Wikipedia:Village pump (technical)

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Template-generated redlinked categories, again

Once again, Special:WantedCategories has thrown up a handful of redlinked categories that are being smuggled in via templates that have farmed their category generation out to modules that I can't edit, and thus I can't fix the redlinks.

Category:FM-Class articles — This got renamed to Category:FM-Class pages a few days ago via a CFR discussion, but the {{Category class}} template is still module-farming the old category rather than the new one. Some, but not all, of the pages also have the new category directly declared on them alongside the redlink being carried in by the template, but the redlink is still present on over 500 talk pages.
Category:Wikipedia dual licensed files with invalid licenses — This is being piggybacked by the licensing template on an image, but the template itself doesn't directly contain any text enabling that category. Obviously if this is actually wanted, then it should be created by somebody who knows how to create project categories like that (i.e. not me), but if it's unwanted then it needs to go away.
Category:Wikt-lang template errors — Autogenerated on test page Template:Wikt-lang/testcases. Again, should be created if it's actually wanted, but needs to be kiboshed if it's not. If it's actually unwanted, then just fixing the errors on that page won't be enough, and it will need to be made impossible so that it doesn't come back in the future. And, of course, since I don't work with wikt-lang template gnomery, I'm not in a position to determine whether it's wanted or not.

So could somebody with module-editing privileges fix these, and/or create the latter two categories if they're actually wanted? Thanks. Bearcat (talk) 15:59, 4 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]

I'll take care of the first item — Martin (MSGJ · talk) 16:08, 4 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Can someone take a look at the FM-Class articles categories in Category:Wikipedia non-empty soft redirected categories and see if they can be moved to pages without disrupting the wider category structure for each project? Timrollpickering (talk) 17:19, 5 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]

The FM-Class one is a textbook example of why people absolutely must consider the broadest implications when there is a proposal to rename categories that are (i) part of a system and (ii) generated by code in templates and modules. That is to say: don't action the cat rename until every template, module and associated page is ready to be suitably amended. --Redrose64 🌹 (talk) 20:38, 5 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Yes, absolutely. This one took me by surprise. But I will try and get the module reworked later today. — Martin (MSGJ · talk) 08:56, 6 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Special:WantedCategories is now filling up with this mess. Can someone please either apply the module changes ASAP or else reverse the category name changes? Timrollpickering (talk) 12:59, 7 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Module was updated 08:28 today, so hopefully you are seeing some improvements now — Martin (MSGJ · talk) 18:48, 7 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]

I see you updated Template:Category class, but overlooked Template:Category class/column and Template:Category class/second row column. I've now updated those and Template:Articles by Quality/up and Template:Articles by Quality/down, but the first of these is still linking to the old category via {{class}} which invokes Module:Class. (E.g. FM links at Category:20th Century Studios articles by quality and Category:FM-Class 20th Century Studios pages.) Perhaps we should instead write a custom line for FM, like you did here[1] for Unassessed. – Fayenatic London 19:59, 7 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Most articles have now moved but there are a handful where the templates are stubbornly generating the old categories - see Category:Wikipedia non-empty soft redirected categories for the remaining ones. Timrollpickering (talk) 12:59, 9 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]

And another mess. Category:Low-impact WikiProject Wikipedia essays pages articles is a redirect being populated somehow but I'm not sure what and can't find the relevant text in the templates. Special:WantedCategories shows similar cases, as well as numerous redlinked FM pages categories. We need to stop this mess where categories are populated by code templates that are near impossible to amend but the category names can be easily changed. Timrollpickering (talk) 21:41, 10 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]

@MSGJ: is this a result of your 7 December edit to Module:WikiProject banner? – Fayenatic London 22:52, 11 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]

There are some comments at Module talk:WikiProject banner#Changes for FM-class — Martin (MSGJ · talk) 08:37, 12 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Weird problem with STN Template

Sunrise Izumo makes frequent use of the STN template, which is supposed to simplify the creation of links to train station articles. The template does what its supposed to, but it also inserts a link to a discussion about merging the template! Not sure how I should deal with this. Isaac Rabinovitch (talk) 17:13, 6 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]

I think this update by @Primefac: put a comment in the source code that should be in the talk page? -- Verbarson ^talk_edits 20:20, 6 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]

He says he put it in the source deliberately. See his talk page.

