Help desk
< June 12	<< May \| June \| Jul >>	June 14 >

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.

June 13

Semi protected edit

I tried doing a semi protected edit request and in it I posted what I wanted to say in the article I wish to add to and another user commented back to me and asked I make a small wording change, in which I did, does that mean I am now able to submit my edit on the article. The article is still locked for me, I am not sure what I should do. --Sdeeneed (talk) 01:31, 13 June 2018 (UTC)[reply]

@Sdeeneed: Hello, that edit request is still unanswered, that change was just a suggestion. So whenever an experienced editor will come to process it, they will make the changes on your behalf if accepting the request. ‐‐1997kB (talk) 01:43, 13 June 2018 (UTC)[reply]

User "Emerson2009" identity theft

Hello, please delete the User "Emerson2009" . . . there has been an identity theft and the email/password were re-set without my permission. The Username is being used to make edits on Wikipedia. Thank you for your help. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 69.122.153.37 (talk) 02:59, 13 June 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Special:Contributions/Emerson2009 shows that User:Emerson2009 has only made one edit [1] since 2014, and that was an innocently looking update of an article the account had edited many times before. Are you saying that you created the account but it was hacked at least four years ago? Do you have any evidence that you created it? If all the edits are by you but you are just unable to log in then it seems more likely that you forgot the password and cannot receive password mails at the stored address. Try checking spam folders in your email service. If it doesn't work then just create a new account with another name. PrimeHunter (talk) 08:38, 13 June 2018 (UTC)[reply]

About 'Rollback'

Hallo, I just wanted to ask a Wikiquestion regarding the 'rollback' feature (I hope I've come to the right place). What is the difference between using Twinkle's 'rollback' feature and the 'rollback' used by a rollbacker? Is there any benefit to gaining the 'rollback' right once you have Twinkle? Thanks. JackintheBox • ^TALK 04:02, 13 June 2018 (UTC)[reply]

@JackintheBox: While rollback and Twinkle do basically the same thing (with the same result), rollback is faster and also allows for the use of Huggle, which can allow for faster detection and reversion of vandalism. ‐‐1997kB (talk) 04:17, 13 June 2018 (UTC)[reply]

@1997kB: Alright. Thanks! JackintheBox • ^TALK 06:11, 13 June 2018 (UTC)[reply]

How to add a new topic?

The link I clicked to get here was for asking a question! I would like to add a new topic, not edit an existing one. It pertains to the subject of philosophy (ontology). I would have expected a link in the lefthand margin, unless I missed it? Please let me know, if you would. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 82.161.227.206 (talk) 08:00, 13 June 2018 (UTC)[reply]

If you mean that you want to create a new article in the encyclopedia then unregistered users cannot do it directly but they can submit drafts. See Wikipedia:Articles for creation. PrimeHunter (talk) 08:41, 13 June 2018 (UTC)[reply]

But please be aware that creating new articles is one of the harder tasks in Wikipedia. --ColinFine (talk) 15:31, 13 June 2018 (UTC)[reply]

I am not clever enough.

Hi There,

I am not clever enough to edit, but I need to point out some changes on the page LGBT in South Africa, under the Media heading.

Wrapped Magazine no longer exists. Exit Newspaper, www.exit.co.za should be listed and Gay Pages www.gaypages.co.za should be listed. These are both long standing national publications in South Africa. — Preceding unsigned comment added by GR101 (talk • contribs) 09:54, 13 June 2018 (UTC)[reply]

I've copied you request to Talk:LGBT rights in South Africa, which is probably the best place for it. Maproom (talk) 14:57, 13 June 2018 (UTC)[reply]

@GR101: Hi, GR101. See Help:Editing if you want to learn how to edit Wikipedia articles. It’s surprisingly simple! Interqwark ^{talk contribs} 02:09, 17 June 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Vandalism on Tianhe-2

I recently reverted a joke edit/vandalism of Tianhe-2. I didn't put a warning on the IP user's talk page at the time because it was the editor's only edit and I thought that they would probably move on. My edit has been reverted by the same IP so I have posted a level 2 warning on their talk page but I am hesitating to hit 'undo' because I don't want to get into an endless cycle of reverting. What is the proper way to proceed here? I have no persona interest in the Tianhe-2 article; it just happens to be on my watchlist because I disambiguated a term. Leschnei (talk) 12:00, 13 June 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Hi Leschnei, Good day. For a vandalized edit, you could revert the edit and post a warning message on the editor talk page. Continue to raise the warning level if the editor continue to perform vandalized edits. Once past level 4 warning, you would report the user to WP:AIV.

