Wikipedia:Editor assistance/Requests

Archives

Template help

Answered

 – Jezhotwells (talk) 23:03, 10 May 2011 (UTC)

I have done some work on {{History of South Asia}} to make the colors more compliant with accessibility guidelines. I have two outstanding issues with the template: the Iron Age is not properly centred; and the header for "Kingdoms of Sri Lanka" jumps to the left when you click on "show". I don't know whats wrong. If anyone can help with this template that would be great. --Diannaa ^(Talk) 23:01, 3 May 2011 (UTC)

ok, well, you're main problem here is that you're reinventing the wheel. You should be using the {{infobox}} meta-template. things would be much simpler to fix if you used the standardized template. --Ludwigs2 00:20, 4 May 2011 (UTC)

P.s. sorry, that was a little abrupt - got a phone call. I think we should convert the template to the infobox format. Do you want some help doing that, or would you prefer to go at it on your own? --Ludwigs2 00:26, 4 May 2011 (UTC)

That's ok, RL stuff takes precedence. :) I know how to do an infobox format, but the main issue was to do a quick fix to get the colors compliant, as I have a lot of stuff going on right now. --Diannaa ^(Talk) 00:53, 4 May 2011 (UTC)

Here is a good model for the way the re-write could be done : {{Sri Lankan former states}}. It's got child nav-boxes. See how much clearer it is what the function of everything is. --Diannaa ^(Talk) 00:57, 4 May 2011 (UTC)

Yes, that's the value of the infobox meta-template. If I get a chance this weekend I'll see if I can convert it. --Ludwigs2 00:21, 6 May 2011 (UTC)

I need assistance writing some new articles.

Hi

I was planning on writing some articles on the singles from the R.E.M album Collapse into know but I cannot create a page on the lead single "mine smell like honey" because for some reason "the page exists" but when you search it you keep getting re-directed to the page on collapse into now (its album). please help

JTG.Turbo —Preceding unsigned comment added by JTG.Turbo (talk • contribs) 15:58, 4 May 2011 (UTC)

Mine Smell Like Honey is a redirect. To exist on its own page, such a single would need to establish the notability of the song as per Wikipedia:NMUSIC#Albums, singles and songs:

"Most songs do not rise to notability for an independent article and should redirect to another relevant article, such as for the songwriter, a prominent album or for the artist who prominently performed the song. Songs that have been ranked on national or significant music charts, that have won significant awards or honors or that have been independently released as a recording by several notable artists, bands or groups are probably notable. Notability aside, a separate article on a song is only appropriate when there is enough verifiable material to warrant a reasonably detailed article; articles unlikely ever to grow beyond stubs should be merged to articles about an artist or album. If the artist associated with the work does not have an article, or if the artist's article has already been deleted, an article about a musical recording that does not indicate why its subject is important or significant is eligible for speedy deletion under criterion A9."

Hope this helps. Jezhotwells (talk) 16:15, 4 May 2011 (UTC)

No problem, but the story about Alabama, Fort Dale and the Oglys is not exactly true. The Oglys were occupants of a house beside probably, the Old Federal Road about 3 miles South West of Fort Dale at "PopularSprings"67.9.47.40 (talk) 01:50, 5 May 2011 (UTC). This is where the massacre took place.

What has the above to do with REM singles? Jezhotwells (talk) 10:03, 5 May 2011 (UTC)

Most of R.E.M's singles were notable enough to have their own pages. What makes the singles of collapse into now different? —Preceding unsigned comment added by JTG.Turbo (talk • contribs) 14:35, 6 May 2011 (UTC)

Perhaps they do nto meet the guidelines I qwquoted above? Please remeber to sign your posts using four (~) tildes. Jezhotwells (talk) 09:08, 9 May 2011 (UTC)

Using old sources when an organization changes its name

Discussion moved

 – to Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Radha Madhav Dham/ Jezhotwells (talk) 01:16, 11 May 2011 (UTC)

If a company or organization changes its name, and the wikipedia page's name is changed to reflect that, it may happen that there are hardly any sources using the new name of the organization. My question is whether you can use sources that cite the old name as reference for the new article. E.G. Suppose a church called "church x" is renamed to "church y", and there is a source which states "church x is the largest church in America" - can you therefore say on the wikipedia page "church y is the largest church in america", using the old source as a citation? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 86.45.240.67 (talk) 02:29, 5 May 2011 (UTC)

Specifically, someone has deleted the entire contents of this article http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radha_Madhav_Dham The article used to be Barsana Dham, but was renamed to Radha Madhav Dham. The same person has tagged it for deletion because it is non-notable. However it is the largest Hindu temple in north America, and there are plenty of sources to say that, albeit referring to the old name. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 86.45.240.67 (talk) 02:35, 5 May 2011 (UTC)

If it is exactly the same organisation, then perhaps sourced information should be included in the article to reflect this name change. Remember that while an article is under discussion for deletion, you are always free to edit it, and revert any other edits. --Kudpung กุดผึ้ง (talk) 00:50, 6 May 2011 (UTC)

I'll add to what I said above: If this is an entirely new organisation, then the Barsana Dham redirect should be undone, and the article should contain a mention such as 'On dd/mm/yyyy the temple community was disolved and the complex was sold to another organisation.' If the only thing that has changed is the name, the redirect was perfecrtly the correct thing to do, and the lead section should begin with 'Formerly known as Barsana Dham, the temple complex was renamed Radha_Madhav_Dham following the change of its managing guru and committee,' Both you and the deletion nominator must be clear on this, and references should be provided. At the moment, the AfD looks like a strong conflict of opinions rather than a discussion of sourceable encyclopedic facts that assert notability. Kudpung กุดผึ้ง (talk) 01:13, 6 May 2011 (UTC)

