Jump to content

Wikipedia:Help desk

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This is an old revision of this page, as edited by Kathy Maguire (talk | contribs) at 00:55, 21 October 2014 (Help upload pictures - Masters Environmental Management student!!: new section). 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).

    October 17

    negligence of Wikipedia

    List of dialling codes in Pakistan

    link above page named as list of dialing codes in pakistan Why Wikipedia has not given correct information on this page?? Dialing codes of Province KPK is not given and also dialing codes of Northern Areas has not given on the page. Is wikipedia want to show KPK province not located in Pakistan. Shame on you Wikipedia — Preceding unsigned comment added by 39.32.57.222 (talk) 06:59, 17 October 2014 (UTC)[reply]

    Wikipedia has no intention of pretending Khyber Pakhtunkhwa doesn't exist. Rather than shaming it for an oversight in a very minor article, you could help improve it. Do you know the area codes for cities in that province? InedibleHulk (talk) 07:09, October 17, 2014 (UTC)

    Protect Userpage

    Hi Wiki,

    I had created a User page, I shows an edit option at the top of right. I could make way for others to edit my user page. Could suggest methods to protect my page from vandalism. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Vivekanand Selvaraj (talkcontribs) 07:12, 17 October 2014 (UTC)[reply]

    User pages are rarely vandalised, and I know of no reason why anyone would want to vandalise yours. If it ever is vandalised, it will be easy for you to undo the damage: click on "View history" and then on "undo". A few controversial Wikipedia pages are protected from editing, but I doubt this protection would ever be granted to a user page. Maproom (talk) 10:21, 17 October 2014 (UTC)[reply]
    there are in fact many user pages that are protected. but it is only done after a history of inappropriate edits to that page. -- TRPoD aka The Red Pen of Doom 12:39, 17 October 2014 (UTC)[reply]

    revision history statistics

    do you know when "revision history statistics" link wil be up and running (currently down)?. thank you--Ozzie10aaaa (talk) 10:28, 17 October 2014 (UTC)[reply]

    See #"revision history statistics" link yesterday. --David Biddulph (talk) 10:34, 17 October 2014 (UTC)[reply]

    WikiProject banners on Categories

    Should the talk pages of Categories be tagged with WikiProject banners? My impression is that it's rather pointless as Category pages do not have any significant content. I'm referring to "general" content categories, not categories that might be used as part of a particular WikiProject's article management setup. Example; how useful is it for "Category:Italian tennis clubs" to be tagged by the Tennis and Italy projects? Roger (Dodger67) (talk) 10:39, 17 October 2014 (UTC)[reply]

    Hi Dodger67, I agree. Wikiproject banner tags are meant for article talk pages. The guideline (Wikipedia:WikiProject Council/Guide) does not forbid it, but gives no mention of usage in category talk pages. For a more conclusive answer, you could ask the WikiProject Council. All the best, Taketa (talk) 21:17, 17 October 2014 (UTC)[reply]

    Add to list of communities on Wikipedia

    Gileston in the Vale of Glamorgan is not listed. Can I add it to the list of communities? — Preceding unsigned comment added by QualityCottages300 (talkcontribs) 11:59, 17 October 2014 (UTC)[reply]

    We have an article on Gileston, which is in the category Villages in the Vale of Glamorgan, and also listed in List of places in Vale of Glamorgan. If there's anywhere else you think it should be referred to, please feel free to do so. Rojomoke (talk) 12:19, 17 October 2014 (UTC)[reply]
    It's also include in the Villages group in Template:Vale of Glamorgan. --David Biddulph (talk) 13:01, 17 October 2014 (UTC)[reply]
    I have added Gileston to Vale of Glamorgan. ‑‑Mandruss (talk) 13:04, 17 October 2014 (UTC)[reply]

    Town Linke Church

    I recently edited the article on Town Linke Church and cemetery (in Steuben County, New York), correcting the spelling to Town Line Church and Cemetery (as may be seen by the sign over the doors in the photo at top right of the article). However, I have no idea how to change (or request a change) in the entry title itself... so it's still listed under Town Linke Church. It's also listed with this incorrect spelling in the roster of National Register sites in new York. Can someone please advise me what would be the best way to proceed? Kirk House, Director, Steuben County Historical Society — Preceding unsigned comment added by Kirkwhouse (talkcontribs) 15:54, 17 October 2014 (UTC)[reply]

    Done User:PrimeHunter has moved the page to the correct title.--ukexpat (talk) 16:52, 17 October 2014 (UTC)[reply]
    @Kirkwhouse: See WP:MOVE for the procedure. I have also fixed the link in National Register of Historic Places listings in Steuben County, New York. Thanks for reporting the issue and fixing part of the problem but please be careful not to change file names to non-existing names. It means no file will be displayed. Displaying a poorly spelled file is better than displaying a broken link to a non-existing file. That part of your edit has been reverted for now. The files are hosted at Wikimedia Commons where I cannot rename files but I will request it. PrimeHunter (talk) 16:56, 17 October 2014 (UTC)[reply]
    The files have been renamed and Town Line Church and Cemetery now uses the new names. PrimeHunter (talk) 03:35, 18 October 2014 (UTC)[reply]

    Thank you very much. Kirk — Preceding unsigned comment added by Kirkwhouse (talkcontribs) 19:20, 18 October 2014 (UTC)[reply]

    Hello. I am the Senior Designer at WBBM-TV CBS 2 Chicago. The logo on our Wikipedia page WBBM-TV is incorrect and of dubious origin. Please advise how I, a new user, can expedite uploading the correct logo. Thank you. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Alzo22 (talkcontribs) 16:42, 17 October 2014 (UTC)[reply]

    You can make a request at WP:Files for upload.--ukexpat (talk) 16:49, 17 October 2014 (UTC)[reply]

    Can you highlight text, and press something to surround it with colons to get a nested reply?

