Wikipedia:Help desk

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

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

Ask a question

January 14

Age wrong? Date of birth correct.

Dorothi Fox shows "Born 8 January 1930 (age 94)". Shouldn't that be (age 95)? Boers1 (talk) 00:14, 14 January 2025 (UTC)

Thanks for pointing that out. The wrong code was in the template, it's been fixed. Schazjmd (talk) 00:19, 14 January 2025 (UTC)

Trying to add a category to a talk page

On all the vital articles pages, more specifically the talk pages, there are these categories on the bottom of the page (ex. Talk:The arts) B-Class level-1 vital articles Wikipedia level-1 vital articles in Arts B-Class vital articles in Arts. My question to you is I would like to edit the template so that it adds the broader category of Category:Wikipedia level-1 vital articles to each article at the appropriate level. Any idea on how I could do that? I hope I explained my query well. Interstellarity (talk) 00:38, 14 January 2025 (UTC)

Interstellarity, there is a list at Wikipedia:Vital articles/Level/1, so I don't think adding the individual articles to Category:Wikipedia level-1 vital articles would be useful. TSventon (talk) 02:30, 14 January 2025 (UTC)

Achieve the same effect that the TAB key achieves in word processing?

I MS word, I can get this effect using the TAB key:

A  This text is a certain distance from the left edge of the page.
     This text should be the SAME distance from the left edge of the page (but may be a bit off now).
B  This text is a certain distance from the left edge of the page.
     This text should be the SAME distance from the left edge of the page (but may be a bit off now).
How do I make a Wikipedia page look likek this? Thank you in advance. Jan Arvid Götesson (talk) 01:50, 14 January 2025 (UTC)

Template:Indent might be what you're looking for. Tutwakhamoe (talk) 02:19, 14 January 2025 (UTC)

Thanks but no. Template Indent does not allow me to put the “A” and the “B” on the first and third lines of my example above. Jan Arvid Götesson (talk) 08:21, 14 January 2025 (UTC)

I can think of, hm, at least three ways to format text like that, depending on what it's supposed to convey semantically - a list of two items each split by a linebreak, a list of four items with no list marker on #2 and #4 and an explicit value on #3, and a table. They're all kind of clumsy and I don't think any of them would be appropriate in articles. What specifically are you trying to do? —Cryptic 09:17, 14 January 2025 (UTC)

Thansk for responding. You can see what I am trying to do in an article that I have only worked on in Swedish at the moment. Please go to Högstenagaldern by clicking “sv”. Please go to section “Radikal nytolkning”. There you will see four lines in a runic inscription. It means side A, line 1, side A, line 2, side B, line 1, side B, line 2. Jan Arvid Götesson (talk) 09:36, 14 January 2025 (UTC)

{{Ordered list}} does what you want. Example:

1. 1. kalanta uiþr kalkla uiþr riþa‐ta uiþ
   2. uiþr rinanta uiþr salianta ui‐
2. 1. r sikn--a uiþr f-ranta uiþr f̣liuh
   2. a͡nta s-̣-a͡lọlt fuþiʀ auk um tu-ạ

Or directly with html tags, if you don't want to import the template:

1. 1. kalanta uiþr kalkla uiþr riþa‐ta uiþ
   2. uiþr rinanta uiþr salianta ui‐
2. 1. r sikn--a uiþr f-ranta uiþr f̣liuh
   2. a͡nta s-̣-a͡lọlt fuþiʀ auk um tu-ạ

The extra whitespace displaying here before the numerals is fixable, but how to do that depends on how the css is set up on svwiki. —Cryptic 10:14, 14 January 2025 (UTC)

Thanks. Jan Arvid Götesson (talk) 11:28, 14 January 2025 (UTC)

@Jan Arvid Götesson: Here is a method with span style="width:2.5em;display:inline-block; which doesn't rely on local CSS rules or templates and let's you set the width:

AThis ...
This ...

