Wikipedia:Help desk
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February 15
Numerical counterpart to sortname?
... to handle things like ~2966. Clarityfiend (talk) 00:40, 15 February 2025 (UTC)
- @Clarityfiend: You could use {{Sort and display}}, or add
data-sort-value
manually. See Help:Sortable tables#Specifying a sort key for a cell. PrimeHunter (talk) 00:54, 15 February 2025 (UTC) - Template:Sortname#See also -> Template:Number table sorting -> {{nts|2966|prefix=~}} -> ~2,966. format=no if you don't like the comma. —Cryptic 00:57, 15 February 2025 (UTC)
- @Cryptic: Thanks. Nts worked like a charm, once I figured out it had to be added to all entries. Clarityfiend (talk) 20:08, 15 February 2025 (UTC)
Family tree template?
Is there a family tree template? If not, how can one be simulated? The article for ancient Irish queen Gormlaith ingen Flann mac Conaing has what purports to be a family tree, but the layout is incomprehensible to me (on my mobile). A bit iffy (talk) 09:34, 15 February 2025 (UTC)
- @A bit iffy I can't find a general family tree template, but there are many for specific families listed at Category:Family tree templates. You could take a look at one of these and base yours off it. Ultraodan (talk) 09:39, 15 February 2025 (UTC)
- @A bit iffy See also Help:Family trees the tree in Gormlaith ingen Flann mac Conaing is "hand-drawn" using horizontal underscores and vertical pipes/bars. - Arjayay (talk) 09:43, 15 February 2025 (UTC)
- OP here, thanks all. Had occurred to me I should look for other articles where there might be a family tree, and I found one for Queen Victoria. But still, it looks horrendously difficult to build. So I'll try to fix that hand-crafted attempt somehow, preferably using one if those tools. A bit iffy (talk) 09:48, 15 February 2025 (UTC)
- @A bit iffy By looking through some of those then opening one for editing I managed to find {{tree chart}} which does actually draw boxes and connecting lines, but it looks pretty laborious to use. (But also, Its See also section seems a potentially good starting point for other methods.) Musiconeologist (talk) 14:06, 15 February 2025 (UTC)
- @A bit iffy See also Help:Family trees the tree in Gormlaith ingen Flann mac Conaing is "hand-drawn" using horizontal underscores and vertical pipes/bars. - Arjayay (talk) 09:43, 15 February 2025 (UTC)
Tables
Does Wikipedia have the facility to introduce shading into individual rows in tables? I, and a few other editors, are currently working on a table in my sandbox. It has 436 rows. It would be helpful if I were able to shade out those rows/blocks of rows which have been completed. I appreciate there will likely be visual-impairment issues which would mean this approach might not be favoured in mainspace, but this table will never hit mainspace - it's solely a working tool. Any advice greatly appreciated. KJP1 (talk) 16:04, 15 February 2025 (UTC)
- Hi @KJP1. See Help:Table. Lots of detailed instructions there to do almost anything. StarryGrandma (talk) 17:16, 15 February 2025 (UTC)
- @KJP1 I've not tracked down the details for colouring a whole row, but it might be worth adding that using
#E8E8E8
or#E0E0E0
as the name of the colour will give a light shade of grey or a slightly darker one. (I suspect you'll be addingstyle="background-color:#E0E0E0;"
somewhere. For some reason that page only seems to mention named colours.) Musiconeologist (talk) 19:17, 15 February 2025 (UTC)
Categorising articles
Hello. I've spent nearly an hour trying to find the answer to this question, but with no luck. When adding categories to articles, is there an official policy or guideline about the order in which the categories are listed, such in order of their relevance to the article? Junglenut ☼ Talk 21:26, 15 February 2025 (UTC)
- Junglenut, I can't help you, but I admire your diligence. My own attitude to such problems suggests "add them in any order - if it matters and you're doing it wrong, someone will tell you soon enough". This is not official advice. Maproom (talk) 22:04, 15 February 2025 (UTC)
- Junglenut, see MOS:CATORDER, which says
#Eponymous categories should appear first. Beyond that, the order in which categories are placed on a page is not governed by any single rule (for example, it does not need to be alphabetical, although partially alphabetical ordering can sometimes be helpful). Normally the most essential, significant categories appear first.
. TSventon (talk) 04:42, 16 February 2025 (UTC)- Thank you! Junglenut ☼ Talk 06:19, 16 February 2025 (UTC)
- Junglenut, see MOS:CATORDER, which says
What is the proper tag when a claim is a misleading interpretation of the cited source?
I'm talking about a situation where a sentence in an article has a single citation from a reliable source, but the cited material is being misrepresented and doesn't fully support the sentence that it's being cited for.