--Isaac Rabinovitch (talk) 20:25, 6 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]

It's normal to display a notice in articles using a template which is nominated for discussion. See Template:Tfm#Display on articles. {{STN}} is used in 19,600 articles and often many times in the same article, e.g. 54 in Sunrise Izumo and Karasuma Line. That causes excessive notices. I don't think it's possible for a template to detect it has already been called on the same page so we cannot say "Only display the notice at the first call". Maybe |type=disabled should be used in {{STN}} to never display a notice on articles. PrimeHunter (talk) 22:53, 6 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Now it makes sense. How will we know if we are not told? And the disruption is pretty minimal. -- Verbarson ^talk_edits 23:20, 6 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]

"The service operates in conjunction with the Sunrise Seto service to ‹See TfM›Takamatsu between Tokyo and ‹See TfM›Okayama. The combined 14-car train departs from Tokyo, and stops at ‹See TfM›Yokohama, ‹See TfM›Atami, ‹See TfM›Numazu, ‹See TfM›Fuji, ‹See TfM›Shizuoka, ‹See TfM›Hamamatsu (final evening stop), ‹See TfM›Himeji (first morning stop), and arrives at ‹See TfM›Okayama, where the train splits."

How is that "minimal"? Isaac Rabinovitch (talk) 03:12, 7 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]

I've disabled the TfM link. Nardog (talk) 05:38, 7 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]

If we want to only display something at the first occurrence of it on a page then what are the options? Would we have to add site-wide JavaScript which hides the other occurrences after loading the page? PrimeHunter (talk) 11:14, 7 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Or just don't put a notice of a technical discussion in a place where it's mostly going to be seen by ordinary Wikipedia users. I don't see how this is "normal." I've been reading and editing Wikipedia for almost 20 years, and this is the first time I've encountered such a thing. I guarantee you that 99% of Wikipedia users will find such a notice annoying and distracting. Isaac Rabinovitch (talk) 17:31, 7 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Notices concerning discussions about articles can be published at the head of the article; they are visible to all readers, but can be ignored by those not interested in WP processes. They don't disturb the flow of the article. It is hard to see how notices of discussion about templates can be published without inserting something into the flow of the article. Should there be an 'I want to see the nuts and bolts' flag that is normally off, but can be set on manually (or configured permanently as a account preference) to enable/disable such notices? -- Verbarson ^talk_edits 18:15, 7 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]

This in your CSS will hide tfd notices in mainspace, assuming they all use tfd:

.ns-0 .tfd {display:none;}

We could hide it for IP's and show by default for registered users. PrimeHunter (talk) 20:56, 7 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]

@PrimeHunter You could use WP:TemplateStyles and the :nth-child(1n+2 of .tfd){display:none} to make it only show the first tag in a given paragraph. --Ahecht (TALK
PAGE) 17:29, 10 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Looks like MediaWiki can't parse the period before .tfd for some reason, but .tfd ~ .tfd {display: none;} does the same thing (hides all sibling .tfds that come after another .tfd). --Ahecht (TALK
PAGE) 19:32, 10 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]

The :nth-child(1n+2 of .tfd) form is not in Selectors Level 3 (a W3C Recommendation) but it is in Selectors Level 4, which is a W3C Working Draft. --Redrose64 🌹 (talk) 21:43, 10 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]

It could also be off for IP's but on by default for registered users?

Primefac's edit was in accordance with WP:TFDHOW step 1, sixth bullet, except that they appear to have specified |type=tiny instead of |type=inline. --Redrose64 🌹 (talk) 12:35, 7 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]

|type=tiny is an acceptable alternative to |type=inline per Template:Template for discussion#Display on articles. But, as Template:Template for discussion#Which type should be used? goes onto say completely disabling, as Nardog has done, is ok if "the insertion of any template is deemed too detrimental to a large number of articles, or if it breaks markup". Nthep (talk) 13:41, 7 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]

off for IP's @PrimeHunter: Have any IPs requested hiding this?

99% of Wikipedia users will find such a notice annoying and distracting The same could be said for compulsory voting in Australia. Similar to what Primefac said, I think people complaining about not being notified pose a greater threat because they could riot and demand the results be overturned.

I requested an edit to make the notification less intrusive. It will be easy to skip over like the other inline cleanup tags and references:

The service operates in conjunction with the Sunrise Seto service to ^[TfM]Takamatsu between Tokyo and ^[TfM]Okayama. The combined 14-car train departs from Tokyo, and stops at ^[TfM]Yokohama, ^[TfM]Atami, ^[TfM]Numazu, ^[TfM]Fuji, ^[TfM]Shizuoka, ^[TfM]Hamamatsu (final evening stop), ^[TfM]Himeji (first morning stop), and arrives at ^[TfM]Okayama, where the train splits.

172.97.141.219 (talk) 14:45, 11 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]

If we're going to use {{fix}}, could we put it at the end of the template so as to match other inline cleanup templates' usage? E.g.:

The service operates in conjunction with the Sunrise Seto service to Takamatsu^[TfM] between Tokyo and Okayama^[TfM]. The combined 14-car train departs from Tokyo, and stops at Yokohama^[TfM], Atami^[TfM], Numazu^[TfM], Fuji^[TfM], Shizuoka^[TfM], Hamamatsu^[TfM] (final evening stop), Himeji^[TfM] (first morning stop), and arrives at Okayama^[TfM], where the train splits.

