Wikipedia:Help desk

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The help desk is frequently semi-protected, meaning the help desk pages cannot be edited by unregistered users (IP addresses), as well as accounts that are not confirmed or autoconfirmed (accounts that are at least 4 days old with at least 10 edits on English Wikipedia).

However, you can still get direct assistance on your talk page. Just use this link to ask for help; a volunteer will visit you there shortly!

There are currently 0 user(s) asking for help via the {{Help me}} template:

 Courtesy link: Wikipedia:Gender

Hi. I made a new shortcut for the wikiproject gender studies. Could it please be reviewed? DarknessGoth777 (talk) 07:11, 5 May 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Shortcuts are usually reviewed relatively quickly, also there is a WP:NPP backlog drive this month. In case a reviewer sees this, I have added a link.

I am not sure this redirect is a good idea as it seems ambiguous and the project is marked as inactive. TSventon (talk) 07:29, 5 May 2025 (UTC)[reply]

You repurposed an existing redirect. While that may be good thing, please update the existing uses of it, which were clearly meant to point to the old target. Andy Mabbett (Pigsonthewing); Talk to Andy; Andy's edits 11:18, 5 May 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Might be an obvious answer, but is there any sort of category for works about Asian Australians? Sarsenet•he/they•(talk) 05:49, 6 May 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Not according to Category:Works by nationality, but I'm also not readily seeing that any of the categories listed there combine multiple nationalities, which doesn't even account for the fact that "Asian" isn't a nationality. I think I'd have to advise against creating such a category, though you might ask at WT:CAT. DonIago (talk) 06:29, 6 May 2025 (UTC)[reply]

For naturalised or other migrants, see categories like Category:Chinese emigrants to Australia; for anyone else, categories like Category:Australian people of Chinese descent. Note also Category:Australian people of Asian descent and its regional subcategories, if the country of origin is not known precisely. Andy Mabbett (Pigsonthewing); Talk to Andy; Andy's edits 10:51, 6 May 2025 (UTC)[reply]

To clarify, I'm looking for a category for media works (books, films, etc) about Australian people of Asian descent. I'll probably ask at WT:CAT then. Sarsenet•he/they•(talk) 04:49, 8 May 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Sarsenet, Category:Works about Asian-Americans exists as a subcategory of Category:Asian-American culture. Category:Asian-Australian culture exists. You could create Category:Works about Asian-Australians, but asking at WT:CAT would make sense. What would you put in the category? TSventon (talk) 08:59, 8 May 2025 (UTC)[reply]

I also found Category:Indian-Australian films, Category:Pakistani Australian films and a Huffpost list of films starring Asian Australians. TSventon (talk) 10:51, 8 May 2025 (UTC)[reply]

How can i make new portal? Whatback11 (talk) 09:13, 6 May 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Which new portal do you want to create? Andy Mabbett (Pigsonthewing); Talk to Andy; Andy's edits 10:44, 6 May 2025 (UTC)[reply]

I want to make Draft:Portal:Politics of South Korea. Whatback11 (talk) 11:08, 6 May 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Could someone tell me what the arrow symbol below at the right means when Wikipedia places it at the beginning of a line in an article we're editing? I've seen it several times off and on now, and although I seem to be able to delete it I'd like to know why it comes.

Augnablik (talk) 10:22, 6 May 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Hi Augnablik - I've never seen it in one of our articles, are you using the mobile or desktop version? - I assume it is a carriage return (enter) symbol, that has been copy-pasted in from another application. We used to get lots of obj in a dotted rectangles, from a similar problem. - Arjayay (talk) 10:46, 6 May 2025 (UTC)[reply]

As far as I recall, @Arjayay, it’s come just on my computer. Can’t swear to that, though.

I too thought of a carriage return — even though laptops no longer have carriages! — but considering each case, I couldn’t imagine why the symbol would be placed there.

If you’ve never seen the symbol, then it would seem it came because of my computer, or even my browser. Augnablik (talk) 11:20, 6 May 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Hi Augnablik, if you go back in one of the affected pages' history, and re-open the version you saw it on, is it still there? If so, you could try opening it on another device, which would determine if it is your computer/browser. If it is "reproducible" then you could ask at WP:VPT, where the "techs" hang out. - Best wishes - Arjayay (talk) 12:06, 6 May 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Arjayay, I went back as you suggested and checked a lot of earlier versions of the article in which I think I saw one of those symbols most recently — but no luck. I remember that I often deleted the symbol when I'd see it, though.

