Wikipedia:Help desk

Welcome—ask questions about how to use or edit Wikipedia! (Am I in the right place?)

• For other types of questions, use the search box, see the reference desk or Help:Contents. If you have comments about a specific article, use that article's talk page.
• Do not provide your email address or any other contact information. Answers will be provided on this page only.
• Check back on this page to see if your question has been answered.
• For real-time help, use our IRC help channel, #wikipedia-en-help.
• New editors may prefer the Teahouse, a help area for beginners (but please don't ask in both places).

Ask a question

January 23

SVG image only shows background in detail view, bug?

So the second image in this edit has actually a background, but it does not show up in the article view. Is this a strange feature or maybe a bug? Thanks. prokaryotes (talk) 01:21, 23 January 2016 (UTC)

@Prokaryotes: Yeah, I see the same thing, no background when viewed in that revision of the article, but the background is there if you click the image to view full size, or view it on Commons. The background also disappears if you click on one of the various links to smaller sizes on the Commons page. It might be a good idea to take this to Commons:Help desk, as the issue seems to be a Commons issue rather than WP issue, and the folks over there are presumably much more used to dealing with this type of issue. Murph9000 (talk) 02:13, 23 January 2016 (UTC)

It's not just the background that differs between the version visible in the article and the version on Commons. The former has black text, the latter, white. (Personally, I think the starry background is misleading, and should not be used - the stars shown are fictitious and unrelated to the solar system.) Maproom (talk) 09:01, 23 January 2016 (UTC)

Ok i was just about to post at commons, but this is a good argument by Maproom. What do you suggest? Options include using transparent background, which is imho bad for reading and no need for that, or use the earlier image. it's based on? prokaryotes (talk) 13:51, 23 January 2016 (UTC)

Two possibilities (1) use Planet_Nine_Orbit_(without_background).svg] (2) modify the current version to have a solid black background. I have no preference between them. Maproom (talk) 15:03, 23 January 2016 (UTC)

Category already exists

Hi, I wanted to know what can be done about redundant categories. Specifically, Category:Naturalised citizens of Mexico and Category:Naturalized citizens of Mexico. The 'Naturalised' category was created recently and only had one page which I recategorized. I was going to turn it into a redirect, but the help section suggests not to- so I'm assuming the new one needs to be deleted. AuroralColibri (talk) 02:22, 23 January 2016 (UTC)

Either I've missed the help section you're talking about, or you've misunderstood the help section I've read. While the correct way of redirecting CONAPRED is to place #REDIRECT [[National Council to Prevent Discrimination]] as its code, using similar code on categories is bad because of the way they work. However, we have a technical tool to redirect categories: just place {{Category redirect|name of target category}} on the category that you're redirecting. Creating new categories as redirects is sometimes a bad idea, but in a situation like this one where both categories existed for quite a while, obviously both of them are likely places for other people to use. This is a great situation for a category redirect, so I've redirected "naturalised" to "naturalized". Nyttend (talk) 02:42, 23 January 2016 (UTC)

Okay, thank you. This is the help section I read BTW. AuroralColibri (talk) 02:59, 23 January 2016 (UTC)

You're welcome; you missed the thing I read and I missed the thing you read :-) That's talking about the technical difficulty of using #REDIRECT on categories, and what I'm talking about is one of the category redirect templates mentioned by that page. Nyttend (talk) 03:03, 23 January 2016 (UTC)

Just to address the issue of what happens to categories that have had all their items removed: According to Admin Liz such categories are removed after being empty for four days, I think. Ottawahitech (talk) 15:18, 25 January 2016 (UTC)please ping me

text not left-justified after nested tables

At User:Mandruss/sandbox4 is a problem we are scratching our heads over. The question is why the second section heading is not left-justified as it should be. The problem is somehow caused by the table above. Apologies if we are missing something obvious. Zero^talk 08:24, 23 January 2016 (UTC)

That's odd. If I had the time and patience to try to understand it, I would do ctrl-U to see the source code, copy the entire source code, adjust its stylesheet includes to pull in the stuff it needs, and then tinker with it. For instance, what are all the dd and dl tags doing? Maproom (talk) 09:22, 23 January 2016 (UTC)

Appear to be related to the indentation. There are four colons and four dl-dd pairs. Then at the end of the page there are four /dd-/dl pairs, apparently undoing the indentation. ―Mandruss ☎ 09:59, 23 January 2016 (UTC)

The dl-dd pairs are not remarkable on their own. Colon is the markup for dd (and semicolon for dt), which will open a new dl when required, not for indentation. It just happens that default style for lists does indent, and they can be nested, so we all just routinely abuse description lists as a convenient way to indent on talk pages. The issue appears to be the parser failing to close off the lists at the expected point (first blank line after the tables), apparently getting confused by the nested or complex tables. I've scanned the tables backwards and forwards a couple of times, and can't spot an obvious flaw in their markup. It certainly appears like a parser bug, but I wouldn't entirely rule out some flaw in the table markup triggering it. Murph9000 (talk) 10:25, 23 January 2016 (UTC)

Should be report a bug somewhere? Zero^talk 10:43, 23 January 2016 (UTC)

I found a work-around at least. Surrounding the table (in the wiki markup) by <div> ... </div> does it. Zero^talk 10:47, 23 January 2016 (UTC)

If this is for use outside talk pages, you should really ditch the colons and div, and just add suitable style="margin: whatever;" CSS to the outer table. If it is for conversations within talk pages, you've got your reasonable workaround. Should it be reported? Personally, I wouldn't report it without doing a little more testing, with a simpler table, etc, trying to narrow down just what is triggering the bug, check that it is actually supposed to work (HTML5 considers table inside dd to be valid, but I'd need to do some checking to confirm that it is valid usage for MediaWiki), etc. Murph9000 (talk) 11:05, 23 January 2016 (UTC)

Eden Rock, St Barths and Pippa Middleton

please check ref number 3 on this page - the date is wrong I think. ref 62 is all wrong on the Pippa Middleton page too. Thanks 101.182.146.167 (talk) 11:44, 23 January 2016 (UTC)

 Done You really should fix your own typos... Would point out that tabloid papers aren't generally considered WP:RS. Eagleash (talk) 12:20, 23 January 2016 (UTC)

How to move an article from general User: to personal userspace?