Yes its exactly the same temple/organization that was founded in 1990, as announced via a press release [1]. Its still being run by the same international organization as Barsana Dham - Jagadguru Kripalu Parishat (JKP) [2]. The temple and ashram buildings are the same, the people are the same. All that has changed is the name and the board of directors. The claim of the person who nominated the article for deletion, that it is an entirely new temple/organization, has no basis in any sources. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 86.46.63.149 (talk) 13:36, 6 May 2011 (UTC)

I have commented at the AfD page, that is where the discussion is taking place. Jezhotwells (talk) 01:16, 11 May 2011 (UTC)

Problematic edits at Cinema of Cambodia page

Answered

 – Jezhotwells (talk) 23:01, 10 May 2011 (UTC)

Hello -

There are some problematic edits taking place on an ongoing basis at the following page:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cinema_of_Cambodia#External_links

Where a variety of malicious users are repeatedly removing notable references to that country's cinema indsutry, especially related to one of the indpendent organiztions, Camerado SE Asia, which has verifiable objective notable involvement in that country's development.

Kindly note that several key adjustments (removals) have taken place in proximity to edits pertaining to the Cambodian Film Commission, a French-founded agency launched by Film France. It appears that some competing inter-organizational interests and biases are eroding the 'notable' and objective standards of the Wikipedia space.

Can some editorial monitor be placed on this page to determine that foreign organizations might stop diminishing verifiable, objective and noteworthy content in this area?

Thanks, not sure what or if any remedies besides posting and re-posting might resolve this. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Johncmorley (talk • contribs) 07:33, 5 May 2011 (UTC)

You should start by discussing this with the other editor. That and discussions on the article talk page are the usual first steps. I see that neither option has been used by you. Jezhotwells (talk) 09:57, 5 May 2011 (UTC)

External Link to Boca Raton entry

Answered

 – Jezhotwells (talk) 23:04, 10 May 2011 (UTC)

Boca Raton, Florida

I added am external link to The Coastal Star at the bottom of the Boca Raton, Fl, entry where it says "External Links." This is a credible monthly newspaper with a Boca Raton edition. It is not a shopper. You have links to the Boca News that no longer exists. I think it should be replaced with The Coastal Star. Thank you Dhartz (talk) 19:14, 5 May 2011 (UTC)

As this appears to be a content dispute you should discuss it with the other involved editors on the article's talk page.  – ukexpat (talk) 19:46, 5 May 2011 (UTC)

Please read the guidelines for what external links are appropriate WP:EL. Just because a newspaper is from the city, does not mean it is an appropriate link. Active Banana (^bananaphone 00:05, 6 May 2011 (UTC)

ommission of historic hotel from your hotel list.

Hello, Following the links from 'Hotel' to 'list of hotels' (hotels of historic or other significance), to 'Slovenia', I'd like to suggest 'Vila Bled' be included. (www.vila-bled.com).

In the grounds of the Summer Palace to the Yugoslavian Royalty (between the two World Wars), the current building was built for the late Marshall Tito following his takeover of Yugoslavia and establishing a socialist state at the end of the second World War. Although updated to provide guests with modern conveniences, momentoes to the past are to be found, particularly the huge wall mural in Tito's cinema room depicting the Partizan's perspective on the 1941-1945 period and the post-war re-building of Yugoslavia.

Kind regards Simon —Preceding unsigned comment added by 193.95.233.82 (talk) 09:02, 6 May 2011 (UTC)

You should post this information on the relevant article talk (discussion) page. Jezhotwells (talk) 09:10, 9 May 2011 (UTC)

Lasting power of attorney

Answered

 – Jezhotwells (talk) 01:08, 11 May 2011 (UTC)

The existing article under the name Lasting power of attorney is inadequate, as editorial comments already indicate clearly. I wish to take up the invitation to replace it, and have a partially completed draft in hand - it's a fairly complex subject, so I will probably need another week or so to complete the draft. Adding the completed piece to Wikipedia would, in practice, require deletion of the present one, mainly because of its discursive and non-encyclopedic style, and I am not clear how to achieve this without needless discourtesy to its author.

I would be quite happy to submit the completed draft for review, preferably to an editor familiar with the relevant Act of the U.K. Parliament, which is the Mental Capacity Act 2005.

Please advise.

J.martin.leonard (talk) 15:16, 6 May 2011 (UTC)

(Martin Leonard)

The article is about powers of attorney in many different legal systems. You appear to be referring to a UK act. Suggest you rewrite the England and Wales section only. Jezhotwells (talk) 20:30, 6 May 2011 (UTC)

Altar call

Altar call (edit | talk | history | protect | delete | links | watch | logs | views)

I posted a view of scripture that supports the term given by charles finney as alter calls by scriptural relevance here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Altar_call the point of this article should be to direct people to the truth of what a term represents not just a one sided view but the view as a whole. The term alter call was used by Charles Finney but the bible shows on many different occasions that alter calls were used in the bible! (according to the present terminology Alter Calls is walking down an aisle an making a profession of faith). If you look at Abraham who listen to God to go and bring his son isaac to the alter an was about to sacrifice him at that time was Justified as righteous or if you looked at Saul who listen to Jesus went to Damascus and was Justified as righteous by Ananias each of these instances are alter calls and there right in scripture and there are others Cornelius, Moses etc etc. I know that this is not a battleground but I know the truth about what alter calls are and how they existed before Charles Finney! The term didnt, but the reality of it did! If your going to represent the truth then either delete this webpage because you feel is creates a battleground or list what I had on there as an alternative view! IT IS BIBLICALLY BASED! But according to this article it isnt Quote... They argue that there is no example in the Bible of its use!... end quote its unfair to post something that isnt the whole truth especially when I proved it by scripture! Saul hears the Lord goes down the aisle and is baptized by Ananias. Abraham hears the Lord goes down the aisle to the alter and is justified by God Gen 22:18 Rom 10:17 acts 9:6 BTW this isnt just by what ive read this is how I came to faith which is by hearing a LIVING GOD Heb 4:7 —Preceding unsigned comment added by Leprechaun67 (talk • contribs) 21:41, 6 May 2011 (UTC)

