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This is an old revision of this page, as edited by ComSpex (talk | contribs) at 15:22, 6 May 2006 (typo). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

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

    April 29

    Deleting From Discussion Pages

    If there's something on the discussion page that has been resolved should it be removed to make the page less congested or should it be left for posterity?

    Also, what would have been the appropriate way to search for this info without having to leave a message? I typed "help:discussion" and it just told me where was no such page. -Username132 (talk) 09:05, 29 April 2006 (UTC)[reply]

    In most cases it should probably be left there so that people interested can see how the article has grown and so that people won't bring up the same discussion again. If the page grows too large then it can be archived - see Wikipedia:How to archive a talk page.
    The help page you want in this case is probably Help:Talk page. If you need to find a help page the best way is probably to look through Help:Contents, and if you can't find it there then you're welcome to ask here again. --Cherry blossom tree 10:00, 29 April 2006 (UTC)[reply]

    Repetition Within Article

    In the intro to an article (before the contents box) it mentions a statistic (a "third" it says). Later on in the article, it repeats this ("30%" it says). Is it acceptable to repeat information between the intro and main body or should the repetition be removed? -Username132 (talk) 09:15, 29 April 2006 (UTC)[reply]

    Repetition is fine between the lead paragraph and the main article - the lead is meant to summarise the article after all. Repetition within the article should be avoided unless absolutely necessary. Havign said that, you should treat each case on its merits. If you think the article is better without the statistic in the lead then take it out. Hope this helps. --Cherry blossom tree 10:03, 29 April 2006 (UTC)[reply]

    Wikipedia Localisation

    Question regarding localisation of Wikipedia (I'm thinking about the Swahili edition in particular): how do you go about localising, for example, namespaces (Talk:, User:, etc)? What about code like [[Image:...]] or [[Category:..]]? — Matt Crypto 10:21, 29 April 2006 (UTC)[reply]

    Well, it seems that for certain Wikipedias (eg the Swahili ones) use English names for their namespaces, while others (eg the German one) use names in the local language. It seems to have been a preference of whoever set up the Wikipedia in that language. Is this what you were asking about? — QuantumEleven 07:59, 30 April 2006 (UTC)[reply]
    Sort of. I'm interested in changing them after they've been set up. Is this possible? — Matt Crypto 08:42, 30 April 2006 (UTC)[reply]
    • Seems to me like it's more trouble than it's worth. It would mean you have to change hundreds, if not thousands of links to old namespaces. Why change it if the editors are used to it already? - Mgm|(talk) 08:28, 1 May 2006 (UTC)[reply]
      • Well, we do want to minimise English on a Swahili-language project, and sw: editors have requested it. Imagine if here on en:, we used "Majadiliano ya mtumiaji" instead of "User talk": there'd be a lot of pressure to change it to English, right? Same thing. Indeed, most of the established Wikipedia editions have localised their namespaces. — Matt Crypto 06:56, 4 May 2006 (UTC)[reply]

    I Pity The Fool Who Reverts My Edits

    I just dewikified the Animal testing article to get rid of ridiculous cross references likes France, mice and 1979 etc (as per guidelines) and someone really rude came along an reverted it in one fell swoop. Could someone check out the two versions and suggest which edit is closer to wikipedia policy? I know animal testing is a controversial topic but I didn't not edit any of the actuall stuff it said, just removed some of the unnecessary wikification. -Username132 (talk) 10:52, 29 April 2006 (UTC)[reply]

    There are two competing policies about that, and I don't have an opinion about which version is closer to policy, but I will say that it is considered bad form (and maybe even against policy?) to revert a good faith edit without even an edit summary explaining the reason, as happens when using rollback, as it appears SlimVirgin did here. -lethe talk + 11:01, 29 April 2006 (UTC)[reply]
    It is also bad form to make such changes as Username132 did without a policy consensus to back him/her up. User:Zoe|(talk) 01:09, 30 April 2006 (UTC)[reply]
    Actually, I think this page backs me up; Only_make_links_that_are_relevant_to_the_context -Username132 (talk) 05:10, 30 April 2006 (UTC)[reply]
    That style guide is still under active discussion. Don't rely on it for proof of your side of the story. Ansell 05:59, 30 April 2006 (UTC)[reply]
    It's always a good idea to use edit summaries. -Will Beback 06:15, 30 April 2006 (UTC)[reply]
    Oh my god, this place is so confusing! Where do I go to voice my opinion that unless a link is likely to be followed then it doesn't belong there? --Username132 (talk) 09:56, 30 April 2006 (UTC)[reply]
    An unrelated comment:I suggest that you refrain from using the Subject headlines like you did in this section. Its very bad to write the topic of discussion as "I Pity The Fool Who Reverts My Edits". -Ambuj Saxena (talk) 10:46, 30 April 2006 (UTC)[reply]
    As always, if you find you make a change, then it is reverted, the place to go is the talk page of the article. You propose the change, and if there is a consensus, you make the change. If there is no discussion, then after a while make the change anyway and say in your edit summary that this is following lack of response to your proposal.. Don't overlook the edit summary point: if you make changes like this without an edit summary describing what you did and why, they are much more likely to be removed. Notinasnaid 10:54, 30 April 2006 (UTC)[reply]
    And re the subject of this post: humorous as it is, you are violating not one but two Wikipedia guidelines, just like that: Wikipedia:Assume good faith and Wikipedia:Civility. Notinasnaid 10:57, 30 April 2006 (UTC)[reply]
    • By the way, I would think that mice is a relevant link for an article on animal testing and if 1979 is a particularly relevant year (like the first animal test, it should probably stay as well. I would indeed agree that it isn't particularly necessary to link France. I agree with the above. Go to the talk page. - Mgm|(talk) 08:32, 1 May 2006 (UTC)[reply]

    Not that this has anything to do with this, but it's "I pity the foo", no l :)

    Question

    hi there,


    Truro (ship) From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

    Jump to: navigation, search

    The Truro was the ship (from Madras) containing the first batch of 342 indentured Indian labourers to arrive in Durban on 16 November 1860. (One sentense from your site)


    Is any chance to get the name of the people board from Madras. I am looking for my great grant parent name and history from last one year. I am sure he board on this ship from Madras to Durban.

    It will be great if you can any more details regarding this matter.

    Nijeesh —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 213.42.2.22 (talkcontribs) 11:50, 29 April 2006 (UTC)

    Have you tried the Humanities section of Wikipedia's Reference Desk? They specialize in answering knowledge questions there. For your convenience, here's the link to post a question there: click here. I hope this helps. -- Tangotango 11:55, 29 April 2006 (UTC)[reply]

    What does __NOTOC__ do?

    I've seen __NOTOC__ in some editing environments, but I can't seem to find out what it does. Can anyone clue me in? Thanks! --AaronLS2 14:46, 29 April 2006 (UTC)[reply]

    It makes the TOC (table of contents) not appear. -- Meni Rosenfeld (talk) 14:58, 29 April 2006 (UTC)[reply]
    Ah-ha! Makes sense. Thanks a lot! -- AaronLS2 15:00, 29 April 2006 (UTC)[reply]
    See Help:Section for more info. — QuantumEleven 07:53, 30 April 2006 (UTC)[reply]

    Linking to a category page

    Another (hopefully easy) question: how should one go about linking to a category page itself without the software mis-interpreting the code to be a request to list the page in that category. That is, if I want to link to Category:Academia without actually putting the page I'm editing into that category is there a way to do it directly (with double brackets), or do I need to resort to [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Academia]? Thanks. -- AaronLS2 16:28, 29 April 2006 (UTC)[reply]

    Use two dots before the link, like this: [[:Category:Academia]], which turns out as Category:Academia. Fetofs Hello! 16:31, 29 April 2006 (UTC)[reply]

    Revision of cleanup

    On Celebrity Fit Club an editor keeps readding information that was removed during a cleanup. I've tried politely asking him to refrain from doing so, but he keeps doing it. The article was full of fancruft, and had a cleanup notice on it. What do I do? Ckessler 16:45, 29 April 2006 (UTC)[reply]

    If it's Whittydw you mean, his or her edits are a massive copyvio--see here. · rodii · 17:37, 29 April 2006 (UTC)[reply]

    Moving over an existing redirect

    I have tried to move Unit disc to Unit disk. The latter is currently a redirect to the former, however, it has an edit history, so the move is rejected by the program. How do I go about making the move? Specifically, which procedure should I use to delete Unit disk? -- Meni Rosenfeld (talk) 18:52, 29 April 2006 (UTC)[reply]

    If you're an admin you can delete it under WP:CSD G6. If not you can either list it on requested moves, where an admin will (at some point) get around for it or you could try listing it for speedy deletion using {{db-reason}} to explain what you're trying to do. I'm not sure if the latter would work - I've never tried it.--Cherry blossom tree 19:12, 29 April 2006 (UTC)[reply]

    Right. I didn't realize G6 applies here. Thanks! -- Meni Rosenfeld (talk) 19:26, 29 April 2006 (UTC)[reply]

    Dates with c. before the year

    What does the C before a year stand for? I have seen numerous entries like this. Example: Yaa Asantewaa (c. 1840-1921) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yaa_Asantewaa

    circa, maybe? (I really don't know) Fetofs Hello! 19:52, 29 April 2006 (UTC)[reply]
    Yes, circa (meaning "about"). It's used when the actual date is not precisely known. -- Rick Block (talk) 19:54, 29 April 2006 (UTC)[reply]
    If it's a full year then it means circa (ie c. 1086 = roughly 1086.) It can also be a shorthand for 'century' as in C10th and variations on that. --Cherry blossom tree 19:55, 29 April 2006 (UTC)[reply]

    Merging categories

    I think that it might make sense to merge these two categories: Category:Corporal punishments to Category:Torture. They seem to contain mostly similar articles: torturing devices and methods. I don't know how to mark these for merging, and I don't want to do it myself either as I'm not really sure they should be merged (there might be some distinction between the two I don't see). Please help. – b_jonas 19:44, 29 April 2006 (UTC)[reply]

    To list a category for merging use {{cfm}} and Wikipedia:Categories for deletion. I personally don't think these two categories should be merged, though they will likely contain a lot of the same entries. Torture and corporal punishment are two distinct concepts. --Cherry blossom tree 19:59, 29 April 2006 (UTC)[reply]
    Thanks for the quick reply. I don't mean to imply that Torture and Corporal punishment as concepts would be the same (so the articles must surely be kept separate), only that I didn't see much difference in the articles that are currently included in these categories. I think I'll examine the two category lists some more, and decide only after that. – b_jonas 20:41, 29 April 2006 (UTC)[reply]

    Can I create a list of Favorites?

    Is it possible to bookmark my favorite articles within Wikipedia (as opposed to bookmarking them in my browser) that way I can log on from other computers and still have quick access to them? Is that what the "watch" feature is or does watching just track changes to articles?

    If a favorites feature doesn't exist, can you please create one? Thanks.--Jmion 22:39, 29 April 2006 (UTC)[reply]

    Well, Special:Watchlist is used to monitor changes to pages only. However, a side effect of Special:Watchlist/edit is that you can use it as a list of favorite articles, if you don't mind seeing edits to them every once in a while.
    Making new features is actually quite hard; there's few developers and many feature requests, some of them staying open for several years. Titoxd(?!? - help us) 22:41, 29 April 2006 (UTC)[reply]
    Just list them on your user page. And better yet, once you've done that you can go to that page and hit the "related changes" link, and it'll show you the last change made by someone to each of those favourites. Some people user that as a topic-specific watchlist, for example. -- Finlay McWalter | Talk 22:42, 29 April 2006 (UTC)[reply]
    The watchlist works fine as a favorites list (it is used for tracking changes but you can use it as a list of links to your favorite pages), so I don't think a separate favorites feature needs to be created. SCHZMO 23:47, 29 April 2006 (UTC)[reply]
    I do this by visiting my watchlist, then clicking on the link saying I can "view or edit the complete list." --Ginkgo100 02:29, 30 April 2006 (UTC)[reply]

    Lowrey Organ

    lowrey is a principle manaufacturer of fine organs in America. (musical instruments. They have a line of instruments in the $2,000 to $70,000 range. Would it be appropriate to me to develop an article on the organs, give some history, and tell about their many features.

