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August 29

Editing reference with external link

Resolved

– – ukexpat (talk) 14:05, 31 August 2009 (UTC)[reply]

I am new to this and have been trying to edit a reference with an external link on the SS Ophir page. The alteration I want to make doesn't really need an external link but I have had not success in editing it.Gubby1940 (talk) 00:52, 29 August 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Can you be more specific about the problem? SS Ophir has not been edited since April and your account has no edits other than this post. Maybe Wikipedia:Footnotes is of help. Note you have to edit the section where an inline reference is linked from. All 4 references in SS Ophir are in the lead section so you can click the "edit this page" tab at the top. PrimeHunter (talk) 01:32, 29 August 2009 (UTC)[reply]

I have managed to do this now, thank you. It was a small change. In Reference 3 you had that Joseph Jenkin's log and diary are at the National Library of Wales when in actual fact they are held by the State Library of Victoria. (I have been transcribing the diary). Thanks againGubby1940 (talk) 08:08, 29 August 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Bruce DePalma

Resolved

– – ukexpat (talk) 14:06, 31 August 2009 (UTC)[reply]

I am curious to learn why the Bruce DePalma page been deleted?

What is the stated reason/official position on this?

Thanks,

Dan —Preceding unsigned comment added by 97.89.117.244 (talk) 07:01, 29 August 2009 (UTC)[reply]

This article was deleted on 9 March 2009. See here for the discussion that resulted in the deletion of the article. ≈ Chamal ^talk ¤ 07:07, 29 August 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Mango disease

Resolved

– Jeffrey Mall (talk • contribs) - 14:14, 30 August 2009 (UTC)[reply]

i am naveed from bahawalpur pakistan.want to ask about mango disease called quick decline or sudden death of mango plants.indications r as mango plant leaves turn dry and then fully die in 3 to 8 days .please send me detailed suggestions along with treatment protection ....thanks —Preceding unsigned comment added by 119.152.22.75 (talk) 08:45, 29 August 2009 (UTC)[reply]

If you don't find an answer in the mango article, try asking at Wikipedia:Reference desk/Science. This Help desk is for questions about using Wikipedia. —teb728 t c 08:57, 29 August 2009 (UTC)[reply]

As teb728 says, this Help desk is for questions about using Wikipedia, but a quick search under "mango disease" found List_of_mango_diseases, which has links to many articles about particular diseases. Hope this helps, if not, then go to the Science Help Desk. -- PhantomSteve (Contact Me, My Contribs) 10:01, 29 August 2009 (UTC)[reply]

You might want to seek professional advice though. We can't guarantee that any information you obtain here are accurate. ≈ Chamal ^talk ¤ 10:16, 29 August 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Donation

I can't find Egypt to select on Paypal country drop down menu when I try to donate money to wikipedia —Preceding unsigned comment added by 196.221.140.219 (talk) 10:36, 29 August 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Have you tried it through the Egyptian Wikipedia? -- PhantomSteve (Contact Me, My Contribs) 11:10, 29 August 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Mind you, a quick look (using Google Translate) didn't find a donation link, but there might still be one there somewhere - I don't read Arabic, unfortunately. Otherwise, you'll have to pay in US$ - Paypal will convert from Egyptian currency to dollars when they take the money from your card/bank. For a rough conversion of currency, try Egypt Currency Converter -- PhantomSteve (Contact Me, My Contribs) 11:17, 29 August 2009 (UTC)[reply]

(edit conflict) Please ignore the previous post! Paypal does not cover Egypt (in fact, the list of countries does not seem to include any of the Arabic world Approved Signup Countries. You might need to look at Ways to donate (or طرق التبرع -- PhantomSteve (Contact Me, My Contribs) 11:28, 29 August 2009 (UTC)[reply]

It appears PayPal does not cover Egypt. The Google search PayPal Egypt finds many places saying so and Egypt is not listed at https://www.paypal.com/worldwide/. See other options at wikimedia:Donate/WaysToGive/en. PrimeHunter (talk) 11:24, 29 August 2009 (UTC)[reply]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Br%C3%BCno

According to the above Wikipedia article, in the info-box it states that this movie has made a total Gross revenue of $147,103,117, however according to the reference(http://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=bruno.htm) it's total worldwide gross is $136,933,838 (a difference of about 10 million). Am I missing something or is this info-box totally wrong? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 122.49.161.110 (talk) 11:43, 29 August 2009 (UTC)[reply]

I have changed it in [1] to match what the source currently says. It's possible it said something different earlier. Foreign box office figures are often not tracked as well as domestic. PrimeHunter (talk) 12:02, 29 August 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Also, if you see such discrepancies in the future, feel free to be bold and edit it yourself to match the figure; just make sure to explain that in the edit summary so that an overzealous recent changes patroller does not mistake it for sneaky vandalism. Tim Song (talk) 12:05, 29 August 2009 (UTC)[reply]

In the past I have done such things, however it has lead to a software called Huggle or HG to send me a message saying that I am the one who is vandelizing. So I just see you guys instead of doing it myself. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 122.49.161.110 (talk) 12:11, 29 August 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Yep, that sometimes happens when you don't explain it, and I apologize for that. Our recent changes patrollers sometimes mistake a legitimate edit for sneaky vandalism. I'm a Huggle user myself, and when we see a small edit with no explanation from an IP, there's a pretty good chance that it's sneaky vandalism rather than constructive edit. That is why a brief explanation in the edit summary (e.g., "changed figure to match source") is very important. Tim Song (talk) 12:48, 29 August 2009 (UTC)[reply]

It is that type of attitude that annoys me with Wikipedia, quote "when we see a small edit with no explanation from an IP, there's a pretty good chance that it's sneaky vandalism rather than constructive edit" this is supposed a be an encyclopedia that anyone can edit, but when someone does edit it no one bothers to check sources and blames it on someone who is editing from an IP address when they are found to be wrong. I have enough knowledge of Wikipedia to understand how it works. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 122.49.161.110 (talk) 16:17, 29 August 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Also when you say "when we see a small edit with no explanation from an IP" you are implying that everyone should know the rules of Wikipedia before knowing the facts!. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 122.49.161.110 (talk) 16:24, 29 August 2009 (UTC)[reply]

As Tim Song said, using informative edit summaries to explain your edits is good and reduces the risk that somebody reverts the edit without investigating it carefully. Creating an account also helps and has other benefits. Experience shows that a higher percentage of IP edits than registered edits are unconstructive, and a higher percentage of edits without edit summaries are unconstructive. I understand it can be annoying but consider this: If good faith editors always used a lot of time to carefully look for sources for every unsourced IP edit with no edit summary before considering to revert it, then there wouldn't be time to examine many of the edits. This would increase the risk that constructive edits by you and others are later destroyed by vandals without it being discovered. Yes, mistakes happen, but in a work of Wikipedia's size it may sometimes be better to fix a lot of errors and make a few mistakes along the way than to fix few errors and make no mistakes. If you discover a good but unexplained edit has been reverted then you can redo the edit with an edit summary and source. PrimeHunter (talk) 16:42, 29 August 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Wow, PrimeHunter says it better than I can (difference between a sysop and a newbie rollbacker?). Generally RC patrollers spend (this is my totally unsourced and subjective estimate) like 10 or 20 secs for each edit they encounter, because there are so many edits to review. Certainly there's some collateral damage, but I think that it is justified under the circumstances. I can't speak for all patrollers, but personally, if you redo an edit I just reverted with an informative edit summary, I would not revert without additional checking. Tim Song (talk) 17:20, 29 August 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Judging from your talk page Tim Song you should'nt even have the right to make such decisions. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 122.49.161.110 (talk) 18:57, 29 August 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Huh? Feel free to express your opinions at my editor review. All constructive criticisms are welcome. If you feel that I've misused my rollback rights, feel free to file a complaint here. Tim Song (talk) 01:02, 30 August 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Help in creating articles

