:::I'm running the same and can't reproduce, at any zoom level, unfortunately. Maybe you have an odd default sans-serif font set? Just a suggestion. - [[User:Jarry1250|Jarry1250]] <sup>[''[[Special:Contributions/Jarry1250|Who?]] [[User_talk:Jarry1250|Discuss]].'']</sup> 20:29, 22 September 2010 (UTC)
:::I'm running the same and can't reproduce, at any zoom level, unfortunately. Maybe you have an odd default sans-serif font set? Just a suggestion. - [[User:Jarry1250|Jarry1250]] <sup>[''[[Special:Contributions/Jarry1250|Who?]] [[User_talk:Jarry1250|Discuss]].'']</sup> 20:29, 22 September 2010 (UTC)
::::I restored all the defaults and am getting the same. [[User:Marcus Qwertyus|Marcus Qwertyus]] ([[User talk:Marcus Qwertyus|talk]]) 20:50, 22 September 2010 (UTC)
::::I restored all the defaults and am getting the same. [[User:Marcus Qwertyus|Marcus Qwertyus]] ([[User talk:Marcus Qwertyus|talk]]) 20:50, 22 September 2010 (UTC)
== RSS Feed yields 403 error? ==
I just got a new RSS manager, and for some reason, every time I try to sync my watchlist RSS feed, it gives me a 403 error. I exported the links from my other RSS reader, and it worked there, but here it doesn't. Any ideas? [[User:A p3rson|<span style="border:2px solid lime;color:white;padding:1px;background:black;"> A p<font color="lime">3</font>rson </span>]][[User talk:A p3rson|<span style="border:3px solid lime;background:lime;">‽</span>]] 23:26, 21 September 2010 (UTC)
:Did you remember to put your watchlist token into your new RSS reader? <span style="font-family: verdana;"> — [[User:Edokter|<b style="color:#008"><i>E</i>dokter</b>]] • [[User_talk:Edokter|<span style="color:#080">Talk</span>]] • </span> 23:33, 21 September 2010 (UTC)
::I triple-checked. I copied the old link from my old RSS reader (.OPML file), where it worked there. [[User:A p3rson|<span style="border:2px solid lime;color:white;padding:1px;background:black;"> A p<font color="lime">3</font>rson </span>]][[User talk:A p3rson|<span style="border:3px solid lime;background:lime;">‽</span>]] 23:59, 21 September 2010 (UTC)
:::Then I don't know... does an RSS reader need to be logged in as well perhaps? <span style="font-family: verdana;"> — [[User:Edokter|<b style="color:#008"><i>E</i>dokter</b>]] • [[User_talk:Edokter|<span style="color:#080">Talk</span>]] • </span> 01:17, 22 September 2010 (UTC)
:Try regenerating/changing your token and using that? [[User:Peachey88|Peachey88]] <sup>([[User_Talk:Peachey88|T]]<span style="font-weight:bold;"> ·</span>  [[Special:Contributions/Peachey88|C]])</sup> 04:56, 22 September 2010 (UTC)
:What RSS reader are you now using? Such error could by caused because it doesn't send the [[User agent|<code>User-Agent</code> header]]. [[User:Svick|Svick]] ([[User talk:Svick|talk]]) 06:00, 22 September 2010 (UTC)
::I am using a reader called pRSSReader, for PocketPC (WM2003). Not sure if it has the User Agent feature. I do know that it can use a username and password for an RSS feed, could that help? <small><span class="autosigned">—Preceding [[Wikipedia:Signatures|unsigned]] comment added by [[User:A p3rson|A p3rson]] ([[User talk:A p3rson|talk]] • [[Special:Contributions/A p3rson|contribs]]) 22:56, 22 September 2010 (UTC)</span></small><!-- Template:Unsigned -->
:::According to [http://code.google.com/p/prssr/wiki/FAQ their FAQ], it can set the User-Agent. If you set it to anything non-empty, it should start working, if that was the problem. If that doesn't help, I think setting username and password is worth trying, although I doubt it's going to fix it. Also, what URL are you using? I suppose it's <code><nowiki>http://</nowiki>en.wikipedia.org/enwiki/w/api.php?action=feedwatchlist&allrev=allrev&wlowner=A p3rson&wltoken=''<string of 40 numbers and letters you shouldn't publish>''&feedformat=rss</code>, correct? [[User:Svick|Svick]] ([[User talk:Svick|talk]]) 05:48, 23 September 2010 (UTC)
::Yes, that's the URL I have. Keep in mind it works in TB3.14, but not this. [[User:A p3rson|<span style="border:2px solid lime;color:white;padding:1px;background:black;"> A p<font color="lime">3</font>rson </span>]][[User talk:A p3rson|<span style="border:3px solid lime;background:lime;">‽</span>]] 22:48, 23 September 2010 (UTC)
:Tried setting the user-agent (the option wasn't in the menu, had to create a key) to both the Pocket IE and the Opera Mini 5 on my device, but neither worked. The key is supposed to be <code>\HKCU\Software\DaProfik\pRSSreader</code> right? [[User:A p3rson|<span style="border:2px solid lime;color:white;padding:1px;background:black;"> A p<font color="lime">3</font>rson </span>]][[User talk:A p3rson|<span style="border:3px solid lime;background:lime;">‽</span>]] 23:02, 23 September 2010 (UTC)
::Yeah, that's what the FAQ says. I have no other ideas what could be the problem. [[User:Svick|Svick]] ([[User talk:Svick|talk]]) 05:29, 24 September 2010 (UTC)
== renaming articles with edit notices ==
I noticed today that if you rename an article with edit notices attached, the edit notices get stranded under the old name: they trigger if you edit the redirect that was left behind, but not if you edit the new article name. Can anyone confirm that there isn't an existing Bugzilla report? I can't find one, but I'm pretty amateurish when it comes to Bugzilla.—[[User:Kww|Kww]]([[User talk:Kww|talk]]) 14:51, 22 September 2010 (UTC)
:Could not find a bugzilla either, file away. Some parserFunction could be probably written and installed into the interface to warn on move that an edit notice exists. –[[user:xeno|<font face="verdana" color="black">'''xeno'''</font>]][[user talk:xeno|<font color="black"><sup>talk</sup></font>]] 14:55, 22 September 2010 (UTC)
: Current edit notice logic is purely home-grown ({{tl|editnotice load}}), without support from MediaWiki, so a bugzilla issue won't be worked on I'm afraid.<br>Would adding a notice to the page move dialog or the page moved success page be enough, like xeno suggested? [[User talk:Amalthea|<span style="font-variant:small-caps;color:#832">Amalthea</span>]] 16:24, 22 September 2010 (UTC)
::As long as it's a warning that shows only when edit notices actually exist, I think that would be fine. If it shows all the time regardless of whether an edit notice actually exists, people will quickly learn to ignore it.—[[User:Kww|Kww]]([[User talk:Kww|talk]]) 17:59, 22 September 2010 (UTC)
:::I imagine it could be made to resemble the deletion success page which tells you there's a talk page that could also be darleted (only #ifexist). –[[user:xeno|<font face="verdana" color="black">'''xeno'''</font>]][[user talk:xeno|<font color="black"><sup>talk</sup></font>]] 20:05, 22 September 2010 (UTC)
: If there is consensus for it, [[User:AnomieBOT II]] <small>(<span class="plainlinks">[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:ListUsers?username=AnomieBOT+II&limit=1 which already has accountcreator]</span>)</small> could easily move editnotices on redirect pages to the new page's name. [[User:Anomie|Anomie]][[User talk:Anomie|⚔]] 20:38, 22 September 2010 (UTC)
::It would need to check to ensure the editnotice was created before the page became a redirect. –[[user:xeno|<font face="verdana" color="black">'''xeno'''</font>]][[user talk:xeno|<font color="black"><sup>talk</sup></font>]] 20:40, 22 September 2010 (UTC)
::: Or we could just tag the editnotice with a category or something, which would also handle the case where someone wants to create a new editnotice for a redirect. The bot would also not be moving editnotices where the target page already has one. [[User:Anomie|Anomie]][[User talk:Anomie|⚔]] 02:58, 23 September 2010 (UTC)
::Even if we change the rename page, the bot is still needed to fix any cases that already exist.—[[User:Kww|Kww]]([[User talk:Kww|talk]]) 21:44, 22 September 2010 (UTC)
::: Not really, there are not that many.[http://en.wikipedia.org/enwiki/w/index.php?oldid=386391322] But it would help people not have to remember something so easily forgettable. [[User:Anomie|Anomie]][[User talk:Anomie|⚔]] 02:58, 23 September 2010 (UTC)
:::: I've moved/deleted them as appropriate. [[User talk:Amalthea|<span style="font-variant:small-caps;color:#832">Amalthea</span>]] 09:37, 23 September 2010 (UTC)
== Edit conflicts not occuring ==
I've noticed that edit conflicts notices aren't appearing AFAICT at the moment. For example, I didn't get an EC making [http://en.wikipedia.org/enwiki/w/index.php?title=User:Smartse/sand&diff=next&oldid=386542693 this edit] to my sandbox even though I made that edit and the previous edit to the same original version of the page. Earlier today when I made [http://en.wikipedia.org/enwiki/w/index.php?title=Stuxnet&action=historysubmit&diff=386525320&oldid=386524601 this edit] to [[Stuxnet]] I also didn't get an EC even though the text that was removed in the [http://en.wikipedia.org/enwiki/w/index.php?title=Stuxnet&diff=prev&oldid=386524601 previous edit] was still in the text when I saved it. I'm fairly sure that I should also have had an EC with [http://en.wikipedia.org/enwiki/w/index.php?title=Talk%3ACarbon_dioxide&action=historysubmit&diff=386170377&oldid=386169679 this edit] as I took more than 4 minutes to look at the sources and make my comment. Has something changed in the software recently? [[User:Smartse|Smartse]] ([[User talk:Smartse|talk]]) 14:18, 23 September 2010 (UTC)
