Help desk
< February 1	<< Jan \| February \| Mar >>	February 3 >

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.

February 2

Referencing errors on Edhir Paradhathu

Reference help requested. There is an error message in a Reference Archive URL on the page Edhir Paradhathu. The date of archive is not known. But the error message says archive date is required.

This is the reference text:
cite web|url=http://dff.nic.in/2011/2nd_nff_1955.pdf%7Ctitle=2nd National Film Awards|publisher=Directorate of Film Festivals|accessdate=23 August 2011|format=PDF|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20160303233325/http://dff.nic.in/2011/2nd_nff_1955.pdf

Thank you to help me to resolve this. Thanks, --00:47, 2 February 2017 (UTC)UKSharma3

Uksharma3, I fixed it with this edit by adding the date that is in the web.archive.org URL, 3 March 2016. †dismas†|^(talk) 00:55, 2 February 2017 (UTC)[reply]

Thank you. Now I learned how to find the archive date from the URL. --UKSharma3 01:19, 2 February 2017 (UTC)

Contributions not reassigned after username change

Hey, I was recently granted a username change but my contributions have not been reassigned from the old account to the new one. Wikipedia:Changing username says it can take a number of hours but it's been a number of days. Who can I talk to about this? Dscosson (talk) 03:58, 2 February 2017 (UTC)[reply]

@Dscosson: What was the old name? I couldn't find a rename for Dscosson. PrimeHunter (talk) 10:53, 2 February 2017 (UTC)[reply]

@PrimeHunter:Nevermind. I am a moron. Dscosson (talk) 16:34, 2 February 2017 (UTC)[reply]

Fleischer family

max fleischer said to be born in krakau, 1883 - his brother david said to be born in new york 1884 - family said to have migrated to the usa 1879 - some inconsistency is all. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 122.107.35.129 (talk) 08:39, 2 February 2017 (UTC)[reply]

Articles say :- Max Fleischer, b. 1883, family emigrated 1887. Dave Fleischer, b. 1894 (not 1884). Eagleash (talk) 08:52, 2 February 2017 (UTC)[reply]

Reviewing?

Every now and then I receive a notification stating that an article I created God knows when "has been reviewed". I'm not on Wikipedia as much as I used to be, so...what does that mean? Erpert ^{blah, blah, blah...} 12:28, 2 February 2017 (UTC)[reply]

Hey Erpert. When a new article is created it gets added to a list of "unreviewed articles" that then get "reviewed" by a volunteer at Wikipedia:New pages patrol. These volunteers are checking to make sure that the new article doesn't meet criteria for speedy deletion or other deletion criteria, and make sure that, if it has specific problems, like no sources, no links from other articles, etc.. that those problems are either fixed or tagged for cleanup at a future date. Once an article is reviewed, it gets added to the pool of articles that are indexed by computer thingies (close enough), and can then be searched for using engines like Google. TimothyJosephWood 14:23, 2 February 2017 (UTC)[reply]

Adding an external link to a page

I need assistance in adding a link or reference source to a page and am unable to figure out how do to this can someone assist me ? — Preceding unsigned comment added by Crossways8 (talk • contribs) 13:34, 2 February 2017 (UTC)[reply]

Hi! Can you share a link to your page so we can see what's going on? Thanks! --McDoob AU93 13:58, 2 February 2017 (UTC)[reply]

@McDoobAU93: Presumably (after a quick look at the contribution history) this is about this link addition. Tigraan^{Click here to contact me} 14:39, 2 February 2017 (UTC)[reply]

Can I Use Images from Game Developer Website?

Hi,

I searched for the information about what images I could use on the Wikipedia page I am writing, but want to make sure I understand what I've read. I'm writing about a new mobile game and wanted to know if I could use the images of artwork, screenshots and icons from the developer's website on my Wikipedia page, or should I use my own screenshots from the game?

