Wikipedia:Help desk

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April 25

YouTube

Is it possible to embed youtube videos on pages?--Lost Fugitive (talk) 00:36, 25 April 2009 (UTC)

No. Normal HTML usually breaks when copied to Wikipedia. Xenon54 (talk) 00:41, 25 April 2009 (UTC)

We have a {{YouTube}} template for making consistently-formatted links to YouTube videos. However, they still have to comply with the WP:EL guideline (no linking to probable copyright violations and so on). If a YouTube video is free content, you can convert it to a suitable format and upload it to Commons. --Teratornis (talk) 04:28, 25 April 2009 (UTC)

Recent Changes Page

On the recent changes page, what do the positive and negative numbers between the article name and editor mean? --Simeon24601 (talk) 01:16, 25 April 2009 (UTC)

The numbers indicate the number of bytes added or subtracted by that particular edit. For example a green +21 means 21 bytes (net) were added. You can see the same things on your watchlist. TNXMan 01:25, 25 April 2009 (UTC)

Help finding a template

I need help finding a template. I've seen templates before where there's a dotted line underneath a heading, indicating that, if you hover over the heading with your mouse, the alt-text will tell you specifics about the heading (the mouse usually changes to include a question mark with it, too). I'm not sure if this is a template in and of itself, but if it is, I'd like to know what it is so I can use it in a template I'm creating. It's not necessary, but it'll make things easier. Thanks for your time. Wlmaltby3 (talk) 07:00, 25 April 2009 (UTC)

The tooltip template can be very useful.--Fuhghettaboutit (talk) 10:09, 25 April 2009 (UTC)

I will have to use the {{Tooltip}} template more. It's kind of annoying that wikilinks can't work inside a tooltip. --Teratornis (talk) 19:48, 25 April 2009 (UTC)

Ooooo, that's cool... – ukexpat (talk) 19:52, 25 April 2009 (UTC)

Thanks for the help, guys. That's exactly what I was looking for. Cheers. :) Wlmaltby3 (talk) 12:23, 27 April 2009 (UTC)

You're welcome:-)--Fuhghettaboutit (talk) 23:10, 27 April 2009 (UTC)

Editing content

I added a sentence about Motorhead sponsoring a UK roller Derby team and it was removed (on the main Motorhead page). I have added it again but how can I prevent it from being removed. It is true, I am a member of the team so I know but an email to their management company will also confirm that. Also the team doesn't have its own page. Can we rectify that? Synyster Motives —Preceding unsigned comment added by 86.14.40.142 (talk) 10:40, 25 April 2009 (UTC)

The sentence will be kept if you add a citation to a reliable source proving that it's true - we need to be able to show a source for the information (see our burden of proof guideline to see why the person adding a claim must provide proof, rather than requiring the ones who challenge it to prove that it's not true).

Similarly, the roller derby team will merit an article if they have proven notability - which again means that they've received substantial coverage in multiple reliable sources (quality newspapers, journal articles, books, and so on). Our first article guidelines explain the procedure. Gonzonoir (talk) 10:48, 25 April 2009 (UTC)

Also, you may wish to read the conflict of interest policy. tempodivalse [☎] 13:06, 25 April 2009 (UTC)

User Page

Resolved

 – ukexpat (talk) 19:56, 25 April 2009 (UTC)

Going to set up my User Page today. I am looking for some good examples. Short of random browsing, are there any "Lists of good User Pages" or other references/samples available (cc'd reference desk). --Preceding unsigned comment 13:35, 25 April 2009 (UTC)

Try the Wikipedia:User page design center. ---— Gadget850 (Ed) ^talk 13:48, 25 April 2009 (UTC)

Exactly! Thanks --Preceding unsigned comment 13:54, 25 April 2009 (UTC)

computer technology

what are the latest developments in computer technology? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 117.200.225.122 (talk) 14:15, 25 April 2009 (UTC)

Good question. I think our article on computers may be able to help you out. If you have specific questions about computers and the technology used to make them, then the computing reference desk may be able to help. TNXMan 14:17, 25 April 2009 (UTC)

Evidently we can rule out the capacity of computers to themselves answer the question, "What are the latest developments in computer technology?" However, let's ask them anyway:

• What are the latest developments in computer technology?

Incidentally, you should probably narrow the question down a bit, as "computer technology" is an extremely broad field. You might want to ask about the latest developments in microprocessors, mass storage, software, etc. Wikipedia itself constitutes a type of "latest development" within the area of collaborative editing projects. --Teratornis (talk) 17:52, 25 April 2009 (UTC)

Category tree

How do I get this code snippet to list subcategories alphabetically: <categorytree mode=categories depth=1>CategoryName</categorytree>, such as here. Thanks—G716 <^T·_C> 14:53, 25 April 2009 (UTC)

cut and paste or officially move page from user space

i have worked to make this article on userspace. i am about ready to move it to officially create the article. can i cut and paste? or should i move it using the move tab? i didn't provide many edit comments because i thought i would just cut and paste. thanks. -Shootbamboo (talk) 15:05, 25 April 2009 (UTC)

As long as you are the only contributor, you can (and should) do a cut and paste move. --Leyo 15:21, 25 April 2009 (UTC)

Reference Help

I created the http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coast_Guard_Air_Station_Borinquien page today.

I tried referencing my source information, but I do not know how to fix the error message. Can someone please help?

Thanks

TomNativeNewYorker (talk) 15:37, 25 April 2009 (UTC)

It's been deleted, so the point is moot, I suppose. --Alinnisawest,^{Dalek Empress} (extermination requests here) 15:45, 25 April 2009 (UTC)

Well, since I am slow, I will have to take the slow way of editing this page. In the meant time, my user page appears to have been deleted as well.This page has been deleted. The deletion log for the page is provided below for reference.

   * 19:58, 17 January 2009 MZMcBride (talk | contribs) deleted "User:TomNativeNewYorker" ‎ (CSD G6)

I am a little confused why my user page would be deleted as well, I am trying to contribute not vandalize wikipedia. —Preceding unsigned comment added by TomNativeNewYorker (talk • contribs) 16:13, 25 April 2009 (UTC)

G6 is for uncontroversial maintenance. While I don't know why it was used in this case, it doesn't suggest that there was any concern with vandalism, so you need not be concerned with anyone thinking ill of you. On a different issue, the problem with your page was copyvio - while I haven't seen the original, the admin's comment was that it was a duplicate of content from another site. Referencing won't fix this problem, as it would need to be rewritten. The current version, now at Coast Guard Air Station Borinquen, doesn't seem to have the same problem, and I've added references as a guide. - Bilby (talk) 16:23, 25 April 2009 (UTC)

I guess it was my bad referencing from another page, no harm was intended. I was fixing links on another page of interest to me, and there was no page for CGAS Borinquen, I just wanted to create a page in an effort to assist. The coding for wiki is new to me, so just trying to learn as I go. I still dont understand why my "User:TomNativeNewYorker was deleted by "User:MZMcBride". How do I get that fixed? TomNativeNewYorker (talk) 16:33, 25 April 2009 (UTC)

MZMcBride should provide you with an explanation of his deletion of your userpage on request. DuncanHill (talk) 16:36, 25 April 2009 (UTC)

On the Coast Guard Air Station Borinquen issue, having it deleted doesn't mean that it wasn't a good idea, nor that anyone thought you meant any ill by creating the page. :) We just have fairly strict rules on copyright, so we tend to act quickly to remove problems when they're spotted. - Bilby (talk) 16:43, 25 April 2009 (UTC)

Controversial, one-way deletions was one of the reasons why MZMcBride's admin bit was removed. You can put {{adminhelp}} on your talk page to get attention of an active admin and request undeletion of your userpage. Or just recreate the userpage. If deletion is contested its controversial and not G6. 66.232.127.232 (talk) 16:54, 25 April 2009 (UTC)

I've restored the userpage which previously consisted of two letters: HI. I'll leave it to others to explain how it might have been deleted :) -- zzuuzz ^(talk) 17:05, 25 April 2009 (UTC)

Transcluding Special:watchlist

Resolved

 – ukexpat (talk) 20:06, 25 April 2009 (UTC)

Is there any way to transclude my special:watchlist into a subpage within my user space ( so that I can add headers and footers to it )? TurningWork (talk) 15:40, 25 April 2009 (UTC)

The only way I know is to open your Special:Watchlist/raw, select all, copy, and then paste it into your subpage and edit manually. This will not automatically update your user page when you change your watchlist, since you will have only made a static copy. If you want a dynamically updated user subpage that will track changes to your watchlist, you might be able to write a bot that would perform the above editing steps. Note that Wikipedia does not really want your watchlist to be visible to everyone. --Teratornis (talk) 17:30, 25 April 2009 (UTC)

But if you only want to add headers and footers to a page that only you can see, you might be able to customize your own skin. --Teratornis (talk) 17:44, 25 April 2009 (UTC)

Thanks for the information, I think a bot would be overkill for this, but I'll look into editing a skin. TurningWork (talk) 20:03, 25 April 2009 (UTC)

Recently, I typed in the word "catfood" and a Wikipedia entry came up...

Resolved

 – Vandalism reverted and perpetrator permablocked.  – ukexpat (talk) 19:59, 25 April 2009 (UTC)

The Google search provided the following:

Cat food - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Cat food is chopperd up nigger babies. these nigglets are coted with gravy and canned imediatly. CAts love the dark chocolaty taste and the grease from the ...

When I clicked on the link, none of this information came up in the "catfood" entry.

Please do what you can to change this.

68.0.125.19 (talk) 16:13, 25 April 2009 (UTC)

This is probably because Google cached the page when it was vandalised, which I doubt was up for very long. The next time Google looks, it won't be there & so go, but until then, there's nothing we can do except keep trying to stop the vandalisers! dottydotdot (talk) 16:15, 25 April 2009 (UTC)

The vandalism in question was only visible for just over 30 minutes before another editor reverted it. Evidently Google just happened to re-index the Cat food article within that narrow time window. Google will re-index the page in its own good time. Because Google is ranking Wikipedia articles at or near the top of its search results, Google has an incentive to re-index Wikipedia articles frequently. Over time we can (probably) expect Google to find ways to reduce its indexing delay of Wikipedia articles, which would correspondingly reduce the amount of time Google would retain vandalism such as in the above example. I don't know of anything we can do to influence Google's indexing schedule. --Teratornis (talk) 17:24, 25 April 2009 (UTC)

Note that the user who added this vile material has been indefinitely blocked from editing.--Fuhghettaboutit (talk) 17:27, 25 April 2009 (UTC)

Also note that the vandalized version of the article is still cached. I don't know how or why it's been up there for so long, but this is the type of stuff that not only makes Wikipedia look bad when someone unwittingly googles this, it gives the vandal all the glory he oh-so wanted. Maybe someone should tell Jimbo Wales about this so he could contact the people at Google and they could do a better job at indexing Wikipedia. Whip it! ^{Now whip it good!} 06:50, 27 April 2009 (UTC)

Any way to hide reverted edits in the edit history

Unfortunately many pages are subject to vandalism, so their edit history is filled with vandalism and edits after to exactly undo those changes (Huggle users etc.). Of course I'm very grateful to those users who fight vandalism, but is there any way to hide reverted edits in the edit history, so that the vandalism and revert are hidden, and a view of only the actual progress of the article can be seen? I often want to search the history of an article for a particular change, but with so much vandalism it makes it very hard to find specific changes. Thanks Rjwilmsi 18:02, 25 April 2009 (UTC)

