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I was looking at the article Boston Blue and I noticed someone had written in plot synopses for many of the episodes. It was clear to me that these were not written originally and were possibly copy-pasted from somewhere else.

I reverted it here, but thought it would be wise to report it as a possible copyright violation. I haven't done something like this before.

Could someone please guide me in the right direction?

Thanks! Urbanracer34 (talk) 14:58, 18 December 2025 (UTC)[reply]

If it's really what happened in the story, it's not wrong. The story is its own evidence. But if they did plagiarize some other plot summary, then it had to be cut. TooManyFingers (talk) 18:20, 18 December 2025 (UTC)[reply]

I feel it was a copy paste job, I just don't know where from, and they also got characters names incorrectly.

I remember this from a different article: "Episode summaries must be expressed in your own words. Do NOT submit content you find from another web site as it is plagiarism and likely a copyright violation, which Wikipedia cannot accept and will be removed or reverted. Superficially modifying copyrighted content or closely paraphrasing it, even if the source is cited, still constitutes a copyright violation. Summaries should be about 100 to 200 words in length, per MOS:TVPLOT, and those substantially less than 100 words are most likely to be scrutinized for possible copyright violation."

What do we think? Urbanracer34 (talk) 18:25, 18 December 2025 (UTC)[reply]

About making a copyvio report, Wikipedia:Text copyright violations 101 may help. TooManyFingers (talk) 18:34, 18 December 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Here's the thing: I don't have a source from where these plot summaries were from, so I don't know how to proceed. Urbanracer34 (talk) 18:43, 18 December 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Urbanracer34, someone wrote those plot summaries. Unless you can find evidence that they were previously published elsewhere, the presumption has to be that they were written by the Wikipedia editor who added them. Cullen328 (talk) 19:10, 18 December 2025 (UTC)[reply]

I didn't think of it that way. I will roll back my edit right away. Thanks for the insight. Urbanracer34 (talk) 19:25, 18 December 2025 (UTC)[reply]

@Cullen328 Hello! I am fairly positive I have a copyvio on the above article. The listing for the episode "Collateral Damage" is almost 100% copied from here. Other entries may be impacted such as "Rites of Passage", "Baggage Claim", and "Code of Ethics." Here's my source for this claim: [1]

Where do I go from here? Urbanracer34 (talk) 15:29, 20 December 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Now that there's evidence, Wikipedia:Text copyright violations 101 does become quite helpful. It seems to me the type of page that may look daunting but actually has fairly straightforward instructions if you try them out. TooManyFingers (talk) 17:36, 20 December 2025 (UTC)[reply]

@TooManyFingers I gave it the best job I could. Please let me know if I did it right. Urbanracer34 (talk) 18:28, 20 December 2025 (UTC)[reply]

The people who receive your notice are far more qualified to tell you that. If anything was missing or incorrect, they'll explain. TooManyFingers (talk) 20:44, 20 December 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Ok. Thanks! Urbanracer34 (talk) 20:48, 20 December 2025 (UTC)[reply]

When I dropped my Mac in a bucket, I found myself having to buy a new Mac, and my last back-up apparently did not include my current Wikipedia log-in password. When I hit the "forgot password" link, it sent me a message with a temporary password, which does not seem to work either. I don't know whether this has to do with Two-Factor or not. ~2025-41941-72 (talk) 23:33, 19 December 2025 (UTC)[reply]

@~2025-41941-72: What happens when you try to log in with the temporary password? Try it again. If you get an error meassage then post it. Did your account have two-factor authentication? Few do. If you're not aware of it then it probably didn't. PrimeHunter (talk) 00:20, 20 December 2025 (UTC)[reply]

I do have two-factor. I get "Incorrect username or password entered. Please try again." and "Login processing now uses our domain auth.wikimedia.org. If you are using blocking software, you will need to allow access to this domain to log in." ~2025-41941-72 (talk) 00:27, 20 December 2025 (UTC)[reply]

@~2025-41941-72: Try again at meta: when you can get a new temporary password. If it still fails then what is your username? PrimeHunter (talk) 00:54, 20 December 2025 (UTC)[reply]

I am embarrassed to admit that I am User:Orangemike. --~2025-41941-72 (talk) 02:58, 21 December 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Where at Meta???? --~2025-41941-72 (talk) 01:07, 20 December 2025 (UTC)[reply]

At the "Log in" link. Or go directly to https://auth.wikimedia.org/metawiki/wiki/Special:UserLogin. I just wanted you to try another path. That sometimes works if a browser has stored something wrong. PrimeHunter (talk) 01:56, 20 December 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Nope. ~2025-41941-72 (talk) 02:55, 20 December 2025 (UTC)[reply]

When you just say "nope", then a sensible person assumes you're done with this and you don't want help anymore. Is that true? TooManyFingers (talk) 03:47, 20 December 2025 (UTC)[reply]

That's not what I assume, @TooManyFingers. But I agree that the response is unhelpfully terse. ColinFine (talk) 15:10, 20 December 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Sorry; didn't mean to be unhelpful. I had tried that, and alas! it did not help. --~2025-41941-72 (talk) 16:14, 20 December 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Your best bet is probably to go through m:Help:Account recovery. * Pppery * _{it has begun...} 03:10, 21 December 2025 (UTC)[reply]

The article John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts was recently moved to Kennedy Center. The talk page moved with it, but an archived talk page, Talk:John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts/Archive 1 wasn't moved. I assume that this should have happened automatically when the article + current talk were moved (if I'm wrong about that, please correct me). Should I move the archived page myself, or is there a better way to talk care of it? If I move it myself, it's unclear to me how to make sure that the archived talk page shows up at the top of the current talk page. Thanks, FactOrOpinion (talk) 02:55, 20 December 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Seems fixed. Andy Mabbett (Pigsonthewing); Talk to Andy; Andy's edits 21:09, 20 December 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Looks like Graham87 moved it and then fixed the archiving code. Glad it's resolved, and Graham87, thanks for your help. FactOrOpinion (talk) 21:28, 20 December 2025 (UTC)[reply]

@FactOrOpinion: No worries. {{Talk header}}, which is used on that article's talk page, will automatically detect when an archive subpage exists under a page's current title. So will {{archives}}. Graham87 (talk) 03:31, 21 December 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Is there someone more technically minded than me who can figure out what's going on at Komsomolsky, Komi Republic, Severny, Komi Republic, Vorgashor, Mulda, Russia, and Zapolyarny, Komi Republic? In all 4 articles infobox formatting is completely whacked out, it's taking up way too much space on the page, and I can't for the life of me see what's causing it. Seems to be a running theme with the satellite settlements of Vorkuta, I'll poke around and see if I find any more. The Blade of the Northern Lights (話して下さい) 05:21, 20 December 2025 (UTC)[reply]

I think they're being fed data from WikiData, based on the way the template code is written, but I'm not entirely clear on why. Template talk:Infobox Russian inhabited locality#population_est might also be relevant to why it's doing this sometimes and not others but I'm not sure? - Purplewowies (talk) 05:41, 20 December 2025 (UTC)[reply]

That's what had me confused. If you look at the infobox for Vorkuta (you can tell I'm honed in on a really uplifting subject right now!) it looks perfectly normal, but all of those are a mess. It's bad enough on a computer screen, I checked it out in mobile and it renders the pages borderline unreadable. Glad it's not just me here. The Blade of the Northern Lights (話して下さい) 05:56, 20 December 2025 (UTC)[reply]

@The Blade of the Northern Lights: On Komsomolsky, Komi Republic, I clicked "Tools", "Wikidata item", "edit" at the most recent population estimate, (circle to the left of the number), "preferred rank", "publish". This caused an up arrow to be colored instead of the circle. Now the article only shows that estimate and looks good. PrimeHunter (talk) 14:03, 20 December 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Just tried this on Severny, and confirmed this works; no idea why, but it definitely works. I'll clean up the others I linked here and any more I come across, thanks! The Blade of the Northern Lights (話して下さい) 15:36, 20 December 2025 (UTC)[reply]

If a TA's only two posts are to ask for hot, young singles in their area (paraphrasing), do you think it's best to:

1. warn, wait and see,
2. report to noticeboard, or
3. ping an admin?

I'm going with #1 for now, #2 I'm not sure which board it would fall under (AIV?) and #3 seems overzealous...

They posted on the Talk of a blocked user - I thought it was them originally but now I'm starting to think it's just a random page they found. They replied to a comment from months ago, to an admin who's no longer active/adminning so it's all a bit random... Blue Sonnet (talk) 13:02, 20 December 2025 (UTC)[reply]

I pieced together what you're dealing with, and it's something you can either bring up with an individual admin or at the incidents noticeboard. If it's something more sensitive/explicit than this, e-mail oversight. The Blade of the Northern Lights (話して下さい) 15:44, 20 December 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Thank you! I was a bit wary of putting direct links on a public noticeboard and figured that experienced editors would be able to check my history to see what was going on - thank you! Blue Sonnet (talk) 15:49, 20 December 2025 (UTC)[reply]

• Draft:Swindon Health Hydro, Formerly Known as Milton Road Baths

I have updated this article to try and meet standards. One element I can't fix is the title - I would like this to be changed to 'Swindon Health Hydro, Milton Road, Swindon'.

