Help desk
< January 18	<< Dec \| January \| Feb >>	January 20 >

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.

January 19

Sean T WIKIPEDIA Page

I Have a WIKIPEDIA page Titled Sean T & the pictures of the artist on that page is not me, how do i correct this issue? Please HelpSean Thompson (talk) 00:24, 19 January 2017 (UTC)[reply]

You do not have a page; there is a page about you. You have no particular control over that page. However, if you can demonstrate that some info is wrong or unduly exposed, go to [1] to create a new section on the article's talk page, type in {{Request edit}} at the top, and then describe the changes you want in the form "I would like X to be changed to Y, because (...) which is proved by (such and such source)". This is the standard process to request edits when you have a conflict of interest, and probably the fastest. You may have to take steps to establish your identity, though. --Orange Mike | Talk 00:41, 19 January 2017 (UTC)[reply]

I removed the two images which appear to show another person from the article subject. The pictures are of Seanie T. from London, not Sean T from California. Rmhermen (talk) 05:22, 19 January 2017 (UTC)[reply]

Broken references

Hi I tried deleting broken references but i'm not sure how to do it. Can someone provide me with a detailed explanation of how I can achieve this? All the references when clicked on lead to empty pages.

Thanks in advance!! — Preceding unsigned comment added by Mar blazer (talk • contribs) 01:44, 19 January 2017 (UTC)[reply]

We don't delete references just because they are broken, as hopefully someone may be able to salvage them, see WP:link rot. I have tagged the dead links in this edit. --David Biddulph (talk) 01:57, 19 January 2017 (UTC)[reply]

How to report articles currently only being edited by POV-pushers?

The article Orthomolecular psychiatry is currently shaped by people who want to hide the fact that the consensus in the scientific community is that orthomolecular psychiatry is pseudoscience. I don’t have time to edit the article. How can it be flagged and reported that someone who respects NPOV needs to intervene? The current message at the top of the article (“This article may require cleanup”) is inadequate because the problem isn’t low quality, the problem is that the article is being rewritten in bad faith. Jan Arvid Götesson (talk) 01:55, 19 January 2017 (UTC)[reply]

Try the Fringe theory noticeboard.74.70.146.1 (talk) 13:00, 19 January 2017 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks. Some users have started restoring NPOV and the POV-pushers haven't started an edit war yet. Jan Arvid Götesson (talk) 22:03, 23 January 2017 (UTC)[reply]

Abbreviating month names in date computing templates

Is it possible to abbreviate a month name through using e.g. {{Birth date}} or {{Death date}}? So instead of January 1, 1970, the month is abbreviated down to three letters as Jan. 1, 1970 (mdy) or 1 Jan 1970 (dmy). If this feature is currently unavailable, is there anyone willing to make it available? (Say by adding an extra parameter or something?) Thank-you.--Nevé –selbert 03:42, 19 January 2017 (UTC)[reply]

I can't find this option in any of the date templates, although it is acceptable under WP:DATEFORMAT for situations "where brevity is helpful (refs, tables, infoboxes, etc.)" The templates have options for day-fist or month-first formatting (and some also have ISO date formats, etc.), but not the shortened month name. I guess the best place to start the discussion would be at Template talk:Birth date. --Gronk Oz (talk) 07:42, 19 January 2017 (UTC)[reply]

Hmm, ok. @Redrose64 and EEng: Sorry to bother, but do both of you have any thoughts or suggestions on how to abbreviate months? Much appreciated.--Nevé –selbert 23:44, 19 January 2017 (UTC)[reply]

Well, like Gronk said, the acceptable ways of abbreviating are at DATEFORMAT, but they're only for use in cramped situations. Don't hold your breath for a change to the templates. It's usually best when submitting questions like this to link to the article in question. E Eng 00:14, 20 January 2017 (UTC)[reply]

The {{#time:}} parser function can reformat dates: {{#time: j M Y|1 January 1970}} → 1 Jan 1970 and {{#time: M. j, Y|1 January 1970}} → Jan. 1, 1970. Do not try to wrap it around {{birth date}}, it will probably throw an error, but will certainly break the microformats. --Redrose64 🌹 (talk) 00:25, 20 January 2017 (UTC)[reply]

