Wikipedia talk:Help desk/Archive 14

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Editnotices on mobile

Hi Help desk folks. Recently, as per a passed RfC, Wikipedia:EditNoticesOnMobile is being rolled out to mobile users in a phased manner. Currently, it is available by default only for Extended confirmed users & Administrators, and will be expanded to all other users if everything goes right. If you find someone reporting a technical issue with the tool, please consider directing the issue to Wikipedia:Village pump (technical) or Wikipedia talk:EditNoticesOnMobile. Thank you! —CX Zoom[he/him] ^{(let's talk • {C•X})} 06:51, 4 August 2022 (UTC)

Archiving may be interrupted

scsbot hit a brick wall tonight and is no longer able to add date headers to the Help desk, or archive it. Something seems to have changed on the Mediawiki side, exposing a new, unsuspected incompatibility in the way scsbot mechanically edits Wikipedia pages.

I'm not sure how long it will take me to track this down and fix it. In the meantime, archiving will be interrupted, and people will probably have to add date headers by hand.

See also Wikipedia talk:Reference desk#Archiving may be interrupted.

If anyone knows of any specific Mediawiki change that might have been rolled out in the last 24 hours, please let me know! Thanks. —scs (talk) 00:22, 19 August 2022 (UTC)

I manually inserted the date header. I might try archiving it, but I'm not sure how it works. weeklyd3 (block | talk | contributions) 00:24, 19 August 2022 (UTC)

@Scs: Also, it might be a change that happened yesterday. weeklyd3 (block | talk | contributions) 00:25, 19 August 2022 (UTC)

@Weeklyd3: Yup, just spotted that announcement myself. It's got to be related, although I don't yet see anything in the release notes that might be relevant. —scs (talk) 00:27, 19 August 2022 (UTC)

I also figured out how to archive it and I archived August 15. weeklyd3 (block | talk | contributions) 00:35, 19 August 2022 (UTC)

The issue is resolved; see Wikipedia talk:Reference desk#Archiving may be interrupted for details if curious. —scs (talk) 02:28, 24 August 2022 (UTC)

Profile pictures for federal judges not showing when I hover my mouse over their names

Moved to Wikipedia:Help desk § Profile pictures for federal judges not showing when I hover my mouse over their names

Weeklyd3 (talk) 02:02, 26 August 2022 (UTC)

Apple store and play store

Hello 203.96.243.185 (talk) 10:43, 31 August 2022 (UTC)

hi! —TheDJ (talk • contribs) 10:49, 31 August 2022 (UTC)

Manually archive post

Can someone either manually archive or remove the WP:HD#I will no longer be donating thread currently at the top of the HD. My guess is that Scsbot missed it for some reason when archiving the September 24 thread and this is why it's currently floating at the top of the HD. -- Marchjuly (talk) 10:32, 28 September 2022 (UTC)

@Marchjuly: done. lettherebedarklight, 晚安, おやすみ, ping me when replying 10:42, 28 September 2022 (UTC)

Upcoming WMF fundraising campaign

Hello everyone,

My name is Julia and I am the Community Relations person at the WMF Advancement Department which includes the fundraising team. As you might be aware the WMF will be launching the English Wikipedia banner fundraising campaign in late November and it will run until the end of December.

During last years' campaign, I noticed that you had a lot of people coming to this space with questions, suggestions, and complaints about the campaign. I am trying to help to decrease this kind of traffic this year. I prepared a draft Template for you to use. This is a draft so please do add aspects you would like to see in it. Using this template is a suggestion to hopefully make your life here easier in case you get an influx of enquiries during the campaign. I hope it will be useful and if you would like me to make any changes to it, please do let me know.

You could also add an extra line to the header and the Are you in the right place page, reading (suggestion):

If you have any questions, concerns, or complaints around the banner fundraising campaign (visible on Wikipedia between the 29th of November and the 31st of December), please email donate(@)wikimedia.org

Generally speaking, you can ping me with anything fundraising related and I will come and help!

Best,

JBrungs (WMF) (talk) 06:21, 6 October 2022 (UTC)

Virtual meeting this Friday

Hello,

The Editing team is hosting a public meeting this Friday, December 16th to talk about the needs of new editors. You are all invited. They want to present some ideas they have about encouraging the addition of inline citations, and they want to hear what you think will help newcomers make productive contributions.

