Wikipedia:Help desk/Archives/2009 January 9

Welcome to the Wikipedia Help Desk Archives
The page you are currently viewing is an archive page. While you can leave answers for any questions shown below, please ask new questions on one of the current Help Desk pages.

January 9

Linking articles

I am trying to make the name of the sportsman Robin Mcbryde on the page http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strength_athletics_in_the_United_Kingdom_and_Ireland, link to his wikipedia page. I did try, thought I did it right but I don't think I did, I can't make head nor tail of the instructions on linking articles. Any help/advice will be appreciated.

Nevermind, it is working now!

About images on Wikipedia

Hi. I'm just wondering, images on Wikipedia that are free-use should go on Commons, correct? For featured images, shouldn't they also be free-use? So then how do we have featured images on Wikipedia? Thanks. ~AH1^(TCU) 01:52, 9 January 2009 (UTC)

Well, here is a featured image on Wikipedia: File:Me109 G-6 D-FMBB 1.jpg which is actually on Commons. See Wikipedia:Featured pictures and Wikipedia:Featured picture criteria. The latter says:

• A featured picture: ... Has a free license. It is available in the public domain or under a free license. Fair use images are not allowed. To check which category a particular image tag falls under, see the list at Wikipedia:Image copyright tags.

That means any featured picture on Wikipedia would be a candidate for moving to Commons, in the unlikely event that it hadn't already been moved. Have you found any featured pictures on Wikipedia which are not on Commons yet? --Teratornis (talk) 06:54, 9 January 2009 (UTC)

No Article?

Hello. Why is there no article on how some countries' governments, including members of the United Nations, seek to boycott, divest and apply sanctions on Israel for their recent terrorist attacks? If this is not a suffice enough question, then I would be pleased to re-word it into: How can I safely produce a professional mature article about it on Wikipedia without having it taken off by the "Patrol Team" or other members of Wikipedia. I'll be looking forward to at least a negative response. Cheers. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 65.95.138.124 (talk) 02:42, 9 January 2009 (UTC)

We have an article that should contain this information: International reaction to the 2008–2009 Israel–Gaza conflict. If you have well-sourced information that should be there but isn't, then please add it. Algebraist 03:34, 9 January 2009 (UTC)

Also, you may want to discuss any changes on the article's talk page. Cheers! TN‑X-Man 03:55, 9 January 2009 (UTC)

Help with Book Titles

Resolved

 – ukexpat (talk) 14:58, 9 January 2009 (UTC)

I am currently working on a biography of a British writer and I was wondering how to present the titles of some of his work that had differing publishing titles in the UK and the United States. Which would go first and how would I present them? Thanks! Ip208man (talk) 02:51, 9 January 2009 (UTC)

British author, so UK titles first. Only mention the US title if it was different. Astronaut (talk) 03:31, 9 January 2009 (UTC)

Ok, so how would it look? Right now I have it written:

• UK Title - Publishing Date (US Title: Book name)

Would that conform to WP:MOS? Ip208man (talk) 04:10, 9 January 2009 (UTC)

Our article on Tanith Lee has a suitable example:

• Shadowfire (1978) (US title: Vazkor, Son of Vazkor )

or you could ask for better guidance at Wikipedia talk:WikiProject Biography. Astronaut (talk) 05:18, 9 January 2009 (UTC)

Thanks, I will use that as guidance. Ip208man (talk) 06:48, 9 January 2009 (UTC)

Log-in

Hi; I've registered, and used the validation link in the email I received to authorize the account. The screen note in Wiki said the validation had been received. I then tried to download a picture. The screen note said I wasn't authorized because I hadn't registered and been validated. I tried the email link twice, was told twice I had been validated...frustrating. Any help appreciated. Thanks. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Sensei01007 (talk • contribs) 03:33, 9 January 2009 (UTC)

Can you be more precise about how you tried to "download a picture"? Your email address is confirmed because this link works. I'm guessing you tried to upload a picture but the system told you weren't autoconfirmed. --Unpopular Opinion (talk) 04:15, 9 January 2009 (UTC)

Can I use an articel on ebay.

