Wikipedia talk:Reference desk

WT:RD

fixing the shortcut link

{{editprotected}} please delete the lines 3-4 of tis header: I have a neon lightbulb that spells my name , I want to hook it up, what do I need?

These lines create a shortcut link back to the page in question, which overlaps with the edit link if first-section edit links are enabled.

This request is paired with a request on Wikipedia talk:Reference desk/header/leftside which adds a conventional shortcut box into the subtemplate. -Us_talk:Ludwigs2|Ludwigs2]] 05:16, 19 March 2010 (UTC)

Done. Let me know if anything needs changing. — (MSGJ · talk) 13:33, 19 March 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Header for the Computing Reference Desk

Can we tell posters to specify their operating system, computer make and model, and web browser in their posts? I just wasted 15 minutes giving advice to someone before I realized he was probably using Firefox (by his use of the word bookmarks instead of favorites). My advice was written for someone using Internet Explorer. This isn't the first time this has happened to me. We're not talking to these people in person. We wait hours for them to respond. We need to know all the details of their problem up front.--Best Dog Ever (talk) 05:48, 12 September 2012(UTC)

mobile accessibility

It was noted on RD:Talk that the refdesk header's floating elements had visual conflict with the iOS browser. Can this be addressed? SamuelRiv (talk) 22:01, 8 March 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Removed text from top of Entertainment Desk

I removed this edit[1] which had been made at the top of

Side by side search fields

This may be the wrong place to write this, but I am having difficulty tracing through all the RefDesk Header templates. Recently (noticed 2013-01-13) the header has changed to the RefDesk pages. The Search Wikipedia and Search archives fields in (say) RefDeskMaths are now side by side and often cause the page width to exceed 100% requiring sideways scrolling as well as vertical scrolling. Could someone put them one after the other vertically. -- SGBailey (talk) 22:11, 18 January 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Add shortcuts to Reference desk Language

This edit request has been answered. Set the |answered= or |ans= parameter to no to reactivate your request.

I've add these shortcuts to Reference Desk Language and want it to show in the header:

--Tyw7 (☎ Contact me! • Contributions) 13:04, 27 May 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Unprotected. There were only a few transclusions of this template and all of the subtemplates, so I've reduced the protection to semi-protection on all of them. Best — Mr. Stradivarius ^{♪ talk ♪} 13:18, 31 May 2013 (UTC)[reply]

article gripes

Along with the "We will not answer" section, there ought to be a line like "This is not the place to suggest improvements to a Wikipedia article; each article has a discussion page for that purpose." —Tamfang (talk) 08:05, 21 January 2016 (UTC)[reply]

Removal of question "‎Ideas for what to get a good friend of mine for her birthday"

I hope this is works for justification. The poster is a currently active troll and doxxer on RationalWiki, particularly with the personal details of the person they named in this particular Reference Desk question, and had left several links to this page from a page on RationalWiki. Please let me know if this is not sufficient justification, or if an alternate route must be taken to keep this removed. Thanks. Noir LeSable (talk) 21:49, 22 March 2016 (UTC)[reply]

Shoot, wrong talk page. Please disregard. Noir LeSable (talk) 21:55, 22 March 2016 (UTC)[reply]

Edit request (minor); 01:38, 21 June 2016 (UTC)

First of all, pardon my ignorance if this is not the proper method for requesting the following:
The instruction section of this header states: We'll answer here within a few days -- This might give the wrong impression; it typically takes only a few minutes; an hour or two at the most. Therefore, my request is that this be modified (at the editor's discretion). --107.15.152.93 (talk) 01:38, 21 June 2016 (UTC) (modified:01:41, 21 June 2016 (UTC))[reply]

Layout problem

...related to vertical positioning of the "skip to bottom" item in the right column. See Wikipedia talk:Reference desk#Protection-template spacing. DMacks (talk) 22:42, 15 January 2017 (UTC)[reply]

Topics are not desks

The list below "Choose a topic:" is not a list of topics. The addition of "desk" to each topic should be removed. Additionally, the different sections of the Reference desk are not separate desks; they are different sections of one Reference desk. So unless there are serious objections, I'll proceed to replace "Computing desk" by "Computing", etcetera. --Lambiam 07:36, 11 November 2020 (UTC)[reply]

"Choose" or "Select"?

I think "Select a topic:" is more appropriate terminology for the navigation column. "Choose" would be better for someone not having a concrete question but seeking a chat room to hang out in that suits their interests; here there is already an issue and the question is which section of the RD is appropriate. --Lambiam 07:49, 11 November 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Where are the recent archives???

I've just tried to look for questions archived from early November, and they are nowhere to be found -- the archives only run through October, and there are no recently archived questions here! So what happened, and where are they??? 2601:646:9882:46E0:C195:DC40:D019:40A6 (talk) 07:52, 12 November 2023 (UTC)[reply]

What do you mean? Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Science/November 2023 exists, so do others. Which specific page are you having a problem with? --Redrose64 🌹 (talk) 23:38, 12 November 2023 (UTC)[reply]

Skip to the bottom

Board games

Where is the proper place to ask questions about board games? --88.78.228.143 (talk) 18:30, 6 July 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Depends. I would say entertainment is a good place to start, unless it is asking something about the history of chess or something. 65.121.141.34 (talk) 19:52, 6 July 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Debate on featured article?

To me it seems that this item is an attempt to start debate, which has been successful in doing so. I think the question and thread should be deleted. (Posting in the RD as:) --Anonymous, 20:23 UTC, July 9, 2009.