I have been working on this article for three years now. To start off with, I got objections that I understood and reacted to. Now it just seems that someone comes in, rejects the article and there's not much I can do. Being told that it reads like an essay or that I'm using informal language hasn't helped at all.

I let Swindon Borough Council use an earlier version of the article on their website - a reviewer thought that I'd plagiarised the whole thing. I explained what had happened and they accepted my explanation but the article still didn't get accepted.

I would like to move on to writing an article about the Great Western Railway Medical Fund Society but I haven't the stomach for another marathon.

Mydaemonthirst (talk) 14:37, 20 December 2025 (UTC)[reply]

 Done in this edit Versions111 (talk • contribs) 14:54, 20 December 2025 (UTC)[reply]

If the article is published it should be at Swindon Health Hydro, currently a WP:redirect to Swindon Victorian Turkish Baths. Adding "Milton Road, Swindon" is known as WP:disambiguation and is not needed if there is only one Swindon Health Hydro on Wikipedia. TSventon (talk) 15:03, 20 December 2025 (UTC)[reply]

The Swindon Victorian Turkish Baths article is about just one element in a very large building with a complicated history. That article is part of a series of articles about the Victorian Turkish Baths movement, which is a story that deserves to stand alone. The point you are making is one made three years ago when I started on my article about the Health Hydro. The story of the Victorian Turkish Baths Movement and that of the the Health Hydro as a building deserve to each stand alone, of course with cross-references.

THERE IS NO SWINDON HEALTH HYDRO ON WIKIIPEDIA. There does seem to be an inexplicable determination to make sure there never is. An article talking about just the Turkish Baths, as part of the Victorian Turkish Baths movement, is not telling the nationally important story of the Health Hydro.

I would dearly love to move on to an article on the GWR Medical Fund Society but I need to get the Health Hydro article published first and it seems that this will never happen. Is there any court of appeal that I can approach and make my case? Mydaemonthirst (talk) 22:44, 20 December 2025 (UTC)[reply]

@Mydaemonthirst: (edit conflict) There is an existing article, Swindon Victorian Turkish Baths (to which Swindon Health Hydro redirects), that seems to overlap considerably with your draft. Instead of trying to create a new article, perhaps you could add cited information to the existing article. Deor (talk) 15:09, 20 December 2025 (UTC)[reply]

The existing article is part of a series of articles about the Victorian Turkish Baths movement. That is its focus and it talks about Turkish Baths in Swindon before they came to be housed in what is now the Health Hydro. If I put the history of the Health Hydro into that article, it would drown out its purpose.

The Health Hydro is a large complicated building with a complicated history. Two thirds of the building were for medical purposes and one third housed the the swimming baths, wash baths Turkish baths and Russian baths. It has gone through a series of changes in its management and uses. It is a remarkable building that is of national importance and deserves to have its own Wikipedia page.

I have put in too much effort to give up now. The story of the building continues and I will continue to update the article with fresh developments. I just hope that, eventually, reason will prevail and the article will be published. I will then able to move on to create an article on the GWR Medical Fund Society.

The current title of my article is a mistake for two reasons, which is why I want to change it. The whole building has never been called the 'Milton Road Baths', only the 'wet side'. And putting two names for the building into the title is likely to cause confusion. I do want 'Milton Road' in the title because many many people in Swindon still think of the Milton Road Baths when they think of the building. Thus I would like the title to be 'Swindon Health Hydro, Milton Road, Swindon'.

I am anxious to get the article published soon as the building will be reopened in January, after refurbishment.

I cannot accept that the story of the Victorian Turkish Baths Movement in the existing article should be drowned out by the whole history of the Health Hydro. Mydaemonthirst (talk) 10:28, 21 December 2025 (UTC)[reply]

"I am anxious to get the article published soon as the building will be reopened in January". Please see WP:PROMO and WP:COMMONNAME. {The poster formerly known as 87.81.230.195} ~2025-31359-08 (talk) 14:03, 21 December 2025 (UTC)[reply]

@Mydaemonthirst: And also remember there is no WP:DEADLINE on WIkipedia.. Bazza 7 (talk) 14:22, 21 December 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Yes but this is taking years. I do not believe that the existence of an article about the Victorian Turkish Baths movement should prevent the publication of an article about a particular building in Swindon. This objection is, in one way, a first in that it is a repeat of an earlier objection that I had thought I'd dealt with. For the most part every objection is for a different reason and it's never clear whether I have succeeded in satisfying the objection. Mydaemonthirst (talk) 16:05, 21 December 2025 (UTC)[reply]

The fact that it's taking years is nobody's fault and nobody's concern. A Wikipedia article is just history. It bears absolutely no relation to a building reopening. If you want to have promotional material prepared, this is a horrible way of doing it, because it will be re-edited against your wishes and you'll have no recourse. You can set up your own website for promotion. TooManyFingers (talk) 22:00, 21 December 2025 (UTC)[reply]

I've created Draft:The Embrace (Die Umarmung) and would like to expand it further. There are additional sources available, including: [2] ; [3] ; [4] ; [5] ; [6] ; [7] ; [8] ; [9] ; [10] ; [11]. I'd greatly appreciate any contributions from those interested. ~2025-41850-20 (talk) 15:25, 20 December 2025 (UTC)[reply]

@~2025-41850-20: I've moved the page to Draft:The Embrace (painting). The title shouldn't include alternative names, which must be redirects, but needs to be disambiguated from the sculpture by Hank Willis Thomas. You don't mention the German name in the current text. Jimfbleak - talk to me? 16:39, 20 December 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Can anyone please figure out how to fix the giant width of the infobox in Suna, Sunsky District, Kirov Oblast. I guess it's due to the many population estimates (and the fact that we have one more estimated pop# than date in that table - presumably the cause of the "Expression error: Unexpected number"). I don't see where that list comes from, so I guess it's being added (from wikidata?) by some transcluded template. -- Finlay McWalter··–·Talk 16:01, 20 December 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Hello, @Finlay McWalter. This sounds as if it may be the same issue as #Help with infobox formatting above. ColinFine (talk) 16:36, 20 December 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks, ColinFine, it sure does. @PrimeHunter: - can you get your fix to work on the Suna article too? I can't see a "preferred rank" thing to pick in its wikidata. -- Finlay McWalter··–·Talk 16:50, 20 December 2025 (UTC)[reply]

@Finlay McWalter: After clicking "edit" at the most recent population estimate, you have to click a small circle (not a rectangle) in an icon to the left of the number. PrimeHunter (talk) 17:08, 20 December 2025 (UTC)[reply]

@PrimeHunter:, a found it (that's a tiny circle indeed), and it's fixed it. Thank you. I'll mooch around the neighbourhood and see if there's any others with this issue. -- Finlay McWalter··–·Talk 17:12, 20 December 2025 (UTC)[reply]

I don't know Wikidata at all, is there a place either there or here on enwiki that we can bring some broader attention to this? I highly doubt this one article and the satellite settlements of Vorkuta are the only affected articles. The Blade of the Northern Lights (話して下さい) 20:05, 20 December 2025 (UTC)[reply]

I found a bunch more (linked from the navbox of that article). I "fixed" a few, but really it's a bit of a cargo cult solution (when we don't really know what we're doing, or why it really works). It may well be just forcing a cache refresh, but I don't know. I decided not to change any more for now. -- Finlay McWalter··–·Talk 21:08, 20 December 2025 (UTC)[reply]

I know why it works but it would be a better solution for the infobox to automatically pick the latest estimate if there are multiple estimates and no preferred rank. It appers to have been done by [12] after discussion at Template talk:Infobox Russian inhabited locality#population_est. PrimeHunter (talk) 13:31, 21 December 2025 (UTC)[reply]

That seems to fix things. To my mind we should undo the forced "preferred rank" changes, as these will override further estimates that are added in the future. -- Finlay McWalter··–·Talk 11:35, 22 December 2025 (UTC)[reply]

I'm not sure how to edit. Somebody just killed Rob Reiner. It has to do with All In The Family, and Spinal Tap. They should allow us to talk about things in the Talk pages. People want to do it. Just don't hook it to Facebook.

