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    Assistance for new editors unable to post here

    The help desk is frequently semi-protected, meaning the help desk pages cannot be edited by unregistered users (IP addresses), as well as accounts that are not confirmed or autoconfirmed (accounts that are at least 4 days old with at least 10 edits on English Wikipedia).

    However, you can still get direct assistance on your talk page. Just use this link to ask for help; a volunteer will visit you there shortly!

    There are currently 0 user(s) asking for help via the {{Help me}} template:

    How to apply CSS styling for dark mode users only?

    I am writing Wikipedia scripts, and I’m struggling to find a clean, simple way to apply specific CSS rules only for users viewing the page in dark mode—whether as a result of their Wikipedia appearance preference being explicitly set to "Dark", or because their OS is in dark mode while their appearance preference is set to "Automatic".

    The only working "solution" I’ve managed to implement so far is this: 

    @media screen and (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
    html.skin-theme-clientpref-os {
        /* Styles defined here will apply only to dark mode users. */
    }
}

html.skin-theme-clientpref-night {
    /* Styles defined here will also apply only to dark mode users. */
    /* These must be EXACTLY the same styles as above, leading to messy duplication! */
}

    As you can see, this is not a practical solution, as it forces me to duplicate every single dark-mode-only CSS rule for two distinct scenarios:

    1. The user’s OS is set to dark mode, and their Wikipedia appearance preference is set to "Automatic";
    2. The user’s Wikipedia appearance preference is explicitly set to "Dark".

    Since the same CSS rules should apply in both cases, manually duplicating them across separate selectors is highly inefficient, especially given the large number of dark-mode-only rules.

    I couldn’t find a simple solution, such as a common "dark-mode" class that applies to the <html> or <body> element for all dark mode users (and only for them).

    Any help would be greatly appreciated! :) Guycn2 (talk) 17:22, 16 April 2025 (UTC)[reply]

    Not a direct answer to your question sadly, but the folks at WP:Village pump (technical) will probably be your best shot at answering it. – Sparkle and Fade (talk • contributions) 13:56, 21 April 2025 (UTC)[reply]

    Subsection compliant with sources?

    Hey everyone, I recently restored a subsection which I deemed compliant with WP:PRIMARY and NPOV by using in-text attribution, but I am still unsure regarding several aspects. My first concern is the aforementioned concern about compliance with the policy on primary sources and neutral point of view, but I am also concerned the name subsection disproportionately big against the Musical style and lyrics subsection. Any advice would be highly appreciated, thanks! —Sparkle and Fade (talk • contributions) 04:39, 21 April 2025 (UTC)[reply]

    De facto criteria for adminship

    The only formal requirement to become an administrator is to be extended-confirmed. However, what do most reasonable candidates usually have (edit count, years of experience, article creation, blocks/sanctions, etc.)? Mast303 (talk) 01:22, 22 April 2025 (UTC)[reply]

    Wikipedia:Advice for RfA candidates has some information, including some commentary on the three specific topics you mention. DMacks (talk) 02:34, 22 April 2025 (UTC)[reply]
    @Mast303: You can use the tools in {{RfA toolbox}} to get current stats and plug in the user name of recent candidates to get an idea. The block log you will have to look up separately. Usernames Goldsztajn, Giraffer and Sennecaster will get you started. I imagine DMacks' link will be more helpful than stats though. Commander Keane (talk) 05:50, 22 April 2025 (UTC)[reply]

    Suggestions on good article status

    Any suggestions on how I could bring this article to good article status? I want to try and bump this article to a furtherer level. Thanks! Bollardant (talk) 13:11, 22 April 2025 (UTC)[reply]

    Just from a spotcheck, I'll point to MOS:LEDE - remove citations to the body and make sure claims are verified there, changing a few odd sentences such as This event marked Saudi Arabia's first civil aviation history - and adding citations to the section on units stationed at the airport. Departure– (talk) 13:14, 22 April 2025 (UTC)[reply]
    @Bollardant Assessment as a good article is a formal process which you have not yet started for Jiddah International Airport (1981), so you need to follow the instructions at WP:GAN and be aware that success can take considerable effort. Mike Turnbull (talk) 13:21, 22 April 2025 (UTC)[reply]
    Understood. I will finalize the article by fixing oddities, and follow the instructions. Thanks for helping out! Bollardant (talk) 05:47, 23 April 2025 (UTC)[reply]

    Help

    Which template can I use to add [

    • Where did this image come from?
    • Who created it?
    • Who holds the copyright to this image?]

    for File:Nitish Chandra Debnath.jpg? Somajyoti ✉ 18:35, 22 April 2025 (UTC)[reply]