:Your first example, was that an ec or should that be old-version-warning? And, am I supposed to get an ec when doing two edits against myself (double login)? -[[User:DePiep|DePiep]] ([[User talk:DePiep|talk]]) 15:36, 23 September 2010 (UTC)
::A single test between Smartse and me resulted in an ec notice, as expected. No more tests planned. -[[User:DePiep|DePiep]] ([[User talk:DePiep|talk]]) 15:50, 23 September 2010 (UTC)
== Template help ==
Templates give me nightmares but {{tl|WPBannerMeta/collapsed}} has over 200,000 links to it. and the template is deleted. Could someone figure out what happened and fix it? [[User talk:Δ|ΔT <sub><sup><font color="darkred">The only constant</font></sup></sub>]] 22:47, 23 September 2010 (UTC)
:The template is a message from Meta about something, and was auto-added to many pages (think like one of the donation ads that appear on pages). The template was discarded, however, the server didn't refresh the pages that it was placed on. The next time someone edits one of those pages, the page will be removed from the list. [[User:A p3rson|<span style="border:2px solid lime;color:white;padding:1px;background:black;"> A p<font color="lime">3</font>rson </span>]][[User talk:A p3rson|<span style="border:3px solid lime;background:lime;">‽</span>]] 23:10, 23 September 2010 (UTC)
:WAIT: It is actually a old template that was used for generic WikiProject templates. Whether or not this should have been fixed, I don't know. I will ask the editor who removed the template. [[User:A p3rson|<span style="border:2px solid lime;color:white;padding:1px;background:black;"> A p<font color="lime">3</font>rson </span>]][[User talk:A p3rson|<span style="border:3px solid lime;background:lime;">‽</span>]] 23:12, 23 September 2010 (UTC)
This page contains discussions that have been archived from Village pump (technical). Please do not edit the contents of this page. If you wish to revive any of these discussions, either start a new thread or use the talk page associated with that topic.
Template /doc differs when the /doc-page is transcluded into main template-page
Resolved
– Templates & functions too deep
Template:Unichar(edittalklinkshistory). I created a quite elaborate template (using sub-templates and calculations). Workings are OK. Then I documented it with examples on the regular /doc subpage. Now the examples on the regular Template:unichar/doc page itself look OK, but when that same /doc page is transcluded into the main Template-page {{unichar}} (having the green Document background, etc., all regular), then the examples don't show up well. Diff: the first example reads OK:
The 0000 indicates that a hex2dec calculation variable did not end up well in a subtemplate.
I tried purging every page I touched, waiting one whole hour (wow), and re-sandboxed the whole thing. The new sandbox ended up correct after a while, but I cannot reproduce it for real. This good sandbox is on my User:DePiep page, I'll put it on top. Anyone an idea? Need more sandboxes? -DePiep (talk) 19:27, 7 September 2010 (UTC)
Template /doc does not transclude correct (reprhrase)
Template:Unichar(edittalklinkshistory). The regular /doc page shows examples OK, but when transcluded onto main Template-page, the examples are broken. See /doc header with good/bad example. I did purge, sandbox (went ok, see my Userpage), checked newPP limits (serious, but under 50%). -DePiep (talk) 07:39, 8 September 2010 (UTC)
Good hint. Then shouldn't there be the red error message "Expansion depth limit exceeded", or some message in the page source HTML-code? -DePiep (talk) 08:52, 8 September 2010 (UTC)
That explained it. Still missed the error message. I moved the deep hex2decimal calculation {{hex2dec}} into the higher template, and that did it. Thanx, Patrick. -DePiep (talk) 09:42, 8 September 2010 (UTC)
You are welcome. Unfortunately the count or error message is not in the "NewPP limit report" or elsewhere in the html source. On expansion of a template etc. or substitution of a template parameter, if the limit has been exceeded, the name of the template etc. or template parameter is replaced by <span class="error">Expansion depth limit exceeded</span>, for example {{t|p|q}} is replaced by {{<span class="error">Expansion depth limit exceeded</span>|p|q}}. Often that shows up, but not if that wikitext is just used in a condition, or in the case of a template parameter with a default.--Patrick (talk) 10:01, 8 September 2010 (UTC)
I get it. I added the m:-link to my own helps list, and it now is part of my intuition (rational suspicion), which is OK for now. -DePiep (talk) 10:08, 8 September 2010 (UTC)
That old problem again. I created the category Category:Thai film stubs some days ago, after adding the relevant stub tag to 60+ film articles. However, the category only has two articles at the moment while the system refreshes. And there are some massive lags in some page moves I've done, where I've updated the navigation templates on the article with the new article title. Can anything be done about this? Lugnuts (talk) 08:52, 8 September 2010 (UTC)
Several different times, I've tried to find logs for individuals being desysopped, but I don't remember ever being able to find any. For example, let's look at Herostratus — his log shows him creating the account, becoming an admin, having offensive revisions being deleted, being blocked and unblocking himself, and having user rights added, but I can't find anything about him being desysopped. FYI, it happened after a successful request for de-adminship last June, but the log doesn't show anything. Any ideas how to find the exact date and time? Please note that I'm not in any conflict or anything like that with Herostratus; I'm using him strictly as an example. Nyttend (talk) 21:23, 8 September 2010 (UTC)
And in general, desysops have to be done by a steward at Meta, so that's where the logs will always be. It is unfortunate that there's no entry in the local log for such actions. — Gavia immer (talk)21:32, 8 September 2010 (UTC)
Ah, I didn't realise that such actions were logged at Meta; I assumed that a steward would log in here and perform the action here. Thanks for the pointer. Nyttend (talk) 00:49, 9 September 2010 (UTC)
Let me tell a short story: it will illuminate my question. Earlier today, I found a user talk page in CAT:CSD that had been tagged with {{db-band}}. If it had been in mainspace, I would have deleted it, because the page had only ever been used as userspace hosting for what looks to be a nonnotable band; I declined, but only because db-band isn't applicable in userspace. Just a minute ago, I got a note from the IP address that had tagged it, saying basically "I can't just blank the page, or it will be prevented by a filter or be reverted as vandalism, so I just tag it to get the attention of admins so that they'll blank it with nobody thinking that they're vandalising". Now to my question — is there some filter that would actively prevent IPs from blanking user talk pages in contexts such as this? Nyttend (talk) 02:40, 9 September 2010 (UTC)
That abuse filter doesn't actually prevent them from doing the edit, it just warns the user first and then lets them do the edit. Also, it doesn't apply to User talkpages at all. But when I tried to blank my talk page as an anon, I wasn't allowed to by Special:AbuseFilter/34, which isn't public. Svick (talk) 06:03, 9 September 2010 (UTC)
I looking for help in editing Template:infobox school district. I want to add GeoLocation ({{coord}}) (for example the coord for the main office, in the case of where I added it in Buffalo Public Schools) and to move the {{country}} box on the Same Line direct line for {{location}} because it looks tacty when rendering. I would normally try to edit this myself, but it is beyond my knowledge. Thank you for your help, and your opinions on the matter. (Also posted @ WP:SCH's WT:WPSPCH for xref) --Wolfnix • Talk • 01:15, 9 September 2010 (UTC)
well, looking at the problem, I'm actually going to go ahead and convert the entire template to {{infobox}} format. after that changes should be easy - and maybe we can make the template look a bit less dull, too. --Ludwigs205:38, 9 September 2010 (UTC)
Hello, I'm Toliño from Galician Wikipedia. Right there, I'm the user which controls and solves technical issues. But I haven't got any idea about solving the following. Another user asked me if I could fix somehow the code for this external link used as reference:
[http://www.ige.eu/igebdt/esq.jsp?ruta=verTabla.jsp?OP=1&B=1&M=&COD=147&R=2[1];9915[12:15:27:32:36]&C=1[all]&F=&S=0:0 Datos do IGE de poboación maior de 16 segundo o nivel de estudos] (2001).
which gives:
[1;9915[12:15:27:32:36]&C=1[all]&F=&S=0:0 Datos do IGE de poboación maior de 16 segundo o nivel de estudos] (2001).
