Wikipedia:Help desk/Archives/2020 August 14

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August 14

Syntax highlighting in 2017 wikitext editor

Is there a way I can enable syntax highlighting in 2017 wikitext editor? Best, Inimesh (talk) 01:35, 14 August 2020 (UTC).

@Inimesh: I'm not sure which editor that is, but the normal "source editor" that I use has a "highlighter" icon between the "puzzle piece" icon and the "Advanced" menu on the toolbar. Clicking it toggles syntax highlighting. I don't know if this is the same thing as the syntax highlighter gadget that can be enabled in Special:Preferences#mw-prefsection-gadgets —[AlanM1 (talk)]— 03:15, 14 August 2020 (UTC)

@Inimesh: Apparently the "2017 wikitext editor" is a mode of the Visual Editor. mw:2017 wikitext editor#Nice-to-haves seems to say that the gadget I linked to above is compatible, and also that there is an enhancement to do it (but no indication of whether it is available in production yet). Perhaps someone more familiar with the Wiki software environment can better interpret. —[AlanM1 (talk)]— 04:18, 14 August 2020 (UTC)

@AlanM1: Thank you for the comments. I just noticed that there's a syntax highlighter icon between the Help and Switch editor icon in the 2017 wikitext editor as well. Inimesh (talk) 07:56, 16 August 2020 (UTC)

Editing an info box

• Link: Tom Selleck

I could not figure out how to add to Tom Selleck's info box. He has 2 children, 1 adopted and 1 with his second wife, but they are not mentioned there.

Also, what if a talk page topic never gets addressed? I added "children" to Selleck's ralk page.

Halcyon grun Sproutz (talk) 01:48, 14 August 2020 (UTC)

@Halcyon grun Sproutz:  Done. —[AlanM1 (talk)]— 03:25, 14 August 2020 (UTC)

Creating multiple sandboxes

How do I create multiple sandboxes so I can work on different things at the same time? I've only figured out how to have one. Please come to my talk page if you can help. I can work with you there because I have made my user page a mess, and have accidentally created articles I do not want yet, by trying to make different sandboxes. Earthquake Maestro (talk) 03:29, 14 August 2020 (UTC)

(I responded on the talk page.) -Arch dude (talk) 03:50, 14 August 2020 (UTC)

For the benefit of others, the easiest way is to attempt to link to the desired page name (which will be red when you preview the link), click on the redlink, and it will go to a page titled "Creating User:Example/..." with an empty edit window. When you click "Publish", it will create the page. You can create pages (within reason and policy) at will "under" your userpage. If your username is "Example", be sure the page name starts with "User:Example/". Such pages might be User:Example/SandboxA, User:Example/Sandboxes/A, User:Example/Drafts/Some article name, etc. —[AlanM1 (talk)]— 04:29, 14 August 2020 (UTC)

akhtar raza khan

remove photo of akhtar raza khan — Preceding unsigned comment added by 120.138.6.243 (talk) 04:19, 14 August 2020 (UTC)

Why? Victor Schmidt (talk) 07:11, 14 August 2020 (UTC)

Black Privilege is not yet a title

The following discussion is closed. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page. No further edits should be made to this discussion.

---

Hello,

Black privilege is a real thing. My roommate was robbed at gunpoint, he was in a black area and had a gun pulled on him for not being a “n—ga” Privilege is having an advantage in some way. Being black can have advantages for no other reason than race. This needs to be a listed entry — Preceding unsigned comment added by 71.205.194.176 (talk) 04:28, 14 August 2020 (UTC)

WP:Fringe.

Saw this post via WP:Huggle. Flyer22 Frozen (talk) 04:36, 14 August 2020 (UTC)

I don't know that I would call it "black privilege". To me, it's more of a more general "you're not one of us" thing. Clarityfiend (talk) 22:59, 14 August 2020 (UTC)

Discrimination of black people throughout the world and history vastly outweighs one black person pulling a gun on one white person at one time. JIP | Talk 23:09, 14 August 2020 (UTC)

The discussion above is closed. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page. No further edits should be made to this discussion.

How do I make a new infobox template?

