User talk:Shellwood

Question from RobertMadsAnderson (13:10, 21 September 2026)

hello. what else should i add to get this published - thanks. --RobertMadsAnderson (talk) 13:10, 21 September 2026 (UTC)

@RobertMadsAnderson: I suggest that you read the templates people left on your talk page about why your draft was rejected, such as concerns about reliable sources, significant coverage and your use of LLMs. Also, it's a very bad idea to write an article about yourself, see WP:COIE. Shellwood (talk) 14:24, 21 September 2026 (UTC)

Feedback request: History and geography request for comment

Your feedback is requested at Talk:Portuguese Empire on a "History and geography" request for comment. Thank you for helping out!
You were randomly selected to receive this invitation from the list of Feedback Request Service subscribers. If you'd like not to receive these messages any more, you can opt out at any time by removing your name.

SodiumBot (botop|talk|contribs) 18:31, 23 September 2026 (UTC)

Question from Maskhakhane on Help:Introduction to Wikipedia (18:28, 24 September 2026)

.how do I create artcle --Maskhakhane (talk) 18:28, 24 September 2026 (UTC)

@Maskhakhane: You can't create any articles yet. Your account needs to be autoconfirmed, which happens automatically after 4 days and once you have made 10 edits. While you are waiting for this to happen, I recommend that you start by making a draft in your sandbox. This is a good guide, WP:YFA. I also left a welcoming message on your talk page with some useful links to basic policies and guidelines. Shellwood (talk) 18:53, 24 September 2026 (UTC)

Question from Aneliswa Mgabadeli (17:49, 25 September 2026)

Hello, I want to start creating new articles but I don't know how. Could you please elaborate for me on how the action shall be done?

By Aneliswa Mgabadeli --Aneliswa Mgabadeli (talk) 17:49, 25 September 2026 (UTC)

@Aneliswa Mgabadeli: Hello Aneliswa, you can't create any articles until your account gets autoconfirmed. This happens after 4 days and once you have made 10 edits. In the meantime, you can always create a draft in your sandbox. Another idea is to join WikiProject South Africa, where you might find inspiration for what articles to work on, as well as get in touch with other Wikipedians working on topics related to South Africa. I also left a welcoming message on your talk page with some useful links to policies and guidelines here. Shellwood (talk) 20:20, 25 September 2026 (UTC)

Question from AMALAKANTI SIVA RAMA SURYA NANDH (14:58, 27 September 2026)

how do i citation or edtining --AMALAKANTI SIVA RAMA SURYA NANDH (talk) 14:58, 27 September 2026 (UTC)

@AMALAKANTI SIVA RAMA SURYA NANDH: Hi, this link explains it. Shellwood (talk) 20:56, 27 September 2026 (UTC)

Feedback request: Politics, government, and law request for comment

Your feedback is requested at Talk:Republican Party (United States) on a "Politics, government, and law" request for comment. Thank you for helping out!
You were randomly selected to receive this invitation from the list of Feedback Request Service subscribers. If you'd like not to receive these messages any more, you can opt out at any time by removing your name.

SodiumBot (botop|talk|contribs) 02:31, 28 September 2026 (UTC)

Guidance on creating a draft article with a conflict of interest

Hello Shellwood. I am new to Wikipedia and I have a conflict of interest because I am the author of the book I am hoping to create an article about. I posted a request at the Teahouse 9 days ago asking for an independent review, but I have not received a response yet. Could you please advise me on the correct process for creating and submitting a draft for independent review? Thank you. Khawarfly (talk) 12:03, 5 October 2026 (UTC)

@Khawarfly: Hi and thanks for being open about your conflict of interest. I have to stress that we advise against editing articles on such topics, see WP:COIE. I'm also unable to find your thread on Teahouse. Did you use a temporary account when asking there? This link explains where and how you declare your conflict of interest. You should also make sure that your book passes our notability criteria here. While we have no ban on COI editing, I highly advise you to focus on something else. These types of drafts and articles almost always get rejected for failing to meet notability criterias or for a lack of significant independent secondary sourcing. Shellwood (talk) 12:49, 5 October 2026 (UTC)

Hello Shellwood, thank you for your guidance. I am using my current account, Khawarfly, and I posted the Teahouse request from this account.

