Wikipedia:Help desk/Archives/2018 August 8

= August 8 =

Reverting edits by a single user across multiple pages
Rollback allows you to revert one to several edits by a user on one page. Manually reverting using undo is most flexible, but is a pain when dealing with multiple non-contiguous edits, whether on one page or across multiple pages. Is there a tool that makes it easier to revert many edits by one user across multiple pages?

My example and motivation are illustrated here. A user dropped bare dates on multiple pages having to do with Thailand TV/broadcast pages. I couldn't find any rhyme or reason for those dates in particular, and they were certainly out of place.

I reverted all seven edits using 'undo', but it was a pain. And perhaps this is a obvious case where one would have wanted to request "just revert all edits by this user in the last hour". Is there any such tool/privilege apart from those for administrators? Shenme (talk) 00:52, 8 August 2018 (UTC)
 * Nope. There's not even such a tool available to admins! I suspect it might be a more heroic programming task than you think. -- Orange Mike &#124;  Talk  01:29, 8 August 2018 (UTC)
 * For various anti-vandal tasks (including this one) I would use a combination of navigation popups (available in gadgets in the preferences) and rollback, so I would go to the user's contributions page, hover over the "diff" link for each contribution, see if it's vandalistic (you might be able to skip this if the user is a complete vandal), and then click on the rollback link with the middle mouse button to revert it in a new tab. It may not be optimal, but I've found that it works well (and in the case of an active vandal, with a touch of F5, much faster than them) enough to fit my purposes.  I tend to prefer rollback to undo unless you want to use a custom edit summary (in which case you should use undo or Twinkle rollback), you want to edit the reversion (undo) or revert multiple users (Twinkle rollback). LittlePuppers (talk) 02:21, 8 August 2018 (UTC)
 * User:Kangaroopower/scripts/Mass Rollback may be what you're looking for. I've never tried it though. Adam9007 (talk) 02:39, 8 August 2018 (UTC)

How to create a new item?
Hello,I'm new here. How to create a new item in Wikipedia? Thanks for your help!--Belle Tong (talk) 06:40, 8 August 2018 (UTC)


 * You might like to read WP:Your first article for some guidance.  Dbfirs  06:55, 8 August 2018 (UTC)

How long could a item be published after edtied?
Hi, I am new here.

I want to know how long could a item be published after edited in Wikipedia, thanks!--Belle Tong (talk) 06:47, 8 August 2018 (UTC)


 * Articles by new editors are created in draft space and put in a queue for review, so will not be immediately published. The time taken for the review will depend on how many other articles are in the queue and how many volunteer reviewers are working on the queue.  Once you are WP:Autoconfirmed (after four days and ten edits), you can create new articles in article space, but they will still need to be reviewed before they go live to be searched by Google.   Db<i style="color: #4fc;">f</i><i style="color: #6f6;">i</i><i style="color: #4e4;">r</i><i style="color: #4a4">s</i>  07:06, 8 August 2018 (UTC)


 * To clarify the statement from Dbfirs, a new article created in article space is immediately "live" in terms of being visible in Wikipedia and being able to be found in Wikipedia search. It doesn't go through the Article for Creation review process, but it is not available to be searched by Google or other search engines until it has either been through the New pages patrol process or 90 days have elapsed since creation. --David Biddulph (talk) 08:06, 8 August 2018 (UTC)


 * Thanks for that clarification. I knew at the back of my mind that what I'd written wasn't quite accurate, but I couldn't think what I'd got wrong.  I've now partially corrected my inaccurate statement by mentioning Google.   <i style="color: blue;">D</i><i style="color: #0cf;">b</i><i style="color: #4fc;">f</i><i style="color: #6f6;">i</i><i style="color: #4e4;">r</i><i style="color: #4a4">s</i>  16:01, 8 August 2018 (UTC)

How to delete an useless information?
Hello everyone，may I know how to delete an useless information?--Belle Tong (talk) 06:48, 8 August 2018 (UTC)


 * What is it that you want to delete?  <i style="color: blue;">D</i><i style="color: #0cf;">b</i><i style="color: #4fc;">f</i><i style="color: #6f6;">i</i><i style="color: #4e4;">r</i><i style="color: #4a4">s</i>  07:07, 8 August 2018 (UTC)