As I said in the section for the question, the first two questions were factual questions which have been answered. The third was about WP policy which, although it probably is better suited for the Help Desk, was answered as well. If you want to slap anyone's hand, it should be the respondents who turned it into a debate. Dismas|^(talk) 01:37, 10 July 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Elevators in train stations

Where is the proper place to ask questions about elevators in train stations? --88.77.248.29 (talk) 11:49, 10 July 2009 (UTC)[reply]

I would suggest asking on the Science reference desk. — QuantumEleven 11:54, 10 July 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Or possibly WP:RD/M —Preceding unsigned comment added by 82.43.91.128 (talk) 12:36, 10 July 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Surnames

Where is the proper place to ask questions about surnames? --88.77.254.114 (talk) 13:56, 10 July 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Depends on the nature of the question. Language would be good if you're looking for the history of a name. Dismas|^(talk) 13:58, 10 July 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Where is the proper place to ask questions about the usage of surnames? --88.77.254.114 (talk) 14:01, 10 July 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Humanities deals with questions about society, so there might be a good place. If you really can't decide, the miscellaneous desk would be a good choice as well. Dismas|^(talk) 14:24, 10 July 2009 (UTC)[reply]

There are a whole host of questions one can ask about surnames, but this one was recently posed at the latter page: Wikipedia:Reference desk/Miscellaneous#Does the man ever take the woman's name in marriage? —— Shakescene (talk) 21:27, 11 July 2009 (UTC)[reply]

No fish please!

Sometime in the last hour or so - it looks like I trashed the entire RD/MISC page - fortunately, someone reverted it quickly...but I didn't do a thing wrong! I'm absolutely 100% certain that I hit the [edit] widget next to that question heading - added a paragraph with no fancy markup whatever and hit "Save page". There was about a 10 minute delay between hitting edit and hitting Save page - but nothing that should have wiped the entire page. There should be absolutely nothing you can do that'll wipe the text for the ENTIRE page when you hit 'edit' on just one section (although you could possible make it invisible or something). It seems to have erased all of the sections EXCEPT the one I was editing. Weird! Anyway - someone kindly posted something to my Talk page to ask if I'd like to self-revert. Please - when something that drastic happens again (not just to me - anyone) - for chrissakes don't politely wait for someone to fix it! Revert it ASAP! SteveBaker (talk) 01:47, 11 July 2009 (UTC)[reply]

What's the fishy reference, Steve? -- JackofOz (talk) 01:52, 11 July 2009 (UTC)[reply]

WP:TROUT. Algebraist 01:58, 11 July 2009 (UTC)[reply]

This has happened before, I think. It's one of the dreaded intermittent faults. Algebraist 01:58, 11 July 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Yes, it happens. I've never understood it. --Tango (talk) 18:16, 11 July 2009 (UTC)[reply]

I have seen similar things happen. I've never wiped out an entire page, but I have seen WP silently ignore an Edit Conflict error so that I wind up wiping out a bunch of other edits. With the way the servers have been wonky lately maybe it silently ignored a "loss of session data" error or some other failure that should have stopped you from posting?. APL (talk) 19:40, 14 July 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Steve, since others have corroborated your version of events, your sentence is reduced to being slapped with a tiny trout: α -- Coneslayer (talk) 20:00, 14 July 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Editing section leads to editing archive

When trying to add an edit to a relatively old section, I clicked the edit link by the paragraph as normal. After submitting, I noticed it had actually edited the archive [2]. Is this normal/acceptable/avoidable? AlmostReadytoFly (talk) 11:09, 13 July 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Yes / Yes / No. In other words, this is intentional. Your answer should still show up on the project page so don't worry about it.--Shantavira|^{feed me} 12:55, 13 July 2009 (UTC)[reply]

borderline med advice

Bringing Wikipedia:Reference_desk/Science#Alcohol_and_Exertion here for attention. The poster isn't specifically asking which option is healthier but does ask "what medically could be happening?" I note that I don't hold statements of "this is not a med advice question" to be particularly valuable. My gut feeling is that the question isn't med advice but that responses are likely to be. For that matter, I'm not entirely certain that my own answer is sufficiently distanced. — Lomn 16:06, 13 July 2009 (UTC)[reply]

removed thread

[3] What ever the question was things didn't go well. WP:DFTT, also WP:Don't insult the OP by suggesting they see a psychiatrist - when in fact all anyone else can see is flames etc..83.100.250.79 (talk) 16:38, 13 July 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Good removal; that thread was not going anywhere helpful. I can sympathize with Red Act, but just as incompetence is more likely than malice; malice is more likely than a genuine psychological problem. Calling them crazy just feeds the need for attention. Matt Deres (talk) 00:36, 14 July 2009 (UTC)[reply]

This is frightening

I've been contributing to various reference desks, without creating an account, for a couple of months. No-one ever said I had to make an account or disclose my identity, and today's events convince me that doing so would be an entirely dangerous thing to do. Today I've made a perfectly reasonable and innocent reply to a query at WP:RDM#Arrow missile range, citing reliable sources and (I think) being entirely polite and uncontentious. Rather than a reasoned response, someone appears to be unreasonably interested in my real-world identity, which seems to me to be perilously close to internet stalking. I've nothing to do with this chap and whatever disputes he's having elsewhere - Is there any protection for anonymous users, or are we just sport to be bullied like this? 87.114.25.180 (talk) 15:05, 15 July 2009 (UTC)[reply]