Wikipedia:Help desk

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December 16

Smaller Donations

If "all of Wikipedia's 400 million users would donate $1 each, we would have 20 times the amount of money we need," why is there no option for me to donate $1? I'm a poor college student. I don't have $20 dollars to spare, but i do have $3. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 141.164.41.122 (talk) 00:07, 16 December 2010 (UTC)

On the donations page, as well as fixed-sum options, there is an option to input your own amount -- PhantomSteve.alt/talk\^{[alternative account of Phantomsteve]} 02:37, 16 December 2010 (UTC)

Where is the article I wrote£

Is there a period wherein new articles are held for review prior to posting? I have SAVED (and therefore thought submitted) an article about ETHAN ALLEN RUSSELL - but it does not appear online, nor within Wikipedia with its proper headline (Ethan Allen Russell). I have no doubt done something wrong - but can't figure out what it is. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Sofiarose (talk • contribs) 00:15, 16 December 2010 (UTC)

I've answered on your talk page, but I'll answer here too - it's at User:Sofiarose/Ethan Allen Russell. DuncanHill (talk) 00:43, 16 December 2010 (UTC)

It needs inline references. Kittybrewster ☎ 18:06, 16 December 2010 (UTC)

Occidental - suggested edits

I've proposed adding a section regarding "Financial performance" (Sandbox) to the Occidental Petroleum article, similar to what I've seen on other corporate articles. The article's talk page isn't terribly active, so I'm coming here for assistance. Due to a potential conflict of interest (detailed on the talk page), I'd like to seek consensus from the community before making this addition. My full request can be found on the talk page; please leave responses there if possible. Thanks --CBuiltother (talk) 00:16, 16 December 2010 (UTC)

Need someone to help find italic problem

See Nina Kiriki Hoffman. Apparently, the template {{italic title}} is ending up transcluded on this page somewhere, however I cannot find it. Can someone find (and fix) the source of this problem? --Jayron32 00:23, 16 December 2010 (UTC)

Nevermind. It is apparently a hidden part of {{infobox book}}. I have fixed the problem. --Jayron32 00:24, 16 December 2010 (UTC)

{{infobox book}} mentions the option |italic title=no. PrimeHunter (talk) 00:43, 16 December 2010 (UTC)

IT'S NOT SHOWING UP

How come the pages Wikipedia:Peer review/Emirates (airline)/archive1 and Wikipedia:Peer review/Japan Airlines/archive1 aren't showing up on Wikipedia:WikiProject Airlines? As far as I know, any airline article that has a peer review case has an announcement at WikiProject Airlines; what's going on here?? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 203.45.186.197 (talk) 02:22, 16 December 2010 (UTC)

These notifcations were sent by a bot that is no longer running. According to this page, a new system is currently being tested but not all WikiProjects are included in the test runs. -- John of Reading (talk) 17:00, 16 December 2010 (UTC)

WikiLeaks

What does Wikipedia have to do with WikiLeaks, if anything? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 74.94.77.234 (talk) 02:39, 16 December 2010 (UTC)

The two are not connected at all. The reason for the similarity of name is that both use Wiki software to run their site. See Wikipedia: WikiLeaks is not part of Wikipedia ~~ GB fan ~~ 02:43, 16 December 2010 (UTC)

Wikipedia has nothing to do with Wikileaks. --Monterey Bay (talk) 02:46, 16 December 2010 (UTC)

shared IP address?

I'm not sure if my IP address is shared or not... But I came to wikipedia today to look up information, and I was shown a list of edits that I didn't make and one that I did. Usually, I only look at the pages here for general information, so being told I made all sorts of edits I, personally, did not make is upsetting. I made an account, but how do I know if my IP address is shared or not? — Preceding unsigned comment added by Tiedyeandchains (talk • contribs) 03:49, 16 December 2010 (UTC)

You are probably on a dynamic IP address. The IP was probably used by others in the past and they made thos edits. If you log in with your new username from now on all edits you make will be attributed to your username. ~~ GB fan ~~ 04:03, 16 December 2010 (UTC)

Now that you have an account you needn't worry about shared IP addresses. Provided you are logged in to your account when you edit, your edits will be associated with your user name, not an IP address. Only a very small number of trusted users with checkuser rights can access the IP address(es) associated with your user name. – ukexpat (talk) 04:04, 16 December 2010 (UTC)

Blocked Message from Wickipedia

Hi, I have the following messages: Welcome to Wikipedia. The recent edit you made to Template:Brokeback Mountain has been reverted, as it appears to be unconstructive. Use the sandbox for testing; if you believe the edit was constructive, ensure that you provide an informative edit summary. You may also wish to read the introduction to editing. Thank you. Staxringold talkcontribs 02:48, 14 December 2010 (UTC)

The recent edit you made to Brokeback Mountain constitutes vandalism, and has been reverted. Please do not continue to vandalize pages; use the sandbox for testing. Thank you. Tiderolls 02:58, 14 December 2010 (UTC)

Please do not vandalize pages, as you did with this edit to Brokeback Mountain. If you continue to do so, you will be blocked from editing. Tiderolls 03:03, 14 December 2010 (UTC)

This is your last warning. You will be blocked from editing the next time you vandalize a page, as you did with this edit to Brokeback Mountain. Tiderolls 03:06, 14 December 2010 (UTC)

You have been blocked from editing for a period of 48 hours for Vandalism. If you wish to make useful contributions, you may do so when the block expires. If you feel this block is unjustified, you may contest it by adding the text {{unblock}} below. Tiderolls 03:09, 14 December 2010 (UTC)

I have no idea what you are talking about. And, the last pragraph with "Instructions to unblock" is meaningless to me because I can not find a palce to add the text. 12.97.23.226 (talk) 03:56, 16 December 2010 (UTC)

Your IP address hasn't been is no longer blocked so don't worry about the unblocking stuff. Your ISP probably uses dynamic IP addresses, so if you didn't make any unconstructive edits you can ignore the warning. – ukexpat (talk) 04:01, 16 December 2010 (UTC)

Political figures

Malcon x,Martin Luther King,Nelson Mandela and Steve Biko have the same political features.shortly explicate this ideas.with vivid examples,how are these ideas helpfull in todays Africa? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 41.222.183.101 (talk) 07:24, 16 December 2010 (UTC)

Please use a descriptive title in future questions. I have added one

This page is for questions about using Wikipedia. Please consider asking this question at the Humanities 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 and ask away. You could always try searching Wikipedia for an article related to the topic you want to know more about. I hope this helps.. You might find useful information in the articles Malcolm X, Martin Luther King, Nelson Mandela and Steve Biko.

Please do your own homework.
Welcome to the Wikipedia Help desk. Your question appears to be a homework question. I apologize if this is a misevaluation, but it is our policy here not to do others' homework, but merely to aid them in doing it themselves. Letting someone else do your homework does not help you learn how to solve such problems.
Please attempt to solve the problem yourself first. You can search Wikipedia or search the Web.
If you need help with a specific part of your homework, the Reference desk can help you grasp the concept. Do not ask knowledge questions here, just those about using Wikipedia.. --ColinFine (talk) 08:11, 16 December 2010 (UTC)

Wiki for Thomas Edison - Error listing schools named after him

The line "two (community) colleges are named for him: (Edison State College) in Fort Myers, Florida, and Edison Community College in Piqua, Ohio..." is incorrect. Edison State College is no longer a 'community' college but as the name suggests it is a 'state' college. The insitute is located in Florida where a distinction is made between the two types of higher learning centers.

76.5.29.122 (talk) 07:51, 16 December 2010 (UTC)

If you find errors in Wikipedia - and you have reliable sources for the right information - be bold and make the changes. By the way, Thomas Edison is not a "Wiki for Thomas Edison", but one out of millions of pages in Wikipedia, which is itself one out of thousands of wikis. --ColinFine (talk) 08:15, 16 December 2010 (UTC)

Email domain change

Montenegro changed its national domain from .yu (we are a former Yugoslavian republic) to .me (Montenegro). By this @cg.yu email domain was changed to @t-com.me ("cg" originaly stood for "Internet CG", but this state-owned company was bought by T-Com some time before the change of domain).

I have forgot my password and Mediawiki is sending me a new password to the out-of-use @cg.yu. It would be great if all email addresses on all Wikimedia projects would be changed for all users that have an email address with @cg.yu and all of them notified on their new emails. If that is not possible is it at least possible to change mine? I have from 2003 to 2006 been an active editor on many projects, particularly on sr:Wikipedia, en:Wikipedia and sr:Wikinews.