I was looking through the list of Inline cleanup tags but none of them seemed quite right.
Edit: I appreciate the replies! {{Failed verification}} might be closest to what I'm looking for.
Tacobellscannon (talk) 23:19, 15 February 2025 (UTC)
- Maybe {{Failed verification}}? Deor (talk) 00:48, 16 February 2025 (UTC)
- There might be one under the Coherency templates category? Junglenut ☼ Talk 00:54, 16 February 2025 (UTC)
- {{Irrelevant citation}} seems like a step towards what you want, except I think you're saying the citation is only partially relevant? There's also {{better source needed}}, assuming the sentence itself isn't inaccurate, just unsupported? Either way you can include something like
|reason=Not supported by cited source
in the template. Edit: {{Additional citation needed}} looks like another possibility. Musiconeologist (talk) 01:38, 16 February 2025 (UTC)- I considered "better source needed" but that seemed to be for unreliable sources, whereas in this scenario the source is in fact reliable but misinterpreted. Tacobellscannon (talk) 04:06, 16 February 2025 (UTC)
- If the editor is making interpretations of the source of things that the source does not state, then possibly {{Synthesis inline}} would be appropriate. TornadoLGS (talk) 04:10, 16 February 2025 (UTC)
- That's a good point... I wasn't sure if synthesis required multiple sources. Tacobellscannon (talk) 04:15, 16 February 2025 (UTC)
February 16
Template:As of eating text in visual editor
I'm trying to edit this version of the white chocolate page, and in the #Market section, the second paragraph starting with as of 2006 can only be edited as a template in the visual editor. If I remove the Template:As of the issue is fixed, but I would like to use that template here. Rollinginhisgrave (talk | contributions) 10:19, 16 February 2025 (UTC)
- @Rollinginhisgrave: Fixed by placing image code on its own line.[1] PrimeHunter (talk) 10:35, 16 February 2025 (UTC)
- Thankyou. Rollinginhisgrave (talk | contributions) 10:44, 16 February 2025 (UTC)
Pages with "of" in the title
A common problem with articles on minor Greek mythological figures is titles of the form "<Name> of <Location>" (eg. "Thyia of Thessaly"). These titles are fine in some cases (eg. mythological rulers or eponyms of certain regions), though most of the time the figure in question is never referred to as "<Name> of <Location>", and in some cases the geographical placement of the figure is OR. I (and others) have tried to fix most of the problematic titles in this form, and I thought that this [2] search was reasonably effective at finding them, though I'm still able to find more. I wondered if someone a bit more competent with the search function might to be able to produce a more comprehensive (and, if possible, more selective) search for finding these. – Michael Aurel (talk) 10:38, 16 February 2025 (UTC)
- What are some pages that you think your search should have found, but didn't? (I suspect the problem is that you're requiring the words "Greek mythology" to appear on the page; I'd think the category constraint would be sufficient.) —Cryptic 10:44, 16 February 2025 (UTC)
- A few recent examples would be Phaethon of Syria, Eteocles of Orchomenus, and Cycnus of Kolonai. All of those pages contained the words "Greek mythology", so I think the issue might be that "deepcategory" only searches five levels deep within the specified category, and those pages seem to have been deeper than that within Category:Greek mythology. Replacing the specified category with Category:People in Greek mythology does seem as though it gives a few added results with the desired title structure. [3] – Michael Aurel (talk) 11:22, 16 February 2025 (UTC)
Fix wording in email sent when pages are changed
How do I edit the copy of the email notifications sent from wiki@wikimedia.org when watched pages are edited? It currently reads:
There will be no other notifications in case of further activity unless
you visit this page while logged in. You could also reset the
notification flags for all your watched pages on your watchlist.
It should read
you visit this page while logged in. You can also reset the
notification flags for all your watched pages on your watchlist.
