Wikipedia:Help desk/Archives/2020 May 6

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Help desk
< May 5 << Apr | May | Jun >> May 7 >
Welcome to the Wikipedia Help Desk Archives
The page you are currently viewing is an archive page. While you can leave answers for any questions shown below, please ask new questions on one of the current Help Desk pages.


May 6[edit]

How can inappropriate content be removed from the Nanking Massacre page/[edit]

In the Nanking Massacre page (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talk:Nanjing_Massacre), there is a picture of a mutilated, tortured woman's body. I believe this is not appropriate content and should be removed. Can you please advise how this can be done? — Preceding unsigned comment added by Richardf01 (talkcontribs) 01:53, 6 May 2020 (UTC)[reply]

@Richardf01: If you have a concern about an article (e.g. Nanking Massacre), the place to discuss it is the article talk page (e.g. Talk:Nanjing Massacre). I suggest you explain why you believe the photo is inappropriate for the article, after reading WP:NOTCENSORED. (Please remember to sign your posts on talk pages by typing four keyboard tildes like this: ~~~~. Or, you can use the [ reply ] button, which automatically signs posts.) GoingBatty (talk) 02:01, 6 May 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Link[edit]

Just looking for archives of the common requests for permissions and can't seem to find, where are they located? Thanks Hillelfrei talk 02:25, 6 May 2020 (UTC)[reply]

@Hillelfrei: See Wikipedia:Requests for permissions/Archive. The result is archived with a link to the discussion in the page history. For example Wikipedia:Requests for permissions/Approved/May 2020 with link at the end of each entry. PrimeHunter (talk) 02:36, 6 May 2020 (UTC)[reply]
PrimeHunter Thanks Hillelfrei talk 02:38, 6 May 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Hi! On the page Authentic Limonense Party, the flag of the party is used. However, while this flag is extremely simple, it used under fair use rather than as non-copyrightable public domain. I do not think this is correct. There are much more complicated logos stored here and on Commons and considered to be below the threshold of originality because they are too simple, so is actually public domain or am I missing something? DemonDays64 (talk) 04:04, 6 May 2020 (UTC) (please ping on reply)[reply]

Hello, DemonDays64. I'm not an expert on the threshold of originality, but speaking as someone with a long-standing interest in Heraldry (which might be though of as a forerunner to the concept of logos), I would not have judged the flag in question to be "extremely simple." It uses a quite unusual field (background) colour, and the particular design of an arc of six six-pointed red stars is not something I ever recall seeing before in any context.
Can you provide links to some of these "much more complicated logos stored here and on Commons and considered to be below the threshold of originality because they are too simple" that you mention, so that we can make some comparisons? {The poster formerly known as 87.81.230.195} 2.219.81.243 (talk) 14:02, 6 May 2020 (UTC)[reply]
@2.219.81.243: Well there are some pretty distinctive, not very simple logos that are marked as below the threshold of originality. Some examples that are tagged as below that threshold due to being simple geometry but are more complicated and unique than this flag are: File:Coca-Cola logo.svg (it's not actually valid for copyright but it is tagged with being too simple to copyright anyway), File:Republic (political organisation) symbol (English Wikipedia).jpg, File:Google Wallet 2015 logo.svg, File:Al Qaws Logo.png (with the thing in the top left), and more. DemonDays64 (talk) 17:57, 6 May 2020 (UTC) (please ping on reply)[reply]
Another that is clearly more complex than a group of simple 6-pointed stars is File:Golden Sun icon.png (released under GNU but still marked as too simple to copyright). DemonDays64 (talk) 18:00, 6 May 2020 (UTC)[reply]
@DemonDays64: It is certainly not eligible for copyright in the U.S., as it does not meet the TOO. However, it is unclear what the TOO is in Costa Rica (source country). Everything on Commons must be in the PD in both its source country and the US. Therefore, please upload the logo here on Wikipedia and set its license as {{PD-ineligible-USonly}} (files here on Wikipedia only need to be in the PD in the US). --MrClog (talk) 19:03, 6 May 2020 (UTC)[reply]
I went ahead and changed the licensing. --MrClog (talk) 20:02, 6 May 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Musa S. Dibadj[edit]

