Wikipedia:Teahouse/Questions/Archive 550

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Need help writing/setting up Wiki article

Hi all,

I'm hoping someone can help me :) I've been assigned with setting up a Wiki page for our company, but I'm ridiculously confused the coding bit that you have to do to actually write the page :/ Is there anyone in this community that enjoys setting up pages?? MileenaKitana (talk) 05:30, 5 December 2016 (UTC)

Hello, MileenaKitana, and welcome to the Teahouse. Unfortunately, I'm not in a position to help you create an article right now. However, I can suggest a route to creating your article in a way that it most likely wouldn't get deleted.

First, however, I must tell you that, because of our Terms_of_Use, you must follow our paid editing disclosure instructions. In particular, follow the instructions in the "How to disclose" section of that page, though you should read the whole page. I've left a message on your talk page with more information on Wikipedia's conflict-of-interest policies.

Now that we have that required bit out of the way, onward to the highly recommended stuff. The one thing I strongly recommend using is our Articles for Submission process. This allows you to create a draft of the article you want to create and, when you're ready, you can then submit the draft for review. When a reviewer sees the draft (this can take a couple of weeks, as the process is usually backlogged), they will either approve it and take care of creating the actual article for you or they will decline it and suggest some things you should attempt to fix before you resubmit your draft. You can submit your draft as many times as you want, but, between each submission, you must try to fix the problem(s) the reviewer noted. You can, of course, contact the reviewer for more help, or even come back here, too.

One more thing: Since you are attempting to write an article for a company, I should tell you that Wikipedia is not used for advertising or promotion. The company must also be notable by Wikipedia's definition (see our notability policy for companies and organizations). We also don't care what the company has to say about themselves. Instead, we rely on independent, reliable sources to both establish notability and cite as references in articles. If the company doesn't have anything written about them in a reliable source, then it's usually not notable enough for inclusion in Wikipedia.

I hope this helps you. I do realize it's a lot to take in. By the way, each link above leads to the specific policy or essay that talks about it.

— Gestrid (talk) 06:26, 5 December 2016 (UTC)

I just noticed that you have declared your conflict of interest on your user talk page. I apologize for including information you may have already read. However, I still recommend that you read through our paid editing policy if you have not already. — Gestrid (talk) 06:30, 5 December 2016 (UTC)

Wow that's a lot haha. Thanks Gestrid :D

MileenaKitana (talk) 06:54, 5 December 2016 (UTC)

You're welcome, MileenaKitana. Like I said, I know it's a lot of information, but I hope it'll be able to help you. One other thing I forgot to mention: If you decide to create a draft, the reviewer will be someone who has created plenty of articles before and knows the ins and outs of creating them. — Gestrid (talk) 07:02, 5 December 2016 (UTC)

Possible conflict of interest edits from IP address

I'm looking for assistance with the Staff and labour section of the McMaster University Library page. Edits to the section by the same IP address have been reverted by multiple editors, myself included, but the same edits continue to be made. After one of the most recent revisions I added a request for comment to the talk page, but the same edits from the same IP address continue. Despite looking over various help topics, I'm unsure how to proceed. To be clear, I didn't create the section, I'm just trying to find middle ground with regards to what's going on. Thanks! Dnllnd (talk) 23:13, 4 December 2016 (UTC)

Not a terribly experienced editor, but I've contributed to the article's talk page. I'll keep an eye on it and hopefully contribute some actual page edits (or proposed on the talk page). TheCrazedBeast (talk) 03:28, 5 December 2016 (UTC)

I've also added the article and its talk page to my watchlist. I'll keep an eye on those IP edits. — Gestrid (talk) 04:25, 5 December 2016 (UTC)

Hi Dnllnd. I've posted a more detailed comment at Talk:McMaster University Library#Staff and Labour section, but basically you should assume good faith and move cautiously here. The IP making the edits is claiming that they are doing so because the relevant content violates WP:BLP, so it would be best to address their concerns appropriately per WP:BLPKIND. BLP matters can be tricky and it sometimes helps to get more feedback from WP:BLPN. -- Marchjuly (talk) 07:13, 5 December 2016 (UTC)

How

OP blocked as WP:NOTHERE

The following discussion has been closed. Please do not modify it.

WAit how do I recover my work hep I had some done thanks 08:17, 5 December 2016 (UTC) — Preceding unsigned comment added by Allyouedit (talk • contribs)

Wait it is my testing sandbox right wtf08:19, 5 December 2016 (UTC) — Preceding unsigned comment added by Allyouedit (talk • contribs)

Yes and no. Other editors can edit your userspace if they want to, but it's generally considered bad practice unless one page (in this case, your sandbox) doesn't meet Wikipedia's rules. In this case, your sandbox was a gameguide (see WP:GAMEGUIDE). Those types of things are never allowed as articles on Wikipedia It was deleted under one of our criterion for speedy deletion. — Gestrid (talk) 08:26, 5 December 2016 (UTC)

Why?

This page I thought it was like word you could save stuff wtf. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Allyouedit/sandbox 07:57, 5 December 2016 (UTC) — Preceding unsigned comment added by Allyouedit (talk • contribs)

Sorry, Allyouedit, but stuff like that isn't actually allowed on Wikipedia. See WP:GAMEGUIDE. Something like that would be more appropriate on a wiki that was created for Skyrim. For the record, I wasn't the one that nominated that page for deletion, and I wasn't the one that deleted it, either. — Gestrid (talk) 08:02, 5 December 2016 (UTC)

FOUR FOUR FOUR FOUR FOUR times NOT FOR THIS SITE NOT YOUR RULES HAAA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! — Preceding unsigned comment added by Allyouedit (talk • contribs) 08:34, 5 December 2016 (UTC)

You're right. It's not my rules. It's Wikipedia's rules. And you and I have to abide by them whether we like it or not. — Gestrid (talk) 08:35, 5 December 2016 (UTC)

@Allyouedit: It should be common sense that if the document was not for this site, then it does not belong here. If it is/was on our site, then our rules DO apply. Ian.thomson (talk) 08:43, 5 December 2016 (UTC)

How is?

