Wikipedia:Help desk/Archives/2024 December 6

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December 6

Trouble using links in the Tip of the Day

In the Tip of the Day for today, the buttons to click on for both the previous message and to get more information about external links aren't working for me. They go to an information message that's not relevant to where they're supposed to go. I think a tekkie is needed to look into this ... but in case it's something I should be doing, please advise. Augnablik (talk) 03:07, 6 December 2024 (UTC)

"Prior tip" and "Wikipedia:External links" both work for me at both User:Augnablik and Wikipedia:Tip of the day/December 6. They go to Wikipedia:Tip of the day/December 5 and Wikipedia:External links. Do the links fail in both places for you? What does the information message say and what is the url when you view it? PrimeHunter (talk) 09:47, 6 December 2024 (UTC)

Well, @PrimeHunter, they're working now. All I can tell you is that much earlier today, they weren't. What happened, to answer your question, was ... nothing. Literally.

I may have some gremlins playing around in my computer because for about 2 weeks now I've had a maddening situation I'll describe for you. When I start typing a new sentence or use a capital letter within my current sentence — also when I try to use a dash, colon, or semicolon — my cursor jumps back to the start of the preceding sentence and what I'm trying to type appears there.

• This means I have to copy those letters or pieces of punctuation and paste it where it should go.
• And that all the capital letters and dashes you see in this message had to be copy/pasted into their correct locations!

My computer isn't doing this anywhere but within Wikipedia. Do you have any idea who I should connect with about this? Augnablik (talk) 12:22, 6 December 2024 (UTC)

@Augnablik: If you have enabled wikEd at Special:Preferences#mw-prefsection-gadgets or the first feaure at WP:HILITE then try to disable it. PrimeHunter (talk) 21:59, 6 December 2024 (UTC)

@PrimeHunter, I thought these places you suggested I go would be under the Preferences section on my User page, but apparently not. When I click on the location links in your message, I'm told that I'll leave this page. Maybe that's what I have to do, but that's made it awkward to write you this message.

When I send you this message, I'll try the links and see what happens, but I did want you to know my confusion about where these links lead. Augnablik (talk) 07:12, 7 December 2024 (UTC)

(Follow up to my above reply) Okay, I just went to Special:Preferences#mw-prefsection-gadgets and found that it was actually on one of the tabs on my User page (Gadgets), but I didnt see wikEd anywhere. And when I went to WP:HILITE, I didn't see a "first feature" I could disable. I feel as if I'm wandering around in thick fog. Augnablik (talk) 07:31, 7 December 2024 (UTC)

@Augnablik: A browser will usually only warn you that you will leave a page if you are editing the page or filling out a form, but it may vary. If you were previewing then it also counts as editing. The message is to warn you that you may lose your work when you leave the page. Most desktop browsers can open a link in a new tab by right-clicking it and choosing an option, or by just pressing Ctrl while clicking it. wikEd is in the "Editing" section at Special:Preferences#mw-prefsection-gadgets. I don't know whether users can have circumstances which omit it. WP:HILITE doesn't offer the mentioned feature but describes where to enable/disable it on a highlighter marker button . PrimeHunter (talk) 10:53, 7 December 2024 (UTC)

@PrimeHunter - didn't know about the ctrl trick, thanks!

JuxtaposedJacob (talk) | :) | he/him | 02:13, 10 December 2024 (UTC)

Need to change page title

I'm researching US radio stations and searched on WPLH, a college station in Georgia. This redirected to WJYI (FM). The issue is confusing because WPHL filed with the FCC for a new construction permit in 2021, was assigned WJYI as its call sign, and then switched back to WPHL when its new license was approved in 2022. The Wikipedia article doesn't cover this well, though the worst of it is having WJYI as a title. In any case, I'm certain WPLH is correct per the FCC and the website. So what's the procedure for changing the page's title? Thanks. Allreet (talk) 09:22, 6 December 2024 (UTC)

@Allreet The procedure is Wikipedia:Moving_a_page#How_to_move_a_page. Gråbergs Gråa Sång (talk) 09:36, 6 December 2024 (UTC)

Thanks, Gråbergs Gråa Sång. I wouldn't have thought "moving" was the same issue. I probably won't get to this tonight (our time), but shouldn't have any trouble once I do. Allreet (talk) 09:46, 6 December 2024 (UTC)

@Allreet I don't know if various redirects will be "a technical barrier to the move", if so, you'll notice. If that happens, you can request a move, see top of that page. Gråbergs Gråa Sång (talk) 09:52, 6 December 2024 (UTC)

OK. Thanks for the additional heads-up. Allreet (talk) 09:54, 6 December 2024 (UTC)

Why am I seeing ...

... little symbols I can describe only as "right-angled arrows" on some of the text at my User page? They occur to the left of 4 bulleted items just below a barnstar and several related paragraphs, and also to the left of the first sentence in the first paragraph after that. Augnablik (talk) 12:44, 6 December 2024 (UTC)

That would be the break lines when editing on mobile (particularly through the browser, not the app)? 2601AC47 (talk·contribs·my rights) Isn't a IP anon 12:50, 6 December 2024 (UTC)

Actually, this occurred on my computer. Now I don't see the symbols when I make a fresh attempt to go to my User page, but earlier those arrows were there. Incidentally, I thought I checked carefully then to make sure I wasn't in editing mode, and it seemed not, but I wonder if somehow I was and didn't quite know it. I'm frankly a bit confused as to what went on. Augnablik (talk) 13:02, 6 December 2024 (UTC)

Dealing with poor English contributions

I recently left a message on a new user's talk page ([1]) welcoming them, but also letting them know that the majority of their edits have not conformed to proper English and reminding them that there are Wikipedias in other languages. Is this the proper way to handle situations such as these? I don't want to accidentally be rude to someone who's actually acting in good faith, but I also don't want to let poor edits like these pass without letting the user making them know. /home/gracen/ (yell at me here) 18:59, 6 December 2024 (UTC)

@GracenC Your message had a reasonable tone but I'm not sure that you really had enough evidence to conclude that User:Harrisonsdgage737 is not fluent in English. For example, their most recent edit was, almost certainly one that they did as a newcomer task suggested because of the "puffery" tag on that article and they removed the words that could have been seen as non-neutral. Their edit summary certainly implied this. The fact that the word "she" was left instead of "She" and that the article has an "Introduction" section header it should not have mean it still needs much more work but that's not something that newbies would always recognise. Mike Turnbull (talk) 19:26, 6 December 2024 (UTC)

Looking back on it, I probably did jump to conclusions about them not being a native speaker. However, in the other edits I reverted, namely [2] and [3], it certainly seems like their understanding of proper syntax isn't great (e.g. to be used by the use of). I'd like to imagine there's a place here I can direct them to that would be helpful, because like you said they're most certainly going through newcomer tasks and have positive intent, given that they actually removed POV language (totally on me for reverting that without noticing the actual contribution). /home/gracen/ (yell at me here) 19:43, 6 December 2024 (UTC)

Looking for a tool to get statistics on article references, specifically reliance on individual domains

For articles with many news org references, it can be hard to tell exactly how much weight is being given to one source. Is there an analysis tool available to display a table of the total link count for each domain in the reference list? Safrolic (talk) 20:53, 6 December 2024 (UTC)

@Safrolic,

Maybe try posting at Wikipedia:Village pump (technical)?

JuxtaposedJacob (talk) | :) | he/him | 02:11, 10 December 2024 (UTC)