Dear Editor, I would like to inform you that those information about me Musa S. Dibadj professor of philosophy at the University of Tehran in some cases and details are not correct. My cv in the University of Tehran would help you to correct these mistakes on page. I am not a translator as a professional. I have translated some important text books from German and English but I am not famous because of these translations. Also, important to be mentioned that the most famous of me circles around my scientific ideas about SPACE VOID TIME THE TEXT DECONSTRACTIVE ARCHITECTURE 11 SEPTEMBER in different fields of philosophy, architecture and politics as well as hermeneutics. I would appreciate if you mind consider this notes. Musa S. Dibadj — Preceding unsigned comment added by 188.118.104.226 (talk) 15:47, May 6, 2020 (UTC)

Dear Musa S. Dibadj. First of all, I am not sure we even have a page about you (Musa S. Dibadj does not appear to exist on English Wikipedia). Can you provide a link to the page that contains mistakes? Also, can you provide a direct link to your CV you mention? --Piotr Konieczny aka Prokonsul Piotrus| reply here 08:13, 6 May 2020 (UTC)[reply]
I think Musa S. Dibadji was talking about this article on Farsi Wikipedia. This is not a problem English Wikipedia can solve, you will have to take it up in the relevant areas on Farsi Wikipedia. Zoozaz1 23:16, 6 May 2020 (UTC)[reply]

HotCat[edit]

Is the HotCat tool open-source? Where can I find its code? Harsh Rathod Poke me! 08:22, 6 May 2020 (UTC)[reply]

@Harshrathod50: Yes it is, and you can find it here: [1]. RudolfRed (talk) 15:20, 6 May 2020 (UTC)[reply]

@RudolfRed: Thanks! Harsh Rathod Poke me! 16:52, 6 May 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Jaya Suberg as a biography candidate[edit]

Dear all, I wonder if you could give me a preliminary assessment on "Jaya Suberg" as a candidate for a biography. She appears to be a notable artist with appearances in many magazines and blogs, but not much noted in news media. I like and value her work and would like to do her biography but want to make sure her name will not be quickly dismissed for lack of notability. Can you help? Thank you.Neuralia (talk) 08:45, 6 May 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Hello, Neuralia. If you do write an article about Suberg, the very first thing you will do - before you ever even think about writing a word of the article - is to assemble the sources you are going to base the article on. Remember that every single piece of information that you put in the article must come from a reliably published source, not just from your own knowledge, or from blogs or social media; and that nearly all of it must come from sources wholly unconnected with Suberg.
So, since you are going to have to start by finding the reliable, independent sources, I suggest that you identify the three best sources you can find. At that point, you will either be confident that she meets the criteria for notability, confident that she doesn't, or uncertain: if you are uncertain, cite your three sources here, and somebody will look at them and give you their opinion. --ColinFine (talk) 10:52, 6 May 2020 (UTC)[reply]
Thanks for your feedback ColinFine, here are three links that look adequate to me 1)https://www.raiplayradio.it/foto/2017/01/3131story-2083b762-a2cc-415c-83a3-ea4789a123cb.html -from the Italian Radio RAI; 2)https://www.edaily.co.kr/news/read?newsId=02378006615929576&mediaCodeNo=257 -from a Korean newspaper and 3)https://www.general-anzeiger-bonn.de/bonn/bad-godesberg/die-inspiration-liegt-auf-der-strasse_aid-42361499 -from a German newspaper. Do they look fine to you too? @ColinFine:Neuralia (talk) 11:44, 6 May 2020 (UTC)[reply]
In my opinion, Neuralia none of these help in the slightest to establish her notability. The RAI is based on an interview with her, and so it not independent (Wikipedia is basically not interested in what the subject of an article says, only in what people say about them); the German article mentions one work by her, so it is only a passing reference; and as far as I can make out with Google Translate the only bit of the Korean that mentions her is the line with her name in it - that seems to be a caption to the photo. If these are the best you can find, then I'm afraid you are wasting your time. --ColinFine (talk) 12:04, 6 May 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Hi there. At Benson, Arizona there is an odd space between two of the templates:

Thanks! Magnolia677 (talk) 08:58, 6 May 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Hi Magnolia677, I fixed it by putting the two templates on the same line, but I don't know why that was necessary, as on other pages I've worked on it's fine for them to be on separate lines, I'll investigate further. Mikenorton (talk) 09:32, 6 May 2020 (UTC)[reply]
It's the {{Cochise County, Arizona}} template that causes the issue it seems after checking out other uses of the template, such as on Tombstone, Arizona. I'll drop a note on the template's talk page. Mikenorton (talk) 09:43, 6 May 2020 (UTC)[reply]
Trappist the monk has fixed the issue. Mikenorton (talk) 11:26, 6 May 2020 (UTC)[reply]
@Trappist the monk and Mikenorton: Thanks! Magnolia677 (talk) 14:02, 6 May 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Table sorting[edit]

Hi, can somebody help me out here? Been around a long time, but I feel like table sorting and tables in general are my "final frontier"...

So take a table like this: List of shootings in New York. Sorting by date would be nice, and I've added that ability, but you can see there are two date entries that don't quite sort: "29 July 1976–31 July 1977" and "23 August 1990–2 October 1993".

The question is, how to most-easily add the ability to sort these with the rest of the column? I've tried adding things like 'data-sort-key="29 July 1976"' between the pipes preceding it, but that ends up in an ugly mess. Is there an easy way to just make certain cells conform to sorting? If you can't do it row-by-row, what's the process for doing it on the full table? Nothing I try seems to work, and it's embarrassing. Thanks. Brycehughes (talk) 09:44, 6 May 2020 (UTC)[reply]

@Brycehughes: The correct syntax is data-sort-value="29 July 1976" | 29 July 1976–31 July 1977. I used the simpler {{sad}}.[2] PrimeHunter (talk) 11:35, 6 May 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Deleted Page[edit]

My page has been deleted?Does this mean I don't have access to my Wikipedia account anymore? How do I go about this please? — Preceding unsigned comment added by Abigail Tetteh (talkcontribs) 6 May 2020 Abigail Tetteh 09:51 (UTC)

Abigail Tetteh, the sandbox you created has been deleted, as explained on your talk page. Your WIkipedia account is not affected. Maproom (talk) 10:27, 6 May 2020 (UTC)[reply]
(edit conflict)Hello, Abigail No, you still have access to your account or you would not have been able to post here. Please do not ask similar questions in multiple locations; there are answers to your query at the teahouse. Your draft was deleted as it contained copyright violations (see the messages at your talk page). You must not copy content from elsewhere. (Please remember to sign your posts on talk pages by typing four keyboard tildes like this: ~~~~. Or, you can use the [ reply ] button, which automatically signs posts.) Thank you. Eagleash (talk) 10:30, 6 May 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Deleted Logo in Infobox[edit]

Hi there,

My name is Izzy and I work for the company Higgidy. I was working this morning just to update our Wikipedia page as some of the figures and names were out of date. I must admit, I have never edited on Wikipedia before so am not entirely sure what I am doing. In doing this, I have accidentally deleted our logo off of our page whilst attempting to update it.

Is there anyway that someone could help me to re-add a logo?