Dear all,

I have the following article which I would like to move from User: into my personal userspace Orschiro:

Could someone please explain me how to do that?

Thankfully,

Orschiro (talk) 12:34, 23 January 2016 (UTC)

I've moved it to User:Orschiro/Sustainable Consumption Research and Action Initiative. You may want to ask for the redirect to be removed as WP:CSD#U2.Jo-Jo Eumerus (talk, contributions) 12:52, 23 January 2016 (UTC)

I have deleted the redirect at, User:Sustainable Consumption Research and Action Initiative. -- GB fan 12:55, 23 January 2016 (UTC)

Melise de Winter

Hi, can I start it my articel Melise de Winter? Refrence are her site with character images. same with Kate Bristol website. and voice/over demo reel. in the demo voice reel she mention it which character she voiced and the serie name.--Maxie1hoi (talk) 16:13, 23 January 2016 (UTC)

I suggest that you create a draft as described at WP:AFC and submit it for review. Also note that content taken from other websites is almost certainly copyright and cannot be used on Wikipedia.--ukexpat (talk) 16:53, 23 January 2016 (UTC)

(edit conflict) Hello, Maxie1hoi. You can start an article, certainly. But if you want to make sure the article will be accepted, you need to base it on sources indepednent of de Winter: nothing on her site will contribute in any way to establishing that she is notable, so you need to find independent sources and base the draft on those. Wikipedia has hardly any interst in what anybody says about themselves. --ColinFine (talk) 16:54, 23 January 2016 (UTC)

Hawaii Five-0 article mistitled Hawaii Five-o

The title of the Hawaii Five-0 article looks like Hawaii-Five-o. Why is the zero uncap-tall instead of cap-tall? Can this be fixed? How does one edit a title? (This question is about the 2010 reboot, not the original Hawaii Five-O.)— Preceding unsigned comment added by DanMargoliash (talk • contribs)

Because per the lead para the new series is "Hawaii Five-Zero" unlike the original which is "Hawaii Five-O" (letter O).--ukexpat (talk) 16:57, 23 January 2016 (UTC)

(edit conflict) The third sentence of the article explains this, and it has been discussed on the article's talk page. You should not move it (which is how you change a page title) without establishing a consensus to do so. There is no such thing as a capital zero - Letter case is a property of letters, not of digits. How tall a zero appears is a property of the particular font used, and Wikipedia only has a limited control of the font which users read in. --ColinFine (talk) 17:03, 23 January 2016 (UTC)

do gadgets affect computer speed / performance?

I've looked at the list of available gadgets and most of them seem pretty useful. Is there any downside to checking a bunch of them -- specifically, does the number of gadgets enabled have an effect on the speed/performance of my computer? Thanks. Summertime4 (talk) 17:01, 23 January 2016 (UTC)

It's conceivable but unlikely. Back a few years ago, I was briefly stuck on a ten-year-old laptop when my desktop failed. The Visual Editor was pretty sluggish, but I've heard it's gotten better. If you're using anything from the past few years, I doubt it could be affected by Javascript performance. NinjaRobotPirate (talk) 16:58, 24 January 2016 (UTC)

teahouse "ask a question" box appears partially off my screen to the left, so I can't see what I am typing in it.

re: Wikipedia:Teahouse/Questions

I clicked on "Ask a Question" and a box popped up for me to type in, but about 10-20% of the box was off my computer screen to the left, so I couldn't see what I was typing.

I am using the modern skin and my screen resolution is 1366 x 768.

1) any ideas about what I can do? 2) is there a place to report this sort of graphical problem?

Thanks.Summertime4 (talk) 17:13, 23 January 2016 (UTC)

@Summertime4: Technical problems (bugs and such) with the site are normally posted at WP:VPT. Dismas|^(talk) 22:24, 23 January 2016 (UTC)

Sarah Palin

I have read that Sarah Palin was born in Idaho. Someone may want to research her birth state.— Preceding unsigned comment added by 24.196.142.241 (talk • contribs)

Have you read the article on her? It says she was born in Sandpoint, Idaho. -- GB fan 19:58, 23 January 2016 (UTC)

Question about formatting of quotation marks

Is there an easy way to go through an article and change all of the curly quotation marks (these: “curly quotation marks”) to straight quotation marks (these: "straight quotation marks")? I tried and it won't seem to work. I did a copy-and-paste from the article edit space into a Word document. Within Word, I did a "find-and-replace". And when I copied-and-pasted that revised Word document back into the Wikipedia article's edit space, no changes were effected. Any ideas? Thanks. Use of the curly quotation marks is causing problems in how Wikipedia handles the text; whereas use of the straight quotation marks resolves those problems. Joseph A. Spadaro (talk) 22:36, 23 January 2016 (UTC)

@Joseph A. Spadaro: In Special:Preferences#mw-prefsection-gadgets, scroll to 'Editing' tick 'wikEd', reload the page you're editing and wikEd gives you a find and replace feature. -- AxG / ✉ / 10 years of editing 02:10, 24 January 2016 (UTC)

Let me try that. Thanks. Joseph A. Spadaro (talk) 02:30, 24 January 2016 (UTC)

Nope, that didn't work. Joseph A. Spadaro (talk) 02:40, 24 January 2016 (UTC)

@Joseph A. Spadaro: Actually you just have to click advanced in the edit toolbar. A toolbar should pop up underneath that and at the far right of that toolbar you should see an icon with a magnifying glass and pencil on a piece of paper. The Average Wikipedian (talk) 05:22, 24 January 2016 (UTC)

I didn't want to go through each and every set of quotation marks, one by one. There are dozens upon dozens of them. That will take forever. I wanted to know if there was a quick easy way to do them all in one fell swoop. Thanks. Joseph A. Spadaro (talk) 05:46, 24 January 2016 (UTC)

@Joseph A. Spadaro: WikEd (see docu) has a "search and replace all" button, that also works for curly quotation marks (just tested). Just select the whole text before you press the function button. GermanJoe (talk) 06:39, 24 January 2016 (UTC)

Thanks. I tried that. It didn't work. I just went in and changed them all by hand. Thanks. Joseph A. Spadaro (talk) 07:05, 24 January 2016 (UTC)

@Joseph A. Spadaro: The method I previously mentioned has a "replace all" function. You definitely don't have to do them one by one. The Average Wikipedian (talk) 12:12, 24 January 2016 (UTC)

Hi Joseph A. Spadaro. Two things. First, the regular editing toolbar provides a search and replace function that works fine. Click on advanced, and you should see this icon: in the far right of:

However, I have seen in the past that some users do not see this icon in the interface if they are using certain settings or browsers.