Sorry mistyped and pressed I was asking how is this I'm not posting on here it's not for here. 07:39, 5 December 2016 (UTC) — Preceding unsigned comment added by Allyouedit (talk • contribs)

Here is the link it's not done just started it https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Allyouedit/sandbox 07:40, 5 December 2016 (UTC)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Allyouedit/sandbox. 07:41, 5 December 2016 (UTC)

Sorry I'm new don't khow how this works thanks learning 07:42, 5 December 2016 (UTC) — Preceding unsigned comment added by Allyouedit (talk • contribs)

Just to make it clear it's not for here it's for a game site just want you to peer edit it thanks. 07:45, 5 December 2016 (UTC) — Preceding unsigned comment added by Allyouedit (talk • contribs)

How to do copy what I had on to word help its gone. 08:05, 5 December 2016 (UTC) — Preceding unsigned comment added by Allyouedit (talk • contribs)

I stated clearly it's not for this SITE FOUR TIMES just saving it like Microsoft word????????? 08:31, 5 December 2016 (UTC)~ — Preceding unsigned comment added by Allyouedit (talk • contribs)

Wikipedia is not a web host. It's not a place where you can just store your content for later use. — Gestrid (talk) 08:33, 5 December 2016 (UTC)

How to change the image in the page preview

Hi, I have the page preview function enabled and I love it. It often tells you exactly what you need to know about a subject without having to interrupt your reading and without having to open a new article. Most of the times, the image in the preview is spot on, but sometimes, the image is that of another picture in the article and it becomes deceitful. I want to be able to change the picture in the page preview to better reflect what an article is about or simply to put a more accurate image. How do I go about changing an image in the page preview function?

Thanks! Ṗḯƥỡȵẘẩ (talk) 06:41, 5 December 2016 (UTC)

It may be worth seeing whether an image is called up in the Wikidata item for the page in question. --David Biddulph (talk) 06:47, 5 December 2016 (UTC)

Piponwa: This is a known issue which will be fixed Beevil (talk) 09:37, 5 December 2016 (UTC)

Half of a birth date is unknown so...

Hello! I'm currently creating an article about someone, but the only information given about when they were born is the year. Not the month or day. When I add just the year as the birth date it gives me several error codes because they want the day and month as well, but it's unknown for this person. How do I surpass this?Depthburg (talk) 09:49, 5 December 2016 (UTC)

Depthburg: this page (alone of all Wikipedia discussion pages) has new threads at the top. So I have moved your question. Maproom (talk) 10:28, 5 December 2016 (UTC)

I see that another editor has now dealt with the birth date problem. Maproom (talk) 10:32, 5 December 2016 (UTC)

Hello @Depthburg:, in this case Template:Birth year and age should be used in Draft:Amarjeet Sada for year-only values. I have added that template, and also added a separate reference section to automatically list all references. If you don't mind an additional comment: as the article is about a living person, Wikipedia's WP:BLP policy applies. Covering a topic about alleged crimes and convictions of a living person, every single statement in the article's body should be meticulously sourced to a high-quality reference. I noticed that especially the first half of "Murders" lacks such in-line citations. You should fix these flaws as soon as possible as BLP content without appropriate sources will get deleted. If one source verifies several separate facts, you can re-use it several times - see WP:REFB (#5) for more information about "named references". GermanJoe (talk) 10:33, 5 December 2016 (UTC)

Thank you and will do! — Preceding unsigned comment added by Depthburg (talk • contribs) 10:44, 5 December 2016 (UTC)

Elmer Wheeler page

I edited content from Elmer Wheeler.net and I can see it was rejected due to the copyright issue. My bad, I guess I forgot about this. However, I feel strongly that Elmer Wheeler did very well in his life and produced a lot of very good information that many copy, it would be good to highlight that he is the source of much of this kind of material.

I wrote a new version that I could polish up with links to sources and so on, that loosely would read as follows, could you tell me if this approach would be acceptable?

Elmer Wheeler was one of the first great sales speakers who was forced to enter the sales profession as a result of the economic changes that blighted the thirties in the US and elsewhere. A former journalist he already had a close understanding of the power of words and realised that the power in sales, as it is in journalism is in the first ten words that you say. From there he created a series of one liners and commanded an extensive following and was ultimately the only sales speaker to be awarded an Oscar. Elmer was very influential to a lot of people and his influence has spanned generations.

I could edit this and add links to videos, his list of books, some of which are still available on Amazon.

I have no affiliation with the website the person, the family or any other connection I am simply a fan of his work and was surprised he was not on wikipedia and this is a person who should be celebrated and understood as he provides in my opinion a lot of value and will save people who are entering sales for the first time a lot of short cuts.

I just wrote this from the heart. If I am now going in the right direction with this I can edit it up and turn it into something that I would hope would not infringe the copyright. By the way I did notice that when you look at the terms and conditions of the site in question that there does not appear to be anyone admitting to ownership of the content. David White (talk) 23:05, 4 December 2016 (UTC)

Hello, Drclohite, and welcome to the Teahouse. Keep in mind that Wikipedia has no interest in what a person, company, etc., has to say about themselves when it comes to whether or not we should create articles about them. When determining whether or not a topic is notable, we follow our notability guidelines. When determining notability for a person, we follow our notability guidelines for people.

Instead of using primary sources to determine notability, we determine it using independent, reliable sourcees.

As for your second point, it is true that nobody owns content on Wikipedia. Actually, anyone is free to reuse content they find on Wikipedia, provided they license it correctly. (Also see Wikipedia:Copyrights as well.)