    I am not a muscian, but have owned several of these fine instruments. I have no financial interest whatever with Lowrey

    QUESTION?? Should I start an article? Thanks Alison

    Sure. You might take a look at the articles in Category:Electronic organ builders or Steinway & Sons for comparison. -- Rick Block (talk) 23:34, 29 April 2006 (UTC)[reply]
    Most good articles start - heck, are supposed to start - in this way. We're fighting a flood of commercially-driven articles here, it's nice whenever someone starts an article just because they're interested in the article subject! If you need any help with your article, don't be afraid to ask. Thanks for editing! — Estarriol talk 14:09, 30 April 2006 (UTC)[reply]

    April 30

    How do I delete a page created by mistake?

    I am the author of the page that needs to be deleted. How do I do it?

    Place the code {{db-author}} somewhere on your page. Fetofs Hello! 00:48, 30 April 2006 (UTC)[reply]

    Paradiplomacy

    Dear Sirs, I have written a new article for you under the title "paradiplomacy". It appears that it was saved twice, for in the list of "Articles to be created Today" it comes under number 151 and 153. I intend to further develop this subject, but I don't know how to delete one of the entries. --Jvlessa 03:23, 30 April 2006 (UTC)[reply]

    I removed the duplicate copy for you. In any case, it would be unlikely for it to have caused a problem, since anyone trying to create the article after it was already created would come across it in the process of editing. MCB 03:57, 30 April 2006 (UTC)[reply]

    how to

    How do you start a page? thank you

    See Wikipedia:Your first article. Dismas|(talk) 05:02, 30 April 2006 (UTC)[reply]

    How to

    How do you put a photo on a portal or web page ?

    See Wikipedia:Images for the details of image use on Wikipedia. Please note that you must be logged in to be able to upload files. Also, please be mindful of our image use policy. --Hetar 06:44, 30 April 2006 (UTC)[reply]

    Templates

    How can I turn this: <div style="float: left; border:solid red 1px; margin: 1px;"> {| cellspacing="0" style="width: 238px; background: red;" | style="width: 45px; height: 45px; background: white; text-align: center; font-size: {{{5|{{{id-s|14}}}}}}pt; color: {{{id-fc|blue}}};" | '''[[Image:Flag of Switzerland.svg|40px]]''' | style="font-size: {{{info-s|8}}}pt; padding: 4pt; line-height: 1.25em; color: {{{info-fc|white}}};" | This user wouold like to wish you Happy Swiss National day! |}</div>


    Into this?: {{user Swiss National Day}} (As a userbox)

    JP 09:07, 30 April 2006 (UTC)[reply]

    Just go to Template:User Swiss National Day and type the text there. Then you will be able to use the template. SCHZMO 11:02, 30 April 2006 (UTC)[reply]

    My Page {help me}

    I'm new to Wikipedia and i'm trying to set up "My page" I have completed the "new account" details with user name and password etc. even set up "My Preferences" and saved as required. I go to my page and indicates to me it cannot find my User name, yet it appears i'm logged in...? a little confused...?

    To set up your user page go to User:Pottsy65 and create it. Wikipedia will not find it until it has been created. Please also be aware that Wikipedia is a project to create an encyclopaedia and that your user page should be used to further this goal. --Cherry blossom tree 15:05, 30 April 2006 (UTC)[reply]
    See Wikipedia:User page for more information. Most people use their userpages to state their areas of interest and expertise (including languages, human and computer), describe their contributions and provide some basic biographical data. --Sam Blanning(talk) 00:20, 1 May 2006 (UTC)[reply]

    My signature

    How do I change the font colors in my signature?
    (Please respond on my talk page.) / / <font color="blue">Brenden</font color><font color="red">h</font color><font color="blue">ull</font color> | 20:33, 30 April 2006 (UTC)[reply]

    See how bad it is?
    


    I think you wanted this: Brendenhull. If you're using the preferences function, be sure to mark the "raw signature" box or HTMl won't display properly. Fetofs Hello! 22:05, 30 April 2006 (UTC)[reply]

    pictures

    How do you insert pictures in articles? Later!!! --64.12.116.11 22:09, 30 April 2006 (UTC)[reply]

    If I may quote from Wikipedia:Help_desk#How_to_insert_an_image?:
    WP:PIC has a good tutorial, while WP:IMG has the full syntax. But briefly, the syntax you're most likely to want to use would be [[Image:Picture.jpg|thumb|Caption goes here]], which puts the image (Picture.jpg) in a thumbnail and adds a caption. To make the picture bigger or smaller than the default thumbnail size, use [[Image:Picture.jpg|thumb|250px|Caption goes here]] - the 250px is the size parameter. --Sam Blanning(talk) 18:31, 23 April 2006 (UTC)[reply]
    I think you will need to sign up for an account, though. --Cherry blossom tree 22:22, 30 April 2006 (UTC)[reply]

    May 1

    entering adult site

    why am i not able to click "enter" tolog on?

    As you haven't even told us which site you're talking about, it's a bit difficult to answer your question. I would suggest asking the webmaster of the site, not us. Also, this question should really be asked at the mathematics reference desk (which also deals with computer questions), as this page is for questions about using Wikipedia. --Sam Blanning(talk) 01:25, 1 May 2006 (UTC)[reply]

    Disambiguation pages

    I wanted to look up "black and tans" (as definited here: http://www.jazzinamerica.org/l_glossary.asp) but there's no article for it yet and it's not mentioned on the disambiguation page which refers to the beer, army, and ice cream flavor. I read Wiki entries, I don't edit them so I don't know how to remedy this. I was just wondering how to get it on there or if someone else would like to do it.

    If you prefer not to edit Wikipedia but have an idea for an article, please read the requested articles page, which explains how you can post a request for the creation of an article. However, looking at the link you posted, I think that a the definition of a slang term is probably not right for Wikipedia (this is an encyclopedia, not a dictionary). You might want to add it (or ask for it to be added) to the Wiktionary entry for "Black and Tan". Cheers, MCB 05:42, 1 May 2006 (UTC)[reply]

    Regarding relevence of articles.

    My question is regarding how well known a person must be to have an article posted about them. Is there a specific line one must cross in order to be mentioned on Wiki?

    That is all, thank you very much! 142.161.227.50 03:02, 1 May 2006 (UTC)[reply]

    Table Fix Needed

    Can someone fix this table for me? I need the blue space between the top image and the second image deleted.

    {{{station_name}}}
    File:Crail logo.png
    All railway lines

    The overwritten text on the top picture with the train on this box is in the right place, but I need to get rid of that extra space so the table isn't so big. This is for an experiment on an existing table - but I need to get the programming right first and I'm no good with HTML. Thanks!

    (JROBBO 09:11, 1 May 2006 (UTC))[reply]

    Hi. Simply changing the span to a div and increasing the margin-bottom seemed to fix the problem. Please see User:Tangotango/Sandbox2. (By the way, I've truncated your table on this page so it doesn't take up too much space - I hope you don't mind.) Cheers, Tangotango 09:37, 1 May 2006 (UTC)[reply]
    Just a comment: That's an awfully big element. It seems really out of scale, especially for the amount of information it includes. Does it really need to be so big? · rodii · 12:09, 1 May 2006 (UTC)[reply]
    Sorry, that should read "increasing decreasing the margin-bottom", since it's a negative value. The bit I'm talking about is
    <span style="position: relative; ... padding:3px; margin-bottom:-14pt;">'''{{{station_name}}}'''</span>
    Tangotango 09:43, 1 May 2006 (UTC)[reply]

    Reinstating VFD articles

    If an article is deleted using VFD votes, is it possible to reinstate it? This is assuming that the article was deleted based on notability concerns that can now be fulfilled. Is there some sort of history that I can go into to find the original article? Thank you,--Lwieise -=- Talk to Me 09:19, 1 May 2006 (UTC)[reply]

    Yes, please see Wikipedia:Deletion review. Cheers, Tangotango 09:22, 1 May 2006 (UTC)[reply]
    The fact that you call it VfD makes me think the discussion happened a while ago. If the deletion isn't recent, it might be a better course to just recreate the page with the new information, then put a rationale for recreation on the talk page. Be bold. · rodii · 12:12, 1 May 2006 (UTC)[reply]
    Oops, looks like the whole discussion came and went! Never mind. :) · rodii · 12:19, 1 May 2006 (UTC)[reply]

    Referencing

    Do you need to list a website in the reference section of an article? (How do you do it?)--65.205.179.130 11:43, 1 May 2006 (UTC)[reply]

    In theory all information in Wikipedia needs to be verifiable, so sources should always be cited.
    Thanks!--65.205.179.130 19:14, 1 May 2006 (UTC)[reply]

    How do I completely delete an entry initiated by me?

    I started the Page 'John Giblin', but have had nothing but criticism since the beginning. I want to delete John giblin from Wikipedia as I no longer have the patience to keep updating it. thank you

    Just walk away from it. You don't have to maintain it. Once you create an article, it's no longer "yours," and in this case lots of other people have edited it, so any "ownership" you might have is long gone. I'm not sure what kind of criticism you mean--I don't see it on the talk page--but it should be criticism of the article, not you. Your last several edits seem to consists of taking the External Links header out, removing the stub template, and then finally blanking the page. Does the presence of a stub template feel like criticism to you? It's not--it's just an indication that it's a valid article that needs fleshing out.
    So if you're fed up, you may be taking it too personally. What you have done, in blanking the article, is no good, and Giblin does seem to be a notable artist who deserves an article, so the thing to do is to improve the article, not delete it. But this doesn't have to be done by you--there are lots of others who could help. So...sorry you feel burned by this experience--just take a vacation from the article and see what happens, is my advice. · rodii · 12:53, 1 May 2006 (UTC)[reply]
    Indeed - it's a useful article. I've reverted the blanking, if you no longer wish to edit it, you need do no more. Please consider Rodii's suggestion of taking a break from it for a while and see how you feel. — Estarriol talk 13:00, 1 May 2006 (UTC)[reply]
    I can't see any criticism of this article, just a normal editorial process. I added a little bit of meat to it using Wikipedia's "What links here" facility. Notinasnaid 13:10, 1 May 2006 (UTC)[reply]

    Pictures on Wikipedia

    Hi - I'd like to download an image from the Wikipedia Commons section for use in marketing materials. The image is a picture of Joseph Walker Barr. I assume there are copyright/rights-managed laws involved. Please let me know if it is possible to use a picture from your website, either for free, or at a cost.

    Thank you, Courtney Bosch

    All images from the Wikipedia Commons are licensed with a free license. It probably says in the image page what is the licence, so you might try looking there. Fetofs Hello! 15:18, 1 May 2006 (UTC)[reply]
    There is a link at the picture that identifies it as being a US govt. publication, so it is in the public domain. Carptrash 15:59, 1 May 2006 (UTC)[reply]

    Medical

    Question where does urethral sounds come from?

    Have you tried the Science section of Wikipedia's Reference Desk? They specialize in answering knowledge questions there. For your convenience, here's the link to post a question there: click here. I hope this helps. -- Meni Rosenfeld (talk) 17:36, 1 May 2006 (UTC)[reply]

    Article Size

    I often see comments on an article's size (saying it is X KB). How do people find this size... do they just copy the edit-page code into notepad and see? Or is there a more obvious better way of checking the size right here on wikipedia? Tyro 22:14, 1 May 2006 (UTC)[reply]

    Enter the title and click search (not go). -- Rick Block (talk) 22:17, 1 May 2006 (UTC)[reply]
    This is also one of the many useful things you can do with Popups - if you mouseover a link it will tell you the size of the article. --Cherry blossom tree 23:29, 1 May 2006 (UTC)[reply]

    May 2

    Millionth Article Pool

    What happened to the millionth article pool and will there be one for the two millionth?