I would like to learn how to edit, and how to use the Talk pages. Could somebody please help me with that? Foundation360 (talk) 17:09, 20 December 2025 (UTC)[reply]

@Foundation360: Rob Reiner was killed six days ago and the article was immediately updated. We are not going to mention his death in every article about his works. If you have seen a page which needs an update then please link it. See Help:Talk pages. We are an encyclopedia, not social media. Our article talk pages are for discussing improvements to the article, not general discussion about the subject. PrimeHunter (talk) 17:22, 20 December 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Talk pages are never for chat. They're only for talking about ways to improve the page they're attached to. You SHOULD talk about Rob Reiner with people if you want to, but you can't do it on Wikipedia. It's like going to a pharmacy and asking for welding equipment: there's nothing wrong with wanting that, but it's the wrong place. TooManyFingers (talk) 17:28, 20 December 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Ok. Perhaps I could edit the article with some news articles. I am looking at your Barney Miller stuff. I have trouble understanding this stuff, though. I would like to learn how to edit some stuff. Foundation360 (talk) 18:43, 20 December 2025 (UTC)[reply]

I have left some links to guidance and tutorials, on Your talk page. The latter is a good place to start. Andy Mabbett (Pigsonthewing); Talk to Andy; Andy's edits 21:02, 20 December 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks you. Foundation360 (talk) 21:04, 20 December 2025 (UTC)[reply]

The episode list at Barney_Miller#Episodes uses the colon trick to embed a table from List of Barney Miller episodes, but the season anchors in the table point to (nonexistent) anchors in the Barney Miller article, not the List... article where the table actually lives. How do I get the season anchors in the table to point to the corresponding section in the List? HalJor (talk) 17:31, 20 December 2025 (UTC)[reply]

See how you did the very first link in your message here? "List of Barney Miller episodes#Season 1 (1975)" should do the same. Is that what you wanted? TooManyFingers (talk) 17:41, 20 December 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Oh ... I think maybe I didn't understand the trick here. TooManyFingers (talk) 17:46, 20 December 2025 (UTC)[reply]

A side question: Aren't there just too many levels of Barney Miller pages? I don't think there's anything to justify having three levels of pages, and that two would be just as good (and easier for readers). TooManyFingers (talk) 17:51, 20 December 2025 (UTC)[reply]

@HalJor: Fixed by [13]. PrimeHunter (talk) 17:53, 20 December 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Hello, there,

I am writing for English Wikipedia, and a photo I am trying to link to is uploaded to an article in Russian Wikipedia. Is there a way to link to this file from the English-language Wikipedia?

Thanks for your time. ~2025-41958-40 (talk) 20:18, 20 December 2025 (UTC)[reply]

I assume this relates to ru:Файл:Григорьев Антон Алексеевич.jpg in ru:Григорьев, Антон Алексеевич. It may be possible to upload a copy of the image to en Wikipedia as the subject is deceased and if no free image is available, see Wikipedia:Non-free content. You need to publish the article without the image first as non-free images are not allowed in drafts. TSventon (talk) 20:38, 20 December 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Thank you! (And, yes, you assumed right.) ~2025-41958-40 (talk) 20:41, 20 December 2025 (UTC)[reply]

The cited source in the ruwiki image is a deadlink. But [14] seems to have that image. DMacks (talk) 07:33, 23 December 2025 (UTC)[reply]

I also want to increase the amount of my monthly donation. I don’t know how to find my account so I can do that. Please help. Contact my email at (redacted) ~2025-40438-27 (talk) 20:29, 20 December 2025 (UTC)[reply]

We cannot help with donation queries - please contact the Foundation directly at donate@wikimedia.org. qcne (talk) 20:31, 20 December 2025 (UTC)[reply]

I have removed your email address for your protection, you should not post it in this very public place. Wikipedia accounts and donations are completely separate issues; one doesn't have to do with the other. 331dot (talk) 20:33, 20 December 2025 (UTC)[reply]

@~2025-40438-27: See also https://wikimediafoundation.org/give/manage-your-donation/ which gives the same address as mentioned above. It's optional to store an email address in an account but you can try entering your address at Special:PasswordReset. If you did create an account and store that address then a mail will be sent. But it will not help with donations since they are separate from user accounts. PrimeHunter (talk) 02:35, 21 December 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Can I submit my own bio to Wikipedia? ~2025-42070-44 (talk) 20:44, 20 December 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Hi @~2025-42070-44. We strongly discourage that: Wikipedia:Autobiography. Wikipedia has really strict criteria for inclusion, and the majority of biographic articles are written by people independent of the person with just a passing interest. We prohibit promotion of any kind, and we're not a social media website like LinkedIn. qcne (talk) 20:49, 20 December 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Hello, @~2025-42070-44. Note that A Wikipedia article should be a neutral summary of what several people wholly unconnected with the subject have independently chosen to publish about the subject in reliable publications, (see Golden rule) and not much else. What you know (or anybody else knows) about the subject is not relevant except where it can be verified from a reliable published source. That applies just as much to an article about you as to any other article. ColinFine (talk) 20:57, 20 December 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Why would you want to submit your own bio, ~2025-42070-44? -- Hoary (talk) 00:10, 21 December 2025 (UTC)[reply]

No, you can’t do that. ~2025-42676-23 (talk) 09:57, 26 December 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Hi, I'm a user on it.wikipedia. Despite an advanced (but I wouldn't define it as fluent) knowledge of the English language, I've always avoided editing on en.wikipedia, since I inevitably make many errors as I write in English (you can assess my level by this message, that I'm writing completely on my own without any machine-translation help). Today I tried an experiment though, translating in English an article which I had written on it.wikipedia some years ago about an Holocaust survivor. Then of course I reviewed the translation, paying attention that there were no allucinations and changes in the meaning of the texts. The result is this one (I know, there is no introductory paragraph, there are no references, and so on, it's just an experiment, I would clearly add them before publishing it in the main namespace).
What I wanted to ask is: would such an article have an acceptable language level to be published on en.wiki? And generally speaking, would it be acceptable to edit en.wiki in a similar way? Thank you in advance, --Friniate ✉ 22:34, 20 December 2025 (UTC)[reply]

There are a few minor problems ("jewish" not being capitalized one time; "Faculty of Engineering" being capitalized, some weird phrasing ["with ownership interests held by Giovanni Agnelli", "offered him collaboration", "forced into labour", "also the US citizenship"]; "prefect of Parma", which should be capitalized; unnecessary "together" in "moved together"; and Stolperstein should be italicized. Other than that and lacking a lede section, it looks fine. Clarityfiend (talk) 00:55, 21 December 2025 (UTC)[reply]

@Clarityfiend Thank you very much! Some of these errors are actually my fault since the phrasing provided by the AI looked strange to me.

Generally speaking do you think that it would be acceptable to edit on en.wiki with a similar language level, or is it better if I do something else? --Friniate ✉ 01:39, 21 December 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Your writing is better than 90% of the stuff I see here, so keep at it. Clarityfiend (talk) 03:44, 21 December 2025 (UTC)[reply]

@Clarityfiend oh, okay, thank you very much! :-) --Friniate ✉ 09:22, 21 December 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Having set up by hand 19 numbered archives for User talk:Hoary, I arranged for "Miszabot" (i.e. Lowercase sigmabot III) to continue the job as it became necessary ("|counter=19"). Which it obligingly did.

Thrilled by this success, I arranged for "Miszabot" (i.e. Lowercase sigmabot III) to archive Talk:Henri Cartier-Bresson, Talk:Martin Parr, Talk:Hiroh Kikai, and Talk:Teikō Shiotani. None already had an archive, so I presumed that "|counter=0" would be required; however, the examples in User:MiszaBot/config for starting the archiving process instead have "|counter=1", and so, incredulously but obediently, I specified that.

Over 24 hours have passed, but no archiving has occurred. I've looked through "Causes of no archiving" but still don't notice what I've done wrong. What stupid mistake(s) have I made? -- Hoary (talk) 00:07, 21 December 2025 (UTC)[reply]

@Hoary: The archive parameter should be a subpage like |archive = Talk:Henri Cartier-Bresson/Archive %(counter)d, not |archive = Talk:Henri Cartier-Bresson %(counter)d. Talk:Hiroh Kikai is correct and it did archive. PrimeHunter (talk) 00:38, 21 December 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Well, duh. I plead senility. Thank you, PrimeHunter! -- Hoary (talk) 01:21, 21 December 2025 (UTC)[reply]

That's why in preview, it said "Preview warning: Page using User:MiszaBot/config with archive parameter not a subpage". One could argue that this should be visible in read-mode also, since it explains a reader-visible situation. DMacks (talk) 09:22, 22 December 2025 (UTC)[reply]

I have linked WP:SUB on "subpage" in the instructions.[15] PrimeHunter (talk) 00:46, 21 December 2025 (UTC)[reply]

When I was on a wiki page, I posted a question and somebody deleted it because it wasn't quite related enough. I posted the question who do you think Ginny should've ended up with on the Talk:Ginny Weasley page. My question is: is there a page for users to post opinion questions for other users to answer, similar to the type of question I posted and had taken off the wall? Thank you so much for your help! ~2025-42084-31 (talk) 00:56, 21 December 2025 (UTC) ~2025-42084-31 (talk) 00:55, 21 December 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Answered at Wikipedia:Teahouse#Where can I post the questions I want to discuss with other users? PrimeHunter (talk) 00:58, 21 December 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Wikipedia is an encyclopedia, and not a place to ask opinionated questions. There are several social media outlets that do allow you to ask such questions, such as Reddit. If you wish to ask a factual question regarding an article, please consult the reference desk. Children Will Listen (🐄 talk, 🫘 contribs) 01:00, 21 December 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Model #1F1ETWS43B ~2025-41931-92 (talk) 02:02, 21 December 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Hello. This is a helpdesk for question about using and editing Wikipedia, not for any other kind of question. Sorry. ColinFine (talk) 09:58, 21 December 2025 (UTC)[reply]