— Gestrid (talk) 23:25, 4 December 2016 (UTC)

I took it that David meant the site he found the material on, Gestrid. David, copyright generally doesn't have to be claimed. Wikimedia assumes that material is copyright unless there is a clear statement to the contrary. --ColinFine (talk) 23:45, 4 December 2016 (UTC)

thanks guys David White (talk) 10:54, 5 December 2016 (UTC)

Customizing User Page?

This kinda dumb but anyways. Just wondering if there are ways to customize your user page. Thanks Catteth75 (talk) 12:59, 5 December 2016 (UTC)

Hey Catteth75. See Wikipedia:User page design center for a number of tools that can be used to customize your user page. Hope this helps. TimothyJosephWood 13:13, 5 December 2016 (UTC)

Thanks, i will take a look :) Catteth75 (talk) 13:26, 5 December 2016 (UTC)

Won't I actually get a barnstar for completing the Wiki adventure?

Even though I have been editing for quite some time, I decided to complete the WikiAdventure to see what its about. In the end Gaia Girl, gave me a barnstar, but that did not actually reach me in my real talk page. Is that how it is? PierceBrosnan007 (talk) 04:53, 3 December 2016 (UTC)

Its all right, I found the barnstar PierceBrosnan007 (talk) 06:53, 3 December 2016 (UTC)

I thought you might get a barnstar for the wikipedia tour User:Gestrid. Adityavagarwal (talk) 18:32, 3 December 2016 (UTC) User:Gestrid?Adityavagarwal —Preceding undated comment added 14:17, 5 December 2016 (UTC)

banker Institute for Rural Development(BIRD)

What is the problem with my page? Why it can not be uploaded M K Pathak 13:31, 5 December 2016 (UTC) — Preceding unsigned comment added by Mkpathak20 (talk • contribs)

Hey Mkpathak20. Unfortuantely, I have marked your article for Banker Institute For Rural Development for deletion, because it appears to be copy/pasted from this website. In the vast majority of circumstances, content cannot be copied verbatim to Wikipedia from online sources, because doing so is a copyright violation. Rather, the content must be written in the author's own words.

If you would like to rewrite the article in your own words, you may want to try submitting it to our articles for creation page, where it can be reviewed by experienced editors, who can leave feedback on it, and hopefully help improve it before the article is published on the encyclopedia. TimothyJosephWood 13:50, 5 December 2016 (UTC)

But please understand, Mkpathak20, that Wikipedia has no interest at all in what any subject says or thinks about themselves. It is only interested in what people who have no connection with the subject have published about it. Therefore, if we are to have an article about BIRD, it must be almost 100% based on published material that is completely independent of BIRD - and note that though the Indiabiz site itself may be independent of BIRD, the text you copied clearly comes from BIRD, and so is not acceptable as a source for a Wikipedia article on it.

Furthermore, as the deputy General Manager you have a conflict of interest, and so you are very much discouraged from writing an article on it anyway: if this is a paid position then you must declare it according to PAID.

If you decide to go ahead and try to write an article on BIRD, please, after making the required declarations, read and follow Your first article. Then understand that the best way to achieve an article which is accepted is to find a number of reliable independent sources that discuss BIRD in depth; and having found them, forget every single thing you know about the Institute and write a draft (using the articles for creation process) solely based on what these independent sources say about it. --ColinFine (talk) 14:12, 5 December 2016 (UTC)

(edit conflict) Having seen what you wrote at Talk:Banker Institute For Rural Development, you need to read about conflict of interest. If you wanted to donate the copyright of the copied material to Wikipedia, the process is at WP:Donating copyrighted material, but material on an organisation's website is usually written in too promotional language to be usable on Wikipedia. Apart from the copyright problem, you have failed to demonstrate that the topic is notable in Wikipedia's terms, meaning that you need to provide references to significant coverage of the topic in published reliable sources independent of the subject. There are a number of other useful links on your user talk page. --David Biddulph (talk) 14:20, 5 December 2016 (UTC)

information removed

may you say why the information of Sakuchia Badiuzzaman Dakhil Madrasah removed. Adityavagarwal (talk) 14:12, 5 December 2016 (UTC)

Adityavagarwal: when you added information to Sakuchia Badiuzzaman Dakhil Madrasah, you also deleted a tag showing that it has been proposed for deletion. Your edit was reverted in this edit so as to restore the tag. However, you were justified in removing the tag, and it has now been re-removed and the information you added has been restored. Maproom (talk) 14:25, 5 December 2016 (UTC)

Your edit (to Sakuchia Badiuzzaman Dakhil Madrasah, as you forgot to provide a link) was mistakenly reverted by another editor, but his error was subsequently reversed and the other editor was warned as to their error. --David Biddulph (talk) 14:27, 5 December 2016 (UTC)

why to warn the editor? it might be a small mistake by him so it is ok right? because he might not have seen something so he might have made an error or something so why to even warn the editor? you could instead have said to him that he made a small mistake instead of warning him right? Adityavagarwal (talk) 15:15, 5 December 2016 (UTC)

Hey Adityavagarwal. Warning is not always the most accurate term. In reality, the purpose of a lot of "warnings" on Wikipedia is often simply to inform the user that they have made a mistake, or that they perhaps need to review a policy that they may be unfamiliar with. In this case, the user should be aware that they reverted more than just the removal of a deletion tag, and they should take care in the future that when they revert, they are reverting only the content they intend to, and not accidentally removing other content. TimothyJosephWood 15:20, 5 December 2016 (UTC)

In this case, it was pointed out to JudeccaXIII that they were not allowed to reinstate the deletion tag that Adityavagarwal had removed, and they were advised to read WP:PROD. The relevant message to the other user, if Adityavagarwal hasn't read it, is at User talk:JudeccaXIII#Your reinstating of a prod tag. --David Biddulph (talk) 15:35, 5 December 2016 (UTC)

How Do I create the Thing with info of the indvidual?

