it may be detrimental to my business. As such, I am requesting that the page title be changed to [Virtuos Games], which does not infringe on my trademark.

I will attach evidence of my trademark registration and documentation showing my use of the trademark in commerce if it is required

I would appreciate your prompt attention to this matter and look forward to a positive resolution.

Article URL = https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virtuos

Thank You Rishabhgambhir988 (talk) 04:10, 25 March 2023 (UTC)[reply]

Rishabhgambhir988, huh? I don't see how a Wikipedia article's name has anything to do with your alleged copyright or how it is hurting your business in any way. Perhaps someone else here has more expertise this area. Thanks, EDG 543 ^{(message me)} 04:17, 25 March 2023 (UTC)[reply]

Whenever someone searches for my company's name, they often come across a gaming company with a similar name on Wikipedia. This is causing confusion for my audience about our respective niches. To prevent any further confusion, I would like to request a change in the article name of the gaming company on Wikipedia from "Virtuos" to "Virtuos Games." I believe this change will make it clearer to my audience that our companies operate in different niches. Rishabhgambhir988 (talk) 04:47, 25 March 2023 (UTC)[reply]

@Rishabhgambhir988: It appears that the game company calls itself "Virtuos", as do the reliable sources in the article. Therefore, per WP:COMMONNAME, it's reasonable for the Wikipedia article about the company to be named Virtuos. If Wikipedia had another article with a similar name, then there may need to be some disambiguation needed. If there's a potential trademark issue, you might want to address that with the game company, not here. GoingBatty (talk) 04:30, 25 March 2023 (UTC)[reply]

The gaming company in question is consistently using the name "Virtuos Games" on all other platforms except for their Wikipedia page. Even their domain name is Virtuosgames.com. Therefore, it would be beneficial to change the title on their Wikipedia page to match their consistent naming convention. Rishabhgambhir988 (talk) 04:48, 25 March 2023 (UTC)[reply]

You don't seem to understand. That is not their "Wikipedia page". They do not have anything to do with the article about them. That is an article about them in this encyclopedia. And the practice in this encyclopedia is to use the ordinarily-used name for the subject of the article. Most articles about this company call it "Virtuos", so that's what we do too. We don't care how the subject is known formally, as in SEC filings and the like. And we certainly are even more indifferent to what you think. If you have a gaming company of your own called "Virtuos", that's between you and the other guys, and we insist you leave us out of it. --Orange Mike | Talk 05:00, 25 March 2023 (UTC)[reply]

@Orangemike To nitpick a bit, I don't think the OP necessarily has a gaming company named "Virtuos", just a registered trademark... which might be some kind of company, gaming or otherwise. But you are otherwise completely correct, of course. David10244 (talk) 06:22, 25 March 2023 (UTC)[reply]

What is your own meaning of Virtuos? If it's mentioned elsewhere in Wikipedia then maybe there could be a note at top of Virtuos. We don't rename articles just because something without its own article has the same name, and we don't add notes if something isn't mentioned in Wikipedia. PrimeHunter (talk) 05:29, 25 March 2023 (UTC)[reply]

@Rishabhgambhir988: You are correct that their domain name is virtuosgames.com. However, their logo is "Virtuos" and the text on their website refers to themselves as "Virtuos", not "Virtuos Games". GoingBatty (talk) 01:35, 26 March 2023 (UTC)[reply]

The English-language sources in the article Virtuos almost all call it Virtuos (the source by Gach is an exception). Wikipedia should therefore use that name. There is another company with the name "Virtuos". Its web site says "We are born in digital native cloud redefining how Customer Experience (CX), Employee Experience (EX), and Everything Experience (XX) orchestrate across a symphony of brand, digital, and commerce." I think that means they design web sites. If that is the OP's company, maybe they could reduce the confusion by providing a clearer statement of what they do. Maproom (talk) 09:59, 25 March 2023 (UTC)[reply]

Orchestrate across a symphony? Hmmmmm. David10244 (talk) 07:42, 27 March 2023 (UTC)[reply]

Rishabhgambhir988, that's not how trademarks work. Trade mark protection is scoped to specific industry and jurisdiction. Cadbury claims to have a trademark in the colour purple, but that only applies to confectionery. We can still use colour swatches at purple. Possibly computer games and "everything experience (XX)" could be industry sector overlap, but it’s likely your Virtuos is registered in a different country or state from the other Virtuos. If not, then the issue of infringement is between the two companies, not us.

