Wikipedia:Teahouse/Questions/Archive 588

Making entries on List of Academy Award-winning families. To reference someone's wins and nominations, I would like to use their entry in the Oscars.Org database. Problem: The Oscars people have gotten very proprietary. If I add this web link, copied from the Oscars page, it returns "Page Not Found", even though if you click it within the Oscars website, you get connected.

Try it yourself: http://awardsdatabase.oscars.org/Search/Nominations?nomineeId=8270&view=1-Nominee-Alpha.

If I can't make the link work, what is the appropriate way to cite the database - a definitive source. Klantry01 (talk) 19:42, 2 March 2017 (UTC)

Hi Klantry01, welcome to the Teahouse. You can use the at parameter at Template:Cite web#In-source locations to briefly describe how to find the content, e.g.: "Academy Awards Database". Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Search on "Wasco". Retrieved 2 March 2017. PrimeHunter (talk) 21:03, 2 March 2017 (UTC)

Thank you. Given that I cannot provide the user a direct link, would it be appropriate to add a note at the head of the article to the effect: "All awards counts are derived from the official Academy Awards database - please search using the subject's name there." Klantry01 (talk) 21:12, 2 March 2017 (UTC)

Hi Klantry01. Not sure why you need to use the database, but perhaps this would work. You should be able to find enough secondary sources for the winner of Academy Awards without having to rely on the database. Most major newspapers (around the word) probably have articles listing the major award winners. -- Marchjuly (talk) 05:43, 3 March 2017 (UTC)

1) The database is a definitive source. 2) Year to year, information changes as subjects rack up additional nominations and wins, which would render a news article source outdated. 3) While there is good coverage of the actors and directors, you would probably not find as many pieces on technical, short film, and animation people. Klantry01 (talk) 12:15, 3 March 2017 (UTC)

@Klantry01: I wouldn't assume all past and future editors are doing the same by saying "All awards counts are derived from the official Academy Awards database". Many of the current references are to IMDb. And I wouldn't tell readers what to do in article text like "please search using the subject's name there". You could write "Awards counts can be derived by searching the subject's name in the official Academy Awards database.^[1]" But each entry should preferably also have its own reference with an accessdate indicating when it gave the stated count. PrimeHunter (talk) 12:47, 3 March 2017 (UTC)

@Klantry01:. I'm not sure I get what you mean by which would render a news article source outdated. All new information is going to require a citation to a reliable source, and a new citation can simply be added for each new entry. Older citations do not lose their value because they are old. For lesser known winners, there may be something in a local newspaper which could be used or as you say on the AMPAS's webiste. Finally, a source does not have to be "definitive" to be used; all it has to be for Wikipedia's purposes is published and reliable. -- Marchjuly (talk) 22:57, 3 March 2017 (UTC)

If an article says "John Smith has 1 win and 4 nominations", then the subsequent year he gets another nomination, it becomes outdated as a source for John Smith's cumulative record. Rather than track down individual articles each year, I prefer a link to the database. Klantry01 (talk) 21:51, 4 March 2017 (UTC)

How do I insert twinkle? It won't show. — Preceding unsigned comment added by WikiHelper1 (talk • contribs) 20:28, 4 March 2017 (UTC)

@WikiHelper1: Twinkle is only available to user who are autoconfirmed. This occurs after your account is 4 days old and you have made 10 edits. As you only created your account today, you will have to wait another three days before your account is confirmed and you can use Twinkle. I would use that time to make yourself familiar with various policies because Twinkle is quite powerful and you are responsible for any edits you make with it. Getting it wrong and using "I didn't know/understand the policy" tends not to wash. Understand what Twinkle can do and how it is used properly is more than half the job in using it effectively. I'm not saying that you haven't edited correctly so far just that some people are desperate to use tools when they don't understand what they are doing with them. Nthep (talk) 23:19, 4 March 2017 (UTC)

How do I restore a photo deleted, and how do I fix the error, if there was one?

On Wikipedia page Jimmy Cozier (jazz musician) we included a photo https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Jimmy_Cozier,_Harlem_2012,_photo_by_TeruoNakamura_(musician).jpg

This photo is owned by the subject, Jimmy Cozier, and is unique, irreplaceable. The photo was taken . by Jimmy's friend and musical colleague, Teruo Nakamura.