We appreciate your concerns, but there is little to be gained by evangelising to us on this help page as we must remain neutral in matters abstract such as, especially, religion and politics. That said, the Altar call article as it stands is practically original research, and needs a great many more cited sources. When those have been provided, the article, that indeed provides a definition of 'altar call' would be fine. I have placed inline flags at the ends of the sentences or claims that need supporting by reliable sources according to Wikipedia requirements. The tags can be removed when sources have been supplied. For instruction how to display cited sources, please see WP:CITE. Do remember also that the initial place to address problems is on the article's talk page, which in this instance has not seen a posting for nearly three years. Kudpung กุดผึ้ง (talk) 04:52, 7 May 2011 (UTC)

Gmjensen personal memoir - USS Sarasota (APA-204)

USS Sarasota (APA-204) (edit | talk | history | protect | delete | links | watch | logs | views)

Gmjensen initiated a discussion on my Talk page regarding the USS Sarasota article. In a nutshell, he is trying to insert a long personal memoir of his time aboard the ship. I removed it from the article on 3 May 2011 and he reverted my edit today.

This material was removed once before by Gatoclass on 12 March 2011 and reproduced in full on the article's Talk page.

I have tried to explain the No original research policy, but Gmjensen has been unwilling to review it, and has expressed the view that he should be able to disregard the rules in this case. The conversation is on the verge of turning antagonistic.

If possible I'd like to find a solution which will satisfy Wikipedia's guidelines and his sincere desire to share valuable information. Is there an appropriate place where these memoirs could be easily published? Or is there another course of action that might avert going to dispute resolution? Nick Number (talk) 00:00, 7 May 2011 (UTC)

With the greatest of respect to Gmjensen who undoubtedly has the very best intentions, and is civil and cordial, he must understand that his own original material cannot be used in this encyclopedia, and unfortunately we are unable to bend the rules. If his information were published in book form through an established house, it could be cited and used. That's it I'm afraid. You can refer him to this Editor Assistance page, and if he would like further links to policy. I will be happy to oblige. --Kudpung กุดผึ้ง (talk) 01:41, 7 May 2011 (UTC) --Kudpung กุดผึ้ง (talk) 01:41, 7 May 2011 (UTC)

Ok, thanks for the input. Nick Number (talk) 06:34, 8 May 2011 (UTC)

St Anger Genre

I know there must be a few of these sort of things, however, there has been extensive editing regarding the genre of the St. Anger (edit | talk | history | protect | delete | links | watch | logs | views) recently. The Majority of the discussion and sources point to heavy metal as the sole genre, however non-verifiable genres nu metal and alternative metal are added by IPs... I am worried about getting involved in an edit war. Is there anything else I can do to resolve this other than reverting edits and attempting discussion or is it best left alone?? (I'm sorry if I've done this through the wrong means as well :/) Dims25 (talk) 12:03, 7 May 2011 (UTC)

You might get some useful input at WT:WikiProject Metal. Jezhotwells (talk) 13:37, 7 May 2011 (UTC)

I was just at

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Female_serial_killers and I noticed that some of the names listed were in italics, while most were not. I tried to figure out why this might be, getting ready to fix it, but could not. Any suggestions Einar aka Carptrash (talk) 16:01, 7 May 2011 (UTC)

My suggestion is to go ahead. There's no explanation on the list or talk page as to what the italics mean, so they're just confusing to a reader. If no one reverts you're golden, if they do, that could kick start a discussion on why they're in there and how to explain them if they're to remain. Seraphimblade ^{Talk to me} 16:09, 7 May 2011 (UTC)

My problem (see my wife for a longer list) is that i do not know where the italics are coming from. I do not know how to remove them. if i did they would already be gone. Carptrash (talk) 16:32, 7 May 2011 (UTC)

HINT. All the names that are in italics come from article that are redirects. So . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ............... this means what? Carptrash (talk) 16:36, 7 May 2011 (UTC)

That's the fact of how WP:CATEGORY cat pages display: exactly as you found, redirects are in italics. A WP:REDIRECT isn't a page with content other than a pointer to some other page with content. DMacks (talk) 16:41, 7 May 2011 (UTC)

So having those manes appear on a list or category is okay? Is there any way to remove the italics? Perhaps I'll try a thing or two. Carptrash (talk) 17:34, 7 May 2011 (UTC)

see Wikipedia:RCAT#Technical_note it is the way the software works. GB fan (talk) 17:59, 7 May 2011 (UTC)

The only way to remove the italics would be to remove the category from the actual redirect page, such as https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/w/index.php?title=Gwendolyn_Graham&redirect=no GB fan (talk) 18:54, 7 May 2011 (UTC)

If you're desperate not to see these names with italic formatting, there's probably some magic you could place in your Special:Mypage/Skin.css to turn it off. -- John of Reading (talk) 19:26, 7 May 2011 (UTC)

