Wikipedia:Help desk/Archives/2015 November 1

= November 1 =

Characters disallowed in filenames
Do we have a complete list of characters that MediaWiki disallows from inclusion in filenames? When uploading some files at Commons, I surprised myself by discovering that slashes are disallowed in filenames (apparently filespace can have subpages), and unfortunately I can't find (either here or there) a list of characters that can't appear in filenames. Naming conventions (technical restrictions) isn't particularly helpful, because it's just addressing articles, which among other things can include slashes in filenames because articles can't have subpages. I don't care about restrictions imposed by title blacklists, since I'm an admin here and at Commons and therefore can override blacklists if there's some good reason for so doing. Nyttend (talk) 13:42, 1 November 2015 (UTC)
 * PS, see what happens when you add a slash at upload — I tried to upload a file as File:Ashland O/H jurisdictions without photos.png, and the software automatically put it at File:H jurisdictions without photos.png. This is, unfortunately, different from adding other illegal characters at upload; File:Ashland [OH jurisdictions without photos.png became File:Ashland -OH jurisdictions without photos.png.  Nyttend (talk) 13:45, 1 November 2015 (UTC)
 * PPS, it's "automatically" only because I told it to ignore warnings. When you don't ignore warnings with a slashed filename, it only says Filename has been changed to [name] and truncates it to whatever comes after the slash.  Same thing with the bracket, except that it gives the entire filename with the bracket replaced with the hyphen.  Nyttend (talk) 13:51, 1 November 2015 (UTC)

I don't remember where exactly I got this list from at the time, but when I wrote the file upload wizard, I ended up using the following list of disallowed characters: # (hash sign), < > (angle brackets), [ ] (square brackets), | (pipe), { } (braces), / (slash). Fut.Perf. ☼ 14:35, 1 November 2015 (UTC)
 * That's Naming conventions (technical restrictions) plus slash. I don't know any characters which are only disallowed in file names. PrimeHunter (talk) 16:21, 1 November 2015 (UTC)

Is there a template for "somebody please write a lead for this incomprehensible article"?
I found ARINC 825 and still don't know what one is.... Alansplodge (talk) 15:07, 1 November 2015 (UTC)


 * Alansplodge, there is a twinkle tag for "too technical", but I've deleted it as a blatant copyright violation anyway Jimfbleak - talk to me?  15:17, 1 November 2015 (UTC)
 * Many thanks. Not a great loss to the great Wikipedia project, but do we have to change the WP globe emblem to read "4,999.999 ARTICLES" now? Alansplodge (talk) 15:46, 1 November 2015 (UTC)
 * See CAN Bus for the general topic. Perhaps a simple redirect would be an acceptable alternative? Tevildo (talk) 20:40, 1 November 2015 (UTC)


 * .... but do we have to change the WP globe emblem to read "4,999.999 ARTICLES" now?

Just out of interest, does the current total at any point in time only include patrolled new articles, or does it include yet-to-be-patrolled ones? Hogyn Lleol (talk) 16:02, 1 November 2015 (UTC)
 * According to, there are 5,000,370 articles, so it's fine unless 371 more articles get deleted. And I think it includes all articles (including unpatrolled ones). Joseph2302 (talk) 16:08, 1 November 2015 (UTC)

question about coordinates
I've added coordinates to Fort San Carlos but they don't display like I expect them to - they are left-justified instead of right-justified, and the symbol before the coordinates is not shown. I looked at wp:coord but I don't see anything wrong. What is wrong? Bubba73 You talkin' to me? 16:45, 1 November 2015 (UTC)
 * Fixed with  in [//en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Fort_San_Carlos&diff=688545215&oldid=688544312]. PrimeHunter (talk) 16:51, 1 November 2015 (UTC)


 * Thank you. Bubba73 You talkin' to me? 16:52, 1 November 2015 (UTC)

British Empire sentence
Hi. A sentence in this article reads: was the foremost "global" power. But that doesn't sound right. Not to mention, All articles, references, etc.. regarding the British Empire in and outside of Wikipedia refer to it as a "world power" not "global power". Do I have permission? Is this change correct and allowed? Agree? Disagree? It's just a small wording. (N0n3up (talk) 17:51, 1 November 2015 (UTC))


 * The reference given for the sentence to which you refer is a book entitled "Empire: the rise and demise of the British world order and the lessons for global power". --David Biddulph (talk) 18:26, 1 November 2015 (UTC)


 * David Biddulph True, but it talks of "global power" as a lesson for global dominance, but as a title, most call it a "world power" as it's often described, here's just two which I can add, . (N0n3up (talk) 18:53, 1 November 2015 (UTC))


 * I see that the OP's question is the continuation of a discussion at Talk:British Empire. That is the right place for such a discussion. --David Biddulph (talk) 22:37, 1 November 2015 (UTC)
 * David Biddulph The process in the talk page was too long, and That's from a different topic about whether to mention that Britain was a Superpower. In here, I'm simply asking if we should change the wording from "global" to "world" since most articles describe it as a "world power", . (N0n3up (talk) 23:11, 1 November 2015 (UTC))
 * David Biddulph Not to mention, you'll see there is more articles on world than there is on global. (N0n3up (talk) 00:56, 2 November 2015 (UTC))

Help getting rid of the bloody red 5,000,000 article banner
Okay, yes, hurrah! WP has reached an artificial round number of articles. That blood-red banner is jarring, and not something I want to see when I open a new WP page. Is there some user setting or hack that will allow me to get rid of it? I use monobook skin. Thanks. μηδείς (talk) 18:45, 1 November 2015 (UTC)
 * You can add this to :


