Wikipedia:Help desk/Archives/2012 March 10

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March 10[edit]

US Presidents[edit]

Who is the first president of USA? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 41.190.3.136 (talk) 02:01, 10 March 2012 (UTC)[reply]

See List of Presidents of the United States. Dismas|(talk) 02:02, 10 March 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Guideline on subsequent name use[edit]

We have an article about a woman. She gets married. She takes her husband's last name (and that's how she's best known). When she is referred to in the article during the period before her marriage, should her "new" last name be used or her maiden name? The only guidance I've found relative to subsequent use of names is WP:SURNAME, but it doesn't address this issue. Is there any other guideline that does? If you want a concrete context, see Asma al-Assad and try not to pay attention to the bickering.--Bbb23 (talk) 02:29, 10 March 2012 (UTC)[reply]

I don't know of a better guideline, but it seems she should be refered to by her birth surname until the marriage; an example would be Margaret Chase Smith, which uses 'She' abundantly, uses Chase in Early life and education, then uses Smith after her marriage, including first names where clarifying between her & her husband. Dru of Id (talk) 02:10, 11 March 2012 (UTC)[reply]
Thanks for commenting (I didn't think anyone was going to) and for the pointer to the article. The other editor, who agrees with you, pointed to Hillary Rodham Clinton, but the usage there is weirder, whereas the Chase Smith article is at least internally consistent. I disagree with referring to the subject this way, but I'm willing to defer to consensus, particularly where there is no clear guidance. Maybe I should suggest adding something to the current guideline to clarify this for the future.--Bbb23 (talk) 14:29, 11 March 2012 (UTC)[reply]

I left an external link that may be spam[edit]

I removed one that was obvious, but another seems 60/50 advertising and information. Would someone else like to take a look at Electrician#External_links, thanx Canoe1967 (talk) 03:31, 10 March 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Do you mean electricianguide.org? It seems to be a guide for prospective electricians and directs you to trade bodies where you can obtain a license. Whether it is actually a useful link to have from the article, I have no idea, but it seems pretty harmless to me. Maybe someone else has a different opinion. The other 3 external links are .gov sites so presumably not advertizing. Astronaut (talk) 14:22, 10 March 2012 (UTC)[reply]

ProQuest Archiver[edit]

Is there any way to read archived newspaper articles from ProQuest Archiver for improving Wikipedia articles. For example, if this article is needed in a page, how can I find Wikipedian who have access to ProQuest. There is Category:Wikipedians who have access to JSTOR, but I can't find a category for ProQuest. --SupernovaExplosion Talk 03:32, 10 March 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Seems it costs money to read. Can you find a sample of a free one? Canoe1967 (talk) 03:43, 10 March 2012 (UTC)[reply]
No, all of the articles need to be purchased. --SupernovaExplosion Talk 03:52, 10 March 2012 (UTC)[reply]
Would it work with wikipedia if readers had to login/pay? JSTOR seems to be in controversy now.Canoe1967 (talk) 03:58, 10 March 2012 (UTC)[reply]
Supernova, you could place a request at Wikipedia:WikiProject Resource Exchange/Resource Request. — jwillbur 04:20, 10 March 2012 (UTC)[reply]
Thanks for the link. --SupernovaExplosion Talk 04:30, 10 March 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Request for Scanning/Review[edit]

Can people review all pages that start with "User:Morriswa" to see if there are any errors, etc. that need to be corrected? If any templates or bots need to be applied, then do so. Thanks! Allen (talk) 04:10, 10 March 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Special:PrefixIndex/User:Morriswa/
I'm not sure what you have in mind, but
-- John of Reading (talk) 07:33, 10 March 2012 (UTC)[reply]
The CD one may have created a few helpful red-links though. :) Starfleet Academy Hail my ship 08:19, 10 March 2012 (UTC)[reply]
John, thanks for looking over these pages for me. I think it is good to have a different user to look over my pages.
Anyhow, my book: are there better categories to put on it? Also, I don't know if all of the links are 100% correct. Also, I don't have links for all entries.
"Highways" used to be a Microsoft Excel 2003 spreadsheet. I tried to get it to look like the original spreadsheet. Do you know how to convert Excel and OpenOffice.org Calc 3 spreadsheets into Wikipedia tables?
"My CD Collection" is the beginning of my CD collection list. Starfleet Academy, what did you mean when you mean when you said, "The CD one may have created a few helpful red-links though. :)"? Allen (talk) 17:06, 10 March 2012 (UTC)[reply]
You could ask at Wikipedia talk:WikiProject U.S. Roads for help with the contents of the book. As for the categories, I don't think a book in the "User" namespace should be given any ordinary article categories. If it were moved to Book:United States Highways (and why not?) then you could copy the categories from, say, Book:Pennsylvania Route 63. -- John of Reading (talk) 20:11, 10 March 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Carla facciolo[edit]