    @Somajyoti: Those questions are added by the {{no copyright holder}} template because there is no source or licensing information about the file. It is automatically added by a bot to files that are uploaded and lack this information. You can add information about the file using the {{information}} template. cyberdog958Talk 19:20, 22 April 2025 (UTC)[reply]

    Josephine Baker

    Burials at the Panthéon, Paris, and Josephine Baker pages make no reference to the fact that a casket honoring Josephine Baker was laid to rest at the Panthéon in Paris (one of only 85 people so honored, including Voltaire, Victor Hugo, Marie Curie, and other greatest French citizens in history. Please see this 2021 article in The New York Times:

    https://www.nytimes.com/2021/11/30/world/europe/josephine-baker-buried-pantheon.html

    For some reason, I cannot make article edits or post comments to Talk pages, and was sent here.

    Please make the appropriate additions to the article for Josephine Baker and the list page: Burials at the Panthéon, Paris.

    Thank you. Charvex Charvex (talk) 00:44, 23 April 2025 (UTC)[reply]

    Charvex, you are not blocked (and never have been), and neither Josephine Baker nor Talk:Josephine Baker is "protected" in any way. Precisely what error message do you get, or what else happens, when you attempt to edit Josephine Baker? -- Hoary (talk) 01:18, 23 April 2025 (UTC)[reply]
    Charvex, worth noting is that Josephine Baker is not buried in the Panthéon. Her burial site is in Monaco. The casket dedicated to her in the Panthéon is filled with soil collected at various places important to her life. Cullen328 (talk) 02:35, 23 April 2025 (UTC)[reply]
    This is already described in great detail in the biography of Josephine Baker. Cullen328 (talk) 02:38, 23 April 2025 (UTC)[reply]
    Panthéon#People interred or commemorated already covers Josephine Baker. Cullen328 (talk) 02:45, 23 April 2025 (UTC)[reply]

    Cursor

    When in edit mode on my Wikipedia Sandbox A/C, the curser arrow of my computer changes to what resembles a Roman one and will not move. Clicking again, turns the so-called Roman one into what resembles a Roman ten, and a final click turns the screen into hourglass. The problem does not exist when in a view mode on Sandbox or on my User and Talk page accounts in whatever mode. I operate a Dell pc acquired in 2024. Thanks! Pendright (talk) 05:04, 23 April 2025 (UTC)[reply]

    Pendright, I've given your message a title. By "what resembles a Roman one", "what resembles a Roman ten", and "turns the screen into hourglass", do you perhaps mean "what resembles ⟨ꟾ⟩", "what resembles ⟨⨉⟩", and "turns the cursor into an hourglass icon" respectively? Which browser are you using, and what happens when you use an alternative browser? -- Hoary (talk) 05:38, 23 April 2025 (UTC)[reply]

    @Hoary: Thank you and yes. I use Google Chrome and have not tried another browser. Pendright (talk) 06:56, 23 April 2025 (UTC)[reply]

    Seems like a error ralated to cursor or browser issue. Maybe you can try out thise troubleshoots:
    • Try Another Browser – Use Firefox, Chrome, or Edge to see if issue persists.
    • Disable Browser Extensions – Turn off all extensions; re-enable one by one.
    • Switch Wikipedia Editor – Use Source Editor instead of VisualEditor (or vice versa)..
    • Reset Mouse Settings – Control Panel → Mouse → Pointers → set to Windows Default.
    • Check Input Methods – Remove any unusual language keyboards or IMEs. finally, see if issue still appears in Safe Mode.
    IHitmanI (talk) 08:14, 23 April 2025 (UTC)[reply]
    @Pendright: It sounds like a script is using all browser resources so the browser cannot do other things. Does "my Wikipedia Sandbox A/C" mean User:Pendright/sandbox? (Yes) Does it work if you click safemode? No, three attempts-the first 30 seconds or so look promising, after this reverts to hourglass) sing Some features are disabled there. Does it work if you log out? (No) Does "User and Talk page accounts" just mean your user page and talk page? (Yes, One account, two pages-no other A/Cs) "accounts" normally means user accounts. (One account, my error) Some users have multiple accounts.(Answered above) Do you mean the problem is not in the Pendright account? (The problem is in Pendright's Sandbox when its' in edit mode) PrimeHunter (talk) 09:46, 23 April 2025 (UTC)[reply]
    @PrimeHunter: Responses above - thank you -Pendright (talk) 05:55, 24 April 2025 (UTC)[reply]
    @Pendright: Try to bypass your cache with Ctrl+F5 on the edit window. I wonder whether something specific in the wikitext causes it, or maybe the total size. Does it work to edit the lead section here or the Scholar section here? If the first tool at WP:HILITE is enabled at another page like Example then try to disable it there. PrimeHunter (talk) 16:34, 24 April 2025 (UTC)[reply]

