Wikipedia:Help desk

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January 2

Article class changes

Is there any way to check the progress of the number of articles in each class over time within a project? Wakelamp d[@-@]b (talk) 12:54, 2 January 2025 (UTC)a

@Wakelamp: Which project? Many have counts with page histories at Special:PrefixIndex/User:WP 1.0 bot/Tables. PrimeHunter (talk) 14:15, 2 January 2025 (UTC)

@PrimeHunter Thank you for that. I have now found the Australia project., but I would like to be able to compare it over a period of time . I am hoping that it will allow us time to co-ordinate what should be done..Wakelamp d[@-@]b (talk) 02:53, 4 January 2025 (UTC)

I have just asked the same question on the Wikimedia.research page. Wakelamp d[@-@]b (talk) 03:38, 4 January 2025 (UTC)

@Wakelamp: User:WP 1.0 bot/Tables/Project/Australia has a page history as I said. Click "View history" at the top or "Last edited" at the bottom to see the counts on other dates. See more at Help:Page history. PrimeHunter (talk) 08:43, 4 January 2025 (UTC)

How to find out if the number of articles quoting a source has decreased?

There is a great deal of antipathy towards the Murdoch press in Australia. Interested to see if there has been any systematic removal. Wakelamp d[@-@]b (talk) 12:58, 2 January 2025 (UTC)

There have been discussions about the reliability of these organizations on the Reliable sources noticeboard... you can look these up, but I believe that The Australian is listed as "generally reliable", and The Daily Telegraph (Sydney) as "generally unreliable". Regardless, these sources are still used in many articles. You can see this with the following search: Special:Search/insource:dailytelegraph.com.au Reconrabbit 15:34, 2 January 2025 (UTC)'

So, I found this neat tool which (says it) shows the occurrence of any string in the whole English Wikipedia. I searched on they string "|work=The Australian" and got 8,000 results which apparently is the limit. There are probably thousands upon thousands more, and this doesn't include "| work=The Australian" or "|work=the Australian" or bare URLS, and of course it only gives the present state and not change over time. So it's not any good for this. But it is cool. And you know there are at least 8,000 uses. Herostratus (talk) 02:01, 4 January 2025 (UTC)

@Reconrabbit thank you for your reply.anf your reference to the insource:. I am.more after what @User:Herostratus[mentioned but with the full number by month Wakelamp d[@-@]b (talk) 02:47, 4 January 2025 (UTC)

I have just asked the same question on the Wikimedia.research page. Wakelamp d[@-@]b (talk) 03:37, 4 January 2025 (UTC)

January 3

Automatic taxobox system: Way to display all entries in a page's Template:Taxonomy hierarchy (preferably automatically)?

For pages that use the template {{automatic taxobox}} (and related ones such as {{speciesbox}}), the taxonomic hierarchy displayed in the "Scientific classification" sidebar does not come from the page itself; rather, it comes from a different template which is automatically included. For example, the page Mammal automatically gets that information from the template {{Taxonomy/Mammalia}}. However, it only displays a limited subset of the information from that template, mainly (but not necessarily entirely) of the "Kings Play Chess On Fine Gold Stools" type. So you'll notice that the "Mammal" page displays seven levels, whereas the "Taxonomy/Mammalia" template that it pulls them from knows about twenty-five levels.

I get the reasoning -- it's like a "Greatest Hits" album -- but I like seeing the whole thing. I understand you can click on the editing icon next to "Scientific classification" to go to the associated taxonomy template, but I'm wondering if there's some way to have them displayed inline on the page instead of switching to a new page. Preferably I'd like this to be automatic, like a preference setting or maybe a user CSS setting. Does anyone know of such a thing? Thanks. - Rwv37 (talk) 00:59, 3 January 2025 (UTC)

Question about an article

What is the closest article that has a similar infobox to a country, but for the whole world? Interstellarity (talk) 01:29, 3 January 2025 (UTC)

Interstellarity, do you perhaps mean "Among articles that have as their subject the entire world, which has/have an infobox that is closest to that used for an individual country?"? If not, please elucidate. -- Hoary (talk) 01:55, 3 January 2025 (UTC)

@Hoary To be clear, yes, that is what I was talking about. Interstellarity (talk) 02:26, 4 January 2025 (UTC)

Sorry, Interstellarity, I don't know. I did guess, however; and what I found surprised me. We have Coal mining and Coal-mining region, and exploring the latter we encounter Category:Coal mining regions by country and Category:Coal mining regions in the United States. As coalfields can of course cross borders, it makes sense that Coal mining in Wyoming, for example, is independent of "coal mining regions". Still, it's somewhat odd. None of the (few) coal-mining-related pages I looked at have infoboxes; but it's easy to imagine how a single infobox template could be used for regions; for provinces, etc; and for nations. -- Hoary (talk) 08:53, 4 January 2025 (UTC)

Which place to go to for help in resolving a dispute

I find myself in a disagreement—a dispute, I’d have to say—with other editors of a biographical article on Ian Stevenson, an American psychiatrist who researched cases in which children claim to remember past lives.