When: Friday, 16 December 2022 at 16:00–17:30 UTC  

Video conference link: https://meet.google.com/krq-tonw-quz

This meeting will be in English.  There is some information on wiki at mw:Editing team/Community Conversations#16 December 2022  You don't need to sign up in advance, but you can sign up on that page if you want to.

If you aren't able to attend, but you have some information or advice for the team, you can also leave a public note for the Editing team at mw:Talk:Editing team/Community Conversations. (Also, if you want to find out about future events, I suggest putting that page on your watchlist. I think the next meeting will be on 20 January 2023 in Zoom (software), with a French interpreter.)

I hope to see some of you there. Whatamidoing (WMF) (talk) 17:27, 14 December 2022 (UTC)

Gina Gogean's reference from Sports Reference to Olympedia

I want to explain about the reference for the Former Gymnast from Romania Gina Gogean. In 2020, Sports Reference has closed the Olympic Site, and open a new site is Olympedia. And I have is this . Can you help me out how to solve a problem. I'm sorry. It will be a transfer. Thank you. 100.2.114.167 (talk) 01:33, 30 December 2022 (UTC)

References

IP editor, this is the help desk's talk page, used to discuss the operation of the help desk and related issues, not the help desk itself. 199.208.172.35 (talk) 15:29, 3 January 2023 (UTC)

Changing Username

How to change your username GeorgeKil (talk) 16:43, 9 January 2023 (UTC)

Either Special:GlobalRenameRequest or WP:CHUS. 331dot (talk) 16:46, 9 January 2023 (UTC)

Vector 2022 questions

Is there some blanket message that we can display to maybe address at least some of the flood of questions we are getting about it? 331dot (talk) 19:23, 18 January 2023 (UTC)

A template like the HD/donations one would be very helpful. Just a basic "The default desktop skin has changed. Account holders can change back in prefs. IPs are outta luck. Complain about it at (link)." It'll probably continue to come in useful over the next few weeks/months. 199.208.172.35 (talk) 19:56, 18 January 2023 (UTC)

@331dot: I whipped up {{HD/wikilayout}}. Any thoughts? —Tenryuu 🐲 ( 💬 • 📝 ) 23:19, 18 January 2023 (UTC)

Tenryuu You're more talented than I. :) I think that's pretty good. 331dot (talk) 00:47, 19 January 2023 (UTC)

Brilliant. I see it's already getting used. Hopefully the flood of "??!" will abate in the next few days. 199.208.172.35 (talk) 14:44, 19 January 2023 (UTC)

Vector 2022 reader feedback

See Wikipedia:Village pump (technical)#Where to direct reader feedback? as to where to direct feedback. S0091 (talk) 23:17, 18 January 2023 (UTC)

In short, it is Wikipedia talk:Vector 2022. Trizek (WMF) (talk) 15:19, 19 January 2023 (UTC)

Can we add Vector message to the Help Desk header?

Over at the Teahouse, someone added this message to the block at the top of the page: If you are here to ask about the change to Wikipedia's appearance and how to change back, you can find more information at Wikipedia:Vector 2022

I think it would be good to have a similar message at the Help Desk. What do others think? I don't know how to make that addition myself. RudolfRed (talk) 19:27, 21 January 2023 (UTC)

@RudolfRed: I've gone ahead and added something; hopefully it's enough. You can change it over at WP:Help desk/header. —Tenryuu 🐲 ( 💬 • 📝 ) 19:37, 21 January 2023 (UTC)

The message at the top reads: If you have a question or concern about the new Vector 2022 skin that is enabled by default, please go to this talk page. Thoughts about future directions for the skin's deployment can be submitted at this Request for Comments.

What's a "skin"? What is "Vector"? Where can I comment on the new look? Without wanting to seem ungrateful, that's of no use to most people who want to comment or complain about the new look.

