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

March 23

Consolidation of Articles? HELP REQUEST!

I've noticed a lot of combining(unifying) of information into one Page of a Subject... for example P-frame.

For me, and I believe for any other user, it is easier to find the wanted information if not such a huge page has to be "scanned"...

It also is more Suitable for finding considered the bad search facilities provided by Wikipedia... and it encourages people to write their few knowledge on a very thin part of a Subject(ppl. tend to be overwhelmed by a large Text)

Also keep in mind there are disabled persons out there who may have dyslexia ... huge articles makes it almost impossible for them to comprehend.

btw. I'm not an ELCH so please don't Troll on that ... only consider this thought on your next "unification raid" 84.183.253.152 09:55, 23 March 2007 (UTC)

The guidelines about the size of articles can be found at Wikipedia:Article size and Wikipedia:Summary style. If you disagree with those policies, you should raise your objections at the respective talk pages. If the guidelines are okay but aren't being followed, you should point that out on the talk page of the article that is a problem - for example, at Talk:Video compression picture types, and see what other editors think.

And the English Wikipedia does not have any such thing as a Wikipedia-wide "unification raid". -- John Broughton (♫♫) 01:17, 24 March 2007 (UTC)

Image permission

I had the following text in an email from the United Nations Photo Librarian:

You have our permission to use UN photos in Wikipedia. Please make sure each one is credited as follows: UN Photo/photographer's name (if available). Thank you.

Does this mean that I have permission to use all UN photos on Wikipedia? Can I just grab any UN photo and make sure that it's properly credited? Also, what licensing should I use?--Ed ^{¿Cómo estás?} 00:36, 23 March 2007 (UTC)

We'd need licensing for all pictures; Wikipedia-only use is incompatible with the GFDL. Veinor ^{(talk to me)} 00:37, 23 March 2007 (UTC)

comment removed

Does this mean that I have to immediately get all my UN pictures deleted? Or could we wait while I get a clarification from the UN?--Ed ^{¿Cómo estás?} 00:49, 23 March 2007 (UTC)

• You can wait until you get clarification. If they are okay with anyone else using them (if credited) you can tag it accordingly. Otherwise, yes, you'd have to delete them. - Mgm|^(talk) 08:50, 23 March 2007 (UTC)
  • A little more info: anyone agreeing their pictures can go in Wikipedia must be prepared that their pictures are used anywhere, for any purpose, by anyone, subject only to retaining information on the license and credit. Notinasnaid 09:47, 23 March 2007 (UTC)

Changed Image?

Should the bloke be displayed on the "Ginger" page? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ginger —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 82.11.163.252 (talk) 00:46, 23 March 2007 (UTC).

Nope, it shouldn't be. It was added by Kangaroopoo (talk · contribs) (merely trying to be funny, I hope). Kangaroopoo registered for the account less than a day ago. You can see that he (or she) changed the source of the image from Image:ARS_ginger.jpg to Image:Jonnolep.jpg (the latter may be deleted soon) here. The change was reverted two hours later -- about two minutes before you posted here. This isn't ideal, but it's important that it gets done by someone. Gracenotes^T § 00:53, 23 March 2007 (UTC)

68.230.99.206 00:50, 23 March 2007 (UTC)

Radon, sort of

The article on radon mentions around 20,000 deaths per year owing to domestic radon exposure with the note <citation needed>. I've got a good one from the Journal of Epidemiology but I can't figure out how to tell Wikipedia. All I can find is info on how a citation should be formatted, which I don't need. Dfrishman 01:11, 23 March 2007 (UTC)

Have you read Wikipedia:Citing sources? It explains pretty well how to add references. If you still need help, reply again, and I'll give more detailed instructions. -- Chairman S. Talk ^Contribs 01:30, 23 March 2007 (UTC)

• There's Wikipedia:Citation templates. One of them is to reference journals. - Mgm|^(talk) 08:48, 23 March 2007 (UTC)

If you need help about making changes in Wikipedia generally, see the Introduction. (By the way, we'd prefer to have even incorrectly entered sources than no sources at all; don't worry about making a mistake.) --ais523 09:58, 23 March 2007 (UTC)

• Agreed; even if you enter it improperly another Wikipedian can easily fix it. Once we know what the source is it shouldn't be too hard to get it properly formatted. If all else fails post the necessary information on the talk page. —Dark•Shikari^[T] 18:06, 23 March 2007 (UTC)

Vandalism from Edgerton High School

I am a student at Edgerton High School, and I'd like to personally apologize for the streak of vandalism that you've been recieving from my fellow students. I don't know who is doing it, but please understand that this is most likely an isolated number. The IP address for the school is 216.56.3.195

I have used school computers to make my own changes, but none of them are of a malicious/mischievous nature. What follows is a list of changes I have personally made to wikipedia articles under school computers.

14:32, 16 October 2006 (hist) (diff) List of My Life as a Teenage Robot episodes (→Season 3: 2006-2007)

17:17, 13 November 2006 (hist) (diff) Toy Story (→Toy Story in pop culture)

16:20, 15 January 2007 (hist) (diff) Xenu (→Xenu in popular culture)

19:56, 13 February 2007 (hist) (diff) The Shawshank Redemption (→Plot)

17:27, 13 February 2007 (hist) (diff) The Shawshank Redemption

15:47, 13 February 2007 (hist) (diff) The Shawshank Redemption (→Plot)

20:54, 12 February 2007 (hist) (diff) The Shawshank Redemption (→Plot)

15:21, 12 February 2007 (hist) (diff) The Shawshank Redemption (→Plot)

19:39, 9 March 2007 (hist) (diff) Springfield's state (→Kentucky)

18:52, 22 March 2007 (hist) (diff) Chad Doreck (→Television) (top)

Again, I have no knowledge of the perpetrators, but I apologize to you for them, and ask you to understand that this is a school system and it may take us a while to get things sorted out.

Sincerely, Aaron Foster 71.13.159.204 01:31, 23 March 2007 (UTC)

You should think about registering a username. This means that you won't be associated with the other edits from your school's network. -- Chairman S. Talk ^Contribs 01:38, 23 March 2007 (UTC)

Registered or not, you're very welcome here. Nice attitude. It's pity about the minority who think that vandalism is fun, but I guess they'll always exist. For the most part, their "work" gets reverted quickly. Adrian M. H. 16:52, 23 March 2007 (UTC)

Changing article's name

The article 'Derawar fort' should be at 'Derawar Fort.' How do I change the page name? —Preceding unsigned comment added by Ardour (talk • contribs) 13:06, 23 March 2007

See Help:Moving a page. -- Chairman S. Talk ^Contribs 02:12, 23 March 2007 (UTC)

My account isn't old enough to move pages. Could you please move Derawar fort to the correct page title? Thank you. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by Ardour (talk • contribs) 02:32, 23 March 2007 (UTC).

I've listed it here. An admin will take care of it soon, either one who frequents WP:RM, or who happens to be strolling by this page. Gracenotes^T § 02:43, 23 March 2007 (UTC)

Page Width

What is considered the standard resolution for a wikipedia viewer? For example if you make a table on a page, generally they are made to fit 1024x768 or above resolution (I know there is dynamic resizing anyway, but it makes the cells two lines instead of one). Is there a standard screen size that should be considered when making templates/tables and pages in general?

Basically I want to update a template that is basically a 3 coloumn table by making it 6 coloumn so that it doesnt go down the page as far, this way you can see more enteries on one screen and the article is smaller, however for lower resolution it would just make the cells twice as big and make it awkward to read. What is the standard?--155.144.251.120 02:35, 23 March 2007 (UTC)

• Ai, this has bedeviled developers since time immemorial. Maybe someone has a metric on this, but I don't think that there is one right answer. My own personal practice is to base on 1024 x 768, based on a guess that 800 x 600 resolution is becoming less common as systems are replaced. Herostratus 02:49, 23 March 2007 (UTC)

• 155.144.251.120: From what I've gathered, most Wikipedians use 1024x768. I can't say that most viewers use that, however. It's important that pages are accessible for everyone, with minimal scrolling. I've spent a fair amount of time checking back and forth between screen resolutions, to make sure that text looks fine regardless of resolution. See Template:World War II—it extends the 800x600 viewing screen by a bit, but not by much. Same with Template:USCongressTerms. 155, it really depends on the case. Perhaps setting style="font-size:80%" might decrease the font size somewhat. It should probably be an objective to keep it in the screen. Gracenotes^T § 02:51, 23 March 2007 (UTC)

I would hope nobody designs so things only work on screens as large as 1024x768. Although I have a screen that large, and others larger, I don't use browsers at full screen size. So I would recommend a width of 800 at the very limit; web designers tend to the assumption that nothing is as important as their page, so of course the viewer will willingly give up all of their screen, but I don't agree. Notinasnaid 09:45, 23 March 2007 (UTC)

I've seen a link floating around asking people to join this project which aims to make all pages 800x600 compliant. It's an implicit HTML thing that says that everyone with sensible standards for today can see a webpage with no obvious breaks. In this case, 800x600. I believe today's lowest standards are something like 800x600x16-bit, running Internet Explorer 5.0 or its Gecko equivalent, and I think that's sensible to aim for. x42bn6 Talk 11:13, 23 March 2007 (UTC)

download

i want to download Swami vivekananda books .how i can do it? —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 202.65.134.34 (talk) 09:06, 23 March 2007 (UTC).

