Wikipedia:Teahouse

jmcgnh, a Teahouse host

Welcome to the Teahouse!
Your go-to place for friendly help with using and editing Wikipedia.

Ask a question

Question forumMeet your hostsArticles to improveBecome a host

New to Wikipedia? See our tutorial for new editors or introduction to contributing page.
Note: Newer questions appear at the bottom of the Teahouse. Completed questions are archived within 2-3 days.

Help Wikipedia

British fashion company needing 'substance' and 'in-depth third-party news sources'

Hi everyone, I identified a British fashion brand that didn't have a page and I've been working on the article https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Draft:Orlebar_Brown however it has been rejected due to a lack of 'substance'. I have included a brief summary, information on products, the history of the brand, information about their online and offline presence (physical shops, infrastructure) and celebrity endorsement but this doesn't seem to be enough. I have included 21 references from notable sources (The Guardian, Telegraph, Economist, Business of Fashion etc). When looking at other brand pages, the articles are so sparse and often so very biased! I'm at a loss as to why my page isn't getting through. It's my first article and I really want to succeed. I'd really appreciate any help/advice. Thanks so much in advance! Aimeliholm (talk) 14:16, 8 August 2016 (UTC)

Open text and plagiarism

Hello teahouse. I remain puzzled as to why external text, released under a wikipedia-compliant license, cannot be simply cut-and-pasted into an article, along with a suitable {{CC-notice}} or similar. After all, the original author invited its use in this way by adding the appropriate license. And as a wikipedia article is not owned by anyone (as per WP:OWNERSHIP), no one is passing off the new material as their own. But wikipedia still maintains the more restrictive line that "public-domain content is plagiarized if used without acknowledging the source" (Wikipedia:Plagiarism § Copying material from free sources). What is the rational behind this policy? It seems unnecessarily prohibitive. Best regards. RobbieIanMorrison (talk) 13:47, 8 August 2016 (UTC)

Have no idea what I'm doing and need help for a worthwhile non-profit

Need help?

I am trying to help a non-profit that represents more than 20,000 get into Wikipedia. Because it is new it doesn't have a lot fo external press yet, but it represents the first real organization battling online fraud, specifically Romance Scams in the world. If you look at their website www.AgainstRomanceScams.org you can see that they are substantial. They have members from 20 countries, and are putting up educational billboards in South East Asia. This is very real, but as I said, almost nothing in the press yet.

You will find the post in the Drafts under Society of Citizens Against Romance Scams Inc. They are being mentored by MADD, that wasn't much when they started either. People are literally killing themselves over these scams, so I am hoping a more skilled editor can help?

Thank you John Romancescamsnow (talk) 13:14, 8 August 2016 (UTC)

Sorry, but we pretty much rely only on external press, and their affiliations with notable organizations does result in notability either. existence is not the standard, notability is. Ian.thomson (talk) 13:19, 8 August 2016 (UTC)

Hey John. Unfortunately, it seems the best way you can help at this point is to keep a keen eye out for coverage by secondary sources. You are right that sometimes a thing seems obviously notable, but Wikipedia has to wait for the sources to "catch up" and actually write a bit about it. That's just the way it works out sometimes, since Wikipedia has to rely on these sources.

The draft seems like a really good start though. You may want to look into setting up a google alert so you can be notified when something is published about the organization. TimothyJosephWood 13:52, 8 August 2016 (UTC)

Ok, that is what we will have to do.

Thank you all for the guidance.

Will the draft remain accessible so that it can be resubmitted later?

John

Romancescamsnow (talk) 14:22, 8 August 2016 (UTC)

Again² welcome

Hi 3rd time again. How can i load my User:FxdhMxdh/massrollback.js and User:FxdhMxdh/IP.js. Because maybe nothing happen after this.– i'm FxdhMxdh (talk) 11:20, 8 August 2016 (UTC)

Hi again, FxdhMxdh. Scripts are installed by loading them in your common.js or your skin script file; you can read more on WP:SCRIPTS. I can tell that User:FxdhMxdh/massrollback.js is a copy paste of User:Writ Keeper/Scripts/massRollback.js without mentioning its origin. Since your account is 6 days old and you don't have WP:ROLLBACK I doubt this will work. I'd advise not playing around with this. — Sam Sailor ^Talk! 13:36, 8 August 2016 (UTC)

help me i has multiple accounts

help me i has multiple accounts i want delete or close my all multiple accounts User:Osama chandio my orginal account is blocked as sockpupet39.38.58.83 (talk) 08:36, 8 August 2016 (UTC)

• Hi. Read Wp:Sock first. On other hand, in wikipedia we have nothing to delete accounts, the way is you can stop using your previous accounts, and open your master account "User:Osama chandio" and wait some time, then place this template in your talk page: {{unblock|1=Insert your reason to be unblock here}}. And if your talkpage access was revoked just make unblock request at http://utrs.wmflabs.org . Thank you.– i'm FxdhMxdh (talk) 10:59, 8 August 2016 (UTC)

Signature problem

When I try to use the following as my signature: <span style="border:1px solid #0072BC;padding:1px;">[[User:The_Pancake_of_Heaven!|<span style="color:#0072BC;padding-left:1px;">The Pancake</span>]] [[User_talk:The_Pancake_of_Heaven!|<span style="color:#fff;background:#0072BC;"> of Heaven! </span>]]</span> (The Pancake  of Heaven! ) It says Invalid raw signature. Check HTML tags. Could someone please show me the right code for the signature? Thanks -- The Pancakeof Heaven! 04:06, 8 August 2016 (UTC)

That's 257 characters. According to WP:SIGLEN, the software truncates signatures to 255 characters. Lose a few characters, and it should work. NinjaRobotPirate (talk) 04:36, 8 August 2016 (UTC)

Is there a way to create a category named "House" instead of "Family" in an infobox?

Question 1: The InfoboxPerson does not have an option for "House" as seen here https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elizabeth_II in the infobox about Queen Elizabeth. Is there a way to code the Infobox so I can use the alternative to "Family" namely, "House"? Wikieditor4hire (talk) 02:10, 8 August 2016 (UTC)

@Wikieditor4hire: I think you would use {{infobox royalty}} for that information. By the way, your user name gives the impression that you're performing paid editing. I see Ian.thomson has already posted information your talk page about this, but it bears repeating: you must publicly disclose such edits, preferably on your user page. NinjaRobotPirate (talk) 02:19, 8 August 2016 (UTC)

multiple issues with new article

I finished my first article, it was accepted but with "multiple" issues that I don't really understand. There is no conflict of interest and I am not a paid editor. In the article I used references and cites from many sources and wrote just facts found online, in newspapers, and many bits of info in the subjects biography written by someone else. Can someone help me with my first article please and tell me specifics of what needs to be done to the article to have the "multiple issues" removed. Here is the article: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scott_Nute , sorry, I put wrong link before, Spacestar7 (talk) 20:51, 7 August 2016 (UTC)

