Wikipedia:Help desk/Archives/2020 September 3

= September 3 =

Removal
How do I remove Wikipedia from my account ? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 2600:6C5C:6C80:1F01:75E3:F9A2:6E1B:4695 (talk) 01:55, 3 September 2020 (UTC)
 * Please explain what you mean by this question? -- Orange Mike &#124;  Talk  02:32, 3 September 2020 (UTC)

11 years ago i created subject but later on for some reason subject deleted by some one. please tell me why and how to ree edit and publish again?
11 years ago i created subject but later on for some reason subject deleted by some one. please tell me why and how to ree edit and publish again?

This is none profit organisations project https://www.dahili.org since 1999

and i am the founder of this project

is it pay for

In English: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dahili_Network

In Turkish: http://tr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dahili_Network

regards — Preceding unsigned comment added by Oguzersoz (talk • contribs) 02:23, 3 September 2020 (UTC)
 * The article in English was deleted in 2014 after this discussion: Articles_for_deletion/Dahili_Network. You should not have created it, of course, since you have an obvious conflict of interest in this matter. -- Orange Mike &#124;  Talk  02:31, 3 September 2020 (UTC)
 * Filed for speedy deletion on trwiki Ed  talk!  04:16, 3 September 2020 (UTC)

That article has been deleted 7 times, and was recreated by the SPAs, , and. ◅ Sebastian 14:02, 3 September 2020 (UTC)

Having trouble logging in
I'm having difficulty signing back into my account, even when I'm sure I've entered the correct username and password. I've tried "forgot password" but it doesn't do anything. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 68.67.109.78 (talk) 03:35, 3 September 2020 (UTC)
 * Make sure you've entered the correct email adress and/or username for password resets. Whats the username of the account? Victor Schmidt mobil (talk) 05:58, 3 September 2020 (UTC)
 * CapitalistCamanchi68.67.109.78 (talk) 13:35, 3 September 2020 (UTC)

NBA Playoff Reference
Can you fix the reference for me please. 68.102.42.216 (talk) 04:10, 3 September 2020 (UTC)
 * You're going to have to be more specific. Which article? Which reference? —[ Alan M 1  (talk) ]— 06:32, 3 September 2020 (UTC)
 * [//en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=2020_NBA_playoffs&diff=976474699&oldid=976474668 Your edit] at 2020 NBA playoffs was [//en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=2020_NBA_playoffs&diff=next&oldid=976474717 fixed] by another editor shortly afterwards. -- John of Reading (talk) 06:46, 3 September 2020 (UTC)

Are there any guidelines for how Metropolitan Areas are handled?
Hello, I've been doing a lot of research on Metropolitan Statistical Areas recently, and I've noticed a lot of unexpected redirects. For example Mankato-New Ulm, MN CSA redirects to Mankato – North Mankato metropolitan area. In other examples, a Metropolitan Statistical Area that covers one county redirects to the county rather than to the MSA. Personally, I think the example of the Mankato-New Ulm-North Mankato Combined Statistical Area is clearly separate from the Metropolitan area and should have a stub rather than a redirect, but before making any changes, I figured I'd check to see if anyone is aware of any guidelines or policies on how MSAs/CSAs are supposed to be handled. Ryan Vesey 13:28, 3 September 2020 (UTC)
 * I think you’ll be better off asking this at Talk:Metropolitan statistical area. TimTempleton (talk) (cont)  14:35, 3 September 2020 (UTC)

