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arbitration

There is an article that tries to cover 2 standalone topics. I want to open an arbitration case against it for its deletion Gnosticfind (talk) 21:23, 27 December 2025 (UTC)

1. Which article are you talking about?
2. There's no need to involve arbcom in a routine deletion case. See WP:Deletion for how the deletion process works.

Athanelar (talk) 21:29, 27 December 2025 (UTC)

@Gnosticfind, welcome to Wikipedia! Arbitration is meant for intractable behavioral issues that the community can't otherwise handle. You cannot open arbitration cases against articles. If you feel an article is too broad in its coverage of the subject, you may raise this issue at the talk page of said article. If you really wish to delete the article, please see WP:AFD for instructions. Children Will Listen (🐄 talk, 🫘 contribs) 21:30, 27 December 2025 (UTC)

@Gnosticfind, does the article in question cover two subjects about which Wikipedia (a) already has two separate articles, or (b) has an article for one but not the other, or (c) has no article about either?

If (b) or (c), is there any reason (aside from lack of WP:Notability) that either or both subjects should not have articles? If not, why not look towards creating a second suitably named draft about one of them, editing the existing article and new draft to 'segregate' their content, and change (move) the existing article's title appropriately? {The poster formerly known as 87.81.230.195} ~2025-31359-08 (talk) 21:48, 27 December 2025 (UTC)

I hear you and you sound so nice. However, I have asked before and was rejected. That is why arbitration needs to be opened. Here is the useless article:

Christianity and Islam

This nonsense article was posted by somebody with an ulterior motive.

Each is a standalone topic and has carloads of information. Additionally, the religions are very different--almost opposites.

Also, I am fine with bankrupting you until you remove it. Gnosticfind (talk) 00:47, 29 December 2025 (UTC)

Wikipedia has no process for deletion by arbitration. The arbitration committee does not rule on content issues. As for bankrupting Wikipedia, good luck with that. AndyTheGrump (talk) 00:53, 29 December 2025 (UTC)

The article is pretty clearly focused on comparison between the two religions, and the ways they have interacted. Now, whether the title and lead do a good job of communicating that is another matter, but it is not true that the article 'tries to cover 2 standalone topics'.

Also, we already have independent articles on Christianity and Islam if that's what your complaint is.

I'm also not sure what you mean by I am fine with bankrupting you until you remove it. but this sounds like a WP:THREAT which is categorically not allowed here. Athanelar (talk) 00:53, 29 December 2025 (UTC)

An encyclopedia covers many kinds of topics, and this is one of them. Nobody is making you read any of it.

If Wikipedia followed my religious beliefs, all articles would be required to use the words "fantasy fiction" to describe every religion. That would be a ridiculous and stupid way of censoring an encyclopedia, so it's a good thing they don't do it. But your proposed way of censoring the encyclopedia is no better than mine. Encyclopedias don't follow any person's religious beliefs, and it's pointless to ask them to. Encyclopedias do respect everyone's religious beliefs, by not forcing people to read articles they aren't interested in. TooManyFingers (talk) 02:21, 29 December 2025 (UTC)

I see you cannot tell when you are being played. I am now going to write an article on Christianity and Dentistry ALSO Unitarianism and Frisbees. Its very important to be so open minded you can prove your brain has fallen out. Wikipedia is not about integrity and scholarship; Wikipedia is about feel-good verbiage Gnosticfind (talk) 03:25, 29 December 2025 (UTC)

You can write anything you like. Just not on Wikipedia, since we don't permit random contributors to abuse its facilities to construct nonsensical 'articles' to prove some sort of facile 'point'. Should you attempt to actually add such content, you will no doubt find yourself blocked per WP:NOTHERE. We can manage well enough without your input. AndyTheGrump (talk) 03:52, 29 December 2025 (UTC)

Regarding me having been played: which part of "your religion is fantasy fiction" did you misunderstand? TooManyFingers (talk) 04:29, 29 December 2025 (UTC)

You can write "Christianity and Dentistry" if you can find and cite WP:N-good sources that covers that subject, compare Jehovah's Witnesses and blood transfusions. I started Shakespeare and Star Trek myself. Gråbergs Gråa Sång (talk) 09:23, 29 December 2025 (UTC)

Second sentence of that article: "Both are Abrahamic religions and monotheistic, originating in the Middle East."—so no, they are not "almost opposites". It is entirely appropriate for this project, as an encyclopedia, to have an article comparing and contrasting them.

Your dislike of the article, or of one of the two religions, is not a reason for its deletion. You are not here to build an encyclopedia, but to "right great wrongs", and as such you are wasting your own, and our, time. If you persist, your account will be blocked.

(This, then this, and also this may be related.) Andy Mabbett (Pigsonthewing); Talk to Andy; Andy's edits 17:28, 29 December 2025 (UTC)

"Wikipedia wants to trick you into thinking Christianity and Islam are similar so that you'll convert to Islam" has to be the strangest WP:CABAL theory I've ever heard. Athanelar (talk) 18:01, 29 December 2025 (UTC)

Meh, it's a natural part of our liberal agenda. Gråbergs Gråa Sång (talk) 18:07, 29 December 2025 (UTC)

I always wondered what Template:Convert was for... Andy Mabbett (Pigsonthewing); Talk to Andy; Andy's edits 18:47, 29 December 2025 (UTC)

Per your links above, I also wonder if "demi-urges" is a term for people who wants something, but in a half-assed way. Gråbergs Gråa Sång (talk) 18:56, 29 December 2025 (UTC)

Demiurges was meant, I think. Andy Mabbett (Pigsonthewing); Talk to Andy; Andy's edits 20:03, 29 December 2025 (UTC)

Well, both can be argued to make sense. Kinda like Christianty and Islam. Can be, I said. Gråbergs Gråa Sång (talk) 20:34, 29 December 2025 (UTC)

We're off topic by now, but given their new username is 'Gnosticfind' they were likely referring to, as Andy said, the Demiurge of Gnostic Christianity Athanelar (talk) 20:29, 29 December 2025 (UTC)

Vorrei e non vorrei, mi trema un poco il cor, ...

-- Zerlina in Mozart's Don Giovanni, having a famous demi-urge during "Là ci darem la mano" TooManyFingers (he/him · talk) 07:02, 30 December 2025 (UTC)

@Gnosticfind: I think the point you are trying to make is that Christianity and Islam is a synthesis of information, and indeed synthesis is not allowed per policy: Wikipedia:No original research#Synthesis of published material. However, if there are sources comparing two standalone topics then an article can be written using those sources. Essentially, any ulterior motive is by the authors of those sources, and Wikipedia simply reflects that. Commander Keane (talk) 14:05, 4 January 2026 (UTC)

unwarranted reference notification

I created a page for primate anthropologist Shirley C. Strum that was flagged for over-reliance on primary sources. I revisited the article and exchanged a number of primary references for secondary references. The notification is still there. I'd like to know if further elimination of primary references will fix the problem, or if can it be fixed internally by Wikipedia. Thank you! Cassandra Phillips aka cassaph Cassaph (talk) 20:00, 29 December 2025 (UTC)

The flag was placed manually by Snowman304 on 30 August 20205, and will not disappear automatically, only when an editor chooses to remove it.

If you are entirely confident that you have fully addressed the problem, you could be 'Bold' and remove it yourself – the worse that can happen is that someone else checks, disagrees, and 'Reverts' your removal, and you can then civilly 'Discuss' the issue with them (on the article's Talk page, or yours, or theirs) to achieve a consensus; this is perfectly okay, and part of the standard editing procedure detailed at Wikipedia:BOLD, revert, discuss cycle.

You may however prefer to seek, and abide by, the opinion of the editor who tagged the article in the first place.

Incidentally, you say you 'created' the article, but that appears to have been done by JohnMcCu on 24 March 2025; your current account became active on 10 April 2025 and did not edit the article until 29 August 2025, and JohnMcCu was still actively editing this and other articles up to 14 September 2025. Are you operating two separate accounts? If so, why? and if not, what is the explanation for this apparent anomaly? {The poster formerly known as 87.81.230.195} ~2025-31359-08 (talk) 21:47, 29 December 2025 (UTC)

Thanks for the info! The question of authorship has to do w a person, John Mc, hired by Strum to start writing her article. His contribution was more or less a stub, which I fleshed out. You say he's edited it since? That's news to me. We're not affiliated.

I'll try to remove the notification myself and see what happens.

Glad to have your guidance.

Cassandra Cassaph (talk) 23:33, 29 December 2025 (UTC)

@Cassaph The article about Shirley Strum is also on your user page, which is not allowed. ~2025-31242-74 (talk) 02:52, 30 December 2025 (UTC)

Oh jeez. My user page? Where's that? Sorry, clearly I'm not a regular here. Cassaph (talk) 04:15, 30 December 2025 (UTC)

Your user page is User:Cassaph. See WP:USERPAGEDRAFT. The person icon at the top right has a "Sandbox" link you can use for drafts or tests. PrimeHunter (talk) 04:57, 30 December 2025 (UTC)

So I need to manually delete the text on my user page? And it won't affect the Strum article on Wikipedia, yes? Cassaph (talk) 06:04, 30 December 2025 (UTC)

@Cassaph Yes, that's right, it won't affect the article. ~2025-31242-74 (talk) 06:20, 30 December 2025 (UTC)

Hi!