You can link by using double brackets, [[Scott Nute]] produces Scott Nute. It's easier than the external link. White Arabian Filly ^Neigh 21:41, 7 August 2016 (UTC)

I don't see an immediately obvious reason why it was tagged with {{autobiography}} and {{COI}}. Justlettersandnumbers was the one who tagged it. The article's talk page would probably be the best place to discuss this, but maybe we can get an explanation here. NinjaRobotPirate (talk) 21:57, 7 August 2016 (UTC)

Welcome to the Teahouse, Spacestar7. When you say that you have no conflict of interest, are you telling us that you have no close relationship with Scott Nute? As for the book length biography about Nute that you cited nearly 40 times, it may have been written by someone else, but it was published by Nute's ministry so it is neither a reliable source nor an independent source. There are several other references to sources controlled by Nute and his ministry which have similar problems. In my opinion, the article should be cut back dramatically, summarizing only what sources that are 100% reliable and independent of Nute say about him. That would allow a fair assessment of whether or not Nute is actually notable. Cullen³²⁸ Let's discuss it 22:33, 7 August 2016 (UTC)

How do I submit brand new content about a notable individual?

I want to start a new page about a notable individual who is not already in Wikipedia. The submission would include their basic biography, early life, career, etc. How do I do that?

Amanda Bennett Abgr8ful (talk) 20:29, 7 August 2016 (UTC)

Welcome to the Teahouse, Abgr8ful. There are instructions for new editors on creating an article at Wikipedia:Your first article. Cordless Larry (talk) 20:32, 7 August 2016 (UTC)

Notability Of A Musician

This article by Koker is it not notable? as it is said on WP:MUSICBIO "That if it's meet one of it criteria it is said to be notable" can somebody help me tell this admin's who have been making me look like i am a fool, like Wikipedia now lie's about it's policy that makes an artist notable... The article meet's 4 criteria of WP:MUSICBIO and it's has been subject of notable newspapers and magazine since he rise to stardom in 2015..--Obari2Kay (talk) 13:41, 7 August 2016 (UTC)

Welcome to the Teahouse, Obari2Kay. A debate about whether Koker is notable according to Wikipedia's criteria is taking place at Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Koker (musician). That's the place to make these arguments - which I see you have already done. It is not a good idea to accuse other editors of lying without providing strong evidence of this. Please also note that any editor can start a deletion discuss, not just admins. I am interested in your comment that the article is by Koker. Has it been written by him? Cordless Larry (talk) 14:14, 7 August 2016 (UTC)

Talk page archive

I read the archive bot pages. I want that discussions on my talk page to be archived automatically after 4 days. Someone do that please. Thanks Marvellous Spider-Man (talk) 10:23, 7 August 2016 (UTC)

You could do it yourself using {{Setup auto archiving}}. I use 30 days myself. — Sam Sailor ^Talk! 11:17, 7 August 2016 (UTC)

User:Sam Sailor What about the size limit and notice=yes? --Marvellous Spider-Man (talk) 11:29, 7 August 2016 (UTC)

150k size seems sensible enough, but you could set it to 200 or 250; I can't think of a good reason to set it to less than 150, but it's up to you. The |notice= is set to yes if you want to display {{Auto archiving notice}}, I'd leave out, but again, it's up to you. — Sam Sailor ^Talk! 11:36, 7 August 2016 (UTC)

@Sam Sailor: The notice above my talk page has last line as Sections without timestamps are not archived. Which sections don't have timestamp? Marvellous Spider-Man (talk) 11:44, 7 August 2016 (UTC)

Looks like they all have timestamps. — Sam Sailor ^Talk! 11:46, 7 August 2016 (UTC)

Hi again

Hi again. Where we find "Undo" button in mobile device wikipedia?– i'm FxdhMxdh (talk) 09:42, 7 August 2016 (UTC)

Hi FxdhMxdh. I sometimes use Wikipedia on my mobile phone so according to my experience there's no undo button on m.wikipedia.org it is available on www.wikipedia.org (without "m"). You may need to turn on desktop view on your mobile browser. Hope I helped :) — RainFall 16:38, 7 August 2016 (UTC)

Welcome to the Teahouse, FxdhMxdh. I agree with RainFall. I edit extensively on Android smartphones and almost always use the desktop site because it gives me full functionality. You may find my essay Smartphone editing to be of interest. Cullen³²⁸ Let's discuss it 18:35, 7 August 2016 (UTC)

@Cullen328 and RainFall: I use wikipedia from my android device, and when i want to undo someones edit, i remove "m." From url or just click at desktop at the last of every page. And even twinkle cannot load on mobile. I agree with both Cullen and Rainfall. Thank you.– i'm FxdhMxdh (talk) 04:33, 8 August 2016 (UTC)

Adding our group to list of Animal Welfare groups

Hi I am just wondering how I can add our group- Animal Aid Abroad based in Western Australia, Australia to your Wikipedia page where you have a list of Animal Welfare Groups? Hope you can help Thanks Janet Thomas Founder Animal Aid Abroad www.animalaidabroad.org Animal Aid Abroad (talk) 08:41, 7 August 2016 (UTC)

Animal Aid Abroad, just click the edit button in the top, and then add the name of your welfare group in the list and provide reference of your website like this:<ref>https://www.animalaidabroad.org</ref>. And then click the save button. After this, refresh the page and see your welfare name!– i'm FxdhMxdh (talk) 08:56, 7 August 2016 (UTC)

Hi AAA. You will need to create an account that is not the name of your organisation as these type of names will be deleted. You will also have to consider that you have a conflict of interest and act on advice in this linked guideline. You will need to provide independent published sources to show that the organisation exists and is notable for inclusion in Wikipedia.Charles (talk) 09:15, 7 August 2016 (UTC)

Thank you for your help.

I think I may have to go back to the drawing board on this ..just listing our group will just get us deleted I think.Animal Aid Abroad (talk) 10:14, 7 August 2016 (UTC)

question

can i upload pictures from flicker to an article?Justheretohelpu2 (talk) 06:21, 7 August 2016 (UTC)

Hello @Justheretohelpu2:, and welcome to Wikipedia. You have to upload the images to Commons first, before you can use them in an article. Some advice about this aspect can be found at Wikipedia:Upload/Flickr. Uploading a Flickr-image is usually OK, if the image is "Public domain" or has been released under a free license (see linked info) by a credible uploader. If you are unsure about a specific image, you can always ask for specific advice at WP:MCQ or Commons:Commons:Village pump/Copyright. Please make sure to provide a link to the original image in such questions. GermanJoe (talk) 10:31, 7 August 2016 (UTC)

Logging into and linking between various WP platforms?

I've been around around WP a while, but only doing tiny things like Talk Page questions and grammar correction, nothing big, nothing technical. So -

1. My ID appears redlined in the other WP platforms (Wikimedia Commons, Wikibooks, Wiktionary, etc). Do I need to join each site separately? If so, should I use the same user name?

2. I want to link a Wikimedia Commons image to a TP entry, but can't find information on how to cross-link the various WP platforms. Neither the square braces nor the curly braces work.