Second, I'm guessing that the reason you had no luck using Word is that you have your autocorrect options set to replace regular regular quote marks with "smart" ones – so replacing did nothing because autocorrect just "fixed" them back to smart quotes immediately. I don't know what version you're using of course but try something like: from the Tools menu → select Auto Correct Options → click the AutoFormat As You Type tab → unselect the replace straight quotes With smart quotes option in the replace as you type section → Click ok. Best regards--Fuhghettaboutit (talk) 13:15, 24 January 2016 (UTC)

Which browser are you using? The search and replace does not work in early versions of IE, but does in IE11, and I seem to recall some versions of Firefox have a problem as well.
I use the search and replace to overcome this, and the use of guillemets or French quotes (« and ») quite often. They both need to be done in 2 halves.
Copy/cut an example of the "66" quotes into the "Search for" box (do not try and type them in, or you will be searching for "straight quotes") and type the "straight quotes" into the "Replace with" box, click "Replace all" and it should tell you haw many have been changed, then copy/cut an example of the "99" quotes into the "Search for" box and repeat.
Ensure you have no spaces before or after the 66, 99 or straight quotes, or your search may miss some uses, or it will add/remove spaces - requiring further corrections. - Arjayay (talk) 17:38, 24 January 2016 (UTC)

Thanks, all. To answer some questions posed above: I am using the latest Word (I believe that it is 2013 or 2015?). And I am using Mozilla Firefox. The problem was not with the "find-and-replace all" function. If I wanted to find the word "cat" and replace it with the word "dog", everything worked just fine; it worked as expected. The sprecific problem was with the straight quotes versus curly quotes. I think some type of "auto correct" did occur, as someone above suggested. In the end, nothing worked. And I just went in and changed each quote mark manually, by hand, one by one. Thanks. Joseph A. Spadaro (talk) 17:52, 24 January 2016 (UTC)

Follow up question

On a related note, why would the Wikipedia "functions" -- (Is that what they are called? Or is it HTML?) -- work with the straight quotes but not with the curly quotes? My formatting was not working correctly and it drove me crazy to find out why it was not working. Finally, through some miracle of God, I noticed the distinction in which some entries used straight quote marks and some used curly quote marks. The entries with the straight quotes worked fine; they worked as expected. The entries with the curly quotes did not work at all. Why would Wikipedia allow that to happen? Does it not consider them the "same", for formatting purposes? Thanks. Joseph A. Spadaro (talk) 17:52, 24 January 2016 (UTC)

Thanks, all. Joseph A. Spadaro (talk) 04:55, 26 January 2016 (UTC)

Format to name a page

What is the correct format to name a page for a person with variations of their name, for instance: A. Bob Jones, vs. Adam Bob Jones, vs. A. B. Jones, vs. A. Bob-Jones, vs. A.B.J. The person is an artist and is also referred to by their initials: ABJ ? You help is appreciated. These examples represent close approximation, although the example is fictional.InfoDataMonger (talk) 23:08, 23 January 2016 (UTC)

In short, the most commonly used, most recognizable, name should be the title of the article. See WP:COMMONNAME. Rwessel (talk) 23:30, 23 January 2016 (UTC)

Resolved

 – InfoDataMonger (talk) 21:51, 25 January 2016 (UTC)

January 24

Eden Rock, St Barths

Please check that I am not "doubling up" on refs 3 through to 7 on the above page. thanks101.182.146.167 (talk) 01:44, 24 January 2016 (UTC)

Yes, you are doubling-up. Help:Referencing for beginners#Same reference used more than once tells you what to do. --David Biddulph (talk) 01:52, 24 January 2016 (UTC)

Thanks - I will enlist one of my students to TRY to do it. Cheers 101.182.146.167 (talk) 01:54, 24 January 2016 (UTC)

Please help if you can - we find this difficult - sorry.

Referencing errors on Australia Act 1986

Reference help requested. I've inserted in the infobox the basic legislation information for the Australian and UK versions of the Act, which are formally independent of each other (the circumstances are explained in the article). The two versions need to appear separately in the infobox, but I can't make that work properly. Please help. Thanks, Wikiain (talk) 02:17, 24 January 2016 (UTC)

You need to remember that the parameters available for Template:Infobox legislation are not the same as those for Template:Infobox UK legislation. - David Biddulph (talk) 02:31, 24 January 2016 (UTC)

Thank you David. They were already in use separately, which I have continued. There doesn't seem to be a Template:Infobox Australian legislation or, so far I can tell thus far, any need for one. Wikiain (talk) 03:55, 24 January 2016 (UTC)

Glen Affric== and ==Eden Rock, St Barths

Please check both of these pages - I have done my best but my students say the pages "could be better"... (re refs.) Thanks 101.182.146.167 (talk) 06:17, 24 January 2016 (UTC)

Your students are right. They probably realise that what should go in the "| publisher =" parameter is the name of the publisher, where relevant, as it says at Template:Cite web#Publisher, not things like "Copyright © 2013 böetic. All rights reserved". Not surprisingly, the date, where there is one, belongs in the "| date =" parameter. Also, they've probably read the advice in the section #Eden Rock, St Barths above, about the same reference being used more than once. Why not let your students correct the problems, under supervision, and show you what they've done? - 81.153.132.129 (talk) 06:48, 24 January 2016 (UTC)

It is very hard for any of us here to get that correct on both pages referenced above. We would appreciate your expert input so that our Wikipedia pages are "correct" . Thanks

Reference not taken

we have created a page and reference for the same is given at the end of page. however, the reference has not been considered ex:

References

— Preceding unsigned comment added by Vibhastudent (talk • contribs) 07:41, 24 January 2016‎ (UTC)

Your wikitext says:

<ref> <ref>http://www.filmibeat.com/celebs/aniruddh/filmography.html</ref> </ref>

Try removing the surplus tags outside the inner <ref>...</ref> pair. --David Biddulph (talk) 07:49, 24 January 2016 (UTC)