I have no idea what you mean when you say that I was "hired by Strum." I most certainly was not. I am interested in primatology and noticed there was no article about Dr Strum, so I created one. I tried to use the best sources I could find, but tbh they were rather scarce. JohnMcCu (talk) 09:26, 31 December 2025 (UTC)

I'm sorry, John. I stand corrected. I understood Shirley got a quote from an editor to write her article and assumed it was you. The appearance of your article while I was working on mine came as a surprise. Thanks for clarifying. Cassaph (talk) 18:42, 31 December 2025 (UTC)

Urgent BLP Correction & Article Expansion: Meisam Amini

Hello. I am requesting an experienced editor to help update the article Meisam Amini. The page is currently a Stub-class and contains a 'Retired' label that is factually incorrect and professionally damaging under BLP policy.

1. Verified International Records: The following achievements are verified by [FILA Cert](File:Meisam_Amini_FILA_International_Championship_and_Coaching_Certification.jpg):

• Silver Medalist: 2003 World Championships (74kg FS).
• Gold Medalist: 2002 Asian Championships (69kg FS).
• Silver Medalist: 2000 Asian Championships (69kg FS).
• Gold Medalist: 2002 Freidenfelds Cup (Latvia) - Verified by [2002 Diploma](File:Meisam_Amini_-_1st_place_Diploma_-_Freidenfelds_International_FILA_Tournament_2002_-_Riga.jpg) and [Results Table](File:Meisam_Amini_-_2002_Latvia_Cup_Results_Table.jpg).

2. Career Continuity (France):

• **Rhône-Alpes Title:** [Regional Title](File:Meisam_Amini_-_French_Champion_Certificate_-_Rhone_Alpes.jpg) - Verified by **Le Progrès** ([Source](https://www.leprogres.fr/sports/2010/12/05/trois-titres-pour-l-ain)).

3. Current Coaching Status (2025): Verified as an international coach by [FILA Cert](File:Meisam_Amini_FILA_International_Championship_and_Coaching_Certification.jpg), I am currently active in Lyon and for the Ivory Coast National Team:

• [2025 Invitation](File:Meisam_Amini_Ivory_Coast_National_Team_Invitation_2025.pdf): Official 2025 appointment.
• Media (2025): [Lyon Mag](https://www.lyonmag.com/article/147816/), [Le Progrès](https://www.leprogres.fr/sport/2025/06/12/), [IRNA](https://www.irna.ir/news/85831100/), and [Borna](https://www.borna.news/fa/tiny/news-1681200).

4. Name Correction: My legal name is **Meisam Amini**. The spellings "Misam" (FILA) and "Meysam" (UWW) in databases are common transliteration errors. Passport and current contracts confirm the correct spelling as **Meisam Amini**.

5. Proposed Lead Update: "Meisam Amini is an Iranian freestyle wrestling champion and international coach. He is a medalist in the World and Asian Championships. He currently serves as a coach in Lyon, France, and a technical instructor for the Ivory Coast national team."

Note: This is an urgent BLP correction regarding my professional status. Thank you. ~2025-43800-74 (talk) 21:49, 29 December 2025 (UTC)

Hello @~2025-43800-74. The "stub" class is simply a categorisation of how short or long an article on Wikipedia is. It does not have any bearing on quality or your professional reputation. You have made an edit request on the Talk page, which is the correct venue - a volunteer editor will come along in due course and action it. Please be patient. qcne (talk) 21:52, 29 December 2025 (UTC)

Thank you for the guidance. I have already submitted the official documents and identity verification via email to the Volunteer Response Team and received Ticket#2025123010005146. Additionally, I have provided news links and official databases in my initial request to verify my professional career and the correct spelling of my name (Meisam Amini). I will wait for the verification process to be completed. ~2025-43930-38 (talk) 14:42, 30 December 2025 (UTC)

I've updated the article with the citations I can verify, but I do not speak Farsi so cannot research any further citations unless you provide them. Please see Talk:Meisam_Amini for further information. gilgongo (talk) 09:44, 4 January 2026 (UTC)

Using a picture that I took but no longer have access to the original file

i took pictures of landmarks of the town I'm working on and uploaded them on Google Maps. I think the town's page can benefit from having pictures of its landmarks. But I no longer have access to the original files nor the Google account I used to upload,I can only get the pictures from Google Maps. They're technically mine, so can I just grab the pictures from Google and use them for the town's wiki page? Jazgothere (talk) 09:55, 30 December 2025 (UTC)

You could do that, if you released the images to Google with a copyright that allows for their use on Wikipedia; I'd suggest asking about this at Commons. 331dot (talk) 10:27, 30 December 2025 (UTC)

I am the copyright holder, but I'm taking a copy of my own image that I've provided to someone else is a legal issue that I have no idea if it's kosher or not. Commons will know. Lee Vilenski ^{(talk • contribs)} 14:52, 30 December 2025 (UTC)

Is it possible for Google to require people to hand over their copyright to Google, as a condition of uploading? I think they might do that. TooManyFingers (he/him · talk) 17:58, 30 December 2025 (UTC)

Google's t&C only require that uploaders license their content to Google. The uploader retains the IP rights. This isn't much different to a CC license of the sort that Wikipedia uses. Since we will assume good faith, @Jazgothere can download the pictures back from Google and re-upload them to Commons, declaring them as "own work" and giving the original date taken, which may well still be in the metadata of the files if these are .jpg with .exif information. Mike Turnbull (talk) 18:13, 30 December 2025 (UTC)

That's good to know. Thanks. TooManyFingers (he/him · talk) 19:37, 30 December 2025 (UTC)

@Jazgothere: There is no copyright concern as that belongs to you, per Mike Turnbull. However, it is going to look very suspicious to take a photo from Google Maps and upload it as your own work. Wikipedia:Images from social media, or elsewhere talks about placing a license acknowledgment with the photo on the external source (twitter, facebook etc) so we can be sure the photo is yours. I understand you can't do that. I tried downloading a photo from Google Maps, it is quite an ordeal and there is minimal metadata from what I can see. If you are going to take a screenshot using your browser it is going to look even worse. If you do upload these files, be sure to explain their origin and this story on the file description page, I just know that Commons can be very... particular about the source of photos. c:Commons:Assume good faith says "material may be deleted if the documentation is incorrect or inadequate." Perhaps ask at c:Commons:Help desk. Alternatively, you could try Wikipedia:Requested pictures to ask for new photos - there may be some interest in capturing great photos of landmarks in a town, and the Google Maps photos are low resolution anyhow. Commander Keane (talk) 14:51, 31 December 2025 (UTC)

Guidance requested for verifying official documents via VRT (Meisam Amini)

Hello,

I am writing to request guidance on submitting official documents via the VRT (Volunteer Response Team) to verify my career for my Wikipedia article (Meisam Amini).

I hold original FILA/UWW rankings and coaching credentials. Since the article is currently a "Stub," it is essential to expand it to accurately reflect my 23 years of dedication to this sport.

For context, my Persian Wikipedia profile (fa:میثم امینی) lists my World, Asian, and International rankings. However, the lead section and coaching info there are outdated, and I have already requested updates for consistency.

If any editor is willing to help, I propose this lead: "Meisam Amini is an Iranian freestyle wrestling champion and an international medalist in the World and Asian Championships. Currently, he is a professional international coach, serving as the coach of Lyon and a technical instructor for the Ivory Coast Wrestling Federation."

Note: Reliable news links for these titles are available on the Article's Talk Page.

UWW Verification (Note: My name is spelled "Meysam" in the database, but as per my passport, the correct spelling is "Meisam Amini"): 1. Go to: https://uww.org/database 2. Select Year: 2003 | Event: Junior World Championships (LL) (Istanbul) | Category: 74kg 3. Click on "Meysam Amini" to view the profile.

Thank you for your assistance. ~2025-44145-58 (talk) 23:14, 30 December 2025 (UTC)

The VRT has nothing to do with what you're asking.

You need to follow the procedure outlined at WP:EDITREQ if you want to request a change to an article. Athanelar (talk) 00:54, 31 December 2025 (UTC)

There is already a request at Talk:Meisam Amini, which is the correct venue for this. Mike Turnbull (talk) 11:56, 31 December 2025 (UTC)

@Mike Turnbull,

Happy New Year! I wish you all the best for 2026.

Thank you for your guidance. Following your advice, I have officially emailed my documents to the VRT team. I have been dedicated to the sport of wrestling since 1991, working tirelessly as both a competitor and a coach over the decades.

I have several other official documents and certificates that further verify my professional background and achievements. For your convenience, I have organized these along with the relevant news links in a shared folder for your direct review. I also want to highlight my collaboration with the United World Wrestling (UWW) during the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, which confirms my active status in the international wrestling community.

