Wikipedia:Help desk
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January 26
Same template
I recently discovered two same templates. {{Taiwan Provincial Highways}} and {{Taiwanese provincial highways}}. What do I do? Merge them? or delete one of them??? (Ps. I'm not very good at manipulating template codes) impactF=check this 00:43, 26 January 2009 (UTC)
- I think you could delete one.. you can't merge two of the same thing. Layout is different, that is all.--Staka (T) 02:08, 26 January 2009 (UTC)
- List one of them at WP:TFD. – ukexpat (talk) 02:36, 26 January 2009 (UTC)
- Make sure that there's no project-related reason to have both templates and also make sure that there is a consensus before you migrate all articles to the use of either one or the other. - Mgm|(talk) 08:44, 26 January 2009 (UTC)
Style Guidelines?
Does Wikipedia have any style guidelines for the creation of a brand new page? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 71.62.13.246 (talk) 01:51, 26 January 2009 (UTC)
- Oh yes it sure does. Take a look at WP:YFA and WP:MOS. – ukexpat (talk) 01:52, 26 January 2009 (UTC)
- You must also create an account first. Of course, you may have one but have simply forgotten to log in. Creating an account has many benefits, but if you don't want to, you can request an article's creation at WP:AFC. —La Pianista (T•C) 02:40, 26 January 2009 (UTC)
- And keep WP:LAYOUT handy. There are also many subject-specific guidelines, so what do you want to write about? Your choice of subject to write about has the largest influence over the fate of your article. If you write about the "wrong" subject, you will next be asking "Why was my article deleted?" --Teratornis (talk) 20:41, 26 January 2009 (UTC)
- You must also create an account first. Of course, you may have one but have simply forgotten to log in. Creating an account has many benefits, but if you don't want to, you can request an article's creation at WP:AFC. —La Pianista (T•C) 02:40, 26 January 2009 (UTC)
Image linked to page?
Is it possible to link an image, that's not in an article but in a template or an userpage, to a specific page on Wikipedia? --Staka (T) 02:06, 26 January 2009 (UTC)
- Not sure what you mean - please explain. – ukexpat (talk) 02:38, 26 January 2009 (UTC)
- Images found in the template/userspace should be linkable in the mainspace. Please clarify. —La Pianista (T•C) 02:42, 26 January 2009 (UTC)
- I'll hazard a guess that you're trying to get your fancy image there to link to your userpage. Please remove the image at once. It's a security risk, plus the image can be vandalised. Imagine you sign 5000 posts, then a vandal uploads, say, a not-safe-for-work image. Not only is Wikipedia now peppered with this NSFW image (probably leading to mass sackings of Wikipedians who edit at work), but while the 5000 instances of the image are being replaced we could see another server lock-up like the one Scientizzle famously caused. If you can remember, he deleted the sandbox. See WP:SIG#Images. Xenon54 (talk) 02:49, 26 January 2009 (UTC)
- Alright, I've removed it from my signature. It'll be text linked to userpage from now on. I just saw some people using it and thought it was okay.. never knew there was such guideline over this. --Staka (T) 03:52, 26 January 2009 (UTC)
- Should I go to every talk page I used this signature? I'm not sure how many but probably less than 10.. And also, even though "famously caused", I never knew such problem happening before. --Staka (T) 03:56, 26 January 2009 (UTC)
- You should, just to be safe. Don't remove the time and date you originally signed, though. I said "famously" because I thought most would probably remember it (it happened this time last year) - nothing but error pages for a good few hours. Xenon54 (talk) 12:31, 26 January 2009 (UTC)
- "Famous" on Wikipedia is kind of a Blind men and an elephant situation. Wikipedia is so huge that it's quite possible for random user X to be very familiar with some things while completely oblivious to others. For example, I thought the Editor's index to Wikipedia was pretty famous, but when I posted a note to that effect, several users with 10,000+ contributions mentioned they had not yet heard of it. I can't recall this "famous" incident you mention here. It would be interesting to make a list of the things that every Wikipedia user knows. I bet it would be a short list. (I say it would be interesting because if I could make that list, I would practically be omniscient, and being omniscient would be cool, I think. Although I cannot be sure because it's hard to know how many horrifying truths I have no inkling of now.) --Teratornis (talk) 20:38, 26 January 2009 (UTC)
- Alright, I'll go change the images to text without simply using tides. --Staka (T) 20:47, 26 January 2009 (UTC)
- Oh, someone has already changed all of my signatures.. well thanks for informing me about this information. --Staka (T) 20:49, 26 January 2009 (UTC)
- You should, just to be safe. Don't remove the time and date you originally signed, though. I said "famously" because I thought most would probably remember it (it happened this time last year) - nothing but error pages for a good few hours. Xenon54 (talk) 12:31, 26 January 2009 (UTC)
- Should I go to every talk page I used this signature? I'm not sure how many but probably less than 10.. And also, even though "famously caused", I never knew such problem happening before. --Staka (T) 03:56, 26 January 2009 (UTC)
- Alright, I've removed it from my signature. It'll be text linked to userpage from now on. I just saw some people using it and thought it was okay.. never knew there was such guideline over this. --Staka (T) 03:52, 26 January 2009 (UTC)
- I'll hazard a guess that you're trying to get your fancy image there to link to your userpage. Please remove the image at once. It's a security risk, plus the image can be vandalised. Imagine you sign 5000 posts, then a vandal uploads, say, a not-safe-for-work image. Not only is Wikipedia now peppered with this NSFW image (probably leading to mass sackings of Wikipedians who edit at work), but while the 5000 instances of the image are being replaced we could see another server lock-up like the one Scientizzle famously caused. If you can remember, he deleted the sandbox. See WP:SIG#Images. Xenon54 (talk) 02:49, 26 January 2009 (UTC)
- Images found in the template/userspace should be linkable in the mainspace. Please clarify. —La Pianista (T•C) 02:42, 26 January 2009 (UTC)
User subpage name showing on Category page
While I'm working on a new page that belongs in the category German architects, my user page is showing up in the category list as User:Laura schnak/Mathes Roriczer. I understand why this is happening but is it a faux pas and should I somehow comment out the line until I actually merge the article? Thanks. Laura schnak (talk) 03:15, 26 January 2009 (UTC)
- Yes you should comment out (or nowiki) the categories (and images, if there are any) until you move the article into mainspace. You can also add a colon before the category name, thus—[[:Category:German architects]]—as another way of keeping the page from being added to the category. Deor (talk) 03:32, 26 January 2009 (UTC)
- Perfect, thanks. Laura schnak (talk) 03:48, 26 January 2009 (UTC)
Are financial donations the only way to express gratitude for articles?
I often wish I could click something on a wikipage just to show the contributing authors that I found their work helpful.
I already donate financially to wikipedia but that's very different from the desire to express a sincere thank you for your work.
Could you help me find the best way to circulate this idea? I'd like to see if there is widespread support to help put something in place to facilitate readers being able to quickly and easily express thanks for helpful articles.
Thanks, LChrisB (talk) 04:28, 26 January 2009 (UTC)
- You can award barnstars to particular editors or just leave a note on talk pages. – ukexpat (talk) 05:02, 26 January 2009 (UTC)
- Unfortunately, since most pages have many authors (especially true with the higher-quality articles, which often use peer review processes to get feedback), barnstars aren't terribly practical. Chris, we do appreciate your thanks, but there's not much of a way to express it besides a small donation to the Wikimedia Foundation. GlassCobra 07:33, 26 January 2009 (UTC)
- On the history page of an article there's usually a link on the top left that will give you a sorted list of contributors with the most-contributing user at the top. You can given those a barnstar and encourage them to award other stars to the people that helped them best.. - 131.211.210.199 (talk) 08:26, 26 January 2009 (UTC)
- You can also leave a general thank-you on an article's talk page, or on the talk page of the overseeing WikiProject. Thank you for donating financially, by the way. --Teratornis (talk) 08:54, 26 January 2009 (UTC)
Airport code history
Why is Columbia, SC's airport code CAE? Some say it because it is in Cayce-West Columbia, SC. But the airport itself cannot verify this. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 161.215.18.51 (talk) 04:44, 26 January 2009 (UTC)
- 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 is what this Help Desk is for). Just follow the link, select the relevant section, and ask away. I hope this helps. – ukexpat (talk) 05:03, 26 January 2009 (UTC)
- See Columbia Metropolitan Airport, International Air Transport Association airport code, and Airport ABCs: An Explanation of Airport Identifier Codes. I don't see the exact answer, but the last reference gives the rules for choosing codes. The airport's history page does not say anything about the airport's code. If nobody at the Reference desk knows the answer, you might have some luck by asking a reference librarian at your local library, or checking with your local historical society. When the IATA first assigned the code, a local newspaper may have run a story about it. That story is unlikely to be online, because the code probably predates the Internet by several decades. --Teratornis (talk) 10:15, 26 January 2009 (UTC)
fix broken link?
I found a broken link here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Focus_group under "External links", to Focus Group Principles American Marketing Association Could someone repair that?Artarch (talk) 00:06, 1 February 2009 (UTC)
Clean up references
Could someone who's better with citing medical references than I am (that includes everyone :-) ) please fix the references in the Side stitch article? Thanks, Dismas|(talk) 05:55, 26 January 2009 (UTC)
edit war
Triple J Hottest 100, 2008 is beyond my current abilities. Ched (talk) 06:25, 26 January 2009 (UTC)
- I don't see any content dispute there, sneaky vandalism perhaps? Go to WP:RFPP if you want it protected. –Capricorn42 (talk) 06:36, 26 January 2009 (UTC)
- doesn't matter to me, I just noticed a lot of IP edit changing and BS at the page, half dozen edits per min., and not all good faith edits. I do appreciate the link to that page protection thing though ... bookmarking now. Thanks for the info ;) ... Ched (talk) 06:44, 26 January 2009 (UTC)
- LOL ... guess I'm too slow ... I see it's already listed there. Ched (talk) 06:46, 26 January 2009 (UTC)
adding a new language
My cities Wikipedia page contains many languages but Spanish is not one of them. I would like to translate some of the English page into Spanish, and possibly add my own information. How can I go about doing this?
Many thanks, —Preceding unsigned comment added by Dscharb (talk • contribs) 07:25, 26 January 2009 (UTC)
- To do that you will have to go to the Spanish Wikipedia. Create the page there and then add an interwiki link to the English article. –Capricorn42 (talk) 07:28, 26 January 2009 (UTC)
- Wikipedia:Translation has information on translation to English. I don't know Spanish but es:Categoría:Wikipedia:Traducciones solicitadas may be of use for editors translating to Spanish. PrimeHunter (talk) 12:05, 26 January 2009 (UTC)
thanks for your help! —Preceding unsigned comment added by Dscharb (talk • contribs) 14:22, 26 January 2009 (UTC)
resolving disputes
So I looked up an article on "The Apostolic Faith Church," and found a big "!" telling me that the neutrality or factuality of the article was being disputed; I edited the article to meet the objections and clear up the issue. How can I petition to have the "!" removed? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 99.157.205.73 (talk) 08:59, 26 January 2009 (UTC)
- Presumably you refer to the {{Totally-disputed}} template at the top of the Apostolic Faith Mission article. Anyone can put such a template on any article, and anyone else can remove it, but this might not necessarily satisfy the person who put the template on the page.
- The bold method is to just remove it when you think you have fixed the problem.
- The civil method is to determine who put the template on the page, and tell them to inspect your changes. If they think you have fixed the problem, they will remove the template. It's nice to do things this way because otherwise you could get into an edit war if the other user does not agree that you have fixed the problems.
- Also see Talk:Apostolic Faith Mission where some users have been discussing the page. Note that articles on Religion can be tricky on Wikipedia, because they are usually edited by adherents of the various religions, which leads to conflicts of interest. Wikipedia's neutral point of view is completely at odds with faith, so religious people must be careful when editing articles about their religions, particularly when discussing unverifiable faith claims. The temporal history of an organized religion, on the other hand, is much like the temporal history of any secular organization, in terms of how one would reliably source factual claims about it. --Teratornis (talk) 09:30, 26 January 2009 (UTC)
thanks alot !! —Preceding unsigned comment added by Dscharb (talk • contribs) 14:17, 26 January 2009 (UTC)
- You're welcome, and thanks for responding to let us know the answer helped (many supplicants on the Help desk never reply, so we never know if we helped them). If I may add some unsolicited advice: you seem to be making some edits while logged in to Wikipedia, and some edits while not logged in. Before you edit on Wikipedia, check in the upper right corner to see if you are logged in. You should see your username up there, rather than an I.P. address. If you make all your edits while logged in, it will be easier for you to keep track of your contributions. For example, six months from now you might want to find an article you remember editing, but you cannot remember the name. If you edited it while logged in, it will be on your contributions page. --Teratornis (talk) 20:32, 26 January 2009 (UTC)
IP address impersonation
From these diffs it appears that one or two users are impersonating a different IP address (and in the latter case, acting uncivilly). Where exactly should this be reported? -- 74.137.108.115 (talk) 09:02, 26 January 2009 (UTC)
- It's a blockable offense, but since they didn't do much with it yet, I recommend warning them first. - Mgm|(talk) 09:50, 26 January 2009 (UTC)
- (e/c) I added unsigned template at RD/C and asked user not to fake signature on their talk page. –Capricorn42 (talk) 09:51, 26 January 2009 (UTC)
- That was quick! Thanks! -- 74.137.108.115 (talk) 09:54, 26 January 2009 (UTC)
Newpages offset
Is it not possible anymore to offset the number of new pages without being specific (i.e., it's not possible anymore to go to the back of the log and offset it by the last 500 pages, instead a date must be specified)? -- Mentisock 10:52, 26 January 2009 (UTC)
- I'm not sure what you mean. Are you saying you cannot change the number of new pages shown in the log (for example, 20, 50, etc.)? TN‑X-Man 16:23, 26 January 2009 (UTC)
- I mean you need a specific date to change like it http://en.wikipedia.org/enwiki/w/index.php?title=Special:NewPages&offset=20081231115718&limit=500&hidepatrolled=1. -- Mentisock 09:36, 27 January 2009 (UTC)
- Can't you just click the patrolling pages from the back of the unpatrolled backlog button at the top of Special:NewPages to achieve what you want?--Commander Keane (talk) 05:17, 29 January 2009 (UTC)
- I can but I also want to see the last 500, since that link only lists 50. -- Mentifisto 15:07, 30 January 2009 (UTC)
- Actually I think the new pages link on your userpage replied my question. :-) -- Mentifisto 23:10, 30 January 2009 (UTC)
- Can't you just click the patrolling pages from the back of the unpatrolled backlog button at the top of Special:NewPages to achieve what you want?--Commander Keane (talk) 05:17, 29 January 2009 (UTC)
- I mean you need a specific date to change like it http://en.wikipedia.org/enwiki/w/index.php?title=Special:NewPages&offset=20081231115718&limit=500&hidepatrolled=1. -- Mentisock 09:36, 27 January 2009 (UTC)
Location map in infobox
Is there any way to add a location map to the military conflict infobox? I've been trying to add it, but it keeps going off center, either to the left or right side of the space provided in the infobox for the image. Chamal talk 12:53, 26 January 2009 (UTC)
- Infobox Military Conflict does not support a map. Add {{[[Template:|]]}} as separate template. --—— Gadget850 (Ed) talk - 14:27, 26 January 2009 (UTC)
- Or, if the template talk page is active ask there if the ibox can be edited to allow use of a location map. If that page does not seem very active (last edit appears to be October 2008), raise the issue on the talk page of the Military History Project. – ukexpat (talk) 15:35, 26 January 2009 (UTC)
- Damn... OK guys, thanks. Chamal talk 00:44, 27 January 2009 (UTC)
M-Tech(Master of Technology) Construction Managment
indus institute of higher education karachi Pakistan is the first degree awarding institute have been succefully launched the M-Tech Programm in jan-2006 first badge of M-tech passed out DEc-2007. please enter to your record.