Eden Rock, St Barths

Hi there - I cannot fix up the doubling up of ref 4 and 10 on this page. Too worrying that I will muck it all up. Please help. Also - is the page ==Glen Affric== all OK? Please help. 101.182.146.167 (talk) 08:35, 24 January 2016 (UTC)

I fixed the doubly-used reference on Eden Rock for you, see the diff for how I did it. Nothing blatant jumps out for Glen Affric, what do you suspect might be wrong? Rwessel (talk) 08:47, 24 January 2016 (UTC)

See the reply to the IP's question at #Glen Affric== and ==Eden Rock, St Barths above. The parameters |publisher=The UK Independant - Saturday 25 October 2014 and |publisher=10 May 2013 - The Financial Times Ltd 2016 do not break the syntax of the citation template but they suggest that the IP did not read the reply. --David Biddulph (talk) 12:19, 24 January 2016 (UTC)

Thanks so much Rwessel — Preceding unsigned comment added by 101.182.146.167 (talk) 09:00, 24 January 2016‎ (UTC)

Glen Affric

We are worried that there is a lack of citations/refs. for example - the musician reference at the end. What do you think? Thanks101.182.146.167 (talk) 09:00, 24 January 2016 (UTC)

In general, everything not obviously correct ("the sky is blue") should be referenced. See WP:REF. Of course there are many cases where articles fall short of that standard, but that doesn't change the standard. As for the particular sentence, I'd be tempted to consider it trivia and not worthy of inclusion in the article without further explanation (why is it relevant/important?). Rwessel (talk) 09:32, 24 January 2016 (UTC)

Could you please remove the Chris Watson ref on the Glen Affric page. I agree with Rwessel # it is indeed trivia and not sourced. Thanks — Preceding unsigned comment added by 101.182.146.167 (talk) 12:30, 24 January 2016‎

 Done but this is Wikipedia - you could do that yourself. Rwessel (talk) 12:53, 24 January 2016 (UTC)

how I can add reference link?

How can I add reference linl to article? Thank you — Preceding unsigned comment added by Strad21 (talk • contribs) 13:25, 24 January 2016‎ (UTC)

Try WP:Referencing for beginners. --David Biddulph (talk) 13:39, 24 January 2016 (UTC)

2009 dura max

2009 dura max 4 door p0708 code replaced mode swicth did not help— Preceding unsigned comment added by 67.242.54.147 (talk • contribs)

I suspect, based on your question, that you found one of our over 5 million articles and thought we were affiliated in some way with that subject. Please note that you are at Wikipedia, the free online encyclopedia that anyone can edit, and this page is for asking questions related to using or contributing to Wikipedia itself. Thus, we have no special knowledge about the subject of your question. You can, however, search our vast catalogue of articles by typing a subject into the search field on the upper right side of your screen. If you cannot find what you are looking for, we have a reference desk, divided into various subject areas, where asking knowledge questions is welcome. Best of luck.Template:Z25--Fuhghettaboutit (talk) 14:57, 24 January 2016 (UTC)

publishing

I wrote an article and it keeps getting taken down. I would really like to publsish it. I cant find the proper tutorials that I need on youtube to find how to make the improvements needed. I don't know what im missing I have footnotes and things it asked for but still cant put it up — Preceding unsigned comment added by Jamie Cambel (talk • contribs) 16:09, 24 January 2016‎ (UTC)

Assuming that you are talking about ‎Jaliet Caprana, the reasons for deletion were explained in standard messages left on your talk page. As you have blanked the page a number of times, you may need to use the page history to review them properly. The major reasons given for deletion so far are CSD A7 (WP:NOTABILITY), CSD G11 (WP:SPAM), and CSD G12 (WP:COPYVIO). You will need to address all of those issues before the article can be published on Wikipedia. The copyright violations, in particular, are a major issue (N.B. I have been forced to nominate User:Jamie Cambel/sandbox for WP:CSD G12 as well). I will include the generic article creation standard advice template below, as it has a number of links which may help you.

A Wizard is available to walk you through these steps. See the Article Wizard.

Thank you.

Before creating an article, please search Wikipedia first to make sure that an article does not already exist on the subject. Please also review a few of our relevant policies and guidelines with which all articles should comply. As Wikipedia is an encyclopedia, articles must not contain original research, must be written from a neutral point of view, should cite reliable sources which verify their content and must not contain unsourced, negative content about living people.

Articles must also demonstrate the notability of the subject. Please see our subject specific guidelines for people, bands and musicians, companies and organizations and web content and note that if you are closely associated with the subject, our conflict of interest guideline strongly recommends against you creating the article.

If you still think an article is appropriate, see Wikipedia:Your first article. You might also look at Wikipedia:How to write a great article for guidance, and please consider taking a tour through the Wikipedia:Tutorial so that you know how to properly format the article before creation. An Article Wizard is also available to walk you through creating an article.Template:Z26

Murph9000 (talk) 16:43, 24 January 2016 (UTC)

Since you appear to be writing about yourself, you should also read Wikipedia:Autobiography: People are strongly discouraged from writing about themselves on Wikipedia. —teb728 t c 23:41, 24 January 2016 (UTC)

Referencing errors on Numerical Stroop effect

Reference help requested. Hi, I was trying to make a redirect for the "numericial stroop effect". Sometimes it's called "numerical stroop task" or "Numerical stroop" or "Size congruency effect", but it's the same Idea. how can I fix the errors? Thanks, Zahira Cohen (talk) 16:20, 24 January 2016 (UTC)

Hi Zahira Cohen. I don't understand the issue because before posting this question you successfully figured out how to create redirects from the first two alternate names you listed above (though you didn't create one for the third) which are functioning fine. Meanwhile, the title of your question implies the issue is actually a referencing error, but I don't see any error messages in the references shown in the article.--Fuhghettaboutit (talk) 16:47, 24 January 2016 (UTC)

I think Zahira is trying to figure out the correct page name. Generally, a Wikipedia article should be named after the most commonly used name of the subject (see also WP:COMMONNAME). If there are several synonynous terms though (these are no "errors"), we should just create redirects to one specific title. In this case I'd say we should go with the term that is most commonly used by academic publications. De728631 (talk) 18:01, 24 January 2016 (UTC)

Ryan Lindsay (actor)

Assistance needed to drop (actor) from title (Ryan Lindsay (actor)) and URL https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ryan_Lindsay_(actor) My colleague has been inactive and his career status has been updated.

