User talk:Alpha3031

Question from Oxigalia ObtuseTriangle (19:55, 20 April 2025)

Hello! I am a new editor who has been interested in Wikipedia for quite some time. I know most of the more important rules, but I might make a few mistakes new editors are prone to. I hope to become a useful contributor one day. Do you know any unprotected articles that need work that I can work on? I'd like to help. --Oxigalia ObtuseTriangle (talk) 19:55, 20 April 2025 (UTC)

Hi Oxigalia ObtuseTriangle, you can find a list of things you can do at pages like Wikipedia:Task Center, Wikipedia:Backlog or Wikipedia:Maintenance, organised by type of work so you can find something you might be interested in. While they don't separate out protected from unprotected articles, most pages on Wikipedia are not protected. If you are mostly interested in one specific topic area, many (though not all) pages are tagged with Wikipedia:WikiProjects which sometimes have their own to-do lists. Alpha3031 (t • c) 11:06, 21 April 2025 (UTC)

Question from Thoppy234 (12:36, 21 April 2025)

I hope you're well. I’ve drafted an article on Toks Omishakin in my sandbox and would appreciate it if you could kindly review it before I proceed with submission to the mainspace. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Thoppy234/sandbox/Adetokunbo_%22Toks%22_Omishakin

Your feedback would be invaluable in ensuring it meets Wikipedia’s notability and formatting standards.

Thank you in advance for your time and support.

Best regards, Thoppy234 --Thoppy234 (talk) 12:36, 21 April 2025 (UTC)

Hi Thoppy234, I've taken a quick look at the article and while it might be considered to meet our inclusion criteria on the basis of WP:NPOL, it would probably benefit from sources with a bit more detail. In general, I would recommend people start an article by looking for a few big, detailed sources. The bigger and more detailed you can write an article from only your best one or two sources the better, as long as those sources are reliable and independent. Other sources can still be used of course, but once you have your core sources it's an easier job to use other sources to fill in details. Alpha3031 (t • c) 12:42, 25 April 2025 (UTC)

Question from Ifeanyi Njoku (15:54, 21 April 2025)

How do I start a new page, I am writing a biography --Ifeanyi Njoku (talk) 15:54, 21 April 2025 (UTC)

Hi Ifeanyi Njoku, you can find Help:Your first article as an guide to writing your first article. It will also have a blue button for the article wizard that you can use to create a draft that you can put things in. Alpha3031 (t • c) 12:32, 25 April 2025 (UTC)

Question from Errperson (16:50, 21 April 2025)

I want to fix this citation: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tanistry#cite_note-Fletcher-1979-13

The citation links to the incorrect Joseph Fletcher. The correct article is https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Fletcher_(historian), not https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Fletcher who is the historian's father. I think Joseph_Fletcher_(Historian) should also be clarified as Joseph Fletcher Jr. --Errperson (talk) 16:50, 21 April 2025 (UTC)

Hey, sorry I wasn't able to respond in time but thanks for picking up things like this! Hope you continue to spot things in articles interesting to you. Alpha3031 (t • c) 12:30, 25 April 2025 (UTC)

New pages patrol May 2025 Backlog drive

May 2025 Backlog Drive | New pages patrol
On 1 May 2025, a one-month backlog drive for New Pages Patrol will begin. Barnstars will be awarded based on the number of articles patrolled. Barnstars will also be granted for re-reviewing articles previously reviewed by other patrollers during the drive. Each review will earn 1 point. Interested in taking part? Sign up here.
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MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 15:24, 24 April 2025 (UTC)

A bowl of strawberries for you!

