User talk:HouseBlaster#Further guidance

hello how do one start editing? plus does one earn through this? --Spicegitere (talk) 08:34, 7 June 2025 (UTC)

:Hi Spicegitere! Wikipedia is entirely volunteer-run; you do you earn anything. To get started with editing, we have some suggestions for tasks at your homepage. Best, HouseBlaster (he/they) 13:57, 7 June 2025 (UTC)

How do I write a biography for someone --Peter taiwo (talk) 15:43, 7 June 2025 (UTC)

:{{yo|Peter taiwo}} Welcome! Creating a new article from scratch is extremely challenging, and new editors are strongly recommended to spend a few months learning how Wikipedia works, by making improvements to some of our existing seven million articles before trying it. When you do decide to have a go at a new article, you are highly encouraged to read Help:Your first article. If you haven't already also check out the tutorial; it's a lot of fun! Happy editing! HouseBlaster (he/they) 16:04, 7 June 2025 (UTC)

Hi HouseBlaster,

I'm a relatively new editor and have been working pretty heavily on improving the article for Shawn Ashmore. I'm aiming to nominate it for Good Article status soon, and I'd really appreciate any feedback you might have, whether on content, sourcing, structure, or anything else that stands out. If you have a moment to take a quick look and share any thoughts, it would mean a lot.

Here’s the link! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shawn_Ashmore --FrodoMarsh (talk) 04:45, 8 June 2025 (UTC)

:Hi! I'll take a look when I am more awake; me actively editing does not mean I am ignoring you :) Attaining GA status is a very noble goal! Best, HouseBlaster (he/they) 05:20, 8 June 2025 (UTC)

:@FrodoMarsh: My number one piece of advice for people trying to write good articles is to read the good article criteria. To some specifics:

:#IMDb is not a reliable source—so any citations should be replaced—but it makes a great link in the external links section

:# Shawn Ashmore#Recent work and foray into video games (2016–present) is a pretty large section; can it be broken up? MOS:RECENT is part of the MOS required for GA status, and maybe the video game stuff can go in its own section?

:# I'd move the image at Shawn Ashmore#Career to the right of the page, where most images go. It also is encouraged (but not required for GA status) for images of people to be "looking towards the text", which would also point to aligning the image to the right

:# I'd link to wikt:pyrokinetic or explain in a footnote; I doubt many readers are familiar with that word.

:# Spot check sources not added by you—they may contain WP:V or WP:CLOP issues. This is just general advice; I have no reason to think this is a big problem for Shawn

:Hopefully there is some good advice here; let me know if you have any questions in particular! Best, HouseBlaster (he/they) 23:30, 8 June 2025 (UTC)

::Thank you very much! I've made most of these changes, the spot checking will take some time but all the same, great advice and feedback, I really appreciate it. FrodoMarsh (talk) 01:35, 9 June 2025 (UTC)

Hello!

My boss, the owner of several companies, has asked me to create a bio wiki for him. I've used AI to remove some of the marketing-style text, but there is still a considerable amount remaining. The only reference sources I've been able to find so far are his LinkedIn page. He's in a hurry, but I warned him that the review process could take a while. Would I be better off starting with a bare-bones page and trying to add some content back in after the fact? --Kurt WFS (talk) 17:57, 9 June 2025 (UTC)

:FYI, here's the link to what I have so far. Draft:John David Kissell Kurt WFS (talk) 18:32, 9 June 2025 (UTC)

::{{yo|Kurt WFS}} You would be better off telling your boss that this is impossible. See when your boss tells you to edit Wikipedia. If you can't find multiple high-quality (New York Times-calibre), independent sources (that means his LinkedIn, interviews, sponsored content, etc. are all out) covering him in detail, the article will be deleted. There is zero amount of editing, zero amount of blood, sweat, or tears that can fix this. Best, HouseBlaster (he/they) 20:18, 9 June 2025 (UTC)