The problem is due to the URL syntax, which uses "[" and especially "]" so that MediaWiki understands that this is the end of the link - but it isn't. Do you know any solution to this? Thanks in advance! --Toliño (talk) 13:29, 9 September 2010 (UTC)
Ran into an odd problem - I was trying to change the lead image on the article UFO, found a nice image over at commons, but when I tried to add it in using the normal [[file:Ufo.gif]] syntax, I got the wrong image. apparently there's an image on wikipedia that has the same name. how can I bypass the Wikipedia image and get the commons image to load? sorry, I've never run itno this problem before, and I can't find any documentation on it. --Ludwigs219:12, 9 September 2010 (UTC)
lol - well, ok - that works. thanks. If you figure it out, though, let me know and I'll add it to Help:File. That seems like a problem that's bound to crop up every once in a while. --Ludwigs219:25, 9 September 2010 (UTC)
A simple repository conflict. When two images share a name, the local repository is preferred over the shared repository. Easiest is usually to move the local image to another name. —TheDJ (talk • contribs) 19:30, 9 September 2010 (UTC)
P.s. - interesting. apparently animated gifs work fine for Wikipedia images but not when transferred from commons. is that a known problem/feature, or should I drop a note about that over at bugzilla? --Ludwigs219:28, 9 September 2010 (UTC)
Image shows up in Internet Explorer, but not Firefox
This image showed up fine when I looked at it in school using Internet Explorer, but is not visible at home in Firefox. Is there a way to fix this? SharkD Talk 04:57, 8 September 2010 (UTC)
The originally uploaded version (from July 21, 2005) is busted; I just get a MediaWiki error trying to view it. The current version (from July 22, 2005; not a recent change) shows up fine for me on Firefox 3.6.8. I've purged the image; is it still not showing up? — Gavia immer (talk)05:05, 8 September 2010 (UTC)
Nope. All I see is the file name on top of a checkered background. It's not visible in either of the articles it's used in either. SharkD Talk 08:43, 9 September 2010 (UTC)
Yes! That's exactly the problem! Thanks for figuring that out! This really should be fixed as it's highly undesirable behavior. SharkD Talk 23:13, 10 September 2010 (UTC)
I wouldn't say the ad blocking software is defective, just misconfigured. It needs a whitelist entry for upload.wikimedia.org. Anomie⚔00:08, 11 September 2010 (UTC)
Login help
I need help logging in, I enter in my username and password and get this:
Login successful
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search
"You have successfully signed in to Wikipedia as "Knowledgekid87".
For help using Wikipedia, please see the help page.
Logging you in to Wikimedia's other projects: (what's this?)"
However as soon as I click on another link it shows me logged out again and says I need to log in, now I cleared my cookies and temps but still have trouble. Is there any way you can help me? None of the other websites I use are giving me this issue. My browser is Internet Explorer 7 ver. 7.0.5730.11 and OS is Windows XP. - 24.91.121.72 (talk) 23:57, 9 September 2010 (UTC)
I tried a secure log in and that did not work, I tried allowing third-party cookies (Which I had allowed anyways) and that was of no use. The date and time are all ok here, looking at the User rename log my account had also not been renamed. - 24.91.121.72 (talk) 00:14, 10 September 2010 (UTC)
I have tried to disable Java, and logging into Wiki Japan with the same issue problem, I do not want firefox though is there any fix for this? - 24.91.121.72 (talk) 00:42, 10 September 2010 (UTC)
Well I tried Firefox and it works under version 3.6.9. I do not know why IE7 is acting up. Thanks for your help, do you think a fix can be made? - Knowledgekid87 (talk) 02:41, 10 September 2010 (UTC)
I don't know. Upgrade IE maybe? Though Firefox has a number of advantages over IE in regards to editing Wikipedia. –xenotalk03:22, 10 September 2010 (UTC)
Not really I tried firefox and the pages load much slower as well as it not having as good of graphics, anyways though the problem has been fixed and Wiki under IE7 works again for me thanks again for all your and PrimeHunter's help =) - Knowledgekid87 (talk) 04:50, 10 September 2010 (UTC)
I dont really know myself what happened. After I downloaded and ran firefox I noticed that abode reader needed updating so I did that but then noticed that my computer date had been altered (By the update I guess I checked before whe nthe problem started and it was fine) I also updated Java but I do not think that had an impact - Knowledgekid87 (talk) 14:41, 10 September 2010 (UTC).
If there was something screwy going on with your system clock, that might explain it. For example, if you log in, and then advance your system clock more than 30 days, you will be logged out (as your cookie expires). –xenotalk14:59, 10 September 2010 (UTC)
It wasn't suppressed, but the transcluded FAQ page on the top of the talk page included headers, forcing the TOC inside the FAQ template. Fixed with a <noinclude> on the FAQ page. — Edokter • Talk • 13:47, 10 September 2010 (UTC)
I have added a request to Wikipedia:Gadget/proposals to announce a possible new gadget (already one on German wikipedia) which generates an interface to skip over and to individually requested revisions by one single click using a drop down menu. To avoid splitting up discussion, I'd recommend to discuss it there. Kind regards, —DerHexer(Talk)23:31, 6 September 2010 (UTC) P.S.: Script, howto.