I have been seeking to resolve the dispute through polite and constructive talk, but given the responses so far, it seems we may need some help. My question concerns which avenue for dispute resolution would seem most appropriate.

The issue in brief: On December 6, without prior discussion, one editor, being bold, deleted from various parts of the article 16,703 bytes of text. On the same day, he was joined by another editor, who deleted 1,009 bytes more. The edits undid roughly a year’s worth of work by me and other editors. The deletions consisted largely of material from high-quality reliable sources.

To complicate matters: On the Talk page and the Fringe Theories Noticeboard, the first editor went in for what might reasonably be seen as personal attacks.

Given the overwhelming extent of the sudden edits, I suggested on the Talk page that we restore the article to its previous state and then use a process of “talking and editing” to go through proposed deletions. Several editors quickly responded that we should do the opposite: Leave all the deletions in place and then incrementally consider what I might wish to see restored.

It appears to me that the editors responding are like-minded souls, at least some well known to one another—a “local consensus”—and that we would benefit from “outside” input.

My question concerns how to proceed. Should I post an RfC? Should I go to the Dispute Resolution Noticeboard”? Or what? I especially ask because although this essentially seems to me a content dispute, it also involves behaviors, such as personal attacks and disruptive editing, that would seem to deserve review.

I have practically no experience with dispute resolution outside of discussion on Talk pages, so I would be grateful for advice.

Thank you.

Cordially, O Govinda (talk) 02:13, 3 January 2025 (UTC)

If there has been extensive discussion on the article talk pages, and whatever content issue is not resolved by either editors involved (i.e. no consensus was able to be reached), than the DRN is the place to go. If behavior issues are in play, and such editor(s) fail to respond accordingly and with no regard for our policies and guidelines, than report it to admins. 2601AC47 (talk·contribs·my rights) Isn't a IP anon 02:20, 3 January 2025 (UTC)

BTW, I took a good look at the talk, and I would suggest taking into consideration what Psychologist Guy has told you for the last year and a half as far as that is concerned, especially about fringe theories. If it's a simple dispute (at this rate unlikely) between you two, than try getting a 3rd opinion. 2601AC47 (talk·contribs·my rights) Isn't a IP anon 02:32, 3 January 2025 (UTC)

O Govinda has repeatedly attempted to rewrite the article about Stevenson to present him in a more favourable light spanning over half a decade, and been repeatedly opposed every time. Govinda should probably WP:DROPTHESTICK at this point. Hemiauchenia (talk) 04:01, 3 January 2025 (UTC)

I note here that O Govinda was yesterday indefinitely blocked from both Ian Stevenson and its Talk page because of their disruptive editing; specifically, for pushing fringe views against consensus. This discussion can thus be closed. JoJo Anthrax (talk) 23:18, 4 January 2025 (UTC)

Page incorrectly marked as extended-protected

I have the user preference set to see hidden categories on pages like Wikipedia:Articles for creation/Redirects, which is part of the Category:Wikipedia extended-confirmed-protected pages, despite not actually being protected. I was wondering how this could have happened, and whether a request over at WP:RFUP would do anything. Cheers. LR.127 (talk) 03:19, 3 January 2025 (UTC)

The page is ECP-protected for "move" not for "edit". DMacks (talk) 07:24, 3 January 2025 (UTC)

Google Indexing Issue for Camdenmusique

Hi, I noticed that the "Camdenmusique" article is not appearing in Google search results. Could someone please help review it for potential indexing issues or explain why it might not be showing? Thank you! GD234 (talk) 05:25, 3 January 2025 (UTC)

Draft:Camdenmusique isn't an article; it's a draft. Google doesn't spider drafts. There's a template on the draft, inviting you to submit the draft for consideration as an article. -- Hoary (talk) 05:35, 3 January 2025 (UTC)

It was an article, but I moved it to draft. See related discussion at AN. voorts (talk/contributions) 05:41, 3 January 2025 (UTC)

@GD234 What is your personal connection with Camdenmusique? Shantavira|^{feed me} 10:08, 3 January 2025 (UTC)

I have a personal connection as someone involved with Camdenmusique's work. I’ve disclosed this on the Talk page in line with Wikipedia’s Conflict of Interest guidelines and am focused on ensuring the draft is neutral, factual, and well-sourced. GD234 (talk) 21:18, 3 January 2025 (UTC)

Where do I ask questions if the wikiproject is practically inactive

Recently asked for help on wikiproject law enforcement, it's been a day already and nobody has responded(other than an update by me).

