Wikipedia:Help desk: Difference between revisions
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:To clarify further, many files are hosted at Commons so they can be used in many wikis and not just the English Wikipedia. [[:File:En-uk-Swindon.ogg]] says: "This is a file from the [[commons:Main Pag|Wikimedia Commons]]. Information from its [[commons:File:En-uk-Swindon.ogg|description page there]] is shown below." You can click "description page there" to go to the Commons page where John removed the vandalism. [[User:PrimeHunter|PrimeHunter]] ([[User talk:PrimeHunter|talk]]) 18:08, 21 February 2014 (UTC) |
:To clarify further, many files are hosted at Commons so they can be used in many wikis and not just the English Wikipedia. [[:File:En-uk-Swindon.ogg]] says: "This is a file from the [[commons:Main Pag|Wikimedia Commons]]. Information from its [[commons:File:En-uk-Swindon.ogg|description page there]] is shown below." You can click "description page there" to go to the Commons page where John removed the vandalism. [[User:PrimeHunter|PrimeHunter]] ([[User talk:PrimeHunter|talk]]) 18:08, 21 February 2014 (UTC) |
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::and a little bit more detail: the page "does not exist" in the English Wikipedia sphere, the software is automagically making the link to the file page over at Wikimedia Commons. -- [[User talk:TheRedPenOfDoom|<span style="color:red;;;">TRPoD <small>aka The Red Pen of Doom</small></span>]] 18:19, 21 February 2014 (UTC) |
::and a little bit more detail: the page "does not exist" in the English Wikipedia sphere, the software is automagically making the link to the file page over at Wikimedia Commons. -- [[User talk:TheRedPenOfDoom|<span style="color:red;;;">TRPoD <small>aka The Red Pen of Doom</small></span>]] 18:19, 21 February 2014 (UTC) |
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== talk/discussion problem and I want WIKIPEDIA edit == |
== talk/discussion problem and I want WIKIPEDIA edit == |
Revision as of 18:06, 22 February 2014
- For other types of questions, use the search box, see the reference desk or Help:Contents. If you have comments about a specific article, use that article's talk page.
- Do not provide your email address or any other contact information. Answers will be provided on this page only.
- Check back on this page to see if your question has been answered.
- For real-time help, use our IRC help channel, #wikipedia-en-help.
- New editors may prefer the Teahouse, a help area for beginners (but please don't ask in both places).
February 19
Referencing help
I am stuck at the following message- There are <ref> tags on this page, but the references will not show without a {{reflist}} template (see the help page).
My story was rejected for a lack of references becasue I did not format them correctly. I have tried multiple times to format it but I am not getting it. Thank you- Hhrfan
- Does WP:Referencing for beginners help?--ukexpat (talk) 03:52, 19 February 2014 (UTC)
- I think Hhrfan was a little confused by those instructions. I have made an edit to his work-in-progress to show how to do references. Hhrfan, does my edit make it a little clearer? Astronaut (talk) 16:41, 19 February 2014 (UTC)
Please check an external link for me?
In the article for Carrie Stevens it says that she runs a fudge company with her family. There's an external link in the article text. Granted, this could be formatted better. I'm not asking about that. Before I did any formatting or adding the link as a potential reference, I wanted to check the link. That's where I run into problems. I'm at work and my employer's net nanny software won't allow me to visit the link. So, could someone else check it, please? Thanks, Dismas|(talk) 04:00, 19 February 2014 (UTC)
- Dismas, it redirects to here but looks legit. --NeilN talk to me 04:09, 19 February 2014 (UTC)
- NeilN, thanks. That site is blocked for me as well. Dismas|(talk) 04:54, 19 February 2014 (UTC)
I am trying to create a Wikipedia topic. It gets disallowed, every time. There isn't anything wrong with it legally, or redundancy wise, or ... So, what is wrong with it?
I want to put together a group of pottery (plates and saucers type of pottery) makers marks. These marks go back as far as 250 years or more, though many are in current use. Perhaps someone could tell me what I'm doing wrong. Do I need a 20 page written article right off the top? It's my understanding (wrong perhaps), that you can start out with a little bit of it, have it critiqued, and work it into a first rate subject.
If it is not legal to take a photo of a makers mark, I'm fairly certain that I can draw one on paper and take a photo of my own drawing, explain it's a drawing of a a So & So trademark, and post the digitized drawing. I don't want to do anything illegal or immoral, and collecting bone china cups and saucers is about as exciting a hobby as watching mud dry and crack to most people. What is wrong?
It would be real easy at this point to say to myself that creation of a Wikipedia article is sufficiently complicated and opaque that it's a waste of time to even attempt to try to learn how. If on a practical basis, new topics aren't allowed, that's ok, but I don't see that spelled out anywhere. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Real Cabdriver (talk • contribs) 04:17, 19 February 2014 (UTC)
- Real Cabdriver, you can start out with a little bit, but it won't accepted out of WP:AFC into the main article space if it is too little. There must be at least enough to indicate what the article is about, and enough sources to indicate that the subject is notable. I assume this is about Wikipedia talk:Articles for creation/Real Cabdriver/sandbox. The decline comment said "This submission is not adequately supported by reliable sources. Reliable sources are required so that information can be verified" and the related comment said "Potentially interesting, but article needs more detail and external sources." You don't need a 20-pafge article, but you do need more than 2-3 sentences for it to be accepted. You also need at least two or three independent reliable sources that discuss the subject in some detail, say at least a paragraph or two each. Note that you can leave it in the draft state while you expand it, and only click "submit" when it is in better shape. see Your first article and referencing for beginners for more detail. Please tell us if these comments are not clear or are not helpful to you. DES (talk) 04:27, 19 February 2014 (UTC)
- Oh, Real Cabdriver, as to legality of images of marks, if the object is older than 1923, and you take the picture, there will be no copyright issue, otherwise, things may get a bit complicated. DES (talk) 04:30, 19 February 2014 (UTC)
- The requirements for an encyclopedia article are that the subject has been covered in a non trivial manner by independent third party reliably published sources. Without coverage from those sources, your article will never get off the ground no matter how long it is. -- TRPoD aka The Red Pen of Doom 12:49, 19 February 2014 (UTC)
- Oh, Real Cabdriver, as to legality of images of marks, if the object is older than 1923, and you take the picture, there will be no copyright issue, otherwise, things may get a bit complicated. DES (talk) 04:30, 19 February 2014 (UTC)
F*ck on Main page
Just a heads up about the main page article coming up on March 1st... 15.203.169.106 (talk) 07:34, 19 February 2014 (UTC)
- Could you be a little more specific as to what you are warning us about? From what you have said, I don't know which article on the Main Page you are referring to, how you know what is coming up on March 1 (apart from On this day, I didn't think it was set yet), and I don't know if you are warning us of vandalism, of controversial content (Wikipedia is not censored, but I think the main page usually avoids material which some might find troubling) or of some snafu. Or are you a troll? --ColinFine (talk) 12:29, 19 February 2014 (UTC)
@ColinFine: Please don't accuse editors of being trolls. See Wikipedia:Today's featured article/March 1, 2014. I'm not sure what the point of this IP's post to the helpdesk is for however. Pedro : Chat 12:35, 19 February 2014 (UTC)
- I apologise for the troll remark. But I could not find a way to discover what on earth the OP was talking about (they had not even indicated what part of the main page it related to) or what they were saying about it. --ColinFine (talk) 13:28, 19 February 2014 (UTC)
- See long discussions in the nomination.
April 1st is a day for making jokes. The front page features articles about topics that sound made-up or weird.--Enric Naval (talk) 13:17, 19 February 2014 (UTC)- @Enric Naval: are you confusing March 1st and April 1st? @ColinFine: I think you'll find that components of the main page are generally scheduled further in advance that you might think - see User:Bencherlite/Future TFAs, TFLs and POTDs which shows that TFAs and POTDs are scheduled for more than a fortnight, TFLs for a month. BencherliteTalk 14:03, 19 February 2014 (UTC)
- Yep, I am totally confusing them. I stroke that. In Spain we make jokes in 28th December, Day of the Innocents. --Enric Naval (talk) 18:22, 21 February 2014 (UTC)
- @Enric Naval: are you confusing March 1st and April 1st? @ColinFine: I think you'll find that components of the main page are generally scheduled further in advance that you might think - see User:Bencherlite/Future TFAs, TFLs and POTDs which shows that TFAs and POTDs are scheduled for more than a fortnight, TFLs for a month. BencherliteTalk 14:03, 19 February 2014 (UTC)
- I think the IP here is just shooting out a message to any helpdesk people who might not realize that we may get an uptick in page complaints while that article is featured on the Main Page. - Purplewowies (talk) 20:32, 19 February 2014 (UTC)
- I concur with the assessment of wowies. It's a warning that when F*CK is featured on the Main page per the consensus achieved that there will likely be more requests for and complaints because Wikipedia is NOTCENSORED. Perhaps the TFA people could include a Disclaimer:
- Before complaining about this, remember that Wikipedia is NOTCENSORED and there was an opportunity that too many people didn't take to keep this off the main page. You only have yourself to blame!
