Wikipedia:Teahouse

jmcgnh, a Teahouse host

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Help Wikipedia

Moving articles up the quality scale

If I notice that an article's rating on the quality scale seems to be out of date, what is the right action for me to take? For instance, I see a few "Stub-class" articles that have clearly been expanded far beyond a stub. Specifically I'm looking at articles in the WikiProject Computational Biology, but I imagine the question applies to all WikiProjects. Thanks! Zinios (talk) 12:27, 2 October 2013 (UTC)

Is This A Copyright Free Photo I took?

This regards a photo I took for a new article, Digital Computer Association (DCA), which has been submitted for review. The photo subject is a logo attached to a cloth armband -- a memento from the now defunct DCA, which held its final meeting in Los Angeles in 1993. To my knowledge, the DCA was never incorporated and did not hold any copyrights.

Does this information allow me to upload my photo to Wikipedia Commons without restrictions? What else must I do?

Thanks,

Robert A. Berman Robert A. Berman (talk) 12:08, 2 October 2013 (UTC)

Hi Robert. I can't give you full answer, but you should not assume that the logo is in the public domain just because the organisation was not incorporated. Someone must have designed the logo, and it probably remains their intellectual property. However, uploading logos to Wikipedia can be considered fair use under the right circumstances. See WP:LOGO for information about this. Formerip (talk) 12:24, 2 October 2013 (UTC)

Are there classes on writing articles?

I'm interested in learning how to do formatting in articles, as well as general guidance on how to add content. Are there any tutorials here? Two kinds of pork (talk) 05:05, 2 October 2013 (UTC)

Welcome to Wikipedia. Yes indeed there is, take a look at WP:TUTORIAL. If you get stuck with anything you now know where to find us. Roger (Dodger67) (talk) 06:36, 2 October 2013 (UTC)

Submitting an Artice using Article for Creation

I submitted an article. When I check on the article, the top of the article has a message saying that the article has not been submitted and is not pending review. The bottom of the page has a message saying that the article is waiting to be reviewed. How can I tell if my article has in fact been submitted and is waiting for review? I appreciate your help! SJoy8 (talk) 01:54, 2 October 2013 (UTC)SJ SJoy8 (talk) 01:54, 2 October 2013 (UTC)

Hi, SJoy8! Thanks for stopping by the Teahouse. I took a look at your article and it appears it has been submitted for review. I am a reviewer, but I did not review it, as I would have had to decline it. It appears the subject is notable on first glance, although I did not read your citations. If the items you were citing in WSJ, Vanity Fair, etc. were detailed stories primarily about the subject of the article, then you should be good to go notability wise. However, the article needs an extensive rewrite, as it reads like ad copy. Promotional language is a no no here in Wikiland. Give it a re-write, using far less adjectives and adverbs, cut out the corporate-speak, and just stick to the facts. Things like the mission statement and corporate philosophies are not something that go into an encyclopedia article. I gave you a helping hand and put in proper headers, and moved the external link section below the references. The sources section seems kind of superfluous. Most of the sources are already part of the inline references. Please convert the others to inline references and lose the source section. Notability is usually the big stumbling block, so if you give it a re-write, you should be good to go. Hope this helps! Gtwfan52 (talk) 02:46, 2 October 2013 (UTC)

Gtwfan52 - Thank you so much for your input! I made adjustments to the copy per your recommendations. I did leave direct quotes as to their mission statement, etc, but I referenced it this time, as this is their language.

Again, Thanks. SJoy8 (talk) 03:21, 2 October 2013 (UTC)SJoy8SJoy8 (talk) 03:21, 2 October 2013 (UTC)

Gtwfan52 - I reread your advice and removed the mission statement and vision. I see now what you are saying, although I thought it could be factual if I cited it.

