Wikipedia:Help desk/Archives/2015 March 11

= March 11 =

Referencing errors on Michael Colton
Reference help requested.

I received an unnamed parameter error on the Michael Colton page. I looked at what this means and I am still unsure. I would like to fix it, but I am not good with coding and don't know what to do or what exactly needs to be fixed

Thanks, Ded1996 (talk) 01:38, 11 March 2015 (UTC)
 * You can find some additional help with references at WP:REFB. -- TRPoD aka The Red Pen of Doom  01:55, 11 March 2015 (UTC)
 * this issue was that the citation tool and the citation display software didnt talk to each other very well.
 * The citation tool tried to discern the "name" of the web page, it came up with: February 2008 | Mike Colton 97
 * Within the software that displays the citations, a "pipe" | means the end of one bit of info about the citation and the beginning of the next one. So the displayware said, the title is February 2008 then there is the pipe that tells me the next bit of info is coming, and the next bit of info is Mike Colton 97 - I dont understand what that means. ERROR! -- TRPoD aka The Red Pen of Doom  02:20, 11 March 2015 (UTC)

Accessing Template:Infobox fields from another page?
Is it possible to access the value of a field that belongs to a template located in another page? Eg: from the sandbox page I want to access the field "birth_date" of the Infobox person available at Bill Gates page. So I would do a command similar to this:  , which should return the value of the "birth_date" field of Bill Gates (in this case: October 28, 1955). | Faltur (talk) 01:40, 11 March 2015 (UTC)
 * You could use String-handling templates like Str find and Chop head and tail. I tried to set something up but I couldn't find a search string that let Str find get the right index so there may be a limit to the size of the search string. Phantom Tech  (talk) 04:00, 11 March 2015 (UTC)
 * There is no builtin feature and I don't recommend trying to do it with string functions. That would be complicated, unstable, and expensive per Template limits. If you have cases where the target page can be prepared for this then you could consider Help:Labeled section transclusion. PrimeHunter (talk) 04:13, 11 March 2015 (UTC)
 * PrimeHunter brings up a good point about the template limits, if you did manage to set this up it might not be useful for anything other than as a substitution template. What are you planning on doing with this outside of the sandbox? If there's a good enough reason the infobox template might be able to be updated to automatically add labeled sections to each field so that something like  would get you the birth date. Notice that info boxes would need a way to be told apart from others on the page, in this example they are identified by their type first then use the name field to separate infoboxes of the same type.  Phantom Tech  (talk) 05:05, 11 March 2015 (UTC)
 * I don't think a template can produce .   applies to the page it is written on so Bill Gates and other articles of interest would have to write   at the wanted parameter in their own code. PrimeHunter (talk) 14:23, 11 March 2015 (UTC)
 * Section transclusion uses  and   to mark sections in articles which templates should be able to insert in the same way that they can insert things like  . You probably wouldn't be able to mark the infobox template's input but you should be able to get what it displays based on the input, in the Bill Gates example it would be "October 28, 1955 (age 59)"  Phantom Tech  (talk) 16:44, 11 March 2015 (UTC)
 * , thanks for the answers guys. The reason for this is to decrease the translation time by centralizing the known information into a single place, and by accessing it in a interwiki portable way (just through code). As I can see, there is no such function for this specific goal, unfortunately. Faltur (talk) 16:30, 11 March 2015 (UTC)
 * You're welcome, good luck with your translations. Sorry we couldn't find a way that works. Phantom Tech  (talk) 16:44, 11 March 2015 (UTC)


 * labeled section transclusion cannot use a template with variables, although you could hard code the sections. See section for issues.
 * I set up Scoutorg BSA with statistics that can be inserted into any article, which means I only need to update one central repository and all the numbers are updated across a series of articles. I can't think you need to replicate a birth date across a lot of articles though. Should be able to replace this with Wikidata someday. --  Gadget850talk 16:57, 11 March 2015 (UTC)

Removal of contested deletion comment by poster
Should talk page comments such as "contested deletions" be removed by the poster if they have not been commented on by anyone else? In this case the page creator contested deletion, then after 35 minutes replaced it with standard type talk page project templates, then removed the Speedy Deletion template from the article page, which they are not suppose to do. (they were actually reverted ) BUT...

On second look, the wp:CSD should not have been applied as it is a page about an educational institution, the Police Lines School and College in Rangpur District, Bangladesh.

I suppose that in this case the contested deletion is moot and void, but the creating editor didn't give an edit summary to point that out. So, in general should such comments be deleted even if, such as this case, they are not replied to or 'acted' on by other editors? --220  of  Borg 03:39, 11 March 2015 (UTC)
 * the talk page comments probably shouldnt have been removed and it might make sense to restore them under the project tags. -- TRPoD aka The Red Pen of Doom  12:26, 11 March 2015 (UTC)

wordpress blog
Hi, Its certainly not my aim to be impertinent but I just want to substantiate my point that since I have written all the post in my blog i.e www.prerna858.wordpress.com then why can't i put the same material in wiki just to create awareness, I don't know much about your policy please guide me on the same, For the time being I have deleted my post as i want to do all my work in ethical manner  — Preceding unsigned comment added by Prerna858 (talk • contribs) 04:19, 11 March 2015 (UTC)
 * Wikipedia is not an advertising platform to "create awareness". Content must be from reliably published sources with a reputation for fact checking and editorial oversight not some blog on the web. Subjects of an article must meet basic criteria of being "notable" (as Wikipedia defines the term) to qualify for having an article-- -- TRPoD aka The Red Pen of Doom  12:24, 11 March 2015 (UTC)