This happened few years ago, and there was a period (6 months probably) when both domains where active. If I have changed my email address in this period there would not have been no problem, but I didn't have an Internet access at the time. I would have used somebody elses if it crossed my mind that domain change could do this to me. I wanted to reach out to someone for this for a long while but I didn't know who. I'm sure that many others (who haven't done this like I have not) have resolved this problem by registering a new username. I wish to keep mine. --Milan Tešović 09:42, 16 December 2010 (UTC) —Preceding unsigned comment added by 79.143.100.252 (talk)

Since no one has tried to reply to you yet, here is a possible way forward that I'd like other help desk volunteers to comment on: If you sent an email explaining this problem from yourname<at>example.t-com.me to one of the Wikipedia email addresses (which one?), this might be good enough evidence that you used to be in control of the email account yourname<at>example.cg.yu, and should therefore be allowed to recover control of the Wikipedia account.

This would be an exception to the usual advice here, which you've obviously read. I expect there will be policy or technical reasons that my suggestion can't be used. -- John of Reading (talk) 19:38, 16 December 2010 (UTC)

meta:Privacy policy#Discussions says: "users may be able to contact one of the Wikimedia server administrators to enter a new e-mail address". I don't know whether this actually happens or what it requires. I didn't get a reply at Wikipedia:Village pump (technical)/Archive 82#Retrieval of passwords/committed identity. PrimeHunter (talk) 19:52, 16 December 2010 (UTC)

I think that this is enough evidence for the email to be changed (with no exemption whoever had control of someone@cg.yu now has the someone@t-com.me), and once it's changed it will be easy to get a new password. --Milan Tešović 07:26, 17 December 2010 (UTC) —Preceding unsigned comment added by 79.143.100.252 (talk)

When the .yu domain was phased out, all e-mail addresses ending with @cg.yu were replaced with @t-com.me. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 79.143.100.252 (talk) 07:30, 17 December 2010 (UTC)

I asked a randomly-chosen bureaucrat to comment on this, since my understanding is that even an administrator at the English Wikipedia does not have the tools to update your email address. He agreed but didn't give a clear pointer as to what you should do next.

I think that you'll have to follow the usual advice and choose a new name. I suspect that only a tiny handful of people are trusted with whatever tools are needed to address your problem, and that these people will be hard to track down and will be extremely busy.

I'm sorry not to have been more helpful. -- John of Reading (talk) 11:48, 18 December 2010 (UTC)

Want some information about Amigotechs software

i Want some information about Amigotechs software. There is nothing i found on wikipedia. Here is the website : http://www.amigotechs.com I wish you will gather the information about this gambling software very soon. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 59.97.210.2 (talk) 10:12, 16 December 2010 (UTC)

Have you tried the Computing section of Wikipedia's Reference Desk? They specialize in answering knowledge questions there; this help desk is only for questions about using Wikipedia. For your convenience, here is the link to post a question there: click here. I hope this helps. TNXMan 15:08, 16 December 2010 (UTC)

Inquiry about a recently deleted page... thank you for your help

Hi. I understand that a page was recently deleted, however it would be helpful if you had an archive of the page so I can view it privately. I know you said not to put in emails, but I would like for you to email me the original page prior to its deletion. I wish to view it for my own purpose and nothing more. The page that was deleted is this:

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

Please email to <removed> today.

Thanks so much for you assistance on this. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 173.164.77.177 (talk) 10:36, 16 December 2010 (UTC)

The page is still visible in Google's cache; you can see it by Googling for "Anthony knippers jr" and then clicking "cached". The text has no encyclopedic value at all. I have removed your email address to protect your privacy; the instructions at the top of the page were fairly clear on this. -- John of Reading (talk) 10:54, 16 December 2010 (UTC)

Associated with Wikipedia?

This site looks similiar to Wikipedia, is it associated with wikipedia? http://www.recom.org/wiki/Portal:Entrepreneurship — Preceding unsigned comment added by Alg7 munif (talk • contribs) 11:07, 16 December 2010 (UTC)

No it is not associated with Wikipedia or the Wikimedia Foundation. It just uses the same free software, MediaWiki ~~ GB fan ~~ 11:17, 16 December 2010 (UTC)

Any existing template for listing projects undertaken by a charity/organisation

Hi, I'm looking at the "Projects" list at The Rix Centre and I have a few questions:

• Is it suitable to include this list of projects in the first place (I believe that it is, but am keen on other people's opinions)?
• The list layout doesn't look particularly good - Is there a suitable existing template that I could flow the list into (I also intend to update/expand the list), or perhaps a suitable existing style that I should follow?

Cheers Wikipedians Darigan (talk) 11:42, 16 December 2010 (UTC)

Generally speaking complete lists of stuff such as this are not encyclopedic. It may be appropriate to list the notable ones, ie those which have received coverage in reliable sources. The general principal is that Wikipedia is not a directory. – ukexpat (talk) 15:56, 16 December 2010 (UTC)

Submitting information about a musician

Can you tell me why in Wikipedia's instructions it states not to set up pages for musicians, but there are quite a few already set up on here? Many thanks. Sonya — Preceding unsigned comment added by Sonya2010 (talk • contribs) 15:04, 16 December 2010 (UTC)

Actually, there is no page that says that. However, Wikipedia only accepts articles about musicians that are notable enough to warrant inclusion in an encyclopedia. You should read our guide to writing your first article. TNXMan 15:06, 16 December 2010 (UTC)

See also Wikipedia:Notability (music). Can you give a link to the page with the instructions you refer to? PrimeHunter (talk) 16:59, 16 December 2010 (UTC)

Table not accessible

I want to change the conversion factor for Pascals to pounds per square inch in a table at, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pounds_per_square_inch, but nothing appears in the edit window. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Totally illegal (talk • contribs) 15:29, 16 December 2010 (UTC)

What do you need to change it to? The number in the article looks 100% correct to me. The table is a transcluded template located at {{Pressure Units}}, so you would need to edit THAT table, but the actual numbers in the table look correct to me... --Jayron32 15:34, 16 December 2010 (UTC)

The number is off by a factor of 100. One Pascal = 145x10^-6lbs/in^2, not 10^-8. (nt./m^2)*(kg/9.8nt.)*(2.2lbs/kg)*m^2/100^2cm^2)*(2.54^2cm^2/in^2) — Preceding unsigned comment added by Totally illegal (talk • contribs) 15:59, 16 December 2010 (UTC)

While it's quite small at standard display settings, the exponent in the entry for that cell of the table is indeed -6, not -8. So I think we're all in violent agreement here! --AndrewHowse (talk) 16:49, 16 December 2010 (UTC)

Kjære Herr/Fru

Kjære Herr, Fru. Jeg lurer på om dere har Norske brukere? Jeg ønsker å snakke med Norske brukere. Jeg er veldig interessert i dette og lurer på hvordan jeg kan snakke med en Norsk bruker. Hilsen Jan Petter Tollefsen, Norge. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 85.167.163.199 (talk) 16:40, 16 December 2010 (UTC)

Hei! Så lott at du vil bidra til Wikipedia. Dette er engelsk Wikipedia, her kan du kun bidra på engelsk. Vil du bidra på norsk, her det bedre å se på norsk wikipedia. Lykke til! MikeNicho231 (talk) 16:49, 16 December 2010 (UTC)

However, Category:User no lists users who assert some ability in Norwegian. --AndrewHowse (talk) 16:58, 16 December 2010 (UTC)

New Page

I'm new to Wikipedia and I was wondering if it is possible to make a new page or can you just edit already existing ones? Thanks! — Preceding unsigned comment added by Hondaman4321 (talk • contribs) 16:57, 16 December 2010 (UTC)

Some of our best articles come from new editors! Follow this link. --Orange Mike | Talk 17:02, 16 December 2010 (UTC)

Yes, and most of our deleted articles come from new editors. The most critical factor in determining whether a new article will survive on Wikipedia is its subject. What do you want to write about? In general, it is better to begin by making small edits to existing articles, then watch what other editors do to your edits, while you read the friendly manuals to learn the complexity of Wikipedia. --Teratornis (talk) 22:50, 16 December 2010 (UTC)

I thought most deleted articles were the ones that had been around since Wikipedia was young, and just destroyed in the past year or two as the standards of inclusion changed. Dream Focus 22:55, 16 December 2010 (UTC)

@Dreamfocus Speaking as an admin, that is definately NOT true. Hundreds of newly created articles are deleated every day. Only occasionally is an older article deleted, and even then most articles which are older than a few months usually go through a deliberative 7-day deletion discussion at AFD. AFD probably only deletes maybe a dozen or two articles a day; WP:CSD handles that much in an hour or so. --Jayron32 02:47, 17 December 2010 (UTC)

