Wikipedia:Help desk

The Wikipedia help desk is a place where you can ask questions about how to use or edit Wikipedia. For other types of questions, use the search box or the reference desk.

• For other types of questions, see Help:Contents and Are you in the right place?. If you have comments about a specific article, use that article's talk page.
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March 17

Article for deletion

I'm a bit confused about this article: Genie_(programming_language)

It had an original Article for Deletion, which was relisted to generate more comments, but whose result was Delete back on 27 July 2019: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Articles_for_deletion/Genie_(programming_language)

And then a second nomination, which seems like one that was trying to make a point, but was unrelated to the first nomination: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Articles_for_deletion/Genie_(programming_language)_(2nd_nomination)

How come the first nomination didn't result in a deletion? What should happen now (I have searched and can't find any new information on the topic). — Preceding unsigned comment added by Peterl (talk • contribs) 22:16, 16 March 2020 (UTC)

You need to read the AFD again. It did result in a deletion, but it was 27 July 2009, not 2019. A new version of the article was created later that year. --David Biddulph (talk) 22:21, 16 March 2020 (UTC)

Oh I see! Thanks for your help. peterl (talk) 22:40, 16 March 2020 (UTC)

Are examples of use acceptable sources to demonstrate that something is used a lot?

Tried to fit this question into the constraints of Wikipedia:Reliable sources/Noticeboard, but it didn't seem to belong, so I've brought it here. Sorry if that's wrong. A few times lately I've seen claims made in articles that a particular word or expression is frequently or commonly used to describe something, and the sourcing for it is several examples of it being used. This doesn't seem right to me. The most recent case in point is 2019–20 Australian bushfire season, where an editor has written "The term black summer has become a common term for the 2019–20 bushfire season". The sourcing for that claim is three separate examples of it being used that way. An ideal source, to me, would be one that actually says pretty what I put in quotes there. Three examples doesn't prove something is a common term. So, are examples good enough to be sources in situations like this. HiLo48 (talk) 01:48, 17 March 2020 (UTC)

I agree that it's not appropriate to use examples of a term to verify that it is commonly used. This practice could qualify as original research if no source explicitly says the term is "common". However, the examples might serve as suitable verification for a sentence along the lines of Some newspapers have employed the term black summer to describe the 2019–20 bushfire season, subject to the due weight policy, which could serve as a suitable compromise. – Teratix ₵ 07:14, 17 March 2020 (UTC)

2020 coronavirus pandemic in the United States will not accept navbox

Do you know why article 2020 coronavirus pandemic in the United States will not accept {{2019–20 coronavirus pandemic}} at the bottom of the page? Please {{ping}} me when you respond. --Jax 0677 (talk) 06:11, 17 March 2020 (UTC)

Jax 0677, see WP:PEIS. Looks like the page has too many citations/is too big and is increasing the template size too much. Galobtter (pingó mió) 06:30, 17 March 2020 (UTC)

Seems like Template:2019–20_coronavirus_pandemic_data/United_States_medical_cases is the main problem, accounting for half the references in the page and of the limit. I think the daily references would need to be axed since it is not sustainable (or at least substed). Galobtter (pingó mió) 06:41, 17 March 2020 (UTC)

@Jax 0677: See also Wikipedia:Village pump (technical)#Page-size data. PrimeHunter (talk) 12:34, 17 March 2020 (UTC)

Quarantine the Coronavirus

Majority of companies in the world are locking down to certain extent to work from homes even providing leaves due to new COVID-19 (coronavirus) in order to reduce the impact of spreading the new coronavirus. thus in order to reduce the impact of covid-19 countries need to impose policies to lockdown for certain time to mitigate the effect. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 110.225.202.165 (talk) 07:31, 17 March 2020 (UTC)

What was your question? JIP | Talk 08:07, 17 March 2020 (UTC)

This is a help desk for editing Wikipedia, not for general questions/observations. Joseph2302 (talk) 19:12, 17 March 2020 (UTC)

