User:Knife-in-the-drawer

As I work on Wikipedia, I notice "holes" that should be fixed; until now, they got added to a "To Dos" list on my computer. However, lacking free time, I've decided to make the list public. If any item here strikes your fancy, feel free to pursue it. When you finish, please mark it with ✅ and sign with four tildes ( ~ ).

If you want to discuss, please use my talk page.

Wikipedia To Dos
(added 6 June 2015)

Template:COBISS

 * Currently, this template only works with libraries in Slovenia, yet the COBISS network includes several countries. I had a COBISS id for a Macedonian book--the template didn't work for me.


 * Perhaps add a "country=" parameter such as Template:ASIN uses.

"Choral Public Domain Library" inline template

 * ChoralWiki (1040 transclusions)
 * ChoralWikiName (1 transclusion)
 * ✅ Convert 1 transclusion to ChoralWiki, then delete ChoralWikiName
 * ChoralWikiNoScores (1 transclusion)
 * ✅ Convert 1 transclusion to ChoralWiki, then delete ChoralWikiNoScores

"See also" for inline templates

 * Example: Suppose I can't remember the name of the inline template that creates a link to a book's page on Amazon. To me, the logical place to look is the "See also" section of the Amazon.com Wiki article. Nope, nothing there.


 * Edit the "See also" section of appropriate articles and templates to add the following templates:


 * /Catalog lookup see also

Kazahk Wikipedia - editing

 * If I remember correctly, the Kazahk Wiki was the only Wiki whose software "resisted" my edit to fix a broken ISBN. Research it.


 * If true, suggest to Kazahk Wiki that they relax their system a little.

Kazahk Wikipedia - "Book sources"

 * If I remember correctly, WorldCat has a page for the Kazakh encyclopedia, but the Kazahk Wiki's "Book sources" page does not list "Find this book at WorldCat". Research it.

(added 18 June 2015)
 * If true, suggest to Kazahk Wiki that they add "Find this book at WorldCat" to their "Book sources" page.

"Book sources" page - Makeover

 * One seemingly astute, relatively new editor complained to me that the "Book sources" page is not inviting. Unfortunately, I agree.  The (pedantic) introductory paragraphs obscure the wonderful links below.  Move any useful information from these introductory paragraphs to existing ISBN and other articles.  If necessary, add a link to these articles in the "Book sources" page’s "See also" section (like every other Wiki article).


 * Add some color to the "Book sources" page. Template pages have a background color.  Wiki's home page is colorful. The "Book sources" page is so important that only a select group of people can edit it--so give it an appealing image worthy of its stature.

"Book sources" page - Links

 * Add new links


 * Especially for countries that have only one link and it's dead (e.g. Russia)
 * Especially for “major” countries that don’t have any links (e.g. India)
 * Amazon India
 * Need to provide correct query string

(added 19 June 2015)

Template:Coord - permpoly

 * Wikipedia has an article "Peter F. Armistead, Sr., House". Wikimapia includes an entry for this landmark, and the Google Maps satellite image that it displays nicely highlights the entire area covered by this landmark.


 * Research whether Coord only allows editors to specify a single point. Can editors use Coord to specify a polygonal area?


 * If Coord only allows editors to specify a single point, it should be enhanced to include a "permpoly" parameter. Permpolys are inherently defined in Google Maps. Wikimapia uses the "permpoly" parameter; Coord should, too.

(added 20 June 2015)
 * Relatedly, tools.wmflabs.org/geohack needs to be enhanced to process the "permpoly" parameter in a Coord call.

CheckWiki errors in "See also" section
WikiProject Check Wikipedia: ISBN wrong checksum in ISBN-10 WikiProject Check Wikipedia: ISBN wrong checksum in ISBN-13 WikiProject Check Wikipedia: ISBN wrong length WikiProject Check Wikipedia: ISBN wrong syntax
 * Add the following CheckWiki errors (in the correct order and identifying the error number) to the "See also" section of appropriate articles and templates:
 * Perhaps write a new article (in Help?), which includes these links, about how to fix an ISBN

Template:Biblio
(added 25 June 2015)
 * Add a "talk=" parameter
 * In the message's "Specific concerns can be found on the talk page", link "talk page" to the section specified in the "talk=" parameter. See Verify sources for an example.

"Istituto Centrale per il Catalogo Unico" inline template

 * I had an id for a book at Istituto Centrale per il Catalogo Unico (see Giuseppe Amisani sbn = IT\ICCU\ART\0001755), but I could not find an inline template to use within a citation. Does such a template exist?