Are these books something in Wikipedia? Notinasnaid 10:26, 23 March 2007 (UTC)

Marathi version

KINDLY ADVISE ME HOW SHOULD CHANGE THIS ENGLISH VERSION TO MARATHI VERSION

• When you visit Wikipedia, look at the web address you have in your browser. It will start http://en ... The en is the English version. If you go to http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/List_of_Wikipedias, you will get a full list of available languages, and if you go to the one you want, you will see what web address it has. Notinasnaid 10:25, 23 March 2007 (UTC)

In this case, mr:मुखपृष्ठ. x42bn6 Talk 11:08, 23 March 2007 (UTC)

Saving edits

I have made an edit to the article on Tipitapa but can't figure out how to save the changes. Please advise. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by DosPueblos (talk • contribs) 10:18, 23 March 2007 (UTC).

• Below the box where you are editing text, you'll see an "edit summary" box. Fill that in with a summary which will help other editors understand the reason for the edit. Then click the Save page button below that. Done! Notinasnaid 10:23, 23 March 2007 (UTC)

Infoboxes

How do you put infoboxes inro articles? —The preceding unsigned comment was added by Supermiggelo (talk • contribs) 10:56, 23 March 2007 (UTC).

Take your pick at Wikipedia:Infobox templates. Then you can go to the discussion page and it will tell you how to use it, although some list it on the template itself. For example, see Template:Infobox actor. x42bn6 Talk 11:06, 23 March 2007 (UTC)

If looking at the documentation on the infobox page itself does not tell you exactly what to do, you can also look at examples of an infobox in use. Browse to the infobox page (such as Template:Infobox actor), and click toolbox | What links here (for example: Special:Whatlinkshere/Template:Infobox actor). Every link on the resulting page with a "(transclusion)" after it is a page that has a filled-in example of the infobox. Browse to some of those pages and click the edit tab to see examples of how to use the infobox. You could then copy one instance to your article, and edit the input values accordingly.

If you can't find a suitable infobox template by browsing through Wikipedia:Infobox templates, try looking through other articles similar to your article, and see if any of them have infoboxes. You may find similar articles by clicking on the category links at the bottom of your article, by searching, or by browsing the contents. If you still can't find a suitable infobox, tell us the name of your article and someone will find one for you, or help you design a new one if there isn't a suitable one already. --Teratornis 16:22, 24 March 2007 (UTC)

Software articles

I'm currently in a bit of a dispute on an article about a piece of software. Without seeking anyone to jump in at this stage, I'd welcome views on the general principles of product comparison. Suppose the product is the direct rival of another product.

• Should this be mentioned?
• Should comparisons (of features, performance etc.) be mentioned if they can be sourced?
• Should an effort be made to balance positives with negatives, if positive sourced compatisons are a good idea? What if they can't be found?
• If a source has both negative and positive points, does fairness require quoting them both, even if the negative ones aren't in an area currently under discussion?
• Should praise or criticism be removed if it applies to an older version of the software than is current?
• Does it make any difference if the two companies are wildly different in scale?
• If these are leading questions, please advise how I could make them less so.

If there are policies or guidelines beyond general WP:NPOV I can refer to and/or quote that would be particularly useful. Notinasnaid 11:05, 23 March 2007 (UTC)

• I'd keep product comparison to a minimum in an article about a specific product. Of course, good and bad things about a specific piece of software can be named as long as it is kept balanced. "Should praise or criticism be removed if it applies to an older version of the software than is current?" --> No, just mention it was about an older version and include info on how the latest version was received. If companies are largely different in scale, it matters. You shouldn't compare Microsoft Word with yWriter to name an example. - Mgm|^(talk) 11:11, 23 March 2007 (UTC)

Thanks. But in the article for yWriter, is it proper to compare it with Microsoft Word, to say that people prefer it because...? Notinasnaid 11:20, 23 March 2007 (UTC)

• You could perhaps say why some people prefer a freeware program over a big commercial one, but even if it puts the small one in a good light I would refrain from using names. Don't praise software at the expense of something that is totally in another league. - Mgm|^(talk) 11:59, 23 March 2007 (UTC)
  • How about why some people prefer one no-cost commercial program over another no-cost commercial product from a much bigger company? (Sorry to be pendantic, but the difference may be important). And what if this would be implicit even if names were not used? Notinasnaid 12:14, 23 March 2007 (UTC)
• What is a no-cost commercial program? - Mgm|^(talk) 13:11, 23 March 2007 (UTC)
  • I long-ago found that Wikipedia had subsumed the term "free software" to apply to a particular status of intellectual property rather than the more common English meaning of "software you don't have to pay for", so I can't use the term "free but commercial software". In this case I mean proprietary or, closed-source, software, that is available without paying a fee. Notinasnaid 13:17, 23 March 2007 (UTC)
  • (Ah, I find the approved term is indeed "freeware"). Notinasnaid 13:19, 23 March 2007 (UTC)

Some general notes on software comparisons:

• As you undoubtedly know, articles exist respectively to list and compare programs having similar functions. It would seem that the place to compare similar programs is in a comparison article, and the way to compare them is to list their respective features, and perhaps usage statistics if available. For example:
  • List of text editors / Comparison of text editors
  • List of wiki software / Comparison of wiki software
  • Category:Lists of software / Category:Software comparisons
• I don't understand what you mean by "the product is the direct rival of another product." What does this mean? That both products, acting autonomously, vie for control of all the world's computers? To say that a product is the direct rival of another product seems to reify the products, as if they are two humans who actively compete with each other. The more likely situation is that one or both vendors attempt to position their product against the other, in the course of their marketing schemes, with the goal of evoking rivalry between the products in the minds of potential customers. The users may view the products in any number of ways:
  • Some users may be well aware of both products, and experienced enough in the use of both to make an actually informed comparison. Some of these users may well view the products as direct rivals. Others may not view the products as rivals at all, because they rely on special features of one program, and they can't use the other one.
  • I suspect very users have detailed knowledge of both products, because learning new software is so laborious that most people tend to stick with whatever package they happen to learn first. (For example, I am much more familiar with vi than with emacs, because once I learned vi, I had no incentive to spend many hours becoming equally familiar with emacs. For me, the two programs are not rivals, because I cannot compare them on an equal basis. The fact that I am so much more capable with vi makes it an overwhelmingly "better" program for me.)
  • Some users may not have heard of the "rival" product.
  • Some users may not even be immediately aware of which product they are using, for example corporate users who just use whatever software their IT departments install for them. These users, who may be numerous, may be pretty much immune to the vendors' efforts to manufacture a perception of rivalry with their marketing schemes.

Therefore, I would say if you are going to mention this "rivalry" in the article about one or the other package, that you should explain exactly what that means. Are you talking about an advertising rivalry, or an actual rivalry between computer programs in which they seek out instances of each other on users' computers and try to delete them? --Teratornis 14:44, 23 March 2007 (UTC)

• • Actually, it doesn't use the word rival, that's just me abstracting. Here is a highly stylised version of part of the article (actually, about half of it). "It is notable for its short small download size and fast loading, which are sometimes favorably compared to name of rival. The previous version was, however, criticised for excessive memory usage(sourced). It runs on older versions of Windows, which recent versions of rival do not. It is favoured by some system administrators of Windows servers, since unlike rival it does not require reboots after updates." I'm trying to avoid discussing the actual products here, because I have found in the past that getting too definite means we don't get policy discussions, which to me is more useful than fixing up one article. So, any more thoughts? Notinasnaid 19:58, 23 March 2007 (UTC)

My brain has yet to experience a thought shortage, and I think the world is entitled to them, although valuable thoughts may be a different story. Personally, I'm not a big fan of the "some say..." style of packaging POV claims. I like to see those claims attributed to someone definite; or, if not to a person, then to some fraction of users as determined in some sort of statistically valid survey of users.

Are there only two programs of this type which system administrators would normally choose between? If there are more than two, then why compare only two of them? In any case, I would try to downplay the rivalry and stick to measurable facts as much as possible. A partial stab in that direction, which probably needs adjusting depending on what data is available:

• "It has a download size of X MB (translating to N min:sec on a typical broadband link of Y b/s) and loading time of N sec on (some well-defined benchmarking computer). (If people want to see how big and fast another product is, they can look at its article.) It runs on Windows 98, ME, 2000, XP, and Vista (or whatever; that list should be in the article's infobox anyway). It does not require reboots after updates, a feature valued by X% of system administrators surveyed (source; or if no source is available, then say nothing about what system administrators like, since we don't really know; just point out that no reboots are required, since that's all we know for sure).

If you have published sources that compare the two products, you could summarize their claims in a separate section and cite them. If one vendor specifically built its product to compete with the other product, you could describe the history of the vendor rivalry in another section. I wouldn't mix the comparison into what appears to be a description of one of the products (not that my preference carries any weight around here, of course). Is there already a comparison article for programs of this type? --Teratornis 21:29, 23 March 2007 (UTC)

headline

how do i change the headline in an artcicle.

I have contributed to Sentinel Records but the headline has a small r for records and seraches are not picking this up —The preceding unsigned comment was added by Doctorscobes (talk • contribs) 11:46, 23 March 2007 (UTC).

• That's not a headline, that's the article's title. It can be changed by moving the page which you can do when your account is 4 days old.