A big THANK YOU for reverting the apparent whitewashing of the Australian Citizens Party page. It seems a lot of us had concerns that the dregs of the LaRouche cult were trying to sex-up the unflattering public information about their Australian arm. Maybe not a surprising event given that Oz is on the brink of a federal general election, & the recent attempt by one of the party's candidates to massage the page was spurned by diligent editors. What was so disturbing about this latest manipulation was just how slick it was, with the dexterity & civility of the partisan POV-pushing being just a little sinister. The editor responsible would seem to be something other than a novice despite their public claims, which begs the question of are we dealing with a sock puppet, or a "reputation management" specialist, or a skilled LaRouche flunkey, or all 3? In any case, you did a fine job when you tackled the damage. Keep up the great work. Cheers! Bluevista99 (talk) 16:37, 27 April 2025 (UTC)

Question from NotQualified

Hi, you told me to look here Wikipedia:Reliable sources#Usage by other sources to evaluate if a source is to be deemed reliable. This is pretty vague, how often is often enough for a source to be cited on a particular topic? NotQualified (talk) 19:24, 5 May 2025 (UTC)

NotQualified, I'm a little hesitant at doing anything that might be perceived as encouraging you to test the boundaries of your topic ban, but since this question was addressed directly to me and not on a general page, I will try and answer this, but... just, do keep in mind that if someone else saw you start discussions like this closely related to why you were banned, it's unlikely to be looked favourably upon in any hypothetical future appeal.

On the actual question, to start with, to evaluate a source in general you should look at the Wikipedia:Reliable sources guideline as a whole, not a specific section of it. § Usage by other sources only covers a specific type of evidence, and a type usually considered less definitive than other evidence (where available). Positive UBO could be outweighed by evidence of a negative reputation from other factors, and vice versa, other evidence of a positive reputation for fact-checking or accuracy could be outweighed by negative UBO. Hence, there is not any one single frequency of outside citation that is often enough, all of the evidence being looked at need to be weighed before determining a source has good or poor reputation for fact-checking and accuracy.

You should also familiarise yourself with other content policies and guidelines, including but not limited to WP:OR, WP:DUE, WP:EXCEPTIONAL, WP:NOT and WP:BLP, because even if a specific WP:SOURCE (that is, all of: the publisher and publication, author and the specific article) is considered "generally reliable" or "generally unreliable", it can still be not used, or used, due to those other content policies. (though for the "not reliable" side, if we managed to get down to a specific article, it is rather unlikely we would turn around and decide to use it for something) In general, you'd start with the best secondary sources, and then use those as the structure from which the rest of what you're writing is built. As an analogy, if you're building a house, your core sources are the frame, the other secondary sources are the bricks, and other sources are mortar that you might use in little bits here or there.

The usual suggestion is to do a lot of the work you're struggling with in an area that you aren't likely to get into trouble for. Find pages with active sourcing disputes in, I dunno, chemistry or something equally uncontroversial that you're not likely to diverge wildly from consensus and get into massive disputes, and that you won't likely find a issue you feel you can't drop. You will get a better idea of what kind of things would get pushback from other editors, and how to answer their objections, once you've done it a bit more, and it's better (easier) to do that in a less controversial topic areas without ending up doing something you shouldn't have. Alpha3031 (t • c) 13:24, 6 May 2025 (UTC)

To be clear, this question isn't to do with the ban discussion, it's just a general question. Also, I was banned for bludgeoning, not misusing sources, in case someone else wants to know what that's referring to. NotQualified (talk) 13:46, 6 May 2025 (UTC)

Books & Bytes – Issue 68

The Wikipedia Library: Books & Bytes
Issue 68, March–April 2025

In this issue we highlight two resource renewals, #EveryBookItsReader, a note about Phabricator, and, as always, a roundup of news and community items related to libraries and digital knowledge.