Thanks again --SJoy8SJoy8 (talk) 03:23, 2 October 2013 (UTC)

You are certainly welcome. I would welcome some other opinions to help SJoy8 out. The article in question is at Wikipedia talk:Articles for creation/Mark Fisher Fitness. No disrespect, but this just doesn't seem like a subject that should be notable, but it sure appears as it is. That being said, the names of employees other than the founder are not really germane to the subject, the company. It makes it still sound pretty promotional. I realize this guy is way over the top, in an in your face highly visible sort of way, but the rhetoric of the article still needs to get toned down. This is an encyclopedia. It is supposed to be somewhat boring. There are a few web references that are not full URL's. Please cite a specific webpage for those. (That is one place where "copy and paste" is not only acceptable, it is preferred. Just copy the url from your webbrowser when you are on the page being referenced.) And again, The sources section is just confusing. If there are sources for the entirety of the article, you might keep them there, but it is better to use the <ref></ref> method and attach them to the specific facts. No reference needs to be both in sources and the reflist. So in summary, tone it down some more, lose the employees names, and clean up the sources/references and I'd say you are good to go. I am hoping someother hosts are around that will weigh in too. Gtwfan52 (talk) 04:04, 2 October 2013 (UTC)

Company Logo

I am writing an article about a small business retail. I am trying to add their logo and for some reason they are telling me I can't do so. Can you please tell me what do i need to do in order to be in compliance without having to delete the company logo. My article is still in review but I guess I have some time to resolve this issue because the review process seems to be long.Mcuenca2410 (talk) 21:13, 1 October 2013 (UTC)

Hello, and welcome :) Because of our strict rules on using non-free content, including images, you must wait until it is accepted and moved as an article before you can use the logo. After such time, it is perfectly acceptable, but it is not allowed to use non-free content outside of an article proper. ~Charmlet ^-talk- 21:24, 1 October 2013 (UTC)

(edit conflict) Welcome to the Teahouse. If you look at the history of your AFC draft, you'll see that the editor who removed the link to the logo referred to WP:NFCC#9, so if you follow that link you will see the reason. If your AFC draft gets approved & moved into article namespace, you will then be able to use a non-free logo. - David Biddulph (talk) 21:30, 1 October 2013 (UTC)

Is my article written like a resume - please comment and guide

Hi, i recently completed my first major edit.

I agree to orphan flag but for writing styles, i actually followed other wiki articles on BLP. Please identify mistakes on https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeff_Bullas.

Similarly, if being listed in a Forbes list and writing / mentions in NY Times is not notable, then what is ........ your comments......

Cheers Corona2215 (talk) 16:14, 1 October 2013 (UTC)

Hello there, welcome to the Teahouse :) The resume issue is such that Wikipedia articles should make very little use of bullets, and avoid them if at all possible. Content in Wikipedia articles should be written in prose, or paragraph, format. Secondly, the general notability guideline states that it must be significant coverage in the independent reliable sources. Consensus is that merely being listed on a list does not make significant coverage, nor does being mentioned or having a small amount of information about the subject. I haven't reviewed all the references though, so please take this as general advice that may or may not pertain to the article in question. Happy editing! ~Charmlet ^-talk- 21:28, 1 October 2013 (UTC)

Sources deemed "verified"

In my recent submission which was declined, my sources apparently could not be verified. Can I please get a little help on this?

Thank you Char Businessofbasketball (talk) 12:08, 1 October 2013 (UTC)

Welcome to the Teahouse. If you go back to your draft at User:Businessofbasketball/sandbox you will see a box at the top, with feedback. In particular it says: "This submission is not adequately supported by reliable sources. Reliable sources are required so that information can be verified. If you need help with referencing, please see Referencing for beginners and Citing sources." You need to look at those links and take action accordingly. - David Biddulph (talk) 12:30, 1 October 2013 (UTC)

The article almost looked as though it had been copied from elsewhere, with the text "edit source" there in plain brackets. The issue was that your information wasn't backed up by references. -- ^t numbermaniac ^c 11:54, 2 October 2013 (UTC)

How do I create a new draft that is only visible in my sandbox?

How do I create a new draft that is only visible in my sandbox? I already have a draft on a particular topic in my sandbox. How can I create another different topic in my sandbox? Or do I create another sandbox? Nancy Moore (talk) 04:40, 1 October 2013 (UTC)

Hi Nancy, welcome to the Teahouse. The name of your sandbox page does not have a special significance as far as Wikipedia goes. You can create another page at User:Nancy Moore/sandbox2, or User:Nancy Moore/New article. After creating the page, put the {{User sandbox}} template invocation at the top of the page to get the navigation links. Your page at /draft article about Milo Liggett was deleted because it was missing the "User:Nancy Moore" part. DPRoberts534 (talk) 05:39, 1 October 2013 (UTC)

Withdrawing SPI

I was wondering how to withdraw an SPI. Should I place a db_g7 template on the page? So far it has only been edited by me and a SPI Clerk to decline a CheckUser request on technical reasons. Ajax F¡ore_talk 00:03, 1 October 2013 (UTC)

Hey, Ajax, and thanks for stopping by the Teahouse. I'd talk to a clerk or an admin (preferably a clerk) about procedure here. If you don't get a response, a speedy-deletion tag should do it. Thanks, theonesean 01:42, 1 October 2013 (UTC)

How to edit complex references?

