Wikipedia:Help desk/Archives/2020 August 28

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August 28[edit]

Vague article made by bot in the Cebuano language[edit]

I'm sorry that I know nothing about editing wikipedia, but I do lots in OpenStreetMaps. Through the OsmAnd app I found this wiki article: [[1]]

It's an uninhabited archaeological site in North-East England. The page is written only in the Cebuano language of the Philippines and gives only very general data gleaned from geographical databases. It doesn't mention why the site is of interest, e.g. http://www.keystothepast.info/article/10339/Site-Details?PRN=D1840

I have been as close as the undergrowth would allow to this site in the last two months. The information in the article is irrelevant.

I will be happy to learn how to contribute to wikipedia, but I can't work out how to do it in a page written in Cebuano!

I apologise if this is not the right way to ask - I tried to find less demanding ways, but I'm naive to this. Thank you!--Spf43adx (talk) 03:12, 28 August 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Here on the English Wikipedia, we have three articles with a similar name listed at Castlesteads. You are free to improve any of them. The Cebuano language article seems to be about a castle in County Durham, although we don't seem to have a corresponding article here. If you click on the coordinates in the Cebuano article and bring up a map, you find open fields but no castle. I have doubts about the accuracy of that article. Regardless, that is a matter for the Cebuano WP which is a separate project. MB 03:43, 28 August 2020 (UTC)[reply]
(edit conflict)@Spf43adx: This is a surprisingly complicated situation. First, each Wikipedia it its own separate project, with separate administrators, policies, and guidelines. I do not know how OpenStreetMaps selects which Wikipedia language to use for any particular location. Next, the Cebuano Wikipedia is one of the largest by article count, because its administrator(s) choose to use mass machine translations of articles from (at least) the English Wikipedia, with almost no validation of the result. This is the help desk for the English Wikipedia. -Arch dude (talk) 03:49, 28 August 2020 (UTC)[reply]
Arch dude, I said that in a tweet, and was corrected: it's a bot, but not machine translation. https://twitter.com/LarsXensen/status/1298422703859404802?s=20 (and linked article on vice.com). --ColinFine (talk) 10:32, 28 August 2020 (UTC)[reply]
I enjoyed reading this question/alert: it's so un-humdrum. Here is a list of editors of English-language Wikipedia who say that they're proficient in Cebuano. Each may or may not edit Cebuano-language Wikipedia too. You might choose one who seems "active" (one whose list of "contributions" shows recent edits here) and informally bring up the matter on their talk page. -- Hoary (talk) 06:33, 28 August 2020 (UTC)[reply]
PS I took a look. Well, half those people haven't contributed in years, and the selection was simple. Pinging Emperork! Emperork, I see that you're a (very!) rare contributor to ceb:Wikipedia, but perhaps you could comment on might have happened in ceb:Castle Steads. (And if you can't ... well, I just hope that this mystery fascinates you as much as it fascinates me.) -- Hoary (talk) 08:26, 28 August 2020 (UTC)[reply]
Pinging the main author of the Castle Steads article @Lsj:, who answers questions in English on their Cebuano talk page ceb:Hisgot_sa_Gumagamit:Lsj. There is also an embassy page at ceb:Hisgot sa Wikipedia:Embahada which I found by looking at the Ceb Wikipedia main page and which should be able to answer questions on Ceb Wikipedia in English. TSventon (talk) 11:56, 28 August 2020 (UTC)[reply]
My guess is that the Cebuano Wikipedia generated ceb:Castle Steads from sv:Castle Steads, since that is the only other Wikipedia in the Castle Steads Wikidata item. -Arch dude (talk) 16:31, 28 August 2020 (UTC)[reply]
According to the article I linked above, the bot generates articles directly from Wikidata. --ColinFine (talk) 16:40, 28 August 2020 (UTC)[reply]
@ColinFine: Based on that article, I think the Lsjbot started with data from GeoNames and added both the Swedish and Cebuano articles. The existence of the articles then caused magic to occur to produce the Wikidata item. Reading Google's translation into English of the Swedish article, it looks like the entire article (except for the initial incorrect assertion of the existence of an actual castle) can be generated from the geolocation alone. -Arch dude (talk) 16:59, 28 August 2020 (UTC)[reply]
Thanks for pinging me @Hoary:. About this one @Spf43adx:, yes I am proficient with Cebuano and checked the article (I rarely contribute though in CEB WP). I found the same observations with what was mentioned above. Let me know how I can help to sort it out. Cheers! — Emperork (talk) 18:55, 28 August 2020 (UTC)[reply]
I think this this query could be retitled "Cebuano Wikipedia" to make it easier to find information on ceb wiki in the Helpdesk archive.
@Emperork:, @Lsj:, what should en wiki editors do if they find an error in a bot written article in ceb wiki (or sv wiki)? In this case the ceb and sv articles seem to have been based on an error in (or misinterpretation of) Geonames.
@Spf43adx:, if you wanted to add a mention of Castle Steads to en wiki, there is an existing article on Esh Winning. I haven't seen enough information to justify a stand alone article. TSventon (talk) 21:55, 28 August 2020 (UTC)[reply]
I can offer to rewrite (to correct) it on the ceb wiki should there be enough references provided by Spf43adx (talk · contribs). I rarely contribute there though and I'm not sure if editors/administrator there are still active. — Emperork (talk) 22:20, 28 August 2020 (UTC)[reply]
I would suggest deleting the ceb and sv articles and the wikidata item unless Spf43adx really wants to write an article. Alternatively, if they wrote one or more sentences (with reference(s)) then the first sentence of each article could be replaced. TSventon (talk) 23:17, 28 August 2020 (UTC)[reply]