Biography

I need assistance in creating an acceptable biography for Wikipedia, thanks — Preceding unsigned comment added by KENNEDYMBA (talk • contribs) 09:08, 17 March 2020 (UTC)

What assistance do you need? -- Hoary (talk) 12:32, 17 March 2020 (UTC)

Try Help:Your first article and WP:BLP. Gråbergs Gråa Sång (talk) 13:32, 17 March 2020 (UTC)

@KENNEDYMBA:But first, know that Wikipedia wants to have an article on every notable subject, but we delete any article on a subject that is not notable. Really. We delete about 200 articles per day. Please read WP:AUTOBIOGRAPHY if applicable, WP:AMOUNT, and Wikipedia:Common sourcing mistakes (notability) before you start on your article, to save yourself (and us) from unnecessary effort. Don't get discouraged: if your subject is indeed notable, we will welcome your contribution. -Arch dude (talk) 17:15, 17 March 2020 (UTC)

Long term storage of personal favorite searches

I don't see the as an clickable option anywhere in your tools/or access pages. I would like to store my favorite author searches by some means. If you don't have that ability within Wikipedia should I just create a google sheet for this?

Thanks John Sherman Nashville TN — Preceding unsigned comment added by Shermanjohn (talk • contribs) 15:58, 17 March 2020 (UTC)

@Shermanjohn: Nothing in Wikipedia that I am aware of. You could bookmark it in your browser. RudolfRed (talk) 16:16, 17 March 2020 (UTC)

Lützow's Wild Hunt

This article should be split in two. Queryzo (talk) 19:41, 17 March 2020 (UTC)

• Done. The poem is now at Lützow's Wild Hunt (poem). JIP | Talk 20:40, 17 March 2020 (UTC)

Reporting Spam

Hey Guys

There is a user that owns ecosecretariat.org/ that has built an affiliate marketing/make money online blog and has a TON (hundreds) of backlinks from Wikipedia on Pakistan, the middle east etc - 100% NON-relevant for his website now.

I'm guessing he aquired the domain once it expired, and re-built it to take advantage of the backlinks from Wikipedia. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Jlenney (talk • contribs) 19:50, 17 March 2020 (UTC)

@Jlenney: Not exactly a ton (25 occurrences). I'm investigating. —[AlanM1 (talk)]— 02:04, 18 March 2020 (UTC)

 Done @Jlenney: I recovered and correctly marked the cites and ELs in 24 articles as usurped. Only one was unrecoverable (at Gyorgy Busztin), which I marked dead. I also reported it at Wikipedia:Link rot/URL change requests#ECOSecretariat.org usurped. Where did you see "hundreds" of links? —[AlanM1 (talk)]— 21:27, 18 March 2020 (UTC)

March 18

Google search issue

Hello, While searching "Asp.Net core", on Google search stable release shows 34 days ago, while in actual Wikipedia page of " Asp.net core" shows 2 months.i thinks 34 days is logically not correct, please check and verify ,let me know.

Thanks and regards, sanjeev — Preceding unsigned comment added by 2405:204:9190:8416:E826:DFC2:F5A8:DF12 (talk) 03:30, 18 March 2020 (UTC)

The information on the Wikipedia page appears to be sourced and therefore we would hold it to be correct. If Google displays something else, we have no control over that. Google often displays information in such a way that impies it comes from Wikipedia even though they compile data from multiple locations. Please link to any pages where you need help and (Please remember to sign your posts on talk pages by typing four keyboard tildes like this: ~~~~.) Thank you. Eagleash (talk) 03:44, 18 March 2020 (UTC)

Also note that Wikipedia is an encyclopedia, with a long-term purpose; it's not meant to be an up-to-the-second-accurate resource. Things like software releases are updated whenever volunteer editors get around to it. See WP:RELEASENOTES. If you want to know what the current release of ASP.NET Core is, the relevant Microsoft website would be the place to look. If the article is wrong or out of date, you can also leave a note at Talk:ASP.NET Core for someone interested/familiar with the article. —[AlanM1 (talk)]— 11:43, 18 March 2020 (UTC)