Unfortunately, the article looks a lot like advertising at the moment. You should provide some reliable sources to show notability - other people who wrote about the label that are not related to it. Why is it important? Has it got any major artists signed? - Mgm|^(talk) 11:56, 23 March 2007 (UTC)

Multi-disambiguation raccomanded?

What is the thing to do with multiple disambiguation pages? I read on WP:D this can be done without issues but what would be the ideal method?

I am currently consider: A) Embedding the whole thing in the actual disambiguation. This will be some sort of structured tree, I don't really know the details for now.
B) Point the current disambiguation to a new more specific one, pointing to the articles.

MaxDZ8 talk 13:14, 23 March 2007 (UTC)

Disambiguation can be a tricky business, and both of those options are more or less valid. For this multiple-level disambiguation, you should be trying to point to a specific article unless there's definitely a multiple-level ambiguity in the terms. What page in particular are you talking about? Maybe I can take a look... Nihiltres 13:21, 23 March 2007 (UTC)

Thank you for your help! There's really nothing you can check for now since the actual page became a stub. The page I am working on (offline) is shader. Initially, the page was a stub. Back in 2005 I updated an in-depth description of the inner workings. Many people however complained it was actually too technical and pointed out a few (less authorative) references, usually clearly with a poor understanding of the topic.
This problem has been tackled a few times. In the recent months, the article is no more actively developed by me. As suggested by a few users, a whole set of articles shall be written. Unluckly, only few pointed out what those articles should be. Recently an user pointed out an use case i didn't know it clearly deserves a page of its own. It is clear that there should be a disambiguation page, an introduction page (redlink, no one seemed to be interested in writing this), this third page (which is film-industry related I guess, i would expect this to be a redlink as well) and a page on offline page (likely a redlink/stub as well).
Other pages that may become used:

• Example - many, many user requests. Unluckly, there's no hint on what they want to see so this would be a redlink. Would be a redlink/stub.
• Applications - regularly spawns on anything that's remotly technical. Would fill in by sure.
• ?Hardware? - some user requests. Unluckly, there are no autoritative sources I know of defining this. It is not even sure this shall be the correct name. There's a high probability this would spawn inaccurate, badly referenced information.
• Other?

Also, some users pointed out the current page name should be deprecated. It seems a good idea to turn it in the second-level disambiguation page but aggregating the information in the current page would also be a good idea.
Anyway, the real issue is that all those needs cannot really be addressed in a single page, so the need for the disambiguation.
Bottm line: since WP is a collaborative environment, both disambiguation pages i know (Shade (disambiguation) and especially Shading) have changed since last time I've checked them.

MaxDZ8 talk 09:05, 24 March 2007 (UTC)

AXA

I read the article about AXA. I work for AXA and I know the company quite well.

The article mentions Andrew Bull and Gordon Lacey headed AXA IM. This appears to be some form of joke or vandalism. Note:

1) AXA IM is just one division - why mention who heads up that division 2) These guys seem to be in the property division of AXA IM - again just one part of AXA IM. 3) I've worked quite a bit with AXA IM - and I never heard of them

Thanks.

Thanks for your comments. I agree and have removed mention of Bull and Lacey from AXA. PrimeHunter 15:44, 23 March 2007 (UTC)

(help-Me)

When was wikipedia posted online? —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 209.146.90.157 (talk) 14:08, 23 March 2007 (UTC).

Wikipedia has been around since 15 January 2001, and was online from the very start. In contrast to most enyclopedias, Wikipedia started empty and was created by being edited by the general public (and you could add to or improve it right now if you wanted, by clicking on 'edit this page' on any page). See Wikipedia:About for more information. --ais523 14:50, 23 March 2007 (UTC)

See Wikipedia and especially Wikipedia#History. --Teratornis 14:49, 23 March 2007 (UTC)

And also see Bomis for information about Wikipedia's early source of funding, until the project became self-supporting. --Teratornis 14:54, 23 March 2007 (UTC)

• People asking this question are usually looking for info on how to cite Wikipedia. See Wikipedia:Citing Wikipedia. - Mgm|^(talk) 17:39, 23 March 2007 (UTC)

Printing "Web colors" article IN COLOR

I feel like a nitwit, because there is probably something really obvious that I am overlooking, BUT ....

Why can't I print this great article that gives the values for the web colors in color? Why am I only able to get a black-and-white copy, which is really useless?

Is there someplace I can find information on printing problems? I can't find it.

Thanks very much to anyone who can help.

Barbcapp 14:42, 23 March 2007 (UTC)

Mhh, Well it could be your printer (I'm not saying anything about it), maybe you don't have any colour ink in, If not then you could try taking an automatic picture of your screen when they are being viewed by you by pressing Prt Scr (on Microsoft Windows) and then although it does not print it, you could then paste it into a word document and print it, that should work - please follow up if this continues. Thanks! Tellyaddict 15:57, 23 March 2007 (UTC)

Your browser will have printing options, one of which may dictate the use of colour. I often print web pages in B+W as they're not usually colour-critical. Also, your printer's utility will have a greyscale/colour option. I have accidentally left mine on greyscale a few times! Hope that helps some. Adrian M. H. 17:04, 23 March 2007 (UTC)

Thanks very much for the suggestions. The paste to Word method works. I still don't understand why I can't print in color directly from the article, but I can get a color copy by printing the Word doc. Barbcapp 12:58, 24 March 2007 (UTC)

Addendum: TellyAddict's solution is the best one to try. Take a screenshot of the page and dump it into Word as a picture. See my explanation below to know why it won't print right directly from Wikipedia. Guroadrunner 13:44, 24 March 2007 (UTC)

A possible reason is because of the coding of that Wikipedia article.

The article uses "table background colors" - so what you see as colors is not what a printer mechanically sees. The colors in the article are not images that the printer will print, but instead something else that utilizes a handy form of code.

Try printing this page: http://www.htmlcodetutorial.com/tables/index_famsupp_183.html. If you do not get the green/blue box in your printed page, then the Wikipedia thing won't work either. You may want to try VisiBone's website at http://html-color-codes.com/ and see what happens.

Guroadrunner 13:42, 24 March 2007 (UTC)

I can't speak for other browsers, but if you have Internet Explorer, you can change your settings so that background colors do print. (Of course, doing this will print the color background on the whole page, too.) Click on Tools, then Internet Options and Advanced. Scroll down to the Printing section and check "Print background colors and images." — Michael J 23:45, 24 March 2007 (UTC)

total number of edits

how can i see my total number of edits?--Falcon866 16:19, 23 March 2007 (UTC)

See here for an edit counter. Regards - Tellyaddict 16:51, 23 March 2007 (UTC)

There is a list of edit counters available at Wikipedia:WikiProject edit counters. --ais523 17:23, 23 March 2007 (UTC)

just make sure that you don't catch Editcountitis. -- Chairman S. Talk ^Contribs 22:11, 23 March 2007 (UTC)

If you do, you might find yourself adding useless comments like this one to Help desk questions just to see your count increase. A better measure of Wikipedia attainment might be how many articles you have helped raise to featured status. Sadly, by that measure, I still have no points on the board. --Teratornis 16:31, 24 March 2007 (UTC)

colors

where can I find a list of colors corresponding to their numbers (as used in templates/infoboxes, etc)? 68.149.135.29 17:30, 23 March 2007 (UTC)

I tend to refer to Wikipedia:Colours and List of colors - a bit of visual comparison and experimentation is sometimes required. Adrian M. H. 17:36, 23 March 2007 (UTC)

Bear in mind a full list would have 24 million entries, so knowing something about what the numbers mean is a help. Notinasnaid 19:21, 23 March 2007 (UTC)

This is a nice source. Prodego ^talk 21:34, 23 March 2007 (UTC)

March 24

Reenactor Entertainment

The official Reenactor Entertainment Wiki suddenly disapeared. As CEO and founder of Reenactor Entertainment, I issue a concern over this. As I was updating the Wiki, it suddenly disapeared. This is much to me and my colleagues suprise, since it has been up for several years, and in 5 minutes the entire Wiki dissapears. It seems as though the most likely thing that happened was that your database was having issues and Wikipedia temporarily glitched and all or most of its pages were temporarily (or with a very slim chance) permenantly deleted. Reenactor Entertainment will be willing to work with Wikipedia in fixing this problem.

Ah, no. That was definitely deleted by me, because the article failed to assert any notability. Also, you should not edit pages that you have a conflict of interest with, since you will almost always be biased. And I see the page as only being there for about five months (since 11 November 2006), not several years. Veinor ^{(talk to me)} 21:37, 23 March 2007 (UTC)

(edit conflict) According to the log, it was deleted as it did not give any assertion of notability (see here for more details on the policy). If you disagree, you can nominate it for undeletion at WP:DRV. As you say you work for the company, I would not suggest that you rewrite the article yourself, per WP:COI. Mr.Z-mantalk¢Review! 21:38, 23 March 2007 (UTC)

That article was deleted at 21:26, 23 March 2007, by administrator Veinor. He supplied the reason as "A7; no claims of notability". Take a look at Wikipedia:Notability, as well as WP:CSD (what the A7 refers to). Prodego ^talk 21:40, 23 March 2007 (UTC)

Reenactor Entertainment would be glad to aid Wikipedia in getting thier database back. If you do not have a backup of a previous time in Wikipedia, you may try This Way Back Machine.