I'm very grateful for the responses. It's not OpenStreetMaps itself that selected this Wikipedia article, but the OsmAnd project, a mobile app for OpenStreetMap. It can download abbreviated Wikipedia articles for points of interest for use offline. I have no knowledge of Castle Steads, County Durham, beyond the extra link I posted and that I can confirm there is no significant structure above ground apart from nettles preventing one from getting close! Spf43adx (talk) 02:48, 29 August 2020 (UTC)[reply]

@Spf43adx:, In this case I would suggest deleting the articles as I don't think ceb wiki or sv wiki need an article about a field of nettles in England. More generally ceb wiki has a lot of bot written articles like this one so OsmAnd should probably consider not downloading ceb wiki articles outside the Philippines. Wikipedia is based on information found in reliable sources, not on original research by editors, so any changes to articles need to be referenced to a reliable source. The detailed rules vary from project to project as we have seen. TSventon (talk) 08:36, 29 August 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Table formatting[edit]

Hello,

My wiki markup isn't great - is there a way I can center a table? By default it is on the left. Thanks! Giraffer (munch) 08:31, 28 August 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Giraffer, Look into HELP:TABLECENTER. → Timbaaatalk 08:38, 28 August 2020 (UTC)[reply]

SCIENCE[edit]

SCIENCE — Preceding unsigned comment added by 154.160.17.70 (talk) 11:34, 28 August 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Hello, IP user. What is your question about editing Wikipedia? --ColinFine (talk) 11:41, 28 August 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Chemistry[edit]

Vital theory — Preceding unsigned comment added by 129.205.112.158 (talk) 12:44, 28 August 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Hello, IP user. What is your question about editing Wikipedia? --ColinFine (talk) 13:45, 28 August 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Jacob Blake Shooting Is An Act Of War[edit]

They Keep Talking About Sporting Events Being Cancelled becuase this Jacob Blake Shooting Is An Act Of War. 68.102.42.216 (talk) 13:14, 28 August 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Hello, IP user. What is your question about editing Wikipedia? --ColinFine (talk) 13:45, 28 August 2020 (UTC)[reply]

help to complete the final step of publishing my wikipedia article[edit]

hello! I just finished writing my article and the button for "submit this article for review" is missing. can you please help me out and add my article "Timeblock" to the draft space or add the button for me so I can move it, so it can be reviewed. Thanks so much in advanced!

Greetings, Treehouse135 Treehouse135 (talk) 14:50, 28 August 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Courtesy link: User:Treehouse135/Timeblock. Please be aware that Wikipedia requires high standards of verifiability for medical claims, and is therefore a particularly poor place to try to promote quack medical products. Maproom (talk) 15:04, 28 August 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Editing: citing a book; volume #  ???[edit]