thanks —Preceding unsigned comment added by 115.186.96.166 (talk) 15:37, 26 January 2009 (UTC)
- This help desk is for asking questions about using Wikipedia. Is there something with which we can help you? If you are interested in creating an article, you would first have to register an account, which has many other benefits. TN‑X-Man 16:20, 26 January 2009 (UTC)
Starting over again
This is a bit complicated, and I apologize in advance for my carelessness. Hope I'm not telling you more than is necessary, but I thought you should get the full picture.
My first article (although I made a substantial contribution to Tannu Uriankhai, but that was through the edit function) was "Outer Mongolian Revolution of 1911." I apparently did that correctly. By the time I started on my next article, I had forgotten what I did to publish the first, and did this one differently (and incorrectly). I wrote the second article on my user page, used the "move" feature to give it a name ("Outer Mongolia in the Bogd Khaan Era, 1911-1919"), believing that the article was safe. Well, of course, I was wrong. Anyhow, that seemed to work well enough. So I wrote a third article (my last, you will be pleased to know). I went to my user page, deleted the text "Outer Mongolia in the Bogd Khaan, etc." through the "edit" feature, cut and paste the new one, and then again used the "move" feature to give it a name ("Outer Mongolian Revolution of 1921"). It was then I discovered that the "Bogd Khaan" article was gone, but not its name. Finally, in my effort to fix things and before I had thought things through, I did another "move" action to create an article "Outer Mongolia, 1911-1919." That just created a "redirect" action (or something like that).
I want to start again, and publish the two articles correctly. However, their names are now taken. I could create new titles but this will just clutter Wikipedia up. So, the question is: How can I (or you) delete the three titles: "Outer Mongolia in the Bogd Khaan era, 1911-1919," "Outer Mongolia, 1911-1919," and "Outer Mongolian Revolution of 1921"? The two texts are safe in my own hard drive. Thanks and apologies for this inconvenience. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Mongolia62 (talk • contribs) 16:29, 26 January 2009 (UTC)
- Do not delete the existing articles, but instead add the additional information you have uncovered to the articles already in Wikipedia. You cannot own an article or topic, and it is against the spirit of this project to replace sound information just because you prefer your own presentation of the same or similar data. Always recall: if you don't want your writing to be edited mercilessly... do not submit it. --Orange Mike | Talk 16:50, 26 January 2009 (UTC)
Arrangement of images beneath headings
How can one arrange a page such that a number of images are forced to render beneath their collective header, with this pattern repeated a number of times?
Thanks.
--Coosbane (talk) 17:39, 26 January 2009 (UTC)
- It's hard to comment in the abstract. Is there any article in particular that you can point us to? – ukexpat (talk) 17:42, 26 January 2009 (UTC)
- Looking at contribs, perhaps Scottsville Photo Gallery? It's a page of photos having to do with Scottsville, NY. Xenon54 (talk) 17:46, 26 January 2009 (UTC)
- Are gallery pages even appropriate on Wikipedia? In any event, you could create a gallery under each heading using the {{Gallery}} template. – ukexpat (talk) 19:27, 26 January 2009 (UTC)
- It should probably be merged into the main Scottsville article. Galleries like that belong on Commons. Xenon54 (talk) 20:07, 26 January 2009 (UTC)
- Are gallery pages even appropriate on Wikipedia? In any event, you could create a gallery under each heading using the {{Gallery}} template. – ukexpat (talk) 19:27, 26 January 2009 (UTC)
- While I still would like to know how to tame the image location beast, using the "gallery" template solved the immediate problem. Thanks. --Coosbane (talk) 15:38, 27 January 2009 (UTC)
<p align="justify">
Should editors ever use the above? Is there a guideline against their use? When I say use, I mean for paragraphs just on their own, not in tables or anything. - Jarry1250 (t, c) 17:45, 26 January 2009 (UTC)
- I can't think of a reason to justify a particular paragraph and not others, and there's already a preferences option for people who want to justify everything. Did you have any particular case in mind? Algebraist 17:51, 26 January 2009 (UTC)
- Erm, yeah, I'll just find it for you... St John's College, Cambridge - lots of constructive edits by the same author, but also adding these in (seemingly randomly). - Jarry1250 (t, c) 19:22, 26 January 2009 (UTC)
- I removed them. – ukexpat (talk) 19:37, 26 January 2009 (UTC)
Non-free use rationale Questions
Can someone please check the rationale that I posted on the edit page of the logo/image used for abcdefg35/ITG. I need to know if this rationale is good enough and if there is anything else I need to do. Thanks Abcdefg35 (talk) 17:49, 26 January 2009 (UTC)
- To start with, non-free images must be used in articles, or they will be deleted. Then the image description page needs a separate rationale for each use. Algebraist 17:55, 26 January 2009 (UTC)
Creating a page name for an event with advertising in its name
There is a new event in American college basketball called the Collegeinsider.com Postseason Tournament. I cringe at creating a page with that name. I'm wondering what other editors thing of it. There are other examples like the "MasterCard National Invitation Tournament" being under National Invitation Tournament, but it doesn't really make sense to shorten this case to Postseason Tournament as that would be too generic. Relaxing (talk) 19:09, 26 January 2009 (UTC)
- No way to avoid it; it's a marketing thing, like Miller Park. --Orange Mike | Talk 19:45, 26 January 2009 (UTC)
- Perhaps you could truncate the '.com' to just be 'Collegeinsider Postseason Tournament'?Reynolds329 (talk) 13:40, 27 January 2009 (UTC)
Policy Page
Does anyone know where might be some policy or guideline pages which says that we shouldn't link policy pages to articles. Meaning that the article itself should not contain links to policy pages. Thank you Ched (talk) 19:23, 26 January 2009 (UTC)
- Mainspace pages can contain links to policy pages for different reasons, for example in cleanup templates, in hatnotes, and in articles about Wikipedia. Can you be more specific about which situation you have in mind? PrimeHunter (talk) 19:33, 26 January 2009 (UTC)
- This one? If not, then there is a list of policies here, try searching there. –Capricorn42 (talk) 19:36, 26 January 2009 (UTC)
- The person that mentioned it to me was an admin. I think she may have been referring to the first link. I had found the list of policies, but couldn't find one that seemed to fit. Thank you, I'll try to understand how it applies. Ched (talk) 19:46, 26 January 2009 (UTC)
Creating a new article with a title which already exsists
I'd like to create an article about Tom Jenkinson, but there is a different Tom Jenkinson who already has an article under this title. Is there any way I could make an article under this tile and create a disambiguation? —Preceding unsigned comment added by Trish92 (talk • contribs) 19:54, 26 January 2009 (UTC)
- Make it Tom Jenkinson with an additional detail in parenthesis that describes him, like John Doe (politician) or John Doe (actor). Grsz11 19:56, 26 January 2009 (UTC)
- (edit conflict) If the person is a guitarist, create it at Tom Jenkinson (guitarist); if they are a footballer, create it at Tom Jenkinson (footballer). Then add {{Otheruses}} (or one of its relatives) to the top of the other article, directing the user to the one with the parenthesized term. Dendodge TalkContribs 19:58, 26 January 2009 (UTC)
- (e/c x2)The way to do it is to add a disambiguating term in parentheses in the title, eg Tom Jenkinson (artist) or whatever term is appropriate - see WP:D. If there are only two Tom Jenkinsons with articles, there is no need for a disambiguation page, a hatnote is sufficient, probably {{otherpeople4}}. – ukexpat (talk) 20:00, 26 January 2009 (UTC)
Can you center a caption?
I have inserted images with captions a couple of times, and the captions automatically justify to the left margin. Is there a way to center the captions? —Preceding unsigned comment added by Voiceperson (talk • contribs) 20:30, 26 January 2009 (UTC)
- Personally, I don't think it's necessary to center except perhaps on a page-wide panorama. It is not specifically prohibited by WP:CAPTION so I guess it's OK - take a look at the {{Center}} template. – ukexpat (talk) 20:49, 26 January 2009 (UTC)
- Use
<center>This caption is centered.</center>
Gary King (talk) 21:16, 26 January 2009 (UTC)
- Use
Redistrubuting information from Wikipedia?
Hi, I was wondering what the rules are (if, indeed, there are any) regarding taking information from a wikipedia article and republishing it elseware. The specific example that I'm interested in would be in using large sections of an article to make up help text for a computer program I've written. The program is a Hanjie puzzle game and I'd like to take sections from the wiki article to explain to the user what Hanjie puzzles are and how to solve them. Would that be allowed or would I be breaking copyright or a license or some kind? —Preceding unsigned comment added by The Farwall (talk • contribs) 21:22, 26 January 2009 (UTC)
- See WP:REUSE. – ukexpat (talk) 21:24, 26 January 2009 (UTC)
Height
How tall was Elvis? Sorry, I haven't been able to find it list. Thanks —Preceding unsigned comment added by 74.47.88.86 (talk) 22:39, 26 January 2009 (UTC)
- About 6', according to Google. Algebraist 22:43, 26 January 2009 (UTC)
- If you have any other factual (i.e. not having to do with Wikipedia) questions, please ask them at the reference desk. Xenon54 (talk) 23:28, 26 January 2009 (UTC)
Adding medal box to athletic profile
I am wanting to add the box I see on various Olympic and Pan American athletes that shows results and medals. I have searched everywhere and haven't been able to find how to put it in and edit it. I am looking to place one on my father's (Albert Hall)page. Thank you Ghosttowner33 (talk) 23:56, 26 January 2009 (UTC)
- Are you asking about the infobox like in the upper right corner of Larry Hart? If so, see here for how they did it. —teb728 t c 00:09, 27 January 2009 (UTC)
- You can see documentation at Template:MedalTableTop. PrimeHunter (talk) 00:14, 27 January 2009 (UTC)
That's it! I just didn't know if I could copy the technical stuff for the box or not. So I can just use that as a base and build it from there... Thank you! Ghosttowner33 (talk) 00:15, 27 January 2009 (UTC)
January 27
Wikitionary Quick Links
How come the wiktionary quick link (:d) example isn't working? Is there new shortcut notation? Theornamentalist (talk) 01:31, 27 January 2009 (UTC)
- The only Wicktionary code I am aware of is wikt: wikt:example. —teb728 t c 01:53, 27 January 2009 (UTC)
- d: was added [1] and removed again [2] in 2008. See meta:Talk:Interwiki map#d. PrimeHunter (talk) 01:59, 27 January 2009 (UTC)
I create a page and save it but when I come back it is not there?
I searched and did not find a page so when offered to create it I did. Once dome I reviewed it, liked and hit save, that took a bit but seemed to work fin. I logged out and tried a basic search and got a no page exist that matched my search? —Preceding unsigned comment added by Bramleyr (talk • contribs) 01:44, 27 January 2009 (UTC)
- Your only undeleted edits are to your own talk page and here. What was the title of the page you've lost? Algebraist 01:46, 27 January 2009 (UTC)
- Are you referring to this edit to your talk page which you later blanked? If not then maybe you didn't create it at the English Wikipedia? PrimeHunter (talk) 02:04, 27 January 2009 (UTC)
adding stub template
If I propose a stub at WP:STUB and it successfully got many supports and I created the stub template and category, how do I quickly add to many stub articles without going to page just to add the stub template myself? Is there an easier way?? impactF=check this 02:47, 27 January 2009 (UTC)
- You can make a request at WP:Bot requests to get the job done by a bot. –Capricorn42 (talk) 02:56, 27 January 2009 (UTC)
- Oh I see you have done that already.. –Capricorn42 (talk) 02:58, 27 January 2009 (UTC)
- Thanks. I don't want to talk behind people's backs, but my requests and general speaking all the request progresses at WP:Bot requests are sort of slow. That's why I'm asking if there is another way...thanks anyways :) impactF=check this 03:04, 27 January 2009 (UTC)
- Oh I see you have done that already.. –Capricorn42 (talk) 02:58, 27 January 2009 (UTC)
How to delete my account?