I understand the COI concern and will not directly edit a live article.

I have several independent published reviews of the book, including coverage in Aurora/Dawn and The News, as well as reviews from Readers' Favorite and The US Review of Books.

Would you recommend that I prepare a draft in my sandbox for an uninvolved editor to assess, or should I first provide the independent sources for a notability assessment? Khawarfly (talk) 06:26, 6 October 2026 (UTC)

@Khawarfly: You have not posted anything at the Teahouse from this account, since you have only made three edits, two posts here and one on your talk page. Any COI issues won't go away just because you stop editing the draft once it has been moved to the article namespace, the issues remain. And you have to use your sandbox or a draft since your account isn't autoconfirmed yet. You can't publish any articles until then. I would not recommend going ahead with this, but if you choose to do so, just follow the instructions in the links above. Shellwood (talk) 20:27, 6 October 2026 (UTC)

Hello Shellwood,

Thank you for the guidance. Before preparing a sandbox draft, I have collected the independent published reviews below for a notability assessment:

• Aurora / Dawn — Rashna Abdi, “Short But Far From Sweet” (2023)

• The News — Intsab Sahi, “A tiny tale of life” (2023)

• Synergyzer — Nimra Afzal, “Autobiography – What Does World’s Smallest Book ‘Frickin Short Life’ Convey?” (2023)

• The US Review of Books — Priscilla Estes

• Readers’ Favorite — Vincent Dublado (2021)

The first three are substantial reviews in separate publications; the other two provide additional independent review coverage.

Would you consider these sources sufficient for an initial notability assessment? If so, I can prepare the material in my sandbox for review by an uninvolved editor, rather than editing the article namespace myself.

Thank you. Khawarfly (talk) 06:49, 7 October 2026 (UTC)

@Khawarfly: I'm not familiar with any of these sources. You should focus on what WP:NBOOK requires, everything starts there. The vast majority of all books published don't meet those criteria, keep that in mind. Wikipedia is not a platform to promote one's own work and this is one of the reasons why we discourage people from writing about topics where they have a COI. Shellwood (talk) 09:40, 7 October 2026 (UTC)

Hello Shellwood,

Thank you. I have now reviewed WP:NBOOK as you suggested.

My understanding is that Criterion 1 concerns two or more non-trivial published works about the book from sources independent of the book itself, and that reviews can qualify.

I have found three substantial independent reviews that appear relevant to this criterion:

• Rashna Abdi, “Short But Far From Sweet,” Aurora/Dawn, 26 August 2023

• Intsab Sahi, “A tiny tale of life,” The News, 29 October 2023

• Nimra Afzal, “Autobiography – What Does World’s Smallest Book ‘Frickin Short Life’ Convey?”, Synergyzer, November–December 2023

There are also additional reviews in The US Review of Books and Readers' Favorite.

I am not asking you to endorse the article. Could you please tell me whether the first three sources appear to satisfy the WP:NBOOK Criterion 1 at least sufficiently to justify preparing a sandbox draft for independent review?

Thank you for your guidance. Khawarfly (talk) 10:26, 7 October 2026 (UTC)

@Khawarfly: As I said above, I'm not familiar with these websites. I have never heard of any of them before, so I can't give any further input. Shellwood (talk) 12:11, 7 October 2026 (UTC)

Hello Shellwood,

Thank you for clarifying. I understand that you are not familiar with these publications, so I have done some additional checking of the publications themselves.

Aurora/Dawn is part of Dawn, a major Pakistani English-language newspaper founded in 1941. Dawn has published the review by Rashna Abdi in its Aurora publication.

The News International was launched in Pakistan in 1991 and has been an established English-language newspaper for more than three decades. Its Literati section published Intsab Sahi’s review of the book.