Her ex husband is Joe ferrigamo not whoever you have listed! — Preceding unsigned comment added by 208.54.36.187 (talk) 05:26, 10 March 2012 (UTC)[reply]

The vandalism to Mob Wives has been repaired. Thanks for pointing it out. —teb728 t c 05:55, 10 March 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Help with correcting big mistake[edit]

How can I delete articles that I mistakenly send to Wikipedia staff to submit/review? I'm a registered user and have created articles in the past, but I seemed to forget how to at first over the last few days and so I (again by accident) sent a draft to the AFC submissions section. Is there any way to either delete these and or get them back so that the people doing the reviewing/submitting won't see them / be able to do anything with them?

Thanks!! Molcoo (talk) —Preceding undated comment added 05:54, 10 March 2012 (UTC).[reply]

You could just remove the template that was added when you submitted? Then add a 'still in draft space' type template. Canoe1967 (talk) 06:03, 10 March 2012 (UTC)[reply]
Seems one is tagged for speedy deletion, so you should be ok.Canoe1967 (talk) 06:27, 10 March 2012 (UTC)[reply]
By the way, there aren't any "Wikipedia staff": the people you're sending the request to are editors like yourself, who have volunteered to be article reviewers. --ColinFine (talk) 13:32, 10 March 2012 (UTC)[reply]
Actually, there are employees of the Wikimedia Foundation (98, I think?) who edit Wikipedia, and one of them might have reviewed your page. However, they are the elite on Wikipedia and mostly spend their time on other things. Interchangeable|talk to me 16:16, 12 March 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Moving an article[edit]

The article on Davy Jones's Locker is misnamed, if we go by the WP Style Guide, other prominent style guides, and its pronunciation etc. Currently it is called Davy Jones' Locker: even within the article itself, the normal convention is applied, but the title remains a problem. This is covered in the discussion for this article, but the contributors are wondering how to move it. Do we just start a new article, redirect the old name to the new name, copy all the Article and Talk content across?

Ordinary Person (talk) 07:24, 10 March 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Okay, I worked out how to use the Move key, but unfortunately the target article already exists (though all it contains is a redirect), so the move did not go through. Ordinary Person (talk) 07:54, 10 March 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Hi. The page seems to be at Davy Jones' Locker now. Because copying the content to another local doesn't copy the page history, that isn't allowed. That's why there is a move function to be obvious. :) Starfleet Academy Hail my ship 08:15, 10 March 2012 (UTC)[reply]
Yes. But using the Move function doesn't work at present, because the target page ("Davy Jones's Locker") already exists, even though all that is there is a redirect. So, where to now?Ordinary Person (talk) 08:19, 10 March 2012 (UTC)[reply]
Okay, what I've done is flag the target for speedy deletion. When that goes, I will effect the move, the redirect the old spelling to the new.Ordinary Person (talk) 08:32, 10 March 2012 (UTC)[reply]
We can mark this as "RESOLVED" now...
The correct place for this request would be at Wikipedia:Requested moves. Dismas|(talk) 13:39, 10 March 2012 (UTC)[reply]
Thank you, Dismas. An administrator has reverted the change and given a brief explanation, so I won't pursue the matter.Ordinary Person (talk) 02:23, 11 March 2012 (UTC)[reply]

citing the info[edit]

i dont know how to cite the info that i take from the page, can you provide citation in a space on the page with different kinds of citation (MLA, APA,...) thank you — Preceding unsigned comment added by 62.84.91.6 (talk) 09:04, 10 March 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Wikipedia has a tool to generate citations for particular articles. For the cite tool, see Special:Cite, or follow the "Cite this page" link on the left of the page, under "Toolbox", while looking at the article you wish to cite. For more general information, try Wikipedia:Citing Wikipedia -- John of Reading (talk) 09:30, 10 March 2012 (UTC)[reply]