:::So even if we kept it to the absolute basic facts about him, without independent sources the article is not going to be approved, correct? Kurt WFS (talk) 20:32, 9 June 2025 (UTC)

::::{{yo|Kurt WFS}} Correct. HouseBlaster (he/they) 20:36, 9 June 2025 (UTC)

::::I see from the person of notability article what the criteria are. Thanks for the links! Kurt WFS (talk) 20:52, 9 June 2025 (UTC)

How to correct family heritage and information shared on Wikipedia by others with good intention? --LauraStineCourt (talk) 08:25, 11 June 2025 (UTC)

:{{yo|LauraStineCourt}} what article(s) are you talking about? HouseBlaster (he/they) 13:28, 11 June 2025 (UTC)

Hi HouseBlaster! If the only information I can find on publication history for a comic is through eBay auctions, what is the best way to go about sourcing it? --WILLnotOFTEN (talk) 08:50, 11 June 2025 (UTC)

:{{yo|WILLnotOFTEN}} if that is the case, it is best to simply omit the information. HouseBlaster (he/they) 13:29, 11 June 2025 (UTC)

::Good to know, thank you for your advice! WILLnotOFTEN (talk) 07:47, 12 June 2025 (UTC)

Hello. I was a background extra in the film, The Florida Project. I was a diner patron in the diner.scene. I'd tried adding myself to the cast credits but my edit was removed because lack of citation. I have the pay check stub. Will that suffice as a citation. How can I proceed ? --Glenn Marlow (talk) 11:14, 11 June 2025 (UTC)

:{{yo|Glenn Marlow}} we do not include extras in the casting section. There is nothing you can do to get yourself added. Best, HouseBlaster (he/they) 13:30, 11 June 2025 (UTC)

::Well that's all very elitist sounding. Good day. Glenn Marlow (talk) 14:08, 11 June 2025 (UTC)

I have two additions that I would like to contribute.

1. My aunt, Cheryl Crawford graduated from Smith College in 1925. She is not included among notable alumnae. In addition to being one of the founders of the Actors Studio, she produced a large number of notable productions that include: Porgy & Bess, Brigadoon, Paint Your Wagon, Sweet Bird of Youth and Yentl.

2. My mother, Charitable Bauer graduated from Professional Children’s School. She isn’t included among notable alumni. Her credits include: The Women (on Broadway), the Aldrich Family and the FBI (on radio) and over 30 years as a contract player on Guiding Light (TV & radio). --Mk Crawford (talk) 20:00, 11 June 2025 (UTC)

:{{yo|Mk Crawford}} do either your mother or aunt have Wikipedia articles? "Notable" is Wikipedia jargon for "eligible for an article"; if they do not meet our guidelines for inclusion, they should not be included in the list. Best, HouseBlaster (he/they) 21:39, 11 June 2025 (UTC)

::(talk page watcher) Wait, the Cheryl Crawford? No, she doesn't appear to be on the List of Smith College people, but she absolutely should be. Similarly, Charita Bauer is probably much more notable than many of the current alumni listed on Professional Children's School; I can see a very good argument for adding her in. I'll try to update that when I have the chance, and add the fact that they're related by marriage. done! As I'm sure you've noticed by now, @Mk Crawford, our articles can sometimes get quite out of date, so thanks for bringing this up! (And HouseBlaster, do you want to run him through how to make a COI edit request, in case he wants to fix something like this in the future?) GreenLipstickLesbian💌🦋 03:35, 12 June 2025 (UTC)

:::Thanks, GreenLipstickLesbian!{{pb}}Mk Crawford, in the future, you can make an "edit request" to change information. You can use the Edit Request Wizard to make this super easy. There are some instructions on what makes a good request. You should make sure you provide citations to reliable sources supporting changes. Best, HouseBlaster (he/they) 16:38, 12 June 2025 (UTC)

Instead of making an edit, is there a way to make suggestions or flag parts of an article that are unclear? Specifically this page:

Marvel Masterpieces

Section: Series 4 - 1995

Unclear content: "It was unknown at the time of production but now to a list count average found and credited."