Oh I am okay with this, it's the random drive-by reads I \'m thinking about. Magic is just pseudo-science, so never mind. Carptrash (talk) 16:59, 8 May 2011 (UTC)

Help with linking sections within article

I'm having trouble trying to add links within my article - Ocean Beach Public Policy. I have a bulleted list (separate from the TOC) that describes the sections in our article and I want it to jump to tha section when you click on the bullet but it's not working. I've tried the code for linking to sections: Section linking But it doesn't seem to be working. Do you know what may be going wrong? Thanks so much! Amy — Amybekah (talk) 18:27, 7 May 2011 (UTC)

I've edited the first bullet point as an example. However, these sections are all listed in the Table of Contents just a few lines up from your bulleted list, so I'm not convinced these links are necessary. In particular, a reader seeing a blue "Ecology" will expect it to be a link to the Ecology article, not to an Ecology section further down the page. Ideas, anyone? -- John of Reading (talk) 19:34, 7 May 2011 (UTC)

Yes, they shouldn't be section-links. It's just a topic-paragraph for the content that follows, so readers will just read further to learn the details about these words in the context of this article. The whole article is formatted oddly, with intent-italicized "goal" for each section. See WP:MOS for specific guidelines on formatting, or maybe easier just to browse other articles. Right now it reads more like a press release or corporate website than an encyclopedia article--tons of bullet-points rather than prose. DMacks (talk) 16:27, 8 May 2011 (UTC)

Citation clean-up problem

George Baxter (lawyer) (edit | talk | history | protect | delete | links | watch | logs | views)

I have just been cleaning up the above article. In the process, I identified some references, to the New York Times and the Star-Ledger, that the original author had obviously tried to put into the article but totally messed up both their formatting and the positioning. I've tidied up the formatting (and added a References section), but working out which statements they were intended to verify requires access to the original articles, which I haven't got. Can someone please help?

In addition, there is a WP:BLPPROD tag on the article - assuming that the sources are reliable, at what point should it be removed? PWilkinson (talk) 19:29, 7 May 2011 (UTC)

The NYT reference is available online here, and does mention George Baxter briefly in the context of the Snyder case. I think that's enough to remove the deletion template, by my reading of the first paragraph at WP:BLPPROD. I haven't found the Star-Ledger articles though. -- John of Reading (talk) 19:48, 7 May 2011 (UTC)

Thanks. PWilkinson (talk) 23:24, 7 May 2011 (UTC)

Request to Redirect to a differnt page

Http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St_Paul's_Tottenham (edit | talk | history | protect | delete | links | watch | logs | views)

1. REDIRECT http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St_Paul_Tottenham

Dear Admin,

I would be grateful if you could automatically link St Paul's Church in Tottenham to St Paul Tottenham

Many thanks

Em (talk)xem2011

It's actually entirely possible for you to do that. Unfortunately, St Paul Tottenham itself had to be deleted, as it was a direct copy and paste from a copyrighted source. Please see our guidelines on copyright compliance for more details on how to write an article that is not a copyright violation. Generally speaking, it is acceptable to use a reliable source as a source for the ideas and concepts in the article, but not to exactly or very closely copy a single source's wording and/or organization. The use of many sources unrelated to the subject is very helpful in avoiding taking too much from one, and also helps with establishing notability. Seraphimblade ^{Talk to me} 00:11, 8 May 2011 (UTC)

Tom Cruise

Hello I just want to enquire why the movie Legend that Tom Cruise stared in with Tim Curry is not listed with all other movies that Tom Cruise made. Roxanna Braaksma —Preceding unsigned comment added by Roxanna Braaksma (talk • contribs) 17:40, 9 May 2011 (UTC)

Could you tell us where it's missing? I looked in Tom Cruise filmography and it shows Legend just fine. -- Why Not A Duck 18:40, 9 May 2011 (UTC)

If you mean the article Tom Cruise then it doesn't claim to mention all his films and several others are omitted. PrimeHunter (talk) 20:45, 12 May 2011 (UTC)

Advice and help with rolled-back edits

I recently made edits to the World Vision International and World Vision India pages that were rolled back by another user. The problem is that I don't really have a ton of editing experience, so I am rather hesitant to roll them back to the version I had without knowing if I am correct in doing so or not.

My edits, I thought, were made to accurately state what was being said in the articles that were linked to, and to remove the bias present (as well as clean up the small portion of text I was editing). The big thing here is that they are criticisms of the organisation, making it a bit trickier to edit them in a non-biased way. I am hoping to get some help with how I should go about this. Matthewgreyling (talk) 06:34, 10 May 2011 (UTC)

Just looking at this quickly, your most recent edit to World Vision International removed a reference from the article (apparently), which might be part of the reason it was reverted. The one thing you haven't done on that article is to discuss the proposed changes on the talk page, which is at Talk:World Vision International. This is part of how Wikipedia works (known as Bold, Revert, Discuss, WP:BRD) - you boldly make a change to an article, someone else reverts it, then you discuss it on the talk page to try to come to an agreement on a way forward. --Demiurge1000 (talk) 07:30, 10 May 2011 (UTC)

Reverting users are not required to discuss in any kind of meaningful manner why they revert what you do. Whereas you are encouraged to seek consensus and work towards agreement and have to learn that you can say edits are devious misleading stupid or whatever you want but you cannot say a person is silly. Anybody familiar with wiki can be the law to provoke you and can easily dominate a board to create systematic bias and the appeals procedure is just suited to people who know you are going to get ground down. Wiki must be a scamAndrewedwardjudd (talk) 13:34, 13 May 2011 (UTC)andrewedwardjudd

Correct useage of the term disc/disk

Whilst earlier reading the page on the Roswell UFO Incident, I noticed two different versions of the term used to describe the UFO in the second paragraph. I thought about rectifying this but I am unsure whether "Disc" or "Disk" is the correct term to describe the UFO and whether or not this is something that needs modification. Please help. Thanks JTG.Turbo (talk) 20:00, 10 May 2011 (UTC)

This might be of some help.   ArcAngel   (talk) ) 20:09, 10 May 2011 (UTC)

Recurring personal attacks using offensive language.