It sounds good to me. What url can I use to import from dewiki to try it out? My monobook fiddling was unsuccessful. :\ —DoRD (talk) 18:12, 8 September 2010 (UTC)
Suggestion: Allow jumping to revisions but not relative to the current diff - just jumping 10 old revisions backward for example. –xenotalk20:13, 8 September 2010 (UTC)
Do you mean directly jumping to revisions instead of generating differences? That would currently only work in permanent links with personal setting, see here. Of course both ways are useful but it's imho easier to go from a diff to a permanent revision instead of the other way round. So I decided to generate diffs instead or permanent links to keep the interface simple (it would of course be possible to add a button which allows you to decide whether you want to generate a diff or a permanent link; but the interface is already slow enough, imho). Kind regards, —DerHexer(Talk)20:31, 8 September 2010 (UTC)
But you are right in that the relevant links are available from the consolidated diff, so don't worry about this request too much. –xenotalk20:47, 8 September 2010 (UTC)
At least, not for me. I assumed this was a transient problem, but for the last several edits I've made, clicking the "Show Preview" button does nothing but move focus to the "Show Preview" button. Anyone know what's going on? For the record: I'm on the Vector skin on Firefox 3.6.8 on Windows Vista, and I use a ton of custom Javascript but I haven't changed any of it recently. — Gavia immer (talk)04:38, 8 September 2010 (UTC)
I suggest that you take the time to convert the template to {{infobox}} format. I've already done one of those this week - it's tawdry work, but the tempalte will look batter afterwards and be much easier to edit. --Ludwigs216:39, 11 September 2010 (UTC)
Templates give me nightmares (as I am a programmer) template syntax is such a bastard language I cannot understand it, However I am attempting to cleanup redlinked images and this is a major source, which is why I brought it here. ΔT The only constant16:42, 11 September 2010 (UTC)
Hi. I wondered if there was something you could do to the Cologne blue setting to keep that format/colouring but to have the categories /interwiki links at the foot of the page, not the top. Any idea? Dr.Blofeld17:56, 11 September 2010 (UTC)
Try viewing Greta Garbo in cologne blue. What I want is the name Greta Garbo to appear directly underneath where it says "free encyclopedia" (about 3 inches higher up the screen) . Dr.Blofeld17:58, 11 September 2010 (UTC)
Excuse me if this is not a tech issue; I don't know where else to post. I started an article on Robina Jalali a few hours ago, not knowing she was also known or formerly known as Robina Muqimyar. So after erroneously creating a Robina Jalali page, I patched the new information on her run for political office into the Robina Mugimyar page and changed the name in the text, mentioning Jalali first...it's easier just to look at my work, than to explain it. Can someone check over the two articles, and correct the name or remove the redirect or whatever in the proper way? Thanks! KeptSouth (talk) 00:02, 12 September 2010 (UTC)
It doesn't seem to have been a technical problem, rather the template was replaced with a different template format... hopefully fixed. –SJ+02:49, 12 September 2010 (UTC)
Currently, all message boxes like {{Ambox}}, {{Ombox}} and the like use tables for their formatting. However, per the W3C HTML 5 specification, it's not allowed to use tables for formatting and rather should CSS be used. Could this be switched to a div then? --The Evil IP address (talk) 10:38, 11 September 2010 (UTC)
This is not a law, but rather a specification. Wikipedia often uses deprecated forms because wikipedia readers come from all roads of life, and many may not have computers that are fully up to the most current specifications. There's no sense trying to be on the cutting edge if that means that pages render badly (or not at all) for viewers using outdated technology. --Ludwigs216:25, 11 September 2010 (UTC)
If you will dive into the discussion pages of ambox and friends, then you will see that we experimented for a few months with several formats, but unfortunately divs proved to be incredibly unreliable especially in the older browsers. This stemmed mostly out of float and clear issues, which with all the images and infoboxes we use is pretty common. It's not that we didn't WANT to use divs, but tables were the only solution producing correct and more importantly consistent results. Basically for this to be switched to divs, we need all browsers to support "display:table" (and friends). Because the table box flow is actually the page layout that we desire for these templates. This feature however is only just now supported in IE with IE8 for instance. So it's gonna be a while. —TheDJ (talk • contribs) 20:02, 12 September 2010 (UTC)
P.S. The two problematic browsers were IE and Opera mostly. Safari 2 and Firefox 2 were also problematic, but those are not in use anymore. —TheDJ (talk • contribs) 20:05, 12 September 2010 (UTC)
Top-aligning with an infobox
Resolved
– used class infobox for a table
Hi, the page Caron has an infobox and a local table next to each other. How can I top-align them? Of course, I expect the infobox to be leading. Just edit there and I'll see it. (When the infobox has class="infobox", am I still supposed to do a deeper RTFM?). -DePiep (talk) 07:40, 12 September 2010 (UTC)
If you want to align with an infobox, you should use the same style – class=infobox for the second table too. I did that and also moved the table to a template, so that it doesn't clutter the article code. Svick (talk) 15:32, 12 September 2010 (UTC)
Yes, quite clear. So there is no bad-practice note when mixing non-infobox with class="infobox"? And while we're here, is there a special reason you created a box-in-box? Looked like a single box could do. -DePiep (talk) 17:30, 12 September 2010 (UTC)
Generally, you're right that using the infobox class for something that isn't an infobox is bad, but I think that in this case it was the best solution (copying the style from infobox would be another, but then there would be the issue of keeping them in sync, if the style of infoboxes changed).
I used a table inside a table, because the infobox class has set its margins in em, which means that when you change the size of the font, the size of the margins changes too. So the outer table has the same margins as an infobox and the inner table has bigger font. (Now that you mentioned it, I realized that the outer table doesn't have to be table at all, and that using <div> is a cleaner solution.) Svick (talk) 18:15, 12 September 2010 (UTC)
Small thinking error here; changing the font-size will not effect the margin, as the margin is based ion the parent-elements font-size. So there should be no need for nested tables. — Edokter • Talk • 21:25, 12 September 2010 (UTC)
Interesting. I'll take it to a sandbox some day. Another effect: I saw earlier that the background color changed when table-in-table. Which I would prefer not to do, because the more knowing editors (they are into typography there!) will have a reason for keeping the transparent background. Don't wait for me. -DePiep (talk) 21:49, 12 September 2010 (UTC)
9pt
20pt
Both the CSS2.1 and CSS3 specifications state that ems are computed based on the font-size of the element itself, only using the parent's font-size when ems are used for font-size itself, and I see nothing to the contrary in the sections about margins. And at least on Firefox 3.5.12 here, they don't actually line up with different font sizes. Anomie⚔23:26, 12 September 2010 (UTC)
Is there a tool that I can use to view and edit only an article's references? I want to completely fill out an article's cite template parameters, but don't want to fish around the article for all the individual refs. Thanks! SharkD Talk 04:34, 12 September 2010 (UTC)
I don't know of such a tool, but you could just use the "Find" feature in your browser (generally accessed by pressing "CTRL-F") and search for the phrase "<ref", clicking "Next" after you fix each one. If you are using Firefox, there is also a "Highlight all" button that will highlight each of these for you, so you can find them easily. -- Jrtayloriv (talk) 20:01, 12 September 2010 (UTC)
Wow! The only problem I've noticed so far is that you can't change the name parameter of references using this tool. Otherwise it's basically exactly what I was looking for, or at least a big step in the right direction. SharkD Talk 00:26, 13 September 2010 (UTC)
This has been asked for before. Could we not take snapshots of the appearance of the main page daily using a bot, so that this will be possible from now on? Fences&Windows00:29, 15 September 2010 (UTC)
A more correct solution is to render the page as it appeared at that time with old templates. It would be beneficial to viewing all the older revisions. However, consider we don't have a proper blame tool yet... — Dispenser01:03, 15 September 2010 (UTC)
Getting Wikisource of an article
I'm starting to work on a script to validate usages of {{singlechart}}, and I've encountered a pretty basic obstacle: I can't figure out how to download the raw wikisource of an article. The basic PHP statement
gets a HTTP 403 error, even though the exact same URL works fine in my browser. I've looked at Special:Export, and it seems dead-set on doing the process in XML. All I want is the raw wikisource of individual articles.—Kww(talk) 22:01, 13 September 2010 (UTC)
Has anyone encountered a user with no registration date? See here for an example with user:Ockron. Found this user while patrolling BLPs and can't figure out how the account was registered. It doesn't appear in any logs that I can see. I have blocked the user, mostly for the vandalism but also concerned about whether the interface was hacked to create the acct. If anyone feels the block is not needed feel free to override me without discussion.709:37, 14 September 2010 (UTC)
I would have thought so too, but I am having trouble believing that this user created an account that many years ago (before registration tracking on en.wp) and remembers the password and came back in 2010 to vandalize. 709:54, 14 September 2010 (UTC)
This might be a red herring, but was there a disc crash and a loss of some data, some number of years ago? I think someone mentioned that once on the ref desk. I don't know the specifics, though. ←Baseball BugsWhat's up, Doc?carrots→ 10:01, 14 September 2010 (UTC)
The registration date of a user was not logged until 2005 (see Special:Log/newusers, which starts in september 2005). Any account registered before 2005, does not have a registration date. For users that made an edit between the time of registration and 2005, the earliest edit was later used to "fabricate" a registration date. But if you only registered and never made an edit until after 2005 (or whenever they last ran the script to fill in registration dates based on first edit), then you will not have a registration date. —TheDJ (talk • contribs) 13:47, 14 September 2010 (UTC)
So this user created an account prior to 2005, and made zero edits until today when they came here to vandalize? 713:49, 14 September 2010 (UTC)
