Wikipedia:FAQ/Problems
Problems FAQ
Frequently asked questions (FAQs)
The purpose of this page is to help users of Wikipedia solve problems they may encounter when browsing or editing.
Note: If you're trying to get help for a specific technical problem that isn't answered by the FAQs, try asking at Wikipedia:Troubleshooting or at the Village pump.
How do I report that something isn't working properly?
- If you think it's a bug in the software, you can send a bug report to the developers. See Wikipedia:Bug reports for directions. It may also be a problem with your browser; see the next question...
My web browser and Wikipedia do not work together!
- Report the problem at Wikipedia:Village pump (technical). Include a description of the problem, the name of your browser, the version number, and the operating system you are running.
How do I know if the problem is in the Wikipedia software or my browser?
- If you have another web browser installed, you can try to reproduce the problem in both. Failing this, you can describe your problem at Wikipedia:Village pump (technical) and ask other Wikipedians if they are having a similar problem. If no one else is, it's probably a problem with your particular browser setup.
Some, but not all, images don't show up. What's wrong?
- Usually this is caused by ad-blocking software; uploaded files are distributed into random subdirectories, and 1/256 of all images on the server end up in http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/a/ad/, which trips off some advertisement-blocking proxies. Configure your proxy to allow this directory, and you should be fine.
I object to the very concept of Wikipedia. How can you expect me, or anyone, to take it seriously?
- See Replies to common objections for the most common objections, and answers given by participants.
Is it possible for a vandal to delete all Wikipedia pages?
- No. You need to be an administrator to delete pages. Any user can remove text, but another user usually reverts the edit within a matter of minutes. If someone begins an extensive attack, they will be blocked from further editing by admins.
Is it possible for spammers to advertise on Wikipedia?
- Unfortunately, spammers can and often do add spam to Wikipedia pages. Fortunately, anyone can quickly revert to a spam-free version of the page; it's so simple that most spam is eliminated within minutes. See Help:Reverting for what to do if you happen to be the first on the scene.
What should I do when I see plagiarism?
- If you see an article including inadequately attributed text or images, or, worse, copyright violations, please tell us about it in the "talk" page of that article. Then report it at Wikipedia:Copyright problems.
The words I just typed in are in a code font. How do I fix this?
- Remove the space before the first word. When you need to indent a section of text you can use a colon (as has been done with this paragraph), but the first words of Wikipedia paragraphs are not indented. For more information on formatting, see the Manual of Style.
My edit won't publish due to "no stashed content"?
- The error message "No stashed content found for [long alphanumeric string]" indicates the editing interface has been open too long without publishing. The server has lost its cache of your edit. This typically happens after a few hours, and will always happen after 24 hours.
- Unlike modern word processing software, Wikipedia will not automatically save your progress. Nothing is saved until you clicktap
- If repeating the changes you made would take too much time and effort, follow these steps to recover your work:
- Return to the editing interface from the error message screen
- Select the entire contents of the section / page you were editing
- For very long pages, the amount of text may exceed your device's clipboard size
- In a separate tab, open the same page / section you have been editing, and open the editor there
- Paste the copied text into the editing interface in the new tab, overwriting the existing content
- If your clipboard size was exceeded, this will require multiple copypastes of sequential text blocks, until the full content is pasted into the new tab
- Now your previous work should be recovered, so enter an edit summary and clicktap
- Confirm your changes are visible on the live page; then you can safely close the tab experiencing the error
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Frequently asked questions (FAQs)