Hi,I'm A new at Wikipedia.I can edit simple references with source and name but I can't edit more complex references.I looked at Wiki:Help but still I can't understand it.Paleocemoski (talk) 21:37, 30 September 2013 (UTC)

Hi Paleocemoski. Welcome to the Teahouse. References are hard and we're glad you are making the effort to edit them. A good place to start is by reading User:Yunshui/References for beginners. If you have more questions, feel free to ask. StarryGrandma (talk) 23:36, 30 September 2013 (UTC)

More on references. Since you are editing scientific articles you will run into "shortened footnotes" with a separate list of references and footnotes. These get created several ways, but Help:Shortened footnotes is useful for this. You may run into special templates that people have created to cite often used references. Just when I think I understand how those work, I find another truly strange example. Hope this helps. StarryGrandma (talk) 00:18, 1 October 2013 (UTC)

should I edit an existing page or open a new one?

I've been asked by my employer to edit the company's pages (a Teacher Education College). Since the info on the current pages is several years old and has not or hardly been updated since it's creation, my employer has decided that all the current texts need to be replaced with different texts all together. I don't know how to go about this...first of all I'm an in experienced Wikipedia editor, and second of all, I have not been able to find any info on how to replace all text with a different one all together. It appears to me logically, that it would be better to start a new page altogether and close the current one. What is your advise? Thanks in advance, JenJapned71 (talk) 17:39, 30 September 2013 (UTC)

Welcome to the Teahouse. The first thing you should do is read about conflict of interest. That explains why you should not edit the article yourself. Go to the article's talk page, and there you can suggest changes, provided that you give references to published reliable sources independent of the company to verify the information. Remember that they are not "the company's pages", they are pages about the company. - David Biddulph (talk) 17:46, 30 September 2013 (UTC)

Also see our plain and simple guide to conflict of interest. Konveyor Belt express your horror at my edits 17:57, 30 September 2013 (UTC)

Question on acceptable external links

Hi, I’m new at Wikipedia and I’m trying to add external links for certain Civil War Wikipedia pages that will show Wikipedia visitors where they can find primary source material for a specific battle if the Wikipedia summary is insufficient for their needs. Two other sites have similar, but not identical material (Cornell University and Ohio State University) for some battles/books and I’ve tried to duplicate their pattern for adding links but a Wikipedia editor is concerned my links are spam or too promotional. I’ve responded to him but have had no reply. Here’s a link to my talk page: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User_talk:AlysonMansfield

Here are the directions on external links I believe apply: "Some acceptable links include those that contain further research that is accurate and on-topic, information that could not be added to the article for reasons such as copyright or amount of detail, or other meaningful, relevant content that is not suitable for inclusion in an article for reasons unrelated to its accuracy." And under "What can normally be linked" "Sites that contain neutral and accurate material that is relevant to an encyclopedic understanding of the subject and cannot be integrated into the Wikipedia article due to copyright issues,[3] amount of detail (such as professional athlete statistics, movie or television credits, interview utranscripts, or online textbooks), or other reasons."

For example: On the Wikipedia page “The Battle of Ball’s Bluff” I would like to add this external link: http://www.civilwarchest.com/node/188533 It takes a reader directly to the section in the Official Records where they can read the primary source material about Ball’s Bluff. It’s difficult to navigate the Official Records and find these pages without a direct link. Is this an acceptable External link or would it be better under References or another section? Any guidance you can give would be greatly appreciated.AlysonMansfield (talk) 15:36, 30 September 2013 (UTC)

Welcome to the Teahouse, AlysonMansfield. I took a look at the Civil War Chest website that you are trying to add, and I wasn't able to easily find information about who publishes it, what sort of editorial control it has, and how the decisions are made about what to include and what to exclude. If you are affiliated with this website, please read our guidelines on conflict of interest and please disclose your connection on your user page. If this is essentially a self-published "hobbyist" website, then its use is discouraged. The university websites are preferable, in my opinion, and I suspect that most experienced editors would agree with me, but other opinions are welcomed. Cullen³²⁸ Let's discuss it 19:49, 30 September 2013 (UTC)

Cullen, Thanks so much for your response. I will edit my user page to show ownership of this website. From reading the COI page I can see that was an oversight on my part. I believe I understand the COI concerns but I still think that based on the "Advertising and conflicts of interest" section in External Links, the greater concern in evaluating a link is the benefit to Wikipedia users.