My article was declined on December 14 because it only referenced primary sources and read like an advert. I added secondary and evern Teritary sources. Is it ready to be published? BilltheBison (talk) 04:40, 21 December 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Every single source presently appears to be a press release (a primary source). Are you sure you added more secondary sources? - Purplewowies (talk) 05:26, 21 December 2025 (UTC)[reply]

The first 5 references are primary sources, the majority are secondary sources, the last reference is Teritary BilltheBison (talk) 05:51, 21 December 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Your sources are all company-written product manuals and specifications, which are primary and non-independent sources. Please see WP:42 for a summary of what we expect. Helpful Raccoon (talk) 08:12, 21 December 2025 (UTC)[reply]

To be more clear, a Wikipedia article about a product should mainly summarize what reliable sources who are unaffiliated with the company have written about the product (e.g. in product reviews or published books). If independent reliable sources have not chosen to write about it, then no article has possible. Helpful Raccoon (talk) 08:21, 21 December 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Secondary doesn't just mean the subject didn't write it. It also means the subject had no influence and no input. TooManyFingers (talk) 21:52, 21 December 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Why cant Wikipedia just supply its own fonts to render characters in the styling. Ive been trying to get font support to work and it's such a hack. I'll install the font and add it to Firefox but it doesnt work. I have to fiddle around with it until it works and even then when I do something else it breaks again! Anything but the standard fonts will not work and will be a pain in the ass because you have to keep going back and messing around to get it to work again. And now, its just not working at all. ~2025-42034-67 (talk) 07:07, 21 December 2025 (UTC)[reply]

So for example, whether or not they've already installed a typeface that's adequate for chữ Nôm, anyone who reads the page Chữ Nôm would be sure to view 𫿰 (within that page) as a chữ Nôm character (and not as some kind of "glyph unavailable" mark)? -- Hoary (talk) 07:01, 22 December 2025 (UTC)[reply]

I get the same 'unavailable' character, but my Firefox is utterly ancient. I came across this: Firefox just got better for Chinese, Japanese and Korean speakers on Android (dated August 18, 2025) which claims that the latest FF version copes with these characters. Or you could try our page Help:Multilingual support (East Asian): if you have an old version of Firefox eg running on XP, maybe Microsoft's website may help, but you may have no luck there. MinorProphet (talk) 18:06, 22 December 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Good evening,

Apologies if this is not the place to enquire about this sort of issue, but I am having trouble trying to reset the password of an old Wikipedia account of mine. I still have access to the email address attached to the account but the username and password are unfamiliar to me. When I send a request for a password reset, an email is never received on my end. I was curious to know why and perhaps it’s because it’s an old account which may have been decommissioned. It would be much appreciated if you (or if you could send me elsewhere to enquire about this) could please help me with this.

Thank you very much. ~2025-41727-33 (talk) 07:25, 21 December 2025 (UTC)[reply]

@~2025-41727-33: Accounts are never decommissioned. It's optional to store an email address in an account so maybe you didn't, or used another address. Try checking spam folders or think of any other address it might have been. If you don't know the password and cannot receive emails for the account then you have to create another account. PrimeHunter (talk) 13:24, 21 December 2025 (UTC)[reply]

do not continue begging for donations you not have to pop up in my searches at all leave me alone Veda boggs (talk) 05:17, 22 December 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Hello, Veda boggs. Wikipedia editors have nothing whatsoever to do with fundraising. That is handled by the Wikimedia Foundation. Please read Wikipedia:Suppress display of the fundraising banner. Cullen328 (talk) 06:10, 22 December 2025 (UTC)[reply]

how do I cancel my account Badwolf 1966 (talk) 06:55, 22 December 2025 (UTC)[reply]

You don't - if you want to leave, you just leave. TooManyFingers (talk) 07:58, 22 December 2025 (UTC)[reply]

@Badwolf 1966 The closest thing we have to "cancelling" an account is Wikipedia:Courtesy vanishing. Helpful Raccoon (talk) 08:44, 22 December 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Your user contributions show that you have made only one edit which is here on the Help desk page, so it hardly matters anyway.--♦IanMacM♦ ^{(talk to me)} 08:56, 22 December 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Could someone step in and comment on this discussion? It has already been reposted because there aren't enough opinions on the matter. ~2025-42341-94 (talk) 10:26, 22 December 2025 (UTC)[reply]

So, I'm trynna make myself a cool user page and I'm taking for example this user page: User:Balthazar, I understand most the HTML so I can do most of it but one part in it, the userboxes part I can't seem to understand the coding behind it, all I can understand is that there are subpages involved, can you explain it? Gfroi (talk) 12:28, 22 December 2025 (UTC)[reply]

@Gfroi: User:Balthazar says {{User:Balthazar/Userboxes}} which transcludes User:Balthazar/Userboxes. That page has a large block of code inside <includeonly>...</includeonly> which means it's not displayed on the page itself but only when it's transcluded on another page. Then there is a large block inside <noinclude>...</noinclude> which means it's only displayed on the page itself and not when it's transcluded. See more at WP:NOINCLUDE. So the whole page looks completely different when it's viewed directly or via transclusion on the parent page. It's an unusual setup for a userpage and you don't have to do it. PrimeHunter (talk) 15:50, 22 December 2025 (UTC)[reply]

thanks! Gfroi (talk) 15:34, 23 December 2025 (UTC)[reply]

"Hi. I requested an update on my talk page 2 months ago but got no response. I am the subject of Meisam Amini. I have updated my Wikidata (Q122609085) with official sources from Iran and France. Could a volunteer please help me to sync my Wikipedia Infobox with Wikidata so my photo, medals, and international coaching career (in Lyon and Ivory Coast) show up correctly? Also, please update the short description for Google's Knowledge Panel. Thanks!" ~2025-42297-20 (talk) 21:48, 22 December 2025 (UTC)[reply]

I added a pic. In general, infoboxes in WP:BLP:s should not use transcluded data from wikidata, pretty much anything needs to have an on-WP citation. WP-editors have no control over Google's KP. Gråbergs Gråa Sång (talk) 22:04, 22 December 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Btw, leaving messages at Talk:Meisam Amini is correct, but there is a good chance very few people are watching. Consider WP:EDITREQ or WP:APPNOTE in places like Wikipedia talk:WikiProject Iran and Wikipedia talk:WikiProject Martial arts. Gråbergs Gråa Sång (talk) 22:09, 22 December 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Thank you for adding the photo and for the guidance! I understand that data should be cited within Wikipedia.

Since I am the subject of the article and want to follow the rules, could you or another volunteer please help me add the citations from my Wikidata (Q122609085) to the English article? This would allow us to:

1. Replace the current photo with the 2003 World Championships version (File: Meisam Amini - World Wrestling Championships 2003.jpg).
2. Update my professional status to "International coach" (removing 'retired') and add my roles in Lyon and Ivory Coast.
3. Complete the Medal Record from the Persian Wikipedia page.

I will also reach out to WikiProject Iran as you suggested. Thank you for your professional help! ~2025-42560-02 (talk) 05:22, 23 December 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Thank you for your guidance regarding citations. To help update the article and remove the "retired" status, I am providing several reliable sources from both French and Iranian media. These sources confirm my active role as an international coach and technical instructor.

1. Professional Status (Coach in Lyon & Ivory Coast):
   • Lyon Mag: https://www.lyonmag.com/article/147816/meisam-amini-ancien-champion-iranien-de-lutte-installe-a-lyon-la-vie-est-comme-un-combat
   • Le Progrès: https://www.leprogres.fr/sport/2025/06/12/meisam-amini-la-lutte-un-art-d-ivoire-qu-il-transmet-avec-ardeur
   • Lyon Capitale: https://www.lyoncapitale.fr/actualite/liranien-meisam-amini-un-entraineur-de-lutte-a-lyon-le-sport-est-un-puissant-vecteur-de-paix
   • Tribune de Lyon: https://tribunedelyon.fr/sport/meisam-amini-lutte-iranien-entraineور-lyon/
2. Technical Instructor for Ivory Coast (Official Reports):
   • IRNA News: https://www.irna.ir/news/85831100/
   • ISNA News: https://www.isna.ir/news/1404022115281/
   • Tasnim News: https://www.tasnimnews.com/fa/news/1404/02/22/3311276/
3. Summary of Requested Changes:
   • Please update the lead sentence to reflect my active career as an international coach.
   • Synchronize the Medal Record with the Persian Wikipedia (https://fa.wikipedia.org/wiki/میثم_امینی) using these sources.
   • Replace the photo with: Meisam Amini - World Wrestling Championships 2003.jpg.

