Wikipedia:Help desk/Archives/2024 June 7

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June 7

Suzanne Somers vandalized

Suzanne Somers was vandalized by User:Briraidt, I can't revert the damage. thanks 2601:646:201:57F0:DC77:73BE:2839:1988 (talk) 04:09, 7 June 2024 (UTC)

I think this is the edit you mean: https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Suzanne_Somers&diff=1227649674&oldid=1227603912

It does not appear to be vandalism, just rewording parts of the article. If want to discuss their edit use the article's talk page. RudolfRed (talk) 04:19, 7 June 2024 (UTC)

That entire passage seems to be unnecessarily detailed. Shantavira|^{feed me} 08:39, 7 June 2024 (UTC)

Feature request: hover-over previews non-mainspace shortcuts

It would be helpful if when you hover over WP:UP, it tells you "Wikipedia:User pages". For WP:NOTHERE, "Clearly not being here to build an encyclopedia". Just the headings would be so helpful. Even as someone who's not new, I've encountered many new shortcuts when reading WP-space articles / seeing admins quote various policies. I have to click & open them every time, even the ones I've just forgotten. Imagine how much more helpful that could be for new users.

Is there an option to enable it that I've just missed? Maybe someone could write a gadget or add it to an existing one.   — TARDIS builder^✉     ★       13:34, 7 June 2024 (UTC)

@TARDIS Builder: Have you tried the gadget "navigation popups"? If it's a redirect the destination page's name appears as a header. —Tenryuu 🐲 ( 💬 • 📝 ) 14:27, 7 June 2024 (UTC)

@Tenryuu: Thank you. I just tried it. I had it off because it interfered with the Reference Tooltips gadget. Now that I've seen what "Navigation popups" looks like, I'll have to leave it off. Too ugly, IMO. Guess I'll just have to live with this.   — TARDIS builder^✉     ★       10:23, 15 June 2024 (UTC)

How do I delete pages from my userspace?

uh, question above.. — Yours Truly, ⚑ AtikaAtikawa 14:05, 7 June 2024 (UTC)

Hi AtikaAtikawa. If you request deletion of pages in your userspace (except your user talk page), they'll be deleted in most cases. You'll want to read WP:U1 and use one of the tags listed there. Firefangledfeathers (talk / contribs) 14:12, 7 June 2024 (UTC)

aight, thanks! — Yours Truly, ⚑ AtikaAtikawa 14:15, 7 June 2024 (UTC)

(edit conflict) @AtikaAtikawa: If you mean an ordinary user page, then use the template {{Db-U1}}. That will place you into the category of users who have pages in their userspace they wish to be deleted by a patrolling admin. If, however, you are referring to your user talk page, then you do not delete them. Per WP:DETALK: User talk pages and user talk archives created by page move are generally not deleted; they are usually needed for reference by other users. For example, if a user has a talk page full of advice and warnings—albeit seemingly ignored—from several experienced Wikipedians, including administrators, deleted page notices, as well as an arbitration enforcement block against them for all to see, then it is important these are kept in the page history for future reference, in the case, for example, of recidivism. One may blank the page, but not delete it. Hope this helps! ——Serial Number 54129 14:16, 7 June 2024 (UTC)

Yeah, here I was just referring to some sandbox pages of mine.

But concerning my talk page; I did wipe it out but it is still accessible through the history log. This does not go against the rules, does it? — Yours Truly, ⚑ AtikaAtikawa 14:28, 7 June 2024 (UTC)

It's allowed; see Wikipedia:Talk page guidelines § Personal talk page cleanup. DanCherek (talk) 14:32, 7 June 2024 (UTC)

TV

What number is more4 on TV 5.172.183.114 (talk) 14:17, 7 June 2024 (UTC)

Eighteen. Eigh-eigh-eigh-eighteen. ——Serial Number 54129 14:19, 7 June 2024 (UTC)

Just think of the time that could have been saved here by looking at More4.--♦IanMacM♦ ^{(talk to me)} 14:23, 7 June 2024 (UTC)

@Ianmacm: Yes, guess what I did  ;) but conversely what a missed opportunity it would have been for dredging up 80s synthi-pop counterculture! ——Serial Number 54129 14:49, 7 June 2024 (UTC)

Quick note that whilst this isn't really what the helpdesk is for, More4 may be on different channels depending on the service you are using. Lee Vilenski ^{(talk • contribs)} 20:46, 7 June 2024 (UTC)

Support for the Islamic State on user page

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.

---

I can't help but notice that User:Christophervincent01 has some, well, concerning userboxes on their user page. There are multiple uses of a flag associated with Islamic terrorism. There is a declaration that This user recognizes the US as a terrorist state. Combined with the fact that they have a self-declared "nom de guerre" of "Abu Muhsin al-Malabari" (note the obvious similarity to Abu Muhsin al-Masri), this seems like something that should probably be clarified. Ghost of Gomez Buck (talk) 16:46, 7 June 2024 (UTC)

@Christophervincent01: For better or worse, users are allowed to express political opinions on their user page. RudolfRed (talk) 17:08, 7 June 2024 (UTC)

Just curious, the only political opinions you're not allowed to express is something that goes against Wikipedia:Child protection, right? ChaosAkita (talk) 17:37, 7 June 2024 (UTC)

See also WP:NONAZIS. An essay, but it describes pretty accurately the way some 'political opinions' get dealt with. AndyTheGrump (talk) 17:41, 7 June 2024 (UTC)

The user has now been blocked by the Arbitration Committee. 331dot (talk) 19:25, 7 June 2024 (UTC)

The discussion above 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.