Occam's razor would say so =] The effort required to hack the database and create a user with no registration date would likely outweigh the (non-existent) benefit. –xenotalk13:51, 14 September 2010 (UTC)
Not really. Worst case, the account was compromised due to using a super easy password. Or a close friend or past girlfriend knew the password. something like that. It happens. I've seen plenty of accounts that have slept for a LONG time and then started editing. —TheDJ (talk • contribs) 23:30, 14 September 2010 (UTC)
I did once come across a recently-created account that did not show up in the logs due to a server glitch. That was three years ago, but I suppose something similar could have happened again. — jwillbur01:21, 15 September 2010 (UTC)
Thanks for looking into it. I'm going with TheDJ's hypothesis that this was an easily guessable PW. 701:57, 15 September 2010 (UTC)
Needs categories to update fast
Category:1896 in Norway and a large number of similar categories have been nominated for speedy deletion because someone had made inappropriate edits to {{NorwayByYear}} to remove that and other categories from articles like 1896 in Norway which employ this template. I have now reverted the template changes so that the articles get categorized appropriately, but still the categories remain unpopulated. I made a post here at WP:VPT quite recently about another problem where the categories didn't update after very many hours. How can the updating be forced so that the categories do not get deleted in the meantime? __meco (talk) 18:32, 13 September 2010 (UTC)
You could go and perform a null edit on every page that should be in the category, but in general it's better to wait for the job queue to get it. Why not remove the speedy templates with an edit summary pointing out that the template changes have been reverted and the categories will be repopulated once the job queue catches up? Anomie⚔20:13, 13 September 2010 (UTC)
My apologies in advance for naive question. Is there (where) a simple editor which allows previewing wikipedia-coded articles off-line? Simply put, I am coding a wiki article off-line and want roughly see how it will look (I mean basic formatting features, surely the wikimedia software is constantly updating). Thanks. Materialscientist (talk) 07:11, 14 September 2010 (UTC)
That's an interesting question. I couldn't find a good answer to a related question: A lightweight local wiki that is easy to set up and uses MediaWiki code. One problem in both cases is templates, but even without them there don't seem to be good solutions. HansAdler13:09, 14 September 2010 (UTC)
Open a red-linked subpage under your user page, and do work there, but never save the page. Hit Preview to see what you are getting. Overnight, copy all the source into a local file on your computer. This doesn't give you any versioning (unless you have a system for that on your own machine). This method lets you use all the real Wikipedia templates. EdJohnston (talk) 23:55, 14 September 2010 (UTC)
User:Pilaf/InstaView can do just that - but do not expect too much as it cannot support templates and such and has not been updated for several years. It comes bundled with wikEd (in the form of User:Pilaf/include/instaview.js). However, I have just checked the wikEd preview and it did not work there. I will try to fix it as soon as I find the time. Cacycle (talk) 07:08, 15 September 2010 (UTC)
I wonder if the devs can change the WP:ANI page to require a manual checking of a box that says "Yes, I understand I must alert any involved editors immediately after creating this thread" whenever "new section" is clicked? Basket of Puppies20:19, 15 September 2010 (UTC)
I am wondering if this is technically possible, not to decide the issue here. Trying to get my ducks in a row before pitching it formally for ANI. Basket of Puppies04:16, 16 September 2010 (UTC)
I'm sorry, I misread your question. With the Abuse filter it would be possible to require some text (say <!-- I agree -->) to be present, but it's more hassle than it's worth. — Dispenser04:38, 16 September 2010 (UTC)
CSS <span> troubles in IE
re {{Punctuation marks}}. Recently I changed the table into CSS using <span>
. Now an IP reverted all that, because of "Formatting trashed (in IE at least). Reverting to last good version" (es). Could someone (using IE) take a look & tell what went wrong? (I use Firefox 3.6.8) -DePiep (talk) 15:31, 15 September 2010 (UTC) + section title-DePiep (talk) 15:41, 15 September 2010 (UTC)
When a floated span is in the middle of some other text, the top edge of the float should line up with the top edge of the line box the span is in (unless, of course, there isn't room). IE7 does not do this, instead it aligns the top of the float with the bottom of the line box. Reportedly, Firefox before 3.0 also has this bug, and IE8 supposedly fixes it (but probably not in "compatability" mode).
IE's rendering of HTML similar to that discussed here In your example, the left-floated bit is fine because it is at the start of the line. Then comes a before the right float, so in IE the right float lines up against the bottom of the . The image to the right shows IE7's rendering of some HTML quite similar to yours; the main difference is that I have added borders to the three elements so they can be better seen. Anomie⚔18:56, 15 September 2010 (UTC)
Right. Is that triggered by the nbsp then? In the {{Punctuation marks/sandbox}} I put up the css version, and removed all nbsps between the spans, which should do (they were a bit superfluous anyway). Or, should I read Anomie's explanation that it happens in every linebox? -DePiep (talk) 20:48, 15 September 2010 (UTC)
The problem is that the {{multicol}} template forces a clear so that it won't start next to an image. I've gone ahead and placed the image inside the columns, which is better, but you light consider alternate ways of structuring the text. --Ludwigs222:46, 15 September 2010 (UTC)
I'm trying to use Template:cite book. I'm using the url parameter to point to the Google books website, but I'm having problems. The url doesn't show up properly in the reference list. I thought it might be the many equals signs in the url itself, so looking at Help:Template#URL_problems, and not fully understanding it, I tried adding braces before and after each equals sign - didn't help. Anyway, I've put the latest usage in my sandbox for someone to tell me what I'm doing wrong.--Bbb23 (talk) 16:30, 16 September 2010 (UTC)
Another editor went in and fixed it. Apparently, there was nothing wrong with the url. I had forgotten the title= parameter, which is required, and it screwed up everything else. I actually had the title= parameter in originally, but in some cut-and-paste operation it got cut. I wasn't even aware there was a required parameter.--Bbb23 (talk) 19:35, 16 September 2010 (UTC)
Flagged revisions and high-risk templates
Is pending-changes level two protection effective with respect to high-risk templates, so that transclusions of templates protected in this manner would only display revisions accepted by a reviewer? If so, then it might provide a useful alternative to full protection, to increase the ease with which certain templates can be edited (obviously, some things, such as template:!, are so sensitive that allowing reviewers to change them isn't advisable.) Peter Karlsen (talk) 16:56, 16 September 2010 (UTC)
Hi folks! I now installed the new gadget “revisionjumper” which allows you to easily navigate diffs, articles' histories and articles themselves. A feature-rich drop down menu offers various functions to jump to a certain revision which is situated before or after the selected revision. Besides default parameters, configurable requests can be done. Further, the default setting can be personalized. It was announced some days ago on this village pump where its functions were discribed. All features are explained on User:DerHexer/revisionjumper. Have fun using it! Kind regards, —DerHexer(Talk)22:48, 16 September 2010 (UTC) P. S.: Please note that scripts like that one atm do not work because of a slow connection to the database (API).
Unable to Access Wikipedia
About 11-12 hours ago I was unable to 'connect' to Wikipedia. Other sites such as Google were still accessible. I also note the earlier post about the 'Tampa API servers', Though this was hours earlier, about 15.00 UTC. Was the site down at that time? n.b. Internet Explorer Ver:7.0.5730.13. (Didn't know about the Wikipedia Status Dashboard !) - 220.101talk\Contribs03:25, 17 September 2010 (UTC)
Question for techie admin
I just found a strange edit in my deleted contribs. Admin only - check here - I recall reviewing this CSD tag earlier so I definitely went to the page, but I didn't think it was promotional enough to delete it myself as spam, but similarly didn't want to decline the CSD because it was close. I recall leaving the page without touching anything at all. I definitely did not manually do any of what the diff shows (including the accurate edit summary) - so I am wondering if there is a link that I may have clicked that added this section including the edit summary. Any thoughts? Thanks 705:58, 17 September 2010 (UTC)
The above message is tailored for page moves but is also the message provided when one moves files, to which its contents are variously nonsensical, inapplicable or provide bad advice. Is there a way, if I create, say, MediaWiki:Movefiletext, for us to switch all such file moves to that new mediawiki message?--Fuhghettaboutit (talk) 00:09, 15 September 2010 (UTC)
No, but you can use parser function like in templates to show different content depending on namespace. Merlissimo 01:03, 15 September 2010 (UTC)
Aha, so it would be a parser function scheme in MediaWiki:Movepagetext that would propagate depending on namespace. Can you give me an example of an existing message where this has been done as an example to draw from (and if not, an explanation of the coding)?--Fuhghettaboutit (talk) 01:15, 15 September 2010 (UTC)
Thanks. I'll try to figure out how to do this from that, though I may need some help. My initial look at it tells me it may be a difficult wheat from chaff separation coding exercise for me (that's probably child's play for many of those on this page).--Fuhghettaboutit (talk) 15:41, 17 September 2010 (UTC)
Isn't moving article that are currently under {{afd}} discouraged, for technical reasons?
Adam C. Winfield was nominated for deletion.
Another contributor moved the article to Adam Winfield.
My recollection was that articles that are currently under {{afd}} shouldn't be moved, for technical reasons, and I moved it back.
The other contributor moved it to Adam Winfield a second time. One of the side-effects of this move is that some links that are important, during the course of the {{afd}}, no longer work.
Links, like the history link at the top of the {{afd}} no longer work.
I applied a {{rescue}} tag to the article, and, when instantiated, its link to the actual {{afd}} discussion was a redlink, until I created a redirect.
Am I correct that articles that are currently under {{afd}} shouldn't be renamed because of all the important administrative links this breaks?