Since I am the subject of the article, I would appreciate a volunteer's help in adding these citations directly to the English Wikipedia page. Thank you! ~2025-42066-90 (talk) 05:35, 23 December 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Hello! I have been trying to implement custom CSS for the Vector Legacy theme so that when I scroll down on an article, the sidebar does not scroll down with it, and I can scroll down the sidebar separately to access options near the bottom. I also want to move the search bar from the top right corner to the top of the page, to the left of the user icon. Does anyone have any help to offer? Thank you! ZImperator (talk) (contrib) 23:45, 22 December 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Try asking at WP:Village pump (technical), they know best about these things. Athanelar (talk) 09:27, 23 December 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks for the help! ZImperator (talk) (contrib) 16:22, 23 December 2025 (UTC)[reply]

@Heu @juundn@hodhs@K . K Rasika udara chandrasekara ~2025-32791-77 (talk) 02:31, 23 December 2025 (UTC)[reply]

What? ZImperator (talk) (contrib) 03:27, 23 December 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Looks like a vandal. TooManyFingers (talk) 03:32, 23 December 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Or some confused guy. But both make sense. ZImperator (talk) (contrib) 03:36, 23 December 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Do repercussions from other people diminish when I return from a long WP:BREAK? Ahri Boy (talk) 02:32, 23 December 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Hello, Ahri Boy. "Repercussions" is a vague term in this context. Obviously, memories and emotions related to disputes fade with time, but you are just as much expected to comply with Wikipedia's policies and guidelines and behavioral expectations following a long wikibreak as if you had never taken a break. Cullen328 (talk) 03:34, 23 December 2025 (UTC)[reply]

What do you mean? TooManyFingers (talk) 03:30, 23 December 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Simply off-wiki disputes about me, which I may ignore or politely engage depending on weight. Currently, I may have low capacity to contribute due to personal reasons, including prioritizing my uncle's family. Ahri Boy (talk) 03:53, 23 December 2025 (UTC)[reply]

It's best to pay no attention to what people say about you off-wiki if you feel hurt by it. Children Will Listen (🐄 talk, 🫘 contribs) 04:03, 23 December 2025 (UTC)[reply]

I recommend that you do take the break you talked about. Being under stress off-wiki makes it hard to contribute here, because no one here can see what you're going through - if you accidentally get angry at someone here, or say things that it's better not to say, you automatically get blamed. (And that's actually fair, because it's not their fault.)

So, do the things that will really help your life and your family's life. Let Wikipedia take care of itself, at least until you come back. :) TooManyFingers (talk) 05:33, 23 December 2025 (UTC)[reply]

About the repercussions question: if you and someone else have a problem with each other that is both off-wiki and on-wiki, then nobody who's just on-wiki can intelligently answer your question. But if the repercussions are from an on-wiki-only person, then I can very confidently say two things: it might possibly improve with a break, but more importantly, it sure won't get worse with a break. :) TooManyFingers (talk) 05:51, 23 December 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Hello,

I recently created an account and I am not able to confirm my email. Every confirmation link reports the code expired even when opened immediately. I tried many times, different browsers, etc. No luck.

Can someone please advise how to resolve this?

Thank you! DeepDive25 (talk) 02:52, 23 December 2025 (UTC)[reply]

@DeepDive25: Some email services or anti-malware may scan links for security reasons. This can invalidate the code. Try another email service if possible. PrimeHunter (talk) 03:17, 23 December 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Due to the incorrectness of this module in Pashto Wikipedia, many pages show errors. If anyone can fix this, please let us know.
for example this page شاه زمان پټان (talk) 06:02, 23 December 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Although, شاه زمان پټان, I very much doubt that I could help even if I knew which module and what problem, other people viewing this page might be able to. However, you're not making it easy for them. -- Hoary (talk) 06:59, 23 December 2025 (UTC)[reply]

@شاه زمان پټان: I've mostly fixed the basic functioning of the location map module. However, thousands of data files have to be imported for it to work completely. Children Will Listen (🐄 talk, 🫘 contribs) 07:00, 23 December 2025 (UTC)[reply]

I think it's mostly a bug in the module:Unsubst and map-related modules, like this one. شاه زمان پټان (talk) 09:35, 23 December 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Hi, I notice a page about me is missing, I was hoping to re-establish it but I can't find anywhere it might have been submitted as I didnt publish it myself. I'm a public figure and I really need help establishing my identity to retrieve an online account. Can anyone help me? ~2025-42335-76 (talk) 07:55, 23 December 2025 (UTC)[reply]

It's difficult to help you without knowing what article you are talking about. Our only concern with articles is if they meet our inclusion criteria and accurately summarize what independent reliable sources say about the topic. Not all "public figures" merit Wikipedia articles. 331dot (talk) 08:22, 23 December 2025 (UTC)[reply]

I'm not quite understanding. Are you saying that you want to use Wikipedia to prove your own identity to a third party? TooManyFingers (talk) 08:41, 23 December 2025 (UTC)[reply]

If the page is missing, it was very clumsy of you to lose it. Try to remember where you left it, that's far easier than trying to get people to find it here. - Walter Ego 08:45, 23 December 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Hello, @~2025-42335-76.

I think you're saying that there used to be a Wikipedia article about you, but now you can't find it. If that is the case, it is likely that it has been deleted, probably because it failed to establish that you meet Wikipedia's criteria for notability. 331dot's answer explains what that is about. If you tell us the name of the article, we can investigate.

I don't understand what the last bit is about. I can't think of any circumstances in which the existence of a Wikipedia article could be of help in establishing somebody's identity. ColinFine (talk) 10:22, 23 December 2025 (UTC)[reply]

I'm not sure if I have gone to the right place, but hopefully I found the correct place in a maze of trying to find where i'm looking.

I Wanted to ask 2 Questions for Wikipedia:

A. As someone who wanted nothing to do with the last somewhat 8 Years, I wanted to know what Wikipedia's stance was on the Past 8 Years?

Is Wikipedia for staying the same or for the changes??

I have no idea where Wikipedia keeps a list of Updates to it's services, a history of sorts for it's Wiki to keep People in the know of what is going on currently with the Platform...

Any help would be nice...

B. I saw that Wikipedia is having a Donation thing for non-profit, & to keep Billionare's from buying it's soul...

You are running a fundraiser to try & meet a goal, I wanted to know how Wikipedia was doing on that goal?

What is the Goal Wikipedia is trying to reach, & how much has Wikipedia actually gotten twards the goal so far??

I think its great you want to stay as a non-profit, I've actually heard what the Billionare's want to do with Wikipedia if they buy it, & I would much prefer they don't buy it, & for those reasons, I really hope you reach your Wiki Fundraiser Goal, o___O ~2025-42189-04 (talk) 11:20, 23 December 2025 (UTC)[reply]

1. What 'changes' of the past 8 years are you asking about in particular?
2. The donation drive isn't done by Wikipedia, it's done by the Wikimedia Foundation who have their own goals and projects. Wikipedia is an independent, volunteer-run project, we have no say over what is done with the money raised by the Wikimedia Foundation, and essentially all they do is 'keep the lights on' here so to speak.

Athanelar (talk) 11:51, 23 December 2025 (UTC)[reply]

What Wikipedia's stance was on the Past 8 Years? Something like "Wikipedians kept working, some things changed, Wikipedia remains imperfect and pretty good in parts." You might find something that interests you on History of Wikipedia or WP:PRESS 25 and preceding pages. Gråbergs Gråa Sång (talk) 12:33, 23 December 2025 (UTC)[reply]

"I've actually heard what the Billionare's want to do with Wikipedia if they buy it". Oh? I haven't, but I am aware of what one billionaire is already doing with it. -- Hoary (talk) 07:27, 24 December 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Wikipedia:Notability#General_notability_guideline is a guideline to decide whether a topic deserves an article. Can it also be applied to decide whether a sub-topic deserves being mentioned in the topic's article? Has this been discussed/clarified/an alternative been established? --KnightMove (talk) 12:11, 23 December 2025 (UTC)[reply]

@KnightMove That sounds like something you'll find guidance on at WP:NPOV. WP:SUMMARY may also be of interest. Gråbergs Gråa Sång (talk) 12:36, 23 December 2025 (UTC)[reply]

No, because as you said, the whole purpose of notability guidelines is to establish whether something deserves a standalone article. Plenty of things that wouldn't merit their own article still have sections on other articles, because while that information may not be notable enough for its own article, it has relevance to a subject which is notable enough for its own article.

Notability essentially has no bearing on whether you should include information in an existing article, but there are other relevant pieces of guidance like a lot of things in WP:What Wikipedia is not, and things in the WP:Manual of style like MOS:TRIVIA Athanelar (talk) 12:36, 23 December 2025 (UTC)[reply]

A sub-topic deserves to be mentioned in an article if independent reliable secondary sources about the main topic mention it, simple as that. Depending on what you're doing, WP:DUE might be of interest to you. JustARandomSquid (talk) 12:37, 23 December 2025 (UTC)[reply]

My question is motivated by the discussion whether a list of occasionally added members of the 27 Club is adequate in the article or not. The former consensus was that the listing of a specific person in one quotable source is enough, which is now nixed again. I think if a person gets a minimum of coverage in quotable sources as a member of the 27 Club, the person should indeed be listed.