Thank you, Izzy — Preceding unsigned comment added by Izzy Fitz (talkcontribs) 10:25, 6 May 2020 (UTC)[reply]

@Izzy Fitz: Hi Izzy, I'll revert the edits to a previous version for you. Please note that it is strongly discouraged to edit pages about the company you work for. Remember that Wikipedia isn't a social platform and nobody owns the pages. I'll do some cleanup and leave more info about managing your conflict of interest on your talk page. Thanks! Ed6767 (talk) 10:59, 6 May 2020 (UTC)[reply]


Hi @Ed6767 - thank you so much. Apologies about this, I will have a read up about managing conflict of interest - thank you! — Preceding unsigned comment added by Izzy Fitz (talkcontribs) 11:04, 6 May 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Hello, Izzy. I'm afraid that the first thing that you must do is to make a declaration of your status as a paid editor (see that link for the details), and read up about editing with a conflict of interest.
The long and short of it is that Higgidy is not "your Wikipedia page", it is Wikipedia's article about your company: you do not own it or have control over its contents. Your suggestions for the article are welcome, in the form of edit requests on the article's talk page, but you should not edit the article directly. You seem to have managed to re-add your logo back. I love some of your pies, and I have one in the freezer! --ColinFine (talk) 11:07, 6 May 2020 (UTC)[reply]
@ColinFine: Restored in my cleanup (and I agree about the pies!) Ed6767 (talk) 11:10, 6 May 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Hi Colin - thank you ever so much for letting me know, apologies about this! I will have a proper read up on this — Preceding unsigned comment added by Izzy Fitz (talkcontribs) 11:28, 6 May 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Hi Izzy, I have added a paid editing declaration to Higgidy's talk page and linked it to your first helpdesk post. Please check it and update as needed. TSventon (talk) 10:21, 8 May 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Editing Bill Adderley's Page,[edit]

On Bill Adderley's page I added the correct amount of Grandchildren ( there are now 5) The proper name of his wife and context about their grandson. How is this not constructive? — Preceding unsigned comment added by Billiam Adderley (talkcontribs) 10:57, 6 May 2020 (UTC)[reply]

@Billiam Adderley: Hi, your edits have been disruptive as you have been typing random letters on the page and continuing to do so after being asked to stop. Regarding that change, you'll need to provide a reliable source for this change. Ed6767 (talk) 12:38, 6 May 2020 (UTC)[reply]

How to save draft before submitting for review?[edit]

I drafted a page earlier this week, and my account showed that it autosaved changes. I have two questions here: 1) is there any way to restore that draft? I do not see it in my "uploads," though I see images associated with it; 2) in the future, how can I save my drafts before submitting for review? The only option I saw was "publish page" — and I didn't want to do that quite yet. How to save in between so that I can edit again before publishing?

Thanks! — Preceding unsigned comment added by Ma04congressional (talkcontribs) 13:54, 6 May 2020 (UTC)[reply]

The button to use is "Publish changes", which used to be called "Save changes" until the WMF confused everybody by renaming it. It doesn't publish the draft to mainspace, but saves it so that you can continue to work on it later. --David Biddulph (talk) 14:01, 6 May 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Ah — thank you. Any chance I can restore changes at this point (if they were autosaved)? — Preceding unsigned comment added by Ma04congressional (talkcontribs) 14:05, 6 May 2020 (UTC)[reply]

If they were saved on your computer you can restore them from there. They weren't saved in Wikipedia. Wikipedia does not have an "autosave" function. (Please remember to sign your posts on talk pages by typing four keyboard tildes like this: ~~~~. Or, you can use the [ reply ] button, which automatically signs posts.) --David Biddulph (talk) 14:09, 6 May 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Kayvan Khalatbari - How can I resolve the alert at the top of his page?[edit]

Hello Wikipedia,

Please help. I worked as a paid editor for Kayvan Khalatbari and have no other ties to him or his organizations, see the disclosure I posted on his talk page. I'm trying to get the alert removed from his page, especially since several revisions have been made by other people since I completed my work. Most of the changes that have been made were not made by me, so the alert is even more inaccurate than when it was first posted. How can I get the resolved?

