Wikipedia:Help desk
- For other types of questions, use the search box, see the reference desk or Help:Contents. If you have comments about a specific article, use that article's talk page.
- For issues with financial donations, please see this Wikimedia Foundation page
- Do not provide your email address or any other contact information. Answers will be provided on this page only.
- If your question is about a Wikipedia article, draft article, or other page on Wikipedia, tell us what it is!
- If you are having an issue while editing, which editor are you using?
- Check back on this page to see if your question has been answered.
- For real-time help, use our IRC help channel, #wikipedia-en-help.
- New editors may prefer the Teahouse, a help area for beginners (but please don't ask in both places).
Can't edit this page? ; a volunteer will visit you there shortly!
If this edit is neutral
[edit]Please I'd like to ask the community regarding this edit on the Osu caste system entry if that edit looks neutral or biased following how the sentences were changed and rephrased, because the editor kept calling it a "neutral edit". (Nwa Mbata) (talk) 08:28, 2 October 2026 (UTC)
- @Mbataw: I looked at the history of the Osu caste system article and the same content has been added and removed four times, which is a Wikipedia:edit war, even if it happened over weeks rather than 24 hours. I suggest looking at Wikipedia:dispute resolution and starting a discussion on the article talk page focussed on the content. I saw you posted on Dolpina's talk page, but that did not resolve the dispute and they removed your post, which is allowed on their user talk page.
- I looked at the edit and it had several sources and may or may not be an improvement to the article. TSventon (talk) 10:16, 2 October 2026 (UTC)
- This dispute has also been discussed and not resolved at Wikipedia:Administrators' noticeboard/IncidentArchive1234#Persistent disruptive edits and making up false reasons and accusations of "systematic hoax" by Mbataw. TSventon (talk) 10:28, 2 October 2026 (UTC)
- I see your points, but the few period of time I've interacted with the user, I don't see them willing to cooperate. Just as I left a message on their talk page and regarding the ANI which was unresolved.
- Here is another one on Traditional marriage in Igbo culture where they kept adding "citation needed" templates on specific entries even when the sources cited at the ending verifies those claims. It was also discussed on the talk page but they kept reverting. (Nwa Mbata) (talk) 14:20, 2 October 2026 (UTC)
- Unfortunately dispute resolution on Wikipedia is quite cumbersome as there are no managers to take the final decision. There are admins, but they focus on behaviour, not content.
- Looking at Osu caste system, you and Dolpina are edit warring about whether it still exists. I know nothing about the subject, but it might be worth discussing a more nuanced lead, as with Caste system in India. TSventon (talk) 16:57, 2 October 2026 (UTC)
- I cited all my claims, all in neutral language, but if you look at his edit history Mbataw seems to have a bone to pick with me and always seems to gatekeep what he feels are igbo articles. After he was unbanned, I told him why that was bad and not productive for Wikipedia. Hopefully he has seen reason. Dolpina (talk) 17:35, 6 October 2026 (UTC)
- I really hope your comment here is of good faith because your tone and language seems otherwise. Best! (Nwa Mbata) (talk) 17:42, 6 October 2026 (UTC)
- Everything I say and say here are in good faith. I cant lie on what I feel and patterns that may be occuring, that will be pretence not in good faith. Hopefully you don't have such bias and if you do, you have fixed or are fixing it, thanks. All I do is sourced, its best to look at sourced content and facts, not emotions, personal issues or claims of neutrality that isn't there. Nice talk. Dolpina (talk) 18:03, 6 October 2026 (UTC)
- I really hope your comment here is of good faith because your tone and language seems otherwise. Best! (Nwa Mbata) (talk) 17:42, 6 October 2026 (UTC)
- I cited all my claims, all in neutral language, but if you look at his edit history Mbataw seems to have a bone to pick with me and always seems to gatekeep what he feels are igbo articles. After he was unbanned, I told him why that was bad and not productive for Wikipedia. Hopefully he has seen reason. Dolpina (talk) 17:35, 6 October 2026 (UTC)
Margaret Owen disambiguation
[edit]Its the 1st time that it happens to me that I didnt find in Wikipedia something about an important person. Recently there was in the news that Margaret Owen was recently arrested just for displaying a cardboard sign. She has an OBE for her important contributions to human rights. https://honours.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/stories/margaret-owen-obe/ In the margaret owen disambiguation page looks like she is not there Margaret_Owen Im too novice to say if its an error in the disambiguation page or the page about her directly does not exist, HELP !! Maverick528 (talk) 01:39, 3 October 2026 (UTC)
- @Maverick528: The only mention I could find is this line in 2011 New Year Honours#Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE):
- Margaret Ann, Mrs. Owen. For services to Human Rights, particularly Widows Overseas.
- A single line in a long list is usually not enough to be included in a disambiguation page. PrimeHunter (talk) 02:12, 3 October 2026 (UTC)
- If she made important contributions to human rights, it seems very likely that those would have been reported in some news media, appropriate journals, etc., and of course reports about her arrest in reputable newspapers would probably count towards notability. You need to keep looking for sources on which an article can be based.
- (Disambiguation pages only list existing articles, not additional people with no articles as yet. List articles may include people who don't yet have an article but are good candidates for one, in which case they can be red linked.)
- A casual online search on Margaret Ann Owen OBE yielded a first page of items specific to her, so I think it likely she qualifies for an article: the Women in Red Project may be interested. {The poster formerly known as 87.81.230./195} ~2026-41275-62 (talk) 00:48, 4 October 2026 (UTC)
- Its full of mentions of this person out there, for example in BBC (I guess you can trust BBC news?)
- https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c933kx42np4xo
- And the United Kingdom does not give the OBE award to "random ppl".
- I think there are biographies of "less important" ppl here in wikipedia, so Im a bit surprised that the biography of this woman is not here ...... Maverick528 (talk) 01:08, 4 October 2026 (UTC)
- Has a major publishing house put out a biography of her? TooManyFingers (he/him · talk) 02:32, 4 October 2026 (UTC)
- That BBC article contains one sentence that merely mentions her name and otherwise says nothing at all about her. Surely there must be media coverage that discusses her in more detail? If not, it does not seem likely that she meets Wikipedia's notability criteria. We need sources that actually say something substantial about her, not merely mention her name. CodeTalker (talk) 05:34, 4 October 2026 (UTC)
- more personal info can be found here =
- https://www.widowsforpeace.org/about/founder/
- and here=
- https://www.9brchambers.co.uk/our-people/margaret-owen-obe/
- Im not doing any extensive online research, I only originally wanted to point out that this bio is missing, if she is "wikipedia worthy" or not, I dont know but I suppose there are more qualified ppl than me here, I spent 2 hours trying to figure how to make a request for inclusion en the Woman in red project but I coudnt..... Maverick528 (talk) 14:17, 5 October 2026 (UTC)
- @Maverick528 Sometimes, there are subjects about whom an article could be written, but no volunteer has taken it upon themselves to create and submit a draft.
- Editors here are all volunteers. There is no "editorial board" that looks for articles that are "missing". A volunteer has to, first, be interested in the subject, second, understand the complex requirements for creating an article in Wikipedia, and third, be able to find independent, reliable, published sources that talk about the person in depth.
- "Important" people usually, but don't always, have independent publications that write about them in depth.