Hi All

I Hope this question is answered as this is the only Question I have To Finish Before Making My First Page. How Do you Make the Row at the top with the individual's Picture and his info such as-Gender, Birth date, Death Date, Signature And His Family like those things. Please Tell me It's Name And How To Create it.

Thanks HyperDracoHyperdraco (talk) 07:08, 5 December 2016 (UTC)

Hey there! What you need to do is add a template called infobox person and then edit it to add in the information you have.

A.s.jones (talk) 07:11, 5 December 2016 (UTC)

A.s.jones, while you are correct in this case, I would suggest that you become a little more familiar with Wikipedia's guidelines and rules before attempting to answer more questions from other new editors here. You don't want to accidentally give them bad advice. — Gestrid (talk) 07:25, 5 December 2016 (UTC) That was out of line. — Gestrid (talk) 18:26, 5 December 2016 (UTC)

(edit conflict)Hello, Hyperdraco, and welcome to the Teahouse. I'm assuming you're talking about infoboxes. Please correct me if I'm wrong. The template you're looking for is at Template:Infobox person. Read through the page to see how to use it. If you have any questions about how to use it, feel free to reply here. There is likely a more specific infobox I could give you, but I will need a bit more information for that. Mainly, I would need to know what profession the person you want to write about is or was in. Also, here's a little more advice. If you're writing about a living person or a recently-deceased person, you'll have to follow our Biographies of Living Persons policy. I would also suggest that, since this is your first article, you should go through the Articles for Creation process to submit a draft for review and either approved or declined with feedback by a reviewer who has a lot of experience in creating articles. Again, feel free to reply here if you have any more questions. — Gestrid (talk) 07:25, 5 December 2016 (UTC)

Rollbacker request

Hello and my name is Lipstick and Luggage, I'm new in Wikipedia in the last few days. I guess I would promote to be a administrator in a year or Rollbacker in a month? I would prefer that dream job please in Wikipedia. LAL (talk) 04:13, 2 December 2016 (UTC)

Hello, @Lipstick and Luggage:, and welcome to the Teahouse. That's a fun username you've chosen for yourself, but if there's a cultural allusion in there, I missed it.

As for Rollbacker and Admin jobs, all I can say is "Whoa there, pardner!" Those kinds of things will come for people who demonstrate over a fairly long period of time that they have learned how Wikipedia policies and guidelines work and that they are here to help with the project of building an encyclopedia. For now, I suggest you concentrate on making the sorts of improvements that any editor can make; there's certainly plenty of work remaining to be done. —jmcgnh^{(talk) (contribs)} 15:34, 2 December 2016 (UTC)

jmcgnh, see [1] for what the name is a reference to (this isn't outing; she declares the link on her user page). Lipstick and Luggage, jmcgnh is correct; don't see adminship or rollback status as any kind of goal, as they don't have the "super user" meaning in Wikipedia they have on many other sites. As long as you follow Wikipedia's rules on sourcing—in a nutshell, everything you write needs to be referenced to independent reliable sources, not to personal experience—you'll do fine. ‑ Iridescent 15:42, 2 December 2016 (UTC)

Plus, it will take years (I'm not exaggerating) to gain enough community trust and experience to even consider running for adminship. A current Request for Adminship that is likely to pass successfully is for a user who has been here for eight years. Another one that seems like it may fail is for a user who has been registered here for two years. Another one that passed a few months ago was for a user who has been here nearly ten years!

Also, I should tell you that Wikipedia is not a race to collect all the user rights. The truth is, if your only goal in the long run is to become an administrator, you likely won't become one.

However, if you just edit or create articles about the topics you love (while following the rules, such as citing reliable sources, etc.), you will most definitely gain the community's trust.

By the way, the only way to get user rights such as Rollback, you'll need to at least two things: a reason you should have the user right and why you can be trusted with it. Neither of these will be achievable simply by telling someone that stuff. To my knowledge (I'm not someone who can assign user rights), one of the main things an administrator looks at when deciding whether or not you can be trusted with a user right (like Rollback) is your editing history. For Rollback rights, one of the main things they probably look for in your editing history is evidence of countering attempted vandalism.

tl;dr: Basically, the only way you can get the user rights you've asked about is by editing. Your editing habits show a lot about your character, which shows whether or not you can be trusted with certain user rights. Your editing habits also show how experienced you are with some things, which shows whether or not you'll know what you're doing if you do get a user right.

— Gestrid (talk) 08:25, 4 December 2016 (UTC)

Given the website, that seems like an awfully elaborate setup for a sock. —jmcgnh^{(talk) (contribs)} 18:37, 5 December 2016 (UTC)

@Jmcgnh: Who said the website was actually owned by the sock? They were probably masquerading as the owner of the website. — Gestrid (talk) 18:42, 5 December 2016 (UTC)

@Gestrid: Did I say the website was owned by the sock? Could be either way, but the correspondence between the website and the user page was pretty convincing and the edit history looked plausible, even the over-enthusiasm to become an admin (why would an experienced sock play it that way?). What I was trying to convey is how impressed I was by how elaborate this setup appears to have been. I have no idea how checkusers do their job, but I'm even more baffled by what motivates sock puppeteers. A long-game con? —jmcgnh^{(talk) (contribs)} 18:57, 5 December 2016 (UTC)

Adding a musician/artist to Wiki. Elles Bailey

Hi there, I am trying to add an artist called Elles Bailey to Wiki. She is a fantastic blues artist from Bristol. I have added her in drafts and am trying to get it right but its complicated to get this correct and I want to be 100% factual. Henrywilliams (talk) 16:14, 5 December 2016 (UTC)

