Wikipedia:Help desk/Archives/2012 October 9

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October 9

Correcting an error on the "Portal:Australian cars" page

The above page includes an image of a Holden LJ Torana incorrectly captioned as a Holden LC Torana. I have tried to correct this without success. What's the secret please? GTHO (talk) 02:44, 9 October 2012 (UTC)

Many portal pages have randomly changing elements. When you saw it at Portal:Australian cars you could probably have clicked a small "edit" link in the corner of the box where it was displayed. Are you referring to Portal:Australian cars/Selected picture/31? PrimeHunter (talk) 03:04, 9 October 2012 (UTC)

That's the one! Now fixed. Thanks. GTHO (talk) 02:17, 10 October 2012 (UTC)

Image and Unblocking

How to unblock a blocked account? Can I use image from another website by getting permission from that site?--pratyya (talk) 03:21, 9 October 2012 (UTC)

How to unblock a blocked account depends on why the account got blocked. If the account was blocked for disruptive editing, the owner would have to convince admins that if the block was lifted, the disruptive editing would end. We might be able to reply more specifically if you said what the block was about.

Since Wikipedia has a goal of producing reusable content, we don’t accept permission for use only on Wikipedia. But if the copyright owner is willing to permission for reuse by anyone for anything, see WP:COPYREQ for how to handle that permission. —teb728 t c 04:42, 9 October 2012 (UTC)

It's worth noting that the "other website" often does not, in fact, hold the copyright to the image and may itself be using the image in violation of copyright. In such a case, any "permission" from the people behind the site is useless. Deor (talk) 14:14, 9 October 2012 (UTC)

The block is about uploading non-free file --pratyya (talk) 08:19, 9 October 2012 (UTC)

When an account is blocked, the templates used by the blocking admin normally contain instructions to the user on how to request an unblock. See Wikipedia:APPEAL, which explains the process in detail. - Karenjc 10:03, 9 October 2012 (UTC)

Need help with article List of states in the Holy Roman Empire

Hi all, I have added a comment in the talk page of this article but a lot of similar comments have gone unsanswered. Basically I don't understand what the article is about. It begins with a general understanding of History and states but then moves to topics related to nazism etc. Can someone read this article and explain to me more about the topiv, please? -Wikishagnik (talk) 04:34, 9 October 2012 (UTC)

I don't see anything about Naziism. The page looks fine, and the tagbombing you've done doesn't seem justified here. The page itself is an introduction to the list: there were quite literally many thousands of states in the HRE as taken over the total 800+ year history of it, and the page lays out what those states were in general terms: the actual list has been split off into alphabetical subpages because it would be too unweildy to keep in one place, so you can find the actual lists at pages like List of states in the Holy Roman Empire (A) and following; those are navigable from the box at the top of the article you linked. --Jayron32 04:41, 9 October 2012 (UTC)

OH!!! I get your confusion. You're confusing the Holy Roman Empire with the Roman Empire. I get it. The Holy Roman Empire was an entity that existed in Central Europe (essentially Modern Germany extended out a few hundred miles in all directions) from the late 10th to the 19th century AD. It has no real historical connection to the Roman Empire which existed from AD 27 - late 5th century (in the west) or - late 15th century (in the East). They're two completely unrelated entities. In the early years, the Holy Roman Empire acted like any other feudal kingdom in Europe: It was basically the Kingdom of Germany (and other states, I know, it also controlled Northern Italy, Bohemia, Provence, etc. But it was always a German state in its hierarchy). As time went on, a series of events reduced the Empire to a purely nominal existences, the supposed "vassals" that made up the Empire became effectively independent states. --Jayron32 04:50, 9 October 2012 (UTC)

Understood, however isn't the article deviating too much from the topic? The MOS (WP:MOS) gives a very simple idea of what a list should be. Shouldn't this article be split into seperate articles for the list, glossary, philosophy etc. listed in the page? -Wikishagnik (talk) 05:08, 9 October 2012 (UTC)

If the list were short enough for one page, shouldn't any relevant glossary be on the same page?

The "philosophy" section, as you call it, addresses (perhaps too obliquely) the question of what belongs on the list. Because of the vague and changing nature of the Empire, disagreements are inevitable over what to count as member states. It would be misleading not to discuss such questions. —Tamfang (talk) 05:35, 9 October 2012 (UTC)

Can I use a public domain picture in wikipedia?

