Wikipedia:Help desk/Archives/2015 August 16

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August 16

I'm curious

So I'm curious about this this. Once upon a time, I noticed a personal phone number (or something like that) on some article and I posted here that this was a problem. A couple hours later I had a friendly message on my talk page notifying me that I should have emailed the Oversight Team, instead of posting here. Lesson learned in that case. My question is, when I see something like this, does that warrant an email to the Oversight Team? Or is this fine as it is? Thanks. Brycehughes (talk) 02:08, 16 August 2015 (UTC)

No need to contact oversight. For more information read WP:OS and this. This page is watched by many users, if you are unsure whether something should be suppressed, contact the OS and let them decide what to do. Supdiop (Talk🔹Contribs) 08:11, 16 August 2015 (UTC)

Autumn Phillips

please help me - We (by "we" I mean my students!) have mucked up ref. number 5 on the above page - it is from an old newspaper report (1962) and we wish to maintain the quote too (trouble with access date I think) Also the page St. Thomas High School (Quebec) has the same citation incorrectly presented - the newspaper report is from 1962 - NOT 2015 as seen now in the references. Please keep in the quote too if you can

Thanks Mikey 101.182.217.169 (talk) 05:20, 16 August 2015 (UTC)

I'm not sure what you mean by "We..." but putting that aside for the moment, I've fixed the reference on Autumn Phillips. You were missing a pipe between two sections of the reference. Dismas|^(talk) 05:55, 16 August 2015 (UTC)

Marquess of Lansdowne

I have put in a subheading and linked it on the page above - is this OK? Also please put an accent over "nee" which appears twice in the new section titled "Prime-ministership of Great Britain and Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge". Thanks101.182.217.169 (talk) 06:39, 16 August 2015 (UTC)

I'm not sure what you mean by "and linked it". As for the question about whether putting in a section heading is okay, if the heading gives the article a better layout then yes, that's fine.

As for the née concern, I've copied the word from our given name article and pasted it once (the only instance I could find of the word) in the Marquess of Lansdowne article. I use accented characters so infrequently that I don't bother with the "Special characters" menu above the edit box. It's easier for me to just copy them from some other page and paste them where needed.

By the way, as a matter of courtesy, it's nice to provide a link to the article that you're asking about in your question. That way those who are trying to help you can simply click the link to go to the article that you're referring to instead of having to go back up to the top of the page to use the search box.

And finally, since you're working with students, you may want to look over Wikipedia:Student assignments. That page and the pages linked from it might have resources which you find handy. Dismas|^(talk) 08:08, 16 August 2015 (UTC)

On second thought, this Wikipedia:School and university projects might be a better starting point. Dismas|^(talk) 08:25, 16 August 2015 (UTC)

Hi from Mike I have bungled a ref. for this page again! Number 4 And also, I cannot do a "nee" with an accent which needs to be over the words "nee Barbara May Lupton" in the section headed Family connection to Prime Ministership of great Britain and ....." Thanks again M. Please remedy if you can thanks again101.182.217.169 (talk) 09:31, 16 August 2015 (UTC)

PS Thanks for the "student advice" which we'll look at tomorrow morning — Preceding unsigned comment added by 101.182.217.169 (talk) 09:36, 16 August 2015 (UTC)

You had put a 'th' on the 16. And again, I just copied the other 'née' from the same paragraph and pasted it where it was needed. You're welcome. Dismas|^(talk) 09:39, 16 August 2015 (UTC)

 Done, misspelt date, and symbols are available on edit page Jimfbleak - talk to me? 09:42, 16 August 2015 (UTC)

If you can't find a "née" to copy, you can use the template {{nee}}. - David Biddulph (talk) 12:09, 16 August 2015 (UTC)

Create Citations

I would like to add a reference to an entry, but the instructions for adding references do not match my view of Wikipedia. the video on this page Help:Introduction to referencing/3 shows an "edit source" tab on the top right of the page. My page does not have that tab... Are there accurate instructions available?