I would like to delete my account. But it seems that the web site offers no distinct way to delete it. So within your convenient days, please make sure to post the reply for my question. Thank you. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Gi2707 (talk • contribs) 03:20, 27 January 2009 (UTC)
- Your account cannot be deleted but you can exercise the right to vanish. – ukexpat (talk) 03:22, 27 January 2009 (UTC)
can i create an article?
hello, i would like to know if i can create a new article on a warship that i have just done a project on. do i need to ask someone to write it or can i write it myself? —Preceding unsigned comment added by Koolkittie (talk • contribs) 05:38, 27 January 2009 (UTC)
- Please see Your first article.
- Ensure that you have an account and you are logged in. If you don't have an account, create one
- Make sure the subject is notable enough to have their own article
- Find references
- Make sure no article on the subject exists under a different title by typing the subject into the search box to the left (←) and clicking 'Search'
- Type the page name in the search box to the left (←) and click 'Go'
- Click 'Create this page'
- Create the article, including all your references, making sure you adhere to the Manual of Style and our article layout guidelines
- Be aware that Wikipedia deletes thousands of new articles for failing to adhere to our policies and guidelines. New articles by new users are at extra risk of deletion, due to new users' unfamiliarity with our rules. Consider gaining experience by editing existing articles before attempting to create new ones. But write the text with the correct side up, please :) If you try funny stuff like that the page is likely to be deleted for vandalism. Chamal talk 05:51, 27 January 2009 (UTC)
- Edited post to remove upside-downness. As Chamal N said, if you write your article be sure to do it correctly or it will get deleted faster than you can promise to write it properly. Xenon54 (talk) 14:10, 27 January 2009 (UTC)
- On the plus side, articles about warships are somewhat less likely to get deleted than articles about, say, aspiring garage bands, and you did have the good sense to ask before plowing ahead, but your contributions show only this one edit on the Help desk. Trying to create a new article from scratch when you have zero editing experience is what sporting enthusiasts would call a "low percentage play." If I were King of Wikipedia, I would not allow new users to create new articles until they had amassed a minimum of 500 edits to existing articles (and getting to 1000 edits would be even better). I would also come up with some test whereby each aspiring new article creator would prove that he or she is aware that Wikipedia's ecosystem includes a class of hungry predators (who we lovingly call deletionists). But I am not King, and so thousands of new users with few edits continue to get suckered in by Wikipedia's (too often, it turns out) insufficiently cautionary facade, only to end up imploring, Why was my article deleted? Without meaning to sound disrespectful, I must point out that your question indicates that you haven't learned nearly enough about Wikipedia yet to survive the tender mercies of our deletionists:
- To have a good chance of success on Wikipedia, you must read the friendly manuals and learn your way around them. If you had read enough of our manuals to collect all the skills necessary to create a new article, you would not need to ask how to create a new article.
- You did not sign your post. This indicates that you have not yet mastered our talk pages. Editing on Wikipedia is like entering a parallel universe - we have our own idiosyncratic versions of everything you are used to in the real universe. For example, in the real universe, you know how to send e-mail to communicate with other people. Well, on Wikipedia, we don't do that, it would be too simple (no sarcasm here, simplicity equals "lack of power"). Instead we use "talk pages" which have the full power of wikitext markup, along with the considerable advantage that talk pages stick to the articles they are about. Why does this matter? If you create a new article which provokes the deletionists, you will have a few days in which to impress upon them that you know what you are doing, and to do that you must at least have some facility with using our talk pages. Otherwise they may eat you for lunch (peruse some of the broken dreams on WP:AFD to see what I mean).
- Of course "low percentage" does not mean zero. It is possible to have no idea what you are doing on Wikipedia, and just get lucky. I did with my first article, which I started when I had very little experience. Through sheer blind luck I managed to pick a topic that didn't trigger any deletion alarms. However, I still wish Wikipedia made it at least as easy to figure out how much deletion goes on here as it is easy to figure out how to become the next victim. Even if you don't know the exact location of every mine in a minefield, you at least want to be aware that you are stepping into a minefield. --Teratornis (talk) 18:07, 27 January 2009 (UTC)
- On the plus side, articles about warships are somewhat less likely to get deleted than articles about, say, aspiring garage bands, and you did have the good sense to ask before plowing ahead, but your contributions show only this one edit on the Help desk. Trying to create a new article from scratch when you have zero editing experience is what sporting enthusiasts would call a "low percentage play." If I were King of Wikipedia, I would not allow new users to create new articles until they had amassed a minimum of 500 edits to existing articles (and getting to 1000 edits would be even better). I would also come up with some test whereby each aspiring new article creator would prove that he or she is aware that Wikipedia's ecosystem includes a class of hungry predators (who we lovingly call deletionists). But I am not King, and so thousands of new users with few edits continue to get suckered in by Wikipedia's (too often, it turns out) insufficiently cautionary facade, only to end up imploring, Why was my article deleted? Without meaning to sound disrespectful, I must point out that your question indicates that you haven't learned nearly enough about Wikipedia yet to survive the tender mercies of our deletionists:
- Edited post to remove upside-downness. As Chamal N said, if you write your article be sure to do it correctly or it will get deleted faster than you can promise to write it properly. Xenon54 (talk) 14:10, 27 January 2009 (UTC)
Oh, what the heck, give it a try anyway. The worst that can happen is that we delete your article. OF warship articles, it's generally easy to find an existing article to use as an example, which means that your result will propaply be OK. Just to be sure, you should probably creae your article in userspace first, and then come back here (or one one of several otherpges we can point you to) adn ask for a quick review. After teh article is in good shape, you cn move it into main space. Now for specifics:
- Create you very own user page first, at User:Koolkittie. The text can say "Hi, im a new editor and I am working on a new article." Or whatever.
- Edit your user page to add a link to your (non-existant) user subpage: The link might be "my work area for the article is [[User:Koolkittie/HMS Pinafore]]
- your new link will be User:Koolkittie/HMS Pinafore. It's red, indicating a non-existant article. Click on the red link and type your article in, then save it. You might start by cutting and pasting the article you intend to use as your example article. To do this, go to the example article (e.g., HMS Victory), click on "edit", then copy the wiki markup from the edit window, now paste this inot your working article, and start editing, then click "save". Keep editing, previewing, and saving until you like the result. then come back here and ask for a review. We will help you move the article to mainspace using the "move" feature.
Good Luck,ahnd don't get discouraged. -Arch dude (talk) 03:23, 29 January 2009 (UTC)
Vandalism or update?
The latest edit on Talk:Raoul Wallenberg has changed the comments of Attila lajos. Could be the same person under a different account name, since the tone is about the same, but in any case, it's been inserted in the middle of a discussion without a different stamp date or signature. What do you do in such cases? Just revert? Clarityfiend (talk) 06:58, 27 January 2009 (UTC)
- When I make a change to my own comments while logged out I note it in the edit summary and tell every to check with my logged in identity if in doubt. I'd revert and tell the original poster that someone made the change. That way they can make the change while logged in or deny it was them while accuracy is maintained.- Mgm|(talk) 08:27, 27 January 2009 (UTC)
My user page display problem
I've got an annoying little bug on my user page which I can't seem to fix. The problem is that there is no background colour to the first barnstar. It shows up correctly on a preview page, but won't show on my user page. Any help in fixing it would be appreciated. Mjroots (talk) 10:49, 27 January 2009 (UTC)
- [3] fixed it. PrimeHunter (talk) 11:50, 27 January 2009 (UTC)
- You "stole" too much in [4]. PrimeHunter (talk) 11:56, 27 January 2009 (UTC)
ParserFunctions on a mythical date
I'm banging my head against the wall on this one: I have a fictional calendar that needs a template for date strings; if just the year is present, link to that page and format correctly ({{NE|999}} = [[999 NE]]). If the month is present as the second variable, link to that anchor and format correctly ({{NE|999|June}} = [[999 NE#June|June, 999 NE]]). If the date is present as the third variable, link to that anchor and format correctly ({{NE|999|June|18}} = [[999 NE#June-18|June 18, 999 NE]]). Any examples or ideas how to get started? -- nae'blis 14:12, 27 January 2009 (UTC)
- Use
{{#if:{{{parametername|}}}|{{{parameternameagain}}}|}}
. Dendodge TalkContribs 17:23, 27 January 2009 (UTC)- I tried that, but I'm running into a parsing error when it gets to the hash sign:
[[{{#if:{{{1|}}}|{{{1}}} NE{{#if:{{{2|{{{1}}} NE}}}|#{{{2}}}}}|calendar{{!}}''<sup>calendar error</sup>''}}]]
is my latest effort. -- nae'blis 17:41, 27 January 2009 (UTC)
- I tried that, but I'm running into a parsing error when it gets to the hash sign:
Incorrect photo?
The photo in the article on Walter Brennan seems to be Jack Albertson instead...? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 24.214.67.136 (talk) 15:54, 27 January 2009 (UTC)
- I'm not sure what you mean. The photo in the article Walter Brennan is a screenshot from a movie that shows Walter Brennan and lists his name. Was there another article to which you were referring? TN‑X-Man 16:02, 27 January 2009 (UTC)
Changing "Edit Summary"
How do I change my "edit summary" after I've already made the change? I have accidentally forgotten to include an edit summary a couple times, and would like to go back and supply that information. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Mystagogue (talk • contribs) 17:07, 27 January 2009 (UTC)
- Sorry, you can't. TopGearFreak 17:13, 27 January 2009 (UTC)
- If it is important, you can make a dummy edit; see Help:Edit summary. You can enable Prompt me when entering a blank edit summary from Special:Preferences → Editing. --—— Gadget850 (Ed) talk - 17:16, 27 January 2009 (UTC)
- (edit conflict) You can also add a comment to an article's Talk page explaining what you did to the article, in any detail you like. Sometimes this is helpful even if you left a descriptive Edit summary, for example when your change is extensive or depends on subtle reasoning. Or, if you deleted an appreciable amount of someone else's work. However, you will still have your original edit summaries, with no link from them to your expanded comments. I must commend you, at least you recognize the value of typing edit summaries, unlike a large percentage of Wikipedia users who have not yet made this evidently difficult intellectual leap. --Teratornis (talk) 17:29, 27 January 2009 (UTC)
- Make a null edit with the edit summary you intended on using. Gary King (talk) 17:34, 27 January 2009 (UTC)
- That can be helpful if you do it quickly. If 500 other people have edited the article in the meantime, your null edit with a comment will not be close in the article history to the actual edit you intend it to document. --Teratornis (talk) 18:13, 27 January 2009 (UTC)
- I think most people notice that they forgot an edit summary the moment they hit Submit. It's a "whoops" moment. If someone notices that they forgot an edit summary for an edit that they made a few months ago, then, well, that's pretty good memory I suppose. Gary King (talk) 18:18, 27 January 2009 (UTC)
- A null edit won't work, anyway. You mean a dummy edit. Algebraist 18:20, 27 January 2009 (UTC)
- Ah yeah Gary King (talk) 18:24, 27 January 2009 (UTC)
- I was accounting for the delay in asking the question on the Help desk and then going back to the article(s). The questioner also did not say when the unsummarized edits occurred. If other users are actively editing the articles, it might not take long for many intervening edits to accumulate and obscure the real edit that the dummy edit is trying to explain. That we cannot edit our edit summaries can be annoying at times, like when I brain fart and misspell something in the edit summary. Or worse yet I try to link something in my edit summary, and mess it up so the link doesn't work. Reminds me of those comments on YouTube in which someone insists they are "intelegent." --Teratornis (talk) 01:40, 28 January 2009 (UTC)
- Ah yeah Gary King (talk) 18:24, 27 January 2009 (UTC)
- A null edit won't work, anyway. You mean a dummy edit. Algebraist 18:20, 27 January 2009 (UTC)
- I think most people notice that they forgot an edit summary the moment they hit Submit. It's a "whoops" moment. If someone notices that they forgot an edit summary for an edit that they made a few months ago, then, well, that's pretty good memory I suppose. Gary King (talk) 18:18, 27 January 2009 (UTC)
- That can be helpful if you do it quickly. If 500 other people have edited the article in the meantime, your null edit with a comment will not be close in the article history to the actual edit you intend it to document. --Teratornis (talk) 18:13, 27 January 2009 (UTC)
- Make a null edit with the edit summary you intended on using. Gary King (talk) 17:34, 27 January 2009 (UTC)
- (edit conflict) You can also add a comment to an article's Talk page explaining what you did to the article, in any detail you like. Sometimes this is helpful even if you left a descriptive Edit summary, for example when your change is extensive or depends on subtle reasoning. Or, if you deleted an appreciable amount of someone else's work. However, you will still have your original edit summaries, with no link from them to your expanded comments. I must commend you, at least you recognize the value of typing edit summaries, unlike a large percentage of Wikipedia users who have not yet made this evidently difficult intellectual leap. --Teratornis (talk) 17:29, 27 January 2009 (UTC)
- If it is important, you can make a dummy edit; see Help:Edit summary. You can enable Prompt me when entering a blank edit summary from Special:Preferences → Editing. --—— Gadget850 (Ed) talk - 17:16, 27 January 2009 (UTC)
Can someone tell me what's the deal with this article? Sometimes when I look at it, it gives me the "Wikipedia does not have an article with this exact name" screen, and other times it shows up just fine. It's also not showing up in my edit history, even though an edit I made after it is. What's up here? Server hiccup? Ten Pound Hammer and his otters • (Broken clamshells • Otter chirps • HELP) 18:23, 27 January 2009 (UTC)
- Yep, server's been sick in the past few hours. Edits that I made do not appear in my list of contributions, for instance. Gary King (talk) 18:24, 27 January 2009 (UTC)
- I've had the same thing working at AfC. It generally sorts itself out after a bit. TN‑X-Man 19:00, 27 January 2009 (UTC)
Personal Attack - Copy Profile Definition
How does one have a personal attack removed from discription? Specifically definition for a company called Cyrk line item entry July 20, 2007. It seems that someone has logged in and input a personal comment about me "Frank Bakirdan" that is derogatry in nature about me which is untrue and has no bases being apart of a decription about a public company. Only facts should be stated and if needed backed up with documents.