— Daℤyzzos (✉️ • 📤) _{Please do ping on reply.} 22:23, 11 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]

@DaZyzzogetonsGotDaLastWord: {{subst:Tfd}}/{{Tfd/dated}} is transcluded first in the template to discuss, and I wouldn't know how to delay output. Ahecht replaced {{fix}} with templatestyles, saying TfD is not cleanup, but kept [square brackets] while <angle brackets> confuse non-template-editors. I also proposed {{topicon}}. 172.97.141.219 (talk) 12:27, 12 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Add new category: articles in mainspace that contain template "Draft article"

{{AfC submission}} uses Module:AfC submission catcheck so it can list AfC submissions with categories automatically in Category:AfC submissions with categories.

It looks like {{Draft article}} also uses Module:AfC submission catcheck but it does not appear to be listing articles in mainspace that contain {{Draft article}} in a category. Can we do that? I have asked @Tol: to add removing {{Draft article}} from articles in mainspace to TolBots list of tasks. It would be nice if the bot could work from a category, just like the existing task to remove {{Draft categories}} from mainspace articles.

Note that there are currently no articles in mainspace that contain {{Draft article}} but that is because I used AWB to remove it. Thank you, Polygnotus (talk) 06:33, 7 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]

@Polygnotus You're basically asking for https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:WhatLinksHere?target=Template%3ADraft+article&namespace=0&hidelinks=1&hideredirs=1&limit=50. It's been a while since I've used the desktop AWB, but in WP:JWB it's pretty easy to generate a list of mainspace pages that transclude a template. You can import the JSON file below to do it for {{Draft article}}:

{
	"Draft article template in mainspace": {"string":{"namespacelist":["0"],"linksto-title":"Template:Draft article"},"bool":{"linksto":true,"backlinks":false,"embeddedin":true,"imageusage":false},"replaces":[]}
}

TolBot should be able to do something similar. --Ahecht (TALK
PAGE) 17:21, 10 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]

That would also be a way to achieve the same goal, but that would be inconsistent, less elegant, and a waste of dev time. AWB and JWB are intended for tasks that require human supervision, which this does not. Polygnotus (talk) 15:56, 13 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Watchlist weirdness

Hello! I've been trying to watch a category (Category:Pages with incorrect ref formatting) for additions/removals (see mw:Help:New filters for edit review/Filtering#Type of change), but the watchlist won't display those edits. The stranger thing is, though, that I can't see an entire 250 entries (without a latest version only filter) unless I turn off the "Category changes" filter. Further, I am able to see the problems on the mobile app.

I'm experiencing the problem on Google Chrome version 131.0.6778.109. Thanks!

— Daℤyzzos (✉️ • 📤) 21:36, 9 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]

@DaZyzzogetonsGotDaLastWord: Watchlisting a category in the conventional sense watches for changes to that page. Because a category is just another page in MediaWiki. Add this to your Special:MyPage/common.js file:

{{subst:iusc|User:Nardog/CatChangesViewer}}

The documentation is over at User:Nardog/CatChangesViewer. Polygnotus (talk) 01:21, 10 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]

@AZyzzogetonsGotDaLastWord: No need for a JavaScript solution these days. There's a setting in the watchlist tab of your preferences called "Hide categorization of pages". If it's unchecked, the watchlist will show category removals/additions. Graham87 (talk) 03:59, 10 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]

@Graham87: Thank you, I did not know that. Downside is that it results in ~146 entries in the watchlist! Polygnotus (talk) 12:03, 10 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]

@Graham87, I have that setting unchecked (meaning do show categorizations in the watchlist) and it still doesn't show categorized pages. It does know there are some, though (it doesn't show a "no results found" message if I filter to only show categorization of pages). – Daℤyzzos (✉️ • 📤) _{Please do not ping on reply.} 22:50, 10 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks for the recommendation, but I'm trying to get the pages to appear in my watchlist, not just on the category page (I don't really care about what order the pages were added to the category in, I'm just trying to consolidate everything on my watchlist). – Daℤyzzos (✉️ • 📤) _{Please do not ping on reply.} 22:14, 10 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Template-smuggled redlinked categories, yet again

The newest run of Special:WantedCategories is an even bigger trainwreck of redlinked class-rating categories again, with the total number of redlinked categories hitting 652 this time, but it's now a completely different problem. Instead of "FM-Class [Project] articles" categories having been left as unemptied redlinks following the categories being moved to "pages", now it's predominantly "FM-Class [Project] pages" categories that never previously existed at the "articles" form at all, and thus can't be resolved by moving or categoryredirecting anything.

There's also a smaller but significant cluster of "NA-Class [Project] articles" categories that never previously existed, and seven instances (across a variety of classes) of the nonsense "[Something something] pages articles" form that obviously shouldn't exist at all. As well, several (but not all) of the redlinks I brought here a few days ago haven't actually been resolved, and are still populated.