May I ask where to ask for help if the wikiproject is practically inactive?

If I have to, i might also ask for help on wikiproject china but doesn't seem like it is particularly active either.

(also if possible help out on fixing wikipedia articles on chinese law enforcement and the wikimedia commons category, the entire place is a huge mess) Thehistorianisaac (talk) 10:11, 3 January 2025 (UTC)

My advise is to be patient, a day is a really short time to wait for response here in Wikipedia. You should be aware that Wikipedia editors are volunteers, and are not obligated to keep up with quotas or progress. For your requests, you basically need to wait for someone who is interested in these topics to help out. Tutwakhamoe (talk) 11:38, 3 January 2025 (UTC)

I understand, but I just want to know where to ask for help since wikiproject law enforcement is considered to be only semi-active Thehistorianisaac (talk) 11:43, 3 January 2025 (UTC)

Hello, @Thehistorianisaac. There isn't anybody. A WikiProject dies because nobody (or not enough) volunteer editors are willing to spend any time on it. The talk page, or talk pages of associated WikiProjects, are the most likely places to find people who are interested in reviving it, but there is no guarantee you will find anybody. It's a bit like asking "Where can I go for help to revive my local tennis club/book club/drama society that seems to have died?" ColinFine (talk) 14:10, 3 January 2025 (UTC)

That's sad

But good news it is still sort of semi-active, and sorting out wikimedia categories is stuff most people can do Thehistorianisaac (talk) 14:13, 3 January 2025 (UTC)

I agree that (semi)simple commons-category cleanups probably don't require project collaboration. For example, if there are two different cats, one for each of two different topics, but files are mis-placed, just change the cat. If one topic with a cat is a subtopic of another, likewise easy to put all the subtopic's files in a subcat rather than the parent-cat. There are some tools we have on commons that can help if there are lots of files to do at once. Let me know if you need help with that. DMacks (talk) 16:43, 3 January 2025 (UTC)

Thanks for offering to help, so far the first problem i found is just simply people put the category for armed police(gendarme) in the category for people's police/public security bureaus(local civilian police) when it comes to categories for police inside a city; for this i will make another category for law enforcement in that city to split apart local civilian police and the armed police.

After this it's mostly just adding categories to other categories. Thehistorianisaac (talk) 03:33, 4 January 2025 (UTC)

Sounds like a good plan. A tag like {{About|what this one is about|what the other one is about instead|other cat name}} in each could help both readers and editors make sure they understand what is where. DMacks (talk) 07:51, 4 January 2025 (UTC)

Understood. Will start to work on it when i have time. Anyways, thanks to you'all for helping me out Thehistorianisaac (talk) 08:08, 4 January 2025 (UTC)

David Ekserdjian

Ref number 7 is all wrong and in "red". Please fix. Sorry, I cannot work this one out! — Preceding unsigned comment added by SrBernadette (talk • contribs) 10:32, 3 January 2025 (UTC)

You can't spell February! See this fix. Mike Turnbull (talk) 10:44, 3 January 2025 (UTC)

Names of media

I'm working on the article about Jorge Lanata, a journalist from Argentina. It is needed to mention several non-fiction media releases he has worked in: TV programs, newspapers, magazines, documentaries, etc; all with names in Spanish, and only some with articles to link. Which is the correct way to write them? Simple prose, as if the names are words like any other, as in Periodismo para todos? Quotation marks, as in "Periodismo para todos"? Italics, as in Periodismo para todos? Cambalachero (talk) 15:38, 3 January 2025 (UTC)

Please see MOS:TITLE. ColinFine (talk) 18:18, 3 January 2025 (UTC)

Accidentally created new article

I was in the process of creating an article for one of Abraham Lincoln's descendants when I saw that there was an AfD discussion for deleting it some time ago. I already published the page anyways as I was planning on coming back to it to continue editing before I saw the discussion. Any help on deleting/un-publishing? Thanks. Qqars (talk) 17:16, 3 January 2025 (UTC)

@Qqars: I have marked the page for G7 speedy deletion for you. Next time, you can just add {{db-author}} to the top of any page you made that you want deleted. JJP_Master (she/they) 17:19, 3 January 2025 (UTC)

Ah, thank you! I did see that but I wasn't sure if it would work since I didn't think this was in my own user space. Qqars (talk) 17:35, 3 January 2025 (UTC)

Hello, @Qqars. {{db-author}} isn't limited to user space, but it is limited to files with no significant contributions from anybody else. ColinFine (talk) 18:19, 3 January 2025 (UTC)

@Qqars: Another possibility for the case of wanting to continue working on it can be to move it to draft space; so "Foo" becomes "Draft:Foo". Feline Hymnic (talk) 10:50, 4 January 2025 (UTC)

Is a map slideshow possible?

