Wikipedia:Help desk/Archives/2020 April 10

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April 10

Mysterious replacement of less-than and greater-than signs

Resolved

I have no idea how I (unintentionally) did this, but somehow in this edit I replaced the < and > signs in every hidden comment and reference throughout the article with, respectively, < and >, which broke the formatting in every single case. This is really frustrating and if someone could fix it and/or explain to me how this happened when I was just trying to categorize the page (and add an institution to the infobox) that would be great. IntoThinAir (talk) 00:59, 10 April 2020 (UTC)

Update: I fixed the errors (by copying and pasting the source wikitext into Microsoft Word to use find-and-replace on the accidentally-replaced signs). Still have no idea how or why this happened--never seen anything like this in over 7 years of editing here. IntoThinAir (talk) 01:03, 10 April 2020 (UTC)

Looks like some bug relating to your browser and/or something running in said browser, like a browser extension or userscript. Some characters got replaced with HTML entity codes. This is usually because something (like a piece of JavaScript) read in and parsed all the article text but was buggy and didn't "un-sanitize" it before storing it back in the edit field. Not sure if it had something to do with HotCat, which I see you used in that edit. You can try experimenting in a sandbox (such as a page in your userspace) to see if you can replicate the issue. (Copy-and-paste the article text into it.)

I fixed it with a partial revert. I opened that revision for editing, copied the categories, then edited the previous revision and pasted them in. This kept the stuff we wanted and undid the rest. --47.146.63.87 (talk) 01:15, 10 April 2020 (UTC)

Now that I said all that, I see you mentioned Microsoft Word. Did you use Word for the edit that went bad? If so it was likely caused by the copy-and-pasting between your browser and Word. Word is a word processor that does all kinds of magic formatting of documents, and sometimes this messes things up. If you want to do editing outside of your browser I recommend using a text editor instead. WordPad is a basic one that is included with Windows; there are numerous others that have all kinds of incredibly advanced features. (Programmers generally use such text editors to program if they're not using an IDE.) --47.146.63.87 (talk) 01:21, 10 April 2020 (UTC)

No, I would never (and almost never do) use Word for Wikipedia edits normally. I only used Word to fix the error by, as I stated, copying and pasting the wikitext and then using Word's find and replace function. The original edit accidentally replacing the characters was made in my browser (Firefox). IntoThinAir (talk) 01:48, 10 April 2020 (UTC)

Help

Salam I'm a srilankan I'm Fathima farzana how I can get a help from honorable assheik sulaiman Abdul Azeez please helpe — Preceding unsigned comment added by 45.121.91.135 (talk) 02:41, 10 April 2020 (UTC)

Salam, Fathima, I hope you are well. This is the help desk for the english-language Wikipedia. We can help you with using and editing Wikipedia. We cannot help you contact anyone because Wikipedia has no special information about the subjects of our articles. -Arch dude (talk) 05:26, 10 April 2020 (UTC)

Page preview missing on tablet

Hey there, I wondered if someone can offer any help or advice about my recent troubles with Wikipedia.

Since yesterday's (9th of April) evening all Wikipedia page previews (the ones that appear when you hover the mouse over a link to the article) disappered completely when using my tablet (the browser on the tablet is Chrome 55.0.2883.91). The previews were there and worked properly only hours before that, I never had any troubles with them previously, and I am certain I didn't change anything whatsoever in my site settings, browser settings or else. Now they refuse to pop-up on screen regardless of which language-based Wiki I use or if I'm switching between mobile and regular version. Since I never turned them off using the cog icon, the option of turning the preview back on doesn't appear in the lower section of the page, as suggested in the FAQ. Cache emptying didn't help. JS is turned on and the search field drop down menu with results works just fine.

Any advice on what could I do to make the previews appear again? Thanks in advance. Gregory 2A02:2698:4C2D:3E7:9D8E:72E8:7357:29F0 (talk) 11:06, 10 April 2020 (UTC) — Preceding unsigned comment added by 2A02:2698:4C2D:3E7:9D8E:72E8:7357:29F0 (talk) 06:59, 10 April 2020 (UTC)

Template in template error.