PrimeHunter (talk) 14:40, 14 January 2025 (UTC)

Works perfectly. Thanks. Jan Arvid Götesson (talk) 19:13, 14 January 2025 (UTC)

Creating a disambiguation page

Hi, I have a somewhat technical question related to creating a disambiguation page. I've noticed that the word "Nuda" redirects to Beroidae, and there are two pages whose title is the word "Nuda" itself, but with a disambiguating parenthesis (Nuda (album); Nuda (song)). I think it would be appropriate to create a disambiguation page for these and make it the primary page, but I'm not sure how to proceed without breaking links or perhaps going against MOS. Could you please give me some pointers? Cheers! Revirvlkodlaku (talk) 03:21, 14 January 2025 (UTC)

Revirvlkodlaku You could

• move Nuda to Nuda (zoology) and update 40 incoming links (I don't think there is a primary topic)
• create Nuda (disambiguation)
• move Nuda (disambiguation) to Nuda using Wikipedia:Requested moves/Technical requests if necessary
• link Nuda to it:Nuda via Wikidata item Q3879241. TSventon (talk) 03:52, 14 January 2025 (UTC)

Thanks @TSventon. If I move Nuda (disambiguation) to Nuda, would the latter then become the disambiguation page? Revirvlkodlaku (talk) 15:50, 14 January 2025 (UTC)

Revirvlkodlaku yes, my suggestion produces a disambiguation page at "Nuda" and a redirect at "Nuda (disambiguation)". You could achieve a similar result by editing "Nuda" to create a disambiguation page and creating a new redirect at "Nuda (disambiguation)". TSventon (talk) 16:56, 14 January 2025 (UTC)

Justine Bateman

Please look at reference number 41 - I have tried so hard to get it right. Thanks for repairing. Srbernadette (talk) 05:56, 14 January 2025 (UTC)

@Srbernadette: I replaced the reference to fix the errors. The first CS1 error was indicating that there was a generic name in the |last= parameter. In this case, it looks like the last name was listed as Correspondent, which is the generic name the template didn't like. The second error was stating that bolding or italics markup isn't allowed in the |website= parameter. The ''Newsweek'' name with the apostrophes isn't allowed with that parameter because the name is automatically italicized when it renders. When citing websites or books, I will usually use this tool to create the reference for me because its a lot simpler. If you have any other questions, feel free to ask them here. cyberdog958^Talk 08:17, 14 January 2025 (UTC)

Any alternatives for Wikipedia:Updating information?

It's too short for me. Is there more in depth essay or other policy to read relating to this topic? All Tomorrows No Yesterdays (Ughhh.... What did I do wrong this time?) 12:54, 14 January 2025 (UTC)

Also what do people mean when they say "I !voted" or something like that? I have a guess but I just wanna be sure. All Tomorrows No Yesterdays (Ughhh.... What did I do wrong this time?) 13:05, 14 January 2025 (UTC)

Hello, @All Tomorrows No Yesterdays. I'm not clear what you think is lacking in that document. Please clarify.

As for your second question - see WP:!VOTE. ColinFine (talk) 13:51, 14 January 2025 (UTC)

Uhh.. I don't even know anymore. I was just pretty curious about its brevity. All Tomorrows No Yesterdays (Ughhh.... What did I do wrong this time?) 13:53, 14 January 2025 (UTC)

Regarding GA Nominations

Could one nominate an article, even while >90% of the article is copied? I'm planning on putting General secretaryship of Mikhail Gorbachev up at GAN after some copyediting if that is allowed. All Tomorrows No Yesterdays (Ughhh.... What did I do wrong this time?) 14:56, 14 January 2025 (UTC)

Hello All Tomorrows No Yesterdays! Any article can theoretically be nominated if it meets the good article criteria, but you should have a strong understanding of the sourcing it uses and make sure you've checked it against the criteria. You might consider raising this at the good article talk page. The most active GAN reviewers watch that page so you should be able to get a more in-depth answer about the actual process there. Thebiguglyalien (talk) 16:55, 14 January 2025 (UTC)

question about deletion review

i posted a request at Wikipedia:Deletion review, and now my request no longer appears there. is it routine for requests to be moved once they have been read, or should i be worried? please ping me when you reply. thanks. Sm8900 (talk) 15:35, 14 January 2025 (UTC)

@Sm8900: Your post was accidentally deleted by the next editor. I have restored it. -- John of Reading (talk) 15:48, 14 January 2025 (UTC)

@John of Reading that is very helpful of you indeed. thanks!!  Thanks Sm8900 (talk) 15:50, 14 January 2025 (UTC)

What is considered sockpuppetry?