I kindly request the hardworking editors of Wikipedia to accurately reflect my career and records in my article based on these verified sources.

### Proposed Lead Update:

> "Meisam Amini is an Iranian freestyle wrestling champion and an international coach. He is a medalist in the World and Asian Championships (World Silver 2003, Asian Gold 2002, Asian Silver 2000). He currently serves as a professional coach in Lyon, France, a technical instructor for the Ivory Coast National Wrestling Federation, and collaborated with the United World Wrestling (UWW) during the Paris 2024 Olympic Games."

---

### Supporting Evidence & Citations:

1. International Medals & UWW Records:
   • Verification: My records are active in the UWW Database (Search: "Meysam Amini", 2003, Istanbul Junior (LL)).
   • Certificates: Official FILA/UWW certificates are available in my Google Drive folder.
2. Coaching Career in France (French Media):
   • Le Progrès: Full Career Profile
   • Lyon Mag: Interview on life and coaching in Lyon
   • Lyon Capitale: Report on professional wrestling activities
3. Official News Reports (National Media):
   • IRNA: Report confirms medals and coaching status. Note: The main photo shows me with UWW President Nenad Lalović at the Paris 2024 Olympics, wearing the official UWW uniform.
   • Borna News: Verification of international coaching and UWW collaboration
   • ISNA: Official Invitation from the Ivory Coast Federation
   • Tasnim News: Details on the coaching partnership and role
4. Visual Verification & Official Meetings:
   • Photo 1: Meisam Amini with UWW President Nenad Lalović (Paris 2024 Olympics) in official UWW uniform.
   • Photo 2: Strategic meeting on Wrestling Development in Ivory Coast: Meisam Amini with the President of the National Federation and the Director General of RTI.
   • Google Drive: All certificates and high-resolution photos are organized in my shared folder for your review.
   • Wikimedia Commons: These official photos are also uploaded to Commons.

Thank you for your time and for the hard work you do as editors.

Best regards,

~2026-55429 (talk) 15:38, 3 January 2026 (UTC)

"There is already a request at Talk:Meisam Amini, which is the correct venue for this. "

Please stop repeating the request, here or elsewhere. It won't be dealt with any quicker as a result. Andy Mabbett (Pigsonthewing); Talk to Andy; Andy's edits 16:10, 3 January 2026 (UTC)

VRT will indeed accept "submitting official documents" from article subjects; details are at WP:VRT. Andy Mabbett (Pigsonthewing); Talk to Andy; Andy's edits 13:51, 31 December 2025 (UTC)

Wikipedia donation

I can not in good conscience donate to Wikipedia any long. The far left political thoughts drive me away ~2025-44010-89 (talk) 05:10, 31 December 2025 (UTC)

Nobody is obliged to donate to Wikipedia (or more accurately, the WMF, since it is them that is responsible for collecting donations). Or to read Wikipedia for that matter. Given that plenty of people seem happy enough to do both, I'm sure we'll manage without you. AndyTheGrump (talk) 05:17, 31 December 2025 (UTC)

We don't care. Nobody here has any involvement with the WMF's money. Athanelar (talk) 12:38, 31 December 2025 (UTC)

Yes, if you only want to read what you want to hear and what fits your views, this isn't the place for you. 331dot (talk) 12:39, 31 December 2025 (UTC)

This sums it up too: Wikipedia:Not gonna donate. ---Sluzzelin talk 13:55, 31 December 2025 (UTC)

Sorry to hear that you are having those thoughts and that they are driving you away. --Jameboy (talk) 03:46, 4 January 2026 (UTC)

Everyone is welcome to read and edit without donating. I have given much of my time to Wikipedia but do not assist financially. As others have pointed out, donations are taken by the WMF, and only a fraction is spent on improving Wikipedia. I too am disappointed that much of the income is passed on to other organisations, many of which have a political position. It is also true that beneficiaries are almost exclusively left-wing, though I would be equally upset to see money passed on to the far right. Certes (talk) 19:39, 4 January 2026 (UTC)

And why do you think that this is worth mentioning? GrinningIodize (talk) 21:49, 5 January 2026 (UTC)

Republika Srpska presidential elections

Early presidential elections were held in Republika Srpska on 23 November 2025. However, due to irregularities and accusations of voter fraud, repeated elections are due to take place at 136 polling stations on 8 February 2026. Is there now a need for a new article titled 2026 Republika Srpska presidential election? Keep in mind that the February 2026 elections will be partial ones; only a part of the entity has the right to vote again, not everyone. It's also important to know that the scheduled 2026 Republika Srpska general election, to elect the president and the National Assembly, will take place on 4 October as part of the Bosnian general election (don't confuse the February presidential and October general election). Is it enough to only update the 2025 Republika Srpska presidential election article in February 2026, and not make a new one? Bakir123 (talk) 14:06, 31 December 2025 (UTC)

The first situation may be similar to 2020–21 United States Senate election in Georgia; the follow-on election might not need a separate article, but the article may need a new title("2025-26 Republica Srpska presidential election") 331dot (talk) 14:36, 31 December 2025 (UTC)

Override file exists on Commons error

To minimize disruption of the pending deletion of a file on commons that is used in several wiki articles (File:Himmler_besichtigt_die_Gefangenenlager_in_Russland._Heinrich_Himmler_inspects_a_prisoner_of_war_camp_in_Russia,_circa..._-_NARA_-_540164.jpg) for reasons unrelated to enwiki policies and guidelines, I would like to upload a local copy under the same title, but the upload wizard won't let me override the error. (t · c) buIdhe 14:38, 31 December 2025 (UTC)

Are you certain that "photo under copyright, author died in 2004" is unrelated to enwiki policies? TooManyFingers (he/him · talk) 16:57, 31 December 2025 (UTC)

Yes, because its undisputedly PD in the US as indicated by the national archives source* and that's all enwp cares about, whereas Commons (despite being hosted in the US and having to follow US copyright law) often prefers to ignore it in favor of the copyright in the source country—in this case Germany. There are many files on enwp that were deleted from or not uploaded to Commons for this exact reason.

Pppery thanks for answering, you're an admin so would you be willing to upload the file? (t · c) buIdhe 01:55, 1 January 2026 (UTC)

Done. * Pppery * _{it has begun...} 16:22, 1 January 2026 (UTC)

Only admins have the technical ability to upload local files that shadow Commons ones. * Pppery * _{it has begun...} 16:58, 31 December 2025 (UTC)

Referencing errors on David Sheiner

Special:Diff/1330458511

Reference help requested

Exactly what is the error?

Thanks, PB57 (talk) 15:05, 31 December 2025 (UTC)

@PumpkinButter: your edit moved a reference title from one reference to another, leaving the first reference without a title and causing an error message. I reverted your edit and redid it without the changes to references. TSventon (talk) 15:37, 31 December 2025 (UTC)

No, that was not me. I added the film "Skyway to Death" and did not refer to anything else on the page.

PB57 (talk) 15:48, 31 December 2025 (UTC)

@PumpkinButter: I looked at your edit and it did move text from one reference to another. I thought it was an error, and you obviously did not notice at the time. TSventon (talk) 15:59, 31 December 2025 (UTC)

Frankly, I don't even know how to do that.

To me, it looks like 2 totally different edits somehow were consolidated into one... I regret to admit I have seen "The Odd Couple" at least a dozen times and did not recognize that David Sheiner was in it. But that was not my edit.

My edit record ("contributions") shows that my edit to Sheiner's page was only 75 bites, and that edit is much longer.

In any event, sorry to be a bother (as we say in the Southern US)--and a very happy New Year to you! PB57 (talk) 16:07, 31 December 2025 (UTC)

so, TSventon left a link to the edit in question above. If you click on the link, the change is moving some reference information (specifically the last name and title parameters) from one reference to the other. The reason why this was no good, was simply because one reference now didn't have these parameters and the next one had two. It is an easy enough fix and looks like it's been handled. Lee Vilenski ^{(talk • contribs)} 16:20, 31 December 2025 (UTC)

Editing new user talk pages

Hello, what is the general guideline for creating a user talk page when it doesn't yet exist for the purpose of warning the user with uw-vandalism? I've seen multiple cases where a new section is created titled with the current month and year, like "December 2025", with the warning message posted under that. Is that done automatically by some sort of tool or is it just a general convention? Can I name the section something else, ie. "Possible vandalism warning"? fx (talk) 15:29, 31 December 2025 (UTC)

Hi @Flexagoon. This is done via the Wikipedia:Twinkle tool, which automatically creates those Talk Page headers. You are also absolutely free to create Talk Pages yourself manually with an appropriate section heading. qcne (talk) 15:31, 31 December 2025 (UTC)

I use Twinkle to revert edits, but when the user talk page doesn't exist, it just opens a blank page editing screen with no header filled in. Could it be because I'm using my phone, maybe it only works on the desktop version? fx (talk) 15:33, 31 December 2025 (UTC)

I think when reverting with Twinkle it opens up the user page to allow you to add a Twinkle warning. The way to add warnings via Twinkle is to click the TW dropdown on a User page > Warn > Choose an appropriate warning > It will then create the user page and add the heading and warning. Perhaps you haven't used that feature? qcne (talk) 15:39, 31 December 2025 (UTC)