    1. One million pool (CLOSED)
    2. Two million pool (CLOSED)
    3. Five million pool (OPEN)
    4. Ten million pool (OPEN)
    5. Hundred million pool (OPEN)
    6. Billion pool (OPEN)
    7. Eleventy billion pool (OPEN)
    8. Trillion pool (OPEN)
    HTH. -lethe talk + 02:03, 2 May 2006 (UTC)[reply]
    Thank you. But wasn't there a pool to guess what the actual millionth article would be about?
    1. Millionth topic pool (CLOSED)
    2. Two-millionth topic pool
    3. Wikipedia:Last topic pool
    Enjoy. -lethe talk + 03:28, 2 May 2006 (UTC)[reply]

    Creating a redirect

    Hi - I just created an entry and have run into a few issues.

    1. My entry is for a protein that goes under a few names and is called different things tin other entries. How do I set thinks up so that all possible names link to the same entry e.g the protein is called the H+/K+ ATPase or the hydrogen potassium ATPase or the hydrogen potassium adenosine triphosphatase etc. I'd like to have it so that all of these synonyms link to my one entry. The netry I want to use is "hydrogen potassium ATPase". I realise I can do it by adding "hydrogen potassium ATPase|" to each link in each page that mentions my protein. Is this the only or best way of doing this?

    2. In my confusion over this issue I have created two entries, one called H+/K+ ATPase and the other hydrogen potassium ATPase. I don't think we want two. How do we delete one of them.

    Thanks Ianvandriel 03:08, 2 May 2006 (UTC)[reply]

    No problem. Pick one title that you want to keep as the main name for the article, and turn the other article into a redirect. (Follow that link for instructions.) You can create redirects at other synonyms for the protein, too—that way, all of the names will point to the same article. TenOfAllTrades(talk) 03:18, 2 May 2006 (UTC)[reply]

    Viewing the coding for a class

    Hi there. How does one view the source coding for a class, specifically, class="wikitable"? Is that a CSS file? --AaronLS2 03:38, 2 May 2006 (UTC)[reply]

    How do I find out what happened to an article?

    The article for Storm Thorgerson just came up on my watchlist as having been edited. No big deal but according to the watchlist it was a new article. I guess what must have happened is that an old Storm Thorgerson article got deleted somehow, after I put it on my watchlist. Then someone, seeing the red link, created a new article which then came up on my watchlist as a new article. So, how do I find out what happened to the old Storm Thorgerson article? Dismas|(talk) 05:38, 2 May 2006 (UTC)[reply]

    Check the deletion log at Special:Log/delete. --Hetar 05:42, 2 May 2006 (UTC)[reply]
    It was deleted as a copyright violation of http://www.takenbystorm.us/bio.php. Titoxd(?!? - help us) 07:13, 2 May 2006 (UTC)[reply]
    Thanks! Dismas|(talk) 12:37, 2 May 2006 (UTC)[reply]

    Is there a way to make two tables appear side-by-side with a definable gap between them?

    For instance:

    /Here is a cell/Here is a cell/Here is a cell/ <---------gap--------> /Here is a cell on table two/Here is a cell on table two/

    /Here is a cell/Here is a cell/Here is a cell/ <---------gap--------> /Here is a cell on table two/Here is a cell on table two/

    /Here is a cell/Here is a cell/Here is a cell/ <---------gap--------> /Here is a cell on table two/Here is a cell on table two/

    Thank you -- Zytron 07:08, 2 May 2006 (UTC)[reply]

    Yes, one way is to use 2 nested tables inside an (invisible) layout table. See the following example.
    NESTED
    TABLE
     
    NESTED
    TABLE 2
    Another possibility (if they are of equal size) would be to use an "invisible" empty row within a single table. I'll let you work that one out (with help from Help:Table), since I think you most likely want the solution I've posted above. — Estarriol talk 08:52, 2 May 2006 (UTC)[reply]

    Pictures

    How do you reduce the size of a picture?

    The size parameter is the number with 'px' in front of it. E.g. if the picture code is [[Image:Picture.jpg|thumb|200px]], to reduce the size change '200px' to '150px' or similar. --Sam Blanning(talk) 08:56, 2 May 2006 (UTC)[reply]
    Also see Wikipedia:Picture tutorial for various options. — Estarriol talk 09:03, 2 May 2006 (UTC)[reply]

    How do I get to know how many people read an article--(Opus Dei)?

    Hello to fellow Wikipedians! I've been helping edit the Opus Dei article. Is there a way of knowing how many people view the article? Maraming salamat po (that's thank you in Tagalog)! Cabanes 09:31, 2 May 2006 (UTC)[reply]

    As far as I'm aware, there is a feature that can count how many people viewed a certain article. But I've also read that it puts a major strain on the server load and that it's disabled. I'm not fully sure of this and I might be completely wrong. Harryboyles 11:17, 2 May 2006 (UTC)[reply]

    You're actually completely right. Dismas|(talk) 12:38, 2 May 2006 (UTC)[reply]
    Maraming salamat po!! Cabanes 04:02, 3 May 2006 (UTC)[reply]

    Copyrighted material

    I was wodering, if contributers are restricted from using copyrighted material, how do so many movies, television series and computer games end up on Wikipedia?

    Nobody is restricted from writing about things that are copyrighted, so long as they do not copy. There is some rather suspect use of images, however. Notinasnaid 10:40, 2 May 2006 (UTC)[reply]

    home buisiness for ladies

    is there any ngo that can help ladies home business in lahore

    Have you tried Wikipedia's Reference Desk? They specialize in knowledge questions, and will try to answer any question in the universe (except how to use Wikipedia, since that's what this Help Desk is for). For your convenience, here's the link: Reference Desk (when you get there, just select the relevant section, and ask away). I hope this helps. --Sam Blanning(talk) 11:13, 2 May 2006 (UTC)[reply]

    User Name Change?

    Hello,

    I was wondering if I could make one small change to my user name? I used my name, but I didn't put a space between my first and last name. I'd like to add a space so that I can create a user page. I looked through the account options but did not see any place to do this. If this cannot be done, I'd like to delete this account and remake it with the space included. Thank you for your time in this small matter.


    --ScottAlbanese 11:05, 2 May 2006 (UTC)Scott Albanese[reply]

    As your only contribution is to this help desk, I would simply create a new account. There is a page for requesting username changes, but at the moment they would just tell you to create a new account. But your name shouldn't affect whether you can create a userpage or not. Yours is right here - User:ScottAlbanese (the same page linked to from your sig and where it says your name at the top of every page). Just go there, type something into the edit box and hit 'save page'. --Sam Blanning(talk) 11:12, 2 May 2006 (UTC)[reply]

    Citing magazine articles

    Is there any template to cite a magazine article in the 'References' section of an article? If there isn't, how would I go about doing this?--Le Grey Intellectual 11:16, 2 May 2006 (UTC)[reply]

    Wikipedia:Citing sources shows you how to do it. -- Natalya 11:29, 2 May 2006 (UTC)[reply]

    Film analysis

    Take a look at Reality Bites and S.F.W.. Are the analysis sections okay? They seem rather POV to me since they aren't sourced. Dismas|(talk) 12:43, 2 May 2006 (UTC)[reply]

    POV, poorly written, overwikied, unsourced, you name it. Wikipedia is not a vehicle for mental doodlings. Be bold. · rodii · 13:15, 2 May 2006 (UTC)[reply]
    Thanks. Dismas|(talk) 19:41, 2 May 2006 (UTC)[reply]

    Article 1,111,111

    I notice we must have reached this milestone recently... Time to stand on one leg, perhaps (see David Shepherd). Does anybody know which article it was? I might go and put a commemoration plaque there. — SteveRwanda 13:45, 2 May 2006 (UTC)[reply]

    Viewing the coding for a class

    Hi, I didn't get an answer to this question when I asked it earlier - let me know if it's not clear, or if there's a better place to ask it. How does one view the source coding for a class, specifically, class="wikitable"? Is that a CSS file? --AaronLS2 13:58, 2 May 2006 (UTC)[reply]

    Probably. Fetofs Hello! 14:51, 2 May 2006 (UTC)[reply]
    It's pretty clear, but it might take more than 10 hours. Notinasnaid 15:25, 2 May 2006 (UTC)[reply]
    Why? Fetofs Hello! 21:50, 2 May 2006 (UTC)[reply]

    Same Name?

    I was looking for Mickey Thomas, a well known former footballer but there is already a different Mickey Thomas entry (a musician).

    Is it possible to list two people with the same name?

    If so, how would I go about it? --Wayneamlwch 16:09, 2 May 2006 (UTC)[reply]

    Sure, you would probably want to create the new article under the name Mickey Thomas (football). Just click on that red lilnk to start the article. Please remember WP:MOS and good luck! --Hetar 16:18, 2 May 2006 (UTC)[reply]

    Fonts

    Since I formatted, I've had an issue everytime I visit the site in Mozilla. It pops up 3 windows asking for fonts to be installed, I've tried looking in various places and can't seem to get these fonts installed (one is a chinese one, one is korean, and I forget the other, maybe japanese). Can anyone provide some info on what I need to change/install and where to stop this from happening? —The preceding unsigned comment was added by Crossmr (talkcontribs) 16:28, 2 May 2006 (UTC)

    In Windows XP at least (please specify your operating system), you need to install these extra fonts (like Japanese etc) in the Control Panel > Regional and languages settings > Language > Supp. Lang Support. Perhaps if you do that the pop ups will no longer occur.--Commander Keane 16:37, 2 May 2006 (UTC)[reply]

    Can a new article be created for a term already in Wiki?

    This is especially important for me, as I'm attempting to write scientific entries, and there are commonly terms used in science that are used differently in other contexts. For two specific examples, I am revising various articles related to bees; two technical terms that apply to bees are "caste" (referring to phenotypic variants within social species), and "scopa" (an anatomical feature used for carrying pollen). Both of these terms already have Wikipedia entries which are completely unrelated to their scientific definitions - the former as a human cultural phenomenon, the latter as an Italian card game. Surely there must be a way to distinguish articles sharing the same term? Assuming there is such a way, is there a way that "priority" is established, relative to the results of user searches? —The preceding unsigned comment was added by Dyanega (talkcontribs) 16:40, 2 May 2006 (UTC)

    Usually what will happen is to create a new article with a different definition, a creator will add something to the end, such as (book), (chemistry), (band), etc. Your definition seems more correct than the current ones, so you might move (or get someone to move) the existing articles to Caste (sociology), and Scopa (game), then create your articles as normal. Tokakeke 16:46, 2 May 2006 (UTC)[reply]
    Dyanega, Wikipedia has a thorough Disambiguation system to care for these matters. If two terms are of equal notability, create a disambiguation page at the original article's location and move the two to new names using the parentheses approach. If, on the other hand, one is more well known than the other (as I think Caste is - more people probably know about the term used in sociology) you can create a new disambiguation page at a new location (at Caste (disambiguation), for example) and link to it from both disambiguated articles using the {{otheruses}} template. (This approach is taken in the Bee article). -- Tangotango 16:56, 2 May 2006 (UTC)[reply]

    How can I add specific user capabilities to my personal page?

    I have seen other users' pages with icons showing their capabilities in language, special interests and positions in social disputes. I have searched but to no avail. Thank you. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by Paffka (talkcontribs) .

    Wikipedia:Babel contains the language userboxes and Wikipedia:Userboxes contains everything else, as well as instructions on how to use them. --Sam Blanning(talk) 20:08, 2 May 2006 (UTC)[reply]

    How do I include an image from another language Wikipedia?