Thank you for your time and help, Wordreader (talk) 03:42, 7 August 2016 (UTC)

Yes, you have to create your own User page on each site even though you can use the same username and password.

As for linking, try Help:Interwikimedia links for instructions.  —jmcgnh^{(talk) (contribs)} 03:56, 7 August 2016 (UTC)

Hi Wordreader. No, you do not need to join these projects separately. We have unified login and once you are logged in here and visit another project your account should be automatically logged in unless there was a pre-existing account by the same username that the software could not reconcile as the same account by the same authenticated email addresses. What I expect you are seeing is your logged in username in red but all that means is that you have not created a page at your username there—just as your account name here was a red link until you created your userpage. As to your second question, I don't know what a "TP entry" is, but commons images should work natively at other Wikimedia projects, just as they do here. Is "TP" a Wikimedia project?--Fuhghettaboutit (talk) 04:52, 7 August 2016 (UTC)

Erm, if "TP" is just short for talk page, are you sure you aren't missing some markup? Like forgetting to place File: at the beginning? Can you specify what project you're having this difficulty at and what markup you used?--Fuhghettaboutit (talk) 05:03, 7 August 2016 (UTC)

Hi Wordreader. As Fuhghettaboutit correctly said, no, you don't have to join separately. You could start by attaching all non-incubated projects by going to Meta:Special:Blankpage/globalsul and press start. Then create your Meta user page in Meta:User:Wordreader, it will become your user page on any wiki where you don't have a local user page, and you will no longer be red-linked.

Images on talk pages: use e.g. [[:File:Cape Canary (Serinus canicollis) 1.jpg]] to just link to an image. If you take away the first ":" in front of file, you will be displaying the image. — Sam Sailor ^Talk! 06:38, 7 August 2016 (UTC)

Orphan article from translation

Some people asked me to translate the French article fr:Castellanus into English. The notability of the article should be OK since the French article has plenty of references (in English mainly). However since I do not know how the Meteorology project works in English, I am hesitating to hyperlink the article to existing articles. My plan is first to produce my translation in my user space, ask someone to review my English and then transfer the article into the namespace. However I would prefer to limit the number of hyperlinks to this new article since I am a newbie and I do not want to be blocked because my bad understanding of the rules. Is it acceptable to have an orphan article with plenty of interwikis? I would appreciate the help. Thanks. Malosse (talk) 01:39, 7 August 2016 (UTC)

Welcome to the Teahouse, Malosse. You do not need to be concerned about wikilinking in your translated article as long as you do not overlink. I assure you that no administrator would block you over such a minor issue. As for orphan status, that can be corrected easily by adding a link to the new article from articles like List of cloud types, to state an obvious possibility. See WP:TRANSLATE for more general information, including the requirement to attribute the French Wikipedia source article properly. Cullen³²⁸ Let's discuss it 05:26, 7 August 2016 (UTC)

How to add article to a WikiProject

I was looking at an article and I was thinking that it should be added to a WikiProject. How might I go ahead with doing that? Verified Cactus (talk) 00:41, 7 August 2016 (UTC)

You do this by adding the template for the WikiProject to the Talk page for the article.  —jmcgnh^{(talk) (contribs)} 00:50, 7 August 2016 (UTC)

What template might that be? Verified Cactus (talk) 00:58, 7 August 2016 (UTC)

VerifiedCactus, look at the page for the specific WikiProject, which will provide a template for that purpose. If you mention a specific project, we can give you a specific answer. Cullen³²⁸ Let's discuss it 02:08, 7 August 2016 (UTC)

@VerifiedCactus: the way I figured it out was to look at the edit source view of the talk page of an article that I knew was part of the WikiProject of interest and imitated what I found there. Most of the project templates take parameters that indicate the quality or importance of the article, from the project's point of view.  —jmcgnh^{(talk) (contribs)} 04:08, 7 August 2016 (UTC)

Hello, VerifiedCactus. If you want to have a point-and-click solution for adding the template, you can check out the Rater script. Just be sure to read the page completely before using it. -- MorbidEntree - _{(Talk to me! (っ◕‿◕)っ♥)}(please reply using {{ping}}) 10:49, 7 August 2016 (UTC)

Add references or AFD?

I've spent a few hours reviewing AFDed articles and find it interesting that people are so quick to delete a page instead of gathering references and making an update. Is this common? Callsignpink (talk) 21:43, 6 August 2016 (UTC)

Welcome to the Teahouse, Callsignpink. I have participated in thousands of AfD debates in the past seven years and have often added references to articles and expanded articles in order to save them. My impression is that poorly researched AfD nominations were more common a few years ago than today. Some editors have more deletionist tendencies while others are inclusionist. There are often good arguments for and against deletion. AfD is not a quick process. It usually takes at least a week and often several weeks. I commend you for participating there. It is an area of the project that always needs more help. Cullen³²⁸ Let's discuss it 22:16, 6 August 2016 (UTC)

(e/c) Hi Callsignpink. Can you point out specific examples of AfDs where the page would have been saved by "gathering references and making an update"? The ground for most AfDs is notability, and the heart of notability is not a question of whether the existing content of an article cites sufficient reliable, secondary, independent sources treating the topic in substantive detail, but whether such sources exist. Accordingly, an AfD, brought on the basis of lack of notability, and which focuses on the sources in the content rather than sources in existence for the topic, is all pear shaped. This is also why WP:BEFORE focuses on that distinction in its instructions for what to do before nominating an article for AfD. I have occasionally seen AfDs that take that wrong path, but in my experience, they are relatively rare. Again, please provide some examples, so we can discuss more concretely. Best regards--Fuhghettaboutit (talk) 22:17, 6 August 2016 (UTC)

where find photos?

My first article review was accepted. But, the photos are missing. I submitted the completed wiki photo permissions to the OTRS weeks ago. I am still new to this process, so can someone please tell me do I just wait till they get to the photos and will they place them into my article, or is there a place I can go look and see if they are there for me to add to my article? thanks Spacestar7 (talk) 20:18, 6 August 2016 (UTC)

Where did you upload (or try to upload) the images, here at English Wikipedia, or Wikimedia Commons? I can find no evidence of either upload. Maybe it was was Wikimedia Commons, but you used a different username? Maproom (talk) 21:09, 6 August 2016 (UTC)

@Maproom: I found this which is included in source code of Scott Nute: commons:File:BASEBALL_(3).jpg. Seems to be deleted in 21 July 2016. Not sure if the same thing Spacestar7 means. Ilyushka88 | ^Talk! _Contribs 21:56, 6 August 2016 (UTC)

you are correct. I uploaded on wiki commons weeks ago, but, due to being brand new on wiki I did it wrong. So, they then sent me the OTRS form, that was completed and then sent to the wiki email 3-4 weeks ago. Also, it was suggested I use a different user name so I changed it. Learning how you all do things here on Wiki has been enlightening to say the least...ha! It is overwhelming how much info and such is here. So, suggestions on photos? Spacestar7 (talk) 22:06, 6 August 2016 (UTC)

Logging in

Could somebody please explain why I get automatically logged out after a few days, even though I have checked the 'Keep me logged in' box? Could they also suggest a potential cure to this problem ? RASAM (talk) 19:54, 6 August 2016 (UTC)

RASAM: The issue may be a setting in your browser, not in Wikipedia at all. --Thnidu (talk) 20:22, 6 August 2016 (UTC)

Trying to post a "first" article, clearly need help.

