Wikipedia:Editor assistance/Requests

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List of Roman emperors

I'm not 100% sure whether this is the right place to do this, but I hope some of you are interested to give your opinion at Talk:List of Roman emperors#"Byzantine" emperors should be listed as Roman emperors. Any editor with knowledge on the matter is more than welcome to say his/her opinion on the issue there. Cheers! --Sundostund (talk) 23:28, 6 February 2014 (UTC)[reply]

The best place, I would think, to call for wider input would be at Wikipedia talk:WikiProject Classical Greece and Rome. That page is going to be watched by people with the knowledge needed to adequately participate in the discussion at Talk:List of Roman emperors. —/Mendaliv/^2¢/_Δ's/ 23:58, 9 February 2014 (UTC)[reply]

Thank you, Mendaliv! I'll do that. --Sundostund (talk) 13:54, 11 February 2014 (UTC)[reply]

Editor Assistance Request

I have never requested this before, but I am currently in a dispute with editor Alexbrn at the talk page of osteopathic manipulative medicine and I believe he is violating WP:ETIQUETTE. He speaks very rudely when addressing me and uses, what I perceive to be, purposely inflammatory/provocative language attempting to start an argument. It is a heated debate, but I have been remaining civil and have been asking him to do the same, but to no avail. There is also a content dispute on the page and I am considering seeking outside assistance from DRN since other forums have been fairly unresponsive and taken no action to help resolve the dispute. If this is not the proper place to discuss an editor's behavior, please let me know and I ask only that you point me in the right direction. Thank you. TylerDurden8823 (talk) 22:58, 9 February 2014 (UTC)[reply]

I just skimmed through the most recent thread on that page. While I think Alexbrn is being a bit forceful and unyielding in some arguments, I don't believe he's being incivil to the point of meriting any intervention. What I do suggest is to focus a bit more on the debate (and Alex should be doing this too: suggesting another editor has a disruptive COI doesn't help in a pure content dispute like this). I would strongly suggest seeking input on the content dispute from others, perhaps at WT:MED, WT:ALTMED, or WT:MEDRS. I think MEDRS in particular may be helpful because the dispute concerns a use of a source that's probably good per MEDRS in a way that seems to diminish the credibility of the subject. Anyway, hope that helps. —/Mendaliv/^2¢/_Δ's/ 23:56, 9 February 2014 (UTC)[reply]

Mendaliv is right, I should not have raised the topic your potential COI as an argument here, and I apologise for this bad behaviour. Alexbrn ^{talk|contribs|COI} 06:32, 10 February 2014 (UTC)[reply]

Minority interests

Last year there was a major exercise to remove lists of bus services, and I was in two minds about it.

But I just came across Normanby_Park_Works_F.C. and was about to flag it as non-notable, when I realised that it is part of Category:Defunct English football club stubs, so there are loads of them. Someone has gone to a lot of effort to record a whole class of vanished sporting clubs.

Now I know little about sport, and care less about Football, but I wonder how useful these articles are. Am I right in thinking this is a whole vein of things like the bus services, or is that just my inate loathing of Football blinding me to something with real utility? I find myself unable to take a dispassionate view on notability, so I wondered what others might think. --Robert EA Harvey (talk) 09:22, 11 February 2014 (UTC)[reply]

Well, the most straightforward answer is that, per WP:ORG (which covers sporting teams and clubs), the test in effect the same as WP:GNG. In other words, if there exist enough sources to indicate notability, an AfD is likely to fail, which means the community is likely to consider the subject notable. Honestly, the fact that someone's gone to trouble to do it doesn't mean it's notable enough to keep. WP:IINFO might counsel against the needless inclusion of simple attestations to the existence at one time of a sporting club (which is more or less all the Normanby Park Works F.C. article does). But... before you go through all the trouble of mass-nominating articles, I would strongly suggest you seek the input of people at WT:FOOTY, who will be better able to attest to whether the subjects are notable. These could very well be fleshed out significantly, or if not, there may be someplace they can be transwiki'd. —/Mendaliv/^2¢/_Δ's/ 09:55, 11 February 2014 (UTC)[reply]

An article I made was deleted without anyone telling me

Resolved

– Directed to WP:REFUND; article restored. —/Mendaliv/^2¢/_Δ's/ 19:19, 12 February 2014 (UTC)[reply]

I made the article Samuel Mensah. I logged in today and figured I'd check out how it was going. I was surprised to find it has been deleted, without anybody taking the time to notify me. Maybe that's normal and I'm asking too much, I dunno. Anyway, the reasoning given is just weird and wrong as well: "not proved to have played in a fully professional league". I gave a lot of references showing that the player played in Superettan and now will play in Allsvenskan. In Swedish, professional leagues are called "elite football" (elitfotboll) and Superettan and Allsvenskan are the two leagues that comprise "elite" (professional) football for men. I could have explained this if anyone asked me. Now I don't really know what I'm supposed to do?

