Wikipedia:Help desk/Archives/2016 March 28

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March 28

Referencing errors on Douglas H. Evans

Reference help requested. On https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Douglas_H._Evans, references 2 and 3 don't show up right. I had trouble figuring out how to fix that and could use some help. Thanks, Achim Hering (talk) 03:07, 28 March 2016 (UTC)

@Achim Hering: You inserted some stray text in the {{cite}} templates that is not a part of any named parameter. What is the purpose of the text supposed to be? —teb728 t c 03:21, 28 March 2016 (UTC)

URL redirects to ?

I use the latest edition of Internet Explorer, having found it preferable to the Microsoft Edge browser.

I don't use Special:Search very much: instead, when I want to go to a page, I just edit the URL at the top of my browser screen. If I'm at a normal page, I just replace everything after /wiki/ with the new title, e.g. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foo and if I'm somewhere else (e.g. a history page), I type the page name after ?title=, e.g. https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Foo. This works fine normally, but when we get into odd characters (ones that the software wants to represent with percent-encoding), I get different results — typing https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ʉ properly takes me to the U bar page with the expected ^{Redirected from Ʉ} notice, but when I type https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Ʉ the software sends me to Question mark with a notice of ^{Redirected from ?}. The same result occurs for other somewhere else pages; for example, typing https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Ʉ&action=history takes me to the history of the ? page. (1) Why does it do this? Do question marks have some significance for percent-encoding that forces a misinterpretation?

Odd enough. But more oddly, when I type https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/? (again editing the URL, not clicking a link), the software sends me to the Main Page, as if I'd typed nothing at all after /wiki/, and doesn't mention anything about the question mark page. Meanwhile, a link to ? displays with percent-encoding, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%3F. (2) Why does the software ignore the question mark when it's typed into the URL? And why does it force percent-encoding for the ? link but not other pages? I've had comparable results with pages containing question marks at non-initial locations; https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Who_is_a_Jew? tells me that I've visited https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Who_is_a_Jew and the link Who is a Jew? gets interpreted as Who_is_a_Jew%3F.

Nyttend (talk) 04:19, 28 March 2016 (UTC)

In a url, the question mark introduces a query string. The query string is usually information needed by the server to serve you the correct page. Here the query string instructs the server to serve section 40 of Wikipedia:Help desk in edit mode:

https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Wikipedia:Help_desk&action=edit&section=40

To prevent the server from interpreting the question mark in Who is a Jew? as the beginning of a zero-length query string, it must be percent encoded.

—Trappist the monk (talk) 11:06, 28 March 2016 (UTC)

Uniform Resource Locator#Syntax uses a question mark to separate the path (computing) and a query string so ? is not percent-encoded when it's written directly in a url. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/? is https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ with an empty query string so it does the same: Redirect to Main Page. In a wikilink like ? the MediaWiki software will automatically percent-encode it. Typing https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Ʉ in the url works for me in Firefox. IE apparently does something different when Unicode characters are in the query string instead of the path. A Google search on internet explorer unicode query string gave some hits which appear to mention this but I haven't examined the details. By the way, when MediaWiki converts a directly written url to a link, it assumes the url does not end with a question mark or period but rather that those characters end a sentence where a url was right before an ending punctuation character. Therefore https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Who_is_a_Jew? omits the question mark from the link. Many other programs like mail software does the same. The ending character can be percent-encoded to avoid this behaviour. PrimeHunter (talk) 11:02, 28 March 2016 (UTC)

Draft Article

I have written a draft article about 'William Mawson' - this is my first article.

How do I move it from a 'draft' to a full article that is available in Wikipedia. Every time I open it, 'draft William Mawson' comes up.

Thanks

Ian Mawson

Happygrandad (talk) 07:03, 28 March 2016 (UTC)

@Happygrandad: The initial submission of Draft:William Mawson was declined by the reviewer. After you follow the reviewer's advice, click the "Resubmit" button to submit the corrected draft for re-review. —teb728 t c 09:15, 28 March 2016 (UTC)

How do I get a check mark to print?