The cite book template in the edit box does not have a "volume" field, yet a huge number of reference works are multi-volume. E.g. Encyclopedia Britannica, in which each volume begins with page 1. There are 20 different pages 1, 100 200, etc. in my copy. Am I missing something? Is there a volume field? Am I expected to understand that I should put "823a vol. 3" in the page field? Nick Beeson (talk) 17:40, 28 August 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Nwbeeson since you specifically mentioned Encyclopedia Brittanica, I'll first point out the existence of {{Cite encyclopedia}}, which does have a volume field. That's what I would use to cite an encyclopedia, were I to do so (although as a tertiary source it should be avoided - but there are times we use it). But more to your point, {{Cite book}} does have a volume field. It's just not one of the fields that's included in the version you get from the drop down box above the edit window. The full set of (largely optional) parameters for Cite book is {{cite book |last1= |first1= |author-link1= |last2= |first2= |author-link2= |last3= |first3= |author-link3= |last4= |first4= |author-link4= |last5= |first5= |author-link5= |display-authors= |author-mask1= |author-mask2= |author-mask3= |author-mask4= |author-mask5= |last-author-amp= |translator-last1= |translator-first1= |translator-link1= |translator-last2= |translator-first2= |translator-link2= |display-translators= |translator-mask1= |translator-mask2= |date= |year= |orig-year= |chapter= |script-chapter= |trans-chapter= |chapter-url= |chapter-format= |editor1-last= |editor1-first= |editor1-link= |editor2-last= |editor2-first= |editor2-link= |editor3-last= |editor3-first= |editor3-link= |editor4-last= |editor4-first= |editor4-link= |editor5-last= |editor5-first= |editor5-link= |display-editors= |title= |script-title= |trans-title= |url= |url-status= |url-access= |format= |type= |series= |language= |volume= |others= |edition= |location= |publisher= |publication-date= |page= |pages= |at= |nopp= |arxiv= |asin= |bibcode= |doi= |doi-broken-date= |isbn= |ismn= |issn= |jfm= |jstor= |lccn= |mr= |oclc= |ol= |osti= |pmc= |pmid= |rfc= |ssrn= |zbl= |id= |archive-url= |archive-date= |access-date= |via= |lay-url= |lay-source= |lay-date= |lay-format= |quote= |name-list-format= |mode= |postscript= |ref=}}C You obviously don't need all of those for all books, so the version from the drop down box only gives you the most commonly used ones. Just add <nowiki>|volume=3 into the template and it should work.~ ONUnicorn(Talk|Contribs)problem solving 20:25, 28 August 2020 (UTC)[reply]
Thanks. I have been editing for a very long time and am completely familiar with {{cite book}}. My question was, "Why is it not in the 'Edit' page Citation pop-up for books. I thought I might be missing something obvious. Nick Beeson (talk) 15:10, 29 August 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Automatic translations[edit]

Wikipedia partners with Google Translate (https://wikimediafoundation.org/news/2019/01/09/you-can-now-use-google-translate-to-translate-articles-on-wikipedia/ ) and the Malaysian bahasa translation is just largely created through automatic translators. Users are not yet necessary and they have started to be selected not on the basis of personal ethics and engagement in the project, but something like personal opinions and competencies. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 78.14.138.79 (talk) 17:43, 28 August 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Hi! This is the help desk for the English Wikipedia, not for other language projects. You are referring to WP:CXT which is a tool for translating articles between wikis, but only uses Google translate as a guide. As with all wikis, they are editable by everyone - but CXT requires some additional experience. Best Wishes, Lee Vilenski (talkcontribs) 17:47, 28 August 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Wiki link[edit]

Is this the correct way to link? #Later Life: Irene Triesch (link)? I've never seen it before. It doesn't look "right". Maineartists (talk) 18:17, 28 August 2020 (UTC)[reply]

@Maineartists: Use double brackets like this: [[Frederic_Lamond_(pianist)#Later_life ]] RudolfRed (talk) 18:22, 28 August 2020 (UTC)[reply]
Sorry. My bad, RudolfRed; I was talking about the actual link on the article page in the section: Later Life that links to "Irene Triesch". It doesn't look right. It's just a bare http. Maineartists (talk) 19:47, 28 August 2020 (UTC)[reply]
@Maineartists: Thanks for clarifying. Yes that should be a Wikilink instead of a URL. It is also wrong to use a Wikipedia as a reference. Feel free to clean it up. RudolfRed (talk) 19:56, 28 August 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Q Article suggestion for Tasmania-based skincare brand Beauty and the Bees (3 references cited)[edit]

Hello,

I'm a paid part-time employee of Beauty and the Bees (and its men's line Professor Fuzzworthy), an Australian zero-waste hair and skincare company based in Hobart, Tasmania. Founded in 1993, the company has an international market that includes the U.S. Its products have been reviewed in GQ1, NY Magazine2 and other U.S./international publications. The company has also be cited by Warren Buffett's Business Week3 as a leader in the growing zero-waste shampoo market. Another point of interest is that Founder/CEO Jill Saunders is a long-term entrepreneur who received a late-in-life diagnosis of autism (Asperger Syndrome).