Can i make another account to use the user talk page to chat about non-wikipedia subjects? Bart Simon the Wikiracer (talk) 15:38, 14 January 2025 (UTC)

Wikipedia is not social media and the talk pages should not be used to chat about non-wikipedia subjects--Escape Orbit ^(Talk) 15:42, 14 January 2025 (UTC)

i don't have an email and live 40 kilometers away from my freinds

hope this clears my reasons up Bart Simon the Wikiracer (talk) 15:46, 14 January 2025 (UTC)

Hello, @Bart Simon the Wikiracer. I'm sorry for your isolation, but Wikipedia is not the answer, and attempting to use it for purposes that aren't congruent with Wikipedia's purposes are not acceptable. ColinFine (talk) 16:07, 14 January 2025 (UTC)

do you know what the answer is?

Bart Simon the Wikiracer (talk) 16:11, 14 January 2025 (UTC)

@Bart Simon the Wikiracer: Digital communication with friends is usually by text messages, social media or email. An email address is useful for many other things. Webmail only requires a browser. See e.g. Comparison of webmail providers for some options. PrimeHunter (talk) 16:18, 14 January 2025 (UTC)

Answer: anything like this. 2601AC47 (talk·contribs·my rights) Isn't a IP anon 16:21, 14 January 2025 (UTC)

How to add image of Print newspaper in pdf file as source?e

Daily Star is a prominent Bangladeshi newspaper. It has covered so many news for long days. There had been many things happened from 90s to 2025. Various important topics which is widely cited before we can't add in English Wikipedia as there is no source or is not available in online. But I have images of Daily star news as pdf file. i want to add it as source. How can I do that? Anyone can check it from [here] প্রলয়স্রোত (talk) 20:27, 14 January 2025 (UTC)

@প্রলয়স্রোত: A reliable published source does not have to be available online. See WP:RS. It just must be theoretically possible for a member of the general public somewhere to go see a physical copy, e.g., in a library in Bangladesh. It is not legal for you to upload an image as that would be a copyright violation. -Arch dude (talk) 21:01, 14 January 2025 (UTC)

uploaded wrong picture

I uploaded an image inadvertently. How can I remove it? Lauranorcal (talk) 21:42, 14 January 2025 (UTC)

@Lauranorcal: You uploaded it at commons:File:Michael Alexander Kahn.jpg. Place {{SD|G7}} at top of the page. PrimeHunter (talk) 22:55, 14 January 2025 (UTC)

How can I delete it? I'd like to do that before I upload the right one. Thanks. Lauranorcal (talk) 23:00, 14 January 2025 (UTC)

@Lauranorcal: you can edit the code at commons:File:Michael Alexander Kahn.jpg and add {{SD|G7}} at top of the page. That will show a notice that you have requested deletion and Commons admins will deal with your request. TSventon (talk) 23:52, 14 January 2025 (UTC)

January 15

Template Categorization Confusion

So I'm trying to work on categorization tasks; specifically in Category:All uncategorized pages. Lets take for example, Template:Delay safesubst.

How am I supposed to correctly categorize this template?

At first I thought I should just write:

[[Category:Wikipedia templates|Delay safesubst]]

Then I read a bit and now thought, what if I put the category on the /doc page and {{Delay safesubst}} on the main template.

What am I supposed to do for moving both template and their doc pages? Even if I give the doc page a category, Category:All uncategorized pages, still retains the template (item). Bondishloka (talk) 09:03, 15 January 2025 (UTC)

@Bondishloka generally the way templates are categorized is by using {{sandbox other}} on its doc page, like this. '''[[User:CanonNi]]''' (talk • contribs) 09:16, 15 January 2025 (UTC)

Thank you Bondishloka (talk) 15:08, 15 January 2025 (UTC)

Bondishloka, please look up the use of nowiki when you want to mention bracketed categories or template calls, instead of using them. Messing with the spacing between brackets or curlies on links or templates can throw off parsing algorithms that provide syntax highlighting on the page, for those who have enabled that. Cheers, Mathglot (talk) 00:05, 17 January 2025 (UTC)

