Wikipedia:Help desk

Welcome—ask questions about how to use or edit Wikipedia! (Am I in the right place?)

• For other types of questions, use the search box, see the reference desk or Help:Contents. If you have comments about a specific article, use that article's talk page.
• Do not provide your email address or any other contact information. Answers will be provided on this page only.
• If your question is about a Wikipedia article, draft article, or other page on Wikipedia, tell us what it is!
• Check back on this page to see if your question has been answered.
• For real-time help, use our IRC help channel, #wikipedia-en-help.
• New editors may prefer the Teahouse, a help area for beginners (but please don't ask in both places).

Ask a question

deletion

hi, I was looking for the article called "City Limits" that was deleted in july of 2006 and I wanted to save that onto a document on my computer because I lost it once. Can you tell me which deletion log in july it is located in. --Chikinpotato11 01:59, 30 December 2006 (UTC)

The AFD discussion for that article is Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/City Limits (2nd nomination). Is this what you needed? - cohesion 02:04, 30 December 2006 (UTC)

Deletion log is here [1] - you can use this special page in future - Special:Log/delete. Cheers Lethaniol 02:31, 30 December 2006 (UTC)

Also if you need to get a copy of the page back - see Category:Wikipedia administrators who will provide copies of deleted articles cheers Lethaniol 02:33, 30 December 2006 (UTC)

Merging articles and preserving history

Hi. I noticed that there were separate articles on Green Bin and Green bin, covering the same topic albeit with different content. I followed the merger instructions and copied the content from the former article into the latter and edited to make it consistent, and then made the former a redirect to the latter. Shortly after, User:Finlay McWalter pointed out on my talk page that this causes lost copyright information. First, I'd like to suggest that this issue be made clearer in the instructions at Wikipedia:Merging and moving pages, and second, I'd like to ask for advice on the best approach to correcting this problem. Should I revert both articles back and then tag them for mergers, or should I tag Green bin to have a history merge made from Green Bin? Daveharr 02:41, 30 December 2006 (UTC)

Dave, by doing a cut'n'paste merge, you've made Green bin a copyvio, as it doesn't credit the contributors of the merged content. Please follow the merge procedure at Wikipedia:Merging and moving pages, and an admin can do a proper history merge which preserves the histories and contributor logs for both articles while producing a single one. Thanks. -- Finlay McWalter | Talk 02:04, 30 December 2006 (UTC)

Copied from User talk:Daveharr

Is that right about the copyvio? Ah see this -

Do not move or rename a page by copying/pasting its content, because doing so destroys the edit history. (The GFDL requires acknowledgement of all contributors, and editors continue to hold copyright on their contributions unless they specifically give up this right. Hence it is required that edit histories be preserved for all major contributions until the normal copyright expires.) If you come across a cut-and-paste move that should be fixed by merging the page histories, please follow the instructions here to have an administrator repair it.

This is from Wikipedia:Merging and moving pages but from the Moving pages part (where the edit history is lost) - I do not think it is relevant to the Merging of pages - as the history is kept.

So unless anyone disagrees I think you have done right Daveharr, Lethaniol 03:21, 30 December 2006 (UTC)

Wikipedia

Do you have to pay a fee to join Wikipedia?

70.133.147.170 02:44, 30 December 2006 (UTC)Confused Kid

You do not, everything is free including membership. X [Mac Davis] (DESK|How's my driving?) 02:46, 30 December 2006 (UTC)

Take a look at Wikipedia:Introduction to help get you started, and if you decide to contribute here you may want to create an account, although even that is not required to edit. Prodego ^talk 02:48, 30 December 2006 (UTC)

No it is all free - though if you want to donate to help support the work here then go to - [2]. Am so tempted to make a joke about giving money to me but am afraid I will get lynched! Lethaniol 03:13, 30 December 2006 (UTC)

I assume you mean "lynched" of course, since technology has not yet advanced to the point where we can congregate as an angry mob digitally yet! Prodego ^talk 03:18, 30 December 2006 (UTC)

Well, quite ... :0 Lethaniol 03:38, 30 December 2006 (UTC)

How do I restore a deletion..?

i realize that from time to time people may disagree with a subject matter but have no contribution to make of their own so they just delete what other people are discussing. How do I restore such a deletion that has not other purpose than to casue others a pain? Adaptron 03:43, 30 December 2006 (UTC)

Do you mean the content of a Talk page or article? See WP:Revert. If you mean an article that was actually deleted, you'll need to look at the deletion log to see why and go from there. -- Kesh 03:45, 30 December 2006 (UTC)

If it was an article/image that was deleted - see Wikipedia:Deletion review and to find the page in question see Special:Log/delete. Cheers Lethaniol 03:59, 30 December 2006 (UTC)

It was a completed discussion on the reference desk I wanted to make a copy of. What some people do not seem to realize is that burning books did not work either. Whenever they delete a discussion they think it will keep others from learning anything new. They do not want anyone else to benefit from the discussion. However, the very purpose for the reference desk not being a two way email conversation is so that others can benefit from the questions and resulting discussion as well. Only a selfish idiot would attempt to deprive others of the benefit of a discussion if for no other reason than not having to cover in the future similar ground. Besides that the deteter obviously does not care about the topic themselves as evidenced by their not being a participant in the discussion. Is there someone in charge of the reference desk who can deprive others the benefit of a discussion they have no participation or interest in? If so then we should seriously rethink our monetary contributions as well. Adaptron 04:08, 30 December 2006 (UTC)

Slow down a second - if you had a question answer at the Reference Desk then it will be possible to track it down. You may be able to find it in the archives here Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives. But for us to help you find it, it would greatly help if you could say what subject you posted the question under, when, and even what the question was? Cheers Lethaniol 04:17, 30 December 2006 (UTC)

My apologizes... I was wound up due to a threat that had been made to delete it... after doing a little research I discovered that my consequential expectation of an unwarranted deletion is at fault. The discussion was not deleted but rather archived. This is becasue it was begun on the 25th and continued until the 28th. eBay has the same problem with its auctions compared to some others which do not end the bidding until 15 minutes after the last bid instead of at a precise time after the item was put up for sale. If the Wikipedia had a similar policy and left a discussion up for a longer period of time then it could be archived without cutting everyone off. However, I just wanted a copy and not to add anything new. Thanks. Adaptron 04:44, 30 December 2006 (UTC)

A bug?

This page: Ashoka:_Innovators_for_the_Public

Has this text in the reference section (which seems normal):

---

[edit] References

1. ^ Internal Revenue Service Form 990, 2003/2004 Fiscal Year. Filed for Ashoka, EIN 51-0255908, submitted on 2005-04-01. Available online at Guidestar.org (free registration required to access PDF of scanned form)

2. ^ The 200 largest U.S. Charities (page 8). Forbes.com (2005-11-23). Retrieved on 2006-09-27. The smallest nonprofit on the list has $34 million in revenue.

3. ^ Wealth of the Poor program Ashoka website, retrieved on 2006-09-26

4. ^ Support Social Entrepreneurs. Ahoka. Retrieved on 2006-10-03.

---

But clicking on [edit] produces this text (as shown in the edit window here) in the browser edit window:

---

==References==
<references/>

---

This is very abnormal.

Reloading makes no difference. Editing the whole document produces a normal result, except for the references section.

Harold f 04:20, 30 December 2006 (UTC)

That's how ref-marked references work. The text is in-line, where the citations are. See Wikipedia:Footnotes. —Centrx→talk • 04:25, 30 December 2006 (UTC)

Thanks! Harold f 04:33, 30 December 2006 (UTC)

What is preferred? [[Insect]]s or [[Insect|Insects]]?

I personally think that the latter is more appropriate. It's not just "s" at the end, I am also talking about [[friend]]ship versus [[friend|friendship]]. Thanks. --Ķĩřβȳ♥ŤįɱéØ 04:34, 30 December 2006 (UTC)

Either way is appropriate. The former saves space in the database, while the latter is more reliable if code changes in the future. I tend to prefer the latter in my edits, but will sometimes use the former if it's simply pluralization. -- Kesh 04:38, 30 December 2006 (UTC)

• I'm not sure where I read it, but I think using the first is preferred. The code won't change so much that it will need changing and if it does, bots will probably be used to fix things. Go with whatever is quickest to type/shorter on the database. - Mgm|^(talk) 17:13, 30 December 2006 (UTC)
• Yes, according to Wikipedia:How to edit a page#Links and URLs the first is preferred. -- Rick Block (talk) 18:42, 30 December 2006 (UTC)

Help!

Heero- I forgot my password. Unfortunately, any hope of me remembering the correct one(I use several) was lost when I clicked the "Email me my new password" button. I think that changed it to a randomly assigned password. I didn't register my e-mail address with Wikipedia. Can anyone help me? I don't want to reveal my e-mail address(although it is very obvious, with the exception of the @yahoo.com part and the _ between my first and last name). Help? --67.190.180.238 04:55, 30 December 2006 (UTC)

Unfortunately, if you don't have access to the email address you registered with, I don't know of any other way to recover your acccount. -- Kesh 05:00, 30 December 2006 (UTC)

However clicking "e-mail password" didn't make anything worse. The old password remains valid until the new random password is used, which apparently won't happen. --Dapete^ばか 16:21, 30 December 2006 (UTC)

User Talk

Hi there,

I am looking for the bottom line on user-talk pages, something that I can't find elsewhere.

Questions:

• Should an non-abused userpage ever be protected?
• Should the contents of a conserative user page ever be removed by an administrator?

Thanks Superspokesperson 04:59, 30 December 2006 (UTC)

Generally, protection should be used as a last resort against vandalism, and while it is forwned upon to edit another person's user page without permission, it is also not grounds to protect unless there is a good reason. The contents of a userpage probably shouldn't be removed by an administrator, but if they did, chances are they had a good reason for it, and it's really a case-by-case issue. —Keakealani 08:46, 30 December 2006 (UTC)

Search

I made an account and wrote an artical, but when i search it doesn't appear. what should i do?

The search does not update immediately - try pressing the "Go" button instead of the "Search" button; if you type the title exactly it should appear. Otherwise, it is possible that you did not save the changes. It is also possible that the article has been deleted - you would have to check the article's logs to find out. —Keakealani 08:46, 30 December 2006 (UTC)

Comments

how do I make a comment about specific content on wikipedia? Editing is very difficult to navigate. Direct me if possible, thank you! -Nathan

You can comment on any article on its associated talk page. If you are feeling lost, I strongly suggest this introduction for a beginning; I would also suggest reading up on Wikipedia's policies and guidelines as well as the Manual of Style. There are plenty of help guides which discuss nearly every aspect of Wikipedia, so it should be hard to get lost. —Keakealani 08:46, 30 December 2006 (UTC)

Firefox/editbox weirdness

weird, huh?

When having a look at another user's page in the editbox, I noticed something positively weird: as you can see in the screenshot, the whole contents of the editbox are displayed right-to-left. The page itself looks perfectly normal, diffs also show the text normally written from left to right - this is only visible when editing. If it's any help, I am using Firefox 1.5.0.9 on Windows, I have various language support modules installed (including some for right-to-left scripts like Arabic and Hebrew)...but I don't quite get why the editbox is displayed the way it is while the rest of the page is displayed normally (I guess that rules out having accidentally set the wrong text encodig in firefox). I have not clicked on "save" to see what happens, because I did not want to mess up Misza's userpage. Has anyone else ever seen this weird behavior? -- Ferkelparade π 15:38, 30 December 2006 (UTC)

There's probably a right-to-left mark in the editbox somewhere; direction marks are needed to write right-to-left languages, but they can get very confusing sometimes (I remember a checkuser case where a stray left-to-right mark got into the title and confused attempts to rename the page). I thought there were templates to add the marks without reversing the edit box, but I can't seem to find them at the moment. --ais523 16:00, 30 December 2006 (UTC)

No panic there, everything is normal. As ais523 noted above, there indeed is a RIGHT-TO-LEFT OVERRIDE character (unicode 0x202E) hidden which effectively inverts the content of the edit box. The page itself is rendered normally, because the character is apparently not interpreted by the MediaWiki software. And as of "why?", it's just a geeky joke and at the same time a vandal/plagiarism deterrent. User:Gurch used to have the same thing on his userpage. Миша13 16:09, 30 December 2006 (UTC)

Oh? How does that work? I want to use it on my userpage! Scienceman123 talk 08:58, 1 January 2007 (UTC)

Redirect issues

I totally messed up the Redirect I was trying to enter. I was doing a search on American comedian Wendy Liebman. Since it is often misspelled "Leibman", (it was even in the Wiki list of comedians), I tried to create the redirect but was unsucessful. Now i cannot get it back. Please help.

Thanks Alfred Ray

The redirect is fixed now - there were two problems with what you were trying to do:

• First, the redirect page cannot contain anything other than the #REDIRECT [[foo]], or the redirect will not work. The template you were trying to add seems to be deprecated, see Template Talk:R from misspelling (I was also confused about this, see the history of Wendy Leibman for evidence :P ).
• And second, the #REDIRECT needs only to be inserted into the article you wish to redirect, not into the target article...that can remain unchanged. The way it was set up, Wendy Liebman was trying to redirect to itself :)

Cheers, Ferkelparade π 17:54, 30 December 2006 (UTC)

why is username capitalized?

Why is my username capitalized, both in the login screen and in references in other screens? 'Spinhead', capitalized, is my web design company name; 'spinhead', all lower case, is my commonly used nickname and username. They're not the same, and the inaccuracy bothers me in print just as it bothers me in speech when someone refers to me as 'joe' when my name is, in fact, joel. Spinhead 17:49, 30 December 2006 (UTC)

You can make your signature appear lower case by adding a nickname in your preferences and you can add {{Lowercase-user}} to your userpage. You can find out more about this in the lower case first letter section of the naming conventions. Angela. 18:25, 30 December 2006 (UTC)

Image Gallery Does Not Show

I am working on a article about the Danish contemporary painter Adam Saks, and i have tried to upload an image gallery. When I select edit this page and preview, and then save it, it shows correctly. However I have found that it only does so on my computer, when I try to test it on other computers the image gallery does not show, why is that? Beatle81 19:11, 30 December 2006 (UTC)

I have looked at the Adam Saks article on two different computers (Windows based) using two different browsers (Mozilla Firefox & IE7.0) the gallery of four pictures shows up fine on both of them. SkierRMH 21:53, 30 December 2006 (UTC)

"See also" guidance

I've spent a couple hours digging through the MoS, and can find nothing about when a "See also" section is to be used for internal links to related articles. I'd appreciate it if someone could point me in the right direction. -- "J-M" (Jgilhousen) 19:12, 30 December 2006 (UTC)

The see also section is usually used to add links to articles that are relevant but not linked to in the text of the article. I may not be understanding your question right; let me know on my talk page if you have a more specific question or if you want to discuss anything. Peace, delldot | talk 21:33, 30 December 2006 (UTC)

Block Reasons

What does ({{username}}) mean as a block reason? Bowsy 20:19, 30 December 2006 (UTC)

It means that the name violates the Username policy. Some usernames, like "Administrator", "Vandal", names of well-known living or recently deceased people, extremely lengthy names, names that resemble an IP address, or random sequences of letters are not allowed because they are too confusing.--Werdan7^{T @} 20:28, 30 December 2006 (UTC)

Contacting an editor

I would like to contact the volunteer editor of the page on Winnipeg, Manitoba. I would like to offer several external links for consideration as additional resources.

--Siamandas 20:58, 30 December 2006 (UTC)

All articles are collaborated on by a number of editors, so I'd suggest leaving a note on the article's talk page (by clicking the "discussion" link at the top of the page at the article) suggesting the information you want to include. You can also be bold and edit the article yourself! You can also find specific editors of an article by clicking the "history" link and looking through the various edits that have been made (e.g. by clicking the "last" button). You can click on their user names and leave them messages on their talk pages. Let me know on my talk page if you have any questions or want to discuss anything. delldot | talk 21:25, 30 December 2006 (UTC)

Borders

How do you get borders around pages in your userspace? Kamope 22:04, 30 December 2006 (UTC)

You would have to employ HTML. I would suggest finding a userpage that you like, copying the basic code, then changing it to suit your fancy (such as using different colours, etc.) That is, unless you happen to have time to learn HTML or are already proficient... —Keakealani 22:52, 30 December 2006 (UTC)

Positive and Negative numbers?

What are all those positive and negative numbers sometimes seen beside names of articles (on the Recent Changes page for example) and what do they mean?SilentWind 22:27, 30 December 2006 (UTC)

See Wikipedia:Added or removed characters. Titoxd^(?!?) 22:29, 30 December 2006 (UTC)

Drop Down Menu

I was wondering how to create a drop down menu for my userpage to hold my awards in. Can someone give me the code and I'll try it out? If it doesn't work I'll ask again. Thank you. DoomsDay349 22:36, 30 December 2006 (UTC)

Incidentally, while I'm asking questions about my userpage, none of the links in my bio box (top left) are working. I've looked at everything but can't quite get it; can someone figure out what's up with that? A million thanks all around. DoomsDay349 22:47, 30 December 2006 (UTC)

template:hidden might be of use to you, although I tried it in preview mode on your page and it didn't obviously do the right thing. The talk page mentions a workaround for a quirk you may run into as well. -- Rick Block (talk) 02:38, 31 December 2006 (UTC)

I fixed my second problem and will try out that template. Thanks. DoomsDay349 20:50, 31 December 2006 (UTC)

Fixed, thank you! DoomsDay349 21:03, 31 December 2006 (UTC)

December 31

Vote for deletion

I'm verry new in wikipedia. I see in a wikipedia project that there are vote taking place for the deletion of varrious topic. How can I vote, and where would the debate take place about the vote ? —Preceding unsigned comment added by Esurnir (talk • contribs)

Firstly, there isn't a vote, there is a discussion. A single compelling argument in one direction outweighs infinite simple statements of opinion on the other. What article's deletion would you like to discuss? All current debates art listed at Wikipedia:Articles for deletion. All those related to the Wikiproject you mentioned are listed at Wikipedia:WikiProject Deletion sorting/Warhammer 40,000 (currently none.) If you would like to dispute or support one of the articles listed at Wikipedia:WikiProject Warhammer 40,000 as being proposed for deletion then simply the project page directly. If you want to do anything else, then you'll have to ask more specifically. --Cherry blossom tree 01:21, 31 December 2006 (UTC)

,,,,, HELP,,,,  : }

I am an old dog learning new trix ,,,i have a story that i wrote in jail,, need help,, trying to get it to right people,, thanks Lucky from Alaska

What kind of story? Please note that Wikipedia doesn't allow original research; everything must be possible to reference to existing sources. Bjelleklang - talk 01:49, 31 December 2006 (UTC)

Reversion of edits

There has to be a better place to ask this, but I'm asking here anyways. I just reverted edits on Glodok and Falun Gong outside China because it looked to me like vandalism. Did I do the right thing? On a different note, is there a better place to ask these kind of questions? --The Dark Side 02:24, 31 December 2006 (UTC)

The first one would appear to be a copyvio, as the text was copied directly from the link given in the article, which would require it to be removed anyway. Also, deleting a non-existing image was also good, as it would only serve to confuse readers. Bjelleklang - talk 02:28, 31 December 2006 (UTC)

And yes, this is a perfectly good place to ask such questions. If you ever feel, in good faith, that an edit is vandalism, it is perfectly fine to revert it. However, if you are unsure if an edit is vandalism, you may want to ask the editor to clarify his/her intentions, or start a discussion on the article's talk page to make sure. —Keakealani 02:30, 31 December 2006 (UTC)

Thank you both. --The Dark Side 03:51, 31 December 2006 (UTC)

great britan

Who is the prime minister of great britan —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 69.246.150.228 (talk) 02:41, 31 December 2006 (UTC).

Prime Minister of the United Kingdom might be of use to you; as far as I know, the current one is Tony Blair. However, this question would be more appropriate for the Reference Desk, as this Help Desk is specifically for questions about using Wikipedia, not general knowledge questions. —Keakealani 03:16, 31 December 2006 (UTC)

Holly Golightly

I wanted to edit the main section about Holly - she also sang two songs for the movie "Lost in Translation" 1) "There Is an End (Featuring Holly Golightly)" by The Greenhornes & Holly Golightly (can also be found on album Dual Mono) and 2) "Tell Me Now So I Know" by Holly Golightly (found on album "Truly She Is None Other"). I noticed that she wasn't listed on the soundtrack of the movie.

The only place I could find to edit was the discography and I didn't want to change that - so I wasn't sure how to proceed....04:31, 31 December 2006 (UTC)Whiff140–

Did you try clicking the "edit this page" button at the top of the page? Maybe I've misinterpreted your question. Let me know on my talk page if you have any other questions or want to discuss anything. Peace, delldot | talk 05:35, 31 December 2006 (UTC)

Complete quote of Wikipedia article

Is this okay for someone to do? I just noticed that the entire "Primal Therapy" article (minus a table) has been copied and republished online with Wikipedia acknowledged as the source[[3]]. GrahameKing 07:41, 31 December 2006 (UTC)

Yes, it's perfectly okay. Please see the GNU Free Documentation License at the bottom of every Wikipedia page. --ElKevbo 07:50, 31 December 2006 (UTC)

text

How do I move text to the left and right of a page, thanks

†he Bread 08:35, 31 December 2006 (UTC)

I'm not sure what you mean. You can right align text using <div style="text-align:right">this notation</div>. If you want something else you'll have to ask more specifically. --Cherry blossom tree 14:29, 31 December 2006 (UTC)

Unnamed question

I cant find an article. It was created sometime ago and is not on the deletion logs. It is aif it was never created. The title is AUDIOFORM. can you help?

