Wikipedia:Help desk/Archives/2019 September 8

= September 8 =

Tarzan, the Ape Man
Sorry,I usde Google Translate. about Tarzan, the Ape Man (1981 film)https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Tarzan,_the_Ape_Man_(1981_film)&oldid=907501675#In_popular_media. In popular media and Japanese manga series JoJo's Bizarre Adventure. I don't understand the need to specialize in trivial parts. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 219.170.247.106 (talk) 02:20, 8 September 2019 (UTC)
 * Before removing material, please discuss it on the article's Talk page.--Quisqualis (talk) 04:32, 8 September 2019 (UTC)

Autobiography
Hi I just made a Wikipedia account and have logged in.

I would like to contribute a biography of myself to add to Wikipedia. How do I go about doing thay? — Preceding unsigned comment added by Shyrose Dhalla (talk • contribs) 02:38, 8 September 2019 (UTC)
 * Please read the autobiography policy; writing an autobiographical article is highly discouraged (though not forbidden). This is not social media for people to tell the world about themselves, this is an encyclopedia. Wikipedia summarizes what independent reliable sources state about article subjects that are notable as Wikipedia defines it. For people, that is defined at WP:BIO. In order for you to be successful in writing about yourself, you would essentially need to forget everything you know about yourself and only write based on what independent sources state about you. Most people cannot do that, as people naturally write favorably about themselves. Also understand that a Wikipedia article is not necessarily desirable. Any information about you, good or bad, can be in an article about you as long as it appears in an independent reliable source.
 * If you truly feel that you merit an article here, you should allow others to take note of you and write about you. 331dot (talk) 02:51, 8 September 2019 (UTC)
 * Please see the website https://en.everybodywiki.com which you might find more suitable for your purpose.--Shantavira|feed me 09:30, 8 September 2019 (UTC)

link in to Edit Summary
Wounder if anyone could explain how users provide link of wiki pages or sources into their edit summary?Thanks!Saff V. (talk) 09:46, 8 September 2019 (UTC)
 * Wikilinks in  work in edit summaries, e.g.   to produce article. It is not possible to make clickable external links. You can write a url but users have to copy it to see the page. Sources should be in the wikitext. See Citing sources. PrimeHunter (talk) 10:05, 8 September 2019 (UTC)
 * Thanks for response, but what do you mean by wikitext? How about inserting diff of edit, for e.g this one?Saff V. (talk) 10:11, 8 September 2019 (UTC)
 * Wikitext is the text in the edit box so I mean sources should be given in the edit itself, not just the edit summary. If you ask how to link a diff in an edit summary then you need to use a wikilink like Special:Diff/914605611. It can be piped like other wikilinks. See also Help:Diff. PrimeHunter (talk) 10:27, 8 September 2019 (UTC)

Error
I'm trying to display the flowchart (see the image), but it doesn't show. How do I fix the error? Please ping me when you respond. Interstellarity (talk) 12:28, 8 September 2019 (UTC)
 * Miftah Zaman was deleted. You apparently refer to a feature of User:Bradv/Scripts/Superlinks. You import User:Bradv/Scripts/Superlinks.js in User:Interstellarity/common.js. I don't know the script but I tried importing it and get the same result as your screenshot on new pages at Special:NewPages. I use Vector and Google Chrome. Bradv answers questions at User talk:Bradv/Scripts/Superlinks but I also pinged him here. PrimeHunter (talk) 14:51, 8 September 2019 (UTC)
 * It seems like you didn't ping him here so I pinged him at User talk:Bradv/Scripts/Superlinks so he could respond here. Interstellarity (talk) 15:20, 8 September 2019 (UTC)
 * I mentioned him with . A userpage link anywhere in a post produces a notification. See Help:Notifications. PrimeHunter (talk) 15:29, 8 September 2019 (UTC)
 * You're right. I didn't realize that. I learn something new everyday on Wikipedia. Interstellarity (talk) 16:18, 8 September 2019 (UTC)
 * moved the flowchart to Commons so the link no longer worked. I've updated the location in the script, and it should work again now. – bradv  🍁  17:05, 8 September 2019 (UTC)
 * Thanks for your help. I will let you know if I run into any more issues. Interstellarity (talk) 17:14, 8 September 2019 (UTC)

References after punctuation
Can someone please point me to the WP: or MOS: section where it lays down that references should follow punctuation. I've just spent a quarter of an hour searching for it, only to find that the page I was correcting had by then been corrected! Thanks. Martin of Sheffield (talk) 13:48, 8 September 2019 (UTC)
 * WP:REFPUNCT &#8209; Iridescent 14:05, 8 September 2019 (UTC)
 * That's the one. Thanks. Martin of Sheffield (talk) 15:31, 8 September 2019 (UTC)

