Wikipedia:Help desk

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January 6

(+436) positive/negative numbers in brackets after article names in my watchlist.

I've noticed that the article names in my watchlist now have numbers after them. Can anyone explain what they are for? --Brideshead 00:02, 6 January 2007 (UTC) Sorry Disregard, just found the answer above. Thanks --Brideshead 00:05, 6 January 2007 (UTC)

Watchlist

On "My Watchlist" each page on the list of edits that your list has compiled is followed by a number, green for positive ones, red for negative. I cant seem to find what that represents. Is it some form of rating system or what? --Ferdiaob 00:09, 6 January 2007 (UTC)

Please see Help:Watching pages#What do the colored numbers mean? -- Kesh 00:26, 6 January 2007 (UTC)

It shows the increase or decrease in the number of bytes as a result of that edit, in case you didn't look :) SGGH 11:33, 6 January 2007 (UTC)

surveying land

If I am buying an acre of land on a steep hillside how is the measurement figured? Will it be measured horizontally or vertically?

The Help Desk is for asking questions about Wikipedia. Please try the appropriate section of the Reference desk. Thanks. --Tkynerd 02:11, 6 January 2007 (UTC)

Land area is measured two dimensionally and does not change based on the relief of the land. The price per square foot can however vary. For example, an acre of hilly, ocean-view land may allow for more building sites with views. It could sell for more than one acre with flat land that permits only one house with an ocean view.Mattnad 05:18, 13 January 2007 (UTC)

Sorry to add to this pointless question, but what happens if the land is vertical? If the measurement is 2-d horizonal then I presumeably get an infinite amount of it for my money? :P Jubilee♫clipman 17:49, 10 December 2008 (UTC) PS feel free to remove this pointless addition...

Sock Puppet Tags

I have a question. Can ANYONE place a sockpuppet tag on another user's page, or is that something only an administrator can do? What is the proper procedure to follow if you suspect someone of being a sock puppet? Also, if someone who is NOT an administrator places a sockpuppet tag on your page, can you remove it? Thanks for your help! Cleo123 02:23, 6 January 2007 (UTC) (edit conflict)

Anyone may place the tag, however you must be certain they are a sock puppet. Otherwise, you may be accusing an innocent editor, which leads to drama. If anyone places a warning on your User talk page, it's bad form to remove it yourself. A false accusation can be cleared up and the admin/user who placed it should remove it themself. If not, you can archive older comments, including the warning template.

Basically, talk with the user who placed the tag and work for a resolution to prove whether or not the tagged editor really is a sock puppet or not. If a resolution cannot be made between the two users, a request for comment may be appropriate. -- Kesh 02:40, 6 January 2007 (UTC)

Edit war with someone who won't talk back.

I'm somewhat new to Wikipedia, and am having an edit war, mainly on the Angel (Lilo & Stitch) page, with someone who won't respond to my requests to talk to them. It is getting on my nerves and I'm afraid my angry responses are breaking policies, which I REALLY don't want to do.

The person, who doesn't have a wikipedia account, keeps adding questionable/incorrect information to the page, some of it which doesn't even need to be there. For example, the person keeps adding the character (who is an alien who doesn't speak English) to the "fictional Scott" catigory and adding a line saying that she has a "soft Scottish accent". This person also adds "like Stitch's" to ever single line I write in which I say that the character has retractable claws, even though the character Stitch does not have retractable claws (He has claws like a dogs and I have never seen them retracted in all of the media I've seen. I've tried to ask the person for a citation to show that they are, but with no results. And even if it was true, is it even necessary to add to the end of the sentence?). The incorrect statement about Stitch's claws are on other pages as well, but I haven't fixed them all yet. (Oy, am I talking to much for this help desk page?)

The REAL issue, though, is that this person absolutely REFUSES to speak to me. I have tried leaving comments on the talk page, comments within the text that the person is editing, and comments when I save the page. They go completely ignored, and the person continues to re-add the incorrect information that I deleted. I know I shouldn't assume that I'm completely correct, but I'm pretty sure that I am and would be perfectly fine with being proven wrong with solid, citable data (I'm a scientist, after all). I tried to make a compromise by adding a dispute tag to the top of the page, but the person keeps deleting it. That's the last straw.

How do I solve this dispute without allowing the incorrect information to remain on the page? Miriam The Bat 02:38, 6 January 2007 (UTC)

Per Wikipedia:Resolving disputes, you've already attempted to contact the user. Step two, Disengage for a while is relevant. You don't want to break civility rules over this. Step back, and take a breath. After that, since this user apparently refuses a dialogue, next would be a Request for Comment. This asks other editors & admins to look at the situation and mediate a resolution. Since the user refuses to talk, mediation seems unavailable at this point. An RfC would bring attention to the matter and hopefully resolve it. -- Kesh 02:48, 6 January 2007 (UTC)

Thank you. I've already posted a request for comment on the Media, Art & Literature request-for-comment page on December 24th, but didn't get a response. Did I post the request too soon or on the wrong page? Miriam The Bat 02:54, 6 January 2007 (UTC)

It may have simply been overlooked. Try again, and mention it on the Talk page for your article. Keep in mind, people tend to speak out on subjects that interest them, so with niche articles (like a single character) it can sometimes be difficult to attract attention to RfCs on them. -- Kesh 03:04, 6 January 2007 (UTC)

I'd also mention that some of this behavior sounds like vandalism. Use warning templates sparingly, but they could be handy and correct usage can help document his acts and lead to administrative action in the future. Xiner (talk, email) 03:16, 6 January 2007 (UTC)

Question from Heather

Where do I find out if you have valid creditionals to present your information and why?

Heather Williams (email removed)

Hi Heather! Anyone can join Wikipedia and edit the articles here. Just sign up (at the top of the page)! -- Kesh 03:34, 6 January 2007 (UTC)

Hi Heather. If you are actually asking about Wikipedia's bonafides as a source of information, we recommend that, if you are using our information in an official capacity, you verify the information you find in our articles through other sources (check the cited sources in the article first). Anchoress 03:38, 6 January 2007 (UTC)

You may be interested in reading Wikipedia:Who writes Wikipedia. Canderson7 ^(talk) 03:39, 6 January 2007 (UTC)

Fad Predictions

I manage the 2000's fads page, and a while ago before a major clean-up there was a fad prediction section where people could add things they believed to become fads in the future, but it was deleted and it was stated there shouldn't be a fad prediction section. The same type of section was just created a little while ago and i want to know if maybe it could be kept or moved.--Technofreak90 04:03, 6 January 2007 (UTC)

WP:NOT. Specifically, the Wikipedia is not a crystal ball, as well probably as the stuff about it not being a social networking site or forum. The section shouldn't exist. -- Consumed Crustacean (talk) 04:12, 6 January 2007 (UTC)

Help! I don't know how to deal with a flood of deletion requests!

I just noticed a user has nominated 12 separate articles for potentially pointless AfD discussions based on, what could charitably called a unique rule interpretation. I don't want to assume bad faith, but I also don't feel like debating in detail with a somewhat difficult user. Is it a violation of assuming good faith to point out the edit history of the user (almost 20 AfD noms in three days, all of which are controversial and on related topics)? I don't want to start an edit war, but this seems to me a clear case of policy abuse. Wintermut3 05:05, 6 January 2007 (UTC)

• Update: I posted a message to the user's talk page, and they seem to be more reasonable at this point than they appeared at first blush, though I still have issues with the massive nom flood, some of them are also clearly warranted on a second look. But any advice as to how to approach mass-noms using cut-and-pasted rational and the fallout from this would still be appreciated. Wintermut3 05:21, 6 January 2007 (UTC)
• Suggest they put very similar articles in a mass-nomination on the same AFD nomination subpage next time. Ask them to withdraw those you think aren't warranted. - Mgm|^(talk) 13:32, 6 January 2007 (UTC)

Gothic Revival Article

There is a Gothic Architecture Revival article on Wikipedia but it doesn'e mention any of the Latin American Gothic structures that were built in the late 19th century and early 20th. I posted the name of a very famous Costarican neo-gothic church called "Iglesia de Coronado" some weeks ago but it got deleted. Why did this happen? There is even a big article on it at this website:

http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iglesia_de_Coronado

Please let me know if it's impossible to include this one or any other church in the article.

Respecfully,

Guido Sanchez —Preceding unsigned comment added by Subtilior74 (talk • contribs)

Well I searched "Iglesia de Coronado" but it apparently never existed. There was nothing in the deletion log that said that it did. By the way are you sure that that was exactly the name, since wikipedia is like that. As for another thing, if the article was in just Spanish on this wikipedia, it would most likely get deleted. — Arjun 05:35, 6 January 2007 (UTC)

I took a different tack. In fact, Subtilior74, you seem to have edited the Gothic Revival architecture, adding a new external link. And, it is still exactly where you left it. However, linking to a foreign language page isn't usually considered very helpful. It would be better to add information to the article or even translate the Spanish article. The church is mentioned in List of Gothic Revival architecture, so the link you have added is fairly redundant. Notinasnaid 12:13, 6 January 2007 (UTC)

microbiology

im a biotech student .. can any one say whats the conditions required for growing 1.nitrifying bacteria 2.denitrifying bacteria 3.sulphur bacteria... (pH,TEMPERATURE,INCUBATION TIME)

The Help Desk is for getting help with Wikipedia itself. Please try the appropriate section of the Reference desk. --Tkynerd 06:30, 6 January 2007 (UTC)

customer care

Please give me definition of customer care for cellular call centres.

Have you tried Wikipedia's Reference Desk? They specialize in knowledge questions, and will try to answer any question in the universe (except how to use Wikipedia, since that's what this Help Desk is for). Just follow the link, select the relevant section, and ask away. I hope this helps. — Lost^(talk) 08:15, 6 January 2007 (UTC)

• You don't need the reference desk. Try customer care or customer service and apply that to whatever you're calling them for. - Mgm|^(talk) 13:30, 6 January 2007 (UTC)

Not Bad for a Girl

here is my contact info: (rm email)...why does it keep deleting?