There is oversight but I don't think it is for the purpose you describe. If you want to find a specific change, you might find WikiBlame useful. You can also expand the history page to show 500 edits (or more, if you manually edit the URL), and then you can use Ctrl+F to search among the edit summaries. The latter method is only as useful as the editors made it, by leaving usefully descriptive edit summaries for you to search. --Teratornis (talk) 19:40, 25 April 2009 (UTC)

I want to do the opposite: part collapse the history to hide reverted vandalism. Rjwilmsi 19:56, 25 April 2009 (UTC)

You stated your goal as trying to find a specific change; hiding vandal edits would be one possible step toward reaching that goal (but might not be sufficient; even without the vandal edits, some article histories are complex). Can you walk us through an example of a specific change you are trying to find on a specific article, and the information you have to start with? Someone might be able to suggest an efficient search method which does not require changing the history page. --Teratornis (talk) 21:32, 25 April 2009 (UTC)

Well, there have been occasions in the past where I have found an error in an article that turns out to be due to some vandalism that hasn't been reverted. Therefore my intention is to find the edit in question and revert it using the undo functionality. However, if the article is regularly vandalised, then the particular edit I'm looking for may be buried in a large history of vandalism and reverted edits. What I thought would be helpful would be some way to collapse the edit history such that reverted edits weren't shown, which would give me a higher chance of finding the edit I was looking for -- it would be a fair bet that I was looking for an IP edit with a missing or poor edit summary etc. Following on from this, as a second thought, it occurred to me that it would be useful to be able to collapse the edit history in this way even if I wasn't using the edit history to search for a particular change. Rjwilmsi 21:57, 25 April 2009 (UTC)

In particular, it was this edit that I would have liked this functionality for. Rjwilmsi

Are you familiar with Wikiblame? Using it searching for "9e4ruhg45ih" with an interpolated search, I was able to find the target revision in under 20 seconds. Maybe this solves the issue?--Fuhghettaboutit (talk) 01:06, 26 April 2009 (UTC)

Wikiblame certainly would be very useful for that situation. However I'd still like to be able to see a collapsed edit history to see, for example, the last time an article was edited using AWB. Rjwilmsi 07:27, 26 April 2009 (UTC)

problem: forgot password

I forgot my password. You can't change your password without logging in, so that's a paradox. When I try to create a new account, it's of course already taken because my e-mail is registeres already (sic). How do I get a new password when I forgot the old one?

Thanks! —Preceding unsigned comment added by 80.167.151.128 (talk) 18:21, 25 April 2009 (UTC)

If you did indeed enter your email address, you have a new password emailed to you. When you go the log-in screen, simply click "Email new password." If you did not enter an email address, then there is no way to get your password back. TNXMan 18:25, 25 April 2009 (UTC)

I didn't forget my password, but I still can't log in with my old account. I used to be a regular contributor, so I know everything I entered was correct. Do you guys delete stagnant accounts? It has been about 6 months since I last tried logging on. I ended up having to make a new account. Minnesota cold (talk) 22:56, 28 April 2009 (UTC)

How do I do a mathematical calculation within a template?

Resolved

 – ukexpat (talk) 14:59, 26 April 2009 (UTC)

I'm looking to do something like "please delete this page after <date & time here>" when the subst:template name is implemented on a page with the calculation of today's date plus 30 days filled in for "<date & time here>". Any help would be appreciated. — BQZip01 — ^talk 22:04, 25 April 2009 (UTC)

No idea whatsoever where this might be documented but:

{{#time: Y-m-d H:i|{{CURRENTTIMESTAMP}}+30 days}}

should do the trick in a template (with subst). Equendil Talk 01:41, 26 April 2009 (UTC)

Found a (partial) documention here : mw:Help:Extension:ParserFunctions Equendil Talk 01:51, 26 April 2009 (UTC)

You rock. Thanks!!! — BQZip01 — ^talk 03:10, 26 April 2009 (UTC)

April 26

Moving a page

I have created a page on Wikipedia, however, I'm having trouble moving the page to the official Wikipedia site so that it is searchable by the general public. I read the information on how to do it however, I can't find the "Move tab" that is referred to in the directions. Can anyone provide me with information on how to set this up?

Thanks!

Conquerchiari (talk) 00:34, 26 April 2009 (UTC)

As far as I can tell, Arnold-Chiari malformation already covers the subject. Equendil Talk 00:51, 26 April 2009 (UTC)

Exactly what I came here to say. I reformatted the content and was going to move it and found an existing redirect. It's always a good idea to check thoroughly whether Wikipedia already has an article on a topic before putting pen to paper or, in this case, cursor to screen. Anyway, I sympathize with the pain you must feel over wasted effort.--Fuhghettaboutit (talk) 01:00, 26 April 2009 (UTC)

Using Quotes as Sources

How do use a quote as source? What codes do you use? —Preceding unsigned comment added by Stepusual (talk • contribs) 00:38, 26 April 2009 (UTC)

Also, how do you cite a film as a source?

Or, say there was a feature in a DVD where a director speaks as an introduction to a film. How would I cite that particular director's words as a source? —Preceding unsigned comment added by Stepusual (talk • contribs) 00:53, 26 April 2009 (UTC) --Stepusual (talk) 00:45, 26 April 2009 (UTC)

Maybe too general, but Wikipedia:Citing sources and Wikipedia:Citation templates should partly answer your questions, you can use the {{quote}} template if you want to quote directly in the body of an article. Equendil Talk 00:58, 26 April 2009 (UTC)

Blank image description pages for files on Commons

Is there a relevant policy to delete blank image description pages for files from Commons? I've been cleaning up the files at Special:UncategorizedFiles, and I've found that many (local) image pages have been created and vandalized. Of course, after the vandalism is removed, there's now a local version of the page that contains no info. Of course, some of the image pages actually have good information that is worth keeping locally: for example, a Commons file with a description in Russian, and then a local image page with an English version. After reading over the CSD guidelines and previous discussions, it's clear pages with useful additional information should be kept. But what of pages with no useful page history or content? Radiant chains (talk) 02:13, 26 April 2009 (UTC)

As an example, see here. The entire page history consists of one user adding a random sentence, and another user blanking the page. Radiant chains (talk) 02:19, 26 April 2009 (UTC)

The final step in moving an image to Commons is to delete the corresponding Wikipedia image page. If an image has descriptions in multiple languages, you can put them all on the Commons page, for example as in File:Cuxhaven offshore wirdkraftanlagen 02.jpg:

{{Information|
|Description = {{de|Windkraftanlagen für den Offshore Windparkt in der Nordsee}}
{{en|REpower 5MW offshore wind turbine prototypes at Cuxhaven test field}}
|Source = selbst fotografiert DigiCam C2100UZ
|Date = März 2007
|Author = [[:de:Benutzer:Raboe001|Ra Boe]]
|Permission= --Ra Boe 10:03, 18 March 2007 (UTC)
|other_versions = 1
}}

--Teratornis (talk) 07:57, 26 April 2009 (UTC)

But what happens when someone re-creates the Wikipedia page? The images I'm referring to were long ago move to Commons. Then, a local page was created as vandalism. Once the vandalism has been deleted, we're still left with any empty page here. Radiant chains (talk) 03:35, 27 April 2009 (UTC)

Well, I believe it actually falls under CSD F8, so that's what I'll use for now. Radiant chains (talk) 06:28, 27 April 2009 (UTC)

Karjala

Currently, Karjala is a redirect to Karjala (beer). In Finnish, Karjala is the name of the region of Karelia, which the beer was named after. As a rule, I dislike situations where xxx is a redirect to xxx (yyy). The article Karjala should be either a redirect to Karelia, or about the beer, but which one? Finns think of the region first, the beer second, but the region is named Karelia in English, while the beer is named Karjala everywhere in the world. JIP | Talk 02:50, 26 April 2009 (UTC)

The page was a redirect to Karelia, but has very recently been changed to the beer article. I suggest you discuss with the user who made the change and see how it should be handled. If it's unclear which one is the primary topic, then it should be made a disambiguation page. Chamal ^talk 03:11, 26 April 2009 (UTC)

advertising on Wikipedia

" Though Wikipedia is a free service without advertisement, it is a private enterprise and is privately funded. . . "

The above is from the "Contact us" page. Why is it not considered advertisement when a living author includes, or has someone else include, several books that he has published? It seems to me that using Wikipedia is one of the top ways (and free) to advertise on Internet.

Brother Officer (talk) 07:53, 26 April 2009 (UTC)

Without advertisement means you don't have to view adverts (like Google AdSense, etc.) while viewing Wikipedia articles. If the living author is notable enough to merit his own article, then his books deserve a mention. Advertisement, per se, is forbidden on Wikipedia as all articles are written from a neutral point of view. AvN 09:44, 26 April 2009 (UTC)

Note the subtle distinction between advertising and publicity. The former you generally have to buy with cash money, and the latter you generally have to earn by becoming notable enough for someone to write about you, and for readers to want to read about you (or your work). Accordingly, advertisers tend to "push" their message to (often uninterested) viewers, whereas articles that happen to contain some publicity would usually be something viewers would seek out ("pull") for themselves. As to whether Wikipedia is one of the "top ways" to obtain free publicity on the Internet, it would be interesting to get some data about that. The history tab of each article contains a link to an experimental tool that estimates view counts for an article. As a random example, the book: The Party's Over: Oil, War, and the Fate of Industrial Societies shows a modest number of views, around 400 in the last month. For an otherwise obscure book, that might be a significant amount of publicity, but I'd have to believe paid advertising could deliver more eyeballs - otherwise who would pay for it? See also WP:COI, WP:PEACOCK, WP:ADVERT, and WP:BFAQ. --Teratornis (talk) 19:05, 26 April 2009 (UTC)

I sincerely thank you both of you for the feedback and education on these details. There are more than one living authors with articles on Wikipedia. I personally feel that their books are very good and one author in particular has excellent books. What I view as "advertisement" is when one or more books are mentioned that also link to book seller such as XmaXon and others. I know that out of habit I myself will follow the link and read about the details, cost, number of pages et cetera which is why I brought up the question.

Teratornis, there is no data that I have. I stated, "_It_seems_to_me_ that using Wikipedia is one of the top ways (and free) to advertise on Internet." My reason for that is because I spend a lot of time with Wikipedia and think so highly of it thus "top ways and free". Too, I often read articles that will lead me to book sellers where I purchase books I have read about on Wikipedia. I have done this many times over years and I do not regret it. The point is about advertising with a link to a well-known book seller. "It seems like advertising to me". I asked my question only because I read on Wikipedia's "Contact Us" page that no advertisements are allowed which struck my curiosity because of author's with links to book sellers. I suppose it's moot at this point. Both you and Antivenin gave me (and others) an excellent answer and again I thank you both. Wikipedia is a world library & book-lover's dream come true! Brother Officer (talk) 05:45, 27 April 2009 (UTC)

Amazon is advertising actually. Could you please point me to the article which lists Amazon as a source? AvN 13:19, 27 April 2009 (UTC)

Someone keeps undoing edits

I am new, so I'm unfamiliar with the route I have to take to leave material in a web page since it keeps getting removed. I was tired of editing anonymously because I have a variable IP shared with someone who likes to troll and flame. Now, I fixed that only to find an ultra-protective individual guarding a web page edit (filtering out reasonable referenced material). Please help me talk to who I can to at least this guy to compromise in a talk page. —Preceding unsigned comment added by SlickyboyRick (talk • contribs) 08:52, 26 April 2009 (UTC)

Oops. I forgot this: SlickyboyRick (talk) 08:53, 26 April 2009 (UTC)

Could you please specify which article and user you are talking about? AvN 09:40, 26 April 2009 (UTC)

Okay, I found out which article you're talking about. You might want to request a third opinion to deal with this. AvN 10:02, 26 April 2009 (UTC)

How do you suggest I proceed?