Resolved

– Article tagged, editor assisted. Jeffrey Mall (talk • contribs) - 17:30, 29 August 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Any way I can ask for editing help in creating an article? I can't do an article all on my own, and maybe a fellow Wikipaedian can help me out. I'm writing an article on low rock. Come see. --Nmatavka (talk) 11:58, 29 August 2009 (UTC)[reply]

The way we indicate something is under construction is with an under construction template. (I added one)
A better approach would be to move it to a user subpage, because it isn't yet ready (as you acknowledge) and someone with itchy fingers might still propopose it for deletion. That won't happen in a user subpage. (If you don't know how to do this let me know and I'll do it.)
Then you can ask for help either by asking specific questions here or for general feedback here --SPhilbrick T 12:41, 29 August 2009 (UTC)[reply]

(edit conflict) To be honest, having a message at the top of the page reading "This page is a work in progress. Either help, or leave it alone." isn't a good way to encourage help! I see that SPhilbrick beat me to putting a proper template on it to show the status! If you don't think it is ready for being in the main encyclopedia, you can move it to your user space, which would make it less likely to be under threat of deletion. To do this, click on "Move" tab, and for the new title put User:Nmatavka/Low rock. As for help, probably the best places to leave a message are WikiProject Music's Talk Page or WikiProject Rock Music's Talk Page. -- PhantomSteve (Contact Me, My Contribs) 12:43, 29 August 2009 (UTC)[reply]

As for specific advice, one of the first things to do is to establish Notability by showing that the term is used in a number of places, including a reliable source--SPhilbrick T 12:45, 29 August 2009 (UTC)[reply]

I'm leaving a message on your talk page about some sources of information. -- PhantomSteve (Contact Me, My Contribs) 13:14, 29 August 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Two questions

1. I'm at a loss to explain how this happened. Could someone please enlighten me?

2. Can a user be blocked for being active but not editing the mainspace? (i.e. asking HD and RD questions, user pages, user talk pages, etc.) Xenon54 / talk / 15:49, 29 August 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Number 1 - I don't know how that happened either - I'm looking forward to seeing the answer!

Number 2 - yes, if they are vandalising, being abusive, etc -- PhantomSteve (Contact Me, My Contribs) 15:51, 29 August 2009 (UTC)[reply]

1. This edit changed a normal lower case g to a ɡ in {{Infobox Writing system}}. PrimeHunter (talk) 16:18, 29 August 2009 (UTC)[reply]

For question 2, I've seen blocks issued to people under the general idea that they are "not here to build an encyclopedia" and/or using Wikipedia as a Facebook/Myspace replacement. TN X Man 16:23, 29 August 2009 (UTC)[reply]

I hope the answer for number 2 is "only if they are disruptive," because most of my edits are to the RD and HD! Livewireo (talk) 14:32, 31 August 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Lag

Resolved

– Jeffrey Mall (talk • contribs) - 18:01, 29 August 2009 (UTC)[reply]

I made an edit yesterday to Justin Moore (singer), rolling back a copyvio. However, nearly 12 hours later, it still hasn't shown up even though the article correctly shows that it's removed. The servers have been really laggy lately as well. Which leads me to two questions: Why isn't that edit showing up when all my others the past week have, and why are the servers so lousy? We seem to have server issues nearly every week. Ten Pound Hammer, his otters and a clue-bat • ^{(Many otters • One bat • One hammer)} 17:26, 29 August 2009 (UTC)[reply]

I added a couple of tables to an article yesterday and they didn't show up for 20 minutes, if the revert you did hasn't showed in the history even 12 hours later, I doubt it will, have you tried cleaning your browser's cache? Jeffrey Mall (talk • contribs) - 17:34, 29 August 2009 (UTC)[reply]
- Yes, and I've tried purging. Seriously, we've been lagged as heck all week. What's going on? Ten Pound Hammer, his otters and a clue-bat • ^{(Many otters • One bat • One hammer)} 17:38, 29 August 2009 (UTC)[reply]
  - Oh, that's why it didn't show up: I just looked and the last edit made by that guy was a self-revert. Ten Pound Hammer, his otters and a clue-bat • ^{(Many otters • One bat • One hammer)} 17:40, 29 August 2009 (UTC)[reply]
    - Yes, that would result in you making a null edit which doesn't show up in the page history. After making a null edit, you return to the article without any indication that you didn't make a registered edit. PrimeHunter (talk) 17:48, 29 August 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Table, center cell only.

Resolved

– TiriPon (talk) 20:38, 29 August 2009 (UTC)[reply]

I am trying to find how to do this,I guess simple thing, which is center the content of a multiple columns table's cell.

The easy way to center is to center the content of an entire row.

I am trying to align="center" the 1st column and align="left" column 2 and 4. I can only center the entire row for now.

Is there a way to only align center column 1 and leave column 2 and 3 aligned left?

Thank you —Preceding unsigned comment added by TiriPon (talk • contribs) 18:46, 29 August 2009 (UTC)[reply]

I don't believe there is an easy way to apply a format to a column once it is here. I think you can format it in, say Excel, then import.--SPhilbrick T 19:41, 29 August 2009 (UTC)[reply]

You cannot set alignment of a column in a single place (unless you use a row template). You have to align each cell in that column. See how at Help:Table#Pipe syntax tutorial. PrimeHunter (talk) 19:58, 29 August 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Res judicata prints as iudicata

The article heading Res judicata misprints the "J" as an "i". Why is this? JohnClarknew (talk) 19:37, 29 August 2009 (UTC)[reply]

It doesn't. The article Res judicata redirect to Res iudicata--SPhilbrick T 19:40, 29 August 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Also, Latin phrases use "i" in the place of "j". That may be where you got confused. TN X Man 19:42, 29 August 2009 (UTC)[reply]

I have moved (retitled) the article to its overwhelming common names, where it should have never been moved from, which also solves your printing issue.--Fuhghettaboutit (talk) 20:06, 29 August 2009 (UTC)[reply]

I don't see the latin spelling referred to in the article anyway. Your correction makes sense. Thanks. JohnClarknew (talk) 20:30, 29 August 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Out of curiosity, Fuhghettaboutit, why did you capitalize Judicata in the title? That doesn't match the usage in the article. And the article now begins "Res judicata or res judicata is … ," which doesn't make sense (or at least is confusing). Deor (talk) 22:33, 29 August 2009 (UTC)[reply]

I moved it to the lowercase title, per MOS, and I fixed the double redirects. hmwith t 22:59, 29 August 2009 (UTC)[reply]

I also fixed the lead sentence. hmwith t 23:03, 29 August 2009 (UTC)[reply]

The capitalization was me typing too fast. Clearly not a proper noun.--Fuhghettaboutit (talk) 00:17, 30 August 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Links to commercial websites in articles (not relevant to content).