Dreameditsbrooklyn (talk) 12:20, 16 February 2025 (UTC)
- @Dreameditsbrooklyn: We use the MediaWiki default which can be customized by an administrator creating MediaWiki:Enotif body. I oppose it for such a trivial change of a detailed message. There could later be significant changes to the default message, e.g. describing software changes, but we would keep showing a customized message if we create it. PrimeHunter (talk) 13:13, 16 February 2025 (UTC)
- It’s bad grammar and would be a 2 character fix Dreameditsbrooklyn (talk) 13:26, 16 February 2025 (UTC)
- It's perfectly grammatical as it stands. It comes over as more tentative: you could also, if you wanted to. ColinFine (talk) 15:50, 16 February 2025 (UTC)
- The other option, of course, would be to change the default message, but this would be the wrong venue for that (use phabricator). * Pppery * it has begun... 16:22, 16 February 2025 (UTC)
- @ColinFine Agreed, and anyway it would be odd to change that one word without first doing something about the watched pages on your watchlist, the ambiguity of what can be done (I initially took it to mean they can all be changed at once, not each individually) and the technical term flags—In other words, the real task would probably end up being to rework the whole message. Musiconeologist (talk) 17:08, 16 February 2025 (UTC)
- On the surprising claim that "It's bad grammar", Dreameditsbrooklyn: I wonder where you acquired this notion. ColinFine is entirely right. As an editor interested in grammatical matters, you may wish to see The Cambridge Grammar of the English Language, chapter 3 ("The verb"), §4.3.2 "Past time reference in combination with politeness/diffidence" (page 138), and also §2.4, "Distinctive properties of modal auxiliaries", (e) "Modally remote preterite" (page 107). -- Hoary (talk) 01:33, 17 February 2025 (UTC)
- It's perfectly grammatical as it stands. It comes over as more tentative: you could also, if you wanted to. ColinFine (talk) 15:50, 16 February 2025 (UTC)
- It’s bad grammar and would be a 2 character fix Dreameditsbrooklyn (talk) 13:26, 16 February 2025 (UTC)
Unconstructive edit
An editor has said that my edit for the 2025 Asian Winter Games was an unconstructive edit, but I think that this is completely wrong and unjust. My info had numerous articles backing my info but now I am being told my edit is unconstructive. It doesn't seem right. ILoveSport2006 (talk) 17:10, 16 February 2025 (UTC)
- ILoveSport2006, Sportsfan 1234, you should both discuss this at Talk:2025_Asian_Winter_Games. Maproom (talk) 18:08, 16 February 2025 (UTC)
- ILoveSport2006, you wrote
China became the first nation in the history of the Asian Winter Games to cross the 80 medal mark in one edition
, but your reference was a medal count chart that did not say anything about any such "first". That fails Verifiability and No original research, two core content policies. It may be true but you need to provide a reference that explicitly says so. Also, is "edition" the best word? Cullen328 (talk) 04:15, 17 February 2025 (UTC)- I never wrote that one. This edit was made by Chirica21C. My edits were the Uzbekistan gold medal after 26 years, the North Korean silver after and the fact that these games had a record amount of countries winning medal. ILoveSport2006 (talk) 10:56, 17 February 2025 (UTC)
- ILoveSport2006, you wrote
February 17
Pediapress
Hi there ! I'm a French contributor but I want to create a book with several English-speaking articles thru Pediapress (this is not my first one). As I could not find the line Create a book in both your left and right sections, is it still posible in English and how could I manage it ? Thanks a lot Bibliorock (talk) 01:35, 17 February 2025 (UTC)
- It was closed in 2021 (See Wikipedia:Books). Tutwakhamoe (talk) 03:50, 17 February 2025 (UTC)
Translation error
For translating for example english to simple english, i pressed translate, then to like the actual translating part, but then when i press add translation it's an error??? Woffio (talk) 04:09, 17 February 2025 (UTC)
- @Woffio: Hi there! If you are using the Wikipedia:Content translation tool, I suggest you post on their talk page, and provide the name of the English Wikipedia page and the exact error you are receiving. If you are using a different translation tool, please let us know. Thanks! GoingBatty (talk) 04:47, 18 February 2025 (UTC)
- Hey, I'm using the wikipedia content translation tool, and I have tried it on a lot of pages from english to simple english, and they all don't work Woffio (talk) 05:45, 18 February 2025 (UTC)
- I am having the same issues. No languages other than Spanish work to translate for me. Reconrabbit 15:34, 18 February 2025 (UTC)
- @Reconrabbit: I'm glad you're discussing this at Wikipedia talk:Content translation tool.
- @Woffio: I encourage you to do the same. GoingBatty (talk) 19:34, 18 February 2025 (UTC)
- I am having the same issues. No languages other than Spanish work to translate for me. Reconrabbit 15:34, 18 February 2025 (UTC)
- Hey, I'm using the wikipedia content translation tool, and I have tried it on a lot of pages from english to simple english, and they all don't work Woffio (talk) 05:45, 18 February 2025 (UTC)
How to write music genres?