How in the world did that help? The question was about the Birth/Death templates. E Eng 00:31, 20 January 2017 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks Redrose64, but that would mean I'd have to go into my draft and convert each template to the one you refer to. Are you sure there isn't a quicker way, resulting in less exhaustion? I can't understand why a simple parameter can't be added to the templates, like |abbr=true, or something.--Nevé –selbert 00:46, 20 January 2017 (UTC)[reply]

Another option would be to skip the templates and just format the text directly (abbreviating if it's one of the situations DATEFORMAT contemplates), letting the microformats people get their act together when they can. E Eng 03:21, 20 January 2017 (UTC)[reply]

That would take forever in my case EEng. I'm preparing a draft and I'll have to remove the formatting of over a hundred templates. An extra parameter would take no time at all to add, since I would just use Find and Replace to add a parameter at the end.--Nevé –selbert 05:02, 20 January 2017 (UTC)[reply]

I assure you that will be quicker than waiting for someone to modify the template. E Eng 05:26, 20 January 2017 (UTC)[reply]

Has a note asking for (or just suggesting) a modification been left at either Template talk:Birth date or Template talk:Death date? --Redrose64 🌹 (talk) 11:46, 20 January 2017 (UTC)[reply]

You Owe Me Three Wishes

Who says you owe me three wishes what's that line from what movie is it from. 68.102.39.189 (talk) 04:35, 19 January 2017 (UTC)[reply]

This page is for questions about using Wikipedia. Please consider asking this question at the Entertainment reference desk. They specialize in knowledge questions and will try to answer any question in the universe (except how to use Wikipedia, since that is what this Help Desk is for). Just follow the link and ask away. You could always try searching Wikipedia for an article related to the topic you want to know more about. I hope this helps. GermanJoe (talk) 04:37, 19 January 2017 (UTC)[reply]

List of fake news websites

This list includes a famous British satirical website, News Biscuit. News Biscuit presently features a story "Vatican Demands All Robots Be Programmed As Catholic" and last week claimed that, under "new legislation", "Restaurants Told To Stop Pissing About With Wine Glasses". Apparently The Daily Dot is now considered, as a source, so reliable it's beyond reproach - when I removed News Biscuit from this list, my edit was reverted as "original research".

Honestly, if wikipedia wants to carry articles which are so full of obvious bullshit then I can't be arsed to get into an edit war with this bloke. Especially considering that "fake news" is a matter of current affairs and a politically-charged topic, it discredits wikipedia to have such blatant and easily-disproven nonsense on there.

I just reverted the article, but apparently the bloke is entitled to revert it back. I thought it obvious that I don't need to cite that the sky is blue, and so didn't bother reading WP:NOTBLUE before submitting the edit. This was lazy of me - apparently I was wrong. Anyway, just a heads up, in case anyone wants to take care of this article. I have spent many hours working on wikipedia in the past, because I consider this site a public resource and that it serves the common good for me to improve it when I see the opportunity to help. I cannot face wasting more time on a pointless edit-war.--Stroller (talk) 05:41, 19 January 2017 (UTC)[reply]

There's a wider problem here. Some editors, and some cited sources, regard as "fake news websites" what others see as clearly jokes or satire. For instance, http://worldnewsdailyreport.com/ is listed in the article, with four references. I'm surprised that no-one has added http://www.theonion.com/ . Maproom (talk) 09:42, 19 January 2017 (UTC)[reply]

Changing the text size in the source editor editing box?

Does anyone know how to change the text size in Wikipedia's source editor editing box, please? I can't find an option for it.

I tried overriding the text size in Stylish, but I'm not very good at CSS, and I'm obviously overlooking something.

Thanks in advance for any suggestions.--Stroller (talk) 06:02, 19 January 2017 (UTC)[reply]

It depends on how you are accessing it. If you're using a PC with Chrome or IE, holding down Ctrl which scrolling the mouse wheel will zoom in/out (it's a browser thing, not a Wikipedia thing). But if you're using a mobile device, I will need to ask somebody else to advise. --Gronk Oz (talk) 07:47, 19 January 2017 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks. I'm editing in Safari on Mac, but I really don't want to zoom every time I edit a page, just for this website. That would affect the editing previews, too. I'd prefer a solution that allows me to fix only the text in this one edit box. Actually, it just occurred to me that the Safari option (under Advanced) to "Never use font sizes smaller than … [12]" is some improvement, but I'd rather fix it through Wikipedia's settings or Stylish's CSS override, if I can. The text in the source editor editing box seems to be the smallest on the internet - I have noticed no text on any other site which makes me squint. I should get new glasses, though, I do admit. --Stroller (talk) 08:26, 19 January 2017 (UTC)[reply]