Search citations and only citations?
Is there a way to search all of En:Wikipedia and return only results from citations? For example, is there a way to find all the pages that reference a specific academic journal, or journal article? Please ping me in replies. Thanks! - TimDWilliamson speak 16:46, 3 September 2020 (UTC)
 * I'm not an expert on this, but take a look at Help:Searching. The important points are that you can use a "regular expression" search ("regex"), and that you search in the wikitext of the article ("source"), not the displayed HTML of the article. This means you can use a regular expression to limit your search to text strings that start with . Some articles use citation styles (such as some types of Harvard reference) for which this will not work, because they use something ohter than the "ref" tag to delineate the actual citation. If you have never used regex before, you will have some learning to do. -Arch dude (talk) 17:28, 3 September 2020 (UTC)
 * Learning is good. I try to learn something new every day! Thanks for your help. - TimDWilliamson speak 17:53, 3 September 2020 (UTC)
 * Here's a tip I got from User:AlanM1 here, adapted to your question: Use search with a Regular expression search. E.g. for citations of the format, you could search for  . The first “Centaurus” stands for a word occurring in the article that limits the number of pages the regular expression search will have to scrutinize. There are probably other formats around; you could search for them in the same way, or, if you have the list of possible formats, ask me to get them into one search. ◅ Sebastian 18:04, 3 September 2020 (UTC)
 * Thanks! - TimDWilliamson speak 18:20, 3 September 2020 (UTC)
 * I'd suggest replacing the two '?' with '*' to allow for any number of spaces, not just zero or one; cites with parms in "vertical" format (like infoboxes) will have multiple spaces around their '='. Note, however, most of the time, journal names are unique enough to not require the regex search. If you search for "journal name", you'll just get an extra result or two for the Wikipedia article about the journal itself, the publisher, and maybe a regular editor/contributor or two. There are also lots of cites out there that are manually formatted without a cite template, or use a different cite template and work, magazine, etc. parms instead. —[ Alan M 1  (talk) ]— 07:15, 4 September 2020 (UTC)
 * I agree, the regex would be less likely to miss anything with '*' instead of '?'. But then again, it would still miss instances with other forms of whitespace, such as tabs – no idea if they have been used. For me, without your background knowledge, the ' ?' provided a reasonable compromise between simplicity, server load, and trying to be exhaustive. That's the beauty of regex: There's so much one can do, but, as Arch dude warned, it also means that there's much to learn. As for uniqueness, the first two names that came to my mind were “Science” and “Nature” which are far from unique; but then I picked the less common word “Centaurus” to reduce server load. Again, thank you very much for your help in the first place. ◅ Sebastian 14:12, 4 September 2020 (UTC)

Two usernames one email
Hey all-

Hoping someone can help. I previously edited content under one user name but forgot my password. I generated a forgot password request for that user name, but have not received anything so I assumed it was maybe deleted?

I created a new user name for the same email. Is this a violation? I want to make sure I don't inadvertently create issues by looking like I'm trying to be manipulative when I'm not. Any guidance would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks, Lisa — Preceding unsigned comment added by 2600:1700:424C:490:91B3:D440:8060:DDA8 (talk) 18:16, 3 September 2020 (UTC)
 * No, having the same e-mail is not a problem. You should leave a note on the user page of your new account that you previously edited under the old account.  RudolfRed (talk) 18:39, 3 September 2020 (UTC)

Forest Whitaker personal life
The personal life section of Forest Whitaker has untrue information that are quite offensive and need to be removed. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 2A01:4B00:F019:B700:1937:53D2:343B:8DE0 (talk) 22:05, 3 September 2020 (UTC)
 * You should bring this up on the talk page. Biographies of famous living people are so monitored that it's unlikely any vandalism will last for long. Be specific about your concerns. TimTempleton (talk) (cont)  22:21, 3 September 2020 (UTC)
 * Thank you, 2A01, for pointing it out. It was recent vandalism, now reverted. Maproom (talk) 22:24, 3 September 2020 (UTC)

Merge two entities on WikiData
I'm at my wits' end here. Merging two entities on WikiData is something no normal mere mortal could ever understand how to do. At least I don't think I'll ever understand it.

The WikiData entities https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q2971063 and https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q50356342 are about the exact same building in Taagepera, southern Estonia. Yet WikiData fails to understand this and suggests the entities be merged. I have tried pretty much all available options on how exactly to do it and still failed. WikiData claims there's a conflict on the English descriptions and a conflict on WikiMedia Commons.

I have been using Wikipedia for over a decade and should think I'm an experienced user. But this still baffles me. Could someone please, please, please either merge the two entities themselves or explain to me step by step, mouseclick by mouseclick, how to do it? J I P &#124; Talk 23:11, 3 September 2020 (UTC)


 * When at my wit's end about WD (which has happened), I ask at WD for help. If I can explain the problem at least moderately well, it's dealt with quickly and competently. Try Wikidata:Wikidata:Project chat. -- Hoary (talk) 23:28, 3 September 2020 (UTC)