The article was, indeed, deleted - you may have misspelled the name in the deletion log. —Keakealani 08:55, 31 December 2006 (UTC)

Article names are case-sensitive; that means that you must type the exact article name to find it. For example, Example works but ExAmplE doesn't. --Joshua Chiew 10:41, 31 December 2006 (UTC)

New page

How do I create my own separate page on Wikipedia that has not yet been started?

See Help:Starting a new page. --Cherry blossom tree 14:25, 31 December 2006 (UTC)

Where do I go / what do I do with this issue.

I've found that all of the smilies put in this template are in fact not GFDL and were not created by the sock puppet user Mystìc (of Lahiru k) but are the intellectual property of http://www.smileyworld.com/dictionary/categoryfaces.asp?cat=MoodExpressions. It seems tedious having to modify all those manually, and I wouldn't really know what their correct license is anyway. On the SmileyWorld website, it simply says “Smiley ® names, characters and all related indicia are licensed by SmileyWorld © 1971-2003 - All rights reserved.” (http://www.smileyworld.com/linktous/index.html)

Please guide me as to what do or where to go. Thanks. DarkPhoenix 15:52, 31 December 2006 (UTC)

The smileys should be deleted as copyright infringements, and if not suitable replacements could be found, the template should be deleted as well. Bjelleklang - talk 16:28, 31 December 2006 (UTC)

image and then next header problem

Often if i have an image at the end of some text, and then a header for the next section below the header starts next to the image rather than below it. How do i solve this one?--GazMan7 17:49, 31 December 2006 (UTC)

You can put {{-}} before the header to clear the margins, if it's really a problem. -Amarkov ^blah_edits 17:54, 31 December 2006 (UTC)

placeopedia

trying to figure out links between wikipedia and google earth. there a wiki layer in ge, but no "link to ge" in wiki? so created a new link in placeopedia, but don't see it in ge (or wiki), ideas? —The preceding unsigned comment was added by Harpert1 (talk • contribs) 18:03, 31 December 2006 (UTC).

Well, Google Earth is a computer program and not a website, so you can't make an external link to it. However, if you put the coordinates of a place in the article (example: Lombard Street (San Francisco)), clicking on this link will take you to a useful page allowing you to view the location using Google maps, Yahoo maps, etc. Regarding Placeopedia, I believe links are added there that link to Wikipedia, and not the other way around. Hope this helps. Dar-Ape 00:07, 2 January 2007 (UTC)

How many links?

How many links does an article need before it is nop longer considered an orphan> PRoy1956 18:31, 31 December 2006 (UTC)

Per Wikipedia:Orphan, only articles with no links from other pages is an orphan (so, 1). -- Rick Block (talk) 18:37, 31 December 2006 (UTC)

Although it's important to realise that you even though it technically results in de-orphaned articles, you shouldn't create a "walled garden" where a small group of articles link to each other with no incoming links. Confusing Manifestation 12:35, 1 January 2007 (UTC)

Can an article title start with a lower-case letter?

I tried creating an article titled "iCasualties.org", but the first letter was automatically capitalized (as in "ICasualties.org"). However, "iCasualties.org" is the correct name. Is there a way to create the article without having the first letter capitalized? Black Falcon 19:51, 31 December 2006 (UTC)

Technically, all article titles on the English Wikipedia begin with a capital letter. However, it's possible to use the {{lowercase}} template to emulate a lower-case first letter. See iPod for an example. Cheers, Tangotango 19:56, 31 December 2006 (UTC)

Yes for example the article iPod is automatically created as IPod so what they have done is type {{lowercase|title=iPod}}. So you would change iPod to the title of your choice. — Arjun 19:58, 31 December 2006 (UTC)

Many thanks to both of you! Black Falcon 20:04, 31 December 2006 (UTC)

Trivia

Does Wikipedia have a trivia game? If not may I make a suggestion of the following:

Wikipedia is the perfect place for Trivia gamers. It should be called WikiTriv or Wikivia. Here is the basic rundown: 1. Members submit Trivia questions based on content in Wikipedia. 2. There should be three basic levels of expertise at the beginning - Jr. High / Sr. High / College Grad. 3. Each level should be numbered in question sequence eg 1-1000 with the question always remaining with it's assigned number so the players can keep track of those questions they have encountered. 4. Once a player has seen all 1000 questions and answers he/she becomes the moderator (Alex Trebek). 5. Points should be given for correct answers and half points should be taken away for incorrect answers. 6. To become a verified member of the Wiki Trivia organization members will register and contribute $5.00 and be given a special password and member number. 7. Yearly competition among members (of each level) will take place with prize money going to the winners. I have more ideas but this is the skeleton of the trivia game.

In an advanced version, answers should be in essay type detail with so many points for each detail item.

207.118.11.210 20:18, 31 December 2006 (UTC)mike m

This is not allowed under WP:NOT, which forbids games on Wikipedia. Though many people I know like to ignore that. DoomsDay349 21:10, 31 December 2006 (UTC)

You might be interested in Wikipedia:Department of Fun. User:Zoe|(talk) 22:23, 31 December 2006 (UTC)

Since Wikipedia is free and open content under the GFDL, I don't think it would be permitted to charge money for access. And no Wikipedian would dream of doing such a thing. Yuser31415 02:24, 5 January 2007 (UTC)

Image deletion

Ok, I feel bad about this because I asked a couple of months ago, but I can't remember. How do I delete an image I took? I believe it had the word "self" in it. Thanks! | AndonicO ^{Talk | Sign Here} 20:43, 31 December 2006 (UTC)

You don't know the name of the image? Try here Theresa Knott | Taste the Korn 20:48, 31 December 2006 (UTC)

I think what he's asking is how to delete an image he has uploaded - the correct tag would be {{db-author}}. However, I'm not sure if there is a time duration with that, since other people may have since used/edited the image. —Keakealani 22:33, 31 December 2006 (UTC)

You can also find all the images you've uploaded from the upload log, accessed via the "special pages" link in the toolbox on the left (then click "logs"). Your upload history is here. -- Rick Block (talk) 23:20, 31 December 2006 (UTC)

{{db-author}} is what I was looking for; thanks! | AndonicO ^{Talk | Sign Here} 17:14, 1 January 2007 (UTC)

Personal testimony and documentation

A Wikipedia entry about a newspaper chain reports that a reporter won an ethics award after she resigned from the paper. She quit after being told that she could not write negative restaurant reviews.

This fall, I contacted an editor at the paper in an attempt to share with her my encounter with my congresswoman. The editor was not interested in any facts, but said that she would contact the congresswoman's office. I emailed her some facts anyway, and she requested that I cease.

The email messages that I sent to her consisted strictly of documents, not opinions. I do not wish to post those; however, I would like to post the email message that I sent to the paper's publisher after I received the email message from the editor. I did not get a response.

I have known many reporters, and they were all interested in "the facts". ["If your mother says she loves you check it out."] The paper later endorsed the congresswoman for reelection.

I think that it is important to note that an editor of a newspaper did not want to be bothered with the facts about a candidate that her paper endorsed. How should I do this or should I even bother.Jayzilla 21:06, 31 December 2006 (UTC)

This is original research and has inherent POV problems. Sorry. --Wooty Woot? contribs 23:07, 31 December 2006 (UTC)

Links deletion

If a wiki project antispam member refuses to allow any links at all on a web page as he sees it as spam and also refuses to take note of any discussion from other users is his view taken as final or can I keep adding the link back again as I think he is being totally unreasonable?Will my IP address be banned if I do? Why should one person decide what links are valuable and which not when he appears to have no knowledge of the subject matter at all and can I do anything about it?

Klodo123 23:02, 31 December 2006 (UTC)

Depends on the link. You shouldn't keep adding and removing links back and forth, that's an edit war and you, or the other member, will probably get slapped with a 3RR violation. --Wooty Woot? contribs 23:09, 31 December 2006 (UTC)

• Talk to other members of the antispam project and make a case for why the link should be included bearing in mind WP:EL. - Mgm|^(talk) 11:44, 1 January 2007 (UTC)

Generally speaking if the link violates/doesn't work with Wikipedia:External links it will always end up removed. I suggest you ask the remover what about that link made them remove it. 68.39.174.238 08:10, 2 January 2007 (UTC)

Generating list of subpages

Is there a special page to locate a list of subpages? I'm trying to find one of mine the title I cannot quite remember. DoomsDay349 23:16, 31 December 2006 (UTC)

It's at Special:Prefixindex. Cheers! — Editor at Large^(speak) 23:19, 31 December 2006 (UTC)

Danka. DoomsDay349 23:19, 31 December 2006 (UTC)

getting out

In an idle moment I have typed my name out on the internet only to discover to my abject horror that a wikipedia page turns up with my name as title. I had hoped to help you by editing some glaring mistakes but very quickly came up against a barrage of prejudicial statements that were not correct. This led me to understand the nature of your organisation which is one that I would want nothing whatsoever to involve myself in. Having deleted the correspondence I discover that it simply comes up again. Basically I politely request that all trace of any numbers and my name including the title page be entirely deleted from your entire website. Yours sincerely —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 86.131.186.58 (talk) 23:41, 31 December 2006 (UTC).

I'll delete your userpage, per your request. Can't do anything about the search engine results, but those'll filter out when they update their caches, most likely. See m:Right to vanish. Luna Santin 23:46, 31 December 2006 (UTC)

January 1

Articles

How do I make a new section of an Article? —The preceding unsigned comment was added by BrandiniTheGreat (talk) 21:30, 31 December 2006 (UTC).

See here for the answer to your question. Also, please sign your posts with four tildes (~~~~) so we know who you are =] - Minkus 01:47, 1 January 2007 (UTC)

Trans-wikiing pictures

I recently requested a translation of the French Wikipedia article, w:fr:Tremblement de terre de Bâle de 1356, to 1356 Basel earthquake. Someone added an interwiki link to the German article, which is w:de:Basler Erdbeben. I notice that the German article has an image - w:de:Bild:Erdbebenkreuz.JPG. The image only exists at the German Wikipedia, but seems to be GFDL from my limited knowledge of German. What I want to know is (a) can anyone translate the German on that image page; and (b) can I download that picture from there and upload it to Commons or to en-wikipedia?, and if so, which is best. Maybe contacting the uploader over there is best, but my German is not good enough to do that. Any suggestions? Carcharoth 01:50, 1 January 2007 (UTC)

• Answered on user's talk page. - Mgm|^(talk) 11:38, 1 January 2007 (UTC)

How to propose a new Template?

I found a nice template for Operas articles in the Italian wiki. I'd like to suggest that the same template be used in the English wiki. How would I make such a suggestion? Luca priorelli 02:21, 1 January 2007 (UTC)

Well, there are a number of things you can do, but what I usually do is create it (or just copy and translate it from the Italian Wiki in your case) in your userspace (e.g. User:Luca priorelli/opera template), make the nessisary adjustments and just be bold and put it on the appropriate articles. If there is a Wikiproject for Opera you could check in there as well and they should be able to help you out.

†he Bread 02:32, 1 January 2007 (UTC)

There is an opera project, see Wikipedia:WikiProject Opera. You can also ask at Wikipedia:Requested templates. -- Rick Block (talk) 04:49, 1 January 2007 (UTC)

Note that if it's a stub template, it is usually best to propose it first at WP:WSS/P (The Stub sorting WikiProject proposal page). Grutness...wha? 05:05, 1 January 2007 (UTC)

Single account can be used in all language version??

Single account can be used in all language version??

for me,I regisitered in English version. My account can or can't be used in Chinese or Indonesian version??

Thanks for help. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 61.64.156.25 (talk) 03:24, 1 January 2007 (UTC).

Not at the moment. However, the wikimedia developers are working on a single sign-on which will make this possible in the future. Bjelleklang - talk 03:27, 1 January 2007 (UTC)

Life

--Destepstow 03:28, 1 January 2007 (UTC)Happy new year. please i want to know more about live? how can i leave a good live, i want to leave a good live.

How to report a article vandalism behavior??

I found a article vandalized by other. How to report that action??

thanks for help. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by Hattonchiu1 (talk • contribs) 03:40, 1 January 2007 (UTC).

To report vandalism, go to Wikipedia:Administrator intervention against vandalism. If the person has only vandalised once, the best thing to do is to warn them first before reporting them there. Raven4x4x 04:08, 1 January 2007 (UTC)

Seven Marks

i have typed in: the seven marks of the seven angels and all i got are a list of angels and other types of information not corrosponding with the marks of them. I did get the symbols but that is not what i am looking for. The marks are on the bible wheel i believe. I was wondering if u have any articals that are about the marks or one that can redirct me to a site about them.

Thank you for any help i may receive, Paul

Wake from Sleeping Instructions in English

I want to know how to wake it from sleeping mode. Also, the only instructions were in other languages, not English. Where can I print the English instructions? Thank you! —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 4.235.177.194 (talk) 04:28, 1 January 2007 (UTC).

If this is a serious question I believe you should clarify it. X [Mac Davis] (DESK|How's my driving?) 04:33, 1 January 2007 (UTC)

Image Tag

Hello

I posted a photo of "Cheri Huber" on the page I edited. I got a message saying it would be taken down etc. I looked into how to 'tag' the image but it's all very confusing. It's an image from her web page - what tag should I put and how?

Thank you.

Nearly all images on the web are copyrighted under terms intended to prevent anyone from reusing them. Images uploaded to Wikipedia must be available for reuse, so unless it's an image you created yourself (that you're willing to release under a basically "free" license) you generally can't upload it to Wikipedia. Please see Wikipedia:Image use policy. -- Rick Block (talk) 07:39, 1 January 2007 (UTC)

• 'Created' is too vague in this context. You have to have taken the picture. For example, making a capture from a video means you created the image, but that still doesn't allow you to post it, because you didn't have the right to make a derivative work of the video in the first place. - Mgm|^(talk) 11:32, 1 January 2007 (UTC)

When did that "Undo" button appear?

I'm talking about the link, next to "edit" on a diff page, that basically auto-reverts an edit... I just noticed it (I don't know how new, or old(!) it is), and it's very helpful! Bduddy 08:02, 1 January 2007 (UTC)

Couple weeks ago... or so. Dismas|^(talk) 10:29, 1 January 2007 (UTC)

Interwiki redirect

Is there a way to have my userpage on another project (like Wiktionary) redirect to my wikipedia one? Scienceman123 talk 08:42, 1 January 2007 (UTC)

Just add the prefix "Wikipedia:" before the normal link: [[Wikipedia:User:Scienceman123]]. :-D -- Editor at Large • talk 08:47, 1 January 2007 (UTC)

Thanks. Scienceman123 talk 08:49, 1 January 2007 (UTC)

Wait. It only shows the arrow and link, it doesn't automatically redirect. Scienceman123 talk 08:51, 1 January 2007 (UTC)

Oh, I'm sorry! I just provided the link. To redirect you need to use

#REDIRECT [[Wikipedia:User:Scienceman123]]

or you could just offer a link on your page, like at m:User:Editor at Large; this way people know they are clicking somewhere that will take them away from the project they are currently at. Sorry about the mistake! -- Editor at Large • talk 10:36, 1 January 2007 (UTC)

Actually, I'm pretty sure cross-project redirects don't work, so you'll have to just provide the link (incidentally, just w:User:Scienceman123 should work, I believe) and let people click it themselves. Confusing Manifestation 12:28, 1 January 2007 (UTC)

Hmm... maybe I shouldn't give advice when I'm tired. At any rate, you're right; the redirect doesn't work. It does show the redirect page, however, which is perhaps more obvious than a simple link... and negates the need for formatting such as large font to make the link more obvious/visible/noticeable.

And "w:" is the short form, yes... I use the full version as a personal preference, and forgot to use/mention the shorter form most people use. My apologies! -- Editor at Large • talk 20:22, 1 January 2007 (UTC)

Suggest looking at {{softredirect}}. 68.39.174.238 08:13, 2 January 2007 (UTC)

ADD article

Hey folks, I just looked up the page on ADD, which should be disambiguation for the term, but it looks like it's been vandalised or badly edited in the last edit - I don't know how to revert though, so.. if someone else could do it, that'd be great. Thanks :) --24.18.236.29 10:02, 1 January 2007 (UTC)

Fixed - and thank you for the 'heads up'. Please see your user talk page 24.18.236.29 for instructions on how to do this yourself. SkierRMH 10:07, 1 January 2007 (UTC)

Richard Dawkins article has been vandalized

I have never edited a Wikipedia article, so don't know how to fix it, but wanted to draw your attention to the Richard Dawkins article. It has been vandalized this morning. Thanks.

It appears that the article has already been fixed; thanks for pointing it out. For information on fixing articles, see WP:REVERT. Cheers, Tangotango 13:58, 1 January 2007 (UTC)

Proofreaders needed

Proofreaders are needed for the various lists listed at Lists of basic topics.

Many of the basic topic lists are incomplete. So if you have a spare moment, please pick a subject you are familiar with from those listed, click on it and browse that list to see if any gaps or holes pop out at you, and then fill in the holes with links. Like if you read List of basic aerospace topics and noticed space shuttle is missing, simply add that link to the list. Good luck, and have fun.  The Transhumanist   16:40, 1 January 2007 (UTC)

I love to proof-read; I'll stop by soon. :-) | AndonicO ^{Talk | Sign Here} 16:44, 1 January 2007 (UTC)

Ancient Atlantis

Dear Davis: I started to write my article and the lords stopped the publication.Now I know how Galileo felt; tell the lords,please let seedplanter speak.....seedplanter

Who is Davis? Could you please explain what article you are talking about? User:Zoe|(talk) 21:15, 1 January 2007 (UTC)

This dude also hit the Science references desk, see Wikipedia:Reference_desk/Science#Atlantis. 68.39.174.238 08:15, 2 January 2007 (UTC)

Image

I'm writing a Masters thesis and would like to use an image included in one of wiki's articles. Is this OK and how/if should I mention it in?

Most of the time it is ok, but it depends on the license. What license does the image you would like to use have? | AndonicO ^{Talk | Sign Here} 18:04, 1 January 2007 (UTC)

For more info, see this page: Wikipedia:Citing Wikipedia. GhostPirate 20:05, 1 January 2007 (UTC)

Shortening of historic newspaper headlines in references

I am hoping for some feedback on whether to revert a style issue edit or not. I recently created balkline and straight rail, now on the main page as the lead dyk article. The article contains many references to New York Times articles, many of them from the 1800s. I kept in the full original headlines in the references (<ref></ref> format), which I think are interesting and add a gloss of historic information to the article. I also kept in the original title formatting, many of them all uppercase. I of course first checked Wikipedia:Citing sources and a few other related pages before coming here, but found no guidance. See here for the former format of the references; here for the diff shortening the headlines. It is clear that the edit does streamline the references, but again, possibly at the cost of completeness and interest.

So: is there a specific style page giving guidance on this? Do you think the edit is better than the original and should remain? And if I do revert, should I make the headlines title case rather than uppercase to conform to modern convention and for ease of reading?--Fuhghettaboutit 18:11, 1 January 2007 (UTC)

Everytime I Edit It Gets Deleted!

On this page: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Wii_games I am trying to add another name to the list; under K, I want to add "Kid Icarus (Wii)". I do this with no problem, and clearly mark it is a rumoured game.

To back up my newly added info, I give a link to thread on a popular Nintendo Wii site: http://www.wiichat.com/nintendo-wii-gaming/4541-return-classic.html MOST of the info in that thread comes straight from WIKIPEDIA and it has been confirmed on other sites.

Problem is, the next day it gets removed. Why is this? there are other games on the list that are rumours too. But mine gets deleted, I would like an answer please. Thanks. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 81.152.207.116 (talk • contribs).

I suggest you bring this up at Talk:List of Wii games. -- Rick Block (talk) 19:55, 1 January 2007 (UTC)

You can't use a link which claims to get its information from Wikipedia, as supporting evidence in an edit to Wikipedia. User:Zoe|(talk) 21:17, 1 January 2007 (UTC)

Arbitration Committee.