- Then, that volunteer can start the process of creating a draft, with appropriate references, to be submitted. David10244 (talk) 04:01, 9 October 2026 (UTC)
Hamam al-Hammami (Omani pilot)
[edit]I created this article based on a topic that is currently trending due to a recent incident. I’d like to hear your views and get input from other contributors as well. Do you think this is an appropriate topic for an article? Official06 (talk) 18:54, 3 October 2026 (UTC)
- @Official06, did you use an LLM to compose this article? There are several strong WP:AISIGNS here. Using AI to generate content for the English Wikipedia is not allowed: please see WP:NOLLM.
- I'm also pretty sure you shouldn't have made this article in the first place, sorry about that. The Flydubai incident is related to a contentious topic and those can only be edited about by extended-confirmed users. Suðurhafsljósæta (talk) 19:03, 3 October 2026 (UTC)
- (Personally I feel that having an article on this topic is premature, and any worthwhile info could be added to the main Flydubai Flight 1073 page—but I'm not a regular editor on current events, so don't take my word for that.) Suðurhafsljósæta (talk) 19:08, 3 October 2026 (UTC)
- Yes you are correct my mistakes
- But its not LLM Official06 (talk) 19:45, 3 October 2026 (UTC)
- (Personally I feel that having an article on this topic is premature, and any worthwhile info could be added to the main Flydubai Flight 1073 page—but I'm not a regular editor on current events, so don't take my word for that.) Suðurhafsljósæta (talk) 19:08, 3 October 2026 (UTC)
- @Official06 Usually, any topic you can call "trending" is not a Wikipedia topic. We wait until "the dust has settled" and the trend has worn off.
- Also, probably more important in this case, we usually reject articles about someone who committed one crime and was never known for anything else. There are probably exceptions if the person became permanently notable - still being written about many years later - but this doesn't seem like one of those exceptions. TooManyFingers (he/him · talk) 16:28, 5 October 2026 (UTC)
Technical function of watchlists after periods of absence
[edit]Hello! I'm curious about the functionality of watchlists upon returning from a period of absence longer than the maximum length of time after which such a watchlist can show edits made on a certain day. Less obscurely, watchlists show the edits made to a page within a maximum of three days by default; after adjusting one's personal preferences, this maximum can be expanded to 30 days. But this limit seems to produce the necessary limitation of hiding changes made on a day after such a period, which may be a common occurrence when speaking of relatively obscure, low-traffic, or time-sensitive pages one is still interested in. That problem would be exacerbated for someone who must take correspondingly long periods of leave for whatever off-wiki duties to which they're obliged to attend, presumably making them miss the opportunity to see those changes after that maximum 30-day window has passed.
Do watchlists truly function like this, or is there some resurfacing of unseen changes after the set maxima? If not, how would someone affected by this in the manner previously illustrated notice such edits instead? To explain my question more concretely, suppose an editor is busy offline and can only be active in spurts separated by several months. If they were to have, say, some time-sensitive discussion page on their watchlist whose latest edit ran back more than a month, would they lose the technical ability to see that when they return to check their watchlist? I'm hoping an editor who frequently interacts with watchlists or, better yet, currently has some forgotten items on theirs can provide some insight into this. Thanks! Salmon of Knowledge (talk) 04:05, 4 October 2026 (UTC)
- @Salmon of Knowledge: The watchlist has a maximum of 30 days as you say. The watchlist is based on RecentChanges which has the same limit. The MediaWiki default in mw:Manual:$wgRCMaxAge is 90 days. Wikimedia wikis set it to 30 days with
$wgRCMaxAge = 30 * 86400;in https://noc.wikimedia.org/conf/highlight.php?file=CommonSettings.php, probably for performance reasons. I played around with something wich might be of use. - Copy-paste up to 250 page names from Special:EditWatchlist/raw to Special:MyPage/sandbox in the source editor. Click the magnifying glass icon to the right of the toolbar. Enter
(.*)(\n)in "Search for" and this in "Replace with": |-$2|{{REVISIONTIMESTAMP:$1}}||[[$1]] ([{{fullurl:$1|action=history}} hist])$2|-$2|{{REVISIONTIMESTAMP:Talk:$1}}||[[Talk:$1]] ([{{fullurl:$1|action=history}} hist])$2- Check "Treat search string as a regular expression" and click "Replace all". Copy this to the top of the page:
- and this to the bottom:
|}
- Click "Show preview" and then click "Last edit" to sort by that. It doesn't have the normal watchlist features. It's limited to 250 pages at a time (500 with their talk pages) because
{{REVISIONTIMESTAMP:}}is an expensive parser function with at most 500 calls allowed. PrimeHunter (talk) 06:48, 4 October 2026 (UTC)- @PrimeHunter: Thank you so much! What a satisfying and well-researched response. It's unfortunate, though, that there's no implemented way to see such changes without creating your own workaround; I wonder if this may be something worth looking into by those more comfortable with the technical aspects of the site, but I'd have no knowledge of the feasibility or even the attractiveness of such an endeavor. Salmon of Knowledge (talk) 05:39, 5 October 2026 (UTC)
Crux rounds
[edit]- (a recent breakthrough revelation that I'd like to announce but not sure how on this cryptic style. Can a human please assist?)
i tried the teahouse but no response...
Crux rounds (a recent breakthrough revelation for the sport of volleyball. Which can create ideal variations, that I'd like to announce but not sure how on this cryptic style. Can a human please assist? ) ~2026-43988-01 (talk) 04:06, 4 October 2026 (UTC)
- There were several responses from humans at the teahouse, see Wikipedia:Teahouse/Questions/Archive 1302#New sports play creation! TSventon (talk) 04:18, 4 October 2026 (UTC)
- If you would like to be notified as to when someone responds to your questions, I strongly suggest creating an account so that you get proper notifications in the top-right corner of the page. —Tenryuu 🐲 ( 💬 • 📝 ) 04:56, 4 October 2026 (UTC)
- Summary: Sorry, but you can't get it onto Wikipedia, and you can't own it on the volleyball court; everyone who sees you do it is 100% free to copy your plan and method. TooManyFingers (he/him · talk) 16:16, 4 October 2026 (UTC)
Donate
[edit]I went to enter code … typed one number, and the code disappeared
~2026-53305-06 (talk) 14:40, 4 October 2026 (UTC)
- Issues with the donation process should be emailed to donate@wikimedia.org. 331dot (talk) 14:51, 4 October 2026 (UTC)
Using citation templates in VisualEditor
[edit]If I want to add citation in VE, using a template like {{Cite Q}} or {{London Gazette}}, I can use Cite > Manual > Basic, then type {{ to bring up the template dialogue.
This is hacky; is there a better way to invoke the dialogue, at that point? Andy Mabbett (Pigsonthewing); Talk to Andy; Andy's edits; 17:05, 4 October 2026 (UTC)
- You can, at least, type
into the article to pull up the citation menu, but the keyboard navigation of that menu is mediocre. Snowmanonahoe (talk · contribs · typos) 21:47, 4 October 2026 (UTC)- Thank you; but that's equally hacky.