New article, fun, safe, easy, etc.[edit]

I have 2 good sources if someone wants to google a bit more flesh into my notes. It should be good practice for article creation. Talk:Centennial Voyageur Canoe Pageant There are no biographies of living people, no names need mention at all. No pollution, politics nor religon. And no small furry animals were skinned for hats! Just a quiet stroll in a really big park. If any and all wish to help, it could be great fun to work on. Please excuse my touch of humour in the draft.Canoe1967 (talk) 14:31, 10 March 2012 (UTC)[reply]

I found a good source with enough info to create the article, and give it notability. I put the link in the talk page. Canoe1967 (talk) 16:14, 10 March 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Help - Template:Sfnm[edit]

Could anyone please look at this referencing? There is a footnote of Thompson, but the year is not displaying, instead we see Thompson {{{50}}}. Could anyone please fix it? --SupernovaExplosion Talk 14:57, 10 March 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Question about redirect guideline[edit]

Specifically, WP:NOTBROKEN. Does this guideline apply to template redirects? For example, {{Cn}} and {{Fact}} that point to {{Citation needed}}. If I'm going to already be editing a page and it happens to have a redirected template like that, I think it should be changed. Should I stop doing this? –meiskam (talk•contrib•block) 15:48, 10 March 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Have you tried the policy Village Pump?— Vchimpanzee · talk · contributions · 18:29, 13 March 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Close discussions[edit]

Cans some ad close these discussions?

Heck of an apparent IP-hopfest there, including involved-non-admin closure from same IP range. Classy. DMacks (talk) 20:54, 10 March 2012 (UTC)[reply]

RAW Design Wikipedia[edit]

Raw Design (edit | talk | history | protect | delete | links | watch | logs | views)

Hi,

We tried to edit the page on wikipedia to represent proper information = RAW Design on February 14. On February 15 someone changed our page back which misrepresents accurate information and then locked the page from future editing. You can verify that Richard Witt is not at RAW Design at www.rawdesign.ca as well as the Ontario Association of Architects page. How do we go about editing the page to reflect accurate information and ensuring that the changes that were made by our PR (as ArchitectTO) on February 14 is properly reflected on the page.

Changes were made on the same date to make it not an "orphan" and to make proper links. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Rawdesign (talk • contribs) 18:17, 10 March 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Hello! First, your current username conflicts with our Wikipedia:Username policy#Company.2Fgroup names, along with your use of "we". The recent changes were very advertisement-like (see Wikipedia:Wikipuffery &Wikipedia:Spam), removed categories & references, added Wikipedia:External links#Links normally to be avoided, and did not include Edit summaries. If you post references or updated information on your user talk page with {{Helpme}}, someone may assist you. "Orphan" means links from other articles to this one, and I will be removing some unnecessary ones from this one acccording to our Wikipedia:Manual of Style. Dru of Id (talk) 19:45, 10 March 2012 (UTC)[reply]
Ok, I won't be able to; the page is fully protected, and only admins can edit it, which means you can either post to the article talk page or your user talk page using the {{admin help}}, {{Edit protected}}, or {{Request edit}} template. Dru of Id (talk) 19:57, 10 March 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Converting Spreadsheets Into Tables[edit]

Is there any way to convert a Microsoft Excel or OpenOffice.org Calc spreadsheets into Wikipedia tables? Allen (talk) 18:55, 10 March 2012 (UTC)[reply]