Thanks in advance, Nate NathanJBeckham (talk) 20:33, 24 January 2016 (UTC)

Hi Nate. We can't simply remove "(actor)" from his page, as there is another Ryan Lindsay out there, so the name links to what we call a "disambiguation" page listing the various articles, and all people with that name are required to have "(something)" in the name of their article and the URL for it. Secondly, it appears that you have a conflict of interest, due to your direct connection with Ryan, so it is generally inappropriate for you to be directly editing his article. You are, however, quite welcome to provide feedback on the article's talk page. If you have any links to good independent reliable sources, with information on this latest phase of his career, that could be quite useful in bringing the article up to date. Do you have a suggestion for what should be used after his name? Should it be changed to "(screenwriter)", or something else? Murph9000 (talk) 20:46, 24 January 2016 (UTC)

Per WP:TWODABS it's not clear to me why a disambiguation page is necessary. Disambiguation could be dealt with by hatnotes.--ukexpat (talk) 01:31, 25 January 2016 (UTC)

I do not have contact with Ryan, so "peer" more accurately describes our association. I watched him speak at a tech conference and this led me to his wiki, where I felt I could update his career achievements and highlights. I will look for citations when I get the time. Also, can you use his middle name (J) to keep it unique from the other pages? That's how he introduced himself. Thanks User:Murph9000, just trying to update inaccuracies.

How do I change misinformation on my Wikipedia page?

How do I change misinformation on my Wikipedia page? Bruckecat (talk) 23:14, 24 January 2016 (UTC)

@Bruckecat: Well, the first thing to realise is that if you have any direct connection to the subject of the article, you have a conflict of interest, and are strongly discouraged from directly editing the article. Your first step should be to concisely and clearly raise your specific concerns on the article's talk page. If the article in question is Bascove (which seems to be the only article you have edited), then post your concerns and comments at Talk:Bascove, as a first step. Where we go from there depends exactly on what the specific issues are. Just posting the concerns may be sufficient to get an independent editor to address them. If you can provide any links to good independent reliable sources to support any of the changes you would like made, that would be a great help to speed the process along. If my guesswork about the nature of your problem is incorrect, please provide some details. Murph9000 (talk) 23:22, 24 January 2016 (UTC)

(edit conflict) On the article's talk page, explain what changes you are asking for and preceed it with {{Request edit}} template. You should not edit the article directly if you have conflict of interest in it. RudolfRed (talk) 23:24, 24 January 2016 (UTC)

January 25

Large links for "edit" on a section

Why are the edit links on each of the sections of Geytin so much larger than on most articles (One-man_operation to pick one example) ? RudolfRed (talk) 01:53, 25 January 2016 (UTC)

@RudolfRed: It seems that there was something dodgy going on with the server that last parsed it from source into cached article. A quick WP:PURGE fixed it for me. Murph9000 (talk) 01:56, 25 January 2016 (UTC)

Thanks! RudolfRed (talk) 01:59, 25 January 2016 (UTC)

Re information on start a page for prominent organization

I would like to know how to create a page for a prominent chamber of commerce — Preceding unsigned comment added by 172.56.3.207 (talk) 02:04, 25 January 2016‎ (UTC)

A Wizard is available to walk you through these steps. See the Article Wizard.

Thank you.

You will need to first register an account, which has many benefits, including the ability to create articles. Once you have registered, please search Wikipedia first to make sure that an article does not already exist on the subject. Please also review a few of our relevant policies and guidelines which all articles should comport with. As Wikipedia is an encyclopedia, articles must not contain original research, must be written from a neutral point of view, should cite to reliable sources which verify their content and must not contain unsourced, negative content about living people.

Articles must also demonstrate the notability of the subject. Please see our subject specific guidelines for people, bands and musicians, companies and organizations and web content and note that if you are closely associated with the subject, our conflict of interest guideline strongly recommends against you creating the article.

If you still think an article is appropriate, see Wikipedia:Your first article and Wikipedia:How to write a great article, and please consider taking a tour through the Wikipedia:Tutorial so that you know how to properly format the article before creation. An Article Wizard is available to walk you through creating an article, but you will need to create an account to use it. if you don't wish to do so, you can submit a proposal for an article at Articles for Creation.Template:Z26

Murph9000 (talk) 02:07, 25 January 2016 (UTC)

Hello, anonymous user. I would like to give you some advice which may avoid frustration later on. Please let go of thinking about "a page for" the organisation, and think instead of "an article about" the organisation. Many people come to Wikipedia basically wanting to tell the world about their organisation, because it "ought to have a page", or because "it has no presence on Wikipedia". That motivation is called promotion here, and is not permitted on Wikipedia. If the chamber of commerce has been "noted" - written about, at length, by people unconnected with it, then Wikipedia will take notice of it and allow an article about it, which should be nearly 100% based on what those unconnected people have written. What the organisation itself says about itself is of very little relevance. If you start from this realisation, you are likely to have a less frustrating time. I would also advise anybody at all to get some experience editing existing articles before plunging into the hard task of writing a new article. --ColinFine (talk) 10:04, 25 January 2016 (UTC)

Referencing errors on 2016 in American television

Reference help requested. What error did i make Thanks, Iron max 2 (talk) 02:27, 25 January 2016 (UTC)

@Iron max 2:  Fixed, minimally, but you need to figure out if that row should be Disney Channel or Disney XD, as it is kinda both right now, and breaking the table formatting. The ref could also do with being fleshed out with some more parameters for {{cite web}}, to help prevent / mitigate WP:LINKROT. The problem was …|February 15… vs. …|date=February 15…. Murph9000 (talk) 02:39, 25 January 2016 (UTC)

How to respond to article messages such as Refimprove ?

I recently updated an article that contained a {{Refimprove}} message. Now or eventually, I would like to see this message removed. How does that happen? Should I somehow request a more-senior editor to review the article? Or, is it up to me to simply delete the message whenever I judge that the article issue has been addressed? Thanks.