- Surely there's a way to do this without entering wikicode? Andy Mabbett (Pigsonthewing); Talk to Andy; Andy's edits; 14:33, 5 October 2026 (UTC)
Ordinals in dates
[edit]Hello! MOS:DATE states that writing something like ‘the 10th of September’ is wrong, because we do not use ordinals in dates. Does anyone know why this is? Thanks! Cheers, 𝔰𝔥𝔞𝔡𝔢𝔰𝔱𝔞𝔯 (𝔱𝔞𝔩𝔨) (any/all) 21:41, 4 October 2026 (UTC)
- I don't think there's a reason deeper than "the MOS people decided that the way we write dates is the way we write dates". Manuals of style always have a couple arbitrary decisions. I could be wrong, though. Snowmanonahoe (talk · contribs · typos) 21:51, 4 October 2026 (UTC)
- If you try searching the MOS archives for "ordinals", you can find some very confusing, inconclusive discussions. Snowmanonahoe (talk · contribs · typos) 21:56, 4 October 2026 (UTC)
- There was a similar question eleven years ago, Wikipedia talk:Manual of Style/Dates and numbers/Archive 150#Why are ordinal dates unacceptable? TSventon (talk) 22:02, 4 October 2026 (UTC)
- If you try searching the MOS archives for "ordinals", you can find some very confusing, inconclusive discussions. Snowmanonahoe (talk · contribs · typos) 21:56, 4 October 2026 (UTC)
- At least a part of the reason is that Wikipedia used to be serious about a certain method for displaying the same date differently for each person based on how their preferences were set. The code for redisplaying the date did not handle ordinal suffixes correctly, so ordinals were prohibited. In my opinion, this is the same as prohibiting use of the word "the" on Wikipedia because some machine translator often used to mangle it twenty years ago. TooManyFingers (he/him · talk) 06:19, 5 October 2026 (UTC)
- In any case, the ordinal numeral would be "tenth". You won't find "10th" in any dictionary. Shantavira|feed me 07:52, 5 October 2026 (UTC)
- Uh huh... Andy Mabbett (Pigsonthewing); Talk to Andy; Andy's edits; 14:35, 5 October 2026 (UTC)
- I think its cause this is one example of where you write something differently than how you say it. Likewise, I read an electronic display saying '23:50', but '11:50pm' orally. JuniperChill (talk) 22:59, 5 October 2026 (UTC)
INCORRECT LINK for a person goes to another person's page
[edit]Henri James Rothschild entry lists his father as James Edouard de Rothschild —
but that link actually goes to Nathanial Charles Rothschild. ~2026-53506-92 (talk) 03:02, 5 October 2026 (UTC)
- It is not an error. James Edouard was one of the children of Nathaniel Charles. Because there is no article about James Edouard, it is appropriate to redirect his name to the article about the parent.
- I have changed the redirect to go to the section that mentions James Edouard. ~Anachronist (who / me) (talk) 03:25, 5 October 2026 (UTC)
consensus on language inclusion
[edit]The following discussion is closed. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page. No further edits should be made to this discussion.
Hello. I would like to know if there is any consensus on translation inclusion of the infoboxes of pages on sports events. The discussion is here, and please discuss. I have previously asked in the Teahouse too. HEY! Hindi (talk) 10:52, 5 October 2026 (UTC)
magic prefixes?
[edit]I've seen wikipedia links to hdl:information (Handle) and iarchive:information (internet archive: archive.org) . Where would I find a list of all of these magic prefixes like hdl and iarchive?Naraht (talk) 11:19, 5 October 2026 (UTC)
Draft 2027–28 United States Network Television Schedule
[edit]
Courtesy link: Draft:2027-28 United States network television schedule
Can You Please Fix A Copule Of Errors In the Draft 2027–28 United Network Television Schedule Please. ~2026-53557-18 (talk) 15:26, 5 October 2026 (UTC)
- I could only see one; and have fixed it. Andy Mabbett (Pigsonthewing); Talk to Andy; Andy's edits; 15:39, 5 October 2026 (UTC)
Wikilinking countries in articles?
[edit]I may have mis-remembered this, but is there a policy about linking to a country in an article text?
For example: Wakefield Trinity is a professional rugby league club in Wakefield, West Yorkshire, England. The club play their home fixtures at the DIY Kitchen Stadium, Belle Vue and compete in the Super League, the top tier of the British rugby league system, in which they are reigning champions
as taken from the Wakefield Trinity article.
An editor made a change which was good faith, but I reverted as it introduced a WL to the same article right next to each other, and linked "England". I'm sure I saw a policy that suggested this wasn't necessary - but can't remember what it was? Chaheel Riens (talk) 19:42, 5 October 2026 (UTC)
- MOS:GEOLINK says
For a geographical location expressed as a consecutive comma-separated sequence of two or more territorial units, link only the first unit.
so in the example given the only word linked should be "Wakefield". Athanelar (talk) 19:45, 5 October 2026 (UTC)
- (edit conflict) countries should generally not be linked, you can quote MOS:OVERLINK. TSventon (talk) 19:48, 5 October 2026 (UTC)
- Major countries should generally not be linked. Which ones are major is a matter of opinion, but I like to think that most readers already know what England is. Certes (talk) 19:52, 5 October 2026 (UTC)
- (For this purpose, in my opinion, "major" should probably be twisted to mean "most people with no connection to it still know about it" rather than measuring its area, population, etc.) TooManyFingers (he/him · talk) 20:09, 5 October 2026 (UTC)
- Cheers all - MOS:GEOLINK is the one I was thinking of. Chaheel Riens (talk) 20:15, 5 October 2026 (UTC)
- (For this purpose, in my opinion, "major" should probably be twisted to mean "most people with no connection to it still know about it" rather than measuring its area, population, etc.) TooManyFingers (he/him · talk) 20:09, 5 October 2026 (UTC)
- Major countries should generally not be linked. Which ones are major is a matter of opinion, but I like to think that most readers already know what England is. Certes (talk) 19:52, 5 October 2026 (UTC)
- Better not to link any country. Deciding what countries are not "major" looks US- or Euro-centric Jimfbleak - talk to me? 12:45, 6 October 2026 (UTC)
CS1 error with a reference
[edit]Hi all, I came across Juan de Valdés with a citation containing a CS1 error.
[1] However, after some attempts, I'm at a loss with regards to how to fix it. As far as I can tell, it's not liking the fact that the Subdomain contains hyphensunderscores, but that is what the url looks like verbatim. The site itself is no longer up, but as the archive link shows, the url was very much valid.
Any advice is appreciated. LkL-70547 (talk) 22:25, 5 October 2026 (UTC)
- @LkL-70547: It was discussed at Help talk:Citation Style 1/Archive 103#False positive check url error. It's fixed in the sandbox version but not implemented yet in the live module. For performance reasons it's rarely edited. Seven milion pages have to be rendered again so changes are collected in batches. PrimeHunter (talk) 23:47, 5 October 2026 (UTC)
References
- ↑ "VALDES, Juan de". Academic Dictionaries and Encyclopedias. Archived from the original on 25 June 2013. Retrieved 2021-01-26.
{{cite web}}: Check|url=value (help)
Wikipedia editor scam?