- (okay, it probably shouldn't use that exact wording, but you get my point. :p) — {{U|Technical 13}} (t • e • c) 00:19, 20 February 2014 (UTC)
- I thought that March 1 was a (inter)national "anti-censorship" day? or maybe not. -- TRPoD aka The Red Pen of Doom 18:26, 21 February 2014 (UTC)
Question
How do I create an a biographical article? — Preceding unsigned comment added by Streetfacts2014 (talk • contribs) 07:44, 19 February 2014 (UTC)
- Advice at WP:Your first article and WP:Biography. --David Biddulph (talk) 08:26, 19 February 2014 (UTC)
File:Four white goose.JPG
File:Four white goose.JPG
PLURAL OF GOOSE IS GEESE !!! — Preceding unsigned comment added by 88.255.207.151 (talk) 08:13, 19 February 2014 (UTC)
- It's a filename, so any string of characters would do. It is however recommended that a filename gives some indication of what the file shows – which this one does. Maproom (talk) 08:30, 19 February 2014 (UTC)
- And anyway, commons:File:Four white goose.JPG is at Wikimedia Commons and not used here at the English Wikipedia. English Wikipedia editors cannot rename files at Commons but see commons:Commons:File renaming if you want to request a renaming. PrimeHunter (talk) 13:54, 19 February 2014 (UTC)
# Signatures petition
We are not allowed to refer to petitioning sites. Media only refers to them shortly. In this case a reputable article says the petition has 98,000 signatures. But by now it has grown to 135,000+. Is it really impossible to state "over 135,000" when no reputable media is reporting on it anymore? I understand that petitioning sites are no good primary sources, but I don not think it this increases the quality of Wikipedia when it comes to the amount of signatures. Any ideas? Timelezz (talk) 10:44, 19 February 2014 (UTC)
- Two answers occur to me. First, it is in the interest of any petition to inflate the number of signatures it has, so prima facie I would not regard a petition site as reliable for that particular information. Secondly, the quality of Wikipedia is determined by the accuracy and reliability of its sources and its representing the information on these sources, not by the value somebody may put on the subject reported. If the "98,000" is reported in a reliable source and the "over 135,000" is not, then replacing "98,000" by "over 135,000" would lower the quality of Wikipedia. The worthiness of the cause doesn't enter into it. --ColinFine (talk) 12:37, 19 February 2014 (UTC)
- Don't see how that is a valid argument, as the 'reliable' source also just used the petition as its primary source and is also subject to the same risk of inflation. Also, the fear for 'inflation' can easily be circumvented by appropriate wording. Timelezz (talk) 14:58, 19 February 2014 (UTC)
- "as of DATE it had X signatures (third party source)"
- if no third parties deem future additional signatures relevant to the subject why would we?-- TRPoD aka The Red Pen of Doom 12:43, 19 February 2014 (UTC)
- Because an encyclopedia should not be limited to the short span of attention of the media Timelezz (talk) 14:58, 19 February 2014 (UTC)
- Clearly not our job to "follow through" where neither media nor academia do not see worthwhile pursuit. -- TRPoD aka The Red Pen of Doom 16:11, 19 February 2014 (UTC)
- Timelezz, Wikipedia is driven by information obtained from Reliable sources, as per the verifibility policy. We do not go beyond what sources say. It is true that the media source may have obtained the count directly from the petition site, but they will at least have done a "gut-check" and considerd the newsworthyness of the figure, and may have done some cross-checking. If a particular petition site has a reputation for reporting its signature counts accurately and not inflating them, and the reliable source notice board confirms this, it might be possible to say "according to Petition site X, the petition had nnnn signatures as of (Date)" but I would want a clear consensus for any particualr siute that this was acceptable. In any case, unless the petition has itself drawn 3rd-party (which mostly means medai) attention, it is not highly significant, and continually updating the sig count lends it undue weight and violates WP:NOTNEWS. DES (talk) 15:21, 19 February 2014 (UTC)
- Thank you! That is spot on, and exactly what I'm hitting at. For sure we should not allow any petitioning sites, and for sure be careful with the wording. Though accuracy is also good virtue to pursue. I'll try to gather some support for the idea to allow individual petitioning sites that are deemed reliable (since reliable media quotes them or due to their strict regulations). Timelezz (talk) 16:49, 19 February 2014 (UTC)
- Because an encyclopedia should not be limited to the short span of attention of the media Timelezz (talk) 14:58, 19 February 2014 (UTC)
my site Jim McArthur footballer Hibernian
Jim McArthur (edit | talk | history | protect | delete | links | watch | logs | views)
My site is being vandalised can it be protected
jim mcarthur — Preceding unsigned comment added by 81.129.0.184 (talk) 10:56, 19 February 2014 (UTC)
- See WP:Vandalism. I'm worried about you saying "My site". Wikipedia is a collective process, the article is not yours. Timelezz (talk) 11:06, 19 February 2014 (UTC)
- Timelezz, though Wikipedia:Conflict of interest guidelines discourage editing of Wikipedia articles by the article subject, there are obvious exceptions for vandalism - and it isn't reasonable to expect every article subject to be familiar with Wikipedia policy. The important issue here is that some clearly offensive vandalism has occurred. I think that the best solution here is to request pending changes protection. AndyTheGrump (talk) 11:22, 19 February 2014 (UTC)
- Callanecc has locked it down for a week, which should solve the problem. Yunshui 雲水 14:10, 19 February 2014 (UTC)
- Timelezz, though Wikipedia:Conflict of interest guidelines discourage editing of Wikipedia articles by the article subject, there are obvious exceptions for vandalism - and it isn't reasonable to expect every article subject to be familiar with Wikipedia policy. The important issue here is that some clearly offensive vandalism has occurred. I think that the best solution here is to request pending changes protection. AndyTheGrump (talk) 11:22, 19 February 2014 (UTC)
Copy and pasting into Wikipedia
- Copy and pasting into Wikipedia
My late father left an extensive bibliography of his work. He was a research scientist for the government and has over 200 published papers and chapters in seven books. I want to create a page for him but there is no way that I can type in all of this information. He passed away several years ago and I have dyslexia real bad. This bibliography is written in his own hand and I consider myself to be the owner of it. It consists of a partial list of approximately 60 papers, his education and work background. Is there anyway that I can cut and paste this on his page?
Thank you
February .19 2014 Greenho (talk) 15:53, 19 February 2014 (UTC)
- You have already asked this question, and had it answered. [1] Please do not ask the same question in multiple places. AndyTheGrump (talk) 15:58, 19 February 2014 (UTC)
- (edit conflict) Strictly speaking, Greenho, a mere list of facts such a bibliography, in a natural order such as alphabetical or chronological, is not protected by copyright, so the most usual concerns over cut & paste do not apply. However, a comprehensive bibliography is not usually appropriate as part of a Wikipedia biography article. In this case a listing of his 3-5 most important papers, and any actual books he published, would probably do. Is this about Wikipedia talk:Articles for creation/Roy B Mefferd Jr? Do not forget that published independent (3rd-party) reliable sources that establish notability are needed, and his own publications will not contribute to that at all, only publications by others that discuss him or his work in some detail. These are not yet in the draft. DES (talk) 16:06, 19 February 2014 (UTC)
Bitte um Hilfe - wo befindet sich dieses gelungene Napoleondenkmal? Wer hat es geschaffen? Danke.
Please help - where is this successful Napoleon monument? Who created it? Thank you.
--Frze > talk 17:14, 19 February 2014 (UTC)
- Maybe the folks at the WP:Reference desk can help?--ukexpat (talk) 18:02, 19 February 2014 (UTC)
- See here Gdansk from de.wk de:Wikipedia:Auskunft#Napoleon Bonaparte.--Doalex (talk) 18:32, 19 February 2014 (UTC)
Wikipedia Help
The following discussion is closed. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page. No further edits should be made to this discussion.
Editing If you need help editing, you can use the Sandbox topic that everyone uses to help you practice on editing a page. If your loged in, then you can also do it personaly by yourself.
Making your own Wiki story You can make your own Story on Wikipedia by login in or if you dont have a account, you can register. Be bold as you can to create a interesting story for other people to read!
Registering If you dont have a(n) account,you can register. In the right hand side, you will see create account,then click on it. Type in your username, password, and email to create an account. Also, at the buttom, you will see a word that will be blurry. Type in what you think it says, and then hit create an account. And there, you have your account! NOTE: The email is optional, so no email needed.