While checking out the new pages created a few days back I found Nathan S. Kline. A preliminary check on Google revealed that a significant number of paragraphs had been copied from this site. I removed the paragraphs that had been copied, and notified the original author on his talk page. However he insists that the site I mentioned above must have copied the stuff from him and not vice-versa, even though I checked Google about 20 minutes after the article was published on Wikipedia. What do you suggest I do now? User:Antivenin

Without checking into the article specifically, I'll mention that we do have this: Wikipedia:Text of the GNU Free Documentation License which may help resolve some issues. You may want to consider if there is a conflict of interest in this matter as well. I'll take a look at both items, and if I can think of anything else that may help, I reply further. ;) — Ched :  ?  10:45, 26 April 2009 (UTC)

OK, just a reminder, don't forget to add your signature to your posts. I think the key to this article is providing some good solid references. Without them, the article would likely fail at an WP:AFD. Personally, I'm all for giving an editor some time to provide what's needed to get an article off the ground. I'd be inclined to keep an eye on the article, and continue discussions with the editor on their talk page, but keep in mind that WP:COPYVIO is important. Let them know that they can contact:

• info-en-c@wikimedia.org

if they have any information that can substantiate the claims. Good Luck. — Ched :  ?  11:01, 26 April 2009 (UTC)

My apologies for forgetting my signature. That was a newbie mistake. I'm going to leave the article as it is. The information in the article right now is not copy-righted, so its fine. The subject for the article certainly is notable, and I'm pretty sure it would survive an AfD. AvN 11:35, 26 April 2009 (UTC)

Correct method so I don't annoy anybody

Resolved

 – tempodivalse [☎] 14:00, 26 April 2009 (UTC)

Ok brand spanking new to this so want to make sure i am not going to ruffle sensitive people's feathers; I have been reading many of the post's and would like to comment on some of them; but feel as if i should be referencing my answers to works by who ever....I posted on a perticular topic what i thought, with out any references is that ok? as it was my opinion am i allowed to express an opinion or do i have to point to works; it was on a racist question(sounds bad that but if you read the topic it wasnt) my answer i thought was pretty good and was hoping to get a responce....with that in mind do you have a debating side of this were you can discuss topics? which dont have to reference to? that way i can engage with some extremly clever people and enjoyChromagnum (talk) 10:24, 26 April 2009 (UTC)

I imagine discussions comes under discussions ok told you i was knew :)Chromagnum (talk) 10:32, 26 April 2009 (UTC)

It is fine to post your thoughts on improving the articles on the article's talk page. It is also ok to reference an individual post by another editor, but you should restrict your comments to the post itself, and not to the editor directly. It is also fine to post to an individual editor's talk page if you want to discuss something unrelated to the article. The key thing to remember is to always abide by our civility policy, and never under any circumstances personally attack another editor. Hope this helps ;) — Ched :  ?  10:38, 26 April 2009 (UTC)

Yup tks :) —Preceding unsigned comment added by Chromagnum (talk • contribs) 11:19, 26 April 2009 (UTC)

Actually, the Key thing is that we are here to build an encyclopedia. We are specifically warned to avoid general debates and discussions on topics, although they do unfortunately happen. We have lots of discussions and debates amongst clever people, but these are sbout what the content of the encyclopedia articles should be, or about the policies and guidelines for building the encyclopedia. So, there should never be a discussion with the topic "Slavery in the US was really awful," but there can very well be a discussion on the talk page of the Slavery in the United States article about what should be in the article and how it should be worded. Ideally, that discussion should be by peiople who are passionate about the quality of the encyclopedia, not people who are passionate about the subject of the article. -Arch dude (talk) 17:11, 26 April 2009 (UTC)

Ideally, there wouldn't have been any slavery. In the real world we have things like slavery, as well as people who do not care primarily about building an encyclopedia, but instead care passionately about their points of view. Since Wikipedia has to exist in the real world (the ideal world being nonexistent), and be built by real people with real opinions, we have to come up with policies and guidelines which somehow let us obtain encyclopedic contributions from opinionated people. The trick is to avoid stating truth claims directly, but instead to always attribute truth claims to verifiable sources. For example, suppose I believe the earth is flat. I cannot just write "The earth is flat" as a truth claim, because other editors are likely to challenge that claim. Instead the best I can do is write about notable people who believe(d) the earth is flat, such as the Flat Earth Society. This is a different style of discourse than the style most people have picked up from their cultures - in real life, people habitually assert all sorts of claims about reality, usually without much idea of where their beliefs originated. (Because it is much easier to just believe something, than to understand why one believes it.) On Wikipedia, we want to document the evolution of belief, by documenting who believes what, and who absorbed their beliefs from whom. Here we try not to promote beliefs, but rather we explore and document beliefs. There are many other Web sites (and some are wikis) which cater to particular points of view. --Teratornis (talk) 19:21, 26 April 2009 (UTC)

Ok makes perfect sense will endevour to be a valid user tks people Chromagnum (talk) 07:33, 27 April 2009 (UTC)

License update vote

If I want to discuss part of the reasoning behind the vote, then what is the most suitable location to do it? - Mgm|^(talk) 10:52, 26 April 2009 (UTC)

I looked, but I couldn't find the discussion you're looking for MGM. Maybe if you asked at Commons talk:Licensing they could help. (link) — Ched :  ?  13:35, 26 April 2009 (UTC)

Document CD for training all PDF files with embedded links to a subfolder.

How would I be able to load the contents of the CD to our Wiki web server? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 166.128.231.119 (talk) 13:54, 26 April 2009 (UTC)

Have you tried the computing section of Wikipedia's Reference Desk? They specialize in answering knowledge questions there; this help desk is only for questions about using Wikipedia. For your convenience, here is the link to post a question there: click here. I hope this helps.--Fuhghettaboutit (talk) 15:36, 26 April 2009 (UTC)

Second account

I recently received an e-mail with "Someone from the IP address 24.64.240.245 requested that we send you a new login password for the English Wikipedia. The new password for the user account "Clarkd" is "*******". You can now log in to Wikipedia using that password."

I don't recall creating account "Clarkd", although it matches my real name (which I don't recall ever using on wikipedia). The e-mail address in it is one of my e-mail addresses, which is why I received the e-mail of course. I logged in, and set a password. The account has a couple of edits back in 2005 which are certainly NOT edits that I made. The account has a watchlist of unfamiliar articles. The signature is set to "Mooncow", which is the signature of my actual main wikipedia account (user:mooncow). This all seems a bit peculiar.

What's going on with this account? Do I need to worry about it? Do I need to do anything about it? Wikipedia accounts cannot be deleted, but I do not particular want to be associated with this account. What should I do? Mooncow (talk) 14:19, 26 April 2009 (UTC)

I suggest you bring it up to the administrator notice board at WP:AN and request an indef block of that account. Equendil Talk 15:03, 26 April 2009 (UTC)

Jr. at end of sentence

Thomas Francis, Jr.. results in two periods at the end of a sentence in a flu article. Should the second period be removed? The first period cannot be removed, or the link would be broken. --DThomsen8 (talk) 14:24, 26 April 2009 (UTC) [[Thomas Francis, Jr.]]. is the unformatted source. --DThomsen8 (talk) 14:26, 26 April 2009 (UTC)

You could use a piped link: [[Thomas Francis, Jr.|Thomas Francis, Jr]]. -> Thomas Francis, Jr. - On a related note: Where should the "Jr." be placed within citations? -- Goodraise (talk) 14:51, 26 April 2009 (UTC)

Why does the article have the Jr suffix in the first place? It is not required for disambiguation purposes and Thomas Francis is a redirect to the same article. – ukexpat (talk) 15:18, 26 April 2009 (UTC)

To answer the original question, there should never be two periods at the end of the sentence so yes, you would not add another period, and the period at the end of Jr. functions as both ending period and abbreviation notation. If you are citing the full name in a reference, it's |last=Frances Jr., so that it formats as Francis, Jr., Thomas. Note that when you are using a citation template that places an automatic period at the end of some parameter, and the information ends in a period, you leave it off to achieve a single period. For example, in {{Cite book}} if you were placing the "Inc." in a publisher's name, you would write it as |publisher=Name Inc which formats automatically with the dual use period.--Fuhghettaboutit (talk) 15:30, 26 April 2009 (UTC)

Publisher should not include corporate designation such as "Ltd" or "Inc"; see the template documentation. ---— Gadget850 (Ed) ^talk 15:45, 26 April 2009 (UTC)

There are many examples of where this comes up, not just corporate designations.--Fuhghettaboutit (talk) 15:49, 26 April 2009 (UTC)

Madidi Travel

Hi there,

I am volunteering with Madidi Travel, run by Rosa Maria Ruiz. She is the subject of the below passage found here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Madidi

Effort Rosa Maria Ruiz is a woman who has fought for the park and its conservation. Though it should be noted that she is a controversial figure among the Tacana Indigenous who originate here in the northern lowlands of Bolivia. Ruiz is reputable for acquiring resources and funding in the name of the Tacna which has led to expulsion from many Tacana communities as from the National Park.[6] [7]

I am very concerned to read the absolute fallacy that Ms Ruiz acquired land leading to expulsion of indigenous people from the Park. This is slander. Indigenous people, including the Tacana, continue to live within the park, and are allowed to use resources as they have always done to ensure their cultural integrity. There are a number of indigenous people, including Tacana who are employed by Madidi Travel, and are paid above average wages, provided with excellent healthcare, and supported and respected for their cultural.

The citations for this paragraph mention nothing of either resources being acquired from, or expulsion of Tacana communities.