 * 1) p-logo a { background-image: url(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b3/Wikipedia-logo-v2-en.svg); }
 * Or any other image of your choice. PrimeHunter (talk) 21:35, 1 November 2015 (UTC)
 * It's also only going to be up a few days. Rwessel (talk) 22:04, 1 November 2015 (UTC)


 * More of a fire hydrant, stop sign or Radio Flyer red, I find. Not so disturbing if you think of it that way. InedibleHulk (talk) 22:16, 1 November 2015 (UTC)


 * It's gone! Maproom (talk) 18:28, 3 November 2015 (UTC)


 * It was removed after Administrators' noticeboard/Incidents. PrimeHunter (talk) 18:34, 3 November 2015 (UTC)

kether donohues birth date
Hi, this encyclopedia about Kether lie it! Kether post it yesterday a picture about that she is happy with her birth date. So where wikipedia found august?--Maxie1hoi (talk) 20:00, 1 November 2015 (UTC)


 * Adding a convenience link to the article that I think the OP is talking about. Dismas |(talk) 20:02, 1 November 2015 (UTC)
 * Adding a convenience link to the article that I think the OP is talking about. Dismas |(talk) 20:02, 1 November 2015 (UTC)


 * Since there was no source for either birthday, August or October, I've removed the DOB. The Instagram post that OP used as a source simply said "This is the best birthday I've ever had" but doesn't specify that it was posted on the subject's birthday. It may be that she celebrated it on the closest weekend to her birthday. Without a better source, it should remain out of the article per WP:BLP. Dismas |(talk) 20:12, 1 November 2015 (UTC)


 * When she say it best birthday ever that means that it is her own birth day. and see this source: https://instagram.com/p/9iLD0EzZE1/. And give me the page that saying that kether born in august.--Maxie1hoi (talk) 20:39, 1 November 2015 (UTC)


 * Re-read what I posted above. Dismas |(talk) 20:44, 1 November 2015 (UTC)
 * That face is kether and users give comments with "happy birth day kether". And it is kether self. see the picture pls.--Maxie1hoi (talk) 20:50, 1 November 2015 (UTC)
 * I've seen the picture. It's still not a reliable source. Dismas |(talk) 20:56, 1 November 2015 (UTC)
 * People are saying on the comments "happy bd Kether!". And the person that make it the 2nd picture she tagged kether and it is kethers face!--Maxie1hoi (talk) 16:14, 2 November 2015 (UTC)
 * Again, please read WP:RS about what constitutes a reliable source. Dismas |(talk) 19:08, 3 November 2015 (UTC)

language used
Why doesn't your site state the language used. Travelers would surely appreciate this info. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 2601:407:C000:3D:BC0B:8D7F:1DD8:695B (talk) 20:02, 1 November 2015 (UTC)


 * This encyclopedia uses English. There are links on the left side of every page to various other languages that have an article by that name in that particular language.  If you're wondering about whether we use American English or British English, the answer is that we use both. See WP:ENGVAR for more.  Dismas |(talk) 20:15, 1 November 2015 (UTC)


 * I wonder if the OP has been reading an article about some country or region, and wants to know what language is spoken there. Maproom (talk) 20:42, 1 November 2015 (UTC)
 * In any case, Wikipedia is not a travel guide. Our reason for including such information would be because there is some intrinsic encyclopedic value for that article, not because someone is expecting Wikipedia to be something it is not.-- TRPoD aka The Red Pen of Doom  20:44, 1 November 2015 (UTC)

Nick Drahos: Re Job history presented to Wikipedia Oct 30,2015
My name is Nick Drahos, a former Cornell U.Football All-America player. I submitted my job history to you and find that it has been rejected as inaccurate despite the fact that I have referenced a publication from which it has been taken. I would like to know why it has been rejected.

In you Synopsis of revisions you will note that I did many revisions, This was because I had trouble figuring out your format and spacing. For your info, you can eliminate all the former revisions from your synopsis,keeping only the one with the highest character count written Oct 30, 2015.

Thank you. Nick Drahos Ps: This page of instructions is also not very clear. How do I send it?--Ngdpix (talk) 22:40, 1 November 2015 (UTC)
 * were rejected because they produced a resume, not an encyclopedic article. In addition, you are strongly advised not to edit an article about you.  Please review Contributing to Wikipedia as a starting point for learning about editing Wikipedia.   General Ization   Talk   22:45, 1 November 2015 (UTC)

Prevent autoconfirmation?
I have been testing some technical aspects of logging on and editing various foreign-language wikipedia projects under various circumstances.

To test what a brand new non-autoconfirmed logged-in user sees I created a test account (User:TestAccountZboxx3R7ql001, if anyone wants to double check my Evil Sockpuppeting Activities -- make sure you check on all projects, so you don't miss any Evil...)

Is it possible to somehow prevent that account from being autoconfirmed?

Or would it be safe to assume that no Wikipedia project behaves differently for a non-autoconfirmed logged-in user as opposed to a not-logged-in IP user? If I know that the two cases act the same I can just test without logging in. Putting "Guy Macon testing without logging in" in the edit summary would make it clear who to blame for my Evil Sockpuppeting Activities. --Guy Macon (talk) 22:48, 1 November 2015 (UTC)
 * Autoconfirmation cannot be removed. If you want to experiment further then you must create a third account and make less than 10 edits with it. Some things are different for IP's and new users. For example, IP's don't have preferences and can only create pages in the draft and talk namespaces. See more at User access levels. Some things vary per wiki. For example, the English Wikipedia does not offer VisualEditor to IP's. PrimeHunter (talk) 01:27, 2 November 2015 (UTC)