Any help on how to use Template:Val inside Template:Medical cases chart? (Template talk:Medical cases chart#Anyone know why Template:Val breaks this template?) -- Jeandré, 2020-04-10t07:10z

Lovejoy High School (Lucas, Texas)

Could someone have a look at Lovejoy High School (Lucas, Texas)? I think there may be some incorrect information about the ex-superintendent of the school in the article, particularly the statement about him being on death row, but because I am in the UK I can't access the source (https://www.dallasnews.com/news/watchdog/2019/02/22/lovejoy-isd-chief-ousted-after-inappropriate-conduct-was-a-master-manipulator). Thanks. Tacyarg (talk) 09:14, 10 April 2020 (UTC)

Tacyarg: I removed the content as it is not supported by the source. The source only said he was removed, but doesn't mention an affair or death row. IP that added the content has been warned. --MrClog (talk) 09:21, 10 April 2020 (UTC)

Criteria for known people having a page

Hello,

I am new here, so please be gentle :-)

I have read up on the Wikipedia policies so I know who should and should not have a profile on Wikipedia - for example, there seems to be a "named chair" requirement for academics, but I have seen profiles that do not seem to fit this. For example, Stuart_J._Ritchie

How does this profile meet the criteria? Thanks for helping me learn. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Owling It Up (talk • contribs) 09:20, 10 April 2020 (UTC)

I'm not sure what "named chair" means, but our policies on academics/professors to meet can be seen at WP:GNG and WP:ACADEMIC. Best Wishes, Lee Vilenski ^{(talk • contribs)} 09:22, 10 April 2020 (UTC)

Named chair.--Shantavira|^{feed me} 09:32, 10 April 2020 (UTC)

(edit conflict × 2) @Owling It Up: To add to that: professors with a named chair are indeed generally considered notable, however, it is not the only way in which notability can be proven. An academic only needs to meet one of the criteria at WP:NACADEMIC or meet WP:GNG to be considered notable. @Lee Vilenski: A named chair is an academic position paid for by an endowment fund. The donor can then name the position. --MrClog (talk) 09:38, 10 April 2020 (UTC)

With the caveat that I do not usually edit articles on academics - I don't think this person does meet either WP:ACADEMIC or WP:GNG. You could start a discussion about this on the article's talk page, tag the article with {{notability}}, or, if you think it's warranted, propose the article for deletion. If you do the latter, the onus is on you to search first to see if there are any other references that could be added to the article which might make notability clearer (WP:BEFORE). Hope that helps. Tacyarg (talk)

• Basically, @Owling It Up: catching a mistake elsewhere on the site doesn't excuse other mistakes. The article on Ritchie (which I've not opened but have seen this situation before) may well not meet our notability guidelines and may need to be deleted. That doesn't mean that the notability guideline is no longer the consensus of the community, it just means a mistake slipped through the cracks. Ian.thomson (talk) 10:32, 10 April 2020 (UTC)

Thank you everyone - this has been very helpful. Owling It Up (talk) 10:52, 10 April 2020 (UTC)

Note also: there are no "profiles" in Wikipedia. What we have, and what we want, are impartial articles, such as you would find in any other encyclopedia. "Profiles" are found in social media, and serve far different purposes. --Orange Mike | Talk 16:21, 10 April 2020 (UTC)

Is it possible to merge 2 articles

Want to merger Uber Eats article into Uber article so is it possible to merge 2 articles — Preceding unsigned comment added by Tsla1337 (talk • contribs) 10:33, 10 April 2020 (UTC)

Tsla1337 It's possible, but whether it is a good idea or not is another issue. You will want to discuss this with other editors first as Uber is a well known company; there may be reasons why there are two different articles(one about the company as a whole and another about one of its parts). Please see WP:MERGE for more information on the process of merging. 331dot (talk) 10:58, 10 April 2020 (UTC)

Wrong IPA transcriptions by anonymous user

An anonymous French IP has been adding some unsourced English IPA transcriptions regarding French musical artists, such as this, this and this. I don't mean to be rude or inconsiderate here, but these artists are mainly known in France, so I'm sure they don't have an established English pronunciation - for example, placing a stressed /ə/ is forbidden in English (second link). I also feel {{IPAc-en}} should be used instead of {{IPA-en}} due to the former using consistent notation and useful alt notes. I don't know how to reach out to the user about this, because the IP keeps on changing, so if there's anyone that can help, please tell me. Again this is not meant to be a personal attack, as I'm sure they are fine to add French transcriptions. — ^{oi yeah nah mate} amazingJUSSO ... [ɡəˈdæɪ̯]! 12:26, 10 April 2020 (UTC)

I haven't checked any policies on this, but I'm inclined to disagree. If I'm interested in a French artist, and I take the trouble to look at the IPA for their name, it's because I want to know how French people say it, not how it's garbled by Brits or Americans. Maproom (talk) 12:55, 10 April 2020 (UTC)

AmazingJus, I think the stress marker on that esample is misplaced. The "eye dialect" version after it clearly indicates that the first syllable is stressed. --ColinFine (talk) 15:47, 10 April 2020 (UTC)

@Maproom: In that case, they should use {{IPA-fr}} with the French pronunciation. Like I said, surely they are fine to add French transcriptions. — ^{oi yeah nah mate} amazingJUSSO ... [ɡəˈdæɪ̯]! 23:36, 11 April 2020 (UTC)