Thank you for reading this. hoped it help! — Preceding unsigned comment added by Twilight2468 (talk • contribs) 18:47, 19 February 2014 (UTC)
- Well intentioned, but Wikipedia does not have "stories", we have articles. I have left a welcome message on your user page.--ukexpat (talk) 18:54, 19 February 2014 (UTC)
Table formatting help
HMS Ulster (R83) (edit | talk | history | protect | delete | links | watch | logs | views)
Folks, would someone please take a look at the table formatting in the commanding officer section? A new editor has added the information but the table formatting has defeated him, and me. Thanks in advance.--ukexpat (talk) 18:51, 19 February 2014 (UTC)
- There should be line separators: {{|-}} Ruslik_Zero 19:04, 19 February 2014 (UTC)
Done See this edit]. Ruslik is correct that line separators were needed, but the previous editor also put three pipes (|||) instead of two before data for column three, and did not put in column separator pipes when a cell in column two was blank. DES (talk) 19:07, 19 February 2014 (UTC)
- i dont understand the addiction / fetish for placing everything in tables. the best solution to bad table formatting is generally to follow the manual of style WP:MOSTABLE and nuke the table for a clean and easy to edit bulleted list format-- TRPoD aka The Red Pen of Doom 01:28, 20 February 2014 (UTC)
User email update
Can any one please let me know how I can update my email address
Thank you for your help
Moataz — Preceding unsigned comment added by Mwarshanna (talk • contribs) 19:26, 19 February 2014 (UTC)
- @Mwarshanna: You can change your Email addresson the Special:Preferences page. Just scroll down a little bit to the "Email options". This should allow you to change or set your email address. Excirial (Contact me,Contribs) 19:28, 19 February 2014 (UTC)
phone
what kind of phone can I buy that I don't have to go under contract so I can use your square product Helen Hedmond — Preceding unsigned comment added by 71.61.41.223 (talk) 21:08, 19 February 2014 (UTC)
- I suspect, based on your question, that you found one of our over 6.8 million articles and thought we were affiliated in some way with that subject. Please note that you are at Wikipedia, the free online encyclopedia that anyone can edit, and this page is for asking questions related to using or contributing to Wikipedia itself. Thus, we have no special knowledge about the subject of your question. You can, however, search our vast catalogue of articles by typing a subject into the search field on the upper right side of your screen. If you cannot find what you are looking for, we have a reference desk, divided into various subject areas, where asking knowledge questions is welcome. Best of luck. DES (talk) 21:41, 19 February 2014 (UTC)
Username change?
I have just created my account but my username is not spelt as it was intended to. I want to change it but don't know how to do that. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Zalatya Zorka (talk • contribs) 21:10, 19 February 2014 (UTC)
- if you just created an account, Zalatya Zorka, or have no or few edits (and currently you have only 2) the easiest and simplest thing is to jsut abandon this account and start over with a new account that can be spelled however you wish (within the normal restrictions and subject to any existing accounts). That will be easy adn should require no further help. DES (talk) 21:44, 19 February 2014 (UTC)
Preferences among choices for referencing
Wikisource contains the full standard reference work "The Catholic Encyclopedia" (of 1913) - since it is in the public domain. But the same work can be found online through the very stable Catholic website NewAdvent. In creating or updating article references, is there any preference on WP between using one or the other of these as the target of the reference? In particular, is there any trend away from an older way of doing things? Thanks. Evensteven (talk) 22:36, 19 February 2014 (UTC)
- Hello? Too soon to ask if someone is looking into this? Evensteven (talk) 18:24, 21 February 2014 (UTC)
How do I change the graphics/pictures on our site?
How does one remove graphics that are no longer part of the branding from one's page? — Preceding unsigned comment added by Buddyrice (talk • contribs) 22:43, 19 February 2014 (UTC)
- since it appears that you have a connection to the subject you should go to the article's talk page and post a message there for someone else to act on. If you wish to donate your logo by releasing it under a free use license or if it is a simply geometric and text that is not covered by copyright, you can upload it at the Wikimedia commons [[2]].
- If you wish to retain the copyright, you will need to make sure to follow the WP:FAIRuse policies. -- TRPoD aka The Red Pen of Doom 00:13, 20 February 2014 (UTC)
- Hello, Buddyrice. Are you talking about a Wikipedia article about you(r company, organisation, club ...)? If so, the logo will probably be in an infobox at the start of the article, so you need to edit the whole article (using the Edit tab at the top of the page), and inside an 'infobox' template you will find a line something like
logo = X company logo.jpg
- (I can't tell exactly how it will be, because you haven't told us which article, so I don't know which infobox it uses).
- If you simply remove the filename
logo =
- and save your work, then the logo will disappear from the page. Please make sure you give a meaningful edit summary, so anybody watching will know why you have done this.
- When you say "one's page", that sounds as if you might be associated with the subject of the article: if so, please read conflict of interest before you edit the article.
- If by "our site" you didn't mean a Wikipedia article, then this is not the right place to ask. You might get some help at the reference desk, but you will need to give a lot more information, specifically what system or technology your site uses. --ColinFine (talk) 00:11, 20 February 2014 (UTC)
DeLand, Florida
Children's House Montessori School should be listed under the headings preschool, elementary and middle school. It is a private school in existence for 45 years. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 108.89.0.152 (talk) 22:46, 19 February 2014 (UTC)
- Anyone can edit Wikipedia. You can add it yourself. --Thnidu (talk) 10:01, 21 February 2014 (UTC)
Farmville
@Farmville hola soy un jugador de farmville,he tenido un problema con farmer's square, me ha desaparecido el (ingredient storage)y no puedo recuperarlo,ni siquiera esta para comparlo,a la espera de una solucion ,atentamente gracias — Preceding unsigned comment added by 79.153.167.122 (talk) 23:07, 19 February 2014 (UTC)
- Bienvenido/a a Wikipedia, la enciclopedia que todos pueden editar. No es afiliado con Farmville. Está en el proyecto de idioma inglés. Wikipedia tiene un proyecto de idioma español, y usted puede buscar ayuda en su página de consultos. Anon126 (talk - contribs) 23:21, 19 February 2014 (UTC)
February 20
I'm having a problem with my Wikipedia password
My previoususername is Venustar but I lost my password. Could someone please help me? KristineAllison84 (talk) 00:49, 20 February 2014 (UTC)
Is there a function that will show a list of what other articles an article links TO?
Is there a function that will show a list of what other articles an article links TO? - basically the opposite of the 'What links here' tool? If there is not, presumably it is because the information is already present on the page (in the form of the article), and the reason the 'What links here' tool exists is because that information is not present on the page, unless there is some other reason. However, consider the potential usefulness of such a tool, as follows.
1. It would provide an organized view of (and a preview of) such information, and could save the time it would take to go through the entire article for it, at times when that is not necessary.
2. It would be useful for quickly assessing such information, and (2a) getting a sense of what connections are present (or lacking), and (2b) other topics the topic involves or is associated with.
3. It would be a good compliment and alternative to the "See also" list at the end of articles.
4. It would help people find information they might have missed, (4a) in reading long articles, and (4b) in finding links when they are revisiting an article, as browsers by default tend to display previously-visited links in a color that can be very difficult to notice.
If there is not such a function or tool, would you please consider adding it? Maybe it could be filterable by relevant settings. Thanks, J.
- I agree it would be useful. mw:API:Properties#links / pl shows a way to do it with the API, but that is more suited for programs than humans. Example: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/api.php?action=query&prop=links&pllimit=500&titles=Main+Page. PrimeHunter (talk) 02:32, 20 February 2014 (UTC)
New page entirely in Arabic
أحمد صبور is a new page on the English wikipedia entirely in Arabic. Seems like it qualifies for a speedy delete or migration to the arabic wiki, but it doesn't seem to neatly fit into any category at WP:CSD. To me it looks like gibberish, but Google translate works on it. It's not clear whether it exists on another wikimedia project already, so that's out. Just go with WP:PROD? 0x0077BE [talk/contrib] 03:23, 20 February 2014 (UTC)
- See Wikipedia:Pages needing translation into English. Basically, you apply a tag and if it doens't get translated in short order it will be deleted and/or moved to ar.wiki. Calliopejen1 (talk) 03:25, 20 February 2014 (UTC)
- It looks like it might have been at ar:أحمد_صبور but was deleted, or at least Google is finding that now deleted article with a few snippets of the text in quotes (not that that would meet A2 however). Anyway, this reads like a resume to me using Google translate – enough so that I would not hesitate to tag it under G11.--Fuhghettaboutit (talk) 04:08, 20 February 2014 (UTC)
- Yes, I suspected it was something like spam, but couldn't really tell. I'll tag with G-11. Thanks to both of you for the information! 0x0077BE [talk/contrib] 07:17, 20 February 2014 (UTC)
- It looks like it might have been at ar:أحمد_صبور but was deleted, or at least Google is finding that now deleted article with a few snippets of the text in quotes (not that that would meet A2 however). Anyway, this reads like a resume to me using Google translate – enough so that I would not hesitate to tag it under G11.--Fuhghettaboutit (talk) 04:08, 20 February 2014 (UTC)
I need help coding my user page
At this moment, my user page's information is confined to the left of the screen. I'd like to have it extend the full width like any other page would. Reece Leonard (talk) 06:01, 20 February 2014 (UTC)
- By default, tables are formatted just large enough to fit around their contents. I've added "width:100%" to override this. -- John of Reading (talk) 08:34, 20 February 2014 (UTC)
- Thank you for your help. Reece Leonard (talk) 15:16, 20 February 2014 (UTC)
Non-free image question
I have a question about a non-free image I found. This new user uploaded his company's logo under the fair use rationale that he "owns the logo", but he is not releasing it on a free license. Aside from the WP:COI issues and potential notability problems (there's a gamespot article about the company, so I just tagged with COI rather than PROD for now), should I tag with {{puf}}? The logo he uploaded is quite high resolution, so I think that it needs to be taken down to thumbnail size to even qualify for fair use. Is there a special dispensation I'm not aware of for copyright holders to release their content on a non-free license for purposes like this? I can't imagine there is... 0x0077BE [talk/contrib] 07:22, 20 February 2014 (UTC)
- We have no way to know' that this user is in fact the Managing Director of the company, so treat it as if any random user had uploaded. It is a valid fair use logo (as long as we have an article about the company) so we can just download, scale down, and re-upload, no need to actually delete. I will do that tonight if no one has before that. DES (talk) 13:51, 20 February 2014 (UTC)
could someone please fix me an article?