[edit]Paul Victor sent me an email offering to revise my Wikipedia entry for a fee of $600 and signed himself as Wikipedia editor. Please advise. Thank you! Bettina Aptheker ~2026-53530-98 (talk) 02:19, 6 October 2026 (UTC)
- That is a scam. Wikipedia editors will never ask for compensation. See WP:SCAM. In solidarity, 🏳️🌈JohnLaurens333 (They/them • Talk • Contribs) 02:34, 6 October 2026 (UTC)
- @~2026-53530-98: Think of it this way: Wikipedia articles are designed to be edited by anyone, which means that what a paid contributor adds to an article can and will be changed at some point in the future. It isn't permanent. —Tenryuu 🐲 ( 💬 • 📝 ) 04:34, 6 October 2026 (UTC)
- If Wikipedia has an article about you then please see WP:COI. You may wish to add a section to the article's talk page suggesting corrections or improvements. It will help if you can cite a reliable source. (For example, if we have your date of birth wrong, show us a magazine article with the correct date.) If suitable, editors will then make those changes free of charge. Certes (talk) 09:22, 6 October 2026 (UTC)
New form of government
[edit]Hello, would anyone be interested in helping rewrite Contocracy without generative AI? Contocrat Fan (talk) 04:16, 6 October 2026 (UTC)
- Wikipedia articles must meet notability criteria, as demonstrated through significant coverage of the subject in published reliable sources independent of the subject. It is not a platform for random crap someone thought of a week ago. AndyTheGrump (talk) 05:55, 6 October 2026 (UTC)
- Link is to Draft:Contocracy, not Contocracy. Andy Mabbett (Pigsonthewing); Talk to Andy; Andy's edits; 10:19, 6 October 2026 (UTC)
- I guess that an example of a contocracy is the twelver sect of Shia Islam, led by Muhammad al-Mahdi who has now been in a state of occultation for over 1100 years. Maproom (talk) 13:54, 7 October 2026 (UTC)
Close a GA review discussion
[edit]Hello! Someone please close this GA review discussion as unsuccessful. – 𝙰𝚔𝚜𝚑𝚊𝚍𝚎𝚟™ 𝚃𝚊𝚕𝚔 05:59, 6 October 2026 (UTC)
- This request of mine might seem unnecessary, but I am doing it simply to keep the records organized. – 𝙰𝚔𝚜𝚑𝚊𝚍𝚎𝚟™ 𝚃𝚊𝚕𝚔 10:58, 6 October 2026 (UTC)
- I'm confused. The article has passed GA last month and you've nominated for DYK as a result of that. And the fact you posted the comment a week after it passed GA JuniperChill (talk) 16:16, 6 October 2026 (UTC)
- @Akshadev:, I suggest you ask at Wikipedia talk:Good article nominations.
- @JuniperChill:, the OP wants to close Talk:ISRO/GA4 as unsuccessful, not Talk:ISRO/GA5, which was closed as successful. I don't know whether that is a useful thing to do. TSventon (talk) 16:26, 6 October 2026 (UTC)
- @JuniperChill, @TSventon Nvm, forget it. – 𝙰𝚔𝚜𝚑𝚊𝚍𝚎𝚟™ 𝚃𝚊𝚕𝚔 16:30, 6 October 2026 (UTC)
- I'm confused. The article has passed GA last month and you've nominated for DYK as a result of that. And the fact you posted the comment a week after it passed GA JuniperChill (talk) 16:16, 6 October 2026 (UTC)
Whats the longest it can take for a page to be reviewed?
[edit]I am wondering because pages I have created in the past were usually reviewed within a few hours or within a day. This one has not been reviewed for about three days, so I am wondering how long it can take. Thanks. ItsShandog (talk) 10:47, 6 October 2026 (UTC)
- Hello, @ItsShandog.
- I guess you're talking about new pages patrol, since you don't seem to have submitted any drafts for review recently?
- The answer is that there is no maximum: reviewers pick up articles to review in the order they choose.
- If you look at WP:NPP, you'll see that there is currently a backlog of over 27 000 articles, and the oldest on the list is over 9 years old! (Yes, I'm shocked at that, too). ColinFine (talk) 10:59, 6 October 2026 (UTC)
- @ColinFine: there is usually a reason for really old entries. The page Cover Me Badd was started on 21 January 2006, draftified on 10 September and undraftified (?) on 3 October. It appears to be ten years old, but isn't really. TSventon (talk) 11:09, 6 October 2026 (UTC)
- The page is "Killing of Sonia Exelby". ItsShandog (talk) 11:11, 6 October 2026 (UTC)
- ItsShandog, there is an element of luck in how long it takes for new pages to be reviewed. I have experienced frustration myself, when I had to wait for my new article to be reviewed.
- You have now created 25 articles so you could apply for the Wikipedia:Autopatrolled right. TSventon (talk) 11:24, 6 October 2026 (UTC)
- No problem, thank you for the advice, but whether or not I am approved is another matter lol. ItsShandog (talk) 11:50, 6 October 2026 (UTC)
- Obviously bad articles are usually checked and rejected (draftified or deleted) quite quickly; obviously good ones are usually approved not quite as quickly, because the patroller still has to check all the references, etc.; articles that look borderline, or difficult to check for various reasons, will tend to get put to one side until a patroller feels up to the effort. In the meantime, one is free to keep improving the article, and doing so might make it a more attractive (i.e. less effortful) task. In any case, all new articles are automatically approved (and opened to web crawlers) after 90 days if they haven't been patrolled. {The poster formerly known as 87.81.230.195} ~2026-41275-62 (talk) 07:03, 7 October 2026 (UTC)
- No problem, thank you for the advice, but whether or not I am approved is another matter lol. ItsShandog (talk) 11:50, 6 October 2026 (UTC)
Episode list threshold
[edit]Hello! Make some noise is entering its fifth season today and I thought I would ask, what is the threshold for when there are enough episodes/content in the synopsis’s etc to warrant a separate sub article about it? Like how for example Futurama has. ~2026-53713-57 (talk) 10:49, 6 October 2026 (UTC)
- Hello, @~2026-53713-57.
- Neither episodes nor content are relevant in determining whether there can be a separate article. The crucial thing is whether the subject (the season? I'm not sure from what you have said) meets Wikipedia's criteria for being notable - basically, that enough people, wholly unconnected with the series and its production, have chosen to write in some depth about the subject specifically, and been published in reliable places: see golden rule. ColinFine (talk) 10:55, 6 October 2026 (UTC)
Please delete my draft
[edit]Hello, I am the creator of this draft: [Draft:Abdullah Shuaib]. I would like it deleted. Could an administrator please delete it? ~~~~ Assekoas (talk) 21:50, 6 October 2026 (UTC)
- There's no need to do so. Drafts are automatically deleted after 6 months of inactivity. If you really want it deleted now, place the template {{db-g7}} at the top of the page to flag it for author-requested speedy deletion and an admin will do it shortly.
- Please be aware that if you're planning to delete the draft so that you can start over and evade the rejection, this is considered disruptive editing and will not work. Athanelar (talk) 21:53, 6 October 2026 (UTC)
Text to speech aid for those with diminished eyesight
[edit]Is there a process for listening to Wikipedia articles? While not blind, many of us older ones have eyesight problems. The NY Times has a 'listen' option at the top of every article. I do not see that on Wikipedia. Is it in the future? Or is there an app that you can refer to that a reader can download for using on Wikipedia? Thank you.
~2026-54019-79 (talk) 07:07, 7 October 2026 (UTC)
- In general, it's better for websites to be made accessible to assistive software (including software that reads a website out loud to you, called a screen reader) rather than having bespoke plugins that are specific to the individual website.
- While we're not perfect, we do our best to make Wikipedia easy for such tools to access and it's certainly better than 99% of websites in that regard.
- Your web browser or mobile device might already have the tools you need to enable it to read any website to you. Can you tell us what you are using to browse?