Annoying map in Infobox

Using "display=title" in "Template-Coord"" displays the coordinates above the wiki article.
In my sandbox of the Yisan article, no map is shown under "Tambon" in Infobox.
But when I copy this "Yisan" article from my sandbox to the "Yisan" wiki article, a map automatically appears under "Tambon" in Infobox.
The question is how can I stop this annoyance.
SietsLSietsL (talk) 12:35, 15 January 2025 (UTC)

@SietsL: the info box uses {{Infobox settlement}}, which includes a mapframe map based on Wikidata by default. Your sandbox is not linked to Wikidata, so no map is produced. You can hide the map by adding "|mapframe = no" as an extra line in the infobox. TSventon (talk) 13:03, 15 January 2025 (UTC)

Close paraphrasing issues

Hello. I want to expand stub articles on Wikipedia without being blocked for copyright violations of close paraphrasing. I have been reading Wikipedia:Close paraphrasing#How to write acceptable content and I want to add information from the Handbook of Texas and Texas Escapes magazine into the articles I have created or expanded. I have read the template in that section with the title "Example: close paraphrasing repaired", where it says to bring in other sources and "read source information, preferably taking notes to extract essential points, and write a summary in your own words, thereby producing an acceptable version." Although the Handbook of Texas has "fair use" guidelines, I want to write paragraphs that bring together information from two sources, without maintaining the previous sentence structure or style. How can I go about doing that, or should I not do that at all? I haven't edited on Wikipedia much, so I want to get some guidance. Thank you. Colman2000 (talk) 19:53, 15 January 2025 (UTC)

(had to battle my way through a IP spam army) Essentially, if it's not fair use, than see that it's still possible; I would suppose, given they have a copyright over the latest edition of their handbook, trying a earlier one (or rather, look for any excerpts out there). 2601AC47 (talk·contribs·my rights) Isn't a IP anon 23:01, 15 January 2025 (UTC)

Although I should note that you were advised last year over this issue. 2601AC47 (talk·contribs·my rights) Isn't a IP anon 23:04, 15 January 2025 (UTC)

Hello, Colman2000. When I am trying to summarize some pretty complex sources while avoiding close paraphrasing, I use old fashioned techniques like those described in Outline (list), and actually use pen and paper, working usually with a yellow legal pad or maybe with some excess papers from a computer printer that have something irrelevant printed on the back side. As I read the source material for the second or third time, I jot down phases that serve to remind me of the most important points. In general, they may seem vague to other people but are thematic and serve to later remind me of something important. Sometimes, they may be brief and factual like "died NYC 1892 heart attack". They may resemble internet search terms or the briefest summaries of the results of such search terms. Everything I write has a mnemonic function to me. It may make little sense to anyone else, but these phrases are "reminders" to me and me alone of what I believe the most important points are about the content I plan to summarize. When my jottings are done, I then take a break and do something else for an hour or two. Then, I sit down with my rough notes and summarize in full prose what I learned from the sources. Then, I fact check my own writing and also verify that I have truly written in my own words instead of duplicating through memory the work of the original author. I may forget 95% of the wording of the original material but some striking phrase may stick in my mind. If so, I can include that brief content accurately in quotation marks, attributed to the original source. I hope that this helps. Cullen328 (talk) 08:34, 17 January 2025 (UTC)

Edit reverted by viewmont viking

Hello, I am Olliebowen28. I am a new-ish user, and one of my first edits was to the Mankato west high school page. I added the school fight song lyrics and tune to the page. Then, some guy named Viewmont Viking came along and reverted it. The only reason he provided is, "WP is not a webhost." Being a new user, I have no idea what that means. I posted several comments explaining why my edit belongs in wikipedia, and I asked what "WP is not a webhost" means. He never responded to any of my comments, and in desperation for his attention, I reverted his edit of reverting my edit. I put in the description of my edit to look at the talk page comments, and he never looked nor explained. He also posted a few comments on my talk page, linking articles about wikipedia guidelines. None of them applied to my edit. All I ask is that my contribution not be reverted again, or if my contributions did violate some guideline that you explain what guideline was broken and how it can be fixed so that it doesn't.