Read the full newsletter

Sent by MediaWiki message delivery on behalf of The Wikipedia Library team --10:18, 13 May 2025 (UTC)

Question from SANKOMOTA (14:50, 17 May 2025)

Creation of articles of South Africa or African singers which I get deletion tag --SANKOMOTA (talk) 14:50, 17 May 2025 (UTC)

Hi SANKOMOTA, I'm not quite sure I've correctly understood your question, but I can see two articles you've created, Richard Lukunku and Condry Ziqubu, one of which is deleted due to copyright reasons. To avoid copyright issues, you should not copy an article and make changes, even if you do make several. It is better to read your source to get an idea of what it says and then write the article entirely from scratch, so that there is nothing that is the same as any copyrighted text (which most texts will automatically be due to international copyright law, unless explicitly released). Even if you reword things, Wikipedia:Close paraphrasing can still be an issue, so it really is better to write things completely from scratch. Alpha3031 (t • c) 07:17, 22 May 2025 (UTC)

It was condry ziqubu one but i used my words on lekunku 1 and don't get it why should I get blocked while I have been on wiki for almost a year and ran projects on it ,sometimes i feel like people like you are making others to feel little as if they are useless some of us uses digital platforms as a source of income 41.144.69.119 (talk) 07:46, 22 May 2025 (UTC)

As for Lukunku article you can mark it on speedy deletion again I have been getting mentor from people who joined Wikipedia 15 years ago and they didn't saw any problems about my articles you can delete it too thank you. SANKOMOTA (talk) 07:58, 22 May 2025 (UTC)

Becuase you guys seems like you the ones who knows Wikipedia rules and pillars I was nominated to be an Wikipedia trainer that is currently on in south Africa it's a pity you the only one who saw that and others don't I know Wikipedia pillars I know how must I write the articles ,sometimes you should just correct the mistake and carry on Wikipedia it's about editing not about one man show ,I respect everyone but I hate to be disrespected let alone to be undermined, most of you guys doing this are from Europe,USA but you discouraging people in south Africa about the things that they know seems like as an African what ever I write about Africa it's stupid and you know it better than me ,lukunku article has been there edited ,we even edited Trump page about the meeting he held with Ramaphosa yesterday .please don't do that ziqubu article has been deleted am fine with that SANKOMOTA (talk) 08:06, 22 May 2025 (UTC)

SANKOMOTA, you are not blocked and you won't be as long as you follow the rules. The rules about copyright are specifically to protect Wikipedia. If Wikipedia hosts copyrighted content, Wikipedia could get sued, and then we will all have nothing to edit. If you are using Wikipedia as a source of income, please also see Wikipedia:Paid-contribution disclosure. Wikipedia is also required to ensure paid contributions are disclosed, as Wikipedia operates in the United States, which has laws against covert advertising. Again, if you get Wikipedia shut down because you introduce content that is against the law in the US, where Wikipedia operates, that would mean no more Wikipedia, for anyone. Wikipedia is required to follow the law.

If there are no issues with your article, it will not be deleted. If you want to fix the issues with an article that has been deleted, you can request it to be emailed to you. However, hosting content that is not allowed by the law is risky, even if you personally would not be legally affected. Alpha3031 (t • c) 08:06, 22 May 2025 (UTC)

I saw my mistakes on ziqubu"s article and made it better with lukunku 1 as i got praises about it even though its still been improving and so forth ,the mistake wont happen again ,my forgiveness again thank.i wont disgrace Wikipedia rights and will always follow 5 pillars of it .chiao 41.144.69.119 (talk) 08:11, 22 May 2025 (UTC)

Question from ClinicalCommEdits (07:47, 23 May 2025)

Hello, and thank you for supporting my first steps as a Wikipedia editor! I have questions regarding the referencing of the article. I am not quite comfortable with it, and might have done it properly on the first article I edited. If there is a tutorial you could share with me, it would be great. Thank you. --ClinicalCommEdits (talk) 07:47, 23 May 2025 (UTC)

Hi NthTz, sorry for the late response. I have to admit I'm not quite sure what kind of issues you're having with referencing, but Help:Referencing for beginners is our usual guide on how to add references. Please also use {{reflist-talk}} to create a box for your reflist if you're putting references in <ref>...</ref> tags on a talk page, such as if you were trying to show some example text that you would like to insert into an article.