WILLnotOFTEN (talk) 08:34, 12 June 2025 (UTC)

:Hi WILLnotOFTEN! There are some inline cleanup tags which request an editor make a change. These are often backlogged, so it is not going to be fixed quickly, but it helps future editors see there is a problem. These most famous tag is {{citation needed}}, but there are others, too. {{tlx|clarify}} (including the double curly braces) looks like the cleanup tag you want in this instance. Best, HouseBlaster (he/they) 16:34, 12 June 2025 (UTC)

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How can you add links to improve the wikipedia page? --SapphureF1 (talk) 10:56, 14 June 2025 (UTC)

:Hi SapphureF1! Great question. We call links to other Wikipedia pages "wikilinks". You can see the instructions for adding them at Help:Wikilink. When adding links, there are two rules you should keep in mind.

:# Don't link to terms which would be familiar to most readers. You should not link to wikilink pants, United States, or English language.

:# Don't link to terms more than once per section.

:Let me know if you have any other questions! Best, HouseBlaster (he/they) 14:52, 14 June 2025 (UTC)

I [https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Wikipedia%3ACentralized_discussion%2FArchive&oldid=prev&diff=1295450587 didn't know about archiving]. All I knew was that my Watchlist has been royally fouled up for the past couple of weeks because of all of the "me too" comments on VPT. I needed to make it slow down somehow. – Jonesey95 (talk) 14:10, 14 June 2025 (UTC)

:Of course—if that's the biggest mistake you made that day, it was a great day :) HouseBlaster (he/they) 14:42, 14 June 2025 (UTC)

{{you've got mail}} 174.17.34.170 (talk) 15:05, 14 June 2025 (UTC)

:I haven't gotten this email; did you mean to send me something? You'll need to log in first. Best, HouseBlaster (he/they) 15:14, 14 June 2025 (UTC)

Image:Chocolate_chip_cookies.jpg

Hey there,

just wanted to thank you or the housekeeping in the ArbCom case I filed. Here's a plate of cookies as thanks, I hope you like chocolate chip.

Out of curiosity, is there a nifty tool that you used to get the diffs of all the notifications in an easier way than say manually copying them out of my contribs list? Raladic (talk) 03:43, 15 June 2025 (UTC)

:Thanks for the cookies; chocolate chip is delicious! I manually copied them from your contribs list, but I opened all the diffs at once to make it somewhat more efficient. Best, HouseBlaster (he/they) 17:24, 15 June 2025 (UTC)

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I now ran my visible text through 3 different engines and all positively have my visible wordcount from copy&paste well below 900 words.

• Microsoft Word has 856 words.
• Wordcounter.net shows 866 words
• countofwords.com (the one linked from the guide) shows 883 words

So no matter how I twist and flip the pancake, it's well below what the automatic word count bot has - I'm not sure if it has a bug and isn't properly removing signatures or is considering the ref's I have in my statement against me?

Also cc @Liz - I temporarily removed the reflist you [https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Wikipedia:Arbitration/Requests/Case&diff=prev&oldid=1295818914 moved into my section] to try to figure out if that's responsible for the off counter.

I wanted to wait for the bot to do its next counting run to see if it's the refs (can move the refs back after that) - if that's not it, then the only reason for the discrepancy I can think of is that the bot is not removing signatures from its wordcount, which obviously would require a codefix from the maintainer of the tool.

In any case, as clerk, please advise, as I have actually tried my utmost to respect the wordcounts, which is why I was so aware of them as I used both ms word and wordcounter.net in drafting my replies to ensure I'm under the wordcounts as the guidance at Wikipedia:Arbitration/Guide to arbitration#Word limits suggests. Raladic (talk) 05:27, 16 June 2025 (UTC)

:I [https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Wikipedia%3AArbitration%2FRequests%2FCase&diff=1295848207&oldid=1295840854 trimmed a tiny bit more on my last unreplied comment] which further brings me down to 828 (ms word)/ 835 (wordcounter.net) / 856 (countofwords.com).