What is the Arbitration Committee and what does it do? Also why does it say those who qualify may vote here instead of just allowing all users to vote?Henchman 2000 19:55, 1 January 2007 (UTC)

The arbitration committee is a group of experienced users who settle long running and serious debates. It is meant as a definitive, last resort method of resolving major disputes. Whenever you see something that says "only established users may vote", it means that only people who have been here a while can vote. This is to prevent someone from making a bunch of sockpuppets and using them to rig the vote. GhostPirate 20:03, 1 January 2007 (UTC)

• If you want to read more about the arbitration committee, you can go here. (The Wikipedia Signpost WP:POST also did a series on the arbcom.) As for the "those who qualify may vote here", I'm not sure what it is referring to. If it's about the arbcom elections, it's to ensure that people who are voting on the candidates are actually working on Wikipedia. If it's about voting in arbcom cases, it's simple. Not everyone may vote, it's the arbcom's job to make a decision. - Mgm|^(talk) 20:04, 1 January 2007 (UTC)

Foul Language on a Talk Page

I understand that someone should not edit someone else's comments posted on a talk page, but what about something like the following;

DO YOU GUYS EVEN KNOW WHAT THE FUCK YOUR DOING? WHY IS THIS REDIRECTING? DDWRT RUNS ON HUNDREDS OF MODELS OF ROUTERS, NOT JUST WRT54G DUMB NIGGERS!!! STOP REDIRECTING, KEEP ALL 3RD PARTY FIRMWARE ALIVE, ESPECIALLY WHEN STUBS LIKE CHILLISPOT ARE STILL ALIVE!!!--65.11.233.70 18:24, 1 January 2007 (UTC)

Should this be allowed to stay? Or should it be removed?--OPaul 20:12, 1 January 2007 (UTC)

That can be reverted as blatant incivility, but it has to be fully reverted, or replaced with "(uncivil comment removed)", not just censored piecewise with the swear words removed. -Amarkov ^blah_edits 20:13, 1 January 2007 (UTC)

I don't see why not! I'd say edit it slightly. Leave swear words in but remove personal attacks. Basically remove "dumb niggers" - without it it's rude but not abusive. Theresa Knott | Taste the Korn 20:17, 1 January 2007 (UTC)

Thanks. I just reverted it. Talk:DD-WRT --OPaul 20:21, 1 January 2007 (UTC)

It's just that removing only the swear words would probably lead to more trouble with WP:NOT#CENSORED than it's worth. -Amarkov ^blah_edits 20:23, 1 January 2007 (UTC)

Oh but wikipedia is censored! We don't allow personal attacks, we don't allow rants, we don't allow unencylopedic content. The policy above relates to articles rather than talk page comments and doesn't really apply here. My MO is use common sense. He clearly lost his temper and would probably appreciate someone toning his words down. Theresa Knott | Taste the Korn 20:29, 1 January 2007 (UTC)

True, but if a revert works fine, no reason to open the possibility of complaints about it. -Amarkov ^blah_edits 20:30, 1 January 2007 (UTC)

What I've got against a revert, is that for all I know, his basic point may very well be valid. I know nothing of the topic in question. Theresa Knott | Taste the Korn 20:35, 1 January 2007 (UTC)

Multiple spellings for person's name

How do you handle a person that has been referenced by two names? e.g. Most of the links use Rolf, but several use Rolfe (not the real name)
This would be for the main entry name.
Zeete 20:54, 1 January 2007 (UTC)

Create the page under the correct (real) name and add a redirect on the alternative spelling. Trebor 20:57, 1 January 2007 (UTC)

You could use a redirect, having the less common spelling linking to the more common spelling. You could also mention that the person sometimes goes by the other name, if it is valid. -- Natalya 20:58, 1 January 2007 (UTC)

Additional materials exists on a foreign language encyclopedia

What is the code to add a tag indicating that additional materials exists on a foreign language Wikipedia? I cannot find the applicable Help page. Thanks! --Thisisbossi 20:55, 1 January 2007 (UTC)

Hmm... there is Wikipedia:Interlanguage links and Wikipedia:Interwikimedia link, but are you looking for something more specific that actually says that there is more information in another language? -- Natalya 21:03, 1 January 2007 (UTC)

Not quite -- I have seen tags on Talk pages that read something along the lines of "This article has been identified on a foreign language Wikipedia, which may provide more info" I'm not looking for info on how to link to an article; but a template indicating that an article exists on another Wikipedia. Did that make any more sense? --Thisisbossi 21:07, 1 January 2007 (UTC)

I think so - kind of along the lines of the interwiki project links, but for other language wikipedias? And on the talk pages then, of course. But serving that general purpose? I'll see what turns up. -- Natalya 21:21, 1 January 2007 (UTC)

Hmm... the best I've been able to find are {{FPOL}}, about featured portals in other languages, and {{RoughTranslation}}, but I don't think either of them are what you're looking for. Sorry I can't be of more help, but perhaps editors familiar with those templates might know of it. Good luck finding it. -- Natalya 22:21, 1 January 2007 (UTC)

I'll just type it out in lieu of a tag. Thanks, anyway! :) --Thisisbossi 04:34, 2 January 2007 (UTC)

Copyright problems regarding image

Hi! I drew a prototype train called HSR-350x for the article dedicated to that prototype in order to avoid copyright infringements.

But a Wikipedian, Robth, deleted the image because he said that the work was derivative of the original work. I gave reasons why the drawing was not a copyright infringement.

• Albeit it be derivative or not, you cannot ignore the fact that all HSR-350x will look the same from a certain angle, and that there are many photographs for the train. Each and one of those photographs are NOT copyright infringements of the other.

• Your interpretation would qualify for duplication of an artistic rendering or construction, where the uniqueness of the idea and design identify the subject. This is none of that.

• And in order for the drawing to be accurate, it has to depend on an actual photograph. Reasonability bypasses any possibility of ill intention.

Then he said that A drawing that is a synthesis of a number of photographs would be acceptable. A drawing that is a near tracing of one photograph is not.

Then I showed him all the images that look similar to my drawing.

• [4]
• [5]
• [6]
• [7]
• [8]

They're all from the Daum.net image search [9].

• [10]
• [11]
• [12]

Then Robth said, How was your image created? Certain elements of the composition (the angle, the yellow stripe) are strikingly similar to that of the original coprighted image. So I gave a close description of how I created the image.

What do others think? (Wikimachine 21:13, 1 January 2007 (UTC))

The question of "How was your image created?" seems to handle the question. If you, while drawing, copied the image in question, it seems appropriate that that would be considered a derivative (and unless that is allowed the the licensing, then it would be a copyright infringment). However, if, like he mentioned, you studied a number of different images and then drew one of your own, not based on any image in particular, that would qualify more as an individual piece of work. -- Natalya 21:26, 1 January 2007 (UTC)

Thx. But here's the gray line. I searched all the images that had the nose on the right and the rest of the body stretching to the left of the image's frame (b/c I thought that would look best when placed in the right side of the article). And then, I picked the highest resolution image with the best overall "look" and color mix & drew. Would that qualify as "studied a number of different images and then drew one of your own". Please understand, it would have been impossible for me to draw an accurate image while making a "averaged coordinate-mapped" drawing & I focused on accuracy (b/c encyclopedias should be accurate). (Wikimachine 23:56, 1 January 2007 (UTC))

about time signatures of drum

want to know time signature in details and clearly —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 202.56.7.135 (talk • contribs).

Have you read the article on Time signatures? -- Rick Block (talk) 21:49, 1 January 2007 (UTC)

Questions about Featured Article Candidates

Usually how long does an article nominated for featured-article status stay on the WP:FAC page before it's decided if it can be a FA or not? I ask this because I nominated this article for FA on Dec. 29, and it still hasn't got a single comment, even though all the other articles after it got comments. Now, I know that the article's subject may not be too interesting or that it might have some flaws, but I don't like the idea of it becoming a failed FA just because it got no comments. Is every article on FAC guaranteed to get some comments? Am I overreacting? Breed Zona 22:30, 1 January 2007 (UTC)

Actually this is a good sign - comments are usually mentioning issues or queries. They basically take them from the bottom pretty much. I can't see yours on Dec 29 though - have they used it now? Johnbod 22:46, 1 January 2007 (UTC)

oops, sorry - i thought you were talking about DYK, not FAC - Ignore my last, & be patient Johnbod 22:48, 1 January 2007 (UTC)

creating links

hello, happy new year,

i am a new wikipedia user. I have created an article, but cannot figure out how to create links of certain other people, places, or things that exist within my article to other wikipedia articles about or containing those people, places, and things.

examples: Don Henley, Bellingham, WA, Dead & Breakfast,

can you herlp me with this, please?

thank you,

ahighlandheart

I assume you're talking about the article for Brent David Fraser. To create links you just put a pair of brackets [[ and ]] around the words that you want linked.

Also, you'll want to rewrite that bio. We can't just copy and paste things word for word from other sources. That's plagarism and copyright infringement. See WP:COPYVIO for more info. Dismas|^(talk) 22:45, 1 January 2007 (UTC)

• You might want to do the Wikipedia:Tutorial as well to learn more about basic editing. - 131.211.91.150 08:44, 2 January 2007 (UTC)

Question about citing text from other websites

I guess I've broken the Do Not Copy Text Rule. I was correcting the Dan Emmett page regarding his authorship of Dixie, and while I was there, I decided to address the myth than Emmett was embarrassed by the popularity of "Dixie" in the Confederacy. To do so, I felt it necessary to show an example, which I quoted several sentences, giving the URL. Under normal scholarly rules, this is not plagiarism, but fair use.

If you delete the quotation, please advise me how to do this correctly. I can't imagine that someone who subscribed to an error and put it online would welcome a request for permission to use it in refutation. Should I simply give the site, and try to paraphrase the languageJosephbyrd 23:12, 1 January 2007 (UTC)?

Thanks,

Joseph ByrdJosephbyrd 23:12, 1 January 2007 (UTC)

I'm pretty sure that what you did was ok. We can quote text as long as we give the citation (e.g. not plagarism, as you mentioned, or a copyright violation). There's also the concern about people putting excessive quotes, like lists of quotes, but as long as it's a small thing to improve the article, there shouldn't be a problem with it. For example, there's quoted material in Gettysburg Address, and that's a featured article. If I haven't understood your question right of if there's more to it than this, definitely give me a heads up. Let me know on my talk page if you have any questions or want to discuss anything. Peace, delldot | talk 00:56, 2 January 2007 (UTC)

P.S. You can find more info about the guideline in question here —The preceding unsigned comment was added by Delldot (talk • contribs) 01:09, 2 January 2007 (UTC).

Infobox and wikitable templates

I am a member of WP:NYCPT. We have an infobox called {{Infobox NYCS}} that replaces the hard one. Is it possible to create a template for a wikitable? --Imdanumber1 ( Talk | contribs) 23:56, 1 January 2007 (UTC)

I don't understand, aren't wikitable's template themselves? 68.39.174.238 07:58, 2 January 2007 (UTC)

Help!

I am trying to make this my signature.

真夜中

(talk)

(contrib)

Two problems: One, it for some reason each box has a line break in between each for some reason (don't know why), Two, the links aren't working, and Three, whenever I try to save it as my sig (Raw Signature checked) I get "Invalid raw signature; check HTML tags". --<div style="font-family:impact;"><span style="border: 1px; border-style:solid; padding:3px 0px 0px 2px; color:aqua; background-color:black; font-weight:bold"><font size=4>真夜中</font></span></div><div style="font-family:haettenschweiler;"><span style="border: 1px; border-style:solid; padding:1px 0px 0px 2px; color:aqua; background-color:black; font-weight:bold"><font size=2>(talk)</font></span></div><div style="font-family:haettenschweiler;"><span style="border: 1px; border-style:solid; padding:1px 0px 0px 2px; color:aqua; background-color:black; font-weight:bold"><font size=2>(contrib)</font></span></div> 00:22, 2 January 2007 (UTC)

Oops, sorry, RedPooka

The line breaks are because you're using "div"s. If you just use "span"s there won't be line breaks (like with your existing sig). I don't know what the HTML problem is (you might try putting the span outside the link rather than inside). -- Rick Block (talk) 01:21, 2 January 2007 (UTC)

That's WAY too many lines for a sig (WP:SIG), as is your current one. I strongly advise cutting it down to under 4 lines. --Wooty Woot? contribs 01:33, 2 January 2007 (UTC)

Let me see...

真夜中(talk)(contrib)

Huzzah! One more question, is there a way to stack the "(talk)" onto the "(contrib)" button? If it gets too big I can shrink it. :) --RedPooka 02:12, 2 January 2007 (UTC)

Nevermind, I found a workaround! {{User:Midnight 7/signaturetemplate}} = Who cares?, which also fixes the size problem so it's only one line. :) --真夜中^(talk)_(contrib)7 20:32, 2 January 2007 (UTC)

January 2

What happens when an article is added to the watchlist?Kingmanblah 02:06, 2 January 2007 (UTC)

It gets added here - Special:Watchlist which you can edit (left click display and edit link) for example here Special:Watchlist/edit.

When a page (or its Talk Page) get edited then a new item comes up in the list at Special:Watchlist.

For more info see Help:Watching pages. Cheers Lethaniol 02:13, 2 January 2007 (UTC)

Copyright

Hi. Could someone take a look at this image that I uploaded:Image:Une1312.jpg? I was wondering if there is a specific category to use for images that are copyrighted have dispensations, such as on the UN web site that I took it from: "Images are available to journalists, magazines, book publishers, film and TV producers." Also, what would be a good rationale for its use? Lesgles (talk) 02:36, 2 January 2007 (UTC)

Other similar UN-related images seem to use the generic fair use tag for images, providing they meet the fair use rationale, of course. Examples include Image:Ronaldo Mota Sardenburg.jpg, Image:KRNwithKofiAnnan.jpg, and Image:Cesar Mayoral.jpg. Those images, however, do not clarify fair use rationale, which you should be sure to do so that it is not deleted. That last link tells you the steps you need to take to do that. -- Natalya 03:14, 2 January 2007 (UTC)

Discussion partner keeps using offensive expression.

I'm now discussing about Norimitsu Onishi in the discussion page, but the partner keeps using some offensive expressions such as "a nobody" or aggressive words in Japanglish (Japanese in alphabet). I asked him/her to stop doing it but with no success. How can I handle this situation? Is there any good way to prevent him/her from further actions? --Galaksiafervojo 02:46, 2 January 2007 (UTC)

Please refer him/her to Wikipedia:No personal attacks, if this is unsuccessful, post a little note at Wikipedia:Administrators Noteboard, and see you can get an admin involved. Bjelleklang - talk 02:50, 2 January 2007 (UTC)

He/she insists the expression like "you are nobody" is not offensive from the definition on the dictionary and never let him/herself to listen to my explaination of the connotation. But I'll try to follow your advice and notify him/her first. Thank you very much. --Galaksiafervojo 02:56, 2 January 2007 (UTC)

Instead of the Administrators Noteboard, take it to Wikipedia:Personal attack intervention noticeboard. User:Zoe|(talk) 03:19, 2 January 2007 (UTC)

Another question. The person I'm discussing with asserts that the connotation should not be considered, so the phrase like "you are nobody" is not offensive, while I still feel in that way. I politely asked him not to use it in his talk page, but it seems declined. Is that true in Wikipedia only the definition on the dictionary counts? --Galaksiafervojo 07:47, 2 January 2007 (UTC)

p.s. Thanks, Zoe, for your advice. --Galaksiafervojo 07:50, 2 January 2007 (UTC)

If it's widely considered incivil (WP:CIVIL), or even in some circles, it shouldn't be used when the person saying it knows that and has been told that someone in the conversation find it offensive. I'd suggest ask him on his talk page to politely refrain (Especially if there's no real need for it in the dialog). As above, if you feel it's getting out of hand, you can bring it up on WP:PAIN. 68.39.174.238 08:02, 2 January 2007 (UTC)

Thank you very much, it looks really helpful! I'll let him know this guideline and ask him once more not to use the expression any more. Hope it works. --Galaksiafervojo 08:26, 2 January 2007 (UTC)

User page design center

I've been constructing the User page design center but have run out of steam. It could use the creative energy of other editors. Please feel free to join in and contribute ideas, wikicode (it's really a wikicode library from which users can cut and paste elements right to their own user page), and there's a subpage for links to user pages which are good examples to follow. (To find example-links to add, see WP:UPA's page history for a source of cool links: the winners and the nominees).  The Transhumanist   03:15, 2 January 2007 (UTC)

original creation date

how do i find the date an article was first created?

Easy. Click on "history", go down a little and clic on "earliest". Scroll to the bottom of the page, and that will be the first edit. --Samuel Wantman 07:50, 2 January 2007 (UTC)

Look at the first revision of the page history. For an article created in 2001, there will not be a correct date for the original creation of the article. See also Help:Page history. —Centrx→talk • 07:52, 2 January 2007 (UTC)

Deletion of article on corporate organizations

if i want to write an article about a particular firm then how should i go about it. I wrote an article and it got deleted twice when it was of the same formatting of about 6 other similar firms, on the grounds that it was blatant advertising for a firm. The funny thing is that there are references to this firm on other existing wiki pages.

I dont understand what constitutes wikipedia's content? If it is an encyclopedia then don't allow firms like GE, Mckinsey, Microsoft on it as well. If it is an open database then allow any and all forms of data, even advertising. I go to wikipedia for information about anything and everything and so I would also like to read about corporations in other parts of the world as well such as Vietnam, India, Mali, Congo and more. If only public domain data can be added then this is not exactly doing anything new or innovative as I can google, yahoo or lycos it and get the data as well.

My article was on Technopak Advisors, a management consulting firm out of India. It is the only one in India.

I don't know where the article is, but a general response. The topic of a Wikipedia article must be the subject of multiple reliable published work that are independent of the subject and of each other and that cover the subject non-trivially. This includes books, magazines, and academic journals that have the topic as their main subject. IBM, for example, has at least two several-hundred page books written by independent authors that are devoted to the topic, in addition to the thousands of less substantial sources on the topic. See also Wikipedia:Verifiability, Wikipedia:Reliable sources, and Wikipedia:Notability. Wikipedia articles must also be in a neutral point of view, written in an encyclopedic tone and formatted as a Wikipedia article. Articles that do not meet these standards are deleted, sooner or later. —Centrx→talk • 07:50, 2 January 2007 (UTC)

Deletion

Moved here from the reference desk Rockpocket 08:09, 2 January 2007 (UTC)

I chose to ask this question though AOL and off my username for a bit of (hoped for) anonymity. I started out on Wikipedia as a Wikignome, making minor edits and such. I finally sat down one afternoon and made a contribution in the form of a new article. I completely sketched it out, citing sources and checking and rechecking the content, spelling, grammar, etc. I think it was a good article and added to a topic that is not thoroughly covered in Wikipedia. It was not a stub, and did a lot more than just define the topic. The article was submitted for deletion and promptly removed from Wikipedia. The user who removed it gave little reasoning why and by the time I found out about it, the article and its talk page were both removed. I've thought about contacting the administrator who deleted it, but I wonder if he/she even remembers it. The deletion log mentions no reason for the removal.

I understand that Wikipedia is a 'community,' and that 'my' article was never really mine. However, I've been rather bothered since the article was removed. I specifically asked users who take actions like this to leave a reason why and offer suggestions for improvement on my talk page. Sadly, the user who marked the article for deletion did neither. Since the deletion, I’ve almost felt like I’ve been ‘put back in my place’ as the newbie.

The whole process that the article went through during deletion seemed rather bureaucratic and not at all 'community' oriented. My talk page explains several times that I am new to Wikipedia, and that help is requested and appreciated.

The way the article was dealt with seemed to go against the basic Wikipedia tenants of ‘don't bite the new people’ and ‘improve before deleting.’ And - as I'm sure would be argued, I used several templates to aid in the production of the article.

Since I started using Wikipedia about three years ago and editing it about six months ago, I've read lots and lots about how 'user-oriented' it is. How I'm supposed to 'be bold' and how my contributions matter.

If after following the rules of Wikipedia and giving regard to its style, tenants, and morays, my article is still deleted - why should I even bother?

My question is, why should I even bother putting in another afternoon worth of work if that work can - and has been - thrown out completely?

I'm not asking for a pity party, but honestly, I've seen some (please pardon the swearing) shit articles on Wikipedia that contribute nothing to the value of it (Wikipedia) as a resource, lack proper form editing, are POV, etc. and have and do remain.

I apologize for the length of this question, but really - why? I'm sure it sounds like I've made my mind up, but I haven't. I've read the dissent's side - that Wikipedia is chock full of bully editors who stomp on the newbies because they can. So, I'd like to hear the defense. Why should I stay and contribute anything more?

209.247.21.179 06:53, 2 January 2007 (UTC)

Hi. I've moved this from the reference desk to the Help Desk. First of all let me apologize on behalf of the community and the administrative corps, for what has clearly been a breakdown in the process.

To be perfectly frank, there are too many occasions where "experienced" editors are way too quick on the trigger finger when it comes to deletions, and not quick enough with newbie friendly explanations or advice. I've been an administrator for a few months now and, on reviewing speedy deletions, I've been concerned with the number of editors who tag an article for deletion and issue a blatant vandal warning to the creating editor, even though it is highly possible that it is a novice Wikipedian who has simply misunderstood our policies. I've also seen both editors and administrators who take a very liberal interpretation of the speedy deletion criteria to immediately tag and delete articles that have been created in good faith. In their defense, there is so much crap being generated that one can almost understand how the process breaks down and new editors get bitten, but It does happen far too often for my liking. Especially when I have, personally, seen contributors of such articles - with a little encouragement and advice - blossom into great Wikipedians.