    Can you highlight text, and press something to surround it with colons to get a nested reply?

    It would be like how Wikipedia heading syntax can be added around text in the editing page.

    Thanks. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Bboyjkang2 (talkcontribs) 23:18, 17 October 2014 (UTC)[reply]

    I'm sorry, but I really don't understand at all what you are asking for. --Orange Mike | Talk 03:38, 18 October 2014 (UTC)[reply]
    @Bboyjkang2: I don't know a tool with such a feature. You only add colons at the start of the line and don't need something balanced to surround the line, so I don't see need for a tool. PrimeHunter (talk) 03:42, 18 October 2014 (UTC)[reply]
    Highlighting could be done like this, but only on talk pages, by using <mark>text</mark>. Other examples are like this, by using '''text''' or
    Like this, by leaving a space before the sentence.
    
    All the best, Taketa (talk) 04:15, 18 October 2014 (UTC)[reply]
    My answer assumed you mean like marking text in the edit box and using the toolbar to insert a section heading with an equal number of '=' at each end of the marked text, but instead inserting colons to the left of the marked text to get an indented reply like this with no marking in the saved page. PrimeHunter (talk) 04:23, 18 October 2014 (UTC)[reply]
    If my reply is to remain nested, each new paragraph has to have preceding colons.
    If a reply has multiple paragraphs, I would like to select the reply content, press a button, and have it automatically put colons at the start of each paragraph of the reply. Bboyjkang2 (talk) 04:43, 18 October 2014 (UTC)[reply]
    I know what you mean. I sometimes want paragraph breaks to improve readability, and it's cumbersome to indent each paragraph.
    At some point, everything we do on talk pages will be replaced by a new thing, Flow. My guess is that Flow will make things like that easier, or unnecessary. This is still a ways off, and there is currently no target date for rollout. ‑‑Mandruss (talk) 07:53, 18 October 2014 (UTC)[reply]
    Another way may be
    to input a single 'paragrah' of a text
    with a single line of colons in front of it
    to define appropriate indentation
    an split its
    contents with HTML <br/> tag.
    However, such text may be difficult to re-edit later, if some revision is necessary, as there is no obvious, easily visible division of the contents in the source text. --CiaPan (talk) 09:19, 18 October 2014 (UTC)[reply]
    I found a tool with such a function. Special:Preferences#mw-prefsection-gadgets has the option:
    "(U) wikEd: alternative full-featured integrated text editor for Firefox, Safari, and Google Chrome (documentation)"
    wikEd has lots of features including the icon to increase indentation. If I click it more than once without marking the same text again then I also get increased indentation in earlier text. Unless I missed something, it may often be easier to just copy-paste the same number of colons to the start of each line. PrimeHunter (talk) 11:30, 18 October 2014 (UTC)[reply]
    Thanks PrimeHunter! Bboyjkang2 (talk) 07:36, 19 October 2014 (UTC)[reply]
    I know what you mean. I sometimes want paragraph breaks to improve readability, and it's cumbersome to indent each paragraph.
      • 3 possible Chrome extensions for reading**
    I struggled with reading throughout high school and university.
      • Sentence boundary disambiguation, and sentence segmentation (each sentence on a new line) – search and replace**
    To aid me in reading very long and difficult pieces of text, I sometimes segment the text by sentence boundaries (put each sentence on a new line).
    This can be done with a text replacement of “period” “space” with “period” “manual line break” or “new line”.
    i.e. Search for: . Replace: .\n
    or
    “period” “^l”.
    This is mainly for more difficult material that requires re-reading, as your eyes immediately find the start of the sentence.
    (I eventually want to find a piece of JavaScript to do this.
    I’ve already seen a couple scripts that do simple word replacements. e.g. github/com/lazerwalker/literally - chrome.google/com/webstore/detail/literally/odlbpehkpefnmehgdofblnagjpimaanh?hl=en
    “Replaces occurrences of the word 'literally' with 'figuratively'”.).
    (In the "Google I/O 2013 - Cognitive Science and Design" talk, the speaker says that experiments show that you can be faster with reading longer lines, but a lot of people prefer, and are more comfortable with reading shorter and more narrow lines: www.youtube/com/watch?v=z2exxj4COhU#t=1409.
    Sentence segmentation also narrows some rows.).
      • Deleting text that that is already understood**
    When I want to fully understand a long and difficult piece of text in a word document, I sometimes like to delete sections that I comprehend already.
    If I need to reread the text, I don’t need to see those understood sections again.
    I was looking for a way to save web edits so that they wouldn’t revert when I refreshed pages.
    Two extensions might allow that:
    Page Archiver
    >Once a page has been archived, you can also edit the page with the integrated WYSIWYG editor.
    StyleBot
    >You can change the font, colors, margin, padding, hide elements or even write your own CSS manually. Your custom CSS styles will be preserved and automatically applied the next time you visit that site.".
      • Independent clause boundary disambiguation**
    For independent clause boundary disambiguation, and independent clause segmentation you need natural language processing tools like NLTK.
    e.g. "Sentence boundary disambiguation (SBD), also known as sentence breaking, is the problem in natural language processing of deciding where
    sentences begin and end".
    (2 independent clauses in 1 sentence - "disambiguation is the problem", and "sentences begin and end".)
    "Often, natural language processing tools
    require their input to be divided into sentences for a number of reasons".
    (starting from the end of a sentence, and moving left, once an independent clause is found, split at the left of where it starts - 1 independent clause in 1 sentence - "require their input").Bboyjkang2 (talk) 09:15, 19 October 2014 (UTC)[reply]
    <mark> is not supported by IE8 and below; use {{hilite}}. <poem> formats text by retaining spaces and newlines. --  Gadget850 talk 09:51, 19 October 2014 (UTC)[reply]
    Ok. Thanks for the info. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Bboyjkang2 (talkcontribs) 20:58, 19 October 2014 (UTC)[reply]

    October 18

    posting article to facebook

    How do I post an article to facebook? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 173.196.222.4 (talk) 12:06, 18 October 2014 (UTC)[reply]

    Copy the article's URL and paste it where you'd normally share anything. InedibleHulk (talk) 12:51, October 18, 2014 (UTC)

    i edited "List of tropical cyclone records" wikipedia article...