That's right, thank you! I didn't know about that feature, that is indeed pretty useful! fx (talk) 23:32, 31 December 2025 (UTC)

William Somerset Maugham

William Somerset Maugham died on 16 December 1965 at his villa, La Mauresque, in Saint‑Jean‑Cap‑Ferrat on the French Riviera ([1] ; [2] ; [3]). The Wikipedia article should be updated to reflect the correct place of death. ~2025-44140-08 (talk) 16:56, 31 December 2025 (UTC)

@~2025-44140-08, hello! Be bold and do it yourself or post it on the article's talk page. Deltaspace⁴² (talk • contribs) 17:07, 31 December 2025 (UTC)

Well done for including the citations! If you are going to "be bold" then you'll need to format the citations as proper references. If you are worried about formatting the references, then instead leave a note on the article's "talk" page, just as you have done here; hopefully an interested editor will pick it up in the days ahead. Feline Hymnic (talk) 17:41, 31 December 2025 (UTC)

This is not helpful. The poster has failed to read the article carefully, particularly footnote 13. Tim riley talk 19:06, 31 December 2025 (UTC)

@~2025-44140-08 - hoping you see this. TooManyFingers (he/him · talk) 20:20, 31 December 2025 (UTC)

Pywikibot help

I am in the process of writing a PyWikiBot, and I am curious how the scripts are run. Do you install pywikibot and run it on the command line in Python? If so, how do you log into your account? And lastly, is it possible to use PyWikiBot in read-only mode without a bot flag? (My script is here). Somepinkdude (talk) 17:33, 31 December 2025 (UTC)

Try WP:VPT, any techno-wizards who can answer your question will be there. Athanelar (talk) 17:46, 31 December 2025 (UTC)

Searching for a substring portion of a url in a citation

If I search for "collegepollarchive.com" I get no results.

However, pages like 1994 NCAA Division I-A football rankings contain citations like the below that do contain the term:

|cite web|url=http://collegepollarchive.com/football/ap/seasons.cfm?appollid=738#.WLJH43-502w%7Ctitle=1994 AP Week 1 Poll|work=AP Poll Archive|access-date=2017-02-25

How can I search for "collegepollarchive.com" and see all of the results like the citation above? PK-WIKI (talk) 18:37, 31 December 2025 (UTC)

This search?

—Trappist the monk (talk) 18:45, 31 December 2025 (UTC)

insource:"collegepollarchive.com"

Great. Thank you. PK-WIKI (talk) 18:49, 31 December 2025 (UTC)

@PK-WIKI: You may also be interested in Special:LinkSearch/collegepollarchive.com. PrimeHunter (talk) 19:24, 31 December 2025 (UTC)

Interlanguage Link Help?

In 1947, the Allied Powers abolished the State of Prussia via Control Council Law No. 46 / Kontrollratsgesetz Nr. 46. English Wiki and many others have a page for Abolition of Prussia but not the law; German and Norse Wikis have a page for Kontrollratsgesetz Nr. 46, but not the abolition. French has a page for both. I'd like to link between the English and German pages, but because of the French, there are two different Wikidata identifiers, Q131905890 and Q131905890. Is there any way to resolve the issue? Thanks! ~2025-44204-89 (talk) 20:43, 31 December 2025 (UTC)

If the two articles are on different subjects, they shouldn't be linked. Lee Vilenski ^{(talk • contribs)} 20:46, 31 December 2025 (UTC)

@~2025-44204-89: See WP:LOCALLINK. PrimeHunter (talk) 23:56, 31 December 2025 (UTC)

You can make such a link (to de:Kontrollratsgesetz Nr. 46 and/or no:Kontrollratsgesetz Nr. 46) using {{Interlanguage link}}, which exists explicitly for use in articles for such purposes. Andy Mabbett (Pigsonthewing); Talk to Andy; Andy's edits 20:33, 1 January 2026 (UTC)

That template creates links in the article text; I think the TA is asking how to add things to the "in other languages" list, which would be {{interwiki extra}} instead. jlwoodwa (talk) 03:28, 2 January 2026 (UTC)

@~2025-44204-89 in terms of getting wikidata items to link to same topic see d:Wikidata:Sitelinks to redirects ~ 🦝 Shushugah (he/him • talk) 01:41, 3 January 2026 (UTC)

Delete account?

i just want to request deleting my account thanks Theyhatesme (talk) 21:29, 31 December 2025 (UTC)

Hi! It's not possible to delete your account, you can, however, just abandon it. Lee Vilenski ^{(talk • contribs)} 21:31, 31 December 2025 (UTC)

Your account cannot be deleted, however you can request to be 'vanished' which essentially 'deactivates' your account and scrubs it of any identifying information.

See WP:VANISH for what this entails, and Special:GlobalVanishRequest if you want to request a vanish. Athanelar (talk) 21:55, 31 December 2025 (UTC)

The edit to which I'm now responding, Theyhatesme, is the only edit that you have ever made. Please don't "request a vanish". Instead, follow Lee Vilenski's excellent advice. -- Hoary (talk) 11:35, 1 January 2026 (UTC)

Are you trying to achieve deletion of an otherwise unused account named "Theyhatesme" to make some sort of poetical gesture? {The poster formerly known as 87.81.230.195} ~2025-31359-08 (talk) 19:59, 1 January 2026 (UTC)

User added pirated stream

Hello, I've never had this happen to me, but I hope someone can help me with this. On Draft:Puttinilla_Mettinilla, in the references section, an editor added a link to a YouTube pirate copy of an Indian movie. What's the best thing to do here? Remove it? If you reply here, please ping me. Thanks, thetechie@enwiki:~$ she/they | talk | contributions 01:30, 1 January 2026 (UTC)

@TheTechie I removed it already, for the same reason you said. TooManyFingers (he/him · talk) 03:45, 1 January 2026 (UTC)

@TheTechie @TooManyFingers It probably also needs to be revdelled because it's copyright violation. Athanelar (talk) 11:58, 1 January 2026 (UTC)

Sorry that I jumped in without thinking of that; it might have been easier without my "help". TooManyFingers (he/him · talk) 19:56, 1 January 2026 (UTC)

Yeah, I tried revdelling it but apparently it doesn't qualify. Oh well. thetechie@enwiki:~$ she/they | talk | contributions 22:55, 1 January 2026 (UTC)

@TheTechie Why doesn't it qualify? I hope I didn't mess something up just by removing that line from the draft. TooManyFingers (he/him · talk) 01:08, 2 January 2026 (UTC)

Oh sorry, forget my question - a link isn't the actual content, so revdel doesn't make sense. TooManyFingers (he/him · talk) 01:12, 2 January 2026 (UTC)

Youtube views coming from wikipedia?

Hey, I saw some of my youtube traffic is coming from wikipedia (i have a new channel) and I was wondering how this is possible and how I can see where my video is linked? Its pretty darn cool! Thanks! My youtubechannel is : cheesetostiham ~2026-18106 (talk) 19:46, 1 January 2026 (UTC)

If your channel is being linked from Wikipedia, it almost certainly shouldn't be, and you don't say why you think the traffic is coming from here. I can't think of any reason why we'd ever link a random YouTube channel showing videos of a man riding a bike accompanied by a dog. It certainly wouldn't meet Wikipedia:Reliable sources criteria for anything. So good luck with your channel, but don't expect help from us. If I find any links, I will very likely delete them. AndyTheGrump (talk) 19:54, 1 January 2026 (UTC)

Youtube Analytics shows you where your viewers are coming from, that's likely where this user is getting that info. Athanelar (talk) 20:02, 1 January 2026 (UTC)

@~2026-18106 It's possible someone wrote in a talkpage discussion "Hey look at this". I guess you could do searches like [4].

You can try asking over at Wikipedia talk:WikiProject YouTube or perhaps Wikipedia:Reference desk/Computing. Gråbergs Gråa Sång (talk) 20:04, 1 January 2026 (UTC)

Are you sure it's this (English language) Wikipedia and not one of the other 300 or so? Andy Mabbett (Pigsonthewing); Talk to Andy; Andy's edits 20:28, 1 January 2026 (UTC)

Like https://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hoofdpagina. Gråbergs Gråa Sång (talk) 20:35, 1 January 2026 (UTC)

If your analytics give the exact urls people are going to, or at least prefixes of them, you can find it very efficiently with Special:Linksearch. —Cryptic 01:54, 3 January 2026 (UTC)

William Hooper (American politician who dies in 1790)

The current biography of Hooper incorrectly has him buried in the Hillsborough Presbyterian church cemetery. This is incorrect, as the Presbyterian Church has no cemetery. Accurately, he is buried in the Old Town Cemetery, which is adjacent to the Presbyterian Church.

(Even most Hillsborough natives make this mistake.) ~2026-18294 (talk) 20:54, 1 January 2026 (UTC)

Hello, @~2026-18294.