- Meanwhile this page had some general advice (the section on grants is UK-specific). Andy Mabbett (Pigsonthewing); Talk to Andy; Andy's edits; 07:49, 7 October 2026 (UTC)
- You may be interested in Wikipedia:WikiProject Spoken Wikipedia which has recordings of people reading Wikipedia articles aloud. PeterCooperJr (talk) 13:47, 7 October 2026 (UTC)
Archiving PDFs
[edit]Hi, I've been working on Multi-club ownership which cites multiple PDFs. I want to archive these to prevent link rot, but I'm not sure how to go about it - should I download the files and upload into archive.org, or is there another way? Is there a bot that can automate this? Thanks for the help. Timmeh59 (tlk | cntrbs) 09:09, 7 October 2026 (UTC)
- If the PDF files are online, and not behind a password or paywall, you should just be able to submit the URLs directly to the wayback machine. Andy Mabbett (Pigsonthewing); Talk to Andy; Andy's edits; 12:49, 7 October 2026 (UTC)
- You're right apologies, I didn't test with multiple links - I think there is a different issue here. All of the PDFs archive correctly, apart from this one from the official German Bundesliga website which returns:
This URL has been excluded from the Wayback Machine
. From a Google I assume this means they are blocking archive access to their website - is there any solution to this? Timmeh59 (tlk | cntrbs) 13:44, 7 October 2026 (UTC)- You could try other archiving services - such as https://ghostarchive.org/ - but you're likely to hit the same issue. Andy Mabbett (Pigsonthewing); Talk to Andy; Andy's edits; 16:43, 7 October 2026 (UTC)
- Okay thanks, I'll give it a go. Timmeh59 (tlk | cntrbs) 08:58, 8 October 2026 (UTC)
- I managed to archive it using Megalodon.jp - for reference, the pages Wikipedia:List of web archives on Wikipedia & Wikipedia:Archiving a source were helpful in providing options. Timmeh59 (tlk | cntrbs) 09:27, 8 October 2026 (UTC)
- You could try other archiving services - such as https://ghostarchive.org/ - but you're likely to hit the same issue. Andy Mabbett (Pigsonthewing); Talk to Andy; Andy's edits; 16:43, 7 October 2026 (UTC)
- You're right apologies, I didn't test with multiple links - I think there is a different issue here. All of the PDFs archive correctly, apart from this one from the official German Bundesliga website which returns:
Lord Dunsany novel
[edit]- incorrect publisher attribution dilemma
I have just left a post and request for help at Talk:The Curse of the Wise Woman about an attribution of that novel's First Edition publisher, which I am certain is incorrect (and is contradicted by the Infobox image and caption), but which has apparently reliable, though I am certain erroneous, cited sources. I would be grateful if anyone interested would read the post and make suggestions there (not here). {The poster formerly known as 87.81.230.195} ~2026-41275-62 (talk) 10:00, 7 October 2026 (UTC)
WP:NOTNEWS and notability
[edit]- concerns raised about disappearance and killing articles
I would like clarification on the use of WP:NOTNEWS in relation to articles on disappearances and killings. The articles I have created have multiple independent reliable sources that provide significant coverage, which appears to meet WP:GNG. Another editor has stated that disappearances and killings of unknown individuals are not suitable for inclusion under WP:NOTNEWS. My understanding is that WP:NOTNEWS applies to routine or trivial news reports, not to topics with sustained coverage.
There are many existing articles on disappearances and killings, so I do not see how WP:NOTNEWS would apply in this case. The editor raising this concern created their account yesterday, stating an intention to propose deletion for all articles I have created on these subjects.
Can someone confirm whether WP:GNG takes precedence when significant, independent sources exist, and whether WP:NOTNEWS would apply here? ItsShandog (talk) 11:31, 7 October 2026 (UTC)
- @ItsShandog You're more than experienced enough to know not to use AI to generate questions like this, please don't do that.
- WP:NOTNEWS refers to cases where the event is unlikely to have lasting impact into the future.
Wikipedia considers the enduring notability of persons and events. While news coverage can be useful source material for encyclopedic topics, most newsworthy events do not qualify for inclusion and Wikipedia is not written in news style... Also, while including information on recent developments is sometimes appropriate, breaking news should not be emphasized or otherwise treated differently from other information.
In other words, there may be plenty of significant coverage about the event now, but it must be considered whether that translates to lasting importance (i.e., does the event lead to a major lawsuit against the police, or a new law being passed, or are the circumstances of the event particularly unique and enduringly noteworthy, etc) - It is an unfortunate reality that a lot of people get killed on a day to day basis and not all of those killings deserve an article here even if they get some news coverage. I am suspicious of any account which cropped up yesterday and immediately announced an intent to go on a mass deletion campaign of your articles though. Athanelar (talk) 11:44, 7 October 2026 (UTC)
- I have sent a question to your talk page. ItsShandog (talk) 12:08, 7 October 2026 (UTC)
Possible error
[edit]
Courtesy link: Johann Strauss II
Courtesy link: Coburg, Germany
The page for Johann Strauss II says he died in Vienna, Austria, but the page for Coburg, Germany says he died in Coburg and was buried in Vienna. — Preceding unsigned comment added by ~2026-54000-39 (talk) 14:10, 7 October 2026 (UTC)
- I'd go with the Johann Strauss II one as it's referenced; the other isn't. The Austrian Tourism agency says it's Vienna (at Igelgasse 4 (now Johann-Strauß-Gasse 4-6 in Vienna’s 4th district)); Vienna's tourism guide agrees.
- Britannica goes for Vienna; so does the Johann Strauss society of Great Britain.
- Feel free to remove the dying bit from the Coburg page (or find a reference supporting it). Bazza 7 (talk) 14:40, 7 October 2026 (UTC)
- It doesn't explicitly say he died in Coberg. In the section Lived at Coberg it says "Johann Strauss (1825–1899), he lived the last 13 years of his life in Coburg, and buried in Vienna" [sic]. This could do with copy editing, which I'll leave to you since you raised the question. {The poster formerly known as 87.81.230.195} ~2026-41275-62 (talk) 05:29, 8 October 2026 (UTC)
Google Scholar image usable?
[edit]Hi all,
I am wondering if it is acceptable to use a scholar’s image from a Google Scholar page? His email was verified at the account, so it seems to me that he was ok with the image being public.
https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=srWmkooAAAAJ&hl=en&oi=ao
Not sure what the policy is here. Thanks! babbage (talk) 15:41, 7 October 2026 (UTC)
- We need more than "it looks like he was okay with it"; there needs to be an explicit statement that the image was released with a copyright compatible with Wikipedia's(allowing for reuse by anyone for any purpose with attribution). I don't know a lot about Google Scholar itself, perhaps such a statement is elsewhere, but I don't see it on the page you link to. 331dot (talk) 15:46, 7 October 2026 (UTC)
- To see whether you can (and how to) upload someone else's image to Commons, see c:COM:THIRD. Alternatively, ask the subject to read WP:A picture of you.
- Images can be hosted here under fair use criteria in some circumstances, but that probably doesn't apply in this case, if the subject is living. Andy Mabbett (Pigsonthewing); Talk to Andy; Andy's edits; 16:37, 7 October 2026 (UTC)
- Hi, thanks. The subject is deceased, but I will refrain from using the image. babbage (talk) 11:50, 8 October 2026 (UTC)
Source
[edit]Invasion of England (1326) - Wikipedia
In the wiki page linked, there is a source credited as Ormrod, p. 287, however I cannot find the source anywhere online and I was wondering if I could have the source verified or properly cited?