Can somebody look into what's causing all of this? Thanks. Bearcat (talk) 14:44, 10 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]

@Bearcat: We know what's causing this, it's the ongoing activities at Module talk:WikiProject banner and Template talk:WikiProject banner shell, to which you have been directed before. --Redrose64 🌹 (talk) 16:36, 10 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Nobody's "directed" me anywhere "before", and it is not my responsibility to quietly put up with having to wade through a flood of 653 redlinked categories. If there are "ongoing activities at Module talk:WikiProject banner and Template talk:WikiProject banner shell", then it's the responsibility of the people involved in those ongoing activities to resolve any and all redlinks that result from their activities before they get thrown onto my plate.

Special:WantedCategories has a size limit beyond which it is full and cannot detect additional categories beyond that limit. So template-generated maintenance categories cannot be allowed to accumulate on that list without being resolved, because every time I just let a batch of hundreds of them sit there unblued that's just pushing the report hundreds of articles closer to its size limit. And even cleaning out the categories I can deal with is significantly harder as long as maintenance categories remain there undealt with, because having to scroll through hundreds of these redlinks I can't fix makes it significantly more difficult to find the redlinks I can fix, especially (again) if they're allowed to accumulate rather than being resolved. So it isn't my responsibility to just politely shut my yap and put up with hundreds of maintenance categories I can't fix cluttering up that report — if they're being caused by ongoing banner template changes, then the projects that are implementing the banner changes need to keep redlinks off that report by dealing with them before they land on that report, because they're significantly interfering with an important maintenance task.

And finally, the handful of "pages articles" categories are obviously just an error, rather than anything intended, so that's a thing that needs to be fixed by whoever made that mistake. Bearcat (talk) 17:04, 10 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]

I refer you to this post. --Redrose64 🌹 (talk) 18:03, 10 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]

This is an issue of wikiproject not specifying that they have class assessments that deviate from the global one. An mass message was posted in April 2023, example, that the projects with the redlinks did not act on. Some of those have file classes, like Wikipedia:WikiProject_Aviation/Assessment, where as others do not like Wikipedia:WikiProject_Technology/Assessment.

I thought about this and came to the conclusion that it is best just to have an exclusion list. The exclusion list would list any deviations from the global classes, so projects get the global classes except where they have exclusions. That requires someone to go through the "/Assessments" subpages of the wikiprojects with those redlinks.

The other option would be to use |QUALITY_CRITERIA=custom for projects that deviate from the global classes, either on the basis of redlinked categories or by going through their "/Assessments" wikiproject subpages. Both two methods, the redlink or assessment subpage method, should result in a partial revert of User:Cewbot edits, where the wikiproject classes of the wikiprojects in question where moved to the global one or just removed. Snævar (talk) 18:18, 10 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Typing "Template:gl" (lower-case G, lower-case L) in the search box takes me to an unexpected page

When I type "Template:gl" (lower-case G, lower-case L) in the search box at the top of my page (in Vector 2022), and then click Search, I am automatically taken to Template:GL (upper-case G, upper-case L). There is not a redirect at Template:gl, so I do not understand why this happens. I believe that I should end up at this search result page, telling me that "The page "Template:Gl" does not exist., etc."

This also happens if I type "Template:gin", so it is not limited to two-letter names.

I thought that after the first character, case was significant in page names. What is happening here? – Jonesey95 (talk) 19:20, 10 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]

The search box allows very near matches. This query matches "Now try all upper case" or another type of near match. 172.97.141.219 (talk) 19:51, 10 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks for that. I suppose this (to me) inconsistent behavior is helpful for nearly everyone, but not for template editors and gnomes trying to investigate and fix specific problems. I find it a bit frustrating that the Search box at the top of the page behaves differently from the Search page. I guess that's why one has a white-background button that is the same height as the text box, and the other has a blue-background button that is taller than the text box. Maybe that will help me remember. – Jonesey95 (talk) 19:56, 10 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]

The big search box at Special:Search always makes a search and never goes directly to a matching page name. The normal search box on every page always goes directly to a page which only differs by captizalition, unless you select "Search for pages contaning" in the dropdown. PrimeHunter (talk) 21:15, 10 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Jonesey95, if you append a tilde to any search in the top-right box, it will force a search result page, regardless if a page exists matching your search string or not. This is actually documented somewhere, and not some kind of klugey thing that might go away next version. Try Template:Ambox~ or similar. Mathglot (talk) 09:02, 13 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Interesting. Strangely, it doesn't tell me that "The page Template:gin~ does not exist", as I might expect, but I'll file that tip away for future use. – Jonesey95 (talk) 15:03, 13 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Question about email from new user

Can a user who is not yet auto-confirmed send an email to an editor who has enabled "Email this user"?