There was no sort of database loss. The page was intentionally deleted because it failed to assert that Reenactor Entertainment satisfied the notability guidelines. Veinor ^{(talk to me)} 21:42, 23 March 2007 (UTC)

• Side note: you should probably read the definition of the word wiki. If you want an official Reenactor Entertainment wiki, you can read up on how to start your own site using wiki software. There's nothing official about the page otherwise, because articles aren't owned by any particular editor, others would be allowed to edit it too here on Wikipeda. - Mgm|^(talk) 21:45, 23 March 2007 (UTC)

User:xgmx As CEO and founder of Reenactor Entertainment, I must have been wrong as to the exact date that the Wiki was created, I assumed it was several years old since, I founded Reenactor in 2005. However it appears we didn't get noticed by Wikipedia until late 2006. <spam removed - Corvus cornix 22:25, 23 March 2007 (UTC)>

As Mgm's side note above indicates, "Wiki" refers to a whole wiki site, not just one particular page on a wiki site. Please read the wiki article carefully. Wikipedia is an example of a wiki (a very large and popular one); there are thousands of wikis. If you want to start your own wiki, which you can control completely, see MediaWiki and b:Wiki Science/How to start a wiki. If you merely want to get your now-deleted Wikipedia article back up on some other wiki, you can search WikiIndex for a wiki which would welcome your content. There are wikis for almost every sort of content anyone would want to write, so you can probably find a wiki which will accept your article even if Wikipedia does not. --Teratornis 00:30, 24 March 2007 (UTC)

You could also look at Wikipedia:Alternative outlets for places where an article on your company would be acceptable. -- John Broughton (♫♫) 01:06, 24 March 2007 (UTC)

wikpedia programing code?

I would like to create some type of code that could be pasted into any category and cause the articles to be rearranged by distance from a particular location. Any suggestions about how I might go about this? Irate velociraptor 22:05, 23 March 2007 (UTC)

Simply put, not possible. There's no way to do that in the underlying MediaWiki software. Veinor ^{(talk to me)} 22:06, 23 March 2007 (UTC)

Not exactly what you asked for, but there seem to be ways to link the geographical coordinates in (some) Wikipedia articles to maps:

• Wikipedia:WikiProject Geographical coordinates#Visualization of Wikipedia articles with Google Maps
• Wikipedia:WikiProject Geographical coordinates#WikiMiniAtlas JavaScript plugin
• User:John Broughton/Editor's Index to Wikipedia#Map - for several map-related links of potential interest to editors

--Teratornis 00:41, 24 March 2007 (UTC)

HOW DO I DELET MY WIKIPEDIA ACCOUNT?

How do I delete my Wikipedia account? I want to delete my user name and password. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Rampa Zinuru (talk • contribs) 13:09, 24 March 2007

It isn't possible. Sorry. PTO 02:10, 24 March 2007 (UTC)

Read Right to Vanish and also know that you can scramble your password (don't know how it's done but I know users who have done it). Anchoress 02:12, 24 March 2007 (UTC)

You can put {{db-author}} on your userpage and talk page to request that they be deleted. Scottydude 15:54, 24 March 2007 (UTC)

hello

i have a qusestion, installed pictures on araden , but now i want to delete them and they are keep turning up. whey is that/... please delete them for ever. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Bhirmiz (talk • contribs) 14:21, 24 March 2007

See Wikipedia:Images_for_deletion to request for their deletion. --Spebi 03:44, 24 March 2007 (UTC)

My Story disappeared

And I was wondering where it went, there is no log of it! And it was available on wiki search. What is going on with this system?

thanks, -Rodger Nugent —Preceding unsigned comment added by Rodger.nugent (talk • contribs) 17:23, 24 March 2007

Perhaps it was deleted--$UIT 06:32, 24 March 2007 (UTC)

What was the article name? --Spebi 06:38, 24 March 2007 (UTC)

It most likely was deleted - have a read of Why was my page deleted? to find out more. -- Chairman S. Talk ^Contribs 06:51, 24 March 2007 (UTC)

photos

The photos in Wikipedia articles do not appear in my browser. Only a blank space with a tiny square with a red X appears. Is there something wrong with my browser? I don't have this problem with other websites.

Did you try refreshing?--$UIT 07:26, 24 March 2007 (UTC)

Some advert-blockers are a little overzealous and end up blocking Wikipedia's image servers by mistake. If you're using an ad-blocker, look through its list of blocked sites and remove anything thing containing wikipedia.org or wikimedia.org. --ais523 17:11, 24 March 2007 (UTC)

And some block third-party sites for a webpage - i.e. if I put a Google image on my forum, it would be blocked - so you might want to add upload.wikimedia.org and commons.wikimedia.org to the whitelist. x42bn6 Talk 18:49, 24 March 2007 (UTC)

Question about WikiTables...

Well, I decided to make myself in charge of the Comparison of portable media players article, and I always wanted to find ways to enhance it. Then, I came across another article with tables, Road to the 79th Academy Awards. I wanted to use that article's table format (List section). Can someone teach me to make that kind of table? (Ascending/Descending switches) --Jw21 (PenaltyKillah) 07:32, 24 March 2007 (UTC)

It's pretty easy to change to format. All you do is swap the line class="wikitable" with class="wikitable sortable". -- Chairman S. Talk ^Contribs 08:11, 24 March 2007 (UTC)

Thanks! Is there also a way to make those tables, which have columns and sub-columns, sortable too?--Jw21 (PenaltyKillah) 09:46, 24 March 2007 (UTC)

I don't think so, sorry. -- Chairman S. Talk ^Contribs 11:57, 24 March 2007 (UTC)

Links

I'm confused about something:

• Is it really necessary to add external link in an article? What if, that notable article didn't have weblink? For example: Organization (University, School, Company), Place and other notable topic that doesn't have weblink. I found some University and school article that don't have website, but it's notable.

• Are organizations, place and other notable topics (except biography) website considered to be self-published website? Can I take information from its own website and write it in my own words?

• And also Can I use notable topics website as reference? For example: Using University/school/organization website as a reference in its own article? THANKS in advance.--203.202.246.133 08:45, 24 March 2007 (UTC)
• Here's what I consider to be the answers: 1) No, external links aren't required as long as you have sources (web or paper ones) to verify the information in the article. Entries don't have to have external links. 2) Any website a person or organization writes about themself is technically self-published. It's okay to take information from such places, but you have to have other sources to determine their notability, because no one is qualified or neutral enough to determine that about themselves. 3) I think this was already covered in question 2. - Mgm|^(talk) 13:08, 24 March 2007 (UTC)

In general, it has been decided that accredited universities and schools are notable. This is because there are usually quite a lot of published sources describing them. If you can find no other source than the organization's website then it may not be notable. I would say that the organization's website couldn't be used to establish notability as it is self-published, but could be used a source for claims in the article and probably should be listed in the external links section. The relevant guidelines are Wikipedia:External links and Wikipedia:Notability.—WAvegetarian (talk) 13:09, 24 March 2007 (UTC)

Vandal Removing Speedy Deletes

There is a situation where a guy is removing my speedy delete from a page he created. But he is using two IPs and a user account. It's only happened once so far, but what do you do if a guy is removing Speedy Deletes off of articles he created? And I'm 100% certain the article qualifies for speedy delete, if you want proof it is this junk Roy Kelly article. Twipie 08:53, 24 March 2007 (UTC)

Revert, report user to AIV. -Wooty Woot? contribs 09:02, 24 March 2007 (UTC)

• Reporting them as a vandal seems a bit WP:BITEY. You should probably make them aware you can't remove speedy tags. If that fails, you can tell them which rules it violates or put it on AFD. Mgm|^(talk) 13:03, 24 March 2007 (UTC)

Use the Template:uw-speedy user warning series (uw-speedy1.....to uw-speedy4) on their talk page. --TeckWiz ^ParlateContribs_@ 13:54, 24 March 2007 (UTC)

Thanks for that guys. And I called the person a vandal because the whole page was just a page filled with a whole bunch of swearing in CAPS. --Twipie 19:00, 24 March 2007 (UTC)

Templates for Characters of Books

On an arcticle about a book character, how do I get a profile, like {{Inheritance Character Box}}? —Preceding unsigned comment added by Crazymagic (talk • contribs) 22:16, 24 March 2007

Template:Inheritance Character box has lower case b. Click edit at Durza for an example of how to use it. If the character is from another book which has no template (make sure of that first), then you can create one, e.g. by copying and modifying Template:Inheritance Character box. It's probably only worth making a template if it's likely to be used several times. You can ask for help at Wikipedia:Requested templates. PrimeHunter 12:03, 24 March 2007 (UTC)

How do I keep my entry from getting deleted?

Hello. I have posted an article relating to an ecommerce site that I have and for whatever reason it has been deleted! Why did this happen and how can I help from getting my future articles erased? Sevonne 11:59, 24 March 2007 (UTC)

See Wikipedia:Why was my page deleted? for some helpful information. -SpuriousQ (talk) 12:05, 24 March 2007 (UTC)

Also see Wikipedia:deletion policy and Wikipedia:criteria for speedy deletion thanks. Retiono Virginian 17:06, 24 March 2007 (UTC)

Adding a URL link to a page

I'm the Editor and Publisher of the Website Digital Cinema Report and would like to add a link to my site to you section on digital cinema. How can I do that? Thanks. 68.193.92.186 13:49, 24 March 2007 (UTC)

• Wikipedia is not a directory. Before posting, make sure that your link satisfies the appropriate guideline. —Dark•Shikari^[T] 13:50, 24 March 2007 (UTC)

Issues re. "No original research"

A recent biography about a living person (from a first-time publisher) widely makes considerable use of highly biased web-based material from dubious sources.