    For biographies of living persons, is it allowed to use a link to a court case to update the marital status of a subject? I am asking particularly for this article, Elizabeth Koch (publisher). 🌊PacificDepthstalk|contrib 06:36, 23 April 2025 (UTC)[reply]

    Yes but there are conditions:
    1. Use a source that is reliable, that is it is a second source as well as from a reputable medium.
    2. Particularly in court cases, use source only if court order has been finalized not if it ongoing and have no known result.
    3. Do not cite source from a unreliable source or if it is more of leak or unreliable news forum.
    4. You cite it properly, with exact dates and clear indication of the source.
    5. If the document includes sensitive personal details irrelevant to the encyclopedic purpose, avoid using it or redact appropriately.
    altogether please keep in mind-
    It is conditionally allowed to use a court case to update marital status on Wikipedia, if and only if the case is final, reliable, publicly available, and directly confirms the status change. IHitmanI (talk) 08:09, 23 April 2025 (UTC)[reply]
    As far as i can see your source, I strongly suggest further notice:
    UniCourt is only a raw docket aggregator. Per WP:PRIMARY and WP:RS, it isn’t considered a reliable secondary source. Please replace or supplement it with an independent source (e.g., court’s own docket, reputable news coverage, law‑review article). Thanks! IHitmanI (talk) 14:10, 23 April 2025 (UTC)[reply]
    WP:BLPPRIMARY, part of the "Biographies of living persons" policy, is clear that court cases are not valid sources for details about living persons. DMacks (talk) 16:42, 23 April 2025 (UTC)[reply]

    GA Review box behaviour

    New topics are being added to GA Review box on Talk:Wordle (see this and this). What's missing? Thank you, Cl3phact0 (talk) 13:58, 23 April 2025 (UTC)[reply]
     Fixed Resolved at GAN template level. -- Cl3phact0 (talk) 14:41, 23 April 2025 (UTC)[reply]

    Numbering of equations

    In Latex it is easy to number equations. Is that possible here on WP? Sigmundg (talk) 14:28, 23 April 2025 (UTC)[reply]

    Yes! See WP:DISPLAYTAG. DMacks (talk) 16:45, 23 April 2025 (UTC)[reply]
    Works fine, although it is not as easy to use as Latex. Thanks. Sigmundg (talk) — Preceding unsigned comment added by Sigmundg (talk • contribs) 20:20, 23 April 2025 (UTC)[reply]

    Are LLM-generated drafts eligible for MFD?

    I found one that has both an apparent COI and very AI-like phrasing in draftspace, but I don't know if NDRAFT wins here. Departure– (talk) 18:49, 23 April 2025 (UTC)[reply]

    It would help to be specific and name the draft. However, anything that looks like a lot of WP:LLM has gone into it probably isn't suitable.--♦IanMacM♦ (talk to me) 19:13, 23 April 2025 (UTC)[reply]
    If it's a draft, which is the problem? The namespace is meant for exactly that, for articles that are not yet ready. An AI-generated article may work as a starting point, to avoid the "blank page syndrome". Although nothing remains of the AI text, I started El Eternauta: tercera parte that way. Cambalachero (talk) 19:34, 23 April 2025 (UTC)[reply]

    Sandra Jayat - source for reported death useable or not?

    I have been alerted by an editor on French Wikipedia @Pa2chant.bis: of the reported death at age 94 of the French artist and writer Sandra Jayat (apparently born Lucienne Jayat), citing this source: https://www.deces-en-france.fr/resultats/28373655-jayat-lucienne . This comes from a site which says about itself (translated to English), from https://www.deces-en-france.fr/contact : "# Where does the data come from? - Town halls transmit the deaths recorded every month to INSEE, which compiles them and makes them public in a royalty-free file available on its platform. INSEE's statement about this file: INSEE cannot guarantee that the file of deceased persons is free from omissions or errors; it cannot incur any liability for the use made of the information contained in these files. In particular, the information contained in these files may under no circumstances be used for the purpose of certifying the vital status of individuals ." So I am wondering whether this qualifies as a sufficiently reliable source for use on English Wikipedia. Of course it might be better to wait for a published obituary somewhere, but advice would be appreciated. Regards - Tony Rees, Australia Tony 1212 (talk) 20:20, 23 April 2025 (UTC)[reply]

    Hello, @Tony 1212. I suggest asking at WP:RSN. ColinFine (talk) 20:34, 23 April 2025 (UTC)[reply]
    Thanks Colin, will do so shortly. Tony 1212 (talk) 22:11, 23 April 2025 (UTC)[reply]
    Now done. See Wikipedia:Reliable_sources/Noticeboard#Sandra_Jayat_-_source_for_reported_death_useable_or_not? for any further updates... Tony 1212 (talk) 02:57, 24 April 2025 (UTC)[reply]

