Help desk
< February 26	<< Jan \| February \| Mar >>	February 28 >

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 27

Randy Clark article submission

I submitted an entry on Randy Clark (Evangelist) a couple of weeks ago, but lost the url to track its progress. Help? — Preceding unsigned comment added by Semprof (talk • contribs) 00:11, 27 February 2016 (UTC)[reply]

@Semprof: There's a Draft:Randy Clark, which has been edited by an IP user, and @Semprof2:- is this it?

Also, if you and Semprof2 are the same user, then please only use 1 account not 2. Joseph2302 (talk) 00:26, 27 February 2016 (UTC)[reply]

In other words, to explain what User:Joseph2302 said, if you have a registered account, remember to log in before editing. (On the other hand, Semprof2 and the IP might actually be different people. If the same, please do not edit logged out.) At the same time, editing logged out, by failing to log in, is a common mistake by inexperienced editors. When logging in, select the option to stay logged for up to 30 days. Robert McClenon (talk) 00:46, 27 February 2016 (UTC)[reply]

@Semprof and Semprof2: and if Semprof and Semprof2 are both you, you should declare this on both user pages, and generally stick to one account unless there is a good reason (there are valid reasons for multiple declared accounts). DES ^(talk) 13:53, 27 February 2016 (UTC)[reply]

Hoax

I'm reporting a hoax, the article Surkhab Sidhu self authored is at AFD but no reason was given by the nominator. During Jan and Feb Sidhu has added himself to the castlists of four films, twice as ip I'm guessing, and twice definitely signed in. He Is not listed at all at imdb for anything, nor rotten tomatoes.Can you look into it, thanksAtlantic306 (talk) 00:26, 27 February 2016 (UTC)[reply]

On the one hand, are Punjabi films listed in Rotten Tomatoes? Are they listed in IMDB? (They should be, since International is in its name, but that doesn't prove that they are.) His biographical article doesn't bother me, because it is already nominated for deletion, and the !votes are all in favor of deletion, so I would advise just letting the AFD run its course. What I do as potentially troubling is that he added himself to the articles on the four movies. I would suggest that the listings of himself in the movies be removed. If he reverts the deletion, he can be asked for a source. Robert McClenon (talk) 02:01, 27 February 2016 (UTC)[reply]

I've removed him from the four articles on the movies as needing a source for the addition. As to his biographical article, we can just let the AFD run. Robert McClenon (talk) 03:02, 27 February 2016 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks, for sorting it out and correcting the pagesAtlantic306 (talk) 04:06, 27 February 2016 (UTC)[reply]

Font

Any idea why the title of the reference section of Protopterna eremia looks odd? Maybe a naughty template? Clarityfiend (talk) 02:42, 27 February 2016 (UTC)[reply]

Looks normal to me. What's odd about it? --ColinFine (talk) 09:43, 27 February 2016 (UTC)[reply]

It was fixed by Maproom at 08:11. Was it one of those where the 'edit' link shows in the same font as the heading? Seen that several times recently. Eagleash (talk) 10:04, 27 February 2016 (UTC)[reply]

Eagleash: it hasn't anything to do with Maproom's edit. See also here. --Edgars2007 (talk/contribs) 21:37, 27 February 2016 (UTC)[reply]

OK that clears up the odd 'edit' font question, but doesn't say whether that was the problem here. As Maproom's edit was to the heading in question it looked as if it must have fixed it. As I recall there were no other edits. Eagleash (talk) 22:07, 27 February 2016 (UTC)[reply]

Yes, it was the edit problem. Clarityfiend (talk) 02:52, 28 February 2016 (UTC)[reply]

When I looked at the article, I saw the fonts all normal, but the "edit" link for the section right up against the section name, with no enclosing square brackets. My edit should not have affected anything, but may have caused a purge. I've come across such things before. I'd like to know what's really going on. Maproom (talk) 08:19, 28 February 2016 (UTC)[reply]

@Maproom: Are you talking about behavior such as at this page?--S Philbrick (Talk) 22:10, 28 February 2016 (UTC)[reply]

Precisely that. Maproom (talk) 22:25, 28 February 2016 (UTC)[reply]

and now I've fixed them. I hope that did not interfere with someone's experiment. Maproom (talk) 22:28, 28 February 2016 (UTC)[reply]

References in Stand-Alone List Articles

Are references required in articles that are stand-alone lists of other blue-linked articles? Is it sufficient for the blue-linked articles to have references so that the reader can click on the links for the references? I see that references are not expected in disambiguation pages. Are stand-alone lists considered similar to disambiguation pages in this way? (I would think that they are, but what do other editors say?) Robert McClenon (talk) 04:58, 27 February 2016 (UTC)[reply]