    I'm trying to translate bg:Читалище into English (as Requested in Wikipedia:Translation into English/Bulgarian). I started my translation at: Chitalishte, but I didn't know how to include the image from the Bulgarian page. Do I need to copy the image into another location? Or can I directly include the image? I'm new at this, so please hold my hand a little. Thanks. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by Dale Gerdemann (talkcontribs) .

    If the image has been uploaded to the Wikimedia Commons, it will appear on all Wikipedias. If not, it will have to be uploaded either there or to the English Wikipedia. The best way to find out is simply to try including the image, hit preview and see if it appears. It isn't from Commons, so as it's under a free licence, it should really be uploaded to the Commons, obviously preserving the source and copyright information. --Sam Blanning(talk) 20:21, 2 May 2006 (UTC)[reply]
    I uploaded the picture in en: as I don't have an account in commons. I also haven't added the license info. GL with the article on chitalishte - that is too important not to have a serious article --Cryout 07:22, 3 May 2006 (UTC)[reply]

    Water Penetration

    Would Wikipedia or Wikipedia readers be interested in a product that would reduce the surface tension of water to alow water to penetrate the soil faster and reduce evaporation and run off. If so call me at (<telephone number removed>or Email at <e-mail removed>. Thank You for your time. Carl Dewert

    This page is for asking questions on how to use Wikipedia. Please post in one of the Reference desk sections if you want to ask questions unrelated to Wikipedia. However, if you are only trying to advertise, please do not use Wikipedia as an advertising tool. Thank you. SCHZMO 21:40, 2 May 2006 (UTC)[reply]
    We're sorry, no one is available to take your call at this time. Your call is important to us! Please hold the line, and you will be answered by the first available operator. Thank you, and have a nice day! · rodii · 21:43, 2 May 2006 (UTC)[reply]
    This type of advert question, the text of which is just so much verbiage in order to get the now removed email and telephone number out there, is just as inappropriate at the reference desk as it is here.--Fuhghettaboutit 22:05, 2 May 2006 (UTC)[reply]

    holsted.

    where does the name holsted come from? what country of origin did the name holsted originate ? —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 162.40.172.76 (talkcontribs) .

    This page is for asking questions on how to use Wikipedia. Please post at Wikipedia:Reference desk/Miscellaneous if you want to ask a question regarding names. I hope this helps. SCHZMO 21:47, 2 May 2006 (UTC)[reply]

    Cover art as fair use

    The morphing talk page requests an image. Would cover art from the Animorphs series be fair use to illustrate this, or is the cover art only applicable on articles directly dealing with that series? Thanks,--Lkjhgfdsa 22:09, 2 May 2006 (UTC)[reply]

    For fair use to apply there must be critical commentary, so I can't see how the Animorph image would qualify. An image from a film demonstrating a morph would qualify as fair use. --Cherry blossom tree 22:14, 2 May 2006 (UTC)[reply]
    • I don't see how rules for films would be any different than from books. Book covers and film screenshots can only be used to illustrate articles about the book, film or persons in it IIRC. Why not ask a tech-savvy Wikipedian to make a morphing animation? - Mgm|(talk) 08:43, 3 May 2006 (UTC)[reply]

    Userbox alignment

    Might be a stupid question but I decicded to ask anyway. How do I get my userboxes to align in a nice neat set of columns? As you can see its kinda off right now. Thanks! --Awesome Username 22:29, 2 May 2006 (UTC)[reply]

    whoever did that for me thanks! --Awesome Username 22:37, 2 May 2006 (UTC)[reply]

    (after two edit conflicts) I lined them up all in the right for you, which is one way of doing it. There are more stylish ways, Wikipedia:Userboxes has one under 'Grouping userboxes'.
    If you want them in sets of columns, that just needs a fairly simple change to the table syntax. See Help:Table, which has a good tutorial on how table code works. --Sam Blanning(talk) 22:42, 2 May 2006 (UTC)[reply]
    Alternatively, you can code a table in HTML, as I did on my user page. For more info on using tables in Wikipedia, see Wikipedia:How to use tables. SCHZMO 22:41, 2 May 2006 (UTC)[reply]

    jump from one language page to the next and keeping account name

    i would like to know if it is necessary for me to create an account for the other wiki-portals that are in other languages. i have one already set up through in english. but if i were to jump to a page in spanish or portugues is there a way that my username would follow. thanks in advance, 5razones

    Right now, yes. However, there's plans to change this; see Single user login. Titoxd(?!? - help us) 22:51, 2 May 2006 (UTC)[reply]

    Author

    How do you find out who the author is of a article? —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 69.181.83.224 (talkcontribs) .

    Please see Wikipedia:Who writes Wikipedia for more information on this. In short, you may click on the "history" tab above any article to see a list of contributors who have edited the article. Flcelloguy (A note?) 23:33, 2 May 2006 (UTC)[reply]
    If you mean the person who started the article, just click the "earliest" link in the top left of the history page and the first version is at the bottom. SCHZMO 23:38, 2 May 2006 (UTC)[reply]
    And, if you're looking for a citation, click "cite this article" in the toolbox on the left. -- Rick Block (talk) 23:54, 2 May 2006 (UTC)[reply]

    May 3

    old article, new category

    Is it appropriate to append an article that focuses on a single aspect of a concept (such as the concept's mathematics), with a remote aspect (such as the concept's history, psychological or cultural impact, etc...)? Or would it be better/possible to create a new entry?

    I'm having trouble grasping exactly what you're asking--I think it's "append" that's throwing me off, and maybe "category". Maybe an example would help. Do you mean adding material to an existing article that focuses on one specific aspect of it? I would say yes, as long as the new material is noteworthy enough to be useful (and all the other requirements are met--neutral point of view, relaiable sources, and so on). The problem comes if the new material is so detailed that it unbalances or overwhelms the original article, or where the relevance is unclear to readers. So maybe I'm back to "give us an example." · rodii · 03:05, 3 May 2006 (UTC)[reply]

    Heh... that kind of answers it. Example: spiral. The entry is all about the mathematics of the spiral. However, the significance of the spiral as a historic, mythological, and cultural symbol is also of interrest. Should that be a sub-category of the original article or an "other use" (disambiguation)? Thanks!

    OK, good example. I would say just add a section called "Cultural aspects" or something. Clearly distinguish the mathematical from the non-mathematical sections, at any rate. If the article ever grows unwieldy, it can be split. But for now, good verifiable facts (i.e., not a personal essay or vague symbolic musings) about the cultural significance of spirals would be a good thing to have. I'm surprised it's not already there, in fact. · rodii · 03:09, 4 May 2006 (UTC)[reply]

    What Constitutes Vanity?

    Hello everyone! I'm a long-time user, brand new contributor. (...still grappling with how to get my user:talk page created.)

    (The following query references the deletion policies at Wikipedia. Before I make a formal request at Wikipedia:Deletion_review, it is important that I am fully informed of the typical practices here... hope this is alright.)

    Yesterday I created an article based on a community website that has been active since 2002. I am a member of the community, but it was created far before I ever set my browser to it. Throughout the years, it has become common for the website to be referenced by other, larger websites. Exposure has varied, but there are internet users (globally) who have stumbled along with no clue as to the community's basis or function.

    My original work was deleted once, then subsequently recreated by another individual (whose facetious prose left something to be desired considering Wikipedia's policies), and deleted again.

    We have the means to record our history locally, but more than just members have claimed interest in a concrete, verifiable reference as to the site's beginnings and applications. By what means can I gather evidence sufficient to support the sustentation of an article? At what point does the article become worthy of existence? There is certainly advocation in the community, as is to be expected. (I recognize that this substantiates nothing in terms of the proposed article's worth). How can I corroborate the prospect of ecumenical importance?

    Thanks for your time! Any help is appreciated! (I'm so excited... only moments ago I discovered how to do this!) --> --Zonaxx 02:50, 3 May 2006 (UTC)[reply]

    Welcome to Wikipedia, Zonaxx. You may want to look at Wikipedia:Notability (web); users often use these criteria when judging whether an article is notable enough for Wikipedia. SCHZMO 03:06, 3 May 2006 (UTC)[reply]
    The killer words there are "more than just members have claimed interest in a concrete, verifiable reference as to the site's beginnings and applications". Wikipedia does not serve as a concrete, verifiable source; it must be based on concrete, verifiable sources. Only the most notable websites have any. --Sam Blanning(talk) 10:03, 3 May 2006 (UTC)[reply]

    Templates

    I want to create a new template linking Miss Universe organization titleholders. I've created it as a table, but would ideally like to turn it into a template (similar to the succession box templates) to make these easier to add to articles. I've tried all manner of ways but it just doesn't seem to work. Would someone be able to help me with this?

    Template (to be called "Miss Universe Organization titleholders":

    Miss Universe Organization
    Titleholders 2005
    Miss Universe
    Natalie Glebova
    Miss USA
    Chelsea Cooley
    Miss Teen USA
    Allie LaForce

    PageantUpdater 08:14, 3 May 2006 (UTC)[reply]

    Replied at user page. -- Rick Block (talk) 13:54, 3 May 2006 (UTC)[reply]

    tenis

    Tenis first played as a professional event in?

    Have you tried the Humanities section of Wikipedia's Reference Desk? They specialize in answering knowledge questions there. For your convenience, here's the link to post a question there: click here. I hope this helps. Tangotango 06:19, 3 May 2006 (UTC)[reply]

    Change Article Name

    I tried editing the "Barasingha" article's name to "Barasinga" (without the 'h'). How do I do it. If some has time please change the name to "Barasinga" from "Barasingha". Thanks in Advance. --Siddhant 07:53, 3 May 2006 (UTC)[reply]

    • When I search on Google, I come up with about 800 hits on "barasinga" and 36,000 on "barasingha". Are you sure you've got the spelling right? I'll drop a redirect in place for you. 0- Mgm|(talk) 08:06, 3 May 2006 (UTC)[reply]

    I recently visited the Kanha National Park, the only place in India to have Barasinga. I brought a Kanha Chronicle, kind of newsletter, which is officially published. From it I wrote the article. It says--"Barasinga" not "Barasingha". Anyway this is a Hindi word and I am an Indian to know it better. This is not an offence. Barasinnga (or whatever you may spell it) has 12 antlers. In Hindi Bara means 12 and sing means antlers.

    I think you should change the Title. --Siddhant 08:54, 3 May 2006 (UTC)[reply]

    I would have thought that how you transliterate an Indian word to European script was a somewhat academic question. Since you're the author and I would assume you'd know best anyway, I've moved the page. For future reference, when your account has been around for a bit you'll get a 'move' button at the top of every page. Although as MacGyver created a redirect, you would have had to have asked on Wikipedia:Proposed moves so someone could delete the redirect before the page move could be done. --Sam Blanning(talk) 09:55, 3 May 2006 (UTC)[reply]

    Thank you. The spelling has been corrected. --Siddhant 11:26, 3 May 2006 (UTC)[reply]

    • Apologies, I forgot to check the history, so I didn't know you actually created the article yourself. Personally, I think we should use English transliterations on the English language Wikipedia, and as far as I know both transliteratiosn would be considered acceptable. I have no preference on where the article should be. So thanks to Sam for jumping in. - Mgm|(talk) 12:04, 3 May 2006 (UTC)[reply]

    Tagging articles?

    I would like to tag an article for it not being neutral. How do i do this? Thanks

    Simply add {{npov}} at the top of the article. It generates this kind of text:
    The neutrality of this article is disputed.
    Please see the discussion on the talk page.