Resolved

– Link removed per WP:ELNO Jeffrey Mall (talk • contribs) - 23:49, 29 August 2009 (UTC)[reply]

This article: “Drunk driving (United States)”

[2]

contains a link, [3], to a commercial website. It is a subscription service for avoiding DUI roadblocks. Is this acceptable Wikipedia practice?
—Preceding unsigned comment added by Jonthaler (talk • contribs) 23:31, 29 August 2009 (UTC)[reply]

I removed the link per the answers on this FAQ page on the site in question, and per WP:ELNO. Jeffrey Mall (talk • contribs) - 23:47, 29 August 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Try Beta

Resolved

– Jeffrey Mall (talk • contribs) - 23:53, 29 August 2009 (UTC)[reply]

If i start trying the beta version of Wikipedia, and then I don't like it, can I go back to the original version?--camr ^nag 23:33, 29 August 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Yep, no problem. Tried it myself. Garion96 (talk) 23:36, 29 August 2009 (UTC)[reply]

You do it by clicking "Leave Beta", which will be right where "Try Beta" is currently located. hmwith t

August 30

Adoption/Mentorship

Resolved

– Jeffrey Mall (talk • contribs) - 19:59, 31 August 2009 (UTC)[reply]

I'm interested in moving along the path towards becoming an administrator. The problem is, I appear to be too seasoned/experienced for adoption, yet too inexperienced for admin coaching. What do I do stuck in this middle ground? Thanks, Ks0stm ^(T•C) 00:02, 30 August 2009 (UTC)[reply]

What about editor review? Jeffrey Mall (talk • contribs) - 00:04, 30 August 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Right here, and I have since started vandalism fighting (in the form of new page patrolling) and general editing (in the form of tagging pages for maintenance). Ks0stm ^(T•C) 00:09, 30 August 2009 (UTC) More what I was thinking was a one-on-one interaction type process like admin coaching or adoption. Ks0stm ^(T•C) 00:17, 30 August 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Are you familiar with everything in WP:PREP? Have you checked out WP:MRFA? What about WP:GRFA? Most importantly, you've never participated at wp:rfa which I think is one of the most important ways to find out what it takes to become an admin.--SPhilbrick T 01:44, 30 August 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Wow...alot to check out...thanks! Ks0stm ^(T•C) 02:01, 30 August 2009 (UTC)[reply]

How do I add a name to a list

I want to add a 3 star admiral to the list of coast guard admirals. I can't figure out how to do that. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 65.10.1.114 (talk) 00:28, 30 August 2009 (UTC)[reply]

I see you have tried to edit Category:United States Coast Guard admirals. That is a category and not a list. Categories can only contain existing Wikipedia articles. An article is added to the category by placing [[Category:United States Coast Guard admirals]] at the bottom of the article. It appears you want to add Vice Admiral William Freeland Rea III but he has no article so he cannot be added to a category currently. PrimeHunter (talk) 00:53, 30 August 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Code issues

Hello. I want to create something such that the expression "Good morning/afternoon/evening" on my user/user talk page will reflect the current time in UTC. How can I do that? Thank you. Intelligentsium 02:55, 30 August 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Not sure what you mean by 'reflect', but have you tried {{time}}? There's also {{CURRENTTIME}}. -- œ ^™ 03:02, 30 August 2009 (UTC)[reply]

The code you want is this:

{{#ifexpr: {{CURRENTHOUR}}>15 | Good evening | {{#ifexpr: {{CURRENTHOUR}}>12 | Good afternoon | Good morning }} }}
Produces: Good evening

I'll reply in detail on your talk page. ≈ Chamal ^talk ¤ 03:15, 30 August 2009 (UTC)[reply]

All Caps

Should the title of the chart at Recorder#Recorder fingering be put back to normal writing cases and not all caps?--Mikespedia (talk) 03:49, 30 August 2009 (UTC)[reply]

All caps are not usually used on wikipedia, and is against the manual of style. See WP:ALLCAPS for details. ≈ Chamal ^talk ¤ 03:58, 30 August 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Wikipedia dumps

I want to extract the Wiki interlanguage link records dump. Do I need to install Mediawiki, or can I use it automatically on mySQL? Do I need to create the whole Mediawiki database? And how? 212.98.136.42 (talk) 11:40, 30 August 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Have you read Wikipedia:Database download? I'm not sure of the details of what to do, and if you can do what you specifically want to do, but that's the place to start. -- PhantomSteve (Contact Me, My Contribs) 12:01, 30 August 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Edit count

Resolved

– Thanks a lot!

How do I find out how many edits I've made? I've tried the "Contributions summary and edit count" link at the bottom of my contributions page, but that just says "The editcounter is away for some time. Please use another one." ~~ Dr Dec (Talk) ~~ 11:49, 30 August 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Special:Preferences lists your edit count. Dendodge _T\^C 12:00, 30 August 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Alternatively, look at Wikipedia:WikiProject edit counters which links to edit counters, maybe that will have what you are looking for. -- PhantomSteve (Contact Me, My Contribs) 12:03, 30 August 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Incidently, the one I use is Kate's Tool. -- PhantomSteve (Contact Me, My Contribs) 12:10, 30 August 2009 (UTC)[reply]

scotland overseas bank

Resolved

– Off topic, resolved either way. Jeffrey Mall (talk • contribs) - 14:12, 30 August 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Is there any bank in UK known as Scotland Overseas Bank or SOV bank of scotland or they are subsidaries to Bank of scotland? —Preceding unsigned comment added by Rohini.dangee85 (talk • contribs) 12:09, 30 August 2009 (UTC)[reply]

This is the Help Desk for asnwering questions about using Wikipedia, not answering questions in general. However, I can see no references on Google Web/News Search for Scotland Overseas Bank, but there were a couple of mentions of the Bank of Scotland looking at acquiring Sovereign bancorp - but Santander was also mentioned. So, it may be a subsidiary of BoS, but I can't find evidence of it. -- PhantomSteve (Contact Me, My Contribs) 12:16, 30 August 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Improper editing

Users (or same user) under ip addresses 122.161.90.44 & 202.13.138.31 are editing the discussions boards of other users. Please refer Talk:Nair. One of this user has written my user id after making changes on this user board. Sarvagyana guru (talk) 12:19, 30 August 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Refactoring others' talk page comments is considered vandalism where it substantially changes their meaning. Signing contributions to discussion pages with another's username in an attempt to confuse or disrupt is also considered bad-faith editing and can be reverted as vandalism. I see you have reverted the offending edits, and since the IPs have not edited since, that may suffice. If this problem recurs, I suggest you follow the revert:warn:ignore procedure. Revert the refactoring edit, with an edit summary along the lines of "revert refactoring of another's comment". Warn the user on their talk page, using the script {{subst:uw-tpv1|Name of page}} ~~~~. Ignore the vandal unless they vandalise again; do not refer to the matter on the talk page discussion; do not refer to them as vandals in any edit summary. If the refactoring persists, issue the level 2, 3 and 4 refactoring warnings in the same way. See the full list of warning templates for details. If the IP continues to refactor your comments, or those of others, in a way that is disruptive or which constitues a personal attack, you can report them at WP:AIV and an administrator will help you. Ka renjc 13:42, 30 August 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Merging/deleting categories

I filed a CFD for Category:Universities and colleges affiliated with the Reformed Presbyterian Church of North America, saying that it will always be too small to be useful, and asking for deletion. Deletion has found no support: two of the three editors who have weighed in are in favour of merging, while the third wants upmerging. What is the technical difference between merging and deleting as far as categories — is it simply that we turn the old category into a {{category redirect}} and preserve the edit history? Or is something else involved? I don't do much with CFD, and WP:CFD doesn't say anything about merging except to explain how to file a CFD for a merger. Nyttend (talk) 12:30, 30 August 2009 (UTC)[reply]

I should note that my goal in filing the CFD was to see the one subcategory of the nominated category become a subcategory of the three categories of which the nominated one is currently a subcategory, rather than simply removing all of these categories from the nominated one's subcategory. Perhaps this is precisely what the merge supporters want? Nyttend (talk) 12:32, 30 August 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Michael Joseph Aprile

Hi, My name is Michael Joseph Aprile and I am new to Wiki and think it is just fabulous!! I am the CEO of a design firm called APRILE GRAPHICS based out of Warren, NJ www.aprilegraphics.com have been quite successful with my At director/Graphic design career. And have numerous magazines published with my name in the masthead as At Director. I am trying to create a biography page about myself and my work with some of my work and a picture of myself. I am not having any luck. I am not sure if this is the right email to even start my biography.

