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How do I revert my user sandbox back from a redirect

I used my sandbox to create my first article a couple years back, but when my draft was approved it became a redirect. I was put off from doing anything due to the tag saying: "This is a redirect from a page that has been moved (renamed). This page was kept as a redirect to avoid breaking links, both internal and external, that may have been made to the old page name." Has I was a new user at the time, I was worried that if I deleted it it would cause some problems, and as a result I never looked back at it since.

Now that I've gained more experience as an editor, and know that that will unlikely happen, I wanted to bring my sandbock back from a redirect. How do I go about doing this. Earle Bartibus Huxley (talk) 15:50, 13 January 2024 (UTC)

Hi @Earle Bartibus Huxley: you can edit the sandbox as usual, either just delete the existing redirect and leave it blank for now, or create new content in it. The redirect is there mainly for your benefit. Best, -- DoubleGrazing (talk) 16:14, 13 January 2024 (UTC)

Okay. Thanks. Earle Bartibus Huxley (talk) 00:42, 14 January 2024 (UTC)

(edit conflict) @Earle Bartibus Huxley If you go to your Sandbox page at User:Earle Bartibus Huxley/sandbox and follow the link that automatically takes you to Carl Gustaf Dücker, you'll notice just under that title a sentence stating (Redirected from User:Earle Bartibus Huxley/sandbox). Click that link, and you will then be taken back to your sandbox page without being redirected away from it this time. From there you can edit the page and remove the redirect, as suggested above by @DoubleGrazing. Regards, Nick Moyes (talk) 16:23, 13 January 2024 (UTC)

That's good advice for others who may see this but Earle Bartibus Huxley already quoted from the redirect page. It's a standard message from all moves, e.g. from one article title to another. Nothing breaks if the redirect User:Earle Bartibus Huxley/sandbox is changed to something else. You can also have multiple sandboxes at the same time, e.g. User:Earle Bartibus Huxley/sandbox2 and so on, or User:Earle Bartibus Huxley/John Doe for a draft about John Doe. The interface link "Sandbox" is practical to get quickly to a page so I wouldn't "waste" it on a redirect. PrimeHunter (talk) 16:36, 13 January 2024 (UTC)

@Earle Bartibus Huxley which article?? PlaneCrashKing1264 (talk) 21:37, 18 January 2024 (UTC)

@PlaneCrashKing1264: See the sandbox' history. CiaPan (talk) 21:42, 18 January 2024 (UTC)

OK. PlaneCrashKing1264 (talk) 21:47, 18 January 2024 (UTC)

I wrote an essay. Can I put it in the Wikipedia namespace?

Hello Teahouse. I wrote an WP:essay and published it in my userspace. I am thinking about moving it to the Wikipedia namespace, but I thought that only essays that represent community consensus exist in the WP namespace. Is that true? Or am I able to just ... move my essay into the WP namespace?

Wikipedia:Essays only says Essays may be moved into userspace as user essays (see below), or even deleted, if they are found to be problematic. That doesn't sound like an affirmative "yes" to me. Cheers, --The Lonely Pather (talk) 18:53, 16 January 2024 (UTC)

Hi @TheLonelyPather! There's nothing rule-rise that prevents publishing an essay into the Wikipedia namespace. The difference between them is that essays in userspace are generally seen as the view of only that user and generally aren't edited by others unless there's some compelling need, whereas essays in the Wikipedia namespace are seen as the property of the community and are editable by anyone who thinks they can improve them. I often publish my essays directly to the Wikipedia namespace because I don't mind others improving them, and find that being in the Wikipedia namespace gives them a bit more visibility.

All that said, we have a big problem with redundant essays. Looking at what you wrote, it seems like you've put together some helpful advice, but I'm not sure why it's a separate page from Wikipedia:Translation, where we already give guidance to editors looking to do translations. So something to consider might be merging what you wrote into that page rather than starting a new one. That'd also give your contributions more visibility, as WP:Translation is an established page that gets more than 4,000 views a month, which is a lot more than most essays.

Hope that helps! Cheers, {{u|Sdkb}} ^talk 20:00, 16 January 2024 (UTC)

Thanks! I will have your advice in mind. Cheers, --The Lonely Pather (talk) 00:55, 17 January 2024 (UTC)

@Sdkb, after a second look, it seems like WP:Translation is not an essay–I don't even know what page it is. Guideline? Policy? Or just a random page? Can I even edit it ...? Cheers, --The Lonely Pather (talk) 00:59, 17 January 2024 (UTC)

It should be an information page. 94rain ^Talk 01:21, 17 January 2024 (UTC)

Yep. Which is technically an essay, in the sense of a catchall term for pages in the Wikipedia namespace that are not policies or guidelines (which are always tagged). Yes, you're free to edit it boldly just as you would any other page. The guiding principles are a bit different than for articles — WP:CREEP is one notable one — but as with anywhere, if others have concerns about the changes you make, they'll discuss and/or revert them and you'll be able to converse to help get the page to a better state. Cheers, {{u|Sdkb}} ^talk 06:16, 17 January 2024 (UTC)

Topicwise, more can be found at Help:Translation, which is incidentally the help page for translations :). Lectonar (talk) 10:02, 17 January 2024 (UTC)

The redundancy between the Help and Wikipedia namespaces is another problem. From a quick glance, it seems like the intended scope of these pages is the same, and I would be inclined to support a proposal to merge them. {{u|Sdkb}} ^talk 15:15, 17 January 2024 (UTC)

Wikipedia:Avoid writing redundant essays this made me laugh ~ 🦝 Shushugah (he/him • talk) 23:24, 18 January 2024 (UTC)

The problem is that it's only in American English. In early April I'm planning to make a few dozen copies so that it's available in every variety of English. {{u|Sdkb}} ^talk 01:53, 19 January 2024 (UTC)

I can't log into wikipedia

My user name is carptrash and I have been an editor for more than 15 years. Tonight, after being logged on earlier today, suddenly, I can't log in. I get the following message. "There seems to be a problem with your login session; this action has been canceled as a precaution against session hijacking. Please resubmit the form. You may receive this message if you are blocking cookies." I have resubmitted the form several times, no luck and have no idea how to block cookies on my computer, and I have not made any changes in any thing in any case. Any suggestions? carptrash 2600:8800:590F:8600:F081:3B73:A055:36D9 (talk) 06:19, 17 January 2024 (UTC)

2600:8800:590F:8600:F081:3B73:A055:36D9, I'm showing this to people who may be able to help. — Remsense诉 07:30, 17 January 2024 (UTC)

2600:8800:590F:8600:F081:3B73:A055:36D9, you should try clearing your browser cookies and try again if you haven't yet. Also, web browser do you use, and what version of that browser? — Remsense诉 08:24, 17 January 2024 (UTC)

I mostly use Google Chrome, (Version 65.0.3325.181) perhaps I will try something else. thanks, 2600:8800:590F:8600:FC60:6EE9:4225:AE3D (talk) 17:20, 17 January 2024 (UTC)

2600:8800:590F:8600:FC60:6EE9:4225:AE3D, I would recommend updating your browser, as that version is very out of date and will likely continue to cause problems such as this on Wikipedia and other modern websites—including security problems. — Remsense诉 22:44, 17 January 2024 (UTC)

I am not sure how to update it but I will give it a shot. Thanks, carptrash aka 2600:8800:590F:8600:2157:7C82:9887:CD4C (talk) 04:09, 18 January 2024 (UTC)

If you need additional help, don't hesitate to ask me, possibly on my talk page. Cheers! Remsense诉 04:16, 18 January 2024 (UTC)

Reviewed page not indexed

Howdy experts.