[[3]] thx — Preceding unsigned comment added by 84.236.108.232 (talk) 08:15, 20 February 2014 (UTC)
- List of Netflix compatible devices (edit | talk | history | protect | delete | links | watch | logs | views)
- I have undone the most recent set of edits, as they had broken the formatting so badly. -- John of Reading (talk) 08:28, 20 February 2014 (UTC)
quoting paraphrased quotes
BBC said that someone said x. Is there another way to put it than a 'he said she said'? Or how can you quote a paraphrased quote? Timelezz (talk) 10:24, 20 February 2014 (UTC)
- If it's part of their reporting, then just put it in as a regular source. Otherwise WP:PSTS might be of help. CTF83! 10:41, 20 February 2014 (UTC)
Numbering diagrams
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/fb/718smiley.svg/220px-718smiley.svg.png)
Is it ok to number the diagrams in an article? E.g.
Blah blah blah (See Fig. 1).
Thanks, Lesion (talk) 14:01, 20 February 2014 (UTC)
- Sounds fine to me. I'd say be bold and go ahead. If someone reverts you then discuss it on the article's talk page. RJFJR (talk) 14:46, 20 February 2014 (UTC)
conflict resolution
Hi, what are the next possible step for conflict resolution, after an attempted DRN failed due to lack of participation. It is important me that any such step would include un-involved users, due to the unfortunate circumstance that this article is part of an arbitration case and many editors seem to be editing with their conflict goggles on. Thanks. --PLNR (talk) 14:53, 20 February 2014 (UTC)
- WP:AE? WP:RFCU? -- TRPoD aka The Red Pen of Doom 17:12, 20 February 2014 (UTC)
- WP:TO? DES (talk) 17:31, 20 February 2014 (UTC)
- Are you suggesting that PLNR move to Canada? Maybe not. :P 0x0077BE [talk/contrib] 23:53, 20 February 2014 (UTC)
how to edit an edit summary
In article Sator Square I have written an edit summary containing typos/errors that likely will make it non-understandable. How can I ask an administrator to make changes to that edit summary? --Signo (talk) 14:59, 20 February 2014 (UTC)
- Edit summaries can't be edited - you could make a dummy edit though, to explain what you meant. AndyTheGrump (talk) 15:04, 20 February 2014 (UTC)
linking pages about same subject in hebrew and English versions of Wikipedia
I am having difficulty linking the Hebrew page on "Jacqueline Kahanoff" / ז'קלין כהנוב [4] to the English page on the same subject [5]. The English page is (or should be) linked to the Hebrew page. Please advise. Thank you, Deborah — Preceding unsigned comment added by Debastarr (talk • contribs) 15:12, 20 February 2014 (UTC)
- In general, links between articles in different languages are done with Interlanguage links (which show up on the left hand side) They shouldn't got in the article. See David Ben Gurion as an example of how to show the name in Hebrew as part of the opening information in a similar circumstance. The Interlanguage links entry in Wikidata about the articles for her is at (https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q3944327#sitelinks-wikipedia) and includes English, Arabic and Hebrew Naraht (talk) 17:24, 20 February 2014 (UTC)
Deleted page
hi, my page was deleted and i need help. regardsKatelyn100 (talk) 15:21, 20 February 2014 (UTC)
- Hi Katelyn100. The question above appears to be the only contribution you have ever made to English Wikipedia, so it is hard for us to guess what "deleted page" you mean, or what you want help with. Maproom (talk) 16:02, 20 February 2014 (UTC)
- It was deleted for not indicating why the subject is important or significant, see the message on your talk page. To fix that it will need to be rewritten from a neutral point of view omitting all the marketing-speak, and citing reliable sources to demonstrate notability.--ukexpat (talk) 17:08, 20 February 2014 (UTC)
help me
This is Prashant k.t. an indian Singer and voice over,dubbing artist with arrund 10 years experience. How can i ad my name in voice over and dubbing artists list.thanks — Preceding unsigned comment added by Prashantktvo (talk • contribs) 15:21, 20 February 2014 (UTC)
- You should not because you have a conflict of interest.
- Wikipedia is not a directory where people get listed because they want to, nor an advertising platform to promote your work.
- Content in articles is determined by what reliably published sources have said about the subject and we present it in an appropriate manner.
- The suggested method would be to go to the article talk page and provide WP:CITEs that show you meed the criteria. -- TRPoD aka The Red Pen of Doom 17:17, 20 February 2014 (UTC)
Move image to commons
Can someone move https://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Class_wort.jpg to wikimedia commons? I tried but I failedLbertolotti (talk) 17:05, 20 February 2014 (UTC)
Help?Lbertolotti (talk) 18:16, 20 February 2014 (UTC)
- You gave people an hour. Not all requests can be answered in less than that. Especially when many people might feel uncomfortable moving something from a non-English WP since they don't read the language. Dismas|(talk) 20:29, 20 February 2014 (UTC)
- It's been moved. - Purplewowies (talk) 07:31, 21 February 2014 (UTC)
Image weirdness: please tell me my phone isn't haunted!
When I view this image either embedded on a page, or on the image page, or by clicking on the thumbnail in the timeline, I get a grainy black and white portrait photo of someone staring at the camera. In the thumbnail in the timeline, I see a 17th century etching of an execution, as the description says. The timeline doesn't seem to suggest any changes to the image.
Please confirm that
a) this happens for you too
b) we can do something about this
because it's too spooky for me! 86.128.227.246 (talk) 17:46, 20 February 2014 (UTC)
- I'm not sure exactly why, but I suspect you're seeing [[File:Rizana Nafeek (1988-2013).jpg]] instead of that image. Samwalton9 (talk) 17:52, 20 February 2014 (UTC)
- Yes, that shows the same image! Do you see it too? How did you know it was that one? Should I bring this up somewhere else: I'm not sure where is appropriate. 86.128.227.246 (talk) 18:01, 20 February 2014 (UTC)
- Samwalton9 You think this could be the kind of thing that can happen from template vandalism or maybe something inherent to the mobile version of Wikipedia? Cyphoidbomb (talk) 19:57, 20 February 2014 (UTC)
- I see it as the proper image both here and on mobile. Not a clue what could be causing this personally. Samwalton9 (talk) 20:01, 20 February 2014 (UTC)
- I admit, I can't replicate it. I'm looking at the mobile version on my pc and my phone and clicking around at the various articles that use that image. Anyhow, I think the phone is haunted. Sorry, IP! Cyphoidbomb (talk) 20:04, 20 February 2014 (UTC)
- I see it as the proper image both here and on mobile. Not a clue what could be causing this personally. Samwalton9 (talk) 20:01, 20 February 2014 (UTC)
- Samwalton9 You think this could be the kind of thing that can happen from template vandalism or maybe something inherent to the mobile version of Wikipedia? Cyphoidbomb (talk) 19:57, 20 February 2014 (UTC)
- It's fixed now! I don't know what changed, but it works normally now. 86.128.227.246 (talk) 21:37, 20 February 2014 (UTC)
- I cannot reproduce it but both images are displayed on Capital punishment. If you have viewed that article then maybe your phone's browser cache got the images mixed up. PrimeHunter (talk) 00:10, 21 February 2014 (UTC)
reference error
To the administrators every time I enter a reference on an article an try to post it the bellow line keeps poping up There are <ref> tags on this page, but the references will not show without a {{reflist}} template (see the help page). How can I fix this problem.
- [Modified for readability]
- There needs to be a 'References' section which includes {{reflist}} where the references will automagically appear. Click on the 'help page' link above for details; see also: Help: Referencing for beginners. 71.20.250.51 (talk) 22:30, 20 February 2014 (UTC)
- The
<ref>...</ref>
tags only create the little numbers that look like this:[1] A {{reflist}} tag is needed to generate the list of references at the bottom. Below is a quick guide to how this fits together.