"Choose which pages to link based on the immediate benefit to Wikipedia readers that click on the link, not based on the organization's tax status or your guess at whether the website's owner might earn money from the link."

I'm happy to step aside and not add these external links if that's the consensus but I think it will be a loss to Wikipedia users because the links that exist on these sites don't help users find the primary source material, even at the library sites. The material is just difficult to navigate without a very direct link.

Thanks for your insight and guidance.AlysonMansfield (talk) 02:01, 1 October 2013 (UTC)

Menstrual Cycle

how can you stop a woman from seeing her period without interrupting her reproductive system?01:15, 30 September 2013 (UTC) — Preceding unsigned comment added by 72.27.211.245 (talk)

Welcome to the Teahouse! This question seems more suited for the Reference desk. However, Wikipedia does not provide medical advice. Ross Hill01:43 30 Sep 2013 (UTC)

I do not recall ever writing to you before, and yet, as I write you now, I read that I wrote something called Caeaar's Civil War? And That I was 'reverted, or removed? What?! I am now concerned that someone used my name.

..what could the problem be?? Do you have my e-mail address, possibly being used by someone else?? 71.190.230.72 (talk) 00:32, 30 September 2013 (UTC)

Hi, you have a dynamic IP address, which means someone used the IP address that you are currently using sometime in the past. Whoever that was vandalized Wikipedia, but did not read the warning message that was sent to them. Since you are the first person to access Wikipedia with your current IP address, you must have received their message. Don't worry about it. Ryan Vesey 00:38, 30 September 2013 (UTC)

Welcome to the Teahouse! Pretty much what Ryan said - in the future, you can, however, avert this from happening by creating an account. Instructions here. Happy editing, Go Phightins! 00:57, 30 September 2013 (UTC)

Here Ross Hill01:47 30 Sep 2013 (UTC)

Emotional/Mental Therapy

It is a small request but it as a large feeling of relief for a great many individuals. I have been in therapy for a lot of years. Counseling for PTSD due to combat as well as sexual trauma, Bipolar, etc, etc, etc. Something that I found as one of my triggers is the word THERAPIST. Break it down THE-RAPIST. Without meaning to - the very individuals trying to aid in our improvement - they are again striking us with a velvet glove. Why not call them counselors? Are maybe psychiatrist assist (as Physician Assist)?Gfgayle (talk) 00:04, 30 September 2013 (UTC)

Hello. I am very sorry to hear about the problems you have experienced. This page, the Wikipedia Teahouse, is a place for learning about editing Wikipedia. I don't believe we are able to help you in regards to this. Regards, --LukeSurl ^{t c} 00:16, 30 September 2013 (UTC)

Junction list

Why is my junction list messed up? I did all the right coding, and after that, the list looked messed up! Can you help me? Philroc (talk) 23:00, 29 September 2013 (UTC)

Hello. It looks like Imzadi1979 has fixed this and explained at Talk:Virginia_State_Route_7_Business_(Purcellville). Cheers, --LukeSurl ^{t c} 00:10, 30 September 2013 (UTC)

referencing sources in a biography

Hi all,

I am working on an article with a biography of Irmgard Bartenieff, a very important person in the Laban Movement Analysis work.

Actually for this I am putting texts of others together, with their permission, because they do not know how to do this themselves. Now I am wondering if and how the people who are actually writing this could/should be referenced?

And also: I am using large parts of their texts literally, since rewriting is just too much and also I do not know enough myself about her. But how can I make sure I am not accused of copyrights infringement by wiki administrators? I am really doing this in collaboration with the authors, with me mainly as technical support to get a solid article on Bartenieff in the Wikipedia.

I know of all the requirements for articles in the wiki, so I do not need information on that, just specifically about the use of texts of others with their permission and how to reference.