Below are some info on how to counter vandalism in Wikipedia

Vandalism guidelines - Familiar yourself to the Wikipedia guidelines of what is vandalism and what is NOT and what is a good faith edit or test edit vs bluntly vandalism - see here WP:VAN.
Warning message and level - In normal cases once the editor reach level 4 warning, see warning templates here WP:WARN, then we could report the editor to Administrator intervention against vandalism - see here WP:AIV. However, in certain serious and prolific vandalism we could give Only warning message without going through the level.
Vandalism Tools - Download the tools for counter vandalism. There are a few tools, and one of them is Twinkle (TW)- see here WP:TW. Twinkle allow you to set warning level and type of warning. Note messages from TW is auto generated; however, you could use you own word if you find the auto message from TW is not sufficiently explain what you intended to convey to the editor.
Counter-Vandalism Unit/Academy - If you are really interested to know more and do counter vandalism volunteer work (at your own available time of course), you would sign up for Counter-Vandalism Unit/Academy - see here WP:CVUA and see which instructor is available to be your mentor. Just a note, the program does take up a lot of reading, exercises and time; however, you could pace yourself on how fast to progress through the course. It took me close to 2 months to get it done, but of course you could to it faster as it was in the year end holiday season when was in the program. However, I highly recommend you to take up program for there is hips to learn.

Take your time to read the links I attached above, as I know there is a lot pages to read. Happy editing and let me know if anything else I could help or need to clarify further.

Thank you. CASSIOPEIA^(talk) 12:24, 13 June 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks User:CASSIOPEIA. I will have another look at the resources you listed. I was mostly interested in avoiding the three-revert rule, but I guess that rule doesn't really apply when the vandalism is obvious. Leschnei (talk)

Hi Leschnei, 3RR is exempted for obvious vandalism - see WP:3RRNO. CASSIOPEIA^(talk) 12:40, 13 June 2018 (UTC)[reply]

That's the section I was failing to find - thanks! Leschnei (talk) 12:45, 13 June 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Leschnei, if the vandalism is coming from ip accounts, you could also ask for semi-protection, although in this case I don't think that's quite justified yet Jimfbleak - talk to me? 13:57, 13 June 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks Jimfbleak, I've done that before but, as you say, it didn't seem time for that yet. Leschnei (talk) 18:07, 13 June 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Wrong location

I've removed the coordinates that were shown at Killiniq, Quebec because they were really the coordinates for Killiniq, Nunavut. These coordinates were added by The Anomebot2 a year and a half ago, based on Wikidata. {{coord|60.4211|N|64.8317|W|source:wikidata|display=title}} Is there a way of keeping the bot from putting them back? 208.95.51.38 (talk) 15:46, 13 June 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Yes, you need to fix them on d:Q6407846, Quebec!Killiniq's Wikidata item. Jo-Jo Eumerus (talk, contributions) 16:09, 13 June 2018 (UTC)[reply]

"Could not remove due to an error. The save has failed. Warning: The action you are about to take will remove a statement from this entity. In most cases, outdated statements should not be removed but a new statement should be added holding the current information. The old statement can be marked as deprecated instead." User:Jo-Jo Eumerus, I saw this error message when I removed the coordinates. What happens when you try to remove them? 208.95.51.38 (talk) 19:47, 13 June 2018 (UTC)[reply]

I was able to remove the data without problem (https://www.wikidata.org/w/index.php?title=Q6407846&diff=695152910&oldid=418248960). -- Ed (Edgar181) 19:55, 13 June 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Stony Brook University page edits

Hello, I'm the social media manager at Stony Brook University, and we are currently working on a lengthy edit of our Wikipedia page https://wiki.riteme.site/wiki/Stony_Brook_University.