Last year I tried to post an article on "Lester Cohen", a best-selling novelist, playwright, etc. who is mentioned frequently in Wiki. Lester is also my grandfather, and I have emotional baggage. The article was not accepted for publication with any number of criticisms, most of which I totally got, but the experience was humbling enough that I abandoned the attempt. I am ready to try again and have prepared a new draft. It is: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Draft:Lester_Cohen. I would hugely appreciate help making it worthy of posting. I am clearly a novice at this and will be indebted to all who can provide me feedback.Danielcohe (talk) 18:37, 6 August 2016 (UTC)

Welcome to the Teahouse, Danielcohe. There are a number of problems with Draft:Lester Cohen as it currently stands. The first one is that it is not clear what the sources for the majority of the material in the draft are. Everything on Wikipedia needs to be verifiable, which means that a reliable, published source needs to exist for it. Nothing in an article should be based solely on its author's personal knowledge that is not reflected in published sources. Another issue is that you have included Wikipedia articles in the references for the draft. Wikipedia articles shouldn't be used as sources for other Wikipedia articles - that way lies circular referencing chaos - but I sense that what you intended to do was simply link to other relevant articles. The way to do that is by using wikilinks in the text. Thirdly, you need to declare your conflict of interest with the subject by following the instructions at WP:DISCLOSE. Cordless Larry (talk) 19:03, 6 August 2016 (UTC)

Thank you so much! Will get on it.Danielcohe (talk) 19:26, 6 August 2016 (UTC)

Hey Danielcohe. I've made a bunch of edits to start you on the way. I've left a few edit summaries (which you can view in the draft's page history) that may give you some direction. What you should focus on is i) finding reliable sources that verify the content, and ii) citing them properly.

As to the former issue, although it may seem like an advantage to have personal knowledge regarding a topic – and it can be in some respects because you know things that should be included and so can look for sources that verify that content; so too, as an "insider", you may know the location of sources that exist to find that a stranger to the topic might not, e.g. newspaper articles from the sixties and back that are not easily findable online – but in practice the way it works is often as seen in this draft. That is, you have included lots of facts without references because you know them (including possibly whole swaths of content that cannot be sourced). The better way is to gather sources to see what they say and only then include content based upon the information found, rather than to write what you know and then try to back into sources. In sum, every last item of information needs to be verifiable, and if you cannot find a source to cite, it should be removed, regardless of whether you know it to be true

As to the latter issue, all of the citations you've provided have been naked URLs, rather than transparently attributed citations to sources. I've fixed two: one for a newspaper citation and another for a book citation, hoping you might use those as models for reforming others. Please also see Help:Referencing for beginners, Help:Introduction to referencing/1 and then seeing Wikipedia:Citing sources for a more involved treatment, noting that each contains see also sections linking to additional help pages, guides and tutorials. Best regards--Fuhghettaboutit (talk) 20:49, 6 August 2016 (UTC)

And again, thank you. I so appreciate it.Danielcohe (talk) 21:03, 6 August 2016 (UTC)

I received "a new message" saying my recent changes have been reverted, but I haven't made any edits.

What's happening? Is my IP somehow mixed up? I checked my IP, and it's different from the User IP that showed up in the message. (The IP in this message is the same as the User page, but I haven't made any edits... so what's happening?) 68.8.171.51 (talk) 16:20, 6 August 2016 (UTC)

Hello IP user, Welcome to The Teahouse. I just checked your talk page, I see two warnings of November 2010; if you've not made those edits, you can ignore these warning and please consider making an account. One more thing your IP is not different from the IP showed on your talk page, Hope it helps. :) — RainFall 16:30, 6 August 2016 (UTC)

Thanks for the response. You're right, I was mistaken, I was only looking at my IP in connection information on my computer, but checking a IP service (http://www.ip-secrets.com/) shows the same IP. I don't know why these edits are showing up on this IP; I was mainly concerned that it somehow might block me from Wikipedia due to a misunderstanding. Thank you :) . 68.8.171.51 (talk) 16:52, 6 August 2016 (UTC)

It is very unlikely you'd ever be blocked for anything to do with edits made by someone with the same IP address almost six years ago, 68.8.171.51. Cordless Larry (talk) 17:36, 6 August 2016 (UTC)

creating a disambiguation page

I recently created articles about two Virginia politicians nicknamed Stuart Carter, both of them active in the Massive Resistance fight on opposite sides and generally distinguished by the few histories of the era as "Stuart Carter of Bristol" and "Stuart Carter of Fincastle". FYI: lots of Virginia politicians have various variations of the names Henry, Stuart and Carter, all having long been prominent Virginia families. It creates confusion, of course.

Since "Stuart Carter" currently redirects only to the article about British Admiral Stuart Bonham Carter, I created a disambiguation page in my sandbox, but have no idea how to post it, since it's not an article but a disambiguation page. I also tried creating a couple of "See also" links in the Stuart Bonham Carter article. Perhaps one problem was that I called the page about the Virginia delegate "Henry Stuart Carter" when he generally went by "H. Stuart Carter" to distinguish himself from a nearby politician also active in that era who called himself "Harry Carter Stuart". Any ideas?Jweaver28 (talk) 12:03, 6 August 2016 (UTC)

Hello Jweaver28 and welcome to the Teahouse. Disambiguation pages can be moved in the same way as articles from user space, as disambiguations and articles are both in the "main" space. Thank you for creating these articles, and feel free to come back here if you have any more questions. Thanks, --Rubbish computer (HALP!: I dropped the bass?) 12:18, 6 August 2016 (UTC)

Thanks but when I tried I got a page could not be moved because another page exists (which I suppose is the redirect to Stuart Bonham Carter). I hadn't created a disambiguation page before, so I tried the suggested solution of adding to the uncontested technical requests section. I hope it works.Jweaver28 (talk) 13:09, 6 August 2016 (UTC)

It worked (and quickly). Yippee! Maybe I'll be able to create another article this afternoon.Jweaver28 (talk) 14:58, 6 August 2016 (UTC)

How can I bring my article to the article space

I created it, but they deleted it. So finally, I want it to be in the article space Starry Angelina Edwards (talk) 07:35, 6 August 2016 (UTC)

Hello and welcome to the Teahouse. Are you referring to User:Starry Angelina Edwards/About you? -- MorbidEntree - _{(Talk to me! (っ◕‿◕)っ♥)}(please reply using {{ping}}) 13:45, 6 August 2016 (UTC)

Read the autobiography guideline. Wikipedia strongly discourages submitting autobiographies or otherwise using Wikipedia to advance your career. If you are already notable, someone will write about you. Writing about yourself in Wikipedia in order to become notable isn't the purpose of Wikipedia. Robert McClenon (talk) 00:54, 7 August 2016 (UTC)

Issues with Huggle

First-If I give the first level 1 warning on the talk page of any IP editor or new user using WP:Huggle, their talk pages get added to my watchlist. I don't want the IP talk page to be added to my watchlist. I copy pasted the codes from User:Oshwah and then from User:Serol and both times, the IP talk pages were added to my watchlist. I am sure that if I make first edit on a new editor's talk page, then their talk page will be added to my watchlist. Twinkle has options in preferences settings, not to add such pages on my watchlist.

