Help desk
< March 11	<< Feb \| March \| Apr >>	March 13 >

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 12

Page post to website

Hi, an needing to post my Wikipedia page to my class website, how can I do this other than copying. I want it to have have same fonts, lettering, as the page. Thanks,Ian. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Igrkilldrums (talk • contribs) 00:02, 12 March 2016 (UTC)[reply]

Hi, Igrkilldrums. There's no easy way to do this. To display pages, the Mediawiki software makes use of a lot of CSS, possibly some Javascript and Lua, and usually some templates: you would need all these to get it to display the same. The only way I can think of is to take a screenshot and display that on your website as an image. Downloading the page as PDF would preserve some of the formatting, but again I think you're going to have to display it as an image. Sorry. --ColinFine (talk) 01:06, 12 March 2016 (UTC)[reply]

references

Hi, I wrote an entry for a broadcaster friend, Liam Mayclem, and am being faced with the references policy. I've included 2 references for statements in my bio, but the message preceding the entry remains. Help! I'm Ben Fong-Torres, honored to have my own Wikipedia page, and believe Liam should have one, too. Thank you. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Fongtorres (talk • contribs) 01:29, 12 March 2016 (UTC)[reply]

Hello, Fongtorres. First of all, as a firend of the subject, you have a conflict of interest and are discouraged from creating or editing such an article. Secondly, your citations aren't well done, as they don't give enough information to allow a reader to find the actual source and verify the content, nor do they cover many of the statements in teh articel, short as it now is. Third, you are strongly discouraged from citing your own work here. DES ^(talk) 02:13, 12 March 2016 (UTC)[reply]

Hi, Ben. In short, Wikipedia has almost no interest in what a subject, or their company, employers, employees, agents, relatives or friends, want to say about them. It is only interested in what people who have no connection whatever with a subject have published about them. Neither Liam Mayclem nor Ben Fong-Torres cites even one reference that is substantial, independent, and published by a reliable source. This means that, as they stand, neither of these articles should be in Wikipedia, as neither of them establishes that the subject is Notable in Wikipedia's special sense.

As, DES says, you are discouraged from working on either of these articles because you have a Conflict of interest; if you want to go ahead, you should get somebody to move them to Draft space, work on them there, and then submit them for review before they are made live. But it is only worth doing this if you can show that there exist enough in-depth, independent, reliable published sources about either of you to establish notability. --ColinFine (talk) 17:02, 12 March 2016 (UTC)[reply]

How can I access Wikipedia on mobile?

I'm sorry if I'm in the wrong section; I couldn't find any other section that seemed appropriate.

I'm unable to view Wikipedia pages on mobile. I am automatically directed to the Google Play store to download the app. There is no option to bypass this. There is no way to view Wikipedia pages on mobile (Android) without downloading the app.

Is this just the way things are now? Is Wikipedia seriously prohibiting people from viewing the site on mobile without the app? Why? I cannot work out why Wikipedia wants to stop people from viewing the site on mobile?

182.239.199.183 (talk) 07:51, 12 March 2016 (UTC)[reply]

It's Google, or your mobile, not Wikipedia that is doing this. When I ask Google for "Wikipedia" it delivers the main page of Wikipedia first, and the option to download the app lower down. What do you get? Dbfirs 08:07, 12 March 2016 (UTC)[reply]

I have no difficulty viewing WP on my Android tablet or phone using Chrome, in fact I often edit on my tablet. Do you put the url directly in your browser's address bar or do you use the device's search function to reach Wikipedia? I use a bookmark I created in Chrome. Roger (Dodger67) (talk) 09:40, 12 March 2016 (UTC)[reply]

I read and edit Wikipedia most of the time on an Android smart phone, and prefer the desktop site. Wikipedia tries to redirect me (and less experienced users) to the inferior mobile site. This is sad because modern smart phones can handle the full featured desktop site just fine. See my essay, User:Cullen328/Smartphone editing. Cullen³²⁸ Let's discuss it 10:00, 12 March 2016 (UTC)[reply]

I haven't had this issue on my Android, but worth noting that there's another comment from yesterday called Android Issues noting something similar. -KaJunl (talk) 20:38, 12 March 2016 (UTC)[reply]

I urge caution on dismissing this issue - I've seen it pop up at OTRS, and do not know for certain that it is unrelated to anything Wikimedia did. If someone knows, please point it out, as it would be useful to let people know.--S Philbrick (Talk) 19:20, 13 March 2016 (UTC)[reply]