This is about Draft:Elles Bailey. Henrywilliams: the draft currently has three references (I can't judge whether they are enough to establish that she is notable). But they aren't cited anywhere in the draft. Unless you can correct that by citing them after the statements that they support, your draft won't be accepted as an article. Maproom (talk) 17:27, 5 December 2016 (UTC)

Following on from Maproom's reply, details of how to cite the references can be found at Help:Referencing for beginners. --David Biddulph (talk) 17:35, 5 December 2016 (UTC)

Hi, Henrywilliams. Sources for all articles, but especially for biographies, must meet Wikipedia's standard for reliability. At least one of yours doesn't. Tumblr is user generated and no user generated content site is considered reliable (even Wikipedia itself). The other two sources don't appear to be all that solid, and are more discussion of her recent work and not that much on her life. You should probably take a read on NMUSIC, which is a list of exceptions to the general biography requirements for musicians, to see if she qualifies under any of them. John from Idegon (talk) 19:46, 5 December 2016 (UTC)

Capitals and Lowercase

When creating links on Wikipedia it does not recognise test page 1 and Test Page 1 as the same. Why? 109.155.85.198 (talk) 18:31, 5 December 2016 (UTC)

Because case is significant in page names, with the exception of the first letter of the title. --David Biddulph (talk) 18:38, 5 December 2016 (UTC)

But why do it this way??? Why not change it??? It's a bad system

109.155.85.198 (talk) 18:41, 5 December 2016 (UTC)

It's not necessarily bad or good. It's just the way the MediaWiki software was designed. — Gestrid (talk) 18:45, 5 December 2016 (UTC)

Well IT is bad and should be updated... why don't members vote on it.

82.132.212.21 (talk) 19:41, 5 December 2016 (UTC)

It's not as simple as "voting and deciding it's bad". It would require a fundamental rewrite of the MediaWiki software, which would require extensive development and testing. My guess is that would take a long time and probably millions of pounds to do. Joseph2302 (talk) 20:21, 5 December 2016 (UTC)

It's a good thing because it allows links to article titles using a lowercase initial letter without having to pipe the link: "Throughout the history of New York..." Subsequent capitals in article titles follow the normal rule of English orthography that only proper nouns get a capital first letter. In fact your second example title "Test Page 1" is incorrect unless the phrase is a proper name of something such as the title of a book, artwork, etc. Roger (Dodger67) (talk) 20:27, 5 December 2016 (UTC)

It's a feature of the MediaWiki software which is used by thousands of wikis. There has only been a few requests to change it like phab:T2453 and phab:T4174. Most people seem to like it or not care. It means you can have different pages like Gold and GOLD. Poor capitalization should be fixed whether or not it breaks a link. If it does break a link then it does more damage but is also more likely to be improved or avoided. PrimeHunter (talk) 20:31, 5 December 2016 (UTC)

Redirect question

Hi, I was wondering to what extent redirects could be used, specifically in the redirect Ktenology which links to Leo Alexander. Leo Alexander who coined the term ktenology, is it okay to have redirects as such. I was looking at the wikipedia page for redirect criteria but still hadn't wasn't sure.NikolaiHo^☎️ 21:55, 5 December 2016 (UTC)

Hey Nikolaiho. Such redirects are probably fine as long as they're relevant. Of course, the better option is usually to make a main article on the subject itself, rather than redirecting to the person who coined the term. TimothyJosephWood 22:02, 5 December 2016 (UTC)

In the case that an article could be created about it in the future, be sure to put the following, including the curly braces, starting on the line after the next line after the redirect:

{{Rcat shell|

}}

That will correctly categorize the redirect as one that could be expanded into its own article in the future.

— Gestrid (talk) 22:12, 5 December 2016 (UTC)

Do Private Schools count as Promotional?

Hey, I was wondering if I could create a Wikipedia page on local private schools, or if that would be flagged as promotional? Please tell me if I can or can not. Thanks! Bob2357 (talk) 20:31, 4 December 2016 (UTC)

Hello, Bob2357, and welcome to the Teahouse. It's not the subject of the article but rather the style that it is written in that determines whether it is promotional or not. See Wikipedia:Neutral point of view for some guidance. If you have any links with the schools, I also suggest reading Wikipedia:Conflict of interest. If you decide to go ahead and write the articles, I recommend creating them as drafts, via Wikipedia:Your first article. Cordless Larry (talk) 20:41, 4 December 2016 (UTC)

Hi Bob2357 - to add to the above, Secondary schools are usually considered notable enough for their own article, but nursery/kindergarten and infant/junior schools are not generally considered notable, unless they have received extensive coverage in totally independent sources. Please see Wikipedia:WikiProject Schools/Article guidelines for what should/should not be included in schools articles and how they should be organized, - Arjayay (talk) 10:14, 5 December 2016 (UTC)

Thanks Bob2357 (talk) 14:06, 5 December 2016 (UTC)

Thanks

Bob2357 (talk) 23:13, 5 December 2016 (UTC)

Working on Lori A. Williams - Draft Article

I'm working on a draft article for Lori A. Williams, jazz singer. I received some help from editors several nights and was told that she needed to meet the nobility checklist. I had Lori go through and give her responses. Can I have an editor now review the notability list in an effort to get the draft approved?