I created College Park City Hall a while ago and it was reviewed on Jan 4. It still does not seem to indexed by Google, so I was wondering whether there is any additional step that needs to be taken so that it is indexed or it's just Google being silly. Thank you. Blacktupelo (talk) 10:28, 17 January 2024 (UTC)

@Blacktupelo: Looks to me like it's fine on Wikipedia's end in that case – sometimes it just takes a while. Tollens (talk) 10:33, 17 January 2024 (UTC)

It's showing up for me on the first page of Google search results for "College Park City Hall". (And the article is the top result for a Bing search.) Deor (talk) 14:22, 17 January 2024 (UTC)

I swear I googled it several times before posting this and it was not showing... but it does show now indeed. Thanks whoever/whatever it was! Blacktupelo (talk) 21:48, 17 January 2024 (UTC)

I don't think it was just you – in my search at the time it also didn't come up. Tollens (talk) 21:54, 17 January 2024 (UTC)

Reviving WikiProject and how to obtain the template assessment box

WP:3TOPE is the WikiProject Polyhedra, focusing on the topic of polyhedra. Is there a possible way to revive this WikiProject, as it is inactive for a long time? No response ever since I asked in WP:WPM. Also, I see that this WikiProject do not have the template box for assessing the article. Is there a way to create new one? Dedhert.Jr (talk) 13:52, 17 January 2024 (UTC)

@Dedhert.Jr: Welcome to the Teahouse! See WP:REVIVE if you haven't done so already. GoingBatty (talk) 20:21, 17 January 2024 (UTC)

@Dedhert.Jr I think it would have been better far better to have posted on the talk page of the WikiProject itself, and then simply linked to that discussion on the Maths WikiProject talk page. Your original post at WP:WikiProject Mathematics has now been archived, so won't be answered.

If you have suggestions for reviving that Project, do list them there, and ping some of the active editors who work on related articles. Adding an article assessment template is a good idea, as is one to show recent changes to relevant pages. If you look at the wikimarkup for other WikiProjects, you should be able to work out how to create one. I find assessment tables incredibly helpful, as they let you list and re-assess quality tags, as well as focus on the important, short stub articles that merit easy improvement.

Some of that work you could do on your own, include ensuring that relevant articles are categorised and labelled on their talk pages. However, there are very, very few watchers of that Project Page, and it has received very few daily views for the last 10 years or so. You're unlikely to receive much interest in your proposal unless you invest some effort yourself to improve that page, as suggested above.

Oh dear - one final note, which is not good news. I've just checked, and it seems that there are no articles at all linking to that WikiProject title. (see here), so it looks like only the WikiProject Mathematics label has ever been added to Talk pages. It would probably be an uphill battle to address that now, so you would probably be better focussing your interests on relevant articles by ensuring they are all correctly and suitably Categorised instead (which is an alternative way of linking related specialist subjects together). Improving the the Polyhedra Project page to help others find relevant articles via categories would, I'd suggest, be a relatively useful exercise to do. Regards, Nick Moyes (talk) 20:53, 17 January 2024 (UTC)

@Nick Moyes Thank you. But how do I create WikiProject Polyhedra template assessment? Where should I start? Dedhert.Jr (talk) 02:26, 18 January 2024 (UTC)

Dedhert.Jr, I would start by referring to Module:WikiProject banner. I think you'd take the example code and adapt it at the page Template:WikiProject Polyhedra. — Remsense诉 02:37, 18 January 2024 (UTC)

@Remsense I don't get it. Can you help me how to handle this? I have made one, but it seems it's not what it looks like. Dedhert.Jr (talk) 03:48, 18 January 2024 (UTC)

Dedhert.Jr, Ah, my apologies for being unclear! If you'd like, I will fix it up, and further discuss on Template talk:WikiProject Polyhedra. — Remsense诉 03:49, 18 January 2024 (UTC)

@Remsense I have messed up that thing. I think I can leave it to you. Discussing on the template talk is fine. Dedhert.Jr (talk) 03:50, 18 January 2024 (UTC)

@Dedhert.Jr I fear you may have misunderstood me and rather "jumped the gun". I am not convinced that it's at all appropriate to create a Project banner as you and @Remsense now seem intent on doing. Having commented that not only is there no banner in use on any articles, and that the WikiProject Polyhedra is deemed inactive, I don't feel a one-man attempt to revive and apply banners is the way to go. Without collaboration from other interested editors, it just takes you to get disillusioned and walk away to leave a mess of partly flagged articles. Hence, once I realised there were no article talk pages linking to that project at all, I suggested you switch your focus to ensuring good categorisation of all relevant articles, and then to individually assess them once that task was completed. Listing those categories on the Project page would, I'd suggest, be quite a useful thing to do, but not to unilaterally attempt to revive an inactive Project and to start labelling articles with new project template as a one-man band without further consensus.

...though I now see you have begun doing precisely that! Nick Moyes (talk) 19:24, 18 January 2024 (UTC)

Changing a page

Are you allowed to change what a page says or if you have tried to seek consensus on a talk page and no one answered? Frostyibex (talk) 19:03, 17 January 2024 (UTC)

@Frostyibex Whilst you can just WP:BEBOLD and make a change, now that you've posted a suggestion and sought feedback/consensus, you should wait about seven days for others to reply before changing it if you don't get any responses. The article you have posted on has 150+watches, so I would either expect some comments, or assume disinterest in any change you propose. Does that help? Obviously, anything you change should be based on reliable sources and not infringe WP:BLP. Nick Moyes (talk) 20:11, 17 January 2024 (UTC)

Thank you for your insight I will, Frostyibex (talk) 20:14, 17 January 2024 (UTC)

Deleting pages from own userspace

Hello peoples. I was wondering where I could put in a request to have some pages from my userspace be deleted. I feel like a lot of the pages there aren't really necessary, and so I would like them gone. List of pages I want deleted will be provided upon you asking for it. That's all. Thanks so much! Antrotherkus (Talk to me!) 19:33, 17 January 2024 (UTC)

@Antrotherkus: You can add {{db-u1}} to the top of each of these pages and they will be deleted. Tollens (talk) 19:34, 17 January 2024 (UTC)

Ok 👍 Antrotherkus (Talk to me!) 19:38, 17 January 2024 (UTC)

In past 2 or 3 weeks, I've spotted two needed corrections

[There's] an obvious misprint in the article "Napoleon And The Jews" where the date of Irish revolutionary Thomas Corbet's letter to France's Directorate should be 1799. A less clear mistake appears to be in the article on David Petraeus where he apparently worked on a field manual with James Mattis but another James M. is what's printed.

All I'm trying to do, is notify of two misprints.IT SHOULDN'T BE THIS HARD ! ! ! ! 74.76.228.24 (talk) 20:19, 17 January 2024 (UTC)

Please be WP:BOLD and fix any problems you see. Alternatively, you can post on the article's talk page. RudolfRed (talk) 20:21, 17 January 2024 (UTC)

I have fixed the issue at Napoleon and the Jews. I can't figure out what the paragraph you're referring to in David Petraeus is intended to read, though. Tollens (talk) 20:30, 17 January 2024 (UTC)

One line in David Petraeus used the name Mattis when referring to the author of a manual, James F. Amos. I made the correction. Reconrabbit 21:19, 17 January 2024 (UTC)

quick question

Hi i was wondering where the "archives" section is (i might find this before i get a response) Jude Marrero \=D (talk) 20:24, 17 January 2024 (UTC)

@Jude marrero The archives for The Teahouse can be found right up towards the top of this page - just below the green header notice. Nick Moyes (talk) 20:27, 17 January 2024 (UTC)

Thanks Jude Marrero \=D (talk) 20:28, 17 January 2024 (UTC)

@Jude marrero: There is a box under the table of contents that links to Teahouse archives along with a search box. The most recent archive is at Wikipedia:Teahouse/Questions/Archive_1212 RudolfRed (talk) 20:28, 17 January 2024 (UTC)

Showing both sides of the picture for neutrality

Hello, I have a question regarding presenting information in a neutral manner - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henley_%26_Partners

In the lead paragraph, I am trying to improve text for neutrality. Could you please tell me if this will be a good way to improve the context in the lead section?

Currently, the text is

It has been criticised for its core business model, which detractors believe to threaten the fight against cross-border corruption and crime.<ref>{{Cite news|last=Guarascio|first=Francesco|date=2019-01-23|title=EU warns of crime risks from governments' sales of passports, visas|work=Reuters|url=https://www.reuters.com/article/uk-eu-passports-idUKKCN1PH14N|access-date=2021-03-28}}</ref> Henley's immigrant investor programs in Malta and in St. Kitts and Nevis have stirred controversy.<ref name=":2">{{Cite web |title=Conflicts of Interest and Controversial Clients: Henley & Partners' Caribbean Business |url=https://www.occrp.org/en/investigations/conflicts-of-interest-and-controversial-clients-henley-and-partners-caribbean-business |access-date=2022-03-19 |website=OCCRP}}</ref><ref name="GuardianLeaks" />

But there are reliable WP:RS sources like GQ that also show the other side of the picture. I feel adding this line shows both the sides of the picture and makes it neutral.