Not Bad for a Girl (An Analytic Approach to the Functions of Music and Gender Deconstruction) is an 88-minute feature film documenting some of the more noteworthy harder core female bands from the early 90s. It stars L7, Babes in Toyland, the Lunachicks, and Hole, featuring interview and performance footage from each band and bandmember. It was produced on a shoestring by Dr. Lisa (psychologist/ musicologist) and Kyle C. Kyle (musician/artist), and it shows. Cobbled from a variety of video sources (primarily hi-8) and transferred to 16-millimeter film, Not Bad for a Girl ascribes to the fiercely independent school of filmmaking a la "Hoop Dreams" and "Hype."

Tina Silvey executive produced NB4AG, which played at independent theaters, film festivals, museums, university women's and critical gender studies departments and popular culture departments. It enjoyed a surprisingly successful international run playing the festival circuit including: LAIFF, NYIFF, AtlantaFF, ChicagoFF, San FransiscoFF, Boston U., U.S.C., New York's Hallwalls, HawaiiFF., MontrealFF, London, the UK, Germany, Portugal, France (CreiteilFF), MelbourneFF and SydneyFF AUS, and more, winning awards such as Best Director and Best Independent Film. Horizon Films picked it up for domestic theatrical distribution.

Given Lisa's psychological background, the interviews loosely paralleled her doctorate on music, exploring creativity, madness, and gender issues attempting to locate the line where a potentially new female identity can be defined in a society that had been somewhat less than welcoming. The cast is rounded out with Rock for Choice special guies Joan Jett, The Mudwimin, Silverfish featuring Lesley Rankine (Ruby), Jula Bell (Bobsled, Bulemia Banquet), Calamity Jane, performance footage and interviews from the 1rst Annual Riot Grrrl Convention in Washington D.C., and Rock 'n' Roll High School for girls in Melbourne Australia (Hecate/Litany and more), as well as various fans along the way.

Not Bad for a Girl is available on DVD, as an academic book, the original posters and more and can be obtained by contacting Dr. Lisa or Kyle C. Kyle at SpitshineProductions.com, NB4AG.com, and AlchemyandMotion.com.

The article Not bad for a girl was deleted for being non-notable (=nn), by User:Jaranda see [1]. If you wish to query the deletion either contact the Admin Jaranda yourself and explain why the article subject is notable or request Wikipedia:Deletion review. Cheers Lethaniol 11:53, 6 January 2007 (UTC)

Lost Article?

A while ago I remember seeing a article List of very serious episodes which showed a alphabetical list of television shows along with the very special episodes description. But now I can't find it after searching for it. May you please help me with this situation?

Signed, BCnumbah1

It is possible the page has been deleted (from the title, it sounds like a very subjective inclusion criterion, so difficult to be encyclopaedic with). However, there has never been a page under the exact title List of very serious episodes - could the title have been slightly different, or some of the words been capitalised? Trebor 13:17, 6 January 2007 (UTC)

It was probably List of very special episodes, which was deleted after Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/List of very special episodes. --Sam Blanning^(talk) 15:13, 6 January 2007 (UTC)

renaming an existing page

Hi - I created a page, "Charles dexter phelps," simply as a redirect page. However, it really should be capitalized, since it is a proper name. Now I don't know how to rename it "Charles Dexter Phelps" -- can you help me?

• All you need to do is click move at the top of the page and then write where you want the page moving to, I hope this helps. Asics 14:59, 6 January 2007 (UTC)
  • Okay great - this worked. BUT it no longer automatically redirects. Instead there's an interim page where one can click through to the proper page. (If you search "charles dexter phelps" you'll see what I'm trying to express.) Is there any way to clean that up so it just goes straight to the proper page?
    • There was a double redirect - i.e. the redirect was pointed at another redirect. It's been fixed. --Sam Blanning^(talk) 15:15, 6 January 2007 (UTC)

(edit conflict) The move created a double redirect, which I just fixed. In the future, you can edit the page and change the text next to #REDIRECT to change to the proper page. –Llama man^{sign here} 15:17, 6 January 2007 (UTC)

• • • • • • Thank you everyone - 209.247.21.173 20:55, 6 January 2007 (UTC)thirdcamper

My signature doesnt appear to be working when I use it

Hi my signature isn't working on some talk pages I am using Asics 14:55, 6 January 2007 (UTC) but it isn't signing my name (knowing my luck it will work on this page). Is there anything I might have done that stops it from working, and if so how do I fix it? The signature part on the toolbar should make the signature yet after I have submitted the content, it does not change to a signature --Asics 14:55, 6 January 2007 (UTC) Thanks, Asics. p.s. even if it works on this page can you explain why it isnt working elsewhere. (see the end of Talk:Barnsley F.C.)

The reason it didn't work there is that you used a nowiki tag to prevent a template transcluding, but did not close it, so everything thereafter was "nowikied" and your signature was not put on the page. Hope that helps. Trebor 15:17, 6 January 2007 (UTC)

L. Ron Hubbard's marriage information

I must tell you that false information about L. Ron Hubbard's marriages has been submitted to his entry. I can show you official documents to prove what I am saying which is, I'm sure, more than the person can do who sent in the information currently showing on the site. If I sent you this proof, will you be able to prevent the false information from reappearing? If so, what e-mail address can I use for the attachments? —Preceding unsigned comment added by Johnalexwood (talk • contribs)

Only reliable sources are acceptable as documentation of the facts in Wikipedia articles. If your evidence is currently only in a form that you can submit by E-mail (and I'll note in passing that Wikipedia does not have any centralized authority that can accept documentation in this manner anyway), it does not meet the reliable sources criteria. However, it sounds as if the person who updated the marriage information on Hubbard's entry also did not include any reliable sources. Your best course of action is to raise the issue on the article's talk page. --Tkynerd 18:01, 6 January 2007 (UTC)

Central Park and Wallasey UK and New York NY

In the article about Wallasey, Merseyside, UK, there is reference to Central Park, which does exist and is excellent.

However, the words "Central Park" are a Link, - which send to you Central Park New York.

How do I go about reporting this error, or how can I sort it myself.

Gerry Jones (rm email))

Basically, the question is whether or not the Central Park in Wallasey is sufficiently notable to warrant an article of its own. If so, the article should be created (and named "Central Park (Wallasey)" or something similar), the article Central Park should be moved to Central Park (New York) (which is currently a redirect), and then a disambiguation page should be created, named "Central Park." If the Central Park in Wallasey is not notable, the link should be removed from Wallasey. You can do that yourself by editing the article (use the "Edit this page" link at the top of the article page) and changing [[Central Park]] to simply Central Park. My own guess -- and I want to emphasize that that's all it is -- would be that the Central Park in Wallasey is not notable (in the specific Wikipedia sense; see the link above) and does not warrant its own article. --Tkynerd 17:54, 6 January 2007 (UTC)

Signature

How can i create those cool signatures people have instead of the boring one I've got? I mean with different colours and different parts of the name linking to different things i.e. User page for first half, and talk page for second half of the name. Thanks, Asics 18:12, 6 January 2007 (UTC)

There are some tips at WP:SIG. If you know html, then its easy. If you dont, then the easiest thing is to copy someone else's signature changing the name to yours — Lost^(talk) 18:16, 6 January 2007 (UTC)

Just as a warning, keep your sig under the 200 character limit, also do not use images in your sig. — Arjun 18:23, 6 January 2007 (UTC)

I like mine, which is easy to write. Xiner (talk, email) 18:25, 6 January 2007 (UTC)

Here's some advice. If your sig is longer than mine, its probably too much. — Dark Shikari ^talk/_contribs 22:30, 6 January 2007 (UTC)

After putting on the colour, I can no longer click on my name to redirect to my user page. Can someone kindly put up the source code? I tried the "a href" html code but doesn't work. OhanaUnited 03:18, 8 January 2007 (UTC)

OhanaUnited, you have to link it for it to be a link. --antilived^{T | C | G} 22:26, 9 January 2007 (UTC)

Edit Lists

How do I edit Lists like this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Mac_OS_X_instant_messengers ? Because when I clicked the edit button I could only edit the Category, but not actually add more programs. Mercury Messenger is missing in that list. Help Please :) (Me-pawel 19:50, 6 January 2007 (UTC))

That isn't really a "list," it's a category. Lists are just articles that happen to list some stuff. Categories are specifically meant to group similar articles. Pages are only added to categories when you add a [[Category:______________]] line to the article pages themselves. For instance, to add Mercury Messenger to this category, you'd edit the article and add [[Category:Mac OS X instant messengers]] (usually to the end, or near it). Then it will appear in the Category page. Larry V (talk | contribs) 19:59, 6 January 2007 (UTC)

Thank you! You helped me a lot ;) (Me-pawel 20:33, 6 January 2007 (UTC))

Almost sorted my signature

I nearly sorted my signature but it does not seem to be working, I know i'll have done something wrong but what? I have it on Template:Asics, and should look like Asics^Talk but when i put the teplate in as {{Template:Asics}} nothing happened, and was same with [[ ]] instead... it just looked like this... {{Template:Asics}} 20:11, 6 January 2007 (UTC)

I don't know much about signatures, but can't you put this code directly in your Preferences and check the Raw Signature box? Also the template should be in your user space, not Template. Xiner (talk, email) 20:17, 6 January 2007 (UTC)

You can't use templates in your signature; for more information see Wikipedia:Sign your posts on talk pages#Transclusion of templates. Use regular wiki markup instead. Larry V (talk | contribs) 20:20, 6 January 2007 (UTC)

How to delete a user subpage

Is there a way to delete a user sub page I am no longer in need of? Lerner

Yes place {{db-user}} on the page you want deleted and an admin will delete it shortly. — Arjun 20:13, 6 January 2007 (UTC)

You'll need an admin to do that. Fortunately, admin I am, so I'll get that done for you. Larry V (talk | contribs) 20:16, 6 January 2007 (UTC)

Tagging image after receiving permission to use

I wish to upload an image of a published fanzine front cover for a relevant article on Wikipedia. Subscribers to the fanzine can access an online version, and within this version is a high-definition online image of the issue's front cover (not a scan or photograph but what appears to be the original computer design). This is the image that I wish to use. I have informed the team behind this fanzine about my intentions to use a copy of the online image for Wikipedia and have received an email from the editor granting me permission to do so, yet I am very confused by the information on Wikipedia's Image Use Policy and image tagging.