    JIP | Talk 09:00, 3 May 2006 (UTC)[reply]

    As the tag implies, remember to explain why you think the article isn't neutral on the talk page. Editors will expect to remove the tag when the neutrality has been fixed or the dispute is otherwise resolved. --Sam Blanning(talk) 09:35, 3 May 2006 (UTC)[reply]

    No album cover picture

    Hi I was just wondering where i could find a picture that says "No album cover" or a picture that is used for album pages without a cover, if there is such a thing?? thanks in advance --Sahafan 10:30, 3 May 2006 (UTC)[reply]

    This image I see used for it now and then. [[image:No image.gif]] Garion96 (talk) 10:37, 3 May 2006 (UTC)[reply]
    If you're using the album infobox, just leaving the image line blank will automatically insert that image Image:No cover.png. --Sam Blanning(talk) 10:40, 3 May 2006 (UTC)[reply]

    Is it OK to remove cleanup tags after editing?

    I've edited RULE Project, and I think it's cleaned-up enough to warrant removal of the cleanup tag. Is it OK to just remove the tag, or is there something else that should be done? Thanks. Shyland 11:56, 3 May 2006 (UTC)[reply]

    • It's probably a good thing to check the talk page which may contain further information on why it was tagged. In this case, such information didn't exist, but I think it was clear there were spelling, grammar, formatting and wikification concerns. The article is still a little shy on information, but I think the tag could be removed, so I've done it. You could also ask whoever put it there to clarify. - Mgm|(talk) 11:58, 3 May 2006 (UTC)[reply]

    Does anyone know of any discussion anywhere concerning the incredibly opaque and more and more common reversions using popups that leave edit summaries such as "Revert to revision 50944792 using popups"? Can someone explain what the number refers to, and thus why that edit summary is at all useful to provide any detail of the action apparently being described. --Fuhghettaboutit 12:38, 3 May 2006 (UTC)[reply]

    Hello Fuhghettaboutit, the messages are left by the Navigation popups Javascript. Basically, they have the same meaning as "Reverted edits by USER to last version by USER2". The number is the oldid referring to the revision ID that the page has been reverted to. These can be seen in the history - if you click on one of the old versions, you'll see that the URL contains an &oldid=NUMBER bit which identifies the revision ID for that edit. For example, if you look at the history for this page, you'll find that your most recent edit (fixing signature) has oldid 564696. -- Tangotango 12:48, 3 May 2006 (UTC)[reply]
    This has already been discussed, see for example Wikipedia talk:Tools/Navigation popups#Reversion edit summary. Fetofs Hello! 12:56, 3 May 2006 (UTC)[reply]
    Oh, and the dev version has a way to customize the popups to alter this. Fetofs Hello! 13:36, 3 May 2006 (UTC)[reply]
    Thanks for the reply. I'm glad there's a way to customize and think most who use it should; an edit summary that is not transparent is just a step up from no edit summary at all. The one being used is not reasonably calculated to give useful detail on the revert.--Fuhghettaboutit 15:06, 3 May 2006 (UTC)[reply]
    Like admin rollback, popups revert should only be used to revert vandals and oneself. If you notice people reverting good-faith edits, you might want to leave them a friendly message on their talk page. --Sam Blanning(talk) 15:36, 3 May 2006 (UTC)[reply]
    I agree, of course ,and would do so. However admin rollbacks, although they don't give the reason for reversion, actually leave a summary you can easily follow, and by the very nature of being a rollback summary accessible only to admins, allow it to be assumed that it is only for vandalism as that is the policy. The popup summary, by contrast is almost meaningless as in order to make any sense out of it, you are first required to know that the version number refers to a designator in the URL, which is by no means intuitive, and then you still don't known which version the revert is to until you search the various urls of past versions in the page history. Moreover, because it is not an admin tool, there is far less certainty that it is only being used for matters that would be proper for a rollback. I think use of the edit summarizing at issue should be rethought (and am well aware that this is not the place for an in depth policy discussion on that issue).--Fuhghettaboutit 18:54, 3 May 2006 (UTC)[reply]

    sollicitation

    I want to know the terms of management security

    Have you tried Wikipedia's Reference Desk? They specialize in knowledge questions, and will try to answer any question in the universe (except how to use Wikipedia, since that's what this Help Desk is for). For your convenience, here's the link: Reference Desk (when you get there, just select the relevant section, and ask away). I hope this helps. -- Tangotango 13:32, 3 May 2006 (UTC)[reply]

    Billion Articles

    I believe there is an error at this site: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Citing_sources/example_style#Newspaper.2Fmagazine_articles_.28or_online_periodicals.29

    Or the right side of the screen it says that a "billion" is is a "million million" Perhaps a thousand million would be better. I don't quite have the courage to change it. Phil talk 15:30, 3 May 2006 (UTC)[reply]

    Phil, it depends on your country - the standard meaning, according to the Oxford Dictionary of English, is 10^9, or a thousand million; in Britain, the (dated) meaning is 10^12, or a million million. Maybe it would be better to fix it to the "standard", non-dated meaning. Be bold! -- Tangotango 15:35, 3 May 2006 (UTC)[reply]

    Script for checking all edits in a deleted page's history?

    I'm sure I heard of a script that allowed you, when restoring a deleted page, to tick all of the revisions, so if you were looking to delete a single edit you could tick all of the revisions and then untick the one(s) you didn't want to restore. I couldn't find it at Wikipedia:WikiProject User scripts/Scripts - does anyone know what I'm talking about? --Sam Blanning(talk) 15:34, 3 May 2006 (UTC)[reply]

    I can't find the link either, but I know it's out there. What you want is a bookmarklet that ticks all the boxes. Create a new bookmark in your browser and paste in the location/address: javascript:for (i=0; i<document.forms.length; i++) { for (j=0; j<document.forms[i].elements.length; j++) { f= document.forms[i].elements[j]; if (f.type == 'checkbox') f.checked= true; } } void 0. Then all you have to do is select that bookmark when at the restore page.--Commander Keane 16:05, 3 May 2006 (UTC)[reply]
    Thanks! --Sam Blanning(talk) 22:07, 3 May 2006 (UTC)[reply]

    Extremely helpful. The link is here, by the way. You can find it by going to your watchlist and then going to "display and edit the complete list". Near the top, it gives you a link to click on for selecting all the check boxes. I saw it there some time ago, but thought it was too complicated, but today I asked at WP:AN/I about deleting an offending edit from a history, and when it was answered, I realized it was the same method. It's easier than it sounds. AnnH 16:21, 4 May 2006 (UTC)[reply]

    Dump

    I have downloaded en 1.5 database tables page, pagelinks and categorylinks. Given a category (e.g. Category:Mathematics) how can I get a list of: 1. The list of 'Subcategories' titles (e.g. Algebra), currently there are 65 according to the math category web page? 2. The list of 'Pages in category "Mathematics"' (e.g. Additional logarithm topics), currently there are 71 according to the math category web page? I am looking for the way to link the tables together via SQL. Thanks very much! --Kippersnax 16:02, 3 May 2006 (UTC)[reply]

    Hi,

    How can I add your logo to my blog??

    All images used on Wikipedia have an information page, the information page for the logo is at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Wikipedia-logo.png. As you can see from that page, the logo is fully copyrighted and thus I believe (and someone please correct me if I'm wrong) you'd need to get permission from the foundation to use it on your blog. Sorry. :-( — Estarriol talk 18:07, 3 May 2006 (UTC)[reply]

    Hi, Help me PLEASE!

    Please help me find the amtrak way to Chico,California!I am lost, I'm trying to get a schedule for a trip from Melbeta, Nebraska to Chico, California. For 6/01/06!

    Have you tried Wikipedia's Reference Desk? They specialize in knowledge questions, and will try to answer any question in the universe (except how to use Wikipedia, since that's what this Help Desk is for). For your convenience, here's the link: Reference Desk (when you get there, just select the relevant section, and ask away). I hope this helps. Tangotango 17:25, 3 May 2006 (UTC)[reply]
    Note that the folks at the Reference desk usually avoid giving direct answers to obvious homework questions but will otherwise usually help you to find your way. hydnjo talk 19:38, 3 May 2006 (UTC)[reply]

    Deletion discussion

    If an article is deleted and I disagree with the assessment, how do I engage the deleter to discuss it? --An honest quixtar ibo 17:39, 3 May 2006 (UTC)[reply]

    If you disagree with a deletion then ask for it to be reviewed at Wikipedia:Deletion review. Note however that articles will only be undeleted if the deletion was out of process - full details are on the deletion review page. Without knowing the article in question I cannot say whether it was deleted correctly or not. Thryduulf 17:59, 3 May 2006 (UTC)[reply]

    Where is the best place to put my images?

    I have some images I would like to add to some articles. In the past I have uploaded them directly to English Wikipedia, but would it be more appropriate for me to upload them to the Commons? (By the way, I own the copyrights and will be releasing them under the GFDL, so that is not a concern.) --Ginkgo100 19:06, 3 May 2006 (UTC)[reply]

    If you plan to release them under the GFDL (or any similar free licence) then the best place is at Commons, so that other projects can use them too. Go to commons:Special:Upload to do it (you will need to create an account at Commons also - the one you have here won't work.) --Cherry blossom tree 19:32, 3 May 2006 (UTC)[reply]
    Thanks for the quick reply! --Ginkgo100 19:48, 3 May 2006 (UTC)[reply]

    Listing company names in articles

    Is a selected list of company names considered advertisment or spam in an article about a type of product? The list is of specific major manufacturers of cyclocomputers. WP:SPAM and WP:EL don't clearly say not to list. Three of four previously listed ones already have Wikipedia articles and two are special cases. --21:04, 3 May 2006 (UTC)

    No, it is not spam unless you use the list to advertise. In fact, a list of companies would probably be helpful. See Wikipedia:List guideline. SCHZMO 21:14, 3 May 2006 (UTC)[reply]

    Cheat Sheet

    Long time user, fairly new at editing. Somewhere among all the help pages I saw a cheat sheet that I wanted to print out, but everytime I clicked the .pdf link, I got a blank page. I wanted to go back and look for it again today and now I can't find it anywhere. I'd like to find a good link to that...anybody?

    That also brings me to another question: If I just want to search within the wikipedia help pages, is there a way to do that? In other words, is there a place I could type "cheat sheet" to find it when I know it's in the help somewhere?

    Thanks! --Swalker2000 21:28, 3 May 2006 (UTC)[reply]

    Here is the link to the pdf: [1]. Help:Editing also works well as a cheat sheet. When you are searching, if you just want to search within help pages, go to the bottom of the page and check only the box next to "Help". Happy editing! SCHZMO 21:41, 3 May 2006 (UTC)[reply]

    Deleted article to user page?

    Hi there,

    I am a new user. I recently submitted my first article and it was quickly deleted. After doing a little research, I guess I can understand why, since my subject (an author) is somewhat obscure. So my question is, can I still put this article on my user page? Even though it is not about me? I am suspecting it would be wrong to create a new user ID in the name of my subject?

    Thanks for any help. I don't want to get in any more trouble here. (That is to say, I already got chewed out for mistakenly re-posting my deleted article and I don't want to make things worse!) j-annastasia 23:32, 3 May 2006 (UTC)[reply]

    If you wanted to work on the article to make it more encyclopaedic in preparation for resubmission, then you could move it to a user subpage as a work in progress (e.g. User:J-annastasia/WIP). However, it sounds like you now believe that he doesn't meet Wikipedia's notability standards, so I'm not sure what you want with it. Wikipedia is not a free web host, so any material you have hanging around in subpages should have an encyclopaedic purpose. Yes, it would be wrong to create a user ID just to keep a biography on Wikipedia (see the free web host thing again, we host encyclopaedia articles and stuff that helps create them, nothig else). --Sam Blanning(talk) 00:07, 4 May 2006 (UTC)[reply]
    Thanks for the clarification, Sam. I guess I'm just disappointed that my article will go to waste. j-annastasia 01:02, 4 May 2006 (UTC)[reply]

    May 4

    Can you delete my user name and unstarted article?