The User Channarichan has posted content on my page ( not on talk ) which violates wikipedia's policies regarding posting on other people's pages, personal attacks and offensive language. This is a recurring problem with this user. This is unacceptable. The user Channarichan's post on my page "pathetic...you dare question why sherpas are included in the momo profile page?? lol...they are tibetans u idiot, plz go research before you try to make blant accusations..newars are nothing but mix-races...you can't deny that...your culture is heavy influences by the indians and so is your appearances. Also, just to make you calm down, i have actually put a newar link on the momo food....so you wouldnt bark too much." The administration of Wikipedia needs to take action to stop this vandalism once and for all. BobbyCtkr (talk) 21:09, 10 May 2011 (UTC)

Channarichan has received a final warning. If he continues, please let us know. --NeilN ^{talk to me} 22:14, 10 May 2011 (UTC)

That attack was made over 3 months ago, and Channarichan hasn't edited since 2/15, so this issue might be somewhat stale. That doesn't excuse the behaviour, but it does imply that Channarichan isn't likely to respond immediately. --AndrewHowse (talk) 22:33, 10 May 2011 (UTC)

Old AFD needs action

Resolved

 – as per comment below, nomination had not been completed. Jezhotwells (talk) 01:03, 11 May 2011 (UTC)

Can someone take care of Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/List of events on Distraction (game show)? The AFD was created in February and has had no action since. Additionally, the debate does not appear to be linked anywhere (aside from this comment as soon as it posts). RJaguar3 | u | t 00:15, 11 May 2011 (UTC)

You would be best off posting at WT:Articles for deletion, I think. Jezhotwells (talk) 00:24, 11 May 2011 (UTC)

I added it to today's listing and added {{afd1}} at the top of the article. GB fan (talk) 00:33, 11 May 2011 (UTC)

list of bear attacks

Somehow there seems to be a lot of fatal bear attacks missing like the cyclist chased down by a grizzly on highway 93 in B.C. in the 80's.Then a 70 year old women was killed by a black bear in B.C.There is also no mention of all the Swan Hills attacks one of which a driller was dragged off a drilling rig and killed.There have been many more polar bear fatalities too. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 174.3.142.131 (talk) 04:13, 11 May 2011 (UTC)

List of fatal bear attacks in North America (edit | talk | history | protect | delete | links | watch | logs | views)

You are welcome to add to this list, provided you can provide a reliable source to back up each addition - a book, newspaper article, or such like. Have a look at the other entries there to see how to do this, or read Wikipedia:Citing sources for full instructions. -- John of Reading (talk) 07:24, 11 May 2011 (UTC)

Picture Policy

Hi - I'm trying to get a feeling for wikipedia's policies on use of pictures. Is there any preference for using pictures that may or may not promote other things? For example, if I own or work for an institution, and have people who have wikipedia articles in at this institution, and photograph them, and then try and post these pictures in any article I can (infoboxes, elsewhere), with links to my institution (let's say it also has a wikipedia article), is this in any way discouraged? PermanentVacay (talk) 05:22, 11 May 2011 (UTC)

Before editing any article about your institution, you should carefully read the guidelines on conflict of interest; it is very easy for a new editor to run into accusations of bias, advertising and such like. But as described in this section, the addition of relevant photographs is an exception, and is encouraged.

If Professor X works for University Y, and both have Wikipedia articles then I would normally expect to see a picture of Professor X in his own article, but not in the University article. I can't find an explicit guideline on this, but you can form your own impression by reviewing some of the quality articles listed at Wikipedia:College and university article guidelines#Example articles. I would also expect Professor X's article to contain a blue link to the Wikipedia page for University Y; I would not expect it to contain an external link to the University's web site.

I hope that helps. Feel free to ask again if you have more questions. -- John of Reading (talk) 07:45, 11 May 2011 (UTC)

Quite helpful. What about this situation: Professor X works and University Y. Wikipedia User M works at T Casino. Professor X is asked to speak at T Casino. Wikipedia User M (re)places pics on Professor X's wikipedia page with pictures taken at T Casino, along with wiki links in the description linking to T Casino (i.e. Professor X at T Casino). Wikipedia User M does this for as many people as they can who have spoken at T Casino. T Casino page also feature "Picture gallery of famous people speaking at T Casino". PermanentVacay (talk) 16:28, 11 May 2011 (UTC)

I'd revert all these edits by User M, give User M a conflict of interest warning, and delete the gallery posthaste. --Orange Mike | Talk 16:39, 11 May 2011 (UTC)

Ah thanks. I'm actually mostly asking because I have encountered such a situation and no one seems to have done anything, so I wondered if wikipedia actually does not discourage things like this. I tried replacing one of the pics with a pic I took at a non-commercial institution, and it was immediately reverted (it was researching what was going on that led me to realize the situation). Does it change things if User M is an administrator? PermanentVacay (talk) 18:11, 11 May 2011 (UTC)