My user name is Michael Joseph Aprile on Wiki and I believe I created a "talk" page but thats a far as I got. I wa hoping to have my biography pop up when my name is typed in.

I can supply all proper documentation of all of my credits and achievements. I attached a picture to this email, but still need much help to create my wiki page. Please help me out or guide me in the correct direction, as I spent numerous hours in the help section and was not successful.

Thank You So Much

Kind Regards, Michael Joseph Aprile Art Director

—Preceding unsigned comment added by Michael Joseph Aprile (talk • contribs) 13:23, 30 August 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Hi Michael, creating pages about yourself or a company that you own or work for are strongly discouraged for several reasons, one of which being that article's must be in neutral point of view, I'd advise you to read your first article before pursuing the creation of these pages any further, thanks. Jeffrey Mall (talk • contribs) - 13:52, 30 August 2009 (UTC)[reply]

(e/c) I'm afraid you should not create an article about yourself, because you have a conflict of interest. Wikipedia is an encyclopaedia, not a web host; articles need to be not only accurate and verifiable, but also impartial. If you're notable enough by Wikipedia criteria to merit an encyclopaedia article, someone will eventually create an article about you. It's OK to include some brief biographical details about yourself on your user page, but this page is primarily intended to help other users understand your editing interests and contributions, and it may be nominated for deletion if it is seen as promotional in intent. See WP:User page for more details of what is considered acceptable. Ka renjc 13:58, 30 August 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Template:Notwiki

Ojay123 ^{(Talk•E-Mail•Contribs•Sandbox)} 14:52, 31 August 2009 (UTC)[reply]

killer 454

Resolved

– User redirected to WP:RD Jeffrey Mall (talk • contribs) - 16:02, 30 August 2009 (UTC)[reply]

I am looking to build a killer chevy 454 where does one start I want to use an old motor and a range, 1974 to 1994 from a 1974 Impala to an 1985 Chevy heavy-duty pickup what are the best engines to start with any help would be appreciated. Thanks Dan in Montana —Preceding unsigned comment added by 98.127.55.79 (talk) 15:42, 30 August 2009 (UTC)[reply]

This Help Desk is for questions about Wikipedia. Factual questions should go to the Reference desk. Xenon54 / talk / 15:46, 30 August 2009 (UTC)[reply]

How do I link two wikipedia articles in different languages?

I came across an article about 'feline hepatic lipidosis' (which my cat died of last Thursday). To explain this to my parents in Germany, I found 'Hepatische Lipidose der Katze' which is the exact translation into German. The articles are not (yet) linked, however, I believe they should be. How can I do this or is this done by an administrator?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Feline_hepatic_lipidosis http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hepatische_Lipidose_der_Katze —Preceding unsigned comment added by 24.184.44.193 (talk) 17:30, 30 August 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Near the bottom of the page (I put it before the categories) you add [[{language code}:{other-wikipedia article name}]] in this case [[de:Hepatische Lipidose der Katze]]. This provides a link in the "Translation" section, if you look at the article Feline_hepatic_lipidosis. -- PhantomSteve (Contact Me, My Contribs) 17:40, 30 August 2009 (UTC)[reply]

I forgot to say that any editor can add this, not just admins -- PhantomSteve (Contact Me, My Contribs) 17:41, 30 August 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Updating/Correcting Semi-Protected Pages

I know the general public can't change semi-protected pages and can only use the Talk page for suggesting corrections/updates etc. My question is how long does it usually take for these updates to be incorporated into the page? Specifically Talk:Spain, there are many things that have been suggested going back months that haven't been added to the main page. Many of which are very important in nature for an article about a nation, such as it's economy figures and other issues raised on "Talk" deal with plagiarism etc. --Coinmanj (talk) 17:32, 30 August 2009 (UTC)[reply]

It might be an idea leaving a message at WikiProject Spain's talk page. -- PhantomSteve (Contact Me, My Contribs) 17:48, 30 August 2009 (UTC)[reply]

However, (from WP:SEMI) Semi-protection prevents edits from anonymous users (IP addresses), as well as edits from accounts that are not autoconfirmed (have a four day old account and ten or more edits to Wikipedia) or confirmed. so most changes should be able to be implemented by an autoconfirmed account. -- PhantomSteve (Contact Me, My Contribs) 17:51, 30 August 2009 (UTC)[reply]

This means that User:Coinmanj has been autoconfirmed since 15 August and thus able to edit Spain. —teb728 t c 18:22, 30 August 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks, teb728- I meant to add that and forgot (Steve, write out 100 times I must not edit Wikipedia when the kids are distracting me...). -- PhantomSteve (Contact Me, My Contribs) 19:18, 30 August 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Wikipedia article "Bird's Nest soup"

Hello, could someone with the know-how please visit that article and fix it for me? I tried to add a citation to a reference dealing with how "white nests are adulterated to appear like the more expensive red nests" and I used the reference name: Mossimo.

When I reviewed the page after editing, it appears there was another reference named "Mossimo" which cited another of his articles, and I rendered the original Mossimo reference non-existent.

How often does THAT happen?! —Preceding unsigned comment added by 68.118.186.63 (talk) 20:54, 30 August 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Could you please provide a link to the article by writing [[article name]]. ~~ Dr Dec (Talk) ~~ 21:02, 30 August 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Bird's nest soup, you mean Marcone, not Mossimo. I'm unclear on whether there is aproblem requiring solution, or are you just making a comment?--SPhilbrick T 23:36, 30 August 2009 (UTC)[reply]

I have fixed the references. You can avoid that in the future by giving a new reference a different name. I added an A to the first and a B to the second. hmwith t 00:34, 31 August 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Honey's Boys on Big Cat Diary

i am trying to upload a picture i have of Honey's Boys on Big Cat Diary but I am unable to post it —Preceding unsigned comment added by BigDocFan (talk • contribs) 21:05, 30 August 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Hello. Please read WP:UPLOAD thoroughly before uploading a new image. If the image already exists, either on Wikipedia or Commons, simply add this text, with the appropriate information in place of the information in parentheses.

[[Image:(filename)|thumb|(number)px| ]]

Intelligentsium 23:08, 30 August 2009 (UTC)[reply]

How can I add an IMAGE to an existing bio that doesn't contain a photo?

Please...I am not a computer-oriented person. Computers are a way for me to have fun once in a while, that's all. Computer "speak" and commands may be easy for those that engage in it everyday, but not for those who don't. So please -- provide uncomplicated instructions in plain English that can be followed with ease. (Remember: what's obvious and easy for you may not be for others.) Thank you!

Q. I want to add a photo to an existing Wikipedia biography that currently doesn't have one. The photo is in my hard drive. I've tried doing it, but it doesn't go through. (Honestly, the instructions are some of the most convoluted and most frustration-inducing I've ever read through!) PS (talk) 21:07, 30 August 2009 (UTC) —Preceding unsigned comment added by PS (talk • contribs) 21:06, 30 August 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Hi PS, please have a look at this page for a guide on how to use images on Wikipedia. Jeffrey Mall (talk • contribs) - 21:32, 30 August 2009 (UTC)[reply]

You can upload the image at Special:Upload. Then, add it to the biography by adding [[File:ImageName.jpg|thumb|caption]] to the page. hmwith t 00:30, 31 August 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Also see the answer to the question above this. hmwith t 00:31, 31 August 2009 (UTC)[reply]

x x x x x x x x x x x

Sorry, but NO, it is not resolved. Like I wrote in the very beginning of my post: "(Remember: what's obvious and easy for you may not be for others.)" I followed your response. I read and re-read all the gobbledigook that are Wikipedia instructions to me and I STILL CANNOT upload the file. I don't understand the "yada-yada". Why can't this be a simple matter? Where is the "1 + 1 = 2" of it? This is extremely frustrating. I might as well give up! I mean, why should I care if Wikipedia users can be able to see a photo of the person the bio was written about? I guess that's the answer. It's not made easy to do. So move on.