I know music genres should be written with reliable sources. But I'm having a trouble finding reliable sources of music genres. Should I type "(music name)" "genre" on Google? Please provide me some tips. Camilasdandelions (talk!) 04:13, 17 February 2025 (UTC)
- If you don't find reliable sources. Maybe the subject doesn't meet the criterias of "Wikipedia:Notability" and "Wikipedia:Notability (music)". Anatole-berthe (talk) 04:21, 17 February 2025 (UTC)
- No, I found reliable sources like review or background, but they didn't specify genres of the music. So I'm asking about this. Camilasdandelions (talk!) 04:26, 17 February 2025 (UTC)
- In this case. This matter is too complex for me. I prefer than more experienced editors answer. Anatole-berthe (talk) 04:35, 17 February 2025 (UTC)
- OK. Thanks for your reply. Camilasdandelions (talk!) 04:51, 17 February 2025 (UTC)
- @Camilasdandelions: helpdesk helpers are usually experienced in dealing with editing problems but not necessarily specialists in a particular subject. From that perspective I can say that Wikipedia summarises what reliable sources say about a subject, so if you can't find a genre in a reliable source, you shouldn't include the genre in the article. I looked at Talk:Pop music and they have a lot of discussion of genres, so you could try asking there. There is also a Wikipedia:WikiProject Music/Music genres task force . TSventon (talk) 06:09, 17 February 2025 (UTC)
- Hello, Camilasdandelions. Popular music genres have been highly controversial on Wikipedia for many years, and I recommend that you read the cautionary essay Wikipedia:Genre warrior. As for your problems locating genres, I am a bit surprised. In my experience, significant coverage of musical performances and recordings very frequently mention the genre. I'm an American, and it is commonplace here for a popular music recording to be described as rock, blues, jazz, rap, pop, soul, country, show, bluegrass or a seemingly unlimited assortment of narrower genres. Often several. If you ask a search engine like Google "what is the genre for song X by performer Y", you should get a long list of web pages. Your next task is to separate the reliable sources from the unreliable ones. Use the best of them as references in the article. Cullen328 (talk) 06:20, 17 February 2025 (UTC)
- Fortunately some {perhaps many) helpdesk helpers know more about music articles than I do. TSventon (talk) 06:32, 17 February 2025 (UTC)
- Hello @Cullen328 and @TSventon! As I'm little bit unware of Wikipedia, and I appreciate your replies. I'll ask on there about music genres soon.
- Also as far as I can remember is that NME, Rolling Stone, Billboard, Medium, The Guardian, Variety are reliable sources. Camilasdandelions (talk!) 07:19, 17 February 2025 (UTC)
- Camilasdandelions, the others are generally reliable although Rolling Stone is not considered reliable for political content. See WP:ROLLINGSTONEPOLITICS for the consensus of the community. On the other hand, Medium (website) is a blogging platform that hosts self-published content without editorial review. So, unless the author is a widely acknowledged expert writing about their area of expertise, content on Medium is not considered reliable. See WP:MEDIUM for the consensus of the community. Cullen328 (talk) 07:34, 17 February 2025 (UTC)
- There is a list of frequently discussed sources at WP:RSP (Wikipedia:Reliable sources/Perennial sources), including most of those you asked about. TSventon (talk) 07:44, 17 February 2025 (UTC)
- @Cullen328, @TSventon: Thank you so much for these informations. I will read all of them, also I didn't know that Medium isn't reliable source, except the case that an editor is professional.
- By the way, I wonder if I can use Medium article which a singer herself wrote. Camilasdandelions (talk!) 08:10, 17 February 2025 (UTC)
- Hello, @Camilasdandelions. That would be a self-published source, which can be used, but only in limited ways - see the page I linked to. ColinFine (talk) 10:48, 17 February 2025 (UTC)
- Hello, Camilasdandelions. Popular music genres have been highly controversial on Wikipedia for many years, and I recommend that you read the cautionary essay Wikipedia:Genre warrior. As for your problems locating genres, I am a bit surprised. In my experience, significant coverage of musical performances and recordings very frequently mention the genre. I'm an American, and it is commonplace here for a popular music recording to be described as rock, blues, jazz, rap, pop, soul, country, show, bluegrass or a seemingly unlimited assortment of narrower genres. Often several. If you ask a search engine like Google "what is the genre for song X by performer Y", you should get a long list of web pages. Your next task is to separate the reliable sources from the unreliable ones. Use the best of them as references in the article. Cullen328 (talk) 06:20, 17 February 2025 (UTC)
- @Camilasdandelions: helpdesk helpers are usually experienced in dealing with editing problems but not necessarily specialists in a particular subject. From that perspective I can say that Wikipedia summarises what reliable sources say about a subject, so if you can't find a genre in a reliable source, you shouldn't include the genre in the article. I looked at Talk:Pop music and they have a lot of discussion of genres, so you could try asking there. There is also a Wikipedia:WikiProject Music/Music genres task force . TSventon (talk) 06:09, 17 February 2025 (UTC)
- OK. Thanks for your reply. Camilasdandelions (talk!) 04:51, 17 February 2025 (UTC)
- In this case. This matter is too complex for me. I prefer than more experienced editors answer. Anatole-berthe (talk) 04:35, 17 February 2025 (UTC)
- No, I found reliable sources like review or background, but they didn't specify genres of the music. So I'm asking about this. Camilasdandelions (talk!) 04:26, 17 February 2025 (UTC)
What does "int:" mean?