While I don't have data, I would suspect that as Wikipedia accumulates articles on more and more of the obviously notable topics, there are proportionately fewer remaining notable topics to write about. Thus I would not be surprised to learn that a new article's chances of sticking are lower today than they were in, say, 2003. When Wikipedia was new, there were lots of notable topics that did not have articles yet. For example, the person who started the Jupiter article probably did not have to worry about whether it would be notable enough. Extrapolate forward another ten years, and it might be getting pretty hard to start a new article here by then. There will still be topics left to write about, but they might be on obscure scholarly specialties that the average person doesn't tend to know. --Teratornis (talk) 20:56, 17 December 2010 (UTC)

Wikipedia is all about being able to start and make a page straight away. Just make sure to find something in Google news archive search or a book search, to prove its notable, or someone will try to erase it straight away. Find two newspapers that mention it, and it is usually fine. Dream Focus 22:55, 16 December 2010 (UTC)

Even so, it would be smart for a new user to ask the Help desk if a specific topic is suitable for a new article. There are some large classes of topics that are unsuitable for Wikipedia, and some topics that have a low chance of sticking. It's hard for a new user to tell whether a particular topic is doomed from the start, so it's best to ask the Help desk before sinking in hours of work on creating the article. --Teratornis (talk) 20:56, 17 December 2010 (UTC)

Hey, usually I'm the one accused of inhospitability towards the noobs! I was all Mr. Welcome, and youse guys are all, "It's tough, kid; you may not want to try..." --Orange Mike | Talk 22:14, 17 December 2010 (UTC)

Cursor not defaulting to search box upon opening Wikipedia

One annoying feature about Wikipedia is that fact that (unlike major search engines), you have to click in the search box after you open up the Wikipedia main page. Can't you make a simple HTML change to default the cursor to the search box upon opening of the main Wikipedia page? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 144.183.224.2 (talk) 17:40, 16 December 2010 (UTC)

This comes up a lot. In general, most people do NOT want this feature. If you really really really want it, you can use www.wikipedia.org which acts more like a search engine than an encyclopedia. -- kainaw™ 17:59, 16 December 2010 (UTC)

See Wikipedia:FAQ/Main Page#Why doesn't the cursor appear in the search box, like with Google? PrimeHunter (talk) 18:00, 16 December 2010 (UTC)

I might add that a registered user can supposedly use My preferences/Gadgets to put the cursor in the search box. When I first checked that setting, it worked, but it's never worked since. I might also add (he says in a fit of pique) when I just looked at My preferences, I saw the fundraising banner, even though I have that turned off. Sigh.--Bbb23 (talk) 01:23, 17 December 2010 (UTC)

New text now displaying as centered, not left-justified

I just added a comment on a talk page and used the usual colon (:) in column 1 to indicate that it should be indented. In the same talk page I added a new comment unindented. Both additions show up centered, not indented. Strangely, earlier comments on the page still show up left-justified or left-justified indented, as they should. Is someone mucking around with the Wiki code? If this stuff gets permanently embedded in page edits, it will be a disaster and could take months to correct. —Quicksilver^{T @} 19:32, 16 December 2010 (UTC)

It was an unclosed div. I have fixed it: [1]. PrimeHunter (talk) 19:36, 16 December 2010 (UTC)

You beat me to it. I just found the problem, too. I shouldn't have panicked. Thanks.—Quicksilver^{T @} 19:38, 16 December 2010 (UTC)

help deleting a redirect

Could an admin please delete the redirect page http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Figurenude_%2826%29_by_Curtis_Neeley.jpg

The Wikipedia Foundation authorized the name change but the redirect causes Google Inc image searches to still result in attributions to "Curtis Neeley" instead on the CN Foundation. This causes the search for "Curtis Neeley" to show this nude in an image search for children at school even using the "safe" setting. Can the redirect simply be removed so a 404 is a result please? CurtisNeeley (talk) 19:55, 16 December 2010 (UTC)

It looks like the page has been deleted at Wikipedia, but the original redirect exists at Commons. You are going to have to ask the question over at Commons (commons.wikimedia.org) instead of here. --Jayron32 02:44, 17 December 2010 (UTC)

I've buggered it up!

Hi,

I saw Category:Public universities in Oklahoma as a new creation for a newbie user, looked at it and realised it was meant to go into main space rather than category space. I tried to move it but the nature of Category namepsace is you can't move what's there. So I listed it for deletion, but in my tiredness have listed it as mfd rather than cfd, and now I obviously can't undo the WP discussion page I created, and now I'm too tired, and I have to go back to work, and, and, and...

In short, can someone sort out my mess for me please? I'll give you a cookie if you do.

-- role^player 20:28, 16 December 2010 (UTC)

MFD page deleted as G6 (housekeeping), MFD notice removed from page, category listed at CfD for conversion to an article. TNXMan 20:40, 16 December 2010 (UTC)

This is now at List of public universities in Oklahoma. Vegaswikian (talk) 22:17, 16 December 2010 (UTC)

Thank you guys, cookies duly left on your talk pages. -- role^player 03:42, 17 December 2010 (UTC)

Process of creating

Please let me know the process of createing a article carring information of company.

eg: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microsoft — Preceding unsigned comment added by Ashutoshmund (talk • contribs) 20:55, 16 December 2010 (UTC)

A Wizard is available to walk you through these steps. See the Article Wizard.

Thank you.

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 with which all articles should comply. As Wikipedia is an encyclopedia, articles must not contain original research, must be written from a neutral point of view, should cite 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 Wikipedia:Your first article. You might also look at 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. An Article Wizard is also available to walk you through creating an article. TNXMan 20:57, 16 December 2010 (UTC)

And see WP:CORP and WP:BFAQ. If the company is not notable enough to have an article on Wikipedia, you can write about any company on WikiCompany (not affiliated with the Wikimedia Foundation but it runs on the same MediaWiki software that powers Wikipedia, so editing there is similar to editing here). --Teratornis (talk) 22:42, 16 December 2010 (UTC)

The example you gave of Microsoft is a featured article on Wikipedia. See WP:FAC for what that entails. --Teratornis (talk) 22:46, 16 December 2010 (UTC)

Math in templates using parameters

I know this should be easy, but it is just not popping out for me. If I pass a parameter in a template call as {{{1}}} (the first unnamed parameter) how do I subtract 1 from it and use that within the template? Vegaswikian (talk) 22:08, 16 December 2010 (UTC)

Assuming its value will be a number, you can use the #expr: parser function, like so:
{{ #expr: {{{1}}}-1 }}. If {{{1}}} is not a mandatory parameter I would recommend using something like {{ #if: {{{1|}}} | {{ #expr: {{{1}}}-1 }} }}. Intelligentsium 22:24, 16 December 2010 (UTC)

Thanks. Vegaswikian (talk) 22:33, 16 December 2010 (UTC)

change back to original format

When I logged in I was usually able to go back to the original format that had the smaller text and the search box on the left side of the page. I can't seem to find the button that lets me view wikipedia in its original format. How can I do this? Rhwelrhewlrhwler (talk) 22:10, 16 December 2010 (UTC)

Go to your preferences --> Appearance tab --> Select "Monobook" in the Skin section --> Save. Then bypass your browser cache. – ukexpat (talk) 22:17, 16 December 2010 (UTC)

Logos

can you please upload an image of the logo of sunchon national university and holy angel university found on their respective websites? pls. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 202.92.130.1 (talk) 22:59, 16 December 2010 (UTC)

See Commons:COM:CB#Trademarks for some information about the copyright status of logos. --Teratornis (talk) 01:00, 17 December 2010 (UTC)

And the folks who hang out at WP:Files for upload and WP:Media copyright questions can help with specifics. – ukexpat (talk) 17:32, 17 December 2010 (UTC)

December 17

Piccirilli Brothers Wiki Site

Greetings. Bill Carroll and I are researchers into the Piccirilli Brothers' story. You have had our website cited as an external link. That link has changed, and we would like you to put up the new one. It is now www.lehman.edu/piccirilli. Lehman College with which I am associated has agreed to host our website. Thanks very much. Mary Carroll —Preceding unsigned comment added by 173.2.29.62 (talk) 02:17, 17 December 2010 (UTC)

 Done --Monterey Bay (talk) 02:38, 17 December 2010 (UTC)

Coca-Cola and wikipedia's coi

Hello, I am seeking information about the controversy that coca-cola had edited its article "prettied up" way back when. I can't seem to find any ArbCom interventions or the like. I am asking because another article is having a similar problem and want to use it as an example. Phearson (talk) 04:27, 17 December 2010 (UTC)

This article states "the company was blocked from editing out "misinformation" on Wikipedia last year." Make of that what you will. A sentence in the third paragraph of that article seems unintentionally hilarious: "...in an era of blogs and user-generated content, companies may be losing control of what is said about them." Oh noes!