Synergyzer was established in 2003 and describes itself as a publication covering Pakistan’s advertising, marketing and media industry. It has been publishing industry coverage for more than two decades. Its November–December 2023 issue contains a substantial review of Frickin Short Life by Nimra Afzal.

Synergy Advertising, the advertising company associated with the Synergy Group, also received the AFAA Brilliance Award in 2026 for the second consecutive year, although I understand that this is not itself evidence of the book’s notability.

I am providing this information only to clarify the nature of the publications, not to promote the book.

Given the three substantial reviews in these established Pakistani publications, would you suggest that I now proceed with a sandbox draft for independent review under WP:NBOOK, or would you recommend another Wikipedia process?

Thank you for your guidance. Khawarfly (talk) 06:22, 8 October 2026 (UTC)

@Khawarfly: I have stated above what you should do, or rather, shouldn't do. I don't recommend that you write an article about your own book, it will read as promotional. All new articles will have to be reviewed by a new page reviewer in the end, that's the process here. Shellwood (talk) 11:28, 8 October 2026 (UTC)

Question from Abeskizzy (20:48, 6 October 2026)

I want to make a Wikipedia page how do I do that --Abeskizzy (talk) 20:48, 6 October 2026 (UTC)

@Abeskizzy: This is a good guide on how to get started with that, WP:YFA. I see that you have made an attempt at creating a draft about a living person. This must be done with great caution, and you didn't use any references. I recommend that you familiarize yourself with our policies and guidelines on this and start out by trying to work on existing articles first. I left a welcoming message on your talk page with some links on how to get started here. Shellwood (talk) 09:54, 7 October 2026 (UTC)

Question from Mistydiamond234 (00:36, 9 October 2026)

Hi, excuse me, I have a suggestion for editing Sherab Zangpo, a Scientist. I received a task from the Wikipedia bot to add a link to his school's city location (JUST CITY). HOWEVER, I came across a geographic error: It was originally listed as Derge, Kham, Eastern Tibet, but Derge was already part of Sichuan in 1951 after it was taken over. It's pretty controversial, even though I am editing on the Global Wikipedia; should I rewrite it or leave it for now? --Mistydiamond234 (talk) 00:36, 9 October 2026 (UTC)

@Mistydiamond234: Hi, it would not be wrong to state that he was born in Sichuan, technically speaking. Although I have lived in China myself, I must admit that I have little knowledge of Tibet. I have never been there, nor have I ever heard anyone talk about Kham. I don't know whether we use overlapping names for that region in English. As this article deals with a person who obviously has strong ties to Tibet, it might be a good idea to ask this question on the article's talk page, Wikipedia talk:WikiProject Tibet, or Wikipedia talk:WikiProject China before making any changes, just to be sure. But keep the discussion in one place. Shellwood (talk) 12:06, 9 October 2026 (UTC)

Thanks Shellwood Mistydiamond234 (talk) 22:10, 11 October 2026 (UTC)

Question about user

Hi Shellwood, I'm hoping you can provide some advice here. I've encountered another user called Coyotte057 (they have not created a user page). A substantial proportion of their edits have involved one particular sports team, and some of these edits have been completely unsourced. I tried to inform them on their talk page that their edits needed to be sourced. First off, they answered twice in French, and actively refused to answer in English even though this is obviously the English Wikipedia. And second, they actually admitted (assuming Google Translate accurately translated their French) that their edits involved hypotheses, but didn't seem to think there was anything wrong with that, and tried to claim that they had some sort of personal connection to the team or its city (which indicates WP:OR).