Please contact me to let me know how this can and will be corrected.
Frank Bakirdan —Preceding unsigned comment added by Fbakirdan (talk • contribs) 18:51, 27 January 2009 (UTC)
- For issues containing personal material/attacks, please contact OTRS. If there's anything else with which we can help, let us know. Cheers! TN‑X-Man 18:56, 27 January 2009 (UTC)
- The comment has been deleted -- see this edit. – ukexpat (talk) 18:58, 27 January 2009 (UTC)
Factual Error in "1967 Atlantic Hurricane Season" page
Some editing is needed on the page for: "1967 Atlantic Hurricane Season"
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1967_Atlantic_hurricane_season
Under the heading of Hurricane Arlene, it says, at the end of the paragraph:
"the hurricanes are caused from the severe farting in the water by god and mother nature"
Though amusing, it doesn't belong in the article.
Thanks— Preceding unsigned comment added by 71.211.68.230 (talk • contribs)
- It has been removed. Next time though, be bold and remove it yourself :) Gary King (talk) 19:07, 27 January 2009 (UTC)
Duplicate account
I think I may have created a duplicate account. I created an account today, 27th but had totally overlooked a previous account, by the same name, the password of which I have no note. How do I delete the earlier a/c? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 91.85.178.211 (talk) 19:05, 27 January 2009 (UTC)
- But you can vanish one of them. – ukexpat (talk) 19:36, 27 January 2009 (UTC)
- Not without the password you can't -- Gurch (talk) 20:33, 27 January 2009 (UTC)
- Oops yes that's right. In that case, you can just leave the first one unused as a memorial to lost passwords everywhere. – ukexpat (talk) 21:01, 27 January 2009 (UTC)
AFD log
Can someone help me at today's AFD log please? For some reason, two categories are showing up at the bottom, and I don't wanna hunt through each afd to see which one is the culprit. Ten Pound Hammer and his otters • (Broken clamshells • Otter chirps • HELP) 20:31, 27 January 2009 (UTC)
- On it. — neuro(talk) 20:41, 27 January 2009 (UTC)
- Done. :) — neuro(talk) 20:56, 27 January 2009 (UTC)
How to create Topic Summary Table at the top
Hi, How do I create that table next to the lead section that is usually found in the top right hand corner of the page? The table would generally contain the important sharp details of the topic, e.g. Type: , Industry: , Key People: etc. —Preceding unsigned comment added by JoyceChee (talk • contribs) 20:32, 27 January 2009 (UTC)
- I think you're referring to the Table of Contents. A table of contents automatically appears when there are four or more section headings. You can force one to appear by typing __FORCETOC__ at the top of the page or you can hide it by typing __NOTOC__. Cheers! TN‑X-Man 20:39, 27 January 2009 (UTC)
- hi, Im not referring to the table of contents but rather the one next to it. i.e when you search DraftFCB, there is a table next to the table of cotnents that summarises the topic. Could you tell me how could I correct that? thanks!— Preceding unsigned comment added by JoyceChee (talk • contribs)
- Gotcha. You're looking for {{Infobox Company}}. It's a template that allows you to fill in different pieces of info about the company. The link I've provided will show you all of the parameters available. Cheers! TN‑X-Man 20:50, 27 January 2009 (UTC)
- hi, Im not referring to the table of contents but rather the one next to it. i.e when you search DraftFCB, there is a table next to the table of cotnents that summarises the topic. Could you tell me how could I correct that? thanks!— Preceding unsigned comment added by JoyceChee (talk • contribs)
How do you get started?
I have absolutely no idea how to even get started putting something on Wiki. I find your "help" very confusing. If someone could just give me step-by-step instructions, I could follow them. I would like to place our school on Wiki, but again, could use some basic instructions on how to do that...click here, go here, do this, do that. Is there such material?Dfratangeli (talk) 20:43, 27 January 2009 (UTC)
- WP:YFA has a lot of info. What's so confusing to you? Ten Pound Hammer and his otters • (Broken clamshells • Otter chirps • HELP) 20:45, 27 January 2009 (UTC)
- Before creating an article, please search Wikipedia first to make sure that an article does not already exist on the subject. Please also review a few of our relevant policies and guidelines which all articles should comport with. As Wikipedia is an encyclopedia, articles must not contain original research, must be written from a neutral point of view, should cite to reliable sources which verify their content and must not contain unsourced, negative content about living people.
- Articles must also demonstrate the notability of the subject. Please see our subject specific guidelines for people, bands and musicians, companies and organizations and web content and note that if you are closely associated with the subject, our conflict of interest guideline strongly recommends against you creating the article.
- If you still think an article is appropriate, see Help:Starting a new page. You might also look at Wikipedia:Your first article and Wikipedia:How to write a great article for guidance, and please consider taking a tour through the Wikipedia:Tutorial so that you know how to properly format the article before creation. – ukexpat (talk) 20:48, 27 January 2009 (UTC)
- Consider first whether you really want an article about your school on Wikipedia. School articles are classic magnets for vandalism, since students tend to be young, and crime and antisocial behavior have their highest rates among young males. On Wikipedia we have lots of tools for fighting the vandalism that our anyone-can-edit policy invites, but you will probably want to learn about them before you give the delinquent element of your school (and every school has one) an attractive target. See WP:VANDAL and WP:EIW#Vandal. Also, if you find Wikipedia's free online manuals confusing, you might be better off reading the book: Wikipedia - The Missing Manual. The amount of material you need to know to write a quality article from scratch here really does fill a book. That's why you are confused by taking snapshot glances at our manual pages. It's like moving to China and trying to learn everything in one hour that makes China different from where you live now (and if you live in China already, substitute Botswana or some other foreign place). There is no simple step-by-step set of instructions that is perfectly customized to what you want to do, because every user and every article on Wikipedia are different. Instead you must grasp a set of unintuitive principles that guide our work, and learn how to synthesize the right course of action for your specific situation. Ideally you should accumulate at least 1000 edits on existing articles before you attempt to create a whole new article. There are many beginner mistakes you can make that will cause our deletionists to delete your article. --Teratornis (talk) 01:30, 28 January 2009 (UTC)
How do i remove a picture that I uploaded onto wiki?
Hi, how do I remove a picture that I have uploaded onto wiki? —Preceding unsigned comment added by JoyceChee (talk • contribs) 21:26, 27 January 2009 (UTC)
- Just edit the image page and add {{db-author}} at the top and an admin will delete it. – ukexpat (talk) 21:41, 27 January 2009 (UTC)
- How do I go to the image page? Please help me, im getting so confused by wiki. thank you. JoyceChee (talk) 21:50, 27 January 2009 (UTC)
- The image page is here: File:SKYY and Fusion Pouchs.jpg, that's the only one you have uploaded. – ukexpat (talk) 21:57, 27 January 2009 (UTC)
- So do i type {{db-JoyceChee}}? thanks! JoyceChee (talk) 21:59, 27 January 2009 (UTC)
- No, you would type {{db-author}}. But I've deleted the image, so no further action is necessary. —David Levy 22:03, 27 January 2009 (UTC)
- Thank you, for your help..!How long does it take for the deletion to take place? JoyceChee (talk) 22:06, 27 January 2009 (UTC)
- It's gone now. You may have to clear your cache. --Orange Mike | Talk 22:11, 27 January 2009 (UTC)
- Thank you, for your help..!How long does it take for the deletion to take place? JoyceChee (talk) 22:06, 27 January 2009 (UTC)
AUDIO
Is it possible to listen to, rather than read wikipedia articles? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 92.41.17.51 (talk) 22:22, 27 January 2009 (UTC)
- There are spoken word versions of some articles. That effort is spearheaded by the spoken word project. – ukexpat (talk) 22:26, 27 January 2009 (UTC)
- For other articles, you'll have to rely on speech synthesis software, which isn't close to matching human speech as yet. Algebraist 22:28, 27 January 2009 (UTC)
January 28
Help with disambiguation "Anne Harris"
I was attempting to clear up some confusion regarding various articles about people by the name Anne Harris and a change I made was automatically reverted by ClueBot as possibly unconstructive. I believe this is a false positive so I went to this page: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:ClueBot/FalsePositives and clicked on the link where it says "Now, click here and put the revert ID in the box when prompted," but the destination of that link (http://24.40.131.153/cluebot.php) cannot be found. So I am stuck.
Here's a summary of what I was trying to do...
There are currently three Anne Harris articles
Anne Harris, Irish newspaper editor
Anne Harris (musician), American singer-songwriter
Anne Harris (sculptor), Canadian sculptor
and the disambiguation page: Anne Harris (disambiguation)
and there should be at least one more:
Anne Harris (author), American science-fiction writer.
There are several links to the first Anne Harris (Irish newspaper editor) that should properly link to an article Anne Harris (author), which does not yet exist.
So the changes I wanted to make were:
1. Rename (move) the "Anne Harris" article to "Anne Harris (journalist)"
2. Fix the correct links currently pointing to "Anne Harris" to point to the new "Anne Harris (journalist)" article.
3. Create a stub article for "Anne Harris (author)"
4. Fix the incorrect links to (journalist) so they point to the stub for "Anne Harris (author)"
5. Update the Anne Harris (disambiguation) page to properly link to all four Anne Harris articles.
The disambiguation page "Anne Harris (disambiguation)" should properly list these articles, at a minimum:
Anne Harris (journalist), Irish newspaper editor
Anne Harris (musician), American singer-songwriter
Anne Harris (sculptor), Canadian sculptor
Anne Harris (author), American science-fiction writer
Anyway, that's what I wanted to do, but I got reverted and then the link to report the false positive wouldn't work, so I didn't get very far. At a minimum, I would like to remove the warning from my talk page.
Any help would be appreciated. This is a good-faith effort to clarify and fix some existing inaccuracies. It is not vandalism. Thanks. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Greenman64 (talk • contribs) 00:09, 28 January 2009 (UTC)
- Looks like User:Orangemike has fixed all this. – ukexpat (talk) 04:58, 28 January 2009 (UTC)
knowing how to present papers (Scientific research) in international journals of my research work?
Sir, i want to publish some of my research work in international journals of science and technology. which part of Wikipedia will be in a position to guide me. I had so far published more than 20 papers in Indian Journals. Dr,S.Sekar —Preceding unsigned comment added by 117.201.34.75 (talk) 01:37, 28 January 2009 (UTC)
- 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 is what this Help Desk is for). Just follow the link, select the relevant section, and ask away. I hope this helps. Algebraist 01:38, 28 January 2009 (UTC)
Hi, I have found a number of errors in this template (i.e. links to disambiguation pages: 20+) Unfortunately I cannot edit the page because it is protected. Is it possible for someone to lift this protection (only for about 20 minutes) so I can carry out the necessary repairs? -- Marek.69 talk 02:21, 28 January 2009 (UTC)
- It's dangerous to lift protection on such a high-visibility template, even for only 20 minutes - there's a chance vandals could do their dirty work in that short amount of time. Go to Template talk:Catholicism, list the changes you want made and include {{editprotected}} in your post to request an administrator make the changes. Xenon54 (talk) 02:28, 28 January 2009 (UTC)
- OK, Thanks -- Marek.69 talk 02:34, 28 January 2009 (UTC)
- I couldn't find any links to disambiguation pages in it. DuncanHill (talk) 02:35, 28 January 2009 (UTC)
- I'm using WikiCleaner 0.8 to do this. I think it's referring to 'redirects'. Marek.69 talk 02:54, 28 January 2009 (UTC)
- That seems likely - I found twenty redirects in it, but they all seem reasonable redirects. DuncanHill (talk) 03:02, 28 January 2009 (UTC)
- So, is there a reason to not direct the links in question straight to the correct pages? (WikiCleaner is suggesting to repair automatically) Sorry, I'm a bit confused. Have I misinterpreted something about this program? -- Marek.69 talk 03:16, 28 January 2009 (UTC)
- Yes. See WP:R2D. Algebraist 03:19, 28 January 2009 (UTC)
- OK, I see. Sorry, I assumed that what the program was suggesting was the 'correct' thing to do. Sorry -- Marek.69 talk 03:25, 28 January 2009 (UTC)
- No problem - you asked about something and learnt something new, that's what we're here for! DuncanHill (talk) 03:27, 28 January 2009 (UTC)
- OK, I see. Sorry, I assumed that what the program was suggesting was the 'correct' thing to do. Sorry -- Marek.69 talk 03:25, 28 January 2009 (UTC)
- Yes. See WP:R2D. Algebraist 03:19, 28 January 2009 (UTC)
- So, is there a reason to not direct the links in question straight to the correct pages? (WikiCleaner is suggesting to repair automatically) Sorry, I'm a bit confused. Have I misinterpreted something about this program? -- Marek.69 talk 03:16, 28 January 2009 (UTC)
- That seems likely - I found twenty redirects in it, but they all seem reasonable redirects. DuncanHill (talk) 03:02, 28 January 2009 (UTC)
- I'm using WikiCleaner 0.8 to do this. I think it's referring to 'redirects'. Marek.69 talk 02:54, 28 January 2009 (UTC)
- I couldn't find any links to disambiguation pages in it. DuncanHill (talk) 02:35, 28 January 2009 (UTC)
- OK, Thanks -- Marek.69 talk 02:34, 28 January 2009 (UTC)
Thanks, is Template:Catholicism not a 'navigational template', though? (It is located at the bottom of articles, e.g. Pope John Paul II) -- Marek.69 talk 03:35, 28 January 2009 (UTC)
- Sorry, I'll rephrase question: Is Template:Catholicism a ‘navigational template’, as described in WP:R2D? Marek.69 talk 04:52, 28 January 2009 (UTC)
- Yes it is - well spotted! As it is, then yes, the redirects should be replaced with direct links. DuncanHill (talk) 13:27, 28 January 2009 (UTC)
- BTW: you can now find redirects and disambiguations by using the new links in the toolbox in the left sidebar. --—— Gadget850 (Ed) talk - 16:07, 28 January 2009 (UTC)
- Yes it is - well spotted! As it is, then yes, the redirects should be replaced with direct links. DuncanHill (talk) 13:27, 28 January 2009 (UTC)
Template:NCAATeamSeason image size
I am unable to get {{NCAATeamSeason}} to scale images using the Image_size parameter at 2008–09 Michigan Wolverines men's basketball team.--TonyTheTiger (t/c/bio/WP:CHICAGO/WP:LOTM) 03:21, 28 January 2009 (UTC)
- Fixed. The parameter is
|ImageSize=
, as opposed toImage_size=
. Cheers.--Fuhghettaboutit (talk) 04:33, 28 January 2009 (UTC)- Thanks.--TonyTheTiger (t/c/bio/WP:CHICAGO/WP:LOTM) 05:07, 28 January 2009 (UTC)
ZEEGRA TECHNOLOGIES information found deleted . Why?