ASP.NET Core was last edited 18 February 2020. The time ago is updated automatically in the article and at the time it would have said: "Stable release 3.1.1 / 15 January 2020; 34 days ago". Google monitors our recent changes and cached the article at the time. They say exactly the same now in their data box so they probably did get it from Wikipedia but a month ago. We don't control Google. We could maybe get them to update their data by making an unrelated edit to the article but we don't do that to influence external sites. PrimeHunter (talk) 12:00, 18 March 2020 (UTC)

Draft

Hi, I created a page which had some issues and has been moved to draft. I edited them but now it looks like no one reviews it (it's been three days) and I cannot see any way to request a review.What should I do? — Preceding unsigned comment added by Effat.assar (talk • contribs) 09:38, 18 March 2020 (UTC)

Effat.assar I will shortly add the appropriate information to allow you to submit it for review. 331dot (talk) 09:41, 18 March 2020 (UTC)

@Effat.assar: You deleted the "Resubmit" button when in this edit you removed the lines saying "-- Do not remove this line! --". --David Biddulph (talk) 13:40, 18 March 2020 (UTC)

Why am I getting this error?

Hello, I just got a reply that I am not blocked, from administrator --jpgordon. I just want to upload few more images, but I am getting this messgae now and I don't know why: We could not determine whether this file is suitable for Wikimedia Commons. Please only upload photos that you took yourself with your camera, or see what else is acceptable. See the guide to make sure the file is acceptable and learn how to upload it on Wikimedia Commons. Can you help me? thank you Kcotic — Preceding unsigned comment added by Kcotic (talk • contribs) 15:41, 18 March 2020 (UTC)

@Kcotic: On User talk:Kcotic you mentioned a cross-wiki message which happens when you try to start a Commons upload at another wiki like the Slovenian or English Wikipedia. Try commons:Special:UploadWizard instead. PrimeHunter (talk) 15:55, 18 March 2020 (UTC)

Editing

Hello there!

The whole community of Wikipedia has recently caught my attention. After reading about what people like you, reading this do I created an account and I just want to know how to do what you people here do (answser different questions from people like me), since I have a lot of free time I ought to make my self useful. Thanks in advance! — Preceding unsigned comment added by 91.246.236.78 (talk) 15:48, 18 March 2020 (UTC)

Welcome, and thanks for offering to help. Most of us who answer questions on the help desk have been Wikipedians for a long time and we have a lot of experience, and we still make the occasional mistake. If you see a question and you think you know the answer, you answer the question by just editing the section the question is in. As a newbie, you should try very hard to make sure your answer is correct (as an experienced editor, I should also try very hard, of course.) In pursuit of this, I very strongly recommend that you check your answer against our various policies and guidelines, and then link to them in your answer. Also, always make sure you are logged into your account, and start your answer with a notifier to the questioner, like this: {{re|questionersusername}} and end your response with four tildes, line this: ~~~~, which will put your username and time at the end of the message. Arch dude (talk) 16:14, 18 March 2020 (UTC)

Most new users who need to kill some time will start by doing simple edits to improve articles, but this is your choice to make. We each do whatever we want to, with at most very loose coordination. If you like to answer questions, you might wish to take a look at the reference desks (WP:RD), where your relative lack of Wikipedia experience will be less of a problem and you can become productive immediately. -Arch dude (talk) 16:19, 18 March 2020 (UTC)

I'm having trouble submitting my sandbox entry

Hi, I'm Stephanie, and I make several edits to a few articles in my sandbox. I'm having trouble submitting my changes because the system says that there's an error. I'm not sure what to change to help it submit. Can you help me? Stephanie.merrick.wright (talk) 16:08, 18 March 2020 (UTC)

Hello, Stephanie.merrick.wright. I'm afraid I'm not clear what you are trying to do. I can't see any evidence that you have tried to submit your sandbox for review - but there would be no point in doing so at present, because it does not resemble a Wikipedia article. Please explain what you want to do with it. --ColinFine (talk) 16:37, 18 March 2020 (UTC)