So, why should you stay and contribute. Well, because you have taken the time and effort to write this suggests to me that you would be a great credit to the project, and we need all the good editors we can get. Because if you stay, you can help change the culture by welcoming new editors yourself, and guiding them. And because - believe it or not - I'm convinced that the majority of the community would be appalled to hear your story and would hope that you would give us a second chance.

Regarding the specifics (should you choose to stay, of course) Might I recommend the Wikipedia:Adopt-a-User programme to you. This would team you up with an experienced editor who could help you through some of the problems you have encountered. I'm a member of the programme, and my experience with it has been very positive. Also, if you believe your article was wrongly deleted, you could go to Wikipedia:Deletion review with it. However, I would be happy to talk to you about the specifics on my talkpage and we can see if we can get to the bottom of what went wrong, to stop it happening again and perhaps even get your article back up if it passes our criteria. Even if you do choose to leave, It would be very helpful if I could get the details from you. I'd like to speak to the individuals involved, if only to explain to them how their actions has resulted in the loss of an editor and allow them the opportunity to review their process for the future. Rockpocket 07:33, 2 January 2007 (UTC)

A few points, 209.247.21.179.. First, your article may have been well written, well researched, etc. but are you sure the topic was notable? Lack of notability is the most likely reason for your article being deleted. I don't know how anonymity helps you here, but maybe you're not willing to share what the topic was. But if you are, let's hear it, as that could help us figure out exactly what happened. Second, you say you won't ask the administrator about it just because he might not remember it?? That's a pretty defeatist attitude. You're more likely to get a solid answer from the admin than from us, especiwlly when we don't know any of the details. Third, you say there a lot of shit articles out there in Wikipedia, and you're right, but when you see one, by all means you should tag it or nominate it for deletion! But the fact there are some lame articles that have flown under the radar has no bearing on whether your article should have been kept. SubSeven 08:42, 2 January 2007 (UTC)

• Even if the admin who deleted it doesn't remember the article, they will be able to find its content and deletion details if you give them the exact title (with the same capitalization). If the subject was notable and the admin was too quick on the trigger finger, you can try convince them to undelete it, or get to WP:DRV. Whatever it is, sharing the article, is your best bet at a response with a reason for the deletion. - 131.211.91.150 08:51, 2 January 2007 (UTC)

Irrespective of the reasons for deletion, SubSeven, my greater concern here is the breakdown in process. For example, deleting administrators should always leave a justification, in policy, in the deletion edit summary. Editors should always - especially when the article was created in good faith - leave an justification for the nomination for deletion with the creating editor, and explain why there is a problem. I don't believe this editor is simply saying "I want my article reinstated", but instead is rightly aggrieved at how unwelcoming the Wikipedian experience was for them. Makes me wonder how many potentially great editors felt the same but left without bothering to make their feelings known? Rockpocket 08:57, 2 January 2007 (UTC)

• Which is why they should kick the anonymity and contact the admin in question. If they don't say something to get the actual article reinstated, the admin probably isn't going to bother changing the habit (if it's not just a one-off occurrence. - 131.211.210.16 09:12, 2 January 2007 (UTC)

There's no need to be angry, 209.247.21.179. Newbies aren't the only ones making mistakes; everyone makes mistakes, and by all means you should point them out (as the above editors said) even if the editor might not remember. --Bowlhover 09:21, 2 January 2007 (UTC)

if you believe the deletion was inappropriate, you can bring it up at WP:DRV. But what do you mean by "submitted for deletion and promptly removed from Wikipedia"? Did one user place a "db" tag on it an admin removed it, or did it go through AfD? User:Zoe|(talk) 16:42, 2 January 2007 (UTC)

I wrote the original question above. The original reason I wanted the anonymity was so that I would not be labeled as a 'snitch,' whiner or whatever else. I simply wanted an explanation as to why I should keep trudging on. I got that from Rockpocket, who was very nice about it. I also appreciate the rest of the comments and guidance.

I spoke to the admin who deleted the article, and to be honest, I can kind of see why the article was deleted. I wrote on scuff marks, and I could have added more to the topic. This would, however, in my opinion qualify it as a stub. The scuff mark article was deleted because it would have 'fit better' in Wikitionary. I would disagree, because my article gave explanations on how the marks form and how they are removed - much larger scope than what would be discussed in a dictionary. Therefore, I would have been satisfied had the article been labeled a stub. I can certainly understand why the community would want to see my article on Wiktionary, but why delete all of the work? Why not put up a stub requesting that I transfer it to the dictionary? Why not, again, be bold? I am angry because articles such as the one on intestinal varices that are much shorter and would fit better in a dictionary are given stub status and left as is. It may be possible that the scuff mark article was made a stub and I did not notice it, but I likely think that it was simply summarily removed from Wikipedia with little chance for improvement.

When I decided that I wanted to contribute to Wikipedia as more than a Wikignome, I wished to add articles on janitorial and cleaning topics, which are sorely absent in this realm. It would be easy to dismiss these topics as not being 'noteworthy,' as someone did above. Let me ask this, are aglets noteworthy? I do not tend to think so, yet Wikipedia has an article on them. I also do not think that Percy Pringle is noteworthy to Wikipedia, yet I am sure that many professional wrestling fans would disagree with me.

Noteworthiness is a very subjective phenomenon, and if we are going to decide to consider janitors and their equipment blasé enough to not be considered noteworthy, why stop there? Are medical tools most people cannot pronounce noteworthy? What about the things we take for granted - subatomic particles, electricity and the like? Some would argue that Mr. Spock from Star Trek is not noteworthy simply because he is a fictional character. That does not seem to stop him from being considered 'noteworthy' on Wikipedia, though. Thus, if this is the sole reason an article is being deleted, I think Wikipedia is in need of some wiser editors (present company excluded, of course).

All I am upset about is that the article was deleted in a very assembly line way without regard to improving the source - me. Also, I think it is important to remember that I am a human just like all of you. And while I submitted 'my' article to the realm of free knowledge when I clicked 'save page,' it was still my work that ended up being deleted.

So, I do not expect my article to be brought back. I am not asking for that. If the community feels the removal was fair, than I will not disagree. All that I want is to be promised in the future that I can expect more guidance (God knows I have asked) and that my articles will be given a fair chance for improvement before being removed altogether.

Thank you for your time and your thoughts,

Teh Janitor 21:00, 2 January 2007 (UTC)

Expert Needed for Fixed Wireless, aka WISP

Hello...

I have just located your encyclopedia service and noted that you are asking for help from experts in WISP's. Well I have over 15 years in this field. and own www.hyperdsl.net which services the Vallejo, Napa, & American Canyon, Ca. areas.

I look forward to doing another term paper.

JC Randall jc@hyperdsl.net (707) 643-0105

• I'm not familiar with the request to which you refer, but I presume that it relates to a WikiProject on this or a wider parent subject in the I.T. field. We have many projects ongoing at any given time. If you can locate where you saw this request, there should be a talk page (the discussion tab at the top) on which you can post a message for interested parties to see and respond to. As you are new to Wiki, you may like to view Help:Contents and browse through the advice to get you started. You will probably want to sign up to Wiki - you don't have to do so to contribute, but it is very much recommended both from your standpoint and from that of other members with whom you will collaborate and communicate. Anyway, welcome to Wiki, and I hope that you find using it and contributing to it enjoyable and worthwhile! Adrian M. H. 15:42, 2 January 2007 (UTC)

Viewing Images

I find that, when I view most articles, images do one or more of the following:

a) Do not appear and collapse in on themselves or are replaced with just the caption text

b) Appear in scaled-down form, but clicking on it to view full takes me to Commons where the image "cannot be displayed because it contains errors".

c) Animated images are static even though my internet options are set to view them normally.

I am using Firefox 2. 217.43.243.232 10:05, 2 January 2007 (UTC)

Hmm I've no idea:-( Do you have the same problems when using another browser? Theresa Knott | Taste the Korn 10:14, 2 January 2007 (UTC)

• What are your security settings? - Mgm|^(talk) 10:15, 2 January 2007 (UTC)

My settings are pretty normal. All problems go away in IE7, but I don't want to use that. 217.43.243.232 10:47, 2 January 2007 (UTC)

Since the problem does not occur for you in IE7 on the same computer, then it must be something to do with your Firefox configuration. If you have any extensions installed in Firefox, there's a chance one of them could be misbehaving, or at least behaving in a manner that you may not be aware of. Try starting Firefox in "safe mode" (this should be an option under the Firefox program folder on your Start menu). This will run the browser with all extensions disabled, so you can see what happens. If the problem still persists, I suppose you can always try reinstalling the browser. --Nothlit 02:20, 3 January 2007 (UTC)

Duplicate Images - what to do about it?

Hey,

I've been making some minor edits to various pages, and I happened to notice that two images on Wikipedia, where in fact the same:

• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Australian_50note_front.jpg
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Australian_%2450_note_polymer_front.jpg

What is the best way to deal with this kind of thing? Is there some sort of official policy to merge them together somehow, or should I just ignore it?

Cheers --DWZ 10:40, 2 January 2007 (UTC)

Two steps. First, switch all uses of the image over to one or the other. Second, mark the now-unused image for speedy deletion by adding {{db|Redundant image, see <link to other image>}} to its description page. See WP:CSD for more information on speedies, and the various speedy tags and criteria available for your use. Luna Santin 10:58, 2 January 2007 (UTC)

• Use the second one, it has a more detailed fair use rationale. - Mgm|^(talk) 11:11, 2 January 2007 (UTC)

heh, I had just changed all the links to the first one. No worries, I will switch them back. Many thanks to both of you :) --DWZ 11:24, 2 January 2007 (UTC)

Can I log into my Wikipedia account on any Wikipedia?

I was wondering if I could log into my English Wikipedia account on say, the German Wikipedia. - Patricknoddy 8:22am, January 2, 2007 (EST)

No. Neither Wikipedia nor MediaWiki has that type of function in the software. You have to register an individual account on every Wiki. Terence Ong 13:24, 2 January 2007 (UTC)

Not at the moment, no. The developers are working on something called m:Single-user login, which should allow users of any Wikimedia wiki to login to any other Wikimedia wiki, but the feature is a little overdue. For the moment, if you create any accounts, make sure they have the same username and e-mail address; this will ensure that they are synchronized when SUL arrives. (Btw, you can easily sign your username and date by typing four tildes: ~~~~). Cheers, Tangotango (talk) 13:26, 2 January 2007 (UTC)

Lists......

There are a fair fewlists with little or no content (see List of people from Berlin, now I could fill this up with People from berlin, but there is already a list...right there..so the list is useless right, or..is something else going on...(Fethroesforia 13:45, 2 January 2007 (UTC))

• Neither People from berlin nor People from Berlin appear to exists. Are you talking about a category? In that case you should consider if a list could provide something the category can't like additional data or annotations, or other ways of sorting besides alphabetical. Lists can be kept without any problems if they can provide something a category can't, if it's a simple category duplicate with no added value, it can be nominated for deletion. - Mgm|^(talk) 13:55, 2 January 2007 (UTC)

Yes, sorry, my mistake, category:people from berlin, maybe sorted by birth date? or..well..i cant think what a list could give that a category cant off the top of my head, Im sure there is something:) (Fethroesforia 13:59, 2 January 2007 (UTC))

Wikipedia:Categories, lists, and series boxes probably has your answer. BigNate37_(T) 16:25, 2 January 2007 (UTC)

Changing User Name

When I signed up, I misspelled the user name I want.

How can I change the username? WHen I try to change it, because teh computer remembers me with the cookies, it will not accept the new name.

Thanks

71.75.170.136 14:54, 2 January 2007 (UTC)Coach Fletch

Just forget the old one and register again. Notinasnaid 15:00, 2 January 2007 (UTC)

Wikipedia:Changing username has information about the circumstances under and the process with which one may change their username. BigNate37_(T) 15:23, 2 January 2007 (UTC)

religion

what is the differences between a sunnis and a shia?

This is the help desk, for technical questions about how to use Wikipedia. You should ask your question at the reference desk. BigNate37_(T) 16:23, 2 January 2007 (UTC)

See Sunni and Shia — Lost^(talk) 18:15, 2 January 2007 (UTC)

Canadian copyright law, in reference to Centennial of the City of Toronto

Okay, something published in a defunct Canadian newspaper in 1934, that isn't credited to any particular author, would that be PD no, or do I have to wait two years, until 75 years have past? -- Zanimum 16:49, 2 January 2007 (UTC)

In Canada, the copyright expires 50 years post mortem auctoris (after the author's death), which is difficult to determine if you do not know the author of the published work. However, the U.S. has not adopted the rule of the shorter term, and I think it is exclusively American law which applies to Wikipedia, so that's a moot point anyways. See Wikipedia:Copyright situations by country, Wikipedia:Public domain. Mention is made that several countries have special rules for handling cases where the author is unknown, but I couldn't find anything specific. BigNate37_(T) 17:30, 2 January 2007 (UTC)

Thanks for the try at it. -- Zanimum 19:00, 3 January 2007 (UTC)

Contents List Moving

The contents page on an article i was editing appears to have "Right alighned itself, but I can't see where in the code this occurred. Could anyone tell me why this happened, and possibly move it back to the left?
The article is Long Stratton.
Woodgreener 17:18, 2 January 2007 (UTC)

In this edit, User:Saga City added the {{TOCright}} tag. This causes the table of contents to appear, right aligned, at that point in the article. You'd need to discuss the matter on the talk page of the article in question if you two disagree about the TOC positioning. See Help:Section#Table of contents (TOC) for more information. BigNate37_(T) 17:33, 2 January 2007 (UTC)

Linking to Wiktionary in articles

I've been reading the article The Taming of the Shrew.

In the section for Act I it says:

The wealthy merchant Baptista Minola enters, with his daughters, the shrewish Katherine (called "Kate") and the sweet-tempered Bianca.

I don't like the appearance of the link to the Wiktionary article.

I've seen other examples of editors linking to Wiktionary by putting two square brackets, a colon, the word "wiktionary", another colon, and then the word they want to link to. So then we would have:

The wealthy merchant Baptista Minola enters, with his daughters, the shrewish Katherine (called "Kate") and the sweet-tempered Bianca.

However, I've never seen an article which linked a word directly to the Wiktionary definition, and I wondered if it's proper to do so, and also if it should be done by putting the whole link between one set of square brackets or by using the double square brackets and :wiktionary: so as not to have an arrow appearing at the end of the word.

Thank you. Grandad 17:38, 2 January 2007 (UTC)

The best way to link is the second way, or something like [[wikt:shrewish|]] which does the same thing. I don't think the leading colon is necessary per meta:Help:Interwiki linking, but it is proper to hide the wiktionary prefix in articlespace. As for whether it is proper or not to link to definitions of obscure words, I don't know but I can guess that it's bad form and I would tend to remove them where I see them. Who decides which words are difficult or unfamiliar? It's far too arbitrary. I couldn't find anything specific about it at Wikipedia:Manual of Style (links), but I do know there is a {{wiktionary}} template for use mostly on disambiguation pages (see Wikipedia:Sister_projects#Wiktionary for more on the template and related things). BigNate37_(T) 17:52, 2 January 2007 (UTC)

A new Definition of "Cookie"... I am having difficulty negotiating the entry process...

I see "cookies" like they're kind of a little portable electronic door that websites can install into your computer, so they can wire you their electronic presentations...

And sort of like solo pingpong.. in which you send the ball out, through a cookie doorway, into a chocolate room, and it bounces back with a little chocolate on it from bouncing in your chocolate computer's room, and the website tastes the chocolate on the bouncing ball, and sends a whole cake back to your computer... And you taste it, and maybe eat some.. and save some for later, and toss the rest in the trash...

It's like your computer is point A.. The website is point B.. B shows A what it's got.. A tells B what it wants.. and B sends some C to A... Simple as ABC...

In the case of an Internet virus.. B sends some C to A, with some Z in it... is why we use Z-stopper software to keep A clean and healthy, for when B's are stinging people in the A's...

DonalJ email removed — Preceding unsigned comment added by 142.161.249.4 (talk • contribs) 17:51, 2 January 2007 (UTC)

Okay, that's weird. I removed your e-mail address per instructions atop this page. Anyways, internet cookies are nothing like that and that's not even a question let alone a question about how to use Wikipedia. If you have a question about using Wikipedia, please be specific—if you have a general question about anything (including internet cookies), try the reference desk. BigNate37_(T) 18:07, 2 January 2007 (UTC)

Edit section links

On Pint glass all the [edit] links seem to be bunched up underneath See Also. Is this due to the way the images have been placed? What's gone wrong here?

(I'm using Firefox 2). MrBeast 18:09, 2 January 2007 (UTC)

The images are causing it, since there isn't enough room in the first section for the template and images. Check out Template:- (i.e. {{-}} and try staggering the images throughout the article on both margins to alleviate the problem. BigNate37_(T) 18:16, 2 January 2007 (UTC)

You may also wish to consider using an image gallery, or simply using less images in the article. See Wikipedia:Gallery tag. BigNate37_(T) 18:18, 2 January 2007 (UTC)

Thanks for your help. MrBeast 19:09, 2 January 2007 (UTC)

International or National?: What assumptions are made about what nation or culture is the default for a entry.

In the entry Wikipedia:Bank Holidays the main entry seems to list a UK oriented entry of these holdiays with bank holidays from other countries/cultures beling lists as sub-entries. I also noticed in the discussion that one person made the following comment:

Removing US-centrism. This article is about the UK. The US has nothing to do with it. -- ??????? 16:52 24 May 2003 (UTC)

I don't understand what assumptions are made concerning such things, should the primary entry be an international entry with specific entries referring to categories and or groups of countries / cultures?

I realize this may be free for all, however it becomes more confusing when I see that like in the entry above someone objects to entries made in the "wrong" culture/country.

In addition, when an article is orientated towards one groups, it becomes more difficult to get to a more intenational entry, and also, as see in this example, it makes it difficult to have a neutral entry comparing various cultural differences or similarities.

Can anyone clarify this without starting a flame session?

Thanks

--Hkjjr 18:17, 2 January 2007 (UTC)

I do not see Wikipedia:Bank holidays. Do you mean Bank holidays? If so... well, the article begins "A Bank Holiday is a public holiday in the United Kingdom and also in the Republic of Ireland." As such, that defines what the article is about. However, if the term is used elsewhere in the world a suitable action should be taken, for example expanding the article (including its definition), or renaming it Bank Holiday (UK) with a master link page. "Turf wars" over the purview of an article should be conducted initially on the talk page. However, I observe the discussion here (on the talk page) was not about another country using the term bank holiday; rather a new text which added "The US equivalent is...". Now, this is clearly parochial, and should either be the start of a very long list of equivalents, or go to some master page. So, the decision to link instead to "public holiday", seems correct. And the discussion continued, all seemed amicable and maintained balance. Notinasnaid 18:25, 2 January 2007 (UTC)

The Ultimate Superman Collection

How do I purchase it through Wikipedia?

Bill Millner Jr

• Bill, can you let us know why you think we would be selling it at all? Notinasnaid 18:50, 2 January 2007 (UTC)
• Check http://Amazon.com. --Darkest Hour ^$_$^$_$ 19:43, 2 January 2007 (UTC)

Something happened to my myspace!

Hello something has happened to my myspace. See well my cousin made it for me and gave me a fake e-mail address and i didn't know how to change it! And on 12/22/06 i changed my password to (iforgot!) and when i tried it the next day it didn't work, and i know i didn't change it again, and nobody knew my password. and since my e-mail is fake i have nowhere to send my password! SO WHAT DO I DO?? PLEASE HELP ME!

This isn't MySpace, this is Wikipedia. We can't help you. You'll need to contact the administrators at MySpace. User:Zoe|(talk) 19:50, 2 January 2007 (UTC)

Spell checker available?

Is there a way to check spelling during an editing session?

