Wikiversity:Help desk

Wikiversity - Help Desk post This page is for general knowledge questions, such as "What country has the world's largest fishing fleet ?" To ask a question about Wikiversity, and its technical and policy issues visit the Wikiversity:Colloquium. Wikiversity was created so that people who are trying to learn, "have a place to come and interact and help each other figure out how to learn things" (source). When responding to help desk questions, it may be useful to provide links to useful sources of information. When asking questions, please keep in mind the nature of Wikiversity: Wikiversity participants do not provide professional answers to medical, legal or any other type of question. Before you make use of help desk answers, click here and read the disclaimers. Also see: English Language Reference Desk - Mathematics Help Desk - Computer Programming Help Desk - Java Help Desk - Engineering Help Desk - Physics Help Desk - Astronomy Help Desk - List of debates and discussions - Media Technology Help Desk If you are new to wiki, see the introductory tutorial. If you have a question related to Wikiversity custodians, see: Custodian feedback. Answers are not provided by e-mail. If you want to view past discussions from the Help desk you can view it in the Archive Index Please sign and date your post (by typing ~~~~) Please add new topics to the bottom of this page.

Unacceptable content linking to an outdated Wikipedia page on parapsychology

<The original text of this request is available at [1] and has been removed.>

TreeTrailer (discuss • contribs) 06:16, 17 May 2016 (UTC)

Thank you for sharing your concerns. However, personal attacks are not welcome at Wikiversity. All comments and concerns should focus on content rather than editors. -- Dave Braunschweig (discuss • contribs) 12:42, 17 May 2016 (UTC)

Templates

I have been stumped in trying to build up an Informal Learning Activity site because I want to code some templates to make it easier to add content and I can't find where there is information about coding and placing templates. I've spent a lot of time going to pages that tell me about various templates already available but they've got me nowhere I wanted to go. Help, please! Wnholmes (discuss • contribs) 11:47, 3 June 2016 (UTC)

Information on templates is available at mw:Help:Templates. But in many cases, there are either existing or better alternatives available. What, specifically, are you trying to accomplish? -- Dave Braunschweig (discuss • contribs) 14:22, 3 June 2016 (UTC)

Thank you very much for that link; I don't how I didn't find it. The work I'm planning to do is highly repetitive. For example, I get actin (protein) by coding &nbsp;&nbsp;[[w:Actin|actin]]&nbsp;(protein) but I would prefer the simpler {{NTb|A|a|ctin|protein}} and this would also make it simpler for other people to add items. And I presume that I can put the template into the Name Trees file space. Thanks again for your help.  Wnholmes (discuss • contribs) 23:24, 3 June 2016 (UTC)

Have you seen {{Wl}}? -- Dave Braunschweig (discuss • contribs) 00:02, 4 June 2016 (UTC)

I looked at it just now but it doesn't help much. I tried what I thought might work and put a template up on https://en.wikiversity.org/wiki/Informal_learning_activities/Template:STa and tried to use it as https://en.wikiversity.org/wiki/Informal_learning_activities/Small_things#A but it wouldn't even try it. It seems to imply that I have to put the template somewhere else. True? If so, where? I would appreciate your help very much if you can put up with my floundering. Wnholmes (discuss • contribs) 03:08, 4 June 2016 (UTC)

Preceding with Template: is only helpful when you want a template that will be shared by multiple learning projects. In this case, keeping the template with the learning project makes more sense, but must use a regular page name. Calling that page as a template is then either a full path to the page or a relative path. Since you are trying to call STa from a subpage at the same level, the syntax is {{../STa|parameters...}}. Note that excessive HTML typically isn't necessary except for very advanced templates. An * at the start of a line automatically generates a bullet and removes the need for <br>. -- Dave Braunschweig (discuss • contribs) 13:26, 4 June 2016 (UTC)

Thanks muchly for the help. It seems to be working fine for me now.  Wnholmes (discuss • contribs) 12:07, 6 June 2016 (UTC)

Article creation wizard discussion

Hi all,

This proposal suggests WMF to fund the writing of an article creation wizard at Wikipedia, but with enough interest it may -- or may it not? -- be expanded to write an article creation wizards framework or library for use at non-Wikipedia wikis, such as here. If desired, please join the discussion before December 12. (I've sent this message to English wikis; I ask you to deliver it to non-English wikis, if you can. Even delivering it in English there may be better than nothing.)