It seems to me that this user has a fundamental misunderstanding of several important aspects of Wikipedia. They were not receptive to my requests, so, if they continue to add unsourced information into articles as they have been doing, how should we deal with this? Thanks! ProudNewEnglander (talk) 21:52, 11 October 2026 (UTC)

@ProudNewEnglander: Hi, their behaviour leaves a lot to be desired. Refusing to use English because you are from the US is a personal attack. The incivility aside, as these edits deal with living people, all added content must be supported by references. I would alert them of this and link to our BLP policy and WP:CIVIL, I don't think they are aware of this. If they continue down this path with insults and without using sources, I would recommend taking this to ANI. Shellwood (talk) 11:05, 12 October 2026 (UTC)

Thank you! If they continue to add unsourced information like they have been doing, I will remind them of those policies. ProudNewEnglander (talk) 11:44, 12 October 2026 (UTC)

Question from Mistydiamond234 (22:31, 11 October 2026)

Quick Question, will you please secure this page, in case anyone else trying to rename the location name, despite Geographically and Historically Accurate without confusing the others?https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sherab_Zangpo --Mistydiamond234 (talk) 22:31, 11 October 2026 (UTC)

@Mistydiamond234: I have no objections to adding the county, prefecture and province to the infobox, but in the end there still needs to be a source for his birthplace, as well as his birth date and any other unsourced claims one might find in the article. I can't access any of the sources used, so I can't verify whether they mention this. If they don't, a reference needs to be added. Otherwise, his birthplace must be omitted altogether, regardless of naming conventions, see WP:BLP. Shellwood (talk) 12:17, 12 October 2026 (UTC)

September 2026 NPP backlog drive – Points award

		The Invisible Barnstar
		This award is given in recognition of Shellwood for accumulating at least 5 points in the September 2026 NPP backlog drive. Your contributions helped review 14549 articles and 3163 redirects during the drive. Thank you so much for taking part and helping reduce the backlog! Max (talk) 16:27, 13 October 2026 (UTC)

The Signpost: 13 October 2026

• News and notes: AELECT returns, Jimbo gives a union update, VisualEditor is now default
  Plus a survey for North Americans, proposed changes to BoT elections, and developments in the Puerto Rican editing community.

• Serendipity: From a rare portrait of a female millionaire in Nancy to a Japanese painter in Lyon
  Images from Leuven Libraries popular on Wiki.

• Obituary: Doug Weller
  Twenty-year editor, long-term admin, dearly missed.

• In the media: A(I)pocalypses afoot
  Cannibals, freeloaders, rogue agents, scams ... the usual.

• WikiConference Report: WikiConference 2026 & the importance of in-person community
  Celebrating 12 years of WikiConference North America.

• By the numbers: Does the country of birth affect the likelihood of having a Wikipedia biography?
  A cross-country and cross-wikipedia comparison of the likelihood of having a biography in Wikipedia.

• News from Diff: OpenAI "rogue" agent activities found on Wikimedia projects
  CPO/CTO Selena Deckelmann explains the recent detection of AI agent activities on Wikimedia projects.

• On the bright side: Good people
  Nice comments and real-life rescuers.

• Op-ed: Who are our readers?
  The movement makes progress when we know what our scope is.

• Traffic report: This world is big and wild and half insane
  Criminals, 9/11 25 years later, artists expelled for politics... we lived in troubled times.

• Comix: Fudging the numbers
  Take 'em away, officers!

* Read this Signpost in full * Single-page * Unsubscribe * MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 22:44, 13 October 2026 (UTC)

Question from Coolguy26OCT (01:05, 14 October 2026)

what makes my draft be rejected --Coolguy26OCT (talk) 01:05, 14 October 2026 (UTC)

@Coolguy26OCT: The formation of Malaysia already has an article and your World War 2 draft is just fiction. You also seem to be using AI to generate these drafts, which is prohibited. You can read more about why in the messages the reviewers left on your talk page. Shellwood (talk) 09:37, 14 October 2026 (UTC)

May I observe? Mistydiamond234 (talk) 04:09, 15 October 2026 (UTC)

@Mistydiamond234: I'm sorry I don't follow you now, observe what? Shellwood (talk) 12:25, 15 October 2026 (UTC)

What the article he wrote about. I was curious about the stuff he "wrote". (Or should I say, wrote by AI) Mistydiamond234 (talk) 20:59, 15 October 2026 (UTC)

