User talk:Ian (Wiki Ed)

Abigail Thorn

Hi Ian! I noticed a student has been assigned Abigail Thorn for Wikipedia:Wiki Ed/Fort Lewis College/GSS 101 (Fall 2021). I've seen quite a few pages on my watchlist go through student assignment programs and from my experience this sticks out at me as a bad choice of article. It is already as expansive and high-quality as possible given the available sources, modulo improvements that a very experienced Wikipedian would find hard to make. (I've considered taking it to GA or higher soon.) I can only imagine that the assigned student would be overwhelmed in trying to improve an already high-quality article or would introduce unreliable sources and primary content of undue weight (fancruft).

I can reach out to either the instructor or student myself if you'd like, but I thought I was most likely to have this message read and understood by you. I would just advise that you tell one or both of them that choosing a less developed article would make for a much better experience for both student and Wikipedian. (I'd recommend Kat Blaque if they want to stay in the same YouTube world—it fits well with the women, gender and sexuality theme of the course.) — Bilorv (talk) 17:37, 20 October 2021 (UTC)

I've just seen the student has managed to make a positive contribution here, which I've edited a bit, and which they should definitely get credit for. — Bilorv (talk) 18:02, 20 October 2021 (UTC)

@Bilorv: Thanks for the heads-up. Given that they've made a constructive edit, and that you have experience working on the article, I think it might be really good for you to reach out. Like any new editor, a collaborative message from an established Wikipedian could be quite a positive thing. Ian (Wiki Ed) (talk) 18:06, 20 October 2021 (UTC)

Alright, done. Thanks for the feedback. — Bilorv (talk) 11:08, 23 October 2021 (UTC)

Help With Valid Sources

Hello Ian,

My name is Alex. I hope you are well!

I am a student working on a Wikipedia project. I recently changed topics and have run into a problem. I want to edit the 'Jenna Marbles' Wikipedia page as there is barely anything there but I don't want to use sources that are not accepted but this platform.

I understand that sources like Buzzfeed are not reliable, but there are not may secondary sources about Jenna Marbles from reputable websites. I also don't really know how to determine what a reputable website is.

A lot of the information I want to use is in her videos and podcasts but because that is a primary source I don't think I can use those.

Could you tell me what to do here?

Thanks!

CriminalGoat894 (talk) 22:11, 22 October 2021 (UTC)

@CriminalGoat894: Basically reliable sources would be from major news sources that have a reputation for fact checking. There's a good resource at WP:RSP for common news sources. Beyond this, I recommend that you get in touch with a librarian at your university, or someone from your writing center to help you try to find reliable sources. Ian (Wiki Ed) (talk) 14:24, 25 October 2021 (UTC)

Environmental migrant article

Hey, a student signed up to work on Environmental migrant -- that article is kindof complicated because it mixes environmental migration (general) with climate migration (which probably should be a second article) -- the other articles student have assigned themselves have a ton of low hanging fruit -- but that article is weirdly complicated, and has a ton of content that probably won't be easy to write into, Sadads (talk) 00:41, 26 October 2021 (UTC)

@Sadads: thanks for the heads-up. I passed your message along to the instructor. Hopefully they'll be able to steer the student to a more tractable article. Ian (Wiki Ed) (talk) 14:54, 26 October 2021 (UTC)

Need help request from Josh VdR (talk)

Hello.

I need help with finding how to edit my article's sandbox and not my user sandbox, so I can get started on working on an article.

--Josh VdR (talk) 18:25, 29 October 2021 (UTC) Josh VdR (talk) 18:25, 29 October 2021 (UTC)

@Josh VdR: it looks like you've figured it out. Let me know if you still have questions. Ian (Wiki Ed) (talk) 15:11, 1 November 2021 (UTC)

A barnstar for you!

	The Real Life Barnstar
	Thank you for your work with Wiki Ed. Bobherry Talk Edits 00:29, 31 October 2021 (UTC)

@Bobherry: Thank you so much for this! I really appreciate it. Ian (Wiki Ed) (talk) 15:10, 1 November 2021 (UTC)

Rebecca Cox Jackson

Greetings, Ian; hopefully, you remember me. I just saw that a student from one of your Wiki Ed courses is planning to work on Rebecca Cox Jackson. I'm excited to see it, because Jackson's article needs improvement. It's a shame that it's in its current state. I wanted to let you know that my MA thesis (in English lit, from the University of Idaho) will include a discussion of Jackson. Please let the student know that I'm willing to help out if needed. Best, Christine (Figureskatingfan) (talk) 03:29, 31 October 2021 (UTC)

@Figureskatingfan: Thanks Christine. I'd be happy to pass a note on to them, but I think it might be really nice if you left them a note offering to collaborate. Wikipedians often seem inscrutable to students, and I think a note from an actual human being would be more real and welcoming, and help them understand that this is a community. Ian (Wiki Ed) (talk) 15:15, 1 November 2021 (UTC)