My current huggle3 page version is copied from Oshwah. Marvellous Spider-Man (talk) 07:07, 6 August 2016 (UTC)

Hey, Marvellous Spider-Man! Do you use Huggle3? I can't remember for sure, but I think you could try changing the "Watchlist:preferences" in your huggle3.css in to "Watchlist:unwatch". If that doesn't help, you can try going to Special:Preferences#mw-prefsection-watchlist and untick "Add pages I create and files I upload to my watchlist". Ilyushka88 | ^Talk! _Contribs 18:06, 6 August 2016 (UTC)

I created the hashtag DemExit

Hello. I created a movement called DemExit. People have made a wikipedia page about this movement and the information is all not true. The movement started in 2012. I own the website, the twitter and the facebook. People can say its a conflict of interest but it really bothers me people are changing the page and saying this movement started from Bernie Sanders. I have zero idea on how to edit in wikipedia and its making me mad that people are making this political and keep changing the movement to their agenda.

This is not the place for an article text

I have sources but here is the jest of DemExit During the race for the Democratic Party nomination, great controversy arose around the awarding of Superdelegates. This, combined with leaked emails that were released and published by Wikileaks proved that the Democratic National Committee (DNC), under chairperson Debbie Wasserman Schultz, DNC CEO Amy Dacey, CFO Bradley Marshall and Director of communications Luis Miranda had been part of an hostile internal conspiracy to deprive the Presidential campaign of Bernie Sanders voter information that each candidate is legally privy to, as well as secretly try to discredit him through defamation. In the wake of the controversies, Sanders supporters latched onto a movement called DemExit and began organizing protests against the practices of the Democratic Party such. It has also been embraced by Presidential candidate for the Green Party, Jill Stein. But DemExit has been around since before the convention, and did not initially stand for a walkout. The person who started the DemExit , whose first posts were in 2012, claims to have originated the hashtag, and she did so as a republican supporter encouraging people to vote leave the Democratic Party. Her idea came from the Brexit movement. Brexit (and its early variant, Brixit), is a portmanteau of "Britain" and "exit". It was derived by analogy from Grexit.The term Brexit may have first been used in reference to a possible UK withdrawal from the EU by Peter Wilding in a Euractiv blog post on 15 May 2012. Like the Brexit movement, Demexit started as a movement against illegal immigration other policies by the Democratic party she felt hurt all Americans. After having her account suspended on Twitter a new account surfaced two years later again trying to push the DemExit movement. A post from the official DemExit page reads: DemExit is a universal message to all other Americans that politics can be about change and not just about defending the status quo. Even tho I started this hashtag as a right winger which came from the idea of Brexit #DemExit is not the property of the political right. Sure enough, people on the left have been using the hashtag to express their intent to leave the Democratic Party. There's a #DemExit subreddit dedicated to discussions of how to re-register, and disenchanted voters have taken it up on Twitter. But it's important for folks to note when their primaries are for state and local elections; if you want to #DemExit, but you also want to vote in down-ballot elections, you should wait until after those to change your affiliation if you're in a state with closed primaries, as explained by Inquisitr earlier in July. Though Sanders himself will be participating in #DemExit by reverting to an independent, the non-affiliation under which Vermonters elected him to the Senate, he's still pushing for people to vote for the Democratic nominee. Based on the way the hashtag is being used on twitter, it seems highly unlikely its users will be following his lead there. The movement's logo's is the hastag #DemExit. ===2012=== DemExit forms (and its early variant, Brixit), is a portmanteau of "Democrats" and "exit". It was derived by analogy from Grex Hashtag reappears in blogs promoting the idea to leave democratic party In the run-up to the Democratic National Convention and after Hillary Clinton's acceptance speech, thousands of Democrats, including delegates for Bernie Sanders, planned to quit the party in a #DemExit protest.[2] The demonstrations were in direct contrast to the party unity that the convention had been trying to demonstrate over the four day event. Concerns cited by those involved included: environmental policies, Obamacare, Clinton's uncertain stance on the Trans-Pacific Partnership and the ongoing Clinton email controversy. Following Brexit on June 23, DemExit started to build. === August 2016 Dozens of Sanders delegates organized a last-minute walkout during the roll call. These delegates walked out when Sanders called for Clinton's nomination by acclamation. They linked arms in and around a media tent outside the convention center and placed duct tape over their mouths to symbolize being silenced. As voters continued to weigh options on what to do after leaving the democratic party, some decided it necessary to show the Democratic National Committee that its behaviour during the 2016 primary was unacceptable while some voters decided to leave the The movement has also aided Jill Stein's overall recognition. Some have also argued that the two-party system does not offer enough choice to voters

What should I do here. Should I just continue to let people deface my movement on wikipedia?DemExit (talk) 06:21, 6 August 2016 (UTC)

You are going about this the wrong way.

Because you have a conflict of interest with respect to the article, you should not edit it. You should identify that you have a COI on the talk page and request corrections. Unfortunately, your testimony is not considered by Wikipedia a reliable source, so facts in the article need to reference some third party source, such as a newspaper, magazine, or book, whenever possible.

What I expect will happen is that your most recent edits will be reverted. You will get a warning about Conflict of Interest policies on WikiPedia.

You can then begin working with other editors by pointing out needed corrections and reliable sources that can be referred to.

And welcome to Wikipedia! Some of the ways things work here may seem a bit unusual to newcomers, but by reading the style guides and interacting with other editors, it should start to make sense.  —jmcgnh^{(talk) (contribs)} 06:37, 6 August 2016 (UTC)

BTW, DemExit, where you have "jest", the word you want is "gist". Check 'em out; there's a big difference. --Thnidu (talk) 19:44, 6 August 2016 (UTC)

"Template:Cite web with more than one value for the 'website' parameter"— Which call?

I'm copyediting Patidar reservation agitation. When I run a Preview of the edits, there's a big red message at the top:

Warning: Patidar reservation agitation is calling Template:Cite web with more than one value for the "website" parameter. Only the last value provided will be used.