Heck, no! We're just folks with special mops and buckets. But be sure to be very clear on why you're doing this, in your edit summary and on the articles' talk pages. --Orange Mike | Talk 19:53, 11 May 2011 (UTC)

Article Title Problem - Hamburg, germany

Article ([[Special:EditPage/{{{1}}}|edit]] | [[Talk:{{{1}}}|talk]] | [[Special:PageHistory/{{{1}}}|history]] | [[Special:ProtectPage/{{{1}}}|protect]] | [[Special:DeletePage/{{{1}}}|delete]] | [{{fullurl:Special:WhatLinksHere/{{{1}}}|limit=999}} links] | [{{fullurl:{{{1}}}|action=watch}} watch] | logs | views)

The title of the article for the city Hamburg, Germany is misspelled with a lower case 'g' (i.e. Hamburg, germany). I understand that the current solution to the misspelling is a redirect to the page called simply 'Hamburg' and, for the most part, this is an acceptable solution. The problem is that any website or database that pulls a Hamburg, Germany reference from Wikipedia will pull the misspelled name since lower case 'g' comes before upper case 'G'.

The most well known (and most irritating) example of this issue is for individuals who would like to set Hamburg, Germany as there hometown in Facebook but are forced to put Hamburg, germany. I have contacted Facebook several times regarding this issue and unfortunately every time it is fixed, the fix is only temporary because Facebook updates its database based on the incorrectly spelled page every few days (based on the referencing issue described above...'g' comes before 'G').

I understand that Wikipedia isn't Facebook and that therefore issues such as misspelling one's hometown is not really a Wikipedia priority. However, I along with thousands of other Hamburg residents would be extremely appreciative if this issue could be resolved and if someone could correct the lower case g or perhaps just delete the "Hamburg, germany" page altogether. Thank you for your time and consideration of this issue. 46.37.187.90 (talk) 16:17, 11 May 2011 (UTC)

When I go to Hamburg, Germany, I am redirected to Hamburg. There is no "Germany" in the article title. So, the name is correct on the WP page. WP has no control over what Facebook does. Perhaps you should leave a note on the Facebook page to have the correction made there. Bielle (talk) 17:00, 11 May 2011 (UTC)

(edit conflict) I'm not quite sure what article is being referred to. Our English Wikipedia article about the city in Germany, is clearly entitled Germany without any disambiguation needed in the page name. There are other Hamburgs, but the one in Germany is a major world city and has primacy over any other Wikipedia articles about places with the same name. Redirects are another thing - they are there among other reasons, for the purpose of helping people who misspell an entry in the search box - although this is an implausible redirect and has been deleted leaving just the talk page. Please see Talk:Hamburg, germany and Orange Mike's explanation. --Kudpung กุดผึ้ง (talk) 17:17, 11 May 2011 (UTC)

Area for various States of the United States of America - conversion error sqmiles/km2

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Illinois

To whom it may concern,

I have recently used this site to create an xl-sheet with the 50 states to summarize their capitals, size, population etc... Only now did I realize that for a certain number of states the conversion to km2 is incorrect. I can only hope that the area in square miles is correct.

Whoever has done this work should double-check on the figures. I can only hope that for the rest of the countries of the world the figures are correct... This includes their respective states/provinces/cantons or whatever.

Perhaps you should even state which is the original?

Yours truly 85.4.57.187 (talk) 22:49, 11 May 2011 (UTC)

Thank you for catching this. The source is given at List of U.S. states and territories by area; it is this PDF file from the US Census Bureau, especially table 17 on PDF page 71. This gives the area in square miles. In the table at List of U.S. states and territories by area, the km2 figures are calculated automatically from the square miles figures, so are more likely to be correct. I have fixed the Illinois article. Can you post a list of the other states with incorrect conversions? Or you could be bold and correct them yourself - click "Edit" at the top of the page, find the line "TotalArea =", fix the incorrect figure, and save. But please explain each edit by filling in the edit summary box; an unexplained random-looking change to numeric fields is likely to be mistaken for vandalism. -- John of Reading (talk) 08:08, 12 May 2011 (UTC)

Karen Harrison

Hi,

I made a comment regarding the passing away of Karen Harrison. However at 21.55 BST on 11 May 2011 the post was withdrawn.

I could understand if the post i put was not factual or indeed malicious. It still appears that Karen Harrison is still alive, when quite the opposite is fact. I was at her funeral.Keithysau (talk) 23:13, 11 May 2011 (UTC)

That sort of statement will usually need a reliable source. Is there something you can find in a newspaper to support it? --AndrewHowse (talk) 02:00, 12 May 2011 (UTC)

To clarify, we have a very strict policy regarding edits to the biography of a living person, and while I don't disbelieve you and am sorry for your loss, we do require a source for a statement that a person has passed away. A citation to an obituary in a newspaper of record or other reliable source confirming the statement will generally do. Seraphimblade ^{Talk to me} 08:44, 12 May 2011 (UTC)

--Keithysau (talk) 19:21, 12 May 2011 (UTC)Hi,

Thank you for replying to me message, i am sorry the only thing i have at present is the memorial order of service. Nothing has been made in press yet.Keithysau (talk) 19:21, 12 May 2011 (UTC)

Possibly disruptive editor

I believe that an editor is intentionally disrupting an article about a [|Hindu temple]. First he stubbed the article, then nominated it for deletion (see deletion discussion log here: [3]. The result was keep. Now he has added a large section about controversy of the founder of the temple (who has a separate wikipedia article). Look at the discussion page on the deletion page, and on the talk page for Radha Madhav Dham, and it is obvious that the editor has a personal agenda, and is potentially coatracking. Other senior editors have said the same thing on the talk page for the article. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 86.46.59.50 (talk) 04:13, 12 May 2011 (UTC)

Irving Williamson series

Your order of stability in regards to the irving williamson series is wrong. Copper is more stable than nickel. I tried to fix the sign, but there was no link to

Thanks — Preceding unsigned comment added by Alythezon (talk • contribs) 13:35, 12 May 2011 (UTC)

Irving-Williams series (edit | talk | history | protect | delete | links | watch | logs | views)

Thank you for catching that - a recent edit switched one of the inequalities. I have undone that edit.