It is acceptable to use such a source to inform a Wikipedia article? Revera 13:59, 24 March 2007 (UTC)

Wikipedia has a policy of NPOV. If the article is neutral, that it's acceptable, but the NPOV links should be decreased or even removed. The Evil Clown _{Please review me!} 14:08, 24 March 2007 (UTC)

• Of course, you mean POV links. If they were NPOV there wouldn't be a problem to begin with. (The N in NPOV stands for neutral.). - Mgm|^(talk) 16:35, 24 March 2007 (UTC)

Perhaps more relevant policies are WP:BLP and WP:ATT, particularly the section about reliable sources. A bio on a living person should not be using dubious sources and any poorly sourced contentious content must be removed. -SpuriousQ (talk) 16:51, 24 March 2007 (UTC)

Why doesn't the MediaWIki software...

... allow for redirects to Special pages? Is there a rationale (like the rationale for not allow double or triple redirects), or is it simply a technical limitation that might eventually be overcome? $\sim$ Lenoxus " * " 15:42, 24 March 2007 (UTC)

I know some wikis that run off this software that do. I'm puzzled about this one, too. -- Casmith_789 (talk) 16:15, 24 March 2007 (UTC)

I'm fairly sure that special pages, at least here, are coded such that the messages like "redirected from X" don't show up. Problem with that is, it would be a big pain to have to clean up vandalous redirects to special pages, because there's no way to get to the redirected pages without handcoding the URL to stop redirection. -Amarkov moo! 16:20, 24 March 2007 (UTC)

Special pages don't display the 'redirected from' message, so on Wikipedia they can't be redirect targets to prevent hard-to-revert vandalism. (Some other wikis allow such redirects.) --ais523 17:10, 24 March 2007 (UTC)

The mediawiki can do redirects to special pages. I've done it myself with a mediawiki installation I host for friends. However, as Ais523 brought up, Wikipedia has to deal with a lot more vandalism. I bet Wikimedia turns off this option for the Wikipedia. —Mitaphane _?|! 19:03, 24 March 2007 (UTC)

Thanks for the responses? So I guess correcting the redirects, if Wikipedia allowed them would for some reason take more trouble than other redirect correction? That's what I'm not getting. $\sim$ Lenoxus " * " 17:29, 27 March 2007 (UTC)

Preferences

How do I change my preferences for skin back to default. I am stuck in a skin I do not like. BullardJournal 16:58, 24 March 2007 (UTC)

You logon (if you haven't), and their is a link (my preferences, 3rd left on default). You click skin (2nd left) and you have a few choices, one of them Monobook, is the default. The Evil Clown _{Please review me!} 17:01, 24 March 2007 (UTC)

Use this link to open your preferences in the default skin, and select Monobook for your skin and save your preferences (it's the default). --ais523 17:08, 24 March 2007 (UTC)

Copied article

Hi - I have a question about an existing article. I happened to notice that the "history" section of the article 102d Fighter Wing is a word-for word copy of the homepage of the same group. Is that ok? Is it bad? Should I delete it and rewrite it as a paraphrasing of the history? Not sure what to do. Thanks, --Bmk 18:39, 24 March 2007 (UTC)

You could tag it as a copy violation, but if you are able to rewrite it, then that is the most effective action. It could use some improvement anyway, particularly the sub-headings towards the end of the article. Adrian M. H. 18:48, 24 March 2007 (UTC)

ebu tribe

i am tring to find some information on tis tribe who reside in nigera — Preceding unsigned comment added by 80.5.218.57 (talk) 06:07, 25 March 2007

Your question is then better placed in Wikipedia:Reference Desk, the place to ask question about factual information. This page is for question about how to use Wikipedia. -- Ynhockey ^(Talk) 19:23, 24 March 2007 (UTC)

Do you mean the Igbo people? Clarityfiend 21:25, 24 March 2007 (UTC)

Image placement

How can I position two images so that they're side by side. Archway has them badly placed. Clarityfiend 20:44, 24 March 2007 (UTC)

Where would you like them to be? (I ask in case it's not possible.) Adrian M. H. 22:05, 24 March 2007 (UTC)

I've tidied their position a little bit, but you may want to have a go at floating one of them so that they are side by side. It is possible, with a bit of tweaking, by placing one image in its own div. Adrian M. H. 22:09, 24 March 2007 (UTC)

It looks okay as it is now, but I was wondering if it was possible to have the list on the left, with one image in the center and one to its right, so the images wouldn't run on past the text. Clarityfiend 23:44, 24 March 2007 (UTC)

That would be too wide for smaller screens, unless you set the images considerably smaller, so the formatting would be thrown off. Smaller screens have to be catered for. Adrian M. H. 16:52, 25 March 2007 (UTC)

Adding photos to a page

How do I add a photo to a page? Kyle Thomas 22:21, 24 March 2007 (UTC)

[[Image:nameofimage.jpg|thumb|250px|This is an image|left]] - The pixel size is both flexible and optional: you can use a smaller/larger size or not at all (though the default is a bit too small, I think). The "left" bit sets the image to the left and should only be used when appropriate, such as with multiple images throughout a body of text. Include a suitable caption. Adrian M. H. 22:29, 24 March 2007 (UTC)

Oh, and I forgot to add that most images can be found on Wiki Commons, though some get uploaded only to this Wiki. Adrian M. H. 22:31, 24 March 2007 (UTC)

See Help:Images for some more basic instruction on inserting images in Wikipedia articles. -- Chairman S. Talk ^Contribs 01:53, 25 March 2007 (UTC)

Lost Password

Hello - let me provide some constructive feedback - the UI for contacting someone to seek help on a lost password is very confusing and I could not figure out where to go so my apologies in advance if this is not the right place.

Some time ago - years - I created the login name of Qwiki but cannot recall the password. How may I retrieve it?

Many thanks,

Karl — Preceding unsigned comment added by 68.56.197.60 (talk) 10:06, 25 March 2007

You can only do so using the 'Email new password' feature on the login screen, and this means that you need to have set an email address when you had access to the account. If not, then there's nothing you can do and you'll have to create a new account. If you made no edits or log actions with the original account, you may want to fill out a usurpation request to rename the original account so that you can adopt the name, but requests are usually only granted to 'reasonably well-established users'. mattbr 23:28, 24 March 2007 (UTC)

Archiving

How do I archive my talk page? I just want to archive my 2006 entries on my talk page. Thanks. --ASDFGHJKL=Greatest Person Ever+Coolest Person Ever 23:10, 24 March 2007 (UTC)

See WP:ARCHIVE and the cut-and-paste method. mattbr 23:31, 24 March 2007 (UTC)

.png to .svg help

I'm having a tougher time than I thought converting from .png to .svg! I downloaded like 4 programs, and none of them seem to work. Could someone who knows what they're doing either talk me through a quick conversion, or if you have a program, say so so that I can upload the images and you could do it for me. Thanks. _└^Jared_┘^┌_talk^┐  23:56, 24 March 2007 (UTC)

Another problem I am having is getting the images in the first place. There are 5 candidate logos in this pdf that I want to take out. They are in SVG now, so anything I do to them (like put them into photoshop) un-svg's them. Could someone help me get these extracted from the PDF? _└^Jared_┘^┌_talk^┐  00:14, 25 March 2007 (UTC)

I don't know about SVG programs, but you should note that using SVG images of logos is discouraged (as described at Wikipedia:Logos) as this can infringe on fair use as the images are not at a low resolution. mattbr 01:12, 25 March 2007 (UTC)

It is very hard (almost impossible) to convert PNGs to SVGs because png is a raster graphics type while svg is a vector type. Converting between these (especially from raster to vector) causes severe distortion that is noticeable when magnifying the image. See Vector_graphics & Raster_graphics for more info. - Hdt83 | Talk 01:27, 25 March 2007 (UTC)

Conversion is very difficult to achieve. You'd have to redraw them completely. 59.183.57.203 05:51, 25 March 2007 (UTC)

Raster to vector conversion requires complex pattern recognition skills that humans are still able to do better than computers. The inability of computers to recognize arbitrary objects in a bitmap image is the basis for CAPTCHA technology. Which means if there was an automatic, robust PNG to SVG converter, we would need some trickier way to determine whether a remote user is a human. --Teratornis 11:31, 25 March 2007 (UTC)

March 25

Messages above watchlist

Who puts those messages above the pages in our watchlists? I would guess developers but I don't think they're that active. --TeckWiz ^ParlateContribs_@ 03:22, 25 March 2007 (UTC)

Any administrator. They just need to edit MediaWiki:Watchdetails. Titoxd^{(?!? - cool stuff)} 03:24, 25 March 2007 (UTC)

I need help!!!!!

hi there, i´ve seen some customized signatures, with different colors, different kind of letter, and more cool stuff, can anyone tell me how to change the color and the kind of letter of my signature?!?!?! please, answer me in my talk page, thanks the sweet girl xoxo 03:35, 25 March 2007 (UTC)

Go to this tutorial. Cheers. Real96 03:37, 25 March 2007 (UTC)

What's new at Wikipedia

Hey, Just wondering, is there somewhere I can see what is new at Wikipedia? By that I mean changes to Wikipedia itself, such as how it shows specifically the info regarding an archived page, orhow the left menu has been split up now. Thanks! Baseballfan Talk 03:54, 25 March 2007 (UTC)

The MediaWiki: namespace controls many aspects of a MediaWiki wiki's user interface. MediaWiki:Sidebar controls the left menu. To see what has changed with that page, view its history. Special:Newpages shows the new pages in any namespace, including the MediaWiki: namespace (select the namespace from the list). Special:Recentchanges&namespace=8 shows the recent changes to pages in the MediaWiki: namespace. I don't understand what you mean by "the info regarding an archived page." Please link to an example, like this: [[the name of the archive page you are talking about]], so I can see what you mean. --Teratornis 11:26, 25 March 2007 (UTC)

Spacing within points

• How do I get spaces between paragraphs within points?