I would say it depends on the list. If list membership states or implies a controversial fact, or if the criteria for membership are not included and referenced in the linked article, or if anyone challenges list membership, then a source should be cited, just as with an article. Some lists cite all entries. DES ^(talk) 13:55, 27 February 2016 (UTC)[reply]

I agree with DES. For example, List of recluses definitely requires references. Clarityfiend (talk) 02:50, 28 February 2016 (UTC)[reply]

We do have official guidelines for Stand-alone lists. Hope that helps. -- œ^™ 23:21, 29 February 2016 (UTC)[reply]

uploading information on wikipedia

hello sir/madam can you please tell me that can i provide some information about a personality here and can it be uploaded on wikipedia — Preceding unsigned comment added by Awais.panezai (talk • contribs) 06:09, 27 February 2016 (UTC)[reply]

You can upload a biography only if the "personality" is notable in the Wikipedia sense. Please see WP:Biographies of living persons for details. If the person you think is well-known has not been written about in independent sources, then any information about him or her is likely to be deleted. Dbfirs 08:57, 27 February 2016 (UTC)[reply]

Mehmet Adil

Good day

I recently created the page "Mehmet Adil" but it cannot be found when searching on Google. Pls advise if the page has been approved.

Zain.trook (talk) 10:15, 27 February 2016 (UTC) Zain Trook[reply]

The page is on Wikipedia at Mehmet Adil. Other users have edited it but it may not have been reviewed as yet. Eagleash (talk) 10:23, 27 February 2016 (UTC)[reply]

To answer the implied question about Google, we don't control Google's rankings. Google will display the article in their results when they want and by their rules. Dismas|^(talk) 12:29, 27 February 2016 (UTC)[reply]

How to create a wiki page for a person

Hi,

Can you let me know if I am allowed to create a wiki page for a person ? If yes, how ?

Regards, Anurag — Preceding unsigned comment added by Chaurasia.Anurag (talk • contribs) 20:35, 27 February 2016 (UTC)[reply]

You can upload a biography only if the "personality" is notable in the Wikipedia sense. Please see WP:Biographies of living persons for details. If the person you think is well-known has not been written about in independent sources, then any information about him or her is likely to be deleted.

If you can supply references from WP:reliable sources, then it is probably best to create the article in WP:draft space and ask for someone to check it before submitting for publication. Dbfirs 21:18, 27 February 2016 (UTC)[reply]

Credits lost/freezing game!!!!!!!!!!!!

In Dec. '15 my computer crashed and I lost EVERYTHING in my games. I played JACKPOT PARTY EVERY DAY AND NIGHT. I had millions in credits and always loved partying in the game. I bought a new computer but had to restart everything. Now the levels have changed so much and the payouts in the FEW games I can play are so low, there is NO WAY I will ever get back to my favorite game. I had finally gotten to 39 million credits playing Brazilan Beauty and my game froze!!!!!!!! Refreshed and all of my credits were gone!!! VERY *****!!!!!!!!! Isn't there some way you can get me back to Jackpot Party??????? PLEASE help with this??????!!!!!!!! My credits are gone and so are my levels. YOU lose nothing by helping but I lose some of the enjoyment that I have being an elderly person. Thank you. Linda Sweeney Hicks — Preceding unsigned comment added by 98.170.232.107 (talk) 21:02, 27 February 2016 (UTC)[reply]

I suspect, based on your question, that you found one of our over 6 million articles and thought we were affiliated in some way with that subject. Please note that you are at Wikipedia, the free online encyclopedia that anyone can edit, and this page is for asking questions related to using or contributing to Wikipedia itself. Thus, we have no special knowledge about the subject of your question. You can, however, search our vast catalogue of articles by typing a subject into the search field on the upper right side of your screen. If you cannot find what you are looking for, we have a reference desk, divided into various subject areas, where asking knowledge questions is welcome. Best of luck. Roger (Dodger67) (talk) 21:13, 27 February 2016 (UTC)[reply]

Sharing Edits With Others

Hi - I've just completed a major edit of the Open Control Architecture page [1], and I now want to transfer my draft changes to a colleague who's going to take over maintenance of the page. I do not know how to share drafts within Wikipedia. I have saved my edited draft in source form in a text file, and could transfer that file to her in the usual way, but is that the recommended way to do such things, or is there a better mechanism within the Wikipedia system?

thanks Jeff Berryman — Preceding unsigned comment added by Jeff Berryman (talk • contribs) 23:23, 27 February 2016 (UTC)[reply]

Hello, Jeff Berryman. Is there a reason why you haven't just edited the page Open Control Architecture? That is very strongly the preferred way to work: this is a collaborative project, and making changes offline (and especially, working with other editors offline) rather vitiates that. Ideally, you would make your changes on the live version, but check in a number of edits incrementally rather than one huge checkin. By the way, the fact that you are so far the only editor to have worked on the article does not mean that you own it, that you are responsible for maintaining it, or that you can pass such responsibility over to somebody else. Anybody in the world may improve that article, and we are all responsible for maintaining it. Your link above, as well as being an external link,rather than a Wikilink, fails because it doesn't match the case of the article title. --ColinFine (talk) 23:51, 27 February 2016 (UTC)[reply]