The simplest way to edit the first part of an article is to click the "Edit" link in the bar across the top; other ways to do it are described here. -- John of Reading (talk) 14:27, 12 May 2011 (UTC)

Request for help regarding new article

I have signed up to Wikipedia, as I wanted to submit an article - I now realise I might not be the best person to do so. I work for a magazine called Style (Buckinghamshire) which it part of Johnston Press, but Style is not currently covered on Wikipedia, whereas other media titles (both magazines and newspapers are).

I don't really understand the coding etc required to create a page from scratch, but I do, obviously, have lots of information about the magazine that would be relevant.

If anyone could help, please let me know?

Kindest, Alex Gardner Style Magazine --AGardner85 (talk) 13:41, 12 May 2011 (UTC)

Thanks for disclosing your conflict of interest. Take a look at WP:Requested articles. – ukexpat (talk) 13:51, 12 May 2011 (UTC)

At this point it's only a wp:coi if you assume bad faith; that advancing outside interests will be more important to them when editing than the goals of Wikipedia. North8000 (talk) 20:48, 12 May 2011 (UTC)

No, a conflict of interest exists in this situation, period. The key issue is how someone with a conflict of interest actually edits. If they can maintain a neutral point of view etc, all will be well; if not, it's a problem. – ukexpat (talk) 13:46, 13 May 2011 (UTC)

What you are saying conflicts with wp:coi; the first paragraph of wp:coi defines this pretty clearly. Sincerely, North8000 (talk) 14:12, 13 May 2011 (UTC)

Marshall Strabala

Marshall Strabala (edit | talk | history | protect | delete | links | watch | logs | views) page

Editor NovaSeminary is extremely difficult to deal with and has been for the past month on the Marshall Strabala page. I have been writing and editing on Wikipedia for 4+ years and never encountered such a difficult and "stalking" editor like NovaSeminary and oen who is so quick to edit before he has any facts from which to make them. It is downright scary.

Most recently, NovaSeminary has entered potentially libelous information about "Strabala being let go from Gensler" even after repeated times my telling him/her that this is potentially libelous. I recognize the article said similar statements, but whether he was fired or left a job on his own is irrelevant for Wikipedia. It is quite another matter for Wikipedia to quote and emphasis that subject. Based on his actions, NovaSeminary appears to have a general disdain for Mr. Strabala and has been spending an extremely inordinate time dotting every I and T on his page. Look at NovaSeminary's past history on Marshall Strabala's page, and you will see how he is "stalking the page" and doing little else over the past several weeks. NovaSeminary also deleted reference to Mr. Strabala being LEED Certified, even though that information had been documented with sources and on the page for two or more years. Evidently, NovaSeminary wanted proof as to what specific LEED certification that Mr. Strabala has before he permitted it. I don't know that information, but NovaSeminary deleted it for the time being, even though it was properly sourced.

In addition, despite my corrections, NovaSeminary has repeatedly placed reference to architect Adrian Smith (architect) on Marshall Strabala's page. I don't believe that another architect needs to be referenced on a different architect's main profile page. Sure, Adrian Smith and Marshall Strabala worked together on some projects. But, it is just as innappropriate for Strabala to be referenced on Smith's page, as it is for Strabala to be referenced on Adriana's. It just is not relevant, and getting into the nitty gritty of business. It's not a place for Wikipedia to judge or position what specific role an architect played in a given architectural project (except maybe on that project page (i.e. Burj Khalifa page), but not on the main page), whether they worked 10 days on a project, or 10 years, it's not Wikipedia's role to get involved in that utter minutia, is it?

One more thing. For my clarification, is it appropriate or inappropriate for Mr. Strabala to have a direct link to his firm (2DEFINE Architecture, http://www.define-arch.com ) on his page. NovaSeminary had deleted it, and I don't fully understand why it is not permitted. Many other business professionals have their company link under External Links or Also categories on their pages, and I can provide you a list if you would like.

I look forward to your response. If I cannot obtain satisfaction here, I will consider possible next steps. Downright negative and libelous remarks do not belong on Wikipedia as your editor has done so. And, my relationship to Marshall Strabala, whether one exists, has nothing to do with these comments. Actually, it has everything to do with treating Mr. Strabala fairly and accurately. Thank you. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Mykjoseph (talk • contribs) 14:41, 12 May 2011 (UTC)

Hi, Please review WP:NLT and consider revising your post. --AndrewHowse (talk) 14:58, 12 May 2011 (UTC)

Please also try to focus on content, rather than contributors. Comments such as "Doesn't this editor have a life?" aren't consistent with a collaborative project. btw, do you have any particular involvement with the subject? A conflict of interest wouldn't explicitly prevent you from editing, but I would recommend following the suggestions at that link, should you have any involvement. --AndrewHowse (talk) 15:14, 12 May 2011 (UTC)

The above is was, before it was edited, clearly a legal threat and I was seriously considering an ANI report, but have issued an NLT warning instead. – ukexpat (talk) 15:39, 12 May 2011 (UTC)

This post is the OP's last edit at this point, so xe might be offline; let's give xer the chance to reconsider before we escalate. --AndrewHowse (talk) 15:45, 12 May 2011 (UTC)

Mykjoseph, thanks for toning down your remarks a little.