@Mistydiamond234: Sure, you can read them for as long as you like until they get deleted, but I think there are better things to do here. Shellwood (talk) 21:13, 15 October 2026 (UTC)

Eh, nevermind then. At least for the simplest, is the article completely AI Generated? Just to know Mistydiamond234 (talk) 00:12, 16 October 2026 (UTC)

@Mistydiamond234: I haven't run them through any analysis and I trust the judgment of the reviewers. There are signs to look out for and I can tell at first glance that AI has been involved. I wouldn't be surprised if it's all AI. Shellwood (talk) 11:25, 16 October 2026 (UTC)

Oh, alright. If anything that are involved with AI, let me know (I may take within 24h-48h to respond) Mistydiamond234 (talk) 02:59, 17 October 2026 (UTC)

@Mistydiamond234: I'm not going to follow up on this and I suggest that you also let it go, focus on something else. Shellwood (talk) 11:22, 17 October 2026 (UTC)

👍🏻 Mistydiamond234 (talk) 19:27, 19 October 2026 (UTC)

Question from Aneliswa Mgabadeli (17:53, 15 October 2026)

Do I now qualify to create new articles or have I not the criteria yet, if so what the requirements to be able to create articles?

Your's truly Aneliswa Mgabadeli --AAM (talk) 17:53, 15 October 2026 (UTC)

@Aneliswa Mgabadeli: Yes since your account is autoconfirmed now. As I mentioned above, this happens after four days and once you have made 10 edits. You can create an article, but I highly recommend that you make a draft in your sandbox first. That way, you can work on it in peace and then use the Articles for Creation process when you wish to submit it. I would also add that most newcomers begin by improving existing articles before attempting to write a new one, that is usually a good start. Shellwood (talk) 21:07, 15 October 2026 (UTC)

Question from Aish327 (04:26, 18 October 2026)

Tell my something about rumi book --Aish327 (talk) 04:26, 18 October 2026 (UTC)

Speedy deletion nomination of Category:1998 disestablishments in Afghanistan

A tag has been placed on Category:1998 disestablishments in Afghanistan indicating that it is currently empty, and is not a disambiguation category, a category redirect, under discussion at Categories for discussion, or a project category that by its nature may become empty on occasion. If it remains empty for seven days or more, it may be deleted under section C1 of the criteria for speedy deletion.

If you think this page should not be deleted for this reason you may contest the nomination by visiting the page and removing the speedy deletion tag. Liz ^{Read! Talk!} 06:13, 19 October 2026 (UTC)

Question from Presenter White Ke (08:10, 19 October 2026)

How can i create a profile --Presenter White Ke (talk) 08:10, 19 October 2026 (UTC)

Question from Mtofa9 (11:16, 20 October 2026)

How do I edit?

Regards, ****** --Mtofa9 (talk) 11:16, 20 October 2026 (UTC)

@Mtofa9: You press the edit button at the top of each page. This link explains how to do it. Shellwood (talk) 11:26, 20 October 2026 (UTC)

Question from Paul T. McMahon (16:23, 24 October 2026)

Hello Shellwood. Before I attempt my 1st edit, I would like to know if it is worthy to send it in. Today’s riots in Albania reminded me of the movie, “Wag the Dog.” I looked it up to confirm the definition and read the article that provided examples of where the strategy was used. However it cited facts describing military actions taken and associated them with scandals. However I failed to see any verification confirming the motive or strategy behind the military action was proven to be a distraction versus the actual reason behind the military action. Taken. My recommended edit would be to describe them and examples where Wag the Dog strategy was used versus stating that they wee actually used. Please share your thoughts on this. --Paul T. McMahon (talk) 16:23, 24 October 2026 (UTC)

@Paul T. McMahon: Hi, if you spot an error somewhere or something you feel is incomplete, you can just correct it, that's what this site is all about. If you have any examples you wish to add just go ahead, but make sure that the material you add is backed up by reliable sources. I left a welcoming message on your talk page with information on how to get started here. Shellwood (talk) 21:47, 24 October 2026 (UTC)