Jeff, please see WP:OWN. Dismas|^(talk) 23:55, 27 February 2016 (UTC)[reply]

Don't worry, everyone - I do understand that the Wikipedia is public and not owned by anybody. No problem there. I did actually edit the page Open Control Architecture. My mistake was in thinking I had to do something specific to get my edits from my user space into the public version. I thought there was some kind of "publish" step or something. So I was thinking my edits were still in a draft state, not publicly available. But I looked and I see they are all there, so no problem, they are shared with my colleague (and the rest of the world), and all is well.

What I meant by "responsibility for maintaining the article" didn't mean to suggest that I felt I or anyone else "owned" it. But I do have a colleague who offered to work on the article after I brought it up to currency (or at least what I think is currency). So now she has access to do that, just like everybody else. Sorry for the confusion, I don't speak the language of Wikipedians too well (yet). --Jeff Berryman (talk) 04:41, 28 February 2016 (UTC)[reply]

OK, Jeff Berryman, thanks for your explanation. However, your reference to "a colleague" and "bringing it up to currency" makes me wonder - are you and your colleague associated with Open Control Architecture? If so, please read about Conflict of interest, and understand why you are both discouraged from editing the article directly (though you are welcome to make suggestions on its talk page). Furthermore, if you are in any way paid to do this editing (eg it is part of your responsibilities in paid employment, irrespective of who is paying) then you must declare that fact in accordance with WP:PAID. I'm not criticising the article (though I think that parts of it are under-referenced, and overall too few of the sources are independent of AES) but it is important to be clear where there is even a possibility of COI. --ColinFine (talk) 15:52, 28 February 2016 (UTC)[reply]

ColinFine, here's the background: The Open Control Architecture is an open and license-free technical standard originally created by a nonprofit trade association named the OCA Alliance, and given by the Alliance to the AES for standardization. The AES completed their work and published the standard as AES70 on January 4 of 2016. The Alliance [[2]] is now engaged in promoting adoption of the standard.

I work for Bosch Communications, a member of the Alliance, and chair the technical working group of the Alliance. I was also the chair of the AES writing group that created the text of the AES70 standard. I was also primary author of an older AES draft standard named AES24, which is the primary technical ancestor of AES70. AES24 never reached full standard status, but was published as a pair of information documents in 1995. I am paid by Bosch, but not by the OCA Alliance. Part of my Bosch job is to work on various open standards issues, of which OCA/AES70 is one.

My colleague is a person who works for the small company the Alliance pays to manage its business affairs. She and her mother operate a trade alliance support company. They provide mainly event management, bookkeeping, and public relations support for the OCA Alliance and a few other similar nonprofit organizations.

I am describing this in order to secure your advice on whether there is a conflict of interest. To date, I have been thinking that, since AES70 is an open public standard in the same manner as, say, TCP, that conflict of interest is not a problem. However, I would appreciate any advice you would have for me and for the Alliance. --Jeff Berryman (talk) 08:42, 29 February 2016 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks for being open about this, Jeff. In Wikipedia, "Conflict of Interest" is used a bit more widely than in normal life: it's not just about commercial interests. The questions is, "is this person's involvement potentially going to make it difficult for them to write in a sufficiently neutral way? Are they, even unconsciously, going to slant their writing in favour of (or against!) the subject?" Because this is a question, not an automatic assumption, COI editors are not forbidden from working on such articles, but they are discouraged, and if they do so, they are expected to declare their potential COI, and their work is likely to be examined more closely than it might otherwise be. I would say that you do have a (potential) COI in this case, and should follow the guidances. I would also say that, since it is part of your paid work to work on this project, you do come under the heading of a "paid editor", and should likewise declare this. Again, this does not preclude you from working on the article, provided you are open about your situation; and it certainly does not preclude you from contributing to discussions about it.

My suggestion would be that you contact a suitable wikiproject (perhaps WT:WikiProject Audiovisual telecommunications, but that does not seem to be very active) and see if there are people there who can partner with you. --ColinFine (talk) 10:30, 29 February 2016 (UTC)[reply]

OK, ColinFine, will do. Thanks. --Jeff Berryman (talk) 18:50, 29 February 2016 (UTC)[reply]

ColinFine, I've now posted declarations on the Open Control Architecture Talk page - are they appropriate/sufficient? Thanks for any advice you may have. I have not yet contacted WT:WikiProject Audiovisual telecommunications, but will do so. --Jeff Berryman (talk) 19:07, 29 February 2016 (UTC)[reply]

Looks fine to me, Jeff. --ColinFine (talk) 21:29, 29 February 2016 (UTC)[reply]