Hello. I'm Heewon Cho, an editor of a publishing company in South Korea. I have read the FAQ about copyright, but still have a question. We are now preparing to translate and publish a book originally written in USA, and the original book contains an image that is from Wikipedia.

The publishing company in USA(InterVarsity Press) says that since the image is public domain(its copyright has expired in the United States), they just informed Wekipedia that they are going to use the image in their book.

So can we use the image also in the translated book? the image is 'The Incredulity of Saint Thomas(Caravaggio)' File:Caravaggio incredulity.jpg

We are always grateful for your amazing information.

We will wait for your answer then. Have a nice day! — Preceding unsigned comment added by 220.85.252.114 (talk) 06:30, 9 October 2012 (UTC)

It is indeed in the public domain - most likely worldwide, I'm not aware of any country that has 400+ year copyright terms - so you can use it freely. Roger (talk) 06:53, 9 October 2012 (UTC)

"Brant House" difficulties

I recently created a page for Brant House as something was required to bring together several disparate articles mentioned this so-called author.. When looking for references to this "House name" I found that 2 pages relating to Ace Books, List of Ace titles in first DGS series and List of Ace single volumes have similar content, but do not exactly cover the same ground. I don't know how to deal with this. Furthermore, I am not sure where to go with the Brant House article as my "references" are the other pages at Wikipedia that I have referred to amd I don't know what categories, etc. to apply to the article.Collywolly (talk) 07:44, 9 October 2012 (UTC)

Eshmunazar Article - Font Problem

I contacted the Wikipedia E-mail address to "Report a Problem." They said it was probably a "browser problem" and could best be helped by you. See Wikipedia "Eshmunazar" Article; scroll down to "Original Inscription" supposedly in Phoenician script. My screen shows hundreds of little boxes instead of characters for the 34 line Inscription. I am in Munich, Germany. A colleague in the USA gets the same results. The correct inscription facimile is contained in the Spanish cross reference (in blue)at the bottom of the Wikipedia Article: after clicking on that you are in a .pdf document in Spanish -- just scroll on down to page 13. And, "voila," there is what should be up in the "Original Inscription" section. Now how to get it there, legally ?Franklin Paladin (talk) 08:27, 9 October 2012 (UTC)

It looks good to me. Most likely you (and your colleague) don't have a font installed that has the relevant range of Unicode (10900 – 1091B). Try Quivira. —Tamfang (talk) 08:39, 9 October 2012 (UTC)

I downloaded Quivira and passed it over to the Font file C:Windows/Fonts and it's verifiedas being in there but no success on the Boxes.Franklin Paladin (talk) 09:53, 9 October 2012 (UTC)

The string "Original Inscription" only occurs in the section Eshmunazar#Hebrew transcription which displays fine for me. If you refer to Eshmunazar#Original Phoenician text (the last section before references; the section heading may be hidden behind File:Eshmunazar transcription.pdf), then it's also boxes for me. Here is the first line:

1. 𐤁𐤉𐤓𐤇 𐤁𐤋 𐤁𐤔𐤍𐤕 𐤏𐤎𐤓 𐤅𐤀𐤓𐤁𐤏 14 𐤋𐤌𐤋𐤊𐤉 𐤌𐤋𐤊 𐤀𐤔𐤌𐤍𐤏𐤆𐤓 𐤌𐤋𐤊 𐤑𐤃𐤍𐤌

I haven't tried to download a font which can display it but see Help:Special characters#Ancient scripts. PrimeHunter (talk) 11:45, 9 October 2012 (UTC)

Dear Prime Hunter. As usual, you are "right on" and have displayed the area that I and my colleague are having trouble with. I had downloaded a Quivira 3.8 file of 1.6 MB and at his stated 10,343 characters the file I downloaded seems a bit small to contain so many Fonts. I'm still up a tree. My computer is only 1 year old --- a H-P Presario CQ56 --- I can't imagine why your Esmunazar Article uses a font that the majority of Computer users does not have (unless they download it). I followed all the suggested links Help:Special characters#Ancient scripts and get boxes there as well as in the Wikipedia Phoenician Article as well as in the Unicode section of commercial Fonts available from Alan what's his name I'll try Google Chrome. But, what next Coach? Franklin Paladin (talk) 14:22, 9 October 2012 (UTC)