Perhaps: If you have a question or concern about the new look for Wikipedia, please go to this page. If you want to make suggestions about whether this new look should continue, you can add them to this Request for Comments. Bazza (talk) 09:54, 22 January 2023 (UTC)

Looking for mentors

Howdy hello folks! Would you like to help out with editor retention? Like working at places like the Teahouse? You should become a mentor! Just go to Special:EnrollAsMentor. Its pretty easy: you get auto-assigned editors who can ask questions on your talk page. I'm a mentor, and I get a few questions a month from my mentees. Its nice because the newbie editors get a more personalized touch and have help built into their interface. More details about the program can be found at Wikipedia:Growth Team features. Editor retention is one of the best things we can do to improve Wikipedia; your help makes a difference! CaptainEek ^{Edits Ho Cap'n!}⚓ 18:28, 8 February 2023 (UTC)

To sign up, I have to write an "introduction message". How can I see what other volunteers have written? Maproom (talk) 21:34, 8 February 2023 (UTC)

@Maproom They're on Special:ManageMentors. If you look at my Talk Page and its archives, you'll see the sorts of questions that get asked. Mike Turnbull (talk) 21:38, 8 February 2023 (UTC)

DENY and help desk posts

Way too often I see a user post something that is intentionally inflammatory and meant to evoke a specific response from people (such as this). I know we should assume good faith, however if a post is obviously inflammatory and is obviously meant to get a specific response (Such as claiming an article does not contain the "truth" or whatever) we should just delete it and move on rather than respond to them and engage with the troll. ― Blaze Wolf^Talk_{Blaze Wolf#6545} 03:35, 21 February 2023 (UTC)

I'm not convinced that such comments should be deleted out of hand. I think they should be calmly and succinctly responded to, and then quietly dropped. I can readily believe that such a commenter is a troll merely stirring up drama for the lulz; I can also readily believe that such a commenter is making a good-faith attempt to correct Wikipedia. In the latter case it would be unfortunate to delete their comment instead of redirecting their good-faith energy to a more productive use.

But it's surely unnecessary for editors to unproductively pile on further comments when the first reply alone was beyond sufficient. Let one or two people reply helpfully, then let the matter rest. Shells-shells (talk) 08:09, 21 February 2023 (UTC)

I am almost sure that specific case is not a troll. We get religious nutcases of all stripes once in a blue moon (maybe more often at the WP:TH?), and it’s always dead serious. Blaze Wolf, I suggest you modify your closure rationale (with something like "unproductive discussion" rather than "attention-seeking inflammatory post") - though if you don’t I will obviously not edit war over it.

I mostly agree with Shells-shells except that we should not try redirecting their good-faith energy to a more productive use. I think that someone who leaves such a comment cannot contribute productively to Wikipedia in the short term (in the long term, people change). The probability they come back to edit Wikipedia for anything else than arguments or vandalism (again, in the short term) is less than 1%. However, it is still polite to reply to a good-faith if misguided question, and to put on a good show for the rest of the page dwellers. Tigraan^{Click here for my talk page ("private" contact)} 09:41, 21 February 2023 (UTC)

I don't think comments like those should be dismissed automatically, and I've seen people of all kinds on here who write as if they're trolling but are being genuine. Besides, if someone is actually trolling, the best thing to do is not feed them and let it remain unanswered and automatically archived. —Tenryuu 🐲 ( 💬 • 📝 ) 16:30, 21 February 2023 (UTC)

I agree that is the optimal response, but in order to arrive at it literally everyone who edits the help desk has to be on the same page and not take the bait. So, in practice a quick "this isn't a help desk matter" reply and hatting of the thread is probably more effective. Beeblebrox (talk) 18:17, 21 February 2023 (UTC)

English Wikipedia will be read-only for about an hour on 1 March

See this post at VPM. The test starts at 14:00 UTC and will last up to an hour. Some confused folks might ask about it here afterwards. 199.208.172.35 (talk) 23:22, 27 February 2023 (UTC)

Open meeting for RecentChanges patrollers

Editing is hosting a meeting about their new mw:Edit check extension for the visual editor this Friday and hopes to learn a bit more about RecentChanges and watchlist patrolling. They're trying to find a balance prompting editors to add citations often enough to be useful, but not so often that it's annoying.

If you are interested in this project, please see mw:Editing team/Community Conversations#3 March 2023 and plan to join the meeting (17:00 UCT/9:00 a.m. California). Whatamidoing (WMF) (talk) 20:00, 1 March 2023 (UTC)

Bot linking here

As an FYI, Qwerfjkl (bot) 18 has recently been approved. This task notifies users if they have made a referencing error, with a link such as this one, leading users to post questions on the Help Desk. — Qwerfjkltalk 16:44, 18 April 2023 (UTC)

I apologize for the misunderstanding

I thought that the possibility of publishing content on wikipedia was discontinued, I apologize KodBake (talk) 14:04, 20 May 2023 (UTC)