Edit of Peppa Pig Episodes

Hello there,

I have a question for Rmosler2100, who reverted my edit of the first few episodes of Season 1 of Peppa Pig because it was not "constructive". I don't understand why he did this.0 Someone had changed the first few episode titles to irrelevant ones (including one, Vader's Biggie, that seemed salacious). All I did was change them back to their correct titles. I would appreciate a reply at some point. Thank you. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 151.230.78.126 (talk) 16:12, 18 March 2020 (UTC)

Thanks for trying to help, and keep it up. Your edits were in the middle of a series of disruptive edits by a vandal, and a patroller used a semi-automated tool to "roll back" all of the edits to the point before any of the vandalism had occurred. Your edits were caught in the crossfire, and all of the IP addresses if any edit in the group got that automated message. In the future, you can check for this sort of thing by looking at the page history of the article in question. -Arch dude (talk) 16:28, 18 March 2020 (UTC)

@Arch dude: - Not quite true. User:Rmosler2100 reverted just the edit from 151.230.78.126. Having seen this question here I subsequently reverted the vandalism by 84.252.108.100. If the OP wants to talk to Rmosler2100 they can do so by starting a new section at User talk:Rmosler2100. --David Biddulph (talk) 16:38, 18 March 2020 (UTC)

my first article

I've recently purchased a book and would like to write a wiki page on it. It's called City Spies and it was written by James Ponti. I feel like it's notable enough. It was published about a week ago. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Mikew42007 (talk • contribs) 17:21, 18 March 2020 (UTC)

Check out WP:Your first article for a guide about starting articles, there's a lot of good information there. For this topic, the first thing to do would be to see if the book is notable, meaning there's enough coverage from reliable sources to be able to fill out an article. — Aᴋʀᴀʙʙıᴍ ^talk 18:03, 18 March 2020 (UTC)

@Mikew42007: Additionally, read WP:COI regarding working on an article subject that you are connected to. RudolfRed (talk) 19:08, 18 March 2020 (UTC)

Unless I'm missing something - I'm not sure how buying a book gives someone a COI? Best Wishes, Lee Vilenski ^{(talk • contribs)} 22:06, 18 March 2020 (UTC)

Children in Brinnington area of stockport

Hello, We have just heard that schools will close from Friday due to the Virus, In BRINNINGTON we have a lot of children of all ages. Are children allowed to play out? Anyone who knows this area will now that children run wild normally & with the elderly in our area it could cause problems with them being bored & nothing to do all day & being on the streets. Will Brinnington be policed & the rules enforced for staying off the streets so the Virus does not spread. Can this question be asked. I’m sure other area’s have similar issues. Many thanks — Preceding unsigned comment added by 86.26.252.186 (talk) 18:11, 18 March 2020 (UTC)

This is the help desk for questions related to Wikipedia. For your questions, you would need to speak to your local council or check the Government advice on the matter. Joseph2302 (talk) 18:14, 18 March 2020 (UTC)

Linking 'contents' to sections

I for the life of me can't figure out how to link the contents to the sections in my page. Please advise! — Preceding unsigned comment added by Chuckalkazian (talk • contribs) 21:33, 18 March 2020 (UTC)

If you format your section headers correctly, using
== Section name ==
instead of
'''Section name'''
you don't need to – the contents section gets created and linked automatically. Maproom (talk) 21:46, 18 March 2020 (UTC)

Should articles about current events be written in the present or past tense, and when should it be changed to present tense?

For example, the COVID-19 crisis is happening as of right now, and each section of its page switches between both tenses. SO which tense should information about current events be written in, and when should it be changed to past tense?

Aykay55 (talk) 22:33, 18 March 2020 (UTC)

@Aykay55: Normally present tense is used. See Wikipedia:Manual_of_Style#Verb_tense for when past tense is appropriate. RudolfRed (talk) 22:53, 18 March 2020 (UTC)

I was trying to switch out an image on Wally West for one that the page used to have, as i found the previous one to be much cooler.