Thanks, Sandra (talk) 17:44, 29 September 2013 (UTC)

Hello Sandra! I would read WP:CITE for information regarding citing sources. I would also read Referencing for beginners a page more informative to beginners about references and citing. Good luck! ///EuroCarGT 18:06, 29 September 2013 (UTC)

... but if you are saying that you want to use text which someone else has written but not published, then it isn't acceptable as a reference in Wikipedia. It needs to be published material to qualify as a reliable source and to meet Wikipedia's requirement for verifiability. - David Biddulph (talk) 18:18, 29 September 2013 (UTC)

Thanks both. First of all I must say that I find the informations pages, especially regarding citing, are very hard to get through, but I will give it another try if you think the answer to my specific question is in there.

For the latter, David, thank you too, but the texts I am using, do include references of published resources, so that is covered. But as I understand from what you are saying, I cannot reference the authors of the texts themselves, is it? Sandra (talk) 18:25, 29 September 2013 (UTC)

Archiving

Hey Again...

I want to know how I archive my Talk page and what is Archiving?

Thanks in advance,

Gideon^{Wanna talk?} 17:10, 29 September 2013 (UTC)

Hello Gideon! You could learn more about archiving your user talk page by reading Archiving a talk page. You could also use an automated way by adding a script on top of your user talk page in which a bot could auto-archive your page after an old discussion, you could learn more about the 2 bots at: User:MiszaBot/Archive HowTo and User:ClueBot III#How to archive your page. ///EuroCarGT 17:25, 29 September 2013 (UTC)

Thank you! Gideon^{Wanna talk?} 18:49, 29 September 2013 (UTC)

Removing Stuff from my Talk page

Hi all!

Can I remove stuff from my talk page? or is it wrong in doing so?

Thanks in Advance,

Gideon^{Wanna talk?} 16:47, 29 September 2013 (UTC)

Hello, Gideon, and welcome to the Teahouse. Yes, you may, but I recommend you read the policy on this question (at WP:BLANKING), which says "Policy does not prohibit users, whether registered or unregistered users, from removing comments from their own talk pages, although archiving is preferred." --ColinFine (talk) 17:02, 29 September 2013 (UTC)

Other language references

Can I add other language references to English wikipedia? If so, am I supposed to translate it to English or can it be used as such? -- Sriram ^{speak up} 14:26, 29 September 2013 (UTC)

Hey Sriram. We prefer English language sources where they exist and are of equal quality and relevance, but foreign language source are perfectly acceptable. See WP:NONENG. Note the guidance at WP:SAYWHEREYOUGOTIT that when using non-English sources, it may be helpful for our readers if the citation quotes from the original text and then gives an English translation. You might also translate other matters where it would help, such as providing a newspaper story's title in English right after it in parentheses. Also, you can add to the citation a template that notes the source's original language, such as {{Hi icon}}, which will place a note in the reference giving the language of the source used; this one formats as: Template:Hi icon. See Category:Language icon templates for more. If you are using one of the citation templates to format your entire citation, you don't need these icon templates as the citation template internally provides a parameter for this. For example, in {{cite book}}, you can add the parameter |language=Hindi. Best regards--Fuhghettaboutit (talk) 15:37, 29 September 2013 (UTC)

Have pasted virgin submittal in my Sandbox - please review

I'm Robert A. Berman and have pasted my draft article in my sandbox. If proper to ask, could someone review my article on the Digital Computer Association?Robert A. Berman (talk) 01:24, 29 September 2013 (UTC)

Hello and Welcome! I don't see your sandbox contribution on your user page, However I would try looking at [WP:AFC|Articles for Creation]], where other memebrs of the community could review your article and see what could be improved or if the article doesn't meet the guidelines. I would read WP:ACR for more information about article's creation. Good luck! ///EuroCarGT 01:38, 29 September 2013 (UTC)

The draft is probably User:Robert_A._Berman/sandbox. Robert: I suggest fixing your references before you go further. See WP:REFB for how to do that. RudolfRed (talk) 02:55, 29 September 2013 (UTC)

Hello Robert, I have added the code {{User sandbox}} at the top of your article. When you want to submit it for review, hit the button at the bottom of the "Sandbox" box at the top of your article where it says If you are writing an article, and are ready to request its creation, click here.. Then the folks at WP:AFC can review your article and give suggestions. And like Rudolf says, there's a much easier and better way to mark footnotes, so do read WP:REFB. MatthewVanitas (talk) 17:03, 29 September 2013 (UTC)

FYI Robert A. Berman, "and we welcomed him like a hero", is not the kind of information we include in encyclopedia articles here. We are writing for readers. Readers aren't going to be part of "we". Thanks. Biosthmors (talk) pls notify me (i.e. {{U}}) while signing a reply, thx 17:06, 29 September 2013 (UTC)

Ah, I see the problem now: have pasted my draft article in my sandbox... When you copy-pasted your draft into your sandbox, it appears you pasted the text from the "read" mode rather than the actual code for the article. That's why you have footnotes like "[4]" and tags like "[citation needed]" rather than . Whenever you move anything on Wikipedia, don't copy-paste the text you see, hit Edit and copy-paste the code behind it. MatthewVanitas (talk) 17:16, 29 September 2013 (UTC)

Making custormised signs...