 * If an inline template for Istituto Centrale per il Catalogo Unico does not exist, create it.
 * Couldn't find a template even on the Italian Wiki


 * Example: SBN IT\ICCU\MIL\0205279


 * "SBN" should wikilink to "Servizio bibliotecario nazionale", but there's no English translation of the Italian article. Therefore, wikilink to "Istituto Centrale per il Catalogo Unico" instead and put a note in the template documentation.


 * "IT\ICCU\MIL\0205279" should be an external link http://opac.sbn.it/bid/MIL0205279 Discussion ongoing...


 * Look at


 * Template:Sbn/sandbox

Category for substitution-related templates

 * Create a new category for all templates related to substitution. It should be a subcategory of Wikipedia metatemplates.

(added 26 June 2015)
 * Update directly relevant articles such as Help:Substitution

Centralize notifications
(added 27 June 2015)
 * Research whether a means exists to centralize notifications from multiple Wikis

WorldCat templates

 * Are these templates necessary (i.e. can they be replaced by Template:OCLC):
 * Template:Worldcat (322 transclusions)
 * Template:Worldcat id (4411 transclusions)
 * Template:Worldcat subject (25 transclusions)

(added 28 June 2015)

Library of Congress templates

 * Are all of these templates necessary (i.e. can any be deleted or merged):
 * Template:LCAuth
 * Template:LCCN
 * Template:LCC
 * Template:LCCN8
 * I checked how it works in The Faithful Hussar--basically a dead link. Check each transclusions (only 5); assuming they all fail, convert to a different Library of Congress template
 * Template:LoC catalog record


 * Rewrote documentation for Template:ISBN missing
 * Created new inline template "Template:NCID" for generating an external lookup link to the Japanese bibliographic database CiNii. Added new template to these articles:
 * Shinigami (already used the template for two NCIDs, but they were previously broken because the template was never implemented)
 * Japanese raccoon dog (fixed one instance only)


 * Researched the situation with "Republic of South Africa Government Gazette Vol. 477, no. 27376 ISBN 9771682584003". Wrote results to editor User talk:Andre Kritzinger. Editor will contact me about any changes; will open a new "To Do" at that time.
 * Created new inline template "Template:BnF" for generating an external lookup link to Bibliothèque nationale de France. Added new template to one citation only in these articles:
 * Rodez
 * Aubin, Aveyron


 * Write /doc for Template:No ISBN
 * Added WPCleaner userbox to my userpage. See below.
 * Rewrote documentation for Template:Lacking ISBN

WPCleaner requests
(added 19 June 2015)

Subset analysis

 * Currently, WPCleaner requires a "Full analysis" of a Wiki article for all CheckWiki errors. Allow users to specify a subset of CheckWiki errors to process.


 * Implement a dialog box that includes one checkbox per Checkwiki error. By default, every checkbox is checked (i.e. Full analysis). Include functionality (e.g. a button) to "select all" or "unselect all".


 * Upon exit, WPCleaner should remember the last settings in this dialog box.


 * NicoV previously mentioned the possibility of creating User:Knife-in-the-drawer/WikiCleanerConfiguration, but "not really tested, may not work as expected". If that approach is preferred rather than a dialog box...


 * Create a master WikiCleanerConfiguration that includes all CheckWiki errors enabled (i.e. Full analysis)
 * Test it
 * Include documentation related to disabling a CheckWiki error for the analysis
 * Make it available via WPCleaner

"Page" text box

 * When I click in the "Page" text box, I wish its contents were selected automatically. (By analogy, in Chrome, when I click in the address text box, Chrome automatically selects its contents.)
 * or
 * I wish the "Page" text box were much wider.

"Analysis" window

 * It's not possible to adjust the width of the left column that includes the "Check Wikipedia" panel. I can grab the right edge with the cursor and the double-arrowhead appears, but when I try to slide the edge, it won't budge.


 * As part of enhancing the "Analysis" window to allow adjusting the width of the left column, when I exit WPCleaner, it should remember the layout of my "Analysis" window

Current error/total errors

 * When I select an error in the "Check Wikipedia" panel, I wish the "Analysis" window would show something like "1 of 5" or "1/5". By analogy, in Chrome or Adobe Acrobat, when I use ctrl-f to perform a search, they both nicely show "current item of x items".