Does Wikipedia's and search engines' reach disadvantage less-notable companies? Probably. You've done well to get your company name on the first SERP, given that the competing spellings virtuous and virtuoso are also listed in the results. ⁓ Pelagic ( messages ) 19:13, 28 March 2023 (UTC)[reply]

Help with personal attacks/edit warring IP

Hello, please see edit history of IP user 207.148.176.2. Assistance is needed for obvious personal attacks in edit summary. "You ever wonder why no one takes this site seriously anymore? Its assholes like you that have ruined Wikipedia" Thanks, EDG 543 ^{(message me)} 04:12, 25 March 2023 (UTC)[reply]

@EDG 543: Hi there! Try reviewing the info at WP:ANI. Hope this helps, and happy editing! GoingBatty (talk) 04:23, 25 March 2023 (UTC)[reply]

@EDG 543 I can see this is related to an edit war at Streisand effect. It might be easier to request that the article be temporarily protected in some way. Mike Turnbull (talk) 17:01, 25 March 2023 (UTC)[reply]

Does edit warring Streisand effect about elonjet create more Streisand effect for Elon's jet? I wonder how long it will be before a term like “Elon Effect” enters the global lexicon. Anyway, I see that an admin has placed a 72-hour block on the IP. Signed, the cringe edgelord formerly known as ⁓ Pelagic ( messages ) 19:22, 28 March 2023 (UTC)[reply]

Ending an RFC

When ending an RFC, is there anything I need to do beyond removing the {{rfc}} template? Am I required to somehow formally close the discussion? ADifferentMan (talk) 05:15, 25 March 2023 (UTC)[reply]

Hi ADifferentMan. WP:RFCEND has guidance on when and how RfCs can end. Removing the tag and moving on, when consensus is clear, is included as one of the options. Firefangledfeathers (talk / contribs) 15:23, 25 March 2023 (UTC)[reply]

Password

I just changed my password at the behest of Google, which said it had been comprised. The new password I entered is now coming back as incorrect. I copied it AND saved it in my iPhone password saver. The problem is my email address - which I was trying to change - no longer exists. It was a Verizon email and they stopped providing email. Even so, I no longer have an account with them. I’ve been a user of Wikipedia for over 7 years. Please help! Lynx Spirrit (talk) 05:23, 25 March 2023 (UTC)[reply]

This is the help page for issues related to Wikipedia. Since you are logged in to your Wikipedia account, this is not a Wikipedia issue. As the notice at the top of the page says, you can try the reference desk Meters (talk) 05:34, 25 March 2023 (UTC)[reply]

@Lynx Spirrit: Is this about your Wikipedia account "Lynx Spirrit"? It only has seven edits: Special:Contributions/Lynx Spirrit. If you are not strongly attached to the username then you can just create another account. If you don't know the password for Lynx Spirrit and cannot access the email address then you will lose the account as soon as you log out. If you want to try to keep the username then create another account from another browser WITHOUT logging out in the browser where you are logged in as Lynx Spirrit. Then write, while logged in as Lynx Spirrit, the name of the other account and say it's you and you want it renamed to Lynx Spirrit. Then you can try a request at Wikipedia:Changing username/Usurpations with edits from both accounts as proof. Remain logged in as Lynx Spirrit for as long as possible. If they consider your usurpation request then they may ask for more while you are logged in. We don't normally allow usurpation of an account which has edits but if you can demonstrate it's your own account then it may help. PrimeHunter (talk) 05:53, 25 March 2023 (UTC)[reply]

@Lynx Spirrit Has Google told you that your Wikipedia password has been compromised? How would Google know that? Or does Google really know everything these days? David10244 (talk) 06:24, 25 March 2023 (UTC)[reply]

@David10244: Several possibilities on how that could happen. We do not know what passowrd manager the OP uses, however, some password managers track the last time you updated the password and warn you if a database breach occured since you last updated it. Alternatively, some sites automatically calculate the SHA1 hash of your password and check that against something like https://haveibeenpwned.com/Passwords. Also, I am not concinved I can rule out a case of password reuse here, strong warning to everyone: Reusing your password everywhere is a significant safety risk, as a hacker only needs to compromise one site to get all others, doubly so if one uses the email adress as the other value in login credentials. Victor Schmidt (talk) 11:07, 25 March 2023 (UTC)[reply]

Yes, those are good possibilities. David10244 (talk) 07:43, 27 March 2023 (UTC)[reply]

Matthew beard

Why isn’t Matthew beard (1870-1985) (aged 114 years and 222 days) at number 5 on the list of the world’s oldest living men? Gogokingkong (talk) 05:32, 25 March 2023 (UTC)[reply]

He's not alive, so he's not going to be listed on any list of living people. If we have reliable sources for his lifespan then he can be listed in List of the verified oldest people and Oldest people. What sources are available? Meters (talk) 05:46, 25 March 2023 (UTC)[reply]

And I see that the case of Matthew Beard has previously been discussed on now-archived threads of the article talk page. I suggest that you read those threads and see if there is anything new to discuss. Meters (talk) 05:50, 25 March 2023 (UTC)[reply]

It appears that Matthew Beard's supposed lifespan is in question. A recent web page on this case https://longeviquest.com/2023/03/mathew-beard-status-reclassification/ shows that his supposed lifespan was accepted at one time, but has since been rejected. Meters (talk) 06:00, 25 March 2023 (UTC)[reply]

More generally, so-called "blue zones" match regions with poor birth-record-keeping. It’s actually a funny illustrative example of a weird statistical effect that when you look at extreme samples, standard assumptions can break down because the rare assumption-breaking cases show up in relatively large numbers.