Thank you for your help, HilaryConstable (talk) 15:44, 6 May 2020 (UTC)[reply]

You could revert all the changes you ever made to the article. That would do it I feel. -Roxy the effin dog . wooF 15:52, 6 May 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Fictional characters named Martin[edit]

I was checking the page Martin; I found that some fictional characters named Martin are in the page Martin and others in the page Martin (name). Some are in both pages. Which is the right place for them?--Carnby (talk) 17:46, 6 May 2020 (UTC)[reply]

@Carnby: Martin seems to be the better page since that's the disambiguation page. I think there can be a Template:Main article template in Martin_(name)#Fictional_characters linking to Martin#Fictional_characters. I'd take all the names, put them in a spreadsheet, sort out the duplicates and then copy the list of unique names alphabetically into Martin#Fictional_characters. Then each will always be correct. TimTempleton (talk) (cont) 21:31, 6 May 2020 (UTC)[reply]
@Timtempleton:  Done Thanks.--Carnby (talk) 09:27, 7 May 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Is there a category for streets or landmarks that have been renamed?[edit]

Like Chivington Drive. I'm hoping to find other examples like it. - Scarpy (talk) 21:00, 6 May 2020 (UTC)[reply]

@Scarpy: Here's a possible start Lists of renamed places TimTempleton (talk) (cont) 21:35, 6 May 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Remove plot synopses from article about books[edit]

Hello,

I have written to you before about this topic but no help has been provided. As a teacher of literature I strongly object to the inclusion of plot synopses in your articles on books. You are robbing an entire generation of the pleasure and discovery of reading. Any text I assign, the first thing that students do is look up the plot synopsis. Wikipedia is a major source of promoting illiteracy in the modern overly-computerized world. Why you would want to do this is just inexplicable. The last time I wrote about this, I got a snarky response about how students could just go to SparksNotes. So, you are competing with a company that encourages students to cheat, is that it? You want to have the right to help students to cheat? More importantly, you want modern youth not to be able to discover the beauty of literature? You are seriously a negative force in the world. Why not have articles about books BUT without synopses?

Sincerely, a frustrated English teacher, Patrick Burger John Abbott College Ste.Anne-de-Bellevue, Québec Canada — Preceding unsigned comment added by 74.127.205.11 (talk) 21:02, 6 May 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Patrick - we are help desk volunteers here and have no control over what is deemed acceptable to other editors - we have to go with consensus. And consensus is clearly to include the summaries. You make valid points about people taking shortcuts, but given the fact that the informative summaries will likey not be removed, let me suggest a workaround. When you assign the text and students have completed the book, make it a class exercise to review the Wikipedia plot synopsis and have each student critique the summary in an essay. Higher grades for those who can point out important elements or characters that the summary missed. TimTempleton (talk) (cont) 21:17, 6 May 2020 (UTC)[reply]
I went to university to study secondary education (with my major being English).
At the beginning of each semester, explain to your students at that Wikipedia is written by random people, not professional academics.
Explain what citations and reliable sources are. Wikipedia specifically excludes itself as a reliable source but requires academic sources. Explain that it can be a useful tool for finding sources but is useless as a source.
Explain that the point of summaries is to preview a book, not replace it.
Do you think you have the right to force students to believe in a false dilemma between literacy and computer literacy? Do you think you have the right to deny students the technologies of the future? Do you think you have the right to keep students in the dark ages? If you're really a teacher, I know you'll say no to those questions and even be offended by them -- act on that answer then, and adapt your lesson to new technologies instead of being a luddite. Ian.thomson (talk) 21:32, 6 May 2020 (UTC)[reply]
That's a bit harsh. See Wikipedia:Spoiler for our guideline. Wikipedia is an encyclopedia and people read our articles for different reasons. Personally I often look up the plot of works I have no plans to read or view (not assignments). There is wide agreement to include plots in articles, including spoilers. This is unlikely to change. Past discussions were focused on whether to give warnings about spoilers. We decided not to do that but it was controversial. PrimeHunter (talk) 21:56, 6 May 2020 (UTC)[reply]
It's ridiculous for someone to get angry at us because they're not using the site properly. I mean, even if they don't want to bother with the other stuff, just make sure any exam is based on parts of the book that aren't in the summary. This trick is older than all of us because popular memory systems in the late 19th and early 20th century suggested reading summaries before reading books -- which would mean that there were readily available summaries of books before World War I. Ian.thomson (talk) 22:09, 6 May 2020 (UTC)[reply]
Yeah, but you couldn't get them in your phone ;-) Gråbergs Gråa Sång (talk) 10:24, 7 May 2020 (UTC)[reply]
Hi Patrick! You may be interested in reading Wikipedia:Manual of Style/Novels#Plot and discussing your suggestions with other bibliophiles at Wikipedia talk:Manual of Style/Novels. GoingBatty (talk) 22:46, 6 May 2020 (UTC)[reply]