You might also be interested in User:Durova/The_Dark_Side, a user essay about company editing of Wikipedia. Zango, Badoo and Tagged are a few articles I know of where company reps have influenced (or tried to influence) article content. Adrian J. Hunter^{(talk•contribs)} 09:38, 17 December 2010 (UTC)

Some things I want to discuss

1. First of all, I think should be a category for "Central African people of ethnic or national origin" because every other country on wikipedia has a category for people's ethnicity so I thought Central African people should have that category. 2. Hikaru_Sulu on his wikipedia page says he is of Filipino descent so there should be a category that says :Fictional_American_people_of_Filipino_descent. 3. There should be a category for Fictional people with ADHD or Fictional people with Dyslexia. Percy_jackson is listed under both. 4. I would like to make an article about the novel More Than Weird. Here's an article about it: http://www.umanitoba.ca/cm/cmarchive/vol16no4/morethanweird.html I don't know why it was deleted. 5. I would like to add a summary for the movie The_Seventh_Coin. Could someone help me with that? Thank you! Neptunekh2 (talk) 05:21, 17 December 2010 (UTC)

Here is the reason why More than Weird was deleted. As for the categories, I am not saying they will be kept, but why don't you create them yourself? Cheers - [CharlieEchoTango] 06:16, 17 December 2010 (UTC)

Before creating new categories, read WP:CFD to learn about problems with categories that you would like to be sure your categories will not be prone to. Your suggestion sounds reasonable as the parent category (Category:People by ethnic or national origin) indeed has subcategories for many (but not all) countries. However, be sure you can populate the category you want to create. That is, Wikipedia should have articles about some people who could go into that category. There is a Wikipedia:WikiProject Central African Republic you may be interested in. Read Help:List to learn how to make numbered lists the Wikipedia way. --Teratornis (talk) 07:15, 17 December 2010 (UTC)

I see you have created Category:Fictional American people of Filipino descent although Hikaru Sulu is the only current member and it didn't get support when you suggested it at Wikipedia:Help desk/Archives/2010 December 9#Two questions. I have watched many episodes of the show and didn't know the character had Filipino descent (I knew about the Japanese descent) so it doesn't sound like an important trait of the character. We don't need small categories for every attribute of every fictional character. ADHD and dyslexia also sound questionable to me. In order to avoid original research, they would have to be specifically mentioned in the fictional universe. How often is that done? See also my reply at Wikipedia:Help desk/Archives/2010 December 4#Two thing to discuss. PrimeHunter (talk) 13:55, 17 December 2010 (UTC)

The statement that Sulu is of Filipino descent is sourced from IMDb, which is not considered a reliable source. The entire section appears to be copied from IMDb. ---— Gadget850 (Ed) ^talk 18:42, 17 December 2010 (UTC)

Wikistalk

Can someone explain this page for me and what value it has? Thank you. Buster Seven Talk 07:00, 17 December 2010 (UTC)

Pretty sure it compares the edits of two users to see what they both edited and is used to identify sockpuppets. Not sure though. [CharlieEchoTango] 07:03, 17 December 2010 (UTC)

Thanks. I guess I dont see how the info is pertinent to sockpuppetry. I can see where it would show stalking of a fellow editor. I just dont get the tie in to socking.Buster Seven Talk

Just saying that I think the tool is used for that reason : because it compares the edits of two « different » users, it would make sense. Otherwise, why would you compare the edits of two users for? So that's what I think the tool is for. If you're asking this in regards to a situation you're involved in, sorry but I can't help, I am just answering for what the tool does. Cheers - [CharlieEchoTango] 07:22, 17 December 2010 (UTC)

Wikistalk shows commonality of interests among a group of editors. For a sufficiently large area of interest, the number of articles edited in common by a group may be substantial. Where one or more of the editors has few edits outside the area of common interest, the issue of whether the edits are independent may be an issue, but appears to be rarely used. Where a sufficiently large group of editors shows a very high correlation on, say, WP pages for XfD, and shows a commonality of interest therein, the issue about being seen as a group may well be a problem (vide ARS etc.). Where a group of editors has an extraordinary number of user talk pages in common, the issue of commonality of interests as a reason for editing those particular user talk pages may well be raised. It is not wise, in any case, for any group of editors to be seen by outside observers as having any excess commonality of interest and viewpoint, as WP seeks fully independent editors for al areas. See principle 4 in the Climate Change Arbitration decision on Collective behavior of blocs of editors. Collect (talk) 11:35, 17 December 2010 (UTC)

Excellent points all around. Note too, that some of us have unhealthily large edit ranges which overlaps with many editors. Conspiracists might conclude that I, or many others, are in cahoots with half of Wikipedia, based on mere commonality. Mostly, it's just coincidence. Mostly.   Will Beback  talk  11:42, 17 December 2010 (UTC)

Absolutely true. However the larger the group for which the coincidence exists, the less likely it is to be coincidence :). If, as a hypothetical example, 6 editors all manage to edit the same two dozen articles .and. they all have the same viewpoint (say they all revert the same other editor in succession) the probability of it being coincidence declines markedly. Or (again hypothetically) if they have a propensity for !voting in accord with each other (comment not aimed at ARS, by the way), that also reduces chance being the cause. My favorite remains, however, having a large number of "random" editors (6 or more) all posting on the same user talk pages, as the universe of user talk pages >> the universe of any single topic interests. Two or three editors sharing such is vastly more likely to be simple coincidence to be sure. Collect (talk) 13:12, 17 December 2010 (UTC)

The uncomfortable nature of circumstances related to one of the respondents to this thread forces me to respond. I find it highly disconcerting that the editor that responds to my simple informational query, at this site/section that I've never visited, is the ONLY editor in my 2.5 year, 12,000 edit career to have called me a sockpuppet (and probably used wikistalk to come to that conclusion). And I don't mean you, Will Beback. I guess I will just move on...no explanation is necessary.Buster Seven Talk 14:59, 17 December 2010 (UTC)

Wait, who has called you a sockpuppet? [CharlieEchoTango] 15:01, 17 December 2010 (UTC)

Sorry, not you either, CharlieEchoTango.Buster Seven Talk 15:06, 17 December 2010 (UTC)

Ok thanks, I was worried for a while that my comments were misunderstood. Cheers - [CharlieEchoTango] 15:07, 17 December 2010 (UTC)

I don't think anyone was accusing anyone else of being a sockpuppet. They were simply pointing out the fact that the wikistalk tool helps identify overlapping edits - which are generally innocent, but may indicate sockpuppetry. TNXMan 19:19, 17 December 2010 (UTC)

Italics in links

Here's a puzzle. Why don't the links below, using ' syntax, italicize correctly? I resolved this by using <i> tags, but am curious as to where the problem lies, as somewhat arbitary measures (see comments) fix it. All the links should be italic.

Eubalaena Eubalaena Eubalaena Italics Italics ''Italics'' ''Italics'' Italics with < tags >

Martin (Smith609 – Talk) 08:27, 17 December 2010 (UTC)

A newline in a link can break things. Copying your code to Special:ExpandTemplates shows that the first three links get a newline from {{Taxonomy/Eubalaena}}. All your examples are displayed in italics if those newlines are removed. But [[''Italics'']] doesn't make a link. If it did then it would go to the page name ''Italics'' with 4 ' in the name. NAME in [[NAME]] or [[NAME|DISPLAY]] must be the unformatted pagename. Your last example also works with ' syntax: Italics with < tags > renders the same as Italics with < tags >. PrimeHunter (talk) 13:01, 17 December 2010 (UTC)

Ah, that was so simple in the end. Thank you, that's allowed me to fix it. I appreciate you looking into this!

Martin (Smith609 – Talk) 21:36, 18 December 2010 (UTC)

3.5 M

What was the 3.5 millionth article? 115.43.44.129 (talk) 09:08, 17 December 2010 (UTC)

This was asked with no answer at Talk:Main Page/Archive 155#3,500,000 ARTICLES!!! and Talk:Main Page#Million milestones. PrimeHunter (talk) 16:12, 17 December 2010 (UTC)

Wikipedia is NOT truly an Open Editable Model, and Jimmy Wales needs to be alerted

I am a professional writer and editor, employed by one of the largest beverages and food snacks companies in the world.

My experience with attempting to contribute to Wikipedia articles has been unsuccessful and negative, to say the least. Here's why -- On occasion, I have stumbled upon articles that are either missing some critical piece of information that is germane to the topic and presumed objective of the article, or are blatantly erroneous. Some of these topics tend to be obviously politically charged and obviously written with bias.

I understand that editors are people, and people have opinions, tendencies, leanings, beliefs, etc., which find their way into their "objective" contributions. What is most disturbing, however, is that no contribution I have ever submitted has ever been accepted, in spite of the fact that I have provided reference and historical support.

