Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Miscellaneous/2018 August 16

= August 16 =

Eating with hands
Should there be a Eating with hands article? It could discuss where in the world it is common to eat with hands and what food is acceptable to eat with hands all over the world (bread, pizza, burgers). What do you think? Ericdec85 (talk) 03:03, 16 August 2018 (UTC)
 * Googling your title suggests there are plenty of reliable sources for just such an article -- go for it; after all, "Wikipedia is an encyclopedia that anyone can edit" (until you get banned) . 107.15.157.44 (talk) 04:24, 16 August 2018 (UTC)
 * Finger food is probably a good place to start. Iapetus (talk) 08:33, 16 August 2018 (UTC)
 * You could also have a look at the discussion when you asked the same question in December 2016. Despite all the waffle, there were some useful links. If in doubt, see Your first article. If you don't want to write an article yourself, try Requested articles. Alansplodge (talk) 09:53, 16 August 2018 (UTC)

David Patrikarakos
Need assistance with the status of submitted entry re the author David Patrikarakos (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Draft:David_Patrikarakos) Someone else submitted his entry to wikipedia and is stuck in an 8-week waiting limbo. Author is concerned and asked my assistance. Can an editor with more experience please assist me Le Bijoux (talk) 08:09, 16 August 2018 (UTC)


 * Hello, . I'm sorry if Patrikarakos is concerned, but I'm afraid that the simple answer to that is that Wikipedia does not share his concern. There is no deadline. When the draft Draft:David Patrikarakos is accepted as an article, it will not be his article: it will be Wikipedia's article about him. He and his associates will have no control whatever over the contents of the article.
 * As for the draft, on a quick look I would say that it has little chance of being accepted as an article in its present form, as most of the references are either not independent of him, or are general rather than about him. has made the very common beginner's error of not starting with sources entirely independent of the subject. Wikipedia has little interest in what somebody has said, done, or published, except insofar as independent commentators have written about them. Please read WP:Your first article and Biography of living persons.
 * The fact that the author requested your assistance suggests that you may have a conflict of interest in editing the article about him; and the fact that SandDaria has edited only that draft makes me suspect that they too have a conflict of interest. If either of you are in any way paid to work on this draft, then you must declare this, according to our policy on WP:paid editing. --ColinFine (talk) 11:01, 16 August 2018 (UTC)

Computing? Mathematics? Biology?
Is there a Wiki article on how to quantify commonality or similarity. For example DNA in genomes, words (or letters) in novels, notes (or whatever) in songs? MBG02 (talk) 17:29, 16 August 2018 (UTC)


 * Similarity measure may help. Loraof (talk) 18:15, 16 August 2018 (UTC)
 * There should be Commonality analysis -- but isn't (nor ) . 107.15.157.44 (talk) 18:21, 16 August 2018 (UTC)
 * DNA and words/strings commonly use edit distance. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 174.196.132.208 (talk) 18:27, 16 August 2018 (UTC)
 * Thanks. 1st one led to Semantic similarity which is probably the answer, but too hard for me. 2nd one is also the answer, but still too “mathy” - I was hoping for something more “wordy” - especially with stories of proving ownership of songs, novels, art, etc. But also expecting it (the technique) would apply to biology. MBG02 (talk) 22:39, 16 August 2018 (UTC)
 * Then, try Levenshtein distance as a start and generalize it to other things. 209.149.113.5 (talk) 17:37, 17 August 2018 (UTC)