FloydRTurbo 20:10, 2 January 2007 (UTC)

• Yes. Go to Microsoft Word. Copy and paste. Correct. Correct the corrections. Microword is located when you push the start button in the bottom most left corner, go to programs, and it should be there if it isn't I can't help much except press control+E. But Word is much much easier to deal with.Also spell check has an uncanny way of not fixing mistakes. Check the link to see what I mean... spellcheck

--Darkest Hour ^$_$^$_$ 20:16, 2 January 2007 (UTC)

Also, you can use a web browser that supports spell-checking in edit fields. I believe IE7 will do this, and I know Firefox and Opera do. -- Kesh 21:14, 2 January 2007 (UTC)

Arrr, Microsoft Word won't be installed on this person's computer unless they bought / installed it. OpenOffice can serve the same purpose, freely. Using a browser that supports spell checking is probably the easiest way, though. -- Consumed Crustacean (talk) 22:52, 2 January 2007 (UTC)

I cannot SEE

What has happened too all the pictures on Wiki???????? How can I see them?????????? AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! --Darkest Hour ^$_$^$_$ 20:10, 2 January 2007 (UTC)

• To my knowledge they still work. Did you install a browser toolbar? Did you alter your security settings, what browser are you even using? We need some extra information to be able to help you. - Mgm|^(talk) 20:26, 2 January 2007 (UTC)

Okay I'm using Mozilla, no toolbar no security differences. because I can still see the wiki logo.Also i just set th image settings to see all images. This did not happen till the Gift of Knoledge tablette showed up. --Darkest Hour ^$_$^$_$ 20:36, 2 January 2007 (UTC)

I don't know, but it must be something to do with your computer, because I'm using Firefox as well right now and It's working fine for me. I hope you're able to figure it out! Dar-Ape 22:33, 2 January 2007 (UTC)

Just because you can see the Wikipedia logo doesn't mean that you can see all images as I'm sure you've worked out by now. Unlike the logo, all other images don't come from en.wikipedia.org. They actually come from upload.wikimedia.org. Be sure that this web site is allowed. Try looking under "Exceptions" in the Options dialog box somewhere (I have Firefox so I wouldn't know the exact place). Harryboyles 10:03, 3 January 2007 (UTC)

I dont understand. I am experiencing the same difficulties viewing the images displayed, and im guessing, due to the fact that this was not a matter at hand only a few days ago, that a setting has perhaps been changed under my internet options. As far as having blocked websites and newly added toolbars, i am currently using msn live toolbar and i am almost certain there are no blocked websites listed. I feel like a fish out of the water. Keatonlawson 22:01, 3 January 2007 (UTC)

Good citations

Ahem. yes. In the Super transformation article, there is a bit about the character "Super Shadow" undergoing a processor error because of the Sega Dreamcast. This caused an alteration of his appearance. Right now it has a tag on it. I actually have the texture for the character on hand (extracted from the game) and a screenshot of the character in the game. A comparison of the two clearly illustrates that a processing error is indeed at fault. Would I be able to use these as citations to verify the claim? If so, how would I go about doing it?GrandMasterGalvatron 20:32, 2 January 2007 (UTC)

I think that would count as original research. You'd need something like a magazine review that notes it. More details on sources in verifiability. Notinasnaid 21:07, 2 January 2007 (UTC)

Well, the claim itself was actually the result of research by the fans. This seems to be the way we find out a load of things about the Sonic games (it's how we know Super Sonic was taken out of the levels in Sonic Adventure). To be frank, there is nowhere that notes it. Does that warrant removal from the article?GrandMasterGalvatron 21:20, 2 January 2007 (UTC)

If you had a magazine or game website that noted the information, you could site that. Fan research on their own would not be useful for citation. So, yes, if you can't verify that information it should be removed. -- Kesh 21:25, 2 January 2007 (UTC)

One more thing while I'm here. There's something else along those same lines that's in the article. It actually points to a file that can be found in the PC version of the game it's concerning. Is that ok for the article, since a reader with the game could find said file (an audio file) and listen to it for themselves? Or would that have to go as well?GrandMasterGalvatron 21:38, 2 January 2007 (UTC)

Create Article

Lots of famous people have articles about themselves, could i create an article about myself? —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 81.76.100.145 (talk) 20:55, 2 January 2007 (UTC).

This is not My space but if you create an account you can make a small biography about yourself. If you are "famous" then tell us who you are and tell of your accomplishments here or on your user space.

I did not sign my comment!!!! — Preceding unsigned comment added by 70.233.147.22 (talk • contribs) 16:01, January 2, 2007 (UTC)

Several Wikipedia pages discuss this scenario; if you write about yourself at all I recommend reading the following first:

• Wikipedia:Conflict of interest
• Wikipedia:Autobiography
• Wikipedia:Notability (people)

Failing to do so may result in an unpleasant experience, i.e. your work may be deleted with prejudice—that's not a good thing and I certainly don't encourage biting new editors, but that doesn't mean it doesn't happen. BigNate37_(T) 21:15, 2 January 2007 (UTC)

• Lots of famous people have articles, but they're generally not created by the person themselves. Wikipedia articles are about notable topics, so unless you're famous or others fit inclusion criteria WP:BIO, WP:MUSIC, etc it's not a good idea to create an article about yourself. Also, remember that Wikipedia is not a free webspace. Registering an account with the soul purpose of creating a userpage about yourself will get it deleted at some point in the future. We're more lenient about userspace edits by people who make significant contributions to Wikipedia itself, so I suggest you start there. - Mgm|^(talk) 23:06, 2 January 2007 (UTC)

Minor question

Does reverting vandalism actually have to be marked as minor? Simply south 21:07, 2 January 2007 (UTC)

I actually disagree with it ever being marked as minor. I don't think reversions are minor edits. Anchoress 21:11, 2 January 2007 (UTC)

It doesn't have to be - the admin rollback feature marks it as minor automatically though. For simple vandalism reversion, I see no problem with it - perhaps if you're reverting over a content dispute though, it should not be. Trebor 21:19, 2 January 2007 (UTC)

(edit conflict) Anchoress' opinion aside, Help:Reverting mentions that the built-in rollback feature (like a semi-auto revert for admins, I guess) marks reversions as minor. I know that elsewhere it is (or was) mentioned that reverts should be minor because the net effect of the revert and the edit(s) being reverted is nothing, but the reference escapes me. Help:Reverting doesn't make mention of marking a reversion as minor, however it does give the helpful instruction to use the word "revert" (or "rv") in the edit summary. BigNate37_(T) 21:22, 2 January 2007 (UTC)

The reference you seek appears to be the paragraph at Help:Minor_edit#Exceptions. Jeff G. 21:30, 2 January 2007 (UTC)

(Edit conflict) Use whichever you want; we won't bite :). Yuser31415 21:26, 2 January 2007 (UTC)

(after edit conflicts...) See Help:Minor edit for more guidance on when to use the 'minor edit' check box. To borrow the introduction from that page:

A check to the minor edit box signifies that only superficial differences exist between the current and previous version: typo corrections, formatting and presentational changes, rearranging of text without modifying content, etc. A minor edit is a version that the editor believes requires no review and could never be the subject of a dispute.

By contrast, a major edit is a version that should be reviewed to confirm that it is consensual to all concerned editors. Therefore, any change that affects the meaning of an article is not minor, even if the edit is a single word.

The distinction between major and minor edits is significant because editors may choose to ignore minor edits when reviewing recent changes; logged-in users might even set their preferences not to display them. If you think there is any chance that another editor might dispute your change, please do not mark it as minor.

Reverting vandalism is marked as minor because it is uncontroversial and restores a consensus version of an article. If you forget to mark a vandalism revert as 'minor' then no harm is done, but there's really no need to flag a vandalism revert as a 'major' edit. Be aware that 'vandalism' is fairly narrowly defined; if you're unsure about whether a revert you're making actually involves genuine vandalism, it's best to use a descriptive edit summary and not flag as minor. TenOfAllTrades(talk) 21:35, 2 January 2007 (UTC)

The numbers: 55% of reverts are marked as minor, 45% are not (that's as of November 2006, may have changed since then) – Gurch 21:57, 2 January 2007 (UTC)

The reason why I think reversions should never be marked as minor is because there's a toggle on watched page lists that hides minor edits. Anchoress 04:27, 5 January 2007 (UTC)

admin

how do i become an admin

See WP:RFA. Note that very new users are rarely if ever granted adminship -- stick around for a few months, demonstrate dedication to and knowledge of the project, and you may want to consider it. Good luck. ;) Luna Santin 22:08, 2 January 2007 (UTC)

user talk

is it ok to clear the user talk with warnings from admins? —The preceding unsigned comment was added by Falcon866 (talk • contribs) 22:01, 2 January 2007 (UTC).

It depends. At times it can be considered disruptive, especially if the warnings are valid. Warnings given to you by vandals may be removed, but you should be willing to explain why to them. Yuser31415 22:10, 2 January 2007 (UTC)

I mean my user talk--Falcon866 22:17, 2 January 2007 (UTC)

Yep, that's what I meant too :). I assumed you meant User talk:Falcon866. Yuser31415 22:20, 2 January 2007 (UTC)

• Only if you take them to heart, but it can still land you in hot water, because it usually leads to people assuming you want to hide these warnings from others because you're planning on doing something 'warning-worthy'. Avoid problems and go for archiving instead. Wikipedia:How to archive a talk page. - Mgm|^(talk) 22:52, 2 January 2007 (UTC)

signature

how do i make something i add in discussion appear something like this

– user name here 21:57, 2 January 2007 (UTC —The preceding unsigned comment was added by Falcon866 (talk • contribs) 22:03, 2 January 2007 (UTC).

See WP:SIG. Long story short, use four tildes (~~~~), or click the little signature button that appears above the editing window. Luna Santin 22:10, 2 January 2007 (UTC)

Can TV Commercials be hosted on Wikipedia under "Fair Use?"

I have been working on an article about the history of Wonderbra. I have access to very old, vintage 1960's and 1970's television commcercials that have been converted to a low bit-rate OGG format.

Given the educational nature of the article, and the fact that these commercials can tell part of the story, these may fall under fair use. I've tried to find a position on this in the FAQ and help pages, but could not.

Is there precedence on this?Mattnad 22:48, 2 January 2007 (UTC)

• Fair use is a slippery slope and it depends entirely on the context within the article and how much of the old commercials is still used in today's commercials of the product in question. I do feel obliged to tell you that 1960s-1970s material is neither very old nor vintage. At least not old enough for the age to have an effect on the copyright. - Mgm|^(talk) 22:56, 2 January 2007 (UTC)

Further, videos themselves are not good sources as they would be a primary source. Better to find a news article which references those commercials and cite that. -- Kesh 23:04, 2 January 2007 (UTC)

The commercials and their messages have not been used for 30 years. The only commonality is the name of the product. They are relevant to the article in that they are directly a part of the subject matter. I found a three separate book quotes that refer to this advertising campaign, so this is not primary research per se, but as they say, a picture is worth a thousand words. Anyway, there are other means to convey the info and I think there's a simpler approach that will work for Wikipedia and the article.Mattnad 03:06, 3 January 2007 (UTC)

30 years is nowhere near long enough for the commercials to be public domain. Plus, there's the problem of hosting the files off-Wikipedia and the inherent problems that incurs. Since you have books to cite from, those would be preferable and fit into Wikipedia's encyclopedic format much better. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by Kesh (talk • contribs) 03:15, 3 January 2007 (UTC).

I don't think he's trying to "cite" the ads as a source at all. He's wanting to use the ads as illustration of how Wonderbra depicted itself in previous decades. -- Zanimum 15:50, 3 January 2007 (UTC)

Which is a form of citation. I'm assuming it's being used to provide reference to something in the article. Otherwise, it has no real relevance anyway. -- Kesh 22:28, 3 January 2007 (UTC)

I think you're wrong there. There is a massive difference between illustration and citation. An illustration is information in itself whereas a citation merely supports the information already in the article. If you look at lion for example, the text does not cite the images (in some cases it could do, though it would be borderline original research.) The images simply present the text in a different, easier to understand way. --Cherry blossom tree 22:42, 3 January 2007 (UTC)

Editor warnings

I have been editing a page that currently has editor warnings at the top: specifically, "ad" and "notability" warnings. I have done quite a bit of work on the page, and have noted my edits on the page's "Talk" section. I have asked how to remove the warnings, but have gotten no response from any editors. Can I remove the warnings myself? I don't want the page to be removed altogether.

Thanks,

Jeff Edsell —The preceding unsigned comment was added by Jeffedsell (talk • contribs) 23:02, 2 January 2007 (UTC).

If you feel the topics of those warnings have been sufficiently fixed now, and no one else has objected on the Talk page, I see no problem wiht removing those warning templates. Anyone who objects would be free to re-add them and explain why. -- Kesh 23:06, 2 January 2007 (UTC)

January 3

AfD Debate becoming nasty

I am a security buff and I am an avid fan of OSVDB project and it's contributors. Hence, I was creating some articles on them like H. D. Moore, Travis Schack, Chris Sullo, Susam Pal, Christian Seifert. However some of them have been nominated for deletion by User:Jyothisingh. I do not mind the articles being deleted if they really are violations of WP:BIO Norms.

But I feel disheartened at "notes to administrators" being put up by User:Jyothisingh at various debate pages. Please see Wikipedia:Articles_for_deletion/Chris_Sullo, Wikipedia:Articles_for_deletion/Susam_Pal and Wikipedia:Articles_for_deletion/Open_Security_Foundation.

She has posted messages like this:-

Please note that (User:Smith.norton, User:Webhacker, User:Nareshhacker
and User:Root exploit have made very few edits, almost all of which are on 
related articles such as Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Susam Pal, 
Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Chris Sullo etc.

If I have edited articles only related to OSVDB, does that mean my arguments and contributions to Wikipedia won't be given any importance? -- Root exploit 04:43, 3 January 2007 (UTC)

Don't take it so personally, it wasn't meant to be offensive. The messages such as the one you quoted is not about whether people with few contributions have more or less say. Rather, it's purpose is to help fend off accounts that potentially belong to sockpuppets. That is, people who pretend to be more than one person by using many accounts. So if someone uses three different accounts, and pretends to be three different people, then it'd be as if they had triple the say in a debate - which is unfair and misleads other editors. Typically, these 'sockpuppet' accounts tend to be very new, and edit only a few articles - which is why such accounts get tagged as such when they vote or propose deletions. Innocent editors who are new or only edit in a few articles do get hit by these sometimes, but people mostly ignore it unless a lot of new accounts start showing up in one AfD (that indicates sockpupptery). --`/aksha 12:32, 3 January 2007 (UTC)

Foul language used for living persons in Biography AfD Debate

Please have a look at [13]. Isn't this a violation of Wikipedia:Biographies_of_living_persons ? -- Root exploit 04:43, 3 January 2007 (UTC)

No, since this is under WP:AfD and not an actual article. But, it is a violation of WP:CIV. -- Kesh 22:34, 3 January 2007 (UTC)

Easy editing question

I want to update the enrollment stats on this page about USU. I can't find the edit button that gives me acccess to that opening statement at the top of the page. I also don't see an edit button for the fact box on the page.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Utah_State_University

Can anyone help? 00:15, 3 January 2007 (UTC)

Sure. Click on "edit this page" at the top. Dismas|^(talk) 00:22, 3 January 2007 (UTC)

There's an edit link at the top for the whole page, and an edit link for each section which allows editors to only edit that section. You can edit the first section (everything up to but not including the first header) by clicking any section's edit link and then in the address bar of your browser changing the section=# to section=0. This is a workaround for use with skins that do not show a link to edit section zero. BigNate37_(T) 00:38, 3 January 2007 (UTC)

That's very helpful. Thank you so much.

Request for explanation

I'm extremely confused at this point.

Can someone explain why this webpage, which contains information not otherwise found on the Internet in English, is considered spam?

• Prince Alexander John Cuza of Rumania - mistress, children, etc., Google Answers

Can someone explain why this webpage, which contains information not previously publicly available on the Internet, is considered spam?

• The family origin and genealogy of Dale Chihuly, Google Answers

Can someone explain why this webpage, which contains information not previously gathered together anywhere on the Internet, is considered spam?

• Holford House and Regent's Park College, Google Answers

All of the examples I have given above contain information not previously available in their corresponding Wikipedia articles.

Can someone explain why these External links are not considered spam?

• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Google_bomb#References
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AutoLink#References
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reggaeton#References
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%22New_Yorkistan%22#References
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/U.S._Presidents_IQ_hoax#References
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Criticism_of_George_W._Bush#References
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scratch_reflex#References
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baranger_Studios#References
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raelian_Movement#References
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1984_(television_commercial)#References
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Graham_(actor)#References
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Collegiate_School#References
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Astroglide#References
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electronic_Muscle_Stimulation#References
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rodeo_(ballet)#References
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SMS_gateways#References
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/VitalQIP#Further%20reading
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adoption#Abuse_and_neglect
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Price_ending#Sources
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leonid_Stadnyk
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Azimuth_thruster#External_links
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Li_Ching-Yuen#External_links
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Washboarding#External_links
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_Bull#External_links
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sunshower#External_links
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MTBF#External_links
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reversed_map#External_links
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portrait_of_a_Seated_Gentleman#External_links
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AOL_Explorer#External_links
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Failure_rate#External_links
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Pet_Goat#External_links
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barrel_shifter#External_links
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_American#External_links
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_state_vs._blue_state_divide#External_links
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SS_City_of_Rio_De_Janeiro#External_links
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lake_Wakatipu#External_links
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hangman's_Elm#External_links
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Rain_in_Spain#External_links
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soy_sauce#External_links
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peace_Corps#External_links
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eurotrash_(TV_series)#External_links
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Masaru_Emoto#External_links
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pink#External_links
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silent_football#External_links
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pascal_de_Vries#External_links
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enterprise_software#External_links
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_songs_titled_as_acronyms_or_initialisms#External_links
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whatever_Will_Be,_Will_Be_(Que_Sera,_Sera)#The_song_title
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talk:Brahma_Kumaris_World_Spiritual_University/Objective_proposal#Critical
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_books_and_references_on_sentencing,_law,_and_related_matters#Old_Bailey_etc.

Can someone explain why it is acceptable to post anonymous nastygrams on the User Talk page of another contributor lecturing them on Wikiquette, when the poster doesn't have the integrity to "own" their words by signing their post with their username?

Vtcondo 00:58, 3 January 2007 (UTC)

Well first of all, let me say thanks for not going on an external-link-removing crusade to make a point. That said, inclusion is not an indicator of notability for articles. In the same way, the existence of illegitimate external links does not justify having other links. Wikipedia:External links is the authority on links and you'd be quite justified (and welcome, actually) to remove inappropriate links from articles. To the point of what's wrong with the specific links you gave, they link to a discussion forum which is listed under Links normally to be avoided at the external links guideline. So calling them spam is incorrect, but they're not suitable external links. BigNate37_(T) 01:12, 3 January 2007 (UTC)

Thank you for your response. I have read the links that you provided, but unfortunately that information does not enlighten me any further as to why another user was justified in deleting my postings.

I've gotten useful information from Wikipedia in the past, and I don't mind giving back a little where I have received a benefit. But I have neither the time nor the energy to spend making voluntary contributions to a website where any idiot with delusions of grandeur can arbitrarily remove my postings, nor do I have the time and energy to argue with them, or make extensive justifications for every single little piece of information I post (which may not keep the postings from being deleted anyway). A little Googling shows that I am far from the first to experience this sort of ridiculous bullying.

It's too bad, because in concept this website is a good one. The actuality, however, leaves much to be desired. The fact that you started off by thanking me for not engaging in malicious behavior (which is so unbelievably childish and vindictive that it would never even occur to me to take such an action) is a real indication that petty bickering and unreasonable, arbitrary deletion appear to be an everyday occurrence here.

So, thanks, but no thanks. Have a nice 2007.

Vtcondo 03:42, 3 January 2007 (UTC)

Simply put, Google Answers is a discussion forum and as such is inappropriate to link to as an external link. That is why another user was justified in deleting your postings. Said user was not justified in accusing you of spamming, and I understand why it upset you. Yes, there are worse examples of external links out there—and there shouldn't be. That doesn't make the links you added okay by the external links guideline, it just means we need more help in being vigilant with respect to external links in general. I am rather insulted at your last comments though, and after getting involved with this issue I can only say that I am truely, sincerely sorry for trying to help. BigNate37_(T) 04:53, 3 January 2007 (UTC)

Firstly, I was referring to malicious behavior as being childish and vindictive, not the fact that you thanked me for not doing it (although that quite frankly shocked me; if such behavior was not a huge problem here, you wouldn't have thanked me for not engaging in it).

Secondly, while there are certainly people who use Google Answers as a discussion forum, it is in fact a site where a fair bit of serious research is done (I encourage you to check out the links I posted above, or do some searching on that site to see for yourself).

Thirdly, I do appreciate your posts providing me with assistance.

It's clear to me that when anything (or everything) I contribute can be deleted by someone who has nothing more constructive to do than follow me around erasing my contributions, and that I would have to spend an inordinate amount of time defending myself or arguing with such people, contributing here is much more aggravation than it is worthwhile. I'm sorry if you don't feel the same way and find that offensive. But I'm sure that you can respect why I feel as though I have more rewarding things to do than set myself up to be persecuted by those kinds of people.

Thanks again for your help.

Vtcondo 06:31, 3 January 2007 (UTC)

Confusion about making an article

I'm confused about what to use to make an Article.

Like,I want to write an article about a book by R.L Stine,that has not been made.

Now Here's the part i'm confused about.I've read the book and have it to look back if i need to,but do i use NPOV,No original research,or Verifiable?

Thank you for your time

VinnyVendetta 01:02, 3 January 2007 (UTC)VinnyVendetta

Yes, you do have to have a NPOV, not have OR, and everything must be verifiable. You don't have to worry about NPOV much when writing an article about a book (just don't do anything obvious i.e.: "This book is the best one written by Stine so far..."), but it might be good to have a source for the other two (try Google). Good luck! | AndonicO ^{Talk | Sign Here} 01:08, 3 January 2007 (UTC)

You cannot write much about the book (no more than a stub) unless you have secondary sources to cite. If you only have the primary source (i.e. the book itself) than any non-obvious commentary would be original research, so you could only make descriptive claims. Analysis is a no-no without non-primary sources to cite. There's a good section explaining this at Wikipedia:No original research#Primary, secondary, and tertiary sources, and it is official policy. BigNate37_(T) 01:16, 3 January 2007 (UTC)

Is a movie article too long?

