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Video Wikipedia talk:Reference desk
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Maps Wikipedia talk:Reference desk
RefDesk help icon displays in bad position
{{RefDesk help icon}} displays on top of the notifications icon for me in mobile: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Reference_desk/Mathematics. It was reported at Wikipedia:Help desk#Display problems with File:Screenshot of notifications fail.png. PrimeHunter (talk) 23:07, 29 June 2018 (UTC)
- You could maybe reverse-engineer it and create another one which sits in a better place? <-Baseball Bugs What's up, Doc? carrots-> 00:40, 30 June 2018 (UTC)
- Now archived to Wikipedia:Help desk/Archives/2018_June_29#Display problems DMacks (talk) 19:12, 9 August 2018 (UTC)
- I hacked on it a bit. It's now (for me, anyway) in the same horizontal region as the "From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia < Wikipedia:Reference desk" subtitle rather than just below it, which also closed up the large whitespace before the actual helpdesk header boxes. I checked it on desktop and mobile, both with and without protection. WP now has three (so far that I have found) different templates that implement this same type of top-of-page help-icon link, and all three are now implemented differently. Will move to VPT to get some consensus later today. DMacks (talk) 19:43, 9 August 2018 (UTC)
- ...Wikipedia:Village pump (technical)#Position of help links. DMacks (talk) 06:14, 16 August 2018 (UTC)
- I hacked on it a bit. It's now (for me, anyway) in the same horizontal region as the "From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia < Wikipedia:Reference desk" subtitle rather than just below it, which also closed up the large whitespace before the actual helpdesk header boxes. I checked it on desktop and mobile, both with and without protection. WP now has three (so far that I have found) different templates that implement this same type of top-of-page help-icon link, and all three are now implemented differently. Will move to VPT to get some consensus later today. DMacks (talk) 19:43, 9 August 2018 (UTC)
src: upload.wikimedia.org
Header
"We are not a substitute for actually doing any original research required, or as a free source of ideas."
What does this mean? I'm guessing the first part means "we'll help you find references, but you have to use them yourself"; is that correct? And I'm not clear to what "free source of ideas" refers, since we do freely give out ideas if you ask for references on a certain subject. Nyttend (talk) 01:35, 30 July 2018 (UTC)
- Who created that sentence, and when? It sounds like a sentence designed by a committee. <-Baseball Bugs What's up, Doc? carrots-> 03:03, 30 July 2018 (UTC)
- Added in this string of edits, in case you're wondering. Nyttend (talk) 04:10, 30 July 2018 (UTC)
- Possibly prompted by this question-thread (particularly the hatted part), and see also this user talk page mini-exchange.
- Pinging ShakespeareFan00 who might have more to add. ---Sluzzelin talk 09:02, 30 July 2018 (UTC)
- There was a concern expressed in the hatted part, as I understood it that the reference desk was intended to find 'existing' reference or research material, not necessarily generate new material. There are other sites that are better suited to 'ghost-writing' or academic "synthesis". It's the difference between answering a question on say economic trends in the US , by linking US Treasury reports and projections, and writing entire an entire essay saying "My view is... "
- That said, in some refdesk questions, there have been helpful academic asides that have resulted. A question from way back about 'determining' the temperature of boiling water in a repeatable way, lead to some links and disscussion on matters I hadn't been aware of previously concerning calibration standards for something as simple as Water ;) ShakespeareFan00 (talk) 09:37, 30 July 2018 (UTC)
- Thanks for the input :-) ShakespeareFan00, what do you mean by "a free source of ideas"? I'm thinking of redoing the first part; please revert me if you don't think it helpful. Nyttend (talk) 01:14, 31 July 2018 (UTC)
- The reference desk isn't supposed to be a substitute for actually thinking ;) There's a reason researchers in some fields get paid a lot for not doing very much. ShakespeareFan00 (talk) 12:00, 31 July 2018 (UTC)
- Thanks for the input :-) ShakespeareFan00, what do you mean by "a free source of ideas"? I'm thinking of redoing the first part; please revert me if you don't think it helpful. Nyttend (talk) 01:14, 31 July 2018 (UTC)
- That said, in some refdesk questions, there have been helpful academic asides that have resulted. A question from way back about 'determining' the temperature of boiling water in a repeatable way, lead to some links and disscussion on matters I hadn't been aware of previously concerning calibration standards for something as simple as Water ;) ShakespeareFan00 (talk) 09:37, 30 July 2018 (UTC)
- I had assumed it was supposed to give an explicit reason to hat open-ended "give me some ideas" questions.
- You know the ones, the ones that go "I'm writing a time travel story. What are interesting things to do in the 1800s?" or "I want to start an online business. What are some ways to make money online?".
- Such questions used to be common. ApLundell (talk) 18:06, 9 August 2018 (UTC)
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