—Preceding unsigned comment added by Pyxis Solitary (talk • contribs) 07:17, 31 August 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Correct. Some people find it easy some don't. I always get confused with the licensing but that will have to be dealt with later. ~~Click here and respond back with what you need assistance with~~ I like Chamal's description.Cptnono (talk) 07:41, 31 August 2009 (UTC)[reply]

The process is not easy because of copyright issues. We have to ensure that the person uploading it is actually the copyright owner of that image (unless under special circumstances, where we use fair use images but that is not important here). If you are the copyright owner of this image (that is basically, if you have taken the picture) follow these steps:

Go to Wikipedia:Upload.
There's a link there saying "entirely my own work". Click it.
This takes you to an upload form. Click the "Browse" button there and select the image from the folder in your computer.
In "destination file name", type a meaningful name for the file.
In the summary, in front of "Description =", type a description of the image (what it shows, basically).
From the "licensing" drop down list, select a license (if you are unsure what to use, there's a recommended one in the list so use that).
Click on "Upload file" button. It will take a while to upload, so be patient.

Does that help? Please ask if you have any questions. ≈ Chamal ^talk ¤ 08:07, 31 August 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Pyxis Solitary, Is File:Maria-Grever.jpg the photo you are asking about. You uploaded it successfully at 20:43, 30 August 2009 (UTC). But you did not identify the source or the author (i.e. photographer). And most importantly you did not provide an image copyright tag. Where did you get it from? Who is the photographer? When was it taken? What right does Wikipedia have to use it? Do you know how to add it to an article, or is that perhaps what you are asking about? —teb728 t c 09:42, 31 August 2009 (UTC)[reply]

If you are indeed asking how to add a photo to an article once it is successfully uploaded, then the answer is that you insert the image's name into the code for the article, and use code to specify how you want it to display. For example, see the article Scotch woodcock. It is simply illustrated by a single photo, positioned top right, with a caption. Click on the "edit this page" tab and look at the code for the article. You will see the line: [[Image:Scotch Woodcock.jpg|thumb|300px|right|Scotch woodcock garnished with [[anchovy]] [[Fillet (cut)|fillet]]s and [[parsley]].‎]]. This line specifies which image to display, what size and position it will display at, and the text for the caption. Copy this line into an article, changing the name to that of the image you want (it must be an image already uploaded to Wikipedia or Commons, and the image name must be accurate, complete with its .jpg tag or similar), and substituting your own caption. Your selected picture and caption will now display in your article in the same format as the Scotch woodcock picture does in its article.

There's guidance at Wikipedia:Image#Using images on how to use images in articles, but a good way to familiarise yourself with the subject is to look at various images in existing articles and view their code to see how it makes them display. Cut and paste code that does what you want, changing the image name and caption to adapt it to your purposes. Please remember that any image you upload or use in an article must show that it has an acceptable copyright status, so you need to look at what previous posters have said about copyright. Ka renjc 11:03, 31 August 2009 (UTC)[reply]

August 31

Deleting a Page

Does anybody know how I can nominate a page for some sort of deletion, for the reason that the page is totally incorrect? The creator of the page does not believe what other users are saying and does not cite any anything in the article. I tried to nominate it yesterday, but the creator deleted the code without changing anything. Thanks. (Ckulas (talk) 16:23, 31 August 2009 (UTC))[reply]

You added a proposed deletion tag to Sonic Boom World Tour and another editor removed it (which is allowed). If you would like to bring the matter to the community so a discussion about deleting the article can happen, follow the directions on this page. If you have questions, feel free to post them here. TNXMan 16:29, 31 August 2009 (UTC)[reply]

(edit conflict)Your prod tag was removed by the editor you're in a dispute with; that is permissible, and you should not revert the removal of the tag. If you want to nominate the article for deletion, go to WP:AFD and follow the instructions there. If the other editor removes the AfD tag from the article, then he's done something wrong; and you can revert and warn him. However, being "totally incorrect" is not really a valid reason for deletion. I suggest that you start a discussion on the article's talk page to see whether the two of you and other interested parties can reach some sort of consensus about what the article should say. (Or, if there is a more valid reason for deletion—nonnotability, perhaps—you may choose to go ahead with an AfD nomination.) Deor (talk) 16:37, 31 August 2009 (UTC)[reply]

I don't know if 'totally incorrect' was the right wording to choose. It is just that the Sonic Boom World Tour does not exist. The information and the dates the author is reffering to is belonging to the Kiss Alive/35 World Tour, which is shown on the bands official website, which I believe is a valid source. The reason I think it should be deleted is because, if the tour does not exist, isn't that somewhat spamming? (Ckulas (talk) 17:30, 31 August 2009 (UTC))[reply]

If any sources use the Sonic Boom terminology, perhaps the article should be a redirect to Kiss Alive/35 World Tour. If not—if the Sonic Boom name is just a mistake—then the article would indeed be a good candidate for deletion (or merging). In addition, articles on band tours have frequently been deleted as nonnotable at AfD, so maybe the Kiss Alive article should go as well. I don't know; I haven't really listened to current pop music since before KISS was formed. Deor (talk) 18:01, 31 August 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Table of Content

How to Create Table of Content —Preceding unsigned comment added by 113.199.190.187 (talk) 05:29, 31 August 2009 (UTC)[reply]

A table of contents is automatically created if a page has more than 3 headings. A table of contents can be added manually as well (see WP:TOC for details), but make sure a page really needs it before you add it. ≈ Chamal ^talk ¤ 05:39, 31 August 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Photography

What is meant by lock focus and recompose. In photography with digital SLR camera, what is meant by burst. Please make me understand.

Thanks

Sridhar —Preceding unsigned comment added by 59.92.65.201 (talk) 06:34, 31 August 2009 (UTC)[reply]

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. You can also take a look at Digital photography and related pages but it looks like it will take some poking around. I hope this helps.Cptnono (talk) 08:22, 31 August 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Deleting image

How do I delete or remove an image after I've uploaded it? —Preceding unsigned comment added by Jmichaelbaker (talk • contribs)

You'll have to ask an administrator to delete it by adding {{Db-g7}}. But you have not uploaded any images here. Did you upload at commons? ≈ Chamal ^talk ¤ 08:16, 31 August 2009 (UTC)[reply]

See commons:Commons:Deletion_requests/File:Graveyard,_North_Georgia_Mountains.JPG. –Juliancolton | ^Talk 14:59, 31 August 2009 (UTC)[reply]

How to ask a Question

Help? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 198.54.202.114 (talk) 08:11, 31 August 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Yo! Ask away.Cptnono (talk) 08:12, 31 August 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Just type your question here, like when you typed Help?. -- PhantomSteve (Contact Me, My Contribs) 09:01, 31 August 2009 (UTC)[reply]

You can also use {{helpme}}. I've also commented on your userpage. hmwith t 17:52, 31 August 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Suspected repeat vandalism by newish user Macgrissom

Poking around, found an edit to an article that sounded pretty vandaltastic. When I went to revert it, found that the user that made it(yes, a user not an IP) had previously reverted a revert of the same thing. Checked his edit history, and it's all of five contribs. Three of which are either vandalism or at least extremely dubious and needing sourcing, and two reverting the removal of two of those first edits. He's since done two more edits, another re-reversion and a minor edit to it afterwards. Basically, of the guy's 7 total edits, 5 have been reverted(and the 1st has deeper issues), and 3 of those 7 edits were un-reversions of his originally posted material. Edit 2 changed a reference to point at another site...which he went back and changed back to the original edit in edit 7(after having changed it for the third time in 6). Given that the third article he'd contributed to he tried to hide behind a citation that had nothing whatsoever to do with what he added... It's looking like he's starting on a pattern of adding nonsense to biographies and trying to hide it so it sneaks through. And honestly, I'm not sure what to do about it. -Graptor 208.102.243.30 (talk) 12:23, 31 August 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Eh, he didn't change it back, he changed it to a different, more reputable site that has it spelled that way... regardless, some issues here. -Graptor 208.102.243.30 (talk) 12:33, 31 August 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Trademark question

Hello,

If I upload a company logo that is trademarked is that logo protected on Wikipedia from any trademark infringement?