According to a report by the International Monetary Fund, the program has helped St. Kitts and Nevis come out of a four-year recession.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Bullough |first1=Oliver |title=Is St Kitts And Nevis’ passport scheme lucrative for all involved? |url=https://www.gq-magazine.co.uk/article/st-kitts-and-nevis-citizenship |access-date=27 December 2023 |work=British GQ |date=21 July 2018 |quote=The report described how selling passports had pulled St Kitts And Nevis out of a four-year recession}}</ref>

ANLgrad (talk) 23:24, 17 January 2024 (UTC)2024-01-17T22:10:05 (UTC)

@ANLgrad:, hello! On Wikipedia, neutral point of view does not mean "no point of view". The weight given to the viewpoints reflected in an article should reflect the existing body of sources on the subject. To me, your edit does not balance viewpoints, but rather replaces a negative perspective with a positive one. Also, I am not certain, but while both sources are likely viable, Reuters is likely more reliable than GQ for representing claims in this context. I would recommend posting on the article's talk page to start a discussion about what may or may not be due weight within an article. I also recommend reading the two pages I've linked, they will likely explain a lot. Cheers! Remsense诉 22:22, 17 January 2024 (UTC)

@Remsense:, hello Remsense诉! thanks for checking this. I think I didn't put out my point clearly. My bad! I didn't mean to say that the criticism part should be removed. What I was meaning to say was that the line from GQ about the economic impact should be added after the line about criticism. Something like this

ANLgrad, I think this is likely a good start. Talk page discussion will likely further nuance how the points are presented. — Remsense诉 23:26, 17 January 2024 (UTC)

It has been criticised for its core business model, which detractors believe to threaten the fight against cross-border corruption and crime.<ref>{{Cite news|last=Guarascio|first=Francesco|date=2019-01-23|title=EU warns of crime risks from governments' sales of passports, visas|work=Reuters|url=https://www.reuters.com/article/uk-eu-passports-idUKKCN1PH14N|access-date=2021-03-28}}</ref> Henley's immigrant investor programs in Malta and in St. Kitts and Nevis have stirred controversy.<ref name=":2">{{Cite web |title=Conflicts of Interest and Controversial Clients: Henley & Partners' Caribbean Business |url=https://www.occrp.org/en/investigations/conflicts-of-interest-and-controversial-clients-henley-and-partners-caribbean-business |access-date=2022-03-19 |website=OCCRP}}</ref><ref name="GuardianLeaks" /> According to a report by the International Monetary Fund, the program has helped St. Kitts and Nevis come out of a four-year recession.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Bullough |first1=Oliver |title=Is St Kitts And Nevis’ passport scheme lucrative for all involved? |url=https://www.gq-magazine.co.uk/article/st-kitts-and-nevis-citizenship |access-date=27 December 2023 |work=British GQ |date=21 July 2018 |quote=The report described how selling passports had pulled St Kitts And Nevis out of a four-year recession}}</ref>

In my opinion, text about the criticism should definitely remain, but the line about how it positively impacted the country's economy could be added after the criticism line. Do you think this is a fair addition? Cheers! ANLgrad (talk) 23:24, 17 January 2024 (UTC)

Need help looking for sources.

Hi there, as someone who is new to Wikipedia I am working on the English translation version for Hypergryph (known for Arknights) but the problem is that I couldn't find enough resources. I translated the Hypergryph wiki page from the original translation into different languages a few times, but I need help trying to find some sources for the English version. Here is the link to what the english translation currently looks like: Draft:Hypergryph TriFusion (talk) 23:07, 17 January 2024 (UTC)

TriFusion, while English-language sources are preferred when they provide equivalent information, sources for an article may be in any language. However, you will want to ensure they are reliable according to the English Wikipedia's policies, which may be different from those on Chinese Wikipedia.
This is all assuming that you are fluent enough in Chinese to read the sources and assess your translation, as editors should not translate articles from languages they do not speak. — Remsense诉 23:30, 17 January 2024 (UTC)

Ok, Thank you so much for your help! I'm currently working on adding more to the draft while also looking for more sources as soon as possible. TriFusion (talk) 23:53, 17 January 2024 (UTC)

@Remsense: Just as a point of interest, I wrote the article Paul Trappen by translating the German version even though I don't speak German. I have only a passing familiarity with German, and made heavy use of Google Translate in both directions - which wouldn't be as reliable for Chinese. Even so, it was a long, hard job that I wouldn't care to repeat, but I believe I created a better article than the original. ~Anachronist (talk) 03:07, 18 January 2024 (UTC)

I generally strongly advise against doing this regardless of the source language. I would regularly consult with a fluent speaker during translation at bare minimum. Remsense诉 03:12, 18 January 2024 (UTC)

@Remsense Whilst your advice may seem sensible in many situations, I would comment that it is quite possible to create a quality Wikipedia article using sources in languages that you cannot speak. I created a far better article in English on Joseph Vallot than currently exists on French Wikipedia by using various translation tools, plus my incredibly limited schoolboy French and an interest in the subject. The key thing about using translation tools is to ensure you actually understand the subject you're writing about, and not solely the language! But extra care is obviously needed in such situations. Nick Moyes (talk) 09:53, 18 January 2024 (UTC)

We agree that it is possible as such—in the context of the Teahouse, all I mean to say is that I would strongly advise any given person not to, all else being equal. I would say the prospect is treacherous at a fundamental level, but I couldn't claim to know how many waypoints any individual editor has to guide them. — Remsense诉 10:04, 18 January 2024 (UTC)

@TriFusion: Welcome to the Teahouse! I just added some WikiProjects to the draft's talk page. You could ask for assistance at Wikipedia talk:WikiProject China if you like. Happy editing! GoingBatty (talk) 03:12, 18 January 2024 (UTC)

Where exactly in the WikiProject Television should I ask this question, if no-one here knows

A film was commissioned for TV.

A TV boss wasn't happy with it, and wanted the producers to change some stuff, before they would broadcast the film they commissioned on TV.

So after around 2 years of arguing and waiting, the producers decided to get it screened at the Edinburgh International Television Festival to TV executives, without the permission of the TV company who commissioned it.

Is a screening at the Edinburgh TV Festival classed as a public release?

Or is it classed as a private screening, as only TV executives were there? Danstarr69 (talk) 03:18, 18 January 2024 (UTC)

Danstarr69, per the header question, I would post this at Wikipedia talk:WikiProject Television. — Remsense诉 03:20, 18 January 2024 (UTC)

Remsense where exactly?

GoingBatty the reliable sources say it was shown to TV executives at that festival. But is that festival classed as public or not? Or is it classed as private, like when filmmakers show cast, crew, friends, family etc a film before they release it properly? Danstarr69 (talk) 03:27, 18 January 2024 (UTC)

Danstarr69, I would post the question you are asking on the WikiProject Television talk page talk page that I've linked, as people there are likely more familiar on average with the norms. — Remsense诉 03:29, 18 January 2024 (UTC)

@Danstarr69: I don't know the answer, but for the purposes of contributing to a Wikipedia article, just provide what the sources say. GoingBatty (talk) 03:33, 18 January 2024 (UTC)

Remsense actaully forget that. I forgot that the project had a talk page, and that's what you've linked. Danstarr69 (talk) 03:30, 18 January 2024 (UTC)

@Danstarr69: I suggest that the Wikipedia article should only reflect what the published reliable sources have stated about the screening. GoingBatty (talk) 03:23, 18 January 2024 (UTC)

Inappropriate recommendation for vector images

Hi there. I've been working on fulfilling Wikipedia's requests to convert one type of image file into another type. I've found that many of them don't convert well because of the way color is used in the original file type. The resulting image is very blurred. Are these files chosen by bots? What should be done? There's a backlog of thousands of images and most of them have this problem. (Because others before me processed the convertible images and left the bow-wows that no one wants to touch, lol.) Can I just remove the tag asking for a vector? How do I prevent it from being picked up by a bot again?