User blocked for username violation and promotional editing. --—— Gadget850 (Ed) talk - 16:10, 28 January 2009 (UTC)
There are 1000s of software companies offerings and about being published in WIKI, why there is a partiality delete suggestion towards Zeegra Technologies.
for eg:- Zebra technologies have published their article in WIKI almost similar to us and they continue to be there without any delete
Expect a favourable answer ASAP —Preceding unsigned comment added by Zeegra (talk • contribs) 06:12, 28 January 2009 (UTC)
- Because Zeegra is not a notable company, and/or because your article read more like a press-release or official website than a Wikipedia article. On that note, Zebra tech might actually be notable, but you should know that pointing out a similar article is liable only to get another article deleted, and not your article restored. Speaking of which, you shouldn't be writing about your own company! If and when Zeegra is notable, someone else will probably write about it. Someguy1221 (talk) 06:35, 28 January 2009 (UTC)
- By the way, your username is inappropriate. You should change it to something not associated with your company. —teb728 t c 08:21, 28 January 2009 (UTC)
Explain the relationship between business and information systems
41.206.52.170 (talk) 06:36, 28 January 2009 (UTC)
- This page is for asking questions about Wikipedia, and not general knowledge questions. For that, you should see the reference desk. However, you should probably first take a look at information systems, Management information system, and other articles that link there. Someguy1221 (talk) 06:40, 28 January 2009 (UTC)
- However your question looks like a homework question. The Reference desk will not do your homework for you. —teb728 t c 06:53, 28 January 2009 (UTC)
what is called the stone placed for inaugration of a building —Preceding unsigned comment added by 203.153.44.130 (talk) 06:43, 28 January 2009 (UTC)
- This page is for asking questions about Wikipedia, and not general knowledge questions. For that, you should see the reference desk. However there may be a clue in the section header I provided for you. —teb728 t c 06:53, 28 January 2009 (UTC)
Coordinate error in Google Earth
The article on the small Pacific island of Guguan has the correct coordinates set to place the "W" marker in the centre of the island in Google Earth. However, the marker actually appears just south-west of the island. The article history suggests the correct coordinates were added to the article in December 2008 and I see no evidence of an earlier set of incorrect coordinates that Google might have used. The marker appears to have been placed by ignoring the "seconds" components of both latitude and longitude. Would the additional parameters that are in the {{coord}} template, "dim:2800_scale:28000_region:MP_type:isle(0)_source:dewiki", have something to do with this? Does Google take several passes to get the coordinates to their full accuracy? Astronaut (talk) 06:57, 28 January 2009 (UTC)
Disambiguation 2
Jens Let’s see if I explain myself better. I’ve created a page for Eduardo Parra Murga – a Spanish writer. When I search for Eduardo Parra alone – and since up to now there was only Eduardo Parra Pizarro (a Chilean musician), I’m redirected to his page. What I want to do is create an Eduardo Parra disambiguation page that will allow people to choose between the two. For that purpose I had written this text (which you can use if you were so kind as to do the job):
Eduardo Parra may be the name of:
- Eduardo Parra Murga, Spanish advertising executive and writer
- Eduardo Parra Pizarro, member of the Chilean rock fusion band Los Jaivas
Problem is I really don’t know how to go about creating this new page, since there's already an Eduardo Parra page - the one that goes straight to Pizarro’s).
By the way, I LOVE prime numbers!
Parraed (talk) 08:08, 28 January 2009 (UTC)
- OK, well, what you do is this. Firstly you need to move the page for Pizarro from Eduardo Parra to Eduardo Parra Pizarro - that automatically turns the page at Eduardo Parra into a redirect to Eduardo Parra Pizarro. You then go back to Eduardo Parra and create your disambiguation page (using your text above), which tells people which of the two they may be looking for. I've done it for you for sake of ease, but now you know ;-) GbT/c 13:44, 28 January 2009 (UTC)
Who checks the presidential candidates for verification?
I guess I asked my question in the Subject line. Anyhow, I wasnt able to find that on Wiki... could that please be added or could you send me the correct link? Thank you —Preceding unsigned comment added by 64.112.219.47 (talk) 08:17, 28 January 2009 (UTC)
- This help desk is for asking questions about using Wikipedia - the Reference Desk are far better equipped to answer these sorts of questions. :) --saxsux (talk) 09:36, 28 January 2009 (UTC)
How do I add new pages?
I was wondering how it would be possible to add a completely new page from scratch on a subject that isn't listed in the sandbox anywhere. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Jomance (talk • contribs) 08:55, 28 January 2009 (UTC)
- Before creating an article, please search Wikipedia first to make sure that an article does not already exist on the subject. Please also review a few of our relevant policies and guidelines which all articles should comport with. As Wikipedia is an encyclopedia, articles must not contain original research, must be written from a neutral point of view, should cite to reliable sources which verify their content and must not contain unsourced, negative content about living people.
- Articles must also demonstrate the notability of the subject. Please see our subject specific guidelines for people, bands and musicians, companies and organizations and web content and note that if you are closely associated with the subject, our conflict of interest guideline strongly recommends against you creating the article.
- If you still think an article is appropriate, see Help:Starting a new page. You might also look at Wikipedia:Your first article and Wikipedia:How to write a great article for guidance, and please consider taking a tour through the Wikipedia:Tutorial so that you know how to properly format the article before creation.–Capricorn42 (talk) 08:59, 28 January 2009 (UTC)
Birth dates
how to have list of famous personalities born on any given date —Preceding unsigned comment added by 119.30.89.81 (talk) 09:46, 28 January 2009 (UTC)
- Search for the date- search box is in the left column of this page. We have separate articles for every day of the year with a list of births, deaths and other events on that day. For example January 29. –Capricorn42 (talk) 09:51, 28 January 2009 (UTC)
New user creating another new user account?
Guys, is it possible to have a new user create another new user account, as shown here? E Wing (talk) 13:30, 28 January 2009 (UTC)
- Yes. (You have the log of it happening; why are you even asking this question?) Algebraist 13:34, 28 January 2009 (UTC)
- Special:UserLogin is accessible while you are still logged in, and if you create an account it will show up in your logs. –Capricorn42 (talk) 13:38, 28 January 2009 (UTC)
#expr
What needs to be done to fix this: {{#expr: {{PAGESIZE:George Bush}} - {{PAGESIZE:Wikipedia}}}}? -- Mentisock 14:04, 28 January 2009 (UTC)
- Ah, got it... |R was missing as a parameter. -- Mentisock 14:12, 28 January 2009 (UTC)
question on categorising
Is there any way to find articles which are under one category tree but not another, ie under Category:Singers by genre but not under Category:Singers by nationality, other than going through all the subcats? Waacstats (talk) 14:31, 28 January 2009 (UTC)
- Wikipedia:CatScan can help. 194.75.236.70 (talk) 14:56, 28 January 2009 (UTC)
- I've used catscan before butwhat i want to do is find pages under Category:Singers by genre that are not under Category:Singers by nationality so as to improve categorisation. I can't see how this can be done using catscan. Waacstats (talk) 15:07, 28 January 2009 (UTC)
- Find all pages under Category:Singers by genre to whatever depth you're interested in using CatScan. Store the output. Find all pages in the intersection of the two categories using CatScan. Compare the output. You might need to sort both outputs so the comparison is easier, but the difference between these two lists is what you're after. -- Rick Block (talk) 19:25, 28 January 2009 (UTC)
- I've used catscan before butwhat i want to do is find pages under Category:Singers by genre that are not under Category:Singers by nationality so as to improve categorisation. I can't see how this can be done using catscan. Waacstats (talk) 15:07, 28 January 2009 (UTC)
Twinkle
I have created my monobook User:Alouatta palliata palliata/monobook.js, but twinkle and friendly are not working. What may be the reason? Please help. Alouatta palliata palliata (talk) 15:18, 28 January 2009 (UTC)
- I believe you need to be autoconfirmed for them to work. --Onorem♠Dil 15:23, 28 January 2009 (UTC)
- (edit conflict) Did you try pressing Ctrl+Shift+R? That allows your browser to reload the page directly and bypass your cache. Sometimes it takes a minute for your browser to pick up on what's going on. TN‑X-Man 15:23, 28 January 2009 (UTC)
- Yes, I bypassed the cache, but still it is not working. It may work after being autoconfirmed, as Onorem suggested above. Alouatta palliata palliata (talk) 15:31, 28 January 2009 (UTC)
- (edit conflict) Did you try pressing Ctrl+Shift+R? That allows your browser to reload the page directly and bypass your cache. Sometimes it takes a minute for your browser to pick up on what's going on. TN‑X-Man 15:23, 28 January 2009 (UTC)
- Also, I believe, Twinkle and friendly don't work with IE. Please check that - Sasikiran (talk) 05:44, 30 January 2009 (UTC)
problem on webpage
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RT%C3%89_Junior
Hi there,
On the above link on Wikipedia when you click on press release it is not coming up. I have the press release for this page to put up, how can I do this?
many thanks,
Sandra Byrne RTE Radio Publicity office —Preceding unsigned comment added by 89.207.58.11 (talk) 16:00, 28 January 2009 (UTC)
- You'll need to click on the "edit" tab at the top of the page and change the link to the proper one. Please do not list the actual press release in the article, as Wikipedia cannot accept promotional or copyrighted material. Cheers! TN‑X-Man 16:04, 28 January 2009 (UTC)
- I have updated the link.[5] I found the former content of the old url in the Internet Archive and searched a replacement with Google. PrimeHunter (talk) 21:49, 28 January 2009 (UTC)
drugs for hypomania
any drugs that work for hypomania. !!!!!!
- Ask a doctor. We aren't licensed doctors - we can't and don't give medical advice here. Xenon54 (talk) 16:27, 28 January 2009 (UTC)
How do I insert our Link
Hi there - there is an article in Wiki for Remote/Online backup solutions and a list of providers. This is the Wiki page where I am hoping to include our link. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_online_backup_services We'd love to be on that list please :) Here is our link for your kind review: http://backazon.com/ The website is still somewhat under construction, but we are providing online backup software, we are released in Beta currently.