Pomelotree (talk) 18:32, 12 February 2014 (UTC)[reply]

As well here is my proof. The organisation "Svensk Elitfotboll" (Swedish professional football) is a founding member of the organization European Professional Football Leagues (proof: http://www.epfl-europeanleagues.com/member_leagues.htm). And what two leagues does the organisation Svensk Elitfotboll encompass? Allsvenskan and Superettan: http://www.svenskelitfotboll.se/

Pomelotree (talk) 18:36, 12 February 2014 (UTC)[reply]

The article was deleted via WP:PROD. This means it's eligible for simple undeletion: see WP:REFUND, where you can file a request. —/Mendaliv/^2¢/_Δ's/ 18:39, 12 February 2014 (UTC)[reply]

As to your not being notified, I admit it is a little unusual (presuming you created the article with this account). You are normally supposed to be notified, but without access to the article history I can't really tell you why you weren't. —/Mendaliv/^2¢/_Δ's/ 18:41, 12 February 2014 (UTC)[reply]

Oh I see it now, thanks for the help. I'll try and get it undeleted then. I made the article with this account like a month ago. Pomelotree (talk) 18:46, 12 February 2014 (UTC)[reply]

Restored it. Dougweller (talk) 18:59, 12 February 2014 (UTC)[reply]

Now at AfD: Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Samuel Mensah. —/Mendaliv/^2¢/_Δ's/ 11:24, 13 February 2014 (UTC)[reply]

The league is not listed at WP:FPL because no evidence has been produced that confirms the Superettan is a fully-professional league. Giant Snowman 19:24, 14 February 2014 (UTC)[reply]

Rabbi Pinto

Israel attorney general announced would indict a major rabbi on many serious charges - and have been unable to add to lead of his story. http://www.jpost.com/National-News/Rabbi-Pinto-to-be-indicted-for-bribery-341240 http://news.nana10.co.il/Article/?ArticleID=1037567

This rabbi has claimed he predicted 9/11 http://www.ynet.co.il/articles/0,7340,L-4487744,00.html http://www.buzzfeed.com/rosiegray/new-york-republican-accused-of-blackmailing-rabbi-called-isr

Pinto & wife were previously arrested http://english.themarker.com/the-life-of-a-rabbi-diamonds-suits-and-hamptons-summers-1.402506

Pinto & Financial Mismanagement http://www.forward.com/articles/136250/

There are many sources and was hoping for fair eyeballs. 165.254.85.130 (talk) 23:12, 13 February 2014 (UTC)[reply]

An issue regarding wording

If a certain wording for something (i.e. legislation) has a more neutral term that can be used, yet the media insists on using a judgemental term that might not be neutral (i.e. "anti-gay law", although the law itself does not use either the term "gay" or "LGBT" at all), which term should be used in the article? ViperSnake151 Talk 23:15, 13 February 2014 (UTC)[reply]

I'm guessing you're talking about the article title. That's difficult. I think rather than saying "anti-gay laws" in the title, you might call for a change to "Olympic protests of Russian LGBT policy" or "LGBT protests at the Sochi Olympics". I agree with you, however, that "anti-gay law" is probably not NPOV, at least unless it's really that widely acknowledged to be a law for the purpose of oppressing homosexuals. You might want to ask for more input from WT:LGBT. —/Mendaliv/^2¢/_Δ's/ 23:21, 13 February 2014 (UTC)[reply]

Help

I believe the article Prada gender discrimination case is biased. I explained on the talk page my reasons and suggested ways to make it more NPOV. I have been reverted by two, possibly three other editors without any explanation on the edit summary or the TALK PAGE. I have received unsigned posts on my talk page accusing me of discriminating against women. Their reverts also remove the POV tag and reinsert duplicate paragraphs and contains statements not supported by the refs. I have pleaded with the other editors to join me on the article talk page to resolve this issue but so far – no results. I am trying to avoid an edit war - any help or suggestions you can offer will be appreciated. Cheers. Grahamboat (talk) 04:17, 14 February 2014 (UTC)[reply]