I want to sell a DVD on ebay. Can I use an article from Wikipedia on my ebay auction page? Thank you, Bob —Preceding unsigned comment added by Bobk1957 (talk • contribs) 03:35, 9 January 2009 (UTC)

Yes.--intraining ^{Jack In} 03:52, 9 January 2009 (UTC)

You can use the article, but per the GDFL, you must attribute the content to Wikipedia. TN‑X-Man 03:56, 9 January 2009 (UTC)

I mean it is fine with Wikipedia, However you need to make sure Ebay allow you to. I can't see why Ebay would have a problem with it though. Do a google search to see if it has been done before. Personally I would do it if I feel it would help to boost up the bidding.--intraining ^{Jack In} 03:58, 9 January 2009 (UTC)

Wrong link Tnxman this is what s/he should be reading--intraining ^{Jack In} 04:02, 9 January 2009 (UTC)

In theory yes. In practice you have to do all sorts of things you don't want to. Like a list of all the contributors. Like including the FULL text of the GFDL. Prodego ^talk 04:06, 9 January 2009 (UTC)

There's nothing to stop you linking to the Wikipedia article, though. Algebraist 04:51, 9 January 2009 (UTC)

If you want to copy the whole article verbatim, make sure you don't copy any fair use images. --Teratornis (talk) 06:58, 9 January 2009 (UTC)

unicru answer key

please let me know the answer key to the unicru test. Cindy k —Preceding unsigned comment added by 66.174.92.167 (talk) 04:41, 9 January 2009 (UTC)

I suspect, based on your question, that you found one of our over 6.9 million articles and thought we were affiliated in some way with that subject. Please note that you are at Wikipedia, the free online encyclopedia that anyone can edit, and this page is for asking questions related to using or contributing to Wikipedia itself. Thus, we have no special knowledge about the subject of your question. You can, however, search our vast catalogue of articles by typing a subject into the search field on the upper right side of your screen. If you cannot find what you are looking for, we have a reference desk, divided into various subject areas, where asking knowledge questions is welcome. Best of luck. Algebraist 04:51, 9 January 2009 (UTC)

Actually this has to do with a recent story published in the Wall Street Journal. The Unicru material in question has been deleted and is not available on Wikipedia. —Noah 05:02, 9 January 2009 (UTC)

This is being discussed in depth at Wikipedia:Administrators' noticeboard/Incidents#Admin misusing viewdeleted. – ukexpat (talk) 05:18, 9 January 2009 (UTC)

Help:Comment tags

Resolved

 – Help:Comment tags speedily deleted as nonsense. ukexpat (talk) 14:36, 9 January 2009 (UTC)

Hi, hope this is the appropriate place to raise this, but what happened to Help:Comment_tags??? Dickdock (talk) 05:12, 9 January 2009 (UTC)

Clearly nonsense created by someone. Speedy delete has already been requested. Astronaut (talk) 05:41, 9 January 2009 (UTC)

Rename page

Hello! I am register user under name citycollegethessaloniki. I would like to rename one page (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/City_College_Thessaloniki). In the help I found the following: With the correct page displayed, click on the "Move" tab near the top of the page (in default Monobook skin). The problem is I can't see the "Move" tab. Many thanks in advance. Regards. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Citycollegethessaloniki (talk • contribs) 11:09, 9 January 2009 (UTC)

You have to be an autoconfirmed editor to move pages. For that, your account should be at least 4 days old and you should have made at least 10 edits. You only have 2 edits right now, so you'll get the ability after 8 more edits. Chamal ^talk 11:36, 9 January 2009 (UTC)

Satyam Computer Services

Can someone take a look at this article, there is something messed up in the code somewhere in internet explorer there are massive white spaces and in firefox, in the "aftermath" section there is a row of edit tabs - I guess it has something to do with the images in the article? --Cameron Scott (talk) 13:09, 9 January 2009 (UTC)

It does. See WP:BUNCH. Algebraist 13:12, 9 January 2009 (UTC)

I don't fuck around with wikicode - someone want to fix it? --Cameron Scott (talk) 13:15, 9 January 2009 (UTC)

 Done  – ukexpat (talk) 14:49, 9 January 2009 (UTC)

Who Posted this...

Bold text I would like to know if it is possible to find out who the creator of a certain article is. Specifically Im am looking for the creator of the 'MTV Latinoamerica' or 'MTV Networks' articles.

Mtvlantw (talk)mtvlantw —Preceding undated comment was added at 16:08, 9 January 2009 (UTC).