What does "int:" mean? (e.g., {{int:tpt-languages-legend}}
)
And, can I find an article related to this? Whatback11 (talk) 08:14, 17 February 2025 (UTC)
- @Whatback11: "int:" seems to mean "MediaWiki:": I found Help:MediaWiki namespace, but it is a bit technical for me. TSventon (talk) 08:40, 17 February 2025 (UTC)
- @Whatback11,TSventon somewhat correct. {{int:tpt-languages-legend}} will internationalise the system message
tpt-languages-legend
, transcluding a different message depending on the user's language preferences. Victor Schmidt mobil (talk) 08:52, 17 February 2025 (UTC)- It's documented (in a couple of places) at mw:Help:Magic words, and locally at WP:MAGIC. -- zzuuzz (talk) 09:01, 17 February 2025 (UTC)
- @Whatback11: To be more specific with your example, here at the English Wikipedia
{{int:tpt-languages-legend}}
will display MediaWiki:Tpt-languages-legend to unregistered users and registered users with the default language setting "en - English" at Special:Preferences. Users with "ko - 한국어" will see MediaWiki:Tpt-languages-legend/ko and so on. The English Wikipedia very rarely uses{{int:}}
and not in articles. Other wikis may be different. PrimeHunter (talk) 16:31, 17 February 2025 (UTC)
- @Whatback11: To be more specific with your example, here at the English Wikipedia
- It's documented (in a couple of places) at mw:Help:Magic words, and locally at WP:MAGIC. -- zzuuzz (talk) 09:01, 17 February 2025 (UTC)
- @Whatback11,TSventon somewhat correct. {{int:tpt-languages-legend}} will internationalise the system message
Uploading non-free audio files
Hello, I am inquiring about the process for uploading non-free audio files to Wikipedia. I would appreciate any guidance you can provide on this matter. Thank you for your assistance. P. ĐĂNG (talk) 10:39, 17 February 2025 (UTC)
- Hello, @P. ĐĂNG. Does Help:Upload answer your questions? ColinFine (talk) 10:50, 17 February 2025 (UTC)
- ColinFine, I would like to inquire whether uploading audio files follows the same procedure as for images, specifically whether I would need to visit this page to upload them. Thank you for your assistance. P. ĐĂNG (talk) 11:11, 17 February 2025 (UTC)
- Yes, as far as I can tell the procedures for uploading any media are the same. (The File Upload Wizard is not the only way to do this, but it is designed to be the easiest). ColinFine (talk) 17:07, 17 February 2025 (UTC)
- ColinFine, I would like to inquire whether uploading audio files follows the same procedure as for images, specifically whether I would need to visit this page to upload them. Thank you for your assistance. P. ĐĂNG (talk) 11:11, 17 February 2025 (UTC)
Deleted Page Question
Almost six months ago, my page was deleted for the reason, “ A7: Article about a company, corporation or organization, which does not credibly indicate the importance or significance of the subject” and even after reading the page, I’m still having trouble understanding what this means. If someone could help me understand this, I would appreciate it, thanks! Xuppu (talk) 22:59, 17 February 2025 (UTC)
- Hello, @Xuppu. I don't see how it could be made any clearer than the page you linked to. What is it that you don't understand? ColinFine (talk) 23:17, 17 February 2025 (UTC)
- The thing I don’t understand is the secondary sources, the draft I created has primary sources, but in the page it doesn’t mention primary sources where I looked. Xuppu (talk) 23:22, 17 February 2025 (UTC)
- Xuppu, I suggest that you look at Wikipedia:Notability (organizations and companies), which explains which companies are suitable for a Wikipedia article. If you add sources that show that a company is notable, then Wikipedia:Credible claim of significance says the article can't be deleted under A7. TSventon (talk) 23:35, 17 February 2025 (UTC)
- Thank you so much! But now I have another problem, I only have primary sources that aren’t independent, so does that mean my draft will not be approved? Xuppu (talk) 23:44, 17 February 2025 (UTC)
- Yes, it does, so it is a good idea to check notability before starting to write an article. TSventon (talk) 00:10, 18 February 2025 (UTC)
- Thank you so much! But now I have another problem, I only have primary sources that aren’t independent, so does that mean my draft will not be approved? Xuppu (talk) 23:44, 17 February 2025 (UTC)
- Xuppu, I suggest that you look at Wikipedia:Notability (organizations and companies), which explains which companies are suitable for a Wikipedia article. If you add sources that show that a company is notable, then Wikipedia:Credible claim of significance says the article can't be deleted under A7. TSventon (talk) 23:35, 17 February 2025 (UTC)
- The thing I don’t understand is the secondary sources, the draft I created has primary sources, but in the page it doesn’t mention primary sources where I looked. Xuppu (talk) 23:22, 17 February 2025 (UTC)
February 18
Huggle not working
Notifications
Ì have a notification message that doesn't go away when I click on it. Suggestions? DMc75771 (talk) 00:35, 18 February 2025 (UTC)
- There should be a "Mark as read" option on the notification page. If the notification still show up after you clicked on it, try refresh the page or clear your cache. Tutwakhamoe (talk) 01:20, 18 February 2025 (UTC)
Font size in hyperlink dropdowns
[Sorry I'm not sure of the correct terminology here] When I hover the mouse over a hyperlink, a small window appears with information related to the text of the hyperlink. The font of the text is very small - much smaller than the text in the main article. Can I change that font size? How do I do that please? Thanks Shrdlu junction (talk) 07:36, 18 February 2025 (UTC)
- I do not believe that editors have control over that aspect, since it is the formatting of the website and not the article. If the problem is with your own ability to read it, you may be able to enlarge all text on your computer via its accessibility settings. MallardTV (talk) 13:37, 18 February 2025 (UTC)
- Because you have an account, here's what you want to do:
- Enable the Popups gadget by going here.