Few people forget their day of birth, let alone misremember it to a much earlier date, but some do. Assume for the sake of the argument that 0.1% of people older than 50 think they were born 20 years earlier than they really were. You might think that those 0.1% are going to be drowned in the statistics of people who correctly know their age.

But that's where composition effects kick in. The ratio of people aged (X) to people aged (X+20) drops sharply with increasing X due to the Gompertz–Makeham law of mortality. There aren’t many more people aged 50 than 70, but there are 4-5 more people aged 90 than 70 (in the US), and waaaay more people aged 90 than 110.

Hence, the 0.1% of 50-year-olds who think they’re 70 is a very small population compared to the actually-70-year-olds, but the 0.1% of 90-year-olds who think they are 110 outnumber the actually-110-year-olds.

Of those, there is an additional layer to the problem. Everywhere, people who think they are 110 outnumber people who really are 110. But the proportion of such people that are believed by others depends on the location. In places without accurate birth records, journalists might will believe you and your friends; with accurate records, they will check the record.

The effect above is amplified by (1) an increase in the rate of birth misremembrance with age (due to distance to birth and/or senility), and (2) fraud (there’s no point in lying when you are "young" - you might deceive journalists into coming to your "100th birthday" when you are only 80, but no journalist will come for your "70th birthday" when you are 50).

Tigraan^{Click here for my talk page ("private" contact)} 10:07, 28 March 2023 (UTC)[reply]

Search

Why is something you search something but it come with something else lol lol lol just whyyyyyyyy@° 86.29.62.101 (talk) 14:28, 25 March 2023 (UTC)[reply]

Do you actually expect anyone to be able to guess what you want and give an answer? See Help:Searching for general help. If you have a meaningful question then ask it. PrimeHunter (talk) 15:46, 25 March 2023 (UTC)[reply]

How do I send articles to Wikipedia for publication?

How does one send articles to Wikipedia for publication? 102.89.33.207 (talk) 15:49, 25 March 2023 (UTC)[reply]

Step 1: make absolutely sure that the subject is notable. See WP:N. Notability is our only absolute requirement. If the subject is not notable by our definition, then we will delete the article, wasting your time and ours.
Step 2: read a few articles on subjects similar to yours to see what a Wikipedia article should look like.
Step 3: proceed to WP:YFA.

-Arch dude (talk) 16:41, 25 March 2023 (UTC)[reply]

Page: Tottenham; paragraph: "Namesakes"

Why was the boldface present? Is there a specific reason? Page: Tottenham; paragraph: "Namesakes". JackkBrown (talk) 16:04, 25 March 2023 (UTC)[reply]

@JackkBrown: Tottenham cake redirects there. Wikipedia:Manual of Style/Text formatting#Article title terms says: "The most common use of boldface is to highlight the first occurrence of the article's title word or phrase in the lead section. This is also done at the first occurrence of a term (commonly a synonym in the lead) that redirects to the article or one of its subsections, whether the term appears in the lead or not". PrimeHunter (talk) 16:25, 25 March 2023 (UTC)[reply]

Can Wikipedia contact psychiatrist about psychosis.

psychiatrist help in treating psychosis. How is this accomplished. 146.113.133.61 (talk) 17:04, 25 March 2023 (UTC)[reply]

Maybe our articles at Psychiatrist and Psychosis would help. Please don't create new Sections on this page to ask additional questions: just add them here if necessary. I have no idea what aspect of login you want to understand. Mike Turnbull (talk) 17:47, 25 March 2023 (UTC)[reply]

Wikipedia cannot provide you with medical advice or assistance. If you wish to contact a psychiatrist, use Google to search for psychiatrists in your area or ask your primary care physician to contact one for you. Thebiguglyalien (talk) 19:11, 25 March 2023 (UTC)[reply]

If this is a current emergency, Google for "emergency psychiatric hotline" and call for help. If in doubt, do not wait. -Arch dude (talk) 00:39, 26 March 2023 (UTC)[reply]

Login is what i am interested in. 146.113.133.61 (talk) 17:07, 25 March 2023 (UTC)[reply]

There should be a "create account" link in the upper right corner(it may be in a drop down menu). You may also request an account at WP:ACC. 331dot (talk) 19:16, 25 March 2023 (UTC)[reply]

You use the mobile version which has a hamburger menu icon ☰ at the top left. PrimeHunter (talk) 20:10, 25 March 2023 (UTC)[reply]

Regarding Infobox for former villages

Hello. I was wondering if anybody knows if there's a infobox I could use for articles about former villages Zaur and Galgaï-Yurt. WikiEditor1234567123 (talk) 21:05, 25 March 2023 (UTC)[reply]

Hello, WikiEditor1234567123. You can use Template: Infobox settlement. Cullen328 (talk) 21:31, 25 March 2023 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks! WikiEditor1234567123 (talk) 22:07, 25 March 2023 (UTC)[reply]