Okay, so occasionally I edit the page for Wally West, as he's my favorite superhero and i know all about him and stuff. A while ago his Wikipedia page had it's main picture switched out with another one, but the previous picture was way cooler, at least in my opinion. But I don't know how to find and add back that picture.

The picture looks like this;

https://dc.fandom.com/wiki/File:Flash_Wally_West_0001.jpg

There's another picture farther down the page that's very similar, but it's all cropped and squished into being thinner and stuff. It wasn't always like that, and I'm not sure why they did that. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 108.222.60.6 (talk) 22:41, 18 March 2020 (UTC)

The main problem here is copyright. Basically all images you find on the Internet are copyrighted, and we can only use copyrighted images if the copyright owner provides an acceptable license, or under the "fair use" doctrine. All of the images in that article are copyrighted. None of them has a an acceptable license, so each of them is used under the "fair use" doctrine. We have a very restrictive policy on use of fair use images, and one of our rules is that the image must be used at the lowest resolution that will still convey the sense of the image. There are too many fair use images in that article already. See Wikipedia:Non-free content. -Arch dude (talk) 02:49, 19 March 2020 (UTC)

March 19

The first paragraph of Unite the Right Rally needs correction

I am confused as to how to get this corrected. The first paragraph of Unite the Right Rally is lacking in the full scope of truth and is very slanted implying unjustly that all people attending the rally were... "Protesters were members of the far-right and included self-identified members of the alt-right,[11] neo-Confederates,[12] neo-fascists,[13] white nationalists,[14] neo-Nazis,[15] Klansmen,[16] and various right-wing militias.[17] The marchers chanted racist and antisemitic slogans, carried weapons, Nazi and neo-Nazi symbols, the Valknut, Confederate battle flags, Deus Vult crosses, flags and other symbols of various past and present anti-Muslim and antisemitic groups."

Well a rally is defined as: "a mass meeting of people making a political protest or showing support for a cause." Source: https://www.bing.com/search?q=rally%20definition&qs=n&form=QBRE&sp=-1&ghc=1&pq=rally%20definition&sc=8-16&sk=&cvid=59D10D67E53C4E24A53E720538A745E7

To read the first paragraph of Wikipedia's "Unite the Right Rally" one is given the impression that the character of the marchers represented the character of all in attendance at the rally. The rally was not just the marchers, the rally by definition is everybody in attendance or all who were attracted to the rally. There were thousands of people and I would even say most of the people in attendance were there solely for protecting history, their heritage and the historical monuments. These were not there for racism, antisemitism or any other non-humanitarian or un-American purpose and they were the majority. Trump was correct when he said there were a lot of good people on both sides. We need to be careful to be accurate on this issue. These remarks by Trump have been used by the left to call him racist and this false narrative has been pushed by the liberal media and the opponent political party ever since. False information which is being fed to the citizens of the US for political purposes. This article needs to be cleaned up. It is full of false narratives, and contributes to the misinformation propaganda of the left. I hope someone can please help me correct this unjust portrayal of ordinary southern American citizens as racist, white supremacists, neo-nazis and all the other negative character which Wikipedia has assigned to us. Wayne L. Hester — Preceding unsigned comment added by WLHESTER (talk • contribs) 00:31, 19 March 2020 (UTC)

You need to discuss this at the article Talk page with fellow editors. Roxy, the PROD. . wooF 00:58, 19 March 2020 (UTC)

WLHESTER Wikipedia summarizes what independent reliable sources state about a subject. Wikipedia does not claim to be free of bias; any bias in sources will be reflected in Wikipedia. Weight is given to points of view based on their coverage in independent sources. If you believe in protecting the heritage and monuments to people who supported enslaving other human beings based on what they look like, that is your business, but Wikipedia isn't here to promote any particular point of view. We summarize what the sources state and provide those sources so readers can review them and judge them for themselves. 331dot (talk) 08:12, 19 March 2020 (UTC)