@ColinFine: Whatever the case may be, I reckon that such artists' pronunciations in English need to be sourced. — ^{oi yeah nah mate} amazingJUSSO ... [ɡəˈdæɪ̯]! 23:38, 11 April 2020 (UTC)

Login issues

I have been a user and contributor to Wikipedia for several years. Today I was asked to login but did not have my most recent password, so I clicked on Forgot Password and provided my e-mail address and was told I would get an e-mail from Wiki to enable me to reset the password. No such e-mail was received, and I even checked my trash folder and spam folder. How can I get this done so I can continue to use Wikipedia? -- Ron Albert in Florida — Preceding unsigned comment added by 2601:589:8400:8390:74B4:33B6:47CE:6F93 (talk) 13:17, 10 April 2020 (UTC)

Can you tell us the account name? Are you certain you set up e-mail with the account? You have to enter your e-mail address in Preferences and then click the link in the confirmation e-mail that is sent to you. Unfortunately if you didn't do that, I'm afraid you won't be able to reset the password, as this is the only way to do so. If you're sure the e-mail didn't get caught by spam filters, this is likely what happened—if there's no account associated with the e-mail address you enter, no password reset e-mail will be set. You can always try again to be sure—make sure to double-check the e-mail address you enter. Fortunately this isn't a big deal as all that's tied to an account is the edit history, preferences, and any extra permissions such as rollback. If the account can't be recovered you can go ahead and create a new one, and be sure to set up e-mail this time! You can place a note on the user page linking to your old account if you know the username. I hope this helps, and if you have any other questions you're welcome to ask here. --47.146.63.87 (talk) 16:10, 10 April 2020 (UTC)

Article significant

I have a question. Do all schools in the world needs to be in the Wikipedia? Please explain to me along with policies or any related pages about it. Thank you for helping! CyberTroopers (talk) 17:14, 10 April 2020 (UTC)

@CyberTroopers: Welcome to Wikipedia. Start at WP:ORG for the guidelines on notability for organizations including schools. Only schools that meet these criteria are suitable for an article. If you want to start working on a draft article, you can go to WP:YFA for the steps on that including a wizard to help you create a draft for review. RudolfRed (talk) 17:29, 10 April 2020 (UTC)

Dark Theme for Wikipedia

Please add dark theme for Wikipedia. It will be very useful during the study of wiki articles at night. Thanking you.

— Preceding unsigned comment added by 180.92.138.115 (talk) 19:29, 10 April 2020 (UTC) 

You're probably better off proposing this here: Wikipedia:Village pump (proposals) TimTempleton ^{(talk) (cont)} 20:19, 10 April 2020 (UTC)

If you are using for example Mozilla Firefox, it's possible to dynamically fiddle with the displayed HTML and CSS, for example making the text white on a black background. However, this will only affect your own browser, not the actual Wikipedia site, so you'll be the only person to actually see it, and the style will revert to normal if you browse to another page or close your browser. JIP | Talk 23:17, 10 April 2020 (UTC)

An simpler solution may just be to simply use a browser extension, if you are using Mozilla Firefox/Iceweasel you can go to the Mozilla Addons website, alternatively if you are using Google Chrome- try looking in the Chrome Web Store for a suitable extension. Stickymatch (talk) 01:18, 11 April 2020 (UTC) Also a lot of computer displays and operating systems offer a "night mode" that lowers brightness and blue light level. You might want to look into that, which will work for everything on your computer, not just Wikipedia. I note we have a night mode article but that just redirects to light-on-dark color scheme, which is what the original question was about. --47.146.63.87 (talk) 01:46, 11 April 2020 (UTC)

We have a dark theme, no need for browser extensions. See Special:Preferences#mw-prefsection-gadgets "Use a black background with green text"--Pierpao (talk) 09:06, 11 April 2020 (UTC)

Question about notifications

In Preferences, I can choose to be notified "when someone links to a page I created from another page." Is there some way for me to receive some kind of notification when someone links to a page I did not create? For example, it would be interesting to be notified each time someone links to the Billboard article, because it's likely that the link should be changed to Billboard (magazine). Thanks! GoingBatty (talk) 20:27, 10 April 2020 (UTC)

@GoingBatty: I don't know whether there is or not, but I fixed the instances I found with a search. —[AlanM1 (talk)]— 17:55, 11 April 2020 (UTC)

Searching for articles that use particular templates

Hi, I'm a longtime WP editor, but I've never known if there's a way to search for articles by their use of a particular template. For example, I've been trying to find articles that use the template Template:OEtymD. Any strategy for doing that? Wolfdog (talk) 21:13, 10 April 2020 (UTC)

Special:WhatLinksHere/Template:OEtymD provides a direct list. If you want to combine it with other search operations,m use "hastemplate" as in Special:Search/hastemplate:OEtymD * Pppery * _{it has begun...} 21:14, 10 April 2020 (UTC)