When I run a browser search for "website" in the wikicode, the browser notes "More than 100 found". Is there an alternative to plowing through them one a time, with a strong chance of missing this duplication just from tedium? Please {{Ping}} me to discuss. --Thnidu (talk) 03:48, 6 August 2016 (UTC)

Hey Thnidu. Try installing and running User:Frietjes/findargdups. Best regards--Fuhghettaboutit (talk) 04:11, 6 August 2016 (UTC)

Fuhghettaboutit: It worked beautifully. Большое спасибо!

Hey, why not mention this script in the template that puts up that message? --Thnidu (talk) 05:03, 6 August 2016 (UTC)

Thnidu Пожалуйста. That's a good idea but I don't know how to do it. I think it's placed by MediaWiki:Duplicate-args-warning – which I doubt has many watchers, so a note on the talk page is probably not a good bet. Maybe an edit protected request would work. I just discovered that Help:MediaWiki namespace says to post to Wikipedia:MediaWiki messages, but that that page is defunct. Hmm. A post to WP:VPT should work fastest to get it done or find out why it shouldn't or is not feasible. I'll go post there.--Fuhghettaboutit (talk) 15:05, 6 August 2016 (UTC)

@Fuhghettaboutit: Thanks. You're way ahead of me in knowing about these resources. --Thnidu (talk) 19:27, 6 August 2016 (UTC)

Interviews as Source

I read lots of wiki pages about musicians (big and small) and almost all cite sources from their official band pages and interviews. Yet I read in the rules that it is not allowed to use either of them. How can this happen? Or is it allowed to a certain extent? How did those pages were okayed by a reviewer? Since there are very view profiessional webzines for music online, interviews often are the only source for information (but those plenty). Especially since most webzines rely on wiki for biographies instead of research and are not usable. Xandra73 (talk) 11:27, 5 August 2016 (UTC)

Hello, Xandra73, and welcome to the Teahouse. "Allowed to a certain extent" is probably the most accurate interpretation of the policy in question here. The problem with interviews is that they are not independent of the subject: it's the subject who's providing information about himself, and the nature of interviews is that's printed verbatim whether it's factual or not. If possible, you should look for the information in professionally written biographies first, where the author has critically assessed the information before putting it to print. I'd only use an interview to source statements about what the subject has said or what their thoughts are, not what about what they are or have done. For example: "I have ten platinum records" is probably something you'd want to source from a biography rather than an interview, whereas "I get inspiration from nature" might be acceptable to source from an interview. Even then, I'd only use this as a source for quoted material, and not make a factual assessment that the musicians does get inspiration from nature. – Finnusertop (talk ⋅ contribs) 12:03, 5 August 2016 (UTC)

Which rules are you referring to? See Wikipedia:Verifiability#Self-published or questionable sources as sources on themselves. PrimeHunter (talk) 12:29, 5 August 2016 (UTC)

Thank you! Well, I was planning to use info from interviews like hobbies of the person in question. Also some info about family that haven't been covered anywhere else, only in (multiple) interviews over the years (some of the pages are definitely reputable sources). Also info about published work that is not available in any other form anymore but interviews. I was talking about the following 'rules' I found regarding wiki Wikipedia:Third-party_sources#Press_releases and Wikipedia:Interviews Regarding press releases I wonder if a label gives out a press release, is it then a third party for the artist, or a primary source? Xandra73 (talk) 18:33, 5 August 2016 (UTC)

Think of it this way, Xandra73: In order to demonstrate that a topic (such as a musician) is notable, you need to show that there is significant coverage in sources which are both reliable and independent. For a popular musician, a lengthy profile (not an interview) in a publication like Rolling Stone would be an excellent source, as that is independent coverage in a reliable source. A question and answer session with the musician published in a professionally edited music magazine would be reliable but not independent, because the content is the musician talking about themself. Such sources do have some limited use in Wikipedia, but are of no value in establishing notability. Unreliable sources like amateur fansites, random blogs and the Weekly World News have no place on Wikipedia. Concentrate first on summarizing what the reliable, independent sources say, and once notability has been established, use things like interviews with the musician and their own website in a limited way to fill in uncontroversial biographical details. Cullen³²⁸ Let's discuss it 19:59, 5 August 2016 (UTC)

WP:File Mover

Is there a specific place where I can request file moves (not the right itself?) Thanks! → The Pancakeof Heaven! 10:48, 5 August 2016 (UTC)

Hi The Pancake of Heaven!. The second paragraph of Wikipedia:File mover#How it works says: "If you're not a file mover, you can place {{rename media}} on the image description page, which will put the page into Category:Wikipedia files requiring renaming." If it's at Commons then see Wikipedia:File mover#Commons files. PrimeHunter (talk) 11:23, 5 August 2016 (UTC)

Thanks! → The Pancakeof Heaven! 11:29, 5 August 2016 (UTC)

WP:TWINKLE

It is enabled in my preferences, but why won't it load? Kailash29792 (talk) 07:23, 5 August 2016 (UTC)

Welcome to the Teahouse, Kailash29792. I have taken the liberty of moving your question to the top of the page, as the Teahouse questions page is a rare case where new posts are supposed to go at the top. The Teahouse is a place for new editors to ask questions. Since you have been editing since 2011 and seem to be quite experienced, you might want to make use of Wikipedia:Help desk in future. Cordless Larry (talk) 07:49, 5 August 2016 (UTC)

Hello Kailash29792. You can try doing a "hard reload" with your browser. You can usually do this by pressing ctrl+shift+r (or command instead of ctrl in the case of Macs). You can also try clearing your browser's cache if that doesn't work. -- MorbidEntree - _{(Talk to me! (っ◕‿◕)っ♥)}(please reply using {{ping}}) 07:53, 5 August 2016 (UTC)

Thanks guys, but strangely enough, Twinkle works in my other PC (I've yet to find out why it didn't work in my primary one). Kailash29792 (talk) 09:17, 5 August 2016 (UTC)

Weird, do both computers have the same operating systems and browsers? -- MorbidEntree - _{(Talk to me! (っ◕‿◕)っ♥)}(please reply using {{ping}}) 09:22, 5 August 2016 (UTC)

I use Firefox on both (while my primary PC is Windows 10, the other is XP) As you said, I think I should have done Ctrl+Shift+R. Kailash29792 (talk) 09:29, 5 August 2016 (UTC)

picture

i want to add a photo to a wikipedia account and change a picture for another wikipedia account is it ok if i get the pictures from google imageJustheretohelpu2 (talk) 05:35, 5 August 2016 (UTC)

Hello and welcome to the Teahouse, Justheretohelpu2. I presume that when you refer to a "Wikipedia account", you mean an article rather than a user account? In any case, you shouldn't just upload an image found using Google without being sure that its copyright status allows for that. Please see Wikipedia:Image use policy on this. Cordless Larry (talk) 05:56, 5 August 2016 (UTC)

Welcome to the Teahouse, Justheretohelpu2. The vast majority of images that you find through Google Images are restricted by copyright and cannot be used on Wikipedia. On the other hand, Wikimedia Commons has over 32,000,000 freely licensed image files that can be used for any purpose, including in Wikipedia articles. Another option is to take photos yourself, and upload them to Wikimedia Commons under a free license. Cullen³²⁸ Let's discuss it 06:36, 5 August 2016 (UTC)