If you have an improvement to offer to an article, the best place to discuss it is on that article's talk page (Talk:William Hooper). Alternatively, if you have a reliable published source for the information you want to add, you may edit the article to correct it yourself. ColinFine (talk) 22:27, 1 January 2026 (UTC)

Coding that knows if the text is being used in a navigation template

In July 2023, BrownHairedGirl (since blocked) created a useful series of templates that create automatic navigation templates showing the TDs for each Dáil constituency (parliamentary representatives). The primary template is Template:Constituency Teachtaí Dála navbox, which extracts the text under the section TDs from each constituency article. There are related templates, including Template:Is this a Dáil constituency article, which relies on each constituency article to have the suffix (Dáil constituency). There were also changes to the code at Template:Irish TD table begin, as "Some of those {{Irish TD table begin}} series of templates need to behave differently when they are transcluded into a navbox".

Following a global view discussion and consensus late last year at WT:TITLE (permalink) that the disambiguation in the titles of constituency articles should be dropped unless needed, Spleodrach and I started moving pages such as Athlone–Longford (Dáil constituency) and Wicklow–Wexford (Dáil constituency) to more concise titles, Athlone–Longford and Wicklow–Wexford. However, this broke the requirements of consistency in the new templates and changes to older templates referred to above. I think this could be fixed if the change in formatting was toggled not based on whether or not (Dáil constituency) was in the article title, but whether or not the text is being used within a navigation template. So for clarity, we want the table under the section TDs at Carlow–Kilkenny (Dáil constituency) to link to each election and Dáil article and provide the references, but when this appears in a box at the end of the article for Catherine Callaghan (politician), only other TDs are linked. This may mean rewriting the earlier code for these. I'm ok reading code, but not that skilled in writing it. Would any of you have an insight? Iveagh Gardens (talk) 07:56, 2 January 2026 (UTC)

@Iveagh Gardens: A template only knows the parameters it got and the page name it's being rendered on. You either have to pass around a parameter indicating what to display, or get it from the page name. You could add a list of all Dáil constituency pages not ending in "(Dáil constituency)" to the switch in Template:Is this a Dáil constituency article. If all moves just remove "(Dáil constituency)" then you could also test whether you are on a page called X where "X (Dáil constituency)" is a redirect to X: {{#ifeq:{{#invoke:redirect|main|{{PAGENAME}} (Dáil constituency)}}|{{PAGENAME}}|yes}}. PrimeHunter (talk) 09:25, 2 January 2026 (UTC)

Why is the book guidebook to living on earth not in Wikipedia?

why is the #Guidebook to living in earth not on Wikipedia? ~2026-26788 (talk) 08:51, 2 January 2026 (UTC)

Is it this book? A Wikipedia article about the book would require significant coverage in reliable secondary sources.--♦IanMacM♦ ^{(talk to me)} 09:04, 2 January 2026 (UTC)

See: WP:Criteria for inclusion (books) if you think it meets those criteria, you could try creating the article yourself with help from Help:Your first article Athanelar (talk) 13:32, 2 January 2026 (UTC)

Self-published books such as this are very rarely notable and very rarely acceptable as reliable sources on Wikipedia. So, the question is "why should this particular self-published book be on Wikipedia?" and the answer needs to be policy-based and convincing. Cullen328 (talk) 02:36, 3 January 2026 (UTC)

Move+

Which tool can I use to change links from e.g. [[John II]] to [[John II of France|John II]], for disambiguation purposes? Surtsicna (talk) 11:36, 2 January 2026 (UTC)

@Surtsicna: See Wikipedia:Disambiguation pages with links#Tools and reports. PrimeHunter (talk) 12:33, 2 January 2026 (UTC)

Subst in visual editor

How to subst in visual editor like the way we do with wiki code? ~2026-34151 (talk) 15:58, 2 January 2026 (UTC)

@~2026-34151: See Help:VisualEditor#Substituting templates. PrimeHunter (talk) 16:03, 2 January 2026 (UTC)

Is there a tag for non sequiturs?

As per subject. Is there an existing tag for non sequiturs? I couldn't see one but may be looking under the wrong name. As a general rule I'd rather fix an issue rather than tag it, but this has come about after reviewing candidate articles for ITN. I may not be expert in the subject matter or be able to determine the original authors intent but able to see that the effect does not follow from its notional cause. 3142 (talk) 18:14, 2 January 2026 (UTC)

Like a non-inline one? There's the inline tag {{non sequitur}}. - Purplewowies (talk) 18:27, 2 January 2026 (UTC)

No, that'll be the one, cheers. 3142 (talk) 18:31, 2 January 2026 (UTC)

WP:Template index/Cleanup has tons of these. Very useful resource Athanelar (talk) 21:05, 2 January 2026 (UTC)

PROD question

Quick question: I've nominated Server Sundaram (unreleased film) for deletion but I haven't notified the page creator as they were blocked for UPE (most of the main contributors are also blocked for UPE).

The PROD template invites them to participate and dispute the deletion if they wish, which doesn't seem appropriate - should I notify them anyway but perhaps tailor the notice? I checked the PROD instructions but I'm not sure what to do in this case. Any advice? Blue Sonnet (talk) 18:37, 2 January 2026 (UTC)

I'd personally not notify them at all. * Pppery * _{it has begun...} 20:06, 2 January 2026 (UTC)

That's what I thought, it seems counterproductive & there's been a lot of socking recently - if I notify one of the farm, that could prompt more socks to boot (ha!).

Thanks! Blue Sonnet (talk) 20:47, 2 January 2026 (UTC)

Remedy for edit-count gaming?

In a case of blatant edit-count gaming (done by sending out a stream of innocuous but unconstructive messages), is there a simple relatively painless way for the person to lose credit for all the unconstructive edits, such that they don't gain whatever they were trying to gain by doing that? TooManyFingers (he/him · talk) 18:40, 2 January 2026 (UTC)

Depends on what they do with it. If for example someone wants to make ten quick edits and wait four days because they want to make an otherwise unproblematic article, then it's not strictly against the rules. GMG^talk 18:44, 2 January 2026 (UTC)

This is 500 edits in 2 to 3 weeks, of which probably 5% were productive ones. TooManyFingers (he/him · talk) 18:49, 2 January 2026 (UTC)

And as far as I'm aware, the gaming in itself IS strictly against the rules, regardless of purpose or outcome; the page WP:GAMING presumably exists as a separate entity for a reason. If I'm misunderstanding the reason for having that page, then that's different. TooManyFingers (he/him · talk) 19:05, 2 January 2026 (UTC)

Eh. Everything at GAMING is kindof predicated on the assumption that the behavior facilitates some kind of disruption. So you still have to make the case for what the disruption is. So, leaving a crazy amount of talk page messages could wind up just being a waste of community time depending on context. For example, lots of people send out mass messages for the holidays and the community seems generally fine with it within those limits. GMG^talk 19:45, 2 January 2026 (UTC)

OK, thanks, that makes sense. (Except, I guess, that GAMING is essentially toothless/meaningless/irrelevant in all cases, because disruption is already prohibited in other ways.) TooManyFingers (he/him · talk) 19:49, 2 January 2026 (UTC)

WP:GAME includes Example: An editor makes many unconstructive edits in a sandbox to become extended confirmed, and then makes controversial changes to extended confirmed protected articles. In that case I believe that extended confirmed permission could be revoked, so GAMING is not always irrelevant. TSventon (talk) 20:09, 2 January 2026 (UTC)

It's not entirely meaningless. It can be a good indicator that something is up and things need more closely examined.

So...compare it to editing across projects as a potential red flag. Most new accounts don't spring up knowing how to also edit Wikidata and Commons. It's not in-and-of-itself a bad thing, but it's fairly common if someone is operating a sock farm for promotion. GMG^talk 22:01, 2 January 2026 (UTC)

I think I know who you're talking about; the thing is that gaming requires intent. Sure, you can argue that someone gaining ECP without really being productive is contrary to the point of ECP, but unless they actively proceed to make bad edits to EC-restricted areas, it can't be argued that they 'gamed the system' since there's no intentionality. It could be grounds to get their EC revoked if they do start making bad edits in EC areas, but so far there's no signs of that. Athanelar (talk) 20:23, 2 January 2026 (UTC)

To answer your question directly, yes: an administrator can remove the extendedconfirmed permission, and the software won't automatically re-grant it once removed. I've made no investigation of whether that's merited in this case. —Cryptic 01:51, 3 January 2026 (UTC)

article on Uncle Tom's Cabin

I believe the article should include a "further reading" reference to "Uncle Tom: From Martyr to Traitor" by Adena Spingarn (2018, Stanford University Press), Foreword by Henry Louis Gates. As Gates writes in the foreword, the book draws on lots of new primary source research and is a very careful, nuanced and original analysis of modern distortions of the character Uncle Tom -- and of the faulty academic theories of why/how the character, who in Stowe's book is brave and highly moral, got turned into a byword for cowardice, selfishness and betrayal of Black people. The Article on "Uncle Tom" should also include Spingarn's book in "Further Reading." Thank you! Steve France ~2026-36107 (talk) 20:12, 2 January 2026 (UTC)

@~2026-36107, hello! You can make an edit request on the article's talk page. Deltaspace⁴² (talk • contribs) 21:27, 2 January 2026 (UTC)

Hello, Steve. A quick Google search indicates that this book is well-researched, well-reviewed and influential in the field of study. Instead of just adding it to "Further reading", the conclusions of the book should be summarized in the body of the article, and a separate article about the book itself is probably warranted. Cullen328 (talk) 21:29, 2 January 2026 (UTC)

A review of the book by Douglas A. Jones is already included in the "Journals" subsection of the "Bibliography" section, and the book itself is used as a reference in the character article Uncle Tom. Cullen328 (talk) 21:38, 2 January 2026 (UTC)

Finding editors to help with draft

I started a draft article on Draft:Federation of Korean Music Performers and haven't had time to edit it since November, but I think the article could benefit from one or two additional editors helping expand it to mainspace quality.