Thank you. Macegriffin (talk) 16:32, 7 October 2026 (UTC)
- The full source appears to be cited as Reference 7 - England: Edward II and Edward III, written by W. Mark Ormrod. Why it isn't in the bibliography is confusing; I'm gonna look the book up real quick. (The full cite's missing ISBN/OCLC# anyway.) —Jéské Couriano v^_^v Look out it's Jimothy! 16:38, 7 October 2026 (UTC)
- The source exists but all indications are it's a chapter of a larger book (The New Cambridge Medieval History). —Jéské Couriano v^_^v Look out it's Jimothy! 16:41, 7 October 2026 (UTC)
- For future reference, if you ask at WP:RX someone will, if they can, look up the source for you and either check a claim is correct or send you a scan of the relevant page or pages (but not whole books). Andy Mabbett (Pigsonthewing); Talk to Andy; Andy's edits; 16:40, 7 October 2026 (UTC)
- @Macegriffin: We do not require sources to be online but yes we do need the full ref. From the full ref, you can go to WorldCat to find out which libraries have physical copies. Your local library may be able to get the book for you via interlibrary loan. It's sometimes faster to just buy a used copy for not much money. -Arch dude (talk) 17:05, 7 October 2026 (UTC)
- @Macegriffin: I can see Google books, The New Cambridge Medieval History: Volume 6, C.1300-c.1415, Rosamond McKitterick · 1995 Page 287 "It was probably in France that Isabella began her affair with Roger Mortimer of Wigmore" . TSventon (talk) 01:19, 9 October 2026 (UTC)
Searching own contributions
[edit]I looked in Help:Searching and was impressed to the point of being overwhelmed with the powerful search options available, despite, or because of which, I didn't find what I was looking for, namely restricting the field to my own contributions. Here's the story: Sometime, maybe ten years ago I created or substantially edited an article about a performer (actor or musician) who died on tour in some tiny town in the north of Tasmania and was buried locally, sometime around 1900 perhaps. His friends and admirers promised to fund a headstone and I thought to include the cemetery in a contemplated visit to the "apple isle". I have shaken the sieve but found nothing. Searched Trove and my watchlist but nothing jogs. Now I'm hoping someone with skills and knowledge might help me onto the right path. Doug butler (talk) 22:33, 7 October 2026 (UTC)
- Remember how well-developed the article was? In particular, would it have been likely to be in a deaths category (like Category:1890s deaths or Category:1904 deaths) and link to a page with "Tasmania" in the title? (I've looked at pages you edited between 2013 and 2019, in a death year cat between 1890 and 1909, and linking to such a page, and don't see anything that looks like this.) —Cryptic 23:51, 7 October 2026 (UTC)
- Thanks Cryptic; if only I had a better memory! But no, I think the article would have been a simple biography, and if there were some way of searching my watchlist then I'd try for headstone, death and Tasmania and, failing that, try some synonym for headstone. Without that restriction the field would be too broad. Above all, I'd hate to be the cause of any editor wasting time on a wild goose chase. Doug butler (talk) 00:37, 8 October 2026 (UTC)
- The method I'm using can't see article text directly, just the metadata that lets categorization and WhatLinksHere work - the excerpts in my sandbox can only be fetched after the initial list is generated. If you don't remember any of that that's likely, I suppose the other thing I can do is give you a list of the pages you edited in a given time period sorted by number of edits, without culling by category or page links. That's going to be a lot longer - 2013-2019 is 8506 different pages. Slightly more manageable at 2422 if restricted to pages in a category containing "death", which all biographies should have (even if it's just Category:Year of death missing). —Cryptic 01:36, 8 October 2026 (UTC)
- Thanks Cryptic; if only I had a better memory! But no, I think the article would have been a simple biography, and if there were some way of searching my watchlist then I'd try for headstone, death and Tasmania and, failing that, try some synonym for headstone. Without that restriction the field would be too broad. Above all, I'd hate to be the cause of any editor wasting time on a wild goose chase. Doug butler (talk) 00:37, 8 October 2026 (UTC)
- Do you think you'd recognize the article title if you saw it? If so, you might look through https://xtools.wmcloud.org/topedits/en.wikipedia.org/Doug%20butler/0 . Three of the articles are noted as being BLPs for musicians and another five are BLPs for actors. FactOrOpinion (talk) 01:47, 8 October 2026 (UTC)
- I clicked on the xtools link, not having any idea what I might find or what I was doing, but was confounded by a message that "You have chosen not to allow "XTools" to access your account. "XTools" will not work unless you allow it access. You can go back to "XTools" or manage your connected apps." Then I got caught in an endless loop and the only way I could escape was by closing my WP link. I do maintain a little list of "stubs and starts" on my user page but that yields no clues, and I'm not even confident of its completeness. I may yet stumble across it, but please do not give it another thought. Doug butler (talk) 02:57, 8 October 2026 (UTC)
- If it was a page you created, it would appear in your page-creation log, which you can narrow down by date-range. But that seems to omit pages that were created at one title and then moved to a different one, which is a pattern I see a lot in your history. However, that means the action would appear in your move log. DMacks (talk) 04:18, 8 October 2026 (UTC)
- I think I found it: Grattan Riggs. Next stop Strahan, Tasmania to check whether the headstone is sufficiently legible for a photograph. Thanks for all your help. Doug butler (talk) 09:03, 8 October 2026 (UTC) Doug butler (talk) 09:03, 8 October 2026 (UTC)
Resolved
- I think I found it: Grattan Riggs. Next stop Strahan, Tasmania to check whether the headstone is sufficiently legible for a photograph. Thanks for all your help. Doug butler (talk) 09:03, 8 October 2026 (UTC)
What to do in case of a miscommunication relating to page protection
[edit]Yesterday, I submitted a request for the page Antisemitism in Australia to be protected due to the fact that it falls under CT/AI, as is stated on the talk page. However, the admin who responded declined for the following reason: "Just because a topic involves Judaism or Jewish people does not mean it falls under WP:CT/PIA." This is a miscommunication on my part, as I did not make the reason I requested page protection clear enough, and now I am not sure what to do because I don't want to send another request, as that might be seen as a malicious attempt to circumvent policy. What should I do? (Also, this question might belong on the teahouse but I'm not sure, sorry if I posted this in the wrong place) ғѳmɑɭʱɑυե (Any pronouns)ᵀᵃˡᵏ 01:51, 8 October 2026 (UTC)
- @F0malhaut42: If only parts of the article are related to the Arab-Israeli conflict, then WP:ARBPIA5#ECP by default does not apply to the article. Antisemitism is not by default in the PIA area. —Jéské Couriano v^_^v Look out it's Jimothy! 01:56, 8 October 2026 (UTC)
- For future reference, and Jéské Couriano's correct point notwithstanding, the answer to your question is you contact the declining admin on thier talk page and discuss the issue there. Andy Mabbett (Pigsonthewing); Talk to Andy; Andy's edits; 09:02, 8 October 2026 (UTC)
The envy of another language's article
[edit]I don't often browse anything but the English WP, but today I did. And I envy their substantial article on a topic that is more of a list on the English WP. I was wondering if there is a group or some individuals who could help an English page through the assistance, for example, of a French or German page of the same name?
I have done it once or twice, but when the article in question is 60 kB, I am interested in some assistance.
So are there bi-lingual wikipedians who like that sort of thing? I actually looked up a prominent author/editor of the page that I am envious of, and he is vehemently opposed to the English language. So there's that! I like to saw logs! (talk) 03:35, 8 October 2026 (UTC)
- This is a volunteer project and everyone does what they can. It's hard to answer your question without you identifying the specific article.
- I have encountered articles on topics in other Wikipedias that don't exist here, and once I tried to rectify that (it's how Paul Trappen came to exist here). Generally the English Wikipedia covers more subjects more completely, but one can find the reverse in some cases.
- Just take care about sources. Other Wikipedias aren't as strict about source quality or AI slop. ~Anachronist (who / me) (talk) 03:45, 8 October 2026 (UTC)
- The sources seem pretty normal, and in fact, there are numerous English-language secondary sources printed at Oxford, Cambridge, New York, and they dominate the non-English sources. It is roughly an "A" equivalent in that language. Again, I am envying it.