Can I upload this image? How should I do it - Should I save a copy of the online image and upload it, or should I use a screenshot of the image as it appears online, save it as a new image and upload that file, stating its source and that I have received permission? And how should such an image be tagged?

Thanks,

Ncadc2004 21:47, 6 January 2007 (UTC)

You can't use that picture. I don't remember the relevant policy, but images with permission to use only on Wikipedia can't be used. It has to be fair use otherwise, and you're indicating it isn't. -Amarkov ^blah_edits 21:50, 6 January 2007 (UTC)

So in other words, would they have to allow the image to be used freely by anyone for me to use it on here? Ncadc2004 21:53, 6 January 2007 (UTC)

Yep. Wikipedia policy is that the image must be made freely available for reuse anywhere. -- Kesh 22:12, 6 January 2007 (UTC)

OK, thanks for letting me know. Makes more sense now! Ncadc2004 22:16, 6 January 2007 (UTC)

• It could be fair use if it had a proper fair use rationale and was only used on the article on the fanzine (if that is even notable), but that's only for low-res images. - Mgm|^(talk) 23:06, 6 January 2007 (UTC)

create user page

how do i create a user page?--Falcon866 22:07, 6 January 2007 (UTC)

Just go to User:Falcon866 and create it like any other page. Prodego ^talk 22:08, 6 January 2007 (UTC)

Have a look through the links at Wikipedia:User Page Design Center and Wikipedia:WikiProject User Page Help to help you out, and look at other user pages to inspire you. Keep it simple at first, and please bear in mind the guidelines at Wikipedia:User page Adrian M. H. 18:16, 7 January 2007 (UTC)

Removal of article

One particular article refers to living persons by last name and first name. In order to protect their privacy they would like the article removed. How is that done?

• If there are already enough references to verifiably create an article about a living person, they no longer have privacy in regards to their name to begin with. If there aren't enough references available to make such an article, the article should be deleted. — Dark Shikari ^talk/_contribs 22:29, 6 January 2007 (UTC)

• What is the article? Prodego ^talk 22:31, 6 January 2007 (UTC)

January 7

Australian Government Copyright conditions

I recently discovered a prominent Australian botanist does not have an article about him doing a quick internet search I located an image I would like to use. The [image]is here, it noted this condition regarding the image Use of images for non-commercial web sites is allowed on condition that credit is given to the Australian National Botanic Gardens and these words are hotlinked to our home page. The copyright and public access page is [Here]. I would like to know if these conditions would allow publication in a Wiki article as I am a little uncertain even after reading the wiki guidelines on Image uploads, or will I need to email the copyright holders? Many thanks --Matt 00:20, 7 January 2007 (UTC)

Sorry, but that doesn't qualify. Images which are not otherwise fair use need more than just permission for non-commercial sites. -Amarkov ^blah_edits 00:22, 7 January 2007 (UTC)

As far as I understand, some commercial sites republish Wikipedia content, so like Amarkov said, this wouldn't work. Xiner (talk, email) 00:28, 7 January 2007 (UTC)

Further, while it's possible to require that proper credit be given to the person/organization who created the photo, no restriction can be made about who gets to re-use the photo. The non-commercial clause for that photo is what makes it invalid for use on Wikipedia. -- Kesh 00:30, 7 January 2007 (UTC)

Many thanks to all the answers I understand more clearly now --Matt 00:39, 7 January 2007 (UTC)

How do you re-name an article

Hello, I've created an article Ian wallace (footballer) but I've very stupidly spelt Ian's surname with a lower case 'w'. How to I rectify this? Thank you. The BGC 01:17, 7 January 2007 (UTC)

You can use the move tab to move/rename the page under the new title. G.He 01:19, 7 January 2007 (UTC)

I've moved it for you. DoomsDay349 01:20, 7 January 2007 (UTC)

Many thanks guys, but what's the 'move tab' - sorry Wiki-Thicky here! The BGC 01:28, 7 January 2007 (UTC)

On the top of the page, there are several tabs, like "article" and "discussion". To the right you'll see one named "move". DoomsDay349 01:34, 7 January 2007 (UTC)

Thanks for this DoomsDay349 but I haven't got that link. On most articles I get Article, Discussion, Edit this page, History and Watch but no Move tab. Do you have to be a special user? The BGC 01:40, 7 January 2007 (UTC)

Oh, yes, I forgot. I think you have to be around for three or so days to move articles, it's a vandalism deterrent. Forgot about that, when did you join? DoomsDay349 01:41, 7 January 2007 (UTC)

Ah Ha, I joined less than three days ago! Mystery solved. Thanks for the welcome on my talk page by the way! The BGC 01:45, 7 January 2007 (UTC)

You're welcome; feel free to contact me with any more questions. DoomsDay349 01:46, 7 January 2007 (UTC)

I do have another question actually. I'm now trying to make my Ian Wallace (footballer) page link from the Ian Wallace page. Although the entry for my page is there (I didn't do this) it doesn't show on the actual article and editing the page makes some of the other entries disappear. And what do the --> or !<-- tags mean? The BGC 01:49, 7 January 2007 (UTC)

I'm not too sure what you mean about those tags, but I've fixed the Ian Wallace page regardless. DoomsDay349 01:55, 7 January 2007 (UTC)

Never mind, you're a star anyway! The BGC 02:02, 7 January 2007 (UTC)

Aww shucks, thanks :) DoomsDay349 02:03, 7 January 2007 (UTC)

<!-- and -->tags are comment tags. For example, if you click edit and look here, There is text you can't see from the actual page if you know what I mean? Click edit, and look here. It's used to leave comments for other editors but without readers being confused as to their meaning etc. — Deon555^talk_desk^{sign here!} 03:10, 7 January 2007 (UTC)

Edit counts

How do I find how many edits any particular contributor has? Is there a list of the biggest contributors? Backspace 03:03, 7 January 2007 (UTC)

Edit vcount tools: Interiot's tool2 and Interiot's wannabe kate tool (the second one is easiest to use). There is probobly a list of the most contributors, but I doubt its accurate. I would be guessing they would be in the region of 50k edits though (excluding bots with several hundred thousand). Viridae^Talk 03:06, 7 January 2007 (UTC)

(after ec) See WP:EC. There are links there to edit counters (Wikipedia:Tools#Edit counters) and under the heading Statistics there are lists of highest contributors (Admins, Non-admins, Wikipedians etc) — Deon555^talk_desk^{sign here!} 03:08, 7 January 2007 (UTC)

dubious fair use

I have found some dubious fairuse-tagged images I want reviewed, but I don't know where to take them. Is there a live process anywhere that handles this stuff? — coelacan talk — 03:47, 7 January 2007 (UTC)

I believe there is Wikipedia:Possibly unfree images, but I am not sure it is what you require. Yuser31415 04:07, 7 January 2007 (UTC)

Thanks, Yuser31415. That did help me find {{rfu}}, which solves part of the problem, pertaining to pictures of living people. I'm also looking at some book covers that are probably not being used properly. I'm trying to find the fair-use rationale for book covers at the moment. But once I find that I'm still not sure how to report it. =( I asked a similar question at WP:AN#eleven month backlog and got no response yet. — coelacan talk — 04:37, 7 January 2007 (UTC)

You'll probably find all the info you need at WP:FU; if not, report the covers on WP:ANI and an adminstrator will review them. Cheers! Yuser31415 04:48, 7 January 2007 (UTC)

I might have found something specific. WP:IFD has a copyright violation option. I'm not certain what the difference between that and WP:PUI is or should be though. Thanks for your help so far, btw. — coelacan talk — 05:06, 7 January 2007 (UTC)

bad link change asap

the 110th congress link on the mainpage links to the following comment "lol wikipedia sucks" please correct that

Long since fixed. That piece of vandalism was there for just a short time before being reverted. Any editor can change a vandalized version of the article back to the last good version. Newyorkbrad 05:47, 7 January 2007 (UTC)

Edit Summary

Is it possible to add an edit summary after saving?--Benstown 05:43, 7 January 2007 (UTC)

No. Edit summaries can't be changed. However if the edit summary contained a privacy violation or something else really bad then an admin can delete it. -- zzuuzz ^(talk) 05:45, 7 January 2007 (UTC)

No, once you've saved the edit it's too late to add an edit summary to that edit. You can do another edit to the same article and note in the summary for it what you did to the prior edit as well. If you find yourself forgetting to enter a summary, and you're a registered user, you can set your Preferences to prompt you for an edit summary when you click on save and the summary is blank. Newyorkbrad 05:46, 7 January 2007 (UTC)

[3x edit conflict!] I don't think so but you can turn on a feature in your preferences which will alert you if you forget one. Go to preferences (top right corner) and click the editing tab. It is the bottom check box. This way if you forget to make an edit summary it stops it from saving and asks you for one, but if you click save again it saves without an edit summary. I hope I've helped. James086^{Talk | Contribs} 05:49, 7 January 2007 (UTC)

Thanks! Benstown 08:25, 7 January 2007 (UTC)

Image licensing question

I'm not sure what license a portrait photo of myself falls under. Any guidance would be appreciated. Thanks. Jackytar 05:50, 7 January 2007 (UTC)

If you took it yourself, you can license it however you want. See Wikipedia:Image copyright tags for more information. --Rory096 06:04, 7 January 2007 (UTC)

It depends who owns the copyright and how they have licensed it. Normally copyright rests with the person who took the photo and not its subject, however copyright can also belong to the person who commissioned the photo. You should check the terms of the contract with the photographer. Wikipedia also has a page called Wikipedia:Media copyright questions where you may get a better answer. -- zzuuzz ^(talk) 06:06, 7 January 2007 (UTC)

Delete an account

How do i delete my account?Mellikay 7 05:58, 7 January 2007 (UTC)

You can't. You can, however, just stop using it. --Rory096 06:04, 7 January 2007 (UTC)

What Does &nbsp ; Do?