Thanks, Lab Ratat (talk) 13:52, 2 February 2017 (UTC)[reply]

Hi there! This page will give some details on how to use screenshots in articles on software. Since it's most likely showing copyrighted content, it would have to have a fair-use claim and proper attribution, as well. You can get information on that here. Hope that helps! --McDoob AU93 13:57, 2 February 2017 (UTC)[reply]

How does wikidata get put into articles?

A general question, but here is an example - in the article TiddlyWiki, the infobox includes 'repository' and 'website' info but I can't find that info in the edit source text. I presume that this information is coming from wikidata (as I can find it there) but how does it get into the wikipedia article? According to Wikipedia:Wikidata, either a parser function or a lua module can be used, but I can't find either one in the TiddlyWiki article. Can someone explain? Leschnei (talk) 14:34, 2 February 2017 (UTC)[reply]

In this case the Wikidata information is imported through Template:Infobox software. You will find that the use of infoboxes to import data from Wikidata (and thus put the information outside the control of the English Wikipedia) does meet with some opposition. --David Biddulph (talk) 15:55, 2 February 2017 (UTC)[reply]

Apart from Wikidata descriptions automatically displayed next to the page name by some features (mainly on the mobile version), Wikidata info nearly always comes via code in a used template. It can both be infoboxes, external link templates and others in Category:Templates using data from Wikidata. It's very rare for an article to have its own code to import from Wikidata. PrimeHunter (talk) 16:09, 2 February 2017 (UTC)[reply]

Thank you both for your explanations and the links. I can see why having data imported automatically is controversial; it is rather disturbing. Leschnei (talk) 18:11, 2 February 2017 (UTC)[reply]

Referencing errors on CafePress

Reference help requested. I tried to add a citation pointing to the CafePress web site but it is black listed to prevent link spamming so I removed the "http://" and then I got an automated message from ReferenceBot telling me that the url is malformed. Don't know enough about citations to figure out a different way to add the text of the url without making it a link and thereby causing it to fail the blacklist check. Thanks, Andrew S. (talk) 14:35, 2 February 2017 (UTC)[reply]

Andrew S.:Not sure why you got a blacklist message, but the url parameter does need to be in the form of "http://", rather than "www". I made an edit to fix the citation format. One of the three refs had a url on the company site that I couldn't find, so I cut it. You can see the change I made here. DonFB (talk) 23:15, 2 February 2017 (UTC)[reply]

Central login

Is it possible to turn off central login somewhere in the settings? I have a different username on Commons and Wikipedia, so I'm constantly signing in and out, and would prefer to just stay signed in with each username on the two different projects. Calibrador (talk) 14:36, 2 February 2017 (UTC)[reply]

I don't think it's possible as suggested. A user script might log you out and in automatically. I have very limited JavaScript knowledge but this in Special:MyPage/skin.js for the unwanted account should at least log you out and go to the login page:

$(document).ready(function() {
  location = mw.util.wikiGetlink('Special:UserLogout');
  location = mw.util.wikiGetlink('Special:UserLogin');
});

It doesn't return you to the page you were at before logging out. Your JavaScript doesn't run on Mobile so you can still log in there and change the script if needed. Administrators can also edit your js pages if all goes wrong, and you may be able to enter your preferences or script page with ?useskin=monobook or &useskin=monobook in the url if your normal skin is vector, or vice versa. An alternative is to have two open browsers, one for each wiki, but this may be as much work as logging in and out. PrimeHunter (talk) 15:40, 2 February 2017 (UTC)[reply]

Do wikipedia images appear in google searches

Hello. I work for a local county government. Currently, when you google search our county name, statistics appear to right on your screen about the county. These statistics come from Wikipedia. There also is a picture and a map above the statistics.

The picture that is currently displayed is not an appropriate image to display. I contacted Google, who informed me that Wikipedia controls that information and to contact them.

How do I get that picture changed?