- The English article is Start-Class. I like to saw logs! (talk) 05:55, 8 October 2026 (UTC)
- Hi Uruiamme. Each Wikipedia project has its own policies, guidelines, and volunteer editing community; so, even though there can be a bit of overlap in terms of all three, there can also be some important differences. Given that English Wikipedia has the most articles and the largest community, its policies and guidelines tend to be applied more rigorously than perhaps is done on other projects. There doesn't need to a one-to-one correspondence between articles about the same subject on different Wikipedias; so, differences like what you've described above are probably more common than not. It's important to remember, though, that English Wikipedia articles need to meet English Wikipedia's policies and guidelines regardless of what might be done on some other Wikipedia. As long as you keep that in mind, you should be fine. Lots of English Wikipedians are are proficient on multiple languages, and some may even edit on other projects. You can sometimes find them at a Wikipedia:WikiProject or via Wikipedia:Translators available. -- Marchjuly (talk) 04:24, 8 October 2026 (UTC)
... he is vehemently opposed to the English language.
- He should have lived much earlier: "Come on everyone, this is ridiculous! A new language? Seriously? Just because we moved to a different island and it's pretty big? What, Ingvaeonic not good enough for you? Traitors!!!" TooManyFingers (he/him · talk) 05:11, 8 October 2026 (UTC)
- One thing you can do is put {{Expand French}} (or ...German) on the list in this wiki.
- Also, look on the list's talk page for the WikiProject(s) under whose purview it falls, and use their talk pages to ask for help. Andy Mabbett (Pigsonthewing); Talk to Andy; Andy's edits; 08:57, 8 October 2026 (UTC)
I think I found AI slop in an article, but I am confused as to where I can report it.
[edit]I believe the edit found here introduced AI slop into the "Paraset" page - the way the items are broken down looks like the usual AI style.
I found Wikipedia:AI noticeboard but that page tells me to "refer to the guide on how to deal with AI-generated content before posting here." for issues concerning a single article.
So I go there, read it, and it directs (not in a redirect sense, of course) me back to the original page I came from. That page seems to deal with reporting users for AI use, however, rather than articles. So now I'm more confused than before. Could anyone please tell me how I can report this article, rather than a user? Or better, take care of the problem for me? ~2026-54237-94 (talk) 21:47, 8 October 2026 (UTC)
- If you want to "report" an article, the best way is to put a maintenance tag on it, in this case {{AI-generated}}. That'll automatically place the article in a category of articles containing suspected AI generated prose, a category which can be browsed by those interested in doing AI cleanup.
- Or, if you're reasonably confident that the content is AI generated, you can just revert the edit or remove the content yourself. I've gone ahead and just reverted to the most recent revision before that editor touched it; if they have an issue with that they can dispute it with me.
- If you're interested in doing so, I would suggest reporting this editor to the AI noticeboard so that their other contributions can be checked. People rarely use AI once and never again. Athanelar (talk) 22:18, 8 October 2026 (UTC)
donations and log in
[edit]I was subscribed to an annual donation but I did not change my new debit card in time. Meanwhile I also changed my email address and cannot access my wikipedia account.
My wikipedia home page is Sibley-Hoyt House.
Please respond. Thanks. Ronald K. Gay ~2026-54179-11 (talk) 22:12, 8 October 2026 (UTC)
- Your donations to the Wikimedia Foundation are entirely unrelated to your Wikipedia account, so any issues you're having with donations need to be handled separately to any account issues. Athanelar (talk) 22:24, 8 October 2026 (UTC)
- @~2026-54179-11 Was your account by any chance User:SolomonSarahS? I have realised that when you said
My wikipedia home page is Sibley-Hoyt House
you seem to erroneously think that the article Sibley-Hoyt House was "your homepage", and given that account's extensive editing of that article, I assume that would be you? Athanelar (talk) 23:32, 8 October 2026 (UTC)- I'd be more likely to suspect User:Ronkenric given the name similarity? - Purplewowies (talk) 00:13, 9 October 2026 (UTC)
- @~2026-54179-11: See "Want to make changes to your recurring donation?" at https://wikimediafoundation.org/give/donor-frequently-asked-questions. PrimeHunter (talk) 00:45, 9 October 2026 (UTC)
How do I put a film page title in italics?
[edit]I'm trying to create a page about a recent film, but I'm not familiar with how to format titles in italics. Any help would be appreciated. Thank you. ItsShandog (talk) 09:06, 9 October 2026 (UTC)
- See WP:DISPLAYTITLE. AndyTheGrump (talk) 09:09, 9 October 2026 (UTC)
- @ItsShandog Template:Infobox film automatically formats the title once it is included. Go D. Usopp (talk) 10:55, 9 October 2026 (UTC)
SE learning aids
[edit]Do you have any recommended learning aids for longtime VE users who’d like to overcome acute aversion for using the SE and develop at least advanced intermediate SE skills? Augnablik (talk) 09:30, 9 October 2026 (UTC)
- Turn on the syntax highlighter in the source editor. Lifechanging. Athanelar (talk) 11:20, 9 October 2026 (UTC)
- @Athanelar, although I didn’t know about the highlighter — and it wasn’t quite clear at first how to turn it on — I did succeed. It’s a nice touch and I’m happy to know about it, but this longtime VE user (yes, me) needs a bit more. What, I don’t know.
- To me, the SE with all the — what I think of as “code clutter” — is really distracting from writing and editing. I had no problem using markup while learning basic computer coding, but to write and edit articles I just feel the need to see the flow of the text across several paragraphs at the same time.
- If you have a few more little tricks like the Syntax highlighter to share, it might help. But can you also recommend some user-friendly learning aids — perhaps including tutorials, videos, quizzes, and essays? Augnablik (talk) 14:32, 9 October 2026 (UTC)
- @Augnablik: Try using User:Cacycle/wikEd. I haven't used it in a while, but there was a button I remember pressing to collapse references into blocks to reduce the amount of code in the editing window. —Tenryuu 🐲 ( 💬 • 📝 ) 14:51, 9 October 2026 (UTC)
- @Augnablik in case you have missed this, turn on preview with the "Preview" button on the top-right corner. I almost always have it on, because - like you - I want to see the flow of text without all the clutter, while enjoying the ease of typing and navigating of SE. LkL-70547 (talk) 15:14, 9 October 2026 (UTC)
- As LkL has said, between the syntax highlighter and the preview window you should be much alleviated in terms of 'code clutter' since you can easily see where the prose is in between the references and such and reference that to your preview window. Other than that, I don't know of any specific resources. All I did was just keep working with it until it became natural. If you see a template or a wikitext tag that you aren't sure what it does, search it up, read the documentation and come back. Try writing something in your sandbox entirely in the source editor to get a feel for citations and footnotes and headings and such. I find it way easier than the VE. Athanelar (talk) 15:20, 9 October 2026 (UTC)
- In my opinion, the source editor's best learning aid by far is to intentionally stop going back to the visual editor even if something goes wrong. TooManyFingers (he/him · talk) 15:44, 9 October 2026 (UTC)
Question about subpages
[edit]Am I allowed to create an essay about editing Wikipedia as a user subpage? WP:SP is vague on this issue so I'm not sure. ғѳmɑɭʱɑυե (Any pronouns)ᵀᵃˡᵏ 10:10, 9 October 2026 (UTC)
- Yes, that is in fact where a lot of essays belong, see WP:USERESSAY. Athanelar (talk) 11:19, 9 October 2026 (UTC)
مرحيل
[edit]مرحبا عملت فورمات لاجهازي وفقتن معلومات حساباتي كلها ارجو المساعده بي استرداد حسابي نسيت معلوماتي الشخصية هذا بريد إلكتروني ~2026-54374-84 (talk) 13:17, 9 October 2026 (UTC)
- From Google translate: "Hello, I formatted my device and lost all my account information. I need help recovering my account; I have forgotten my personal details. Here is my email address:"
- Hello, ~2026-54374-84. If you are talking about your Wikipedia account, then you can recover your account only if you set up an email address attached to the account, and have access to that account.