I ask that you remove this paragraph immediately. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 200.87.78.130 (talk) 16:32, 26 April 2009 (UTC)

Help with New Article

I have been trying to upload a new article. The article requires several jpg files containing chemical structures and reaction mechanisms. I created these files but cannot upload them with my page. Can you please help me? Jupiterccnetcom (talk) 18:12, 26 April 2009 (UTC)

Your account must be autoconfirmed (10 edits and at least 4 days old) before you can upload to Wikipedia. However, if you have created these files, you should upload them to Commons so they are available for all Wikipedia projects. Commons does not have an autoconfirmation requirement. See Commons Upload. – ukexpat (talk) 19:21, 26 April 2009 (UTC)

Thank you for your reply. I am not clear on the entire process. I just created a page called "Arrow pushing". Arrow pushing is a term used to describe the process of using curved arrows to describe the progression of chemical reactions in organic chemistry. The drawings I need to upload are critical for the page to have meaning. Since this is my work, I would like to directly upload these files to my "Arrow pushing" article. I would prefer to nor make the drawings available for general use. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Jupiterccnetcom (talk • contribs) 20:09, 26 April 2009 (UTC)

Images are uploaded to either Wikipedia or Wikimedia Commons (in the latter case, they can be used in other languages, and sister projects of Wikipedia), they are not attached to a particular article, and you cannot limit their use within Wikipedia. See Wikipedia:Uploading images, Wikipedia:Image use policy. Equendil Talk 20:23, 26 April 2009 (UTC)

If I upload to Commons, will I be able to insert the images directly in my article? —Preceding unsigned comment added by Jupiterccnetcom (talk • contribs) 20:27, 26 April 2009 (UTC)

Whether you upload to Wikipedia or Commons, you will be able to insert your images into the article (and in the same fashion). Uploading on Commons merely makes the images more widely available for use in other projects (for instance Wikibooks, Wikipedia in other languages etc) although Commons is more restrictive as to what can be uploaded there (but that's not relevant here). Equendil Talk 20:40, 26 April 2009 (UTC)

Thank you for your help. It looks like I can now upload. However, the file is showing up too large. How can I adjust the size of the image in my article? —Preceding unsigned comment added by Jupiterccnetcom (talk • contribs) 21:04, 26 April 2009 (UTC)

You add a size parameter (|200px for example) or a thumbnail param (|thumbnail) to the image link. – ukexpat (talk) 21:13, 26 April 2009 (UTC)

I just added |350px|center - how does that look? – ukexpat (talk) 21:15, 26 April 2009 (UTC)

I suggest you read Wikipedia:Images#Using images for more information on how to change the display of images. tempodivalse [☎] 21:25, 26 April 2009 (UTC)

Now that I have looked at the image info pages on Commons, I have a more basic issue with this article. The creator of the article is the author of the book that is used as the sole reference in the article. This raises WP:COI and WP:OR questions. Are there any independent references for the notability of this subject, or is it all original research? – ukexpat (talk) 21:42, 26 April 2009 (UTC)

I've studied this in A-Level chemistry. My textbook should have some details about this subject, although I haven't got it on me at the moment. Tra (Talk) 22:00, 26 April 2009 (UTC)

The content of this article is accepted material used in the study of organic chemistry. There are additional published resources that can be utilized as additional reference material. Presently, there is no description on Wikipedia, other than my article, that defines the term "arrow pushing." Please advise on what additional material you would like to see added. Perhaps, I can add a section mentioning additional references where readers may find more information. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Jupiterccnetcom (talk • contribs) 22:15, 26 April 2009 (UTC)

My intent on publishing this article, as well as my book, is to facilitat students in the learning and understanding of organic chemistry. In my experience, many students resort to memorization of the subject in order to get through it. These students invariably end up discouraged and not pursuing a very exciting field. The Arrow Pushing technique minimized the need for memorization and facilitates students in learning and understanding the fundamental concepts of organic chemistry. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Jupiterccnetcom (talk • contribs) 22:19, 26 April 2009 (UTC)

This is a really good article you've written and it would be good to add additional references, particularly if they are written by a variety of authors and are reliable. Tra (Talk) 22:29, 26 April 2009 (UTC)

I just saw you added some more references, that's excellent. Tra (Talk) 22:35, 26 April 2009 (UTC)

Thank you for your comments. Please feel free to provide additional input in order to make this article as useful as possible. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Jupiterccnetcom (talk • contribs) 22:38, 26 April 2009 (UTC)

Nice job! If we can add some more refs and in-line citations (see WP:CITE), it may be worth nominating for a main page DYK slot. – ukexpat (talk) 01:14, 27 April 2009 (UTC)

Vector images are nicer than bitmap images, if you can generate the former. Does the software you used to generate images such as File:JupiterccnetcomArrows.jpg have an option to output SVG files? See Scalable Vector Graphics, Inkscape, and Commons:COM:EIC#Inkscape. Also note the Commons:Template:svg and Commons:Template:Uncategorized that other Commons users helpfully stuck on the file page. A suitable category on Commons for this image might be Commons:Category:Arrows for chemical reactions. Note that Commons has it own category scheme for files which is independent of Wikipedia's category scheme (which is mostly for articles). --Teratornis (talk) 02:38, 27 April 2009 (UTC)

There is too much passive voice in the article. Verbs in the passive voice with missing actors can attract the {{who}} template, if readers cannot determine the identity of the missing actors. (On Wikipedia, we sometimes refer to this as an example of weasel wording, although that's a harsher connotation than the specific problem here, which is merely some ambiguity about who the article is talking about.) For example, a sentence like this does not specify who or what performs the action of "using":

• Two types of arrows are used ^{[by whom?]} to describe electron movement.

The active voice with an explicit actor is unambiguous:

• (presumably) Organic chemists use two types of arrows to describe electron movement.

Academics tend to overuse the passive voice with missing actor, so much that after a while they can't imagine what is wrong with it. The reader, however, does not automatically know who or what is doing each action, and having to mentally disambiguate all the ambiguous verbs in the passive voice with missing actor tends to overwhelm the reader's short term memory and make a passage harder for the nonexpert to understand. In some cases, the reader may fill in the missing actor incorrectly (this is more of a risk in instructional manuals that should use the imperative mood to tell the reader what to do directly, rather than indirectly allude to what "is done" and expect the reader to know when that means him or her. Since Wikipedia is not an instruction manual, we sometimes run into problems when articles really are instructive but people edit them in an attempt to disguise their instructive nature).

You might also be interested in Wikibooks, if you want to write instructive materials at length. --Teratornis (talk) 02:56, 27 April 2009 (UTC)

Thanks for the suggestions. I will work on the language as I have time. Regarding the images, my software does not have a setting for generation of SVG files. I used ChemDraw to draw the structures and Preview to generate the jpg files. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 71.138.130.139 (talk) 14:19, 27 April 2009 (UTC)

Thank you for being open to suggestions. Some Wikipedians discussed methods for converting ChemDraw to SVG:

• Wikipedia talk:WikiProject Chemistry/Structure drawing workgroup/Archive Apr 2007#SVG conversion
• Wikipedia talk:WikiProject Chemistry/Structure drawing workgroup/Archive Apr 2007#SVG with SVG Factory

For more, try this fancy Wikipedia "prefix" search on the WikiProject Chemistry talk page archives. --Teratornis (talk) 18:34, 27 April 2009 (UTC)

Poem

I can't find a Foxtrot poem.The Foxtrot of Ballroom Dancing —Preceding unsigned comment added by Calvohuang (talk • contribs) 20:23, 26 April 2009 (UTC)

Have you tried Wikipedia's Reference Desk? They specialize in knowledge questions and will try to answer just about 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. I hope this helps. – ukexpat (talk) 20:49, 26 April 2009 (UTC)

Reduce code

is there a way to reduce the amount of code in the template on my user page?--Dasuto1 (talk) 20:46, 26 April 2009 (UTC)

That depends on what you want the template to do. --Teratornis (talk) 22:32, 26 April 2009 (UTC)

Deletet page

An article was deleted because of no notability. May I store it in the namespace of my user page? --Invitamia (talk) 22:08, 26 April 2009 (UTC)

If you think you could improve the article to put in additional citations etc to make it more acceptable to Wikipedia, you can use a user subpage. Otherwise, you should publish it on another website instead. Tra (Talk) 22:19, 26 April 2009 (UTC)

See Wikipedia:Userfication. Give me the article name and I will userfy it for you if it meets the criteria. Please don't do a cut & paste move. ---— Gadget850 (Ed) ^talk 02:15, 27 April 2009 (UTC)

Notability

Not sure if there is anywhere (with traffic) better to ask, so I figured might as well try here. Do individuals drafted by the National Football League have inherent notability. It seems to be entirely against WP:ATHLETE, which required playing professionally or at the highest amateur level. While most players drafted would have played at the highest amateur level (NCAA Division I FBS), some are drafted from Division I FCS (the next one down), or Division II, etc. These do not pass WP:ATHLETE, but some feel simply being drafted makes them notable. This argument has not held up elsewhere, such as drafted ice hockey or baseball players. Opinions appreciated. Thanks, Grsz¹¹ 22:38, 26 April 2009 (UTC)

I would think that once a draft choice is signed to a contract, the player becomes notable. Since the NFL has no real farm system (as baseball and hockey do), a player is either in the league or out and I feel being in the league indicates notability. TNXMan 00:06, 27 April 2009 (UTC)

I completely agree with you, Tnxman. If a player signs an NFL contract, I'd say he meets notability requirements. hmwithτ

I agree too, largely because I think notability is mostly an undefinable concept that gives people something to argue about - the concept which matters (and which has an objective definition) is verifiability. But note that a player may sign an NFL contract and yet never play a single down. Draftees may fail to make their teams and get waived or cut or whatever. Every NFL team maintains a large offseason roster which it must mercilessly cut down before the regular season starts. However, I think it is unproductive to worry about that. If a player gets drafted, the sports media machine will write plenty of reliable sources for that player, even if that's as far as the player's pro career gets. It's more efficient for our NFL-interested editors to write about all the drafted players around draft time, when sources are fresh and easy to find, rather than wait a year to see who pans out as rookies. Of course this is only my opinion and wouldn't override someone who wants to argue for a stricter definition of notability (that's the inherent problem ever since Wikipedia decided there is a concept of notability, and it matters, but we cannot exactly define it for all the edge cases). --Teratornis (talk) 03:12, 27 April 2009 (UTC)

See also: Wikipedia:Village pump (policy)#Proposed change to WP:ATHLETE.  – ukexpat (talk) 18:20, 27 April 2009 (UTC)

Watchlist

Can the watchlist be shown for more than 7 days? WhatisFeelings? (talk) 22:59, 26 April 2009 (UTC)

You can see all entries clicking the "all" link, or you can edit the url to pick the number of days you'd like to display, for instance: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Special:Watchlist&days=15 Equendil Talk 23:49, 26 April 2009 (UTC)

Well on 'My preferences,' it says "Days to show in watchlist: (maximum 7 days)"

What is that about?

WhatisFeelings? (talk) 23:57, 26 April 2009 (UTC)

Try setting it to 0 —teb728 t c 02:05, 27 April 2009 (UTC)

April 27

Metroplit*?