This is probably a relatively simple question, but it may be the answer to a question about administrator accountability. Some administrators have (in my opinion, reasonably) semi-protected their talk pages, or asked another admin to semi-protect their talk pages, due to abuse from unregistered editors. The question is how a non-autoconfirmed user can contact such an administrator about an administrative action. I think that if the admin has email enabled, that satisfies admin accountability.

This issue came up at Deletion Review, and will probably go away there because the requesting user has been blocked, but I think that the question is worth asking. Robert McClenon (talk) 20:23, 10 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Special:Preferences has a toggle "Allow emails from brand-new users" that determines whether unconfirmed editors can send the user emails. SilverLocust 💬 20:29, 10 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Disambiguation pages relating to ships

Hello, I have discovered that disambiguation pages relation to ships (such as HMS Hannibal) are not classified as disambiguation pages and are not being displayed in orange (when you have the "Display links to disambiguation pages in orange" gadget enabled). Not sure how to fix this so I thought I'd alert you all here. GMH Melbourne (talk) 02:14, 11 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]

They are not disambiguation pages but Wikipedia:Set index articles so there is nothing to fix. It's working correctly. PrimeHunter (talk) 03:58, 11 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Gotcha, thank you! GMH Melbourne (talk) 04:46, 11 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Transliteration error at Ninurta

Hi. I just chanced upon a Good Article, Ninurta, which now has a red-linked Error on the first line. It's some kind of problem with transliteration, it seems because it's using non-Latin alphabet or characters. It is using the "transl" template and I don't know how to correct it. Would somebody please fix this? ProfGray (talk) 14:02, 11 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]

I fixed it by replacing the non-Latin "𒅁" with "Ib (cuneiform)" in the wikilink. Please improve the help text if was not clear to you. – Jonesey95 (talk) 14:50, 11 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]

@Jonesey95 thank you! ProfGray (talk) 00:20, 12 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]

[wikibase-conflict-patched] Your edit was patched into the latest version

I encountered this warning message while running wbeditentity. I wonder if anyone can tell me how to avoid it, or who I should ask to get a solution to the problem? Kanashimi (talk) 23:22, 11 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Fun problem with Improved Syntax Highlighting (beta feature)

Was editing a page (2014 Gaza War) with the Improved Syntax Highlighting beta feature when I noticed that the text I was editing was all purple. Scrolled up to find where the problem started, and it was first completely unnhighlighted, then all purple except for [[where it should be different]], then it was just completely off kilter. E.g. As part of its crackdown and concurrent to rocket fire from Gaza, Israel conducted air strikes against Hamas facilities in the Gaza Strip. I guess that's beta features for you. – Daℤyzzos (✉️ • 📤) _{Please do not ping on reply.} 23:32, 11 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]

The talk page for that beta feature is mw:Help talk:Extension:CodeMirror if you want to report a problem there. It helps to describe exactly what you clicked on and what you saw. For example, were you using the Visual Editor, and were you editing a section or the whole article? – Jonesey95 (talk) 00:56, 12 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Thank you... not sure how I would get syntax highlighting in Visual Editor though... :-) – Daℤyzzos (✉️ • 📤) _{Please do ping on reply.} 01:46, 12 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Phab:T366035 析石父 (talk) 14:26, 12 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Thank you. – Daℤyzzos (✉️ • 📤) _{Please do ping on reply.} 21:28, 12 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Does the Japanese Wikipedia allow English edit summaries?

IP tried to ask the Japanese Wikipedia if English edit summaries is allowed but ended up with receiving no consensus. So, i'm gonna mirror his discussion here on the English Wikipedia's village pump. 67.209.130.128 (talk) 03:14, 12 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]

The English Wikipedia has no authority over the Japanese Wikipedia. We would probably not want Japanese edit summaries here, but we don't have a "help for non-English speakers" page either so make of that what you will. * Pppery * _{it has begun...} 04:32, 12 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]

It appears to have no filter to stop non-Japanese edit summaries. I suggest that you supply an edit summary in English that is helpful when editing. Without knowing the language, perhaps you can usefully edit images, or numbers on a page. Graeme Bartlett (talk) 06:37, 12 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]

I really wouldn't recommend editing a Wikipedia in a language you don't speak for anything beyond the most perfunctory of edits, e.g. maybe replacing images with technically superior versions. For that, machine translation (perhaps with a courtesy note explaining you don't speak the language) should suffice. Remsense ‥ 论 06:39, 12 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Unironically unironically the highest quality tip. Thank you. 67.209.130.66 (talk) 08:49, 12 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]

If you log in, Japanese Wikipedia might send you a welcome message - they sent me one some years ago, see ja:利用者‐会話:Redrose64, which includes one line of English:

Hello, Redrose64! Welcome to Japanese Wikipedia. If you are not a Japanese speaker, you can ask a question in Help. Enjoy!

which may help here. I see that an IP has posted a similar question at 04:10, 3 December 2024 (UTC). --Redrose64 🌹 (talk) 18:50, 12 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Or SWMT. JJP_{Mas_ter} (she/they) 20:50, 12 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]

I sometimes perform file moves on Commons, which generates a copy of my edit summary (in English) copied to all languages where the file is renamed pursuant to the file move. I have never had a problem result from this in any language Wiki, including Japanese, where I have some 250 of these. BD2412 T 20:54, 12 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Redirects to anchors

Redirects to anchors don't seem to work.