I have just uploaded three maps (each 4954 × 2868 pixels) of the Kaliningrad Oblast, one with placenames in Russian Cyrillic, one with them in Romanized Russian, and one showing the old prewar German names. I would like to be able to display these in one or two articles as a slideshow without sacrificing resolution or size so that a user can pore over the map as it were, full size, and see the names change every 15 seconds or so. I have tried .gif animation, but online apps always see fit to shrink the images and it does not work the way I'd like it to. Is there a way in which what I want can be done? Kelisi (talk) 03:59, 4 January 2025 (UTC)

@Kelisi: As that's likely to fall foul of WP:ACCESSIBILITY, I wouldn't bother but, instead, display the three adjacently. If readers want to compare them in detail they can zoom or download the images. Bazza 7 (talk) 10:52, 4 January 2025 (UTC)

Yes, that was my other idea, but if anybody else knows a solution for my first idea, I'm still all ears. Thanks. Kelisi (talk) 15:57, 4 January 2025 (UTC)

January 4

Copyvio or acceptable?

The article 1990 Luzon earthquake has two paragraphs with CN tags that are copied from https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/00001734.htm. Would this be allowed per https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:FAQ/Copyright#Can_I_add_something_to_Wikipedia_that_I_got_from_somewhere_else? or would it be copyvio? Wildfireupdateman :) (talk) 04:42, 4 January 2025 (UTC)

@Wildfireupdateman: Works produced by the U.S. federal government are in the public domain, so I don't think it'd be a violation. JJP_Master (she/they) 04:43, 4 January 2025 (UTC)

It's not copyrighted, so not copyvio. However, any paragraph-length direct copy must be attributed to avoid plagiarism. See WP:plagiarism. The attribution for a shorter direct copy is arguably handled by just citing the source, although that's a bit weak. It's more proper to use actual quotation marks and a cite. Plagiarisn: any copying without attribution. Copyvio: copying copyrighted material with or without attribution. -Arch dude (talk) 04:55, 4 January 2025 (UTC)

Renumbering items in a table

I have added two items (and expect I will have more to add) to the table in this entry List of New York State Historic Markers in Albany County, New York. They are the first #86 (Oriskatach) and the first #141 (Van der Zee Manor House). (Note: reviewing the table, I see Oriskatach actually claimed number 86, but now there are two number 87s.) However, because I copied and pasted an existing entry to work from, the row numbers were duplicated. I can go in and renumber all the items starting with the second #87, but I wonder if a template or other device was used that can now renumber the entries? I've looked through the archives and found this and also looked into static row numbers, but am quite uncertain about how to proceed. Any help would be appreciated, so I can understand how to fix it now and avoid the same problem when I add new entries. Many thanks. ~~~ TrudiJ (talk) 12:27, 4 January 2025 (UTC)

@TrudiJ: having read the linked helpdesk query, I think a manual update would be the simplest option. If you are making several changes you could add numbers like 86a, make a note on the talk page and then do a final manual renumbering.

@Teratornis:, you helped in 2009, do you know if anything has changed since then? TSventon (talk) 14:43, 4 January 2025 (UTC)

You might consider {{row counter}}.

—Trappist the monk (talk) 15:37, 4 January 2025 (UTC)

Is a birth date required ...

... for all Wiki biographies? Although it seems to be required as per the MOS, I wasn't sure in situations when we might not find it out even after searching for third-party sources.

Incidentally, as I tried to figure out where else in Wikidom I might get help on this miniscule point, I came across something called "Editor Assistance," which was supposed to offer one-on-one assistance. What a disappointment to learn at the landing page that it was no longer available and the page was being kept merely for historical reference. I hope the Wiki tekkies are working on something using the power of AI to take its place. Augnablik (talk) 16:12, 4 January 2025 (UTC)

1. You are expected to do your best to find a date of birth; but if there is none, say so, including any comments you may find about the lack thereof in the record.