Are there some recommended ways of finding editors who have the capacity and interest to help with drafts? I was thinking about pinging the subpage Wikipedia talk:WikiProject Korea/Popular culture or individual editors who've recently posted there, but I couldn't find any indications that the page is very active. Qzekrom (she/her • talk) 23:27, 2 January 2026 (UTC)

The draft you linked to does not have any good sources. (It does have two sources, but they're just little announcements.) This means "expanding to mainspace quality" is only a very distant dream. First, you need to check whether this article is even worth trying, by searching for sources that already tell the whole story.

Sources are not support for what you write. You are only a background support; the sources are what really makes the article. TooManyFingers (he/him · talk) 00:06, 3 January 2026 (UTC)

@Qzekrom I already suggested this to someone else and it seemed to help them, so see if it helps you too:

Find only three sources to be your best ones, and make sure every one of the three fits both of these requirements: (a) they are independent of the subject, meaning that no one who works for the Federation provided any help or information to the reporter - no interviews, no announcements, no information from a press release; and (b) Wikipedia recognizes them as reliable sources according to Wikipedia's rules. OK, now take those three special sources, and look at them together. Can you honestly say "These three sources are enough to be my whole article, I'm satisfied with them already, I don't need to add one word"? TooManyFingers (he/him · talk) 00:25, 3 January 2026 (UTC)

For what it's worth, the Korean Wikipedia article for FKMP (ko:한국음악실연자연합회) exists, although it currently doesn't cite any sources. FKMP is the neighboring-rights collective for recording artists in South Korea, so I suspect that it may have a high enough profile there to satisfy WP:ORG. Concretely, there might be enough Korean-language sources to establish notability, but I can't understand them without translations. Qzekrom (she/her • talk) 08:52, 4 January 2026 (UTC)

Account issues

I would like to know who I may reach out to in regards to an issue with logging into my account. I'm not getting the 2FA email even though my user and password are correct. ~2026-40921 (talk) 23:47, 2 January 2026 (UTC)

@~2026-40921 this is a question better for Wikipedia:Village pump (technical) but one question is if you have an email address linked to your account. ~ 🦝 Shushugah (he/him • talk) 01:35, 3 January 2026 (UTC)

waiting ~2026-42839 (talk) 05:22, 3 January 2026 (UTC)

But, thank you for pointing me in the right direction! ~2026-40921 (talk) 17:05, 3 January 2026 (UTC)

There is one but I can't see what it is, and may not have that account any longer. ~2026-40921 (talk) 17:04, 3 January 2026 (UTC)

George Mercer’s Photo of his portrait

How do I up load a copy of his portrait to his bio page on Wikipedia ~2026-43954 (talk) 07:00, 3 January 2026 (UTC)

@~2026-43954 Which one? George Mercer (disambiguation). Gråbergs Gråa Sång (talk) 07:10, 3 January 2026 (UTC)

It's also worth bearing in mind that while the portrait may be out of copyright, the photograph may not be if it is modern and taken by somebody other than yourself.--♦IanMacM♦ ^{(talk to me)} 07:57, 3 January 2026 (UTC)

@Ianmacm There is Commons:2D copying though. Gråbergs Gråa Sång (talk) 08:30, 3 January 2026 (UTC)

Gaza war no longer under the 'ongoing' part on the front page

Hi. I'm just wondering why it's disappeared from the front page. I swear I saw it there a few days ago. I'm aware the article is still up, and the war is still ongoing. Lafi90 (talk) 08:42, 3 January 2026 (UTC)

It was removed per Wikipedia:In the news/Candidates#(Removed) Remove Gaza war from ongoing. Greedycell (talk) 08:44, 3 January 2026 (UTC)

Ah. Thank you. Lafi90 (talk) 10:49, 3 January 2026 (UTC)

What happened to the sidebar menu?

When reading an article in Wikipedia, there was usually a sidebar to the left of the screen, showing the article's table of contents, that is, its section and sub-section headings. You could click on one of those headings to go straight to the relevant part of the article. The sidebar was always visible, and could be scrolled independently of the main article text.

Today, that sidebar seems to have disappeared. Instead, there is a button in the top-left of the screen. Clicking on the button makes the table of contents visible. But it now takes up nearly half the width of the screen, and obscures the text behind it. And when you click anywhere outside the table of contents, it disappears and you have to go to the top of the screen and click the button again.

The same change seems to have occurred with the main menu. This was the menu that previously appeared just above the ToC in the same sidebar, showing things like "Main page", "Random article", "About Wikipedia". Again, this has been replaced by a menu button that behaves in the same way as the ToC button.

This is all very irritating. It means that you now have at least three clicks to navigate an article, whereas it was previously only one.

Is there any way of getting back to the previous system? Or is to something we are stuck with?

Thanks in advance for you help.Mike Marchmont (talk) 16:52, 3 January 2026 (UTC)

Just to add: I am seeing this behaviour when viewing Wikipedia on the desktop, that is in a web browser under Windows. As far as I can see, there is no change to the Android app. Mike Marchmont (talk) 17:30, 3 January 2026 (UTC)

Hello, @Mike Marchmont.

The default skin of Wikipedia changed a while ago, and for a while we got a lot of people asking this.

I don't know why you have just had the problem, but please see WP:Skin. ColinFine (talk) 17:46, 3 January 2026 (UTC)

@Mike Marchmont: When you click the icons to display the main menu and the table of contents, there should be a button saying "move to sidebar". PrimeHunter (talk) 18:26, 3 January 2026 (UTC)

@Mike Marchmont you might have accidentally switched to mobile mode. Scroll to the bottom and check if it has “Desktop” listed and then click that if it is present —TheDJ (talk • contribs) 18:50, 3 January 2026 (UTC)

Thank you all for your prompt replies. Unfortunately, I am no further forward.

@TheDJ:. No, I was not in mobile mode. But thanks for the suggeston

@PrimeHunter:. I can't see the "move to sidebar" button anywhere. Is it in the menu itself, or somewhere else on the page?

@ColinFine: I have now tried all the skins showing in my Preferences page. MinervaNeue and Timeless both behave the same as the new default skin (as far as this issue is concerned). Legacy and Monobook do indeed show the sidebar, but this does not show the ToC; the Toc is present in the body of the article which means it is not visible when you scroll down.

I must be missing something here. Any further suggestions would be gratefully receive.

Mike Marchmont (talk) 17:38, 4 January 2026 (UTC)

@Mike Marchmont: After clicking the icon to display the main menu or table of contents, I get a popup box with "move to sidebar" on grey background at the top right of the menu, to the right of the bold heading "Main menu" or "Contents". Does something different happen when you click the icons? What is your browser? PrimeHunter (talk) 18:47, 4 January 2026 (UTC)

@PrimeHunter: That worked perfectly. Many thanks. I think the reason I couldn't see the "Move to sidebar" button was that my browser window was zoomed down to about 90%, and so the flyout panel was not quite wide enough to show it. After I reset the zoom level, I could see the button. So now the menus and ToC work again the same as before, which is relief. Mike Marchmont (talk) 09:40, 5 January 2026 (UTC)

Episode lists

Hallo. Why do episode lists or at least the overviews use colors? ~2025-40048-69 (talk) 18:21, 3 January 2026 (UTC)

@~2025-40048-69: Each season usually has its own color, often a dominant color from the cover of a DVD release of the season. See e.g. List of Game of Thrones episodes#Series overview and the season articles like Game of Thrones season 5 which also uses the color in the infobox. I don't know how many readers benefit from this way to distinguish the seasons but it seems harmless. In List of Game of Thrones episodes#Ratings it makes it easier to separate the seasons. PrimeHunter (talk) 18:43, 3 January 2026 (UTC)

Should "Ujjal" link only to "Ujjal Dosanjh"?