I’ll keep a lookout to see if it will pop up again soon so I can bring it for your inspection. Augnablik (talk) 13:35, 6 May 2025 (UTC)[reply]

In one of my sandboxes today, that mysterious arrow I mentioned that sometimes appears to the left of a sentence beginning a new paragraph popped up several times on my work. Whenever I saw one, I copied it along with a line of text to show you here ... but then when I tried to paste it, the arrow disappeared.

I might mention that the arrow often disappears on its own from the original on my computer even without me deleting it.

Maybe the issue really does have something to do with my computer, as I haven't seen the arrow in text on on my phone. On the other hand, I hardly ever use my phone for Wiki editing. Augnablik (talk) 11:14, 7 May 2025 (UTC)[reply]

@Augnablik: I might know what you are encountering. Are you using the visual editor? If so, these arrows (carriage returns) indicate single line breaks. Double line breaks create a new paragraph, but single line breaks may be used variously to break up the appearance of the text in the source/code editor and are common after the end of inline references/footnotes. Since you can't see them otherwise in the visual editor, they appear as this arrow. The following text would produce one of these arrows after the </ref>:

Some people format their references with a lot of line breaks to make them easier to parse.<ref>{{Cite book
|first=John
|last=Doe
|date=2024
|title=Elements of Style
}}</ref>
The next sentence will appear to follow the one before the footnote to a reader, even though there are line breaks in the code.

-- Reconrabbit 14:30, 7 May 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Yes, @Reconrabbit, I use the VE. Now you’ve confirmed what @Arjayay also thought the arrow meant. I do wonder why it happens sometimes but not others, though, because I always press Return (Enter) once to start a new paragraph.

I thought my question might end up unsolved like another one I’ve had a long time, more frustrating because it involves a cursor jumping up to the line above and to the left on my computer when I’m trying to type a capital letter or certain kinds of punctuation … only when I’m in Wikipedia and while I’m typing messages. No one at the Village Pump seems to know what that’s all about! Augnablik (talk) 15:53, 7 May 2025 (UTC)[reply]

I can only guess as to the source of your second problem. Maybe when you press the shift key, something interprets this as pressing the arrow keys or the "Home"/"Page Up" keys. -- Reconrabbit 16:26, 7 May 2025 (UTC)[reply]

But, then, why only when I’m in Wikipedia … and writing messages … Augnablik (talk) 03:08, 8 May 2025 (UTC)[reply]

I WP:COPYWITHINed and spiced things up a bit to create a Classic rail in China article. May someone please help me expand it? Thanks! Félix An (talk) 08:35, 7 May 2025 (UTC)[reply]

This is a place to get help with technical and practical matters around editing. For subject-related assistance, try the relevant Wikiproject, in this case at WT:WikiProject Trains and/or WT:WikiProject China. Andy Mabbett (Pigsonthewing); Talk to Andy; Andy's edits 18:18, 7 May 2025 (UTC)[reply]

 Courtesy link: Christopher Bullock (civil servant)

Ref number 44 and 45 were obtained from JOURNALS and I think I got it all wrong. They are not a "simple errors". Please leave in quotes in both. I will endeavour to use the preview button. Please fix and thank you. Srbernadette (talk) 00:13, 8 May 2025 (UTC)[reply]

They are both ridiculously simple errors. You used {{cite journal}} but did not include a |journal= field. DMacks (talk) 03:08, 8 May 2025 (UTC)[reply]

For refs number 44 and 45 - I have TRIED to put in "=journal" as suggested, but no good. Please fix up . So sorry. Srbernadette (talk) 04:39, 8 May 2025 (UTC)[reply]

You changed <ref>{{cite journal |title= Foo to <ref>{{|journal=|title=

What you need is <ref>{{cite journal |journal=Bar |title=Foo, where "Bar" is the name of the journal. Andy Mabbett (Pigsonthewing); Talk to Andy; Andy's edits 11:27, 8 May 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Christopher Bullock (civil servant)