- Set the text and popup size to suit, by doing what's described here.
How to decide problem & want to know what is the issue
What is the problem with this article Draft: Dr. Liviu Vedrasco & cannot publish it, it is showing mistake Gukush (talk) 12:02, 18 February 2025 (UTC)
- Gukush, wrong title, no references and blatant promo for starters, deleted now Jimfbleak - talk to me? 12:19, 18 February 2025 (UTC)
Search question
Is there a tool to search an editor's contributions for a specific string of text?--Bbb23 (talk) 13:48, 18 February 2025 (UTC)
- To my knowledge there is not a "pre-baked" tool. The reason: doing so requires running expensive database queries to, well, trawl through the WP database, pull up every edit by the user, and search through their contents one at a time. You/others can run db queries (on "copies" of the db) via Quarry, though too "expensive" ones may timeout and fail. This tool lets you search a user's edit summaries, but not contents.
- It's possible there may be a better way to accomplish what you want. To avoid the XY problem, let's back up to the start: describe the problem you want to solve. E.g., Wikiblame will search through page history, of a given page, to track down what edit made such-and-such a change (added X, deleted X etc). --Slowking Man (talk) 19:23, 18 February 2025 (UTC)
- I can understnd that searching a user's edits can be "expensive" but I would think that would be true only for editors with lots of edits. In my case, the user has only 28 edits. I tried WikiBlame, even though it will not let me look for a string by a specific editor. In any event, in an article where I knew the string was added, WikiBlame said it found nothing. The article is Wadi Rum. The string is "yolojordan.com". It was added here. Please let me know if I should have done something different running the tool. Thanks.--Bbb23 (talk) 23:37, 18 February 2025 (UTC)
- I got WikiBlame to find the addition by selecting "Force searching for wikitext". TSventon (talk) 23:59, 18 February 2025 (UTC)
- Thanks, that worked for me too, but it ain't intuitive that that checkbox should be checked. I looked at the so-called WikiBlame user's manual (god help us) and apparently it is needed if the text is embedded in a URL, so why can't the language say that?--Bbb23 (talk) 00:04, 19 February 2025 (UTC)
- I got WikiBlame to find the addition by selecting "Force searching for wikitext". TSventon (talk) 23:59, 18 February 2025 (UTC)
- I can understnd that searching a user's edits can be "expensive" but I would think that would be true only for editors with lots of edits. In my case, the user has only 28 edits. I tried WikiBlame, even though it will not let me look for a string by a specific editor. In any event, in an article where I knew the string was added, WikiBlame said it found nothing. The article is Wadi Rum. The string is "yolojordan.com". It was added here. Please let me know if I should have done something different running the tool. Thanks.--Bbb23 (talk) 23:37, 18 February 2025 (UTC)
Timeline
I'd love to add a graphical timeline to the UCI Road World Championships page - with the below information. But the timelines I've seen are *incredibly* overwhelming for someone who doesn't write in complex syntax ... can anyone assist? Thanks hugely.