Inline citation code; what you type in 'edit mode' | What it produces when you save |
Two separate citations.<ref>Citation text.</ref> <ref>Citation text2.</ref>
Multiple References{{reflist}} |
Two separate citations.[1][2]
Multiple[3] citation[3] use.[3] References
|
Templates that can be used between <ref>...</ref> tags to format your references
|
Anon126 (talk - contribs) 22:40, 20 February 2014 (UTC)
- Note: OP = 72.252.251.94 (talk) — RE: Dr. Eric Deans (~:71.20.250.51 (talk) 22:48, 20 February 2014 (UTC))
Done. I've added the reflist. Anon126 (talk - contribs) 22:54, 20 February 2014 (UTC)
Images in search
Why does the mobile version of the site have images next to search results but the desktop version doesn't? A mobile version should be a cut down or simplified version, it shouldn't have functionality that is missing from the desktop version. --Jameboy (talk) 23:09, 20 February 2014 (UTC)
- I don't have a mobile device but I don't see the difference you describe when I make the same searches at the mobile or desktop version. Neither has images at Wikipedia with default search parameters, but the desktop search page has a "Multimedia" link I can click to search images and see them. Both versions search and display images by default at Commons. Which search are you making at which url? Are you logged in to the same account in both cases? PrimeHunter (talk) 00:04, 21 February 2014 (UTC)
- I think Jameboy is referring to the fact that when one uses the search bar at the top of the mobile site, each suggested result has a small image to its left (presumably the first image from the suggested page). So for example when I type in "c" I see Canada, China and California listed with their flags next to them, and Countries of the world with a placeholder, presumably because that page is a redirect and contains no images. I don't know why that is, though, and would agree that it seems odd. – Arms & Hearts (talk) 07:43, 21 February 2014 (UTC)
- Oh, you mean images in a list of prefix matches when you type before starting the actual search. That looks fancy, but the page names are shown much faster at the desktop version. PrimeHunter (talk) 15:58, 21 February 2014 (UTC)
- I think Jameboy is referring to the fact that when one uses the search bar at the top of the mobile site, each suggested result has a small image to its left (presumably the first image from the suggested page). So for example when I type in "c" I see Canada, China and California listed with their flags next to them, and Countries of the world with a placeholder, presumably because that page is a redirect and contains no images. I don't know why that is, though, and would agree that it seems odd. – Arms & Hearts (talk) 07:43, 21 February 2014 (UTC)
February 21
Miracle on Ice-1980 Lake Placid
Question: You list the Soviet Union as winning the silver medal in the olympics in 1980. The United States beat Finland to win the Gold Medal, so it follows that Finland won the silver medal and not the Soviet Union does it not? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 173.196.139.146 (talk) 00:16, 21 February 2014 (UTC)
- Apparently Finland finished fourth. See Ice_hockey_at_the_1980_Winter_Olympics. RudolfRed (talk) 00:24, 21 February 2014 (UTC)
- It looks like they used a different system to determine the medal winners in 1980, then they do today, see Ice hockey at the 1980 Winter Olympics. GB fan 00:25, 21 February 2014 (UTC)
- There was no final. See Miracle on Ice#Gold medal or Ice hockey at the 1980 Winter Olympics#Final round. It was a four-team round-robin. USA defeated the Soviet Union in the second-last round and went one point ahead of them. When USA defeated Finland in the last round they were certain of gold. The Soviet Union defeated Sweden later in the day but it was only enough for silver. The end position meant you could say afterwards that the US victory over the Soviet Union had been the deciding game. It was the only game where either team would eventually have ended up with the gold if they had won (assuming no changes in other games). If USA had lost to Finland then the Soviet Union would have the gold. PrimeHunter (talk) 07:26, 21 February 2014 (UTC)
Photograph of Taiichi Ohno
Can someone help me find a photograph of this man for his article? The problem is being able to find something that is under public license or similar.Lbertolotti (talk) 00:26, 21 February 2014 (UTC)
- The best option I could come across was here -- it's currently semi-freely licensed though not with a license acceptable to wikipedia. I'd contact them (it appears to be an official Toyota account on Flickr) and ask if they could change the licensing to CC-BY or CC-BY-SA (the no derivatives and non-commercial options don't work). There is a sample request message here. Calliopejen1 (talk) 00:49, 21 February 2014 (UTC)
- Also, if you go that route it would probably be best to confirm that Toyota owns the copyright and that they have the authority to license it. Calliopejen1 (talk) 00:51, 21 February 2014 (UTC)
- If this is the article Taiichi Ohno and he is actually dead, and you have looked and cannot find a free image- the image doesnt need to be free, WP:FAIR covers it.-- TRPoD aka The Red Pen of Doom 01:00, 21 February 2014 (UTC)
- Also, if you go that route it would probably be best to confirm that Toyota owns the copyright and that they have the authority to license it. Calliopejen1 (talk) 00:51, 21 February 2014 (UTC)
search error
The search features above give errors when I use them - i.e.
- Search Frequently Asked Questions
- Search the help desk archives
--Chriswaterguy talk 02:40, 21 February 2014 (UTC)
- It works for me. Do you still get errors? Which search do you make and what specifically happens? PrimeHunter (talk) 07:29, 21 February 2014 (UTC)
Citation templates for web news
Re the {{cite news}} & templates:
- Location = location for whom - the publication, the journalist, or...? E.g. in an article on www.theguardian.com (UK publication) by a "Guardian Australia political editor" is it UK or Australia?
- For articles from a news site that has no print publication, e.g. the Australian Broadcasting Corporation website, do I use the {{cite web}} or the cite news template? (I assume cite news, but there appears to be some inconsistency in how these two are used.)
- Similarly for online articles on a newspaper's website, where I don't know if they appeared in print - I assume the cite news template, but it's not quite clear.
Thanks --Chriswaterguy talk 02:46, 21 February 2014 (UTC)
- If you look at the template documentation, you will find 'place' / 'location' listed in the Publisher section. And the lead notes "for news articles in print, video, audio or web." -- Gadget850 talk 02:56, 21 February 2014 (UTC)
BLPVIO edit summary
What is the correct procedure to get rid of a slanderous edit summary in a BLP article history? I have reverted the edit itself and warned the vandal but the problematic edit summary remains in the history. Roger (Dodger67) (talk) 06:52, 21 February 2014 (UTC)
LISTING
DEAR SIR, WE ARE A ESTABLISHED CUSTOM TAILORING COMPANY IN BANGKOK,THAILAND AND WOULD LIKE TO BE LISTED UNDER "COMPANIES IN BANGKOK" CATEGORY.KINDLY ADVISE.OUR WEBSITE IS http://www.nibh.com THANK YOU AMON — Preceding unsigned comment added by 58.8.53.65 (talk) 08:22, 21 February 2014 (UTC)
- You've come to the wrong place. Wikipedia is not a listing service. --Thnidu (talk) 10:05, 21 February 2014 (UTC)
- See WP:NOTDIRECTORY. -- Roger (Dodger67) (talk) 15:30, 21 February 2014 (UTC)
Emaren19 and iOS 7
Good morning I am user As11ley
I have recently been involved in an edit war on article iOS 7 on where I feel that user Emaren19 has been making continuous disruptive edits. I have tried talking to the user and politely asked him to dispute anything on the articles talk page, however I have started receiving abusing and harassing comments from him on my talk page. I believe all edits I have done on iOS 7 have been completely accurate and user Emaren19 has been wrongly editing the page, along with harassing me on my talk page. For evidence please see my talk page. (talk)
Thanks for your time and I hope to get things sorted out shortly
As11ley (talk) 08:50, 21 February 2014 (GMT)
- Looking at the recent edits to the iOS 7 article, I see differences of opinion among editors. I also see that you have accused another editor of "vandalism", when his edit was clearly not vandalism. Maproom (talk) 14:28, 21 February 2014 (UTC)
How to Add a Biography
Dear Wiki, I must have to add a biography of my grand father who was a great writer of Islamic books and Mufti as well. Please let me know how can I add biography.
Thanks, Mohd Arif — Preceding unsigned comment added by Arif,siddqui (talk • contribs) 09:00, 21 February 2014 (UTC)
- First read the following policy and guideline pages - WP:Biography, WP:PEOPLE, WP:PSCOI and then the WP:My first article guide. Roger (Dodger67) (talk) 09:42, 21 February 2014 (UTC)
Watchlist paramters
Is there any way I can increase the amount of changes shown in my Watchlist? (like the recent changes show 500 changes option) Because I like to read/follow current events, but those tend to have hundreds of changes per day, monopolizing my watch list, forcing me to logIn dally to keep up, which is sometimes hard todo with my work load. --PLNR (talk) 09:20, 21 February 2014 (UTC)
- I tried to use the "&limit=xxx" the recent changes parameter in url, no go. Any ideas? --PLNR (talk) 10:19, 21 February 2014 (UTC)
- On the "Watchlist" tab at Special:Preferences there is a "Maximum number of changes to show in expanded watchlist". If you have less than 1000 configured there, you could try increasing it. -- John of Reading (talk) 11:30, 21 February 2014 (UTC)
Deletions
I have a simple question. I'm running for US Senate in Ga. All but one of my opponents have a Wiki page. Each time one is created for me, it is deleted. Why?