Moved from Wikipedia talk:Help desk#Is a movie article too long?. BigNate37_(T) 01:20, 3 January 2007 (UTC)

If you are writing a movie article, say Night at the Museum or the The Pursuit of Happyness, how long should the article be? Should it be detailed, or just give the plot summary? ~Gatorgirl23~ 01:15, 3 January 2007 (UTC)

Most of the article should be dedicated to its notability, with one section dedicated to a plot summary. Most of the article should really be about what makes the film special, with a smaller section devoted to the actual plot. -- Kesh 01:22, 3 January 2007 (UTC)

For examples, you could look at film Feature articles, eg Halloween (film) and Dog Day Afternoon.--Commander Keane 02:05, 3 January 2007 (UTC)

Finding Help

I am confused about finding information in the Help portion of Wikipedia.

1. For example, I know there is an article about Info Boxes. But when I type that in the search box, push search and I don't get any useful responses. When I type that in the search box and check "search only help" I don't get any responses. What am I doing wrong?
2. I want to know how to create some type of shortcut (what might be a macro in Word) to insert a certain format to be filled in on several pages. How do I find that type of information here? Having already spent hours looking through "tools," "templates," etc. I am feeling frustrated. Thanks--Tinned Elk 01:59, 3 January 2007 (UTC)

For 1), see Wikipedia:Userboxes. As for the VBA macro, you'll probably have to find an external h--Tinned Elk 02:54, 5 January 2007 (UTC)elp source. Wikipedia runs on it's own software, and not anything based on the Microsoft Office platform. Hope this helps. Bjelleklang - talk 02:09, 3 January 2007 (UTC)

For info boxes, you need this page. For your macro, the closest you can get on-Wiki would be a template substitution. -- Kesh 02:15, 3 January 2007 (UTC)

Thanks. But for 1) is there a way to search the help part of wikipedia? Or is asking the question here the easiest way to find something in help? --Tinned Elk 02:31, 3 January 2007 (UTC)

You were doing it right. It's just that the subject you were searching for wasn't under the Help namespace, it was under the Wikipedia namespace. If you don't find something under Help, try putting "WP:" in front of the term, which will search for it in the Wikipedia documentation namespace. -- Kesh 02:35, 3 January 2007 (UTC)

Thanks, Maybe I will get the hang of that. The subst:template worked great for what I wanted. --Tinned Elk 02:54, 5 January 2007 (UTC)

Barnstar question...

I know on the barnstar page it says to leave it on a users discussion page, but I have seen someon actual user pages, so where do I leave a barnstar for someone? Is it right to put it on the talk page? Fethroesforia 02:42, 3 January 2007 (UTC)

Generally you should add the barnstar to their talk page and they will put it on their userpage. HTH. Yuser31415 02:50, 3 January 2007 (UTC)

Putting it on their Talk page is best, because that will also generate a "You have a new message" display on their screen when they log in. Then they can see the barnstar, and decide whether or not to put it up on their User page themselves. If you just put it onto their user page, some people may not notice it for weeks! -- Kesh 02:51, 3 January 2007 (UTC)

viewing deleted articles

I am trying to view the Buddhism in China article, which has now been merged into the Chinese Buddhism article. How do I access the history page for the now-deleted article?

dsingsen 04:06, 3 January 2007 (UTC)

The articles wasn't merged, but Buddhism in China was moved to a new location. Please see the history. Bjelleklang - talk 04:09, 3 January 2007 (UTC)

Thanks dsingsen 04:13, 3 January 2007 (UTC)

not blocked but can't edit

I made a couple of minor spelling/grammar edits last year. Today I actually made a contribution to an article that was tagged for work, because I've been studying in that area as part of my post-grad research. I forgot to log in prior to editing, but when I logged in, I found although I have the edit tab, pressing it did not give me an edit page, but rather a preview instead. I've checked to see if I'm blocked, though I can't imagine why I would be, and I've never even been warned; but no, I'm not blocked. Please help. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by Alastair Haines (talk • contribs) 04:54, 3 January 2007 (UTC).

Were you perhaps looking at the Diffs at the time? If so, you may have accidentally clicked the new Undo link instead of the Edit link. Undo is basically a quick-revert that takes you right to the preview and fills in your Edit summary for you, just waiting for you to save the page. -- Kesh 04:58, 3 January 2007 (UTC)

Also, Wikipedia does show you the preview of the current version first, with the edit box at the bottom of the screen. Scroll down and see if that's what it was. -- Kesh 04:59, 3 January 2007 (UTC)

One other possibility is that you were viewing a protected page. In that case the "edit" tab would actually read "View source" and clicking that tab would show you the source wikicode, but not let you edit the page. SWAdair | Talk 09:46, 3 January 2007 (UTC)

Thank you wonderful people! I was silly enough not to have scrolled down the page! You answered my question faster than I could get back to remove it! I hope everyone else will be as patient with me as I learn how to contribute. Thanks again good people. Happy new year! Alastair Haines 11:23, 3 January 2007 (UTC)

How can I add a new entry for Sharif Khan the author?

Wikipedia, currently does not have an entry for Sharif Khan the author. How can I add the enclosed entry so it's searchable in your database?

Sharif Khan is a freelance writer, inspirational keynote speaker, coach, and author. He is best known as the author of Psychology of the Hero Soul, a self-help book based on his over ten years research in the field of human development and leadership. In 2005, Khan was inducted into the In Search of Heroes "Heroes Hall of Fame" for his pioneering efforts in teaching people how to become heroes in all areas of their lives.

Khan holds an honors B.A. in Psychology from York University. He was born and raised in Scarborough, Ontario where he encountered racial prejudice growing up as a child because of his South Asian origin. To counter feelings of low self-esteem, Khan voraciously read the biographies of great leaders encouraged by the guidance of his father, Dr. Naseem Khan, who held a PhD in Psychology.

Khan's work as a writer, coach, author, and motivational speaker has been mentioned in a number of media including USA Today, Toronto Sun, TV Ontario, The SOHO Business Report, Asian Television Network, and Dawn (Pakistan's most widely circulated English language newspaper).

Because of his earlier struggles in trying to discover the hero within, Khan has dedicated his life to inspiring people to unlock their hero potential for greatness. Since 2000, Khan has been writing and speaking in the field of personal development. He has lectured on his hero topic to a wide-range of audiences and spoken for a number of organizations including the Toronto Police, United Way, Learning Annex, Ryerson University, and HRPAO.

His main influences include the teachings of Joseph Campbell, Carl Jung, Konstantin Stanislavski, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry David Thoreau, Anthony Robbins, Dale Carnegie, Dr. Norman Vincent Peale, Dr. Deepak Chopra, Dr. Wayne Dyer, Dr. Joseph Murphy, Napoleon Hill, Mark Victor Hansen, Jack Canfield, Helen M. Luke, Shakti Gawain, Bob Proctor, and Dr. Stephen R. Covey.

Khan currently resides in Toronto, Canada where he is working on his first inspirational novel.

Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:SharifKhan"

Since this seems to be an article about yourself, please read WP:AUTO. Dismas|^(talk) 08:21, 3 January 2007 (UTC)

As Dismas observes, creating or editing articles about one's self or his friends and family is generally disfavored. If, though, you are confident that you can craft an article that is written from a neutral point of view and that comprises content that is verfiable, you should surely feel free to be bold and create such article where the biographical subject is likely to be viewed as notable by the community. If you're not certain that you craft such an article—either in view of your conflict of interest or of your inability to find sources appropriate for encyclopedic inclusion—you might consider requested articles, at which other editors might undertake to investigate the subject to determine whether he is notable and whether content can be verified and at which you can surely paste the text supra. Joe 21:00, 4 January 2007 (UTC)

trolling?

what is trolling as it relates to a person being kicked off the site? —The preceding unsigned comment was added by Bricks2183 (talk • contribs) 09:24, 3 January 2007 (UTC).

See Wikipedia:What is a troll and Wikipedia:Blocking policy. SWAdair | Talk 09:31, 3 January 2007 (UTC)

Editing Arthur Phillip article

I am not sure how to comment on/suggest changes be made to the paragraph about Aboriginal people in the Governor Phillip entry. basically I don't think that htere is much that is correct in the paragraph. How do I go ahout getting it changed? I don't really understand your guidelines 211.31.178.247 09:36, 3 January 2007 (UTC)

If you think the article is incorrect, be bold and edit the page. You don't need to run changes by anyone first (unless the issue is controversial). Trebor 11:42, 3 January 2007 (UTC)

editing problems and documentation

Dear Sir/Madam, I just edited 'Chakras', but some links show up like this on the final page; others are still hypertext (it appears random; they use the same syntax). This is my 1st contribution. If brace/parentheses syntax or instructions are undocumented it would be good to do that.

sincerely, David —The preceding unsigned comment was added by Dchmelik (talk • contribs) 09:36, 3 January 2007 (UTC).

Double brackets go at the beginning [[ and end ]] of wikilinks. Pipe characters | divide the article name from how the link is shown. For example, [[Chakras|your text here]] becomes your text here. SWAdair | Talk 09:42, 3 January 2007 (UTC)

Unnamed "question"

He started of his career in politics while he is studying law, he was elected as a surpunch, as a independent with unanimous. He served as a surpunch 5 years and he was contested for samithi president as a inependent but he was defeted by one vote, and he is reelected as a surpunch and after that he became as a panchayat samithi president for 11 years as a independent till 1973.— Preceding unsigned comment added by 202.150.122.84 (talk • contribs) 05:47, January 3, 2007 (UTC)

Hello! I do believe you've posted this in the wrong place. This page is for questions about Wikipedia itself. If you want to create a new article, please see Help:Starting a new page. -- Kesh 22:41, 3 January 2007 (UTC)

Outrageous

Hi - I think what's going on here is simply outrageous. I was slandered as a sock puppet and my page defiled by some idiot. Now, is there a due process of any sort or someone with powers of devinity (why? who?) can just brand other users with slanderous titles and place sock puppet tags on their pages? I am using Roobit user name in English and Russian wikipedia and only English wikipedia has been affected. I am not a sock puppet of anyone, I never used proxy and I register and write from my own email address. What is taking place here is absolute disgrace. If someone dislikes your views, he can just brand you a sock puppet? Do you need a crowd of tame users who express identical opinions or have no opinions on their own? How has the power to slander other users in this manner and what is the remedy against it/him? — Preceding unsigned comment added by Roobit (talk • contribs) 06:21, January 3, 2007 (UTC)

I have already given you information on your Talk page. Please see that for a solution. -- Kesh 22:41, 3 January 2007 (UTC)

Table tool

Is there a tool that can change a wikitable into HTML format? (Yes, I know I can look into the source code, but I want to get just the table code, nothing else that's possibly confusing). - Mgm|^(talk) 11:37, 3 January 2007 (UTC)

There are various User Scripts that are capable of doing this (User:Pilaf/livepreview.js, for instance), but they'd need editing to do the exact task you need. One possible trick is to create the table in a user subpage (so there isn't anything else on the page) and then view the page with action=render. For instance, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:ais523/Sandbox?action=render will generate the HTML code for a table that's in my sandbox at the moment, and 'View source' will show that without anything else that's possibly confusing. --ais523 14:07, 3 January 2007 (UTC)

TXE

Hi,

We have created a page about TXE type telephone exchanges and when we type in TXE it is found. However we would like it to be found when someone type in TXE1 or TXE2 etc. How can we do this?

Thnaks for a geat site and a great idea.

BFN...Dave e-mail removed to protect from spam —The preceding unsigned comment was added by Deben Dave (talk • contribs) 11:51, 3 January 2007 (UTC)

Wikipedia's search engine takes a while to index things. You can help it out by creating a redirect page. Visit TXE1, or the search term you want; if it doesn't exist, type

#REDIRECT [[TXE]]

and the search engine will then reach TXE on a search for TXE1. --ais523 12:33, 3 January 2007 (UTC)

making text small

IIRC, there's a tag that can be used to make text small (like the way the <big> tag makes text big). I forgot what it is. Can anyone help? --`/aksha 12:15, 3 January 2007 (UTC)

<small></small>, perhaps? :P - Tangotango (talk) 12:17, 3 January 2007 (UTC)

nice suggestion, but for some reason it doesn't seem to work. Does this look small to you? Because i'm seeing normal sized font. btw, what's the "<tt>" you used for? --`/aksha 12:21, 3 January 2007 (UTC)

<small> doesn't work on some font sizes in Internet Explorer (and possibly other browsers); try resizing fonts in your browser to see if it works then. (It works for me, but it used not to because my fonr size used to be bigger.) <tt> makes text into a monospaced-font:

• Without <tt>, letters like l are narrower than letters like m: lllmmmlllmmm
• With <tt>, letters like l are the same width as letters like m: lllmmmlllmmm

Hope that helps. --ais523 12:36, 3 January 2007 (UTC)

Yeah, that explains it. Thanks --`/aksha 13:05, 3 January 2007 (UTC)

Logo Design Article in Wikipedia

I added an external link in wikipedia article "Logo Design" about a logo design resource portal i-e http://www.logoblog.org but an editor deleted it stating it a spam. Please add this resource link to wikipedia if you find it useful

According to Wikipedia:External links, links to blogs should not normally be used. Notinasnaid 12:49, 3 January 2007 (UTC)

Images...deletion policy..

Assuming wikipedia is not a free image hosting site like phototbucket...if I stumble across images which link to no article (aside from the persons userpage) shall i put it up for deletion?Fethroesforia 13:05, 3 January 2007 (UTC)

An orphaned image is not reason enough to delete it. It may have been orphaned due to an act of vandalism etc. Its best to inform the uploader about it especially if it is correctly tagged. See Wikipedia:Image use policy for more details — Lost^(talk) 13:19, 3 January 2007 (UTC)

• It's perfectly acceptable for an active user to upload one or two personal image to spice up their userpage, so don't go deleting straight away. If it's obvious they're using Wikipedia as a storage site, warn them and put it up for deletion. Of course this doesn't apply to images for which a suitable article can be found. - Mgm|^(talk) 22:49, 3 January 2007 (UTC)

Ref

I am having problems creating a source reference.

The article is 'wilmslow' and the reference number is 1

I copied the reference layout from another article but it does not seem to work as planned.

Please could somebody take a look at the code and inform me as to which part is wrong. Thanks 86.29.24.181 13:48, 3 January 2007 (UTC)

Corrected — Lost^(talk) 13:55, 3 January 2007 (UTC)

(edit conflict; this advice is now out of date given the correction) You've gone wrong because there isn't a template specifically for citing Wilmslow Express News. What you can use is the {{cite news}} template, so you'll have to change

<ref>{{Wilmslow Express News 
  | title = Doves fly to top
  | work = Katrina McKeever 
  | publisher = Wilmslow Express
  | date = [[16 March]], [[2005]]
  | url = http://www.thewilmslowexpress.co.uk/news/s/162/162253_doves_fly_to_top.html
  }}</ref>

to

<ref>{{cite news
  | title = Doves fly to top
  | author = Katrina McKeever
  | work = Wilmslow Express News
  | publisher = Wilmslow Express
  | date = [[16 March]], [[2005]]
  | url = http://www.thewilmslowexpress.co.uk/news/s/162/162253_doves_fly_to_top.html
  }}</ref>

(which looks like Katrina McKeever (16 March, 2005). "Doves fly to top". Wilmslow Express News. Wilmslow Express. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)). There's just a couple of fields that have to be changed. Hope that helps! --ais523 13:57, 3 January 2007 (UTC)

Excellent.

I thought cite news was a news corp and so changed it.

Many Thanks for your help. 86.29.24.181 17:21, 3 January 2007 (UTC)

You might also want to take a look at User:Dmoss/Wikicite, a very helpful tool for creating properly formatted references. --Rory096 20:13, 3 January 2007 (UTC)

Re Darkest hour

When ever I go to any body elses page I have no new messages. Butt every time i go to Dhs talk page It says I hav a new message. Could that have something to do with the templets hes using? `ooty-wi-a-b14:55, 3 January 2007 (UTC)

Yes they are called "user message" templates. They are always supposed to be a joke. I don't find them funny however — Arjun

Yup, its a joke. — Dark Shikari ^talk/_contribs 14:59, 3 January 2007 (UTC)

No its not. I deleted the "joke" yesterday. Try my page again. --Darkest Hour ^$_$^$_$ 16:00, 3 January 2007 (UTC)

alumni

what is the meaning of alumni?

As we are an encyclopedia, you could try our article on alumni. Notinasnaid 15:12, 3 January 2007 (UTC)

How can this site be inserted in this category?

Hi guys, I would like to insert this page (Nozio) into this category: Template:TravelWebsites in this way it should appear in every single page that present this box.

Thanx for helping

It's a template; just edit Template:TravelWebsites. For more information, see Help:Template. --ais523 16:01, 3 January 2007 (UTC)

Disclosing my identity

Is there a secure channel for contacting another user to tell him who I really am? He's referring to my past work in a Discussion. But as I understand it, discussions are public. Sosayso 16:35, 3 January 2007 (UTC)

If his email is enabled, you can email him. Look for the "email this user" tab on the side bar once you reach his userpage — Lost^(talk) 16:40, 3 January 2007 (UTC)

== Question about adminship ==

I have a slight thought of applying for adminship, though Im wondering if anyone could help me out, on how to apply and any reasons why I would not be suitable? Fethroesforia 16:40, 3 January 2007 (UTC)

I would not recommend trying now you have only 634 edits. Most admin candidates are expected to have at least 3000. Try an Editor review. — Arjun 16:45, 3 January 2007 (UTC)

Ie been looking to try and find that number..but I couldn't find number of edits:) thank you anyway:) Fethroesforia 16:47, 3 January 2007 (UTC)

User:Durin/Admin_charts (about a year old) indicates that above about 2000 edits, edit count isn't that important. That might have changed. If you're interested in applying for adminship in the future you should probably read Wikipedia:Requests for adminship occasionally and note why people support nominations and especially why they oppose and see what you can learn. If you want to check your edit count see Wikipedia:WikiProject edit counters. --Cherry blossom tree 16:53, 3 January 2007 (UTC)

Font size

I love wikipedia but find it hard to read. How do I change the font and size of the text of the articles? Thanks 16:55, 3 January 2007 (UTC)~~

• This will be an option in your web browser. If you have a mouse wheel, try holding down Control and turning it; otherwise, there'll probably be an option in your web browser's menus (often under View). --ais523 16:57, 3 January 2007 (UTC)
• Ctrl-+ (ctrl and plus) will increase text size in Firefox. — Dark Shikari ^talk/_contribs 17:03, 3 January 2007 (UTC)
• Your browser will probably have an option to change the font size in the 'view'-menu too. - Mgm|^(talk) 22:51, 3 January 2007 (UTC)

Language problem

I wish to read an article on Wikipediad entitled Esperanto in Japan since 1934. The article contains many references to my great grandfather G E Gauntlett. The article only appears in what I think is a Scandinavian language. I cannot find anyway to translate it into English and it does not appear in English in the search engine. Please advise if there is any way I can read it.

You can request translation at Wikipedia:Translation. SWAdair | Talk 05:03, 4 January 2007 (UTC)

Images

Can we use the images on wikipedia legally for free?

Depends on the license. If they are listed as GFDL, you can use them as long as you link to the GFDL and give your source information appropriately. Creative Commons and other licenses have similar, though slightly different requirements. If the image is public domain, you can use it as much as you want without any restrictions at all--no source information required. If the images are "Fair Use," you cannot use them legally for free unless your use of them is also fair use. — Dark Shikari ^talk/_contribs 17:22, 3 January 2007 (UTC)

Editing Wikipedia

I would like to add an item to a bullet pointed list but am lost in all the editing protocols. Is there a simple template or reference page I can use?

• To create a bulleted list just start each paragraph with an asterisk. Notinasnaid 17:40, 3 January 2007 (UTC)
• Yes, Notinasnaid made his response a 1-element bulleted list as an example, which I'm continuing here. The 'Editing help' link to the right of the save, preview, and show-changes buttons contains the basic formatting. --ais523 17:45, 3 January 2007 (UTC)
  • I added a bullet point but it did not get placed in alphabetical order. How do I correct?
• It would help if you tell us what article you're referring to. Lists aren't alphabetized automatically, you'll have to add the item in the right spot on the list. - Mgm|^(talk) 22:53, 3 January 2007 (UTC)

I can't get in

My user name is Patrick Smyth but I couln't get in with my password. I asked for a new one but nothing has arrived.

what can I do?

thanks, patrick

If you provided an email address when signing in and have confirmed it, then you can ask for a new password to be emailed from the login screen. If you didn't, your best chance is to remember your password (make sure you use the same capitalization as when you signed in). You have no contributions; you may find it easier just to create a new account. (I take it you're getting the 'Invalid password' error?) --ais523 18:10, 3 January 2007 (UTC)

On the other hand, you may just want to create a new account, for example "Patsmyth". I would recommend getting a pseudoname. Yuser31415 19:38, 3 January 2007 (UTC)

Circular redirect?