How do I get a check mark to print? I read this page (Check mark), but it doesn't really tell me anything. The only "code" that I was able to find in Wikipedia is this: {{unichar|2713}}. Which yields this: U+2713 ✓ CHECK MARK. But I want just the check mark to print, without that U+2713 notation to the left of it. Also, are there several variations of check marks to select from? Thanks. Joseph A. Spadaro (talk) 07:24, 28 March 2016 (UTC)

See Numeric character reference. ✓ produces ✓. It displays correctly for me in Firefox but I don't know whether all common browsers can display it. You can also copy-paste an existing Unicode character directly to the edit box. It will display in the same browsers as using the code. See {{Check mark}} for various options with images. PrimeHunter (talk) 10:19, 28 March 2016 (UTC)

These all work for me (I use Chrome, but it may also be relevant what fonts I have installed). ⍻ ⍻ ☐ ☐ ☑ ☑ ✅ ✅ ✓ ✓ ✔ ✔ Maproom (talk) 10:35, 28 March 2016 (UTC)

Perfect. Thanks! Joseph A. Spadaro (talk) 05:50, 29 March 2016 (UTC)

Arkay Beverages

I wrote an article about Arkay beverages, they keep telling it contains a form of adverts which i have edited so many times and using coca-cola and grey grose as a guide line, i dont know why i keep seeing this error messages, i look forward for your help on this issue.

thanks — Preceding unsigned comment added by Abekeapo (talk • contribs) 09:12, 28 March 2016 (UTC)

This is about Arkay Beverages. Sentences like "ArKay is the world’s first company producing alcohol free liquors with a commitment to make a better life for everyone" are written in the style of an advertisement, and are out of place in an encyclopedia article. But the article has worse faults, particularly the total lack of independent references to establish that the subject is notable. Maproom (talk) 10:41, 28 March 2016 (UTC)

Link to other language wiki

Hello,

I have mentioned the name of a French man on my English Wikipedia page, which shows up as red in my article, even though there is a page about him on the French Wikipedia site. Is it possible for me to link between the English and French sites so that by clicking on his name the reader can access the article on him (even though it will be in French!)

I'm not very proficient with Wikipedia, so if you can give me any simple instructions I'd be very grateful!

Thank you and best wishes,

Smichok — Preceding unsigned comment added by Smichok (talk • contribs) 12:41, 28 March 2016 (UTC)

@Smichok: This was asked just the other day. Please see the answer above at Wikipedia:Help desk#Linking in text to foreign language wiki page. Dismas|^(talk) 13:19, 28 March 2016 (UTC)

Category question

A page, Michael Gira, was recently added to a Category:prisoners and detainees of Israel. I undid the addition, as he isn't currently a prisoner of Israel, nor does he live there. Is that a reasonable category for someone who is not currently a prisoner or detainee? I'm not really certain about that and I feel like I may need to revert myself. R. A. Simmons ^Talk 12:46, 28 March 2016 (UTC)

Reference 8 in Michael Gira reads "I ended up in Israel, where I was arrested for selling hashish. I spent four and a half months in jail." So he was a detainee there. And the category is "prisoners and detainees of Israel", not "current prisoners and detainees of Israel". Ian Botham is in the category "Somerset cricket captains", even though he has not played for Somerset for decades. Maproom (talk) 16:07, 28 March 2016 (UTC)

Good point. I suppose I'll revert myself on that. R. A. Simmons ^Talk 16:57, 28 March 2016 (UTC)

request for update of the information on Afghan Embassy in Washington DC

to whom it may concern:

my name is Fayeq Wahedi, i would like to contact someone to update content related to the information on the embassy of Afghanistan in Washington DC.

thank you and please get back

best regards

fayeq Wahedi — Preceding unsigned comment added by 50.195.90.97 (talk) 15:30, 28 March 2016 (UTC)

You can post a request about the page Embassy of Afghanistan, Washington, D.C. here. Click the edit link to the right of the above section heading. Note that if you only see the problem in a box on a search results page from Google, Yahoo or Bing then the problem is probably only at that website and has nothing to do with Wikipedia (see Template:HD/GKG for an explanation about Google). PrimeHunter (talk) 16:56, 28 March 2016 (UTC)