    Ram nareshji (talk) 12:49, 18 October 2014 (UTC) i edited "List of tropical cyclone records" wikipedia article... but i am fear i didn't add reference source, what will happen to me, will my account get suspended from editing wikipedia articles for this mistake??[reply]

    No. Either someone will revert it, add a source or ignore it. If you make a habit of it, someone will give you a friendly warning. If you keep it up, you'll get increasingly less-friendly warnings. When you're near getting blocked, it'll be very clear. InedibleHulk (talk) 12:54, October 18, 2014 (UTC)
    What you did was actually a bit worse. You replaced something that was sourced with something that wasn't. Consider this your first friendly warning. InedibleHulk (talk) 12:57, October 18, 2014 (UTC)

    Ram nareshji (talk) 13:05, 18 October 2014 (UTC) i added the source: :http://www.lenseye.co/2014/10/13/lens-eye-exclusive-cyclone-hudhud-effect/, then also why it revert it back? Most Intense Cyclone is Cyclone HudHud, 870 mb (hPa) (25.69 inHg) is value of Typhoon Tip, then Cyclone HudHud has even more see the value: 960 mbar (hPa); 28.35 inHg, so which is most intense cyclone? — Preceding unsigned comment added by Ram nareshji (talkcontribs) 13:08, 18 October 2014 (UTC) Ram nareshji (talk) 13:09, 18 October 2014 (UTC)[reply]

    As noted below, you are under a misunderstanding. A central pressure of 870 mb is a very intense hurricane, while 960 mb is run of the mill, nothing special.--S Philbrick(Talk) 21:34, 18 October 2014 (UTC)[reply]
    This is clearly a misunderstanding; the lower the pressure in any storm, the more intense the cyclone, and, especially with tropical cyclones, the greater the winds, as pressure differences are what generate winds. Very Severe Cyclonic Storm Hudhud is not nearly as strong as Super Typhoon Tip, which was an extremely intense storm which beats out all others on record in terms of minimum central pressure. Even in the North Indian Ocean, the most intense storm on record was Super Cyclonic Storm Gonu in 2007. I agree wholeheartedly with the Sphilbrick regarding intensity of storms. Dustin (talk) 21:41, 18 October 2014 (UTC)[reply]

    please allow me to edit wikipedia articles

    please allow me to edit wikipedia articles, actually wikipedia caption is : anyone can edit , then why "List of tropical cyclone records" wikipedia article revert it back? even i added reference source to it, then also my edit is ignored & revert it back Ram nareshji (talk) 13:14, 18 October 2014 (UTC)[reply]

    You added the source, and then removed it yourself a minute later. That left just the unsourced replacement of an existing sourced section. In any event, that everyone can edit WIkipedia, also means that anyone can revert an inappropriate change. Rwessel (talk) 14:03, 18 October 2014 (UTC)[reply]
    I assumed since you removed the source (which isn't the one you now claim it was), there was something wrong with it. I don't know much about hurricanes, but it seems the lower the central pressure, the stronger the storm. Since Tip's is lower than Hudhud's, it seems right as is. InedibleHulk (talk) 15:52, October 18, 2014 (UTC)
    I do know a bit about cyclones of all sorts, and I can say that the above statement is correct; the lower the central pressure, the more intense the storm. Super Typhoon Tip holds the record for most intense tropical cyclone on record. Dustin (talk) 21:38, 18 October 2014 (UTC)[reply]

    Hi, I just tried to create this new navbox, but I think I'm doing something wrong because when I go to one of the pages on which the navbox appears, and click on "edit", the program says there is no such navbox. Thanks for your help, Yoninah (talk) 17:44, 18 October 2014 (UTC)[reply]

    Hi Yoninah, the template is at Template:Contemporary Hasidic music. If you wish to move it to a new name, you can use the "Move" button at the top of the page. You may have to click on the "more" button at the top of the page to see the move button. All the best, Taketa (talk) 18:04, 18 October 2014 (UTC)[reply]
    (edit conflict)You created {{Contemporary Hasidic music}} but set |name=Contemporary Jewish religious music. This breaks the "E" edit link. --  Gadget850 talk 18:05, 18 October 2014 (UTC)[reply]
    Ah sorry, I see I misunderstood the question. As Gadget850 says. You have the choice to change the name of the template or the name used in the template, or you can remove the edit button. All the best, Taketa (talk) 18:08, 18 October 2014 (UTC)[reply]
    Thank you! Yoninah (talk) 18:31, 18 October 2014 (UTC)[reply]

    User pages

    Header added by ColinFine (talk) 23:58, 18 October 2014 (UTC)[reply]

    Must users build/write user pages and, if so, what can be written in them? Is this important to facilitate approval of edits? I find that --often-- edits are being done by individuals who have a vested interest in preventing factual information out. What can be done if this happens? — Preceding unsigned comment added by Pierrejcd (talkcontribs) 21:36, 18 October 2014 (UTC)[reply]