I am trying to make a special template for informal groups that were brought together due to circumstances. Specifically, I want to make an infobox for articles McDonogh Three, Richmond 34, Friendship Nine, Chicago Seven, Little Rock Nine, Panther 21, Jena Six, Mayfield Ten, Tougaloo Nine, and other similar articles. How do I go about this task? Mitchumch (talk) 05:26, 14 August 2020 (UTC)

First, consider the name. I'll use {{Infobox informal group}} for this explanation. Then consider what fields you want it to contain and what the parameters are called. Go to Template:Infobox informal group and put in a call to {{Infobox}}. It really helps to tweak an existing infobox. {{Infobox proposed outer space mission}} is a pretty simple infobox that you can use as an initial reference. For anything more complicated than that, the documentation at {{Infobox}} is pretty good. Help:Template explains most of the syntax. If you run into any issues, feel free to ask on my talk page (or here if you ping me). Vahurzpu (talk) 06:17, 14 August 2020 (UTC)

@Mitchumch: mini-edit because I forgot to ping the first time Vahurzpu (talk) 06:19, 14 August 2020 (UTC)

How should a recently renamed organization be referred to in its article?

The Mosby Heritage Area Association changed its name to the Virginia Piedmont Heritage Area Association last week. The article title has already been moved, but the article still refers to the Mosby Heritage association throughout. Obviously the references that describe what the organization is should be changed, but what about references to the organization in the context of actions it took under its old name?

I get the general impression that those should not be changed, per analogy with MOS:CHANGEDNAME and through looking at how Washington Football Team seems to be written, but I'm hesitant, as I can't find anything in the Manual of Style about it, and sports teams might be handled differently. What's the best way to deal with this?

Thanks, Vahurzpu (talk) 06:01, 14 August 2020 (UTC) (please ping me when responding)

I've responded at Talk:Virginia Piedmont Heritage Area Association#Name change —[AlanM1 (talk)]— 06:53, 14 August 2020 (UTC)

i wrote a few lines on my pet research Thoughtonics this morning. where do i find them?

thoughtonics my pet subject is based on two faster than light signals, viz., thought and phase velocity. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Thoughtonics (talk • contribs) 07:15, 14 August 2020 (UTC)

Do you mean the paragraph at User_talk:Thoughtonics? Before contributing to articles please read the Wikipedia Wikipedia:No original research policy. In short you can only reference research quoted in reliable sources. -- Q Chris (talk) 07:26, 14 August 2020 (UTC)

Money conversion?

Hello. In 1963, La belle Strasbourgeoise was sold for 145,000 British pounds (or 1,999,000 million French francs at the time). How much would that be in British pounds and American dollars of 2020, adjusted for inflation and all that? Is there a conversion tool or template somewhere for this kind of information? Thank you!! --Edelseider (talk) 07:55, 14 August 2020 (UTC)

@Edelseider:, something like: "£145,000 ({{Inflation|UK|145000|1963|fmt=eq|cursign=£}})" which shows as "£145,000 (equivalent to £3,835,171 in 2023)" might work for you. The base template for inflations is at template:inflation. There is also a French one. Nosebagbear (talk) 08:57, 14 August 2020 (UTC)

@Nosebagbear: Thank you! But is that template stuck in 2016 or is it evolutive? --Edelseider (talk) 09:02, 14 August 2020 (UTC)

@Edelseider: - its default is evolutive, it just is dependent on someone updating the inflation tables. For UK the most recent update is 2019 - I've tweaked the templates above to show what it looks like. Nosebagbear (talk) 12:47, 14 August 2020 (UTC)

Misleading article description

While looking for the article on an actor called Will Keen on my tablet computer, I saw that the article had been given an incorrect description as "pornoactor". I then looked at the article on my Windows computer. However, there was no evidence of this label in this version. I was hoping to identify the vandal from the history page but there is no evidence of someone adding/changing a tag called "Article description". Assistance needed. JMcC (talk) 08:34, 14 August 2020 (UTC)

@Jmcc150: the description is included from our sister project Wikidata, in this case from d:Q8002916. Edit reverted. Victor Schmidt (talk) 08:47, 14 August 2020 (UTC)