- If you are talking about something other than a Wikipedia account, then I'm afraid we cannot help you. This is the help desk for English Wikipedia, and nothing else.
- Google translation of my reply: مرحبًا ~2026-54374-84. إذا كنت تتحدث عن حسابك في ويكيبيديا، فيمكنك استعادته فقط إذا كنت قد ربطت عنوان بريد إلكتروني بالحساب وكان بإمكانك الوصول إلى ذلك البريد.
- أما إذا كنت تتحدث عن أمر آخر غير حساب ويكيبيديا، فللأسف لا يمكننا مساعدتك؛ فهذه هي صفحة المساعدة الخاصة بويكيبيديا الإنجليزية، ولا شيء غير ذلك.--ColinFine (talk) 16:09, 9 October 2026 (UTC)
Donation
[edit]I tried to give Wikipedia $100 but it said I had to give an email address I don't give out my email address so I guess you're not going to get my money ~2026-54389-84 (talk) 14:35, 9 October 2026 (UTC)
- You are welcome to send a check via regular mail if desired, please see https://wikimediafoundation.org/give/#ways-to-give 331dot (talk) 14:40, 9 October 2026 (UTC)
- @~2026-54389-84 I suggest you create a separate email address (I have several) which you can give out more freely. They cost nothing. You may also be interested to read about Wikipedia finances before you donate. Shantavira|feed me 14:54, 9 October 2026 (UTC)
Debate Table Help
[edit]How do I make a debate table with three candidates like I did at 2026 United States House of Representatives elections in Iowa? I can't do coding, so I copy pasted the tables from other pages, but it looks all wrong when I try to add a third candidate. This is for the U.S. House election article in Vermont, and you can see the three candidates at https://www.vermontpublic.org/show/vermont-edition/2026-10-07/vermont-publics-2026-u-s-house-debate. Thank you! ~2026-53422-39 (talk) 16:21, 9 October 2026 (UTC)
- The same reason I was unable to mark Michael Bridgford absent in the Iowa 1st district debate. ~2026-53422-39 (talk) 16:23, 9 October 2026 (UTC)
- @~2026-53422-39: Change 2 to 3 in
colspan="2"| Participants. If it still fails then save your attempt somewhere like Wikipedia:Sandbox so we can see what is wrong. PrimeHunter (talk) 19:15, 9 October 2026 (UTC)
- @~2026-53422-39: Change 2 to 3 in
Trust (social science)
[edit]Hi, I would like to ask for some feedback on the closure by @Vpab15 of this requested move: Talk:Trust (social science)#Requested move 14 September 2026. There were six votes in favour of making Trust (social science) the primary topic and four opposed. Was it appropriate to close the request without moving the article? Thanks in advance for your feedback. ~2026-54376-24 (talk) 16:28, 9 October 2026 (UTC)
- Discussions are not decided by a counting of votes, they are determined by a weighing of arguments along with Wikipedia policy. The closer closed the discussion as "no consensus" because they felt no argument outweighed another. 331dot (talk) 17:06, 9 October 2026 (UTC)
- @331dot I understand, but it is not appropriate for a single editor to make the decision on their own; the views expressed by participants throughout the discussion should be taken into account as a whole. That is why I am also asking here whether you consider the closure to have been appropriate. Thank you. ~2026-54304-41 (talk) 17:44, 9 October 2026 (UTC)
- What makes you think that the closer did not take views into account? 331dot (talk) 17:55, 9 October 2026 (UTC)
- I did not say that the opinions expressed were not taken into account. However, I do not think it was appropriate to close a discussion in which the majority of participants were in favour of the move with a "not moved" outcome. At the very least, the discussion should have been relisted, since the consensus seemed to favour making Trust (social science) the WP:PRIMARYTOPIC. That is why I am also asking other editors for their opinions on this issue. ~2026-54450-86 (talk) 20:20, 9 October 2026 (UTC)
- "Majority" is only relevant if every person's argument was of equal validity. If a majority want it to be done wrong, then the minority who want it to be done right should prevail. TooManyFingers (he/him · talk) 20:44, 9 October 2026 (UTC)
- @TooManyFingers I was simply trying to understand what the right course of action would have been. It probably would have been appropriate to relist the discussion for further input, which is still an option, and I will consider reopening it. ~2026-54450-86 (talk) 20:58, 9 October 2026 (UTC)
- There is a difference between a "not moved" outcome and "no consensus"; the former meaning the consensus was to not move it, and "no consensus" meaning that it was not possible to determine the consensus after a weighing of arguments. Again, it's not a vote, but a discussion. If you feel that the consensus was improperly judged, that is a matter for WP:AN to review. I don't think that it was, but that's just my opinion. 331dot (talk) 20:59, 9 October 2026 (UTC)
- I would urge you to not disruptively reopen the discussion. 331dot (talk) 21:00, 9 October 2026 (UTC)
- @331dot I meant that the issue can always be discussed again in a new thread; that is an available option. In any case, thank you for pointing me to WP:AN. I will ask for opinions there. ~2026-54450-86 (talk) 21:01, 9 October 2026 (UTC)
- @TooManyFingers I was simply trying to understand what the right course of action would have been. It probably would have been appropriate to relist the discussion for further input, which is still an option, and I will consider reopening it. ~2026-54450-86 (talk) 20:58, 9 October 2026 (UTC)
- "Majority" is only relevant if every person's argument was of equal validity. If a majority want it to be done wrong, then the minority who want it to be done right should prevail. TooManyFingers (he/him · talk) 20:44, 9 October 2026 (UTC)
- I did not say that the opinions expressed were not taken into account. However, I do not think it was appropriate to close a discussion in which the majority of participants were in favour of the move with a "not moved" outcome. At the very least, the discussion should have been relisted, since the consensus seemed to favour making Trust (social science) the WP:PRIMARYTOPIC. That is why I am also asking other editors for their opinions on this issue. ~2026-54450-86 (talk) 20:20, 9 October 2026 (UTC)
- What makes you think that the closer did not take views into account? 331dot (talk) 17:55, 9 October 2026 (UTC)
- @331dot I understand, but it is not appropriate for a single editor to make the decision on their own; the views expressed by participants throughout the discussion should be taken into account as a whole. That is why I am also asking here whether you consider the closure to have been appropriate. Thank you. ~2026-54304-41 (talk) 17:44, 9 October 2026 (UTC)
Table of content not clickable
[edit]Hey, the table of content isn't clickable on List of ZX Spectrum games. It does work on List of Amstrad CPC games and I can't see any difference between the top of both pages, so what am I missing? AngelSparkles (talk) 17:24, 9 October 2026 (UTC)
- @AngelSparkles Thank you. I have fixed this by reverting the page to the last working version. Shantavira|feed me 17:39, 9 October 2026 (UTC)
- @AngelSparkles: If you want an alphabetical list with a table of contents with letters then you have to manually insert
|- id="A"in the first row with A and so on. PrimeHunter (talk) 20:25, 9 October 2026 (UTC)
- @AngelSparkles: If you want an alphabetical list with a table of contents with letters then you have to manually insert