I'm told that members of my team previously submitted edits to smaller issues on the page a few months ago, but that the changes they made were not reflected on the page as it currently exists. I'm trying to figure out why the changes were not applied and what we can do to ensure future edits are compiled.

Thank you for your assistance. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 129.49.214.193 (talk) 16:16, 13 June 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Oh dear. I'm afraid you are not in compliance with our conflict of interest policy (WP:COI) or our paid editing policy (WP:PAID). Please read and adhere to those. (Basically: don't edit the page directly. Instead suggest edits on its talk page.)You may possibly also have run afoul of our policy on group editing--I have not checked the edits yet. It's also possible that you are not completely aware of what we think Wikipedia is or at least should be. See WP:NOT. We are not here to allow you to present your institution in the best light. We are here to provide unbiased, objective, independent information. Sorry to sound so harsh. If there is incorrect information we can get it fixed using these procedures. -Arch dude (talk) 17:04, 13 June 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Thank you for letting us know about the possible issues. We're not looking to sway opinion, put our institution in a better light, or anything like that. We're just interested in updating simple facts about the college (IE: The number of students, the programs available, etc). We want the most up to date information available for all of your users – in the end, helping your editors. Just to make sure I'm not getting anything wrong – the talk page linked below is the best channel that we can use to share and interact around our page? Just want to make sure there isn't a dedicated editor we should be working with to get the updates. Thanks!

https://wiki.riteme.site/wiki/Talk:Stony_Brook_University — Preceding unsigned comment added by 129.49.100.5 (talk) 15:52, 14 June 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Yes, that's the right place. No, there is no dedicated editor. Each of the 130,000 currently active editors is entirely self-directed. There is no organization or assignment of tasks. An editor may choose to take interest an article or in a set to articles, but the concept some editor has more authority than another is against our policies. See WP:OWN. Some editors choose to answer questions on the help desk, Other editors choose to respond to edit requests. Still others perform others of the hundreds of types of housekeeping we need. You make an edit request by saying what you think is needed in a new section on the talk page page and adding {{request edit}} to that section, or by the other mechanisms mentioned on the WP:COI page. -Arch dude (talk) 22:47, 14 June 2018 (UTC)[reply]

How to correct the summary sentence that appears within search results on the front page

When you use the search box on the Wikipedia front page, as you type, search results appear under the search field. These results have the title of the page, with a short sentence summary beneath. When I search for Klay Thompson the short summary says "American professional choker player" I would like to remove this vandalism so that it says "basketball player" but I don't know where or how to do this. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Cjordahl (talk • contribs) 16:44, 13 June 2018 (UTC)[reply]

@Cjordahl: Hello; the descriptions come from the Wikidata items, as here. That had been vandalised or disrupted. I have made the correction. Please remember to sign your posts on talk pages by typing four tildes (~~~~). Thank you. Eagleash (talk) 16:51, 13 June 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Also, if you don't like the description on Wikidata, you can use {{short description}} to add a local description that overrides the import from Wikidata. I have done so for Klay Thompson with this edit. -- Ed (Edgar181) 16:55, 13 June 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Got it, thank you!Cjordahl (talk) 16:56, 13 June 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Eliminate "dead link" notation when link is working?