Messy wikitext attempting to add images
Hi there. I looked at India and about halfway down there is a bunch of wikitext trying to add several images to the section but for some reason they are not showing up. I am very confused so someone might want to fix this. By the way, I didn't attempt to add the images - I'm guessing they have been there a while, and may need consensus before adding. Regards, Willbb234Talk (please &#123;&#123;ping&#125;&#125; me in replies) 18:52, 8 September 2019 (UTC)
 * It's using some wikitext magic to display one of eight different images, switching them once per day. -- John of Reading (talk) 18:57, 8 September 2019 (UTC)
 * that really is magic! Thanks for the quick response, Willbb234Talk (please &#123;&#123;ping&#125;&#125; me in replies) 19:07, 8 September 2019 (UTC)

Shrinking the overall size of a Wikitable
Is there some way to "shrink" the overall size of a Wikitable? (Similar to how one might shrink or enlarge the size of a document on a photocopy machine?) I used the following "command" or "computer code" at the top of the Wikitable:

{| class="wikitable sortable collapsible" style="text-align: center; font-size:80%;"

I thought that this would take my entire table and shrink it to 80% of the original size. However, what it did was to keep the table at a normal 100% size, and merely shrink the text font within the normal-sized table to 80%. Thanks. Joseph A. Spadaro (talk) 19:41, 8 September 2019 (UTC)


 * Your trick does work, and for the awards table you were editing it was sufficient to make the table no longer overflow. The sort-buttons still take up some extra space in the cells, you can make everything in the table smaller by using, removing the "sortable" class would also make it smaller. I would recommend just leaving the table as it is or convert it to a list, since making the font smaller makes the article harder to read. – Thjarkur (talk) 00:10, 9 September 2019 (UTC)
 * Please be specific and link to pages you want help with. If what you actually want is to make the table at User talk:Joseph A. Spadaro/Sandbox/Page98 fit on more screens without horizontal scrolling then there are several ways to do that without shrinking anything. PrimeHunter (talk) 00:58, 9 September 2019 (UTC)

and  Thanks. Well, my question is for any table in general. But, we can look at the two tables below as examples. In the first table below, the font-size is set at 100%. I wanted the entire table to "shrink" (in proportion), just as if I had made a photocopy on a photocopy machine and selected "reduce". So, what I tried was to change the font-size to 80%. This resulted in the second table below. Now, the second table is still the same size as the original table (by and large -- but not exactly?), but the font (writing) within the table has shrunk to 80%. I wanted the entire table to shrink to 80% -- not just the font-size of the writing within the table. Is this possible? If so, how? Remember that I am talking about tables, in general. I am just using the below tables as concrete examples. Thanks. Joseph A. Spadaro (talk) 04:33, 9 September 2019 (UTC)

Another question –  Also, where exactly do I put the style="zoom:80%" command? I tried to add it, but it did nothing at all? You can look at this page: User:Joseph A. Spadaro/Sandbox/Page54. Thanks. Joseph A. Spadaro (talk) 05:00, 9 September 2019 (UTC)
 * The correct answer to that question is nowhere because you shouldn't use zoom. Instead try transform: scale(0.8); Poveglia (talk) 05:19, 9 September 2019 (UTC)
 * I edited that page to add an example at the bottom. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Joseph_A._Spadaro/Sandbox/Page54 Poveglia (talk) 05:26, 9 September 2019 (UTC)
 * 80% is too small for accessibility of articles. MOS:SMALLTEXT says: "In no case should the resulting font size of any text drop below 85%". You also need a good reason to approach 85%. I see no justification for all text in a table like that. If you really want everything to shrink instead of just avoiding or reducing horizontal scrolling then I oppose it. It's not like we have to pay for paper. PrimeHunter (talk) 11:02, 9 September 2019 (UTC)
 * You are apparently not interested in merely allowing the table to be less wide but longer. Anyway, below is a version which can be 30% narrower in my browser if the window is narrow. It doesn't shrink or remove anything from the original. It uses shy and Help:Sorting, and it omits padding before "Two Arabian Knights". Vertical header on some of the columns could have made it much narrower. PrimeHunter (talk) 11:31, 9 September 2019 (UTC)