Says that I don't have reliable sources

I have posted a new wiki entry but it says that I have not used credible sources, yet I have used Boston Business Journal, VentureBeat, TechCrunch, a non-profit's website, the Boston Globe, etc. Are those not credible? Or am I doing something else wrong? — Preceding unsigned comment added by Adamcoughlin (talk • contribs) 18:00, 28 March 2016 (UTC)

"Credible" is not enough. You need reliable independent sources, with significant discussion of the subject. Of the references in Kyle York:

• 1 is by his employer, and therefore not independent
• 2 and 8 are interviews of him, and therefore not independent
• 4 is written by him, and therefore not independent
• 5 and 7 are mere mentions of him

This leaves 3 and 6 as possibly acceptable sources. I will leave it to other editors to judge whether they are reliable. Maproom (talk) 18:32, 28 March 2016 (UTC)

Maproom, surely that is confusing the requirement that BLP articles have at least one source with the notability requirements for independent, significant coverage? While the latter is an issue, the article has been proposed for deletion due to the former. Cordless Larry (talk) 20:41, 28 March 2016 (UTC)

Maybe I am confused. The notice at the top of Kyle York does not use the word "credible". It says "Please help to establish notability by adding reliable secondary sources". As things are, it is doubtful that it does have reliable secondary sources that establish notability. Maproom (talk) 21:12, 28 March 2016 (UTC)

It does now, Maproom, but only since I replaced the proposed deletion template with a notability one after I had posted my comment above. The notability issue does need resolving, but that is not why the article was proposed for deletion. Cordless Larry (talk) 21:17, 28 March 2016 (UTC)

Hi i am new to wiki i have a quick question...

Hi I have written a large story, and since i do not charge for my books, i figured i might start a page kind of like how destiny has destinypedia and put it up for anyone who would like to read it. Is this the wrong way to use wikipedia? — Preceding unsigned comment added by Archmind (talk • contribs) 19:26, 28 March 2016 (UTC)

Thank you for asking here. Yes, it is the wrong way to use wikipedia. See WP:ISNOT , one of the entries is that Wikipedia is not a publisher of original thought.Naraht (talk) 19:43, 28 March 2016 (UTC)

If you look at the page mentioned by Naraht, you'll see the frame This page in a nutshell which says in 3.:

3.Wikipedia is not a place to promote things, is not a thought-book, a website primarily used for communication, a freely-licensed media repository, nor a censored encyclopedia.

CiaPan (talk) 09:16, 29 March 2016 (UTC)

deleting/removing a page

How does one go about requesting that a page be removed? — Preceding unsigned comment added by Doughnutgirl (talk • contribs) 19:52, 28 March 2016 (UTC)

@Doughnutgirl: Wikipedia:Deletion process mentions several possibilities. If you specify a page and why you want it deleted then we can give more specific advice. PrimeHunter (talk) 20:09, 28 March 2016 (UTC)

Referencing errors on Samsung Galaxy S III

Reference help requested. Need help fixing a refrence Thanks, TysonTyson666 (talk) 22:05, 28 March 2016 (UTC)

For any other helpful souls go want to go down this path... It has already been fixed. Dismas|^(talk) 23:45, 28 March 2016 (UTC)

TysonTyson666, the reason why your edit caused a referencing error was that you removed the reference <ref name="4.3UpdateRetry">{{cite web|url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-25265889|title=Samsung retries botched update to Galaxy S3 smartphone|date=6 December 2013|website=[[BBC]]|publisher=BBC News}}</ref>, which was subsequently used again later on in the article. To learn how this works, see Help:Referencing for beginners#Same reference used more than once. Cordless Larry (talk) 07:15, 29 March 2016 (UTC)

Help?

I love Wikipidea™ in all its multiform glory. What shall I do? 23:50, 28 March 2016 (UTC) — Preceding unsigned comment added by MinorProphet (talk • contribs)

You could do like me and watch Special:Recent changes for Wikipedia:Vandalism and undo the vandalism. Kailey 2001 (talk) 00:55, 29 March 2016 (UTC)

You better try Special:RecentChanges... ;-) --CiaPan (talk) 09:12, 29 March 2016 (UTC)