Page Title: Derrick E Grayson — Preceding unsigned comment added by 66.249.88.33 (talk) 09:22, 21 February 2014 (UTC)
- The discussion that resulted in the deletion is here - Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Derrick E Grayson. Basically, at the time it was deleted there wasn't sufficient in-depth independent press coverage about you. BTW as far as I can see, that article has been created and deleted only once. -- Roger (Dodger67) (talk) 09:35, 21 February 2014 (UTC)
- Basically the policy is that running for a political office isn't necessarily enough to show notability. In fact, in some cases the candidate who won the primary for a major party for Senate/Governor isn't necessarily notable if they are beaten handily in the general election. (For example Guy Davis, the 1986 Republican Nominee for Georgia Governor). As for your opponents, Broun(R), Gingrey(R), and Kingston(R) are members of the house, Handel(R) has been elected to statewide office and Steen Miles has been a state senator. Eugene Yu(R) and Branko Radulovacki (D) are more or less in the same situation that you are, so I wouldn't find it all that strange if the wikipedia pages about them were proposed for deletion). Michelle Nunn has not held elected office, but has received *considerably* more coverage that most candidates other than Broun, Gingrey and Kingston.Naraht (talk) 10:42, 21 February 2014 (UTC)
- There were two more recent deletions at the correct title with a period after the initial here. Dru of Id (talk) 15:19, 21 February 2014 (UTC)
Adding archive info for suspended link gets error, but help link doesn't help
One of the external links for Odic force is dead, or at least comatose: The Odic Energy Research Institute's site says "This Account Has Been Suspended". There are copies on the Wayback Machine, the latest dated Dec. 30, 2013 (so the link may go live again, but who knows?). But when I try to update the link with the archive info, I get an error message. (I've formatted the wikitext in typewriter font because the pipe and small ell look about identical in sans-serif fonts.)
After writing up this help request, I realized I didn't need to use {{cite web}} at all, and appended the information to the External link in prose, but the problem remains; see ¶ after error message.
- Wikitext:
- {{cite web|url=http://odicenergy.com/|work=The Odic Energy Research Institute|publisher=The Odic Energy Research Institute|accessdate=21 February 2014|archiveurl=http://web.archive.org/web/20131230041333/http://odicenergy.com/|archivedate=2013-12-30}}
- Parsed wikitext:
- The Odic Energy Research Institute. The Odic Energy Research Institute http://web.archive.org/web/20131230041333/http://odicenergy.com/ |archiveurl= missing title (help). Archived from the original on 2013-12-30. Retrieved 21 February 2014.
The word "help" in red parentheses is wikilinked to Help:CS1 errors#bare url missing title. That section of the help page lists the appropriate fixes for
- chapterurl
- conferenceurl
- contributionurl
- transcripturl
that have no corresponding title parameter, but it says nothing about what to do for an archiveurl. In fact, the only mentions of archiveurl on that page are in two adjacent sections,
- |archiveurl= requires |archivedate=
- |archiveurl= requires |url=
… and, as you can see, I've supplied both of those.
The help page needs to be edited to cover this situation.
So I don't have to watch this page, please {{ping}} me if you want my further involvement. Thank you. --Thnidu (talk) 10:47, 21 February 2014 (UTC)
- @Thnidu: I've updated the help page. The {{cite web}} example, above, is lacking a
|title=
parameter. -- John of Reading (talk) 11:25, 21 February 2014 (UTC)- @John of Reading: Thanks, John. BTW, is that /ˈrɛdɪŋ/ as in England, /ˈriːdɪŋ/ as in what you're doing with this message right now, or a pun on both? There's a good YA fantasy called The Man from Reading that does just that. My wife was a librarian. :-) --Thnidu (talk) 11:32, 21 February 2014 (UTC)
- @Thnidu: Definitely Reading, Berkshire. There's an old story somewhere about a foreigner at Paddington seeing a train marked "For Reading Passengers Only". He shrugged and went to buy a newspaper. -- John of Reading (talk) 11:55, 21 February 2014 (UTC)
- @John of Reading: Heh! – Well, I'm about falling over: it's 7:14 a.m. here and I'm not "up already", I'm "still up". Stupid me. Thanks. --Thnidu (talk) 12:15, 21 February 2014 (UTC)
- @Thnidu: Definitely Reading, Berkshire. There's an old story somewhere about a foreigner at Paddington seeing a train marked "For Reading Passengers Only". He shrugged and went to buy a newspaper. -- John of Reading (talk) 11:55, 21 February 2014 (UTC)
- @John of Reading: Thanks, John. BTW, is that /ˈrɛdɪŋ/ as in England, /ˈriːdɪŋ/ as in what you're doing with this message right now, or a pun on both? There's a good YA fantasy called The Man from Reading that does just that. My wife was a librarian. :-) --Thnidu (talk) 11:32, 21 February 2014 (UTC)
Abandoned account created an article draft in the wrong namespace, help with fix
User:RichardOled (with no prior edits) apparently created Help:New page as a draft article page for British history, didn't create a userpage or talkpage, and vanished. This was tagged over a year ago (4 July 2013) as being in the wrong namespace, and so I was bold and tried to clean up after them.
I moved the page to User:RichardOled/Draft and made a user page linking back to the draft subpage; I then usurped the title with a soft redirect pointing to User:RichardOled/Draft and a hatnote to the more probable title of Help:Creating a new page. Now editors trying to find instructions on page creation can find it, and the editor can find their article‑to‑be.
But I'm wondering if what I did was most logical. How likely is RichardOled to return? Is there some sort of "lost and found" for missing editors' abandoned articles? I understand a hard #REDIRECT for the first line of Help:New page would be enough for them to find the draft if they wished; would this be a more sensible course of action?
Is there actually a "lost and found" around here for this sort of thing?
Anything else I need to do, like flag the account as no longer active or something? meteor_sandwich_yum (talk) 12:47, 21 February 2014 (UTC)
- the page was speedy deleted as a hoax. if the user comes back looking for their content they are likely to be confused, but return seems unlikely. I have posted a version of what happened on their talk page which should trigger the notification if they return and if they have questions, more experienced users will hopefully help them piece together any confusing bits. -- TRPoD aka The Red Pen of Doom 13:49, 21 February 2014 (UTC)
- Thank you for the elegant solution, TRPoD &
Faggidabboudit. meteor_sandwich_yum (talk) 01:56, 22 February 2014 (UTC) - I mean Fuhghettaboutit. Look-alike. meteor_sandwich_yum (talk) 02:03, 22 February 2014 (UTC)
- Thank you for the elegant solution, TRPoD &
Changing an existing biography
I would greatly appreciate help changing an existing biography on Professor Barry Gusterson. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barry_Gusterson. If possible I would like replace the article with changes below listed below but I don't know how to replace the original article with new one. I'm happy to type details on site if someone could give me some guidance on how to either create new one or delete old one: Education: Gusterson was educated at Colchester Royal Grammar School and obtained a BSc in Physiology at St Bartholomew’s Hospital before obtaining a dental degree at the Royal Dental Hospital and a medical degree at St Bartholomew’s Hospital. He obtained a PhD on opiate receptors, at the Ludwig Institute and his MRCPath, whilst training at the Royal Marsden Hospital. Career: Gusterson held posts in medicine and surgery at St Bartholow’s Hospital and the Royal Devon and Exeter Hospital and was appointed as Professor of Histopathology at the Institute of Cancer Research and Consultant at the Royal Marsden Hospital in 1986. Whilst at the Institute he held a number of senior positions, including Chairman of the Section of Cell Biology and Experimental Pathology. He initiated the concept to build the first dedicated breast cancer research centre (1) and was appointed Founding Director of the Toby Robins, Breakthrough Breast Cancer Research Centre in 1998. In 2000 he moved to Glasgow University, where he held a number of senior positions as Professor of Pathology, Head of Forensic Science and Medicine, initiator and Director of the Glasgow Biobank. As Associate Dean for Research in the Medical faculty and Head of Cancer Sciences he restructured cancer sciences, which brought Glasgow up to 4th in the UK in the Research Assessment Exercise. He chaired the pan Glasgow pathology Committee that resulted in the unification of all pathology departments across Glasgow and Clyde into a new purpose built building at the Southern General Hospital. Gusterson retired in 2011 and became a Trustee for Moorfield’s Eye Charity and a member of Council for St George’s London University (2). Research: Gusterson’s interests have been predominantly aimed at understanding the biology of head and neck cancer and breast cancer, with some earlier studies on soft tissue sarcomas (3). He is best known internationally for his studies on the normal breast and breast development. Since retiring his research interests continue in these areas. BarryG1 (talk) 12:58, 21 February 2014 (UTC) Barry Gusterson’s major achievements have been his vision in initiating two new cancer centres, which developed as major fundraising projects in which he played a key role as the clinical lead. These resulted in the building of the Toby Robins Breakthrough Breast Cancer Research Centre at the Institute of Cancer Research in London (4) and the Wolfson Wohl Cancer Research Centre at Glasgow University (5). Awards: Gusterson was an Oakley Lecturer for the Pathological Society of Great Britain and Ireland and in 2009 received the Doniach Award for lifetime contributions to Pathology. References and External Links: 1. http://www.breakthrough.org.uk/about-us/our-people/founding-fellows 3. http://academic.research.microsoft.com/Search?query=barry%20gusterson 4. http://www.breakthroughresearch.org.uk/research-centre/history 5. http://www.wolfson.org.uk/funding/case-studies/science-medicine/university-of-glasgow/ Philosophy on Life: “Only dead fish swim with the stream” – Malcolm Muggeridge |
- the above is not acceptable encyclopedia article. wikipedia is not a webhost for posting CV's. -- TRPoD aka The Red Pen of Doom 13:41, 21 February 2014 (UTC)
correction request
To whom it may concern:
This is to request an edit to the page on Barbara R. Snyder, president of Case Western Reserve University. The link is here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barbara_Snyder
Please remove the nickname "Babs" in the introduction line; the nickname is inaccurate and not used: Barbara "Babs" R. Snyder is an American academic and president of Case Western Reserve University. Snyder is the first woman to serve as Case Western Reserve's president.