In pre internet days, I studied Middlemarch for English Language A level. A friend in my class couldn't be bothered to read such a long book and bought a children's (abridged) version. He got the highest grade you could get in those days. --Dweller (talk) Become old fashioned! 10:31, 7 May 2020 (UTC)[reply]

No ISBN Numbers in older books?[edit]

While practicing citations in my personal sandbox, I sited a 1955 version of The Myth of Sisyphus and other Essays, by Albert Camus. There is no ISBN number in the book. There is a nine digit number on the cover, that I used as the ISBN number in my citation. The ISBN number was flagged as not having enough digits. I don't know when ISBN numbers began being used in publishing, but it looks like they were not in use in 1955. How do you deal with that when using an older source in a wikipedia article? Would I have to find a newer printing of the book and site that publication? Thanks!—RADalinka (talk) 22:50, 6 May 2020 (UTC)RADalinka[reply]

Welcome to Wikipedia and thanks for citing your sources! If the book has no ISBN, then omit it when you do your citation. RudolfRed (talk) 22:57, 6 May 2020 (UTC)[reply]
What I've done with older books is look them up at worldcat.org and use OCLC instead of ISBN. Schazjmd (talk) 22:59, 6 May 2020 (UTC)[reply]
The nine-digit number is likely an SBN. If you are using one of the cs1|2 templates, use |sbn=.
Trappist the monk (talk) 23:10, 6 May 2020 (UTC)[reply]
RADalinka, you're right that ISBNs didn't exist back then. But even SBNs only date from the mid 60s. A book published in 1955 can't have had an SBN. This could be a 1960s "printing" (or "impression") of a 1955 edition, with a slightly modernized cover. Or it could be a 1960s edition of a book first published by that publisher in 1955. (Hamish Hamilton first published it in 1955; Random House in 1942.) Or it could be something else again. You should look carefully at the copyright page (a left-hand page near the front that typically has a copyright statement, the address(es) of the publisher, etc) to see what's what. If it's still unclear, feel free to post a follow-up question here. -- Hoary (talk) 09:35, 7 May 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Change the typeface when viewing different revisions of an article[edit]

Hi,

Is there a way to change the Mono typeface when viewing different revisions of an article? It was changed in the past few days. I'd like to change it so that so that it no longer looks like this: [3] and instead looks like the rest of the article. Thanks, David O. Johnson (talk) 23:11, 6 May 2020 (UTC)[reply]

@David O. Johnson: See Wikipedia:Village pump (technical)#Thursday font changeWikipedia:Village pump (technical)/Archive 181#Thursday font change. Adding the below code in your CSS is suggested. PrimeHunter (talk) 23:24, 6 May 2020 (UTC) Archived.— Vchimpanzee • talk • contributions • 21:05, 21 July 2020 (UTC)[reply]
.diff-editfont-monospace .diff-addedline,
.diff-editfont-monospace .diff-deletedline,
.diff-editfont-monospace .diff-context {
  font-family: sans-serif;
  font-size: 88%;
}
Thank you very much. The code worked. David O. Johnson (talk) 23:32, 6 May 2020 (UTC)[reply]