If I go to Special pages it redirects to MediaWiki at the top of the page. But if I click the link in "Redirected from Special pages" it shows a link to MediaWiki#Installation and configuration. And if I click that link, I get the anchor jump.

Is the failure to do the jump on redirect peculiar to Firefox or do I need to file a bug report with Wikimedia? Or is this a known issue they won't be able to fix?

Thisisnotatest (talk) 03:06, 13 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]

What version of Firefox are you using?

You can find it under help > About firefox. Snævar (talk) 03:35, 13 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Redirects to a section require scripting to be enabled. Johnuniq (talk) 08:13, 13 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Works correctly for me. Firefox 133.0.3 (64 bits) @ Windows 11 Home. --CiaPan (talk) 09:00, 13 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Works for me in Firefox with JavaScript enabled, bot not disabled as Johnuniq said. Does https://www.whatismybrowser.com/detect/is-javascript-enabled/ say JavaScript is enabled? What is the url in the address bar after clicking Special pages? With JavaScript enabled and working correctly it should be rewritten to https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MediaWiki#Installation_and_configuration and jump to the section. Without JavaScript the url remains https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special_pages. It does display the MediaWiki article but doesn't jump to the section. This is an effect of MediaWiki using "pseudoredirects" and not real HTTP redirects. PrimeHunter (talk) 12:56, 13 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Data sorting in tables

Hi there, I've created a page List of Neo-Latin authors which has sortable lists.

In the first column, I've added data sorting via either |data-sort="Lastname, firstname"| or with {{sortname|Firstname|Lastname}}, or variations on these. The seem to be outputting to the table, but it doesn't seem always to sort on these values. In particular, cells which have sort values, but do not contain data, are treated as blanks.

It is necessary to have some data-less name cells, because the table contains columns for the author's original names, and their Latin names; but either of these can be absent for different authors.

I've tried adding nsbsp; to make browsers think there is content, in case that is the issue, but that doesn't seem to help. Any ideas? Jim Killock (talk) 17:12, 13 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]

@JimKillock: It's called data-sort-value.[2] PrimeHunter (talk) 18:23, 13 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Ah great - thanks! Jim Killock (talk) 20:29, 13 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Module editor needed, again

Another two redlinks generated by the move of template-generated maintenance categories again, this time relating to {{Infobox road}}:

But yet again, the template isn't directly declaring these categories itself in any place I could fix them myself, but is smuggling them in via a module I can't edit, so I need somebody with module-editing privileges to clean them up. Thanks. Bearcat (talk) 17:20, 13 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]

This is beyond me, too. And I tested and it doesn't follow redirects. Posted at Template talk:Infobox road in the hope that one of the editors watching that knows how this works. * Pppery * _{it has begun...} 17:30, 13 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]

I think exceptions to ISO names need to be added at Template:Infobox road/meta/mask/category. — Jts1882 | talk 18:10, 13 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]

I agree, it is safer than adding it to the ISO, less templates using the subtemplate than the module. Snævar (talk) 20:19, 13 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]

I've made this edit and it seems to make the change. One road that I null edited is there at the moment. — Jts1882 | talk 08:04, 14 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]

The trace here is Template:Infobox_road > Template:Infobox road/meta/mask/category > Template:Country name > Module:ISO 3166 > Module:ISO 3166/data/National. The last module "Module:ISO 3166/data/National" mentions "Cabo Verde" as the main name and "Cape Verde" as the alterntive, hence the category gets thee "Cabo Verde" name. Snævar (talk) 19:40, 13 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks, gang. I followed up Jts's Cape Verde edit above with another one that used the same format to deal with the Georgia category, and that also worked, so that one's now clean as well. Thanks again for figuring this out. Bearcat (talk) 15:35, 14 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]

File:01 Burqa (cropped).tif

When I hover over the "reply" link on WP:VP/P policy I see File:01 Burqa (cropped).tif. Any particular reason for that? CambridgeBayWeather (solidly non-human), Uqaqtuq (talk), Huliva 23:00, 13 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Not sure which "reply" link you're hovering over (there are far too many to try all of them), but neither hovering nor clicking yielded the file in question for the two I tried. – Daℤyzzos (✉️ • 📤) _{Please do not ping on reply.} 23:29, 13 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]