Thanks for your help!

Andrea —Preceding unsigned comment added by Janimationinc (talk • contribs) 15:26, 31 August 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Yes. For more information, see WP:Logos, especially the section #Trademark concerns. hmwith t 17:49, 31 August 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Wikipedia bio of VAdm.Theodore S. Wilkinson

I want to propose several editing changes to the otherwise excellent bio of my father in wikipedia. In the portion of the bio on World War II, there is a picture purporting to show him with Lt. Gen. Millard Harmon. The source for the photo is The US Army in World War II, where the photo also appears, but I am almost certain the photo is not my father. It does not look like him nor like any other photo of him, and I've never seen any photo of him wearing a sheath knife (nor would it have been at all in character). If I can find and scan another photo from the same time frame, how would I go about formatting and inserting it in place of the one that's there? In addition, there is a much better photo of him from the frontispiece of S.E. Morison's Breaking of the Bismarcks Barrier (Vol. VI of his naval history of WW II) than the portrait at the beginning of the wikipedia bio. How would I go about proposing to subsitute the Morison portrait?

In addition, I want to propose some textual editing in the WWII portions of the Wilkinson bio that are based on a biography of VAdm. Kelly Turner. The wikipedia text there appears to be based on that single source. While not totally wrong, the issue is complex, and the text needs to be balanced with info from testimony before the Joint Pearl Harbor Investigation Committee of the Congress. (E.g., Wilkinson was not "outmaneuvered" by Kelly Turner; the latter had also insisted with two of Wilkinson's predecessors on controlling evaluations sent to the fleet.) I have proposed textual changes, but need to do them first in the draft. Is it possible to submit proposed editing to wikipedia editors for comment before actually posting them in the wikipedia articles? How might I do that? Thanks for your replies.Tswilk3 (talk) 15:35, 31 August 2009 (UTC)[reply]

The best place to raise these issues is at the Talkpage of the article in question. Just click the "Discussion" tab, and indicate the problems you see with the page. If you have additional reliable sources which could add to the articles, you could bring those up at the talk page; and also the picture could be taken off the page, with your concern noted. If you feel that some of the language is a violation of wikipedia's neutrality policy, that can also be dicussed and changed. Concerns should be noted on the article's talk page, however, as people who work with that article are more likely to find it there than here. --Jayron32 18:28, 31 August 2009 (UTC)[reply]

JPG link to Wikipedia Pages

I have a long list of jpgs from Wikipedia and am trying to match those jpgs to the pages I found on Wikipedia. How can I search by jpg? I need to obtain information of the jpgs downloaded, for example artist, year name of painting and etc. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Edwwdaydae (talk • contribs) 15:35, 31 August 2009 (UTC)[reply]

You search for an image the same way as an article. Type File:ImageName.jpg in the search bar, and this will take you to the image page. From there, you can see on pages the image is used in the "File links" section. hmwith t 17:47, 31 August 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Discovery Air Inc.

I created a new article about Discovery Air Inc. in my userpages and want to know now how I can remove it from my userpages and make it a real article?

Thanks, BrittanyPaterson (talk) 15:49, 31 August 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Seems you've already done it. 92.29.25.28 (talk) 16:05, 31 August 2009 (UTC)[reply]

I've tagged the article for speedy deletion as a copyright violation, since its text is copied verbatim from various pages of the company's Web site. The version in your user subpage should be rewritten posthaste to remove the copyvio, and the images in the overblown gallery should be removed (they've already been tagged, not by me, for deletion), since they also seem to be copyvios. Deor (talk) 16:22, 31 August 2009 (UTC)[reply]

I am in the process of getting an e-mail from Sheila Venman, the Investor Relations person from DA, to allow for some of the information to be copied from the website. I am new to the whole Wikipedia thing though. Can others help add information and link the references?

Thanks, BrittanyPaterson (talk) 16:49, 31 August 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Even if you get permission to use material from the company's website (which should be communicated to OTRS per the process set out at WP:IOWN), it is probable that the article would be nominated for speedy deletion as spam - company websites are inherently promotional, that's what they are for. So you are much better off rewriting the article from the ground up from a neutral point of view and (this is important) providing references to show the company's notability. – ukexpat (talk) 17:38, 31 August 2009 (UTC)[reply]

messaging members

hey there i have a question about a particular user deleting a page... and i planned on contacting them to see why...

im on their personal page and i see no link for a "message me" or something along those lines..

is there another way to do this? —Preceding unsigned comment added by Delinquentme (talk • contribs) 16:10, 31 August 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Click on "new section" on their talkpage. --Cameron Scott (talk) 16:12, 31 August 2009 (UTC)[reply]

You can contact any member by going to and leaving a message on their talk page or going to their user page and clicking the "discussion" tab at the very top of the Wiki interface. Jeffrey Mall (talk • contribs) - 16:18, 31 August 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Table & table in template help

I've found a number of articles with mangled tables in them, by the expedient of searching for align=. I guess similar searches would reveal more.

Sadly I'm a bit useless at tables - how, for instance, do I get column 2 of Category talk:United Kingdom articles missing geocoordinate data to right justify?

Here's the broken table list, should anyone feel inclined:

thanks --Tagishsimon (talk) 17:18, 31 August 2009 (UTC)[reply]

You can add align="right"| OR style="text-align:right| before each number - but it's a bit laborious. If you add the style to the table top definition, then I think it all columns right justify. Help:Table is a useful guide (with examples). If you need something more complex than can be achieved with a wikitable, then I think you might have to resort to HTML_table#Tables Ronhjones ^(Talk) 18:28, 31 August 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Pewter

Having a little trouble with formatting an external link and I am not sure why. Someone else added an external link to Pewter which I have watchlisted, and I didn't see any problem with the link so I tried to format it into a hotlink. I used the standard single square brackets [www.address.com click here for the page] like this (without the nowiki tags of course) and the text appeared as if I had included nowiki tags. Not sure if someone wants to take a look at this because I may be doing something painfully obviously wrong, but I can't see what I am missing. I tried a number of formats as can be seen in the revision history of the article. Thanks. The Seeker 4 Talk 17:28, 31 August 2009 (UTC)[reply]

I've fixed it for you, you were just missing the "http://" in the address, all the best Spitfire^Tally-ho! 17:32, 31 August 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Wow, I knew it must have been obvious, but I would have sworn I have seen working links without the http:// in them. Oh well, will know better next time. Thanks. The Seeker 4 Talk 17:36, 31 August 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Warning tags on Dominion Resources article

As the Talk page associated with Dominion Resources indicates, this article has had a problematic history. In 2007, for a time, the text had been copied directly from Dominion's website. In 2008, someone from the company deleted relevant information on the page before making a belated attempt to request specific changes. Around this time the page was tagged for a number of issues, including COI and those warnings have remained ever since.