    My User Name is Mark S. and I just discovered that there is already an article on the subject that I was planning to write on. Can you simply delete it without following the deletion procedure? if so, please do. And Thanks

    Answer at (email excluded).—The preceding unsigned comment was added by Mark S. (talkcontribs) .

    If you are the sole author of the article, you can add {{db-author}} to have it speedily deleted. If you fit this criteria, just copy that tag, go to the article, place it at the top in edit mode and click save. I'd also leave an appropriate edit summary, like "more complete article already exists under another name" --Fuhghettaboutit 01:06, 4 May 2006 (UTC)[reply]
    As for your username, under the license Wikipedia is published under, we cannot delete usernames. If you don't want to use it anymore, just don't log in with it anymore. There is nothing stopping you from creating a new username if you want to 'start anew' - just please don't use both at the same time (this is called "sockpuppeting" and is strongly frowned upon). — QuantumEleven 08:05, 4 May 2006 (UTC)[reply]
    • Actually, you could use a second account at the same time. Just be open about the fact you own it and don't use it to push your view or stuff votes. But yes, it's best not to do it to avoid making mistakes with it. - 131.211.210.12 10:15, 4 May 2006 (UTC)[reply]

    Article's Space

    I know that when I move an article I can move its talk page too. My question is, is it possible to move with the article, its sub pages in its space, for example: if I'll move Portal:Cannabis to Portal:Psychedelic Drugs, Portal:Cannabis/Intro will move to Portal:Psychedelic Drugs/Intro. Thanks! Psychomel@di(s)cussion 02:05, 4 May 2006 (UTC)[reply]

    Sandbox Vandalism

    Is it possible to vandalize the sandbox? See this edit of mine for why I'm asking. Was my rv inappropriate? -Reuvenk[T][C] 02:55, 4 May 2006 (UTC)[reply]

    Yes. Like user pages, there are some ways you cannot express yourself. Psychomel@di(s)cussion 03:13, 4 May 2006 (UTC)[reply]
    See on the sandbox where it says "Please do not place copyrighted, offensive or libelous content in the sandbox(es)"? You did the right thing. · rodii · 03:18, 4 May 2006 (UTC)[reply]
    I see, but I thought that there was some sort of policy like "Wikipedia is not censored for the 'protection of minors,'" but I couldn't find anything with Google.-Reuvenk[T][C] 01:47, 5 May 2006 (UTC)[reply]
    I think you just used common sense in this regard. But for the policy, you can find that here WP:NOT#Wikipedia is not censored. Garion96 (talk) 01:56, 5 May 2006 (UTC)[reply]

    User-Vandilism

    Wiki-star: Why is my user name not red anymore? And what is all the information that has been wrong fully accused within it? Can someone please explain what is going on around here? Wiki-star 06:47, 4 May 2006 (UTC)[reply]

    It was red before because you (or anyone else) never edited the page. Now that there has been one edit (or more), the link turns blue. Take for example, User:Pepsidrinka/Sandbox and User:Wiki-star/Sandbox. The former has been edited before while the latter has yet to record one edit. The stuff on your user page indicates that you are a suspected sock-puppet of another user. Pepsidrinka 06:58, 4 May 2006 (UTC)[reply]
    My guess would be that the suspicions of sockpuppetry come from the shared interest you have with Zarbon and the tendency to upload copyrighted images. Before some actually acts on the accusation further investigations will be made, so if they're untrue, you have nothing to fear. Just keep up the good work people have appreciated of you. - 131.211.210.12 10:21, 4 May 2006 (UTC)[reply]
    The suspected sockpuppet tag was added by User:Kafziel. If you'd like to dispute it I suggest discussing it at User_talk:Kafziel. If you can agree to remove the notice then you can have the page deleted and you will be red again. --Cherry blossom tree 10:58, 4 May 2006 (UTC)[reply]
    Wiki-star, since I've seen you around here since you started editing, looked at a number of your contributions, and am fairly convinced you're not a sockpuppet of Zarbon's, I took up the issue on your behalf at User_talk:Kafziel#Wiki-star_sockpuppet_accusation. Feel free to post there as well. Cheers, MCB 22:20, 5 May 2006 (UTC)[reply]

    Text Size

    Hi i was wondering how you change text size.. ie: like <text size=6> or something?? can someone help, many thanks in advance --Sahafan 07:55, 4 May 2006 (UTC)[reply]

    Are you talking about changing text size when viewing Wikipedia or when editing an article? The former can be done through your browser - for instance, in Internet Explorer, View -> Text Size. If you want to create larger text in an article, you can do it using HTML tags such as <small>. However, this is discouraged in all but talk pages (and even there should only be used sparingly) - Wikipedia is written with content in mind, not formatting. We use logical formatting (describing what a bit of text is instead of what it looks like), and you should leave the rest to the Wikipedia style sheets. Especially consider that some users use different style sheets from the default, with larger or smaller (relative) text sizes. — QuantumEleven 08:02, 4 May 2006 (UTC)[reply]

    James Chico Hernandez

    Please help me. I am trying to cleanup the article as advised by your staff. I would like to re-submitt the following. Thank You You very much for your time and help.James Chico Hernandez — Preceding unsigned comment added by Chico 9 (talkcontribs)

    [Article draft copied to Talk:James Chico Hernandez]
    You should probably try to familiarize yourself with Wikipedia before creating new articles; Wikipedia:Welcome, newcomers is a good place to start. It appears that you are trying to write an article about yourself; This is discouraged - see also Wikipedia:Notability (people). If you still want to write the article, read Wikipedia:Manual of Style to learn what needs to be fixed. -- Meni Rosenfeld (talk) 11:36, 4 May 2006 (UTC)[reply]
    It sounds like this is an autobiographical article, which is, as Meni noted, strongly discouraged (please see WP:AUTO for an explanation). However, being quite knowledgeable in the martial arts field myself, it sounds like you may meet notability requirements (a google search of "James Hernandez sambo sombo" turns up quite a few articles, and your achievements are certainly impressive), and I recommend asking someone from Wikipedia:WikiProject Mixed martial arts to work on the article in your stead. I hope that helps, please don't be afraid to ask for further help or clarification. — Estarriol talk 14:19, 4 May 2006 (UTC)[reply]

    Help me.... I went to Wikipedia:WikiProject Mixed martial arts]] as advised and it is inactive. I am ready to drop all of this due to my inability to correctly get this article situtated properly according to your standards. My claim to famer is that I am a World Martial Arts champion and claim to fame is I was featured on a Box of Wheaties Energy Crunch in Nov.2001 If check out James Chico Hernandez, James Hernandez or Chico HErnandez and shift around those could be my ref. and I rest my case. Thanks for all of your all of your time and help Chico — Preceding unsigned comment added by Chico 9 (talkcontribs)

    Creating a new article isn't easy - I always advise newcomers to familiarize themselves with Wikipedia before attempting to do it. So should you. The links I provided in your talk page can be a good start. When you have gained a better understanding of how Wikipedia works, you can try working on the article again - but, as mentioned before, this might not be a good idea, as autobiographical articles are generally frowned upon. You don't have to worry - other people will also work on the article and improve it. Anyway, don't forget to sign comments in Talk pages (like this one) by typing ~~~~. -- Meni Rosenfeld (talk) 15:43, 4 May 2006 (UTC)[reply]
    I've done some work on this article, and put a tag on it that makes it likely it will be cleaned up within a few months by the wikification team. In the meantime, if you're finding it frustrating, I recommend you leave the article be and let others work on it. The information you've already supplied is useful and sufficient as the basis for an article. — Estarriol talk 16:26, 4 May 2006 (UTC)[reply]

    User talk :Estarriol Thank You very much for all of your help!!! I do not know if I/ve short change myself by the original article and down sized it. It helps a lot that your a English major and have a Great command of it's usage when writing/editting... If you need any more data ,please let me know and Thanks!!!user talk:Chico9

    You're welcome - I'm making no promises as to when or how much work I'll be able to do on the article, but Wikipedia being Wikipedia, it's very likely that someone will work on it. There is some further information the article could do with, but I'll put a notice on your talk page at some later point about that - you will get a message at the top of every wikipedia page when you're logged in and have new messages on my talk page. By the way, please sign your posts on the helpdesk, and in talk pages, with ~~~~, it will produce your signature, as I am about to do here: — Estarriol talk 20:07, 4 May 2006 (UTC)[reply]

    Query

    i am 23/m indian. i want to take home loan of about ,how shall i procced?will it be economical to me?is there any branch of bank of japan in maharastra state of india? please reply.

    I'm sorry, but you've come to the wrong place. You should discuss the matter with a bank representative. -- Meni Rosenfeld (talk) 12:14, 4 May 2006 (UTC)[reply]
    You could try Wikipedia:Reference desk, it's the place for asking reference questions and someone may be able to help you there. — Estarriol talk 13:49, 4 May 2006 (UTC)[reply]

    Selective demands for sources

    Is there a policy or previous discussion about what happens if an editor seems to be selectively demanding sources on one part of an article, while ignoring missing sources in other parts of the article? Can this be seen as attempting to impose an editorial point of view on the article, or are sources so important (in a developing article) that selective action is better than none at all? Notinasnaid 12:48, 4 May 2006 (UTC)[reply]

    • If I thought someone was selectively requesting sources, I would challenge them and ask for the sources about the other unsourced stuff. At least all info would then be treated equally. - 131.211.210.12 12:53, 4 May 2006 (UTC)[reply]
    • Sources are important. The only context in which I can see them being demanded in a developing article however is when they are requested to back up statements which seem controversial. Sources are the only real way to back up any "fact". Remember, truth is not the wikipedia standard (as it's often unknowable), verifiability is. And that's what sources are for. In theory any factual statement in Wikipedia that had no source could be contested, in practice most are not as they are fairly clearly known. However, overall in the next few years the referencing standards on Wikipedia should improve. You should feel welcome to challenge for references any edit you find controversial. Just please don't demean yourself by unnecessarily proving a WP:POINT. If you'd like me to take a closer look at the situation, let me know on my talk page.  :-) — Estarriol talk 14:09, 4 May 2006 (UTC)[reply]

    School Project

    Who created this site?

    Since this site, Wikipedia, is an encylopedia, you can try using it like this. Just type Wikipedia into the search box (left of the page, near the top) and click the Go button. Let us know if that doesn't answer your question. Notinasnaid 13:15, 4 May 2006 (UTC)[reply]
    If you want to cite an article, go to the relevant article and click on the "Cite this article" link in the toolbox on the left side of your screen. Hope this helps. Tangotango 13:25, 4 May 2006 (UTC)[reply]
    History of Wikipedia may also help you. SCHZMO 19:27, 4 May 2006 (UTC)[reply]

    New article

    I created a new article for my band called The hazard. It was deleted for some reason, could you please help me as I would like my band to be on wikipedia. thanks

    --Kremedios 19:08, 4 May 2006 (UTC)[reply]

    Wikipedia has some notability guidelines that a band should qualify for in order to have its own article on Wikipedia. You can read what the guilelines are at WP:BAND. --Hetar 19:15, 4 May 2006 (UTC)[reply]

    Guidelines for articles about authors

    Is there a style guide or some other guideline for how to format and organize an article about a writer? I thought I'd seen such a thing but can't now find it. I ask because I thought I recalled that it said Wikipedia was not the place to list all of a writer's short work, as is done on James H. Schmitz, for example. Thanks -- Mike Christie 19:32, 4 May 2006 (UTC)[reply]

    Wikipedia:Manual of Style (biographies) is a general style guide for biographies. SCHZMO 20:02, 4 May 2006 (UTC)[reply]

    cite tag

    I noticed that there is a cite tag in wikipedia which can be used for making references to books or journals. I came across this tag by accident and started using it, but I havn't found any proper documentation of this tag, e.g., which keys it accepts, etc. Is there any documentation of the cite tag?