It's all the reply links. Only hovering shows the image and click on the reply link just opens the page to reply. CambridgeBayWeather (solidly non-human), Uqaqtuq (talk), Huliva 04:54, 14 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]

@CambridgeBayWeather: I guess you have enabled "Navigation popups" at Special:Preferences#mw-prefsection-gadgets. The reply links are made by "Enable quick replying" at Special:Preferences#mw-prefsection-editing. The links points to the page itself and File:01 Burqa (cropped).tif is displayed in Wikipedia:Village pump (policy)#Can we hide sensitive graphic photos? Popups can display an image outside the lead, unlike the default feature Page previews at Special:Preferences#mw-prefsection-rendering. PrimeHunter (talk) 23:36, 13 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]

I do have the navigation popup enabled. It just seemed an odd choice of image for the VP/P page as I didn't realise that was the only image on the page. I see that File:718smiley.svg is showing at Wikipedia:Village pump (proposals). CambridgeBayWeather (solidly non-human), Uqaqtuq (talk), Huliva 05:00, 14 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Maybe the icons at Wikipedia:Village pump should also be added to the top of the pages. PrimeHunter (talk) 12:12, 14 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]

There's not really a good place to add only the relevant icon, and hovering over a link to WP:VP (no particular section) yields no image, despite the WP:VP/P one being in the header, so I'm not quite sure where at all one would put a relevant image. – Daℤyzzos (✉️ • 📤) 15:42, 14 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Popups looks at the source text in Wikipedia:Village pump and doesn't discover the icons which are transcluded from {{Village pump}}. Hovering on the template link shows the first icon File:Edit-find-replace.svg. PrimeHunter (talk) 20:15, 14 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Ah. Still doesn't solve the question of where one would put the WP:VP icons. – Daℤyzzos (✉️ • 📤) Please do not ping on reply. 22:52, 14 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Huh. I thought that at the top might work because when I hover over my talk page link above I see File:ANEWSicon.png and on my user page, File:CambridgeBayWeather logo.svg. On PrimeHunter's I see a barnstar and his talk page link shows File:Information.svg. But for some reason hovering over the links to Daℤyzzos and his talk page show no images at all. CambridgeBayWeather (solidly non-human), Uqaqtuq (talk), Huliva 00:18, 15 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Actually, hovering over a link to your talk page displays File:Wikipedia Administrator.svg, but that's still provided (albeit smaller than File:ANEWSicon.png) by the Adminidstrators' newsletter. – Daℤyzzos (✉️ • 📤) 18:35, 15 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]

And that's what I'm seeing now. CambridgeBayWeather (solidly non-human), Uqaqtuq (talk), Huliva 18:39, 15 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]

I did some testing and I found... (drumroll please)
...that I have absolutely no idea why my talk page (or normal userpage for that matter) gets no image! But at least we know now that it can't be something to do with the image or its syntax

.

— Daℤyzzos (✉️ • 📤) Please do not ping on reply. 19:19, 15 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Cursor jumping

For a month or longer now, my cursor has been jumping to the beginning of my sentence when I'm writing a message in places like the Help Desk or an article's Talk page — but interestingly, not here at Technical Help — and try to type capital letters or certain common symbols such as colons, semicolons, parentheses, quotation marks, exclamation points, and question marks. This happens ONLY when I'm working in Wikipedia, nowhere else.

It's really maddening, because it means I waste a lot of time going back to the start of a line and copying the letter or symbol to pasted back down where I was typing. Can you help me stop this? Augnablik (talk) 12:08, 14 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Another mystery

When I go to the talk page for a Wiki article entitled "Ramendra Kumar" and click on History, sometimes I see the entire history as I'd expect, with all messages in descending order ... other times I see selected revisions (there's a box saying "Compare selected revisions," so I'm calling what I see that same way). I never know what to expect when I click on History. I assume this would happen at other article Talk pages.

Of course I want to see the entire history. Please help me stop the selected revisions from coming up when I click on History. Augnablik (talk) 12:43, 14 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Augnablik, what is the URL, in both cases? — Qwerfjkl talk 13:38, 15 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]

It's https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ramendra_Kumar, @Qwerfjkl. But now I see the history as it should look. I've noticed this has happened before with that history ... but now I've discovered this is happening with other histories as well. One day, I see selected revisions — another day, everything.

I checked several more edits that I made to other articles and the History tab is bringing up all the revisions correctly. Let me check on this again tomorrow and see if it goes back to seeing just selected revisions. Stay tuned, please.

I'm intrigued by your User name, as it's certainly an interesting version of the Qwerty keyboard! Augnablik (talk) 15:36, 15 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Augnablik, I mean the URL when you only see certain versions, not the URL of the page.
As far as I know there is no Qwerfjkl keyboard; I just started on Qwerty and got bored halfway through. — Qwerfjkl talk 15:56, 15 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Oh, sorry, that’s what I thought I’d copied for you. It’s https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Ramendra_Kumar&action=history .