But I am afraid that WP:What Wikipedia is not, WP:Manual of style and WP:DUE all don't help in deciding what such a minimum threshold could look like. Is there something else? --KnightMove (talk) 12:48, 23 December 2025 (UTC)[reply]

In that case, then regardless of whatever other standards may exist, the decision regarding that particular article will ultimately fall to whatever consensus is established on the talk page; that is always the ultimate factor on what gets included in any article.

If the consensus on the article talk page is (as it seems to be) that the list should not be included, that consensus should be abided by. If you want to pull in some more opinions, you might try notifying at some places like WP:Wikiproject Music Athanelar (talk) 13:30, 23 December 2025 (UTC)[reply]

My interpretation:

That article is partly an article, but partly a list of notable people, and some random person who died at the age of 27 should not be on the list. Is that what you're getting at? TooManyFingers (talk) 15:16, 23 December 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Or, whether the article should or shouldn't have such a list?

My very personal take on it: if no list, then why bother having the article at all? TooManyFingers (talk) 15:19, 23 December 2025 (UTC)[reply]

@TooManyFingers: That's a fair question that inspired a new layer to the conflict... --KnightMove (talk) 06:59, 24 December 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Sorry about that. Or, you're welcome - depending on your point of view.

Might as well get all of it out of our systems now, while we're at it. :) TooManyFingers (talk) 07:08, 24 December 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Todd Chrisley Teresa Terry is Kyle Chrisley's mother (Todd's wife Julie is his step-mother) ~2025-42535-77 (talk) 13:01, 23 December 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Hello, @~2025-42535-77.

If you find an error in an article, you may be able to correct it yourself (but you should have - and cite - a reliable published source for anything you are adding). If you are unsure about doing this for any reason, the article's talk page is the place to suggest the change. ColinFine (talk) 13:12, 23 December 2025 (UTC)[reply]

how can i sign in if i cant remember my password and your forgoet password function will not allow me to use that function ~2025-42568-64 (talk) 14:25, 23 December 2025 (UTC)[reply]

If you registered with an e-mail, see Wikipedia:FAQ/Technical#How_do_I_recover_a_password_I_have_forgotten?. If you didn't, you can't, but read that link anyway. Gråbergs Gråa Sång (talk) 14:51, 23 December 2025 (UTC)[reply]

There are multiple subpages of Wikipedia:List of hoaxes on Wikipedia that are not linked in the actual page, such as Who's closest, and Fyckshenhall. Should they be deleted? The latter was only in mainspace for two weeks anyway. RanDom 404 (talk) 16:26, 23 December 2025 (UTC)[reply]

RanDom 404, please ask at Wikipedia talk:List of hoaxes on Wikipedia. -- Hoary (talk) 07:42, 24 December 2025 (UTC)[reply]

(I haven't found any guidance about moving a section from one article to another.) I performed the move by cut-and-pasting the section (including heading) into another article and deleting it from the original article. By manually doing so, any direct links to that original article's section will break. How can I find the broken links to fix? Ideally, the editor who originally wrote that section should retain his/her contribution credit despite my move. rootsmusic (talk) 17:40, 23 December 2025 (UTC)[reply]

@Rootsmusic: there is guidance on Wikipedia:Copying within Wikipedia, you need to use an edit summary like e.g. Copied content from [[Page name]]; see source page's history for attribution. You can do a dummy edit like adding a space and add it retrospectively. TSventon (talk) 18:35, 23 December 2025 (UTC)[reply]

(Thanks @TSventon, but I moved the section. So it wasn't copied, because my second step was to delete the original article's section.) I have added a revised edit summary to attribute the original editor. How can I find broken links (e.g. using page-section templates) elsewhere on WP to that original article's section? rootsmusic (talk) 19:15, 23 December 2025 (UTC)[reply]

@Rootsmusic: you copied content from a Wikipedia article to another Wikipedia article, so the guidance I linked applies, even though you removed the original text afterwards. The point is that if someone wants to find the history and authorship of the section you moved, they need to look in the article you copied/moved it from. Help:What links_here#Fragments has some advice on finding section links, I wasn't able to find any. TSventon (talk) 19:29, 23 December 2025 (UTC)[reply]

@Rootsmusic: Yes, a section move is to copy and delete a section. The source page should be linked per Wikipedia:Section moving#Step 5: Move the content. I have done it.[16] PrimeHunter (talk) 00:55, 24 December 2025 (UTC)[reply]

I was trying to add the OneClickArchiver and Restorer scripts to my common.js, but then LTA 404 blocked me indefinitely with no talk page access because it thought my edit was harmful! Stupid abuse filter. ~2025-42732-08 (talk) 21:46, 23 December 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Sorry, i did not log in, i am TheCoolMango and the account that was blocked indefinitely by the abuse filter is this one i'm using right now. TheCoolMango (talk) 21:48, 23 December 2025 (UTC)[reply]

If you were blocked on Meta, you can only be unblocked on Meta. The English-language Wikipedia (which is where you are posting now) has no control over Meta. AndyTheGrump (talk) 21:58, 23 December 2025 (UTC)[reply]

I suspect they asked here because they have talk page access disabled on Meta (due, I imagine, to the specific abuse filter they tripped); on the other hand, that doesn't really make it more relevant to enwiki... - Purplewowies (talk) 22:47, 23 December 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Hi. I've unblocked your account on Meta. --Min☠︎rax^«¦talk¦» 00:50, 24 December 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Perhaps the filter should be updated to not flag auto edit-summaries. Children Will Listen (🐄 talk, 🫘 contribs) 05:52, 25 December 2025 (UTC)[reply]

On the page Timeline of the introduction of color television in countries and territories there are dates for subdivisions of countries. I didn't remove because I didnt want to start an edit war, but the problem is that everything on there has no sources. do I remove it or do I find sources? or, with there being a cleanup request, that? CD967119 (talk) 03:09, 24 December 2025 (UTC)[reply]

It sounds to me like the material you're talking about is not irrelevant or fake, but legitimate material that's missing sources. So, finding sources is the first choice. TooManyFingers (talk) 05:10, 24 December 2025 (UTC)[reply]

I would like to know how to add a personal tab on Margaret’s Wikipedia profile. She was a brilliant scientist. She was a pioneer for women in science. However, as her daughter’s best friend, I know that Margaret’s greatest accomplishment was her husband, Bill Etter, and her two children. In all of her travels, she wrote a personal journal to her daughter describing her experiences. As brilliant of a mind that she was, she was even a better mother. I feel that not including this part of her life is a monumental disservice to the complete woman that she was. Even though I never had the honor of meeting her, I feel like I know her through her daughter (Karen) and she is an inspiration to me. ~2025-42811-78 (talk) 04:53, 24 December 2025 (UTC)[reply]

There's unfortunately no possibility for personal material on Wikipedia - only what's already been publicly reported by reliable publishers. TooManyFingers (talk) 05:06, 24 December 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Hi IP editor, it is normal to mention spouses and children if there is a reliable source. This newsletter from the University of Minnesota does mention her husband and children. TSventon (talk) 11:46, 24 December 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Mentioning them is fine, yes. Just not personal anecdotes. TooManyFingers (talk) 16:29, 24 December 2025 (UTC)[reply]

I am trying to do a regex search for a string that causes a missing end tag for <table>. The markup is

}}|} <!-- EdwardsBot

the fix is

}}
|} <!-- EdwardsBot

The bad markup occurs on about 480 User Talk pages. The regex string should be insource:/\}\}\|\} \</, and keep on going from there, but this string returns no results, for reasons that escape me, so, to get a count of the bad markup string, I used insource:/\}\}\|\}/ -insource:/\}\}\|\}\}/, which works, but there are a few false positives, such as User talk:Patrick. Will someone please explain why the regex expression that should work returns no results. —Anomalocaris (talk) 21:24, 23 December 2025 (UTC). I removed a stray less than sign just before "insource" just now. I hope it didn't cause any confusion. —Anomalocaris (talk) 17:34, 24 December 2025 (UTC)[reply]

For help with regex, ask at WP:VPT. Andy Mabbett (Pigsonthewing); Talk to Andy; Andy's edits 11:44, 24 December 2025 (UTC)[reply]

@Anomalocaris: Please always give an example when you report a perceived problem. I couldn't find any page which is supposed to match your regex, apart from this help desk post which does match it when I remove the initial < which doesn't belong. I get 479 hits in all namespaces if I replace the space wth a newline: insource:EdwardsBot insource:/\}\}\|\}\n\</. I added insource:EdwardsBot per mw:Help:CirrusSearch#Using the index first to filter results because pure regex searches are expensive. PrimeHunter (talk) 13:34, 24 December 2025 (UTC)[reply]