Public Domain Document not Online
I was sent a public-domain, US Federal Gov't PDF document that I want to use for reference on a historical article. However, the document hasn't been posted online (it's pre-Internet and low-priority for digitizing). Is there a way to make it viewable from Wikipedia (like an image file would be), or will I have to cite it in plain text without a link? -- Veggies ( talk ) 13:10, 11 March 2015 (UTC)
 * Hi Veggies, I suggest you upload it via Wikimedia Commons as an image. Then make a page at Wikisource in which you put that image. You can then link to the page on Wikisource if you wish to refer to the PDF in a Wikipedia article. See here for more information. Sincerely, Taketa (talk) 15:13, 11 March 2015 (UTC)
 * Done! Thanks! -- Veggies ( talk ) 19:45, 11 March 2015 (UTC)
 * If the document has been "published", there is no need for access online. If it is not an actually "published" document, then as a primary document it is of little use. -- TRPoD aka The Red Pen of Doom  20:59, 11 March 2015 (UTC)
 * It's an NTSB Final Report. My feeling was that it would be hard to verify my citations if they were all unlinked, and it would be better to upload a digital copy rather than having people either take my word for it or call the NTSB for a copy themselves. -- Veggies ( talk ) 21:06, 11 March 2015 (UTC)
 * As a public domain document you, or anyone else, can make it available on a file hosting site. Roger (Dodger67) (talk) 21:37, 11 March 2015 (UTC)


 * I can see a potential problem with doing that: how can we tell that the document is genuine and has not been tampered with? --ColinFine (talk) 23:55, 11 March 2015 (UTC)
 * it would be best to find a source that quotes or summarizes the official report and use that. -- TRPoD aka The Red Pen of Doom  00:38, 12 March 2015 (UTC)

wrong word used 'Country' of Georgia for University of Georgia article (search)
in University of Georgia page: article states 'country' of Georgia versus county. See below:

For the University of Georgia in the country of Georgia, see University of Georgia (Tbilisi). The University of Georgia, founded in 1785, and commonly 141 KB (15,934 words) - 04:31, 5 March 2015

states 'in the country of Georgia 13:44, 11 March 2015 (UTC)~ — Preceding unsigned comment added by 69.210.193.194 (talk)


 * I don't understand what you are saying. Where it talks about University of Georgia (Tbilisi) it is indeed referring to the country of Georgia, and that is what it says.  Where do you think it ought to say county, and why? - David Biddulph (talk) 13:50, 11 March 2015 (UTC)


 * Yes, Tbilisi is in Georgia (country). And anyway, Georgia (U.S. state) is not a county (United States). PrimeHunter (talk) 14:17, 11 March 2015 (UTC)

A copyright query
A quick question. I accidentally posted the text of an article rather than a url into a reference template. I've reverted it and replaced it with the correct information, but do I need to request oversight or that the version with the copyright material be deleted from the page history? This is Paul (talk) 14:13, 11 March 2015 (UTC)
 * Hi This is Paul, in this situation I think it is sufficient revert the edit. Oversight is only for more severe cases. The thing that could be used here is revision deletion, however I do not believe it is needed. All the best, Taketa (talk) 15:07, 11 March 2015 (UTC)
 * Thanks, thought I'd better check. This is Paul (talk) 15:33, 11 March 2015 (UTC)

Mikenseco1 new page
Hi, I have just created a new page and I'm auto-confirmed, how do I upload my page and make it live in Wikipedia for other people to see it..? — Preceding unsigned comment added by Mikenseco1 (talk • contribs) 14:29, 11 March 2015 (UTC)


 * What you have created is a WP:user page, but the content is not appropriate for a user page. If it was intended to be an article, you would need to read WP:Your first article, and in particular the requirement for demonstration of the subject's notability by references to published reliable sources independent of the subject.  I wonder, though, whether you yourself are the subject, because if so you need to read about Wikipedia's views on autobiography and on conflict of interest. - David Biddulph (talk) 14:59, 11 March 2015 (UTC)


 * I have moved the content to a more appropriate user sandbox: User:Mikenseco1/Sandbox.--ukexpat (talk) 15:50, 11 March 2015 (UTC)

The Co-op?
I just came across Co-op. Is this a Foundation initiative? Was it created because other resources for new users were considered deficient? I'm confused.--ukexpat (talk) 15:56, 11 March 2015 (UTC)


 * Co-op/About has some background. Gandalf61 (talk) 16:04, 11 March 2015 (UTC)


 * OK thanks.--ukexpat (talk) 16:26, 11 March 2015 (UTC)

Help: how do I correct a Cite error ref no input?
— Preceding unsigned comment added by 165.83.47.253 (talk • contribs) 16:31, 11 March 2015 (UTC)


 * Well, you could start by reading what it says in the box at the top of this page when you are editing it, including:


 * "Please give the exact title or URL of any page you want help with.
 * If possible, please be specific in your question rather than general and link to any page or article your question involves, or at least tell us the title of the page.
 * Finally, please 'sign' any statement you post here by placing  at the end of your post. "
 * - David Biddulph (talk) 16:38, 11 March 2015 (UTC)


 * You were on the help page, which clearly states "There is no content between the  tags."
 * I reverted your edits to Redwood National and State Parks. Please see Help:Referencing for beginners. --  Gadget850talk 16:51, 11 March 2015 (UTC)

Can Categories be viewed on mobile phones?
When I'm on my iPhone reading Wikipedia, i can never see what categories a page belongs to. Is there any way to see them? — Preceding unsigned comment added by Mr. Nile (talk • contribs) 20:41, 11 March 2015 (UTC)


 * I don't have an iPhone and there are different ways to access the site with mobile devices. Is there a "Desktop" link at the bottom to see the desktop version of the page? PrimeHunter (talk) 21:28, 11 March 2015 (UTC)