Jimmy has the right to use this photo in any way he chooses.

Someone named Hullaballoo Wolfowitz wrote and said they are from Wikipedia and claims that there is a problem with use of a photo.

He said the photo will be deleted by tomorrow.

Please tell me clearly and in easy to follow instructions how to put the photo back up and how to fix the error. Thank you, Basound (talk) 20:30, 4 March 2017 (UTC)

Basound, You might have uploaded the photo in a way that made it seem like you swiped it from another website. That is pretty common, and is almost always a copyright violation. If the man in the photo gave you permission to use it, that's good but not what we need. We need permission from the person who took the photo in order to use it on Wikipedia. If you can get that, we can definitely use it. White Arabian Filly ^Neigh 20:52, 4 March 2017 (UTC)

Welcome to the Teahouse, Basound. In order to be used on Wikipedia, a photo of a living person must either be free of copyright, or freely licensed, for example through a Creative Commons license. The licensing must be in writing by the copyright holder themself, which is most commonly the photographer. There are no exceptions when it comes to photos of living people. The current language in the photo file is not acceptable and so it will be deleted. The quickest solution is for the photographer to upload the image, freely licensing it. Cullen³²⁸ Let's discuss it 00:02, 5 March 2017 (UTC)

I used the same reference twice and it showed up in the reference list twice. Is there a way to not have this happen? The Verified Cactus 100% 21:57, 4 March 2017 (UTC)

Hello @VerifiedCactus:, if you want to use exactly the same reference multiple times, you can define a "named reference". The concept is explained at WP:REFB #5. In short: you define a "named reference" once with a specific label. Later occurences of the same reference use this label instead of repeating the full reference information over and over. Also, all instances of such a named reference will be grouped together in 1 entry in the reference list. Hope that helps, a more detailed description with examples is available in the linked guide. If you need more specific help, please add a link to the article in question. GermanJoe (talk) 22:20, 4 March 2017 (UTC)

Thanks. The Verified Cactus 100% 01:45, 5 March 2017 (UTC)

Hi sir/madam

My page Era Natarasan who is the eminent Indian author and also the educationist. Please guide us about how to include my Wikipedia author name into the list of authors in the wikipedia forum.ERA NATARASAN (talk) 10:17, 3 March 2017 (UTC)

Hello @ERA NATARASAN:, it is very much discouraged to write about oneself on Wikipedia. I would encourage you instead to focus on your career, and live it to your enthusiasts to write about you. Though if you are interested in writing about other topics on Wikipedia we would certainly welcome your expertise. MatthewVanitas (talk) 03:11, 5 March 2017 (UTC)

I have a guest profile . Now if i want to search for my friends or to say for my own profile ,how do i do it ? My friends name is Nived Vijay Kumar and you know my name . I have put the following image Ponte Vasco da Gama 25.jpg PLS help me. Cool Jordan 17:00, 3 March 2017 (UTC) — Preceding unsigned comment added by Jordanben (talk • contribs)

Welcome to the Teahouse, Jordanben. You can find your own user page by typing User:Jordanben in the search box, or by clicking your user name at the very upper left when you are logged in. You can find any other editor's user page by typing "User:" in the search box, followed by their Wikipedia account name. Cullen³²⁸ Let's discuss it 22:02, 3 March 2017 (UTC)

=HEY ,=

thank you for helpin' me , Cullen ! I have 3 other accounts .which i don't use. How do i block it ?

Cool Jordan 09:50, 5 March 2017 (UTC) — Preceding unsigned comment added by Jordanben (talk • contribs)

There is no account called Nived Vijay Kumar but Nivedvijay gave that name in . I have moved your user page back from Portal:Jordanben's page .. to User:Jordanben where it belongs. Users should contact you on your talk page User talk:Jordanben and not the user page. See more at Help:Using talk pages. Accounts cannot be deleted and are only blocked if they are used for disruption. You can just stop using the other accounts. See Wikipedia:Sock puppetry for the policy which does allow use of alternative accounts in some situations. You can get a valid signature saying "Cool Jordan" by entering that in the Signature field at Special:Preferences and not have a checkmark at "Treat the above as wiki markup". PrimeHunter (talk) 10:19, 5 March 2017 (UTC)