    No, Pierrejcd, user pages are entirely optional. Most regular editors create one, to tell something about themselves (and to stop their signature having a red link!), but it is not required. If an editor works on articles where they have (or might have) a conflict of interest, it is good practice for them to declare this fact on their user page, but it is not a requirement. (And note an editor who potentially has a conflict of interest might scrupulously edit neutrally). WP:USERPAGE describes what may go on a user page. --ColinFine (talk) 23:58, 18 October 2014 (UTC)[reply]

    "u" template notification clarification

    For quite some time I've thought that {{u}} generated a notification to the specified user. Reading that doc, it seems I was incorrect, and I should be using {{user}} instead. I just wanted to get confirmation on that before I retrain myself. ‑‑Mandruss (talk) 23:24, 18 October 2014 (UTC)[reply]

    @Mandruss: They both generate a notification (assuming they are used in a signed post without certain rare circumstances). With a few exceptions, you generate a notification if you make a signed post which contains a wikilink to a user page, i.e. you notify X if the produced code contains [[User:X]] or a piped link [[User:X|anything here]]. Both templates include such a link in their output. Most template documentations don't mention whether the template generates a notification. See also Wikipedia:Notifications#Notification events where {{U}} is one of the examples. PrimeHunter (talk) 00:29, 19 October 2014 (UTC)[reply]
    Ok, but there have been several times when I noticed a {{u}} with my username on it in someone's reply, but I didn't get the notification. That's what sent me to the doc in the first place. I got a notification for your reply, but you used {{ping}}. Can someone reply to me with a {{u}} please, as a test? ‑‑Mandruss (talk) 00:35, 19 October 2014 (UTC)[reply]
    Testing with {{u}} at the request of Mandruss. - David Biddulph (talk) 00:55, 19 October 2014 (UTC)[reply]
    Thanks, got that one. Oh well, chalk it up to an unsolved Mr. E. ‑‑Mandruss (talk) 00:56, 19 October 2014 (UTC)[reply]
    If you showed us the edit then we could probably solve it. Was it signed in the same edit? PrimeHunter (talk) 01:06, 19 October 2014 (UTC)[reply]
    Now that you mention it, the last one was signed in an earlier edit. So, if we decide after posting a reply that we should have notified someone, how can that be done? Delete the old sig and re-sign? (Lord, bring me Flow, this is ridiculous) ‑‑Mandruss (talk) 01:34, 19 October 2014 (UTC)[reply]
    mw:Help:Echo#Technical details says: "The diff hunk must be recognised as an addition of new content, not a change to existing content." That can be difficult to evaluate. It's safer to make a new signed post below the old post saying Pinging [[User:...]]. ~~~~. PrimeHunter (talk) 01:46, 19 October 2014 (UTC)[reply]
    Ok. Thank you. ‑‑Mandruss (talk) 02:17, 19 October 2014 (UTC)[reply]

    Spamming accounts

    There are three accounts that exist solely for the purpose of advertising imvbox, including posting annoying fake citations. The accounts are A.Zarins, Mairey3005, and BramseyIII. What is the best way to deal with them? Regards, Haminoon (talk) 23:40, 18 October 2014 (UTC)[reply]

    WP:SPI would probably be a good place to start, if they are doing the exact same things. Dismas|(talk) 23:44, 18 October 2014 (UTC)[reply]
    Or else you can report them to Administrators. But consider giving adequate warnings before reporting. If the specific user keep spamming even after warnings then don't hesitate to report him--Chamith (talk) 01:45, 19 October 2014 (UTC)[reply]

    October 19

    Policy on cross-namespace redirects

    I've been looking to see if we have any policy or guidelines regarding cross-namespace redirects, but can't seem to find anything. Specifically, is a redirect from 'User:MadeUpName/MadeUpEssay' to 'WP:MadeUpEssay' permissible? AndyTheGrump (talk) 01:19, 19 October 2014 (UTC)[reply]

    It depends. If MadeUpName created the redirect and has created or contributed to WP:MadeUpEssay then it seems fine to me. Such redirects are left by moves anyway and redirects from userspace moves are often left in place. If the redirect was created by somebody else then it gives a misleading impression and MadeUpName should be notified. If this is a real situation then it isn't "Specifically" when you make up names without revealing the real situation. PrimeHunter (talk) 01:36, 19 October 2014 (UTC)[reply]
    The essay is still in user space - which is why I'm asking whether a 'WP:xxx' redirect is appropriate. And no, I'm not going to discuss the specific case here - I was asking if we have a policy on this. If we don't then this isn't the appropriate place to deal with specifics anyway. AndyTheGrump (talk) 02:42, 19 October 2014 (UTC)[reply]
    Wikipedia:User pages says "redirects from userspace subpages to mainspace are common and acceptable". I haven't found specific mention of redirects from userspace subpages to WP space but that should also be OK in most cases assuming the user did it or agrees with it. We only have a general problem with cross-namespace redirects from mainspace. Wikipedia:Cross-namespace redirects is about that. PrimeHunter (talk) 03:22, 19 October 2014 (UTC)[reply]

    Find a photo

    Sometime ago I downloaded a photo from Wikipedia and it was saved as a long string of letters and digits, apparantly random. Now I can't remember where I got the photo. I put the file name into google, Wikipedia search, and commons search - none of them came up with it. Is there a way to find that article again? Or is there a way to match the JPG with images on Wikipedia (or somewhere on the internet)? Bubba73 You talkin' to me? 06:05, 19 October 2014 (UTC)[reply]