- Elite Men's road race (first held 1927)
- Elite Men's time trial (first held 1994)
- Under-23 Men's road race (first held 1996)
- Under-23 Men's time trial (first held 1996)
- Junior Men's road race (first held 1975)
- Junior Men's time trial (first held 1994)
- Elite Women's road race (first held 1958)
- Elite Women's time trial (first held 1994)
- Under-23 Women's road race (first held 2022, in conjunction with Elite Women's road race)
- Under-23 Women's time trial (first held 2022, in conjunction with Elite Women's time trial)
- Junior Women's road race (first held 1987)
- Junior Women's time trial (first held 1994)
- Mixed team relay (first held 2019)
Former events:
- Men's amateur road race (1921–1995)
- Men's team time trial (1962–2018)
- Women's team time trial (1987–2018)
Turini2 (talk) 14:54, 18 February 2025 (UTC)
Which format type is Wikipidia?
Hi everyone,
What is the standard format for Wikipedia between
1.)His parents were killed two hours later [2]. 2.)His parents were killed two hours later. [2]
1.) As the President of Uruguay, he was the chairperson of the Uruguay Social Development Commission 2.) As the president of Uruguay, he was the chairperson of the Uruguay Social Development Commission
1.) Of the seven kids killed, only two belonged to Mandela 2.) Of the 7 kids killed, only 2 belonged to Mandela ZS Khumalo (talk) 15:51, 18 February 2025 (UTC)
- References go after the sentence, immediately following punctuation.[1] Where claims can be contentious,[1] put them directly after the claim. Don't put a space between the last word or punctuation and your reference.
- "President of Uruguay" is a title, so capitalize it as its proper form.
- Per MOS:NUM, consistency is more important than using one specific numbering type over another. Departure– (talk) 15:55, 18 February 2025 (UTC)
- ... but note that MOS:NUMERAL suggests that using "seven" and "two" is to be preferred in running text. Mike Turnbull (talk) 15:58, 18 February 2025 (UTC)
Space next to | in template invocation
I recall seeing a discussion where at least some posters claimed it is acceptable, and even desireable, to have a space next to | in a template invocation, so that when editing wiki source, lines will break at better places. But I can't find where this is documented or discussed. Does anyone know? I've come across a bot edit which eliminated spaces next to |. Jc3s5h (talk) 16:14, 18 February 2025 (UTC)
- Did you mean space next to a pipe in wikilinks? There are no template invocations modified in this diff.
- —Trappist the monk (talk) 17:01, 18 February 2025 (UTC)
- @Jc3s5h: The bot used AutoWikiBrowser to make the edit. One of AWB's general fixes is to simplify the piped links. I've looked at Wikipedia:Piped link, Help:Piped link, and Wikipedia:Manual of Style/Linking#Piped links, and do not see any advice to use a space in a piped link. GoingBatty (talk) 19:47, 18 February 2025 (UTC)
- The edit that made me think about this was a wikilink, but I was thinking in general. For example, it's not unusual to see spaces next to vertical bars in citation templates. Jc3s5h (talk) 19:54, 18 February 2025 (UTC)
- There was discussion at Help talk:Citation Style 1/Archive 82 § Adding spaces between parameters that was a follow-on from Wikipedia talk:WikiProject Medicine/Archive 158 § Suggestion that ended up changing how ve renders the cs1|2 templates. That format is derived from the example at Wikipedia:Bots/Dictionary § editor-hostile wikitext ¶ b).
- —Trappist the monk (talk) 21:01, 18 February 2025 (UTC)
Is it possible to get an alert whenever vandalism is high?
I like dealing with vandalism, and have a lot of free time. It would be nice if I could receive a ping, via email or some such, when vandalism levels are particularly high, and when an "all hands on deck" situation might be present. Any solutions? Marcus Markup (talk) 17:00, 18 February 2025 (UTC)
- Hi, @Marcus Markup. I'm not too sure about this, but I don't believe so. I admire your willingness to help out with vandalism, but I don't think you can receive a ping, especially because some vandalism doesn't get flagged. I recommend just watching the Recent Changes page whenever you can looking for anything tagged as vandalism or any accounts with barely any activity.
- Good luck! Ali Beary (talk!) 17:02, 18 February 2025 (UTC)
some vandalism doesn't get flagged.