I have also added an English Wikipedia-specific short description, so if the Wikidata one gets vandalised again, it won't affect English language Wikipedia. Joseph2302 (talk) 11:18, 14 August 2020 (UTC)

Unstructured list references

Hi Folks. Regarding the article Dunoon. There is a section in it, Dunoon#Notable people. Would it be normal for that section to the referenced. The names are partially referenced in the body, and one or two names are referenced in another article. My understanding that as a unstructured list, every entry must be referenced. Thanks. scope_creep^Talk 11:35, 14 August 2020 (UTC)

(ec)Hi, scope_creep. Unfortunately (in my view) WP:Perennial proposals#Require inline citations for everything says that they are not required, as long as they exist and could be added - which seems to put the burden on the reader. I would agree with you that it is greatly preferable for every entry to be sourced. --ColinFine (talk) 15:28, 14 August 2020 (UTC)

ColinFine, Thanks for that link, I'd seen it before but had forgotten about it.--S Philbrick(Talk) 15:37, 14 August 2020 (UTC):Scope creep, Opinions differ on how much referencing is needed in lists.

One thing you did not ask, but seems generally accepted, is that unlink or red linked entries in such a list can be removed. (That said there could be exceptions. For example, if someone made a list of Nobel laureates, and one of them happened not yet to have an article, I would see that is a good example of an acceptable red link. I'm sure all Nobel laureates have an article now, so this example is moot, but conceptually, some list might have the property that all people listed obviously deserve an article and if they don't yet have one a red link would make sense. That clearly doesn't apply here.)

What is less settled is whether a blue link entry in such a list needs to be referenced as part of the list. An argument against requiring a reference is that if it is a blue link, they presumably meets notability requirements and is referenced at the article. I don't find that argument persuasive, but I've seen enough list without references that I assume somebody must think it's acceptable. My rationale for not liking it is that the underlying article might change, and perhaps a reference was legitimately removed and the article is no longer referenced.

As an example of an article without references see List_of_colors:_A–F. if someone tries to add an entry to the list which does not have a link to an article, it typically gets removed, but entries with a valid blue link remain. In many cases, I followed the blue link and been unconvinced that it was properly referenced, but I've also taken the position that the cure is to fix the referencing at the linked page. I did look into adding a column for references but it turned out to be harder than I thought. If we could figure out how to add such a column mind including a list of references on this page.

As another class of examples there are a number of articles on individual integers such as 4. Many of the entries in that article which is sort of a list article were unreferenced. I think editors were assuming that if the entry had a blue link he didn't need its own reference in this article. I disagree and I been adding references.

It's my opinion that it's better to include references in the list of notable people, but one may encounter such a list that is not referenced I've not been inclined to remove them on the basis that they are not referenced.--S Philbrick(Talk) 15:34, 14 August 2020 (UTC)

Aye, it seems to be the same conflicting advice, that chimes with what I know. Sometimes I've seen large lists being removed as they've not been referenced, other times, they've not been, or partially referenced, and then removed as they've not fully referenced. It seems entirely subjective, which unfortunate as it is. I would still like to see a reference, here and there, at least to prove that they should be in the list in the first place. Thanks @ColinFine:, @Sphilbrick: scope_creep^Talk 11:47, 16 August 2020 (UTC)

Undo: re Corrour railway station

I got in a muddle today over whether I was logged in or not. I wasn't and an edit saved my IP address. When I tried to "undo" this and replace it with my username, I got in a bigger muddle. Now there are 3 entries in the "history": in, out, in. Is it possible to purge these 3 entries from the list of historic edits then I would start again and do the edit properly from my username? Also applies to an entry on the talk page. Exbrum (talk) 15:36, 14 August 2020 (UTC)

Exbrum,  Done--S Philbrick(Talk) 15:41, 14 August 2020 (UTC)

Thanks. The IP adddress is still visible in my 08:28 edit and in my edit on the Talk Page of 08:37. Can these be removed or replaced by my username? Sorry to be a continued nuisance. Exbrum (talk) 08:14, 15 August 2020 (UTC)

Exbrum,  Done. Deor (talk) 20:49, 15 August 2020 (UTC)

Thanks again. Will try harder in future! Exbrum (talk) 07:33, 20 August 2020 (UTC)

‪New user message‬ left a message on your talk page.