    What's the filename, or is that a personal question? ‑‑Mandruss (talk) 07:52, 19 October 2014 (UTC)[reply]
    Can we know what it is a photo of? Maybe if you upload it somewhere (if not Wikipedia then maybe some where like Photobucket or Imgur) then you can do a search on Tineye for it. Or you could upload it to Tineye to do a search. That might turn up the article. Dismas|(talk) 09:27, 19 October 2014 (UTC)[reply]
    Tineye found it in just a second or two! Thank you very much. Bubba73 You talkin' to me? 18:44, 19 October 2014 (UTC)[reply]
    And it found a version that was cropped tighter and a version that was not cropped as much as the one I uploaded. Bubba73 You talkin' to me? 19:53, 19 October 2014 (UTC)[reply]
    Resolved

    Mikoyan-Gurevich I-250

    hi ia want to add a picture with a more detailed diagram on the the article for Mikoyan-Gurevich I-250 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mikoyan-Gurevich_I-250)

    i am not allowed to upload files can some one else do this for me also how can i send you an attachment/. . tks — Preceding unsigned comment added by Dkrinas (talkcontribs) 08:36, 19 October 2014 (UTC)[reply]

    Hi Dkrinas, welcome to Wikipedia! To upload an image, go to UploadWizard. Make sure you either made the image yourself or send the explicit written permission by the owner of the image to the Volunteer Response Team (more info on their page). Do not upload anything you do no own. More information at Wikipedia:Uploading images. Sincerely, Taketa (talk) 09:13, 19 October 2014 (UTC)[reply]

    I would like to make a complaint about a Wikipedia editor, but I'm unsure of the correct complaint process.

    The most relevant guide I have been able to find is http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Dispute_resolution#Resolving_user_conduct_disputes , where I am informed

    "Requests for comment on user conduct (RFCU) is the main venue for resolving disputes about user conduct. Requests for comment on user conduct have minimum requirements that need to be satisfied: at least two users must have tried (and failed) to resolve the problem with the user on the user's talk page. Only use RFCU for long-running problems, not isolated instances of misconduct or suboptimal behaviour by another editor."

    This does not appear to describe my situation; my complaint (obviously, as a not-logged-in user) is not long-running, and it's at least somewhat specific to how the editor in question has interacted with me. Further, I cannot "resolve the problem with the user on the user's talk page", as I appear to be unable to edit there: I am told that "This page is currently semi-protected so that only established registered users can edit it."

    Or I could try:

    "Ask an administrator to evaluate the conduct of the user. You can ask for an administrator's attention at a noticeboard such as the administrators' noticeboard for incidents (ANI). Conduct complaints that fall into certain sub-categories of misconduct have their own administrators' noticeboard; for example, complaints about edit warring must be made at the edit warring noticeboard and not to ANI."

    This seems more like it. However, ANI tells me that "When you start a discussion about an editor, you must notify them on their user talk page.", and again, I am unable to do so.

    The ironic part, for me, is that part of the user's talk page content is directly reflective of the problem I want to complain about - namely, pushing a blatant WP:POV, to the extent of removing comments calling that POV out from a talk page as "trolling" while allowing that POV to remain, couched in blatantly inflammatory language. Also, reviewing the user's talk page, I see that another user has called out the editor in question for using profanity in the article talk page - and he conceded the point, but hasn't stopped over a week later.

    I feel that the conduct of the editor in question is inexcusable, and I do not see why I should be forced to register with Wikipedia in order to make the case. I also can't figure out exactly what ANI subsection, if any, is most appropriate. Help?

    70.24.5.250 (talk) 09:24, 19 October 2014 (UTC)[reply]

    You could still report it at ANI and instead of posting on the offender's talk page, simply tag them in the complaint at ANI. You can do this by putting their user name in brackets like you would do for a regular wikilink. For example, User:Dismas would give me a notification that I was referred to here at this page. Dismas|(talk) 09:31, 19 October 2014 (UTC)[reply]

    Gadget proposal

    Is it appropriate to propose User:Iceblock/Scripts/Seeking-help.js be copy-pasted to MediaWiki:Gadget-seeking-help.js (or similar) for offering it to all users via the gadgets tab? I take the chance to ask here instead of (maybe) disturbing another forum. If it's not appropriate, I apologize. Iceblock (talk) 11:18, 19 October 2014 (UTC)[reply]

    Wikipedia:Gadget/proposals --  Gadget850 talk 11:45, 19 October 2014 (UTC)[reply]
    It sounds rather specialized for a gadget. The number is limited to make it manageable for users. Most people who help users can probably figure out how to import a script, but you could make it easier by adding instructions like this in a comment at the top:
    To use the script, add the following line to Special:MyPage/common.js
    importScript('User:Iceblock/Scripts/Seeking-help.js'); // Linkback: [[User:Iceblock/Scripts/Seeking-help.js]]
    
    The linkback part will help see who uses the script at Special:WhatLinksHere/User:Iceblock/Scripts/Seeking-help.js. If it was a gadget then I don't think it should have Norwegian comments (although I can personally read them), and it should probably check whether the user is an admin and report on Category:Wikipedians looking for help from administrators in that case. PrimeHunter (talk) 12:04, 19 October 2014 (UTC)[reply]

    Some articles look strange

    The article Hart's Rules is looking strange for me. It has explicit links "navigation" and "search" at the top, all the "[edit]" links are absurdly big, there is a link to a specific version of the article at the bottom, and all the categories are listed on individual lines. However the article Horace Hart is looking all OK. Why is this? JIP | Talk 15:11, 19 October 2014 (UTC)[reply]

    I tried logged in and logged out and am not seeing that. Perhaps it self-resolved? Rmhermen (talk) 16:55, 19 October 2014 (UTC)[reply]