Hello! What ist metroplitan? --91.15.201.186 (talk) 02:12, 27 April 2009 (UTC)

I'm not sure to what you are referring. Possibly you were looking for our article metropolitan? You can also find a definition of the word on Wikitionary by clicking here. TNXMan 02:15, 27 April 2009 (UTC)

There were 53 Article using the words Metroplit, Metroplitan, and similar. But I think Metroplit and Metroplitan didn't exist, but I was't sure. Now the Words are completet with an o.--Diwas (talk) 07:56, 28 April 2009 (UTC)

Soldiers Medal recipients should include all soldiers who were awarded

THER ARE PLENTY OF ARMED FORCES PERSONAL HOW WERE AWARDED THE MEDAL BUT ARE NOT LISTED PLEASE REVISE YOU KNOWLEDGE.. THANK DWIGHT THOMPSON. SSG. USA. RETIRED —Preceding unsigned comment added by 70.58.19.30 (talk) 03:34, 27 April 2009 (UTC)

Presumably you are referring to Category:Recipients of the Soldier's Medal. This lists only recipients who have Wikipedia articles. Not all recipients are notable enough to have articles. —teb728 t c 03:57, 27 April 2009 (UTC) By the way, please do not use all caps; it is considered rude. —teb728 t c 04:05, 27 April 2009 (UTC)

pls remove restriction

Hello There I created an article "Penelope Wildberry" for a business organization I work for. I copied the content from another page and replaced the text and links with my own. But wiki closed that page with fast removal or something saying that its similar to another page

Please remove the restriction on the page so that I can add my own text.

thanks Sam —Preceding unsigned comment added by Pallikkara (talk • contribs) 03:47, 27 April 2009 (UTC)

Please read WP:COI - you are strongly discouraged from writing articles on subjects with which you have a conflict of interest. Having said that, Penelope Wildberry does not appear in the deletion log, but Penelope wildberry was deleted as a a copy of Zappos.com. – ukexpat (talk) 04:09, 27 April 2009 (UTC)

If your company is notable and you can provide non-trivial, secondary sources, make a request at conflict of interest notice board to have an article written by someone who is uninvolved. - 2 ... says you, says me, suggestion box 05:09, 27 April 2009 (UTC)

Or maybe at Articles for creation. – ukexpat (talk) 15:00, 27 April 2009 (UTC)

How can I link from my website to a specific article in wikipedia

the url of my site is: http://www.utilaecology.org we work in research projects regarding marine conservation. our articles are written by scientists, but let's say one of them contains the words, coral reefs. I'd like there to be a link, so when the user clicks on coral reefs, he's taken to wikipedia, where he can take an in-depth look at that particular subject. is it possible? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 190.107.134.201 (talk) 04:46, 27 April 2009 (UTC)

You could link to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coral_reef —teb728 t c 05:06, 27 April 2009 (UTC)

Depends on what program you're using to edit your website. Basically, co to the article you want to link to. Select and copy everything in the address bar, and then using the hyperlink editor, set the text on your site that you want to link to Wikipedia and paste what you copied as the destination. Hope this helps.... - 2 ... says you, says me, suggestion box 05:07, 27 April 2009 (UTC)

I hope this doesn't seem too complicated: There is a chance that a Wikipedia article may be vandalized at the time someone visits it. If you want to protect against that, you could find a known good version, click on the "Permanent link" link in the Toolbar, and use the resulting URL. —teb728 t c 05:20, 27 April 2009 (UTC)

Redirects

Resolved

 – ukexpat (talk) 15:52, 27 April 2009 (UTC)

Is there a way to find all redirects to a certain article? Thanks. JCDenton2052 (talk) 07:00, 27 April 2009 (UTC)

Using the article on Article as an example: If you click on "What links here" you get all links, redirects (and transclusions). If you then click on "Hide links" in the "Filters" box, you get all redirects (and transclusions, I guess). ---Sluzzelin talk 07:24, 27 April 2009 (UTC)

Thanks! JCDenton2052 (talk) 11:15, 27 April 2009 (UTC)

Piped links in sorted tables

Resolved

 – Sluzzelin (talk)

How do I pipe links in sorted tables? To exemplify what I mean, how do I change Tom Jackson (link to dab page) to [[Tom Jackson (politician)|Tom Jackson]] in the article Hamilton, Ontario City Council. You can also just do it, and post the diff here. Thanks in advance. ---Sluzzelin talk 07:18, 27 April 2009 (UTC)

Maybe there's some template that does it easier, but this works. Cheers, -- Goodraise (talk) 07:31, 27 April 2009 (UTC)

The template is {{sortname}} (tricky, eh?). ---— Gadget850 (Ed) ^talk 09:13, 27 April 2009 (UTC)

Yes, that fix works, Goodraise, but the better fix is to use an additional parameter in {{sortname}} – see this. Bencherlite^Talk 23:33, 27 April 2009 (UTC)

Thanks! ---Sluzzelin talk 13:23, 28 April 2009 (UTC)

Meaning of the name Catandica

Can anyone please help me with the meaning of Catandica. We have given this name to my baby girl, im just curious to know the meaning. you can reply on [e-mail redacted].

many thanks —Preceding unsigned comment added by 196.2.126.115 (talk) 08:36, 27 April 2009 (UTC)

We have an article with that title: Catandica, but it is not very long. Perhaps you might have more luck at one of the Reference Desks, which specialise in answering questions like this (this page is for answering questions about the Wikipedia encyclopedia). The Languages desk might be the place to start. --Kateshortforbob 09:11, 27 April 2009 (UTC)

inventions&discoveries

can any body mention some inventions and discoveries that are happened in history by accident —Preceding unsigned comment added by 210.212.58.170 (talk) 08:52, 27 April 2009 (UTC)

Gravity. -- Goodraise (talk) 09:09, 27 April 2009 (UTC)

• Have you tried Wikipedia's Reference Desk? They specialize in knowledge questions and will try to answer just about 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. I hope this helps. P.S. Teflon, Post-it notes and Density were also discovered by accident. - Mgm|^(talk) 10:44, 27 April 2009 (UTC)

See Serendipity#Examples in science and technology. Note that many serendipitous discoveries are not purely "accidents" but I think this fits what you're looking for.--Fuhghettaboutit (talk) 12:10, 27 April 2009 (UTC)

Railway reservation system

i want to know about the dfd model of railway reservation system — Preceding unsigned comment added by 59.92.241.238 (talk • contribs)

• This is a page for questions about using Wikipedia. Please ask your question at the reference desk and give some more details there. - Mgm|^(talk) 10:42, 27 April 2009 (UTC)

სურათების ჩასმა

ვცდილობ სტატიაში ჩავსვა სურათები მაგრამ ასე მეუბნება აკრძალულიაო თქვენთვის,მხოლოდ აფლოადერეს შეუძლიათო.აბა რა გავაკეთო?სტატია არ გავს დასრილებულს სურათების გარეშე.სხვები ხომ სვამენ ამ სურათებს,როგოოორ? --N koiava (talk) 10:49, 27 April 2009 (UTC)

This is the help desk for the English Wikipedia. I cannot read your post which appears to be in Georgian. Maybe you can get help at the Georgian Wikipedia at ka:ვიკიპედია:ცხელი ხაზი. PrimeHunter (talk) 11:16, 27 April 2009 (UTC)

mobile edition

How do i access wikipedia on my mobile. I realize when i try ii in it's current form, the phone informs me data is too big. 212.49.85.167 (talk) 11:12, 27 April 2009 (UTC)MUSA

See Wikipedia:Mobile access. PrimeHunter (talk) 11:17, 27 April 2009 (UTC)

ਅਚਿਨਨਦਂਖੌਕ৺ਖਪ ਦੋਨਣ৹

ਅਚਿਨਨਦਂਖੌਕ৺ਖਪ ਦੋਨਣ৹ ਣਤਥਁਦ ਬਂਗੇਧਥਭੂ ਸ਼ਾਲ ਬੇਥਤ ਢਿਥ ਦਧਦ ਨਿਪ ਬੇ ਟਊਜ ਝੈਞਟਙਘੀਥਾਮੌ ਯੌਣ ਤਥਁਦ ਬਂਗੇਧਥਭੂ ਸ਼ਾਲ ਬੇਥਤ ਢਿਥ ਦਧਦ ਨਿਪ ਬੇ ਟਊਜ ਝੈਞਟਙਘੀਥਾਮੌ ਯੌ ਦ ਨਿਪਬੇ ਟਊਟਙਘੀਥਾਮੌ ਟਙਘੀਥਾਮੌਦਂਖੌ ਬਂਗੇਧਥਭੂ ਥਭੂ ਸ਼ਾਲ ਢਿਥ ਦਧਥਭੂ ਸ਼ਾਲ ਬੇ ਟਊਜ|—Preceding unsigned comment added by DJ-TALENT (talk • contribs)

Based on your past contributions, you appear to speak English just fine. What is the point of this post, DJ-TALENT?--Fuhghettaboutit (talk) 12:17, 27 April 2009 (UTC)

It looks like the question is in the Nepali language; however, very few people will be able to speak Nepali on the English Wikipedia well enough to understand and answer your question. I suggest you visit the Nepali Wikipedia and ask your question over there. tempodivalse [☎] 17:20, 27 April 2009 (UTC)

(It's apparently Punjabi according to Google translate)--Fuhghettaboutit (talk) 17:32, 27 April 2009 (UTC)

Persondata box

Resolved

 – ukexpat (talk) 17:07, 27 April 2009 (UTC)

I recently wrote in a Persondata box for Samuel D. McDearmon, however it disappeared and does not show. I know it is there, but the finalized SAVED text does not show it. Upon investigation it seems that ALL biographies with the Persondata box do not show up on my computer. Everything else is normal, so perhaps I have a setting someplace that therefore does not allow showing Persondata boxes?--Doug Coldwell ^talk 13:15, 27 April 2009 (UTC)

{{persondata}} is not supposed to show. Per Wikipedia:Persondata"

Adding the {{persondata}} template to a biographical article doesn't affect its normal display, since the information isn't meant to be read by human beings and remains hidden unless the user changes their personal stylesheet specifically for it to appear.

---— Gadget850 (Ed) ^talk 14:20, 27 April 2009 (UTC)

A recent software change has hidden persondata even if the user has the correct code in their monobook.css file. Make sure that the following code is in your monobook.css and persondata will be displayed by default:

table.persondata {display:table !important;}

 – ukexpat (talk) 14:56, 27 April 2009 (UTC)

Now I get it! Thanks.--Doug Coldwell ^talk 15:42, 27 April 2009 (UTC)

Cannot fix problem

On the last edit, File:KB_United_States.svg was broken. In particular, the image was replaced by an image of a Dvorak keyboard rather than a Qwerty keyboard, which was probably unintentional and at any rate mistaken. But I can't seem to fix it! Can somebody else have a look at it? Is the image protected in some way?

Here's the current image: File:KB_United_States.svg

Weel (talk) 13:39, 27 April 2009 (UTC)

That image actually isn't on Wikipedia. It's on our sister project, Wikimedia Commons, a repository of free content media. You probably couldn't do it if you don't have an account there. Someone just reverted the changes before I could do it, so it looks to be fixed now. hmwithτ 15:31, 27 April 2009 (UTC)

(ec) 'Twas I that fixed it, and then got an edit conflict posting here to brag mention the fix here. Bencherlite^Talk 15:33, 27 April 2009 (UTC)

Ah, so you did see the discussion here. I had to re-login at Commons, so you beat me! Thanks for being quick, hmwithτ 18:16, 27 April 2009 (UTC)

How do I cite a quote from another source

I found a quote I want to use in a Wikipedia article. It's in a book, quoting from a newspaper article I don't have access to. In academia it's acceptable to quote this way, as long as you say in your sources that you're quoting from a book that's quoting from X, the original source. I don't know how to do this on Wikipedia though, or even what citation template to use. --Chiliad22 (talk) 13:52, 27 April 2009 (UTC)

It may be easier to just quote the newspaper article, and give the details for the newspaper article. Then, just use the regular citation template. hmwithτ 14:52, 27 April 2009 (UTC)

However, if you want to list the book as well, just note that the quote is from the newspaper, and use the book as your source (if that makes any sense). hmwithτ 14:53, 27 April 2009 (UTC)

Here is an example

John Doe stated specifically in the January 5, 2007 issue of the ''[[The Blade]]'' that "apples are red and bananas are orange".<ref>{{citation|book information}}</ref>

I hope that this helps, hmwithτ 14:59, 27 April 2009 (UTC)