I created a named reference but not I'm having difficulty adding my citation to the pre-existing reference list. I actually only see "reflist 2" when I try to edit the references but by default my citation was added as number 8 on the pre-existing list. How do I add my reference to this list that I can't seeTasaday (talk) 02:33, 4 March 2017 (UTC)

what is the article? RM2KX (talk) 03:08, 4 March 2017 (UTC)

I've fixed the problem at Paraneoplastic syndrome. You need to define a named reference the first time you use it, not in the References section. Maproom (talk) 08:49, 4 March 2017 (UTC)

Tasaday, if you want to define a reference in the reference section instead of in the body text, you just need to add |refs= after the word reflist, then add your ref(s) between that and the closing double curly parenthesis. Justlettersandnumbers (talk) 11:39, 5 March 2017 (UTC)

Hi - I recently created a rather long "List of..." page. Part of that article contains a list of 900+ species, taken from a number of very different animal and plant groups. To help the user, I have made each column alphabetically sortable, and the whole table is also collapsible (so that a user can move it out of the way, if required.)

My question relates to how - once the user has sorted the table themselves - I can give them the ability to return the list back into its original order. Obviously, they can do this by refreshing the entire page [F5], and I know I could put a 'sort order' column into the table, but the latter is deprecated.

There is a good reason for presenting the list in the order I have done (alpha-sorted by scientific name within each individual taxonomic group) - it would be great if it could quickly be returned back into to that state. Maybe I'm missing something really obvious, so a quick pointer would be much appreciated. Parkywiki (talk) 23:58, 4 March 2017 (UTC)

Hi Parkywiki, welcome to the Teahouse. There is no feature to return a sortable table to the initial order. The only options are what you already said: Reload the page or make a column which sorts in the wanted order. If a table is sorted first by column A and then by column B then rows with the same B value maintain their previous internal order from the sorting by A. There are probably few readers who know this feature and it still couldn't return the initial order of the mentioned list. PrimeHunter (talk) 10:46, 5 March 2017 (UTC)

Thank you - it's really helpful to know I'm not missing something obvious. BTW: I found an earlier thread in the Teahouse about collapsible tables and comments by StarryGrandma very helpful in enhancing my own Table's layout. Keep up the good work here! Parkywiki (talk) 11:56, 5 March 2017 (UTC)

I write mostly science and scientist articles, but just started branching out into minor celebrities. I want this article to be at the stage name, as that is what the person is now known for, like Ice-T, but I started the draft at the real name. How do I move a draft to another draft under the correct article name? What is the process? Draft:Adam Schmalholz

Thanks for the help! --2601:648:8503:4467:9D49:E55A:EE18:A853 (talk) 01:55, 4 March 2017 (UTC)

You should be able to move the draft to the stage name by moviong it. You should add a sentence to the text of the draft stating what his stage name. Robert McClenon (talk) 03:19, 4 March 2017 (UTC)

This wall of text eventually says that the policy does not apply to articles in "draft space."

Maybe a more experienced user can give me instructions?

--2600:387:6:805:0:0:0:A1 (talk) 05:22, 4 March 2017 (UTC)

If it's in draft space, there's little point in renaming it. When it eventually gets moved to article space, it can be moved to be an article with the appropriate name. You might leave a note at the top of the draft to tell a reviewer what you want the article name to be. Maproom (talk) 08:54, 4 March 2017 (UTC)

Why not create it as it should be? I don't see any advantage in doing it wrong, if it's fixable. I have done biographies before, and they seem to take a while, so I add enough, plus sources, then keep editing while waiting for a review. I would like it to be under the proper name. --2601:648:8503:4467:ACF0:FB7B:FD5C:AF34 (talk) 09:06, 4 March 2017 (UTC)

The name of a draft article is irrelevant to the actual encyclopedia article that should be the result of the drafting process. Instead of worrying about the name of the draft, please focus instead on the content and referencing of the draft. Once those issues have been dealt with, the draft can be moved to the proper article name and the old draft name will be forgotten. Cullen³²⁸ Let's discuss it 08:43, 5 March 2017 (UTC)

I don't think your answer is correct. This article has been submitted to Articles for Creation, and its name is relevant. I wouldn't put it at "Green Valley, Tennessee," or some other random name, and I shouldn't add that step for the reviewer. Having the draft correctly named will help me focus on content. --2600:387:6:807:0:0:0:96 (talk) 14:54, 5 March 2017 (UTC)

Earlier I have introduced a quote thus:

text...