    Draft page DC Grays

    Hello. I appreciate any help you can give me. I have just posted a Wikipedia page for the first time on an organization called the D.C. Grays, a collegiate summer baseball team that plays in the Cal Ripken Summer League at the Washington Nationals Youth Baseball Academy in Washington. I forgot to list the team web site -- www.dcgrays.com -- as a source and I don't know how to do that. I assume the page is still in draft status to be reviewed before being posted. Thank you — Preceding unsigned comment added by 50.203.240.163 (talk) 15:40, 19 October 2014 (UTC)[reply]

    You have not provided any indication that the subject has received significant coverage by reliably published sources not affiliated with the subject. So it will remain in draft state until it is considered stale and deleted. -- TRPoD aka The Red Pen of Doom 17:05, 19 October 2014 (UTC)[reply]

    Sir. I will provide several reliable sources not affiliated with the subject. Thank you for responding and for your help. Can I post those links here tomorrow for your consideration? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 50.203.240.163 (talk) 23:07, 19 October 2014 (UTC)[reply]

    This isn't the place to provide the information. Add the references from independent reliable sources to the draft article, then when you are convinced that you have demonstrated the subject's notability you can submit the draft for review by using the submit button in the box at the top of the draft. --David Biddulph (talk) 23:34, 19 October 2014 (UTC)[reply]

    numbered lists

    The article List of countries and dependencies by area has an outdated area for the size of the Pacific Remote Islands Marine National Monument. This change would move it from 171st place to 21st place. I really don't fancy the idea of retyping every number in between on the list. Is there any semi-automated way to make this change? Rmhermen (talk) 16:50, 19 October 2014 (UTC)[reply]

    • Highlight and copy text
    • Paste into spreadsheet such as Excel
    • Manipulate data as desired
    • Copy spreadsheet text
    • Paste into Excel-to-Wiki Converter and convert
    • Copy output and paste back into article
    • Do a little cleanup:
      • Change {{table}} to class="wikitable"
      • Change | align="center" style="background:#f0f0f0;" to ! for headers
    --  Gadget850 talk 17:00, 19 October 2014 (UTC)[reply]

    Paste move

    I notice that Maithil people (created today) is a copy of this version of Maithil. Probably something needs to done about the attribution of the new article. Maithil has since been converted to a disambiguation; so it wouldn't work to tag the new article with {{db-same}}. —teb728 t c 19:58, 19 October 2014 (UTC)[reply]

    Nice catch.  Working. ~SuperHamster Talk Contribs 04:54, 20 October 2014 (UTC)[reply]
    @TEB728: Per WP:PATT, I did a dummy edit to add the details of the copying to the article's history. I also added details of the copying to Talk:Maithil people. Thanks for bringing this up. ~SuperHamster Talk Contribs 05:05, 20 October 2014 (UTC)[reply]

    How do I correct an erroneous date of birth?

    Hi Everyone

    My first time here.

    Forgive me I dont wish to seem lazy. Theres just so much info to digest in the help pages its a bit overwhelming.

    I'd just like to correct an erroneous date given for someone's date of birth on their wiki page.

    Any pointers on how I can do this quickly would be mucho appreciated.

    Thanks

    T B R — Preceding unsigned comment added by The Board Room (talkcontribs) 21:58, 19 October 2014 (UTC)[reply]

    First, we like to have reliable sources, especially for important information (I think birthdates qualify as important). The source is then referenced in a citation following the information. Is there already a citation for the existing information? Do you have a reliable source for the correction?
    If you wish to learn how, you can make this change yourself, with additional help here as needed. If not, you can provide the source here—usually in the form of a URL—and someone will probably make the change (I would). It would be somewhat less likely that someone would take the time to research the source and make the change. ‑‑Mandruss (talk) 22:11, 19 October 2014 (UTC)[reply]
    It is easier for us to explain if we know what article you want to change. The simple answer is to edit the article, and change it. If it has a reliable source that supports the current birthdate, I would suggest starting a discussion on the article's talk page and explain why the current date is wrong and what the source for the new date is. If there currently is no source for the date, you should be able to change it but you should include a reliable source for the new date. GB fan 22:14, 19 October 2014 (UTC)[reply]

    Translation to Catlan

    Hi!! I'm working in the transllation to catalan of the Thor Heyerdahl article in english Maybe it will be good to show at the beginning of the catalan article that I am still working on it, something like (article in progress) ... --Immasureda (talk) 22:11, 19 October 2014 (UTC)[reply]

    If you are editing in the English wikipedia you can place {{under construction}} at the top of the page to show that someone is currently editing. If you are editing the catalan page, you should ask at their help desk (which i think is [1]) for what type of markup is available there. -- TRPoD aka The Red Pen of Doom 22:17, 19 October 2014 (UTC)[reply]

    GEKKOS OF ZIMBABWE DrC.Humphreys (talk) 23:11, 19 October 2014 (UTC) DrC Humphreys[reply]

    Dear Sir,
    I recently started to write an article as a stub (see article and author above) I was notified by a patrolled I has been marked for deletion. The patroller was vanjargie. I appealed the deletion but whilst i was in the middle of the appeal the article was deleted by a patroller who has administrator status Alexf. Could you please explain to me the hierarchy of the administrators who decide what is acceptable and what is not ? Alexf 's page suggests that a haiku or a poem might have an article reinstated (this I find quite random) ) Then later he states on no account send a haiku or picture to ask for an article to be reinstated. I am a professor of Zoology but so I dont understand how this arbitrary power to censor or not to censor at wikipedia works and the random chain of command works. Please help ..... DrC.Humphreys (talk) 23:11, 19 October 2014 (UTC) DrC Humphreys[reply]