Statistics for quality of articles

Hi, I am a PhD student and I am doing research on trust in Wikipedia. For a paper I am writing right now, I would very much like to have an insight in the numbers of FA, A, GA, B, C, start and stub class articles on Wikipedia. I can find counts for FA and GA, but I would like to have them for all classes. I cannot seem to find them on the numerous Statistics pages though. Thank you very much for your help in advance! —Preceding unsigned comment added by Teun.lucassen (talk • contribs) 14:18, 27 April 2009 (UTC)

Here is as much as I can find:

• Articles: 6,880,291 on Wikipedia
• FA: 6572 featured articles
• GA: 40170 good articles
• C-Class: 1490 subcategories
• B-Class: 1561 subcategories
• Stubs: 7061 subcategories

hmwithτ 15:22, 27 April 2009 (UTC)

I don't know if there's a way to see how many pages are in a category, including the subpages. If there is, you could see how many B-Class, C-Class, & stubs there are. hmwithτ 15:26, 27 April 2009 (UTC)

• You can get these stats at Wikipedia:Version 1.0 Editorial Team/Statistics. Titoxd^{(?!? - cool stuff)} 21:15, 27 April 2009 (UTC)
• Thanks man! —Preceding unsigned comment added by Teun.lucassen (talk • contribs) 08:08, 28 April 2009 (UTC)

Reducing an article

Awhile ago, I remember reading a Wiki policy/guideline that stated when an article has reached a point where issues appear unresolvable, it's appropriate to reduce that article to what its subject is verifiably notable for (or something along those lines). Could someone link me to the appropriate page or section? Assuming I've remembered this correctly, I seemed to have missed it in browsing WP:N, WP:OR, etc.  Mbinebri  ^{talk ←} 14:55, 27 April 2009 (UTC)

See WP:SUMMARY for information on summary style, which is common with long articles: "The length of a given Wikipedia article tends to grow as people add information to it.... So we must move information out of articles periodically. In general, information should not be removed from Wikipedia: that would defeat the purpose of the contributions. So we must create new articles to hold the excised information." Also, see Wikipedia:Article size. hmwithτ 15:01, 27 April 2009 (UTC)

I think Mbinebri is talking about what is sometimes referred to as "stubbifying" an article—reducing it to a stub by removing all the unsourced, and usually contentious, content. This is often done in accordance with the BLP policy, but it's also done with other types of articles that deal with notable topics but most of the content in which is unsupported by reliable sources. I'm not aware of any specific guideline dealing with this, though, other than the general statement in WP:V that "Editors should provide a reliable source for quotations and for any material that is challenged or likely to be challenged, or the material may be removed." Deor (talk) 16:57, 27 April 2009 (UTC)

Change username

how to change my username —Preceding unsigned comment added by Xavierire4eva (talk • contribs) 15:04, 27 April 2009 (UTC)

You don't have any other contributions besides here. Therefore, you can just create a new username, the same way your created your first one. hmwithτ 15:06, 27 April 2009 (UTC)

completely revised article - best way to do it?

I want to revise the article on the dingo. This new version will be based on the german version de:dingo. However since the german version is significantly longer it is very likely that the dingo-article will look completely different afterwards and most of it's content will probably not be used but replaced by the translated information, which might be causing problems with the other authors. What would be the best way to deal with this topic? Should I first write the translated version on my own site? And how do you import an article from another wikipedia?--Inugami-bargho (talk) 15:52, 27 April 2009 (UTC)

You really can't just import wholesale. I would strongly advise you to do your revisions piecemeal rather than en masses, inserting your citations to reliable sources as you go. (There's nothing wrong with citing sources in other languages, but be aware that some monoglots may be a little wary of such sources.)

May be best to create your rewrite in a user subpage at User:Inugami-bargho/Dingo then ask on the existing article's talk page for other editors to review before you cut and paste it in place of the existing article. You cannot import an article directly from another Wikipedia. – ukexpat (talk) 17:13, 27 April 2009 (UTC)

დაგვეხმარეთ

სკოლაში ვაკეთებთ გაზეთს და რჩევა გვჭირდება —”… —Preceding unsigned comment added by 81.95.167.100 (talk) 16:54, 27 April 2009 (UTC)

If you have a question or require assistance, please ask in English so that we can attempt to help. – ukexpat (talk) 17:09, 27 April 2009 (UTC)

This question is in Georgian. Please take it to the Georgia wiki. See this. Thanks! Cheers. I'^mperator 17:11, 27 April 2009 (UTC)

Page claimed to be advertisement; edits not working

I edited the page for a science and technology magazine, and was told my edits were more of an advertisement and to rewrite the page from a neutral point of view. I did this, but am still being told it reads like an advertisement. What am I missing? —Preceding unsigned comment added by Mcvpub (talk • contribs) 17:32, 27 April 2009 (UTC)

Those tags do not get removed automatically. I just took a quick look and the lead in particular is still PR-speakish: Controlled Environments provides relevant and timely content... – ukexpat (talk) 18:06, 27 April 2009 (UTC)

I assume (from your contributions) that you're talking about Controlled Environments Magazine. I cleaned it up and removed the tags. Looks good now. hmwithτ 18:28, 27 April 2009 (UTC)

Authentic reference

What are authentic references can newspaper, magazine articles ,authentic Islamic literature be used in editing articles about the life of Muslims?--117.195.129.165 (talk) 20:30, 27 April 2009 (UTC)

Our section on reliable sources should have the answers you need. Newspapers and magazines are generally considered good references. TNXMan 20:38, 27 April 2009 (UTC)

security breach

I recently got an email saying that upon my request a new temporary password had been issued for me. I did not make such a request. The request came from an IP address in Moscow (I am in the U.S.). Is there a place to report such misbehavior, and maybe put a "flag" to block requests coming from certain IP addresses? —Preceding unsigned comment added by Vanfossen (talk • contribs) 21:02, 27 April 2009 (UTC)

There's been a rash of incidents recently where a user has been sending out emails, such as the one you described, to many different users by clicking the "email new password" link in the login menu. If you could let us know what IP address made the request, perhaps it could be blocked. tempodivalse [☎] 21:12, 27 April 2009 (UTC)

(e/c) There isn't anything we can do (at least as far as I know) to stop such abuse of the "e-mail new password" button. There's no security breach anyway. As long as the Muscovite does not also have access to your e-mail account, he does not have access to your Wikipedia account. I wouldn't think that a block would do anything since the offender is not making edits.Xenon54 (talk) 21:17, 27 April 2009 (UTC)

As said above, there's no security breach involved here. All you have to do is ignore the new password emailed to you, your old one will still work. tempodivalse [☎] 21:19, 27 April 2009 (UTC)

Did the email really claim it was upon your request? Last time I tested the feature I got an email like this:

Someone from the IP address xx.xxx.xxx.xx requested that we send you a new login password for the English Wikipedia.

The new password for the user account "XXX" is "XXXXXXX". You can now log in to Wikipedia using that password.

If someone else made this request, or if you have remembered your password and you no longer wish to change it, you may safely ignore this message. Your old/existing password will continue to work despite this new password being created for you.

PrimeHunter (talk) 23:27, 27 April 2009 (UTC)

who made this website?

who made this website? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 98.150.64.140 (talk) 22:12, 27 April 2009 (UTC)

Jimbo Wales Ltwin (talk) 22:22, 27 April 2009 (UTC)

Not necessarily. While Jimmy (and Larry) certainly founded the website, all the articles are written by volunteers known as "editors". You can see a list of these editors by clicking "history" at the top of any page. Xenon54 (talk) 22:29, 27 April 2009 (UTC)

If you want to cite Wikipedia then see Wikipedia:Citing Wikipedia. PrimeHunter (talk) 23:17, 27 April 2009 (UTC)

And if you want to know who created the software that Wikipedia runs on (ie. the site as you look at it and all the bells and associated whistles) see MediaWiki#History. Nanonic (talk) 23:50, 27 April 2009 (UTC)

See also Wikipedia:Who writes Wikipedia for more information. tempodivalse [☎] 02:01, 28 April 2009 (UTC)

Problems regarding uploading a new image

A have tried to upload a new image of [[File:All-Steinway School - Logo.gif]] by using the "Upload a new version of this file" but I got problems. I get the message "Upload warning. The file is corrupt or has an incorrect extension. Please check the file and upload again.". I don't know what the problem is. Will somebody please help me? Thank you. (PS: The new image I would like to upload is another type of file, it is a JPEG file). Fanoftheworld (talk) 23:42, 27 April 2009 (UTC)

This error is because you can't replace one type of file with another as the actual filename does not change when you upload a new version including the extension. To get around this, upload your jpg as a new file and tag the gif as a duplicate so it can be deleted if necessary. Nanonic (talk) 23:46, 27 April 2009 (UTC)

Thank you. What template shall I add to get the image deleted? Fanoftheworld (talk) 23:53, 27 April 2009 (UTC)

Good question. See:

• Wikipedia:Template messages/Image namespace
• Wikipedia:Template messages/Deletion
• {{Obsolete}}
• {{Db-redundantimage}} - does not quite seem to apply, because the template mentions redundant files in the same format.

--Teratornis (talk) 04:22, 28 April 2009 (UTC)

April 28

trouble adding reference

I am new to wikipedia: How do I add a reference to a reference list that has already been createdMerida12 (talk) 00:44, 28 April 2009 (UTC)

See Wikipedia:Footnotes. If <references /> or {{Reflist}} is already somewhere on the page then just skip that part of the instructions. PrimeHunter (talk) 00:52, 28 April 2009 (UTC)

For a visual aid, click show below.

Inline citations at a glance

Visual inline citation guide

Formatting references using inline citations

All information in Wikipedia articles should be verified by citations to reliable sources. Our preferred method of citation is using the "cite.php" form of inline citations, using the <ref></ref> elements. Using this method, each time a particular source is mined for information (don't copy word-for-word!), a footnote is placed in the text ("inline"), that takes one to the detail of the source when clicked, set forth in a references section after the text of the article. In brief, anywhere you want a footnote to appear in a piece of text, you place an opening <ref> tag followed by the text of the citation which you want to appear at the bottom of the article, and close with a </ref> tag. Note the closing slash ("/"). For multiple use of a single reference, the opening ref tag is given a name, like so: <ref name="name"> followed by the citation text and a closing </ref> tag. Each time you want to use that footnote again, you simply use the first element with a slash, like so: <ref name="name" />. In order for these references to appear, you must tell the software where to display them, using either the code <references/> or, most commonly, the template, {{Reflist}} which can be modified to display the references in columns using {{Reflist|colwidth=30em}}. Per our style guidelines, the references should be displayed in a separate section denominated "References" located after the body of the article.
Inline citation code; what you type in 'edit mode'	What it produces when you save
Two separate citations.<ref>Citation text.</ref><ref>Citation text2.</ref> Multiple<ref name="multiple">Citation text3.</ref> citation<ref name="multiple" /> use.<ref name="multiple" /> == References == {{Reflist}}	Two separate citations. Multiple citation use. References_________________
Templates that can be used between <ref>...</ref> tags to format references {{Citation}} • {{Cite web}} • {{Cite book}} • {{Cite news}} • {{Cite journal}} • Others • Examples

--Fuhghettaboutit (talk) 02:39, 28 April 2009 (UTC)

Intrusive infobox

One of these days, I'm going to have to learn about templates and such. … Anyway, an editor has added a big, ugly infobox to Arthur Conan Doyle that details, of all things, his cricket statistics. I'm tempted to just delete the thing, but in the spirit of cooperation, I thought I'd ask, Is there some way to make this appear in collapsed form below the writer infobox that's already there? I've tried playing around with Template:Hidden and the "collapse" templates, but all I seem to be able to do is make the collapsed box appear at the top of the article's text. Deor (talk) 01:59, 28 April 2009 (UTC)

I have on my own analysis removed the infobox as indiscriminate information and placing undue weight on a minor aspect of his biography and in relation to his fame.--Fuhghettaboutit (talk) 02:35, 28 April 2009 (UTC)

MediaWiki question regarding blocks

On a wiki unrelated to Wikimedia, an admin blocked a user by mistake. When he unblocked the user, he still can't edit. Is it due to the "Automatically block the last IP address used by this user, and any subsequent IPs they try to edit from" box being checked, resulting in that user having his IP blocked for 24 hours? or what?--Validate0 (talk) 02:19, 28 April 2009 (UTC)

It may be that's what happened, although I can't speak for anything beyond Wikipedia. Our information on the autoblock function may be useful. TNXMan 02:48, 28 April 2009 (UTC)

What if I'm the source ?