A response on my help page would be very nice, thanks.100110100 06:01, 7 January 2007 (UTC)

&nbsp ; is the non-breaking space. --Rory096 06:07, 7 January 2007 (UTC)

about bharatanatya and natyashastra in general

how to the information

You might find what you are looking for in the article about Natya Shastra. If you cannot find the answer there, click here to post your question at that article's talk page. If that doesn't solve your problem, you can try asking your question at Wikipedia's Reference Desk. They'll be glad to answer questions about anything in the universe (except about how to use Wikipedia, which is what this help desk is for). I hope this helps. - Tangotango (talk) 06:16, 7 January 2007 (UTC)

Credibility

To whom it may concern,

Please read this entire note before differing me to the FAQ section. I am a new user of Wikipedia and recently made certain changes to an article that I believed to be less than credible. Upon viewing that article the next day, I found that the most important change that I had made had been reverted. I worry that the author of this article will be adamant in refusing to delete certain segments about the article in question and rather than begin the whole agonizing process of working things out, I am trying to decide whether continuting to edit Wikipedia is even going to be worth the trouble. Here are the details:

The article in question is entitled, "Adamic language" and the particular section is called, "The Adamic language in Mormonism." This is the paragraph that I had changed:

"Mormon temple ceremonies, such as the prayer circle, once used the words "Pay Lay Ale"[2] which the church believed were Adamic words meaning "Oh God, hear the words of my mouth." The untranslated words are no longer used in temple ceremonies and have been replaced by the English version.[3]"

My problem with this paragraph's credibility is in relation to the credibility of the sources. All written or otherwise recorded details of Mormon temple ceremonies have always been kept under lock and key by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints because they are considered too sacred to be spoken of outside temple walls. The Church has never allowed the general public any access to the details of these ceremonies nor have any copies of these proceedings ever been allowed outside the temples or official church archives unless in transit between such places. Also, all witnesses to such ceremonies are required to make a verbal contract that they will not ever discuss these details outside of the temple before they are allowed to witness the ceremony. No recording devices are allowed into the ceremonies either. Because of this, any source that divulges these details is a source that must either do so either from memory alone (the ceremonies can be over 2 hours long, I might add) or from hearsay alone. In addition, a short research session into the backgrounds and publications of these sources will show that in general, they tend to be sources who are overwhelmingly biased against all things related to the church. Anthropological studies have shown that this kind of bias, also called ethnocentrism, will almost always skew the facts that are presented in such would-be anthropological publications, thus harming their credibility.

Of course I do not expect you to research all of the statements I have just made. Rather, I only ask, hypothetically assuming that my facts are correct, would it be according to Wikipedia's policies to remove details of Mormon temple ceremonies, past or present, from Wikipedia articles given that the credibility of their sources is seriously in question (as they are ALL based on either hearsay or testimony of those who make ethnocentrically biased, and thus skewed, statements about Mormons)? If so, I propose the said research to be done and for this process of bad information removal to quickly begin. If not, I worry that Wikipedia may not adhere to the highest standards of neutrality and credibility possible and with this being the case, continuing to edit Wikipedia would prove to be an ultimately fruitless effort on my part.

Lastly, if Wikipedia does not find it suitable to remove all details of temple ceremonies from its articles, I would request at least that a conspicuous disclaimer stating that all said details may be inaccurate due to the absence of entirely credible sources be added to each article section containing any temple ceremony details.

Thank you for your time. I eagerly anticipate your response. --Newmitos 07:00, 7 January 2007 (UTC)

I read your whole note and agree that merely verifying that a source said something is not enough. The source must be a reliable one. Please reference this policy/guideline pair in making any decisions about this.—WAvegetarian•(talk) 10:36, 7 January 2007 (UTC)

If I may chime in, I think the presumption -- that any otherwise reliable source that writes about the details of LDS religious ceremonies must, inherently, either have obtained the information by hearsay or else be biased against the church -- must be rejected. Information is not necessarily unreliable simply because it is (1) intended to be kept secret, or (2) derogatory (not that this particular example seems derogatory to me, but I get the feeling the OP considers it derogatory). If the source can be shown to be biased, then it is not reliable; otherwise, if it meets all other criteria, it is. --Tkynerd 23:34, 7 January 2007 (UTC)

adding external links

I wanted to add some links to a global cultural non profit project that contains information about different countries and cultures and is a combination of experiential learning and knowledge sharing. There is a lot of useful information on the project's website about maori culture and New Zealand but the link I added was deleted. Could you please tell me if I did something wrong. Obviously placing information on your website gives promotion to many products but in this case this is not the aim. The aim is to let people know and make it easy for them to access additional information and as I said the project is non profit and free access anyway.

I will be really thankful for your guidance and help thanks kefir

Our guidelines on external links can be found here. In general, discussing disputes regarding the content of articles on the talk page of the relevant article is a good thing.—WAvegetarian•(talk) 10:30, 7 January 2007 (UTC)

What Does <div class="references-small" style="-moz-column-count:2; column-count:2;"> Do?

A response on my talk page would be very nice, thanks.100110100 07:59, 7 January 2007 (UTC)

Replying on user talk. Luna Santin 08:02, 7 January 2007 (UTC)

+ and - numbers on watchlist items

On my watchlist, beside each watched page is a positive or negative number in brackets. What does the number mean? Thanks Finn 08:20, 7 January 2007 (UTC)

Those numbers indicate the number of characters added or subtracted from the page. Larry V (talk | e-mail) 08:22, 7 January 2007 (UTC)

GFDL attribution question

Hello, I would like to know what are the proper ways someone can attribute GFDL content from a wiki (like Wikipedia) on another wiki. Someone (who claims they are GFDL expert) has alleged that the attribution requirement can be fulfilled by simply leaving an edit summary with the URL of the content. The Wikipedia policy page on copyrights (and citing Wikipedia) says that a live link to the original article has to be placed on the page with something like "This article incorporates text from the Wikipedia article on (name of article) [live URL]" or something like that. So what I want to know is there more than one way to fulfill the attribution requirement (on wikis) or is that the only way (the WP policy page)?

Also, I would like to know if someone wanted to redistribute WP content in print, for example if I have a company and want to publish a print version of Wikipedia (not all the articles of course!), how would the attribution be fulfilled? For every article I would have to attribute the primary contributors? Is there a page somewhere with details on this? Thanks much. Khodavand 09:11, 7 January 2007 (UTC)

While we can't give specific legal advice, Wikipedia's interpretation of the GFDL can be seen at Wikipedia:Copyrights. Wikipedia:Mirrors and forks are what the web based copies of the project is called. The only legal document is the text of the license, which you may interpret as you will. —WAvegetarian•(talk) 10:27, 7 January 2007 (UTC)

Hmmm. Okay, so is there any specific 3rd-party website that shows legal opinions on this issues? Because I have searched and there is no "straight" answer and I emailed GNU weeks ago with this same questions and I never heard anything. And their website only shows the text, no clear legal interpretation of it. Khodavand 10:40, 7 January 2007 (UTC)

• A better way is copying the edit history. You don't know if or when the original might be deleted. - 87.209.70.231 12:32, 7 January 2007 (UTC)

to find a london or uk zip codes

How to find uk or entire london zip codes by wikipedia search?—The preceding unsigned comment was added by 59.162.196.179 (talk • contribs).

The UK uses postcodes. There is an overview at List of postal areas in the United Kingdom. London prefixes are: E, EC, N, NW, SE, SW, W, and WC. There are approximately 96,021 individual postcodes in London. However, to get the entire list of postcodes you need access to the Postcode Address File which is a proprietary database. You can search it online. -- zzuuzz ^(talk) 13:11, 7 January 2007 (UTC)

For a particular postcode you could go directly to Royal Mail and plug in the address that you're looking for. Backspace 19:00, 7 January 2007 (UTC)

Arrows

Seeing as their are arrows that go left and right, are there arrows that go up and down? --Imdanumber1 ( Talk | contribs) 13:56, 7 January 2007 (UTC)

Do you mean images? If so, there is Image:Arrow down.svg, but if not, you may want to clarify. -- Natalya 14:38, 7 January 2007 (UTC)

How to delete a blank article

I have accidentally created two articles - one with the title mispelled and blank. How do I delete the wrong version?

You can tag an article for speedy deletion if you created it by accident with {{db-author}}. I presume you mean Gino d'acampo so I did it for you. James086^{Talk | Contribs} 14:33, 7 January 2007 (UTC)

Unable to view images any more

I used to be able to view images on Wikipedia (e.g. the featured article picture on the homepage) but now all I get is a box with a red cross in the corner. Even the editing icons appear as red crosses.

When I right-click I have the option to "show picture" but nothing happens. Also, the "save picture" option is unavailable.

I use Windows XP with IE6, standard default settings. All other webpages seem to load pictures fine.

Could anybody offer me any advice?