Many thanks, OllieBowen28 (talk) 22:25, 15 January 2025 (UTC)

Contents in Wikipedia articles need to be Verifiable in reliable sources, therefore informations that might not be significant enough to get coverage from reliable sources typically wouldn't be included due to the difficulty in finding sources for them. You should provide citation for the content you added, otherwise other editors would not be able to check its reliability. Tutwakhamoe (talk) 22:40, 15 January 2025 (UTC)

Thank you for your reply. I will try to find a reliable source OllieBowen28 (talk) 22:55, 15 January 2025 (UTC)

@OllieBowen28, the lyrics to the school's fight song might be protected by copyright. But even if they aren't, they're trivia, not something that belongs in an encyclopedia article. Schazjmd (talk) 23:15, 15 January 2025 (UTC)

Hello, @OllieBowen28. See WP:NOTWEBHOST; the implication is that the other user believed that the material you added was not encyclopaedic.

Quite apart from that, there is the question of copyright: you may not insert copyright material into a Wikipedia article, unless it has been explicitly released or licensed appropriately.

One more point: you are edit-warring, and you must stop. Irrespective of right and wrong, edit-warring is forbidden. ColinFine (talk) 23:16, 15 January 2025 (UTC)

Hello, OllieBowen28, only US song lyrics published over 95 years ago are sure to be in the public domain. My quick Google search shows that Mankato West High School was founded in 1951. If that is accurate, then it is likely that the song lyrics are still copyright protected. Even if they are in the public domain for some reason, most high school song lyrics are banal, routine and predictable. So, unless reliable published sources independent of the high school have commented on the innovative and unique nature of these lyrics, then they do not belong in this encyclopedia. Cullen328 (talk) 08:56, 17 January 2025 (UTC)

Women's Sports Network

Considering creating a draft article for Women's Sports Network, a free ad-supported streaming television service. For some reason the title is blacklisted. Anyone know the reason why? Esolo5002 (talk) 23:08, 15 January 2025 (UTC)

@Esolo5002: Are you sure that's the exact title you tried? Your post here used a normal apostrophe which is allowed but a similar character is disallowed. Compare Draft:Women's Sports Network (allowed) and Draft:Women’s Sports Network (disallowed). PrimeHunter (talk) 23:26, 15 January 2025 (UTC)

James Middleton

Please help with reference number 9 - "journal" comes up as red. Please repair and Im sorry - I did not do this mistake/citation. I saw the red ink. Thanks Srbernadette (talk) 23:20, 15 January 2025 (UTC)

 Already done - There was a missing journal parameter; you're welcome. 2601AC47 (talk·contribs·my rights) Isn't a IP anon 23:26, 15 January 2025 (UTC)

January 16

copyvio

Stumbled across this article: Michael Habermann. Aside from questioning its notability, the article is practically verbatim from a direct primary source with 80% copyvio, here: [1] and [2] and reads like a resume. Is there a template that can be placed on the article stating this or something similar to invite editors to clean-up / re-write the article with secondary sources in their own words? There is already a "BLP sources" at the header. Maybe that's enough? Maineartists (talk) 00:39, 16 January 2025 (UTC)

Definitely a copyvio situation. While our article predates the earliest Internet Archive copies of those two sources, the earliest version of our article is a verbatim copy of the musician's website of the time. See https://web.archive.org/web/20040204000620/http://www.michaelhabermann.com/ and https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Michael_Habermann&oldid=24277064 There is no copyright mention on the musician's website so we have to assume it is copyrighted. There are only minor differences between the current article and the initial 2005 version, so in my opinion this is a WP:TNT situation. the entire article should be deleted as a copyvio, and recreated with independent sources if warranted. Meters (talk) 01:51, 16 January 2025 (UTC)

His current page, https://www.michaelhabermann.com/ is copyrighted 2001, and the ABOUT MICHAEL HABERMANN subpage, https://www.michaelhabermann.com/about/_index.html is unchanged from the version we copied in 2005. Meters (talk) 01:59, 16 January 2025 (UTC)

Nominated as a copyvio WP:TNT at Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Michael Habermann. Meters (talk) 02:11, 16 January 2025 (UTC)

Do not see edit button

I do not see an edit button when I log in. Have I been blocked? If so, why? Davidhhelman (talk) 01:55, 16 January 2025 (UTC)