Yes, it sounds as if the app is misbehaving. Android Central is also reporting a problem for some. Have you tried deleting the app and using a browser to access Wikipedia? Dbfirs 19:37, 13 March 2016 (UTC)[reply]

edit warning

Hey Wikipedia,

I got a warning about editing a page, and since I've never (intentionally) edited a page, i was wondering if this counts as a revert or will it count as a revert if or when i make an account. i probably use this site more than any other so id hate to be banned. i don't like having to sign in all the time. I'm all over doing research so I'm in and out, or here all day (stuck on linklik). is there another way to keep my ip from being used intentionally or not for editing, besides making an account and having to sign in all the time? id bookmark, but i search unfiltered www a lot, and (of course) wikipedia is always there, so id have to sign in for every hop on, hop off. some sites have a time, say 15 minutes, your sign in is good for. some, if you have a page on that site already open, it signs you in. Any info on that? Also, do editors get paid, thought it was volunteers (just wondering). Thanks, Wikipedias the best. Profs love to badmouth, "unreliable" (although you know they use it, for links and ease of use if nothing else). thx again, any info is greatly appreciated, Roger

p.s. couldn't link to edit page due to i.p. in the title

2605:6000:3848:EB00:7869:DC49:7CB5:E9DF (talk) 09:54, 12 March 2016 (UTC)[reply]

Hello, IP user. There is nothing on the user talk page of that IP address, so I'm guessing you must have got the warning when you werer on a different IP address. The chances are that this is nothing to do with you, but directed at a different person who had previously had that IP address, and you can ignore it. Whether you keep your IP address or whether it can change is completely out of the hands of Wikipedia: it's up to your ISP or whoever else provides you with an internet connection.

You don't have to create an account, but I would recommend it. Wikipedia has got a "keep me logged in" option when you log in - I don't know how long it lasts, but it is days, not minutes.

As for your last question: no, editors do not get paid, unless they make a private arrangement with some third party, in which case they are obliged to declare their position and their consequent conflict of interest. --ColinFine (talk) 17:10, 12 March 2016 (UTC)[reply]

Barnstar and WikiProject

i need to know how to make a barnstar in our own i need to know how to make a wiki project — Preceding unsigned comment added by Wiki tamil 100 (talk • contribs) 10:13, 12 March 2016 (UTC)[reply]

Please don't ask the same question in different places. This has also been asked at Teahouse/Questions. --ColinFine (talk) 17:17, 12 March 2016 (UTC)[reply]

References not appearing

For some reason, the references are not appearing on Donald Trump presidential campaign, 2016. When I checked the code, it seemed okay but I did change {{Reflist}} to {{reflist}}. There was no change. Can you think of a reason why the reference list isn't appearing under References? I asked on the talk page and it seemed like others saw the problem, too, but we couldn't come up with a solution. Thanks. Liz ^{Read! Talk!} 12:07, 12 March 2016 (UTC)[reply]

This has been fixed by removing the "Endorsements" box. The code inside the box included a {{reflist}}, causing all the references for the main article to appear there. They could then only be seen by expanding the box. -- John of Reading (talk) 13:05, 12 March 2016 (UTC)[reply]

Yeah! Thank you, John of Reading. This has been bugging me and I couldn't figure out what the problem was. Your help is appreciated. Liz ^{Read! Talk!} 16:16, 12 March 2016 (UTC)[reply]

Hiding App banner

Hi A banner has just started to appear at top of seemingly EVERY Wikipedia page I read when using my iPad. The banner is advertising the WP app and offers to open the current page in the app. I'd like to hide this banner but there is no "Dismiss" link. Anyone have any idea how I can get rid of it? CalzGuy (talk) 16:01, 12 March 2016 (UTC)[reply]

well, it does much more than that. It actually subverts URL calls, diverting the user experience into the App regularly especially when navigating through browser history. The solution I found was to delete the app which is a real pity. It used to be quite a good app. My bet is that I won't be the last editor to delete the app. CalzGuy (talk) 09:09, 13 March 2016 (UTC)[reply]

New Page for Abu naser

I have created the page with direct permission from Mr. Naser, who has given me the permission to use the information from his webpage. Mr. Naser is a famous photographer in Bangladesh and so information should be there about him in the Wikipedia. We have just created the page and shall make correction and addition accordingly. Hope you will give us time to do that. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Dawoodkarim (talk • contribs) 18:10, 12 March 2016 (UTC)[reply]

Hello, Dawoodkarim. I'm afraid that's not how Wikipedia works. There are two reasons why you should not copy the material from Naser's web page. The first is that it will be a copyright violation, unless he explicitly released the material under a licence such as CC-BY-SA, which will allow anybody to reuse the material for any purpose, commercial or not: only such a licence is acceptable in Wikipedia.