I think it's your browser. I would advise updating to IE7 or Firefox 2 but you may not want to, I don't know. You could try force refreshing while on a Wikipedia page (press Ctrl and F5). This is a more thorough refresh which clears your cache of that page. There's not much else I can think of, especially if it's only Wikipedia. James086^{Talk | Contribs} 14:45, 7 January 2007 (UTC)

For some strange reason it has sorted itself out. Thanks for your help anyway.

Actually, I don't recommend updating to either yet. They have a few baby bugs that need to be ironed out. - Mgm|^(talk) 22:43, 7 January 2007 (UTC)

Well, what about Firefox 1.X? you can install all kinds of Wikipedia stuff and it has few bugs. T. Kewl the First 01:33, 10 January 2007 (UTC)

Question on content criteria restrictions

Hello,

I have a question on your content criteria restrictions. Specifically, for musicians, do you have minimum published work requirements for a band's entry to be posted? I thought I had heard at one point that a band had to have released at least one or two CD's before they qualified to be a Wikipedia entry. Is this correct?

Thanks, Sam —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 71.126.128.32 (talk • contribs) 14:50, January 7, 2007.

Hi, Sam. You can read about Wikipedia's guidelines for musical groups here: WP:BAND. Thanks for your interest. Canderson7 ^(talk) 14:55, 7 January 2007 (UTC)

My watchlist

Hi everyone, I feel slightly embarrassed about using the help desk, considering I've been here nearly 7 months, but this is really bugging me. Does anyone have any idea why my watchlist would refuse to load when everything else does? I've tried on Firefox and Internet Explorer, restarted my computer several times and refreshed and refreshed but still nothing happens. I've also noticed Special:Special pages doesn't have Watchlist on it (at least not for me). As this is my most important page, does anyone have any clue why it's not working for me? Thanks in advance. --Majorly (talk) 13:47, 7 January 2007 (UTC)

Hi, it appears this is a common problem affecting some users today. It's being discussed in the #wikimedia-tech channel on IRC, so it should get fixed soon, if not already fixed. Cheers, Tangotango (talk) 15:45, 7 January 2007 (UTC)

software for off-line editing, formats as WP would

Is there any Windows software for editing off-line that will format the article the way that Wikipedia will? Bubba73 (talk), 16:28, 7 January 2007 (UTC)

Western Civilization 5th Century

What countries comprised the western Roman empire at the collapse of Rome in 476 A.D.? —The preceding unsigned comment was added by Deb5266 (talk • contribs) 17:21, 7 January 2007 (UTC).

Have you tried the humanities section of Wikipedia's Reference Desk? They specialize in answering knowledge questions there; this help desk is only for questions about using Wikipedia. For your convenience, here's the link to post a question there: click here. I hope this helps.--Fuhghettaboutit 17:24, 7 January 2007 (UTC)

bllod pressure

1) What is condider normal bllod pressure?

2) What is consider high?

3) What is consider low?

4) When should a person consult a doctor (low)

5) When should a person consult a doctor (high) —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 68.19.244.130 (talk) 17:32, 7 January 2007 (UTC).

Please ask the Wikipedia:Reference_desk or or at the blood pressure article's discussion page. Xiner (talk, email) 17:38, 7 January 2007 (UTC)

Sorry, Wikipedia does not give medical advice, and you should be aware that medical articles may contain information that is not accurate or safe. Notinasnaid 20:57, 7 January 2007 (UTC)

blood pressure

Please see answer above. Xiner (talk, email) 17:50, 7 January 2007 (UTC)

Diary (heading added)

Hello,

Can u direct me to a location where I might start a "DIARY". I am a "newbie" here and wish to use your services for my own edification and peace of mind. Can you assist and direct me?

I thank thee.

lotusseekerLotusseeker

Wikipedia is not the place for that. You might wish to try LiveJournal, Blogger, or any of a number of other blog services on the Internet. (A blog can be simply an online diary, if that's what you want.) If you want to keep a private diary, don't do it on the Internet; you'll need to find software you can run locally for that, and I don't know of any (except that you could use any word processing software to keep a diary locally). --Tkynerd 18:48, 7 January 2007 (UTC)

Teh

Can you please restore history for Teh? It's screwed. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by Alucardracula (talk • contribs) 18:49, 7 January 2007 (UTC).

Could you clarify how it's messed up, and what history you want? Thanks. Xiner (talk, email) 19:14, 7 January 2007 (UTC)

Formatting text around pictures

I can't remember how to format the text to do what I want around a picture. I remember how to change size and how to switch right/left, but I can not remember how to make a section of text following a picture not get wrapped (indented, etc) around the picture. Isn't there an editing command to make the next section of text start after the bottom of an image, instead of next to it? --After Midnight ⁰⁰⁰¹ 19:01, 7 January 2007 (UTC)

You can use the template {{-}} (I think that's the right one!), which should make the text appear below the image. -- Natalya 19:43, 7 January 2007 (UTC)

BINGO. Thank you. --After Midnight ⁰⁰⁰¹ 19:46, 7 January 2007 (UTC)

How to correct a movie article? And how to fix a signature?

How do I correct the movie article for Night at the Museum? I already asked how long the article should be, and realize it is too long. When I try to shorten it, my edits keep being reverted by people who want the article to be a substitute to seeing the movie. Is there a way I can let them know this is wrong and not to revert the edits? I think I saw it once. It was a template at the top of the page that states in red that "This article should not be a substitute for seeing the movie." and something like stop making it longer...

Also, I cannot get my signature to work. Do you know how I can fix it? When I sign the four tildes, it looks like this: [[User:Babygator23|<font color="green">~Gatorgirl623~</font>]] 20:14, 7 January 2007 (UTC)

Okay, for your sig check the box that says "raw Signature", and that should do it. — Arjun 20:21, 7 January 2007 (UTC)

I've looked for the film template you describe, and don't see one anywhere. (I checked the general templates page and also WikiProject Films for relevant templates.) Perhaps it's been taken out of use. That being the case, your best bet is probably to revert the other people's changes, and the first time you do so, bring up the issue on the talk page (assuming you haven't done so already; I haven't looked to see). Don't forget WP:3RR. Happy editing. --Tkynerd 20:28, 7 January 2007 (UTC)

"Missing" Article

Why is it if I'm signed in and search for What's Up? [2], an article I created, I get the response there's no Wiki article with that title, but if I'm not signed in I can access it with no problem? Thanks! SFTVLGUY2 20:25, 7 January 2007 (UTC)

The link you've posted is to secure.wikimedia.org rather than to en.wikipedia.org, which I suspect could be part of the problem. Type "en.wikipedia.org" (without the quotes, of course :-)) into your browser's address bar, sign in as usual, and then search for the article. --Tkynerd 20:31, 7 January 2007 (UTC)

Thanks for the suggestion - it worked. Out of curiosity, why was only this particular article affected? I was able to access all others I created with no problem. Thanks! SFTVLGUY2 14:11, 8 January 2007 (UTC)

Compare selected versions - sometimes too wide

When I go to the history of a page and do "compare selected versions", sometimes I get two neat columns that easitly fit on the screen. However, at other times the result is too wide to fit on a screen and I get scroll bars. The width varies. sometimes the left column is so wide that I can see very little of the right. Is there a way to guarantee that it will whow two colums without scroll bars? Bubba73 (talk), 21:00, 7 January 2007 (UTC)

I think this occurs when you have super-long URLs. Unfortunately, I don't think there's a cure. Xiner (talk, email) 21:04, 7 January 2007 (UTC)

Requesting further information - how?

Briefly - if I feel that an article is incomplete, but haven't the resources / desire / time to add to it myself, are there any bracket-tags that I can use?

Specifically, I'm working in the Indianapolis Colts entry, which, like most sports articles, is an absolute mess. Every single niggling detail of the 2004 and 2005 seasons is mentioned, but several important parts of the team's history (the early 1990s, for instance) are delegated to passing mention (not even a sentence's worth).

I can't really stand the Colts and can't fathom myself sitting down to flesh out this era, but would like to add a tag so some Colts fan of the future will know to expound a little.

Thanks in advance! --Action Jackson IV 22:29, 7 January 2007 (UTC)

See if any of these would suit you. :-) BTW, that page says that {{Expansion}} goes at the top of the talk page, but I am used to seeing it at the top of article pages, where it is also more likely to be noticed. If you want to use that template, I recommend perusing its talk page (which I haven't done myself) to see if there is any related discussion. --Tkynerd 23:28, 7 January 2007 (UTC)

I can not get this person banned.