Wayne's respone to this… I understand where you are coming from BUT my argument is parallel to what you have said. The Wikipedia article IS an opinion and not factual. The article assumes that every monument supporter at the rally was racist just like you also assumed every Confederate soldier fought for slavery where in truth less than 20% of Conf soldiers had slaves and were fighting to defend their states. Remember that slavery occurred in ALL US states, but lingered in the South for agrarian reasons and had the South been allowed to end slavery on its own terms as did the North, slavery would have died on the vine in the South without war especially with the advent of the industrial revolution and machinery to replace human labor. I am not supporting slavery in my comment, it was terrible but it was originally nationwide. Impatience and activism as well as penalties of tariff facilitated war. The people of the South were good people then and now. These monuments which were built by both sides after the war were a move toward finalizing peace and purposed the reunification of the divided US. Even Confederate soldiers were given veteran status by the US Congress. The destruction or removal of monuments which were meant to honor brave men serves only to deny truth in history and destroy a peaceful heritage. We were descended from these men which so many activists have falsely define as lovers of slavery. It is unfortunate that racists rally around the flag and see the monuments as part of their racist cause but they are a minority among those innocent southerners who are not racist and want to keep history honest. Wayne L. Hester — Preceding unsigned comment added by 2602:306:CF99:B340:5D13:DF35:63B7:D02F (talk) 14:55, 19 March 2020 (UTC)

Remember to log in before your post. My intention is not to get into a debate about these issues- but if you feel the article needs any changes, you should discuss them on the article talk page and offer any independent reliable sources to support your proposed changes. 331dot (talk) 20:58, 19 March 2020 (UTC)

Sukhnam Gill wikipedia

Sukhnam singh famous for painting and singing. he is full with talent.he is very kind.his age is 17 years old

Extended content
Sukhnam singh Gill Born Sukhnam singh gill 23 November 2003(age 17) punjab , India Alma mater bhai dan singh Occupation Singer Painter lyric Years active 2003–present Works personal painting Net worth ₹ 10000 (2020) Spouse(s) badhni kalan Children 0 Awards no amy Honours local reward

Signature sukhnam Gill [1] — Preceding unsigned comment added by Sukhnam Singh Gill (talk • contribs) 02:14, 19 March 2020 (UTC)

@Sukhnam Singh Gill: If you want to create a new article, read WP:AUTO and WP:YFA. Autobiographies strongly discouraged. RudolfRed (talk) 02:25, 19 March 2020 (UTC)

about publishing my draft

hi, I have a question about publishing my article. I made article titled Ok Sang Lim, but it has draft in front of the name, and I want to publish the article. How can I do that? Thank you. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Seirimyoon (talk • contribs) 08:04, 19 March 2020 (UTC)

Seirimyoon New users cannot directly create articles- you found the Draft space in which you can create a draft, but it is not yet formally part of the encyclopedia. You must submit it for a review- I will shortly add the appropriate information so you can do so. However, if you were to submit it right now, it would likely be rejected, as you have no independent reliable sources to support the content of the article. Wikipedia should only summarize what reliable sources independent of the subject say about it. You seem to only cite the artist's website. 331dot (talk) 08:06, 19 March 2020 (UTC)

Edit timeframe

To whom it may concern,

I have edited a Wikipedia page and I would like to know how long it will take until my edits are published?

best regards, James — Preceding unsigned comment added by User19032020 (talk • contribs) 12:59, 19 March 2020 (UTC)

With very few exceptions, once a page is edited it becomes publicly viewable immediately. However, as mentioned on your talk page, a bot reverted your edit, reverting the page to its state prior to your edits. The bot has left a more detailed explanation on your talk page, at User talk:User19032020#March 2020 ~~ Alex Noble/1-2/TRB 13:37, 19 March 2020 (UTC)

external links towards MALWARE

Hi,

I was checking the second link, in Notes, of the page https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hydraulics

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hydraulics#cite_note-2

"hidraulica Archivos – Zona Ingenieria". Zonaingenieria.com.

The link redirects and ends up downloading automatically on the computer an HTML webpage with the name "This computer is BLOCKED".