    --KYN 20:46, 4 May 2006 (UTC)[reply]

    I presume you're talking about {{Cite}}, yes? That's documented at Template:Cite and Template talk:Cite. There are also various others for specific purposes:
    If you were talking about something else then you'll have to correct me. --Cherry blossom tree 21:10, 4 May 2006 (UTC)[reply]


    This example page may help you, Wikipedia:Citing sources/example style. The talk pages of Template:Cite book and Template:Cite journal also explain their use. Hope this helps.--Andrew c 21:12, 4 May 2006 (UTC)[reply]

    Thanks! --KYN 21:58, 4 May 2006 (UTC)[reply]

    Creating whole new article

    How do I do this. I want to create a whole new article and link it to an already existing one. Help me, please?

    Type the name of the article you want into the search box, then click "create this article". If you want to link to another page in Wikipedia, just type this: [[INSERT PAGE NAME HERE]]. SCHZMO 22:06, 4 May 2006 (UTC)[reply]

    reply to a message on your talk page

    Where is the proper place to reply to a message on your talk page - on that page or the talk page of the one who placed the message? Bubba73 (talk), 23:13, 4 May 2006 (UTC)[reply]

    There's no hard and fast rule. Replying on each other's talk pages means both parties get the 'You have new messages' box, but disjoints the conversation so that it's very difficult for third parties to read and join in. My talk page header asks users to reply on the talk page where the conversation started, and many other users do the same. If you do reply on your talk page to something posted there, you really should put an appropriate message at the top of your talk page telling people that that's where you reply - otherwise they might not watch your talk page and miss it. --Sam Blanning(talk) 23:17, 4 May 2006 (UTC)[reply]
    Another easy way to do it is to reply both on your talk page, and on the other user's talk page under the heading "Re:[insert subject here]". -- Natalya 23:43, 4 May 2006 (UTC)[reply]
    I agree with both the above. What you should not do is only reply on your own talk page without leaving a message on the other user's talk page—I personally feel it's quite rude to expect others to watch one's talk page for responses. I have over 3000 pages on my watchlist; if you expect me to see a message, it should be left on my talk page. Of course, disjoint conversations are problematic. As Mr. Blanning mentions, you can reply on your talk page, leaving a "Replied on my talk page" message on the recipient's talk page. What I do is follow Natalya's suggestion; I reply on the user's page and copy the reply on my page, to get the best of both worlds. — Knowledge Seeker 06:55, 5 May 2006 (UTC)[reply]
    I, for one, disagree with most of the above. My opinion is that it is rude to leave a message in someone's talk page and not watch it for responses. I always answer in my talk page, and expect people I communicate with to answer in theirs. Otherwise the conversation becomes impossible to follow. It is a good idea, though, to state at the top of your talk page that you'll answer there. -- Meni Rosenfeld (talk) 07:06, 5 May 2006 (UTC)[reply]
    • I agree with KnowledgeSeeker. If you think disjointed discussions is a problem you can, of course, answer on your own talk page to keep things together. But watch lists only mention the last edit to a page, so if you're away for a while it's impossible to rely on a watchlist to notice whether someone has responded to the message. A quick "I answered there and there" is, I think, a polite thing to do. - Mgm|(talk) 12:34, 6 May 2006 (UTC)[reply]

    May 5

    suggestion

    If I would like to offer a suggestion on updating or changing a particular entry, how would I go about doing that? I'm particularly referring to a page that states it has been locked. I would like to participate in the Talk section. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 24.152.186.71 (talkcontribs) 04:37, 5 May 2006 (UTC)

    Hi, simply go to the talk tab of the article, and post your message to the page just like you did here. Just remember to put "~~~~" (four tildes) after your message to sign it. Cheers, Tangotango 04:39, 5 May 2006 (UTC)[reply]

    What the abbreviations in an historic timeline stand for.

    I earned my College Degree in 1991. Much to my chagrin, while reading a book recently, I came acroos a few abbreviations in an historic timeline that I have never seen before. How do I find the definitions for them? They are: r. ; flic. ; and d.

    Thank you for your time and consideration. strshne@yahoo.com

    Hi, I suggest you go to this link instead for such questions: [2] This part of Wikipedia is all about How to Use Wikipedia. Cheers! Thomas S. Major 07:19, 5 May 2006 (UTC)[reply]

    Disappearing letters in the article on Opus Dei

    Some letters in the text disappear by themselves. There two instances:

    • "new commandment" to love one another "as I d you": between I and d should be "love"
    • Catholo m: between the o and m should be " "

    Please help. Suggest do an Edit/Find to quickly locate these points. Thomas S. Major 07:15, 5 May 2006 (UTC)[reply]

    It's not "by themselves". This edit shows where the first one you mentioned "disappeared". I'm sure if you go through the history a bit more you can find the other. Dismas|(talk) 07:20, 5 May 2006 (UTC)[reply]

    Hi Dismas, thanks for responding to Thomas's request. I'm R Davidson the one who made the edit you are referring to. I can swear I did not remove those letters ( ) when I deleted the word "Catholic". I started working on the Opus Dei article since April 2005 and I've seen the same thing happen, exactly on that I d thing. There must be some kind of internal mechanism that makes that same thing happen. I remember that it also used to happen with the word "gay." The word would disappear, until we decided to place the sentence where it occured in a sub-article. I reiterate Thomas's plea. There is something that occurs in that page that is a mystery. R Davidson 09:00, 5 May 2006 (UTC)[reply]

    It might be worth trying to edit with a different browser. Notinasnaid 16:48, 5 May 2006 (UTC)[reply]
    It happened again a few minutes ago. I changed parenthesis into commas in one part, and then the letters disappeared. Here: [3]. And then I spotted what happened and typed the letters ( ) again (see the edit summary), but nothing changed! Here: [4]. I don't understand it. I don't know if it is the browser, but I will try. I don't understand though the innerworkings and why that can be related to this. Anyway, thanks for the idea, Notinasnaid. R Davidson 08:43, 6 May 2006 (UTC) Hey!! even in this section the same letters disappeared!!!!! See the empty parentheses!!! R Davidson 08:43, 6 May 2006 (UTC)[reply]

    When does an official policy become effective?

    Is it when a shortcut is created? Is it when the {{policy}} tag is added there? Is it when Category:Wikipedia official policy is written on it?--ComSpex 07:59, 5 May 2006 (UTC)[reply]

    It says on Category:Wikipedia official policy that there is no definitive guide as to what is a policy and what is not. Generally a policy is well established, meaning that just like an article it has gone through many revisions and gotten to a stable state, and is practiced to by many Wikipedians. Also see Policies and Guidelines for more info. Harryboyles 12:21, 5 May 2006 (UTC)[reply]

    Thank you, Harryboyles. Your answer has made me realize how silly the question was, while in my mind grows uncertainty about what policy is...--ComSpex 14:50, 5 May 2006 (UTC)[reply]
    Thank you and hello, again, Mgm. The question has arised when I've collected pieces of information like these. The policies yesterday might be different from the ones tomorrow but people in good faith do not need many policies is the answer to what policy is, isn't it? I think I know it theoretically but there's something strange in me yet...--ComSpex 15:09, 6 May 2006 (UTC)[reply]

    RIC code conversion based on Exchange code

    Hi, How the RIC Code conversion will be done based on the Exchange code.Please provide the sample source code for this. What is basic difference between Stock Code and Exchange code.Please provide the sample data for this. Thanks & Regards, -mohan

    Have you tried Wikipedia's Reference Desk? They specialize in knowledge questions, and will try to answer any question in the universe (except how to use Wikipedia, since that's what this Help Desk is for). For your convenience, here's the link: Reference Desk (when you get there, just select the relevant section, and ask away). I hope this helps. — QuantumEleven 11:18, 5 May 2006 (UTC)[reply]

    On what date I became a Wikipedian?

    I became a member of Wikipedia long back.

    Is there any way I can find out on which date I became a member of Wikipedia?

    --Siddhant 12:06, 5 May 2006 (UTC)[reply]

    You could click on "my contributions" at the top right of the page. Then find the oldest edit. That would most likely be when you signed up for an account. Dismas|(talk) 12:08, 5 May 2006 (UTC)[reply]

    No. I used my account to make the first edit much later than when I signed up for Wikipedia.

    Anyone with a better Idea?

    --Siddhant 12:18, 5 May 2006 (UTC)[reply]

    It is dependant upon the IP address you utilize. Discover the IP for your first contribution, make sure you are not logged in, and locate your first contribution date from there. -ZeroTalk 13:44, 5 May 2006 (UTC)[reply]
    He's not asking when he made his first contribution, he's asking when he signed up for an account. I too signed up for an account long before I made my first edit--date of first contrib is useless in finding out when. So the question is: when was his account created? How to find that out? · rodii · 16:44, 5 May 2006 (UTC)[reply]
    I'm afraid that there is no way to tell when an account was created as far as I know. Sorry! — QuantumEleven 20:21, 5 May 2006 (UTC)[reply]
    I remember that someone had a script to determine that by comparing the first edits and User IDs of several Wikipedians, but I can't remember who it was. I think it was Interiot, so you may want to ask him. Titoxd(?!? - help us) 20:25, 5 May 2006 (UTC)[reply]

    What to do about an error in a Request For Comment section?

    If you have two opposing points of view on a Discussion Page, and the other side posts an RFC, but makes a mistake in explaining the situation. How do you go about fixing that? Will adding a comment in the RFC to correct it be considered continuing the debate even though the Discussion page never included a dispute about what the objective was? Whatever the answer is, this needs to be made clear in the list of rules for using the RFC section. --Diligens 13:04, 5 May 2006 (UTC)[reply]

    How do I change a spelling error in an article title?

    Dear Wikipedia, I am a new user and just created an article about Jacob Hoeppner. For some reason the "h" in Hoeppner is lower case and I would simply like to change it to an upper case "H" so the title reads Jacob Hoeppner rather than Jacob hoeppner. Can you help me correct this mistake? Many thanks, __CFH

    For future reference: After an account exists for some time (not sure about the exact number), the user has a "move" tab at the top, which can be used to rename articles. -- Meni Rosenfeld (talk) 16:09, 5 May 2006 (UTC)[reply]

    Requesting a redirect become an article

    What's the policy for requesting an article be created where currently the page is a redirect? For example, edible underwear redirects to underwear, but could surely have its own article. (Example gleaned from reading the talk page at Unusual Articles with someone saying they were surprised it didn't have an article.) Confusing Manifestation 13:33, 5 May 2006 (UTC)[reply]

    There is none. Be bold and attempt construction of the article yourself. Beggining relevant discussion on the appropriate talkpages would be a good idea too. -ZeroTalk 13:41, 5 May 2006 (UTC)[reply]
    • The bottom line is that you're welcome to create the article, but there's little point in blanking the redirect until the article is created. A note on the underwear talk page may suffice to motivate another editor, but even providing a stub article on the (IMO worthy of its own article) edible underwear phenomenon, and *then* leaving an article on the underwear talk page, will almost certainly be more effective. — Estarriol talk 14:50, 5 May 2006 (UTC)[reply]

    When one aspect of a topic, which should be (but isn't) included in Article A, is well covered in a section of somewhat related Article B, is it preferable to copy the text from B into A (making for a smooth reading experience) or to write something like the following?

    == Yada yada ==

    For information on aspect yada yada of this topic see [[link to other article]]

    The second approach has the advantage that if the text on aspect yada yada is faulty, it only needs to be corrected in one place. But it makes for a more choppy reading experience, and some readers won't bother following the link. Sorry if this is a simple question, but I couldn't find a Help topic which addressed it.