I've seen many users have custom signs with color and detail

How do they do that?

Can I do that, if yes than how?

or must I be a admin or something?

Thanks in advance!

Gideon 19:11, 28 September 2013 (UTC)

Hi Gideon. All users can make customized signatures. See Wikipedia:Signatures#Customizing your signature. Note the requirement at Wikipedia:Signatures#Internal links. You can click edit at a signature you like to see how it was made. PrimeHunter (talk) 20:11, 28 September 2013 (UTC)

Thank you! :-)

Gideon 04:15, 29 September 2013 (UTC) — Preceding unsigned comment added by Gdcdigital (talk • contribs)

Make sure that you read Wikipedia:Signatures#Internal links and do the necessary corrections; my guess is that you've got "Treat the above as wiki markup" at Special:Preferences enabled when it shouldn't be. - David Biddulph (talk) 10:20, 29 September 2013 (UTC)

Internal wikilinks to other sections of the same article.

I'm writing a section of an article which uses information of another section. Since repeating the same thing would be ridiculous, I thouht of doing something like "see [Section X] below". However, I've never seen that. Is it allowed? Does the MoS say anything? The example is: Catalan language#Pronunciation. Thanks!--Fauban 16:35, 28 September 2013 (UTC)

Hi Fauban, sorry for the late response. I saw your post when it first went up and I was hoping that a host with more experience of Wikipedia policy would answer you. From a wiki markup perspective, you may be interested to know that it isn't necessary to add the page name to links that are within the same page, so rather than see [[Catalan language#Pronunciation|Section X]] below you could just use see [[#Pronunciation|Section X]] below for a link within that page. I trust that someone will be able to answer your question regards the WP:MOS and common practice soon enough. AugurNZ ✐⌕ 22:53, 29 September 2013 (UTC)

About Navbox

I am in the process of creating a Template concerning a film director by using a quite simple Infobox:

• The main groups have child groups
• Child groups have lists
• No pictures

The issues are these:

• The subgroups have different width, depending on what it's in there
• The entire Infobox expands way out of the 100% page width

For the second question I have no idea what the cause and what the solution can be. For the first question I tried |groupstyle = width:10em;background:#cccc99; right before the first subgroup text. The background color is set properly, not the width setting though. I tried also to put the two groupstyle requests on two different lines, to no avail. Please help Carlotm (talk) 06:41, 28 September 2013 (UTC)

Hi Carlotm, and welcome to the Teahouse. I find very often that asking for a second opinion when creating complex tables and templates like this is often helpful, as you can get too close to it, and a fresh pair of eyes really helps. I notice in your sandbox that you have both...

|groupstyle = width:1em;background:#cccc99;

...and...

|groupstyle = width:10em;background:#ccff77;

I'm wondering if this has something to do with your problem? A zero too far, perhaps? AugurNZ ✐⌕ 06:56, 28 September 2013 (UTC)

Another trick you can try is adding blank spaces after the years that don't end in an "s", such as 1974 instead of the 1970s. You can do this by adding &nbsp; for a space. In the case of your table, you'll need to add two of them, for example...

| group1 = 1956&nbsp;&nbsp;

Hope this helps. AugurNZ ✐⌕ 07:16, 28 September 2013 (UTC)

Thanks AugurNZ for your reply. No the 1em was just one of many different values that I tried and it's not the source of the problem. The suggestion to put empty spaces where texts are shorter is working very fine, instead. Thank you. I still wondering why the width setting is not working. What about the spreading of the entire Navbox out of the standard page width? Do you have any idea? Carlotm (talk) 08:32, 28 September 2013 (UTC)