Mfreedman33 (talk) 13:17, 16 August 2015 (UTC)

@Mfreedman33: Some things can vary with user settings. If you only have an "Edit" tab then it has the same functionality as "Edit source". If you enable "Visual editing" at Special:Preferences#mw-prefsection-betafeatures then you get a choice between two tabs "Edit" and "Edit source", where "Edit" will be another way to edit using Wikipedia:VisualEditor. Most instructions are for source editing and do not apply to VisualEditor. PrimeHunter (talk) 13:29, 16 August 2015 (UTC)

Thanks, if the instructions are not clear for the 'lay person,' then I am less interested in spending the time to finish my edit. It occurs to me that without some programming background, participating in Wikipedia can be difficult. Too bad as this limits participation the tech-savvy, and probably skews the aggregate view points in some ways that someone ought to study. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Mfreedman33 (talk • contribs) 12:45, 17 August 2015 (UTC)

@Mfreedman33: VisualEditor is meant to be easier to use without writing markup code but there are mixed opinions about it and it has limitations. Experienced editors rarely use it but for some new users it may be easier to get started. It has documentation at Wikipedia:VisualEditor/User guide. In other places documentation is usually only for the source editor (also called the wikitext editor) unless VisualEditor is directly mentioned. If you use VisualEditor and ask for editing help then say you use VisualEditor. PrimeHunter (talk) 13:57, 17 August 2015 (UTC)

Looking to create article but unable to do so

I am aiming to create an article biography on Eric Walker the former actor and music maker but am redirected to a disambiguation page with individuals with the same name. I can't find a link to an article creation page. I'd appreciate some help on this. Thanks--Nadirali نادرالی (talk) 18:50, 16 August 2015 (UTC)

You need to use a different title for the new article, such as Eric Walker (actor) or Eric Walker (musician), and then you can add a link to that page on the disambiguation page. You aren't actually being redirected: there is no primary topic for Eric Walker, so Eric Walker is a disambiguation page. — Bilorv_(talk)^(c)(e) 19:03, 16 August 2015 (UTC)

Thanks Bilorv. Problem is that Eric Walker is a former actor and music producer, so what should I title him as in the brackets? I'm hoping to get it as Eric Walker or some other bracket title that could help me distinguish him from the other notable Eric Walkers. Thank you--Nadirali نادرالی (talk) 19:11, 16 August 2015 (UTC)

You can't just call him Eric Walker. That doesn't distinguish from the others. Is he better known as an actor, or as a musician? Does he have a middle initial? Robert McClenon (talk) 19:14, 16 August 2015 (UTC)

• Here is his website [1]. I don't think he's a musician per say but does produce music items and here is his entry on Wookiepedia [2].--Nadirali نادرالی (talk) 19:30, 16 August 2015 (UTC)

Nadirali, I would suggest Eric Walker (actor). His music seems to be new and less notable, on a quick look. he page can always be moved later if that seems best. DES ^(talk) 20:18, 16 August 2015 (UTC)

• OK. I'll try that. Thank you for advising me.--Nadirali نادرالی (talk) 20:35, 16 August 2015 (UTC)

@Nadirali: By the way, for future reference: It's per se, not per say. It's Latin and means "as such"; literally "through itself" or "by means of itself". You used it right, just didn't spell it right. --Thnidu (talk) 03:29, 19 August 2015 (UTC)

Protecting a page

Hello,

A page that I contribute a lot to has been receiving some vandalism. It's a musician page and as the musician grows bigger, the page will probably receive more vandalism. How can I protect the page?

Thanks. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Herbie rookie (talk • contribs) 19:20, 16 August 2015 (UTC)

You can't. You can request that it be protected at Wikipedia:Requests for page protection, but we don't pre-emptively protect pages - we need evidence of significant problems first. AndyTheGrump (talk) 19:30, 16 August 2015 (UTC)

Referencing errors on Draft:Accredo Business Software Ltd

Reference help requested. Hi - I have introduced a cite error into my submission, but can't work out how to fix it. I am sure it's a reasonably simple fix. Can someone please review the text and fix it for me? Thanks, Breton66 (talk) 21:10, 16 August 2015 (UTC)

 Done Supdiop (Talk🔹Contribs) 21:27, 16 August 2015 (UTC)

It's worth looking at the error messages, which usually include the words "help page" in blue, indicating that they are a wikilink. In this case the link was to Help:Cite errors/Cite error ref no key. --David Biddulph (talk) 23:44, 16 August 2015 (UTC)