Try this or another size in your CSS:

.mw-editfont-default {font-size:150%;}

PrimeHunter (talk) 11:40, 19 January 2017 (UTC)[reply]

Wonderful! Thank you! Remarkably, even 100% is quite an improvement. No wonder I had problems if the default is below 100%. I do appreciate your help. Stroller (talk) 15:43, 19 January 2017 (UTC)[reply]

This has come up before, see Wikipedia:Help desk/Archives/2016 October 19#Enlarge font in edit window. --Redrose64 🌹 (talk) 00:29, 20 January 2017 (UTC)[reply]

More than one President

Does any person have a job title of "Second/Third/etc President"?—azuki (talk · contribs · email) 10:07, 19 January 2017 (UTC)[reply]

Hello Eat me, I'm an azuki

! The help desk is to ask questions about how to use Wikipedia, so this is not the right place to ask your question. Please ask your question at Wikipedia:Reference_desk/Humanities instead. Psiĥedelisto (talk) 10:34, 19 January 2017 (UTC)[reply]

Darwin Chambers Company

I put an article up for review a few days back and got a message back saying it was decline at Articles of Creation, I am just wondering what this means and why it got declined so that I can fix my mistakes and put it up for review again. Please let me know.

The title of my article was: Darwin Chambers Company Rebeccafassler (talk) 15:28, 19 January 2017 (UTC)[reply]

Hello, please provide a link to the draft or page in question as your post is the only edit showing in your list of contributions and the title did not show up when searched for. Thank you. Eagleash (talk) 15:37, 19 January 2017 (UTC)[reply]

The draft was Draft:Darwin Chambers Company, deleted as unambiguous advertising or promotion. The reason that it was declined is given in a message on the user's talk page. --David Biddulph (talk) 16:00, 19 January 2017 (UTC)[reply]

Pageviews Analysis tool is broken, again

January 18, 2017 is missing from Pageviews. Thanks in advance, Ottawahitech (talk) 17:07, 19 January 2017 (UTC)please ping me[reply]

Wikipedia tools like this one aren't part of the meta wiki software. Please report issues using the link "report an issue" at the bottom of the page. [[2]]. 2605:8D80:6A7:5CD1:39CB:87E4:13FC:F422 (talk) 18:45, 19 January 2017 (UTC)[reply]

@2605:8D80:6A7:5CD1:39CB:87E4:13FC:F422: Thanks for trying to help. Can you please share with us how you arrived at this conclusion about Wikipedia:Pageview statistics? Thanks in advance, Ottawahitech (talk) 14:05, 21 January 2017 (UTC)please ping me[reply]

All tools are external and use media wiki APIs. There is even a link for you to report this. If the tools were to break tomorrow no one is obliged to fix them, they are voluntary contributions and are independently maintained. If you want me to expLain any more than this I will but please go read the pages you have linked first. 104.249.225.172 (talk) 22:24, 21 January 2017 (UTC)[reply]

How to identify a name in the text of the article that is linked in Wikipedia

There are several names appearing on the subject article that have an article in Wikipedia about them. How do I format the name to become a link to the other article?Lord Ascot (talk) 20:30, 19 January 2017 (UTC)[reply]

The short answer, add [[ ]] around the title of the article. If you wanted to link to the article about Albert Einstein you would add [[Albert Einstein]] and it shows up like this, Albert Einstein. - GB fan 20:48, 19 January 2017 (UTC)[reply]

Super Bowl LI

When Will there be a National Anthem Singer and a host for the 6th NFL Honors hopefully by next week. 68.102.39.189 (talk) 21:03, 19 January 2017 (UTC)[reply]

This page is for questions about editing Wikipedia. Please consider asking this question at the Reference desk. They specialize in knowledge questions and will try to answer any question in the universe (except how to use Wikipedia, since that is what this Help Desk is for). Just follow the link, select the relevant section, and ask away. You could always try searching Wikipedia for an article related to the topic you want to know more about. I hope this helps.