I'm sos sorry, but I cannot fix up references. 44 and 45. please fix up. It is too hard for me to redo them as journals. Please help. thank you. Srbernadette (talk) 22:34, 8 May 2025 (UTC)[reply]

 Done, hope this helps! JacobTheRox (talk) 12:44, 9 May 2025 (UTC)[reply]

I gave you a detailed description of how to fix this, above. Andy Mabbett (Pigsonthewing); Talk to Andy; Andy's edits 13:02, 9 May 2025 (UTC)[reply]

I was away from Wikipedia for a good while (over a year, I think), during which time the "Global contributions" link was added to the toolbox when viewing a userpage. I have no use for this link, and I'm constantly clicking it when I intend to click the adjacent "User contributions" link. Is there any way to hide it? I already checked the list of available gadgets, but nothing refers to global contributions. Nyttend (talk) 20:07, 8 May 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Just add:

#t-global-contributions { display:none }

to your common.css page. Ruslik_Zero 20:20, 8 May 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks! Can you remind me how to do this? I'm unclear if I paste it at the top of User:Nyttend/common.css, at the bottom, or even at a different page since I already have one. Nyttend (talk) 21:25, 8 May 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Anywhere in that page without interfering with the existing code. Top and bottom both work. PrimeHunter (talk) 23:52, 8 May 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Hello! I noticed a floating "[ Reply ]" button on the Wikipedia:Update page, centred on the Viewport roughly half way down on the left side, which seems to be a matter of "position: fixed;" rather than "position: relative;" in the CSS. It does not reply to anything, it links to Wikipedia:Update, which is the same page the button is on! I wonder whether this button has actually ever served any purpose. It seems to have been added (not floating) in this version: https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Wikipedia:Update&oldid=1112554098, amidst a lot of other testing. Should this button be removed?

Thanks! ProfessorPuffin (talk) 02:33, 9 May 2025 (UTC)[reply]

@ProfessorPuffin: It's the reply tool "Enable quick replying" at Special:Preferences#mw-prefsection-editing. The link did work for me but there was nothing to reply to so it was confusing and I have disabled it.[1] PrimeHunter (talk) 09:28, 9 May 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Hhvb Mohiiiɓbb (talk) 11:35, 9 May 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Mohiiiɓbb, if you want to add content to an existing Wikipedia page, then (provided that the material is both worthwhile and referenced) go ahead and add it. If the page is "protected", preventing you from editing it, then make an edit request on its talk page. -- Hoary (talk) 12:05, 9 May 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Hello Everyone,

I am a film producer in American independent film industry. I have executive produced seven feature films. I want to have my page created if allowed. how can i have my page created?

https://www.imdb.com/name/nm10067735/ Skadakia6 (talk) 18:10, 9 May 2025 (UTC)[reply]

It is strongly reccomended not to write your own article - see Wikipedia's guidance on autobiographies. If you are notable enough for an article then someone will write one. CoconutOctopus talk 18:31, 9 May 2025 (UTC)[reply]

I also recommend reading an article about yourself isn't necessarily a good thing. ColinFine (talk) 21:28, 9 May 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Lest it cause you trouble later on, please also read and abide by WP:COI before editing any articles about films you have worked on or actors or directors you have worked with. Andy Mabbett (Pigsonthewing); Talk to Andy; Andy's edits 11:02, 10 May 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Hi, there is a lengthy conversation taking place at Wikipedia_talk:External_links#Proposal:_expand_the_scope_of_ELNO_to_include_"Further_reading" about guidelines concerning "Further reading" sections. I'm pretty sure this is the wrong forum, however. If, in the unlikely event of a new consensus, that consensus is to be binding, I'm pretty sure that this should be taking place at Wikipedia_talk:Manual_of_Style or somewhere at the Wikipedia:Village_pump so that more people see it and have a chance to weigh in.

Any advice on if/where/how to relocate?