See WP:TOOLS#Importing (converting) content to Wikipedia (MediaWiki) format for tools that may be useful.--ukexpat (talk) 19:00, 10 March 2012 (UTC)[reply]
None of them seem to work for OpenOffice.org Calc. They are geared toward Writer. I don't have Excel on my computer, so that won't work, either. Allen (talk) 19:31, 10 March 2012 (UTC)[reply]
IIRC, OpenOffice Calc can save in CSV format, and there are a few tools on that article that convert from CSV. –meiskam (talk•contrib•block) 19:46, 10 March 2012 (UTC)[reply]
Meiskam, on what page are the tools that you mentioned? Allen (talk) 20:44, 10 March 2012 (UTC)[reply]
I have an OpenOffice.org Calc spreadsheet, and I want to convert it into a table that I can put on Wikipedia. However, I want to preserve as much of the formatting (font family, font size, text color, etc.) as possible. If not, I would like to know the wiki code for the formatting. If you know how to do what I would like, I would appreciate it. Allen (talk) 20:53, 10 March 2012 (UTC)[reply]
I was speaking about the WP:TOOLS link that Ukexpat pasted. However, if you use the csv method, you will loose all formatting. See mw:Help_talk:Tables#Tables_in_Excel_.28.2FCalc.29_converted_to_Wiki_Markup for a number of other suggestions that will save your formatting. –meiskam (talk•contrib•block) 21:30, 10 March 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Legitimate or Linkspam?[edit]

Are the contributions of User:Phillipwarnell legitimate edits or WP:Linkspam? He has been adding links to his own website to a number of articles over a long period. This type of edits are the only editing he has ever done. Roger (talk) 19:34, 10 March 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Looks pretty blatant to me.--ukexpat (talk) 19:56, 10 March 2012 (UTC)[reply]
What should we do about it?
(BTW I'm off to bed now so I'll only be able to follow up tomorrow, but I'd be happy if anyone else would take up the matter. Roger (talk) 21:03, 10 March 2012 (UTC)[reply]
The issue has been raised on the user's talk page.--ukexpat (talk) 21:53, 10 March 2012 (UTC)[reply]
Warnell (talk · contribs), possibly same person? Astronaut (talk) 16:06, 11 March 2012 (UTC)[reply]

stock portfollio magement[edit]

Yahoo has made a change in stock portfio management without proper instruction. I need instruction to add the partilculars of a newly bought stock to my portfolio. Under present conditions and since this if an oversight of yahoo, new charges are expected — Preceding unsigned comment added by 98.70.134.220 (talk) 19:51, 10 March 2012 (UTC)[reply]

You'll need to ask Yahoo!, or try the reference desk at WP:RD/C. The help forum is for asking for help with how to use Wikipedia. RudolfRed (talk) 19:58, 10 March 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Reviewer right[edit]

Hello, which administrator can grant me the reviewer right. I am a well qualified and eligible user and already have file mover and rollback rights. I am a trusted user and granting the reviewer right will help both me and the community as a whole. The page Wikipedia:Requests for permissions/Reviewer is inactive. I know that the pending changes trial is over, but many people have this right and granting me the right will be still be beneficial. Thank you. TheGeneralUser (talk) 20:22, 10 March 2012 (UTC)[reply]