Thank you, Candace — Preceding unsigned comment added by Pierce911 (talk • contribs) 15:17, 2 February 2017 (UTC)[reply]

@Pierce911: You probably got wrong information from Google (we have heard that before) but I cannot say for certain without knowing what you searched. I guess this stock reply applies:

Are you by any chance referring to a photo or text shown to the right of a Google search? Google's Knowledge Graph uses a wide variety of sources. There may be a text paragraph ending with "Wikipedia" to indicate that particular text was copied from Wikipedia. An image and other text before or after the Wikipedia excerpt may be from sources completely unrelated to Wikipedia. We have no control over how Google presents our information, but Google's Knowledge Graph has a "Feedback" link where anyone can mark a field as wrong. PrimeHunter (talk) 15:45, 2 February 2017 (UTC)[reply]

@Pierce911: It would help if you provided your county name. Even better, if you know for sure that the image is from Wikipedia, can you provide a link to it? Tigraan^{Click here to contact me} 16:36, 2 February 2017 (UTC)[reply]

Wikipedia article Mark Normand

I created a Wikipedia article on American comedian Mark Normand and it has still not been reviewed.I request eligible Wikipedia editors to review it please. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Tosh lo (talk • contribs) 16:26, 2 February 2017 (UTC)[reply]

There are 16111 pages in the queue awaiting review, so the backlog is just over four months. You may, perhaps, be lucky and find that your article is reviewed earlier. --David Biddulph (talk) 16:36, 2 February 2017 (UTC)[reply]

You ought to review the sourcing of the article. What Wikipedia needs, to demonstrate notability, is significant coverage in published independent reliable sources. Wikipedia wants to know what sources such as reputable newspapers have said about the subject, not what he has said about himself. --David Biddulph (talk) 17:34, 2 February 2017 (UTC)[reply]

editing Nexsan page

We are trying to edit our Nexsan page so it is more up to date, however, we're unsure about the guidelines on what to post. We don't mean to be promotional, can you let us know what would be acceptable. Here is what we are planning to post: "Nexsan is a multinational corporation that sells hybrid data storage hardware and software and recently partnered with Spear Point Capital. Bob Fernander and Geoff Barrall run the Nexsan business as Chief Executive Officer and Chief Operating Officer of Nexsan, respectively. Nexsan has built a reputation for highly reliable, cost-effective storage designed to serve specific use cases and business demands for over 15 years. Nexsan creates storage for IT professionals who demand storage suited to their specific needs." — Preceding unsigned comment added by Aepilk (talk • contribs) 16:57, 2 February 2017 (UTC)[reply]

The concepts of the sentences up to the work "respectively" would be fine, though probably should be rephrased. The two sentences after that are not encyclopedic. (Though the fact that the company has been around for 15 years should be included, but simply as a statement of when the company started. Please see WP:OWN, but asking on the help page is a good first step. I'd suggest adding the information that you want changed, specifically with references for the positions held by Mr. Barrall and Mr. Fernander to the talk page for the article. (Also pinging Excirial since they seem to have reverted promotional changes to the page more than once)Naraht (talk) 17:17, 2 February 2017 (UTC)[reply]

A-Class question

How does one appropriately get an article reviewed for WP:ACLASS status from two uninvolved editors? The instructions aren't very clear.--Nevé –selbert 20:03, 2 February 2017 (UTC)[reply]

A class is a virtually unused category anyway. TimothyJosephWood 20:07, 2 February 2017 (UTC)[reply]

@Redrose64 and EEng: Hello again! Have you any thoughts on the matter? Many thanks.--Nevé –selbert 17:00, 4 February 2017 (UTC)[reply]

TJW is right. Anyway I'm not sure you can get to A without going through GA. Just nominate for GA, if you think it's ready. Or, to be honest, don't bother with any of this. GA is backlogged for years, and FA seems way too rulebound. Develop quality articles and take satisfaction in knowing readers appreciate what you've done. The only time I even bother with GA is to get an article into WP:DYK that's too old for DYK's newness rule and already too big for its expansion rule. E Eng 18:58, 4 February 2017 (UTC)[reply]