    It depends on how long the section in Article B is, and how comprehensive (read: long) Article A already is. My advice (note, advice, not Wikipedia policy) is to decide where the information in question best belongs, in Article A or B. Put it there. Then, in the other article, write a summary of the information under an appropriate header, and link it to the 'full' version in the other article by a template such as {{main}} or {{seealso}}. That way, you can work on the full version in only one article, but the other article has a link to it if readers are interested (and a short summary of it if they aren't). Hope this helps! — QuantumEleven 14:08, 5 May 2006 (UTC)[reply]

    Wikipedia Code

    Hello.

    My question does not pertain directly to Wikipedia. I hope you will answer it anyway.

    I am building my own website.

    I would like to use the "Edit" feature similar to the one used on Wikipedia.org.

    Can you please post/explain the code to make that happen?

    I am fairly familiar with Javascript and pretty good with HTML so you can just give it to me straight and I should understand.

    I know you said don't post Email but I will anyway for a reply: [email removed to prevent spam].

    Sincerely, Joe Davis

    You have to use Wiki software like MediaWiki, which is easy to set-up. Some wiki systems are built into Fantastico. Computerjoe's talk 16:18, 5 May 2006 (UTC)[reply]
    You may also like to peruse the List of wiki software for alternatives to MediaWiki. If you want to avoid all the hassle of setting up a server, you may like to use Wikia. -- Tangotango 16:25, 5 May 2006 (UTC)[reply]

    I really enjoyed the way you took the "I know I'm not supposed to do this but I will anyway" approach twice. To be slightly substantive, MediaWiki is open soource and you could theoretically take a look at the PHP source and adapt it. · rodii · 16:50, 5 May 2006 (UTC)[reply]

    However, MediaWiki is also very complex and is probably more than you need (I said probably - just a guess!). I echo Tangot - take a look at other Wiki software, and decide which one does what you want. — QuantumEleven 20:20, 5 May 2006 (UTC)[reply]


    Removing email addresses

    If a person wants to accept the spamming risks, why can't they just be allowed to post their email addresses? --Username132 (talk) 20:46, 5 May 2006 (UTC)[reply]

    Generally, it is absolute newcomers who do this, and who typically haven't read any of the instructions. So this is for their own protection, to start with. If you included your e-mail address and explained you were aware of the risks and why you were doing it, it might be left alone. Or not. There is also an implied rudeness that you want a private reply to a message in a public forum, which some people consider quite wrong. If however, it was clear from your reply that (a) you understood and accepted the risks and (b) it was more appropriate to ask for e-mail replies than something in the page and (c) it was still a reasonable use of the page, then I guess it is most likely your e-mail would be left. Notinasnaid 21:26, 5 May 2006 (UTC)[reply]
    Since the email address is still there in the history, the costs of deletion are minimal and the benefits, even if he doesn't care about spamming, are significant, so it seems like the kind thing to do. And especially if there's some indication that the person asking is not 100% clued up. · rodii · 22:16, 5 May 2006 (UTC)[reply]

    All of a sudden wikipedia-links are underlined. The left and top frames don't have this though. I didn't change browser settings or anything, it just appeared. How do I make them go away? Jack Daw 17:24, 5 May 2006 (UTC)[reply]

    Try closing the browser and reopening it - that sometimes helps. If not, try going to "my preferences", the "Misc" tab, and select "Underline links : Never". If it still doesn't solve it, ask again. -- Meni Rosenfeld (talk) 17:28, 5 May 2006 (UTC)[reply]
    Do a hard refresh. Ctrl+F5 in Firefox. Computerjoe's talk 17:31, 5 May 2006 (UTC)[reply]

    new user

    How do I get my information under one of the categories.I want my info to show up under Consumer Electronics category.— Preceding unsigned comment added by Fluance (talkcontribs)

    Just place at the bottom of the article [[Category:Consumer electronics]]. Note that the way I wrote that without putting this page into that category was by typing it with a colon after the first brackets, like this: [[:Category:consumer electronics]], and the way i just typed that without having it show up like the last one, was by placing tags around it which tell the wiki software not to recognize the markup, like this <nowiki>text you don't want to format in wiki markup</nowiki>--Fuhghettaboutit 19:26, 5 May 2006 (UTC)[reply]
    I think you want to add a page you've created to a category. To do this add [[Category:Example]] to your page. You don't seem to have created an article yet though - to do that see Help:Starting a new page. It also sounds like you want to add an article on a company. You should probably also read this page first. Hope all this helps. --Cherry blossom tree 19:31, 5 May 2006 (UTC)[reply]

    show a picture —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 85.125.157.133 (talkcontribs) .

    Categories are should be placed at the bottom of the page. For more information see Wikipedia:Category. SCHZMO 20:34, 5 May 2006 (UTC)[reply]

    Is there a WikiProject for Greeters

    I've taken to weloming a lot of new users to wikipedia. It occured to me that it might be useful to join or start a wiki project dedicated to this welcome wagon like activity. Does anyone know if one exists? --CTSWyneken 20:06, 5 May 2006 (UTC)[reply]

    There does indeed! Take a look at The Welcoming Committee. -- Natalya 20:11, 5 May 2006 (UTC)[reply]
    Most excellent! I think I'll sign up! Many thanks! It helps if you know the key words! 8-) --CTSWyneken 20:50, 5 May 2006 (UTC)[reply]
    The Wikipedia search function is a bit more powerful than is immediately obvious - search for something (using the search box), scroll down to the bottom of the results, where you can search for a term, but restrict your result to only, say, the Wikipedia namespace, or the Template namespace. Try it! — QuantumEleven 09:21, 6 May 2006 (UTC)[reply]

    Linking Dates

    Apparently all dates have to be linked so people's date preferences will work. Is this true and if so, why is there no option in 'my preferences' to stop dates appearing linked. I hate it... --Username132 (talk) 20:43, 5 May 2006 (UTC)[reply]

    Yes - see Wikipedia:Manual of Style (dates and numbers). The preferences are so that people can tell whether 2/3 is the 2nd of March or February 3rd, not whether they look like links or not. You may be able to add something to your monobook.js/css file, but I have no idea what it would be. --Cherry blossom tree 21:18, 5 May 2006 (UTC)[reply]
    I assume you mean full dates, as in May 5, 2006 so that it renders as May 5, 2006 or 5 May 2006 or 2006-05-05? There is a WP:MOSDATE guideline that says not to link every time a date appears: May 2006 doesn't get linked, for instance. "In 1792" might not, depending on the context. --Christopherlin 21:26, 5 May 2006 (UTC)[reply]

    Newbie seeks help-I've been blocked as a spammer. I am not a spammer!

    My husband and I just launched an online tearoom directory which lists tearooms around the country. We accept no paid advertising, nor do we charge for our listings. We make no money on this website.

    Although I had seen the name Wikipedia show up in search engines, neither I nor my husband was familiar with what it actually was. I had sent out Press Releases about our website to several tea-related organizations, and then came over to Wikipedia to see what it was about.

    I confess that I didn't read much about how it works, other than I saw something about "anyone can edit things". I thought it would be okay to add a link to our website on certain Wikipedia pages that related to tea, i.e., scones, crumpets, clotted cream, etc., etc., etc. because people who are interested in tea are going to be interested in tearooms. I did most, if not all, adding of these links in one night from one computer: my laptop.

    Now - just as we are beginning to get ranked in the search engines - we have seen our url show up in a Yahoo search in a "Spam Blacklist" message.

    Could someone please tell me what I need to do in order to get our name off the blacklist? What happened was an honest mistake by me. I am not a spammer!

    Thanks,

    Denise

    Welcome to Wikipedia! Adding your own website to a page if it is not notable is a bad idea. If something is important enough to be included on Wikipedia, someone else will probably add it. Alex (t) 23:33, 5 May 2006 (UTC)[reply]

    Thanks for your help/feedback; I appreciate that!


    I've tried to help at the user's talk page. --Cherry blossom tree 23:48, 5 May 2006 (UTC)[reply]

    Thank you; I've replied over there.

    May 6

    color or colour? deal or no deal? —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 66.162.188.74 (talkcontribs) .

    I'm not sure what you're trying to ask. If you want to know which variety of English is to be used in a certain article, see Wikipedia:Manual of Style#National varieties of English. SCHZMO 01:15, 6 May 2006 (UTC)[reply]

    hegemony

    i am having trouble looking for information/definitions on hegemony and essentialism. can you help?

    Welcome to Wikipedia! The Help desk is for questions regarding use of Wikipedia; for reference questions, try the Reference desk. You could also try the article on hegemony. Alex (t) 02:17, 6 May 2006 (UTC)[reply]

    Notability for publications

    I've looked about but haven't been able to find any notability requirements for publications like magazines. Is there such a guideline that I'm missing somewhere? Dismas|(talk) 06:18, 6 May 2006 (UTC)[reply]

    I don't think there's a set policy; testing its Google/Yahoo rank would be a good start. If you can't find anything on it, chances are it's not notable enough. Alex (t) 06:28, 6 May 2006 (UTC)[reply]
    I think circulation would be a more telling statistic. Also, for peer-reviewed scientific journals, there's usually some intangible level of prestige associated with publication in such a periodical. Admittedly, that's impossible to gauge... Isopropyl 15:16, 6 May 2006 (UTC)[reply]

    Assistance with uploading a fair use image

    I had added A fair use image of the cover of Necro's album Gory Days to the wikipedia commons, then inserted this into the Necro article. I see that the Commons speedy delete fair use images, but Fair_use#Tagging_fair_use_image_files advises that all I should do is add the {{albumcover}} template. Could someone please advise if a) I can use an album cover in an article on the recording artist, and b) if so, how I go about it? My heartfelt thanks in advance - I've done a bit of editing here, but never before uploaded an image, and I obviously haven't worked it out yet. Thanks again, Colonel Tom 06:40, 6 May 2006 (UTC)[reply]

    As far as I know, Wikipedia is more lenient about allowing fair use images; you should be OK. Alex (t) 06:55, 6 May 2006 (UTC)[reply]
    Fair use images are acceptable, but must be uploaded to a wiki that has a policy that permits them, such as wikipedia. Wikimedia commons is specifically for free images, so fair use is not permitted there. Night Gyr 07:29, 6 May 2006 (UTC)[reply]
    Followup query; Thanks very much for the quick and helpful response. Now, a question that I obviously should know the answer to, but can't seem to find; where on Wikipedia do I upload the image to? Thanks again, Colonel Tom 08:00, 6 May 2006 (UTC)[reply]
    On the left side of every page is a toolbox which contains a link that says "Upload file". Click that. Dismas|(talk) 08:04, 6 May 2006 (UTC)[reply]
    D'oh! Many thanks. Colonel Tom 08:15, 6 May 2006 (UTC)[reply]

    Image help requests

    I know there's all sorts of cleanup tags for articles, but I can't find any equivalent for images. Image:LaunchComplex34.JPG on Apollo 1 is really tilted and needs someone to go in and rotate and crop it, which would be a quick job, but I don't have access to any image software. Where's wikipedia's image hangout? Night Gyr 07:29, 6 May 2006 (UTC)[reply]

    Tangotango has fixed the image for you. You can mark an image as needing to be cleaned up by adding {{ifc}} (images for cleanup to the image description page. -- Harryboyles 09:07, 6 May 2006 (UTC)[reply]

    Deleting Images

    I replaced an incorrect version of the University of Sheffield's crest with the correct one, however since I realise that the one I uploaded http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Sheffield_Shield.gif should not be there, see http://www.shef.ac.uk/about/arms.html for copyright details. I've amended the University of Sheffield article with the correct one now, but how do I remove the two bad images from Wikipedia? (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Sheffield_Shield.gif and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Sheffield_Shield.jpg) Davidjamesgill 11:56, 6 May 2006 (UTC)[reply]

    To list an image for deletion use {{ifd}} and Wikipedia:Images and media for deletion. SCHZMO 12:03, 6 May 2006 (UTC)[reply]
    If you're the original uploader, just add {{db|uploaded in error, deletion requested by uploader}} and it should get speedy-deleted. ~~~~