Should Ujjal link only to Ujjal Dosanjh with other items in "See also"? --Jax 0677 (talk) 21:54, 3 January 2026 (UTC)

@Jax 0677: The other current items seem to belong in "See also" but you could add other people in intitle:Ujjal. I don't know whether they (or Ujjal Dosanjh) are commonly referred to as just Ujjal. PrimeHunter (talk) 00:35, 4 January 2026 (UTC)

@PrimeHunter:, thanks, yet another obvious idea that I did not think of... --Jax 0677 (talk) 00:39, 4 January 2026 (UTC)

Middle branch, Ohio

The map provided on this listing is completely wrong. Someone should correct it. It's by Canton. not Lake Erie. ~2026-60102 (talk) 23:53, 3 January 2026 (UTC)

There is no space between middle & branch. ~2026-60102 (talk) 23:54, 3 January 2026 (UTC)

@~2026-60102: The map in Middlebranch, Ohio looks right to me. Middlebranch is the red dot. It's in Stark County, Ohio (black-bordered region around the dot) and so is Canton, Ohio, so Middlebranch is indeed much closer to Canton than to Lake Erie (blue area at top). PrimeHunter (talk) 00:19, 4 January 2026 (UTC)

Why is Pan-carnivora redirected to Fera, but not with Pholidotamorpha?

As I click Pan-carnivora, it redirects to Ferae, then explaining that, why does Pholidotamorpha get to have its own article? ~2026-61035 (talk) 02:31, 4 January 2026 (UTC)

There used to be a separate article called Pan-Carnivora but it was created by a sockpuppet account of a blocked long term abuser, and so the term was redirected for that reason. Pholidotamorpha exists because a volunteer editor in good standing did the work to write it. Cullen328 (talk) 02:39, 4 January 2026 (UTC)

Suggest a Person of interest

How do you suggest a person of interest ~2026-62052 (talk) 02:58, 4 January 2026 (UTC)

Suggest for what purpose? If you are referring to writing a biography, the person must be truly notable as Wikipedia defines that term. Wikipedia biographies are written by volunteer editors like you. Please read Your first article for a detailed description of the process. Cullen328 (talk) 03:56, 4 January 2026 (UTC)

Hello, @~2026-62052.

There is a place where you can suggest articles - it's called requested articles - but in honesty, suggestion tend to stay there forever.

The fact is that Wikipedia is created and maintained by volunteers, who work on what they choose - and people will usually pick up your suggestion (or anybody else's) if they happen to be interested in the subject.

So it's possible that if you suggest a subject, somebody will go, Oh yes, they're interesting, I'll have a look at that. Possible, but not very likely. You can perhaps improve the odds a little if you can find a WikiProject that is relevant to the person - if you post there, then people reading it may already have some interest in the subject.

But generally, if you want Wikipedia to have an article on a subject, the most effective way of doing that is to write it yourself. Unfortunately, writing an article is much much more difficult than people imagine who are not familiar with editing Wikipedia. So if you are going to take that route, I would suggest spending several weeks - at least - learning about how Wikipedia works by making improvements to existing articles. Once you have understood core policies such as verifiability, neutral point of view, reliable, independent sources, and notability, and experienced how we handle disagreements with other editors (the Bold, Revert, Discuss cycle), then you might be ready to read your first article carefully, and try creating a draft. If you don't follow this advice but try to create an article without this preparation, you are likely to have a frustrating and disappointing experience with Wikipedia. ColinFine (talk) 13:45, 4 January 2026 (UTC)

You can tell us their name, and provide links to two or three pages about them, here; then we can advise you further. Andy Mabbett (Pigsonthewing); Talk to Andy; Andy's edits 15:05, 4 January 2026 (UTC)

If you have information about a Person of interest, please contact the police. However, if you are asking about creating a Wikipedia article about a notable person, please read WP:NPERSON. -Arch dude (talk) 14:09, 5 January 2026 (UTC)

Closing account

How can close this account, someone else's using my account without knowledge and permission for over 2 years now, this is me email and identity, Please help me not to let them use this account, It’s against the law keep using my identity for so long already, Never used online services, like shopping or any transactions online in my entire life at all. Thanks JGSekell ~2026-64663 (talk) 03:53, 4 January 2026 (UTC)

There is no User:JGSekell account registered. Accounts cannot be closed but they can be abandoned. If an account is impersonating you, please mention the precise account name and provide evidence. Similarity of a name is not enough. Cullen328 (talk) 04:01, 4 January 2026 (UTC)

@~2026-64663: This is the encyclopedia Wikipedia. I wonder whether your post is about another website. PrimeHunter (talk) 09:21, 4 January 2026 (UTC)

Author George S. Drew

[Material copied from this page redacted.]

Elemental Wall: Spirit Binds

published June 27, 2024

Elemental Wall: Water Surges

published September 25, 2025

Elemental Wall: Earth Rumbles

published tbd 2026

Elemental Wall Series. Author.g.s.Drew (talk) 07:54, 4 January 2026 (UTC)

Are you asking for help with Wikipedia, Author.g.s.Drew? -- Hoary (talk) 08:18, 4 January 2026 (UTC)

We have no article on that author. Please see WP:NAUTHOR.

If you are he, please see WP:Autobiography. Andy Mabbett (Pigsonthewing); Talk to Andy; Andy's edits 15:03, 4 January 2026 (UTC)

FWIW, that external link (to Pegasus Publishers) triggers my security app (Malwarebytes Browser Guard) to give warning of a possible malicious trojan. It may of course be a false alarm.

My initial web search finds insufficient independent Reliable sources about George S. Drew on which to base a Wikipedia article. {The poster formerly known as 87.81.230.185} ~2025-31359-08 (talk) 23:09, 5 January 2026 (UTC)

Standardised user warning template

Is there a "Standardised user warning template" for the comment at Talk:List of mass shootings in the United States in 2026 which does not talk about how to improve the page? --Jax 0677 (talk) 15:48, 4 January 2026 (UTC)

I'd be inclined to revert the comment and add the Template:Uw-bes1 warning to the TA. qcne (talk) 15:53, 4 January 2026 (UTC)

Displaytitle

Hi there, I am working on Draft:Am-progressive. The display title of this article needs to be --> am-progressive <--

• am needs to be lowercase because it is referencing its use in lowercase
• am needs to be in italics because it is a metaword and a foreign word.

The displaytitle I have used seems to not work and adds it to the category "Pages with disallowed DISPLAYTITLE modifications". Please could someone assist me with the correct display title wikicode. Thanks, JacobTheRox^{(talk | contributions)} 16:19, 4 January 2026 (UTC)

{{DISPLAYTITLE:draft:{{lang|de|am|nocat=yes}}-progressive}}

—Trappist the monk (talk) 16:29, 4 January 2026 (UTC)

Thanks – JacobTheRox^{(talk | contributions)} 16:48, 4 January 2026 (UTC)

Concern about disturbing images on an article

Hello, I came across the following article: Sexual practices between men The article includes images that may be disturbing or inappropriate for general readers, especially minors. I wanted to ask if these images are correctly placed according to Wikipedia’s guidelines, or if they should be reviewed. Thank you. ~2026-73308 (talk) 16:35, 4 January 2026 (UTC)

Please see WP:NOTCENSORED. If you think you may be offended by images of sex, I would advise not reading encyclopedia articles about sex. CoconutOctopus talk 16:37, 4 January 2026 (UTC)

The images seem properly placed. Images showing genitalia are drawn and not placed at the top of the article, to minimize shock value.

Wikipedia is not censored for any reason, including to protect minors from graphic imagery. Readers who do not want to risk seeing images they view as inappropriate should follow the guidance at WP:NOSEE. 331dot (talk) 16:40, 4 January 2026 (UTC)

It is inadvisable to give minors (particularly younger ones) unsupervised access to Wikipedia. AndyTheGrump (talk) 16:41, 4 January 2026 (UTC)

Help:Options to hide an image may be of help. Gråbergs Gråa Sång (talk) 16:49, 4 January 2026 (UTC)

The only thing that I would say is that there are probably too many images in the article and that some pruning would not hurt.--♦IanMacM♦ ^{(talk to me)} 17:00, 4 January 2026 (UTC)

the two lower down with images directly relating to a specific practice seem fine, the only question to me is whether the legality section needs an image of that type in addition to the map. Naraht (talk) 17:12, 4 January 2026 (UTC)

YE GODS! There's GAY SEX in the article GAY SEX?! Athanelar (talk) 02:27, 5 January 2026 (UTC)

Article was erased and redirected without a formal conclusion

Hello. 3 days ago, the user OutlawRun unilaterally deleted all text in the article 2025 Georgia State House District 121 special election and redirected it, without any consensus. I am not sure what to do. Delcoan (talk) 02:57, 5 January 2026 (UTC)

Hello, @Delcoan.

According to WP:BRD, if you disagree with the change you could simply revert it. (In order to do that, go to the link, and it will take you to the destination, but with a line "(Redirected from 2025 Georgia State House District 121 special election)" at the top. Pick that link, and it will take you to the redirection page. Then you can pick "View History", and simply undo the edit.

However, I see that there is relevant discussion from a few weeks ago at Talk:2025 Georgia State House District 121 special election#This needs to be merged. The last comment there was from @OutlawRun, and my guess is that since nobody has replied, they felt that there was nobody opposing the change, and made it.