The page in the browser display among other things, in french, (I am in France), "Your computer has been infected". Also pseudo official Windows corporation logo.

Thanks.

PS : I didn't know where to report this. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 109.23.254.179 (talk) 13:44, 19 March 2020 (UTC)

I failed to veryfiy this. when I my browser that it should show me the source code of the website, it displayed an empty site errror (i.e. the web server admin did not publish anything yet). I have tagged the link as dead. 15:05, 19 March 2020 (UTC)

Posting promblem

How to post pictures or videos in wikipedia.plz show me I have realy tried but I cant — Preceding unsigned comment added by Rebbecca Ann (talk • contribs) 13:58, 19 March 2020 (UTC)

Ive posted a welcome message related to images on this users talkpage. Maybe this helps. Victor Schmidt (talk) 14:58, 19 March 2020 (UTC)

Garry O'Connor (writer)

Hello.

Re https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Garry_O%27Connor_(writer)

I am the writer of the article about Garry O'Connor, although I would qualify that statement in that I have only posted to Wikipedia the text that Garry O'Connor himself supplied me with. He is bewildered that Wikipedia has raised so many objections to his entry. What Wikipedia is asking for by way of editing the article seems very demanding. Is there a Wikipedia editor willing to undertake the work of editing the article so that it conforms to Wikipedia standards? I have talked to Garry O'Connor and he is in agreement that this can happen. Thank you. Jack d'Argus — Preceding unsigned comment added by Jack d'Argus (talk • contribs) 14:16, 19 March 2020 (UTC)

The thing to realise, Jack d'Argus, is that, because Wikipedia is an encyclopaedia, and rejects promotion of any kind, it has basically no interest in what the subject of an article says about themselves. It is only interested in what people wholly unconnected with the subject have chosen, unprompted by the subject, to publish (in reliable places) about the subject. An article should be almost 100% based on such souces. Also, the fact that you have been in contact with O'Connor suggests that you may have a conflict of interest in writing about him. --ColinFine (talk) 14:50, 19 March 2020 (UTC)

^{I have taken the liberty of inserting the closing "]]" missing from your second link, Colin. Hope you don't mind. {The poster formerly known as 87.81.230.195} 90.197.27.39 (talk) 15:17, 19 March 2020 (UTC)}

Thank you, ColinFine. As I say, article is open to editing. Are you offering? — Preceding unsigned comment added by Jack d'Argus (talk • contribs) 15:06, 19 March 2020 (UTC)

Where are skins defined?

Hi. I was just thinking that I would like to modify the CSS used with Vector to have a dark mode for Wikipedia in my browser. In order to do this, I would like to take a look at the CSS file(s) used to display this skin. Where can I find the CSS file that is loaded if a user has a certain skin as their setting? Thanks! DemonDays64 (talk) 16:44, 19 March 2020 (UTC) (please ping on reply)

@DemonDays64: https://github.com/wikimedia/mediawiki-skins-Vector/tree/master/resources/skins.vector.styles * Pppery * _{it has begun...} 18:54, 19 March 2020 (UTC)

@Pppery: thanks! So those files are in the .less format. Do you (or someone else who reads this) know if there is a way that I could have my own .less files load on Wikipedia? This would be nice because how the organization works it uses a lot of variables and I believe I could change them to make the file to modify how it looks more usable (see https://github.com/wikimedia/mediawiki-skins-Vector/blob/c85c0700a908da751d9454e006f2f43b56346fa0/variables.less for where the variables are). Thanks again! DemonDays64 (talk) 19:11, 19 March 2020 (UTC) (please ping on reply)

@DemonDays64: That's phab:T56864, so not possible yet to my knowledge. * Pppery * _{it has begun...} 19:15, 19 March 2020 (UTC)

oh that's too bad. Thanks! DemonDays64 (talk) 19:20, 19 March 2020 (UTC)

See also Wikipedia:Skin. Special:Preferences#mw-prefsection-gadgets has "Use a black background with green text". Special:Gadgets shows it uses MediaWiki:Gadget-Blackskin.css. PrimeHunter (talk) 19:14, 19 March 2020 (UTC)