Happy to do so! Yes, it seems that to many, WP editors are mythical creatures. ;) Christine (Figureskatingfan) (talk) 18:00, 2 November 2021 (UTC)

Student projects

Hello, Ian,

It's that time of year, again, when a few eager student editors feel overconfident about their writing ability and move their projects directly into the main space of the project where they mostly get deleted. I do not know where they get the idea that being in a course for a few weeks gives them the ability to write an article that could pass the review of the New Page Patrol who can be sticklers for abundant sourcing. I encourage all mentors of the Wiki Ed program to communicate to instructors that students don't need their articles to go "live" in the main space to receive a grade. And, in fact, having their pages deleted makes it difficult for instructors to grade their projects as not all students keep a copy of their articles in their Sandboxes. If students do desire to have their articles in the main space of the project, they should submit them for review with AFC.

Thanks for all of the work you and your team do and the immense patience you exercise, term after term. Liz ^{Read! Talk!} 22:50, 1 November 2021 (UTC)

@Liz: Thanks for the note. There are always some students who come away with the impression that moving their work "live" involves moving their sandboxes to mainspace instead of merging their drafts into existing articles. We've tried to adjust our phrasing a few times to point them in the right direction, but unfortunately we haven't found the right balance yet. Same with the need to not move their work to mainspace to get a grade.

For the minority of students who create new articles, most do it right and going through AFC would only overwhelm it further (a class like this one, would be a good example of students creating new articles and doing it right). The ones who do need that extra help, unfortunately, are the ones who don't pay enough attention to the instructions we give them. I'm working on a revamp of our trainings, but it's slow. I appreciate your help with this. Ian (Wiki Ed) (talk) 14:39, 2 November 2021 (UTC)

Evaluation Request for a student project

Hello Ian,

I am currently working on editing the article VR Systems for my course. I am hoping to get some feedback and evaluations from you. It would be great to hear back from you! Thank you! Eungjeonglee (talk) 05:20, 2 November 2021 (UTC)Eungjeonglee

Replied on your talk page. Ian (Wiki Ed) (talk) 14:46, 2 November 2021 (UTC)

Linking Wiki Articles

Hi Ian! I am a student editor, thank you for your offered help and support. I am currently editing Gnotobiosis in User:OMathie/Gnotobiosis. The linking feature has been working near seamlessly until I tried to link "Hans Thierfelder" to this wiki article https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hans_Thierfelder. This article does not appear in the search for the linking feature when I try to link it. Should I just use the "link to external web pages"? I know that the trainings said to avoid linking to external web pages but this is a Wikipedia page. Thank you for any insight/guidance you can offer on this issue. -- OMathie (talk) 00:44, 3 November 2021 (UTC)

@OMathie: The reason it didn't appear in the link feature is that this is article is on the Spanish Wikipedia. (There's also one on the German Wikipedia). I recommend that you just type the name in and link to the non-existent article on the English Wikipedia. That will create a red link like this: Hans Thierfelder. When someone gets around to creating an English version of the article, this link will turn blue. Ian (Wiki Ed) (talk) 14:20, 3 November 2021 (UTC)

(talk page watcher) @OMathie:, another thing you can do, is create an inter-language link using Template:Ill (eye ell ell), like this: Hans Thierfelder, and you code it like this: {{ill|Hans Thierfelder|es|de|v=sup}}. The small links take you to the Spanish and German articles. When someone creates the English article, the red link will also turn blue, and the little foreign links will disappear automatically. Hope this helps, Mathglot (talk) 08:47, 6 November 2021 (UTC)

One other thing: your WP:LEADSENTENCE needs work; the word associated is a weak connecter in this clause: "all the forms of life associated with it". For example: do all the forms of life "associated" with me include my friends, family, dogs, and cats? You see the point, I think. Mathglot (talk) 08:54, 6 November 2021 (UTC)

Thank you both for your help and feedback. I will work on the wording of my leading sentence, thank you for pointing that out. OMathie (talk) 15:33, 7 November 2021 (UTC)

Thanks so much Mathglot. I knew that was possible, but I couldn't find an example of a page using {{ill}} to figure out the syntax (and I didn't realise you could link to multiple languages like that!) Ian (Wiki Ed) (talk) 14:42, 8 November 2021 (UTC)

Guidance please.

Hi Ian I am creating an article called Pediatric Apheresis for my University of Ottawa EDU 5287 course. I have started my article in my sandbox and was hoping you could take a look and provide some comments and suggestions. Thanks in advanceMdimola (talk) 19:29, 3 November 2021 (UTC)

Replied on their talk page. Ian (Wiki Ed) (talk) 15:58, 4 November 2021 (UTC)

Thanks for you guidance Ian. Just one more issue I am having. I am trying to imbed this video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YRm1yoWzQFI into my wiki article but tried all avenues to download it and can't seem to get it into my article. All the other images and links I added worked but the video won't. Suggestions?Mdimola (talk) 13:34, 8 November 2021 (UTC)