PrimeHunter: Here are 484 pages, nearly all of which have the offending markup, including, for example, User talk:ThinkBlue, User talk:GTBacchus, User talk:Backslash Forwardslash .... But this returns "There were no results matching the query." —Anomalocaris (talk) 17:34, 24 December 2025 (UTC)[reply]

@Anomalocaris: None of the three linked pages have the markup. They all have a newline and not a space before <!-- EdwardsBot. I already showed how to find them with search. Does your browser display a space when you edit the page? You cannot use excerpts on a search results page for exact character matching. PrimeHunter (talk) 23:11, 24 December 2025 (UTC)[reply]

PrimeHunter: I didn't do my homework before my previous response. Based on the results page of insource:/\}\}\|\}/ -insource:/\}\}\|\}\}/, but without actually clicking on any of the results, I just knew there were missing results from insource:/\}\}\|\} \</. This time I have done my homework, and now I see that your first response was entirely correct. But I am still puzzled, because Help:Searching/Regex says twice, 'Regex experts should note that \n does not mean "newline"', and also "Although character classes \n, \s, \S are not supported, you may use these workarounds:". But mw:Help:CirrusSearch says \n matches a line feed character. It would seem that Help:Searching/Regex is in need of updating, but perhaps I am missing something. I should mention that I edited mw:Help:CirrusSearch to clean up some minor issues. —Anomalocaris (talk) 01:26, 26 December 2025 (UTC)[reply]

The local page is outdated: phab:T403212. * Pppery * _{it has begun...} 01:49, 26 December 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Pppery: Thanks, I added a comment at phab:T403212 asking to update Help:Searching/Regex. —Anomalocaris (talk) 04:48, 26 December 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Hello, If one needs to add hundreds of url-status=live to references, is there a tool that will do this without having to manually do each one? Thanks for any assistance. Canary757 (talk) 07:01, 24 December 2025 (UTC)[reply]

WP:AWB. Andy Mabbett (Pigsonthewing); Talk to Andy; Andy's edits 11:43, 24 December 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Request Id: 20ad1ba8-1365-40af-aee9-2ce0b88b6702

Correlation Id: a0e51bdb-66a0-44d7-a5d6-51fe216794c6

Timestamp: 2025-12-24T11:16:02Z

Message: AADSTS900561: The endpoint only accepts POST requests. Received a GET request ~2025-42747-49 (talk) 11:28, 24 December 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Does this have anything to do with Wikipedia? Andy Mabbett (Pigsonthewing); Talk to Andy; Andy's edits 11:42, 24 December 2025 (UTC)[reply]

I'm looking for guidance: Seeking help with the Automatic citation tab in VisualEditor. I've tried using it with URLs of court cases and decisions I'd like to cite, and it hasn't worked. e.g. 1, 2. (And Author ID fails with 3.) I'm wondering if it works with some of the more popular court case URLs - e.g. PACER (law), or Recap (software) or Justia or Lexis URLs, or the like, or some format of case citation. More generally, I'm also wondering where documentation of what it works with can be found, and where discussion of improving /expanding its capabilities happens.

Help:VisualEditor#Using Automatic tab doesn't point folks to where the above is happening. If anyone provides answers, I'd be happy to expand it; it could use it.

Looking at https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Citoid, it doesn't seem like the place, but maybe it's in Phabricator? (Hopefully I'm understanding correctly that the Automatic citation tab in VisualEditor is based on Citoid?)

RememberOrwell (talk) 12:12, 24 December 2025 (UTC)[reply]

About 1 year ago I started donating $2.75 monthly, and did so for a few months. When I wanted to stop the monthly donations I could not find a way to do that, so had to call my credit card company to get it stopped. I do not have any type of account with Wikipedia that I know of, and this is the best place to make such comment that I could find. I would donate again but I don’t want it to become a time-wasting problem for me. ~2025-42845-18 (talk) 13:23, 24 December 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Hi @~2025-42845-18. Unfortunately, us volunteer editors on the English Wikipedia have no control over the Wikimedia Foundation donation process. Please contact the Foundation directly at donate@wikimedia.org. qcne (talk) 13:26, 24 December 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Have I malformed my CFD nomination at Category:Literary characters introduced in 1603? I've never done that before so unsurprising if I've got it wrong. If yes can someone fix it for me (if easy) or tell me what I should have done. AndyJones (talk) 13:47, 24 December 2025 (UTC)[reply]

@AndyJones: the header on today's CFD nomination page had an extra "Category:", so I removed it. TSventon (talk) 14:07, 24 December 2025 (UTC)[reply]

So I made this edit removing the non-country in the infobox country field.[17] I then looked at the history and was surprised to find a much larger than expected 288 byte removal. I checked the edit in Visual mode and it shows what I had done, but in Source mode it shows lots of spaces in each field have been removed as well. No effect on the rendered version, so I'm wondering whether or not it's a problem? Rupples (talk) 16:43, 24 December 2025 (UTC)[reply]

@Rupples: Not a problem. One space, two spaces, or a hundred, they all mean the same in this circumstance. Bazza 7 (talk) 16:57, 24 December 2025 (UTC)[reply]

The MoS gives quite a few examples for quotation marks and for italics for book chapters, book titles, etc., but no suggestion for the title of an academic thesis. It appears to be a borderline case, as some theses might be longer than some books, but they are not part of a larger work. Have I missed something in the MoS, or should I add an example to one of these MoS sections? Chris the speller ^yack 17:54, 24 December 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Chicago style uses quotation marks (see here). I don't know what's in other guides. TooManyFingers (talk) 18:56, 24 December 2025 (UTC)[reply]

What does {{cite thesis}} do? I usually use cite templates precisely so I don't have to know anything about any style-guide:) DMacks (talk) 19:35, 24 December 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Since we do have a style guide it's probably best to make it reasonably complete, but you're right - checking that template and telling people to do whatever it would have done is a good idea. TooManyFingers (talk) 21:22, 24 December 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks for your ideas and guidance. The template (cite thesis) displays titles in italics (sorry, CMOS), so I will add a note to MOS:ITALICS. Chris the speller ^yack 05:44, 25 December 2025 (UTC)[reply]

I have no attachment to Chicago style, it just happened to be easy to look up. (And if someone does use Chicago style on Wikipedia, then at least they've followed something organized and reasonable, which is a bit of a win considering what else they might have done.) But I agree with what you did. TooManyFingers (talk) 00:12, 26 December 2025 (UTC)[reply]

how to edit free? ~2025-42825-99 (talk) 18:20, 24 December 2025 (UTC)[reply]

You did it already! TooManyFingers (talk) 18:57, 24 December 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Family tree of the Greek gods

I'm trying to fulfill a semi-protected edit request on that page, but since it's a genealogy article, it makes extensive use of Template:Tree chart, which is far, far, far too complex for me. The request is cited and seems good to me, but requires a significant amount of effort to redesign portions of the tree, outlined below.

• Pontus and Gaia had Eurybia, wife of Crius, who was son of Uranus and Gaia. (The link between Portus and Gaia isn't shown yet and Eurybia hasn't been added as far as I can tell)
• Crius and Eurybia had Perses, husband of Asteria.
• Uranus and Gaia had Coeus, husband and brother to Phoebe. Coeus and Phoebe had Asteria, wife of Perses.

Thank you in advance! (If I've misplaced this request, let me know where it belongs.) FMRadio :3_{(chat | edits | she/her)} 18:25, 24 December 2025 (UTC)[reply]

as in title, how do you disable these?

im pretty sure you have more than enough money.

not sure why you need to beg for. Metro8102 (talk) 19:28, 24 December 2025 (UTC)[reply]

where do these donations go exactly?

thats what i wanna know. Metro8102 (talk) 19:33, 24 December 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Volunteer editors have no control over the donation banners, but the money goes to the Wikimedia Foundation, the nonprofit that--among other things--hosts Wikipedia and the like. Their website is https://wikimediafoundation.org/ where you might be able to read about how they characterize their use of money. I'd imagine there might be budget/money use reports for previous years on that website, though I didn't go looking for them. As a nonprofit, they're not allowed under US law to make a profit, so they do have to be transparent about what they're doing with the money. (There is a link somewhere about ways to suppress the donation prompt but I don't use it enough to remember where it's at quickly, and I don't remember if it has guidance for logged-out purposes. *goes off to look*) - Purplewowies (talk) 19:53, 24 December 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Wikipedia:Suppress display of the fundraising banner has a temporary way for logged-out accounts using cookies. .cn-fundraising {display: none} put in a CSS style that applies to English Wikipedia appears to also suppress the fundraising banners I've been able to get to trigger in a private tab, but I don't know how stable that is or how long it might last (might be very stable if the CSS class never changes. might not be stable at all (though I don't see Wikipedia's CSS change a ton so...)). - Purplewowies (talk) 20:00, 24 December 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Could someone share their thoughts in this discussion? ~2025-42780-89 (talk) 20:42, 24 December 2025 (UTC)[reply]