If you need more detail, I'm converting raster images to vector images. Rasters use vastly more colors than vectors so the software gets a little confused and ends up blurring the image. A raster might look like it only has a few colors but you get shades along edges and that's what causes problems. Oona Wikiwalker (talk) 04:25, 18 January 2024 (UTC)

Oona Wikiwalker, "conversion into SVG" does not necessarily mean automated conversion. A huge chunk, if not most images that aren't photographic on Wikipedia should probably be vectorized one way or another.
Fundamentally, the SVG format is stored as text—specifically XML, similar to HTML in web pages—and it is intentional and common that people write SVGs by hand in a text editor. The use of autotrace etc. should usually be only one step in the process, to ensure the fidelity of the vector representation. If this weren't so, images could be converted automatically on the server en masse. Simply because the specific source is not amenable to autotrace or other automatic conversion does not mean the image shouldn't be replaced with a vector version. — Remsense诉 04:37, 18 January 2024 (UTC)

I didn't know that. Thank you for teaching me something new! How on earth does anyone code this in xml?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Lebanon_National_RL.png Oona Wikiwalker (talk) 08:01, 18 January 2024 (UTC)

And this, too. Should this be tagged to be made into a vector? How would the memory saved even be worth the effort?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Miami_Palmetto_Senior_High_School_Seal.png Oona Wikiwalker (talk) 08:07, 18 January 2024 (UTC)

@Oona Wikiwalker: I'd say not worth the effort. It isn't a matter of saving memory, it's more about reducing unnecessary network traffic. That matters more for images on high-traffic pages. An SVG image conversion for page that gets 50 views per day, like Miami Palmetto Senior High School, would not have the savings of an SVG conversion on a page that gets 5000 views per day. ~Anachronist (talk) 08:31, 18 January 2024 (UTC)

Anachronist, this is not my understanding. Nowhere on the relevant pages I've seen does it say that the primary point is to reduce bandwidth use.
Moreover, it's not my job to save the WMF money. The point, as articulated by the relevant pages and myself, is to benefit the end users by enabling images to be displayed at arbitrary scales, to benefit maintainers by making editing images as flexible as possible, and potentially include valuable semantic information when applicable, such as selectable text.
It's so much closer to directly representing what an image is, rather than just what it looks like. — Remsense诉 12:30, 18 January 2024 (UTC)

@Remsense: We don't need a "relevant page" to explain the well known benefit of transmitting smaller files, especially when they are to be displayed on a variety of devices with different screen resolutions, owned by recipients who may be paying for their internet connection, who may be paying needlessly to download excessive and unnecessary bytes associated with a bitmap image that is larger than needed for their display. It has nothing to do with saving the WMF money. A single bitmap image can exceed the byte size of the article itself. That typically isn't the case with SVG files. ~Anachronist (talk) 15:30, 18 January 2024 (UTC)

Thank you for your reply, Anachronist. I'm a newbie here and I appreciate you for caring to to educate me. Oona Wikiwalker (talk) 22:55, 18 January 2024 (UTC)

Oona Wikiwalker, these are less complicated than you'd think! While I said files are often written in a text editor, it is equally possible (and likely best here) to mix the use of graphical and text tools, to make use of the convenience of being able to draw those Bézier curves with the pen tool, and then open the file in a text editor to tweak fine details. I sometimes use this (third-party) tool to mess around with editing the text of paths quickly. — Remsense诉 12:35, 18 January 2024 (UTC)

Is that more useful than Inkscape? And thank you for being so encouraging to a newbie! Now, I'm interested in learning more of a subject I've been terribly ignorant about... I've used GIMP heavily as a hobby since 2010 and never needed to get into vectors. And other things kept pulling me away. But learning new things makes me more useful and I love that. Looks like it's time! Hugs for you! Oona Wikiwalker (talk) 22:50, 18 January 2024 (UTC)

I'm not so sure about a quote on an article

How would I ask someone to verify it's authenticity?

Specifically under aftermath starting with "Women and children together came to 8,000"

On this page: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siege_of_Jerusalem_(1187)

I'm not qualified to verify it, but I was wondering where I would ask for it to be verified? 75.142.254.3 (talk) 06:19, 18 January 2024 (UTC)

Welcome to the Teahouse! You can click on the footnote at the end of that sentence and review the source. You can also discuss this on the article's talk page: Talk:Siege of Jerusalem (1187). GoingBatty (talk) 06:52, 18 January 2024 (UTC)

Where would I ask for others to review the entry? Is that allowed? I'm not sure commenting on the talk page itself would do much is the concern I have. 75.142.254.3 (talk) 07:09, 18 January 2024 (UTC)

Really. Ask on the talk page. Or if you are questioning the reliability of the source, there's always the reliable sources noticeboard. ~Anachronist (talk) 07:54, 18 January 2024 (UTC)

Why do you not have the current information for Attorney Marcus Williams running for Governor of the State of N.C. https://WilliamsHouseUSA.com

www.WilliamsHouseUSA.com www.Hurriquake.us www.AttorneyMarcusWilliamsforGovernor.com Whittman (talk) 07:00, 18 January 2024 (UTC)

@Whittman: Has this been covered in reliable sources that are independent of Marcus Williams? If so WP:BE BOLD, and add it, with proper citation, not a citation to his own campaign website. ~Anachronist (talk) 07:52, 18 January 2024 (UTC)

Actually, Whittman, Marcus Williams is already covered at 2024 North Carolina gubernatorial election, which is where unelected candidates should be mentioned. An unelected candidate is rarely notable enough for their own Wikipedia biography, unless they are already notable as something like an actor or billionaire or professional athlete or best selling author. You can find additional information at the Notability guideline for politicians and at Common outcomes. Cullen328 (talk) 08:12, 18 January 2024 (UTC)

Finding an infobox for an article

I thought of making an article about this, can anyone find an infobox for this type of subject? - Dents (talk 🖂) 08:51, 18 January 2024 (UTC)

@Dentsinhere43: An infobox is not needed in all articles. Plenty of articles do fine without them. Your primary concern should be whether the topic is even notable. See Wikipedia:Golden Rule to get an idea of what is required. ~Anachronist (talk) 09:01, 18 January 2024 (UTC)

I doubt it, Dentsinhere43. But why worry? Articles don't need infoboxes. (Arguably they benefit from them. But I haven't yet encountered any convincing argument that they must have them.) What articles must have are reliable sources. Do you have reliable sources that deal with this curious-sounding project in some depth? -- Hoary (talk) 09:04, 18 January 2024 (UTC)

{{Infobox project}} could be used but an infobox is not necessary. PrimeHunter (talk) 12:46, 18 January 2024 (UTC)

Comment ajouter une référence

J'aimerais rajouter une référence à une modification que j'ai apportée, pourtant je ne sais comment le faire. Pouvez vous s'il vous plait m'aider Moignon Kaeloo (talk) 16:12, 18 January 2024 (UTC)

@Moignon Kaeloo: Welcome to the Teahouse on the English Wikipedia. Please use English to talk with other editors here. Google Translate says you posted "I would like to add a reference to a modification I made, but I don't know how to do it. Can you please help me". I suggest watching the video at WP:EASYREFBEGIN. Happy editing! GoingBatty (talk) 16:15, 18 January 2024 (UTC)

@Moignon Kaeloo: Bienvenue. Est-ce que pour le Wikipedia en anglais ou français? Si vous voulez modifier au Wikipedia en français, demandez a ce lien, s'il vous plaît. —Tenryuu 🐲 ( 💬 • 📝 ) 16:18, 18 January 2024 (UTC)

Can someone fix this

Can someone please fix the article India at the 2022 Asian Games. There is a dropdown issue in the page. The sections are collapsed/open by default. There is no option to close the sections. If someone can't understand me please see the discussions that have taken place at the article's talk page. To clarify I just like many others is facing this on mobile (Android), don't know about Laptop/Computers and other devices.