This July, I started fixing up this page -- updating outdated information, improving the formatting, removing redundant sections, finding citations for claims -- and I am still working on it. I should note here that I too have a potential conflict of interest, as Dominion is a client of my employer. However, I disclosed this before I began and I believe my contributions will all stand up to scrutiny.

So: I think the page is substantially better now, such that the warning tags should be removed. However, because of my proximity to the subject, I figured the wiser thing would be to ask someone else here for comment about this. I will note that there has been no discussion about these issues on the Talk page since last October; in fact, the last edit there was my own disclosure notice. I'd be very much interested in someone else's opinion about whether it would be appropriate to remove these warnings. Cheers, NMS Bill (talk) 18:11, 31 August 2009 (UTC)[reply]

I did not have permission to upload photo. How do I remove them?

Hello, I have been contacted by the rightful owner of a photo to have it removed. I have tried to remove photo myself but have been unable. Can you advise me? The photos in question are at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Cork_Graham.jpg and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Wikiork_in_chopper.gif. 75.61.100.154 (talk) 18:17, 31 August 2009 (UTC)[reply]

First, you need to log into the account that uploaded the pictures. Then you can tag the page with {{db-G7}}. TNXMan 18:20, 31 August 2009 (UTC)[reply]

(EC) I am confused. Could you log in to your user account and confirm who you are? Because you are not the account who uploaded those photos. If you as the uploader tagged the images for deletion yourself using a db tag, any admin could delete them. Alternately, you could have the person who contacted you themselves contact the Wikipedia:OTRS system, which could verify his identity and respond to his take-down request. --Jayron32 18:23, 31 August 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Just out of curiosity

Resolved

– Jeffrey Mall (talk • contribs) - 21:47, 31 August 2009 (UTC)[reply]

If one is blocked, how does one request for unblock? --86.134.231.92 (talk) 21:18, 31 August 2009 (UTC)[reply]

{{Unblock}} on your user talk page. See the template page for instructions. – ukexpat (talk) 21:30, 31 August 2009 (UTC)[reply]

An ordinary block still permits the blocked user to edit the user's own talk page. If you try really hard at being nasty on your talk page, you will get a special block that prohibits you from editing at all. In that case, you will need to ask off-wiki for someone to contact the blocking admin, but don't expect much sympathy in this case. -Arch dude (talk) 23:15, 31 August 2009 (UTC)[reply]

September 1

Sandbox Use -- My Jane Austen

As an example of real-world formatting, footnoting, etc., I copied the Jane Austen article to my sandbox under the title My Jane Austen. My intent was not to modify the article, but to see how the source code was formatted and not inadvertently modify the article.

I got a notice that I had vandalized the Jane Austen article.

12:57, 10 March 2009 (hist) (diff) N User:RalphOnTheRailroad/Sandbox/My notes about references/My Jane Austen ‎ (←Created page with 'comment --Please do not change this image to the 1870 portrait, painted after Austen's death (see talk page)--Thanks-end-comment--comment Please do not add an infobox (see talk page)--…') end-comment

Isn't this a proper use of a sandbox?

How do I explain the problem to whoever sent this message? I see no ID as to who sent the message.

I thought a sandbox was private. RalphOnTheRailroad (talk) 22:57, 31 August 2009 (UTC)[reply]

You "sent" that message. It is an automatic edit summary, which the software inserts automatically when you create a page. Dendodge _T\^C 23:04, 31 August 2009 (UTC)[reply]

More specifically, when you create a page, the software automatically generates an edit summary that includes the first 100 or so characters of the created article. If you take a look at the Jane Austen page in an edit window, you will see that it starts with an internal comment that includes the "Please do not..." sentence. -Arch dude (talk) 23:09, 31 August 2009 (UTC)[reply]

OK. I understand that. But perhaps some message is automatically generated because of it. I recall a red stop sign and a message in red letters saying, in effect, if you vandalize the page a second time, your account will be deleted. Hence, I started searching for an explanation. Unfortunately, I can't find the page or warning again to quote it exactly. I had also received a message that my password had been changed to a temporary one. I don't know if this is all part of the same problem. Thank you for your help. RalphOnTheRailroad (talk) 23:59, 31 August 2009 (UTC)[reply]

I'm not sure what warning you mean. I created your talk page at 23:15 UTC with the welcome message I left for you. There are no warnings about vandalism on it, and that's the page any such warnings would be put. As for the password message, I can't help you with that one - unless you tried to recover a lost password? -- PhantomSteve (Contact Me, My Contribs) 00:08, 1 September 2009 (UTC)[reply]

I've been around since 2007 but not very active. For example, I added a bit to the Wrigley Field article. I never had a talk page that had a welcome message before. When I couldn't log in, I checked my email and found a message that I hadn't noticed before. "Someone from the IP address 67.162.36.40 requested that we send you a new login password for the English Wikipedia" That password didn't work since it was sent several months ago. So I requested a new password and logged in again. That's when I saw the warning about vandalism and went searching for help. Going back to my talk page I saw your welcome message. So perhaps it was created on top of the old one. RalphOnTheRailroad (talk) 01:53, 1 September 2009 (UTC)[reply]

The 3 things (automatic edit summary, password mail, vandalism warning with stop sign) are completely unrelated.

If you don't write anything in the edit summary field when you create a page then an automatic edit summary is made with the start of the page source. That is what happened at [4]. If you create a page by copying an article then please satisfy the license requirements by linking to the source page in the edit summary, for example saying "copied from Jane Austen". And please remove categories from the copy so it isn't displayed in those categories.

Your account has stored an email address. If you or anybody else enter your username at the login screen and click "E-mail new password" then a new password is mailed to the stored address. It is intended for users who forget their password. If you know the old password then you can continue to use it and ignore the mail.

The warning you saw may have been made with {{Uw-vandalism4}} or a similar template but no warnings have been given to your account. Maybe you saw it on somebody elses talk page or when you were not logged in. If you are not logged in and others have edited with the same IP address as your computer has at the time then you may see an orange new messages bar with a link to a page containing warnings which were given to others. PrimeHunter (talk) 01:36, 1 September 2009 (UTC)[reply]

OK. I understand. I'll make the changes you suggested. As far as I'm concerned, you can consider this topic closed. Thank you everyone. RalphOnTheRailroad (talk) 02:57, 1 September 2009 (UTC)[reply]

photos in Wikipedia

I cannot see any photo or picture in wikipedia, instead of the photo there is a small white box and (X) in red like if you disable showing pictures in Internet browser, I do not have this problem in other web sites and I do not try to connect to internet via other provider. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 88.86.31.169 (talk) 01:08, 1 September 2009 (UTC)[reply]

That's the browser's indication that it tried to download a picture but was unable to. Most likely its because Wikipedia articles are too big for your otherwise slow ISP. If you have Internet Explorer then click on tools, Internet Options, Advanced, and then in the Multimedia section of the list, there's an item that says "Show Pictures". Best of luck..South Bay (talk) 04:42, 1 September 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Table rowspan issue

The problem I'm asking about can be seen in the List of United States Senators from Massachusetts, and probably a few other similar articles. It is easier to show than explain.