A-class is parallel to GA, achieving either of them does not require achieving the other first. But both of them require the six WP:BCLASS criteria to be satisfied first, and then some. Some WikiProjects do not recognise A-class; and many WikiProjects provide A-class as a permitted grade, but have very few articles that meet it. For such WikiProjects, the normal route is B, GA, FA - that is, A is ignored entirely. But for WikiProjects where A-class is both recognised and frequently awarded (such as WP:MILHIST), the method for requesting A-class review varies between wikiprojects - it would help a lot if we knew which article this is about. --Redrose64 🌹 (talk) 22:11, 4 February 2017 (UTC)[reply]

thanks, RR. I think that's all true, and I remember now that MILHIST does seem to use A a lot (probably because they were smart enough to realize how clogged up the GA system is). But I still say editors should try not to get too hung up on these "awards". E Eng 00:44, 5 February 2017 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks for your replies, EEng and Redrose64. The article I am trying to promote to A-Class is Margaret Thatcher, a good article.--Nevé –selbert 16:09, 5 February 2017 (UTC)[reply]
@Neve-selbert: OK, the talk page has been given twelve WikiProject banners, all of which recognise A-Class. However, for six of them (Lincolnshire; Politics of the United Kingdom; London; University of Oxford; Women scientists; England), the "A-Class xxx articles" category is empty, so we should presume that A-Class is not in use for those WikiProjects. Another four (Politics; Women's History; Conservatism; WP1.0) have only a handful of articles (9, 3, 1 and 0 respectively), so each of these either doesn't use A-Class and somebody has set it in error, or A-Class is in use but there really are a tiny number of qualifying articles, either way, their A-Class assessment departments (if these exist) are not likely to have many experienced members.

The remaining two (Biography; Cold War) use A-class to more than a trivial level (143 and 114), so ordinarily I would recommend that you concentrate on those - unfortunately, WikiProject Biography's A-class review department is officially inactive; and there doesn't seem to be much activity at Wikipedia:WikiProject Cold War/Assessment#Requesting an assessment, so quite honestly, I'd say that you should ignore A-Class and try for FA. Indeed, most FA-class articles got there straight from GA. --Redrose64 🌹 (talk) 00:27, 6 February 2017 (UTC)[reply]

My tools menu

Something has happened to my tools menu that makes certain tools disappear for article space entries.

On this page my tools are as follows:

What links here Related changes Upload file Special pages Page information Wikidata item Collapsible option ALL dates to dmy ALL dates to mdy Body dates to dmy Body dates to mdy Body+pub dates to dmy Body+pub dates to mdy ISO to dmy ISO to mdy access 2 ISO Del year-in-X dates Expand ref dates Expand all dates Abbrev ref dates US-slash dates UK-slash dates Find redirects Sort words

When I am in article space my tools are as follows:

What links here Related changes Upload file Special pages Permanent link Page information Wikidata item Cite this page Highlight duplicate links DYK check Collapsible option

What is going on?--TonyTheTiger (T / C / WP:FOUR / WP:CHICAGO / WP:WAWARD) 20:37, 2 February 2017 (UTC)[reply]

@TonyTheTiger: Some of your JavaScript is failing in article space, maybe due to an error in code which is only activated in article space and prevents the following code from running. What is your skin? Are the dates to dmy tools missing at both https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Example?useskin=vector and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Example?useskin=monobook. What is your tools menu in userspace when you view User:TonyTheTiger/common.js? Is "Permanent link" really missing on this page but present in articles? It should always be present in read mode and always be missing in edit mode so did you list your article tools in read mode and the tools here in edit mode? PrimeHunter (talk) 11:43, 3 February 2017 (UTC)[reply]