Additionally, I noticed you've created a section on Talk:Rennes University Hospital. You are more likely to find people willing to engage with you if you did not generate your comments via ChatGPT, as people tend to have a harder time divining what part of it is actually from you, and what part of it was inserted by the machine, when obfuscated by such indirection. Alpha3031 (t • c) 11:36, 30 May 2025 (UTC)

(P.S.—If there is a specific edit that you'd like to make on that page, please see Wikipedia:Edit requests § Making requests so that the people that look at those kinds of thing will see it in the list of edit requests) Alpha3031 (t • c) 11:39, 30 May 2025 (UTC)

Question from Responseableforduosdeath (08:16, 26 May 2025)

How to add photos? --Responseableforduosdeath (talk) 08:16, 26 May 2025 (UTC)

Hi Responseableforduosdeath. The easiest way to upload a photo is over at the Upload Wizard over at Commons (there's a link at c:Commons:Upload Wizard). Make sure you pay attention to the first step there as well, as it has some very important information about copyright. You can also upload a file locally here if it doesn't meet the requirements to be included at Commons, but is allowed here (usually due to copyright rules). There is some information at Wikipedia:Non-free content criteria about the use of "non-free" images (i.e. mostly images you don't own the copyright of and therefore can't release the copyright to) on English Wikipedia specifically, but usually those cases are fairly rare. Alpha3031 (t • c) 11:48, 30 May 2025 (UTC)

Question from OE2015 (13:48, 30 May 2025)

Hi there. I have an article on my user page, but cannot figure out how to publish it. Can you help? --OE2015 (talk) 13:48, 30 May 2025 (UTC)

Hi OE2015, you can put {{subst:submit}} at the top of your article and it will be put in the queue for review. However, the sources you use need to meet the criteria set out in Wikipedia:Notability (organizations and companies), which I can tell you they currently do not, so you'll need to find some better sources before you do that. Alpha3031 (t • c) 09:42, 31 May 2025 (UTC)

Lumen (tech company)

I was looking at this discussion of a proposed move. You were right, except Lumen (tech company) should have been changed to disambiguation at that time, so I have.— Vchimpanzee • talk • contributions • 18:32, 1 June 2025 (UTC)

Thanks for letting me know, I mostly forgot that article even existed lol. Alpha3031 (t • c) 09:08, 2 June 2025 (UTC)

Question from TheGriffinWolf (14:05, 2 June 2025)

When I try to upload an image it says ”Failed to load the configuration for file uploads to the foreign file repository.” How do I fix it? --TheGriffinWolf (talk) 14:05, 2 June 2025 (UTC)

Hi TheGriffinWolf, I did a quick search for people encountering this error previously, and I just want to confirm, are you trying to upload the image directly from the editing window (i.e. by clicking Insert > Images and media > Upload)? If so, can you try and go to the Wikipedia:File upload wizard and attempt the upload there, and please let me know how that goes. It has been suggested a couple of times previously but I don't think anyone ever said how it went and if it was successful or not. Alpha3031 (t • c) 14:42, 2 June 2025 (UTC)

Ok I’ll try that. Thanks!! TheGriffinWolf (talk) 05:06, 3 June 2025 (UTC)

Question from Opash98 (03:13, 6 June 2025)

Hello! I am editing an article for an assignment and am having a tough time understanding how the formatting works on Wikipedia, especially on how to actually edit the article and add references and notes for sources. This has really been holding me back on finishing my assignment, so can you please tell what is a convenient and straightforward way to do so and/or direct me to some information that may walk me through the process? Thanks in advance! --Opash98 (talk) 03:13, 6 June 2025 (UTC)

Hi Opash98. There are two main edit screens that you can use, the "source" editor where you directly edit markup code and "visual" editor where you control the formatting with the (see Help:Editing § Edit screen(s) for some screenshots). Most of the time the visual editor will be used by default, so you can hit the button that says A to get a list of formatting options, and hitting the button that says Cite to add a reference. You can also see Help:VisualEditor for a full list of things you can do in there. Alpha3031 (t • c) 05:42, 6 June 2025 (UTC)