You are not blocked. If you were you would not have been able to edit this page. Meters (talk) 02:00, 16 January 2025 (UTC)

@Davidhhelman: There are some pages that have certain levels of protection. Did you see a lock icon by the top-right corner of the page? An exception I'm aware of is the main page, which is fully protected, or administrator-only. —Tenryuu 🐲 ( 💬 • 📝 ) 02:05, 16 January 2025 (UTC)

If you can share what pages you were looking at, we could confirm if they are indeed protected which might prevent you from editing. Depending on what device/brower/skin you're using instead of an edit button you might see something like "view source" and if you see that, then there is a very high likelyhood the page you want to edit has been protected, often because of vandalism, and things such as recent political events or global news are often falling into this category. If you want to see something changed on those pages, you can make a WP:EDITREQUEST on the talk page of the article. When you do that, please be specific on you want "X changed to Y" and provide reliable sources to support that change. TiggerJay (talk) 15:17, 16 January 2025 (UTC)

Question related to Speedy deletion criteria

Does CSD G-14 apply if the disambiguation page has other red links? E.g. there is a ship name index page and there is one ship with an article but another without an article yet(however there is a link to it's ship class's article) Thehistorianisaac (talk) 03:31, 16 January 2025 (UTC)

That does not sound like G14 because it's not an obvious and not-reasonably-debatable case. It sounds like there are at least two entries that have bluelink, even if one is only for an article about a broader topic. Could that broader-topic page specifically mention this specific example, such that this example's red-link be made a redirect to it (and therefore blue)? All that takes is one ref. Are there enough refs available you could write a small stub-article? DMacks (talk) 05:02, 16 January 2025 (UTC)

Regarding this

How do I let newcomers know that they can ask me questions like the link? TheTechie@enwiki (she/they | talk) 04:10, 16 January 2025 (UTC)

@TheTechie You sign up as a mentor! See Wikipedia:Growth Team features/Mentor list. Gråbergs Gråa Sång (talk) 10:01, 16 January 2025 (UTC)

Reference formatting

I am not an expert on the different ways of laying out references, but the way it is done at the end of Karma Paul looks really strange to me. It starts with [what I think of as] standard refs, then switches to a form that has reference numbers (to those earlier refs) with page numbers. Is this an acceptable form of referencing, or does it need to be fixed? I will be interested to learn... Gronk Oz (talk) 10:24, 16 January 2025 (UTC)

Hypothesis: It's an attempt to avoid using in-line Template:Reference page while technically perhaps not mixing reftag/sfn citing. It looks very weird and IMO still goes against at least the spirit of WP:REFVAR. Gråbergs Gråa Sång (talk) 11:00, 16 January 2025 (UTC)

I didn't really feel that the footnote template worked very well but haven't come across the Reference page template until now. I'll revise those on the Karma Paul page. Thanks for flagging it up. Babybrew6 (talk) 11:54, 16 January 2025 (UTC)

@Babybrew6, do you wish to comment? Gråbergs Gråa Sång (talk) 11:47, 16 January 2025 (UTC)

@Babybrew6: Ah, that looks so much better now. Much easier to read. Thanks for being so responsive, and thanks Gråbergs Gråa Sång.--Gronk Oz (talk) 23:06, 16 January 2025 (UTC)

Help! Rail-interchange

I want to add a new rail-interchange template for the red line of Namma metro (displayed here Template:Rail-interchange/doc/IN), but couldn't seem to figure out how others were added. I searched everywhere but could not find anything. Footy2000♡; 14:37, 16 January 2025 (UTC)

I think you would do better to ask at TT:Rail-interchange/IN (which has not so far been created) or perhaps better still to add an edit request at TT:Rail-interchange ColinFine (talk) 15:33, 16 January 2025 (UTC)

That page has not been created because the various documentation subpages just detail region-specific codes for the rail-interchange template, all of these different doc subpages exist to avoid having a massive and hard to navigate documentation page. Also, those links go to Tatar Wikipedia.