Kambui (talk) 20:28, 5 December 2016 (UTC)

Hey Kambui. Unfortunately, it looks like significant portions of Draft:Lori A. Williams still do not have supporting citations. Keep in mind that it is not enough that information on Wikipedia be true, it must also be verifiable, meaning that there needs to be references provided for information beyond personal correspondence with the subject of the article. TimothyJosephWood 20:34, 5 December 2016 (UTC)

Also, it sounds as though there may be a conflict of interest if the Original Poster had the subject of the article check it, which implies that they are working for her. Robert McClenon (talk) 00:08, 6 December 2016 (UTC)

displaying graphics in sandbox

Hi, I uploaded a graphic to my sandbox but I don't see it anywhere. When I tried to upload it a second time, thinking I must have done something wrong, it showed that it had been uploaded. Does anyone know where my graphic is and how I can get it to display? Franza615 (talk) 23:55, 5 December 2016 (UTC)

Hi Franza615. commons:Special:Contributions/Franza615 shows you uploaded File:Lifecycle EPA.jpg. Uploading a file and displaying it in page are two unrelated operations. I see you use VisualEditor. Click "Insert", select "Media" and enter the file name to get started. PrimeHunter (talk) 00:11, 6 December 2016 (UTC)

I Receive A Error in my sandbox.

Hi All
i am using infoboxes now and am receiving a Message That Says-"WARNING: Page Using Template:Infobox Character with unknown parameter "weight" (this message is shown in preview)".
The Character Is A Fictional One And is giving me 6 other messages like the one above.
Please Help Me at The Earliest convenience
Thanks-Hyperdraco (talk) 13:43, 5 December 2016 (UTC)

Hi Hyperdraco
You are using Template:Infobox person, but are trying to add your own parameters, like "fur" and "species" - people don't have fur and they are all the same species - so these parameters will not work.
If you look at Template:Infobox person it shows you which parameters you can have - it may well be that there is a more suitable infobox template - have a look at other cartoon characters and click on the edit button to see which infobox they are using, (possibly Template:Infobox character) then go to that template page, and see all the parameters you can use - Arjayay (talk) 13:50, 5 December 2016 (UTC)

Hey Hyperdraco. The infobox you probably want to use is Template:Infobox video game character, which is the template used on the article for Sonic the Hedgehog (character). TimothyJosephWood 13:54, 5 December 2016 (UTC)

@Hyperdraco: The allowable parameters to use in any template are built into the template. You can't make up your own parameters to use with an existing template, any more than you can make the turn signal on your car indicate "right, then left, then right again" in a single signal. --Thnidu (talk) 01:38, 6 December 2016 (UTC)

Modifications to a current entry

What can we do if we know that an entry or a subject covered in Wikipedia contains false information?Gaetanchevalier (talk) 04:19, 6 December 2016 (UTC)

Welcome to the Teahouse. In your case, Gaetanchevalier, you discuss it on the article's talk page with Secreteditor74. Since you're a new editor, I'll also let you know that you should assume good faith and remain civil in your conversation. Make sure they know you've started the discussion on that page. Repeatedly re-adding content that was removed by another editor is edit warring and should be completely avoided. — Gestrid (talk) 04:27, 6 December 2016 (UTC)

Hi Gaetanchevalier. I just want to add that the fact that you "know" something is wrong is usually not sufficient for Wikipedia's purposes. Wikipedia articles are only intended to reflect what reliable sources say (good or bad) about a subject; they are not intended to include the personal opinions or "knowledge" of individual editors. So, if you are able to show that what you know has been discussed in independent reliable sources, then perhaps the article content can be changed accordingly to reflect these sources. What you need to do is establish a consensus for your proposed changes on the article's talk page and the best way to probably do this is to show that the changes you want to make are in accordance with relevant policies and guidelines. -- Marchjuly (talk) 05:51, 6 December 2016 (UTC)

Create a wikipedia page for a fake town for educational purposes

hello - can i create a wikipedia page for a fake town for educational purposes? we are creating a story world for a university course using a transmedia approach. the town at the center of the story world needs a wikipedia page... what is the best way to do this? Thank-you :) Dinmorsp (talk) 05:22, 6 December 2016 (UTC)

Hi Dinmorsp. I don't think that would be a very good idea for a variety of reasons, most of them given in Wikipedia:What Wikipedia is not. Basically, Wikipedia articles are supposed to be written about subjects which have received significant coverage in independent reliable sources and article content is supposed to be supported by citations to these sources. Fictional content that you create yourself is almost surely going to be seen as what Wikipedia refers to as "original research" and any such page you create is going to likely end up being deleted. Besides, you will not have any ownership rights over any such article and it could be edited by anyone anywhere in the world at anytime. Perhaps, you would be better off using Wikia or another similar website for such a project.

Now, on the other hand, if you create something for your university course which does end up receiving significant coverage in independent reliable sources, then it might be possible for an article to be written about the project as long as it was done in a neutral manner which accurately reflects what these sources say. -- Marchjuly (talk) 05:40, 6 December 2016 (UTC)

Dinmorsp: if you create an article on Wikipedia about a fake topic, it is very likely to be deleted, and you will have no way to prevent the deletion. So, "the best way to do this" will be to create a page somewhere else which looks like a Wikipedia article. That might be a breach of WIkipedia's intelectual property rights; but at least you'll be able to go through with it. Maproom (talk) 09:32, 6 December 2016 (UTC)

thanks both for your responses - i guess i should clarify a badly put question - i didn't intend to create a fake page in the general wikipedia - i was looking for advise on the best place to create a wikipedia-like page. i just wanted that wikipedia look and feel - you mentioned a wikia - can you suggest a good candidate? Dinmorsp (talk) 11:12, 6 December 2016 (UTC)

Hi, Dinmorsp. Wikia will just let you create your own wiki, that you can put whatever pages in that you like. However, the appearance of the Wikia pages I've looked like is not at all like Wikipedia. Do you, or somebody working with you, have access to a web server? If so, one way to get something that looks like Wikipedia is to run a private wiki on your server. You can install the Mediawiki software that runs Wikipedia on it. One caution: the Wikipedia globe is copyright, and you should certainly not use it in another Wiki. --ColinFine (talk) 11:38, 6 December 2016 (UTC)

Can I use cached versions of now-deleted web pages as references?