Check the history of any article you want, and click back to the very first edit. That's the creator. Tan | 39 16:09, 9 January 2009 (UTC)

Yes. Sometimes it won't be in the first 50, but the API allows you to go up to 500. It should say:

(50) (100) (250) (500)

on the page history (click the "history" tab on any existent page). This reveals that the creator was Vision2 (talk · contribs). Best, PeterSymonds (talk) 16:15, 9 January 2009 (UTC)

An account which has been inactive for over two years, for the record. Tan | 39 16:16, 9 January 2009 (UTC)

If you want the information in order to cite Wikipedia then see Wikipedia:Citing Wikipedia. PrimeHunter (talk) 18:29, 9 January 2009 (UTC)

Problem with deletion bots

Hi. I keep getting into a problem in that I've uploaded something, usually with non-free fair use licence, and the bot still complains about it or some moron has deleted it out of the page (made it orphaned). I rarely log in or keep many backups, and its just not fair to give only 7 days to do something - usually when I've got no idea it happened because I rarely log into Wikipedia. Is it possible to get these sorts of notifications emailed to me, or someway of notifying the bots not to delete stuff I have uploaded? So far, i've had at least 10 or so files deleted because of Wikipedia's in ability to properly notify me. Am I missing something, cause this is really giving me the shits! Adammw (talk) 17:13, 9 January 2009 (UTC)

• Getting the notices emailed to you is not possible... however, do you use RSS or Atom? That would be a solution. —Noah 17:58, 9 January 2009 (UTC)

• Why is it not possible? Wikipedia already have my email and use it for forgotten passwords, why not also for new messages? And for RSS or Atom, I can't see how to even get a feed of my talk page! The link to the RSS feed on most pages links to the global recent changes, not my talk page. Adammw (talk) 04:21, 10 January 2009 (UTC)

• Ah, I wasn't specific enough in my reply. It is most certainly technically possible for the coders of the Wikimedia software to write, test, and implement such a feature. However, for a number of reasons they have chosen not to do so; or if they have it certainly is not turned on for the Wikipedia site. The prime reason (that I can imagine) would be that many people would use the service and they would need a dedicated server to send out thousands of email messages a minute. That is added bandwidth and hardware needs on an already strained system. RSS, on the other hand, requires people to pull info rather than push it out to them, which is less process instensive. The Atom feed for your talk page is: [1]. Enjoy, —Noah 06:20, 10 January 2009 (UTC)

Perhaps if you took more care over what you uploaded, you wouldn't get so many "disputed fair-use" or "Image copyright problem" notices. For everything that you upload, make sure it has a copyright notice and fair use rationale for every instance where it is used in the encyclopedia.

When it comes to your uploads being orpaned and deleted, the RSS/Atom feeds sound like a good idea. Also, if you kept backups, you would find it easier to re-upload deleted stuff. It might be worthwhile finding out why your files were orphaned. For example: File:Rihanna - Don't Stop The Music.ogg was deleted from Don't Stop the Music (Rihanna song) in this edit on 5 Jan. Ask the person who deleted it for his reasons, by leaving a new comment on his talk page (but please remember to assume good faith and do not write something that could be considered a personal attack - so no calling people "...some moron..." please).

Astronaut (talk) 16:28, 10 January 2009 (UTC)

New to WIKI- how do I add internal reference and links?

Resolved

 – ukexpat (talk) 20:53, 9 January 2009 (UTC)

I would like to add a link to another Wikipedia page as a source which is actual pubilc domain inforamtion on climate. However since the city is not directly references on that wikipedia page, will it be honored as an actual source of reference? —Preceding unsigned comment added by Dstein2484 (talk • contribs) 18:07, 9 January 2009 (UTC)

I don't understand what you're asking. Can you explain more clearly what you want to do, naming the articles involved? Algebraist 18:15, 9 January 2009 (UTC)

i'm not sure but i think maybe the question is whether wikipedia articles can be cited as reliable sources for other wikipedia articles. the answer as far as i know is "no"; but you can list relevant pages in the "see also" section of an article. or is it WP:markup that he/she's asking about?? Sssoul (talk) 18:21, 9 January 2009 (UTC)

If you would like to cite another Wikipedia article, consider instead citing the sources the other Wikipedia article cites. That will allow readers to directly access the source instead of having to go through another level of reading. Cheers! TN‑X-Man 18:40, 9 January 2009 (UTC)

Thanks! I will cite the orginal source! sorry, there were typos which made the question confusing. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Dstein2484 (talk • contribs) 20:44, 9 January 2009 (UTC)

WAL-MART TOP MANAGEMENT

What are the names and Titles of the management team of Wal-Mart in Bentonville ,Arkansas —Preceding unsigned comment added by 68.106.37.10 (talk) 19:55, 9 January 2009 (UTC)

Hello. I suspect, based on your question, that you found one of our over two million articles, and thought that we were directly affiliated in some way with that subject. Please note that you are at Wikipedia, the online free encyclopedia that anyone can edit, and this page is a help desk for asking questions related to using the encyclopedia. Thus, we have no inside track on the subject of your question. You can, however, search our vast catalogue of articles by typing a subject into the search field on the left hand side of your screen. If that is not fruitful, we have a reference desk, divided into various subjects areas, where asking knowledge questions is welcome. Best of luck. Algebraist 20:05, 9 January 2009 (UTC)