Please email when the correction has been made.
Thank you for your attention to this.
129.22.113.69 (talk) 17:45, 20 February 2014 (UTC)
Bill Lubinger Case Western Reserve University Director of Media Relations and Communications — Preceding unsigned comment added by 129.22.113.69 (talk) 14:27, 21 February 2014 (UTC)
Done. The questionable nickname had been added by anonymous user 63.253.206.94, without citation. I have removed it. Jax MN (talk) 14:47, 21 February 2014 (UTC)
Delinking template parameters
Sometimes template parameters are automatically linked - is there a way to override this? Specifically, I want to delink the phrase "Special advisor" in the infobox on the Joe Gibbs article. Is this possible? —Mr. Granger (talk · contribs) 14:29, 21 February 2014 (UTC)
Done It depends on the template. In this particular case using the parameter currentpositionplain= instead of currentposition= avoids the wiki-link. DES (talk) 15:12, 21 February 2014 (UTC)
Font size
Inadvertently I did something when changing my talk page that resulted in the point-size of text going way up and I think changing font as well. I can't seem to find how to go back to the previous default settings. It seems to be a Wiki issue as other websites appear as before on my screen. Thanks for your assistance. Sca (talk) 16:16, 21 February 2014 (UTC)
- In most browsers you can change size with Ctrl and '+' or '-', or '0' to reset the size. Ctrl and mousewheel may also change size. PrimeHunter (talk) 16:33, 21 February 2014 (UTC)
- Hello, Sca. It sounds as if you might have inadvertently selected a different skin. Pick "Preferences" from the top of the page, and then "Appearance", and you will see a number of skins you can choose from. --ColinFine (talk) 10:49, 22 February 2014 (UTC)
Page format
OK, I got the point size down with the mousewheel. However, the page display remains different, with the search box at top right rather than in the left column as before. How to switch back? TNX. Sca (talk) 17:00, 21 February 2014 (UTC)
- Search box at top right is the default. Maybe you have changed skin at Special:Preferences#mw-prefsection-rendering. The default is Vector. Search box placement is just one of many differences between skins. PrimeHunter (talk) 17:25, 21 February 2014 (UTC)
- OK, got it. Thanks much. Sca (talk) 17:50, 21 February 2014 (UTC)
Was this deliberately added?
Read this page: File:En-uk-Swindon.ogg. "hi how are you wuu2" Looks like vandalism to me. I am unable to edit it as it shows me that the page does not exist yet. I don't want to create this page because I'm not sure what consequences I may observe after I do. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Faizi1997 (talk • contribs) 17:49, 21 February 2014 (UTC)
- This was vandalism at the page at WikiMedia Commons, commons:File:En-uk-Swindon.ogg. I have removed it. -- John of Reading (talk) 17:59, 21 February 2014 (UTC)
OK, thanks. --Faizi1997 (talk) 18:02, 21 February 2014 (UTC)
- To clarify further, many files are hosted at Commons so they can be used in many wikis and not just the English Wikipedia. File:En-uk-Swindon.ogg says: "This is a file from the Wikimedia Commons. Information from its description page there is shown below." You can click "description page there" to go to the Commons page where John removed the vandalism. PrimeHunter (talk) 18:08, 21 February 2014 (UTC)
- and a little bit more detail: the page "does not exist" in the English Wikipedia sphere, the software is automagically making the link to the file page over at Wikimedia Commons. -- TRPoD aka The Red Pen of Doom 18:19, 21 February 2014 (UTC)
- OK, I guess that clears up the confusion. --Faizi1997 (talk) 18:05, 22 February 2014 (UTC)
- and a little bit more detail: the page "does not exist" in the English Wikipedia sphere, the software is automagically making the link to the file page over at Wikimedia Commons. -- TRPoD aka The Red Pen of Doom 18:19, 21 February 2014 (UTC)
talk/discussion problem and I want WIKIPEDIA edit
Hello WIKIPEDIA,
I want WIKIPEDIA edits on Gay Marriage in the United States - Civil Marriage Laws edited 1-22-2014,
With year Same-Sex Marriage or Civil Unions Enacted Plus Pending Lawsuits
Please edit on Virginia had been overturned same-sex ban last February x 2014 on this page, asap!
Please keep editing per monthly on this page, thank you ..
I do not know how do with talk/discussion page, so please help me! smile! — Preceding unsigned comment added by David099 (talk • contribs)
- Hi, I'm not exactly sure what changes you are asking to be made, but the best place to discuss these changes is on the article's talk page. The article for Gay Marriage in the United States redirects to Same-sex marriage in the United States. The talk page appears to be quite active, and can be found here: Talk:Same-sex marriage in the United States Hope that helps. Cyphoidbomb (talk) 20:26, 21 February 2014 (UTC)
- I presume he is refering to the File:US_Civil_Marriage_Laws.png which is displayed on Same-sex marriage in the United States. Changes to the image should be discussed on File Talk:US_Civil_Marriage_Laws.png, but that's relatively inactive. Unfortunately (in a wikipedia sense), the changes on Same Sex Marriage have occured so rapidly over the last year or so, that changes to images like that (which are non-trivial) can fall behind. I agree that Talk:Same-sex marriage in the United States is a good place to request it give the inactivity of the talk page for the image. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Naraht (talk • contribs)
Changing multiple articles
I've recently created about 75 new articles on U.S. Navy aviation squadrons. I learned a lot as I worked on them. One of the things I learned is that I need to go through them and add three items to the "See also" sections. I can do this one-by-one, as I have a list of all of them. I'm wondering if there's a tool or something to make this job easier. Lou Sander (talk) 21:16, 21 February 2014 (UTC)
- WP:AWB might do the job, but it might take more time to down load and set up than you would save for 75 edits. Plus you need approval to use it, although that is not hard to obtain. DES (talk) 22:05, 21 February 2014 (UTC)
February 22
Wikipedia Account Maximum Amount Of Username Characters Question
Hi Wikipedia — I am looking to create a Wikipedia. I have always had a thing for creating Account Names that use the maximum allowable amount of characters for the specific website I'm registering an account for. I'm curious about what the maximum number of characters might be for a Wikipedia Account Name. Knowing ahead of time, I could draft my Wikipedia Account Name before even initiating the Account Creation Process. I'd think of a nice phrase that would suit me. Also, however, are there various conditions (such as a number of numeric and/or alpha characters that are required in a Wikipedia Account Name)? Probably, there aren't (because I've seen several Wikipedia Account Names that do not feature any numeric characters in them) but I'm just asking. Once an account is created, would that mean that I'd no longer need to include the four tildes at the end of any message I leave on talk pages? 50.138.170.28 (talk) 00:00, 22 February 2014 (UTC)
- I don't know what the max name length is. You can see the guidelines for names at WP:USERNAME. You still need to sign your posts. RudolfRed (talk) 00:28, 22 February 2014 (UTC)
- The maximum number of characters is 235 (apparently that's a software's limit), but the practical limit was was set at 40 (I think following this discussion, where 42 was initially discussed), i.e., if you try to choose a name over this length it just won't let you. Please note WP:UNCONF, which states in part: "
Some usernames appear problematic without fitting clearly into any of the above categories. This is often the case with confusing or extremely lengthy usernames, which are highly discouraged but which are not so inappropriate on their own as to require action.
" (Emphasis added). There are no requirements for a certain number of different types of characters but there are some technical limitations (for example, you can't use@ / # < > [ ] | { }
). No, you still must sign using for tildes, although once you sign up you will have a button available to place the tildes with a click. Best regards--Fuhghettaboutit (talk) 00:32, 22 February 2014 (UTC)
- Part of the limit comes into play as the maximum length of your signature. Your signature is limited to 255 characters, which once you subtract the no customization wikicode required (square brackets, namespaces, pipes, text), subtract the maximum length for the timestamp ("##:##, ## September #### (UTC)" is 31 characters), and divide by 3 (the default signature is
[[User:Example|Example]] ([[User talk:Example|talk]])
), leaves you with 64 characters for a username. — {{U|Technical 13}} (t • e • c) 06:04, 22 February 2014 (UTC)
- Hmm, so it seems that having an incredibly lengthy Username would most likely make me seem like a less reputable editor and thereby heighten my chances of getting Blocked by Administrators if I do enough things wrong. That being said, do you suppose it might be a better idea for me to avoid generating a Username that is as long as possible?