How can I go about inserting our link? Many thanks for any help and pointers! please contact me at <redacted>
Best Regards, Susan. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Backazon (talk • contribs) 16:33, 28 January 2009 (UTC)
- What is the name of the product? Since you appear to be involved with the product, please see WP:FAQ/Business. --—— Gadget850 (Ed) talk - 17:39, 28 January 2009 (UTC)
- And please read our guidelines on linkspam. – ukexpat (talk) 18:53, 28 January 2009 (UTC)
Move article from user page to live Wikipedia
How do I move an article from my user page to live Wikipedia? Weightdoc (talk) 17:49, 28 January 2009 (UTC)
- Click MOVE at the top of the page. Grsz11 17:56, 28 January 2009 (UTC)
- (edit conflict) In order to move pages, your account must be autoconfirmed, which simply means that it has been active for four days and made at least ten edits. In about two days, you should see a "move" tab at the top of your user page, which will allow you to move your article to the main article space. In the meantime, I would strongly encourage you to review Wikipedia's policies regarding conflict of interest and advertising. Cheers! TN‑X-Man 17:58, 28 January 2009 (UTC)
picture placement
How do I place a picture into my wikepedia page? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 199.46.198.231 (talk) 19:50, 28 January 2009 (UTC)
- First you need to upload the image, see WP:UPLOAD, then add an image link such as [[File:filname.ext|thumb|caption here]] - that will produce a right-aligned thumbnail with a caption. There are other parameters you can use, but thumbnail is the one used most in my experience. – ukexpat (talk) 19:55, 28 January 2009 (UTC)
- Also, to upload an image, you'll need to create an account. Go here to do so. Cheers! TN‑X-Man 20:20, 28 January 2009 (UTC)
Images
I'd try and read the image policies pages, but I know it probably wouldn't answer any of my questions. If I have a book with images that are over 100 years old, am I allowed to scan them and use them here? Thanks, Grsz11 20:00, 28 January 2009 (UTC)
- Probably. In the US, anything created before 1924 is in the public domain, so it can be uploaded here with the tag {{PD-US}} or {{PD-old}} or similar. See Wikipedia:Image copyright tags/Public domain for the full list of tags. However, it may not be in the public domain in other countries; do you have any more information such as the year and country of publication? Xenon54 (talk) 20:04, 28 January 2009 (UTC)
- US publication, various years. Anything between 1924 is good? Grsz11 20:18, 28 January 2009 (UTC)
- Yes. I was actually wrong about the year; anything published before 1st January 1923 is in the public domain, tag it with {{PD-US}}. Xenon54 (talk) 20:35, 28 January 2009 (UTC)
- US publication, various years. Anything between 1924 is good? Grsz11 20:18, 28 January 2009 (UTC)
why have you removed my edit?!
i made a heartfelt section in the herschel grammar school page, about our headteacher leaving. only to find, that a day later, its been removed..! what is up with that?!
sort your lives out —Preceding unsigned comment added by 91.109.153.81 (talk) 20:46, 28 January 2009 (UTC)
- Unfortunately, Wikipedia is a place for encyclopedia articles, not memorials. You can still create an account and contribute if you'd like. Cheers! TN‑X-Man 20:52, 28 January 2009 (UTC)
I would like to rename an article I just started
I intended to name the article "Tacen Whitewater Course" instead of "Tacen Whitewater Slalom Course." What should I do? Thanks. HowardMorland (talk) 21:29, 28 January 2009 (UTC)
- Move it. PrimeHunter (talk) 21:34, 28 January 2009 (UTC)
- Thanks. Problem solved. HowardMorland (talk) 22:02, 28 January 2009 (UTC)
baby massage to aid bonding
where can i find information on baby massage to aid bonding and attachment 21:37, 28 January 2009 (UTC)~~ —Preceding unsigned comment added by 86.148.196.16 (talk)
- 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 is what this Help Desk is for). Just follow the link, select the relevant section, and ask away. I hope this helps. TN‑X-Man 21:42, 28 January 2009 (UTC)
Duplicate or Similar Article
Hello,
I'm trying to make changes to the page William Packer (Director). I've changed it to Will Packer (Producer)but I got a note due to it being so close to William Packer (Director). I want to keep Will Packer (Producer) How do I do that. I'm sorry this is all new to me and I'm very very confused.
Thanks for your time. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Lsprandmrkting (talk • contribs) 22:35, 28 January 2009 (UTC)
Changing Existing Titles of Articles
How do I change a title from William Packer (Director) to Will Packer (Producer)?22:55, 28 January 2009 (UTC)Lsprandmrkting (talk) 22:55, 28 January 2009 (UTC)
- We change article title by moving them to new titles, which can only be done by users who are autoconfirmed, meaning users whose accounts are four days old and have made at least ten edits. Since you didn't have enough edits, I moved it for you and made some changes to the article until I discovered that all of the text you added was an apparent copyright violation. I then reverted to the version before you edited the article.--Fuhghettaboutit (talk) 00:14, 29 January 2009 (UTC)
Ref tag error
What is going on at the bottom of Talk:Byron Brown?--TonyTheTiger (t/c/bio/WP:CHICAGO/WP:LOTM) 23:50, 28 January 2009 (UTC)
- Exactly what it says: there are <ref>s on the page, but no reference list, and the software now flags this as an error. There's a discussion as to whether this is appropriate on talk pages here. Algebraist 23:55, 28 January 2009 (UTC)
January 29
print to pdf
Hi, how can i print an article to pdf? I can do it, but every time i do it it seems like it cuts off a page in the middle if the document is 5 pages (example). please help me prevent that break in between pagesNippon22 (talk) 01:10, 29 January 2009 (UTC)
- Have you tried the method at User:Pediapress? DuncanHill (talk) 01:16, 29 January 2009 (UTC)
- Were the replies from last time you asked not helpful? Algebraist 01:18, 29 January 2009 (UTC)
- There's also the Wiki-to-PDF tool. Whitehorse1 12:13, 29 January 2009 (UTC)
why is there nigger article
its offensive for me becxause i'm black i don't like it there— Preceding unsigned comment added by 67.9.77.45 (talk • contribs)
- Because this is an encyclopedia and not censored. – ukexpat (talk) 03:00, 29 January 2009 (UTC)
its very sad —Preceding unsigned comment added by 67.9.77.45 (talk) 03:03, 29 January 2009 (UTC)
- Well if you would rather not read it, there are plenty of other articles, or Google is ----> this way – ukexpat (talk) 03:11, 29 January 2009 (UTC)
- Simply put, it's an article about the term. We don't ignore that it exists, any more than we ignore that Nazis existed or other awful things. — The Hand That Feeds You:Bite 03:12, 29 January 2009 (UTC)
- Wow, I worded that very badly. The term itself is awful, and should be remembered for how it was used to denigrate an entire people. — The Hand That Feeds You:Bite 03:22, 29 January 2009 (UTC)
- Would you rather it be buried and forgotten? Kinda hard when everyone, including black ppl, say it. Ltwin (talk) 03:16, 29 January 2009 (UTC)
yes your right good article becxause there is also a article for farts its fair —Preceding unsigned comment added by 67.9.77.45 (talk) 03:20, 29 January 2009 (UTC)
- Well I look at it like this: if you forget history, you are doomed to repeat it. We should never forget our sad history, we should learn from it. Ltwin (talk) 03:27, 29 January 2009 (UTC)
general notability guideline
can someone please help me understand how these tags are removed? verifiable links have been added but the tag remains.03:20, 29 January 2009 (UTC)~ —Preceding unsigned comment added by Wordfarmer (talk • contribs)
- Can you link to the article in question? Often tags are part of the text of the article, often at the top, which are in braces. Items such as {{wikify}} might be one such tag. It is possible to simply delete the tag, but it's always best to check the talk page to see if there is discussion about that particular tag. Ched (talk) 04:02, 29 January 2009 (UTC)
- (e/c) Hello. Such a tag is best removed by an uninvolved person (this could possibly be you, but given the context of your post, as well as your post to Rich Farmbrough's talk page, I suspect otherwise). When you say you've added "links", do you mean you have cited to references verifying the information and showing that the subject itself has been discussed substantively in reliable sources? If so, great, However, I put it that way because many times I have seen external links added to an article which simply show usage of terms appearing in the article, but which are not about the subject itself, as well as multiple citations being added which do discuss the subject, but which are not at all reliable sources. So, please post what article you are asking about. You have not disclosed that, and you have edited no articles under the user account you used to post this question.--Fuhghettaboutit (talk) 04:04, 29 January 2009 (UTC)
Font Size
For some reason, every page on wikipedia looks like I'm zoomed in. The font and everything is way too big. It wasn't like this earlier and I have no issues with other sites. Would anyone know how I could go back to the original size? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 64.118.223.249 (talk) 03:47, 29 January 2009 (UTC)
- Depending on the browser you are using, look under one of the drop down menu boxes ("View" in IE), check the "Text size" item and see if it is set to a larger-than-normal size. — Huntster (t • @ • c) 03:58, 29 January 2009 (UTC)
- Other possibilities: Hold down Ctrl while scrolling your mouse wheel down, or hit the '-' key on the keypad to the right, or clear the entire cache. PrimeHunter (talk) 04:04, 29 January 2009 (UTC)
- Another browser, Firefox, has the text size options in the View=>Zoom menu. Or, holding the ctrl key and selecting 0 + (3 keys) may reset the setting, depending on what computer you use. Whitehorse1 12:18, 29 January 2009 (UTC)
new account
isigned up for a new account and it said i didn,t have conformatio n code —Preceding unsigned comment added by 98.27.133.9 (talk) 05:34, 29 January 2009 (UTC)
Reference name / citing reference twice
Hi there! I am editing an article and I find that I am relying on the same source several times. I don't want to have the same source over and over again in the references. I've seen other pages that refer to a reference twice, but simply jump to or refer to the same reference again rather than creating a new one. Looking in the source, it seems to have something to do with ref name in carrots (or whatever you call them), but I can't figure out how to do that. Thanks! RMJ (talk) 05:39, 29 January 2009 (UTC)
- See Wikipedia:Footnotes#Naming a ref tag so it can be used more than once. PrimeHunter (talk) 06:02, 29 January 2009 (UTC)
Persecution of IPs
Why is there some much persecution of IPs here on Wikipedia? Every logged in user is reverting edits of an IP! I've seen that squillons of times on the history of Talk:Main Page and in the contribution history of User:Braingle. 84.13.214.106 (talk) 06:10, 29 January 2009 (UTC)
- Well, I know many quality editors who have never created an account, and whom are not reverted. A large volume of vandalism at this site does come from IP-only users; it makes sense that a person who's only purpose is to vandlise the site isn't much interested in creating a user account. However, merely because someone is removing the vandalism caused by some IP editors does not mean that ALL IP edits are being reverted! --Jayron32.talk.contribs 06:30, 29 January 2009 (UTC)
- Have you actually looked at those IP edits by clicking "prev" next to them in the page history? The most recent IP edits to Talk:Main Page are: [6][7][8]. They were reverted for good reason. PrimeHunter (talk) 14:01, 29 January 2009 (UTC)
- Editing with an IP address is one of the "warning signs" of vandalism; others include editing high-profile articles, not providing an edit summary, and making large changes. In general the Wikipedia community does a good job of reverting vandalism without rejecting all IP edits. That being said, the system does fail on occasion, but those problems can be sorted through standard escalation procedures. Help us improve a page or two and you'll see that IP edits aren't reverted out of spite. – 74 19:03, 29 January 2009 (UTC)
How to make an article more notable?
My article related to my organization was speedy deleted as per the A7 guidelines.What are the points on which notability is measured? —Preceding unsigned comment added by Jahanvi1382 (talk • contribs) 06:43, 29 January 2009 (UTC)
- See WP:ORG (and probably WP:COI as well). Deor (talk) 06:46, 29 January 2009 (UTC)
(edit conflict) Reading through WP:N might help you see the fine points. Writing about your own organization can be very difficult due to WP:COI good luck Ched (talk) 06:48, 29 January 2009 (UTC)
Identity on contributions
I wish to be identified on my contributions by my name "Anand Datla" instead of my user name dabraju. How do I do this ? —Preceding unsigned comment added by Dabraju (talk • contribs) 07:04, 29 January 2009 (UTC)
- You can ask for a renaming of your account, or if you just want that name for signatures on talk pages, you could customize your signature. Someguy1221 (talk) 07:09, 29 January 2009 (UTC)
Seeing my deleted edits
I was just looking at my SQL tool summary and saw that a bunch of my edits have been deleted. I know it has happened recently, because I watched all the pages I edited until about a week ago. Also, I haven't gotten any notices that I was doing anything wrong. A few questions then. If I asked for old sandbox-y userpages to be deleted, is that probably the source of the deleted edits? Also, is there any way I can look at a history of my edits that have been deleted? I'm pretty curious. SMSpivey (talk) 09:57, 29 January 2009 (UTC)
- Special:DeletedContributions is a tool only available to administrators. However, from what I can see, your last 50 deleted edits include three sandbox articles which were deleted per WP:CSD#U1. Probably more, if I went back further. :) Best, PeterSymonds (talk) 10:01, 29 January 2009 (UTC)
- Helpful, and lickety-split, too! Thanks! SMSpivey (talk) 10:07, 29 January 2009 (UTC)
- The only other deleted entry that is not in userspace is Lists of solo piano pieces.- Mgm|(talk) 10:18, 29 January 2009 (UTC)
- Awesome. I was worried someone was going and deleting all of the assessments i've been doing for Wikiproject: Comedy. I guess now I can sleep at night... okay, that was a lie, I was sleeping just fine. SMSpivey (talk) 21:36, 29 January 2009 (UTC)
In April last year someone removed this category from an article I wrote calling it redundant. I have yet to see why it is redundant. And there's no deletion log for the category nor does there appear to be any related deletion discussion. Any ideas? Mgm|(talk) 10:16, 29 January 2009 (UTC)
- Apparently, looking at Category:Guitarists, no category called "Electric guitarists" exist, let alone "American electric guitarists". Weird. Maybe electric guitars are classified under some other name there? :P Chamal talk 11:47, 29 January 2009 (UTC)
- I see no sign Category:American electric guitarists has existed. Are you sure it was a blue category with that name? It is possible to add an article to a non-existant category but it should not be done. The category will be red at the bottom of the article, and the "non-existant category page" will both say there is no such category and show pages belonging to it. PrimeHunter (talk) 13:39, 29 January 2009 (UTC)
- Are you referring to Grant Austin Taylor? You commented out the category [9] because it didn't exist. Later somebody claimed in an edit summary [10] to "remove redundant cat." but actually just moved the comment. It is still there. PrimeHunter (talk) 13:48, 29 January 2009 (UTC)
It is not possible to rename the page
Hello, My name is Floropoulou, and I would like to rename the current page CITY College ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/City_College_Thessaloniki) into CITY College, Affiliated Institution of the University of Sheffield, but I cannot do that, althought I have enought edits. Can you please help me to rename this page? —Preceding unsigned comment added by Floropoulou (talk • contribs) 10:36, 29 January 2009 (UTC)
- There is really no need to rename that page to the new title you proposed. Please see WP:Naming conventions. If you think it is really necessary, discuss this move on the article talk page and see what others think. Help on moving a page can be found here. Cheers. Chamal talk 11:26, 29 January 2009 (UTC)
- CITY College, Affiliated Institution of the University of Sheffield already exists so you cannot move another article there. The two articles should be merged, and CITY College should probably redirect to City College. PrimeHunter (talk) 13:28, 29 January 2009 (UTC)
New categories
How can I get a list of recently created categories please? Kittybrewster ☎ 12:07, 29 January 2009 (UTC)
- Depends how recent you want. Newpages has a list going back a month, though beyond that I don't know. Regards, Woody (talk) 12:21, 29 January 2009 (UTC)
How do I change the coordinates of a location?