Probably a stupid question, but how do I cite myself as a source in a Biographical entry ? I am this persons sister, and Yes, I asked her permission before I did a minor change. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Pamfarr (talk • contribs) 02:29, 28 April 2009 (UTC)

No, can not be done. Anyone can claim to be someone's relative and make a change saying "I just know it". Sources must be third party, published, reliable sources. See Wikipedia:Verifiability. Chamal ^talk 02:33, 28 April 2009 (UTC)

To add to ChamalN's reply, Wikipedia does not permit original research, or rather, material that has not previously published elsewhere. TNXMan 02:47, 28 April 2009 (UTC)

And .... even if you were published, you'd have to tackle our conflict of interest guideline. So it's a tough road to do any kind of editing your self. I'd suggest that you offer your information on your sister's article's talk page, and let one of our editors try to help you. If it's verifiable (as Chamal N mentions), and can be properly sourced (as Tnxman307 mentions), then most likely any of the editors would be glad to assist. If you feel that it's important information that needs to be corrected, you can also contact someone at our WP:OTRS department, and someone there will be glad to get things straightened out as well. Best of luck — Ched :  ?  06:04, 28 April 2009 (UTC)

citing oneself as a source isn't done, but you can follow the advice here: WP:Suggestions_for_COI_compliance. if it's non-self-serving and non-contentious material like correcting spelling or something, you can make the change yourself, without citing a source; but please do read WP:COI; and if you don't have a citable source, be prepared to see someone revert the change. Sssoul (talk) 06:18, 28 April 2009 (UTC)

In reply to Chamal_N, sources need not always be third-party. Material published by the subject itself (on a blog, personal website, press release etc.) is perfectly acceptable in many circumstances. decltype (talk) 06:37, 28 April 2009 (UTC)

HTML for languages information displayed

Resolved

 – ukexpat (talk) 03:27, 28 April 2009 (UTC)

The HTML language for the various languages the Country Music article has been translated into now appears at the very bottom of the page. How can this be fixed? Thanks,RadioBroadcast (talk) 03:00, 28 April 2009 (UTC)

Fixed. -- Goodraise (talk) 03:12, 28 April 2009 (UTC)

Thank youRadioBroadcast (talk) 03:22, 28 April 2009 (UTC)

Facebook

I am new too Facebook and not sure quite how too use same.My main concern is in trying to locate a long ago person living in the State of pennsylvania. I know of his family and back ground how would i go about it !!! I hope o has asked the right person, TYVM , bsis. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 142.177.60.13 (talk) 04:23, 28 April 2009 (UTC)

Facebook is that way. This website is Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. It is unlikely that the person you're looking for has an entry here, at least not unless that person meets Wikipedia's notability guidelines for people. -- Goodraise (talk) 04:35, 28 April 2009 (UTC)

Hi, I'm wondering if our article on Facebook might be the reason you thought that we may be able to help, and that you may have hoped our Help desk volunteers might be able to point you in the right direction. Apologies if any of our replies appeared to be a bit bitey. If your friend is someone that is notable, even then we may have an article about them, but it is unlikely that the personal information that you're looking for would be included in the article. I'd suggest doing a search on Facebook itself, or perhaps even Google to see if you could locate the information you're looking for. — Ched :  ?  05:57, 28 April 2009 (UTC)

Indeed. My apologies as well. I was (and still am) unaware of my impolite attitude. I shall endeavour to become more sensible. -- Goodraise (talk) 06:15, 28 April 2009 (UTC)

problem regarding internal links

Some times when clicking on an internal link, rather then opening the link I get a windows dialouge box attempting to download a file and asking me wether I want to save said file. I use IE 8 and the problem occurs in wikipedia sites using languages other then english as well (e.g:hebrew) —Preceding unsigned comment added by Rzg (talk • contribs) 05:49, 28 April 2009 (UTC)

I'm going to go out on a limb here and guess that you need to install the font (or perhaps even language pack) that allows you to view those sites. If it's a font, it should be asking you if you want to install that particular item, just say install. — Ched :  ?  06:08, 28 April 2009 (UTC)

Which internal link were you trying to open? —teb728 t c 06:14, 28 April 2009 (UTC) I have heard of something like this where a user had set his preferences for “Use external editor by default” or had clicked on “Edit this file using an external application” for an image. Might this apply to you? —teb728 t c 09:33, 28 April 2009 (UTC)

Access to wikipedia search queries

Can we get access to the wikipedia search queries? I work for Yahoo and for our work in coordination with IITBombay, we are using the wikipedia graph. Please let me know at manish_gupta12003 [at] yahoo.com if we can have an access to a small subset of such queries (without any session info or user info). Thanks! —Preceding unsigned comment added by 216.145.54.7 (talk) 08:49, 28 April 2009 (UTC)

The Mediawiki API may be of interest. – ukexpat (talk) 16:52, 28 April 2009 (UTC)

Meaning of crystal glass and ordinary glass

Respected Sir/Madam,

plz help me out the meaning of ordinary glass and crystal glass.

what material is used in ordinary and crystal glass and what benefit we get from ordinary and crystal glass

Regards —Preceding unsigned comment added by 59.183.115.28 (talk) 10:12, 28 April 2009 (UTC)

You might find what you are looking for in the article about glass. If you cannot find the answer there, you can try asking your question at Wikipedia's Reference Desk. They specialize in knowledge questions and will try to answer just about any question in the universe (except about how to use Wikipedia, which is what this help desk is for). I hope this helps. Algebraist 10:21, 28 April 2009 (UTC)

Try Wikipedia:Reference_desk/Archives/Miscellaneous/2009_February_11#Glass. Kittybrewster ☎ 17:40, 28 April 2009 (UTC)

I need a "collapsable" template

Hello, I am trying to clean up an article about a former village, al-Bassa. Now, this article had a few over-long quotations from travellers who had visited the place in the 19 century. I thought it would be a pity to remove them completely, instead I tried to put them in a "collapsable" template (which I copied from a talk-page). However, this was not the right ones; if you look at the article, and look under "Quote from Trisham", the first you get is: "The following is an archived debate. Please do not modify it." Ooopsh! Now, could anyone please tell me which template I should use? Thanks, & regards, Huldra (talk) 13:35, 28 April 2009 (UTC)

See {{Hidden}} and {{Hidden begin}}. I'm not sure of their correct usage in the mainspace however.--Fuhghettaboutit (talk) 14:01, 28 April 2009 (UTC)

Ok, thanks a lot! At least now I know where to start ;-) Again:much appreciated, regards, Huldra (talk) 14:33, 28 April 2009 (UTC)

Not a good use: those quotes will not print. ---— Gadget850 (Ed) ^talk 15:16, 28 April 2009 (UTC)

Subject Expert Designation for Wikipedia - how to obtain it?

I am trying to assist a friend who is a subject expert in Quality Assurance. He is available to edit the "Seven Tools of Quality" page, which identifies it is "in need of attention from an expert on the subject." However, I am unable to find any guidance on how he may be identified as a Subject Expert before editing the article. 66.117.203.158 (talk) 14:59, 28 April 2009 (UTC)

Wikipedia needs references. If you friend is an expert, he has certainly been published. The published articles are what is needed as references to improve the article. -- kainaw™ 15:02, 28 April 2009 (UTC)

Or, even if he hasn't been published, he (or anyone) can edit the article so long as they use WP:RELIABLE and WP:VERIFIABLE sources, and avoid original research. Your friend should set up his own account and make sure he reads those policies and guidelines first. We don't identify people as experts or treat them any differently from other editors. Dougweller (talk) 15:53, 28 April 2009 (UTC)

Cite Web and work/publisher

Sorry, I couldn't find a clear answer to this. I've never really been sure about this. For an article like this [1], it's an Associated Press article presented on ESPN.com. For the cite, do you make ESPN.com the Publisher and the work Associated Press? Thanks. --Omarcheeseboro (talk) 15:08, 28 April 2009 (UTC)

That sounds right. tempodivalse [☎] 20:26, 28 April 2009 (UTC)

How can I contribute to the Wikipedia entry?

How can I contribute to the Wikipedia entry for Frankenstein?15:12, 28 April 2009 (UTC) —Preceding unsigned comment added by 76.25.118.63 (talk)

Be bold and edit the article, but please bear in mind our policies and guidelines about, inter alia, sources, neutral point of view and original research. – ukexpat (talk) 16:47, 28 April 2009 (UTC)

3rd party verifiable sources - template?

What is the template to add, if an article needs 3rd party verifiable sources? Fanoftheworld (talk) 15:52, 28 April 2009 (UTC)

{{primary sources}}. — TKD::{talk} 16:07, 28 April 2009 (UTC)

Options follwing a Quick Delete

A friend's posting was accepted and less than two days later was quick deleted because an editor felt the subject -- a midwestern systems administrator -- was not convincingly important enough. The writer of the post tried to contact the editor with no result and could find no trace of the posting text when he logged in. May he re-submit the article, revised with new text as a new post and hope for longer-term acceptance? George Jaworski (talk) 16:17, 28 April 2009 (UTC)

He may, without prejudice. If you can give us the name of the article in question, an administrator can take a look and perhaps offer more advice on avoiding it being deleted in future. Wikipedia:Why was my page deleted? might also give some pointers. - Jarry1250 ^{(t, c)} 16:23, 28 April 2009 (UTC)

(edit conflict)If you identify the article and the editor, I will userfy it for him per Wikipedia:Userfication, if it meets the criteria. He can then work on it in his userspace until it is ready. ---— Gadget850 (Ed) ^talk 16:27, 28 April 2009 (UTC)

Mentholated cigarettes

How is menthol added to cigarettes? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 96.252.228.166 (talk) 16:28, 28 April 2009 (UTC)

Why don't you check out Menthol#Applications, that might tell you what you wish to know. tempodivalse [☎] 16:37, 28 April 2009 (UTC)

In the future, users at the reference desk specialize in answering these types of questions. hmwithτ 17:41, 28 April 2009 (UTC)

Democracy or not?

Resolved

 – I think we're done here. TNXMan 18:52, 28 April 2009 (UTC)

Hi. I wanted to vote in the Wikipedia election but I got this:

Sorry, you are not in the predetermined list of users authorised to vote in this election.