But again, I’ve now found that the selected version/entire version changes happen elsewhere as well as at that page. And by the way when I just checked at the RK page, I found the edits were now showing in their entirety. So, then, they changed twice in one day.

As for your Wiki name, lyes, I know there’s no keyboard that uses it. I was just having a little fun with you, Augnablik (talk) 18:26, 15 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Yet another mystery

When I add topics in places like the article Talk pages and the Help Desk, perhaps elsewhere too, I'm finding a lot of times that square-shaped "sticky notes" have begun to pop up with brief dictionary definitions of words. No idea why. I don't ask for them, they just seem to come on their own. They get in the way of my typing. Is there a way to stop this? Augnablik (talk) 12:46, 14 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Do the "sticky notes" look something like this?

note

A brief record of facts, topics, or thoughts, written down as an aid to memory.

More »

— Daℤyzzos (✉️ • 📤) 15:59, 14 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Yes, except mine are square.

By the way, @DaZyzzogetonsGotDaLastWord, please tell me how you inserted that image. That's exactly what I wanted to do in this message but didn't know how. Augnablik (talk) 16:22, 14 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Okay. If the "sticky notes" look like that, you probably have some sort of dictionary extension installed. If you're using Google Chrome, check here to see if you have that installed. If you're not using Google Chrome, I doubt I can help any further.

I made the diagram using the {{box}} template—it's not an image. Documentation for using the {{box}} template can be found here. Information on uploading a screenshot (image) of Wikipedia to show your problem can be found here.

— Daℤyzzos (✉️ • 📤) Please do not ping on reply 18:53, 14 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]

1- I am using Chrome. :) I followed your link and ended up on a page entitled Google Dictionary, so I suppose that means the dictionary is installed. Now what?

2- A box template, interesting. I look forward to learning about this. Augnablik (talk) 08:14, 15 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]

@Augnablik: Everybody sees a page called Google Dictionary at [3]. The question is whether you see a button to add or remove the extension. It may be another extension. See https://support.google.com/chrome_webstore/answer/2664769#uninstall-extension. PrimeHunter (talk) 11:15, 15 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]

@PrimeHunter, I see an Add button. Augnablik (talk) 12:17, 15 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]

@Augnablik: Then look for another installed extension as described at my link. PrimeHunter (talk) 12:27, 15 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]

I did what you asked, looking for another installed extension. Two came up. One was clearly an extension, and it didn't look important, so I deleted it. But the second is Acrobat! I can't imagine why that would appear as an extension. As you can guess, I didn't uninstall it.

Perhaps for the uninstallation to work, or the sticky notes to stop (if that's supposed to happen now), I'll restart my computer and come back to see what happens. Augnablik (talk) 15:09, 15 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Christmas message error

Urgh I just sent out a load of Christmas messages and forgot to add a </div> at the end. So responses will spew onto the background. Can somebody use AWB or a bot to quickly fix it and add it like this, it would take an hour to do manually! ♦ Dr. Blofeld 10:29, 15 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Some have been fixed already. Each one will require checking manually. @Dr. Blofeld: What is the original that you used? --Redrose64 🌹 (talk) 12:35, 15 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Blowers, you are guilty of having too many wiki-friends! Looks like RedRose64 is very kindly helping you out. Martinevans123 (talk) 12:47, 15 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]

A number of them are contributors to the challenges who deserve to be shown that they are appreciated Martin! ♦ Dr. Blofeld 12:58, 15 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]

The only challenge I generally ever attempt is this one, and the results aren't usually very impressive. Martinevans123 (talk) 13:25, 15 December 2024 (UTC) [reply]

Redrose64, or use AWB to alert them to add </div> at the end if they've not already fixed it! ♦ Dr. Blofeld 12:52, 15 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]

That would be spamming. But what is the original that you used? Presumably it was a template; if I can fix the problem at source, it shouldn't occur again. It seems that every year, somebody sends out Christmas greetings with unclosed markup of some kind - in this case there were both a missing ''''' and a missing </div> but in the past I've seen cases of unclosed tables, or where closing tags are transposed. --Redrose64 🌹 (talk) 12:59, 15 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Please let me know if I can help with this. I have a bot task approved for fixing typos and issues in mass messages. – DreamRimmer (talk) 13:21, 15 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Is it possible something could be coded to fix the ones Redrose hasn't done yet? It's just it'll take over an hour to fix manually. Perhaps if this is a common problem at Christmas something could be coded to fix them? Only if it wouldn't take long to do Dream. ♦ Dr. Blofeld 16:56, 15 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Yes, I can fix it. It is bedtime here where I live, so I will take care of it tomorrow. – DreamRimmer (talk) 17:14, 15 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]

All

Done now, including fixing up some half-fixes by others - do people really think that </div style> is valid?. --Redrose64 🌹 (talk) 19:59, 15 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]