Need a template to mark external link

the link does not contain what the article says it does, or only a portion of it. deisenbe (talk) 14:17, 4 August 2016 (UTC)

deisenbe, the template you used, {{dead}} is the correct template for marking dead links, but is usually used in references and not the external links section. See guidance at WP:ELDEAD. If an archived or updated version of the site cannot be found, the external link should usually just be removed from the article. TimothyJosephWood 14:26, 4 August 2016 (UTC)

The above does not address my concern. It's not that the link is dead, it's a poor quality reference that needs to be improved. deisenbe (talk) 00:56, 8 August 2016 (UTC)

Deisenbe, sounds more like you are looking for {{Failed verification|reason=Justification|talk=Section name|date=August 2024}} that will display like . If not, please be more specific. More examples of copy-paste ready inline templates are found at User:Sam Sailor/Boilerplates/Templates#Inline maintenance. — Sam Sailor ^Talk! 02:16, 8 August 2016 (UTC)

Would Template:Failed verification express what you need? You can add a reason= flag to explain more exactly what's wrong.  —jmcgnh^{(talk) (contribs)} 02:18, 8 August 2016 (UTC)

@Sam Sailor: Sorry about that, we clearly overlapped in both our suggestion and our typing time. I didn't see your suggestion until after mine had posted, at which time I was willing to leave well enough alone. I would have expected to be notified of an edit conflict.

Deisenbe, another template that might be used is Template:Better source.  —jmcgnh^{(talk) (contribs)} 02:59, 8 August 2016 (UTC)

page deletion

I submitted an article on 3 August 2016 and I cannot find it. Was it deleted and, if so, why? The article was named The Donkey Sanctuary of Canada. It is about an animal rescue charity in Canada. Thank you. SandraSandra pady (talk) 14:08, 4 August 2016 (UTC)

Welcome to the Teahouse. The redlink The Donkey Sanctuary of Canada will show you the reason for deletion. --David Biddulph (talk) 14:22, 4 August 2016 (UTC)

I was sorry to hear of Sandra's poor experience. I have made a fresh start on the topic. She may be able to get further assistance from members of WikiProject Equine such as Montanabw. Andrew D. (talk) 17:47, 5 August 2016 (UTC)

Reading Andrew's stub article has made me aware of a likely conflict of interest. Please do follow the instructions at WP:DISCLOSE if you want to contribute to the article, Sandra pady. Cordless Larry (talk) 18:02, 5 August 2016 (UTC)

Notable People Rules

I would like to be able to edit Wikipedia occasionally, but I usually am just unaware of the specific rules. I was wondering if someone could point me to the Wikipedia guidelines for Notable People. Specifically, I want to know what qualifies as being "from" somewhere. For example, I looked up a comedian who was born in one city, and raised in another. He is listed as a notable person in both cities. What about someone who has moved all over the country? Thanks, --Littledj95 (talk) 04:24, 4 August 2016 (UTC)

You can find most information about the notability of people at WP:PEOPLE. However, I'm not sure if there is any single way that is defined to determine where to say a person is "from." -- MorbidEntree - _{(Talk to me! (っ◕‿◕)っ♥)}(please reply using {{ping}}) 04:58, 4 August 2016 (UTC)

Hello, Littledj95. Determining where a person is "from" requires reliable sources but also editorial judgement. Obviously, a person's birthplace is a significant biographical fact. If a notable person has lived for several years in a certain city or town, and multiple reliable sources indicate that they have been involved in the cultural or civic affairs of that community, then consensus may be to include that in the article. But if the person just rented an apartment in the town for five months and established no roots in that town, and moved away as soon as possible, then it would be unencyclopedic to describe them as "from" that town. When in doubt, start by discussing the matter on the article's talk page, with the goal of seeking consensus. Cullen³²⁸ Let's discuss it 05:30, 4 August 2016 (UTC)

Thanks for the quick response Cullen328. I suppose I should be more specific. I was really just curious in regards to putting people in lists "from" a city. Jim Gaffigan was born in Elgin, Illinois, grew up in Chesterton, Indiana, but currently lives in Manhattan, New York City. Would this warrant inclusion in three different "Notable people from" lists? Littledj95 (talk) 05:41, 4 August 2016 (UTC)

The first step is to read the sources, Littledj95. The source that claims he grew up in Chesterton, Indiana is his New York Times wedding announcement when he was 37 years old, that says his parents lived there. Maybe he grew up there, or maybe his parents moved there after he was an adult living on his own. I have no idea one way or another. So, that source does not support the claim that Gaffigan grew up there. Either find a source that is more "on point" or remove that claim. Cullen³²⁸ Let's discuss it 07:52, 4 August 2016 (UTC)

Cullen328, I seem to have found a discrepancy on the town where Gaffigan was born. His article states Elign (as does the source), but an interview directly with him lists Gaffigan stating he was born in Barrington, IL. I also noticed him mention he grew up in Munster, Indiana. I don't know if that should be considered as a place where is from because it is the first time I have found out this information, and I know he moved to NYC when he was 19 and hasn't left since. 1 I have heard all of Jim's jokes, and watched every episode of his tv show. He is constantly mentioning how he grew up in "northwest indiana" so I just wanted to make sure my favorite online encyclopedia had updated information. Littledj95 (talk) 16:27, 4 August 2016 (UTC)

Littledj95, since you have read extensively about Gaffigan, then you are well prepared to improve his article. Be bold and do so. Cullen³²⁸ Let's discuss it 06:41, 5 August 2016 (UTC)

Editing to correct a name

I was trying figure out how to do a minor edit to change a name of a musician in an article. When I went on the page and changed it, they removed my edit as vandalism which it isn't. It is a true and correct fact that Larry Sapp is now Raine Von Kiska. This person has transitioned their gender and would like their current/correct name listed. I am obviously not technically savvy enough to figure this out, so once I accomplish getting my friends name corrected on her old band page I will most likely be done for a while. I have found published online sources I can reference to show the information as fact. How do I submit them? Here are several published online sources verifying the information I am trying to edit.: <ref> https://www.discogs.com/artist/1474948-Larry-Sapp http://www.metal-archives.com/artists/RVK/129877 https://www.discogs.com/artist/252275-Brutality http://www.metalstorm.net/bands/band.php?band_id=3648 https://www.ultimate-guitar.com/forum/showthread.php?t=1268402 https://www.quora.com/Are-there-any-gay-death-metal-vocalists <ref>

How do I get this done? I keep getting accused of vandalism. This is not vandalism, I am trying to make the page accurate and give Raine her proper credit.Sunnybunny5us (talk) 22:09, 3 August 2016 (UTC)

Hi Sunnybunny5us. It looks like you're referring to the edits you made to Brutality (band). First some general information about your edits. They were probably marked as vandalism because you did not leave an edit sum (i.e., explanation) when you made them. Such edits are often flagged and reverted as vandalism by bots or specialized scripts when they are made without an edit sum, especially edits for fairly new accounts, just because there are over 5,000,000 articles currently on Wikipedia and only so many volunteers around to go and check the specifics of every edit made. So, you can reduce the chances of this happening in the future if you leave a proper edit sum when you make an edit.