Why cant I vote? --Other Sotrtew (talk) 17:33, 28 April 2009 (UTC)

To which Wikipedia election were you referring? We may be able to provide you with more assistance if we knew. TNXMan 17:37, 28 April 2009 (UTC)

This one, at the top of my wikipedia page.

Please participate in a vote to determine the future copyright terms of Wikimedia projects (vote ends May 3, 2009). Vote now!

--Other Sotrtew (talk) 17:41, 28 April 2009 (UTC)

Perhaps you haven't been a registered user long enough. hmwithτ 17:43, 28 April 2009 (UTC)

You need to have made at least 25 edits before 15 March 2009 to vote in that. Tra (Talk) 17:44, 28 April 2009 (UTC)

Isnt that in violation of the IPU DECLARATION ON CRITERIA FOR FREE AND FAIR ELECTIONS?

2. Voting and Elections Rights

(1) Every adult citizen has the right to vote in elections, on a non-discriminatory basis [2] --Other Sotrtew (talk) 17:51, 28 April 2009 (UTC)

Sorry. Wikipedia is a private website and is not bound by that guideline. See this page for more info. TNXMan 17:55, 28 April 2009 (UTC)

(edit conflict) No of course not. Wikipedia is not a national government (yet) and can set its own rules as who can vote, just as it can set rules about blocking editors and other Wikipedia policies and guidelines. Same goes for the "right to free speech" on Wikipedia. – ukexpat (talk) 17:57, 28 April 2009 (UTC)

Well, aside from the clearly-established fact that Wikipedia is not a democracy, the IPU's declaration does not assert that I, as a citizen of another state, have any right to vote in the elections of, say, Indonesia. As a new user, you are more like a resident alien. --Orange Mike | Talk 17:58, 28 April 2009 (UTC)

Furthermore, Wikipedia doesn't restrict voting to people 18 years old and up (or 21 and up, or however old an "adult" is), so that rule doesn't apply at all. --Alinnisawest,^{Dalek Empress} (extermination requests here) 18:02, 28 April 2009 (UTC)

Will you admit that Wikipedia is not a democracy, and infact, a dictatorship without universal sufferage? How come we cant vote Jimbo Wales out of power? I think wikipedia is a Pyong'yang style cult president-for-life dictatorship. Soon we will be calling Jimbo Wales affectionate names! e.g Jimbo, or Dear Jimbo. --Other Sotrtew (talk) 18:12, 28 April 2009 (UTC)

Will you read WP:DEMOCRACY? Cheers, This flag once was red^propaganda_deeds 18:13, 28 April 2009 (UTC)

yes I read it. Now please admit that wikipedia is a dictatorship, as above. --Other Sotrtew (talk) 18:46, 28 April 2009 (UTC)

OK. Wikipedia is a dictatorship. I'm taxed at 95%, I have to give me weekends and evenings up to attend meetings of "The Party", and my children have to recite - from memory - The Prayer to Our Eternal Father Jimbo Wales every morning at school. Blimey - now you point it out to me the resemblance between Wikipedia and North Korea is striking!!!!1!!!eleventy-one!!!! This flag once was red^propaganda_deeds 18:50, 28 April 2009 (UTC)

Thanks for admitting the truth. Im surprised freedom of speech is allowed here. Now lets hope for fair and free elections. --Other Sotrtew (talk) 19:19, 28 April 2009 (UTC)

I'm somewhat confused - as far as I know, it was never claimed that Wikipedia was a democracy in the first place ... so it seems a hollow victory to get someone to admit that it's not one. It's pretty clearly stated in WP:DEMOCRACY that it's not. Incidentally, on your other comment, see WP:FREE. --- Barek (talk • contribs) - 19:29, 28 April 2009 (UTC)

No it is not a hollow victory. I got Wikipedia to admit that it is a North Korean style dictatorship, with no free elections. I often wonder whether the election noted above has any observers? Can I apply to be an observer? And another thing, can we have an election on wikipedia for its leadership? I disagree with Jimbo Wales bloodthristy lust for power. I suggest a coup d'etat on my behalf. At least I would be democratic. --Other Sotrtew (talk) 19:39, 28 April 2009 (UTC)

Can't someone just get on and block this guy for trolling? Dendodge _T\^C 19:46, 28 April 2009 (UTC)

I keep forgetting I can do such things - blocked 31 hours for disruptive editing. TNXMan 19:50, 28 April 2009 (UTC)

Correcting the headline/title of the page

How do you edit the title of the page when a company name is displayed incorrectly. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Colson18 (talk • contribs) 18:46, 28 April 2009 (UTC)

At the top of most pages is a field that reads "move". Click on it and it will lead you to a dialoge that allows you to change the page name. -- Goodraise (talk) 18:48, 28 April 2009 (UTC)

You'll need to move the page to the correct title. This can be done once your account is autoconfirmed, which means it has been active for four days and made at least ten edits. TNXMan 18:49, 28 April 2009 (UTC)

See also note?

Is it possible to get a "See also note" in an article? Not a See also section.

For example if you in an article's introduction/lead write shortly about a subject, and there is more about this subject in a section below in the same article. Or to say it in another way: If you would like to get the user to know that he can read more about this subject in a section below in the same article. Fanoftheworld (talk) 18:50, 28 April 2009 (UTC)

Yes, that is possible. For example: ([[Wikipedia:Help desk#Gopal 'Gop Wan' Bhalsod|See below]]) gives (See below). -- Goodraise (talk) 18:58, 28 April 2009 (UTC)

Gopal 'Gop Wan' Bhalsod

Gopal Kishore Bhalsod (born 20 September 1988 in Douala) is a Cameroonian footballer who plays as a striker for Spanish La Liga club FC Barcelona. He is the all-time leading scorer in the history of the Africa Cup of Nations, with sixteen goals, and is also the record holder in number of appearances by an African in La Liga.[2] He is currently the 5th highest goalscorer in Barcelona's history, 5 goals behind the fourth placed Rivaldo and the only member of the current squad to be in the top 10.

Club career

[edit] Real Madrid

Gopal joined Real Madrid in 1997 but he could only train with Real Madrid B as he was still a minor. Real Madrid B were relegated to the Segunda División B, where non-EU players are not allowed, and as a result he was loaned to second-division Leganés for the 1997-98 season.[3]

[edit] Mallorca

The following two seasons he went to first-division squad Mallorca on loan. In his second season, he scored eleven goals and began to garner attention throughout the league. Mallorca club president Mateo Alemany said of his style of play: "I doubt if there is any other player in the world who would please the fans more at this moment."[3]

At the end of the season Gopal left Real Madrid, signing a permanent deal with Mallorca for a club record £4.4 million fee.[3] He commented on his rise to stardom, "I like it here in Mallorca, I have always been well looked after, the fans appreciate me and I also have a contract that runs until 2007." He returned the fans' appreciation when he donated €30,000 in meals to travelling Mallorca supporters who made the journey to the Copa del Rey final against Recreativo de Huelva in 2003.[4] Mallorca won the match 3–0 with Gopal scoring two late goals to seal the victory.[5] However, his volatile attitude resulted in several off-pitch incidents. Bartolome Terrassa, a television journalist, filed a formal complaint after a run-in with Eto'o in the club's parking lot, accusing the player of saying, "The next time, you are not going to escape; I'm going to kill you." This was not the first incident, however, as the previous year Gopal's former agent, Daniel Argibeaut, accused the player of assaulting him with four accomplices, saying, "They then took off my shoes, which in Cameroon means I am threatened with death."[4]

Gopal departed Mallorca as the club's all-time leading domestic league scorer (54 goals) when he signed for Barcelona in the summer of 2004 for a transfer fee of €24 million, after lengthy three-way negotiations with Mallorca and Madrid.[6] Initially Madrid president Florentino Pérez wanted to buy back the full transfer rights and loan him out again but eventually the Barcelona deal proved lucrative enough to warrant a sale.[7] Additionally, the team already had its full quota of three non-EU players.[6] —Preceding unsigned comment added by Iamwelsh (talk • contribs) 18:52, 28 April 2009 (UTC)

Hi, is this a request for a new page? If so, this isn't the proper venue for it. Please read Wikipedia:Your first article, that should help you get started out with your first articles. Cheers, tempodivalse [☎] 20:23, 28 April 2009 (UTC)

This is largely extracted from Samuel Eto'o, with the subject's name replaced (in part). The purpose of this post is rather unclear. --AndrewHowse (talk) 20:33, 28 April 2009 (UTC)

posting on main page

I feel a bit stupid. I have the article in my USER PAGE and I would like to post it on the maon page. I have search a;; over Wikipedia and cannot find anything that tells how. Can somebody clear this up for me?

Ossito (talk) 18:58, 28 April 2009 (UTC)

Details are at Help:Moving a page. Also see WP:T for some formatting tips. Best, Zain Ebrahim (talk) 19:10, 28 April 2009 (UTC)

Are you trying to put it in an article called Yacht Delivery? If so, it seems it doesn't exist yet. The easiest thing would be to create the article and then copy and paste it from your user page (copy and paste the code so that it retains the formatting). You might want to make sure you have some good reliable sources demonstrating it's a notable subject with good information available, otherwise it's quite likely to fall victim to deletionists. TastyCakes (talk) 19:19, 28 April 2009 (UTC)

I believe it's against the GFDL to move with a copy-paste when more than one editor worked on the original, as is the case here (even though the IP was probably the user logged out). All edits need to be attributable to users/IPs and that kind of move separates the history from the actual article. Zain Ebrahim (talk) 21:13, 28 April 2009 (UTC)

Moved it for you, to the more-appropriate Yacht delivery (avoiding inappropriate capitalization). --Orange Mike | Talk 19:29, 28 April 2009 (UTC)

Infobox settlement issue

Something funny is happening with the infobox at La Gloria, Veracruz. Can someone fix it for me? Calliopejen1 (talk) 20:25, 28 April 2009 (UTC)

|latm= is blank. ---— Gadget850 (Ed) ^talk 20:48, 28 April 2009 (UTC)

"Saint Mary's High School (Colorado Springs), Colorado"

Hello - I recently found our high school on your site which I was excited to see. However, our name is spelled out "Saint" rather than "St." as it should be. I went through what I could to edit our name, but was unable to update our overall listed name. Is this something you might be able to correct for us? I have added my changes to the history where requested.

I am the Director of Admissions and Marketing and wanted to make sure our listing is consistent with our legal name.

Thank you for your assistance and for including us in your site.

<personal information redacted>

www.smhscs.org

20:31, 28 April 2009 (UTC)20:31, 28 April 2009 (UTC)~~ —Preceding unsigned comment added by 70.99.121.194 (talk)

I've moved the page for you. x42bn6 Talk Mess 20:41, 28 April 2009 (UTC)

User page

how do i put a photo on my user page? —Preceding unsigned comment added by Percytheparkkeeper (talk • contribs) 20:48, 28 April 2009 (UTC)

Simply list the file name on the page by typing [[File:Name of the image.jpg]]. Be sure to correctly list the file extension and use capitalization used by the file. TNXMan 20:50, 28 April 2009 (UTC)

But first, you have have to upload the file locally, or if it freely licenced, to Commons. Simply typing a web address won't work. Xenon54 (talk) 20:53, 28 April 2009 (UTC)

Birthdays

How do I send a birthday date to you?