When you feel the references have been sufficiently improved, you can remove the message yourself. If you want to get another opinion, you could always contact the editor who added the message in the first place. Popcornduff (talk) 04:24, 25 January 2016 (UTC)

David Cobb, Green Party

Question moved from "Wikipedia talk:Help desk#David Cobb, Green Party". Murph9000 (talk) 08:11, 25 January 2016 (UTC)

your research center indicates that there is no political campaign button for the David Cobb 2004 recount, during the famous political recount back in Columbus,Ohio in 2004. P.S., there actually was, blue wolf [email address redacted] — Preceding unsigned comment added by 72.194.220.243 (talk) 00:30, 24 January 2016‎ (UTC)

I'm unclear exactly which Wikipedia article you feel has a factual error. We have over 5 million of them to maintain! If you can provide the exact name of the article you feel has a factual error, and specific detail on the changes you believe should be made, we will be quite happy to take a look at it. N.B. it would help considerably if you could cite good independent reliable sources (or even an official source directly connected to the subject, if independent sources are unavailable) to support the change. Any evidence that assists us in verification of the facts greatly appreciated. Murph9000 (talk) 08:17, 25 January 2016 (UTC)

New article

Dear Wikipedians,

I have worked on new article. I would like to ask about advices what to do to make it better. Is it possible to accept my draft? Draft:Michał Cander

regards, ZBIK89— Preceding unsigned comment added by Zbik89 (talk • contribs)

A couple of quick things I noticed: (1) your drafts generally should only have blue links, not red links - so if the articles don't yet exits, don't link to them; (2) Did you, personally take the photo used on the page? And/or are you Mr. Cander? (3) Exhibitions are just a simple list that is unreferences/cited, you might do better with replacing the list with a narrative which citations; (4) find English sources, if possible. Since this is the English wikipedia, having references/citations in English are greatly preferred. -- I hope those help. Tiggerjay (talk) 17:38, 25 January 2016 (UTC)

Thank you! I will work on it! Ad.2 I am not Mr. Cander, but I am author of his photo, so it is OK according to rules :) I will ask you againd for help when I finish my article :) Thank you for your support! :)

Stats broken. again

Page view statistics has not updated since January 20. Where on Wikipedia (not on wp:phabricator) can one file a problem report? Thanks in advance, Ottawahitech (talk) 15:11, 25 January 2016 (UTC)please ping me

Which link are you using to view page statistics? If you are referring to Henrik's tool then you should contact them at User Talk:Henrik as that tool is not run by Wikipedia, but is a third-party tool. HOWEVER, there is a know problem that has already been reported to him. If you are referring to different tool, please provide a link to it. Tiggerjay (talk) 17:28, 25 January 2016 (UTC)

Spam question

Please help me with... Hi,

I hope that you can help. For all 46 Wiki pages relating to Booker Prize Winners, I recently added a reference link to my website, www.collectibleEx.com. I now notice that this link has been removed in all 46 cases.

Its my belief that the link I added was a credible reference link, which uses both narrative and photos to assist in identifying the UK first edition of the book. It also attempts to calculate a fair price using multiple market sources. To my knowledge, this is unique on the web.

Please take a look. This isn't money making, it is about helping collectors identify first editions. For some, it will be hugely beneficial.

It was my understanding that this was exactly the ethos Wiki was trying to promote: collective knowledge share?

The time and effort consumed in compiling this data for all 46 books was long and arduous, taking weeks of research.

Please can you explain why all 46 links were removed by Hobbes Goodyear (User:Hobbes Goodyear)?

I'd be very interested to hear your response,

Kind regards,

Andrew Cox (coxandy) — Preceding unsigned comment added by Coxandy (talk • contribs) 16:37, 25 January 2016‎ (UTC)

Try reading WP:LINKSPAM. - David Biddulph (talk) 16:49, 25 January 2016 (UTC)

Just thinking that your linkspam edit is so useful that it should be exempt from the rule against linkspam doesn't override the policy. Robert McClenon (talk) 03:10, 26 January 2016 (UTC)

Issues with wikipage

Hi wiki, about a week back there's been issues on wikipage Lavdrim Muhaxheri. Two users and one admin have made comments on synth -issues and such. Thus trying to discuss it, the article is being reversed to a version with synth issues and they keep issuing warnings when I reverse from the synth - issue version. I would need some admin help since they're ambition seems more to vandalize rather than to discuss.KewinRozzKewinRozz (talk) 17:06, 25 January 2016 (UTC)

You are close to violating WP:RRR which means that if you revert a page three times you may be blocked for Edit Warring. As a result, I recommend you discussing it on the article talk page, Talk:Lavdrim_Muhaxheri or discussing the details with the admin directly on their talk page. Do NOT keep insisting your edits, a discussion needs to take place now. Only after you resolve your differences on the talk, you can then re-edit the page. If you still are having problems you can ask for Dispute Resolution assistance, but I believe more discussion on the talk page needs to take place first. Tiggerjay (talk) 17:14, 25 January 2016 (UTC)

(edit conflict) If you are getting repeated warnings both in edit summaries and your user talk page from an admin who has been on Wikipedia for 10+ years, you need to take a big step backwards and not touch the article. Then take a deep breath, possibly more than a few deep breaths. Then calmly, concisely, and specifically, explain the biggest concerns you have with the article on its talk page. Make sure that there's no generalisation, identify specific concerns in detail, while trying to avoid creating a wall-o-text. Leave the minor stuff until later, it can wait. Post it to the talk page, and wait. Wait a couple of days, if need be. Don't start editing that article again until things are calm and there's some reasonable agreement or consensus on the talk page about how to move forward. It really doesn't matter how right you are, and how wrong "they" are, edit warring rather than discussing will likely only end badly for you. If the article sucks right now, so be it, there's no deadline on fixing it. Right now, from the sound of it, the consensus is against you. Calm, reasoned argument on specific content issues that matter is the way to change that, or at least find a mutually acceptable solution. See also dispute resolution. Murph9000 (talk) 17:24, 25 January 2016 (UTC)

I've discussed it but they don't discuss with me, read the talk page, I've pointed out that the version they've now reverted to has synth -issues, which it didn't in the previous version and I've pointed specifically to the parts, I believe the page is now vandalized KewinRozzKewinRozz (talk) 18:01, 25 January 2016 (UTC)

Well, keep following the dispute resolution process. Making a reasonable attempt to talk it out on the article's talk page is the first step. The process details the options available beyond that. For the third / outside opinion, you could try seeking opinions on the closest related WikiProject's talk page. Murph9000 (talk) 18:07, 25 January 2016 (UTC)

How To Create Article Links

Hello! I'm new to editing on Wikipedia and I need some help. On the Grant Morrison page, I want to add an appearance he made as a comic character in a comic book. But I'm not sure how to create a link leading to that comic's article page. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Andrewyoung00 (talk • contribs) 17:19, 25 January 2016‎ (UTC)

As you can see from this edit your changes were removed. This is because you inserted information without citing a reliable source for the information you were inserting. In general the addition of new information require an inline reference/citation. Tiggerjay (talk) 17:46, 25 January 2016 (UTC)

What edit was my first mainspace page create?