This is no longer working for me. Please identify my error. THANKS.TBR-qed (talk) 16:03, 5 March 2017 (UTC)

I have always started a quote with 2 curly bars {{, followed by word quotation, followed by vertical bar}, followed by the text. This is no longer working for me. Please explain my error. Thanks.TBR-qed (talk) 16:07, 5 March 2017 (UTC)

Hi TBR-qed, I guess you refer to . You were missing the ending }} after the quote. Every starting {{ needs a matching }}. I have fixed it. PrimeHunter (talk) 16:38, 5 March 2017 (UTC)

I want to rewrite this article. In its current form it is mostly technically correct, but I feel not very useful to our readers who are not well versed in the language already, besides the fact it's almost entirely devoid of inline cites. I have many print grammar books about the language. Is it really OK for me to just work on it in my user space and replace the article with my version when done? I've expanded articles before but never replaced an entire article...As it sits the only section that doesn't need major reworking is Tagalog_grammar#Sequence_of_modifiers_in_a_noun_phrase. Psiĥedelisto (talk) 13:55, 5 March 2017 (UTC)

It is all right to do that, Psiĥedelisto, but it may not be the best way to work. If possible, I would suggest you work piecemeal, and make several smaller edits, rather than replacing almost the whole article in one go: but if you can't see a way to do that, go ahead and draft a new version of the whole article. A couple of suggestions if you do so: use the {{under construction}} template in the article, to discourage other editors to changing the page independently of you; and in any case, before starting a major restructure I would say something about your intentions on the article's talk page. --ColinFine (talk) 17:34, 5 March 2017 (UTC)

I like editing Wikipedia's and stuff but how would I be able to make a website? I wanna make a website for new rapper Jaisenzz. Please answer the fastest you could and thank you. — Preceding unsigned comment added by DWN (talk • contribs) 17:20, 5 March 2017 (UTC)

Hello, DWN. This is a page for assistance in editing Wikipedia. If you mean that you would like to write a Wikipedia article about Jaisenzz, then please be aware that writing a new article is difficult, and start by reading your first article: you first need to show that he meets Wikipedia's requirements for notability - basically, that there has been enough material published about him by people unconnected with him to base an article on (Wikipedia has no interest in what you or I know or think about him, and little interest in what he or his associates have said or published: it is only interested in what people unconnected with him have published about him in reliable places such as major newspapers). If he is a new rapper, as you say, then it is likely he does not yet meet these criteria: see WP:UPANDCOMING.

If, on the other hand, you are not talking about creating a Wikipedia article, but his own website or a fan website, then I'm afraid this is not the place to advise you. You might get some help if you ask on the Wikipedia Computing reference desk. --ColinFine (talk) 17:42, 5 March 2017 (UTC)

I made an edit to the wiki page of my church (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Pentecostal_Mission). Sadly this church is like a cult that doesn't take criticism well. Any bad examples are covered up and even the members act that way. I added a "Criticism and controversies" section with ample citations to the page to make it more balanced and less biased. I'm afraid as soon as a member sees that, the edit will be undone. Can anything be done to preserve the section? Patricksrichard (talk) 16:19, 5 March 2017 (UTC)

I have looked at the section you added, and removed all but one of the references, as they were to sources (with "tpm" in their names) which were clearly not independent of the subject, having been set up for the purpose of criticising the Pentecostal Mission. The statements you added may be deleted if you cannot support them by adding references to independent sources. Maproom (talk) 17:55, 5 March 2017 (UTC)

Critism sections are generally frowned on. It is better to work such critical material into the article where it applies.Charles (talk) 18:56, 5 March 2017 (UTC)