And see the names of their senior execs listed at Wal-Mart. – ukexpat (talk) 20:15, 9 January 2009 (UTC)

non-display of italics in Opera for MacOS

I thought I should come and note this; I usually use Camino for browsing but downloaded Opera for MacOS today because of its smaller memory footprint (I usually have other programs, e.g. audio, running in the background while browsing) and was about to add italics to an article's mention of a title (an opera title, to be specifid) only to discover that the Wikicode double-apostrophe was already there. Is this a known glitch about viewing Wikipedia in Opera, and is it also the case in other versions of the same browser?Skookum1 (talk) 20:43, 9 January 2009 (UTC)

• Where did this error appear, and did you check it in Camino as well? It isn't documented here, but you can always drop a line at Wikipedia:Village pump (technical).--Max Talk (+) 22:11, 9 January 2009 (UTC)
  • Works fine in Camino, which is my usual browser; I only downloaded and installed Opera yesterday and haven't used it in MacOS before....I'm thinking that maybe the italics thing didn't work in the Windows 2K version either, which I remember trying out and not continuing to use also; I'll take it to the Village Pump. thanks, didn't know where else to ask than here.Skookum1 (talk) 15:38, 10 January 2009 (UTC)

wiki markup problem

This page clearly has some problems with the markup used to create a math formula in the body of the article. Fixing this is beyond me, and I'm also not sure what is the most appropriate maintenance tag to mark the page with. ike9898 (talk) 21:23, 9 January 2009 (UTC)

I fixed it by removing the \mbox functions which aren't necessary and aren't listed on Help:Displaying a formula. Perhaps it would be useful for pages like this to be added into a 'pages with broken parser functions' hidden category. Nanonic (talk) 21:39, 9 January 2009 (UTC)

And then after checking through the page history after my edit I noticed that the previous version displayed correctly, seems all it needed was a Null edit to kick it back into life. Nanonic (talk) 21:48, 9 January 2009 (UTC)

Retail companies list

Would like a list of Canadian and United States retail compaies that would list their product and head office address. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Popshechr (talk • contribs) 22:46, 9 January 2009 (UTC)

This page is for questions about editing Wikipedia. Please consider asking this question at the Reference desk. They specialize in knowledge questions and will try to answer any question in the universe (except how to use Wikipedia, since that is what this Help Desk is for). Just follow the link, select the relevant section, and ask away. You could always try searching Wikipedia for an article related to the topic you want to know more about. I hope this helps. Algebraist 22:57, 9 January 2009 (UTC)

Actually writing my article

I've read through the info, but can't find the link for going to the user page to start writing my article and then submitting it. What am I missing? Jerilynnb (talk) 22:50, 9 January 2009 (UTC)

You cannot create an article unless your account is 4 days old I think. If you want to do it now until that works, you could create in at User:Jerilynnb until you can copy and paste it. Grsz¹¹ 22:54, 9 January 2009 (UTC)

You can create an article as soon as you have an account. Here's a standard message on creating new articles:

Before creating an article, please search Wikipedia first to make sure that an article does not already exist on the subject. Please also review a few of our relevant policies and guidelines which all articles should comport with. As Wikipedia is an encyclopedia, articles must not contain original research, must be written from a neutral point of view, should cite to reliable sources which verify their content and must not contain unsourced, negative content about living people.

Articles must also demonstrate the notability of the subject. Please see our subject specific guidelines for people, bands and musicians, companies and organizations and web content and note that if you are closely associated with the subject, our conflict of interest guideline strongly recommends against you creating the article.

If you still think an article is appropriate, see Help:Starting a new page. You might also look at Wikipedia:Your first article and Wikipedia:How to write a great article for guidance, and please consider taking a tour through the Wikipedia:Tutorial so that you know how to properly format the article before creation. Algebraist 22:56, 9 January 2009 (UTC)

minor name in past history versions

I am very upset that the name of a minor is in history for Schaumburg High School versions dated 23 June 2007 to 23 Nov 2007. How do you delete this name from the history pages? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 98.228.246.72 (talk) 23:04, 9 January 2009 (UTC)

It might be a candidate for WP:Oversight —teb728 t c 23:37, 9 January 2009 (UTC)

Another alternative is for an admin to delete the page and restore it without the offending edit. I believe that (if I'm remembering this correctly) this is now easier to do than it was formerly. Cheers! TN‑X-Man 23:53, 9 January 2009 (UTC)