I have repetitively tried to get 24.63.203.132 (talk · contribs · deleted contribs · filter log · WHOIS · RDNS · RBLs · http · block user · block log) banned for vandalizing an article I've been working on (adding incorrect information), but have failed every time. It feels like this person is trying to harass me, because they have ignored all of my attempts to have a discussion with them (talk page, users talk page, comment for article edit, and hidden comments within the article), and have not given me any citations for the information they are putting in. The person repetitively reverts the article after I remove the false information. I have given the person warnings and followed the procedure to the best of my ability as a new editor, but all of my ban requests have been thrown out. The first time, the request was thrown out because someone thought the vandal had stopped, the second time (less than half an hour ago), it was thrown out because someone considered it a content dispute. I've been told by other users that this person's actions were considered vandalism and I followed the procedure, and it hasn't worked. How do I get this person banned? I can't stand being in an edit war, but I don't want this person to be satisfied with getting their vandalism to stay on the page. Miriam The Bat 22:56, 7 January 2007 (UTC)

Go to the administrator's noticeboard. Be sure to provide diffs! Cheers! Yuser31415 00:17, 8 January 2007 (UTC)

Picture doesn't show up

Hi there! I'd like to put this illustration in an article somewhere Image:CH4mo.png - but it does not show up. Is it because it is too big? Is there a way around it? Thanks in advance. --HappyCamper 23:21, 7 January 2007 (UTC)

I've scaled the picture down and uploaded it as Image:CH4mo2.PNG, which shows up when I test it. Try it and get back to me if there are still problems. Let me know on my talk page if you have any questions or want to discuss anything. delldot | talk 00:22, 8 January 2007 (UTC)

My first-ever edit disappeared

I added a source to "Republic of Letters" about a month ago. Today I went back to add another source, and found that the material I placed on the page was gone. I checked the "history" page and saw nothing to indicate any activity had taken place since I added the source. What happened? Bmwilcox 23:28, 7 January 2007 (UTC)

Are you talking about this edit? It looks like they just moved the info into a "references" section, which makes sense to me, since it is a reference. If it's a different edit, then it did indeed disappear, since it doesn't show up in your contributions, and that's very baffling indeed. Let me know on my talk page if you have any questions or want to discuss anything.. Thanks for editing! delldot | talk 00:01, 8 January 2007 (UTC)

January 8

Suspected plagiarism

The history section from Proskauer_Rose is copied from a page at Proskauer Rose LLP. Is there a tag used for suspected plagiarism of text? The entire article reads like a brochure, but I found a tag to note that issue. Professor marginalia 00:27, 8 January 2007 (UTC)

Hmm, the link doesn't seem valid. Xiner (talk, email) 00:34, 8 January 2007 (UTC)

I fixed the link. --Kainaw ^(talk) 00:46, 8 January 2007 (UTC)

Thanks Kainaw! [note: I spelled the wikilink wrong too] Professor marginalia 00:52, 8 January 2007 (UTC)

See Wikipedia:Copyright violations for information on how to deal with these type of problems. BigNate37_(T) 00:57, 8 January 2007 (UTC)

Er, it looks like Prodego (talk · contribs) has reverted the article to a non-copyright infringing version.[3] BigNate37_(T) 00:59, 8 January 2007 (UTC)

Yes, I did. Prodego ^talk 01:01, 8 January 2007 (UTC)

Problem solved! Thanks everybody. Professor marginalia 01:50, 8 January 2007 (UTC)

Pakistan Chrome Mines Ltd

On the Pakistan Chrome Mines Ltd article some of the words are jammed in after the link on my screen. No other Wikipedia article or page displays like this. If I copy and paste from the page, the paste as one word, like this: miningcompany, chromiteand, and magnesitemines, however if I go to edit the page this isn't the case on the editing frame (mining company, chromite and magnesite mines--although now I realize I won't know until I post if they do it here. What's going on? Can someone fix this? Okay, I previewed and they don't show the links jammed together with their following words. KP Botany 01:11, 8 January 2007 (UTC)

Right have fixed it - it was as simply as a missing |} which was needed to make the table complete - Cheers Lethaniol 01:24, 8 January 2007 (UTC)

I tried putting that in, but it didn't do it for me. I should be insulted. Thanks. KP Botany 02:19, 8 January 2007 (UTC)

Confused copyright question

Note: I'm recopying this from the misc. reference desk. Hi, I have read Wikipedia's FAQ on copyright, but I am still confused. I found an online book that is copyrighted by its author. I would like to use some of it's information for an article. The website states:

Permission is granted for an individual to make only a single electronic copy or paper copy for personal reference purposes. Permission is not granted for an individual or institution to make more than a single copy, or take part in any arraignment where a third party is either paid or charged for a copy or the reproduction of one. Nor is permission is granted for distribution of any of this material (in whole or part) from any Internet site (other than the author's site of fraser.cc). Inquiries should be made to the author if you wish to make other than a single copy for personal use or to distribute any of the material from your own Web site.

Am I not allowed to put any of it's information in an article? Even if I reword it? Even if I properly cite it as a source? Thank you for any help.--Bobo is soft 01:23, 8 January 2007 (UTC)

Sounds like you can cite it as if it were any other book. Of course, if the book isn't credible or whatever, then it may not be accepted as a source. Xiner (talk, email) 01:29, 8 January 2007 (UTC)

You can not copy heaps of info from it as said here:

Nor is permission granted for distribution of any of this material (in whole or part) from any Internet site (other than the author's site of fraser.cc).

But you can cite it definitely and give a link to it. In terms of rewording no - you can use small bits for quotes (but not entire paragraphs) if you cite them as such. Or you could paraphrase what is written (i.e. a conclusion) and cite that). Hope that helps Cheers Lethaniol 01:29, 8 January 2007 (UTC)

• Ok thank you, the book is very credible. Also, what if the book itself uses footnotes of other sources. Do I use the initial book as a sources, or do I cite it's specific sources. Also I'm still not clear on what I can cite and what I can't. I don't plan to copy any big chunks at all, but rather just take specific facts and reword them. What's your take on my situation?--Bobo is soft 01:44, 8 January 2007 (UTC)

Ideally, you should track down the book's sources, read them yourself, and cite them. If you haven't read the original sources, you shouldn't cite them, but the secondary source. Matchups 04:08, 8 January 2007 (UTC)

Specific facts or statements - can be quoted or reworded or encompassed into the flow of text just make sure you cite - WP:CITE and WP:CITET maybe helpful. Cheers Lethaniol 11:31, 8 January 2007 (UTC)

a stupid question about AFDs

Hello. I have a slightly stupid question about AFDs. I opened a AFD on December 30th, and i've relisted it on the January 2nd AFD list. The January 2nd list is considered "old", however there are still discussions that haven't been dealt with. Is it part of wikipedia that AFDs are ignored, or is there something that Admins are waiting for, or have you just not gotten to them all, or what? Do i have to keep relisting my AFD before a decision is reached? I'm not trying to be rude, i'm just very confused. dposse 01:27, 8 January 2007 (UTC)

It'll be closed soon. Xiner (talk, email) 01:30, 8 January 2007 (UTC)

Old discussion can be found here WP:AFD#Old_discussions that still need to be closed - do not relist - let the discussion finish Cheers Lethaniol 01:32, 8 January 2007 (UTC)

thanks. dposse 01:35, 8 January 2007 (UTC)

Reverting vandalism using popups

I installed popups a few minutes ago, but for some reason, I'm not getting the "revert" option that is present in Image:Revert popups.png. I'd appreciate any help in the matter. Black Falcon 01:39, 8 January 2007 (UTC)

Are you visiting a page's edit history page, and moving the mouse over the various links there? Xiner (talk, email) 02:04, 8 January 2007 (UTC)

No, I was trying in the article mainspace. Black Falcon 02:26, 8 January 2007 (UTC)

If you're not getting the popup at all when you hover your mouse cursor over a link, do a forced refresh on your monobook.js. If you are, hover over any page link, wait for the popup to appear and load, move to the actions menu, and you should see the revert function listed when that menu gets populated. BigNate37_(T) 02:14, 8 January 2007 (UTC)

I am getting the popup and there is an "actions" link inside the popup, but when I click it, I am simply moved to the top of whatever page I'm on. How long should I wait for the menu to get populated (I tried 30 seconds, do I need to wait more??)? Black Falcon 02:26, 8 January 2007 (UTC)

If you want to revert vandalism (assuming you are using Mozilla Firefox) than go to the diff that is not vandalism and hover over it and then go to actions and click revert. — Arjun 02:45, 8 January 2007 (UTC)

No, I use IE. Also, the only options I now have are "actions" and "popups", both of which simply take me to the top of the page. Black Falcon 04:01, 8 January 2007 (UTC)

saving edits

I have had the frustrating experience of losing edits. Just now, after completing a contribution to "Coniston massacre" I hit the save page button, & was given the preview page instead & asked to log in again. After this I can't find my work anywhere. What is the procedure to save stuff as you go? Thanks, John Price —The preceding unsigned comment was added by JohnHarmonPrice (talk • contribs) 03:38, 8 January 2007 (UTC).

Do you use AOL? Xiner (talk, email) 03:46, 8 January 2007 (UTC)

Some advice: before you save anything, always copy the contents of the edit box to your PC's clipboard (using Ctrl-A, Ctrl-C). Then, if anything goes wrong, paste the clipboard into a text editor, save it, fix whatever problem you're having, and then use the saved content to edit the article again. --Plek 16:10, 8 January 2007 (UTC)

Minimal English

Recently I've run into a number of articles written by individuals who obviously have only the barest knowledge of English, such as this one. My question is, should these be nominated for deletion, and if so, under what policy? Clean up would be beyond my abilities. Thanks Citicat 03:41, 8 January 2007 (UTC)

If it's just the language, the article should get the a {{cleanup}} tag. If the subject's not notable, you can definitely nominate it for deletion. Xiner (talk, email) 03:46, 8 January 2007 (UTC)

Word Pronounciation

Is there a section to hear a word pronounced?137.159.121.164 05:20, 8 January 2007 (UTC)

• No, if we have a sound file of that, it's included in the article. - Mgm|^(talk) 05:39, 8 January 2007 (UTC)

Am I going insane or what?

I could have sworn that when I sign my posts with four tildes, my username in the resulting signature becomes a link. It doesn't seem to do that now. Was it always like this, or what? .V. 07:18, 8 January 2007 (UTC)

It should default to linking to your userpage. Try checking your "my preferences" at the top of the page, and make sure the "Raw signature" box is unticked. Trebor 07:36, 8 January 2007 (UTC)

Huh, how about that. .V. 07:46, 8 January 2007 (UTC)

Original research?

I've got a question about the page Ryaniverse. It has an Original Research tag, but it doesn't seem to appear for me on the current view. I noticed it when I went back to look at the history, and while browsing through the history it appears even in the most recent version. Is there a reason for this? Maracle 07:40, 8 January 2007 (UTC)

• Ok, I just figured out that the OR banner only appears for logged in users. I guess what I really would like to know then is if there is a page that explains what does or doesn't appear based on whether you're logged in (ie, what does the average user that doesn't have an account see?) Maracle 07:42, 8 January 2007 (UTC)

Actually, Wikipedia:Purge explains why this is happening. Being not logged in, you see a version of the page which is cached on the server side. BigNate37_(T) 07:44, 8 January 2007 (UTC)

How to I liven up my signature?