I am researching the early life of Scottish singer Paolo Nutini. I came across some good biographical info in a PDF published in 2008 by the William Morris Agency (WMA) who represented Nutini. While the PDF is obviously promotional in intent, it's safe to assume that it would have been read and approved by Nutini, making it more or less an 'authorized biography' - a pretty respectable reference.

Here's the thing: WMA merged with the Endeavor Talent Agency in 2009 and the PDF was not ported across to the new company's Website. However Google, Wayback Machine (web.archive.org) and others still have cached versions of the PDF; see https://web.archive.org/web/20081122133805/http://www.wma.com/paolo_nutini/Bio/paolo_nutini_bio.pdf.

Is such a link acceptable as a cite reference? And if so, how should the cite be constructed to make clear it WAS a WMA-published page, but now available through, say, web.archive.org? What Access Date should be used: today's date or the date it was cached? So many questions, lol. Thanks for any help that anyone can provide. Jimbilsborough (talk) 03:00, 6 December 2016 (UTC)

Absolutely. Wikipedia:Citing sources in the section titled "Preventing and repairing dead links" specifically recommends using such web-archiving services when the original website has gone down. Do be sure to make a good-faith search for other sources as well, including print sources. --Jayron 32 03:06, 6 December 2016 (UTC)
Thanks Jayron32. It made sense to me that it's a legitimate approach, but I failed to see the paragraph you mentioned (I looked, honest)! There are a couple of more authoritative facts in that article than anything I've found in ANY other media, but I was reluctant to use it without checking first. Jimbilsborough (talk) 03:14, 6 December 2016 (UTC)
Hi Jimbilsborough. The section is Wikipedia:Citing sources#Preventing and repairing dead links. But the fact that your source is an authorized biography is not a good thing. We looking for coverage in independent reliable sources. —teb728 t c 05:39, 6 December 2016 (UTC)

That depends on what claim the source is being used to support, teb728 and Jimbilsborough. A source that isn't independent of the subject can be used for basic, uncontroversial information about that subject. See WP:ABOUTSELF. Cordless Larry (talk) 07:01, 6 December 2016 (UTC)

Also, a source that isn't independent can't be used to show that the subject is notable enough for an article in the first place. —teb728 t c 07:12, 6 December 2016 (UTC)

Indeed - I was going to mention that, but didn't given that this is Paolo Nutini. Nonetheless, it's worth bearing in mind for future. Cordless Larry (talk) 07:16, 6 December 2016 (UTC)

All, thanks for your input and discussion about the veracity of an authorized biography which of course can often be little more than a puff piece, I get that. I had the same doubts, particularly since it's now only available in cached form. But in this case I think it's warranted. I'm well aware that biographical writing doesn't have to be presented chronologically, but the Early Life section of Nutini's page currently implies a sequence of stages in his early musical career that are frankly impossible, and feels very misleading. Unfortunately most references out there to his early life come from tabloid journalism and fan sites. That said, the source I'd like to cite is certainly no less reliable than those and provides the same basic facts. However, it also provides some linkage between events that's missing elsewhere which helps establish chronology and strengthen Nuniti's early story. I think this definitely meets the standard set in WP:ABOUTSELF Jimbilsborough (talk) 16:16, 6 December 2016 (UTC)

Editing off line ?

I would like to download a Wikipedia page. Copy Edit it and then upload it. Can I do this? Which Windows program and/or file format would be good to use for spelling and gammer checking ?

FDLeyda (talk) 15:22, 5 December 2016 (UTC)

Hey FDLeyda. As far as I am aware, there is no rule against editing offline in a word processor like Microsoft Word. However, in my experience, it is usually better to edit incrementally, as large sweeping changes to an article are more likely to get reverted. But again, there's nothing preventing you from being bold and making the changes, and then discussing on the article's talk if someone takes issue with it. TimothyJosephWood 17:36, 5 December 2016 (UTC)

Not only is there no rule against it, it is often undetectable if you choose to edit offline this way.

A few things to be aware of, though, to make this work

You have to download the wikitext from the edit window. You can't copy/paste from the page as displayed for users.
Word is not great for this purpose because it is hard to control some of the things it does to the text with its "save as plain text" operation. You want a plain text editor (I like Notepad++ on Windows; I see there's a Wiki plugin for Notepad++, but I've not used it).
When offline, you do not have the ability to completely preview the changes
If you spend too long editing offline, other edits to the page may occur, creating an edit conflict. Depending on how much has changed, it can be a tough task to merge your edits with those edits. Blithely clobbering those edits is not acceptable behavior.
Automated spelling and grammar checking have their limitations. Please tell us you have good judgment about these tools, or we'll think you are likely to do more bad than good.

But use whatever approach and whatever tools work best for you. And welcome back to the Teahouse, @FDLeyda:. —jmcgnh^{(talk) (contribs)} 19:33, 5 December 2016 (UTC)

If you'd prefer to create a draft while remaining online, you can create a page like, for example, User:FDLeyda/sandbox. You could also create a page like User:FDLeyda/Article name instead if you prefer. — Gestrid (talk) 22:18, 5 December 2016 (UTC)

Thank you.

May I ask how you do it ? There is no substitute for experience.

96.89.55.165 (talk) 13:12, 6 December 2016 (UTC)

First, I suggest you login and, if you're not on a public computer, check the box that says "Remember me" when you do. That will keep you logged in for up to one year, provided you don't click the log out button. Not logging in reveals your IP address, which in turn reveals your general location.

If you're asking how to create your sandbox, all you have to do is click the link I gave you above and then click "Save page". — Gestrid (talk) 18:04, 6 December 2016 (UTC)

Need Help With Formatting My First Article

Hello, I am excited to join the Wikipedia family and to share more about the wonderful culture and cultural figures of The Bahamas.