Egads. There's enough SOAP in that article to clean a rhinoceros; it needs a fundamental rewrite. Given the amount of legitimate coverage, however, it's probable that deletion is not warranted. Rina Bovrisse might merit a check as well. Both are relatively new articles. —/Mendaliv/^2¢/_Δ's/ 04:26, 14 February 2014 (UTC)[reply]

That article is a disaster. I've hacked away the most egregious bits but more help is needed. --NeilN ^{talk to me} 04:41, 14 February 2014 (UTC)[reply]

I've hacked out about as much as I feel comfortable removing. But what really, really bothers me is the number of quotations attributed to living persons in the article as factual, rather than allegations. But to fix that, I think you'd honestly have to remove the entire background section. Much of the "timeline" is a coatrack, claiming (without sources of course) in effect a cause-and-effect relationship between Bovrisse's lawsuits and worldwide protests. —/Mendaliv/^2¢/_Δ's/ 04:54, 14 February 2014 (UTC)[reply]

Yeah, on that note, I'm referring this to WP:BLPN. This is severe. —/Mendaliv/^2¢/_Δ's/ 04:58, 14 February 2014 (UTC)[reply]

Good idea. I have a feeling the IP will be back and having more eyes on that article will be helpful. --NeilN ^{talk to me} 05:01, 14 February 2014 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks guys – I think the article is now headed in the right direction – plenty left to do but a good start. I will continue to watch and comment as I suspect a return of the unsigned reverters - the more watchers the better. Cheers. Grahamboat (talk) 18:09, 14 February 2014 (UTC)[reply]

Shiatsu corrections

Hi, I was hoping to solve this matter on my own but I am being bullied by a number of editors who clearly have their own agenda. The article in question should be in my opinion about the basic historical facts. However some contributors insist upon reverting the historical account to one of hysterical denial. The article is wrong on several counts. I have attempted to correct these but corrections have not been permitted to stand. There is clearly a policy by these watchdogs of ensuring a biased view of the subject be presented in place of simple historical account. I have tried the talk pages, but no one seems wiling to engage with the matter. What to do?

Template:Shiatu

ank____

You should stop reverting. You say that you have tried the article talk page but I find no edit there by you since 2008. See Bold, revert, discuss for the recommended process. Discuss the changes in question on the article talk page and then, if you are unable to come to consensus, then consider using dispute resolution. Regards, TransporterMan (TALK) 16:34, 14 February 2014 (UTC)[reply]

How to edit an error in references - SOLVED but ...

On page https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thread_automaton there is a minor error in the reference, but the reference does not show when I click on "edit", so I cannot do anything to correct it. "Villemonte" is part of his last name, NOT a middle name. Bernard Lang (talk) 12:10, 15 February 2014 (UTC)[reply]

I solved my problem ... but still ...

The existence of an edit button near the title References is misleading.

Bernard Lang (talk) 12:45, 15 February 2014 (UTC)[reply]

I presume that you have now figured out how the referencing system works and don't need any further help, but just in case you do, see Help:Referencing for beginners. Every section title automatically gets an edit link, including the references section. This is actually needed; for instance to change the formatting of the reference list (as opposed to the references themselves). Also, sometimes general references are inserted in the section which are not linked to a particular place in the article text. Spinning Spark 19:13, 15 February 2014 (UTC)[reply]

ACTION - variation in citation methods

Assistance sought - there is conflict regarding substantial edits made to this page by User Mo7838 - full details evident on talk page. Once discussions were held, Mo7838 was reminded of the need to comply with WP:Citing sources but continually adds citations without using the correct template. (The article only used cite web and other citation templates, changes added did not.) Reminders to comply have been ignored, or met with the reply "if you don't like it, change it yourself".

Mo7838 is an experienced editor and is well-versed with Wikipedia style rules. While I am happy to correct the occasional citation of an inexperienced editor, that is not the case in this instance.

My questions are: what can be done to encourage (and/or force) this user to comply with this citation style rule? What sanctions can be imposed if Mo7838 continues to ignore this rule? MartinL-585 (talk) 01:42, 17 February 2014 (UTC)[reply]

Citation templates weren't mandatory last time I checked. All that's necessary is for there to be a fair explanation of what the source is and how to find it (and all that's truly necessary for a web source is a URL). The purpose of citing sources is so someone who wants to check the sources of an article can actually do so. Formatting according to some convention is only to make it easier for the article to be transitioned to print sources. If you want more you're welcome to format it according to a template. —/Mendaliv/^2¢/_Δ's/ 05:38, 17 February 2014 (UTC)[reply]

I appreciate that the use of templates is not mandatory, but WP:Citing sources suggests / encourages / requires editors to abide by the method already in use: in this case that is citation templates. If such a style rule can be routinely ignored, what is the purpose in having it?