@Mdimola: you can't embed YouTube videos in Wikipedia articles, but you can link to them from the "External links" section of the article. Ian (Wiki Ed) (talk) 14:39, 8 November 2021 (UTC)

Bryan Maghen

Hi Ian, I am having trouble uploading my original drawing to the article I am editing. The problem is that although my pdf file appears normal, when I upload it, it is too small and blurry on the article. For your reference, it is the first image on my sandbox: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Bmaghen/Sonoporation?veaction=edit&preload=Template%3ADashboard.wikiedu.org_draft_template

Please let me know if you have any advice to fix this situation. --Bmaghen (talk) 01:53, 6 November 2021 (UTC)

@Bmaghen: the problem is that your images are tiny and saved as .jpg files. If you can export them as a vector file like an .svg, you would get a much better resolution. Failing that, you need to create a higher-resolution jpg. I'm not an expert on file types, and on exporting them from whatever software you're working with, so I can't help you too much. It doesn't look like Wikipedia:Graphics Lab is very active these days, but they do have useful resources and links on that page, including Wikipedia:Graphics Lab/Resources/Uploading standards which might be helpful. Ian (Wiki Ed) (talk) 14:38, 8 November 2021 (UTC)

Project #KMUOS

Please see my talk page, where I am trying to find the tutor for thsi programme to introduce them to WikiEd. I have pinged you but do not know whether you accept ping Fiddle^Timtrent Faddle^Talk to me 17:17, 7 November 2021 (UTC)

Thanks for the note and the ping. I've replied on your talk page. Ian (Wiki Ed) (talk) 14:31, 8 November 2021 (UTC)

Need help request from Kayla Vedral (talk)

Hello.

I need help with... finishing up this article it has been awhile since i worked on it so i need some help it has been a few years and would like assistance on it so it can be posted. Thanks so much

--Kayla Vedral (talk) 08:36, 8 November 2021 (UTC)

@Kayla Vedral: I've already given you extensive feedback, on several occasions in the past, which you chose not to implement. Since you are no longer involved in a class supported by Wiki Education, I recommend that you use the Articles for Creation process to submit your draft for review. Ian (Wiki Ed) (talk) 14:26, 8 November 2021 (UTC)

Help with unlinking account

Hello Ian,

I created this account as a student editor. I am now graduated and want to continue making edits. Is it possible to unlink my account from the course page so that I'm no longer marked as a student editor and no longer associated with the course I used to be enrolled in? Thank you in advance for your help.

Ms.Ipsum (talk) 17:53, 8 November 2021 (UTC)

@Ms.Ipsum: I'm so glad you've decided to stick around. The dashboard no longer tracks your edits once the course is done. You can delete the templates from your user page any time. Ian (Wiki Ed) (talk) 18:04, 8 November 2021 (UTC)

@Ian: I see, thank you! Ms.Ipsum (talk) 19:55, 8 November 2021 (UTC)

GSU Later Indigenous Literatures Wikipedia Project 2021

Hi Ian,

My project group and I are in the process of creating a Wikipedia article for Louise Erdrich's novel The Night Watchman. There are already several articles on Wikipedia with that same title. Our university's Wiki Education course page hyperlinks to an article that is not for Louise Erdrich's novel. However this article: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Night_Watchman_(novel) exists. I did not know who to contact in regards to this. Please let me know what I should do. Currently, our project group in working on this article:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Night_Watchman. I do not know if this article is live on the Wikipedia website, but if it is then it should not have been published yet.

64BeastMaster64 (talk) 19:57, 8 November 2021 (UTC)

Quick question about deleting a redirect

Hi Ian! I have a quick question about redirects I was hoping you could help with. One of my students initially created the page "Esh shaheinab" and then later realized it should be "Esh Shaheinab" -I'd like to delete the redirect from Esh shaheinab to Esh Shaheinab (as I think capitalization differences are automatically redirected anyways?). Not sure how to delete that redirect despite some googling - do I have to add it to the Redirects for discussion page? Is that a good idea? Thanks so much. Ninafundisha (talk) 20:01, 9 November 2021 (UTC)

Student edits and plagiarism

Hi Ian, I've unfortunately been running into issues with a student editor from Wikipedia:Wiki_Ed/Johnson_County_Community_College/Composition_II_(Fall_2021) at Genetically modified food. Previously they were having WP:MEDRS issues, but I recently had to remove an edit by SweetPo65 (talk · contribs · deleted contribs · logs · filter log · block user · block log) where they directly copy-pasted the entire edit from a source. It should hopefully have undergone rev-del by the time you see this, but I thought I'd leave a note in case you have more direct contact with the instructor. I know at my university, my hands would unfortunately be tied if I caught a student directly copying a source like this. KoA (talk) 04:28, 10 November 2021 (UTC)

taking down my article

hello ian, you took down my article on Mirielle saba redford, I would like to know the reasons so I could improve on it. as for my sources, the writer lives in my village and I interviewed her and 99% of my article comes from an oral interview so if you would be so kind as to guide me on how i could put citations on this matter I would be eternally grateful