    @DrC.Humphreys: Seeing as Alexf already answered your question on their talk, I'll just add this: there is no "hierarchy" in Wikipedia in the sense that no user has more legal authority or authority to make unilateral decisions than any other user. Every decision made on Wikipedia is/should be governed by our policy pages, such as the Criteria for Speedy Deletion, which you unfortunately ran in into. Administrators only have more technical capabilities than other users; they are allowed by the website software to perform certain functions off-limits to normal users, such as deleting pages. Obviously, we have to restrict the deletion function, otherwise a random person in Harare might delete the main page. As for the "haiku" request, I'm pretty sure that was a joke. Altamel (talk) 05:20, 20 October 2014 (UTC)[reply]
    Articles are often best started in userspace - as a subpage of one's own user page. Then they will not be pounced upon while in an incomplete state. To make doubly sure, a {{Userdraft}} template may be placed at the top of the page. When ready, the article can be placed in article space with a simple page move: Noyster (talk), 10:26, 20 October 2014 (UTC)[reply]
    ... or can be submitted for review through the AFC process by using the submit button which the {{userdraft}} template provides. --David Biddulph (talk) 11:57, 20 October 2014 (UTC)[reply]

    Is this worth a checkuser's time?

    Molly Ringwald (edit | talk | history | protect | delete | links | watch | logs | views) If you check the history of the Molly Ringwald article, you'll see a number of red link, SPA users who keep adding fair use images. Is this worth the time of a check user or a sock puppet investigation? Dismas|(talk) 23:57, 19 October 2014 (UTC)[reply]

    I have put Semi-protection on it for now, to stop the additions. GB fan 00:04, 20 October 2014 (UTC)[reply]
    But then on second thought, semi-protection won't do much since the editors are autoconfirmed. GB fan 00:08, 20 October 2014 (UTC)[reply]

    Never mind. Someone else has started a case at Wikipedia:Administrators' noticeboard/Incidents#Sockpuppetry and shenanigans at Molly Ringwald and related articles and has seen a wider issue. Dismas|(talk) 02:27, 20 October 2014 (UTC)[reply]

    serial copyright violation is probably worth checkuser time. -- TRPoD aka The Red Pen of Doom 11:31, 20 October 2014 (UTC)[reply]

    October 20

    Revalidation article said "good"

    The article Fursuit is marked as "Good", but... does not deserve! There are several marks of maintenance and the version in Portuguese and Norwegian is much more complete. It would be possible to be revalidated? Keplerbr (talk) 03:45, 20 October 2014 (UTC)[reply]

    To request an evaluation of a Good Article in decline, you can post it at Wikipedia:Good article reassessment. The best outcome, of course, is if the article can be improved without losing GA status. Altamel (talk) 04:41, 20 October 2014 (UTC)[reply]
    Thank you. I could not find that page. My English is not good enough to write in one article, so I can not improve it. Keplerbr (talk) 04:55, 20 October 2014 (UTC)[reply]


    Chemistry

    In editing an article, I misspelled its title: "5-Hydroxyeicosatetraenoic acid and 5-oxo-eicosatetreaenoic acid" should have been "5-Hydroxyeicosatetraenoic acid and 5-oxo-eicosatetraenoic acid." That is, there is a incorrect "e" in the name of the 5-oxo compound. Also, how do I add a chemical diagram of the pathways of metabolizing these compounds? Thanks. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Joflaher (talkcontribs) 15:03, 20 October 2014 (UTC)[reply]

    Near the top of the article page, you should see a "More" to the left of the search box. Click that and select "Move". The rest should be self-explanatory.
    I can't answer your second question. ‑‑Mandruss (t) 16:31, 20 October 2014 (UTC)[reply]
    @Joflaher - try asking WP:WikiProject Chemistry for help with the second part of your question. That's where the subject specialists can be found. Roger (Dodger67) (talk) 18:47, 20 October 2014 (UTC)[reply]

    sources of other language

    Shoud we cite the sources brought to the discuss or items in 'English Wikipedia' from the books or thesis written English only? Is it impossible to cite the sources from those written in other languages? -- JARA7979 (talk) 01:14, 21 October 2014 (KTC)

    Where suitable sources in English are not available, non-English sources are acceptable, see WP:V#Non-English sources. --David Biddulph (talk) 16:20, 20 October 2014 (UTC)[reply]

    Converting Word formatting to Wikipaedia

    Hello, I'm new to this and I'm trying to convert information, equations and diagrams created in a word document for inclusion in a new Wikipedia page I'm trying to create. Is there a simple way of doing this. Thank you. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Jonhuwmac (talkcontribs) 16:46, 20 October 2014 (UTC)[reply]

    See Help:WordToWiki. --  Gadget850 talk 17:00, 20 October 2014 (UTC)[reply]
    Hello, Jonhuwmac. I see that you are new to Wikipedia, so welcome! If you are creating a Wikipedia document out of an existing document, be sure that it was not previously published or posted somewhere else even if you wrote it, for copyright reasons. Don't forget that you are licensing the rights to that text and/or images to Wikipedia (see Wikipedia:Copyright violations) and you will thereafter have no control over what other editors do with (or to) it. Good luck with your project.—Anne Delong (talk) 18:16, 20 October 2014 (UTC)[reply]

    Change Ayn al arab to kobane

    this is not a approved work done by wikipedia and please revert it.i reverted but daikamasu change it again i will be soon blocked by this mad man. wikipedia should have a policy to cover any country's sovereignty. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Isuruwe (talkcontribs) 16:57, 20 October 2014 (UTC)[reply]

    See also this legal threat by the OP. --David Biddulph (talk) 17:04, 20 October 2014 (UTC)[reply]

    A list and a template - is it appropriate to have both?