As previously stated, Mo7838 is well versed in editing in Wikipedia, but is deliberately ignoring this style convention.

MartinL-585 (talk) 08:43, 17 February 2014 (UTC)[reply]

Wrong place to argue this. You may want Wikipedia talk:Citing sources. I also suggest getting to the point if you have an underlying content dispute. —/Mendaliv/^2¢/_Δ's/ 08:51, 17 February 2014 (UTC)[reply]

And just to get the point across better, my feeling after skimming the talk page is that there's an underlying objection to the content being introduced through those sources, and the edits the other editor is making. I strongly encourage MartinL-585 to argue the merits of the content issue rather than disputing some minor procedural question. The procedural complaint aired here is, respectfully, without merit. Even if it had merit, it would not result in prevailing in the underlying dispute. —/Mendaliv/^2¢/_Δ's/ 17:53, 17 February 2014 (UTC)[reply]

You may be right that the editor should be complying with the use of templates (I haven't checked the article history to confirm that that is the convention on this article) but there are two much more important things to consider. Firstly, the essential thing is the appearance of the material to the reader. That needs to be right; how it is coded in the editing window is quite secondary and fixing it is a background wikignome task. Secondly, editors should always be encouraged to add sources and thanked when they do so. Not all editors are comfortable with citation templates and some (including me) find them awkward and occasionally incapable of rendering what is required or desired. A far, far bigger problem on Wikipedia is the insertion of material without any referencing. Bitching at editors for poorly formatted referencing could have the wholly undesirable effect of encouraging them not to include references at all. Spinning Spark 10:16, 17 February 2014 (UTC)[reply]

With respect, the question was solely about the format of citations (use of templates) and the adherence (or otherwise) to WP:CITE. There are no questions about the contents of the citations, but an experienced Wiki editor would/should know to adhere to standards previously set down. The concern with the edits were with the method by which they were made as well as the editor's refusal to use the cite web template, even after being reminded several times. Further, the editor removed some existing cite web references and replaced them with non-template references, for no apparent reason. Is this an acceptable practice?

Anyway, the question remains: what procedures exist to ensure editors adhere to WP:CITE rules? MartinL-585 (talk) 02:04, 20 February 2014 (UTC)[reply]

Just to clarify there was not a wholesale purge of existing cites, some may have been altered if incomplete or incorrect. I have seen in my travels references made to some scripts that don't populate article dates, and it may have been to correct these, that cite formats were changed. Mo7838 (talk) 06:08, 20 February 2014 (UTC)[reply]

American Theatre Hall of Fame

The title of the article American Theatre Hall of Fame is misspelled. The first sentence in the lede has it spelled correctly, per the organization's website. Can someone please correct the title? Thanks. 69.183.117.116 (talk) 20:20, 17 February 2014 (UTC)[reply]

Done given the website and that I see no evidence that this is contradicted. Note that under most other circumstances this would probably be a contentious move. —/Mendaliv/^2¢/_Δ's/ 20:53, 17 February 2014 (UTC)[reply]

Mendaliv is referring to WP:ENGVAR, the rule which forbids changing articles between British and American spelling systems without good reason. However, in this case, American Theater Hall of Fame is unarguably an American subject and therefore should uncontroversially use American spelling. Spinning Spark 21:41, 17 February 2014 (UTC)[reply]

I suspect the original situation cropped up because the Theater Hall of Fame is located at the Gershwin Theatre, and the article creator (the issue goes that far back) went with re for consistency's sake. Said editor seems to have retired. —/Mendaliv/^2¢/_Δ's/ 22:05, 17 February 2014 (UTC)[reply]

Mistakes

I was attemting to edit a page and keep getting errors on it. I cannot find my error after re-reading all the help tabs and FAQ I am still at a loss. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Danjgrau (talk • contribs) 21:56, 17 February 2014‎ (UTC)[reply]

What error are you getting? (Please remember to sign your talk page posts with four tildes ~~~~.) Regards, TransporterMan (TALK) 22:07, 17 February 2014 (UTC)[reply]

He's referring to an "undefined reference error" that was appearing because not all instances of a reference tag were removed. I actually restored the reference since it's available on the Internet Archive, and linked to there. —/Mendaliv/^2¢/_Δ's/ 22:10, 17 February 2014 (UTC)[reply]