I tried using Google Chrome as my browser but to no avail -- still boxes 80.226.24.9 (talk) 14:35, 9 October 2012 (UTC)

I fired up my character map and switched to Unicode to search for an individual numbered character - again no dice - it, would you believe it ?(the prompt mask) limits you to 4 digits in Unicodes -- five (5) digit codes have been out on the streets for years ! Franklin Paladin (talk) 14:47, 9 October 2012 (UTC)

The article is about an ancient Phoenician inscription so it seems natural to include it in Phoenician even if most browsers cannot display it. They can still see it in several other languages. People who actually know Phoenician can probably also display it in their browser. And unlike an image, the text is available for copy-pasting. You can for example copy-paste to the "Characters" field at http://rishida.net/tools/conversion/ and click "View names". This will give you images and names of the characters. The bottom of Phoenician alphabet says it has a link to a Unicode Phoenician font. I have no use for it and will not experiment with it PrimeHunter (talk) 15:33, 9 October 2012 (UTC)

Dear Prime Hunter. Thanks for your help and endless patience. I have now downloaded and installed 3 different Fonts each including their version of Phoenician. One even includes a keyboard layout in the ZIP file. All to no avail because when in get in Wikipedia, I can't call up the Character map and my browser won't interpret the code of each box. Well no matter, I already have a facimile(.pdf) of the inscription in question in an hourglass shape (as on the top of the sarcophagus)and would offer to paste it into your article, except it's so old that it's Copyright and permission to use would be questionable. It matches exactly the the correct inscription facimile as contained in the Spanish cross reference (in blue) at the bottom of the Wikipedia Article, so I know it's authentic. End of Topic and tips. Thanks for the lift.Franklin Paladin (talk) 16:20, 9 October 2012 (UTC)

Mobile wikipedia

I am experiencing a problem using wikipedia on mobile phones. I am now only getting subject headings which when selected do not open up the relevant text. Please help — Preceding unsigned comment added by 86.146.144.73 (talk) 09:39, 9 October 2012 (UTC)

Try asking at the Village Pump. Regards.--Kürbis (✔) 13:20, 9 October 2012 (UTC)

Failed to donate

I tried to donate- but this came on the screen when I entered my security code " Not Found The requested object does not exist on this server. The link you followed is either outdated, inaccurate, or the server has been instructed not to let you have it." Sorry! I do wish to support Wiki.You are doing a fantastic job. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Launderette (talk • contribs) 09:44, 9 October 2012 (UTC)

Thanks for your support. I hope you were at the domain https://donate.wikimedia.org where donations are made. This help desk is manned by volunteer editors without inside access to the donation system. There is an email address at https://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Problems_donating/en. PrimeHunter (talk) 11:04, 9 October 2012 (UTC)

Concerning 'Notes' (or 'References') section in article

When citing the same references several times, how do I avoid the automated reference generator making the references as a new one?

Ex.

==Header==
Writing about the topic Writing about the topic Writing about the topic <ref>ABCD<ref/> ... ... ...

==New header==
Writing about the topic Writing about the topic Writing about the topic <ref>ABCD<ref/>

... ... ...

==References==
1 ABCD
2 ABCD

Article for which helpo is needed: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Wikipedia_talk:Articles_for_creation/Henrik_Wen%C3%B8e&action=edit

— Preceding unsigned comment added by Jesperbp (talk • contribs) 10:34, 9 October 2012‎

You can read about this at WP:REFNAME. -- John of Reading (talk) 10:44, 9 October 2012 (UTC)

I usually run the WP:REFLINKS tool. It also takes bare URL references and applies properly formatted cite templates. Roger (talk) 11:25, 9 October 2012 (UTC)

LAN connection facilities not available

I would like to inform you about LAN connection facilities ,which is not available in two system i.e. Desk 1 and Desk 3. So kindly,send me the contact person detail for rectification. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 202.56.254.114 (talk) 11:03, 9 October 2012 (UTC)