I have been a member of WikiPedia for quite some time now, but only now received a suspicious 'welcome message' from an apparent bot.

What can I do to solve this mystery? — Preceding unsigned comment added by DiscaL (talk • contribs) 17:02, 14 August 2020 (UTC)

Hello, DiscaL. Where did you get this message? Your User Talk page has never been created. The most likely answer is that you have visited another language Wikipedia: some of them are set to automatically welcome new users. --ColinFine (talk) 17:20, 14 August 2020 (UTC)

DiscaL, the only history I see on your talk page is a templated message left by Theroadislong. Is that what you're referring to? —Tenryuu 🐲 ( 💬 • 📝 ) 17:58, 14 August 2020 (UTC)

No, the message was left after User:DiscaL wrote their question. What they are referring to is a complete mystery. JIP | Talk 18:16, 14 August 2020 (UTC)

Facepalm Whoops; I changed my user settings to display my local time instead of GMT-0, which is why I'm confused. —Tenryuu 🐲 ( 💬 • 📝 ) 19:46, 14 August 2020 (UTC)

User:DiscaL has been on Wikipedia for almost thirteen years but their only contribution ever is this Help desk post. JIP | Talk 20:03, 14 August 2020 (UTC)

I'm sorry, but it seems to have been received via the Arabic version of WikiPedia. The question is "Why now?". There have been a lot of internet security breaches reported internationally. So, could this be one of them? I didn't know where else to ask. And I love WikiPedia, and use it a lot even if I'm not a contributor. — Preceding unsigned comment added by DiscaL (talk • contribs) 21:02, 14 August 2020 (UTC) JIP Tenryuu ColinFine

Many Wikipedias give you an automatic "welcome to Wikipedia" message even if you only visit them while logged in, but not actually make any edits. I've had this happen on many Wikipedias in languages I don't understand. This might be the case if you have visited the Arabic Wikipedia. JIP | Talk 21:08, 14 August 2020 (UTC)

Vandalism taking place at "List of countries by system of government"

Many edits have been made today to page List_of_countries_by_system_of_government by an anonymous user. While I am not sufficiently knowledgeable to judge whether they all constitute vandalism, some of them clearly do so. An example is the statement "Note: In Libya, he is called the Prime Minister all over the world because he is both President and Prime Minister." Please could someone put a stop to this activity asap. Thanks. Misha Wolf (talk) 17:55, 14 August 2020 (UTC)

Misha Wolf, they weren't vandalism but had issues, so I've restored revision 972702576 before the IP editor started editing the page. I won't watch the page, so please let myself or another editor know if you spot any further issues. Ed talk! 20:45, 14 August 2020 (UTC)

Change page to a Disambiguation page

There is a redirect page: https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Peo&redirect=no but Peo is a surname. Can the Peo redirect page be changed to a disambiguation page? If so, how is this accomplished?

You can simply edit the page and convert it to a disambiguation page yourself. But note first that this is only worth doing if there actually are articles about people with the surname Peo on Wikipedia. Merely having a page saying "this surname exists" isn't enough. JIP | Talk 21:00, 14 August 2020 (UTC)

Thank you. There are at least two wikipages with the surname Peo BuffaloBob (talk) 13:17, 15 August 2020 (UTC)

I added Ralph Peo to the disambiguation page PEO. You can either add the second one yourself or tell me what it is so I can add it. JIP | Talk 22:41, 15 August 2020 (UTC)

Find not working right

I am on Chrome and when I search for something, close find, and then bring up find again, it searches for something completely different. I do not have this on other sites except Fandom. The Mo-Ja'al (talk) 21:18, 14 August 2020 (UTC)

The Mo-Ja'al, are you using Chrome's find feature (i.e. CTRL-F)? If so, it could be an issue with Chrome and not Wikipedia. Ed talk! 21:44, 14 August 2020 (UTC)