Quite right to restore. As a general rule, broken ref links should not be deleted even if they cannot be found in the Internet Archive, see Wikipedia:Link rot. The ref still remains the source of the information and the ref should be left in the article unless a better ref can be found. It is always possible that the ref can be recovered by another editor if they have the original link to work from. The site may have been reorganised, or it may be found in a different archive such as Webcite. Spinning Spark 12:15, 18 February 2014 (UTC)[reply]

Jahi McMath

Discussion moved

– See WP:BLPN#Jahi McMath—How do we handle someone whose death is contested? —/Mendaliv/^2¢/_Δ's/ 22:49, 18 February 2014 (UTC)[reply]

Several editors have continually changed the verb tense describing Jahi McMath from "was" to "is" and sometimes made other changes to the article to reflect a view that she is still alive. The county coroner issued a death certificate dated December 12, 2013, and myself and other editors have framed the article with the view that she did actually die on that date. This declaration of death was contentious with the family and their supporters (otherwise there would be no point to the article's existence), but I don't know how to resolve this ongoing dispute. Funcrunch (talk) 03:31, 18 February 2014 (UTC)[reply]

Thank-you to Funcrunch for bringing this up. Help is needed on the article and the talk page section: Edit warring on death date and verb tenses , specifically scientific or medical help requested and style-guide help needed as well please. I have questions and assume that other editors and WP users have questions about this article that could be better served.My main question is in the section which is while Jahi McMath was at the hospital for almost a month after being declared legally dead, was she physically alive? There is a lot of confusion about this. And can people who are legally brain-dead, who are on life-support, physically die, and why is this even a question? I'm getting the impression that there is confusion regarding physical death. It appears that people think that machines could keep a dead body alive, but I have read that if a body is physically dead the machines can not do that because the body would be dead and progress with all that entails. But I think we need more information.24.0.133.234 (talk) 04:08, 18 February 2014 (UTC)[reply]

Jeez. So the issue is that the girl was declared legally dead (due to brain death), yet her body is being maintained on life support. Is she dead or alive? Obviously, whichever direction Wikipedia chooses to go will be claimed to be politically charged, but it's impossible to have an article on this subject without addressing this. Or at least I don't think we can... creative phrasing can't work miracles. Anyhow, I strongly suspect this article might stand for deletion per WP:NOTNEWS and WP:BLP1E (BLP still applies to the recently deceased). —/Mendaliv/^2¢/_Δ's/ 11:27, 18 February 2014 (UTC)[reply]

I've listed this at WP:BLPN as well. —/Mendaliv/^2¢/_Δ's/ 15:11, 18 February 2014 (UTC)[reply]

One of my edits which were undone was exactly that-a compromise. Using "Jahi McMath is/was a girl who..." instead of choosing is or was. I asked that question on the article talk page-why not have both, and for date of death--do both ways there too, and for all instances of dispute, why not just have it there right in the article instead of being so presumptuous to imply that Wikipedia has decided for sure one way or the other?24.0.133.234 (talk) 14:55, 18 February 2014 (UTC)[reply]

I'm not a fan of that because the phrasing immediately calls for an explanation because it's just so unusual. Anyway, per a suggestion made at WP:BLPN, the editors of this article should take a look at John Bingham, 7th Earl of Lucan for an example of handling the issue where the person's death is contested. —/Mendaliv/^2¢/_Δ's/ 21:29, 18 February 2014 (UTC)[reply]

Can we please keep discussion on this issue in one place ie WP:BLPN#Jahi McMath—How do we handle someone whose death is contested??--ukexpat (talk) 21:49, 18 February 2014 (UTC)[reply]

Zahara Elenberg

I am wondering why the content of the edit page differs from the content of the published page.

As I am wishing to 'minor edit', this is puzzling.

Can you explain why the two pages differ?

Thank you

Herbert rude (talk) 02:44, 20 February 2014 (UTC)[reply]

Incorrect spellings in redirects

Having recently fallen into the trap of incorrectly wikilinking Port Hedland as Port Headland with the latter redirecting to the former, is there a policy on whether incorrect spellings should be redirected to the correct articles or deleted?

The pro of redirecting is that it reduces redlinks appearing and allows a reader to drill down, even if an editor has made a mistake. The con being that readers, like I did, can carry on in blissful ignorance.

If the redirect did not exist, upon reviewing an article, a redlink would hopefully prompt an editor to correct. Same applies to Victor Harbour redirecting to Victor Harbor. Mo7838 (talk) 05:42, 20 February 2014 (UTC)[reply]