The other reason is that material from Naser's website is of almost no interest to Wikipedia. If we are to have an article about him, then it should be almost 100% based on what people who have no connection with him have published about him in reliable places.

So how I advise you to proceed is as follows:

Read your first article.
Find several sources, written by people who have no connection to Naser, and published by organisations with a reputation for fact-checking. (These do not have to be in English, or on-line, though it is easier it they are both). If you cannot find such sources, give up: in Wikipedia terms he is not Notable, and no article on him will be accepted, however it is written.
If you know or are otherwise connected with Naser, read about how you should act with a conflict of interest.
If you wish to continue, use the article wizard to create a draft in Draft space. Make almost the whole text based on those independent sources (though use your own words except where you are explicitly quoting), and when you think it is ready, submit it for review.

People who are new to Wikipedia and who decide to do the most difficult thing there is, that is, create a new page, often have a frustrating time, I'm afraid. I've tried to give you some useful advice. --ColinFine (talk) 18:37, 12 March 2016 (UTC)[reply]

Is there a Wikipedia template or tag for "incorrect date formats"?

Is there a Wikipedia template or tag that I can place at the top of an article about "incorrect date formats"? For example, when an article uses British date formats, and it should be using American dates. Thanks. Joseph A. Spadaro (talk) 19:25, 12 March 2016 (UTC)[reply]

I don't know about a tag, but MOS:DATERET says the format in an article should stay in whatever format is chosen for it, as long as it is consistent within the article. Also, if you see an error, it is better to fix it than to tag it. RudolfRed (talk) 20:25, 12 March 2016 (UTC)[reply]

Not sure if this is exactly what you'd need but maybe a starting point? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Template:Use_dmy_dates https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Template:Use_mdy_dates -KaJunl (talk) 20:46, 12 March 2016 (UTC)[reply]

This relates to the following discussion: Talk:List of submissions to the 88th Academy Awards for Best Foreign Language Film#Date format. There are some 60 articles that need to be standardized. Which is why I am asking about the template. It's doubtful that I would have the time to fix all 60 articles. What's the best way to approach this? Thanks. Joseph A. Spadaro (talk) 20:50, 12 March 2016 (UTC)[reply]

There is a date-fixing or harmonizing script out there somewhere that might make easy work of what you want to do. Of course, I don't remember where I've seen it or what it's called but perhaps this post will jog someone's memory. It would not be hard to craft a simple AWB script to add or replace {{use dmy dates}} or {{use mdy dates}} as appropriate to the target articles.

—Trappist the monk (talk) 22:45, 12 March 2016 (UTC)[reply]

Edit commands in the left hand side of the page will be available if you include the line

importScript('User:Ohconfucius/script/MOSNUM dates.js');

in your <username>/vector.js file, assuming you are using the vector skin. Be sure to flush the cache after adding the line to your file. Jc3s5h (talk) 23:26, 12 March 2016 (UTC)[reply]

Sorry, I didn't understand a word of these replies. They were too technical, and they went way over my head. So, what is the best way to approach this issue? Thanks. Joseph A. Spadaro (talk) 01:38, 13 March 2016 (UTC)[reply]

@Joseph A. Spadaro: I think what you are looking for is {{use mdy dates}}. (It was actually in the second reply but given in external link format.) The opposite template then would be {{use dmy dates}}. —teb728 t c 07:44, 13 March 2016 (UTC)[reply]

I tried that. It didn't do anything. That simply placed the code notation of "{{use mdy dates}}" on the "edit source page". That is not what I meant. What I meant was: is there some template that will create a big tag/banner at the top of the article? And the tag/banner would say: "This article needs to change from British date format to American date format." That's the point. So that a reader of the article will see the "warning tag" right up at the top. Is there a template that does this? Thanks. Joseph A. Spadaro (talk) 19:12, 13 March 2016 (UTC)[reply]

Check out this article, for example: Redonda Beach. Way at the top, there is a "warning" tag/banner. In this case, it says that the article does not have good sources. But that's the type of thing I am referring to. Anything? Thanks. Joseph A. Spadaro (talk) 19:14, 13 March 2016 (UTC)[reply]