This,

{| class=wikitable
! Name !! Congress !! Term
|-
| rowspan=2 | Kennedy || 110 || rowspan=2 | 38
|-
| 111 
|}

yields,

Name	Congress	Term
Kennedy	110	38
Kennedy	111	38

So far, so good. But when you want 111 and 38 to also include a second row, things go wrong. This,

{| class=wikitable
! Name !! Congress !! Term
|-
| rowspan=2 | Kennedy || 110 || rowspan=3 | 38
|-
| rowspan=2 | 111 
|-
| Vacant
|}

Yields,

Name	Congress	Term
Kennedy	110	38
Kennedy	111
Vacant	111

While it doesn't look like Kennedy and 111 overlap at all, they do,

{| class=wikitable
! Name !! Congress !! Term
|-
| rowspan=2 | Kennedy<br><br> || 110 || rowspan=3 | 38
|-
| rowspan=2 | 111 
|-
| Vacant
|}

Yields,

Name	Congress	Term
Kennedy	110	38
Kennedy	111
Vacant	111

If forced line breaks aren't an option, is there a way to fix this? -Rrius (talk) 01:57, 1 September 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Help with image fair use validation

Could someone knowledgeable about image copyright requirements check this image and help me understand if it is properly marked for legitimate "fair use" purposes or whether I should be submitting it for deletion? (As a note, the image cannot be found at its cited location.) Thanks, Askari Mark (Talk) 02:04, 1 September 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Well, personally, I think you have fair-use problems in the "replaceable" category: since the plane was doing a flyover on a public demonstration, theoretically, anyone in Armenia could go out and snap a picture, thus, the image is replaceable. Additionally, there is no source, so it's a little hard to tell the original copyright status. 02:12, 1 September 2009 (UTC)

It's actually a flyby of Russian aircraft at an Armenian airshow several years ago, but since it doesn't appear in the claimed source, it could be from anywhere. Do we have a policy for what to do when the provenance cannot be verified? Askari Mark (Talk) 02:18, 1 September 2009 (UTC)[reply]

{ec}} :As the File:4armenianjetsa.jpg image tags show the source as http://www.mil.am/rus/?page=4, and the home page www.mil.am/ has a notice saying "Copyright © 1992-2009 Ministry of Defence of The Republic of Armenia", then I would say that that particular picture is not able to be used, as it is not a 'fair use'. I think it should be submitted to deletion. The fact that the image is not currently available at the cited location does not alter the fact that the copyright in the image is owned by the MoD-RoA. The uploaded is a blocked user, incidently.-- PhantomSteve (Contact Me, My Contribs) 02:24, 1 September 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks, Steve. Does that crossed-out "PD-AM-exempt" template tag have any bearing (like with public domain US govt. material)? Askari Mark (Talk) 02:26, 1 September 2009 (UTC)[reply]

I don't know about the PD-AM-exempt bit. However, as there are no indication of source apart from the mil.am site, I'd probably go with that. The nearest image I could fin d was This one from the Military Parade Dedicated to the 15th Anniversary of the Independence of the Republic of Armenia. -- PhantomSteve (Contact Me, My Contribs) 02:43, 1 September 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Steve, you seem to be suggesting that because it is copyrighted, it cannot be fair use. Fair use is an exception to copyright protection, so that cannot be what you are really saying. What are you saying then? -Rrius (talk) 04:28, 1 September 2009 (UTC)[reply]

In this particular case, I do not believe that it would be considered fair use, as there will be thousands of photographs like this that have been taken by amateur photographers around the world which are public-domain. OK, we might have to scout around for them (or perhaps contact the photographer), but since they would be available, the copyrighted image would not be required. At least, that is my understanding of the fair use provisions - the image used needs to be non-replaceable (e.g. a logo would fall under this category - even if I took a photograph of the "Shell Oil" logo, the logo itself would still be copyright to the logo's copyright owner - I can't find a replacement for the logo; whereas the photograph of 4 Armenian jets copyrighted to the MoD-RoA is their copyright, a photograph I take of the same 4 jets on my camera isn't, so could be used with my permission) - from Wikipedia:Fair_use#Images: Copyrighted images that reasonably can be replaced by free/libre images are not suitable for Wikipedia. I would say that in this case, free images would be available with a bit of searching. -- PhantomSteve (Contact Me, My Contribs) 07:17, 1 September 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Blocked users

Are all edits made by blocked users to be reverted? I've seen edit summaries to that effect but do not know if it's policy/concensus or just someone's opinion. Thanks Tiderolls 03:07, 1 September 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Maybe it's just me, but I review the user's contributions and let good/innocuous edits slide. It seems like I'd just be making work for myself to revert them and then re-add the material myself (if it's a good edit). TNXMan 03:12, 1 September 2009 (UTC)[reply]

I wouldn't revert against common sense, but I was more concerned with "sneaky" vandalism. Those users that find it necessary to change DOB's by one day, or athlete's weights by six pounds. Changes that an everyday editor would be hard pressed to prove or disprove. I know I'm probably asking for an answer that is impossible to state in absolute terms. I'm just hoping against hope. Thanks for your reply, TnXman. Tiderolls 03:24, 1 September 2009 (UTC)[reply]

It's my policy to concentrate on de-spamming and otherwise reverting conflict-of-interest violations; but then, I block a lot of spammers and comparatively few vandals per se. --Orange Mike | Talk 04:24, 1 September 2009 (UTC)[reply]

map names

Why are so many wikipedia maps completely devoid of any names? As no results for "map names" from FAQ search, I'm wondering why no-one has apparently noticed this before. 121.91.94.232 (talk) 05:42, 1 September 2009 (UTC)[reply]

This is generally because maps used on Wikipedia cannot just be scans from a book or a 'steal' from a website. Wikipedia's guidelines on non-free content says A map, scanned or traced from an atlas, to illustrate the region depicted is counted as unreasonable use of copyrighted material - so we are limited in what maps we can use. -- PhantomSteve (Contact Me, My Contribs) 07:21, 1 September 2009 (UTC)[reply]

If you are asking about maps like File:Queensland locator-MJC.png, probably one reason why it doesn’t have names is that it is on Commons, which is not just for English speakers. If a reader is at all familiar with Australia, the map effectively locates Queensland. So the lack of names makes it most generally useful: The same map can be used at ru:Квинсленд, ja:クイーンズランド州, ar:كوينزلاند, and zh:昆士蘭州. The maps at States and territories of Australia, on the other hand, do have names. —teb728 t c 07:36, 1 September 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Why can't I find my article?

I've created an article but can't seem to find it when I do a normal search. Is there a delay before articles go live? Or have I done something wrong? It appears in the 'my contributions' section of my account.

@@ Line 448: / Line 448: @@
 : This is generally because maps used on Wikipedia cannot just be scans from a book or a 'steal' from a website. [[WP:Non-free content|Wikipedia's guidelines on non-free content]] says ''A map, scanned or traced from an atlas, to illustrate the region depicted'' is counted as unreasonable use of copyrighted material - so we are limited in what maps we can use. -- '''[[User:Phantomsteve|<font color="#307D7E">Phantom</font><font color="#55CAFA">Steve</font>]]''' ([[User talk:Phantomsteve|<font color="#307D7E">Contact Me</font>]], [[Special:Contributions/Phantomsteve|<font color="#5599FA">My Contribs</font>]]) 07:21, 1 September 2009 (UTC)
 ::If you are asking about maps like [[:File:Queensland locator-MJC.png]], probably one reason why it doesn’t have names is that it is on Commons, which is not just for English speakers. If a reader is at all familiar with Australia, the map effectively locates Queensland. So the lack of names makes it most generally useful: The same map can be used at [[:ru:Квинсленд]], [[:ja:クイーンズランド州]], [[:ar:كوينزلاند]], and [[:zh:昆士蘭州]]. The maps at [[States and territories of Australia]], on the other hand, do have names. —[[User:TEB728|teb728]] [[User talk:TEB728|t]] [[Special:Contributions/TEB728|c]] 07:36, 1 September 2009 (UTC)
+== Why can't I find my article? ==
+I've created an article but can't seem to find it when I do a normal search. Is there a delay before articles go live? Or have I done something wrong? It appears in the 'my contributions' section of my account.

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