The black mountains, south of Cairns in Queensland, Australia are located at coordinates -15.664478, 145.230117 however the article states they are at coordinates -16.785278, 145.639722 which is off by almost 200 kilometers. —Preceding unsigned comment added by TV0912 (talk • contribs) 12:32, 29 January 2009 (UTC)
- Click "edit this page" at top and change the parameters to {{coord}}. I don't know why {{coord}} appears twice with different parameters. PrimeHunter (talk) 13:11, 29 January 2009 (UTC)
- It appears twice because on is used to display coordinates at the top right of the page, and another inside the infobox. Chamal talk 13:59, 29 January 2009 (UTC)
Barack Obama Editing
Dear Sirs,
How can I edit a semi-protected page? The Barack Obama page states that he is the first African American in the office. This is a factual error as Barack Obama is the first African European American to serve the office. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Progressive tom (talk • contribs) 14:06, 29 January 2009 (UTC)
- In order to make edits to semi-protected pages before you are autoconfirmed, place {{editsemiprotected}} on the article's talk page, along with the edit you wish to make. Cheers! TN‑X-Man 14:13, 29 January 2009 (UTC)
- This talk page is busy so {{editsemiprotected}} is not necessary to draw attention. He is called African American by lots and lots of reliable sources so it looks fine that Wikipedia also does it even though some people might prefer another definition of the term. PrimeHunter (talk) 14:18, 29 January 2009 (UTC)
- If it is a factual error, than a preponderance of reliable sources will report the correct fact. Simply gather enough mainstream, reliable sources which use the term you feel is the correct term, and bring them to the talk page to initiate a civil discussion. --Jayron32.talk.contribs 14:48, 29 January 2009 (UTC)
- There are 247 Google hits on "Barack Obama" "African European American", and 6,220,000 on "Barack Obama" "African American". I don't expect a suggested change will get support. See also African American#Who is African American?. PrimeHunter (talk) 15:24, 29 January 2009 (UTC)
- I see from the article you linked to it say's "55% of European American's classify President Barak Obama as biracial... while 66% of African American's consider him black". I know he self identify's as African American, but a large percentage of American's place him in a different category. Titch Tucker (talk) 15:43, 29 January 2009 (UTC)
- Those of you who want to take off the "African-American" seem to be ignoring the grim reality of American political life, which is the "one-drop rule": if you are seen as having any African ancestry, you are classed as "black"/"African-American"/"Negro"/"Afro-American". Even a more heterogenous person, such as Tiger Woods, falls prey to that basic attitude. --Orange Mike | Talk 15:55, 29 January 2009 (UTC)
- I see from the article you linked to it say's "55% of European American's classify President Barak Obama as biracial... while 66% of African American's consider him black". I know he self identify's as African American, but a large percentage of American's place him in a different category. Titch Tucker (talk) 15:43, 29 January 2009 (UTC)
- There are 247 Google hits on "Barack Obama" "African European American", and 6,220,000 on "Barack Obama" "African American". I don't expect a suggested change will get support. See also African American#Who is African American?. PrimeHunter (talk) 15:24, 29 January 2009 (UTC)
- If it is a factual error, than a preponderance of reliable sources will report the correct fact. Simply gather enough mainstream, reliable sources which use the term you feel is the correct term, and bring them to the talk page to initiate a civil discussion. --Jayron32.talk.contribs 14:48, 29 January 2009 (UTC)
- This talk page is busy so {{editsemiprotected}} is not necessary to draw attention. He is called African American by lots and lots of reliable sources so it looks fine that Wikipedia also does it even though some people might prefer another definition of the term. PrimeHunter (talk) 14:18, 29 January 2009 (UTC)
- I'm not American but I think many Americans would consider "African American" to be a subset of blacks with Barack Obama included in the former, and never use the term "African European American". PrimeHunter (talk) 16:05, 29 January 2009 (UTC)
- I was surprised at the figures. 66% is a rather small amount of people who regard him as a fellow African American. Titch Tucker (talk) 16:08, 29 January 2009 (UTC)
- 66% of course is not a small amount of people, but percentage wise it's much lower than I would have thought. Titch Tucker (talk) 16:14, 29 January 2009 (UTC)
- The question was: "Barack Obama, the junior Senator from Illinois, is being heralded as a potential presidential candidate in 2008. Senator Obama’s mother is white and his father who is from Kenya, Africa is black. In your opinion, is Senator Obama, black, biracial, mulatto, multiracial, white, or none of the above?". I'm guessing more than 66% of African Americans (however those are selected) would consider him "African American" which may just imply some African origin to many. PrimeHunter (talk) 17:11, 29 January 2009 (UTC)
- Again, it should be noted that ethnicity or race or whatever "category" you want to place him in is not determined by quantitative measurement of his ancestry. Sure, we can factually report that he's 3% German, or whatever, but that does not capture what the reality of being Black in America is. Race is entirely about one's relationship with one's home culture. People in America (or any culture) will relate to individuals differently for different reasons. In America, physical appearance is a primary determining factor as to how people will react and relate to each other. As such, since Obama and Tiger Woods (from the examples here) both display outward charactaristics of being Black, then that is a defining characteristic of them. This is true even if we wish it weren't so. Since he has about 50% (or in Tiger's case, 75%) "non-African" ancestry doesn't matter; people in their daily interactions and visceral responses aren't holding his family tree in their hands when they have their feelings and understandings about "who" Obama is. It is because of this tendency in America to place such an emphasis on racial appearance and not on quantitative measures of ancestry, that the article mentions in the lead his status as the first "African American" or "Black" president, and not on his European ancestry. As verified by the status in reliable sources, it is clear that America doesn't really care much about his European ancestry... --Jayron32.talk.contribs 17:39, 29 January 2009 (UTC)
- Which is a shame. I worked with a black guy who was asked where he came from. He answered Scotland. The woman who asked just couldn't get her head around it. She actualy asked him twice more, receiving the same reply. She never asked me the same question, and I'm Scots/Irish/Dutch. Titch Tucker (talk) 19:07, 29 January 2009 (UTC)
- Again, it should be noted that ethnicity or race or whatever "category" you want to place him in is not determined by quantitative measurement of his ancestry. Sure, we can factually report that he's 3% German, or whatever, but that does not capture what the reality of being Black in America is. Race is entirely about one's relationship with one's home culture. People in America (or any culture) will relate to individuals differently for different reasons. In America, physical appearance is a primary determining factor as to how people will react and relate to each other. As such, since Obama and Tiger Woods (from the examples here) both display outward charactaristics of being Black, then that is a defining characteristic of them. This is true even if we wish it weren't so. Since he has about 50% (or in Tiger's case, 75%) "non-African" ancestry doesn't matter; people in their daily interactions and visceral responses aren't holding his family tree in their hands when they have their feelings and understandings about "who" Obama is. It is because of this tendency in America to place such an emphasis on racial appearance and not on quantitative measures of ancestry, that the article mentions in the lead his status as the first "African American" or "Black" president, and not on his European ancestry. As verified by the status in reliable sources, it is clear that America doesn't really care much about his European ancestry... --Jayron32.talk.contribs 17:39, 29 January 2009 (UTC)
- The question was: "Barack Obama, the junior Senator from Illinois, is being heralded as a potential presidential candidate in 2008. Senator Obama’s mother is white and his father who is from Kenya, Africa is black. In your opinion, is Senator Obama, black, biracial, mulatto, multiracial, white, or none of the above?". I'm guessing more than 66% of African Americans (however those are selected) would consider him "African American" which may just imply some African origin to many. PrimeHunter (talk) 17:11, 29 January 2009 (UTC)
- I'm not American but I think many Americans would consider "African American" to be a subset of blacks with Barack Obama included in the former, and never use the term "African European American". PrimeHunter (talk) 16:05, 29 January 2009 (UTC)
(undent) I used to ride bikes with a white guy from South Africa. He called himself an "African American." If truth is determined by popular vote, then in articles about the United States we should state that the Earth is approximately 6000 years old, that Christianity is the one true religion (never mind that it comes in approximately 20,000 distinct flavors), and life begins at conception (although certain passages in the Bible strongly imply that "life" is already present in semen). That we do not present these popular ideas as "fact" suggests that as an encyclopedia, we take a somewhat elitist view toward truth. That is, Wikipedia's working definition of "truth" is really what seems truthful to the tiny minority of people who are smart enough to write an encyclopedia (don't think for one second that the average person can do this). Word to Progressive tom: lots of people have lots of opinions about what Wikipedia should say. Having an opinion is easy; convincing the other 48,376,520 registered users to accept your opinion is a different story. It doesn't matter whether the Obama Barack article happens to be protected; if you made your proposed edit, it probably wouldn't last five minutes, for all the reasons outlined above. Wikipedia can be a cruel place for people with oddball opinions about things, and I should know because I have never met anyone who thinks like I do. --Teratornis (talk) 20:23, 29 January 2009 (UTC)
Multiple watch lists
Is it possible to create multiple watch lists? I want to have one for things I check several times a day and one for things I check a couple times a week.--TonyTheTiger (t/c/bio/WP:CHICAGO/WP:LOTM) 14:37, 29 January 2009 (UTC)
- The best way to do that is to create a second account. Wikipedia does not forbid the use of multiple accounts, ONLY the use of multiple accounts to deceive, disrupt, or dodge a block. As long as you are in good standing, just create a new account, like "TonyTheTiger2" or something, and state on all of your userpages the list of accounts you operate. As long as you are upfront about it, and aren't trying to do any of the stuff forbidden at WP:SOCK, that seems like the easiest solution. --Jayron32.talk.contribs 14:46, 29 January 2009 (UTC)
- Or you can create a list in your userspace that you check regularly using the recentchangeslinked feature. e.g: Special:RecentChangesLinked/Wikipedia:WikiProject Ships/Articles UK. Regards, Woody (talk) 17:39, 29 January 2009 (UTC)
alumni lists
What is the policy on wikipedia about alumni list inclusions? Yesterday User:LiamE, made two additions to the List of University of East Anglia alumni, neither of which had their own articles, but rater linked to other articles. For example the user added Polly Graham, journalist, which in actual fact links through to an article about 9 gossip columists, Polly Graham being one of these. I removed this addition giving my reasons in the edit summary but this was reverted by the original contributer on more than one occasion. Not sure whether I should leave it be, or remove the addition once more. 79.75.154.89 (talk) 15:04, 29 January 2009 (UTC)
- This is pretty much determined by the notability criteria. See here for detailed instructions. Chamal talk 15:08, 29 January 2009 (UTC)
- Not a bright idea to post link to a user's page and then vandalise it, is it? Unless you want to be banned of course. --LiamE (talk) 16:03, 29 January 2009 (UTC)
Link for "jump to top of page"
Is there a template which enables the reader to jump to the top of the page in a long article? Thanks. --Coosbane (talk) 15:37, 29 January 2009 (UTC)
- In many browsers you can just press the "Home" key (and "End" to get the bottom). I don't know about a template and I don't think it should be done in articles, but
[[#content]]
(rendering as #content with piping possible) makes a link to the top, and[[#footer]]
(rendering as #footer) to the bottom. It may not work in some data users. PrimeHunter (talk) 15:59, 29 January 2009 (UTC)
Images in list articles
Some articles are simply a list of names, places, etc use a template for inputting data such as List of Georgia Institute of Technology alumni and List of Alpha Phi Alpha brothers. The articles use to have images displayed along the table, now the images are displayed and the table of names are displayed below the images. This just occurred within the last week. I have also check other list that use tables for input and they no longer work as previously.--Ccson (talk) 16:20, 29 January 2009 (UTC)
- The change appears to be caused by edits to {{AlumniStart}} on 26 January. PrimeHunter (talk) 16:53, 29 January 2009 (UTC)
- Which is probably my fault, as I fixed some similar templates and my changes have been copied to this template but not tested. I changed the default table width to 80%— this should fix the problem. --—— Gadget850 (Ed) talk - 19:50, 29 January 2009 (UTC)
Guidance required.