In the "External Links" section of https://wiki.riteme.site/wiki/Child_Ballads, two of the items show a "dead link" notation for working links. http://dlxs.library.usyd.edu.au/cgi/t/text/text-idx?sid=67edf14cb1de57927b3cb12b13b33940 http://www.colorado.edu/ArtsSciences/CCRH/Ballads/ballads.html Concordance to the Child ballads

I tried to edit out the "dead link" notation, but they don't show up on the Edit page, so I presume those are automatically generated. Is there anything an editor can do to eliminate the "dead link" notations? If not, would removing the link, updating, then reintroducing the link work? Or anything else? Thank you. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Evx (talk • contribs) 18:24, 13 June 2018 (UTC)[reply]

The dead link tag is provided by the code {{dl|date=March 2018}}, which I have removed from the second case. The first of the links shown as dead tries to go to http://dlxs.library.usyd.edu.au/cgi/t/text/text-idx?sid=67edf14cb1de57927b3cb12b13b33940;c=epd;idno=1.1504 but that link does not seem accessible, at least to me. --David Biddulph (talk) 19:41, 13 June 2018 (UTC)[reply]

I went ahead and also eliminated the "dead link" code from the first one, as it works fine for me (http://dlxs.library.usyd.edu.au/cgi/t/text/text-idx?sid=67edf14cb1de57927b3cb12b13b33940;c=epd;idno=1.1504). I'm in the US, if that makes a difference. Thanks for the education! --Evx (talk) 00:15, 19 July 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Entering italic markup on iPad?

To enter italic text in wiki markup, I need an apostrophe, but the iPad gives me the wrong one, which results in ‘’italic text’’. Is there a workaround? Thanks, AxelBoldt (talk) 18:25, 13 June 2018 (UTC)[reply]

I found the answer here, it’s an iOS 11 issue. AxelBoldt (talk) 18:38, 13 June 2018 (UTC)[reply]

I'm glad to see there's a setting to change that. I had just been long pressing on the apostrophe key to get straight quotes. clpo13_(talk) 18:45, 13 June 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Email Accounts

Hi

I was just wondering if it was possible to switch emails for an account, after that account has already been created.

Thanks — Preceding unsigned comment added by Claramac (talk • contribs) 19:16, 13 June 2018 (UTC)[reply]

@Claramac: Go to Special:Preferences, scroll down, and select Change or remove email address. Ian.thomson (talk) 19:25, 13 June 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Need help with newly submitted fair-use photo File:Harold Berson.jpg

Hello, I need help getting the link-back to the article and other metadata correct in the description for https://wiki.riteme.site/wiki/File:Harold_Berson.jpg. It's all in there but I can't work out how to format it right. I have included a full fair use rationale and copyright information as well. Help from someone knowledgeable about image metadata would be greatly appreciated. Wiltonj (talk)wiltonj —Preceding undated comment added 20:13, 13 June 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Parameters added. Finavon (talk) 20:37, 13 June 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Contested deletion

Hi!

I made a Wikipedia draft page today and it's been marked for deletion. It's called: College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences at the University of Denver. I want to stop this immediately. We are just in the draft stage. The error message said that the page was only self-promotional--how do I fix that? Also, all of the images are ours, so how do we prove copyright?

— Preceding unsigned comment added by MPevac (talk • contribs) 21:52, 13 June 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Information was placed on your talk page. It includes this:"If you think this page should not be deleted for this reason, you may contest the nomination by visiting the page and clicking the button labelled "Contest this speedy deletion"." However, you have quite a few separate problems to solve, so I reccommend that you make a quick local copy of the page and let the deletion proceed. You then need to do some homework about our philosophy, policies, and guidelines. At the topmost level, you should not create an article about yourself ro you own institution. Wikipedia wants only information taken from independent reliable sources. See WP:N, WP:COI, ad WP:PAID. IF you proceed without understanding these, your article will inevitably be deleted and you will be frustrated. -Arch dude (talk) 22:10, 13 June 2018 (UTC)[reply]
After you get past all that, if your institution is notable (by our peculiar definition: see WP:N) then somebody may eventually create an article. If you want them to be able to use images and text that you have placed on the Internet soemwhere, then you must license that text and those images under CC-BY-SA or a compatible license. Note that such a license does not restrict the use of the material to Wikipedia, so anyone can use it for any purpose anywhere a long as they adhere to the license by attributing the material to you. The simplest way to provide the license is to place it on your web site together with an indication of which material it covers. -Arch dude (talk) 22:18, 13 June 2018 (UTC)[reply]