I suspect, based on your question, that you found one of our over 4 million articles and thought we were affiliated in some way with that subject. Please note that you are at Wikipedia, the free online encyclopedia that anyone can edit, and this page is for asking questions related to using or contributing to Wikipedia itself. Thus, we have no special knowledge about the subject of your question. You can, however, search our vast catalogue of articles by typing a subject into the search field on the upper right side of your screen. If you cannot find what you are looking for, we have a reference desk, divided into various subject areas, where asking knowledge questions is welcome. Best of luck. PrimeHunter (talk) 11:06, 9 October 2012 (UTC)

Rijeka Tourist Board - problems editing article on the City of Rijeka

Dear Sir/Madam, we are writing to you in relation to Wikipedia's article on the City of Rijeka (Rijeka). As Rijeka Tourist Board we are trying to keep online information on Rijeka as accurate and up to date as possible. We tried to add some new information in the current article on two occasions, but after some time the text we entered got rejected. We succeeded to do the same thing on WikiTravel article on Rijeka, but had no luck on Wikipedia. The message we received is that our edits were promotional in tone and highly inappropriate for an encyclopedia. We guess the main problems were links made to our webpage, but our intention was not to promote the page itself, but to provide more quality information on Rijeka. Although the article is excellently written and really informative, we tried to add more information on Rijeka's main sights, because that section is deficient compared to others. Also, we would like to change main link to the website that now leads to Rijeka's City pages, which is oriented more on citizens of Rijeka (with city councils, municipal institutions etc.), and put the one that leads to Rijeka Tourist Board pages (http://www.tz-rijeka.hr/en/), which are more suitable and informative for visitors. We would like to ask for your assistance on this matter. Thank you in advance for your reply. Kind regards, Rijeka Tourist Board Karolinarijecka (talk) 12:23, 9 October 2012 (UTC)

You have been warned about not making these alterations. Wikipedia is an encyclopedia, not a tourist guidebook nor a tool to lure visitors. Your conflict of interest seems to have blinded you to this. --Orange Mike | Talk 13:15, 9 October 2012 (UTC)

Because of your conflict of interest, you should request changes by posting on the article's talk page rather than editing the article directly. Other users will review your requests to see if they comply with policy and guidelines. Please also take a look at WP:BESTCOI and WP:BFAQ. Thanks.--ukexpat (talk) 13:18, 9 October 2012 (UTC)

wrong date (1948 should be 1848) - Gustave Kahnt

Gustave Kahnt (1848–1923) was a Luxembourg composer and conductor of German origin.

Born in on 7 October 1948 in Berlin, Kahnt was naturalized as a Luxembourger in 1890. From 1881–1909 — Preceding unsigned comment added by 195.217.37.115 (talk) 12:38, 9 October 2012 (UTC)

Fixed. Rojomoke (talk) 12:50, 9 October 2012 (UTC)

Non-editable Wikipedia Pages

I have seen some pages on Wikipedia that are editable and some are not. What are some topics that are non-editable on Wikipedia? How do we know that the information provided on the page is relevant or not? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 207.189.37.27 (talk) 13:00, 9 October 2012 (UTC)

Some pages on Wikipedia are protected, meaning that they cannot be edited by unregistered users (or, in some cases, non-admin users). This is usually done in cases where multiple unregistered users have been vandalising the article, and blocking them individually will not suffice to prevent the damage. Protected articles usually have a small padlock icon in the top right. If you find such a page and want to change something, the correct approach is to post your request on the article's talkpage and tag it with {{edit request}}. Another editor who can edit the page can then change it for you if they agree. Yunshui 雲‍水 13:05, 9 October 2012 (UTC)

However the edit will count as a contribution for that editor who actually made it, not for the one who requested it... CiaPan (talk) 13:33, 9 October 2012 (UTC)

If you want to suggest an edit to an article with no "Edit" tab then click the "View source" tab instead. PrimeHunter (talk) 14:07, 9 October 2012 (UTC)

- to see what the actual wiki markup says. The proposed edit still needs to go on the talk page. The attribution is not in the article history but is still on the talk page. In many cases the actual edit though will be slightly different than what had been proposed. Apteva (talk) 16:19, 9 October 2012 (UTC)