What is the magic ingredient for being able to successfully modify an article? The fact that this process is so difficult, convoluted, and controlled by what appears to be cliques of "super editors" seems to defeat the original purpose of this otherwise remarkable tool. This characteristic, if unchecked, will gradually unravel Wikipedia's credibility as a trusted information source. Just because a belief is popular does not mean this belief is accurate, and editors must be willing to admit their errors and accept substantiated corrections from the reading public.

Lastly, how does one become a Wikipedia "super editor"? Does this equate to contributing an article? The contributor becomes the super editor of this article by de facto?

Thanks. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 70.243.203.241 (talk) 14:37, 17 December 2010 (UTC)

This IP address has only asked this question and nothing else. Before we can critique your contributions, we need to, you know, see them. Since we don't have any concrete edits to view, no one has any way to give you any helpful advice. --Jayron32 14:50, 17 December 2010 (UTC)

I don't know what you mean by "super editor" but as it says below the edit box: "If you do not want your writing to be edited, used, and redistributed at will, then do not submit it here." Any editor who disagrees with your edit may remove or change it. Nobody owns an article and there are no editors with more rights to edit articles than others, with the exception of protected pages which can only be edited by some editors. However, there are editors who know more about Wikipedia policies and practices and are less likely to make an edit that will be reverted by somebody else. If you want to become an established and recognized editor then I recommend creating an account. This has several benefits (but more rights in content disputes is not one of them). There are lots of disputes between editors who revert each other and Jimmy Wales is aware of this. Since this is the only edit by your current IP address, I'm not sure whether your edits were reverted or never saved correctly. Can you give an example from the page history of an article you think you edited? If your edit was saved correctly then it should be in the page history. PrimeHunter (talk) 15:09, 17 December 2010 (UTC)

Moreover, if your edits relate to "one of the largest beverages and food snacks companies in the world" then you have a WP:COI and your edits will be even more heavily scutinised. – ukexpat (talk) 17:03, 17 December 2010 (UTC)

The trick to editing successfully on Wikipedia is to read and understand the friendly manuals. As you did not sign your post, this suggests you have not yet gotten very far at reading the manuals. No shame in that - reading the manuals is a lot of work. But you'll probably have difficulty editing here until you put in the work. Wikipedia is unlike any system most people will have used before coming to Wikipedia. Most people who are new to editing on Wikipedia have at least a few incorrect assumptions about it. Wikipedia is a do it yourself system, there are usually no human teachers present in the room with new users to guide them, so most people who edit here have to teach themselves by reading the manuals and trying things. Some people are better at self-educating than others. People who approach unfamiliar situations by trying to impose their pre-existing beliefs rather than emptying their minds of assumptions and learning afresh will tend to have a tough time here. Sometimes it is a disadvantage for a person to come to Wikipedia having already reached a high level of expertise in something else. For example, experts may be accustomed to asserting their expertise and not having to verify where it came from. On Wikipedia we have a complex system for verifying our factual claims in articles (see WP:CITE, WP:CITET, and WP:FOOT). Learning this system is a nontrivial exercise. Almost nobody shows up here for the first time already understanding why and how to do it. Also read How to Ask Questions the Smart Way. Your question omits the critical details that could enable someone to answer it - the names of the articles you have edited. Your implicit assumption that Wikipedia can be reduced to a few general principles is incorrect; Wikipedia is instead a rather hefty set of general principles combined with a seemingly unlimited number of special cases. To see exactly why your edits did not stick we have to see your edits. --Teratornis (talk) 20:42, 17 December 2010 (UTC)

What to do

Intended Recipient Counselor's. My Daughter passed away of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome years ago and it is still hard for me to cope with is their things that can keep my mind off of this situation that will better me as a Person. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 99.130.201.104 (talk) 14:42, 17 December 2010 (UTC)

This is Wikipedia, the free encyclopædia. We can not help you with this. Consult your psychologist. MikeNicho231 (talk) 14:46, 17 December 2010 (UTC)

This page is for questions about using Wikipedia. Please consider asking this question at the Miscellaneous 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 and ask away. You could always try searching Wikipedia for an article related to the topic you want to know more about. I hope this helps. Best of luck to you! [CharlieEchoTango] 14:47, 17 December 2010 (UTC)

Your IP address appears to geolocate to the United States. I don't know whather it will be of any help, but perhaps you can find a sympathetic local organisation via this page. They seem to specialise in supporting people who have been bereaved as you have been, and may be able to answer your question or direct you to further help. I wish you well. Karenjc 22:41, 17 December 2010 (UTC)

new version of bit defender

My bit defender program expired and I was wondering if it would be possible to contact you by phone to install a new version of Bitdefender —Preceding unsigned comment added by 75.158.78.82 (talk) 15:01, 17 December 2010 (UTC)

Hello. I suspect, based on your question, that you found one of our 3,504,462 articles, and thought that we were affiliated in some way with that subject. Please note that you are at Wikipedia, the free online encyclopedia that anyone can edit, and this page is for asking questions related to using or contributing to Wikipedia itself. Thus, we have no special knowledge about the subject of your question. You can, however, search our vast catalogue of articles by typing a subject into the search field on the upper right side of your screen. If you cannot find what you are looking for, we have a reference desk, divided into various subject areas, where asking knowledge questions is welcome. Best of luck.Template:Z25--Jayron32 15:05, 17 December 2010 (UTC)

Forcibly logged out repeatedly

Just got forcibly logged out, tried logging back in, got the "log in successful" screen, but as soon as I tried to navigate anywhere got logged out again. Happened several times in a row. Couldn't ask for help while logged out because of a rangeblock against the largest provider of mobile internet in the UK. Anyone know what caused the problems with being forced out? DuncanHill (talk) 17:09, 17 December 2010 (UTC)

May also be worth noting that the watchlist notices which I had previously dismissed reappeared when I eventually did manage to log in properly. DuncanHill (talk) 17:11, 17 December 2010 (UTC)

Is Help:Logging in of help? PrimeHunter (talk) 17:56, 17 December 2010 (UTC)

Well, no definitive answer but looks like some kind of cookie problem. DuncanHill (talk) 14:25, 18 December 2010 (UTC)

The Trade Wiki Beta--how is it related to Wikipedia

Hi, I am curious if The Trade Wiki is in any way affiliated with Wikipedia. It is a subscriber based service for business use but I see replications and perhaps complementing info on both portals. The look and feel of The Trade Wiki is also similar to Wikipedia.

I am looking for reasons why Wikipedia is unable to provide what The Trade Wiki can.

Can you help me understand better pleaase.

My email address is [email address removed]

Thank you kindly and many happy returns of the season

Daniel TanDktan (talk) 18:24, 17 December 2010 (UTC)

There is no affiliation as said when you asked at Wikipedia:Help desk/Archives/2010 December 9#The Trade Wiki Beta. PrimeHunter (talk) 18:42, 17 December 2010 (UTC)

It just has "wiki" in its name (as do thousands of other wikis) and uses the same open source Media Wiki software. – ukexpat (talk) 19:23, 17 December 2010 (UTC)

Changing a Wikipedia page for a course

What do you think about this change on Ohm's law? --Mortense (talk) 20:04, 17 December 2010 (UTC)

I'm not sure why those books should be included in a further reading section - are they special in some way? I would think there are several text books that cover the same material. TNXMan 20:10, 17 December 2010 (UTC)

Reverted and gave him the "We are not Facebook" warning. --Orange Mike | Talk 20:14, 17 December 2010 (UTC)

Donate

Hi All,

I dont have a PayPal account, so is there any other way I could donate money to Wikipedia?

Regards, VT — Preceding unsigned comment added by Varun.tikka (talk • contribs) 20:15, 17 December 2010 (UTC)

See the Fundraising page. – ukexpat (talk) 21:01, 17 December 2010 (UTC)

And Ways to Give. – ukexpat (talk) 21:03, 17 December 2010 (UTC)

article deleted

Hi - I work for a non-profit and my article about my charity was deleted and I would like to know why. Are charities not allowed to post their own information? — Preceding unsigned comment added by Msaanj (talk • contribs) 21:05, 17 December 2010 (UTC)

Please read your talk page, and the links provided there. - David Biddulph (talk) 21:11, 17 December 2010 (UTC)

Important information that hasn't been published in English

As part of the BLP referencing drive, I was working on the article about former Brazilian First Lady Rosane Collor. One reference that I found was a BBC News story from 2000 saying that she had been convicted of corruption and sentenced to 11 years in jail. Then I looked at Google's translation of her Portuguese Wikipedia article, which makes it sound like this verdict was later overturned on an appeal. If this is true, then her English article is misleading and biased against her, as it implies that she's been spending the past decade in jail. But I don't speak Portuguese and I can't find anything in English about this acquittal.