Cheers, Patrick 🐈‍⬛ (talk) 20:01, 10 May 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Answered here. Polygnotus (talk) 20:23, 10 May 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Hello, I just wanted to ask you if you know where to find any free (completely uncopyrighted) images or icons of plants and animals. I searched Wikimedia Commons a little, but I couldn't find any. I recently made Template:WikiProject Christianity topicon, and I would like to make one for WikiProject Plants and WikiProject Animals. On the page for {{Top icon}}, there is a warning that states, "Do not use images with licenses requiring attribution in a top icon if you are going to link to somewhere other than the image description page. Not linking to the image is likely to violate the license." For example, I linked the Christianity top icon to the main page about WikiProject Christianity, but that was fine because the cross icon I used (File:Christian cross.svg) is in the public domain. I cannot use images licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic license (which most of the images are) unless I provide a direct link to the image, and while that's fine, I would prefer to link to Wikipedia:WikiProject Plants and Wikipedia:WikiProject Animals. This is not an urgent matter, so take your time if you need to! Thanks. 🌳 Balsam Cottonwood (talk) ✝ 05:11, 11 May 2025 (UTC)[reply]

On Wikimedia Commons, include the string "cc0" (with a zero; without quotemarks) in your search terms. Alternatively, include "public domain". Andy Mabbett (Pigsonthewing); Talk to Andy; Andy's edits 11:41, 11 May 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Thank you, @Pigsonthewing, that was very helpful! 🌳 Balsam Cottonwood (talk) ✝ 11:52, 11 May 2025 (UTC)[reply]

In this source, there is a review of a film whose headline is a square within a circle because that's what the film's title Vattathukkul Chaduram translates to. How to get the right unicode for it? I mistakenly put ⧇, when it should be the opposite. Kailash29792 (talk) 05:35, 11 May 2025 (UTC)[reply]

@Kailash29792: I don't know an efficient way to find such things, but starting at List of Unicode characters I found Geometric Shapes Extended and the character 🟗 "circled square" -- John of Reading (talk) 07:12, 11 May 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks. Looks like we need the right font to read it and/or make it viewable. Kailash29792 (talk) 07:41, 11 May 2025 (UTC)[reply]

John of Reading, I found this and included the first HTML code I found. It renders an unviewable object, for which I think the right font is needed. Whatever it be... Kailash29792 (talk) 07:46, 11 May 2025 (UTC)[reply]

@Kailash29792: Yes, that's the same Unicode character. -- John of Reading (talk) 10:50, 11 May 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Hello Rangasyd,

The Pedophile Allen Huggins who I wrote about in 2021, where you said that being mentioned in a newspaper was not creditable reference. Below is another news paper article about where and when he was sentenced. You can see me in the right of the photo, in the link below.

As I assume you need a court report, where the courts do not write reports on pedophile cases. However, because of the high number of victims across Australia, the Judge is going to release the judgement. However, because a co offender is before the court, the judgement has been withheld from publication. But apparently I can get a statement from the court that he was convicted, but not a full copy of the judgement for some time.

Can you please explain to me what legal documentation or references other than australian wide newspapers and tv stations which covered the court case results, do you require as proof?

Regards Anthony Nolan OAM

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-10-18/allan-huggins-paedophile-catholic-school-counsellor-jailed/104489296 G3N1U5australia (talk) 11:21, 11 May 2025 (UTC)[reply]

How are you trying to send it? Andy Mabbett (Pigsonthewing); Talk to Andy; Andy's edits 11:37, 11 May 2025 (UTC)[reply]

@G3N1U5australia and Pigsonthewing: Because of https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Special:AbuseLog&wpSearchUser=G3N1U5australia see WP:EDITFILTER. Polygnotus (talk) 11:39, 11 May 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Hello, with the 2025 Australian Senate Election results currently being counted I am creating this template to create a new standard for Joint Tickets in the senates results. Currently they are raw modified tables in the results at the New South Wales and Victoria bits (look for the joint tickets involving HEART, People First and Libertarians), and on the pages there the 3 colours are balanced. I am trying to replicate this with the template to replace the need for modifying the table directly but it isn't working properly and I have no idea how to get the 3 colours to balance. The documentation provides an example from the NSW results of that election. Any tips or help on how I can get these colours to be balanced? Thanks in advance and sorry if this is the wrong place to ask. Comfisofa (talk) 11:23, 11 May 2025 (UTC)[reply]

I would try WP:VPT. Polygnotus (talk) 11:37, 11 May 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Okay thank you! Apologies I'm still a bit new to editing on wikipedia. Comfisofa (talk) 11:39, 11 May 2025 (UTC)[reply]