I've written my first article about Bahamian entertainer, "K.B. (Kirkland Bodie)", and it has been flagged as promotional.

I tried to keep it as simple as possible and included as many references as were available.

Please offer any suggestions or rewrites for an improved format.

With thanks,

Bahamian Culture (talk) 06:58, 4 December 2016 (UTC)

Hello Bahamian Culture, and welcome to the Teahouse. I started typing a response, but before I could finish the article had already been deleted. I did request that it be "userified", which means copied back into your user space - it would be good to watch and see if that happens. If not, you could request it be copied back so you can work on it. Then you need to work on reducing the material that looks like it is promotional. For instance in the first sentence you say he "is a Bahamian cultural legend". I realize that is a quote from the source, where he is listed as one of the Bahamian cultural legends, but we need to be clear whether Wikipeidia is saying he is a legend, or somebody else is saying it - in this case it might be clearer to say something like he "the Bahamian weekly described him as a Bahamian cultural legend" (with reference). Other editors might have more specific suggestions. You would be best to create the article in Draft space and then submit it through the New "Articles for Creation" process, because this will allow you to get expert advice and work on the article to improve it, rather than risk it being deleted again quickly like this - for a description of that process see Wikipedia:Your first article.--Gronk Oz (talk) 07:27, 4 December 2016 (UTC)

I just noticed that this is the second time that article has been deleted as "unambiguous advertising or promotion", though the previous time was way back on 3 November 2010. This makes it all the more important to follow the "Articles for Creation" process if there is a hope to have it stick: the administrators will need to see clearly that any new article is very different from the old one. They are tolerant of new editors who are still learning how Wikipedia works, but that does not mean repeating the same thing over and over. You will also need to be sure you have appropriate independent, reliable references to show that he meets the "Notability" criteria (in Wikipedia's special sense of the word) which are listed at WP:NMUSIC. --Gronk Oz (talk) 07:42, 4 December 2016 (UTC)

Hello Gronk Oz, thanks for your review and quick response. As you suggested, I have revised and reposted the article in my userspace at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Bahamian_Culture/K.B._(Kirkland_Bodie). FYI, most of my sources are official Bahamas news media sources. I have also referenced a book, official government and academic website sources. As you noted, I included the reference point immediately after the "cultural legend" statement. That reference was from an article covering an official government ceremony, honouring 42 Bahamian cultural icons, including K.B. Please review my redraft and feel free to make any further suggestions.

Bahamian Culture (talk) 01:24, 6 December 2016 (UTC)

Bahamian Culture I'm glad you were able to get a copy back into your user space. For future use, a better way to link to your article is to use a Wikilink thus: [[User:Bahamian Culture/K.B. (Kirkland Bodie)]], instead of using the whole URL like you did above. About your particular article, I'm probably not the best person to review it - music is not my topic at all. However, a lot of informal, promotional type wording catches even my eye, like "His passion for music and performing blossomed", " embarking on his music career", " the band gained national acclaim for its original songs with a Bahamian music edge", "K.B., a prolific writer and a budding music producer[7] was inspired by ... (looooong list of names)", "With a desire to create more authentically Bahamian music, the singer embarked on a solo career" and so on: these are not the sort of statements one normally finds in an encyclopedic article. The good news is that it can be fixed. I see that you have already contacted the Admin who deleted it (SwisterTwister), and it might be worthwhile to contact the reviewer who nominated the previous version for deletion (Reddogsix). Explain to them that you are trying to fix the problems with promotional wording in the previous version that led to its deletion. They may be willing to help; otherwise suitable people might be contacted through Wikipedia:WikiProject Music. --Gronk Oz (talk) 04:22, 6 December 2016 (UTC)

Gronk Oz Thanks again for your advice. I looked at quite a number of other musician and artist bios on Wikipedia and compared them to what I wrote, before posting. I don't find my article any more promotional than some of what I've seen and I had credible references for virtually everything I noted. I'll revise it again based on your observations and hopefully, then, they can steer me through it. Best regards, Bahamian Culture (talk) 18:31, 6 December 2016 (UTC)

Defining the "Rule of Law" is generally recognised as a huge problem but my edit re this are deleted

Hi. The Rule of Law page contains a definition of the Rule of Law that is very trite. I've tried to make minor edits such as referencing the general definition to a potential author. However, when I go back to the page the trite old definition of the Rule of Law is back in place.

How to define the Rule of Law is a massive and international debate, and the Rule of Law page does not reflect that.

The page is here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rule_of_law

What should I do next in order to contribute information about the debate to the page?

Thanks :)

Ritafelgate (talk) 04:06, 7 December 2016 (UTC)

@Ritafelgate: Welcome to the Teahouse. The proper place to discuss proposed changes to this article is Talk:Rule of law. Your goal should be to build consensus for the changes you are proposing. The fact that at least one editor disagrees shows the need for talk page discussion. Work it out. Cullen³²⁸ Let's discuss it 04:19, 7 December 2016 (UTC)

How to create an education organization page

How to create an education organization pageThanchanokkim (talk) 05:26, 7 December 2016 (UTC)

Hello Thanchanokkim, and welcome to the Teahouse.

I suggest you start by working on improving existing articles for a while before starting to create a new page. But if you want to dive in, I recommend that you read the essay Your First Article which tells you how to go about it. —jmcgnh^{(talk) (contribs)} 05:36, 7 December 2016 (UTC)

Welcome to the Teahouse Thanchanokkim. Beside what jmcgnh said, I notice that your previous attempt was deleted as unambiguously promotional. Wikipedia articles must be written from a neutral point of view. —teb728 t c 05:48, 7 December 2016 (UTC)

(edit conflict) Or, if you're talking about getting your class involved in editing Wikipedia, I would suggest taking a look here. — Gestrid (talk) 05:49, 7 December 2016 (UTC)