So what's the Wikipedia policy on this sort of thing? Do I leave the potentially misleading section alone, or do I fix it and cite a machine translation of a Wikipedia article as my reference? Brian the Editor (talk) 21:15, 17 December 2010 (UTC)

Check with a Portuguese-speaker; then cite the original in the original language. Certainly a machine translation constitutes the worst of all possible worlds as far as non-reliable sources! --Orange Mike | Talk 21:18, 17 December 2010 (UTC)

I meant the original source, not the Portugese Wikipedia. But on looking at the Portuguese version, I see no footnote for that assertion; so we've got a problem of lack of reliable sources. --Orange Mike | Talk 21:21, 17 December 2010 (UTC)

Thanks. I've found some Portuguese sources that might help and posted them at Wikipedia:Reference desk/Language#Quick Portuguese translation for a Wikipedia article to see if anyone can verify what they say. Brian the Editor (talk) 23:58, 17 December 2010 (UTC)

long-term creation of an article

Hi. I have just spotted a nice little research paper which would make a nice wikipedia article. Trouble is, I want to work on it over the next few days / weeks, and then when it's ready for public consumption I want to create the page. Creating a stub won't work because the stub would probably be deleted. Is there a "private" way to work on an article? Robinh (talk) 22:06, 17 December 2010 (UTC)

1. Most research papers are totally unsuitable for encyclopedia articles; see WP:ESSAY.

2. Sure; just create a sandbox by typing User:Robinh/Sandbox, clicking on the redlink, and beginning the draft article. --Orange Mike | Talk 22:11, 17 December 2010 (UTC)

Hello OrangeMike. Thanks for this. I know most research articles make terrible articles; that's exactly why I want to work on one in private before releasing it. And if it turns out that the article is terrible and unrescuable, I can delete it with no loss of face ;-). With very best wishes, Robinh (talk) 22:15, 17 December 2010 (UTC)

Link Appearance

Is there to way to make this: [As] appear without the square-brackets highlighted as a link too? This is what I've tried but obviously it doesn't work: [[[Arsenic|As]]]

Abraham Schulte (talk) 23:46, 17 December 2010 (UTC)

• Like this - [As]? Can't work out how to show you how I did it, you'll have to open this section for editing to see, but basically, you put nowiki tags around the outside square brackets. DuncanHill (talk) 00:04, 18 December 2010 (UTC)

I've created Template:Bracketed element symbol to make this easy. Simply type: {{Bracketed element symbol|<Element name>|<Element symbol>}}. For example, {{Bracketed element symbol|Arsenic|As}} produces: [As]. Robert Skyhawk ^{(T C B)} 05:07, 18 December 2010 (UTC)

Someone should probably create a redirect at {{BES}}/{{Bes}} or move the template there for ease of typing. – ukexpat (talk) 19:05, 18 December 2010 (UTC)

Hm, I just changed {{BES}} assuming it was an ages-old template-redirect (but was pointed that it was fairly new...)... Since 15 December the code BES is the officially assigned ISO 3166-1 for "Bonaire, Saint Eustatius and Saba" (the Caribbean Netherlands; and I therefore made a flag-redirect out of it. Would it be ok to keep using that, so that the redirect {{Bes}} can remain the shorthand redirect for the bracketed element symbol template? L.tak (talk) 14:11, 19 December 2010 (UTC)

December 18

Biased Article

How would someone question a very biased article. The article on Anti Psycotics is totally biased toward and anti psycitry point of view with very few supporting studies while the benefits are not mentioned. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 209.159.230.49 (talk) 00:11, 18 December 2010 (UTC)

Points can and should be raised on the article talk page. Simply click the "discussion" tab at the top of the article, and ask the question there. --Jayron32 00:23, 18 December 2010 (UTC)

Wikipedia's use of browser cookies

[This is a duplicate of a prevous post which was appended to an unrelated post by another user. My apologies to that individual. It was my first attempt to post to Help and I didn't put in a Subject/Headline.]

Wikipedia's use of browser cookies

I have used Wikipedia for some time and was never asked to allow cookies to be written to my browser.

However, when I accessed the page for what might be considered a controversial piece of US government legislation (the Patriot Act) I was suddenly asked to allow a cookie be set for en.wikipedia.org. Why is this?

Before posting this question here, I created a Wikipedia user account. As soon as I logged in I was asked to authorize seven cookies of the form en.xxxxx.org. I understand possible reasons why, for a registered user, you would want to set various cookies. But why would this be done simply as a result or accessing a page of particular content?

I tried to find a statement of the Wikipedia policy with respect to cookies, but was not successful. If such a statement exists and answers my question (Why does Wikipedia track access to specific pages for non-registered users?), could you please direct me to it.

Thank you. Papanca (talk) 01:41, 18 December 2010 (UTC)

— Preceding unsigned comment added by Papanca (talk • contribs) 01:40, 18 December 2010 (UTC) 

The policy regarding privacy and cookies can be found at wmf:Privacy policy, specifically in the section entitled Cookies. The remainder of that page answers your questions; a few excerpts:

• "The sites set a temporary session cookie on a visitor's computer whenever a Project page is visited. Readers who do not intend to log in or edit may deny this cookie"; this is probably why you received the cookie notice
• "More cookies may be set when one logs in to maintain logged-in status"; this is why you received the notice upon creating an account

Most likely, it was a coincidence that you received this notice whilst viewing a controversial act of the US government. Intelligentsium 01:45, 18 December 2010 (UTC)

Thank you. This was very helpful. Papanca (talk) 02:00, 18 December 2010 (UTC)

Punjabi programme

i want to know that how can i sing in programme sun sun jeeva teri bani on etc punjabi and whom to i will have to contact? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 110.224.180.210 (talk) 04:03, 18 December 2010 (UTC)

Please use a descriptive title in future questions. I have added one.

I suspect, based on your question, that you found one of our over 6.9 million articles and thought we were affiliated in some way with that subject. Please note that you are at Wikipedia, the free online encyclopedia that anyone can edit, and this page is for asking questions related to using or contributing to Wikipedia itself. Thus, we have no special knowledge about the subject of your question. You can, however, search our vast catalogue of articles by typing a subject into the search field on the upper right side of your screen. If you cannot find what you are looking for, we have a reference desk, divided into various subject areas, where asking knowledge questions is welcome. Best of luck. --ColinFine (talk) 11:12, 18 December 2010 (UTC)

Formatting archived discussions nearly lost during page move

Resolved

 – Cut-and-paste move fixed by Bencherlite. – ukexpat (talk) 19:02, 18 December 2010 (UTC)

Last month I moved the Zeitgeist: the Movie article to Zeitgeist: The Movie (capitalizing the "t" in "the"). For some reason, though, the talk page did not move along with it, perhaps because I did not check the settings clearly enough during the move. I just moved the old discussions to the new talk page, but the formatted archive box will obviously not cause the old archived discusssions to show up on the new talk page, I presume because the article name is slightly different. I moved the links to those archives to the top of the new talk page. Can someone here format them into a proper archive box? Thanks. Nightscream (talk) 05:02, 18 December 2010 (UTC)

You didn't move it; you copied and pasted (back in November), which is why things are in a tangle. Details of how to move a page are at WP:MOVE. - David Biddulph (talk) 10:39, 18 December 2010 (UTC)

I will ask at Wikipedia:Cut and paste move repair holding pen for an admin to sort it outI have tagged the latter article with a {{db-histmerge}}. That will alert one of the admins that it needs fixing. – ukexpat (talk) 16:02, 18 December 2010 (UTC)

Aircraft compare

I think that i would be awesome if wikipedia automatically compare to different aircraft 4 me. Going further it can auto compare cars or other types of machinery or guns. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 77.120.160.5 (talk) 10:11, 18 December 2010 (UTC)

Saint Nicolass

When did Santa Cluase (Saint Nicolass) move from Myra near Turky to Lapland —Preceding unsigned comment added by 217.43.200.189 (talk) 13:46, 18 December 2010 (UTC)

This page is for questions about using Wikipedia. Please consider asking this question at the Humanities reference desk. They specialise 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 and ask away. You could always try searching Wikipedia for an article related to the topic you want to know more about. I hope this helps. GiftigerWunsch [TALK] 14:43, 18 December 2010 (UTC)

I think you refer to the placing of Santa Claus at the "North Pole"? [2] places this in 1869. This is a "lore" question which I am happy to answer here. Collect (talk) 15:27, 18 December 2010 (UTC)

rollback

Lismore, County Waterford has had a series of edits, all of which need to be removed.How do you do multiple undos!? Thanks Edmund Patrick – confer 15:24, 18 December 2010 (UTC)

Display the history page, set start & finish to cover the range of edits, display the differences, then undo (& supply a suitable edit summary). I've done that. - David Biddulph (talk) 15:28, 18 December 2010 (UTC)

many thanks for doing and also the instructions. Edmund Patrick – confer 15:42, 18 December 2010 (UTC)