If I start a new paragraph, the indentation is wrong.

• But if I use "<br>"
  I don't get enough separation between paragraphs. Clarityfiend 04:00, 25 March 2007 (UTC)

If you have paragraphs, you probably shouldn't be using a bulleted list. Lists are for short things, not whole paragraphs. —Bkell (talk) 05:59, 25 March 2007 (UTC)

Income levels

I was looking at the Ishikawa prefecture of Japan where it said that the (median?) personal income was 2,700,000 Yen. Is this annual income? If so, why doesn't it say "annual". Or is ther somewher on Wikipeida that I coul not find that says that all such data assumes "annual"?

Willywump 07:50, 25 March 2007 (UTC)

Not sure which page you are talking about but it will be a good idea to clarify by asking on the article's talk page. — Lost^(talk) 12:32, 25 March 2007 (UTC)

Taking a wild guess here: Ishikawa Prefecture#Economy. That came up as search result number 2. The talk page is: Talk:Ishikawa Prefecture. --Teratornis 15:23, 25 March 2007 (UTC)

Watchlist a category

Is there any type of script I can use to watchlist a category? I mean, not to watch the changes made to that particular category, but to check whether there are new articles being added to the category. S. Miyano 08:30, 25 March 2007 (UTC)

Here you are — Lost^(talk) 12:30, 25 March 2007 (UTC)

Thank you. I've copied the code into User:S. Miyano/catwatch.js. Please see if I did it right. S. Miyano 12:37, 25 March 2007 (UTC)

Please see Wikipedia:WikiProject User scripts/Tutorial. You need to add the script to your monobook page — Lost^(talk) 13:18, 25 March 2007 (UTC)

Sorry, I didn't know. I've just added the script to my monobook as you said (here). Is it all right this time? S. Miyano 13:36, 25 March 2007 (UTC)

Using commas around dates w/o interfering with date format conversion

Hi! Sorry to bother you, but I didn't see the info I need in the Manual of Style.

I know that we're encouraged to link full dates (month/day/year) so that they can be displayed according to the user's preferences. I use a comma after the year, as is correct in the American format: "He said January 1, 1989, was his birthday." Unfortunately, that's bad when it displays as, "He said 1 January 1989, was his birthday."

I'd like to ensure that the comma appears after the year in the American date format but not in incompatible formats. Is this possible?

Thanks so much for your help.

DoorsAjar 10:16, 25 March 2007 (UTC)

Excuse my ignorance, but why do you need a comma after the year in the American format? -- Chairman S. Talk ^Contribs 11:00, 25 March 2007 (UTC)

A Wikipedia user gives references here. The Chicago Manual of Style also supports using a comma after the year. I believe the MLA style guide does as well, but I can't check that right now. DoorsAjar 12:06, 25 March 2007 (UTC)

User:124.185.157.217

User:124.185.157.217 has been making unencyclopedic (but not quite vandalistic) edits to many Harry Potter pages. I can't keep up, and need to get to work. Apologies if this is the wrong place for this post, but WP:AIV didn't quite seem right either. Matchups 12:12, 25 March 2007 (UTC)

You can report the non obvious vandalism edits to WP:ANI — Lost^(talk) 12:31, 25 March 2007 (UTC)

I've done that, and things seem under control. Matchups 15:32, 25 March 2007 (UTC)

Help, i need to know about wiki policy

whats wiki policy prevent user to add web site for ads? and whats that notablity all about? and please this page is too long already can people archive it?--Towaru 13:01, 25 March 2007 (UTC)

See WP:SPAM and WP:N. Both of these are guidelines and not actually policy — Lost^(talk) 13:05, 25 March 2007 (UTC)

This page gets archived periodically. You can search the Help desk archives. The page is long, but you can start a new question at the bottom by clicking the tab at the top that has the "+" character in it. Wikipedia's policies and guidelines are astoundingly complex, because Wikipedia is an encyclopedia about pretty much everything, so there must be guidelines to cover every conceivable situation; see: User:John Broughton/Editor's Index to Wikipedia to look up whatever situation you want to know about. --Teratornis 15:29, 25 March 2007 (UTC)

The Harry Potter VII article needs a serious revamp, but it is locked...

The entire article is disorganized.
The talk page is going well, but the article itself just sits there...neglected...can someone (not me, I'm new to this; someone with experience who isn't obsessed with HP7) edit it? Please!? It's a top-importance article, but is B-class. It could be so much better.Within the Veil 13:09, 25 March 2007 (UTC)

The article is protected because there is an ongoing dispute about it (I dont know the details) and possibly editors took to edit warring. Please suggest changes on the talk page of the article and if you think the dispute has died down please request unprotection here — Lost^(talk) 13:12, 25 March 2007 (UTC)

Registering User:Lil' Wayne

Given that User:The UPN Vandal was trying to vandalise pages by creating information under this identity, is it possible to register that username for the purposes of preventing it from being used?

If you want need diffs as proof to do this, there's more than one that can be dug up. --Sigma 7 13:24, 25 March 2007 (UTC)

The UPN Vandal has been indefinitely blocked and it cannot be used until unblocked. IPs are generally dynamic so cannot be blocked for longer durations. In case you want to register Lil' Wayne to prevent it being misused, please do so and place a notice on the userpage. Does that answer your question? — Lost^(talk) 13:28, 25 March 2007 (UTC)

Ryan Spirit of St.Louis

A "Sister ship" of the Spirit of St.Louis was owned by the Folk Candy Company of Portland Maine in 1928. How many Spirit of St.Louis Sister Ships were produced by Ryan? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 71.254.96.170 (talk • contribs)

Have you tried Wikipedia's Reference Desk? They specialize in knowledge questions, and will try to answer any question in the universe (except how to use Wikipedia, since that's what this Help Desk is for). Just follow the link, select the relevant section, and ask away. I hope this helps. — Lost^(talk) 13:37, 25 March 2007 (UTC)

Spirit of St. Louis#Museum display mentions a "large number of replicas". You might ask on the Talk:Spirit of St. Louis if anybody knows an actual count. --Teratornis 15:36, 25 March 2007 (UTC)

Google Earth's Wikipedia layer linking

Which is the proper way of entering a place's coordinate, for it to be in included in Google Earth's Wikipedia layer? I've seen very different coordinate labeling templates on articles so this issue is a bit confusing for me.Kilroytech 15:53, 25 March 2007 (UTC)

Use Template:Coor dms. — coelacan — 21:00, 25 March 2007 (UTC)

Some references for the details:

• User:John Broughton/Editor's Index to Wikipedia#Map - a good place to start looking for everything to do with editing on Wikipedia
• Wikipedia:WikiProject Geographical coordinates#Google-Earth-Tool with the help of geonames.org
• Geonames in Google Earth
• Wikipedia in GoogleEarth (en)

--Teratornis 21:40, 25 March 2007 (UTC)

Deletion question

This is probably already answered in one of the many help pages, but I'll be lazy and ask anyway: are articles or files ever deleted irrevocably, or are they forever potentially undeletable? And if the answer is the latter, how do you save server space? $\sim$ Lenoxus " * " 16:20, 25 March 2007 (UTC)

All pages deleted through normal processes are retrievable. See Wikipedia:Viewing and restoring deleted pages by sysops. Images used to be permanently deleted but no longer. Also there was a database crash early in 2004, and all deleted revisions prior to that time are lost. I believe deleted pages are compressed, but you'll need someone more computer savvy than I to answer the specifics on that issue.--Fuhghettaboutit 17:13, 25 March 2007 (UTC)

I think this comment from Brion Vibber, Chief Technical Officer, answers your question. mattbr 17:49, 25 March 2007 (UTC)

How do i find portal subpages?

I'm reworking a long neglected portal, and occasionally have typed in a subpage expecting a redlink only to find that a page already exists and was just taken off the main page at some point in time. I'd like to find all these pages and either get them deleted or utilize them in the current portal. -ΖαππερΝαππερ ^Babel_Alexandria 17:54, 25 March 2007 (UTC)

Use Special:Prefixindex. Enter everything after the "Portal:" fron the name in the top box, and select "Portal" from the drop down box. Martinp23 17:59, 25 March 2007 (UTC)

Alternate title for link in template parameter?

How do I place an alternate title for a link in a template parameter?

Suppose I have a railway station template with a parameter "location" that automatically makes it a link. So I type:

{{railway station|location=Utopia}}

Unfortunately, Utopia is a disambig page. I want the Narnia railway station's location link to go to Utopia, Finland but be shown as Utopia. In a normal wikilink, I'd write:

[[Utopia, Finland|Utopia]]

But how do I do it in a template parameter?