A fake offer for a wikipedia entry

A person purportedly representing "The WIKI editors" took a payment from me with the promise to create a wikipedia page. I was told this would help my book sales as a complement to the information already provided by Cambridge University Press and Amazon. I forwarded a CV and a list of publications--books, journal articles, and popular press commentary. After much back and forth, I was told that a wikipedia page was up. But no such page exists. The person with whom I was interacting--Leo Price, ostensibly representing the wiki editors -- has failed to respond to subsequent emails. Is there any way to report this behavior to a legitimate authority and stop further abuse? I might add that I am an annual contributor to the wikimedia foundation. Leslielipschitz (talk) 18:01, 7 June 2024 (UTC)

What you appear to be describing is quite possibly fraud. In which case, the 'legitimate authority' to report this to is your local law enforcement. Per Wikipedia:Articles for creation/Scam warning, you should probably also email paid-en-wp@wikipedia.org, though there is generally little we can do about it. Sadly, such dubious practices are far from uncommon, and the best advice we can give is to take any external claims to 'represent' Wikipedia, or indeed to have any control over article content at all, as the BS it clearly is. AndyTheGrump (talk) 18:10, 7 June 2024 (UTC)

I'll just add that such an article did apparently exist once, but it was created by a blocked or banned user and was deleted in May after being moved back to draft space in April (see Leslie Julian Lipschitz and Draft:Leslie Julian Lipschitz). 57.140.16.48 (talk) 18:30, 7 June 2024 (UTC)

@Leslielipschitz: Several points:

• It appears that you've been scammed, and you're hardly the first. See WP:SCAM.
• While having a Wikipedia article on oneself can help one's visibility, it's not always a good thing, and promotion is contrary to the purpose of Wikipedia.
• Contributions to WMF, while appreciated, have no effect on Wikipedia's content, nor should they.
• As Andy notes above, your best recourse would probably to be to your local law enforcement. It's unlikely that there would be much which can be done by anyone here.

I hope this helps, and I hope you find some relief. --Finngall ^talk 18:34, 7 June 2024 (UTC)

I went ahead and template-ized the ombox from the scam warning page, see above. Just Step Sideways ^{from this world ..... today} 18:36, 7 June 2024 (UTC)

Thanks. It is useful to know that there was such an entry that was submitted by a blocked user. It must have been these people as I don't know of anyone else who would have submitted it. For years colleagues who have wikipedia pages have asked why I don't have one. It never really interested me. But after writing my last book (for Cambridge University Press) I thought it may be time to have an entry--not really so much for promotional purposes but because there seemed to be a slew of readers of the book--and of my Barron's articles--keen to know more about me. After this experience with the scam, however, I am not interested in pursuing an wiki entry further. 72.85.175.57 (talk) 19:20, 7 June 2024 (UTC)

If readers of your work want to know more about you, they should get that information from a personal website or social media. Those things you can exclusively control, you can't do that with a Wikipedia article. 331dot (talk) 19:23, 7 June 2024 (UTC)

From a cursory websearch, it appears to me likely that you are "Wikipedia:Notable" in our specialised use of that term, and would therefore qualify for a Wikipedia article.

If someone with no personal or professional connection to you chose to write one, based mostly on material published by disinterested secondary WP:Reliable sources and in accordance with Wikipedia's WP:Citation and other policies, including those pertaining to WP:Biographies of living persons, it would likely be accepted (regardless of your wishes).

Most BLP articles are thus written by volunteer contributors. A small proportion are written by people with connections to the subject (a WP:Conflict of interest), but it is very difficult for most such people to be able to write with the necessary detatchment and WP:Neutral point of view, though it isn't forbidden.

Equally, it is not forbidden for someone paid by a subject to write an article about them, but the vast majority of would-be WP:Paid "professional" contributors lack the skills and the knowledge of Wikipedia requirements necessary, and (as you have seen) are scammers promising things that they cannot do and that are often contrary to Wikipedia's rules and operating procedures.

I hope this is enlightening. {The poster formerly known as 87.81.230.195} 188.220.136.217 (talk) 23:26, 7 June 2024 (UTC)

Thomas Kingston

This page appears to have been deleted. May I ask why? 122.150.79.47 (talk) 22:02, 7 June 2024 (UTC)

It looks to me like it was never deleted. It never existed until 27 February, when it was created as a redirect to Lady Gabriella Kingston. Tollens (talk) 22:07, 7 June 2024 (UTC)

Search of Thomas Kingston in deletion log turned up empty, it doesn't seem to have existed as a stand alone article. Tutwakhamoe (talk) 22:15, 7 June 2024 (UTC)

The page history [1] of Thomas Kingston shows it has always redirected to Lady Gabriella Kingston. A page at Draft:Thomas Kingston has been deleted twice. It was submitted for review but declined and has never been an article in the encyclopedia. PrimeHunter (talk) 22:53, 7 June 2024 (UTC)

"Dean Close School alumnus and Bristol University graduate Thomas Henry Robin Kingston (22 June 1978 in Evesham – 25 February 2024 in Gloucestershire)" has a sizable chunk of his ex's article devoted to him, to his parents, etc. I don't understand why. (Prehaps because there's not much to say about the ostensible subject of the article?) I'd be inclined to delete most of it. -- Hoary (talk) 23:41, 7 June 2024 (UTC)