 * Great.  Thanks.  I have looked at your edits and suggestions.  Thanks.  But, I am not concerned with this specific chart about Best Actresses.  I am seeking to find out if there is some command or function or computer code, etc., that takes an entire Wikitable and simply reduces it down (or, even up) in proportion.  Something similar to the reduce/enlarge button on a photocopy machine.  I understand that I can "tweak" the column lengths, row heights, etc., to make charts bigger or smaller or wider or less wide, etc.   But I want to know if there is one simple command (like "zoom" or whatever) that simply takes any table and zooms the size up or down in size.  I am not at all concerned with that specific example of the Best Actress chart.  I was merely working on that when the question arose in my mind about being able -- in general -- to reduce or zoom tables.  I thought that there would be a one-word command or a one-line command ... like "zoom" = 50% or some such.  I tried that "font size = 80%" and that did not do what I was expecting it to do.   Thanks.  Joseph A. Spadaro (talk) 18:43, 9 September 2019 (UTC)


 * I answered the question without mentioning that this of course should never be done in Wikipedia articles. Poveglia (talk) 15:37, 9 September 2019 (UTC)


 * Thanks. But, I am confused.  What should never be done in Wikipedia articles?   Thanks.   Joseph A. Spadaro (talk) 18:29, 9 September 2019 (UTC)
 * Poveglia was referring to the earlier answer about . This should not be used in articles. PrimeHunter (talk) 09:36, 11 September 2019 (UTC)


 * Thanks. Why is that?  Also, did you see my further question directed to you, above (about 7 lines up)?   Thanks. Joseph A. Spadaro (talk) 16:21, 11 September 2019 (UTC)
 * has problems with Manual of Style/Accessibility. It isn't currently mentioned but that's probably because nobody tries to use it. There may also be limitations in browser support. If your question is still about the general way to shrink a whole table then the answer is: " for a decimal number x < 1, but don't use this in articles". Poveglia showed it for x = 0.5 (half size) at User:Joseph A. Spadaro/Sandbox/Page54. If there is another method then don't use that either. People have different screen sizes, window sizes, font sizes, eye sight, clicking methods and so on. Text shouldn't be significantly smaller than standard and neither should things you can click. Shrinking images with transform: scale wastes bandwidth by downloading a larger image than is actually displayed. And layout can become unpredictable for users who don't have scaling software. PrimeHunter (talk) 18:50, 11 September 2019 (UTC)


 * Thanks. Just so I understand clearly.  On Wikipedia, we cannot "shrink" a Wikitable by use of the "transform scale code" ... but we can shrink the font in a Wikitable by use of the "font size" code?  Is that correct?   Thanks. Joseph A. Spadaro (talk) 23:55, 11 September 2019 (UTC)
 * There are few absolute rules but many guidelines and practices. I don't know whether shrinking a table by transform scale has ever been discussed but I certainly wouldn't do it, and I would expect opposition to it in a discussion. MOS:SMALLTEXT says: "Reduced or enlarged font sizes should be used sparingly, and are usually done with automated page elements such as headings, table headers, and standardized templates." I wouldn't change font size on a whole normal content table like your example. Maybe it looks better to you on your screen but others will probably be annoyed by reduced font size, or the original size may look perfectly fine on their screens. A common layout problem with table size is that the table becomes too wide to fit on the screen for many users. There are other ways to deal with that without making the text hard to read. PrimeHunter (talk) 00:53, 12 September 2019 (UTC)


 * OK. Thanks for all of the helpful info.  Joseph A. Spadaro (talk) 03:19, 12 September 2019 (UTC)

Are there any bots detecting proxies among recently blocked IPs and resetting their blocks?
Hello, sorry if I posted this in thew wrong place.

I see that the perennial proposals list and the the bot policy say nothing about proxies, both the proxy use and blocking policy and also all the adminbots' pages seem to say nothing about the practice I described above, but I'd still like to ask here before going to the Idea lab: does our or any other Wikimedia project have a bot that specifically detects open proxies among IP addresses & ranges newly blocked for unrelated reasons such as vandalism, spam and other disruption, and extends the time of the block if it is below a certain minimum considered too short for an open proxy? --Синкретик (talk) 21:59, 8 September 2019 (UTC)
 * The short answer is no, at least on enwiki and other wikis I know about. A bit unrelated, but I suppose you could take a look at what RonaldBot does, especially on nlwiki (see this). The long answer is that it is not easy to detect whether an IP is an open proxy. Determining an appropriate block length is also going to be an issue. In my experience, generally speaking, admins will often tend to find an appropriate block length based on the abuse, persistence, the block log, and other things like rDNS. And range blocks add a whole new level of complication. -- zzuuzz (talk) 23:37, 8 September 2019 (UTC)


 * Sounds like a waste of time and effort, which is probably why it hasn't been done yet. Poveglia (talk) 01:44, 9 September 2019 (UTC)