Earlier 71.191.119.34(talk·contribs·WHOIS) was blocked, at 17:22 GMT, but then went on to vandalize Tommy2010's talk page one minute later. I know that sometimes a queue can cause edits to be delayed, but can a queue problem cause an edit to be delayed by almost a full minute? (The vandalism was at 17:23:35, so it wasn't just on the cusp of the previous minute.) —Soap—17:39, 17 September 2010 (UTC)
That filter is designed to catch removals of {{hangon}}, so the tag is correct. There's probably a way to have it ignore removal if the same editor added it, but you'd have to talk to someone that has more clue in that department than I. But I went ahead and deleted that article, though, because WP is definitely not a warez hosting site. —DoRD (talk) 00:00, 18 September 2010 (UTC)
Automatic tool to copy articles/histories to Wikia?
In the Video Games WikiProject, a lot of articles tend to get deleted due to cruftyness and useful but non-notable gameguide content. My question is, is there a tool that can be used to move/copy articles to Wikia? As Wikia is usually the proper place for these sorts of articles. SharkD Talk 21:15, 13 September 2010 (UTC)
Special:Export can export the full history of a page, even if it has more than 1000 revisions, it just requires more than one go (see mw:Manual:Parameters to Special:Export#Available parameters, parameter offset). Application that retrieves and combines them into one file would be fairly trivial to write, although I have no idea whether Special:Import has the same limit of 1000 revisions (or some other). wikia:Help:Exporting pages mentions a limit of 1.8 MB when importing, which could be a problem for long pages with lots of revisions. mw:Help:Import also mentions direct transwiki import, but that's probably not enabled on wikia. Svick (talk) 12:27, 18 September 2010 (UTC)
Smaller Signature
The Robert Pattinson article has an infobox in which an editor inserted Pattinson's signature. I don't think the signature is even necessary for the article, but putting that aside, I'd like to make it smaller. How do I do that?--Bbb23 (talk) 23:58, 15 September 2010 (UTC)
That works, thanks. Once I've made it smaller, is there a way to move the word Signature to the left and then have the picture next to it rather than have everything centered with the signature below the word?--Bbb23 (talk) 00:34, 16 September 2010 (UTC)
Sorry, I'm having trouble figuring out precisely what I should insert. I tried several ways, and none worked. I tried this:
| signature = Robert Pattinson signature.svg{{!}}left{{!}}75px
and it put the signature to the left, but it left the word Signature centered. What am I doing wrong? Sorry for all the trouble.--Bbb23 (talk) 01:08, 16 September 2010 (UTC)
The header 'Signature' is a feature of the template; it will always be centred and in fact goes all the way back to the {{Infobox}} meta-template and perhaps further back to its sub-templates. It cannot be uncentred unless you decide to transclude infobox directly so that you can specify a headerstyle value (which obviously is inadvisable). Intelligentsium02:03, 16 September 2010 (UTC)
Ah, well, if it can't be done, it can't be done. I guess I'll just make it smaller for the moment and question the propriety of having it in the infobox in the first place.--Bbb23 (talk) 02:09, 16 September 2010 (UTC)
A question about the signature parameter that is not on (my) topic. Is there a way to search Wikipedia articles to see which ones use the parameter?--Bbb23 (talk) 14:30, 16 September 2010 (UTC)
I'm afraid I need a little more help understanding what to do. It looks like I need to use the Template:Voidd, but I don't get how to make the "call," nor what I specify as a parameter of the Voidd template to find out which articles using the template infobox person use the signature parameter.--Bbb23 (talk) 15:03, 16 September 2010 (UTC)
If we actually change the template infobox person, don't we affect every article that uses it? Or would we make the change, collect the information (quickly), and then put it back the way it was? And, in any event, I can't edit infobox person. I assume, as an admin, you can?? I'd rather you did it anyway (a) because you know what you're doing and (b) because if Wikipedia collapses, it's all your fault. :-) --Bbb23 (talk) 00:48, 17 September 2010 (UTC)
Would it not be preferable to simply add a tracking category for usage of the parameter? Either way, what is to be the purpose of such a listing? PC78 (talk) 01:51, 17 September 2010 (UTC)
Uh, so are we going to do something for the signature parameter? You both seem to know what you're doing, but I'm lost. However, answering PC78's question, the purpose is to find out how common it is for the signature parameter to be used and when. Ultimately, the issue is whether it belongs in the Pattinson article. If I'm going to argue it doesn't, then I'd like to back it up with what the practice is, given that there don't seem to be any guidelines on its usage.--Bbb23 (talk) 00:15, 18 September 2010 (UTC)
It depends what you want to do about the parameter. :) {{Infobox person}} is used for a wide variety of biography articles, so I suspect there is no convention other than to include a signature where one is available to use. If your concern is specific to the Robert Pattinson article, then you're best raising the issue on the talk page. If you're concerned about actor articles in general, then WT:ACTOR would be the best place for discussion. I've only skimmed over the discussion on your own talk page, but perhaps the copyright issue is worth pursuing for this signature. Personally I don't see a problem including it in the Pattinson article; he's a well known celebrity who no doubt signs many autographs, so I don't think it's irrelevant (just my 2¢, I have no real interest in pursuing this line of discussion). As for {{Infobox person}}, I think it would be wise to add a |signature_size= parameter, as a single default is unlikely to be suitable in all cases. PC78 (talk) 00:43, 18 September 2010 (UTC)
I intend to raise it on the Pattinson Talk page, but finding out more about its inclusion was in preparation for that. I'd already thought about the issue of autographs and their availability, but I still think it's kind of silly to include it. If you decide to add a size parameter (an idea I endorse regardless of Pattinson), please add an alignment parameter, so it can be placed flush left instead of centered.--Bbb23 (talk) 01:00, 18 September 2010 (UTC)
I don't object to having a tracking category for the parameter if that's what you want, but I'm not convinced that you'll be able to draw any conclusions from it. Regarding alignment, I presume you mean to display the signature as it is at Oscar Wilde? A parameter to control this wouldn't really be feasible; what you'd want is to make a fixed change to the infobox (which you are welcome to suggest at Template talk:Infobox person). I don't really see the benefit in such a change, though it's probably just a matter of personal preference either way. PC78 (talk) 01:13, 18 September 2010 (UTC)
Yes, the Wilde page is what I mean. Don't know enough about the programming to know why it wouldn't be feasible. I'm not going to suggest a change to the infobox if that's the only way to achieve the possibility of left alignment. Anyway, assuming it doesn't hurt anything, I'd like to collect the data on the use of the signature parameter. After I collect the data, I personally don't need changes that were made to remain. As you can probably tell, I still don't really understand what you propose. In any event, please let me know what happens next.--Bbb23 (talk) 07:04, 18 September 2010 (UTC)
Can somebody point me to the right place to ask for admin access at the test wiki (I am an en-admin). I have a weird bug - the upcoming version of wikEd does not load only if loaded as a gadget. I need to do some on-site gadget debugging but I do not want to do this on Wikipedia. Thanks for your help, Cacycle (talk) 19:15, 16 September 2010 (UTC)
You mean you just want a whole line-wrapped paragraph indented (shifted margin), and rely on normal screen layout size to control the wrapping? So the text would break automatically as necessary but maintain the same indent on each line? Isn't that what the leading colon does?
Ahh, a "hanging indent"? That's the kind often used in bibliographies, where the first line is not indented, but all the rest (in the wrapped paragraph) are. I don't think there is a wiki-markup for it, but it's doable in plain html. Just wrap the paragraph in <p style="text-indent:-.5in"> ... </p>. It's completely non-standard for any use in Wikipedia so you might want to get second opinion about whether it's a good idea to do...whatever you're trying to do.
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis aute irure dolor in reprehenderit in voluptate velit esse cillum dolore eu fugiat nulla pariatur. Excepteur sint occaecat cupidatat non proident, sunt in culpa qui officia deserunt mollit anim id est laborum.
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis aute irure dolor in reprehenderit in voluptate velit esse cillum dolore eu fugiat nulla pariatur. Excepteur sint occaecat cupidatat non proident, sunt in culpa qui officia deserunt mollit anim id est laborum.