I wonder if there should be more citations in the article about the singer Steve Lee?NgsNgs (talk) 18:24, 5 March 2017 (UTC)

NgsNgs: either there should be more citations to attest to his notability, or the article Steve Lee (singer) should be deleted. It currently has two citations: the first source mentions him with a picture, but has no discussion of him; the second is to a web page which does not even mention him. Maproom (talk) 19:11, 5 March 2017 (UTC)

I once wrote an article on Bunscoil an Iúir and it was taken down because Wikipedia did not allow articles on schools! Why is this article and many others like it not taken down? Ériugena (talk) 17:50, 9 March 2016 (UTC)Ériugena (talk) 17:01, 5 March 2017 (UTC)

Ériugena: Wikipedia has thousands of articles on schools. You have contributed to one of them, St Colman's College, Newry, yourself. However your edit history shows that you have never contributed to an article with "Bunscoil" in its name. Maproom (talk) 17:17, 5 March 2017 (UTC)

@Ériugena: It was Bunscoil an Iúir as you said. Edits to deleted pages can only be seen by administrators. The nomination at Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Bunscoil an Iúir said: "NN primary school. We don't generally retain stand-alone articles for such schools, absent unusual non-local RS coverage not present here. Tagged for notability for over a year." NN means non-notable and refers to WP:NN. School articles are not disallowed in general. It's possible Presentation College Headford would also be deleted if it was nominated but see Wikipedia:Arguments to avoid in deletion discussions#What about article x? We have five million articles made by volunteers and it's not realistic to apply exactly the same standards to all of them. PrimeHunter (talk) 19:34, 5 March 2017 (UTC)

I writed this article: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rose_Monroe some help? Comors (talk) 01:06, 6 March 2017 (UTC)

Hello Comors and welcome to the Teahouse. As the message on the page Rose Monroe says, and as the message posted on your talk page also says, this article was nominated for deletion because it is a copyright infringement of http://tours.latingirlz.com/tour/sets.php?id=7 . It is vital to base articles on reliable sources, but Wikipedia articles cannot copy material from other sites: they own the copyright to their material and it is not available for Wikipedia to use. --Gronk Oz (talk) 02:17, 6 March 2017 (UTC)

no time to fix this myself, sorry to say, but it is truly ridiculous the this professor should be flagged with this banner: "The topic of this article may not meet Wikipedia's notability guideline for academics." of course, this is my humble opinion, but his CV is "killer" good. Edward Carr Franks, PhD (talk) 01:39, 5 March 2017 (UTC)

Hello @Edfranks:, the reason the page is marked "Notability" is not any universal judgment of L. Michael White's career, the issue is that the sourcing lacks citations to outside observers of his career, such as peer critique, books/articles discussing his work, etc. The citations are mostly to his own employer's materials, and links to Wikipedia articles about archaeological sites (which should be WP:Wikilinked, not footnoted, as they do not prove specific facts about White. The specific policy that needs to be met is WP:Notability (academics) which explains the kind of data we need to see for the White article to meet Notability. MatthewVanitas (talk) 03:04, 5 March 2017 (UTC)

Sorry, Matthew. Thanks for trying to straighten me out. I'm such a dabbler that i'm not sure how to respond to you. I've already fiddled around for 30' trying to figure out how to get back to you, w/o success! Sadly, I only do some light editing every few years, literally. I saw the criteria for "notability" posting that u mention. Criteria are flawed, imho. I have no dog in this hunt, but I've seen many profs posted w/o such banners who shouldn't be posted at all, with or w/o a banner, whereas someone like dr white has stellar credentials, but gets tagged with this damning banner. Hope someone will modify the criteria for notability and/or fix dr white's article so he's not tagged w/career ending banner!? (maybe not career ending!)