    Help fixing criticism section default parameter

    Could someone skilled with templates help me out at Template:Criticism section? It currently substitutes {{subst:CURRENTMONTH}} when it should be substituting {{subst:CURRENTMONTHNAME}}. Thebiguglyalien (talk) 🛸 21:06, 23 April 2025 (UTC)[reply]

    @Thebiguglyalien: I guess you refer to inserting the template with VisualEditor. It's controlled by templatedata in the doc subpage. I have changed it to {{subst:CURRENTMONTHNAME}}.[1]PrimeHunter (talk) 21:38, 23 April 2025 (UTC)[reply]

    Garcia -

    The place to discuss the article Deportation of Kilmar Abrego Garcia is not here but instead Talk:Deportation of Kilmar Abrego Garcia. -- Hoary (talk) 07:41, 24 April 2025 (UTC)[reply]

    The following discussion is closed. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page. No further edits should be made to this discussion.

    Rule number one here is 'assume good faith.' This is Wikipedia organized by the Wiki Foundation. I have participated and donated in years past. Though that is nice, let's not lose track of the topic: wikipedia is open source information that shoud remain unpartisan, we are not lawyers.

    I have edited one word from the leading sentences in this page and have kindly requested other powers to redact this word. We cannot morally side legal or illegal in this case, just that deportation occurred by a person who was in the United States illegally. Deportation of Kilmar Abrego Garcia as it states, it's about the 'Deportation of ...' not the 'Illegal Deportation of ...'

    We can do better, in many regards. John Aronetics (talk) 02:35, 24 April 2025 (UTC)[reply]

    The discussion above is closed. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page. No further edits should be made to this discussion.

    Charts recreation

    If an article, such as International recognition of Kosovo, uses embedded graphs using the currently-disabled Charts extension, is it appropriate to go through the effort of creating an SVG recreation in something like Gnuplot and using it as a temporary replacement while the graph is not visible?

    I am well aware that graphs will be re-enabled once the better Graphs extension goes gold, so I wonder if creating replacements will either cause people to favor the much more involved and tedious process of editing the SVG graph even well after software graphs are re-enabled, and/or if the eventual release of the improved Graphs extension will cause a large surplus on Commons of unused and outdated graphs that have served their purpose as a replacement and now only serve to benefit wikis that do not or still can not use software graphs. Are these risks well-founded or simply paranoia? All things considered, should I continue to try to create interim vector replacements for graphs on articles? Or is it established that I should simply wait for all this to pass? — rae5e <talk> 12:49, 24 April 2025 (UTC)[reply]

    Can I upload a photo from an unreliable source if it is purely a better quality version of one from a reliable source

    I posted this on WT:MILHIST before, but I think it is more appropriate to ask here.

    So the current situation is:

    I want to upload the badge of the PLAGF Aviation. However, the main problem is, all of the reliable sources which I can upload it from(Xinhua, People's Daily) have a background, are slightly tilted and have lighting issues. Good news is, Baidu Baike has the exact same badge, so may I ask if I can upload the Baidu Baike version(and add that it is backed up by reliable sources) or must I screenshot the Xinhua/People's Daily version instead? Thehistorianisaac (talk) 13:09, 24 April 2025 (UTC)[reply]

    @Thehistorianisaac: If you have some sort of drawing software you could probably trace it and upload it, with a copyright caption similar to "own work by Thehistorianisaac, traced/based on the work at [URL]". I've seen this sort of format before, and I'd imagine something similar was done for the PLAN, PLAGF, and PLARF (to cite other Chinese examples). I might be wrong, so someone please correct me if I am. PhoenixCaelestis (Talk · Contributions) 19:07, 24 April 2025 (UTC)[reply]

    Preserving Flickr to W.M. images

    I saved a few images from my Flickr account to Wayback Machine. For instance, there is a page from a 1996 newsletter (long defunct) that was probably mailed out to under 100 people. It likely doesn't exist anywhere else. It's critical for a WP article's reference. I would like to know how substantial these saves are to Wayback. What about if I close my Flickr account in five years? Will the images still be there on Wayback. If not, what are the alternatives? There could be copyright issues with Commons. Also, I only wrote a few articles on WP. But how important is it to state the source of a link in reference. It seems to be a good idea, though not necessary. Examples: "Chronicling America" (for newspapers) and "Wikimedia C–." Thanks. JimPercy (talk) 15:52, 24 April 2025 (UTC)[reply]

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