Hello guys! Okay, so I want to send a message to the email of an IP, because I tracked their email. I don't really want to use my personal email, and I was wondering, how would I get an email at Wikipedia.org? Thanks! Endofskull (talk) 23:19, 17 September 2010 (UTC)
I think only staff and 'official' volunteers get @wikimedia.org email addresses. Would it not be a simple matter to create an email account exclusively for Wikipedia use (for example, mine at intelligentsiumwp-AT-googlemail-DOT-org)? Intelligentsium23:24, 17 September 2010 (UTC)
Quite. There are lots of free email services out there (Gmail, Hotmail, Yahoo! etc). By the way, IP addresses don't have email accounts on here. Aiken (talk) 23:27, 17 September 2010 (UTC)
Yeah, I guess so, but my only problem with that is it just doesn't really look "real". If I can't get a Wikipedia one, I will make one at gmail, or Yahoo. So what do you think? Oh yeah, and Aiken, I tracked their email for WHOIS. Endofskull (talk) 23:29, 17 September 2010 (UTC)
Unless you know otherwise, the address in the whois database is in all likelihood not the person that edited here. —DoRD (talk) 23:32, 17 September 2010 (UTC)
I think we should consider that Wikipedia is primarily an encyclopedia, and setting up email addresses for every person who wants one seems a bit excessive, when there are so many other options. If you're going to choose one, go for Gmail. Aiken (talk) 23:32, 17 September 2010 (UTC)
Oh yeah, that probably sounds "fishy". Like I said, I'm contacting IPs, that vandalize, email addresses from WHOIS, and then I contact them. Endofskull (talk) 15:04, 18 September 2010 (UTC)
If you're trying to contact the vandal, do be aware (as DoRD mentioned already) that the email address you find in whois is not the address of the person using the address except in the most unusual of circumstances. If you're trying to contact the vandal's ISP, you should go check out Wikipedia:Abuse response. Anomie⚔20:21, 18 September 2010 (UTC)
"150 intermediate versions"
As can be seen in this diff, it says that "150 intermediate versions are not shown". Is this true, or is it simply a bug in the MediaWiki software, due to the lost page history? Also, why isn't it possible to use diff=prev in the very oldest edits? For me, it directs to the latest edit. HeyMid (contributions) 15:18, 18 September 2010 (UTC)
I think this is a known bug that occurs when importing revisions from another wiki - since they receive a sequentially "new" revision number. –xenotalk15:23, 18 September 2010 (UTC)
The function that finds out the number of intermediate revisions between two edits uses the revision ID's, not the dates, to determine that number. The previous/next edit feature and the "diff=prev"/"diff=next" parameters work the same way. Out-of-order revision ID numbers can occur with page imports (like the above example) and a few other cases that I've described here. Graham8706:41, 19 September 2010 (UTC)
"Possible self promotion in userspace" tag
Hi, my latest edit to my own talk page got tagged like this - would anybody please tell me what triggered this?
I'm aware that there are filters in place to catch such behavior, but since there's nothing promoting me or my employer on that page (and I wouldn't want that, anyway, I prefer to remain anonymous), nor any external web link, I wonder why it triggered that filter? Is there anyone who can remove this tag after verifying that there's no self-promotion on that page? -- 78.43.71.155 (talk) 16:22, 18 September 2010 (UTC)
Edit filter tags are not removed. The edit is [4]. It tripped Special:AbuseFilter/354 which is hidden from public view but let me just say the problem here was "We offer your solution". This is something a company would typically say to promote itself which was ironically the point of your post. An automated filter cannot be expected to distinguish this from real promotion. PrimeHunter (talk) 17:00, 18 September 2010 (UTC)
Hi. Apparently, in July, the browser I was using would convert the Miscrosoft smart backquote character into this: "�?". Here's an example. Hoping to find and fix any remaining instances of this character, I've tried to search for the character using mediawiki search and google, but had no luck. Any suggestions? Thanks. HausTalk18:22, 18 September 2010 (UTC)
A few days ago I added a comment to the bottom of a talk page (it was Talk:Proof (truth)), and apparently when I saved the page it wiped everything except the section the comment was in. There may have been an additional anomaly in displaying the page afterward, since I failed to notice the problem at the time. I suspect, but am not certain, that I had used the <edit> link for that section rather than the one for the whole page, and I think there was a browser crash during that edit. I am using Firefox 3.6.9 under Ubuntu, with the Session Manager add-on (as well as numerous others, but I'm guessing that one might be relevant; it retained the text I had typed and restored it after the crash, so perhaps it mangled the page somehow). False vacuum (talk) 22:31, 16 September 2010 (UTC)
When I edit a section (also under Ubuntu/FF), there's a section= variable in the URL. As long as that value remains intact, the contents should be taken as the new text for that section only. If it was somehow mangled (to secion= for example), the section variable would then be undefined and your bad result would be expected. That's one possibility, not meant to exclude others. Thundermaker (talk) 18:01, 17 September 2010 (UTC)
Thanks for this. It looks as though the 'section' variable disappeared altogether: I found what appears to be the session, and the URL is just
I think you started editing a section, then clicked Show preview (which removes the section parameter from the URL, but it stays on the page in a hidden field). After that, your browser crashed and then the page was restored with the correct URL and text, but the hidden field wasn't restored, so at that point, you were editing the whole page. Svick (talk) 12:40, 19 September 2010 (UTC)
Checking browser dependent effects
Resolved
– There's a website that does it
Do we have a page or procedure to have a check on browser dependent presentations? Tried: WP:BROWSER (no) HELP:BROWSER (red): don't work for this. I can not (or my sysadmin won't allow me to -- that's the same) do a check on IE. So I am restrained by IE's effects. The restrain is not too rational. How to? -DePiep (talk) 21:13, 18 September 2010 (UTC)
Yes, that's it. I'll save the link. I meant to say that being insecure on untestable browser effects is biting me as an editor. -DePiep (talk) 15:07, 19 September 2010 (UTC)
Is there any reason that the "yellow highlight" in the top template at Special:NewPages is a different shade of yellow to the actual highlight colour used in the body of the page? matt (talk) 10:05, 19 September 2010 (UTC)
It was added in this edit, my guess is the user who added it didn't notice the color was different. I don't see any indication the color has changed at any point. Fix it at MediaWiki:Newpages-summary—the correct color is #ffa, or you could just use <span class="not-patrolled"> directly like this. Anomie⚔13:52, 19 September 2010 (UTC)
Is there a tool who can combinate 'what links here' and categories.
For example the topics who links to The Netherlands and which topics also are have a place in the category Education
I hope so!
Dutchf (talk) 13:50, 19 September 2010 (UTC)
You'll notice when viewing this old version of a page, it's displaying an old version of File:Te.jpg from Wikimedia Commons near the top. It does not display this error on the current version of the page. I checked on another browser without signing in and I'm having the same issue. Why is this not updating? I'm reluctant to purge the commons page because I want an expert (on here) to see it. Magog the Ogre (talk) 19:44, 18 September 2010 (UTC)
I'm not seeing the problem. Could it just be one of those things that takes a while for the server to update? If so, I don't think there's much we can do. — Capt'n Earwig(arr! • talk)00:14, 19 September 2010 (UTC)
Re: Earwig: it's gone now. Re: TheDJ, again, I tried it in a different browser, and I'd never seen that page before anyway. I think it was mediawiki taking too long to properly cache an image. Magog the Ogre (talk) 18:58, 20 September 2010 (UTC)
New York Times pdfs not opening properly
I'm having a problem with pdf files from the New York Times news archives. Basically, the files are opening in a tiny window at the top of the screen that shows only a few lines and cannot be resized. Anyone know what the problem might be? Gatoclass (talk) 09:44, 20 September 2010 (UTC)
I don't know the cause, but I did experience the same problem myself a few days ago. If you save the PDF locally and re-open it in Acrobat Reader, it works just fine. So the problem seems to be with their website, not the PDFs themselves. --RL0919 (talk) 10:20, 20 September 2010 (UTC)
Yes, that does work, but I can go through hundreds of archive stories at times looking for relevant info, and it's just not practical to save every one. I guess if it's a problem with the NYT, I can email them, but the problem has been there at least a week and I would have thought they would have fixed it by now. Gatoclass (talk) 10:31, 20 September 2010 (UTC)
square brackets in an external link
At Bo Burnham, I have a citation to Boston's Weekly Dig that requires a URL of http://www.weeklydig.com/[catpath]/200903/bo-burnham. It's currently used in a {{cite news}} with nowiki brackets, and I recently tried to surround it in a {{URL}} wrapper, but none of them seem to be able to get over the square brackets in the URL. Can anybody suggest a fix? — pd_THOR|=/\= | 17:55, 20 September 2010 (UTC)
The first image used at Airman Basic (File:DCS04980.jpg) has been broken for quite some time. I've used a wide variety of browsers and computers since I first noticed it, and haven't seen any change. Can anybody else see this problem? — pd_THOR|=/\= | 17:55, 20 September 2010 (UTC)