Is there any easy way to tell what number edit was my first mainspace page create?Naraht (talk) 20:02, 25 January 2016 (UTC)

Your first createed article was Harold Roe Bartle. --Edgars2007 (talk/contribs) 20:30, 25 January 2016 (UTC)

The easy way to find that is to go to your contributions and click on the "Articles created" link at the bottom of the page. —teb728 t c 20:35, 25 January 2016 (UTC)

Hence the edit number was 12870982 --David Biddulph (talk) 20:37, 25 January 2016 (UTC)

Layout on Mean Machine Angel

I just noticed that Mean Machine Angel has enlarged "Edit" links, and they're not encased in square brackets as on other pages - such as The Angel Gang.

There don't seem to be any template or style differences - not that I'm an expert on such things - but why should this be? Chaheel Riens (talk) 20:01, 25 January 2016 (UTC)

Sorry, I do not see anything unusual on that page. Ruslik_Zero 20:33, 25 January 2016 (UTC)

Perhaps related to the problem I saw earlier [1] on Geytin RudolfRed (talk) 20:41, 25 January 2016 (UTC)

John F Kennedy

I wish to carry out extensive modifications to the John F Kennedy article. Can I be allowed to edit it? --Aråpolo (talk) 21:11, 25 January 2016 (UTC)

That page is semi-protected for a reason. If you want you can wait until you fulfill the requirements to become autoconfirmed or you can use the article's talk page to request an edit on your behalf. In any case, extensive modifications should always be discussed anyways. There are over 1,000 people that watch that page so any suggestions on the talk page should get some input. --Majora (talk) 21:26, 25 January 2016 (UTC)

However, edits like this will be rejected and are considered vandalism. Repeated attempts to add that information into the article can result in your editing privileges being revoked. Wikipedia runs on published reliable sources. Not your own take on a situation or event. --Majora (talk) 21:34, 25 January 2016 (UTC)

January 26

Robert Canetti

Please, help me:1-which references I need to delete ( or maybe I shouldn't)from article? 2- I have copies of old newspapers about Canetti and his concerts etc, but I cant find in internet. Can I do pdf scan for the article reference?--strad21 (talk) 00:02, 26 January 2016 (UTC) THanks

In regards to Robert Canetti, It does seem a *bit* much there at the end, but rather too many than not enough. You may want to pull more specific information from each reference about Mr. Canetti, perhaps about specific concerts. In regards to old newspapers. Wikipedia references do *not* have to be available online, just available for anyone who wants to do the research (even if they have to work some). See the Template:Cite newspaper which will give more information. And I'd like to thank you for a much more useful topic than the question above itNaraht (talk) 22:17, 25 January 2016 (UTC)

Replacing Bio photo

Hello, Jack Mackenroth is a friend and he has asked me to update his bio (the text is done) and his bio photo. I cannot figure out how to replace the outdated one with the new one he sent me.The photo is uploaded here, and I can add it to the page, but cannot figure out how to replace it in the info box.— Preceding unsigned comment added by Winterschild11 (talk • contribs)

Couple of points: your edits to the article have been reverted and suppressed for being far too promotional in tone. Please follow the instructions on the image information page to provide appropriate permission for the image. Until it has been provided, the image should not be used in the article.--ukexpat (talk) 02:13, 26 January 2016 (UTC)

Adding map to a page

I was wanting to add a map to a Wikipedia page that has a long list of place names, with links from the list to the places on the map and vice-versa. What's the easiest way to do this?

Re-nominating a page for deletion.

I nominated Jordan Baker (basketball) for deletion back in December because I felt like he failed both WP:GNG and WP:NBASKETBALL, as the Mexican League is not, in my eyes, up to par with the other leagues mentioned in NBASKET. After three weeks of discussion, I felt like the admin was going to delete the article. However, they closed the debate with a "no consensus" decision. Is there any way to either: Edit the NBASKET guidelines to replace the "similar leagues" wording with an actual list of similar leagues so that there is no more debate (similar to WP:FPL for football) or re-nominate the article for discussion? Which do you advise and how would I do it? The discussion can be found here by the way. Thank you! JTtheOG (talk) 01:02, 26 January 2016 (UTC)

Well, there is a sort of guidance already which should perhaps have been considered - see Wikipedia:WikiProject_Basketball/Fully_professional_leagues referenced from Wikipedia:WikiProject_Basketball#Notability. Further discussion regarding that point might usefully be had on Wikipedia_talk:WikiProject_Basketball --ℕ ℱ 01:12, 26 January 2016 (UTC)

If you believe that the closer used poor judgment, you may request deletion review. Simply starting another AFD is considered tendentious. Robert McClenon (talk)

It is not automatically tendentious - there may be very good reasons to do so at times. Such as information that was not considered at the original discussion which would have had a significant bearing. It would be quite odd for a deletion discussion not to make specific reference to a list of leagues that had been prepared as a guideline for that specific notability situation. Like many other things, it is a judgement call. --ℕ ℱ 03:03, 26 January 2016 (UTC)

Is there a Wikipedia template that calculates a person's current age?