See:

• Talk:India at the 2022 Asian Games#The opening and closing icon of various sport is not there
• Talk:India at the 2022 Asian Games#Dropdown for sports sections removed.
• Talk:India at the 2022 Asian Games#Drop down removed , page has become horrible to view , was upto date before
• Talk:India at the 2022 Asian Games#Drop-down Issue
• Talk:India at the 2022 Asian Games#Why are all the things open

Pinging some participants who may help @Ku423winz1, @Kumarpramit, @Magentic Manifestations, @Jroberson108, @Fade258. ShaanSengupta^Talk 16:23, 18 January 2024 (UTC)

@Shaan Sengupta: Welcome to the Teahouse. I can replicate your problem on a mobile browser, but viewing it through the Wikipedia app collapses them by default; viewing the article in desktop mode on mobile browsers gives the ability to show and hide them. You're probably going to have to bring this up at a venue like Wikipedia:Village pump (technical) or Phabricator, because from what I can tell the code for the tables is sound. —Tenryuu 🐲 ( 💬 • 📝 ) 17:21, 18 January 2024 (UTC)

@Tenryuu Just to tell you I am using Google Chrome as the browser. And not the desktop version. Even in the desktop version this looks the same. Anyways as per your advice I am going to Village Pump. Thanks. ShaanSengupta^Talk 02:36, 19 January 2024 (UTC)

 Note: Further discussion should take place at Wikipedia:Village pump (technical)#Can this article get fixed. —Tenryuu 🐲 ( 💬 • 📝 ) 04:23, 19 January 2024 (UTC)

Captcha verification not working

Both when I am trying to post on sandbox and edit a Wikipedia article I am having to fill out many Captcha boxes and it never works! It just gets to the point that I have exceeded my rate limit and I have to wait 15 minutes just to repeat the whole process again, can someone help? Lottierutherford (talk) 16:53, 18 January 2024 (UTC)

Also I have looked through the previous help sections of people struggling with the same problem and nothing appears to be working. I am definitely pressing the save changes button and not the refresh button and I have tried closing and reopening the edit page. Please help! Lottierutherford (talk) 18:39, 18 January 2024 (UTC)

@Lottierutherford Welcome to the Teahouse. I'm not sure how much I can help you, but are you saying this happens after you are logged on with this account name? If so, there's a tiny bit of information here, but not much. Could you tell us what browser you're using, or whether there's a VPN involved, or whether you've ever seen any 'blocked' messages whilst trying to edit Wikipedia? I presume there was no problem making your edits to the Teahouse, or when making subsequent edits? Nick Moyes (talk) 21:25, 18 January 2024 (UTC)

Hi @Nick Moyes!

Sorry I totally forgot to update after I sorted the issue. Yes I was logged on with this account and had no issue adding to talk pages or the Teahouse, it was only when I was making a substantial edit to a Wikipedia page that I cam across an issue. I managed to solve it though by making 10+ minor edits to other pages (I had seen this be suggested briefly as a fix) and then Captcha didn’t bother me again!

Thank you for your response though, I really appreciate someone trying to help. Lottierutherford (talk) 22:35, 18 January 2024 (UTC)

@Lottierutherford You're most welcome. I had wondered whether it was because you were a new account trying to make big edits, but I wasn't sure. Glad it's sorted now. Nick Moyes (talk) 12:09, 19 January 2024 (UTC)

1850 census of Salisbury, Connecticut

My object is to access the 1850 U.S. census each town/city in Connecticut to find all of the people who were born in Ireland in each town. 32.220.116.184 (talk) 17:58, 18 January 2024 (UTC)

Hello IP User and welcome to the teahouse. Please be mindful that Wikipedia is not a database. I think you can find more help at archives and registries in Connecticut. Cheers, --The Lonely Pather (talk) 20:01, 18 January 2024 (UTC)

Sig history (?)

Is there a way to save past signatures? Like, you can hit a button, or something like that, and re-select one of your previous signatures? Babysharkboss2 was here!! X♡O 20:43, 18 January 2024 (UTC)

@Babysharkboss2 Welcome to the Teahouse. I don't believe there is such a way, but you could go very easily go back to look at all your user contributions just to article talk pages or to user talk pages to view old signatures that you used, and the wikicode that created them. You could easily copy the code to one of your own userpages for future reference. Nick Moyes (talk) 21:32, 18 January 2024 (UTC)

Thanks! Babysharkboss2 was here!! (Talking Heads) (Buddy Holly) 21:48, 18 January 2024 (UTC)

Book

Thesiss political Science research essay. m trying to get it on the bookshelf sellers as was published 1980 Ottawa Ontario Carleton university and contributed by Carleton University as a matter of fact im ready with the preview so iam kindly indeed of about 5copies of my book and also trying to claim my royalty but procedure is unclear. Mzitoe (talk) 21:09, 18 January 2024 (UTC)

Hi @Mzitoe, welcome to the Teahouse. Do you have a question about using or editing Wikipedia? We can't help you with off-site problems, unfortunately. 57.140.16.1 (talk) 21:19, 18 January 2024 (UTC)

how to change a photo of a celebrities account

Hi! i'm looking to change a celebrities photo on Wikepdia how do I do that? Savannahlevinn12 (talk) 21:14, 18 January 2024 (UTC)

Hi @Savannahlevinn12, welcome to the Teahouse. Is this celebrity a living person? If yes, then you need to either take your own photo or find one which has been released under a free license; you can then upload it to Wikimedia Commons, and then place it in the article. Most photos on the internet are copyrighted and cannot be used here on Wikipedia unless the person is no longer living, in which case you can upload a photo here, to English Wikipedia, under the non-free content criteria. 57.140.16.1 (talk) 21:25, 18 January 2024 (UTC)

Send a draft for approval

Hi I just did my first draft

Draft:Miguel Valverde

But I can't find the button for submission also display english as a language but it is in Spanish, I didn't know how to add the artist picture or other pictures from his work.

I appreciate your help, Maritza.urueta (talk) 21:53, 18 January 2024 (UTC)

Hi @Maritza.urueta, welcome to the Teahouse on English Wikipedia. If you wish to submit an article written in Spanish, you will need to do that over at Spanish Wikipedia. Here is a link to it: Wikipedia, la enciclopedia libre. 57.140.16.1 (talk) 21:59, 18 January 2024 (UTC)

Thank you! I appreciate your help Maritza.urueta (talk) 00:06, 19 January 2024 (UTC)

Redirect creation request for SAMPLE

Could someone please create SAMPLE as a redirect to SAMPLE history (like how OPQRST exists) and add a {{redirect|Sample||Sample}} to the latter? I can't the first half of that. Thanks 2A0D:6FC2:6A92:3F00:0:0:0:5F9 (talk) 22:45, 18 January 2024 (UTC)

 Done. It will be interesting to see if there will be discussion to change SAMPLE to redirect to Sample instead. GoingBatty (talk) 23:00, 18 January 2024 (UTC)

Repairing a red flagged page

Hello Experts!

Someone got a little over zealous with this Wikipedia page and I'm trying to help clean it up.

Concordia International School Shanghai

I just want to get the bare minimum up on the page and strip everything else out. I'm wondering if I post these five citations, if it will get approved or if they need more.

https://www.perkinseastman.com/projects/concordia-international-school-shanghai/

https://theexcelligent.com/Concordia-International-School-of-Shanghai.html

https://www.relocatemagazine.com/dir-c-concordia-international-school-shanghai

https://www.newsweek.com/insights/leading-international-schools-2021/concordia-international-school-shanghai

https://www.relocatemagazine.com/dirc-8099

Any advice is appreciated. LifeIsNow001 (talk) 23:34, 18 January 2024 (UTC)

I am not sure what you are asking. Please could you help me better understand? Do you just need help formatting these citations? Do they have information which is relevant to the article? It looks like the current page has a minimal amount of informative content. It looks like a previous version of the page was cleaned up because it featured a lot of promotional material and was using an improper citation style. Sunjaifriþas (talk) 23:54, 18 January 2024 (UTC)

Sunjaifriþas, I think that the question is something like "Could a viable article be based on these five sources?" (This would require a "yes" to each of the two questions: (i) Are these five sources "reliable"? (ii) Is what the five sources say sufficient for the purpose?) -- Hoary (talk) 00:53, 19 January 2024 (UTC)

Finding experienced Wikipedians for complex COI case

Hello Experts! I am interested in monitoring WP:COI in my academic discipline of linguistics. I am currently looking at the page Ghil'ad Zuckermann and several related pages which link to it. All these pages seem to have been created by the same set users, or types of users, over the years. There is quite a lot to look into and keep track of here, which I don't mind; I mainly want to make sure I am following proper procedures and doing things correctly. Where is the best place to find some interested Wikipedians who might be willing to assist me? Thanks :) Sunjaifriþas (talk) 23:38, 18 January 2024 (UTC)