Edward Carr Franks, PhD (talk) 04:47, 5 March 2017 (UTC)

No worries @Edfranks: it's always tricky figuring out a new format. The tag really isn't "damning" of White himself, it's just a statement as to the state of the article about him. Our Notability policies are pretty fixed so I don't see those changing, but all it would take to address it is some interested party adding in third-party neutral coverage of White's work, like other scholars citing him, critiquing him, journalists writing about the impact of his work on the world, etc. Every Wikipedia article is a work-in-progress, and White's just doesn't have enough non-primary documentation of his career yet. While I'm certain there are a multitude of articles that should also be tagged for Notability, the slow and inexorable curve of Wikipedia is to gradually tag and improve all articles, so a weak article in place X is no reason to lower standards on article Y. Even if you're not up to making the changes yourself, it's still useful of you to write in to us, and if you ever want to make any changes yourself, Teahouse volunteers would be happy to walk you through it. MatthewVanitas (talk) 02:35, 6 March 2017 (UTC)

I've run across an article that appears to be nothing more than a product ad for an ice cream company. How does one flag an article for deletion or review? Just curious. Thanks! MidwayKaty (talk) 05:27, 6 March 2017 (UTC)

Hi, MidwayKaty. There are a few options, depending on how bad the article is. First I would try and figure out if it's possible to save the page, to cut out the advertising and reduce the article to what's been said about the product in reliable, independent sources. If the article seems salvageable but you feel you lack the time or know how to fix it yourself, you could tag the page with a Template message, specifically by placing the code {{advert}} at the very top of the page. However, there are currently 20,393 pages with that template or similar on them (since it's easy to tag and harder to fix the tone), so if possible I would suggest dealing with the page yourself.

If an article is unfixable, then it's time to look to deletion. If the article is *really* bad, then you can tag it for speedy deletion if it meets the criteria here. If the article doesn't meet the speedy deletion criteria, then you should take it to Articles for deletion for a discussion.

I hope this helps clear things up. If you're still confused about what you should do with the specific article you found, you could post a link to it here. Howicus (Did I mess up?) 05:48, 6 March 2017 (UTC)

The article is salvageable, it's not terrible: Halo_Top_Creamery. Although, tbh I don't have much time or interest in doing the work to fix it. Thanks for clearing up my question, very helpful info. I'll tag it at the top like you suggested, and work on it a bit as well. Thank you! MidwayKaty (talk) 05:55, 6 March 2017 (UTC)

Submission my article is declined on the ground that it does not adequately show the subject's notability. You can find my article in the draft https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Draft:ReadyViews AvdheshSingh99 (talk) 08:06, 6 March 2017 (UTC)

@AvdheshSingh99: That article has had two reviews by experienced reviewers - I'm not sure what more we can offer here. Do you have a specific question that is not answered by the information linked in those reviews? They explain the need for in-depth coverage in reliable, independent sources to show that the subject is notable. --Gronk Oz (talk) 08:24, 6 March 2017 (UTC)

I added two records to the discography of a band called the Drones (English band). One record seems to have been accepted, but the other record is in red italics which seems to suggest that it has not been accepted. I'm brand new to Wikipedia and I'm wondering if I'm doing something wrong here. Any help is appreciated. Thanks. Sarahjean b (talk) 09:29, 6 March 2017 (UTC)

Welcome to the Teahouse. It isn't a question of being "accepted"; it is a redlink because there isn't an article with that title. --David Biddulph (talk) 10:13, 6 March 2017 (UTC)

I would like to create an article, but I cannot find a where you can create an article. Is this possible? — Preceding unsigned comment added by RichardsonLevi10 (talk • contribs) 01:28, 6 March 2017 (UTC)

Hi, RichardsonLevi10. Hopefully the page Wikipedia:Your first article could explain how to do that. --CiaPan (talk) 11:09, 6 March 2017 (UTC)

hi i have been asked to create a page for my company. please help112.196.45.10 (talk) 11:27, 6 March 2017 (UTC)

Hello, IP user: welcome to the Teahouse. I'm afraid that the basic answer is that it is not your business, or your company's business, to create an article about the company. If your company meets Wikipedia's criteria for notability (which are not about fame, or popularity, or importance, or anything like this: they are simply about whether there is enough independent material published about the company to ground an article. Wikipedia has essentially no interest in what you or your company say or want to say about it), then somebody could write an article; but it shouldn't be you, and the company will have no control whatever over the content of the article. I suggest you study your first article to discover what is involved in writing an article, the link about notability above, and also about editing with a conflict of interest. --ColinFine (talk) 13:16, 6 March 2017 (UTC)