I suggest you join the discussion at that talk page. ColinFine (talk) 10:59, 5 January 2026 (UTC)

important for articles

Hi i was wondering what would be put on Elizabeth Taylors article if any claims of her faking her passing were to come in to the studio and where it would be put at since i see that there is mention on hamza bin laden about unconfirmed reports on him being alive as well and i was wondering where information about her faking her passing would be put since i am really interested if there is info that comes in and that if they verify she is alive at 94 (february 2026) and 93 now in january let me know if you got the information by people if they claim to have seen her in many places and also can you let me know if you would be in need of changing or removing death from it thank you i really appreciate it ~2026-84967 (talk) 04:23, 5 January 2026 (UTC)

Wikipedia articles are based on published reliable sources, and not on vague claims from unnamed people. Accordingly, our article on Elizabeth Taylor will continue to state that she died in March 2011 until such time as the necessary sources are provided to suggest otherwise. If you waqnt to peddle silly conspiracy theories, you will have to find somewhere else to do so. AndyTheGrump (talk) 04:42, 5 January 2026 (UTC)

Or find plenty of reliable sources that discuss the conspiracy theories in detail and then initiate an article along the same lines as Elvis Presley death conspiracy theories. Shantavira|^{feed me} 09:54, 5 January 2026 (UTC)

Clarification on removing dead links

Hello,

WP:DEADREF states that "if the source material does not exist offline, and if there is no archived version of the web page (be sure to wait ~24 months), and if you cannot find another copy of the material, then the dead citation should be removed and the material it supports should be regarded as unverified if there is no other supporting citation."

However, WP:KDL states that "a dead, unarchived source URL may still be useful. Such a link indicates that information was (probably) verifiable in the past, and the link might provide another user with greater resources or expertise with enough information to find the reference." and to "not delete a citation just because it has been tagged with {{dead link}} for a long time."

If a link has been tagged as dead for 24 months or longer, and the link fails all other steps on WP:DEADREF, would the next correct step be to remove the dead link per DEADREF or keep it per WP:KDL?

Thanks, Ecourter (talk) 09:02, 5 January 2026 (UTC)

I would keep it, mark it as dead, and add a "better source needed" tag. Andy Mabbett (Pigsonthewing); Talk to Andy; Andy's edits 11:53, 5 January 2026 (UTC)

Probably needs a RfC, but personally I don't think we should be removing references just because they have died. Lee Vilenski ^{(talk • contribs)} 14:24, 5 January 2026 (UTC)

Why do you think they should not be removed? Ecourter (talk) 16:13, 5 January 2026 (UTC)

Because that information was cited to that place. Having saying where we think the information came from is much more use than having no information on that, removing the citation details means that without looking through the history, theres zero attribution.

There is also a lot of usurption in news media nowadays. Websites will quite often overwrite their own news media. So, when something is cited, they can later change it. If that specific instance of the page isn't archived, then there is sometimes little difference between a live link and one that is dead. That's why we have an access-date parameter, to say that the information came from that specific website at that specific time. Lee Vilenski ^{(talk • contribs)} 16:19, 5 January 2026 (UTC)

If there is no possible way to access a web source (and has been tagged dead for a long time), would that not make the source unaccessible and therefore not verifiable? Ecourter (talk) 18:18, 5 January 2026 (UTC)

But is removing the source and not the accompanying text an improvement? It's now an unsourced piece of information,. Lee Vilenski ^{(talk • contribs)} 18:58, 5 January 2026 (UTC)

Then I could remove that information as well or, per WP:DEADREF: "If it is material that is specifically required by policy to have an inline citation, then please consider tagging it with {{citation needed}}." Tagging with CN has been the method I have been doing when I've previously stumbled upon this situation. Ecourter (talk) 19:33, 5 January 2026 (UTC)

That is kind of my point. Our policies suggest that we tag it with citation needed, but I don't think that is a better solution than retaining the source even if it is dead. Lee Vilenski ^{(talk • contribs)} 19:34, 5 January 2026 (UTC)

Template:Infobox university -- map problem

In the article Episcopal Divinity School, there is a map in the infobox showing the school's former location in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The school sold its campus in Cambridge eight years ago and moved to New York City, as explained in the article. I can't find anything in Template:Infobox university as included in the article which calls for a map of Cambridge to be shown. (The infobox template does provide for a map, but none of the fields used in this article's infobox call for the map.) Elsewhere in the article, I updated the school's coordinates for its New York location, but that didn't affect the infobox. -- Metropolitan90 (talk) 10:43, 5 January 2026 (UTC)

@Metropolitan90, from a quick glance {{infobox university}} is generating a mapframe from the Wikidata coordinates.

Template:Infobox_university#Mapframe_maps - mapframe – Specify yes or no to show or hide the map... Internal onByDefault parameter: yes.

Episcopal Divinity School at Union (Q5383462) has the coordinates ending in 2017. Commander Keane (talk) 10:57, 5 January 2026 (UTC)

(edit conflict) The coordinates are pulled from Wikidata. Click "Wikidata item" under "Tools" (in Vector 2022) to see Episcopal Divinity School at Union (Q5383462). PrimeHunter (talk) 10:58, 5 January 2026 (UTC)

Thanks! I tried editing the Wikidata and now the map for the correct New York location is showing up. --Metropolitan90 (talk) 11:10, 5 January 2026 (UTC)

Bible summary - can it be done?

Summary from Adam to Christ ~2026-92580 (talk) 13:12, 5 January 2026 (UTC)

Hi @~2026-92580. Do you have a question about editing Wikipedia? qcne (talk) 13:14, 5 January 2026 (UTC)

Hey @~2026-92580! This is the help desk, which is meant for questions related or pertaining to editing Wikipedia. This looks more like a question fit for the reference desk, specifically the Humanities section which includes religion as one of its topics. I recommend asking this there, though if I had to give an answer, the Genealogy of Jesus article covers the two distinct genealogies of Jesus as described in both the Gospel of Matthew and the Gospel of Luke. Hope this helped! _{S.G. (They/Them) (Talk) (Edits)} 14:18, 5 January 2026 (UTC)

@~2026-92580 If you just do a web search for "bible summary" you will find plenty of attempts at this. Shantavira|^{feed me} 15:20, 5 January 2026 (UTC)

New Template ChartDirect

Hello, I am not really familiar with the wikipedia pages here in enwiki. I want to inform that I have created a new Template:ChartDirect that allows again to do simple plots directly from wikipedia. The interface is similar to the Template:Chart and the legacy Template:Graph:Chart. Note, that it would be possible to also directly plot from wikidata using the same commons module as this new template. I have also posted this earlier in Wikipedia:Requested templates, but apparently it didn't get any attention there. Let me know, if I should inform somewhere else as well. Regards--McBayne (talk) 16:06, 5 January 2026 (UTC)

Help writing article

Where can I get help with writing the article I've recently written -- history of Catholic theology? I tried in WP:Wikiproject Catholicism but they seem inactive (I believe a message sent 3 months ago has not been answered yet). Wikieditor662 (talk) 18:29, 5 January 2026 (UTC)

Hopefully you will be lucky with Wikiproject Catholicism, it seems some questions get answered, probably depending on the interests of pagewatchers. TSventon (talk) 18:40, 5 January 2026 (UTC)

Are there any other places I can ask? Wikieditor662 (talk) 19:32, 5 January 2026 (UTC)

@Wikieditor662: what kind of help are you ;looking for? If you want someone to take over writing the article for you, you would be lucky to find someone interested. If you want advice, that is more likely. And specific questions are more likely to get specific answers. I looked at WP:WikiProject Christianity, but that looks quiet as well. You could post a link to your original query. Have you seen history of Christian theology? It seems to have a lot of relevant content. TSventon (talk) 23:50, 5 January 2026 (UTC)

If you want someone to take over writing the article for you, you would be lucky to find someone interested. Well not taking over, but helping out... I thought Wikipedia articles each have multiple people working on it rather than one individual. Wikieditor662 (talk) 01:29, 6 January 2026 (UTC)

Find out when I viewed a Wikipedia article first

Hi, I'm using the Wikipedia app on Android. The history tab let's me see when I viewed/read an article, however it only shows the most recent date. I'd like to find out when I viewed a specific article for the *first* time though. Is there a way to find that out? --~2026-10054-1 (talk) 18:45, 5 January 2026 (UTC)

AI Agents as source authors

So I came across the site AInvest (aiinvest.com) while reviewing citations as part of new page patrol activities. The article that the author has cited ( https://www.ainvest.com/news/emerald-expositions-navigating-recovery-post-pandemic-world-2505/ ) has a byline of "Generated by AI Agent Cyrus Cole". It is an interesting issue about whether we should consider AI Agent authors as reliable for 3rd party sources or not. I did not see this was obviously addressed here, which is why I'm posing this new question. I think this is a major emerging issue and I'd be interested in understanding where Wikipedia editors stand in general on this. Personally, I am loathe to treat any AI Agent as an author of a reliable source, but understanding how the community of editors considers this would be very useful to me. Thanks for your input. Regards --User:Ceyockey (talk to me) 01:06, 6 January 2026 (UTC)