Sunjaifriþas, I am not an expert, especially not in language contact, language revival, etc. And I venture to guess that most people who keep an eye on the "teahouse" aren't either. But what I'd do is look for seemingly fair, balanced, and generally good articles in he same subject area, look in their histories for fairly recent contributors to the articles of substantial amounts of good material, look in those editors' contributions histories to see if they are still active, and if they are then write on the talk pages of the most promising three or so such editors. (In practice this can be difficult, as one tends to find excellent editors who were active for a brief period in 2009, conscientious editors who correct but contribute no additions, contributors of good stuff that, uh, turns out to be plagiarized, highly intelligent and fluent editors who rather clearly have their own agenda ... etc. Good luck!) -- Hoary (talk) 00:33, 19 January 2024 (UTC)

red flagged/ tagged articles

I am wondering ...I see lots of articles with maintenance tags on them. I see they are dated. Sometimes I see in the histories people do work to repair them. My questions is...does anybody patrol the tagged pages to see if they are improved and possibly remove the tags? WikiTikiTavi63 (talk) 00:14, 19 January 2024 (UTC)

WikiTikiTavi63, the editors making the improvements will often remove tags. Also, specific tags about certain issues (such as {{POV}}) that are not paired with any specific talk page discussion are often removed as WP:DRIVEBYs. However, tags may certainly linger longer than strictly necessary. Cheers! — Remsense诉 00:24, 19 January 2024 (UTC)

thanks. I actually have been working on the Mater Matuta page. You made some suggestions the other day which I followed through on. Hopefully someday somebody will remove the tags. thanks again, WikiTikiTavi63 (talk) 00:30, 19 January 2024 (UTC)

@WikiTikiTavi63 In theory yes. Finding a stale article, slapping a tag and moving in is imho lazy. If you notice a problem, try to fix it. Tags are incredibly useful when the articles are being actively worked on by other editors. But if a tree falls/article is tagged, and no one hears/sees it, does it really count? ~ 🦝 Shushugah (he/him • talk) 17:40, 19 January 2024 (UTC)

As I am a novice I do not think I should, nor do I even know how to remove a tag. I was just wondering….there seem to be a lot of tags. Thanks for your input. User:Shushugah WikiTikiTavi63 (talk) 18:05, 19 January 2024 (UTC)

@WikiTikiTavi63 Anyone can remove a tag if they believe that the related issue has been fixed. On visual editor it is often as easy as clicking on a template like {citation needed} and pressing delete. There are some people who spend all of their time trying to fix these maintenance tasks, and some who spend their time identifying problems so that those people can find and fix them. I looked at Mater Matuta and did some small edits. It is not quite ready to have the notices at the top removed but it is getting closer. Reconrabbit 18:44, 19 January 2024 (UTC)

Thank you for your input. Can you tell me what still needs attention? User:reconrabbit WikiTikiTavi63 (talk) 19:27, 19 January 2024 (UTC)

I see the same reference being used over and over inside the same paragraph. It is usually preferred to put it at the end of the paragraph, and to only put a citation after a sentence if it is relevant to that statement or if it is specific about a stated fact. I may take another look at the article later, but there is some writing that makes it look like an essay, describing a series of events or not describing some things that may not be obvious (matera matutae?) But this is better discussed on the article's talk page. Reconrabbit 19:33, 19 January 2024 (UTC)

thanks. WikiTikiTavi63 (talk) 19:38, 19 January 2024 (UTC)

I need help in creating a new article.

I need help in creating a new article for an organisation that doesn't exist. I know someone who is a part of that organisation and can tell me everything about that article. I am just confused on how to do it. I found that the article is missing because I found a red link on a related organisation's page. Ultima1108 (talk) 00:30, 19 January 2024 (UTC)

It doesn't exist, but you know someone who's part of it. The article is missing, but someone can tell you everything about it. Please sort out your thoughts before you type here. -- Hoary (talk) 00:35, 19 January 2024 (UTC)

I wanted to know how to create an article. I can't find the help page for it. That's why I posted it here. 59.184.253.9 (talk) 00:40, 19 January 2024 (UTC)

Maybe you meant that the organization exists but an article on it does not. If so, then Help:YFA. (Incidentally, since you have a user ID, please do make sure that you're always logged in under that user ID.) -- Hoary (talk) 00:48, 19 January 2024 (UTC)

Meanwhile, Ultima1108: You may not attribute material to what somebody told you (whether in conversation, in email, in Whatsapp messages, or wherever). Everything must be based on published sources. -- Hoary (talk) 00:55, 19 January 2024 (UTC)

Hello, Ultima1108. Please note that the very first, and absolutely necessary, step in creating any article is finding several places where people who have no connection with the subject of the article have chosen to write at some length about it, and been published in reliable places. If you cannot find such sources, then there is no point in spending any time at all in trying to write the article. ColinFine (talk) 11:44, 19 January 2024 (UTC)

Desktop view link - at top of pages?

I use an iPad mini and much prefer desktop view (even though it's small). But I often land on a mobile view, from links outside Wikipedia. It's not very convenient to scroll all the way to bottom to change the view. Would it be possible (or desirable) to add a desktop/mobile link at the top of the page? Perhaps in the page menu for mobile>desktop view (and for symmetry, as a button for desktop>mobile). RogerAus (talk) 01:22, 19 January 2024 (UTC)

hi @RogerAus and welcome to the teahouse! if you'd rather always use the desktop view (as I personally prefer), there's a script you may use: User:Þjarkur/NeverUseMobileVersion which would automatically redirect you to desktop view when landing on the mobile version. happy editing! 💜  melecie  talk - 03:20, 19 January 2024 (UTC)

Many thanks for that suggestion (and the welcoming words). It would solve my little problem, but a menu item or button would be much easier for the general non-technical user. Is there some page relevant to Wikipedia’s interface design where I could make the suggestion? RogerAus (talk) 04:45, 19 January 2024 (UTC)

Are you using the Safari app as your browser? See if one if the top icons (of Safari itself, near the URL/title-bar; not part of the Wikipedia page display) gives a menu that includes "request desktop site". DMacks (talk) 05:54, 19 January 2024 (UTC)

Brilliant, thank you! One lives and learns. For others reading this, the relevant Safari menu icon is the aA symbol to the left of the URL. You may need to toggle the menu entry (request desktop/mobile) a couple of times for the menu entry to match up with the actual page version being displayed, but then it does the job. (I still think an explicit Wikipedia link would be useful for some readers but happy to leave it). RogerAus (talk) 08:37, 19 January 2024 (UTC)

Wikinews

Hello, Teahouse. Today I was going to contribute to Wikinews, but wanted to first poke around about it. Firsty- is the project pretty much dead? The most recent news is from last month, and most help pages seem largely dormant. Secondly- is it even worth the time to contribute there? I doubt it gets a lot of traffic due to its nearly unnavigable state. Cheers! UnexpectedSmoreInquisition aka USI (talk) 03:50, 19 January 2024 (UTC)

@UnexpectedSmoreInquisition: There are at least three stories on the front page from January, so only a couple weeks old at most. The impression I get is that it is not dead, just not very active if you compare it to Wikipedia (although the Russian version has very large number of articles). RudolfRed (talk) 03:59, 19 January 2024 (UTC)

Getting: You've exceeded your rate limit

Hi there, I am trying to re-submit one of my draft article, but getting the error of: "An error occurred (ratelimited: You've exceeded your rate limit. Please wait some time and try again.). Please try again or refer to the help desk.", always. Can anyone please help me with this?