 * You cannot directly delete an existing article. You can initiate a deletion discussion, or ask for speedy deletion or uncontroversial deletion: see Articles for deletion. If the "useless" information is only a part of an article, you may edit the article to boldly remove the information. Note, however, that information that is cited to a reliable source (WP:RS) is probably not "useless" and your removal of the information is likely to be reverted. That's OK: editors differ about what is useful, the mechanism to reach consensus is called "bold, revert, discuss" (WP:BRD), and if your removal is reverted, your next step is to politely discuss your removal on the article's talk page. You should assume that the other editor is, like you, trying to improve the encyclopedia, so assume good faith (WP:AGF) and work for consensus. -Arch dude (talk) 16:06, 8 August 2018 (UTC)

Embedding OSM map
I'm sure I saw an article with an embedded map from OpenStreetMap. I'm working on an article for which that would be a great feature - does anyone know what template or other functionality in Wikipedia would let me incorporate that? Warofdreams talk 14:53, 8 August 2018 (UTC)
 * I guess, but am not sure, that what you saw is the old Template:Location map using a SVG map/picture generated via WikiProject_OpenStreetMap. I know there was a recent plan to allow real integration (e.g. features appear or disappear when you zoom and unzoom) but cannot find the link right now. Tigraan <span title="Send me a silicium letter!" style="color:">Click here to contact me 16:13, 8 August 2018 (UTC)
 * Thanks, I've now managed to find it, and it's similar to but not quite what I remembered: Template:OSM Location map. Warofdreams talk 19:37, 8 August 2018 (UTC)

Replacing an erroneous image
I'm an occasional Wikipedia editor...mainly correcting typos. However, I just came upon a page with an erroneous image. I have a correct image, which I took myself, and am wondering how to correct. Thanks! — Preceding unsigned comment added by ‎Mherrmann58 (talk • contribs)
 * File_Upload_Wizard will walk you through the steps for uploading the image. Once it's uploaded just replace the file name of the erroneous image with the file name of the one you uploaded. ~  ONUnicorn (Talk&#124;Contribs) problem solving 17:36, 8 August 2018 (UTC)
 * It's often more complicated than that. What is the page and file? PrimeHunter (talk) 23:31, 8 August 2018 (UTC)

The page is Canajoharie, NY, and the image is the Van Alstyne House. The purported image seemed to have legitimate credentials. However, it is obvious not the house in question. The link provided in the image caption leads to the actual house (with image). I was able to make desired edits. Thank you for your assistance.

Article content does not belong here
You added an entire multi-section article here at the help desk. Sorry but this is not the place for it. I deleted it because it wa the only quick way to restore the format of the help desk. I now see that you already have a version of this article in draft space. If you feel that is is ready to submit as an article, just place submit at the top and an editor will be along to review it. You might want to look at "your first article" (WP:YFA) to see if you can improve it a bit, especially the formatting of your references. If there was material in the version you placed here at the help desk that you need to recover, please let me know and I will do that -Arch dude (talk) 22:39, 8 August 2018 (UTC)

When the address to my father's page is copied and pasted it will NOT display and insteads redirects to a "article not found" when the page is actually there.
I wish we could get this straightened out. Thanks for your help. Here's the page in question. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Rube_Garrett_Jr. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 98.162.180.172 (talk)
 * You forgot to include the period at the end of Jr. I added a redirect for you. <b style="color:#7F007F">TimTempleton</b> <sup style="color:#800080">(talk) <sup style="color:#7F007F">(cont)  22:38, 8 August 2018 (UTC)
 * The poster did include the period but our software assumes a period at the end of a url is not part of the url but a period after a sentence. Many email programs and other software will do the same when they convert a bare url to a link. If you encode the period as  like https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Rube_Garrett_Jr%2E then most or all software will include it in the link. PrimeHunter (talk) 23:29, 8 August 2018 (UTC)
 * ... and of course a wikilink to James Rube Garrett Jr. will work. --David Biddulph (talk) 01:29, 9 August 2018 (UTC)