2. Given AI's complete and utter unreliability, its tendency to hallucinate and fabricate, it's safe to say we will not allow the power of AI to mess us up. --Orange Mike | Talk 16:19, 4 January 2025 (UTC)

Agreed, AI isn’t ready to do a lot of things at this point. But it’s not too early for tekkies to begin working on things they want to make use of some day … Augnablik (talk) 16:37, 4 January 2025 (UTC)

Thanks for the clarification about BLP birth dates. Augnablik (talk) 16:39, 4 January 2025 (UTC)

Searching for contents of Redirects (or specific redirects)

I thought doing a insource search for /REDIRECT\[\[Alpha / would enable me to find all pages which redirect to a wikipedia page starting with Alpha, but that doesn't work. Is the issue tied in with Phab:T204089? If so, is there a good way to do this? (Ideally, I'd like to search for those pages which redirect to any page starting with an english spelling of a greek letter followed by a spaceNaraht (talk) 18:05, 4 January 2025 (UTC)

Oops - Duplicate pages

Hi, I was asked to create a page for a person. I took a couple of days and didn't realize that another had been created in the meantime. Now there are two: James Brown (Montana politician) and James Brown (Montana Politician). Sorry. Can someone help fix this? Thanks. H0n0r (talk) 18:54, 4 January 2025 (UTC)

I have redirected Montana Politician to Montana politician as some of the text had already been copied over and added talk page templates to confirm this. TSventon (talk) 19:49, 4 January 2025 (UTC)

Thank you so much! H0n0r (talk) 00:21, 5 January 2025 (UTC)

:Hello, @H0n0r. You say you were "asked" to create a page for Brown. Who asked you, and what connection do you have with Brown? Please review Wikipedia's policies on editing with a conflict of interest, and paid editing. ColinFine (talk) 22:13, 4 January 2025 (UTC)

It looks like H0n0r was simply asked by another editor interested in American politics. Helpful Raccoon (talk) 22:38, 4 January 2025 (UTC)

Oh, right. I have struck out my comment. Thank you Helpful Raccoon --ColinFine (talk) 23:16, 4 January 2025 (UTC)

Yep, just getting pages made for newly elected/sworn in people. Thanks so much. H0n0r (talk) 00:23, 5 January 2025 (UTC)

When previewing a change, how do I make corrections

I thought a while ago you could keep editing in the preview mode until you got it right, but now I don't see a way to do that. The only choices I have are to go ahead and publish as is without making needed corrections, or leave the page to abandon the edit and start over. I must be missing something! Thanks, Spalding (talk) 20:52, 4 January 2025 (UTC)

@Spalding: You have enabled "Use the wikitext mode inside the visual editor, instead of a different wikitext editor" at Special:Preferences#mw-prefsection-editing. With this mode the top left of a preview page should have a left arrow < which goes back to the edit window and remembers your changes. You may have to also click X in a popup box before making other changes. Does this work? The arrow is on the same line as the publish link. Your browser interface may have a back arrow higher up. Don't use that. PrimeHunter (talk) 21:20, 4 January 2025 (UTC)

Yes, that worked. Thanks, PrimeHunter! Spalding (talk) 21:28, 4 January 2025 (UTC)

Ì forgot to login and created a Talk page for an article...

How can I delete this? Starlighsky (talk) 23:28, 4 January 2025 (UTC)

Email me or another admin the details and the IP info associated with the edit can be WP:REVDEL'd. DMacks (talk) 00:02, 5 January 2025 (UTC)

How do I email you or an administrator? Starlighsky (talk) 00:31, 5 January 2025 (UTC)

@Starlighsky: Special:EmailUser/DMacks. JJP_Master (she/they) 00:33, 5 January 2025 (UTC)

Thanks. I just emailed the issue. Starlighsky (talk) 00:37, 5 January 2025 (UTC)

January 5

The fair use file I uploaded is about to be deleted. What can I do?

File:Longxiangqiao station diagram.jpg Félix An (talk) 02:23, 5 January 2025 (UTC)

Following the directions on the page itself, it says Note : if you believe that a free replacement image cannot be reasonably found or created please add one of the following without removing this tag.... Alternatively you can reach out to Iruka13 who placed the CSD F7 on the page to begin with. TiggerJay (talk) 02:47, 5 January 2025 (UTC)

Problems saving via Wayback Machine

I know this isn't a Wikipedia problem, but was just wondering if anyone else has experienced problems recently with trying to archive pages using Wayback Machine recently. I haven't been able to save any for many weeks now, never having experienced any problems with it before. Laterthanyouthink (talk) 04:42, 5 January 2025 (UTC)