:Throwing my hands up in the air if the bot recounts and still has me anywhere near 900 on its next run, which then must be that it's counting signature/timestamps, which it really shouldn't. Raladic (talk) 05:46, 16 June 2025 (UTC)

I'm adding to this... but I believe the word counter is wrong for my statement and replies. My initial statement was 344 words, by my count. The rest of my replies have been in reply to arbitrators or other users who are commenting. If I am considered over the word limit, I request an extension for my current comments - I don't intend to comment further unless an arbitrator asks me a question directly again. -bɜ:ʳkənhɪmez | me | talk to me! 07:26, 16 June 2025 (UTC)

:

{{yo|Raladic|Berchanhimez}} I could've been more clear in my message that I had zero intentions of forcibly shortening your statements, and anything even remotely corrective did not cross my mind before I made that statement. So my first response is: You would only need to take action if you want to add to them.

And as a less important note, @Raladic: Liz doesn't get pings (though she has been known to pop in here from time to time), so if you want her attention a {{t|talkback}} wouldn't go amiss.

• Just stopping by to say that, Yes, I've seen this. I was an Arbitration clerk for two years when I was a young editor and my memory is that clerks are flexible about word limits if you take the time and request an extension. Arb clerks are not there to trim, say, 11 words from a statement that is slightly over the maximum count. Wordcount is not meant to be a guideline for clerks to exercise their authority, it's just to keep reasonable limits to everyone's contribution. Without wordcounts, believe me, there are editors who would write pages and pages and pages of commentary and back-and-forth discussions. Remember that the purpose of a Case Request is to make the argument that the committee should or should not open a case. It's not to put forth your arguments on the subject itself...that can happen if a case is accepted and opened. Tamzin has a very helpful guide to AC requests and she makes the point that your comments should be directed to the arbitrators, not to your fellow participants. It's not the place to have a debate. If a case is accepted, that is more likely to happen on the case talk pages.

:If there is a problem with the wordcount tool though, that should be looked into and fixed as soon as possible. Liz ^{Read! Talk!} 22:33, 16 June 2025 (UTC)

• @Raladic: The bot was previously including citations in the count. Those are [https://github.com/L235/WordcountClerkBot/commit/de48e1ab2c067ad57895f14bfb177caeb90e0bee now excluded], and the word count report should be updated after the next time someone edits ARC. Best, KevinL (aka L235 · t · c) 23:24, 17 June 2025 (UTC)
• :Sounds good - does it also strip out the signature/timestamps from people @L235?
• :Those can add up when there's a lot of questions from Arbitrators/admins that someone needs to respond to but aren't materially "words". Raladic (talk) 01:06, 18 June 2025 (UTC)
• ::Yes, it does. {{smiley}} KevinL (aka L235 · t · c) 01:36, 18 June 2025 (UTC)
• :::Ah looks good now.
• :::i just re-counted my Wikipedia:Arbitration/Requests/Case#Statement by Raladic section using wordcounter.net, stripping my the signatures out of it and I end up at 837 words, and the built in word counter says I’m at 839 now so that looks about right now :). Thanks for correcting that. Raladic (talk) 07:06, 18 June 2025 (UTC)

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|imagesize=40px

|text = On 17 June 2025, Did you know was updated with a fact from the article Joe Eddins, which you recently created, substantially expanded, or brought to good article status. The fact was ... that Joe Eddins helped conservative Oklahoma enact universal preschool? The nomination discussion and review may be seen at Template:Did you know nominations/Joe Eddins. You are welcome to check how many pageviews the nominated article or articles got while on the front page (here's how, [https://pageviews.toolforge.org/?start=2025-06-07&end=2025-06-27&project=en.wikipedia.org&pages=Joe_Eddins Joe Eddins]), and the hook may be added to the statistics page after its run on the Main Page has completed. Finally, if you know of an interesting fact from another recently created article, then please feel free to suggest it on the Did you know talk page.

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