On your first point about Strabala's reasons for departing, we should follow the reliable sources on the subject. I'll take a look, but that'll require more time. As long as we don't give any particular incident undue weight, there's no hard and fast rule about whether that issue should or should not be included.

As to the architect Smith, if xe is pertinent to the article on Strabala, then xe should be wikilinked. That's one of the benefits of an online encyclopedia. And Strabala's website could be listed as an external link if it adds to the context of the article. The relevant policy is at WP:EL.

You're quite right that libelous remarks don't belong here, and we take that seriously. But negative descriptions can be appropriate if they're well-sourced. Please note that NovaSeminary isn't "our" editor, any more than you are or I am. We're simply volunteers who choose to edit here. Any of us who have a relationship with a subject are encouraged to be open about that; a conflict of interest tends to make it more difficult to establish one's neutral point of view. So, it's not irrelevant, but nobody can be compelled to disclose anything either.

By the way, please excuse my linking to policies and guidelines rather than restating them here. I'm just trying to avoid any inaccuracies that might creep into my restatements. --AndrewHowse (talk) 18:18, 12 May 2011 (UTC)

Thank you Andrew for your response. My point about Adrian Smith is that he is not pertinent on Marshall's page. If he is, and he is mentioned there, then why shouldn't Marshall be referenced on his page. (i.e., Marshall Strabala assisted him on his projects, Burj Khalifa, etc.) Why not? Because that would make no sense whatsoever. NovaSeminary is trying to make something pertinent that simply is not and is open to interpretation. Look at Adrian Smith's page, does it say anything about other architects who worked with him on projects. No. Point made. As to how Strabala's departure from Gensler is positioned, I have previously given my neutral suggested words to NovaSeminary and he refused them and the source that backed them up. So I welcome your taking a look at that at your convenience. Also, you never addressed my point about it being referenced that Strabala is LEED certified. It was clearly worded and sourced that Strabala is LEED certified, but NovaSeminary declined it because it didn't specific which of the 4-5+ types of certification he had. His point, in my view, is minutia that doesn't belong here. Plain and simple, he's LEED certified. Can that be put back in? Thank you again. Mykjoseph (talk) 21:31, 12 May 2011 (UTC)

Add me as community member

Dear Sir/ Madam i am a journalist working for an english news daily in Jaipur, Raajasthan India. I belong to Rawat Rajput community on which you have a page on wikipedia please add my name on this page as community member so that people can contact me for any need related to history, culture and traditions of the comunity. name - Arvind Singh profession - journalist location - Jaipur Rajasthan India —Preceding unsigned comment added by 202.157.64.200 (talk) 08:05, 13 May 2011 (UTC)

Hi, Wikipedia is not a directory of contacts, it is an encyclopaedia so I don't think such an addition would be appropriate. Jezhotwells (talk) 15:41, 13 May 2011 (UTC)

Dispute in Auteur Theory

Auteur theory (edit | talk | history | protect | delete | links | watch | logs | views) There has been an editing dispute going on, on the Auteur Theory page, where a user created a section attempting to marginalize the "Criticism" section by using original research. I'm new to editing Wikipedia, but as a long time reader, I found the addition to be in direct contrast to Wikipedia's neutral policy. You will find a lengthy discussion on the discussion page for Auteur Theory (it's the at the bottom), that outlines the positions. I am at a loss for what to do as this user seems to have trouble in the past and I'm so new I don't know even how to set up my own talk page. So, I am looking for advice on how to resolve this issue as the back and forth between the two of us (though another user came in and edited the section in question down and also called for it's possible deletion before being reverted back) seems to have resulted in a stale mate. Thanks and any advice about protocol and etiquette that I may have missed while attempting to make Wikipedia a better place would be greatly appreciated. --Lindhorst (talk) 12:11, 13 May 2011 (UTC)

Back-refs

I thought it was Wiki policy to give a hyperlink to any object mentioned that has its own Wikipedia entry. However, on making a trivial addition to the Bobby Howes article I thried to highlight Mr. Cinders. This came up red instead of blue. Then I saw that none of his shows were clickable. Is there a reason for this? Shall I check them all?Fleapit (talk) 16:32, 13 May 2011 (UTC)

It is not wikipedia policy to link to everything that has its own entry. The only things that should be linked are non-trivial articles. A sentence such as this, The brown fox jumped over the [[fall]en log, is wrong because those are all trivial links. In this case if any of his shows has an article they should be linked. If any shows are notable and don't yet have an article, they should still be linked and those links would show up red. Then when the articles are created they will be linked. Hope this helps. GB fan (talk) 16:45, 13 May 2011 (UTC)

insults from another user

Hi wikipedians. I posted some stuff I found on the Simon Wessely talk page as it seems some of the editors are known for pushing POV and I thought it could be discussed and a compromise reached. I mean if they are pushing POV and claim to be neutral then surely evidence that JFDwolff and Sciencewatcher are considered controversial is relevant right? Hey well I'm new so maybe I did the wrong thing. Then sciencewatcher goes on about me being a banned user. This seems really insulting when I've just started editing. Now I know I got mad and posted stuff I saw on facebook about WEssely- ie that he thinks soldiers should be shot at dawn for cowardice, though I put that in his heart he thinks its a bad idea. I also put about him writing articles for the insurance industry and gave the reference and it all got deleted!! Surely a doctor who is involved in the health care industry should be in the article???