Question from Buglers (05:41, 26 October 2026)

would adding something like "(military course)" be wise for the title of page https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special_Operations_Combat_Medic. I already had another user misinterpret the article under reasoning of changing to sentence case --Buglers (talk) 05:41, 26 October 2026 (UTC)

Question from Manxmac971 (18:51, 26 October 2026)

Hello the information that is incorrect concerns the late Lord Quirk. I am a relative of Lord Quirk and wish to point out that the heading refers to him as being a former student of King Williams College yet the text states rightly that he was a student at St Ninians High School in Douglas. --Manxmac971 (talk) 18:51, 26 October 2026 (UTC)

@Manxmac971: Hi, we discourage people from editing topics in which they have a conflict of interest. I don't know this person or whether this matters when describing him. All the material we add here must be backed up by reliable sources, just knowing what is true is not enough here. I suggest that you make an edit request on the talk page, explaining what you want to change and adding references that support this or you can simply ask for this to be removed, if unsourced. Shellwood (talk) 11:57, 27 October 2026 (UTC)

What is the conflict of interest ? Manxmac971 (talk) 14:25, 27 October 2026 (UTC)

@Manxmac971: See WP:COIE. Shellwood (talk) 14:33, 27 October 2026 (UTC)

The page headed Lord Quirk quite rightly states that he attended St Ninians Douglas High School.

The page headed past students of King William’s College lists him as Randolph Quirk as a past student, this is wrong.

King William’s College is a public school. Manxmac971 (talk) 22:48, 27 October 2026 (UTC)

@Manxmac971: Okay, I have looked at the article and the list. I suggest that you simply remedy this. You will also need to remove the category at the bottom of the article about him. Shellwood (talk) 23:11, 27 October 2026 (UTC)

Question from Mistydiamond234 (02:26, 28 October 2026)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Opposition_to_Korean_reunification I haven't seen any details about the AI part in this article. --Mistydiamond234 (talk) 02:26, 28 October 2026 (UTC)

@Mistydiamond234: I see, you can share your input in the thread about the user on the AI noticeboard. If you are interested in working on this, there is a WikiProject AI Cleanup, though I'm not active there. Shellwood (talk) 23:28, 28 October 2026 (UTC)

Oh, sorry for my confusion Mistydiamond234 (talk) 04:43, 30 October 2026 (UTC)

Category:British organisations established in YEAR

FYI you need to make a null edit to the relevant child categories to get them to turn up in the Category:British organisations established in 1923 etc. ^SMason_Garrison 13:23, 31 October 2026 (UTC)

The Signpost: 1 November 2026

• News and notes: AELECT5 concludes, a Wikimedian arrested for treason, and updates to GANs and FARs
  Nine new admins, three arrests, and a lot of GAN RFCs.

• Recent research: How Wikipedians use (or don't use) LLMs; experienced editors contribute more to "underproduced" articles than newbies
  And other new research findings.

• Disinformation report: Better bots or bothersome baby borgs?
  Have the Borg landed on Wikipedia?

• In the media: Stop the internet, I was deleted
  Can toeing the line stop the apocalypse?

• News from Diff: Why Wikimedia Is Speaking Up in a Major AI Copyright Case
  When AI companies use copyrighted information, does it qualify as fair use?

• By the numbers: Wikipedian Nobel Prize 2026
  Which language versions of Wikipedia had biographies of laureates before Nobel announcements?

• On the bright side: Gone fishing
  Touring Thailand, exploring iridescence, and translating prairie dog.

• Traffic report: October, and the articles are stripped bare
  Lots of deaths, Indian movies, and monsters. Happy Halloween!

• In focus: Two Roles, One Wikimedia Education Ecosystem
  What happens when different approaches to Wikimedia education connect?

• Comix: Inactivity
  Zounds!

* Read this Signpost in full * Single-page * Unsubscribe * MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 13:49, 1 November 2026 (UTC)