I've noticed that plenty of editors have really nifty signatures that contain links to their talk pages. How do I do this, m8s? .V. 07:54, 8 January 2007 (UTC)

The option for raw signatures needs to be turned on, and in the box above it you enter a custom signature. Be sure to include links, i.e. [[User:.V.|.V.]] ''([[User talk:.V.|talk]])'' would produce .V. (talk). Be sure to read Wikipedia:Sign your posts on talk pages#Customizing your signature. BigNate37_(T) 08:21, 8 January 2007 (UTC)

It may help to work out the signature in a sandbox before you actually copy the code into the box (in preferences). Also don't think you're alone if it says "Invalid raw signature, check HTML tags" cause every time I change mine, that message appears and I end up spending about 15 minutes trying to find a tiny error ;) James086^{Talk | Contribs} 08:32, 8 January 2007 (UTC)

editintro

The "input box" feature used to semi-automate repetitive tasks has an "editintro" parameter that lets you put a message above the edit box on the target page for further instructions. I noticed that the ask a new question by clicking here link on the main reference desks tries to do something like that by linking to

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Reference_desk/Entertainment&action=edit&section=new&editintro=Wikipedia:Reference_desk/How_to_ask

It would be really great to get this working.. is there an editintro-type functionality that can be passed through a link? --froth^{T C} 09:12, 8 January 2007 (UTC)

Only on new pages at the moment (so it won't help on the Ref Desk; look at the 'preloaded debate' link on any use of the AfD tag to see how it's coded). There's been a request (bugzilla:5175) to the developers to make it work on existing pages as well, but it hasn't been coded. --ais523 11:04, 8 January 2007 (UTC)

break user box

Hi there, I would like to take a break from Wikipedia for a few weeks and I am just wondering where I could get a banner saying that I am taking a break to put on my talk page/user page, preferably I'd need one where you can set a date as to when you are coming back, | know that there are retirement banners but I need this pone please to let people know I'm taking a short break from Wikipedia. Thanks

Tellyaddict^Talk 12:47, 8 January 2007 (UTC)

Find the templates here Wikibreak#The_wikibreak_templates - Cheers Lethaniol 13:00, 8 January 2007 (UTC)

1605munro

1605munro is the project nam of Buenos Aires-born, Berlin based audio artist Andrés G. Jankowski

Would it be useful to provide specially nice pictures of rel. seldom alpine flowers to be inserted in the botanical description of the genus/species ? For instance I have noticed that in the description of the orchidacea "Cypripedium calceolus" the enclosed picture is not particularly instructive. If somebody think this would be useful, please tell me how to do it (I have no experience in editing Wiki). --Friendly monster 13:37, 8 January 2007 (UTC)

If you have such pictures, under a suitable copyright licence, feel free to upload them (there's an 'Upload file' link in the toolbox, probably on the left of the screen). The copyright is the most complicated point to deal with, and one which often trips up new users; if you take the photos yourself, or own the copyright, you should licence it when uploading the picture under an acceptable copyright licence (public domain, CC-by-sa, and GFDL are three common licences; you can read their articles to find out more about them). Be aware that any picture that you upload should be licenced with a licence that allows redistribution, creation of derivative works (so anyone can edit your picture), and commercial use (the pictures could be used elsewhere than Wikipedia, even by companies for profit). --ais523 14:25, 8 January 2007 (UTC)

User Name (s)

Interesting User_Name article.

First, a side-bar: The user TheTransHumanist is quite stunning. Is there a link to how that is done?

I wanted to ask about user names.

My question is about the fact that I have a famous name, widely recognized.

The username I have here (as temp to post this without IP address), hints at it.

Any advice at what I might select for a "real" name, in that light?

I don't have a pseudo in mind (thus far).

Is there a link to a list of name examples? (Good, Bad, Ugly, Indifferent) DrivesFastTurnsLeftandRight 14:03, 8 January 2007 (UTC)

First, custom signatures are explained at Wikipedia:How to fix your signature and Wikipedia:Sign your posts on talk pages. You can have a look at the code just by editing any section with the signature to look at in and seeing what's in the edit box.

Second, Wikipedia:Username explains the possibilities for usernames. There is some debate about whether it's better to use a real name or a pseudonym. If you do have a 'famous' name, be warned that you'll probably need to provide proof that it is your name, or it might be blocked. As for choosing a pseudonym, my experience is that the name will work best if it has more or less the same structure as a real name, and give a clue to your gender (unless you mind people referring to you as 'it' or just guessing). I know my own username doesn't follow these guidelines; most people created their usernames before they became really familiar with Wikipedia. As for a list of examples, I recall there was one not-very-complete list, but I can't remember the link and don't think it would be very useful anyway. If you look through the page about changing usernames for the 'changed from' names, you'll get a list of bad examples, anyway. If you need some inspiration, you can go to Special:Log and have a look at the new-user log to see what sort of names new users are creating right now. Hope that helps. --ais523 14:19, 8 January 2007 (UTC)

Recent Changes

When viewing a Recent Changes page for a WikiProject, it only has the talk pages because the projects listings are on the talk pages. I'm wondering if it is possible to view changes to article in namespace of the same list? --Borgarde 14:56, 8 January 2007 (UTC)

I don't think so. One way might be to make a list of the articles somewhere (presumably on a subpage of the WikiProject), and then using 'Related changes' on the list. --ais523 15:00, 8 January 2007 (UTC)

editing category pages?

hi, how do you add people to category pages? i want to add Alan Cumming to this page : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:LGBT_people_from_Scotland but i don't know how to do this. anyone help? thanks :) Geeness 15:04, 8 January 2007 (UTC)

See Wikipedia:Categorisation#How to put an article into categories. BigNate37_(T) 15:22, 8 January 2007 (UTC)

Moving from sandbox to an existing page

Sometime ago I created the Humanitarian Principles page. I have been working in my sandbox to improve the page--mostly creating footnotes. How to I make the transfer from the sandbox to an existing page. In the case of the Hum Princ I have the whole page in the sandbox. Can I just copy the whole sandbox page and paste in the posted page (or will it look like I have wiped out the former page with a new page?) Can I do it section by section? Or shall I just add the changes I have made? Is this a good way to work on existing pages? --Joel Mc 17:34, 8 January 2007 (UTC)

Cut anything from your sandbox that is not related to the article, then use the Move page function at the top of the page to move it to the article name you want. Xiner (talk, email) 17:39, 8 January 2007 (UTC)

Nah, a page already exists at the target. A copy and paste will be fine, it'll only look like it's changed the things you actually have changed; it won't "notice" that you've deleted it all and readded most of it back the same. It's an alright method for experimenting with ideas, but if lots of contributors are working on an article (which isn't the case here), then don't copy-and-paste over all their changes - incorporate your new work into the current version. Trebor 18:32, 8 January 2007 (UTC)

Thanks for the help, I just copied and pasted.Joel Mc 20:16, 8 January 2007 (UTC)

I can't edit with this one IP!

The IP I used, 71.224.19.29, doesn't let me edit. It started about a month or two ago. I can edit once, but then, it goes to Preview of the page, and says roughly "Your edit can't be saved due to a loss of session data. Log out and log back in." Since its an IP, I can't log out. What's going on? If you can't fix it, thats ok, but does anyone know why? P.S. I'm obviously using another computer. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 69.67.231.46 (talk) 20:32, 8 January 2007 (UTC).

Perhaps you could try setting up an account? It usually happens only briefly, though, when the servers have a hiccup. Xiner (talk, email) 20:38, 8 January 2007 (UTC)

It's a good idea to get an account anyway, however, it probably won't fix this particular problem. It happens to me sometimes too; I don't really understand why. What I do instead of logging out is I just click "Save" again until it finally works. This always works for me, usually on the second try. — coelacan talk — 20:41, 8 January 2007 (UTC)

Nah. It's my school's computer, I can't. It is strange, I can go to articles that are questionable, or I can get blocked from a page that has nothing bad about it. Besides, I have an account. But I can't sign in at school. It's cookie level is programed to medium by the administrator. -69.67.234.135 20:46, 9 January 2007 (UTC)

Nominating a good list

Hi there,

Is it possible to remove a self-nominated list away from the nomination? I would like to withdraw the application, and would like to make several changes to the list before nominating it again.

--Smcafirst or Nick • Sign Here • Chit-Chat • Contribs at 21:11, 8 January 2007 (UTC)

If the nomination looks headed towards no action, then yes. Xiner (talk, email) 21:19, 8 January 2007 (UTC)

Article on "Left Party.PDS"

Hello! I'm one of the editors of the current article with that title, but it will have to be replaced in June when the "Left Party.PDS" and the "Labor and Social Justice Party" merge to form a new party called simply "The Left." It will be the fourth largest party in Germany and in the German parliament.

The current "Left Party.PDS" article is a bit tangled as a result of many edits and disputes, and the article on "Labor and Social Justice Party" is more than a year out of date. The articles also have syntax problems from changes posted by users who are not quite fluent in English. My plan is to write a new article after the merger, borrowing, of course, from the existing two articles, but also simplifying the text and removing many accretions that are no longer topical.

Is this okay? Is there a way I can post the draft for peer review before I publish it? I feel it will benefit from comment before I post a final version.