Odd. I added a size parameter to try to make it display. 200px was too small. 220px is the right size, but like the image with no size, it does not display, so I've left it at 221px. Maybe someone with more knowledge can explain this. —DoRD (talk) 18:30, 20 September 2010 (UTC)
Nice, but CatScan will only work with two categories. There must be something that lets us use all this lovely data to construct richer queries than that? PL290 (talk) 08:37, 21 September 2010 (UTC)
Go to "Tools"->"List Comparer" which can intersect two categories at a time. Take the result and intersect it with the third category — several approaches exist, but copy/paste and clearing the other lists out is probably easiest. There are 30+ other ways to generate lists in list comparer: transclusion, what links here, links on page, etc.... Lots of flexibility. One problem is there's a limit on list size — I think its 20K items. There's a workaround for this problem by using catscan to intersect huge lists down to <20K lists, and using text files or "links on page." Cheers. HausTalk10:19, 21 September 2010 (UTC)
The template is correct. It's just that updating the category may take a while. If you want to speed this up, you can null edit the user pages in question (I have done so for some of them). Svick (talk) 05:58, 21 September 2010 (UTC)
Thanks! If the template is correct, perhaps I will just wait a while and see if the category begins to fill in. I am not familiar with null editing, so I will look into how it works. Much appreciated. --Another Believer(Talk)15:44, 21 September 2010 (UTC)
It's possible that your code is the appropriate one for the OP (my code is perhaps for those still on monobook). –xenotalk17:17, 21 September 2010 (UTC)
Yeah, they should be removed very soon. I think we'll ideally want the equivalent of "Take me back" to remain easily accessible within the user prefs (without having to toggle all the options that restore the classic experience).--Eloquence*04:35, 22 September 2010 (UTC)
Error in link to toolserver template transclusion counter
Where do I file a bug report for an error in the link to the toolserver template transclusion counter? For example, if do a "what links here" for any template with a space in the name (e.g., Special:WhatLinksHere/Template:Hang on), you will see links to "external tools". The first link is fine, but the second one appears to be missing the needed "urlencode" and is tripped up by the space in the title. 68.35.13.81 (talk) 23:19, 21 September 2010 (UTC)
We're trying to start a new project, with tutorials using screencasts. There are a number of proprietary ways to do whatever we want, but I'd like an open source solution. There's an open source screencast program (CamStudio), but it outputs AVIs for some darn reason. Does anyone know of a dead simple way to covert those to .ogg or .ogv using another open source program? We've found a proprietary screencast program that will do absolutely everthing, so if the minimum is one proprietary program, then a converter is not needed. CamStudio is crazy easy to use, so I'm hoping I can combine it with one more easy program and have it still be easier than some pay program. Thanks a million. - Peregrine Fisher (talk) 03:56, 22 September 2010 (UTC)
"API action parse has been been disabled [wikitech], this mean Dab solver does not work."
The above message appears on Dab solver. The only bit of it I understand is "Dab solver does not work". Could someone explain please what has been done, why it has been done, and when will it be undone so that Dab solver will work again? Thanks. DuncanHill (talk) 11:03, 22 September 2010 (UTC)
And before anyone asks, no I haven't asked at Wikitech, this is because it is impossible to ask anything at Wikitech and there is no help page at Wikitech. DuncanHill (talk) 11:19, 22 September 2010 (UTC)
Part of the API was disabled yesterday because it was causing performance problems. They seems to have tracked the cause to a program on commons. The errant API feature has been turned back on. Dispenser needs to update his tool. — Carl (CBM · talk) 11:23, 22 September 2010 (UTC)
I'm trying to look at my watchlist in Google Reader, and keep finding that some edits don't appear in the feed. I suspect this is due to the feeds on Wikipedia using the article URL for the id (Atom) or guid (RSS) field, with no other qualifier, so these fields aren't unique.
The W3C validation service says this is categorically wrong for RSS, although it appears to be permitted if not recommended for Atom, so I'll blame Google for GReader failing to cope with the Atom feed properly.
I'm planning on raising this as a bug for the RSS case on Bugzilla, and a feature request for Atom. Before I do that, though, I thought I'd check here in case anyone's found a work-around or can tell me I'm Doing It Wrong.
The search bar on this search bar is too narrow and is displaying g letters as qs. I recall that a few days after the vector switch the main search bar was widened but this change was apparently never applied to the others. MarcusQwertyus19:53, 22 September 2010 (UTC)
I'm running the same and can't reproduce, at any zoom level, unfortunately. Maybe you have an odd default sans-serif font set? Just a suggestion. - Jarry1250[Who?Discuss.]20:29, 22 September 2010 (UTC)
I just got a new RSS manager, and for some reason, every time I try to sync my watchlist RSS feed, it gives me a 403 error. I exported the links from my other RSS reader, and it worked there, but here it doesn't. Any ideas? A p3rson ‽23:26, 21 September 2010 (UTC)
I am using a reader called pRSSReader, for PocketPC (WM2003). Not sure if it has the User Agent feature. I do know that it can use a username and password for an RSS feed, could that help? —Preceding unsigned comment added by A p3rson (talk • contribs) 22:56, 22 September 2010 (UTC)
According to their FAQ, it can set the User-Agent. If you set it to anything non-empty, it should start working, if that was the problem. If that doesn't help, I think setting username and password is worth trying, although I doubt it's going to fix it. Also, what URL are you using? I suppose it's http://en.wikipedia.org/enwiki/w/api.php?action=feedwatchlist&allrev=allrev&wlowner=A p3rson&wltoken=<string of 40 numbers and letters you shouldn't publish>&feedformat=rss, correct? Svick (talk) 05:48, 23 September 2010 (UTC)
Tried setting the user-agent (the option wasn't in the menu, had to create a key) to both the Pocket IE and the Opera Mini 5 on my device, but neither worked. The key is supposed to be \HKCU\Software\DaProfik\pRSSreader right? A p3rson ‽23:02, 23 September 2010 (UTC)
I noticed today that if you rename an article with edit notices attached, the edit notices get stranded under the old name: they trigger if you edit the redirect that was left behind, but not if you edit the new article name. Can anyone confirm that there isn't an existing Bugzilla report? I can't find one, but I'm pretty amateurish when it comes to Bugzilla.—Kww(talk) 14:51, 22 September 2010 (UTC)
Could not find a bugzilla either, file away. Some parserFunction could be probably written and installed into the interface to warn on move that an edit notice exists. –xenotalk14:55, 22 September 2010 (UTC)
Current edit notice logic is purely home-grown ({{editnotice load}}), without support from MediaWiki, so a bugzilla issue won't be worked on I'm afraid. Would adding a notice to the page move dialog or the page moved success page be enough, like xeno suggested? Amalthea16:24, 22 September 2010 (UTC)
As long as it's a warning that shows only when edit notices actually exist, I think that would be fine. If it shows all the time regardless of whether an edit notice actually exists, people will quickly learn to ignore it.—Kww(talk) 17:59, 22 September 2010 (UTC)
I imagine it could be made to resemble the deletion success page which tells you there's a talk page that could also be darleted (only #ifexist). –xenotalk20:05, 22 September 2010 (UTC)
Or we could just tag the editnotice with a category or something, which would also handle the case where someone wants to create a new editnotice for a redirect. The bot would also not be moving editnotices where the target page already has one. Anomie⚔02:58, 23 September 2010 (UTC)
I've noticed that edit conflicts notices aren't appearing AFAICT at the moment. For example, I didn't get an EC making this edit to my sandbox even though I made that edit and the previous edit to the same original version of the page. Earlier today when I made this edit to Stuxnet I also didn't get an EC even though the text that was removed in the previous edit was still in the text when I saved it. I'm fairly sure that I should also have had an EC with this edit as I took more than 4 minutes to look at the sources and make my comment. Has something changed in the software recently? Smartse (talk) 14:18, 23 September 2010 (UTC)
Your first example, was that an ec or should that be old-version-warning? And, am I supposed to get an ec when doing two edits against myself (double login)? -DePiep (talk) 15:36, 23 September 2010 (UTC)
The template is a message from Meta about something, and was auto-added to many pages (think like one of the donation ads that appear on pages). The template was discarded, however, the server didn't refresh the pages that it was placed on. The next time someone edits one of those pages, the page will be removed from the list. A p3rson ‽23:10, 23 September 2010 (UTC)
WAIT: It is actually a old template that was used for generic WikiProject templates. Whether or not this should have been fixed, I don't know. I will ask the editor who removed the template. A p3rson ‽23:12, 23 September 2010 (UTC)
Resolved
If you figure it out, though, let me know and I'll add it to Help:File. That seems like a problem that's bound to crop up every once in a while. --Ludwigs2 19:25, 9 September 2010 (UTC)
Done from sandbox into live