Help:Cite errors/Cite error ref too many keys

I am trying to add the following reference to the page on punk rock:

Tsitsos, William. 1999. "Rules of Rebellion: Slamdancing, Moshing, and the American Alternative Scene" JSTOR. 18(3):397-414. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 69.81.54.12 (talk) 19:48, 19 March 2020 (UTC)

Hello. The "name" parameter in the <ref> is simply a label to refer to the reference by elsewhere on the page. The content of the reference needs to go between the <ref> and the </ref> - there's content already there in Harvard notation, using the template Template:Harvnb (edit | talk | history | links | watch | logs). I'm afraid I don't know anything about using Harvard citations, but CITESHORT should explain it. --ColinFine (talk) 20:57, 19 March 2020 (UTC)

Reverting talk comment

I made a comment on the talk page of a pretty obscure computer game Rack 'Em. It also came in a bundle, but i couldn't find a reliable source for that. This edit was reverted (rather than discussed). Please advise me. Is it in line with WP policies to just delete someone's comment on a talk page (repeatedly)? Doesn't feel very kind to me... By the way, if my comment on the talk page was out of line, please help me understand why it was. PizzaMan ♨♨♨ 19:56, 19 March 2020 (UTC)

@PizzaMan: Hello, I would think that your original comment was deleted because it was discussing the subject of the article rather than how to improve the Wikipedia page. I'm not 100% certain about that as there was no ES left (the first time) and the reverting editor was using 'Twinkle' which I gather can quickly identify unhelpful edits but is not always renowned for its accuracy! Courtesy ping for Binksternet who may wish to comment here. FWIW your most recent comment with a source is better. Hopefully someone with an interest in the page will take up the discussion. Eagleash (talk) 21:00, 19 March 2020 (UTC)

But by that measure loads of messages are candidates for summary revert. There is nothing wrong with someone raising a point on a talk page without initially having the references to back it up. - X201 (talk) 21:06, 19 March 2020 (UTC)

True, I agree that TP comments are often rather 'general' and I don't think it should have been undone; rather, as Pizza suggests, replied to. Eagleash (talk) 21:28, 19 March 2020 (UTC)

It doesn't seem to me that WP:TPO allows this kind of summary removal; certainly it doesn't allow repeated removal. --ColinFine (talk) 22:56, 19 March 2020 (UTC)

I'm not familiar with Twinkle, but isn't there something about not reverting edits which are not vandalism without leaving an explanation? Eagleash (talk) 23:28, 19 March 2020 (UTC)

@Eagleash: Twinkle doesn't do automated analysis, AFAIK. I'm guessing there's some personal history here. —[AlanM1 (talk)]— 00:55, 20 March 2020 (UTC)

March 20

Question about banning.

When we ban someone, why don't we just kick em of the website? Can't look at articles, etc. Just a question. New3400 (talk) 01:51, 20 March 2020 (UTC)

If we prevent viewing by user accounts, then they can just log out and read articles again. If we prevent viewing by IP addresses, then a lot of uninvolved people will get affected because most IP addresses are dynamic (and change users from time to time). Besides, why should we prevent people from reading articles? Darylgolden^(talk) Ping when replying 02:20, 20 March 2020 (UTC)

I said ban, not block, User:Darylgolden New3400 (talk) 02:27, 20 March 2020 (UTC)

@New3400: Why does that change the question? Why do you want to control what someone else can read? —[AlanM1 (talk)]— 03:41, 20 March 2020 (UTC)

@New3400: I know. That doesn't fix the problem. Darylgolden^(talk) Ping when replying 03:50, 20 March 2020 (UTC)

@New3400: Blocks and bans are not intended as punishment. They are defensive measures to protect Wikipedia and let us get on with our mission. Prohibiting reading would not increase the effectiveness of these measures and because of the technical difficulties would simply cause more work for admins, who have better uses for their time. -Arch dude (talk) 04:14, 20 March 2020 (UTC)