(added 25 June 2015)
 * Perhaps place the "1/5" between the "Previous occurrence" and "Next occurrence" buttons in the toolbar.

nowiki wrapper ignored

 * When I include a template in an article to warn about multiple definitions of a ref name (e.g. , WPCleaner flags it with two errors:


 * Link equal to link text
 * Reference tags without correct match


 * Given that the ref name is wrapped in "nowiki", I expect no flags from WPCleaner. The template displays without problems in the article.

None yet

CheckWiki requests
(added 22 June 2015)

Invalid ISSN
(added 26 June 2015)
 * Currently, Wikipedia has no checks in place for an invalid ISSN. The template issn allows an invalid ISSN without displaying an error message. Checkwiki doesn't look for any ISSN errors.

Multiple definitions of a "ref name"

 * Currently, Wikipedia has no checks in place for multiple definitions of a "ref name" in an article. This error is particularly nefarious because the final definition cloaks all preceding definitions.

None yet

WikiData To Dos
(added 18 June 2015)

[edit] and [add]

 * For every "Statement", the [edit] and [add] links are off the screen to the right. Not very "ergonomic". The name of the statement (e.g. "sex or gender") resides in a large, dark-gray box with lots of empty space--why can't the links appear there?


 * The worst case is the [edit] link associated with the labels; it's far far to the right. The first time that I needed to make changes to labels, I wasted 30-45 minutes figuring out how to get into edit mode. To confuse matters more, WikiData tempts us with


 * In more languages Configure


 * directly above the labels. It offers two clickable links that new users will assume probably invoke an edit mode somehow.

(added 19 June 2015)

"Labels" table

 * For any given WikiData entry, my "Labels" table shows English, Czech, German, Polish. I never configured the "Labels" table to show only those languages. However, given that they represent my native language and geographical location, WikiData is probably trying to "aid" me. Research whether WikiData automatically configures the "Labels" table.


 * If WikiData automatically configures the "Labels" table, it shouldn't. The "Labels" table should behave just like every statement in a WikiData entry. It should show ALL currently defined labels. If we want to define a label for another language, we should click on an [add] link...just like every statement.

Require at least one label

 * At present, it is possible to save a WikiData entry without defining a single label. Why?


 * If the only reason is "an entry must be completely empty before it can be redirected", then WikiData needs a rethink. 1) Require at least one label before an entry can be saved. 2) Adjust the prerequisites for a redirect.

Duplicate entries

 * Every time I go to WikiData, I encounter duplicate entries. Clearly, average users think that, for any given article on Wikipedia, a separate entry must be created on WikiData for each language.


 * WikiData needs to rethink its design--and I don't have a solution right now off the top of my head--to significantly minimize the proclivity of users to create a separate entry for each language.

None yet

Personal To Dos
These tasks I need to handle myself.

(added 6 June 2015)

Kazahk Wikipedia

 * Fix the broken ISBN for Kazakh encyclopedia

Wiki pages

 * Read through and update based upon my experiences
 * International Standard Book Number
 * ISBN
 * ✅ List of ISBN identifier groups
 * ✅ List of group-0 ISBN publisher codes
 * ✅ List of group-1 ISBN publisher codes
 * Special:BookSources
 * ✅ Help:ISBN
 * ✅ Help:ISBN

(added 17 June 2015)
 * Discuss conversion programs

cite book template
(added 18 June 2015)
 * "ignore-isbn-error=yes" does not stop the dump program or WPCleaner from reporting an error. Research the purpose of this parameter.

Categories and templates related to ISBN fixes

 * Research the categories assigned to my favorite templates:


 * Adjust the assigned categories as necessary; should my favorite templates share a category related to "Fixing ISBNs"?


 * /ISBN fix templates

(added 20 June 2015)

(added 27 June 2015)
 * ✅ On Wednesday, June 24, add db-catempty to if it is still empty
 * ✅ Deleted

CheckWiki error #34

 * I need a table of equivalents. For example, what should be used instead of 2024 ? (See "1972 in the Vietnam War" for example)


 * Added ".es" link to "Find this book on Amazon.com" entry of the "Book sources" page
 * Jonesey95 (talk) fixed problem in Template:EAN that trashed text in article "Manlio Sgalambro" where I had fixed broken ISBNs.
 * Magioladitis added "ISBN" as a synonym for the "OriginalISBN" parameter in Graphic novel list to assist with catching ISBN errors
 * NicoV (Talk on frwiki) enhanced WPCleaner to find ISBN errors in the "OriginalISBN" and "LicensedISBN" parameters of Graphic novel list.
 * NicoV (Talk on frwiki) enhanced WPCleaner to eliminate inconsistencies between it and the dump program related to ISBN errors identified.