Hello to everyone. I am new to Wkipedia and want to create a new Project regarding the development of science in ancient India. Can anyone please tell me what to do and am I permitted legally to initiate the project? Anirban16chatterjee (talk) 18:12, 29 January 2009 (UTC)
- You should raise this issue on the WP:WikiProject India talk page. – ukexpat (talk) 18:16, 29 January 2009 (UTC)
- If you mean to create a new WikiProject then see also Wikipedia:WikiProject and Wikipedia:WikiProject History of Science. PrimeHunter (talk) 18:32, 29 January 2009 (UTC)
- Irrespective of how you end up implementing the "Project" you have in mind (that word has a specific technical meaning on Wikipedia, and we aren't sure if you are using the word in its Wikipedia sense), you can create a user subpage right now and start accumulating notes and references on it. That page can be your workspace as you collect material and work it into various Wikipedia articles. See for example my notes at User:Teratornis/Energy and User:Teratornis/Notes. It's useful to keep notes whenever you are trying to do something on Wikipedia that is more complex than a one-off edit. Your notes will help you stay on track as you poke away at something for months on end, and they can be useful to other editors who want to understand what you are doing. If you discover any new techniques that nobody else has documented yet, then your notes can be useful source material when you add to Wikipedia's imposing collection of friendly manuals. --Teratornis (talk) 20:36, 29 January 2009 (UTC)
- If you mean to create a new WikiProject then see also Wikipedia:WikiProject and Wikipedia:WikiProject History of Science. PrimeHunter (talk) 18:32, 29 January 2009 (UTC)
I know that this isnt exactly the place to talk about this but I think it is ergent
I tried to go to the Zoo Tycoon Wiki (adress zootycoon.wikia.org) and the home page had been taken over by something like "I cannot be stopped, I will not be stopped...something something something" and a picture of something I may not repeat. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 161.97.219.138 (talk) 18:28, 29 January 2009 (UTC)
- This is vandalism earlier today.[11] It look like any unregistered user can fix it by themselves by just clicking "Undo" on that link. Wikia is not a part of Wikipedia and as you indicate, it is out of our "jurisdiction". PrimeHunter (talk) 18:36, 29 January 2009 (UTC)
- I like "ergent". Tan | 39 18:57, 29 January 2009 (UTC)
- Me too, but then I am only slighly more civil than a deletionist. (I admit to being endlessly amused by Wikipedia's having a "civility" policy while simultaneously deleting enough articles to fill the sizable Deletionpedia - it's like an elephant who casually tramples thousands of ants all the while viewing himself as a congenial chap). --Teratornis (talk) 20:52, 29 January 2009 (UTC)
- Okay, what did that have to do with either a) vandalism at Wikia, or b) my amusement at a misspelling? Tan | 39 23:47, 29 January 2009 (UTC)
- I took it as c) on the general subject of amusement. —teb728 t c 00:04, 30 January 2009 (UTC)
- Okay, what did that have to do with either a) vandalism at Wikia, or b) my amusement at a misspelling? Tan | 39 23:47, 29 January 2009 (UTC)
- Me too, but then I am only slighly more civil than a deletionist. (I admit to being endlessly amused by Wikipedia's having a "civility" policy while simultaneously deleting enough articles to fill the sizable Deletionpedia - it's like an elephant who casually tramples thousands of ants all the while viewing himself as a congenial chap). --Teratornis (talk) 20:52, 29 January 2009 (UTC)
- I like "ergent". Tan | 39 18:57, 29 January 2009 (UTC)
- Why would deletion of inappropriate material be akin to incivility? It's like calling the gardener rude because he pulls weeds and trims the hedges. By that measure, Michelangelo was an obnoxious bastard because he took nice blocks of marble and then threw a bunch of perfectly good stone away. The really incivil people are the ones who casually dismiss other editors with epithets like 'deletionist'. TenOfAllTrades(talk) 00:03, 30 January 2009 (UTC)
Question about what it takes to get banned
Are users allowed to edit pages with vandalism and not get banned for it? I mean the bot thing fixes it as soon as we post it if we have commited vandalism so who even cares??????? —Preceding unsigned comment added by TheHarvinator (talk • contribs) 19:01, 29 January 2009 (UTC)
- Wikipedia would be the Internet equivalent of Somalia -- without any sort of order -- if we just let a bot revert vandalism all day. If a user continually vandalises, then he is likely to be blocked by an administrator -- perhaps a day or so for anonymous IP addresses, up to indefinite for registered users. Xenon54 (talk) 19:37, 29 January 2009 (UTC)
- I think Somalia is more orderly than what Wikipedia would turn into, since Somalia has warlords and the possibility for some organized human activity (such as pirate attacks). An unprotected Wikipedia would probably turn into useless garbage where even pirates would be hard-pressed to function. TheHarvinator: see WP:EIW#Enforce for everything you could want to know (and more) about Wikipedia's procedures for blocking and banning unconstructive users. --Teratornis (talk) 20:52, 29 January 2009 (UTC)
Where do I appeal a deletion if an administrator is abusing his positotion?
I recently put in a request to PMDrive1061 for reverse the deletion of the Ism(punk band) page. He cited blatant copyright infringement while citing a website from CDbaby.com. I responded to him that this was not correct and pointed out how he was confusing the copyright of the CD for sale on CDbaby with the bio of the band which is on the official Ism website granting license to anyone who is wishing to use the bio in any way. If you scroll to the bottom of the page, you can easily see this:
http://www.ism-punk.com/historyoftheband.html
After several attempts to correct the administrator, he failed to respond after his first statement. Then he deleted all requests. I know there have been multiple complaints about him deleting articles and have no idea whether he was justified or not but in this case he was mistaken and refuses to confront the issue in an intelligent manner. It almost seems as if there is an agenda. Where do I get this correct by an unbiased person within the Wikipedia community? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 76.212.181.219 (talk) 19:19, 29 January 2009 (UTC)
Can you give me the exact link in deletion review to leave an appeal?
I just spent a 1/2 hour trying to figure it out and it's seems impossible to figure out where to leave an appeal. I wish they can simplify the process on Wikipedia so it can become a more inclusive forum. This is as complex as the IRS tax code. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 76.212.181.219 (talk) 19:49, 29 January 2009 (UTC)
- Does this help? Wikipedia:Deletion review#Steps to list a new deletion review. (I took tax accounting in college...trust me, this is simpler. :-) Hermione1980 20:07, 29 January 2009 (UTC)
- If Wikipedia was simple enough for the average person to contribute whatever they wanted, without much effort, then all the people who are smart enough and industrious enough to figure out the stupefyingly complex Wikipedia in its current form would go off and start another wiki, which would then become the next top-five Web site, while the simplified Wikipedia would probably degenerate into useless nonsense and gradually lose popularity. You want to put your article on Wikipedia rather than on one of the other thousands of less-popular wikis because there is something uniquely valuable about Wikipedia. I am pretty sure this has something to do with the rigorous standards here. Consider, if the National Football League reduced its standards for players, would the product improve? Nobody wants to pay money to watch football played by average people who haven't spent years in training - instead, people want to watch the most talented players after they have invested their whole lives into maximizing their skills. Similarly, nobody wants to read an encyclopedia written by average people who didn't want to read lots of friendly manuals. Instead, people like a product when it represents the winning result from a ruthlessly Darwinistic competition. Wikipedia is popular because the material that survives here is usually written by smart people who have spent many hours studying the detailed instruction manuals. The material tossed in by people who expect everything to be quick and easy usually gets deleted. When it comes to building quality Web sites, TANSTAAFL. --Teratornis (talk) 21:18, 29 January 2009 (UTC)
- Hear, hear! – ukexpat (talk) 21:29, 29 January 2009 (UTC)
- Nonsense. That's arrogant elitism. Don't bite the newbies. Help them. If they seem to have a case, help them build the WP:DRV request. Wikipedia is hard to understand. That's why the experienced Wikipedians should help the less experienced ones. --Richard (talk) 21:37, 29 January 2009 (UTC)
- DRV has always struck me as being needlessly complicated and off-putting. I am an experienced Wikipedian, but would not be able to help anyone with it because I don't understand it myself. DuncanHill (talk) 21:44, 29 January 2009 (UTC)
- Wikipedia is arrogant and elitist, as anyone can plainly see by reading WP:AFD. Thousands of unsuspecting people get suckered routinely by Wikipedia's welcoming interface; they create new articles in good faith; and often the first hint they get that there might be more to it is when they discover their articles seem to have disappeared. I'm not "biting" the newcomers, I am explaining how Wikipedia devours them. Pretending to be friendly is different than being friendly. Being friendly requires more than claiming to be friendly, it requires some sort of proaction to see how one's attempts to be friendly are working out. It's not enough to say "I tried," one must actually study how the newbies are faring. Wikipedia is like a giant elephant that is barely aware of how many ants it smashes as it cavorts happily in self-absorption. Does anyone think that if Wikipedia as a system had any real concern for newcomers there would be anything like the WP:AFD process in its breathtakingly unselfconscious officiousness? How broken is our system, that we have to delete tens of thousands of articles? Why isn't this the first thing an aspiring new editor becomes aware of? I had been editing on Wikipedia for months before I became aware of the staggering scale of deletion that goes on here. It's just inexcusable. I'm reminded of the Vogon constructor fleet at the start of Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy when it announced the demolition of Earth to make way for an interstellar bypass. The Vogons had followed the correct procedure by having the plans duly on file at the Alpha Centauri field office if I recall the story correctly, and nobody on Earth had lodged an objection. (Never mind that Earthlings had not yet discovered interstellar travel...) --Teratornis (talk) 01:27, 30 January 2009 (UTC)
- DRV has always struck me as being needlessly complicated and off-putting. I am an experienced Wikipedian, but would not be able to help anyone with it because I don't understand it myself. DuncanHill (talk) 21:44, 29 January 2009 (UTC)
Complementary contributions
--Faustnh (talk) 21:30, 29 January 2009 (UTC)
Hi guys. Imagine I consider I could contribute a complementary text to an existing article that could help people simplify, clarify and understand some concepts, or that could help people with their search of more related information; but imagine that I don't consider this complementary text needs to be presented directly on the complemented article. Where should I correctly place such complementary text or contribution? Thx.
- The only option is within the article itself, pages in mainspace are not supposed to have explanatory subpages. The other alternative is to create the article on the Simple English Wikipedia. – ukexpat (talk) 21:56, 29 January 2009 (UTC)
kthx . --Faustnh (talk) 22:09, 29 January 2009 (UTC)
January 30
Putting an article on Wikipedia
I'm a highschool student and did a corporate profile on a family friend's company for economics class. I was hoping to put that article on wikipedia as part of my presentation. Can someone help me? Bhakim (talk)bhakim —Preceding undated comment was added at 00:01, 30 January 2009 (UTC).
- Please read WP:Corp, WP:Spam, WP:RS and WP:YFA for guidance. The draft article on your user page would probably be speedily deleted as spam or because it does not assert notability. – ukexpat (talk) 00:29, 30 January 2009 (UTC)
- The draft reads like an advertisment. That style of writing can't go on Wikipedia. And unless your assignment was to write an advertisment, your teacher won't like it either. And the "we" language looks like it was copied from a press release. If it was copied, your teacher will call it plagiarism. —teb728 t c 04:55, 30 January 2009 (UTC)
Where do I enter text?
I created an account, clicked on my email web link, went to Wikipedia and clicked on Edit this Page. The only place I that came up to enter anything was a single line in a box appearing over a box and "this is a minor edit." I filled that in in the short space alloted and hit save this page, and it didn't take. How is someone supposed to contribute something if you don't give them a place to do that? PS: I was not asked to sign in after I registered and came back to the page I was trying to add to (Iron Eyes Cody). jimmcacoe —Preceding unsigned comment added by Jimmcacoe (talk • contribs) 01:47, 30 January 2009 (UTC)
- If you managed to enter this question in, then you did the same thing you'd need to do to edit an article. It works EXACTLY the same way. It sounds like you had a page loading error the first time you tried it; probably just a funky connection. I would recommend that you try again, and you should probably do OK. --Jayron32.talk.contribs 01:51, 30 January 2009 (UTC)
- It sounds like you filled out the edit summary field which is a single line above "This is a minor edit". There should be a much larger box for writing or changing text above the edit summary field. Wikipedia is a wiki where you can edit what others have written, so when you click "edit this page" the box is normally full of existing text you can edit. Some new users find it hard to believe you can just change article text written by others. If you don't write or change text in the big edit box then there is effectively nothing to save, so clicking "Save page" becomes a null edit which is not recorded. As Jayron32 says, it is possible your browser didn't load the larger box. PrimeHunter (talk) 02:37, 30 January 2009 (UTC)
Don't know if this is the right place, but does anyone have any idea why there are no incidental edit tabs on headings at Portal talk:Formula One? The table of contents is only there because I manually forced it. As you can imagine, it does make editing the page a little more complicated. Thanks in advance, Apterygial 02:30, 30 January 2009 (UTC)
- The problem is that the talk page contains several transclusions of Portal:Box-header, in a discussion of colour schemes. Since this is designed to be used on portal pages, one of its functions is to suppress the ToC and section edit links. Algebraist 02:38, 30 January 2009 (UTC)
- Wow. Can you think of any way to override that? Apterygial 02:43, 30 January 2009 (UTC)
- If the transclusions are no longer needed, nowiki them. Otherwise, subst them and remove the magic words __NOTOC__ and __NOEDITSECTION__ manually. Algebraist 02:44, 30 January 2009 (UTC)
- Cool. Thanks. Don't you just love Wikipedia? Apterygial 02:48, 30 January 2009 (UTC)
- No. Algebraist 02:52, 30 January 2009 (UTC)
- Really? I wasn't being sarcastic. Apterygial 02:53, 30 January 2009 (UTC)
- No. Algebraist 02:52, 30 January 2009 (UTC)
- It looks like you can keep the TOC and edit links by giving parameters |TOC=yes |EDIT=yes to Portal:Box-header. PrimeHunter (talk) 03:06, 30 January 2009 (UTC)
- Even better. Thanks for the help. Apterygial 03:50, 30 January 2009 (UTC)
- Cool. Thanks. Don't you just love Wikipedia? Apterygial 02:48, 30 January 2009 (UTC)
- If the transclusions are no longer needed, nowiki them. Otherwise, subst them and remove the magic words __NOTOC__ and __NOEDITSECTION__ manually. Algebraist 02:44, 30 January 2009 (UTC)
- Wow. Can you think of any way to override that? Apterygial 02:43, 30 January 2009 (UTC)
I have previously found on Wikipedia trending information regarding number of hits (per specific entry) per given time period, number of modifications, etc. But I have forgotten where! Where do I locate such data as the number of hits an article receives? Thanks! —Preceding unsigned comment added by 204.84.245.1 (talk) 04:27, 30 January 2009 (UTC)
- Go to "history" (one of the tabs at the top of article). There you can find "page view statistics" and "revision history" which will help you find what you want. Apterygial 04:43, 30 January 2009 (UTC)
Can't seem to add image, odd things happen
I'm trying to add another image to Strap-on dildo in the Common uses section, namely Image:Wiki-pegging.png from the Pegging article. However, whenever I attempt to add the image, not only does the image not show up, the entire next paragraph is missing as well. Any ideas? Thanks, Bushytails (talk) 05:47, 30 January 2009 (UTC). (PS: WP:NOT#CENSOR - I'm just asking for editing help, not trying to start yet another debate!)