I agree that the best option is to add an edit request to Template talk:Rail-interchange. Reconrabbit 20:36, 16 January 2025 (UTC)

Oops! I thought TT was a standard shortcut for "Template Talk". ColinFine (talk) 23:18, 16 January 2025 (UTC)

Ngl, that redirect to Tatar wikipedia caught me off gaurd. Thank you for the responses though, it helped. Footy2000♡; 03:02, 17 January 2025 (UTC)

How to re-enable alerts on new in-links pointing to a given article

I received an alert (Bell icon) about a new in-link targeting article FOO that I follow, and clicked in the alert to go to the Foo-linking article. At least, that's what I wanted to do, but in reality, I mistakenly clicked something in the message that caused a message to appear saying "You will no longer be notified about in-links to FOO". How do I undo this? I still want to be notified when editors add links to FOO from other articles. I checked FOO, and I am still a watcher.

I searched around, but couldn't find how to undo this. At one point, I landed at Wikipedia:Article alerts, but that's not it. (A hatnote added to the top of that page linking wherever the right page is would be helpful to other users who encounter this.)

As a corollary, on the analogy of email unsubscribe-confirmed messages that provide a 'Resubscribe' link in case you just made a mistake and never intended to unsubscribe, a small, added, Undo alert removal link added to the you-will-no-longer-be-notified message that would undo the action would be nice. Where would I propose that? Thanks, Mathglot (talk) 20:25, 16 January 2025 (UTC)

Go to your preferences. On Notification tab, at bottom under Muted pages for page link notifications, click the X on the article you have muted to restore notifications, then Save.

When I tested muting a notification for page links, there was a brief pop-up that told me I could manage them in preferences, but it's easy for that to disappear before you read it. Schazjmd (talk) 20:46, 16 January 2025 (UTC)

Schazjmd, thanks so much for this. I did actually swing by the preferences page and even the notifications tab, but obviously I didn't scroll down far enough. While looking at all the options visible upon first view of that page above the fold—even scrolling down 80% of the page—they are all site-wide options, not page-specific, and I reasoned that this page was wholly about site-wide options, and didn't scroll down that last little bit, so I missed that last part at the very bottom, and clicked away too soon. (That pref page tab might benefit by a small link above the fold, mentioning the possibility of page-specific options at the bottom.) Anyway, I've undone the muting on that page, and in the bargain I discovered two other pages that are muted, much to my surprise and annoyance, and against my preference, as I never even knew alerts were blocked for those. Probably tons of users have pages muted from alerts that they are not even aware of.

And yeah, that pop-up is too brief—do you have any idea where should one go to propose a change to the pop-up, maybe to have a longer time-out, a dismiss icon, and an Undo link? Some project here or at mw:? If Phab, what project? Mathglot (talk) 23:57, 16 January 2025 (UTC)

I don't, @Mathglot, sorry. I agree that it could use some work; if I hadn't been looking for something to tell me where to go, I would have missed it. Interestingly, when I did the test, I found that I had other pages muted as well, although I don't recall ever doing so. Schazjmd (talk) 00:04, 17 January 2025 (UTC)

Hello, @Mathglot. I would start at WP:VPT - the folks there might direct you somewhere else. ColinFine (talk) 13:45, 17 January 2025 (UTC)

Language Addition

Adieu Vinyle La rebelle : Les aventures de la jeune George Sand Neea River Hey,

I have made several articles over the past 24 hours that are have been available in other languages before I made the English Wikipedia page. How do I add the languages to the wiki, so people can select their language? Thanks

Electricsnake247 (talk) 23:46, 16 January 2025 (UTC)

@Electricsnake247, your question has been answered at the Teahouse. Please don't post the same question in multiple places, thanks. Schazjmd (talk) 23:53, 16 January 2025 (UTC)

Cannot see article I wrote.

Hey,

I wrote the article La rebelle : Les aventures de la jeune George Sand today and published it. I am now trying to search for it and it won't come up automatically unless I copy/paste the title or if I go to see all results.

This hasn't happened before so i am unsure what is going on.

Thanks Electricsnake247 (talk) 23:48, 16 January 2025 (UTC)

@Electricsnake247: mw:Help:CirrusSearch#How frequently is the search index updated? says: "The second index to consider is the fuzzy auto-complete title search. This index is updated once a day and mirrors what was found in the full-text search index at the time the index was updated. Depending on timing a new page could take two days to be found in the fuzzy title autocomplete." PrimeHunter (talk) 00:00, 17 January 2025 (UTC)

January 17

I need help... again.