50.138.170.28 (talk) 16:55, 22 February 2014 (UTC)
- No because many do not take IP editors very seriously either. Franky having an ovely-long username makes things harder for those trying to work with you. You would be well advised, if you want to be a "reputable editor", to chose a user name that is reasonably comprehensible and easy to recall and to type when needed. But it is your choice, within the policies. DES (talk) 17:30, 22 February 2014 (UTC)
Michael Mansell
"Michael Mansell (born June 5, 1951 in northern Tasmania) is an Australian lawyer and activist of partial Aboriginal descent,"
The reference to 'partial Aboriginal descent' is racist and in breach of the Racial Discrimination Act. Contributors are not generally referred to by their 'degree' of ancestry, nor should Aborigines. the use of such terms is an attempt to discredit and deter Aborigines from participating in public debate- white people may participate freely without reference to their line of biological descent which is rightly irrelevant to their comments. To print such biological ancestry only for Aborigines is to treat Aborigines differently and less favourably on the grounds of race.
Please remove the reference and simply describe me and other Aborigines as that- Aboriginal. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 147.69.148.76 (talk) 01:54, 22 February 2014 (UTC)
- Please do not make or imply legal threats. It can result in yoru being blocked from editing.
- Welcome to Wikipedia. I just looked at Michael Mansell. Most Wikipedia articles do not describe their subjects by race at all, but in some cases it is relevant, as in this case about a person who has been an activist and advocate for a particular racial group. Where it is relevant, a Wikipedia article ought to use all the information available in reliable sources. I haven't yet reviewed the sources on this article. If those sources mention a mixed descent, then so should the article. if they do not, than neither should Wikipedia. You might want to discuss this further on Talk:Michael Mansell. (If you are in fact the subject of the article, you should not edit it directly, as per our conflict of interest guideline. You may find it helpful to sign up for a free account, then you will be able to use a watchlist to monitor this article and other articles of interest, get email alerts, and have a fixed talk page with which to communica3e with other editors. But that is not required, of course. DES (talk) 15:37, 22 February 2014 (UTC)
- I should add that I strongly oppose any form of racial (or other) discrimination or racism, but I do not agree that identifying someone by ancestry, when and only when it is relevant, is a form of racism or is intended to exclude such a person or deter his participation. Others may disagree with me on this point. DES (talk) 15:44, 22 February 2014 (UTC)
Two pretty much unrelated questions on usernames and user space
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/f/fb/Yes_check.svg/20px-Yes_check.svg.png)
User space question: If a user page is inordinately long (say, over 100,000 bytes) and filled almost entirely with test material (i.e. repeated iterations of signatures, random words, line breaks, and '''Bold text'''), and its size is enough to make a modern, should-be-adequate computer freeze up when it loads, is it alright to boldly blank it or cut its material down?
User name question: (This is not a question about a real username I've seen; it's hypothetical.) If a username resembles an email address (like addresshotmail.com), is that grounds for a warning or..? I looked through the username policy but only found policy on emails relating to promotional usernames.
Any help would be great; thanks. - Purplewowies (talk) 02:39, 22 February 2014 (UTC)
Question 1, WP:MfD it I would say. Question two, WP:UPOL#Promotional names says "Email addresses and URLs (such as "Alice@example.com" and "Example.com") that promote a commercial web page and don't simply identify a person. While plain domain names (without.com
,.co.kr
, etc.) are sometimes acceptable, such as when the purpose is simply to identify the user as a person, they are inappropriate if they promote a commercial Web page." it goes on to say that they must not only have such a username, but they must also "engages in inappropriately promotional behaviors in articles about the company, group, or product, can be blocked." Finally, it also has its WP:UPOL#Exceptions. Other than that, those usernames "alone" are not grounds for a warning unless they offensive, confusing, disruptive, or misleading in some other way. — {{U|Technical 13}} (t • e • c) 05:53, 22 February 2014 (UTC)
- Ah, all right. Thanks. - Purplewowies (talk) 06:37, 22 February 2014 (UTC)
Examples appended to article
In Analytic hierarchy process, it'd written Their decision process is described in depth in an appendix to this article. and the appendix is linked to Talk:Analytic hierarchy process/Example Leader. While the example is a useful explanation, I think it isn't something that suitable for a talk page? Where should it be put? C933103 (talk) 02:42, 22 February 2014 (UTC)
- C933103, See my suggestion at Talk:Analytic hierarchy process#Example pages. Thanks for bringing this up. DES (talk) 15:20, 22 February 2014 (UTC)
- @C933103:. DES (talk) 15:21, 22 February 2014 (UTC)
Table problem
At Denver Sheriff Department I have added a nice little table of officers killed on duty. It looks nice. For some reason, the table insists on being at the bottom of the page rather than under the "Slain officers" heading. I have had this problem before so I suspect I need some instructions on how to fix this, lest I become a complete pest. I have watchlisted this page, or you can reply on my talk, or on the Denver Sheriff page, as you ike. Paul, in Saudi (talk) 03:48, 22 February 2014 (UTC)
- Fixed by closing the table correctly with
|}
on its own line.[6] PrimeHunter (talk) 04:03, 22 February 2014 (UTC) - Thank you.Paul, in Saudi (talk) 04:05, 22 February 2014 (UTC)
Referencing errors on Excel Maritime
Reference help requested.
For each reference I inserted I also included it at the bottom in a 'reflist|group='
I think I'm missing something as to the data structure for referencing
This page already had "Cite error: There are ref tags on this page, but the references will not show without a reflist template (see the help page)." at the bottom so it is possible that the reference bot has flagged my edit because I did not clean up the existing problems.
Thanks, DmacG (talk) 04:12, 22 February 2014 (UTC)
- It's actually not a bot, but rather a component of the software. The problem is that you have a few references without groups specified. These require a plain {{Reflist}} for them to show. (I've added it already.) But honestly, I don't see a need for any groups in this case: If you want groups, they should be clearly marked; otherwise the numbers mysteriously reset in the references list. Anon126 (talk - contribs) 05:11, 22 February 2014 (UTC)
Reporting SPAM
They're promoting their Products and Company Profile on Wikipedia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Piriform_(company)
I hope, this page is infringing the Terms of Wikipedia. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 122.177.37.85 (talk) 08:49, 22 February 2014 (UTC)
- This is a page about a definitely notable company, in my view, and while some cleanup would be a good idea, i don't find it blatantly promotional -- certainly not compared to many pages ZI have deleted or tagged for deletion. DES (talk) 15:24, 22 February 2014 (UTC)
Bolded template fonts
Could someone give a hint on how to restore the previvous fonts in templates instead of current bolded ones (like dates in Today's featured article templates and "Competitor for ..." in sportspeople templates?) Is it in preferences or something else? Brandmeistertalk 10:15, 22 February 2014 (UTC)
uploading a picture taken by me
I have uploaded several pictures of Honduran White Bats, which might actually be another species. The photos are mine and copyrighted in my name. They have been removed twice. I have been trying to upload them again with no success. 1) Why were they removed? 2) How do I go about uploading them again? — Preceding unsigned comment added by Kolcapuchins (talk • contribs) 10:55, 22 February 2014 (UTC)
- Looking through your contributions, I don't see any edits to anything this year other than this question and the same question at the Tea House. Where and how were you trying to add these images? Dismas|(talk) 13:13, 22 February 2014 (UTC)
- If they are as you say "copyrighted in my name", under what license are you trying to upload them? have you released that copyright? and if so, how? - Arjayay (talk) 14:58, 22 February 2014 (UTC)
- He uploaded them to Commons, where they were likely deleted because they were not freely licenced. — Edokter (talk) — 15:13, 22 February 2014 (UTC)
Changing font size
My browser (Firefox) recently got hijacked and I had to restore the default version, but now I find the fonts in wikipedia pages are too small, how do I change the font size? I thought you could do it in preferences but I can't see an option for it there. Gatoclass (talk) 11:07, 22 February 2014 (UTC)
- Hold down the Control key and press the + key. Or hold down Control and scroll the wheel of your mouse. Dismas|(talk) 13:11, 22 February 2014 (UTC)
Editing a name
I wanted to find out how to edit the name of someone with a Wikipedia page?
Tasneem21 (talk) 12:23, 22 February 2014 (UTC)
- If you mean that you want to change the title of the article, then it would have to be moved to the new title. What page are you referring to? Dismas|(talk) 13:09, 22 February 2014 (UTC)
- I'm guessing that you're referring to Hélène Hayman, Baroness Hayman. It has already been moved from Helene Hayman, Baroness Hayman and an administrator will have to move it back if it is to be moved again. You can request a move at Wikipedia:Requested moves. Dismas|(talk) 16:16, 22 February 2014 (UTC)
John Popper and {{Infobox musical artist}}
In this revision, for me at least, the infobox image in John Popper appears at its full size. The only way I could find to return it to a reasonable size was by changing the image parameter from "JohnPopperNY.jpg" to "[[File:JohnPopperNY.jpg|200px]]", which goes against the infobox's documentation. Given that several months of past revisions show the image full-size, I assumed a recent change to a template was to blame, but none of {{Infobox musical artist}}, {{Infobox}} or the Module:Infobox seem to have been edited recently. Have I missed something obvious? – Arms & Hearts (talk) 16:36, 22 February 2014 (UTC)
- Been fixed. Template_talk:Infobox_musical_artist#Serious_malfunction --NeilN talk to me 16:42, 22 February 2014 (UTC)
Trying to source information
Can someone tell me what www.adisc.org is all about? I am trying to get information from it but I do not know. Thanks. --SoundsBloodyAwful (talk) 18:00, 22 February 2014 (UTC)