(The above wikilinks are for example use only. I'm fully aware that Utopia isn't really a disambig page.) JIP | Talk 18:07, 25 March 2007 (UTC)

I'm not sure and it would depend on the template construction. Could you be more specific? mattbr 18:17, 25 March 2007 (UTC)

Specifically, I want the infobox in Kiikala (and other such places) to have a link to Salo, Finland instead of Salo, but still say Salo. Here's the infobox source code of Kiikala:

{{Kuntainfo| fullname=Kiikalan kunta| coatofarms=| status=municipality| map=| province=Western Finland| region=Finland Proper| district=Salo| citymanager=Seppo Koskinen| languages=[[Finnish language|Finnish]]| arearank=312th| area=245.35| arealand=240.12| poprank=359th| popdate=2003| pop=1,875| popchange=+ 0.8| popdensity=7.8| urbanisation=19.7| unemployment=10.0| website=http://www.kiikala.fi/ }}

Note the parameter "district=Salo". The Kuntainfo template has the following source code:

<nowkiki>{| class="infobox geography" style="width: 20em; font-size: 90%; text-align: left;" width="300px" |+ style="font-size: large; margin: inherit;"|{{{fullname}}}

| colspan="2"|

{{{coatofarms}}}

|- class="mergedrow"

| colspan="2"|

{{{status}}} in Finland

|- class="mergedrow" | colspan="2" style="text-align:center;"| {{{map}}} |- | Province || [[{{{province}}}]] |- class="mergedrow" | Region || [[{{{region}}}]] |- class="mergedrow" | Sub-region || [[{{{district}}}]] |- class="mergedrow" | City manager || {{{citymanager}}} |- class="mergedrow" | Official languages || {{{languages}}} |- | Area
 - total
 - land | ranked {{{arearank}}}
{{{area}}} km²
{{{arealand}}} km² |- class="mergedrow" | Population
 - total ([[{{{popdate}}}]])
 - change
 - density | ranked {{{poprank}}}
{{{pop}}}
{{{popchange}}} %
{{{popdensity}}}/km² |- | Urbanisation || {{{urbanisation}}} % |- class="mergedrow" | Unemployment rate || {{{unemployment}}} % |- align="center" | colspan="2" | {{{website}}} |}</nowiki>

Notice how the "Sub-region" row gets a value of "[[{{{district}}}]]", thus in this case "Salo". How do I make it go to Salo, Finland but still be displayed as Salo? JIP | Talk 18:29, 25 March 2007 (UTC)

Great, thanks. "district=Salo, Finland{{!}}Salo" should work in that case, where {{!}} produces a "|" without affecting the infobox coding. mattbr 18:42, 25 March 2007 (UTC)

Yes it works, see Kiikala. mattbr 19:10, 25 March 2007 (UTC)

year 2005 & yr 2006

I AM STUDYING LOGISTICS & WOULD LIKE TO KNOW THE STATISTICS OF LIST OF BUSIEST PORTS IN TONNAGE /POPULATION IN THE YEAR 2005/2006 — Preceding unsigned comment added by 202.150.111.61 (talk • contribs)

Have you tried Wikipedia's Reference Desk? They specialize in knowledge questions, and will try to answer any question in the universe (except how to use Wikipedia, since that's what this Help Desk is for). Just follow the link, select the relevant section, and ask away. I hope this helps. — Lost^(talk) 18:54, 25 March 2007 (UTC)

Coming to America

plaese i want go to amiracca so i need have a job in english soiety

Well, if you read and learn every document linked to from this page: User:John Broughton/Editor's Index to Wikipedia, you could become really good at MediaWiki editing, and then you could probably get a job editing on corporate wikis. However, you could also do that job from wherever you live now, if you have Internet access, so there's no need to bother with physically moving to America. If you live in a developing nation, you could probably live better where you are by doing remote contracting work for western companies, because you would be paid in hard currency and continue to have your (probably) low local cost of living. Side note: maybe wikis are the technology that can make offshoring practical for small business. There is a lot of grunt work to building and maintaining a corporate wiki, and most people in a corporation already have other jobs, so they could use some help to get their wiki working. --Teratornis 21:48, 25 March 2007 (UTC)

• The first thing I asked myself when I read your question is why you want a job in America so badly. It's hard enough to get a job and getting one in another country isn't any easier. To maximize your chances, though, you should probably make an effort to learn the language. Your question contained 5 errors in one sentence, which probably won't reflect well on you when you write a job application letter. - Mgm|^(talk) 07:48, 26 March 2007 (UTC)

How to handle repeat references so that they do not show up twice in the reference list

I have edited the page on Anubias and added two references. Both get cited in the text twice and this results in a reference list with FOUR entries, both of them twice the same ones. How do I correct this? Crusio 20:25, 25 March 2007 (UTC)

Use this code:

<ref name="name of reference"> blah blah blah rest of citation </ref>
<ref name="name of reference"/>

The second code will give you the same reference a second time. Hersfold ^(talk/work) 20:30, 25 March 2007 (UTC)

Done for you. See Wikipedia:Footnotes#Citing a footnote more than once too. x42bn6 Talk 20:32, 25 March 2007 (UTC)

Blacklisted websites

I had trouble unblanking a page because the spam filter found blacklisted websites linked in the page. It wasn't easy to find the problematic links, and I have been unable to find any list of banned websites to check against. Is there such a list?Professor marginalia 21:13, 25 March 2007 (UTC)

It's at meta:spam blacklist. — coelacan — 21:18, 25 March 2007 (UTC)

Thanks!Professor marginalia 21:28, 25 March 2007 (UTC)

The blacklist warning page you are taken to when you try to save a page with blacklisted links says something like "the offending link is http://www.spamcite.com". Copy the main link name, "spamcite" in this case (highlight, cntrl + c on most keyboards). Then when you go to the article past version, search for the text (cntrl + F on most browsers will open up a search box, hit cntrl + v to paste). You should have little problem finding the offending link(s), even if the article is huge. I think this will be much faster than checking links against a list.--Fuhghettaboutit 21:31, 25 March 2007 (UTC)

That's good advice. — coelacan — 21:39, 25 March 2007 (UTC)

Thanks. I looked for some clue to identify the website in the spamblock message and couldn't find it. I suppose I missed it somehow. I will try to recreate the problem in the sandbox to get the technique down. This is great because matching links against the list would take a long time whenever there are many suspects to sort through in the article.Professor marginalia 22:02, 25 March 2007 (UTC)

Hmmm. It may be that there are different messages—maybe if there are multiple blocked links it doesn't list any. In any event, try saving this page for an example of what I was talking about. As you can see, you cannot save but are redirected to a spamblock page which says, in part: "The following text is what triggered our spam filter: http://www...".--Fuhghettaboutit 00:38, 26 March 2007 (UTC)

Looking for a special picture concerning free images ...

Hello, everyone, I recently noticed that unfree images cannot be used in the templates with contain personal information on living people. I once stumbled over a placeholder image that says something like "Free images are not allowed her. Have a free one? Click here to upload it." or something like it, however I cannot find it again - it's gone! Anyone out there who could help me with that? Regards, --Plumcouch ^Talk2Me 22:29, 25 March 2007 (UTC)

It's Image:Replace this image1.svg. — coelacan — 22:54, 25 March 2007 (UTC)

AFD question

How do you nominate an article (that's been in AFD in the past)? I've looked at several pages, and I havent found anything on it. RobJ1981 22:30, 25 March 2007 (UTC)

On the three step set of instructions at WP:AFD, at the bottom of the first step, it says "If the article has been nominated for deletion before..." and there is a corresponding note at the bottom of the third step. Nothing special for the second step as long as you use the link provided by the {{afdx}} template. — coelacan — 22:52, 25 March 2007 (UTC)

There is one difference. In previous steps, use "PageName (2nd nomination)" instead of "PageName".--Fuhghettaboutit 22:57, 25 March 2007 (UTC)

Deleting uploaded images

Hi, I was asked to move unlinked images to Wikimedia Commons. While it's easy to upload to Wikimedia Commons, I can't figure out how to delete already uploaded images from Wikipedia. Please help. - Anantashakti 23:22, 25 March 2007 (UTC)

Per, WP:IFD, edit the image description here and add {{subst:ncd}} for images with the same name on Commons or {{subst:ncd|image name on Commons}} if the image has a different name on Commons. -- Rick Block (talk) 23:38, 25 March 2007 (UTC)

Gamma Phi Beta Sorority

The Offical Colors of the sorority are brown and mode not brown and pink. Brown and pink are part of a new marketing initative along with teh slogan connect, impact and shine. This intitative in no way changes the colors of the sorority. You can verify this information at www.gammaphibeta.org the sorority's international website.

Thank you, Tabatha Cyrus Alpha Alpha Chapter

How do I make lists?

Insert non-formatted text here I am trying to combine down the various minor characters in Jojo's Bizarre adventure into small lists of characters organized by parts, unfortunately it doesn't work the way I thought it would. any help would be appreciated.Tensa Zangetsu 23:52, 25 March 2007 (UTC)

Use asterisks (*) to make bulleted lists and # to make numbered lists. For example,

*Stuff   
*More Stuff

gives:

• Stuff
• More Stuff

and

#Stuff   
#More Stuff

gives:

1. Stuff
2. More Stuff

See Help:List and maybe Help:Table for more detailed info. Mr.Z-mantalk¢Review! 23:56, 25 March 2007 (UTC)

March 26

how to use the wikipedia account?