Sentence deleted

Hello,

I wrote a sentence on the page of the Sherlock episode "The Final Problem", which got deleted. It discussed important criticism of social representation in the episode. I used the Talk page but, though it took less that one second for my original sentence to be deleted, the Wikipedia admin has yet to get back to me.

Here is the message I sent them: Hi,

I see that you found my sentence regarding critics on the misogyny and homophobia non constructive. As a college professor of gender studies, I find it worrying that you should think so. Would you have deleted it if it had been about racism or other matters of the representation of diversity? Please get back to me.

Thanks

Mulieribus

Ps. Here are references from serious publications addressing the issues I mentioned in the sentence you deleted. http://www.dailydot.com/parsec/sherlock-final-problem-review-eurus-finale/ http://www.indiewire.com/2017/01/sherlock-review-the-final-problem-season-4-episode-4-spoilers-finale-1201769310/

I would like to hear from you.

Thanks,

M. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 96.20.37.113 (talk) 21:23, 19 January 2017 (UTC)[reply]

To establish that the sentence has a place in the article, you need to provide in-line references inserted in the article. WP:Referencing for beginners might help. Dbfirs 21:30, 19 January 2017 (UTC)[reply]

Thank you for getting back to me! ... How do I do that?

)

Convenience link. †dismas†|^(talk) 21:35, 19 January 2017 (UTC)[reply]

The edit is here. You put your sentence within a reference and not in the text that a reader would see while reading the article. You also did not back up your addition with the references that you mention. So, yes, WP:Referencing for beginners might be the best place to start.

Also, I'm pinging Ale jrb since they are the editor who reverted your edit. †dismas†|^(talk) 21:38, 19 January 2017 (UTC)[reply]

Thank you, and sorry I missed the page you linked me to in your first message.

Hi. I replied to your message on my talk page, but repeating here for clarity. Unsourced material of the nature you added is typically vandalism, and you didn't include any sources in your edit that would imply otherwise. If you believe the material is constructive you should feel free to re-add, but remember to include your references. All the best, Ale_Jrb ^talk 21:43, 19 January 2017 (UTC)[reply]

Removing "BLP sources" tag

Hi! I was adding a few citations to Zara Larsson and I was wondering if I should remove the "BLP sources" template at the top. I think that there are enough citations at the article to warrant removing the template. However, I am a fan of Larsson's meaning that I have a minor COI. According to WP:MTR#When not to remove that means that I am not allowed to remove the template. Do you think that there are enough citations to remove the template regardless of my COI? Thanks, Jith12 (talk) 22:47, 19 January 2017 (UTC)[reply]

I removed the template. It is not clear what the issue was with that article. Rmhermen (talk) 23:46, 19 January 2017 (UTC)[reply]

@Jith12: If you're only just a fan, that doesn't qualify as a conflict of interest. You can look at WP:COINOTBIAS. Air.light (talk) 04:09, 20 January 2017 (UTC)[reply]

A page I created for Clay Road Baptist School in Houston was deleted

I created a page for Clay Road Baptist School in Houston that was up for a year or two, and now it has been deleted. The search for that page now takes you to a write-up on the City of Houston. I don't understand why that page was deleted, when similar pages for other private schools in Houston (for example First Baptist Academy) are still up. How can I get my page reinstated? — Preceding unsigned comment added by Houston parent (talk • contribs) 22:53, 19 January 2017 (UTC)[reply]

It was turned into a redirect because we do not generally keep articles on elementary and middle schools. Only high schools and colleges are usually considered notable. The Education in Houston article might be a better target than the current redirect to the education section of the Houston article. Rmhermen (talk) 23:39, 19 January 2017 (UTC)[reply]

In addition, the article was purely an advertisement and included the first-person statement, "Our Christ-centered, kingdom-based education..." Sections of the article titled "Vision Statement" and "Mission" consisted of text apparently directly copied from documents created by school founders. The Wikipedia policy WP:NOT explains that articles intended as promotion or advertising are not permitted in the encyclopedia. DonFB (talk) 00:26, 20 January 2017 (UTC)[reply]

Pinging Houston parent since they may not know to look back here for answers given that they haven't edited since 2014. †dismas†|^(talk) 00:40, 20 January 2017 (UTC)[reply]