• What tools do we use here, now, to make article creation easier for newbies?
• What requirements do we have for a potential implementation?
• How would you like to inform the people of the article creation perks and difficulties on this wiki?
• What else needs to be considered?

Thanks. --Gryllida 03:52, 6 December 2016 (UTC)

@Gryllida: - If this is implemented across different projects, it will need to assume that different templates would be implemented for different projects. Encyclopedia articles follow a similar approach. Wikibooks may or may not have a standard format. Wikiversity has multiple page / lesson formats, none of which has a strong backing one way or the other. Some people prefer linking to existing content for a lesson, others prefer writing their own content. However, having something that would make it clear what new pages are likely to be accepted and what new pages are likely to not be accepted / belong on a different project or don't belong at all would be helpful. Thanks! -- Dave Braunschweig (discuss • contribs) 04:09, 6 December 2016 (UTC)

Where do I go to start debates/discussion?

Is this the place for it? (The preceding unsigned comment was added by Uncle dan is home (talk • contribs) 7 December 2016‎)

What do you mean by this? To start a debate, look through Wikidebate. But a normal discussion, you will need to look in the page you want to start the discussion and click "Add Topic" ---Atcovi (Talk - Contribs) 23:39, 7 December 2016 (UTC)

Marine La Pen and EU

If she won next years election in France, would France quit the EU? (The preceding unsigned comment was added by Uncle dan is home (talk • contribs) 7 December 2016‎)

This is not the appropriate venue for this type of discussion. If you need assistance with Wikiversity, please let us know. To participate in Wikidebates, see Wikidebate or contact User:Felipe Schenone. -- Dave Braunschweig (discuss • contribs) 02:19, 8 December 2016 (UTC)

Parsing errors in Inversion (discrete mathematics)

Screenshot

Since yesterday I get parsing errors for formulas in this article. E.g. <math>\pi</math> becomes: Failed to parse (MathML with SVG or PNG fallback (recommended for modern browsers and accessibility tools): Invalid response ("Math extension cannot connect to Restbase.") from server "/mathoid/local/v1/":): \pi
When I make an empty edit the problem is solved in that browser session. Strangely it appears again when I visit the page in a different browser or in a private tab. (The rendered SVG is this, and it can be accessed from every browser.) Can anyone tell me what is wrong here?
The problem does (at least for me) not appear on other pages with the same code, like my sandbox or this template. Or this page. Test: $\pi$$\pi$
Greetings, Watchduck (quack) 15:07, 18 December 2016 (UTC)

I don't see any errors on the page. On the page menu there is a Purge option. You might try that and see if it helps. -- Dave Braunschweig (discuss • contribs) 16:53, 18 December 2016 (UTC)

The purge option does not change anything. I now have the errors in different places, e.g. <math>ia_i</math> gives: Failed to parse (MathML with SVG or PNG fallback (recommended for modern browsers and accessibility tools): Invalid response ("Math extension cannot connect to Restbase.") from server "/mathoid/local/v1/":): {\displaystyle ia_i}

But <math>ja_j</math> right next to it is rendered. The errors appear in the same places in Firefox and Chrome, and also in the private mode of both browsers. Unlike before, making an empty edit does not help anymore. --Watchduck (quack) 17:25, 18 December 2016 (UTC)

The page is still fine for me in Chrome. There is an open Phabricator issue on this. You might add yourself to phab:T136812 and add a comment with this example. -- Dave Braunschweig (discuss • contribs) 19:32, 18 December 2016 (UTC)