Now more specifically, it was OK for you to be bold and make the name change, but the next thing to do would be to initiate a discussion about it on Talk:Brutality (band) since your edits were reverted. Just start a new thread, explain why the name should be changed and provide links to the sources which so that this person now goes under a different name. Please note that Wikipedia's policy regarding biographies of living persons extends to all living persons mentioned in any article, so other editors are going to be naturally cautious regarding such edits. In addition, please note that the band itself does not own the article written about it, and has no final editorial control over its content. So, the sources you're providing are going to have to be considered reliable enough to support such a change being made. -- Marchjuly (talk) 00:15, 4 August 2016 (UTC)

Thanks,

Thank you for your help. I still don't fully understand the process, but that's partly due to my own lack of technical skills. I'm going to ask my daughter who is more computer literate than I am to help me do this. Hopefully I'll get it right. It may take a couple of days for her to get around to helping me, but it's been taking Raine several years to get these things done anyway. Are the sources that I'm listing here sufficient? If not, can you suggest what kind of sources would be better? (Also maybe my daughter can help me figure that out too) Sunnybunny5us (talk) 16:37, 4 August 2016 (UTC)

Hello Sunnybunny5us. I believe all of the sources you listed have user contributed content. They aren't considered reliable sources. See WP:USERGENERATED. Gab4gab (talk) 00:44, 5 August 2016 (UTC)

So what would be a reliable source to change her name with? She has legally and physically changed to become Raine and this is a fact not heresay. So if she isn't famous or anything shouldn't they still change it here? What do they need that I or she could provide as proof? Sunnybunny5us 67.140.216.21 (talk) 23:25, 5 August 2016 (UTC)67.140.216.21 (talk) 22:43, 6 August 2016 (UTC)

Change Main Bio Photo

I am wondering how I can upload and change the main bio photo that shows just above the background info.

Thom E Gemcity (talk) 22:09, 3 August 2016 (UTC)

Hi Thom. If this is about Paul Oakenfold, then it's important to understand that the image used in the article may not necessarily be the best image from an aesthetic or contextual standpoint, but it is a free image (one bearing a Creative Commons copyright license that is suitably unrestricted to meet our copyright licenses). It can only be replaced with another free image, if that exchange is warranted. We cannot use an image of him that is non-free at all. That may make your question moot. If not (the image you had in mind was also free), then please give some specifics and we can delve further. Best regards--Fuhghettaboutit (talk) 22:27, 3 August 2016 (UTC)

I believe the photo would fall under fair use as it's being used in historical context, although it's possible I do not quite understand what can constitute free and non free. Let's chat please, guidance appreciated.

Thom E Gemcity (talk) 23:03, 3 August 2016 (UTC)

Hi again Thom. With some exceedingly rare exceptions that would not apply here, photographs of living persons cannot be claimed as fair use at all. That is because of the doctrine's requirement of there being no reasonable opportunity for a free equivalent to be created by someone snapping a photo tomorrow and anon. That is not the case after someone dies; once someone is deceased, no photo can ever be taken and so at that point, if there are no free images in existence, a non-free photo may be able to be validly claimed as fair use.

Here, this is somewhat besides the point, because not only is a non-free photograph disqualified from fair use because the subject is living, but since there is a free photo in existence – the one already in the article – a non-free photograph would directly fail the free equivalency test. So, no valid claim of fair use could be made. Best regards--Fuhghettaboutit (talk) 23:50, 3 August 2016 (UTC)

Since it seems you went ahead and uploaded this non-free image to the Commons, I have nominated it for deletion.--Fuhghettaboutit (talk) 00:51, 6 August 2016 (UTC)

How can I find out what a reliable source is?

Hello! I've been writing a draft for the following entry draft: Thomas Youngblood. Today it got declined because of not enough reliable sources. My page is about a musician in the Heavy Metal Genre. Is there a way to find out which sources are reliable enough? Or shall I just use sources that got their own wiki pages? Also it was said that interviews, press releases, social media (including YouTube videos) are not allowed as reliable sources. I had been under the impression that interviews directly with the source would be reliable, since it came directly from the person the article is about? I checked lots of pages from important musicians (Nikki Sixx, Alice Cooper for example) and found interviews as sources, even youtube clips. I must admit it's quite difficult to decide what's allowed and what not. Any help would highly be appreciated. Xandra73 (talk) 18:43, 3 August 2016 (UTC)

WP:RS is the relevant guideline for sourcing on Wikipedia. Youtube videos are allowed as sources in some circumstances, but if you want an article created you usually have to satisfy criteria at WP:GNG, which means you need to find secondary sources that are independent or unconnected with the subject of the article, something like articles in news sources usually work just fine. TimothyJosephWood 18:51, 3 August 2016 (UTC)

Thank you for the information! It's clear about youtube now and I will not use it. I'm still not sure about the interviews. Lots of information about the artist are printed as interviews on the web on news pages. So are they technicallly news that I can use? I must admit I can't see the difference between a journalist writing an article or doing an interview with the subject. Aren't both reliable in the same way? Xandra73 (talk) 20:55, 4 August 2016 (UTC)

Xandra73, they're reliable in different ways. Interviews are useful for information on what someone said but not necessarily information on what they've done or accomplished. It would be appropriate to use an interview to say:

In 2016 Johnny told the Devil "you son of a gun, I'm the best that's ever been."

But it would not be appropriate to use the same interview to say:

Johnny was the best fiddle player there has ever been.

Hopefully that clears things up some. TimothyJosephWood 19:20, 5 August 2016 (UTC)

Yes, very, Timothyjosephwood! While reworking my draft, another question arose: Are booklets of CDs primary sources or secondary sources? And is there a difference if it's from the artists own band, or from another band where he appeared just as a guest? Xandra73 (talk) 16:29, 7 August 2016 (UTC)

Blocked user's signature

Is it okay to use a blocked user's signature (with my name, of course) that has been blocked indefinitely and doesn't seem like he/she will come back? Thanks -- The Pancakeof Heaven! 03:30, 8 August 2016 (UTC)

@The Pancake of Heaven!: Welcome to the Teahouse. I'm going to assume you mean using a blocked user's design and then work your username into it. It's not like signatures are trademarked, so it's perfectly fine to use. Zappa24Mati 03:53, 8 August 2016 (UTC)

Thanks! -- The Pancakeof Heaven! 03:54, 8 August 2016 (UTC)

A friendly observation, The Pancake of Heaven: Human nature being what it is, please consider the possibility that a signature that reminds experienced editors of a disruptive editor may draw unwanted scrutiny to your own edits. The decision is yours, but please think about my comment. Cullen³²⁸ Let's discuss it 03:58, 8 August 2016 (UTC)