Is there a Wikipedia template that calculates a person's current age? I'd like one that lists only the age, but not the birth date alongside it. Also, I'd like one that lists the age in years only, not years with days. Thanks. Joseph A. Spadaro (talk) 02:04, 26 January 2016 (UTC)

{{Age}} maybe?--ukexpat (talk) 02:15, 26 January 2016 (UTC)

{{Age as of date}} Gives age only. Refer to Wikipedia:Age calculation templates for more info. Cheers!  JoeHebda (talk)  02:34, 26 January 2016 (UTC)

Thanks. Well, neither is what I am looking for. Is there one that will work like {{Age}} does, but render a result that includes the word "years" (for example: {{Age|1916|01|26}} such that the template gives the result "100 years" instead of simply "100")? And the {{Age as of date}} is not applicable unless I know the person's age on a given date, correct? Joseph A. Spadaro (talk) 05:05, 26 January 2016 (UTC)

What's wrong with just coding: "{{Age|1916|01|26}} years"? Rwessel (talk) 06:32, 26 January 2016 (UTC)

OK. Thanks. I didn't know it can be done that way. I am not too familiar with those templates. Thanks! Joseph A. Spadaro (talk) 07:03, 26 January 2016 (UTC)

How to resolve issue with rude and unwelcoming user

Hi I have been having an issue where user:Sundayclose is accusing me of vandalism when I do not believe I have vandalized pages based upon:

″Even if misguided, willfully against consensus, or disruptive, any good-faith effort to improve the encyclopedia is not vandalism. Edit warring over content is not vandalism." sourced from : Wikipedia:Vandalism

I have attempting to resolve the issue with user:Sundayclose however he is being rude and unwelcoming, threatening to ban be and commanding me to stay off his talk page. How else can I resolve the issue with user:Sundayclose if he commands me to not use his talk page? All I need is some clarification here

Thanks,

108.56.72.183 (talk) 02:33, 26 January 2016 (UTC)

I left another message with the user but he has deleted it. I'm really at a loss on how to deal with such a rude user 108.56.72.183 (talk) 02:39, 26 January 2016 (UTC)

You are both being stubborn. You (unregistered user) were originally told that you were introducing incorrect material, and were advised to take it to the article talk page. You did not. You instead repeated the reverted edit, rather than discussing. Only then did the other editor warn you for vandalism. Your repeating of the edit was not vandalism, but it was persisting in editing without discussion. You should both discuss at the article talk page. If that fails, read the dispute resolution policy and follow a dispute resolution procedure. Robert McClenon (talk) 03:07, 26 January 2016 (UTC)

Promotional Article

I came across the article Enders Analysis and believe it is mostly promotional. I'm not sure that it's even notable. To me, it looks mostly like an advertisement. Many of the sources are the companies' own website. Most of the others are just trivial mentions of the company. There are no links to it except one in a list of companies based in England. I think it should be flagged with {advert}, {Orphan}, {notability}, {refimprov}, etc. or possibly nominated for deletion? According to the history, there appears to have been some review when it was created by {Wikipedia:AFC}. I'm unsure if I should nominate it for deletion or just add the above tags. I already asked this question at {Wikipedia:Teahouse/Questions} and User:Cullen328 took a look and said he agreed with my assessment; go ahead and improve it (first choice) or tag it. I'm looking for a little more guidance. I'm not interested in improving this article myself. I realize that AFD is the proper place to have a discussion about deletions but aren't sure if I should take that route. Mb66w (talk) 02:54, 26 January 2016 (UTC)

Title blacklist question: - Draft: AFIYA FUNKYSOULSTRESS BEY

I reviewed User:Anita Smith BBJ/sandbox and declined it for multiple reasons. Whatever it is, it isn’t an encyclopedic draft. It doesn’t look anything like an encyclopedic draft. However, I tried to move it to Draft: AFIYA FUNKYSOULSTRESS BEY , the preferred location for an AFC submission. I was unable to do so, because it is on the title blacklist. This question isn’t urgent, since the sandbox draft either will never be ready for acceptance or will not be ready soon. However, can someone please tell me why the title is on the blacklist? Is it a simple matter of salting, or something else? I thought that salting normally only blacklisted the title in mainspace, not in draft space. Robert McClenon (talk) 03:13, 26 January 2016 (UTC)

By the way, I am not asking whether the sandbox should be accepted. That is obvious: Not as it is, and maybe never. Robert McClenon (talk) 03:13, 26 January 2016 (UTC)

I can't see any evidence that the title is blacklisted, but why would you want to move it to a title which is SHOUTING, see WP:TITLEFORMAT? --David Biddulph (talk) 03:50, 26 January 2016 (UTC)

The title that I tried to move it to was the title contained on the line provided by the Article Wizard that appears to be intended to be the title. The ? move failed with the message that the title is blacklisted. Does it blacklist upper case titles? Should I fold the title and move it, leaving it declined as probably never notable? Robert McClenon (talk) 04:54, 26 January 2016 (UTC)

@David Biddulph: One of the rules at MediaWiki:Titleblacklist is labelled "Disallows moves with more than nine consecutive capital letters" -- John of Reading (talk) 07:06, 26 January 2016 (UTC)

Glen Affric

I had difficulty with ref number 2 on the above page. Otherwise, all good we think. 101.182.146.167 (talk) 03:56, 26 January 2016 (UTC) Thanks

What exactly is wrong? Rwessel (talk) 06:34, 26 January 2016 (UTC)

Glen Affric - dead link??? Ref number 11 was copied from another page and it is not good. I would appreciate your help and hope that this article is all OK. Thanks so much 101.182.146.167 (talk) 07:07, 26 January 2016 (UTC)

I just checked and ref 11 is OK now! 101.182.146.167 (talk) 09:12, 26 January 2016 (UTC) Is the page OK?

Relate Institute page

Hello, The page entitled 'Relate Institute' is no longer valid. The organization no longer exists and the information in this page is therefore invalid. Please can the whole page be removed? Thank you. 62.232.12.82 (talk) 09:09, 26 January 2016 (UTC)

Do you have a reliable source to state the Institute no longer exists? - I have tried its website and that cannot be found. However, just because something no longer exists does not mean it should not be covered by Wikipedia - or we would have to delete most of our history articles. It would be helpful if we could report the closing of the course, with a date and a reason, and then change the tense of the article to past. - Arjayay (talk) 09:17, 26 January 2016 (UTC)

The former website now just redirects to Relate, but there is another Relate Institute at Brigham Young University. Perhaps our article should include this in the present tense as well as Doncaster in the past. Dbfirs 09:26, 26 January 2016 (UTC)

Glen Affric

I have tried to do a ref. as a BOOK. This is hard for me and therefore ref. 4 is wrong. I need the long "ISMB" number (or whatever it is called). Please help me. I am tire now so will not ask for help again. thanks as usual. 101.182.146.167 (talk) 10:17, 26 January 2016 (UTC)