How do I add a file from another Wikipedia? User332224 (talk) 00:40, 17 January 2025 (UTC)

You mean a existing image from another language of Wikipedia? 2601AC47 (talk·contribs·my rights) Isn't a IP anon 00:42, 17 January 2025 (UTC)

yes User332224 (talk) 00:53, 17 January 2025 (UTC)

That's what I mean. User332224 (talk) 00:56, 17 January 2025 (UTC)

If you link the pic you have in mind, editors here might be able to tell you if it's possible to use that pic on en-WP. Gråbergs Gråa Sång (talk) 07:57, 17 January 2025 (UTC)

In any case, see this for information on how to add them to a article. 2601AC47 (talk·contribs·my rights) Isn't a IP anon 00:46, 17 January 2025 (UTC)

The only images that can be displayed on English Wikipedia pages are ones that are here on enwiki or are on commons. You cannot display an image here from another language's wikipedia. But (depending on the file's license and how you plan to use it) you might be able to download the file from that other language and then upload it here on enwiki or maybe to commons. DMacks (talk) 05:10, 17 January 2025 (UTC)

I plan to place it on the infobox in an English translation of a page on the Portuguese wikipedia. User332224 (talk) 14:58, 17 January 2025 (UTC)

You mean this? 2601AC47 (talk·contribs·my rights) Isn't a IP anon 15:17, 17 January 2025 (UTC)

This pic? [3] If so, when/if your translation is accepted in article space, you can upload it locally on en-WP. If that happens, go to the File upload wizard and chose "Upload a non-free file". > "This is a copyrighted, non-free work, but I believe it is Fair Use" > "This is the official cover art of a work." Gråbergs Gråa Sång (talk) 15:18, 17 January 2025 (UTC)

Adding City Officials and Job Description

I am attempting to add the city's elected Officials Treasurer and Clerk, however I am stumped on to include them. DeanLJones (talk) 01:17, 17 January 2025 (UTC)

Treasurer and clerk are usually not included in an article about a city due to the relative lack of coverage these positions received. If some notable individual has or had served in one of these roles, you can mention their time in office by adding Template:Infobox officeholder as a module of the existing infobox. Tutwakhamoe (talk) 06:05, 17 January 2025 (UTC)

This user appears to be a WP:SPA centered solely on editing the article for Compton, California. Sarsenet (talk) 06:27, 17 January 2025 (UTC)

Copying from GFDL-only Wikipedia

Copying from GFDL-only sources is prohibited. However, does this extend to Wikipedia when it was GFDL-only? In other words, is it prohibited to copy from a pre-2009 Wikipedia edit to an article today? If not, why? JJP_Master (she/they) 04:29, 17 January 2025 (UTC)

Hello, JJPMaster. I think that GNU Free Documentation License and its references should answer most of your questions. In brief, special arrangements were made in the phase-out of GFDL licensing from Wikipedia, and I do not fully understand all those provisions. Cullen328 (talk) 07:23, 17 January 2025 (UTC)

Correct value of page= parameter when citing a journal via a compilation of an entire volume

Hi, apologies if some of my terminology is off, but I'm trying to figure out what the proper way is to cite an article within a journal where the source available online is a compilation of an entire volume of the journal, with its own page numberings. The source in question is at this link; the article is on page 456 of volume 14, but presumably the article's page number when issue 28 was distributed on its own was different. There doesn't seem to be any obvious way to distinguish whether the reference is citing the article within the volume as a whole or an individual issue of the volume.

I've gone with this for now, but I'm not sure if this is correct: {{cite journal |last1=Taylor |first1=J.N. |title=Organic Chemicals |journal=World Trade Notes on Chemicals and Allied Products |date=13 July 1940 |volume=14 |issue=28 |page=456 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jdseHwBxG5YC&pg=PA456 |access-date=17 January 2025 |publisher=[[United States Department of Commerce|Department of Commerce Chemical Division]] |location=Washington, D.C. |language=en}}.

Thank you! Jokullmusic 17:21, 17 January 2025 (UTC)