I have sign up in wikipedia but dont knw for which purpose should i use my account? can I send e-mail from my account to my friend? plz guide me..

Well this is the online encyclopedia that anyone can edit. It has little to do with sending email and more to do with writing and helping out with tasks that benefit the encyclopedia. If you'd like to help out and get involved, a good launching point is the Wikipedia:Community Portal. Regarding email, you can send email to other Wikipedians, but not to outside email addresses. We're not a free email host.--Fuhghettaboutit 03:22, 26 March 2007 (UTC)

Honorius and his likely Google company

Right now, if you Google "Honorius", Wikipedia's article Honorius (emperor) is listed with the following summary: "Encyclopedia article which recounts the life of this Roman Emperor in a negative light." "Negative light"? Not exactly the NPOV goal here. Also, I'm guessing that whatever robot/well-intentioned person/vandal is responsible for this has done the same thing for other articles. Who should be alerted, and in what way? $\sim$ Lenoxus " * " 05:58, 26 March 2007 (UTC)

• I wonder how that happened. I'd expect developers to be responsible for Google summaries, perhaps contact those. - Mgm|^(talk) 07:42, 26 March 2007 (UTC)

See Wikipedia:Developers. - Mgm|^(talk) 07:43, 26 March 2007 (UTC)

• I am pretty sure that Google's summaries, which sometimes appear in place of a piece of text, are the editorial work of Google themselves. I just looked at the abstract given by Google for a site I am involved with which is (while accurate) not a form of words ever provided on the site. I cannot find a confirmation of this, but it may be worth asking on Talk:Google if anyone knows of it. Notinasnaid 10:42, 26 March 2007 (UTC)
  • Maybe it was taken from the text of links linking into Wikipedia from outside? --ais523 12:06, 26 March 2007 (UTC)
• Google does not have resources to manually make descriptions. They get many descriptions from Open Directory Project, including this one which is from http://dmoz.org/Society/History/By_Time_Period/Ancient/Rome/People/Roman_Emperors/Honorius/ The "update listing" link there can be used to suggest a new description. The suggestion will (it may take some time) be reviewed by an ODP editor who decides what to do. PrimeHunter 12:51, 26 March 2007 (UTC)

Johnny Clegg

I would like to know if anyone is able to help me meet Johnny Clegg. I've tried to meet him for more or less 9 years now. I've sent emails to editors of newspapers, magazines, tv shows and radio stations asking if they could help out. I've met one of his band members who tried to get me backstage to meet Johnny after a concert.People in France, Germany, America, Australia and South Africa have tried to help me meet Johnny. I've written letters and phoned, but nothing has worked. I'm 16 years old and keep getting turned down after concerts to meet Johnny Clegg. Please let me know if you can help me meet Johnny. Thank you.41.241.245.190 06:08, 26 March 2007 (UTC)

I'm sorry but Wikipedia is not able to help you with that. We are writing an Encyclopedia and just have an article about Johnny Clegg. PrimeHunter 12:41, 26 March 2007 (UTC)

A MISTAKE BROUGHT TO YOUR ATTENTION

If you are not the right editor for this item, please pass it on to whoever is. I just pulled up the subject "Doberman Pinscher" on Wikepedia and although there are several photographs of actual Doberman Pinschers, the first photo to greet the viewer is of a tiny breed of dog that looks like a Miniature Manchester Terrier. Until recently a photo of a magnificent Doberman was in that space. Is somebody playing a joke with your format or what? Please check this out and make the necessary correction. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 69.117.106.58 (talk) 07:10, 26 March 2007 (UTC).

It looks like someone corrected the mistake. -SpuriousQ (talk) 07:22, 26 March 2007 (UTC)

I don't like spam.

Category:Quest Software and its 21 articles seem to be 100% spam, the product of a single user. Since I don't want to have to add a speedy deletion tag to that many pages, here I am. Clarityfiend 08:24, 26 March 2007 (UTC)

• You could try contacting someone with access to AutoWikiBrowser. - Mgm|^(talk) 09:11, 26 March 2007 (UTC)

updating spiderman 3

i just received new information that spiderman 3 will be released in Singapore on may 1 2007.I would really appreciate that you update the page on spiderman 3 saying that the movie will be released on may 1 2007 in Singapore!!! Thank you!!! I would have done this myself if the page was not semi-protected.This is just a gentle reminder!!! —The preceding unsigned comment was added by Shaktis100 (talk • contribs) 08:39, 26 March 2007 (UTC).

Spider-Man 3 currently only mentions release dates in Japan (world premiere) and USA (production country and largest commercial market). The Singapore market appears to have relatively low importance and may not be notable enough to mention. It can be discussed at Talk:Spider-Man 3#International release dates. PrimeHunter 12:28, 26 March 2007 (UTC)

The external links include International release dates which is probably not worth copying to the article. PrimeHunter 12:32, 26 March 2007 (UTC)

Signing the time only

Three ~~~ signs your name, four ~~~~ signs the time aswell. How about only the time? How can this be done? Think outside the box 11:06, 26 March 2007 (UTC)

Five tildes (~~~~~) generates the time part of the signature: 11:07, 26 March 2007 (UTC). --ais523 11:07, 26 March 2007 (UTC)

Thank you for that! I should have been able to work that one out! Think outside the box 11:25, 26 March 2007 (UTC)

ASAP

Sorry in the wrong place I bet. Thuis guys a Vandal 24.39.181.168 see Cars Film article etc could someboby warrn him or put a block in?--McNoddy 13:20, 26 March 2007 (UTC)

User talk:24.39.181.168 reports a 48-hour block. WP:AIV is a better place. PrimeHunter 13:43, 26 March 2007 (UTC)

Thank You for your help and speedy reply PrimeHunter --McNoddy 13:45, 26 March 2007 (UTC)

Deleting searches

Hello,

How can I delete my past searches please so that they are not displayed under the search window/ Thank you.208.7.160.78 14:00, 26 March 2007 (UTC)

Hehe, what are you trying to hide? ;-) Anyway, these are stored by your browser, not Wikipedia. Check your browser's documentation. -SpuriousQ (talk) 14:05, 26 March 2007 (UTC)

Staying signed in ...

I am having no luck signing in on LOSTPEDIA.COM.

I sign in and my name appears in the header, however, when I navigate away from the sign-in confirmation page, my name "disappears," and it seems that I am no longer signed in.

How do I correct this?

Thanks,

67.142.130.26 15:05, 26 March 2007 (UTC)Lisakaymck

Try using the 'remember me' checkbox and making sure you've got cookies set. If you're using a satellite ISP, there are known problems involving such ISPs and MediaWiki (Wikipedia has a workaround, but I don't think other MediaWiki wikis do.) Hope that helps! --ais523 15:10, 26 March 2007 (UTC)

Adding an external link?

I have written an article that could be made the target of an "external link" from (in this case) the main article on the Mandelbrot Set.

However, I somehow feel that any such link would have to have a certain minimum quality and add value to the main article. I am very nervous about just adding the link myself, especially as there is so much good stuff out there already.

What is the procedure in this case? (I am a new user, apologies if this has already been asked and answered somewhere.)

The article in question is here:

     http://www.tooby.demon.co.uk/Log/DidYouKnow.html#TheAmazingMandelbrot

The intention of the article is give someone with a non-mathematical background an insight into what is going on, not by ignoring the maths, but by trying to explain what the maths is really doing. Whether the article is successful in this, only other people can judge!

AirToob 15:11, 26 March 2007 (UTC)

You can discuss whether the link is appropriate on the article's talk page (in this case, Talk:Mandelbrot set). Hope that helps! --ais523 15:12, 26 March 2007 (UTC)

Thank you! AirToob 15:17, 26 March 2007 (UTC)

External Liink Addition/Deletion

I recently added an external link (http://www.holylochmarina,homecall.co.uk) onto Holy Loch and Sandbank, Argyll and bute pages. The link is relevant to the area as it is what is happening right now. It can even be classed as a historic event as it details everything from the start to the present concerning the construction of the "holy loch marina" and will continue to be informative. If you consider the link innapropriate because it is

"Please do not add inappropriate external links to Wikipedia, as you did in Holy Loch. Wikipedia is not a mere directory of links nor should it be used for advertising or promotion. Inappropriate links include (but are not limited to) links to personal web sites, links to web sites with which you are affiliated, and links that exist to attract visitors to a web site or promote a product. See the external links guideline and spam policies for further explanations of links that are considered appropriate. If you feel the link should be added to the article, then please discuss it on the article's talk page rather than re-adding it. See the welcome page to learn more about Wikipedia. Thank you.. Wikipedia is not for the purpose of publicising your campaigns or causes, no matter how good. Notinasnaid 17:52, 25 March 2007 (UTC)"

and

"Please stop adding inappropriate external links to Wikipedia, as you did in Sandbank, Argyll and Bute. It is considered spamming, and Wikipedia is not a vehicle for advertising. Thanks. Notinasnaid 17:58, 25 March 2007 (UTC)"

then by your own rules both links to "river rocket" and "holy loch marina" should be removed also as they are both companies using your pages as a promotional exercise i.e advertising.

thankyou

belfrygirl