The flag is currently useless, as the trial is over. There is really no point in granting the reviewer flag to anyone, as you can't do anything with it. Alpha_Quadrant (talk) 20:31, 10 March 2012 (UTC)[reply]
But there isn't any harm in granting it. Besides there are several editors who have have been granted the right after the pending changes trial was over. I am a fully eligible and trusted editor and i don't see any reason why it shouldn't be given just because the trial is over. It will be very unfair not to help me. TheGeneralUser (talk) 20:45, 10 March 2012 (UTC)[reply]
You are right there isn't any harm at this point because it doesn"t do anything. Since it doesn"t do anything why do you want it? Without a good reason why it should be added to your account I see no reason to add the right. GB fan 20:52, 10 March 2012 (UTC)[reply]
(edit conflict) Users are not supposed to be granted the flag after the trial. Many users, including myself, have requested removal of the reviewer flag. There is no value whatsoever in having it, because it does absolutely nothing. In the unlikely event Pending Changes is ever re-enabled, then yes, please feel free to apply for the flag. Until then, it is very unlikely you will find an admin willing to grant this request. Alpha_Quadrant (talk) 20:55, 10 March 2012 (UTC)[reply]
Currently around 7,959 users have reviewer rights. If the process had still been on, then surely i would have got them when applied, but unfortunately it is inactive. If the right does not do anything then why not is it removed from all the users who have it. As i said before many people have been granted the right after the trail was over. I am a trusted user with file mover and rollback rights and expecting to get the reviewer right which i fully deserve. In the event that the pending changes do get re-enabled, i don't need to wait back till then and get the right. I hope i have made myself full clear as i can. I kindly request an administrator to grant me the Reviewer right which i fully deserve. Thank you. TheGeneralUser (talk) 21:09, 10 March 2012 (UTC)[reply]
Gaining rights aren't about what you "deserve", they are given for specific reasons. There is currently no reason to issue that flag. –meiskam (talk•contrib•block) 21:15, 10 March 2012 (UTC)[reply]
I meant the same thing only, just that i said it in another word. I got rollback right for my anti-vandalism work, file mover right for maintaining the file namespace and giving proper file names. I have been a good and regular contributor to Wikipedia and will become a good reviewer too. As i said above if the process was still on i would have surely been granted the right, so i don't see any reason why it should not be given just because the trial is over. Also this is unfair as even User:Cyberpower678 got the reviewer flag on 17 February, 2012. He only had rollback rights before that. See this user rights log page [1]. There is nothing wrong for this request that i am asking for. As i am a fine editor and potential candidate (which can be checked from my contributions), i can be trusted not to misuse anything. Thank you. TheGeneralUser (talk) 21:37, 10 March 2012 (UTC)[reply]
I've granted it as it does no harm, the status of those with the flag will be reviewed if it ever comes to mean anything again, and granting it gets everyone back to building an encyclopedia.--Wehwalt (talk) 22:14, 10 March 2012 (UTC)[reply]
Thank you for your help and support Wehwalt :). TheGeneralUser (talk) 04:43, 11 March 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Canary Lee Burton[edit]

Could I get an administrator to have a look at what's going on with this article? Someone apparently affiliated with the subject has deleted the previous article and references and substituted one that reads like a promotional magazine piece. I reverted it as a likely copyright infringement, but the editor immediately undid the reversion. I don't see any immediate way to contact them for discussion. Pkeets (talk) 20:57, 10 March 2012 (UTC)[reply]

P.S. Is there somewhere else I should ask about this? Pkeets (talk) 00:55, 11 March 2012 (UTC)[reply]
You may want to check WP:AN/I although before you post there read the instructions carefully and you may find someplace better suited to your inquiry.--Wehwalt (talk) 02:13, 11 March 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Permissions[edit]

Are there any copyrighted files for which permission has been secured from the copyright holder? (That is, aside from those that are the user's own work.) Interchangeable|talk to me 21:28, 10 March 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Maybe some of those in Category:Items with OTRS permission confirmed?--ukexpat (talk) 01:32, 11 March 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Redirect question[edit]

Should Rubys be a redirect to ruby or Ruby's Diner? Ruby's, however, is a redirect to the diner. Tinton5 (talk) 23:05, 10 March 2012 (UTC) checkY[reply]

As the plural of Ruby is rubies, far more likely intention to Ruby's. Dru of Id (talk) 01:11, 11 March 2012 (UTC)[reply]
Okay thanks! Bye bye. Tinton5 (talk) 01:23, 11 March 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Delete[edit]

How do I delete User:Morriswa/huggle.css and User:Morriswa/twinkleoptions.js? Since they are script pages, I can't seem to be able to add the "Db" template to delete the page. Allen (talk) 23:33, 10 March 2012 (UTC)[reply]

You can click the edit tab and add {{db-user}} to the top. The template doesn't show but it does categorize the pages into the speedy delete category. GB fan 00:05, 11 March 2012 (UTC)[reply]
Will it work on script pages (".js" and ".css" pages)? I tried to add {{db}} to the pages, but it didn't work. Allen (talk) 00:18, 11 March 2012 (UTC)[reply]
I have deleted them. Another time you can use {{Admin help}}. PrimeHunter (talk) 00:24, 11 March 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Tables[edit]

How do you change the font family ("Times New Roman", "Garamond", etc.), font color, or adding/modifying borders in tables? Allen (talk) 23:40, 10 March 2012 (UTC)[reply]

See Help:Table. Very detailed. Dru of Id (talk) 00:00, 11 March 2012 (UTC)[reply]
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