    Dear editors: I was looking through my subpages today and found this: User:Anne Delong/List of bluegrass music festivals (I'd forgotten about it.). However, there is also this: Template:Bluegrassmusic, which has the same list of festivals. Is it appropriate to have both? —Anne Delong (talk) 18:05, 20 October 2014 (UTC)[reply]

    @Anne Delong: Check out Wikipedia:Categories, lists, and navigation templates. The existence of a an overlapping navigation template should not be the sole reason for not creating a list. Categories, lists, and nav templates should complement each other. Assuming the list is appropriate for inclusion, don't let the existence of a navigation template stop you. ~SuperHamster Talk Contribs 18:34, 20 October 2014 (UTC)[reply]
    Thanks, SuperHamster, that link was just what I needed. I went ahead and created the list. Hopefully it will grow, because there are several large, long-standing festivals that don't have an article yet. —Anne Delong (talk) 19:54, 20 October 2014 (UTC)[reply]

    Question about citations

    Hi, I'm new here so I wanted to ask a question about citations. I came across a page Chris Alexander (editor). It contains a bunch of citations that don't exist from a website that doesn't exist. When I removed them i got threatened by another editor. I understand that links will disappear through time and can be found on archive sites, but in this case since the website is dead and no longer exists and there is no archived versions of these links I simply removed them. I find citations that redirect readers very fraudlent and since there is no evidence that these cites every existed in the first place, I don't see why they can't be removed since they simply mislead readers. If the wikipedia is to be trusted should there not be valid citations rather than empty redirecting links?Cthwikia (talk) 18:36, 20 October 2014 (UTC)[reply]

    See Wikipedia:Link rot. --  Gadget850 talk 18:48, 20 October 2014 (UTC)[reply]
    Gadget is correct, and there does seem to be evidence from Google searches that the pages in question did exist. Some, at least, have some content mirrored elsewhere, so the deadlinks do give a clue where to start looking. --David Biddulph (talk) 18:57, 20 October 2014 (UTC)[reply]
    Right, all it took to find complete or partial copies in seconds was to copy-paste the titles you deleted to the search box in my browser. If your browser doesn't have one then try https://google.com, but if you don't know how to use a search engine then you are completely unqualified to determine whether an archive exists. Do not remove citations again just because the current link is broken. PrimeHunter (talk) 23:33, 20 October 2014 (UTC)[reply]
    And you were not being threatened. You were merely being informed of Wikipedia's policies & practices. Look at the links, such as WP:DEADLINK and WP:KDL, and you will understand why we do it the way we do. We'll welcome your help in tagging the relevant links with {{deadlink}}, and (if you feel so inclined) in looking for where the information can now be found. --David Biddulph (talk) 19:02, 20 October 2014 (UTC)[reply]

    From someone who donates!

    I'm not saying that because my company makes donations time to time to Wikipedia, there should be special treatment, but I've been going back and forth with Elkman (Grayfell) for days now and he refuses to leave up the information that is true and with correct citations on our client's (Lissa Lauria) page. From something as simple as my putting "also known as" he has to put "sometimes stylized as". That's not correct. She is 'also known as' Lissa. It seems that he just like to go around and cause issues, because I just can't get him to see that what he is omitting is not "promotional" just FACT. Is there anyone I can speak to about this? It's very, very frustrating to have a Wikipedia page up for years and then someone comes along and removes most of the information that had links to places like the New York Times! Also, he changed the photo. I'd like to change it. Does that mean if I change it, he will change it back? Honestly, feels like I'm in jail and he holds the keys. Who can I speak to about this? — Preceding unsigned comment added by Dd865dd (talkcontribs) 22:20, 20 October 2014 (UTC) Dd865dd (talk) 22:21, 20 October 2014 (UTC)[reply]

    First of all, thank you for contributing to Wikipedia. Second, it appears (based on what I see on the article) he is not saying her name is sometimes stylized as Lissa, he is saying her name is sometimes stylized as LISSA (in all uppercase). I would presume that she is most commonly referred to simply as Lissa and her name is only in uppercase on YouTube, iTunes, etc. If you are trying to add that she is more commonly referred to simply by one name (rather than by her full name), then you might be hitting a gray area, because her single name is not a stage name, it's merely her first name (compare Beyoncé Knowles). Unless her mononymity is a crucial part of her persona (compare Cher), there is really no point in changing the intro to reflect this little nuance. However, if you still disagree with the way she is presented on the article, feel free to take issue with it on the article's talk page and be bold.
    I also suggest that you take a glance at WP:COI, as it seems to be relevant here. Scarce2 (talk) 23:06, 20 October 2014 (UTC)[reply]

    Procedural question regarding references

    I've edited multiple articles where the "|work=" , "|agency=" the "|publisher=" fields are used all used for the same information when referring to a website citation. Is there a difference between the three? If so, what is the difference? Thanks in advance, David O. Johnson (talk) 23:59, 20 October 2014 (UTC)[reply]

    Inexplicable negative net size change

    In this edit, I expected a net size change of 0, but the history shows -30. I see no explanation for that in the diff. It seems irrelevant, but this was a case where I took the entire article into Notepad for a mass change that I couldn't do in edit mode. Did I replace multibyte Unicode with single bytes? ‑‑Mandruss (t) 00:16, 21 October 2014 (UTC)[reply]

    Help upload pictures - Masters Environmental Management student!!

    Help - upload pictures - AM completing Masters Environmental Management & have posted page on bird species Certhionyx variegatus last Friday plus added a photo outside copyright period to the Wikipedia Commons area - I've waited the 4 days but still am not able to add either the commons photo Eggs North pg90

    or photos (having received permission form photographers)
    

    Kathy Maguire (talk) 00:55, 21 October 2014 (UTC)[reply]