At the start of the Navbox I have this line

|listclass = hlist

which seems to trigger the horizontal expansion beyond the normal page width. If I take it out, the Sandox expands only vertically; entries are listed one per line, whether they are short or long though, making the Navbox very long. Is there the possibility to get the good of both worlds: having more than one entry per line (where possible) and maintaining the Sandbox inside the normal page width? Carlotm (talk) 09:22, 28 September 2013 (UTC)

Sorry, the width of the box when expanded is determined by the width of the longest content element, and you have some very long strings in there, such as La donna è una cosa meravigliosa (Woman Is a Wonderful Thing - segments Una donna dolce, dolce and La balena bianca - 1964). If you were to force the width of the whole navbox smaller, you would probably end up with a horizontal scrollbar, unless you either a). reduce the font size of the content, or b). allow for some text wrapping. Beyond that, I see no simple solution when your sentences are so long. AugurNZ ✐⌕ 10:27, 28 September 2013 (UTC)

Sentences cannot be shortened, font size should not be reduced (this is my opinion, being font size a very volatile variable constrained by monitor resolution and reader eyesight). What remains is wrapping. But how do you accomplish it? That was my question lately (having more than one entry per line). Carlotm (talk) 01:32, 29 September 2013 (UTC)

Hi Carlotm, I'm afraid I cannot think of anything else to try other than inserting <br/> marks in the text so that it visually lines up with the page width, which, of course, also depends on the reader's monitor resolution and zoom level. I have made a courtesy edit in your sandbox to demonstrate how this may look. On my screen it has fixed the problem. Also, this solution will make it much more difficult to add content into your navbox later, as each subsequent edit will need to be manually aligned again. Feel free to revert my edit in your sandbox. AugurNZ ✐⌕ 12:16, 29 September 2013 (UTC)

Thank you very much for all your efforts and suggestions. Carlotm (talk) 23:36, 29 September 2013 (UTC)

error on Cabin John page

The Cabin John, Maryland, community has asked me to correct a sentence on the Wikipedia page about Cabin John. How do I do that? I'm the historian for the community. Cjhist (talk) 02:26, 28 September 2013 (UTC)

Hello and Welcome! On the page Cabin John, Maryland, near the top-right corner click "Edit" or click here and do the corrections from there. Then I would preview the edit by clicking the Preview button on the bottom of the Edit page, then put in a edit summary ie. "Fixing grammar", then click Save. I would also read WP:HOW and Wikipedia:Tutorial/Editing for a more better perspective on help on editing. Enjoy! ///EuroCarGT 02:37, 28 September 2013 (UTC)

Thanks! I've edited the page. I wasn't clear on how to format the reference but it's there anyway for interested readers. Cjhist (talk) 03:03, 28 September 2013 (UTC)

Information on how to include references is available at WP:Referencing for beginners. You will see that rather than including details in the references section the detail is provided between <ref>...</ref> tags after the part of the article text which the reference is being used to support. The detail of the reference is often most conveniently formatted by a template such as {{cite web}} or {{cite book}}. Assuming that what you were referring to was a book, I have modified your edit in this further change, which you may wish to check. Wikipedia's principle of verifiability expects that sources will be published in a manner which allows a reader of the article to check the content if they wish to do so, hence if you have an ISBN or other identifier to enable a reader to find the book, this ought to be added within the {{cite book}} template. - David Biddulph (talk) 05:13, 28 September 2013 (UTC)

One more question -- I added reference to a book that is on Amazon, on author's web site, and also in public libraries of Montgomery County, Maryland. Should the title of the book be linked to any of those web sites as I noticed other references have links? 96.255.172.221 (talk) 15:16, 28 September 2013 (UTC)

For a book, the ISBN is normally the best parameter to give, as from that Wikipedia will provide links to appropriate places through Special:BookSources. - David Biddulph (talk) 15:24, 28 September 2013 (UTC)

I looked at the cite book template. The book referenced has an ISBN but seems odd to add that but happy to do it if helpful. How about a link to the author's web site which discusses the book and also includes a second book related to Cabin John? Cjhist (talk) 15:29, 28 September 2013 (UTC)

There is nothing odd about adding the ISBN number, Cjhist. If you add it to the book template in the reference, then the ISBN number becomes an active link. Clicking that gives extensive information about the book's availability worldwide, including libraries that own it, booksellers that offer it, and bibliographic information about the book. It is the single most important piece of data about any book published in the modern era. Cullen³²⁸ Let's discuss it 09:21, 30 September 2013 (UTC)