You could also select the last good version from the history page, edit THAT version with a null edit. That will return the last good version. --Jayron32 16:02, 18 December 2010 (UTC)

about A.C CURRENT STORAGE

where the a.c current stores please explain clearly with images or diagrams —Preceding unsigned comment added by 14.194.153.28 (talk) 16:41, 18 December 2010 (UTC)

This is the Help Desk which is for questions about how to edit Wikipedia. General knowledge questions should be asked at the Reference Desk. To help you out for now though, I suggest you start with the article on Alternating current and read other articles on the subject. Dismas|^(talk) 17:33, 18 December 2010 (UTC)

Please do your own homework. – ukexpat (talk) 17:36, 18 December 2010 (UTC)

Article Rename

Where do I go to get an article renamed? The article is Luton Old Boys FC, and I would like it changed to Luton Old Boys F.C. Thanks,  RichardOwen97  talk  16:47, 18 December 2010 (UTC)

 Done Baseball Watcher (talk) 17:22, 18 December 2010 (UTC)

At Wikipedia this is called "moving" an article, and you can read about it here. -- John of Reading (talk) 17:25, 18 December 2010 (UTC)

My Contribution for submission

Resolved

 – Subpage deleted as spam, username blocked. – ukexpat (talk) 18:09, 18 December 2010 (UTC)

Hello we are having difficulty in getting our article reviewed for submission. It is drafted under Defanointed. Please let us know the procedure for having it considered. We followed the instructions listed but as of yet we have not gotten a response. Thank You. email address is <redacted> — Preceding unsigned comment added by Defanointed (talk • contribs) 16:49, 18 December 2010 (UTC)

I have moved your draft to a proper user subpage at User:Defanointed/Rihki Kennebrew. I suggest that you take a look at WP:MUSIC for notability guidelines for musicians. At first glance, there are not enough reliable sources to support the notability of the subject. Also, you refer to yourself as "we" - your user name is the name of the record company and that is not permitted. – ukexpat (talk) 17:28, 18 December 2010 (UTC)

The process is to post a request at Requests for feedback, although that forum is understaffed, so it may or may not get reviewed. I took a quick look at it, you should read Notability and Referencing for beginners. --SPhilbrickT 17:34, 18 December 2010 (UTC)

error on page

 Done--Bbb23 (talk) 17:53, 18 December 2010 (UTC)

The link at the bottom of http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rider-Ericsson_Engine_Company is no longer valid. Bert —Preceding unsigned comment added by 67.187.179.235 (talk) 17:49, 18 December 2010 (UTC)

Thanks, it's gone now.--Bbb23 (talk) 17:52, 18 December 2010 (UTC)

Template trouble

I made Template:House of Oldenburg, but when I try seperating the different kings and their family I get this . Can someone help me? I made a similiar template for the House of Estridsen and it worked fine but not for this one.--Queen Elizabeth II's Little Spy (talk) 18:07, 18 December 2010 (UTC)

That was a challenge! Fixed -- John of Reading (talk) 18:50, 18 December 2010 (UTC)

Phone numbers

Why doesn,t the phone numbers come up on my tv.In my house we have 3 tv on in the front room one in bed room one down stairs.The number comes up on the one in basement,but not in front room or bedroom. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 216.36.166.170 (talk) 20:30, 18 December 2010 (UTC)

Hello. I suspect, based on your question, that you found one of our 3,505,441 articles, and thought that we were affiliated in some way with that subject. Please note that you are at Wikipedia, the free online encyclopedia that anyone can edit, and this page is for asking questions related to using or contributing to Wikipedia itself. Thus, we have no special knowledge about the subject of your question. You can, however, search our vast catalogue of articles by typing a subject into the search field on the upper right side of your screen. If you cannot find what you are looking for, we have a reference desk, divided into various subject areas, where asking knowledge questions is welcome. Best of luck.Template:Z25 -- John of Reading (talk) 20:44, 18 December 2010 (UTC)

Is there a higher authority to appeal to, in the event of disagreement with an article's content?

I felt that something was wrong with the article for 'the Colbert Report' and made what I thought was an unanswerable argument to the article's overseers. Turns out they had an answer: "We don't want to change it." Is there a higher authority I can turn to to settle the argument? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 70.71.21.114 (talk) 21:03, 18 December 2010 (UTC)

In the example you give, I would advise you to first take the matter to WP:Requests for comment. Thanks. —Half Price 21:06, 18 December 2010 (UTC)

There is no such thing as an article overseer. Wikipedia works via WP:CONSENSUS. Corvus cornix_talk 22:14, 19 December 2010 (UTC)

December 19

Mischsprache

Could someone create a shortcut from "Mischsprache" to "mixed language"? This is a very accepted linguistic concept. I'd done it myself, but I have no idea how. Nadav. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 84.108.93.181 (talk) 00:55, 19 December 2010 (UTC)

 Done. Jarkeld (talk) 01:00, 19 December 2010 (UTC)

• Fot future reference, you can do so by creating Mischsprache and make the only content #REDIRECT [[Mixed language]]. You would need to be logged in and be an autoconfirmed user, however. GiftigerWunsch [TALK] 01:39, 19 December 2010 (UTC)

Procedure for uploading sounds ( Audios )

I wish to upload sounds of birds> How can I do and in what format the files have to be ? Thanks & Merry Christmas SONI RAM GOPAL — Preceding unsigned comment added by SONI RAM GOPAL (talk • contribs) 00:59, 19 December 2010 (UTC)

I usually go with ogg. --Monterey Bay (talk) 01:47, 19 December 2010 (UTC)

Post a school paper (which has bias) on sister project

If I wrote a paper for school that does indeed have a bias, is there any way to have it vetted and then published to one of wikipedia's sister projects? — Preceding unsigned comment added by Wikigold96 (talk • contribs) 05:13, 19 December 2010 (UTC)

Login Unification - Home wiki has different password?

Hi!

Just noticed the whole global / unified login option in preferences. Since I have logins on meta.wikimedia.org, wikipedia.org, quote.wikipedia.org, wiktionary.org, and wikibooks.org, all with the same login (Falkor) and password, I figured I was a good candidate for unifying them.

When I try to do so, though, it tells me that the "Home wiki" for this account is at fr.wikipedia.org. What's up with that? Does this mean that someone at fr.wikipedia.org already did the unification thing, so I'm just SOL? Do I have any options?

Thanks. Ron. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Falkor (talk • contribs) 05:26, 19 December 2010 (UTC)

I only have a partial answer. Somebody who knows more may come along but Sundays can be slow. http://toolserver.org/~vvv/sulutil.php?user=Falkor shows that the username has the most edits (23) at frwiki. The wiki with the most edits automatically becomes the home wiki when an account is unified. I don't know whether this can be overridden when it isn't your account. It hasn't edited since 2005: fr:Special:Contributions/Falkor. I guess that if you make more than 23 edits at another wiki then you can unify with that wiki as home wiki. The account at frwiki has not unified so the username is still open for unification. PrimeHunter (talk) 11:31, 19 December 2010 (UTC)

How do i change a secure port to a non-secure port?

i am using an application that shows some certification error.so i want to change port from 443(secure port) to 8080(non secure port) please help me. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Nishant4u2010 (talk • contribs) 06:02, 19 December 2010 (UTC)

This page is for questions about using Wikipedia. Please consider asking this question at the Computing reference desk. They specialize in answering computer 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 and ask away. You could always try searching Wikipedia for an article related to the topic you want to know more about. I hope this helps. But I'm pretty sure you will need to give more information (eg, what application, and what technology or protocol you are using to access it) for anybody to be able to help you. --ColinFine (talk) 11:43, 19 December 2010 (UTC)

Soviet Union music recording certification - are there any???