What would happen if two redirect pages reference each other? i.e. page A redirects to page B, and page B redirects to page A. CoolGuy 18:32, 3 January 2007 (UTC)

• It wouldn't work. Redirects beyond one level are disabled on Wikipedia, to prevent exactly that--it will just show the link. — Dark Shikari ^talk/_contribs 18:58, 3 January 2007 (UTC)

My Preferences: Skins

I'm unable to change my skin after I changed it to Simple. I click My preferences from the navagational bar on the left, but then the link "Skin" won't even appear as a link. It appears as regular text. Can you please help?

Lucas E Scott 18:59, 3 January 2007 (UTC)

Yes,hold a bit. --Darkest Hour ^$_$^$_$ 19:52, 3 January 2007 (UTC)

Hum... Walk me through what you are doing. I have no problems getting back to normal. --Darkest Hour ^$_$^$_$ 19:54, 3 January 2007 (UTC)

Try http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Preferences?useskin=monobook . -- Rick Block (talk) 20:05, 3 January 2007 (UTC)

• Changing back an uncooperative skin is covered in WP:VFAQ. - Mgm|^(talk) 22:55, 3 January 2007 (UTC)

Edit wars with users who contribute little in discussion page?

I am having problems with two users (one who is unregistered) who are continually changing an article on a racist killing of Kriss Donald in Scotland to insert a lenthly section now titled "allegations of racial motivation" which is an attempt to cast doubt on the motivation for the killing. I have opposed this in the discussion on the basis that it is a tiny minority view.

Wikipedia policy states that for a view to be that of a "significant minority" you must be able to identify "prominent adherents" to that view. In this case the people making these revisions can find only one BBC investigative reporter and one sociology and politics professor with this view. I dispute that these are "prominent" by any stretch of the word.

I had achieved some consensus in a lengthly discussion with a user "FrFintonStack" - although we disagreed on two points. Lately, one user who has contributed nothing to the discussion (Strothra) has edited the article at least 3 times today to revert to a previous version, which even includes links to the far right website Stormfront.

Could anyone here contribute to the edits and discussion by looking at my previous revert and comparing it with the current one? Like I say it is a lengthly discussion and I have tried to achieve agreement, but I believe those who do not engage in the discussion and then make edits, or avoid points on Wikipedia policy in the discussion then make edits are not really interested in achieving balance with other users. --Guardian sickness 20:35, 3 January 2007 (UTC)

Looks like this person has begun discussing it on the Talk page now. Beyond that, you might want an request for comment on the subject. It's beyond the scope of the Help Desk. -- Kesh 00:01, 4 January 2007 (UTC)

Accents in names.

I would like to create an article on a person who has an accent in their name. For searching purposes should I leave the accent out when creating the title of the wikipedia page? How sensitive is the search engine to accent marks? thanks EMC630 19:22, 3 January 2007 (UTC)

Okay what you should do is create your page with the accent marks, then create a redirect page with out the accent marks. Please feel free to ask me questions on my talk page if you need further explanation. --Darkest Hour ^$_$^$_$ 19:33, 3 January 2007 (UTC)

Ps: The accent marks are at the bottom of your editing screen under "Characters".

You can make a redirect by creating page 1 and typing #REDIRECT [[NAME OF PAGE 2]]. See Wikipedia:Redirect or ask here if you have any other questions about making a redirect. Dar-Ape 20:38, 3 January 2007 (UTC)

Question about creation of a new article

I just submitted and saved, twice, an article entitled "evidence-based legislation" that I wrote and cited.

this page does not come up when I enter in this search term.

How do I know the fate of this article I have suggested? How long does it take to be incorporated into the index? If the article is inappropriate or has errors, how will I discover this?

Thank you.

Richard B. Krueger, M.D. at <email removed>

I don't know exactly how our search system works, but if the article exists you may find it at "Evidence-based legislation". Yuser31415 19:29, 3 January 2007 (UTC)

Um... If you need to you might have to purge the system. Press shift while loding or reloding. --Darkest Hour ^$_$^$_$ 19:35, 3 January 2007 (UTC)

All you have to do really is add brakets [[ ]] around the words that people might have problems understanding. Also (i am researching how to do this properly) you have to get your links working.

So far its a great article!

• The search database takes a number of hours or days to update, but your article is created instantly. You will have to click "Go" to find it instead of using "search". — Dark Shikari ^talk/_contribs 20:38, 3 January 2007 (UTC)

redirect/move

I'm not very active in the English Wikipedia, so I don't know if this is the right place to post this: the article LTU arena has been redirected to LTU Arena some weeks ago. But the correct spelling is arena, not Arena (see the German article or [14] (although this is not correct in German). Could an admin delete the redirect and move the article back to LTU arena? Thanx! --Sippel2707 23:14, 3 January 2007 (UTC)

Try requested moves. Cheers! Yuser31415 23:58, 3 January 2007 (UTC)

Countdowns

How do I add a countdown to June 3, 2007 on Wikipedia? --Far Beyond 23:18, 3 January 2007 (UTC)

There's really no way of doing this that I know of. Why would you want to? -- Kesh 23:59, 3 January 2007 (UTC)

If I understand what you mean, no, I don't think it's possible to add a countdown. Is there any reason why? What are you trying to do? Yuser31415 00:01, 4 January 2007 (UTC)

I think it actually is possible, although I have no idea how... I will look. Prodego ^talk 00:08, 4 January 2007 (UTC)

Haha I am so awesome! ;-) Shows all you unbelievers out there. If you are wondering it is in:

0 Years

0 Months

5 Days

16 Hours

34 Minutes

24 Seconds.

I think. Not really tested yet. Prodego ^talk 00:26, 4 January 2007 (UTC)

Hmm actually that counts to the last day in June, at the last second (so July 1). It needs some ifs added, if someone wants to do that... Prodego ^talk 00:35, 4 January 2007 (UTC)

Done (I think) people might want to test it, and I am sure there is an easier way to write it... Prodego ^talk 01:09, 4 January 2007 (UTC)

You have way too much time on your hands. ;) Pretty cool, though. -- Kesh 01:57, 4 January 2007 (UTC)

I should have gotten paid for that one. ;-) Prodego ^talk 03:27, 4 January 2007 (UTC)

January 4

incorrect link in feature article

Today's feature article on John Brooke-Little has an incorrect 'more' link (to yesterday's article - Yarraluma) — Preceding unsigned comment added by Bonnyjars (talk • contribs)

Thanks for the heads up; it has been fixed. The best place to report this in the future would be Wikipedia:Main Page/Errors. Dar-Ape 03:34, 4 January 2007 (UTC)

Beatle

when i type in beatle it gives me a page on the beatles. i want to learn about the actual beatle Italic text''Italic text bug. what doi do? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 66.56.131.168 (talk • contribs)

You are probably looking for the article Beetle (notice the different spelling). -- Natalya 00:38, 4 January 2007 (UTC)

I edited Leland Irving

Sorry to bother you. This is my first try at editing. I hope that I did okay. Could you check if my edit is okay?

My son, Jason, was diagnosed with the same rare cancer that Leland Irving had as a child. Jason was a tall, strong young man of 18 when he suddenly became very ill. We learned that he had a rare childhood cancer that we had never heard of--rhabdomyosarcoma. Even with chemotherapy, surgery and radiation he died on his dad's 50th birthday on 8/25/05. At times it is still hard to believe what we all went through and that Jason is really gone, but he is. I want to do all I can to increase awareness of this childhood cancer in particular as it receives so little in the way of funding for research for a cure.

I found the article about Leland using a news search of the word rhabdomyosarcoma. When I searched his name and saw that he had a Wikipedia article, I thought that the fact that he had cancer as a child would be good to include. A childhood cancer diagnosis always changes the lives of all affected.

Thank you for your help.

Pam — Preceding unsigned comment added by PamA50 (talk • contribs) 19:50, January 3, 2007 (UTC)

Welcome to Wikipedia! You're right, that's interesting information to have in that article. It may need edited a little to fit our Manual of Style, but it's good to see you cited the information. Glad to see you were bold in adding information to an article! -- Kesh 01:12, 4 January 2007 (UTC)

how to retrieve a redirected article?

today another editor merged the Karellen article into Childhood's End. Though I still can open the talk page Talk:Karellen, the original Karellen article redirects now to Childhood's End.

how can I retrieve the original info?

Cesar Tort 00:59, 4 January 2007 (UTC)

Click on the link you provided for Karellen, when that redirects you to Childhood's End you will see a bit of text just below the title of the article that reads something like "Redirected from Karellen". Click on that link to go to the Karellen page, you won't be redirected this time. Now you can view the history of the page for Karellen. Dismas|^(talk) 01:08, 4 January 2007 (UTC)

(edit conflict) Go to Karellen, and when it redirects to the other page, click the link in "(Redirected from link)". This should take you to the page without redirecting. To retrieve the original info, see WP:REVERT (long story short, click the date you want to go back to under the "history" tab). However, I suggest you either give a legitimate reason or discuss on the talk page before reverting. –Llama man^{sign here} 01:13, 4 January 2007 (UTC)

Thanks a lot! Cesar Tort 01:22, 4 January 2007 (UTC)

I am not planning to revert. Only to retrieve info for my web page. Cesar Tort 01:24, 4 January 2007 (UTC)

The more articles the better. Right?

I know that wikipedia has a virtually endless amount of room for articles. But does this mean that I can post articles that aren’t necessarily interesting or important to everyone? (For instance an article about me, a friend, or a rarely seen character in a TV show) Basically what I'm asking is, if I make an article that is unbiased, well formatted, and of high quality, will it be deleted just because of its subject? 24.128.184.41 02:32, 4 January 2007 (UTC) Jake

Yes if it fails the notability guide no matter how nice and informative the article is...it will be deleted. See the Deletion guide for more info. — Arjun 02:34, 4 January 2007 (UTC)

Basically don't make an article on yourself or a friend. — Arjun 02:34, 4 January 2007 (UTC)

Also,please note that writing articles about yourself or a friend is discouraged. See Wikipedia:Autobiography and Wikipedia:Conflict of interest. 24.20.69.240 05:51, 4 January 2007 (UTC)

Yes, if it is original research, meaning the information came from you personally, or "I heard it somewhere on the internet", or "a friend of a friend". Please see WP:V and WP:RS. ColourBurst 06:01, 4 January 2007 (UTC)

• More articles is better, but at the latest Wikimania conference, Jimmy Wales said something I agree with completely. (paraphrasing) "We shouldn't focus on increasing the articles count, it's not the number of articles that count, it's the quality." It's better to have 1000 perfect articles than a million ones in progress. So I thinkt's better to focus on quality than quantity. - Mgm|^(talk) 18:00, 4 January 2007 (UTC)

Foreign Language Scripts Showing up as ????????

What does one have to do to enable foreign language scripts/alphabet to be displayed properly instead of ??????— Preceding unsigned comment added by 71.219.29.151 (talk • contribs) 23:57, January 3, 2007 (UTC)

It depends on the language that's showing up as ????. See Help:Multilingual support for more information. By the way, you only need four tildes to sign your username and date, no more, no less. Cheers, Tangotango (talk) 05:02, 4 January 2007 (UTC)

Editing Categories

How do I add/remove articles to categories? --JDitto 05:25, 4 January 2007 (UTC)

You have to edit the article itself and change the [[Category:Category_name_goes_here]] to the category you want the article in. You can have multiple category tags in the article. G.He 05:29, 4 January 2007 (UTC)

Thank you. Could I put myself as a wikifriend?--JDitto 05:33, 4 January 2007 (UTC)

Sure. :) G.He 05:38, 4 January 2007 (UTC)

Contacting other researchers on Wikipedia

Hi, I would like to know how I can contact other people who are researching on Wikipedia. My research can be summarized by the questions below:

1) In the absence of monetary compensation, what motivates people to contribute their knowledge to Wikipedia? 2) How do such motivations relate to the contributor's level of participation and performance?

I wish to contact other like-minded peers who are doing social research such as this. Should I join the wiki-research-l mailing list (I do not wish to unintentionally spam others)? Are there other points of contact?

-WikiInquirer 08:19, 4 January 2007 (UTC)

• There've been people who did such research, but I forgot names, perhaps searching the mailing list archive for wiki-en-l will help you along. - 131.211.210.17 09:10, 4 January 2007 (UTC)

Akward Situation

My user name is The Hybrid, but my signature is THL and has been for a while now. I recently discovered that there is an actual User:THL that came about before THL was my signature. This person was only around for about 3 edits before apparently leaving. I am planning on changing my sig as a result of this, but here is my question. Would it be OK for me to place a disclaimer on that person's non-existent user page saying that if they are looking for THL, that they should go to User:The Hybrid? If this user were to ever return I would explain the situation to them, but I'm just curious as to whether or not I'm allowed to do this. Cheers, -- THL 09:32, 4 January 2007 (UTC)

• Hmm, I think changing your signature would be a better idea even if he doesn't return, but failing that leaving a message on that talk page notifying visitors that the sig is yours and not his is probably a good idea to avoid confusion. - Mgm|^(talk) 10:17, 4 January 2007 (UTC)
  • I have already changed it, but I think that I shoul do it anyway just because that was my sig for so long. I'll leave one on his talk page, but Could I leave one on the actual user page as well? Cheers, -- The Hybrid 10:21, 4 January 2007 (UTC)
• I think this would be a good reason to edit someone's userpage. If he comes back and objects we can take it from there, but I think that chance is pretty slim if he hasn't shown up for so long. - Mgm|^(talk) 10:56, 4 January 2007 (UTC)
  • Cool, thanks Mgm. -- The Hybrid 10:57, 4 January 2007 (UTC)

cannot find a page by the search box

Hello,

I have created an article yesterday, named Electronic Nose, but when I enter "Electronic nose" in the search box, the only article that is found in the one on Machine olfaction. How can I do to make my article appear when someone searches "Electronic nose"?

Thanks in advance. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by Mbonnefille (talk • contribs).

You might want to have a look here – Wikipedia:Searching. Regards, — Nearly Headless Nick 10:38, 4 January 2007 (UTC)

Your article is here – Electronic Nose. You might also want to cite sources as per WP:CITE and WP:RS, so that your article is becomes verifiable and asserts enough notability to avoid speedy deletion. Also, while leaving comments, make sure you sign them with 'four tildes' – ~~~~ so as to mark your comments. Have a nice time and happy editing! — Nearly Headless Nick 10:42, 4 January 2007 (UTC)

Adding a category to an article

Earlier on I created an article on The Stroke Association, using The Stroke Association account, and would like this to be listed in the category, Charities based in the United Kingdom - sub-category Health charities in the United Kingdom. Please advise me how to do this. — Preceding unsigned comment added by The Stroke Association (talk • contribs)

I've done this for you. --Dweller 12:25, 4 January 2007 (UTC)

In the future, you can just type in text like this: [[Category:Health charities in the United Kingdom]] at the bottom of the page. --Rory096 14:17, 4 January 2007 (UTC)

How to edit a list of references that do not appear in the editor?

On the Spinnaker Tower page http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spinnaker_Tower there is a references section in which I wish to insert a link for the word LUSAS to the LUSAS page in Wikipedia.

However, when I view either the whole page or just the reference section in the editor no listing appears. Instead, only the text 'References' with another line stating 'references' appear.

I've looked through the wikipedia FAQs for reasons why this should be and have drawn a blank.

Can anyone assist or advise me what is special with numbered reference lists of this type?

Thanks.

Prls66 13:04, 4 January 2007 (UTC)

The references are actually cited farther up in the article. Wikipedia:References#Footnotes should give you the information you need. -- Natalya 13:28, 4 January 2007 (UTC)

However, you cannot use Wikipedia as a refererence; this is not an acceptable source. You should also never list a URL like http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LUSAS to link to another article. If you just want to turn the word LUSAS into a link inside Wikipedia, type brackets around it like this: [[LUSAS]]. Notinasnaid 14:01, 4 January 2007 (UTC)

Help!!

how do i write an article for my friend so that its not deleted? i wrote one, saved it and it was there and the next day it was gone. i didn't add any websites it was all about her life...so it was nothing that i needed to cite..why did it still get deleted?

i want to write an article for a friend. she is not famous but she models and dances and i wanted to make an article of her life. i tried but it was deleted. there was nothing in the article from websites thats why it wasn't cited because it was all about her life. how do i do it so that it is not deleted? — Preceding unsigned comment added by Verob26 (talk • contribs) 10:35, January 4, 2007 (UTC)

You have to either find a veritable source, or wait until she becomes more mentioned on the web (you might even want to create a website yourself, although you'll need more than that). Try Google for obscure sources, and then take a look at WP:CITE. Good luck! | AndonicO ^{Talk | Sign Here} 15:40, 4 January 2007 (UTC)

Probably, it was deleted because your friend is not famous, and would be deleted however you did it. To stop Wikipedia from becoming a directory of everyone in the world, there are strict guidelines for notability. There are many other free web sites where you can create a web page devoted to your friend. Notinasnaid 15:42, 4 January 2007 (UTC)

I would recommend you first look at our notability guidelines for people to determine if there should even be a Wikipedia article for your friend. Most people simply are not notable enough to warrant their own encyclopedia article. Please also note that references need not come only from the web; they can be from any medium as long as they are verifiable and reliable. --ElKevbo 15:47, 4 January 2007 (UTC)

In a nutshell, read the deletion policy — Arjun 16:10, 4 January 2007 (UTC)

If your friend is not famous enough for Wikipedia, you could still write an article over WikiBios. — Kieff 18:07, 4 January 2007 (UTC)

Deleting categories

Is it possible to request deletion of a category which is no longer populated? There is this Category:Jogos da Lusofonia, but I created the English counterpart Category:Lusophony Games (I couldn't just move the category) and edited all articles included in the former to this new one. But can the first one exist unpopulated? Couldn't it be deleted? Parutakupiu ^{talk || contribs} 17:08, 4 January 2007 (UTC)

There's the Categories for Discussion process, using which you can request deletion of a category. Hope that helps. --ais523 17:11, 4 January 2007 (UTC)

Thank you. It sure does! But now I realized they could have simply renamed it. Bugger :P Parutakupiu ^{talk || contribs} 17:15, 4 January 2007 (UTC)

If it has been empty for 4 days it can be proposed for speedy deletion.-Localzuk^(talk) 19:58, 4 January 2007 (UTC)

editing: truncated article

In editing an existing article (Crotalus scutulatus), the bottom of the article has become truncated. That is, the last couple of paragraphs, along with the footnotes, etc., have suddenly disappeared from the viewable article, although everything is present in the editing window. What's happened? And how do I fix it? Thanks. Scutdude 17:22, 4 January 2007 (UTC)

It's because a <ref> tag ends with </ref>, not <ref/>. If you correct the last ref in the article to end with the correct tag, the end of the article will become visibile again. (It's because the parser spends ages waiting for a </ref> that never comes, and can't do anything with taht information.) --ais523 17:26, 4 January 2007 (UTC)

I solved the problem. Towards the end of the article, where it appeared truncated, it had some closing reference tags miswritten - <ref/> instead of </ref>. Parutakupiu ^{talk || contribs} 17:30, 4 January 2007 (UTC)

Thanks!

Uploading an image

I want to upload an image but I can't understand the process!Please explain to me how can I fill these info boxes in order to be sure that my image will be not deleted.Provide me an example ```````` --Floyd8 18:31, 4 January 2007 (UTC)

It's all about copyright; most images aren't suitable for use on Wikipedia because they have incorrect copyright terms. Wikipedia:Uploading images should give you the information you need; Wikipedia:Image copyright tags explains the options available in terms of copyright. Hope that helps. --ais523 18:36, 4 January 2007 (UTC)

If that doesn't help, maybe specifics will help. Let us know the exact article name, and where the photo is from. Who took the photo? Or if it is from a book, when was the book published? Or if it is from a web site, tell us where we can see it. Notinasnaid 21:21, 4 January 2007 (UTC)

Special

How many specials are there? (see my name, under the god-awful orange X's) --Darkest Hour ^{Ж Ж Ж Ж Ж} 20:58, 4 January 2007 (UTC)

See Special:Specialpages. Yuser31415 21:53, 4 January 2007 (UTC)

Stub

Also were does the

{{stub}}

tag go on a stub page?

At the bottom for me. Xiner (talk, email) 21:04, 4 January 2007 (UTC)

I need help with improving a template

I recently created Template:Foreignlang (See fuller explanation its purpose here). Right now, the 2nd and 3rd parameters seem to be working, but I don't know how to code for the first parameter (The first parameter decides the language of the output, using the 2 letter identifications for the international wikipedias. en for English, ar for Arabic, ru for Russian, and so on).

...