As a pioneering leader in zero-waste skincare and user of natural ingredients (90% or more--including Leatherwood Honey/Beeswax, Goat's Milk, lavender and dozens of essential oils used in their products are sourced from Tasmania), Beauty and the Bees should have a Wikipedia entry of its own, similar to Ethique ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ethique ).

I realize that as an employee, it would be a conflict of interest for me to write the article and my understanding is that it's considered unethical to hire an outside writer to create the entry. What are our best options for developing an article that meets Wikipedia's standards w/o a conflict of interest?

Andy Smith

1. Laird, Grady, “Beauty Tested, Beast Approved.” Gentleman’s Quarterly Dec. 7, 2010 2. Notis, David “Everything I Use to Keep My Beard Perfectly Groomed,” New York Magazine May 24, 2019 3. “Global $150 Mn Zero Waste Shampoo Market, Competition, Forecast and Opportunities, 2023 - ResearchAndMarkets.com,” Business Wire, February 19, 2019.


Andymsmith (talk) 19:33, 28 August 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Andysmith Two options:
  1. Post those three sources (and any others you are aware of) on Wikipedia:Requested articles/Business and economics/Companies/A-E#B. It should be in alphabetical order by the name of the company. Be aware that volunteers write the articles that interest them, there are limited numbers of volunteers interested in writing about companies on that list, the more reliable sources provided the easier the article will be to write (therefore the more likely someone is to write it), and going that route may take quite a long time (some article requests have been on there for several years).
  2. Declare your status as a paid editor following the directions provided at that link, then submit a draft through the articles for creation process. Be aware that writing an article from scratch is the hardest thing to do well on Wikipedia. Your article must demonstrate that Beauty and the Bees meets the criteria listed at WP:NCORP, and it must be written in a neutral point of view. It must not sound like a press release, advertisement, or anything that promotes the company or portrays it in an excessively positive (or negative) light. If you are going to go that route, I recommend you spend some time looking at and reading articles in Category:FA-Class company articles, as they represent Wikipedia's best work on articles about companies.
Whichever route you take, I wish you luck. ~ ONUnicorn(Talk|Contribs)problem solving 19:46, 28 August 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Mesker Park Zoo & Botanic Garden[edit]

How can I have my grandfather's name changed to the correct spelling? It is Gilmore, not Gilmour.

Please advise.

Thank you.

Robert Haynie. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Rmauntel (talkcontribs) 19:39, 28 August 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Rmauntel, it looks like you have fixed it. Welcome to Wikipedia! ~ ONUnicorn(Talk|Contribs)problem solving 20:00, 28 August 2020 (UTC)[reply]

I've been discussing with creator User:Mathglot as to whether Glossary of Brazil investigative terms/Compact ToC is appropriate for WP:MAINSPACE. Can we get additional input or directed to the text in policy that would govern its namespace placement? Thanks, Ost (talk) 21:08, 28 August 2020 (UTC)[reply]

I have always seen using this kind of TOC in categories only, moreover in Help:Section#Table of contents (TOC) is mentioned the Help:Section#Horizontal TOC. No one other template User:Mathglot, User:Ost316--Pierpao (talk) 11:30, 29 August 2020 (UTC)[reply]
User:Ost316--Pierpao (talk) 11:31, 29 August 2020 (UTC)[reply]
Moved. Mathglot (talk) 19:17, 29 August 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Centering text in the chart columns[edit]

I've been creating information charts/tables on Wikipedia lately, and I'd be really grateful if somebody told me how to center text in the columns. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Faris Al-Sahra67 (talkcontribs) 23:05, 28 August 2020 (UTC)[reply]

@Faris Al-Sahra67: I notice this is your first contribution, so I'll ask "have you been through Help:Table"? If so, respond back maybe with an example of what you want to do and I'll try to give a more specific answer. Thanks. —[AlanM1 (talk)]— 02:10, 29 August 2020 (UTC)[reply]