If you click the "View source" tab then you get information about page protection and instructions for submitting an edit request including a direct link to do it with a preloaded template. It's the easiest way to do it. Some editors think the tab should simply be named "Edit" even for users who cannot edit the page. PrimeHunter (talk) 22:00, 9 October 2012 (UTC)

So there are no specific banned/restricted topics that are non-editable? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 207.189.63.254 (talk) 17:13, 9 October 2012 (UTC)

Only those specific articles which, to prevent vandalism or other disruption, have been locked down. But there's no topic-wide restrictions in place: such decisions are done on an article-by-article basis, and only in such a manner as to stop actual disruption. If there's an article you are trying to edit, but cannot, you can request that it be unprotected at WP:RFPP in the appropriate section. Some protections may be lifted if it is clear that they are no longer warranted. --Jayron32 18:53, 9 October 2012 (UTC)

Submitting Translation

How can I submit a translation of a wikipedia page/article? — Preceding unsigned comment added by Sapha AbdAllah (talk • contribs) 14:40, 9 October 2012 (UTC)

From and to which language? See Wikipedia:Translation and Wikipedia:Your first article. PrimeHunter (talk) 14:58, 9 October 2012 (UTC)

facebook shortcuts

it would be great to add social media links!! — Preceding unsigned comment added by 99.189.67.126 (talk) 14:45, 9 October 2012 (UTC)

If you mean a way to easily share an article on Facebook or other sites then:

[Image:Symbol move vote.svg|20px]] Sharebox is a script that reorders your toolbox. It adds new buttons that make it easier to mail, print or share an article on Facebook or another linksharing service. You must have an account to add Sharebox to the sidebar. See User:TheDJ/Sharebox for more information.

PrimeHunter (talk) 15:02, 9 October 2012 (UTC)

See also here for why this isn't included by default. --Colapeninsula (talk) 22:31, 9 October 2012 (UTC)

Article Title Changed When Accepted

Hello.

I created an article entitled, "Socioscientific Issues." When it was accepted this week, it was changed to "Socio-scientific issues."

Is there a way to correct this? The correct title is two words (no hyphen) and both are capitalized. I don't seem to be able to edit the title.

Thanks very much.

samiscienceSamiscience (talk) 14:55, 9 October 2012 (UTC)

The creator does not have a special right to control the title of an article. No one "owns" an article. Wikipedia:Naming conventions (capitalization) says: "Do not capitalize the second or subsequent words in an article title, unless the title is a proper noun." Your heading here also has unusual capitalization for Wikipedia. A Google search shows it's both common to write socio-scientific with and without a hyphen. See for example a Google Scholar search "Socio-scientific+issues". Wikipedia:Moving a page explains how to change a title but it seems your suggested title should go through Wikipedia:Requested moves. PrimeHunter (talk) 15:14, 9 October 2012 (UTC)

You will need to discuss this at Talk:Socio-scientific issues. We don't tend to capitalize topic names just to facilitate the creation of yet another TLA. --Orange Mike | Talk 15:15, 9 October 2012 (UTC)

How to italicized article titles

Hi. I've been trying to italicized the titles of these two articles (1 and 2), as per WP:ITALICTITLE, but I can't seem to get the hang of it. I've tried using Template:Italic title and DISPLAYTITLE but it doesn't seem to be working. Any suggestions? Thanks. WWETrishMickiefan (talk) 15:42, 9 October 2012 (UTC)

Fixed. I am not sure why italic title did not work, but Displaytitle did {{DISPLAYTITLE:''The Naked Truth'' (Lil' Kim album)}} Apteva (talk) 16:38, 9 October 2012 (UTC)

The album infobox is coded to render the title in italics automatically so I don't know why it's not working properly in this article - maybe the ' in the disambiguation parentheses is foiling the template coding. I have asked at Template talk:Infobox album#Italic title redux.--ukexpat (talk) 16:58, 9 October 2012 (UTC)

Dennis Stratton - Ex member of Iron Maiden

Dennis Stratton's Date of Birth is incorrect the correct date is today 09th October 1952 not 9th November 1952 please update — Preceding unsigned comment added by 86.31.210.255 (talk) 16:10, 9 October 2012 (UTC)