There is an infinite amount of things to learn here. No one knows everything. Polygnotus (talk) 11:49, 11 May 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Please can anybody fix the page title? its called "Electrostatic 'sheinding'" which is not even a word. the problem is much bigger because i had trouble searching it on index. 152.59.185.121 (talk) 12:51, 11 May 2025 (UTC)[reply]

this is the page for which i am sending request-- [[2]]

IP editor. You are correct. There is, however, already another redirect at Electron shielding, so the existing electron sheilding is just there for people who confuse the i and the e! Mike Turnbull (talk) 12:58, 11 May 2025 (UTC)[reply]

electron sheilding was created as a redirect in September 2005 with the wrong spelling, then it was moved to electron shielding in November 2005, which left a new redirect page at "electron sheilding". Now "electron sheilding" is there for people who confuse the i and the e.

However "electron sheilding" redirects to Effective nuclear charge, while "electron shielding" was retargeted to Shielding effect in January 2013. TSventon (talk) 13:19, 11 May 2025 (UTC)[reply]

In view of that, I've updated the redirect electron sheilding to go to shielding effect and categorised it as a misspelling. Mike Turnbull (talk) 13:35, 11 May 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Where can I find a reference on list grammar for wikipedia? In English, it is common to find 'lists', or a collection of like items. For instance, the following is a list of words commonly associated with baseball: bat, ball, glove, white, base, mound.
Native English speakers will choke on one of those words because we intuitively expect a list to be comprised of one 'type' of word. It will either be all nouns, or all verbs, or similar. In this case 5 of the 6 words are nouns, while one is an adjective. While most balls and bases are white, 'white' is not usually listed as something you need to play the game.
Does Wikipedia have written guidance on how to build a list that makes sense? I'd like to rewrite a section of an article to normalize a particular list, and it would be nice if I could point at a policy article. SandyJax (talk) 13:50, 11 May 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Welcome! Have you read WP:LISTS and WP:NLISTS? Polygnotus (talk) 14:32, 11 May 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Not yet, will do so now. Actually, this is what I was looking for, someone to tell me where to go. WP:LISTS points to several things that should do it. Thanks! SandyJax (talk) 14:47, 11 May 2025 (UTC)[reply]

"Native English speakers will choke on one of those words because we intuitively expect a list to be comprised of one 'type' of word. It will either be all nouns, or all verbs, or similar."

This is not true.

Please provide a link to the article or section you plan to rewrite, so that we can advise more precisely. Andy Mabbett (Pigsonthewing); Talk to Andy; Andy's edits 16:33, 11 May 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Is 8.8.8.8 a invalid IP? The 8.8.8.8 is an DNS by Google and 1.1.1.1 CloudFlare.

Is Wikipedia can block users with DNS? Vitorperrut555 (talk) 16:25, 11 May 2025 (UTC)[reply]

[3] answers your first question.

If we "block users with DNS", we will have no users. Andy Mabbett (Pigsonthewing); Talk to Andy; Andy's edits 16:30, 11 May 2025 (UTC)[reply]

If an admin were to block the IP address 8.8.8.8 then the result would be to block only edits that come from that IP address (which, barring some misconfiguration on Google's servers, should be none at all), not block all people using Google public DNS from editing. * Pppery * _{it has begun...} 17:49, 11 May 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Hi, I couldn't find a proper place to report a bug, or mention the administration team. I stumbled upon a major case of exploitation, full details are available on the talk page of Boyuk Shor Highway. LatekVon (talk) 20:21, 11 May 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Technical issues are better reported at WP:VPT. ColinFine (talk) 20:46, 11 May 2025 (UTC)[reply]

This is vandalism, I have reported at WP:AIV. TSventon (talk) 20:56, 11 May 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Whilst reverting an edit at Battery electric vehicle at 21:32, I seem to have triggered a number of edit filters, including Tag; Filter description: Predatory open access journals. I've no idea which link/s might be the problem. Can anyone help please? Knitsey (talk) 20:40, 11 May 2025 (UTC)[reply]

I've even tripped a number of edit filters for the same reason... Hacked (Talk|Contribs) 20:44, 11 May 2025 (UTC)[reply]