Since nobody answer to my question, and if you know the answer, please reply here. I need it for this disco. It would be great if there would be a reliable soviet cert (even if I am skeptical about this). Thank you.-- ♫Greatorangepumpkin♫ T 09:30, 19 December 2010 (UTC)

This page is for questions about using Wikipedia. Please consider asking this question at the Entertainment 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 and ask away. You could always try searching Wikipedia for an article related to the topic you want to know more about. I hope this helps. You could also ask at Wikipedia:WikiProject Discographies. --ColinFine (talk) 11:49, 19 December 2010 (UTC)

BTW, I am a member in WP:DISCOGS, so no need to post this project here.-- ♫Greatorangepumpkin♫ T 12:07, 19 December 2010 (UTC)

Please add headlines

ON 09/29/10 I SENT A 15.00 DONATION FOR A POLAR BEAR BLANKET AND SUBSCRIPTION TO NATIONAL WILDLIGE MAGAZINE. INSTEAD OF A POLAR BEAR BLANKET I RECEIVED A BLANKET WITH PENGQUINS. (NOT WHAT i WANTED) ONLY RECEIVED THIS AFTER I CALLED. I HAVE NOT AS OF THIS DATE (12/19/10) RECEIVED ONE MAGAZINE. WHAT IS THE PROBLEM? CAN SOMEONE HELP???? JANET — Preceding unsigned comment added by Janet seibert (talk • contribs) 10:50, 19 December 2010 (UTC)

Hello. I suspect, based on your question, that you found one of our 3,506,057 articles, and thought that we were affiliated in some way with that subject. Please note that you are at Wikipedia, the free online encyclopedia that anyone can edit, and this page is for asking questions related to using or contributing to Wikipedia itself. Thus, we have no special knowledge about the subject of your question. You can, however, search our vast catalogue of articles by typing a subject into the search field on the upper right side of your screen. If you cannot find what you are looking for, we have a reference desk, divided into various subject areas, where asking knowledge questions is welcome. Best of luck.Template:Z25 PrimeHunter (talk) 11:15, 19 December 2010 (UTC)

Rochville university

Is Rochville universtity accredited? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 94.96.31.147 (talk) 11:40, 19 December 2010 (UTC)

The artcile Rochville University says no. It is always worth looking for an article relating to a subject before posting a general question (and general questions should be posted at the reference desk: this page is for asking questions about using Wikipedia). --ColinFine (talk) 11:52, 19 December 2010 (UTC)

Help merge two articles.

Hi, I would need help to merge, as rightly suggested, the following two articles: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eagles_Airlines_destinations and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eagles_Airlines.

Thank you. --Propterea quod (talk) 11:44, 19 December 2010 (UTC)

Does Help:Merging#Performing the merger help? – ukexpat (talk) 17:34, 19 December 2010 (UTC)

Passerine

If I see another passerine as the picture of the day I'm going to scream. Who is choosing all these passerine pictures as the pic of the day? — Preceding unsigned comment added by Oprah999 (talk • contribs) 12:04, 19 December 2010 (UTC)

Help closing a discussion

Is there "a technically-competent, fair-minded administrator who hasn't been previously involved with Ahnentafels or genealogy" who can help close the discussion on Template talk:Ahnentafel top/Requested Comments 1? It's been going on for five months and there is no more new opinion to be made on this issue.--Queen Elizabeth II's Little Spy (talk) 12:09, 19 December 2010 (UTC)

Two tables columns

Hi, I'm looking for a way to show two tables (see example), having the second table displayed right beside the first one, but without any space between them. When using the column function, there always is a white space between (them getting bigger with higher resolutions). Can the columns be set to the widths of the tables? Any help appreciated. EnemyOfTheState_|talk 12:38, 19 December 2010 (UTC)

Never mind, I've found a solution. EnemyOfTheState_|talk 13:07, 19 December 2010 (UTC)

Severe Disability Needs

I have a wife who in 1989 was diognosed with malignant tummours in the brain. The DWP gave her a life expectancy of 6 months maximum. She has lasted 21 years as of this year and could survive for another 21 years. As age matures. (I am 73) we need aditional medical care but they tell us we hould pay. My stance is that we have always worked and paid our taxes and Private medical insurance which is no longer affordable. The principle of the Foundation of thye NHC is that care is Free when medical is the sypmtom and I quote the case of Pamala Conchron 2000 who had this reafirmed in the high court. Her situation was both Health and care and my wifes is the same and needs Continuing Health Care which should be given regardless of her savings. What do you think

J —Preceding unsigned comment added by 86.20.91.3 (talk) 15:09, 19 December 2010 (UTC)

Hello. I suspect, based on your question, that you found one of our 3,506,188 articles, and thought that we were affiliated in some way with that subject. Please note that you are at Wikipedia, the free online encyclopedia that anyone can edit, and this page is for asking questions related to using or contributing to Wikipedia itself. Thus, we have no special knowledge about the subject of your question. You can, however, search our vast catalogue of articles by typing a subject into the search field on the upper right side of your screen. If you cannot find what you are looking for, we have a reference desk, divided into various subject areas, where asking knowledge questions is welcome. Best of luck.Template:Z25 --NeilN ^{talk to me} 15:15, 19 December 2010 (UTC)

What you're asking for is a legal opinion (or at least an opinion on the rules governing how healthcare needs should be funded by your local Primary Care Trust). Unfortunately, Wikipedia does not offer legal opinions of any kind, and we can only suggest that you consult an expert or professional. The Patient Advice and Liaison Service is the communications channel between a PCT and its patients, so yours may be able to help you. In the UK, organisations like Age Concern also offer older people help and advice on matters including funding and state benefits, so they may be worth consulting. Good luck. Karenjc 19:45, 19 December 2010 (UTC)

Wikipedia default font size

I've noticed that the default font size is smaller on Wikipedia that many of the other web pages I look at, to the point that it is uncomfortable for me to read it. Can anyone explain where in Wikipedia or the Wikimedia software the font size is set? Does anyone know of a an explaination about how the size was chosen? Jc3s5h (talk) 15:56, 19 December 2010 (UTC)

Volunteer to Translate for Wikipedia (Spanish English)

I have just graduated with a Bachelors degree in Spanish Language plus concentrations in Latin American & Caribbean Studies and Women & Gender Studies. I will like to know how can I volunteer to translate articles from Spanish to English and vice versa.

Gracias,

Paula C. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Plcppabon (talk • contribs) 16:58, 19 December 2010 (UTC)

• Hola Paula. You can check the Spanish Wikipedia special page for articles without interwikis and begin translating them and reformatting them for the English Wikipedia. Diego Grez (EMSIUB) (talk) 17:14, 19 December 2010 (UTC)

(I fixed your link to Spanish Wikipedia). Check out this category: Category:Articles needing translation from Spanish Wikipedia for articles that need translation. – ukexpat (talk) 17:38, 19 December 2010 (UTC)

Help needed to fix a layout problem on my user page

The userboxes section on my page is a mess. Can someone please help make the boxes line up neatly. Thanks Roger (talk) 18:12, 19 December 2010 (UTC)

Done. For examples of other code and layouts you might use, see Wikipedia:Userboxes#Grouping userboxes. Cheers.--Fuhghettaboutit (talk) 18:19, 19 December 2010 (UTC)

Thanks! Now I'm going to mess up your work by adding more boxes - but first I will RTFM. :) Roger (talk) 18:21, 19 December 2010 (UTC)

first time article writer question

i looked through the questions on here and i didn't see anything that fit with my question... i'm think i'm having a problem adding a picture in information box thing for my article... when i put the link for the picture in the template and preview the article the picture is in the box but it has the link text and part of the caption on either side and underneath the picture in addition to the caption being in it's place under the picture... the extra text makes the box wider than it should be and the picture off center... it's my first article so i don't know if it's supposed to be like that while the draft is in my userspace and it changes when it's published or if i'm doing something wrong... i tried putting thumbnails in the article just to see if i'm doing something wrong but the thumbnails work fine when i link them... anyone know what i'm doing wrong or how to fix it... i'd appreciate the help--- Max bemis is pretty cool — Preceding unsigned comment added by Max bemis is pretty cool (talk • contribs) 21:09, 19 December 2010 (UTC)

I have fixed it with this edit. As you can see, with that particular infobox you don't need to link the file, just insert the file name. Thanks. —Half Price 21:27, 19 December 2010 (UTC)

Discussing a new article creation

I can't find anywhere where you can talk to somebody about the possibility of a new page being created without making one solely on your own. To use a specific example, I was surprised that there wasn't a page on Ray William Johnson, even though he is much more well known than many other people who have Wikipedia pages for no other reason than that they are famous on YouTube. Not only that, but his show, =3, doesn't have a page either. I would say that being the second most subscribed user, with millions of views,is "notable." In addition, he plays a major role in the "Doin' Your Mom" song, and has had articles written about him in multiple online news sources. I'm too new, as well as too bored to find references and stuff, to make my own article though, and in addition, it would probably get quickly deleted anyway, because some admin is like "lol not enough references this guys a troll!" thus making me look bad as well.

-The Airship Pirate (talk) 22:14, 19 December 2010 (UTC)

Please see the Wikipedia notability requirements at WP:BIO, WP:WEB and WP:RS. Corvus cornix_talk 22:16, 19 December 2010 (UTC)

My user page is screwed up!

Check it out, something is definetly wrong. I think it had something to do with messing around with my signature. SineBot starting posting on it, and then, there was some weird "Template loop" thing, it doubled everything and- can someone just take a look at it?

-Erich von Sturmovich, Airship Pirate (talk) —Preceding undated comment added 22:48, 19 December 2010 (UTC).

[Edit] Sorry, never mind, I fixed it.