PrimeHunter, How do I know what my skin is? Yes the dmy tools are missing on both of those pages. In userspace my tools menu is

What links here Related changes User contributions Logs Email this user View user groups Upload file Special pages Permanent link Page information Highlight duplicate links Collapsible option DYK check Find disambiguations Find redirects Sort words

Those were both read modes. Yes Permanent links is really missing here.--TonyTheTiger (T / C / WP:FOUR / WP:CHICAGO / WP:WAWARD) 18:42, 3 February 2017 (UTC)[reply]

@TonyTheTiger: Your skin is at Special:Preferences#mw-prefsection-rendering, probably Vector or MonoBook. Do you see "Permanent link" here if you log out? PrimeHunter (talk) 18:51, 3 February 2017 (UTC)[reply]

PrimeHunter Vector. If I log out, my only tools are:

Upload file Special pages Printable version --TonyTheTiger (T / C / WP:FOUR / WP:CHICAGO / WP:WAWARD) 18:10, 4 February 2017 (UTC)[reply]

@TonyTheTiger: That sounds like the logut screen or another special page. I mean what you see on articles when you are logged out. Do you have the dates to dmy on https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Example?useskin=modern or https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Example?useskin=cologneblue? And what is your browser? PrimeHunter (talk) 20:22, 4 February 2017 (UTC)[reply]

When I am logged out, I see the following tools in article space in Google Chrome:

What links here Related changes Upload file Special pages Permanent link Page information Wikidata item Cite this page

I have logged in to article space in 4 of the 7 browsers that I have installed on my computer. The four that I use the most ( Chrome, Firefox, Internet Explorer and Edge) have the same set of links but in 4 different orderings. I could check Netscape, Opera and Safari if you need further info. The following is the Internet Explorer ordering:

What links here Related changes Upload file Special pages Permanent link Page information Wikidata item Cite this page DYK check Highlight duplicate links Collapsible option Find disambiguations Find redirects Sort words

I do not see the dates on either example that you provided. When this page gets archived, you can move it to your talk page or mine.--TonyTheTiger (T / C / WP:FOUR / WP:CHICAGO / WP:WAWARD) 16:00, 5 February 2017 (UTC)[reply]

changing user name

Is it possible to change my user name?

John Xander — Preceding unsigned comment added by JohnMarcKentJeff (talk • contribs) 20:43, 2 February 2017 (UTC)[reply]

Yes, see WP:CHU. Ppp ery 20:52, 2 February 2017 (UTC)[reply]

/* Biography */ correcting a factual error in the entry for Manolo Blahnik

I've made a slight correction to the entry for Manolo Blahnik https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manolo_Blahnik but I've clearly misunderstood how to put in references, as there are problems with footnotes 4 and 5

The reference for footnote 4 (presently empty) is: http://www.vogue.co.uk/gallery/collectible-and-iconic-vogue-covers

The reference for footnote 5 (partly there) is: http://michellephan.com/5-favorites-iconic-vintage-magazine-covers/

SarahAnnM (talk) 21:18, 2 February 2017 (UTC)[reply]

Rather than "urlhttp://..." it should be "url=http://...". --David Biddulph (talk) 21:28, 2 February 2017 (UTC)[reply]

Infobox template

Hello. I've taken the time to create this subsection of the help desk because I need some finding a page that explains or displays the template for the infobox. I've already looked over the page for infoboxes, but could not find anything that I could definitively make heads or tails of. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks. Boomer Vial^Holla 22:53, 2 February 2017 (UTC)[reply]

It would depend which type of infobox you are referring to. There are many variations on the i/bx and each has its own template and template/documentation. For example Template:Infobox football biography. Eagleash (talk) 23:05, 2 February 2017 (UTC)[reply]

A useful page may be Wikipedia:List of infoboxes. Deor (talk) 23:50, 2 February 2017 (UTC)[reply]