True, but there are metrics for general vandalism levels. "EnterpriseyBot", for example... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:EnterpriseyBot provides a "vandalism level" (based on reverts per minute) which I have as a userbox on my user page (it's currently "High" now, FWIW). A script which would send an email or a text message whenever "EnterpriseyBot" or whatever says that Wikipedia is under attack would be nice. Marcus Markup (talk) 17:08, 18 February 2025 (UTC)- Actually... I can just "roll my own" solution for this, as they say, and will. Like I said, I have oodles of time... I'll just set up a cron job on my Linux box to fetch my user page every five minutes or so, and see if "EnterpriseyBot" thinks vandalism is high, and then contact me. Marcus Markup (talk) 17:22, 18 February 2025 (UTC)
- @Marcus Markup: EnterpriseyBot updates the "vandalism level" only once an hour, so there's no point looking at it more frequently than that. Check the history of User:EnterpriseyBot/defcon. -- John of Reading (talk) 18:00, 18 February 2025 (UTC)
- Thanks! Marcus Markup (talk) 18:44, 18 February 2025 (UTC)
- @Marcus Markup: EnterpriseyBot updates the "vandalism level" only once an hour, so there's no point looking at it more frequently than that. Check the history of User:EnterpriseyBot/defcon. -- John of Reading (talk) 18:00, 18 February 2025 (UTC)
Editing my Raw Watchlist
Way back in the past, I was able to go to my watchlist and edit the raw list. I would do this in the instances that I want to watch a page for a different year. For example, I would watch 2020 Major League Baseball season (for example), along with many other 2020 specific pages. When it is time for the new year, I would go in to the raw list and just update the text listing to reflect 2021 Major League Baseball season and the other pages. I found this much easier than going to each page of the new year and watching it.
Now, when I go to edit the raw list, I get a blank page. The text listing briefly appears, but then comes up blank. How can I get it to have the list appear? I have tried in both Chrome and Edge? Thank you. swinquest (talk) 17:41, 18 February 2025 (UTC)
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/54/Screenshot_of_Raw_Watchlist.png/220px-Screenshot_of_Raw_Watchlist.png)
Article for the US-Russia meeting in Saudi Arabia?
Would it be beneficial for me to start writing an article about the current meeting between representatives of the US and Russia? It's the most extensive meeting since 2022 and importantly doesn't include Ukraine. There's a lot to write about and it seems as though this will become a big historical moment. I don't want to start writing a draft just to be told someone's already doing it or it doesn't need an article, so that's why I'm asking on here. User:Chorchapu (talk|edits|commons|wiktionary|simple english) 17:42, 18 February 2025 (UTC)
- @Chorchapu: A lot of material is being added to Peace negotiations in the Russian invasion of Ukraine#2025, so I suggest you don't start a separate new article. -- John of Reading (talk) 17:47, 18 February 2025 (UTC)
- There is a single sentence in that article about this meeting. User:Chorchapu (talk|edits|commons|wiktionary|simple english) 20:48, 18 February 2025 (UTC)
Make page more searchable
I'm a fairly new editor and recently created a page for a person - Michael Alexander Kahn. I would like to know how I can edit so that searching Michael Kahn, Kahn, Michael, etc. will find his page. Lauranorcal (talk) 17:45, 18 February 2025 (UTC)
- @Lauranorcal: This is done by creating redirects to the article from those titles. Follow the link to learn about how to set one up. —Jéské Couriano v^_^v threads critiques 18:07, 18 February 2025 (UTC)
- Re-signing for botched ping —Jéské Couriano v^_^v threads critiques 18:07, 18 February 2025 (UTC)
- Michael Kahn is a Wikipedia:Disambiguation page listing several people wit the same name. The article should probably be moved to Michael Kahn (lawyer) and added to the list.
- Google searches are also important, but new pages cannot be indexed by Google until they have been reviewed by Wikipedia:New pages patrol, which can take a couple of months, or until the article is 90 days old. TSventon (talk) 18:38, 18 February 2025 (UTC)
- Thank you Lauranorcal (talk) 19:00, 18 February 2025 (UTC)
- Thank you Lauranorcal (talk) 19:00, 18 February 2025 (UTC)
- Re-signing for botched ping —Jéské Couriano v^_^v threads critiques 18:07, 18 February 2025 (UTC)
- To editor Lauranorcal: Do you by any chance have any connection to Michael Kahn? If you do you need to read this linked page. In particular if you happen to be receiving compensation for editing Wikipedia in relation to them, you must disclose this.
- As TSventon stated, I believe the article also needs to be moved to conform with our standard naming conventions for biographies. In a nutshell: use whatever name sources typically use to refer to them. If their middle name isn't regularly used then it shouldn't be used in the page title. (As mentioned it is standard practice to create redirects for different naming variations, so go right ahead in doing that.) If you have more questions you're welcome to ask them here. --Slowking Man (talk) 20:31, 18 February 2025 (UTC)
February 19
Radio programs/programmes
Is there a style for radio programme discussions regarding the order of its title, date, host/presenter, participants, series title and the station broadcasting it?
Is there a more appropriate page for this question? Mcljlm (talk) 00:16, 19 February 2025 (UTC)
Paid resources access
I previously remember that Wikipedia offered access to its more active editors to resources normally only accessible through paid subsciptions, i.e. newspapers. Could someone remind me how to get access to this service? SMargan (talk) 00:32, 19 February 2025 (UTC)