--Ķĩřβȳ♥ŤįɱéØ 22:01, 4 January 2007 (UTC)

(Discussion moved to Template talk:Foreignlang - it messed up the headlines here. — Sebastian 22:24, 4 January 2007 (UTC))

Current Glycerin pricing

Is there a source of current prices for both crude and refined [99.5% pure] bulk glycerin?— Preceding unsigned comment added by Jim Klein 44 (talk • contribs) 17:08, January 4, 2007 (UTC)

Pretty sure there must be one. However, you'd want to ask over on the Reference Desk (see the top of this page). This page is for questions about Wikipedia itself, so you'll be more likely to get an answer over there.

And don't forget to sign your name by typing four tilde signs (~~~~) at the end of your message! -- Kesh 22:22, 4 January 2007 (UTC)

listing the last editor for a list of pages

For all pages in my user space, I'd like to get the last editor. This doesn't seem possible using Related Changes, because it only goes back 30 days. Is there any other way? Thanks! — Sebastian 22:14, 4 January 2007 (UTC)

I'm not sure what you mean by the last editor. But, the best thing you can do is open the History tab for that page to see who last edited that page. -- Kesh 22:56, 4 January 2007 (UTC)

What I mean is a list like this:

   Name                            Last editor
   User:SebastianHelm              SebastianHelm
   User:SebastianHelm/Subpage1     SebastianHelm
   User:SebastianHelm/Subpage2     SebastianHelm
   User:SebastianHelm/Subpage3     SebastianHelm
   User:SebastianHelm/Subpage4     some user
   User:SebastianHelm/Subpage5     SebastianHelm
   User:SebastianHelm/Subpage6     SebastianHelm
   User:SebastianHelm/Subpage7     SebastianHelm

This would allow me to see that "some user" edited subpage4. Not all my subpages are on my watchlist, and I don't need to check them all the time anyway. Alternatively, it would be nice to have a feature to exclude one's own changes in the watchlist - only for certain pages. — Sebastian 00:51, 5 January 2007 (UTC)

Putting previous contributions under my new name.

I have just created an account and would like to know if it's possible to put my previous contributions under my new name. I had been accessing Wikipedia under my office address and created the account under my personal address. I suppose that might have something to do with it.

Thanks

Kostaki mou 22:29, 4 January 2007 (UTC) 22:23, 4 January 2007 (UTC)

P.S. I was at first under the impression that I was sending a private message to the help desk. I didn't realize I was entering a message that was accessible to all. That's why I entered personal information which I have since deleted. This is very misleading!!

Kostaki mou 22:29, 4 January 2007 (UTC)

Unfortunately, there's no way to merge two accounts. Best thing to do is put a link on your new User page to the old account, and mention that it's your old one. And, if you can still log into your old account, do the same on it back to your new account. -- Kesh 22:32, 4 January 2007 (UTC)

I did a little more research, and found a template to do this for you. Please see this link for details. -- Kesh 00:28, 5 January 2007 (UTC)

I can no longer edit my article

Hi there,

I started an article last year on Cyberbludging http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CyberBludging

Ive gone back to do some more work and have found that I cam only access the reference section of the article. I also noticed that my name was changed from Charles Heunemann to Charles Honyneman probably because because my name was spelled that way in a refence link.

I have included some additional reference links that show the correct spelling of my name but I would like access to the body of teh article so I can further develop the content and correct the spelling of my name.

Please help

Kind regards

Charles Heunemann <email-removed> — Preceding unsigned comment added by Cheunema (talk • contribs)

The whole article can be edited: just click the "edit" tab at the top of the screen. If that isn't working, post again here. Thanks. Trebor 22:31, 4 January 2007 (UTC)

As it appears this is an article about a term you coined, it would be a conflict of interest for you to edit it. If you note something that needs changed, post it to the Talk page of the article, so other editors can verify it and then edit the article for you. -- Kesh 22:35, 4 January 2007 (UTC)

"Sorry! We could not process your edit due to a loss of session data. etc. What's this all about?"

"Sorry! We could not process your edit due to a loss of session data. Please try again. If it still doesn't work, try logging out and logging back in."

I have gotten the above message after editing three times in one week. Usually, it's after I've done some extensive editing on long articles, and I've spent 45 minutes or more trying to improve an article. Why do you suppose this keeps on happening. As you might guess, it's extremely frustrating. Slater79 22:48, 4 January 2007 (UTC)

I think it's something in the system timing out - I also get this after spending a long time editing (or leaving for half an hour and coming back). But it works when you hit save page again, so it's not really a problem is it? Trebor 22:51, 4 January 2007 (UTC)

I believe that happens if you've had the page open for a long time and then try to submit an edit, but your cookie for logging in has already expired. It looks to me like Wikipedia's logins are set to about 30 minutes after your last pageview, but I can't be certain.

The easiest way around that should be to check the box to remember your login on the computer when you next log in. Otherwise, you might want to refresh your page first to make sure you're still logged in before making an edit. -- Kesh 22:55, 4 January 2007 (UTC)

Another possibility could be that you are going through a collection of proxy servers with your session data being mangled by them. This could be at your ISP or if you are at work it could be internal.-Localzuk^(talk) 23:56, 4 January 2007 (UTC)

If you happen to be editing in IE on Windows, you can try this. Use File > Work offline - switch the option on. Then click Back. You will now be at the pre-edited page. You can select some or all of the edit text and copy it out, perhaps to Notepad. Now turn Work offline off, and you can try to apply the edit again, by viewing the article, checking you are still logged on, and clicking edit, then pasting back. Be careful and check your results, but it's better than retyping. Notinasnaid 10:12, 5 January 2007 (UTC)

Help getting out of the box

Anyone with the time and inclination please take a look at Wikipedia_talk:Reference desk/RD header#Capitalization and ampersands in desk descriptors and get the next poster (probably me, currently in green) out of the RD header box. Thanks, --hydnjo talk 22:56, 4 January 2007 (UTC)

IOW, how do I start another section independent of the subst box? --hydnjo talk 23:08, 4 January 2007 (UTC)

Thanks Canderson7, you fixed it.  :-) --hydnjo talk 01:18, 5 January 2007 (UTC)

Wha are these crazy numbers?

[15]

+1, -4, what's up?

The number of bytes that were added or removed in the change. This is a recently added feature, and helps to detect vandalism and how major a change was. —Centrx→talk • 23:17, 4 January 2007 (UTC)

For more information, see Help:Watching pages#What do the colored numbers mean?

January 5

Main Page Vandalism!!!

If whoever is reading this is an admin, please go check out the main page immediatly, as there was a large picture of the tellie tubbies, and now a huge penis! Isn't the page protected? What's wrong?! | AndonicO ^{Talk | Sign Here} 00:47, 5 January 2007 (UTC)

It's thankfully fixed now. | AndonicO ^{Talk | Sign Here} 00:56, 5 January 2007 (UTC)

You should have posted this on WP:ANI or WP:AIV. Template:Emot Yuser31415 01:06, 5 January 2007 (UTC)

Oh, okay. I'll do that next time. :-) | AndonicO ^{Talk | Sign Here} 01:13, 5 January 2007 (UTC)

Wait though, can AIV help even if I don't know the vandal's username/IP? | AndonicO ^{Talk | Sign Here} 01:14, 5 January 2007 (UTC)

No, but any page that gets vandalized will have an IP in the History. It wouldn't have been the actual Main page that was vandalized, but more likely an image or Featured Article linked there got vandalized. Do you know where the images were on the page? -- Kesh 01:21, 5 January 2007 (UTC)

I just checked WP:ANI, and they explain now. | AndonicO ^{Talk | Sign Here} 01:22, 5 January 2007 (UTC)

What happened. Yuser31415 01:26, 5 January 2007 (UTC)

composers

How do i search i composer that i don't know how to spell his name and when i search dead composers i don't see the name of my composer. I think it's Giochinni Rosinni, but i'm not sure.— Preceding unsigned comment added by 64.122.48.77 (talk • contribs) 20:58, January 4, 2007 (UTC)

That would be Gioacchino Rossini. The best thing, when you're having trouble, is just to search by one of the words. I found him by searching for Rossini, which brought up an article talking about a musical suite which included one of his works. From there, I had the link to him. -- Kesh 02:03, 5 January 2007 (UTC)

Green day talk page

I would like to reply to a comment under the "Not an Opera" section of the talk page for Green Day's American Idiot. Can I do this without having to edit the entire section or starting a new topic?

Soaddict 02:37, 5 January 2007 (UTC)

• You can't. Editing the section is the easiest option. - Mgm|^(talk) 09:59, 5 January 2007 (UTC)

Deleting Page, Need Help Though

The page, "Category:110th United States Congressional delegation" navigation boxes contains thirty-some links to other templates. These templates are old and should all be deleted. However, it would take a very long time to go to each of those state's delegations to see what articles the templates are used on and replace it with the correct one: i.e. Template:WV-FedRep. Wisconsin is one example where different members of the delegation have different templates. Byrdin2006 02:43, 5 January 2007 (UTC)

article deletion

is this article good enough for deletion?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jessica_Chaffin

I tryed to find info on her but nothing came up — Preceding unsigned comment added by Falcon866 (talk • contribs)

• The article clearly needs some grammatical fixes, but the person appears to be real as per her TV.com page. I can't judge if the roles are major enough to warrant an entry. - Mgm|^(talk) 09:54, 5 January 2007 (UTC)

Cannot download High Resulution Version

Hello,

Trying to download high-resolution version (1475x1200,
657 KB)from Political map of Europe (neighbouring
countries in Asia and Africa also shown), but unable to
do so. I use Microsoft Explorer version 6.0.2600.0000
My windows version is Windows XP Professional.

Kindly let me know how do i download the same.

Thanks

Shreyas

Can you please explain the symptoms? How exactly are you unable to download the file? Are there any error messages? Does your browser lock up? Thanks, Tangotango (talk) 07:07, 5 January 2007 (UTC)

Show Preview gives page could not be displayed

Assuming all other parts of Wikipedia work properly for a logged-in user, why would the Show Preview button consistently give a Page could not be displayed error? (Asking for another user... of course) - Raetzsch 04:15, 5 January 2007 (UTC)

• Just try again, it's probably a lapse in their internet connection or availability of the Wikipedia servers. - Mgm|^(talk) 09:51, 5 January 2007 (UTC)

I still cannot rename my article

I have followed the instructions in your FAQ,but here comes my problem. I was trying to rename my article "Apologie to Poesie" and following the rules, I clicked on "my preferences" but the problem is that there is no "move" tab anywhere in the page...neither at the top as the FAQ answers mentioned nor elsewhere.

So,I have to change it for a proper title must be either "Defense of Poesie" or "An Apology for Poetry". If a reply would take time,do me the favour of correcting this beginers' mistake yourself.

Thanks

You will have to move it, if your account is older than 4 days than just click the move link that you see at the top. If you are younger than I or someone else can do it for you. — Arjun 05:13, 5 January 2007 (UTC)

• The article appears to be deleted. It was a direct copy of material already available elsewhere for which there was no reason to split it from the main article. - Mgm|^(talk) 09:49, 5 January 2007 (UTC)

Copying text from a website

If someone claims to be the author of some text on a website and wants to copy it to an article on Wikipedia, what is the appropriate way to go about this? This person is trying to create an autobiography of himself (Frank Lombardi) and is trying to show that the text of his website should be placed in the article. CoolGuy 05:12, 5 January 2007 (UTC)

The best way is for him to e-mail a description of the problem (the exact title of the page in question, the URL of the original source, and a clear indication of his willingness to release the content under the terms of the GFDL) to permissions at wikimedia dot org, and the matter will be handled confidentially by one of the m:OTRS team members. It is recommended that he prove that he is actually the author--if the content comes from a website, the best way is to send an e-mail using an e-mail address with the same domain as the website. Cheers, Tangotango (talk) 06:55, 5 January 2007 (UTC)

Honestly, if it's an article about himself, there's a serious consideration about conflict of interest. -- Kesh 17:07, 5 January 2007 (UTC)

IP address

Is there a way to find out the IP address of someone who uses a login name? CoolGuy 05:40, 5 January 2007 (UTC)

Yes, but only people with checkuser status can do so. You have to file a request. -Amarkov ^blah_edits 05:43, 5 January 2007 (UTC)

You must have a good reason however. You can't just say I want to know so-sos IP address. However if you want to know yours you obviously just edit the sandbox when not logged in. — Arjun 05:47, 5 January 2007 (UTC)

No covered reason. Just wanted to know if it was possible. Thanks for responding. CoolGuy 05:53, 5 January 2007 (UTC)

Help Me

I uploaded a file to test how creating my own page would go.

I then attempted to delete the file and saw that the option did not exist.

This file and my account page are all that I am dealing with now. I have not attempted to join the Wiki at large...just testing the user interface and usability.

Eric D Welch —The preceding unsigned comment was added by Eric D Welch (talk • contribs) 06:45, 5 January 2007 (UTC)

Only administrators have the ability to delete pages and uploaded files. I have deleted your file now. You're welcome to test out edits in the Wikipedia:Sandbox, as well as on your own user page. Good luck! -- Tangotango (talk) 06:52, 5 January 2007 (UTC)

You can create subpages to your userpage, and test things out there. Like this: User:Eric D Welch/Sandbox. Just type that into the search box, and follow the instructions that appear on your screen. (Or just click on the redlink above).  The Transhumanist   08:46, 5 January 2007 (UTC)

How can I Prevent others from editing my content

How can I Prevent others from editing my content? 203.101.103.2 07:58, 5 January 2007 (UTC)

It's not your content. Once you add something to Wikipedia, anybody can edit it. See WP:OWN. You shouldn't be concerned about your content, but rather should be concerned about factual accuracy and readability, etc. If you don't agree with somebody's edits, state your reasons on the talk page, and request that the other editor reply to you there. Discussing things out is the best way to resolve disagreements concerning edits. Also, it makes it much easier for other editors to identify with you if you have a user account. Please create one and use it for all your edits and discussions on Wikipedia. I hope these suggestions help.  The Transhumanist   08:42, 5 January 2007 (UTC)

• If you want to prevent others from editing the content you submit, you should start your own website. Content submitted to Wikipedia is editable by everyone as stated by our founding rules. - Mgm|^(talk) 09:44, 5 January 2007 (UTC)

History of Wikipedia

When was Wikipedia established/founded? Who controls Wikipedia?

January 15th, 2001. Wikipedia is hosted by the Wikimedia Foundation, which also develops the Mediawiki software upon which Wikipedia runs. While the Foundation oversees Wikipedia's financial management, and operates its servers, it doesn't control Wikipedia per se. The "control" or management of the content of Wikipedia and control over the way it is managed is decided by all of Wikipedia's users. Anyone can edit, and Wikipedia has an extensive system of policies, guidelines, projects, editors, and system administrators to develop and maintain the content of Wikipedia in an organized way.  The Transhumanist   08:35, 5 January 2007 (UTC)

See also History of Wikipedia. Michael Billington (talk • contribs) 09:17, 5 January 2007 (UTC)

When more participants to a discussion are needed

Where are the best places to request further discussion participants to resolve an edit dispute?  The Transhumanist   09:07, 5 January 2007 (UTC)

You could open a Request for comment — Lost^(talk) 09:11, 5 January 2007 (UTC)

Found a bunch of links at: Wikipedia:Resolving disputes. Seems that request for comment is further down the road. Thanks though.  The Transhumanist   09:13, 5 January 2007 (UTC)

How about Request for feedback? - Mgm|^(talk) 09:37, 5 January 2007 (UTC)

placing an image on a page

I'd like to know about technical copyright requirements for placing an image on a page. I took a photo of a person, I want to put it on a page in wikipedia, and want to know what is required. I've read the copyright info at length in the faq section, and deciphering what exactly to do seems unclear. I'd like the photo to be used on the page here, but not give others free use of it. What type of copyright image do I need to place on the photo? And what else do I need to do to get it on the page (aside from uploading it ;-) to make sure it doesn't get deleted or misused?

Thanks

• You can't do that. Every image submitted to Wikipedia should be freely reuseable. However, you can require people to give you proper credit for taking the photograph when they use it. By the way, make sure you have the permission of the photograph subject before you publish it. When you say you don't want to give others free use and ask how to stop abuse, what exactly are you afraid of will happen? - Mgm|^(talk) 09:34, 5 January 2007 (UTC)

This is a side effect of wanting Wikipedia to be "free". Anyone can copy the text you write for their own purposes, anyone can copy the pictures for their own purposes. Notinasnaid 10:06, 5 January 2007 (UTC)

How do I [re-]edit an image upload to correct incomplete copyright information

I have uploaded an image and since I created the image I did not answer all the questions perhaps as I should and I have been notified - this is fine, thank you.
Despite searching for help (and finding help on what I should have done), I cannot find how I might change what I have done.

How do I edit the image information to update the missing information?

You can add information about an image and change the license tag after uploading by going to the image page and editing it like you would edit any other article (ie, click on the "edit" link at the top, that will let you edit the image description, not the image itself) -- Ferkelparade π 09:51, 5 January 2007 (UTC)

Proofreaders needed

Proofreaders are needed for the various lists on Lists of basic topics (not this page itself, but the pages listed on it). Please follow the links which interest you, and which you know the best, and add any links which pop out at you as missing.

If you really feel ambitious, take a crack at the lists listed on the task list on the talk page.  The Transhumanist   11:03, 5 January 2007 (UTC)

search

Dear Sirs,

I would like to make a search on the retail stores that does international shipping. I found some info but Im sure there is more that I couldnt find.

Sincerely,

GÇ

Wikipedia is probably not what you are looking for, you would want a phone book's website (or other similar directory). It is actually policy that Wikipedia is not a directory. It would depend on where you live but I'm sure you could easily find the site you are looking for with google. James086^{Talk | Contribs} 11:36, 5 January 2007 (UTC)

• And remember, while James and I might be addressed as Sirs, our female editors probably like to be called something else. - Mgm|^(talk) 12:37, 5 January 2007 (UTC)

Hi - I thought I had uploaded the image of Marc Koska in the entry for "Marc Koska" but as you can see, it only shows the filename rathert than the image itself! What did I doi wrong?

A really good directory site is http://www.411.com. Kamope 14:56, 5 January 2007 (UTC)

History

Is there a way of looking at the history of a particular section of the article instead of browsing at the whole page history?

Simply south 14:53, 5 January 2007 (UTC)

Unfortunately, there is no way to do this. You will need to browse through the entire history. Cheers, Tangotango (talk) 15:09, 5 January 2007 (UTC)

Signature color

How do you change the color of your signature? I've tried user the code to change font colors in articles inside the box in my preferences to change your signature and I tested it in my sandbox, but it didn't work. Kamope 15:06, 5 January 2007 (UTC)

You need to check the Raw signature checkbox to use HTML and wiki tags in your signature. Cheers, Tangotango (talk) 15:09, 5 January 2007 (UTC)

Hope i'm not intrudig, sorry. Where is this found? Simply south 16:51, 5 January 2007 (UTC)

Just in the first tab ("User profile") of the preferences. Click the my preferences link that appears at the top when you're logged in. -- Consumed Crustacean (talk) 17:01, 5 January 2007 (UTC)

Screenshot use

If i take a screenshot of a video game on my laptop, is it fair use? or is it..mine..and i can upload it to wikimedia as free use? Fethroesforia 16:06, 5 January 2007 (UTC)

Doubt it. It could be fair use if particularly illustrative. Xiner (talk, email) 16:08, 5 January 2007 (UTC)

Its fair use as long as its used to illustrate the topic at hand. — Dark Shikari ^talk/_contribs 16:13, 5 January 2007 (UTC)

Thanks to both of you..one further question, there are currently three Lost World: Jurassic Park articles and I am working on a fourth, shall I create a disambiguation page for them? it will get a bit full on the top of the games pages to inform them off videogames of the same name? Fethroesforia 16:36, 5 January 2007 (UTC)

Yes, please do. Most people create a disambig page for anything more than two articles that have the same name. Dismas|^(talk) 16:57, 5 January 2007 (UTC)

Okay, many thanks to you:) Fethroesforia 17:00, 5 January 2007 (UTC)

Oh..one problem...someof the games are ported on other formats (there is one article for the dreamcast and the playstation version together, which is called Lost World (videogame) (or something like that)) and also one called (gameboy game) and (arcade game). Any idea what I can call the one previously called (videogame) as I will put the disambig page there:) Fethroesforia 17:02, 5 January 2007 (UTC)

Unless there are significant differences between the different ports, significant enough to warrant seperate articles, I would personally merge them all into the "(videogame)" page. Dismas|^(talk) 17:07, 5 January 2007 (UTC)

Well..theres quite a lot of difference, but..where do I put the disambig page if the article (videogame) is being used? Fethroesforia 17:10, 5 January 2007 (UTC)

Recent changes page

Hi,

I've been wondering: what are the green and red numbers in brackets for on the recent changes page? Positive numbers are green, while negative numbers are red. What is this for?

Thanks, Bioarchie1234 17:03, 5 January 2007 (UTC)

They indicate the number of bytes that were added or removed from the article. A higher number means a larger change to the article. Dismas|^(talk) 17:05, 5 January 2007 (UTC)

Thanks Dismas, that was a really quick response. Thanks again for your help. Bioarchie1234 17:11, 5 January 2007 (UTC)