This source says 9th November. Do you have a reliable source for your claim? --Anbu121 (talk me) 16:41, 9 October 2012 (UTC)

I have changed the entry based on this reliable source. Thank you for bringing this to our attention.--Fuhghettaboutit (talk) 19:10, 9 October 2012 (UTC)

Change main Photo

How can I change the main photo on the page entry and does it need to be hosted on another site? — Preceding unsigned comment added by GilliKeiko (talk • contribs) 17:46, 9 October 2012 (UTC)

Which page are you referring to? AndyTheGrump (talk) 17:52, 9 October 2012 (UTC)

I'm guessing you mean the first photo in some Wikipedia article. The answer to your second question is no, it may not be hosted on another site: Wikipedia will not show pictures unless they have been uploaded to the same language Wikipedia, or to Wikimedia Commons. If you wish to replace the picture in an article by another one, you need to verify that the copyright status of the image you want to use is suitable, upload it, and edit the page to refer to the new image. See WP:Uploading images. --ColinFine (talk) 18:48, 9 October 2012 (UTC)

Worth Mitchell

In a self written article, this person state he invested in my husbands project and that he owed my husbands plane that he was killed in. These and other lies are in an article on Wikibin. I would love to have them deleted, this is slandering my husbands good name. I don't want to go to court, but I do feel it is important to my family and our healing that it be removed. I realize that he can say what ever he wishes, but if something in the article refers to someone else and is not true, then its only fair it be removed Laura Manning — Preceding unsigned comment added by 174.110.173.189 (talk) 19:22, 9 October 2012 (UTC)

I'm sorry, but we have nothing to do with Wikibin, whose purpose is to preserve the things we have discarded or removed from Wikipedia. You will have to contact Wikibin directly yourself. --Orange Mike | Talk 19:28, 9 October 2012 (UTC)

It may not be relevant, but Wikipedia does not approve of self-written articles. That may be why the article was removed from here. Maproom (talk) 20:59, 9 October 2012 (UTC)

I have now read the article on Wikibin. As Orangemike said, there is nothing anyone here can do about its presence there. But I would like to point out that any intelligent person, reading that article, will realise that its writer lacks all credibility. Maproom (talk) 21:12, 9 October 2012 (UTC)

I have received an email saying that I wrote a wiki page on myself. Which I didn't.

Hi - I have received an email saying that I have written a wiki page on myself. I didn't. I wrote it about my friend. The message said that the page may well be deleted. How can I contact back to explain that I'm not writing about myself? — Preceding unsigned comment added by GwendolynneB (talk • contribs) 23:22, 9 October 2012 (UTC)

First the issue of not writing about yourself is moot if your friend still doesn't pass WP:NOTABILITY but that is assuming your friend is non-notable or not famous, if so you may try to reply to the address in the email and/or start a discussion on the articles delete talk section. Hope this helps! Marketdiamond (talk) 00:03, 10 October 2012 (UTC)

I assume the article concerned is the one at Wikipedia talk:Articles for creation/Gwendolynne Burkin. If so, and you are not Gwendolynne Burkin, the username you have chosen is contrary to our Wikipedia:Username policy in that it implies you are someone else - the real Gwendolynne Burkin. If you wish to continue editing Wikipedia, you will have to change your username: see the 'Changing your username' section in the policy. Looking at the proposed article though, I suspect that doing this will be more trouble than it is worth, in there appears to be little possibility that an article on Gwendolynne Burkin could be justified under the Wikipedia:Notability (people) guidelines, even if the necessary sources could be found. I suggest that you read the WP:CREATIVE section of the guidelines, and then ask yourself whether sufficient credible third-party published sources could be found to meet the criteria. If there aren't, your friend will not unfortunately merit an article in Wikipedia. AndyTheGrump (talk) 00:27, 10 October 2012 (UTC)

(ec) Yes, I was about to say the same thing. Your username implies that you are the same person. Therefore, it is logical to conclude that you did indeed write an article about yourself. See Wikipedia:Autobiography; writing about yourself is strongly discouraged.

Also, please read and understand Wikipedia:Conflict of interest regardless of who you are, because you clearly have a conflict of interest. ~Amatulić (talk) 00:29, 10 October 2012 (UTC)