The Helpdesk is not a place to solicit additional opinions. Please try at WP:3O or a relevant Wikiproject (maybe WP:WikiProject California) Athanelar (talk) 00:22, 25 December 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Can somebody who can write Russian suggest to User:EAMamedov that he should (a) edit in English on en.wiki, and (b) best not write an autobiographical article on their user page? His other edits appear to be experimental, apart from VVER. -- Verbarson  ^talk_edits 21:15, 24 December 2025 (UTC)[reply]

There may be no Russian-speaking editors reading the Help Desk. Try WP:Local Embassy. Andy Mabbett (Pigsonthewing); Talk to Andy; Andy's edits 17:49, 25 December 2025 (UTC)[reply]

I have contacted one of the named ambassadors. Thank you. -- Verbarson  ^talk_edits 18:55, 25 December 2025 (UTC)[reply]

UFL championship game

This page was initially about the championship game for the 2009–2012 iteration of the UFL. However, the page was completely overwritten with information regarding the championship game for the current iteration of the league. What would be the proper procedure to have the content on the old iteration of the game put in a new page, with proper attribution and procedures followed? Figured this would be a good place to start. 57birdnerd (talk) 04:08, 25 December 2025 (UTC)[reply]

I don't know a huge amount about this, but what I DO know is this: don't do anything hasty, because it would be easy to create an outcome that nobody wants. (And to get blamed for trying.) TooManyFingers (talk) 10:06, 25 December 2025 (UTC)[reply]

I think it's possible that the correct solution might be to revert the recent major change, and give the 2024 version its own new article.

Or maybe to revert that change and then remake the 2024 version in a new section??

But mainly this: Don't decide on your own. That's what THEY did, and look at the trouble it's caused. TooManyFingers (talk) 10:12, 25 December 2025 (UTC)[reply]

The Republic of Karelia page mentions the Karelian writer Antti Timonen, for which no English page exists. There are however versions of the page on the Finnish, Karelian, and Russian wikipedias. Of the three the Russian page has the most content and the Finnish and Karelian pages are about equal in the amount they cover. I want to add an inter-language link to the original page and need to pick one of the non-english pages. I'm wondering what best practice would be as the page for the native language of the subject is not the same as the page with the most content. Should amount of content or should the native language of the subject be given priority in choices like these? I've checked some of the help and guideline pages but haven't found any relevant info, any advice is appreciated. Nialimh (talk) 14:56, 25 December 2025 (UTC)[reply]

@Nialimh: Template:Interlanguage link can link to multiple languages. I would choose links that would be useful to English speaking readers, possibly Finnish and Russian as they are both served by Google translate and similar services. TSventon (talk) 15:08, 25 December 2025 (UTC)[reply]

I agree that that makes the most sense so this is what I ended up going with, thanks! Nialimh (talk) 15:15, 25 December 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Hello, @Nialimh. I don't think there is a good answer.

With my Wikipedia purist hat on, I'd say, the one with the best (not necessarily most!) references, as an article without references is essentially worthless. ;-)

But more practically, I would choose Russian, as a random reader is more likely to be able to read Russian than Finnish or Karelian. ColinFine (talk) 15:09, 25 December 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Yep, use your editorial judgement. If you cannot decide, put one (or all three) of them in a footnote. -Arch dude (talk) 17:22, 25 December 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Nialimh, there is no need to choose among them, and no benefit in doing so that I can think of, unless perhaps (unlike me) you find the look of ⟨Antti Timonen [fi; olo; ru]⟩ aesthetically displeasing. -- Hoary (talk) 07:41, 26 December 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Stormy Marmot

Can someone help figure out whether this animal is real or stuffed? This (albeit in an unencyclopedic way) stated that it's actually a stuffed toy, and was removed here for being "personal commentary". Based on both Google and the marmot's website (linked in external links), it really does seem to be a stuffed marmot, but the previous version treats it as an actual animal along with some sources. Otherwise, this is mildly bemusing. Happy holidays, it's lio! | talk | work 16:05, 25 December 2025 (UTC)[reply]

It's a stuffed toy. Unfortunately I see no notability, so have AFDed. qcne (talk) 16:14, 25 December 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Why has Wikipedia resorted to extortionary tactics to demand funds? I have donated to Wikipedia many times over the past 20 years, generally in amounts in excess of the minima recommended at those times. Now I live on a modest fixed income and cannot always afford to respond to what has become a barrage of funding requests. Just now, I was stopped from reading information on Wikipedia. I find Wikepedia's resort to strong-arming extortion for a casual user of its resources vindictive and self-defeating. I won't contribute another cent to Wikipedia as it descends into the fascist world. FredMerkle (talk) 21:21, 25 December 2025 (UTC)[reply]

How were you "stopped from reading information on Wikipedia"? AndyTheGrump (talk) 21:31, 25 December 2025 (UTC)[reply]

What happens when you turn off fundraising banners in your Special:Preferences#mw-prefsection-centralnotice-banners preferences? DMacks (talk) 21:50, 25 December 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Extortion is an insane claim, based on what they're actually doing. But I agree the whole thing is annoying. TooManyFingers (talk) 00:02, 26 December 2025 (UTC)[reply]

It should also be noted that it is the WikiMedia Foundation, rather than Wikipedia, that is responsible for the fundraising banners, and that many Wikipedia contributors aren't exactly impressed by the way they imply that without immediate donations, Wikipedia servers may shut down. This is clearly not true, given the humongous pile of dosh the WMF is currently sitting on, though I wouldn't call it 'extortion'. AndyTheGrump (talk)

Not to be a counter-grump, Andy; but by global or Silicon-Valley standards, the current endowment of the Foundation is pretty darned picayune. It would have to increase by an order of magnitude to be serious cabbage. --~2025-41941-72 (talk) 07:51, 26 December 2025 (UTC)[reply]

If there were no fundraising, then the free online encyclopedia would not able to function without profits donated. ~2025-42676-23 (talk) 09:59, 26 December 2025 (UTC)[reply]

FredMerkle You can turn off the donation requests in your account preferences. You should not donate money if you cannot afford to do so- a donation is just that, a donation; you don't need to give a penny to access Wikipedia. 331dot (talk) 10:04, 26 December 2025 (UTC)[reply]

When I was working for G. Schirmer and attended Balanchine's Ballet danced by Suzanne Ferrell - Ive's "Unanswered Question" which was truly a great ballet danced by a wonderful dancer, Suzanne Ferrell. I had been a Music Major at Smith College. It was around 1967 - 1969 which is when I was employed by G. Schirmer in their Rental and Royalty Department. It should be listed in his ballets - you can search it under Dances by Suzanne Ferrell on line. It was a dance to music called Ivesiena. Charles Ives was one of our composers with Boosey and Hawkes and subsidiary of G. Schirmer.---- C. McIlvain ~2025-42965-99 (talk) 23:52, 25 December 2025 (UTC)[reply]

If you have an exact link to something that complies with Wikipedia:Reliable sources and contains the relevant information, then it can be added. TooManyFingers (talk) 23:58, 25 December 2025 (UTC)[reply]

It's also fine if you give an exact page reference in a paper book, if the book meets that standard. TooManyFingers (talk) 23:59, 25 December 2025 (UTC)[reply]

I looked at List of ballets by George Balanchine and it includes Ivesiana, which has a movement set to The Unanswered Question. TSventon (talk) 00:11, 26 December 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Thank you. I'm sorry if my comments are not helpful. I was "blown away" by Suzanne Ferrell and her dancing of what was probably Ivesiena more than just The Unanswered Question. I was very excited by Ives' work. I understand why Balanchine thought it complicated. It is. Suzanne Ferrell, like Balanchine was extremely musical which is why she was such a great Ballerina for him. I have not seen a ballerina who had her musical expression since then. Certainly that must be why Balanchine took her back into the NYC Ballet. ~2025-42965-99 (talk) 00:34, 26 December 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Your comment (about it being missing) turned out not to be true, but that's perfectly fine, it was an honest mistake and a valid topic to be asking about. TooManyFingers (talk) 00:40, 26 December 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Hello, I have three questions and I would appreciate for your answers.

1- When I edit Wikipedia with the computer app of wikipedia, tags displayed? if displayed, what tags are displayed for that edit, like when i write message in talk page or when I edit in article?

2. When I edit with a computer browser, is the tag displayed for that edit? And if displayed, what is the difference between the tag of editing with computer app and editing with a computer browser?

3. Are these tags the same on all wikis and is there a difference between displaying the tag related to that edit on different wikis, such as the English or Italian wiki or other wikis? ~2025-43159-58 (talk) 09:11, 26 December 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Hello! You can see which tags are applied to edits on Special:Tags. Deltaspace⁴² (talk • contribs) 10:20, 26 December 2025 (UTC)[reply]

I saw them but I didn't fully understand them. Please answer the 3 questions with detail I asked so that I can understand them because I don't have much knowledge about these types of things. Thank you ~2025-43159-58 (talk) 11:12, 26 December 2025 (UTC)[reply]