My draft page: Draft:BikroyShohoj.com

Thanks a lot! Yeasir Ali (talk) 05:52, 19 January 2024 (UTC)

@Yeasir Ali: I'm sorry that you're receiving this error message. However, your draft in its current state is not ready for resubmission. As stated at the top of your draft, "the draft needs multiple published sources that are

• in-depth (not just passing mentions about the subject)
• reliable
• secondary
• independent of the subject"

I looked at the four references on the draft, and it seems none of them meet these four criteria. GoingBatty (talk) 14:42, 19 January 2024 (UTC)

Article with Copy and Pasted Info

I was editing this page (Davide Besso) and I noticed that a lot of the material under the "Biography" section on the page is translated then copy and pasted from the first source. Originally, the second paragraph under this section was directly copied, but I made a few edits before I realized. I'm pretty sure this is not allowed. How should I proceed? Standard Illusionist (talk) 06:06, 19 January 2024 (UTC)

@Standard Illusionist: Because if the content was removed there would be no material left worth saving, I've tagged the page for speedy deletion and notified the original author. In cases where there would still be an article left, you can remove the copyrighted material, tag the page with {{copyvio-revdel}}, and alert the editor who added that material. Tollens (talk) 06:18, 19 January 2024 (UTC)

Got it. Thank you for the help! Standard Illusionist (talk) 06:28, 19 January 2024 (UTC)

new editor question

Hi,

How should I include a short bio about me so other editors know who is editing? Tmarac (talk) 07:45, 19 January 2024 (UTC)

Welcome to the Teahouse. By clicking on your username above you can create a user page. You can use this to supply basic information about yourself or your Wikimedia-related activities. See Wikipedia:User pages for more information. Shantavira|^{feed me} 09:12, 19 January 2024 (UTC)

Twenty-year editor here with a question that I cannot seem to answer on my own

I'm searching and can't seem to find a guideline or policy that is fuzzy in my memory. I seem to recall some rule about not making edits (and particularly large masses of edits) that do nothing to actually change a page's function or look. E.g. removing double spaces after periods and replacing them with single spaces or taking a list in the form "* Item 1" and replacing it with "*Item 1": these are changes that make no difference at all and I could have sworn there was a local admonition against this. I know that the guy on sr.wp who made millions of edits just inserting and reverting his own insertion of whitespace was banned for that nonsense. Am I remembering correctly? Can anyone direct me to this policy or guideline if it exists? If not, can someone direct me to an appropriate talk page where I can have an RfC about this? Thanks. ―Justin (koavf)❤T☮C☺M☯ 07:46, 19 January 2024 (UTC)

Our admonishment for humans is contained within our general prohibition for bots at WP:COSMETICBOT. Thus, large masses of edits are considered disruptive (also in WP:MEATBOT), although there is nothing explicit against small one-off cosmetic edits. CMD (talk) 08:05, 19 January 2024 (UTC)

But it would be against policy if someone were explicitly making it a point to make hundreds or thousands of cosmetic edits like this as his sole purpose in editing (or his sole purpose in making those edits, i.e. he is not also doing something constructive at the same time, but only shuffling around whitespace that makes no visible change), correct? ―Justin (koavf)❤T☮C☺M☯ 08:08, 19 January 2024 (UTC)

The policy states only that it "may" be considered disruptive; however in practice it works as you say, the community disapproves of such editing and has taken preventative action in the past. CMD (talk) 08:16, 19 January 2024 (UTC)

Koavf, this style of editing is sometimes associated with trying to easily gain an advanced permission like extended confirmed status, in order to edit highly controversial topic areas. It is described at Wikipedia:Gaming the system#Gaming of permissions. Cullen328 (talk) 08:18, 19 January 2024 (UTC)

Good point. I don't think that's what's happening in the case I'm thinking of, but I hadn't considered it. Thanks to you both.

Resolved

―Justin (koavf)❤T☮C☺M☯ 08:21, 19 January 2024 (UTC)

The "tell" in that case is when the editor jumps into the deep end of a highly controversial article with edit #501. Cullen328 (talk) 08:24, 19 January 2024 (UTC)

Draft:Single Pair Ethernet

Hi, since years I am writing some arcticles in German Wikipedia. Now I am starting some technical articles here. I would like to translate these article into en.wikipedia: Draft:Single Pair Ethernet

translated page|de|Single Pair Ethernet| version=240874606|insertversion=1194350781

SPE is a small part in article Ethernet over twisted pair#Single-pair and just a short summary without IEC 63171 like in my german article about SPE.

I would appreciate any further suggestions to improve and publish this article, and I am grateful for any help and support. Thank you. Best regards, Ralf. Ralf Moses (talk) 09:13, 19 January 2024 (UTC)

@Ralf Moses: Welcome to the Teahouse! If you haven't done so already, please check out Wikipedia:Translation. You have lots of information in your draft that do not have any footnotes. Please add more footnotes for every section and resubmit. Thanks, and happy editing! GoingBatty (talk) 14:34, 19 January 2024 (UTC)

Thanks GoingBatty for your help. I have added the footnotes now.

I would appreciate any further suggestions to improve and publish this article.

Thanks again. BR Ralf. Ralf Moses (talk) 17:18, 19 January 2024 (UTC)

The draft, and the sources it cites, are entirely about the technical specifications of Single Pair Ethernet. I don't see that as making an acceptable article. Does anyone use it? What for? WHat are its advantages and disadvantages? Maproom (talk) 18:36, 19 January 2024 (UTC)

Contents of an article

Hi Teahouse! How do you find the article "Contents" section with in-article hyperlinks? If Contents is the right name for it, it's right after the lead and lists the main parts of the article, you click on the part of the article like example "Early life" and now you're at that part. It makes finding parts easier. Do you rember this? Does wikipedia still have this?
Thank you Teahouse. 63.248.183.70 (talk) 12:09, 19 January 2024 (UTC)

Hello, IP editor. Welcome to the Teahouse. A recent change of the 'default skin' which determines your screen's layout was made a year or so ago. The in-article Contents table was moved in the upgrade to outside of the article, on the upper left hand side of the page viewing in when desktop view. You can toggle it's position so that it either expands fully as a column on the upper left of the scren, or collapses into a pancake menu icon of three horizontal lines on the upper left of the screen.

If you find it annoying, you can revert to using the old screen layout (=skin), but you would need to have a free, registered account and change that in your personal account preferences. I'm pretty sure an IP user cannot do that. I hope this all makes sense! Regards Nick Moyes (talk) 12:14, 19 January 2024 (UTC)

Some alternatives for IP editors are explained here and here. They work reasonably well (though I've reconciled myself to the new skin and have stopped using them). 57.140.16.1 (talk) 15:34, 19 January 2024 (UTC)

Regarding Battle of Karnal

Hey!!

I hope you are good. Firstly the date mentioned in page about battle of karnal as mentioned 13 Feb is wrong . The Exact date is 24 Feb as written in the book "Annals of Karnal" written by CH Buck. After this battle Nadir Shah personally acknowledged about Rao Bal Kishan to Mughal King Md Shah Rangila and asked to Mughal King to erect a Royal Chhatri(Kiosk) at Karnal, which still you can find in Karnal. So war actually fought on 24 Feb 1739 .

You are requested to allow me add this information and pic of Rao Bal Kishan and his chhatri. Hinduculture (talk) 13:48, 19 January 2024 (UTC)

Hello, Hinduculture, and welcome to the Teahouse. You seem to have added material to Karnal successfully, and Battle of Karnal says 24th and not 13th, so I'm not sure what you are asking.

But in general, if you have improvements to make to an article, in most cases you can simply edit the article; but if you think your changes may be controversial, or you're not sure exactly what to change, it's a good idea to open a discussion on the article's talk page. ColinFine (talk) 14:05, 19 January 2024 (UTC)

Copyright question

Imagine yourself in this scenario: you come across a heavily tagged, ill-maintained article. And let's imagine you add a few new details, rectify some grammar errors without significantly altering the original content, fulfil the CN tags, and then discover that someone has added several copyright infringement that has gone undetected for over 10 years. What would you do? 20 upper (talk) 13:53, 19 January 2024 (UTC)

remove it, if I had to guess. Babysharkboss2 was here!! (Talking Heads) (Buddy Holly) 14:07, 19 January 2024 (UTC)

@20 upper: Recently Mathglot reminded me: "If it really was copied from a copyrighted source, that is one of the most serious violations at Wikipedia, as it violates both our WP:Terms of use as well as copyright law, and as such, it is one of a very small number of violations with legal implications (others include libel, legal threats, and there are a couple others) that require immediate attention and that are not subject to amendment by policy, consensus, ArbCom, or WP:IAR. Content in violation of copyright cannot be left in the article, and not only that, it must be expunged from the page history by an admin, so that no trace of it is left in Wikipedia. As far as what to advise a user, probably the simplest and best response is to tell the user to place a {{Copyvio}} template on the article page itself; this will both immediately hide the suspected offending material, as well as signal an admin to have a look at it and assess the situation for further action. Users should not be told to simply remove the content themselves, or to rewrite or summarize copied content, because that masks the continuing problem of copyrighted content which remains accessible in the page history; it's best just to flag it for admin action with the template." GoingBatty (talk) 14:27, 19 January 2024 (UTC)

