Wikipedia talk:Help desk
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| FAQ: How-to guide for those answering questions |
 | This page was nominated for merging with Wikipedia:Teahouse on 19 June 2023. The result of the discussion was Withdrawn. |
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1. Up to January 2006 |
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Identifying Contributions
[edit]I suspect that there are many, like me, who only occasionally edit a Wiki page and are not well versed in the Wiki editing conventions. In particular, I just made a minor edit to a page and went to identify my authorship. I did remember that there was a simple convention for this but did not remember the format. Nowhere on the page was there any help or hint. Searching the help desk was frustratingly unsuccessful. After a long and tedious search I finally found the "~ ~ ~ ~" code but this experience was a demotivator for contributing. These should be a link to a quicky help page on every edit page (as I think there used to be), with short descriptions/examples of common edit conventions. ArtKocsis (talk) 10:21, 29 March 2024 (UTC)
- ArtKocsis This is not the Help Desk, but the talk page for the Help Desk, where its operation is discussed. Please post on the main Help Desk. TSventon (talk) 10:43, 29 March 2024 (UTC)
- I will note that the edit history of an article indicates who made edits, article edits should not be signed. 331dot (talk) 11:02, 29 March 2024 (UTC)
- Yes, I know it is not the help desk. My post is really feedback to the webmaster(s) but there is no link for feedback. The help desk page is for questions. My post was not a question and this is the closest category that I could find for feedback.
- At this point I am giving up. I have just spent over four hours on what should have been a quick simple edit and tried to follow the preferred convention of signing an edit. Instead I have run into dead end after dead end and now complaints. So do with it what you will. I quit.
- PS - Apparently there is a Cheatsheet but even that does not include the signing convention. ArtKocsis (talk) 12:14, 29 March 2024 (UTC)
- @ArtKocsis: While still active,
~~~~is a lot less frequently used nowadays due to the Reply tool. If you're using the source editor and have enabled the 2010 editing toolbar or the 2017 wikitext editor in your preferences, the editor has a
button you can press (using the 2010 editing toolbar) or an item in the dropdown menu under the +icon.There's no need to sign inside edit summaries as the amount of wiki markup they can parse is limited, and the account making the edit is noted in the page's history. —Tenryuu 🐲 ( 💬 • 📝 ) 15:20, 29 March 2024 (UTC) - @ArtKocsis, there is no need to sign anywhere when making an edit to an article. The author of any change made to an article is recorded with the time and date in the edit history - see the edit history of Counting, where it can be clearly seen you made 2 edits on 29 March 2024. Reconrabbit 20:54, 25 July 2024 (UTC)
- @ArtKocsis: While still active,
boilerplate/template for "I got scammed" threads?
[edit]Seems like these are a fairly regular occurence here, people come here for help when it turns out they've been paying scammers for an article that is never going to materialize. Wondering if anyone else thinks it is worth coming up with a stock reponse to such threads, with links to relvant resources? Just Step Sideways from this world ..... today 19:23, 13 May 2024 (UTC)
- Hey, look what I found: Wikipedia:Articles for creation/Scam warning. We could just transclude it on each thread. Just Step Sideways from this world ..... today 23:05, 13 May 2024 (UTC)
- Most editors who help at this desk do provide a link to WP:SCAM. My view is that we should try show empathy for those who may have been scammed, so a personalised message is better than a stock response. Mike Turnbull (talk) 11:49, 14 May 2024 (UTC)
Press Your Luck
[edit]The following closure request was made over one month ago. Is there any way to expedite this? --Jax 0677 (talk) 16:04, 16 June 2024 (UTC)
- Jax 0677 This page is for discussion related to the Help Desk, and is not the Help Desk itself. Please post to the main Help Desk page. Requests to look at the requests for closure aren't likely to help significantly; all work here is done by volunteers. 331dot (talk) 17:20, 16 June 2024 (UTC)
- I see that you already did. Apologies for that. 331dot (talk) 17:22, 16 June 2024 (UTC)
Copyright Image
[edit]I uploaded a logo to play on a page but it continues to be dele based on not submitting copyright information. The work that keeps on getting deleted is my work. I was paid to do it and actually work for the organization that asked me to design the work. The organization approved the logo o created and has been usi it for 10 years or so. They never went forward with getting it copyrighted, so, there's no formal documentation on that.
I don't know what I need to do or say to not have my work taken down. VEDanculovich (talk) 08:10, 13 August 2024 (UTC)
- First, you must declare as a paid editor, this is a Terms of Use requirement. Please see WP:PAID for instructions.
- This is more of an issue for Commons, where you uploaded the image. If you are saying that you personally created the logo but did so as part of your job- that could mean that Racine County owns the logo, not you. I don't know what specific copyright laws Wisconsin might have; usually the works of local/county/state governments aren't in the public domain automatically(unlike the works of the US federal government which are) but there are exceptions to that. If it's not automatically in the public domain(as I suspect, though not certain) the County will need to expliclty release the logo under a license compatible with Wikipedia(allowing for reuse by anyone for any purpose with attribution). They may not want to do that if they don't have to by law. However, you could upload the logo to this Wikipedia locally under "fair use" rules(Commons cannot host fair use images). 331dot (talk) 08:17, 13 August 2024 (UTC)
- VEDanchlovich I just realized, this is the talk page for the Help Desk, not the Help Desk itself. In the future, please post to the main Help Desk page. Eventually this conversation may be moved there. 331dot (talk) 08:19, 13 August 2024 (UTC)
Semi-protected edit request on 5 September 2024
[edit] | This edit request has been answered. Set the |answered= or |ans= parameter to no to reactivate your request. |
Remove Moved to Wikipedia:Teahouse and add Moved to Wikipedia:Teahouse#Remove 112.208.236.135 (talk) 12:35, 5 September 2024 (UTC)
- I'm not sure what you're trying to ask, but I've ended the temporary protection of the main Help Desk. 331dot (talk) 12:38, 5 September 2024 (UTC)
- did you really end the protection? I can't edit when I'm logged in. When I'm logged out the page goes through the motions, I can enter my text, but not save. La Zy-Hart (talk) 22:34, 22 September 2024 (UTC)
- The Help Desk is currently semi-protected due to disruption by a long term abuser, La Zy-Hart. Cullen328 (talk) 00:42, 23 September 2024 (UTC)
- did you really end the protection? I can't edit when I'm logged in. When I'm logged out the page goes through the motions, I can enter my text, but not save. La Zy-Hart (talk) 22:34, 22 September 2024 (UTC)