@Babysharkboss2 and GoingBatty: The issue is that the article is a "vital article." I attempted to rephrase a few sentences, but a large portion of the article is directly copied from one source and it uses citations utilized by this particular source. 20 upper (talk) 17:19, 19 January 2024 (UTC)

Being a vital article doesn't offer any kind of protection, unfortunately. If the source is incompatibly licensed, the material copied over needs to be removed. I've occasionally seen revdel requests declined because the violation is so old it would require deleting an unholy number of intermediate revisions, but you can just leave that up to the reviewing admin. 57.140.16.1 (talk) 17:24, 19 January 2024 (UTC)

on hidden cats

Beware the hidden cats! Nick Moyes (talk) 14:57, 19 January 2024 (UTC)

just out of curiosity, are hidden categories placed automatically when a given page has a specific template, category, or whatever else (like my talk page having the "really not in the mood for ace messages" hidden category), or are they the same thing, just shown in different formats (like garlic having the "articles with norman language sources" hidden category)? cogsan _{(nag me) (stalk me)} 14:11, 19 January 2024 (UTC)

@Cogsan: Welcome to the Teahouse! Some hidden categories are added by a specific template (e.g. {{single chart}} sometimes adds Category:Single chart making named ref, which contains {{tracking category}}, which hides the category), while others are added manually (e.g. Category:Year of birth missing contains {{hidden category}}, which hides the category). Happy editing! GoingBatty (talk) 14:24, 19 January 2024 (UTC)

@Nick Moyes: Your reply is purr-fect! GoingBatty (talk) 15:02, 19 January 2024 (UTC)

Wikinews p2

Hello, Teahouse. Today my question is simple: is citation of Wikinews allowed on Wikipedia? Best regards, UnexpectedSmoreInquisition aka USI (talk) 16:06, 19 January 2024 (UTC)

@UnexpectedSmoreInquisition: Wikinews is user-generated content and thus unreliable. Victor Schmidt (talk) 16:08, 19 January 2024 (UTC)

Thanks! UnexpectedSmoreInquisition aka USI (talk) 16:09, 19 January 2024 (UTC)

Ask user to consider image undeletion

The following edit describes an image deletion explained essentially by not being able to establish copyright status of the deleted file.

Today I am establishing this image is public domain as released in multiple formats of the mishap/accident investigations published by the Air Force and released to the media. I am hereby requesting it be undeleted given this documentation.

Below I will post a web page that includes a photo collage that the 5th from left I believe includes one such formation-impact-scar image credited to the Air Force by The Las Vegas Review Journal. I would have pasted that photo with credit here for direct consideration but no means of pasting an image exists on this template.

https://www.reviewjournal.com/news/military/usaf-icons-the-thunderbirds-know-how-to-woo-a-crowd-photos-2639036/

I also believe the deleted photo appears on page 126 of the External Link to the 1982 Thunderbirds Diamond Crash Wikipedia page. This document is a use work product of the USAF released under FOIA as described in a cover page attached to this attachment:

https://jjetspress.com/TBDmishapreport.pdf Cresterest (talk) 16:27, 19 January 2024 (UTC)

You should contact the admin who deleted the image. Since USA Air Force's images are in public domain, I'm sure they will be happy to restore the image with the added copyright information. Ca ^{talk to me!} 16:47, 19 January 2024 (UTC)

template ref list

I am having trouble correctly citing a book that has numerous references. I have tried giving the book a refrence name and then using code . But the article I am editing uses a template ref list and I don't understand how to edit that as the references are only visible in visual editing. I end up with an error code that sends me to the same page repeatedly and nothing I try seems to work. Appreciate any help. LauraONagel (talk) 16:28, 19 January 2024 (UTC)

I recommend using one reference per </ref> code, I’m still new to Wikipedia, so take it with a grain of salt, if it keeps sending you to the page you are editing, I’ll try to research why the problems occur. Cometkeiko 16:47, 19 January 2024 (UTC)

If you want to indicate the page number or location in a book I recommend using Template:Rp, which doesn't need to be included inside the citation. Reconrabbit 16:53, 19 January 2024 (UTC)

The template {{r}} can get confusing to use. Iterating on Reconrabbit's advice, the template {{rp}} could be used like this:

<ref name="Beacon">example book<ref>{{rp|23}}

which renders as:

.

This way, you can add the citations intuitively in VisualEditor, and simply tack on the RP template to indicate the page number. Ca ^{talk to me!} 17:02, 19 January 2024 (UTC)

You can see my article Charles Brenton Fisk for further examples of this. Ca ^{talk to me!} 17:10, 19 January 2024 (UTC)

References

Trying to eliminate a copyright problem.

The article Ethiopian Manifesto was flagged for copyright violation. I have rewritten the section in question. Please note that what I have newly written does not show up unless you enter edit mode. I'd like to know if the rewriting I did has solved the problem. deisenbe (talk) 18:25, 19 January 2024 (UTC)

No, not in preview. If you go there and click Edit you can see what I wrote and saved there. deisenbe (talk) 18:56, 19 January 2024 (UTC)

sandbox issue

in snadbox rules it didnt say you cant do keffir or other slurs and a person removed my edits there. 81.97.224.185 (talk) 18:46, 19 January 2024 (UTC)

Wikipedia is an environment that is intended to be welcoming for all types of people. If you are only here to post slurs, you will quickly be blocked. This is a project to write an encyclopedia not to fool around. Basic common sense and decency should tell you it is inappropriate to post slurs, you shouldn't need a specific rule. 331dot (talk) 18:49, 19 January 2024 (UTC)

I don't think that you should need to read a rule to know that you shouldn't post slurs Babysharkboss2 was here!! (Talking Heads) (Buddy Holly) 18:59, 19 January 2024 (UTC)

I have a question, my imagination is way too wide, but is it possible to create another sandbox? I promise I totally won’t make an entire whole different universe.

(for Nick, a little laugh is sometimes just good, we all need an appropriate joke for some collaborative projects) Cometkeiko (talk) 19:43, 19 January 2024 (UTC)

To be blunt: if you ever post offensive slurs anywhere on Wikipedia again, your IP address will be blocked from editing. This is an adult project; try not to act like a stupid kid. Nick Moyes (talk) 19:08, 19 January 2024 (UTC)

Time zones on infobox settlement

Resolved

 – Kk.urban (talk) 19:49, 19 January 2024 (UTC)

Does anyone know where the time zone data comes from on {{Infobox settlement}}?

For example, if you type in "Pacific" for the time zone parameter, it automatically links to Pacific Time Zone and the UTC offsets, and the daylight saving time. I tried to do the same with "Hawaii–Aleutian" but it's not working. Kk.urban (talk) 19:26, 19 January 2024 (UTC)

I don't think the data comes from anywhere, you manually add it when you add the template. The examples in the template and in article's using it I see that it is just a Wikilink. What error are you seeing when you do |timezone = [[Hawaii–Aleutian Time Zone|Hawaii–Aleutian]]? RudolfRed (talk) 19:43, 19 January 2024 (UTC)

@RudolfRed Thanks, you're right. It's actually only {{Infobox U.S. county}} that does this automatically, and the way to put a county in this time zone is to use |timezone = Hawaii (without a wikilink). Kk.urban (talk) 19:48, 19 January 2024 (UTC)

Relevance to school articles of non-school activity by students

Is there an essay or guidance on Wikipedia that discusses the relevance of non-school activity to articles on schools, when it is a current or former student that's involved? The cases I've come across are crimes reported in reliable sources, where the crimes are not school related, yet some think it's relevant to put that in the school's article because the indicted attend(ed) the school. Thanks. _signed, Willondon (talk) 20:02, 19 January 2024 (UTC)

Temporary Password

I am User:Wxao Zesty, I am requesting for a temporary password to my email. Since, the last one did not go through.216.176.69.228 (talk) 20:02, 19 January 2024 (UTC)