Thanks for your help.--langohio 21:26, 8 January 2007 (UTC)

I'd start an article at The Left (Germany) and post a note on the talk pages of the old parties. Xiner (talk, email) 21:39, 8 January 2007 (UTC)

search terms vs. article text

I would just like to know about optimizing an article for searches. If a user does a search for something, is the only way an article would appear in the results is if the search term(s) are in the article text? For example, if there is an article on tobacco cessation and someone searches the word “smoking” or “quit smoking” but those words aren’t in the article, it won’t appear in the search results, right? I tried categorizing the article in a “smoking cessation” category, but it still doesn’t appear in the search results if I use the word “smoking” as a search term. What else can I do? Csmbc 21:48, 8 January 2007 (UTC)

You could just set up a redirect. Don't go overboard though as someone else may delete it. I'm not sure it's worth the trouble worrying about search results as the time lag and other issues just don't seem to make it worthwhile. Xiner (talk, email) 22:12, 8 January 2007 (UTC)

Gum

No - it does not exist. Thanks for posting. --Charlesknight 22:04, 8 January 2007 (UTC)

Pictures of episodes that haven't aired yet.

The episodes from 24 (season 6) were leaked onto Bittorrent a week before any of them premired on tv anywhere on planet earth. People are now trying to put pictures of events that are huge spoilers of those leaked (and technically illegal) episodes onto the page. Do the pictures violate fair use or WP:C on wikipedia because they have not aired yet and were gained through ill-gotten means? dposse 22:06, 8 January 2007 (UTC)

I'd stay away from that stuff until it airs. Xiner (talk, email) 22:14, 8 January 2007 (UTC)

Can the pictures be deleted by a Admin as violating the rules? dposse 22:16, 8 January 2007 (UTC)

• You're totally right. You can't claim fair use on pictures that weren't legally obtained. - 131.211.210.10 09:31, 9 January 2007 (UTC)

Bracketed numbers in my watchlist

What do the bracketed numbers that appear after the timestamps in my watchlist mean? e.g. the (+146) and (-6) below.

1. (diff) (hist) . . Hubbert peak theory‎; 03:46 . . (+146) . . 75.35.221.32 (Talk) (→Movies)
2. (diff) (hist) . . OPEC‎; 03:24 . . (-6) . . 209.188.169.34 (Talk) (→Membership)

Ordinary Person 22:23, 8 January 2007 (UTC)

It's how many character were added (or removed) in the diffs. —Mitaphane _talk 22:49, 8 January 2007 (UTC)

Question - can people dictate what is on here?

What is the Wikipedia policy regarding peoples desire not to have articles/links on here? If someone doesn't want an article, must we go along with the request? I had an earlier example of this previously with the Brook Mahealani Lee article (see [4] and [5]). Yesterday there was the case of a Miss Tennessee titleholder who does not have an article, but whose red-linked name was de-linked by an editor because he "had had a telephone conversation with her and she didn't want to have an article" ([6]). I restored the redlink, but was sent this message by that editor.

My gut instinct on this is that people shouldn't be able to dictate what is on Wikipedia in this manner, but I have been unable to find any reference to this in policy. -- PageantUpdater • talk | contribs | esperanza 23:07, 8 January 2007 (UTC)

Nobody can dictate whether they wish to have their biography on Wikipedia; technically per WP:COI, they wouldn't be allowed to anyway. Besides that, who's to say this alleged phone call isn't a hoax? Yuser31415 23:23, 8 January 2007 (UTC)

Note that WP:COI is a guideline, not a policy. The official policy concerning biographies of living persons can be found at WP:LIVING. Basically, treat such an article as you would any other (i.e. with care), and avoid WP:LIBEL. Hope this helps. --Plek 23:28, 8 January 2007 (UTC)

• There's always AFD. Titoxd^(?!?) 23:58, 8 January 2007 (UTC)

If they proceed through legal channels, it becomes an issue for WP:OFFICE. Aside from that, they cannot dictate whether or not there is a Wikipedia article about themselves. -- Kesh 03:11, 10 January 2007 (UTC)

Esperanza

I am a Wikipedian who was a member of Esperanza. Recently, I have not been checking the status of Esperanza and can't find it. Did it shut down completely? The Updater 23:37, 8 January 2007 (UTC)

It got dissolved; see WP:Esperanza and Wikipedia:Miscellany for deletion/Wikipedia:Esperanza. Veinor ^{(talk to me)} 23:40, 8 January 2007 (UTC)

Metric vs. U.S. units

This is not a question more a surgestion, to use feet and inches as well as metric system so as people can more easily understand information.

Thanks

The relevant Manual of Style section already recommends this. If it is not being followed, feel free to add the conversions yourself; just make sure they're accurate. --Tkynerd 23:48, 8 January 2007 (UTC)

January 9

Talk pages.

When starting a new topic in a talk page do you add it above or below the current topics (newest first or last)? I've seen both ways used. Is there a guideline somewhere or is it just go with however its already running? Lando242 01:10, 9 January 2007 (UTC)

The "+" link at the top of the talk page will add a new topic at the end, consistently. I always use that link unless there's a good reason not to, so that's always what I end up doing. --Tkynerd 01:14, 9 January 2007 (UTC)

Yes, it's almost always at the bottom, unless otherwise specified. delldot | talk 02:43, 9 January 2007 (UTC)

Can I do an article about a Project I'm working on?

Hello, I'm currently working on a cover-album of "The Dark Side of the moon" by Pink Floyd, and I wanted to ask, if it is appropriate to do an article about this Project or if this is considered a misuse of Wikipedia.

The Project is called "The Dark Side of the Net" and is a collaboration of various musicians all over the world, connected via internet, to cover Pink Floyds' "The Dark Side of the Moon"

Thanks in advance

Typhoon84 02:27, 9 January 2007 (UTC)

No. Wikipedia is an encyclopedia and not free webspace - if you're looking to host a wiki, you can do so by downloading MediaWiki and sticking it on a server. --Wooty Woot? contribs 02:31, 9 January 2007 (UTC)

Well, I guess that answers my question, thanks Typhoon84 02:39, 9 January 2007 (UTC)

Just wanted to add that if and when the project becomes notable under Wikipedia's definition, an article would be appropriate, but not before. --Tkynerd 16:10, 9 January 2007 (UTC)

Biographies of living persons and the facts that can be in an article

I seem to remember a discussion, if not a guideline, that said something along the lines of "If a person does not want certain aspects of their life written about on Wikipedia, specifically their date of birth, then we have to abide by their wishes" Does anyone know what I'm thinking of? I've looked around but I can't find any reference to this. I know the two sides of the issue were discussed, at least, somewhere here. I just can't remember where. Dismas|^(talk) 03:24, 9 January 2007 (UTC)

Well, you are right. Please see this page. Xiner (talk, email) 03:28, 9 January 2007 (UTC)

That's exactly what I was looking for. Thanks! Dismas|^(talk) 03:54, 9 January 2007 (UTC)

how to edit in wiki

how to edit in wiki — Preceding unsigned comment added by 210.187.119.190 (talk • contribs)

If you edited this page, you already know how to edit. Be bold, feel free to ask questions, and have fun! Yuser31415 06:41, 9 January 2007 (UTC)

• You'll probably find Wikipedia:Tutorial and Wikipedia:How to edit a page useful too. - 131.211.210.10 09:26, 9 January 2007 (UTC)

Use of trademark symbol

When, if ever, should we add the copyright © or registered trademark ® symbols after a proprietary name within the text? In much printed and online matter, they are often used unnecessarily - for instance more than once in a single document.

Surely if the text is describing the ownership of the copyright by company XYZ, we cannot be open to any charge of diluting the owner's rights?

My example was the Hacky Sack page. Earthlyreason 08:55, 9 January 2007 (UTC)

• We're an encyclopedia. Using their name here will not effect their ownership. Use it at most once in a document, but don't if you can manage. I think it is covered in the WP:MOS. - 131.211.210.10 09:25, 9 January 2007 (UTC)

Thanks, and yes, MOS sensibly says to avoid using the trademark symbols except where necessary to distinguish a trademarked name from its generic equivalent. [[7]] Earthlyreason 11:01, 9 January 2007 (UTC)

Content on the discussion page of an article

Posting questions first for ease of intergration into any FAQ-like database.

1. Is there a way to flag content on a discussion tab for examination or peer review in order to get a feel of the general consensus regarding the proposed changes?

2. Are there any sort of rules, informal or otherwise, pertaining to what is included on a discussion page (i.e. the inclusion of personal opinions as opposed to the obvious trolling/flaming behaviours)?

2a. Are there any universal taboos about content on discussion pages even if they are not rules per say, offical or otherwise?

3. Is there a better place than the discussion tab to ask for assistance in regards to finding a citation that is proving difficult to track down or has been forgotten while the info it conveyed has not?

4. (Slightly Off-Topic) Is it safe to presume that internal articles are not always sufficent to be used as a source?

Reasons for Questions

I am new to contributing and as such am hesitant at the moment to make any substantial changes to most articles, limiting myself to small changes such as the addition of the Convair B-36 being the only plane modified to carry the T12 Cloud Maker and the likely orgin of the term baffles as it pertains to submarines. Still, even with these two I am unsure of the quality of the edits (took for granted siting an internal article would count as a citation for the fact about the T12 bomb and the way I cited my source on the baffles page.)

So for the most part, I have been adding comments to the discussion tabs about possible inclusions or changes which lead me to look for any sort of guidlines regarding this. I noticed that some discussion tabs have a letter grade refering to the quality scale and I am unsure if this pertains to the discussion tab itself or is merely were such grades for an article are located. Also, several instances have been suggestions based on personal knowledge void of sources that makes me wish to get a peer review about it or a popular consensus. Finally, I have added my own personal thoughts on matters on these pages that are based on my own feelings on a subject that not only is based largely around opinion but can also get lengthy. My contribution to the sniper discussion for example is as based as much in fact as I can make it but admitedly the majority of it is debatable. It is also made rather ambiguous as to whether such contributions are desired as that particular one follows a comment barely breaking a single line and followed by a bolded sub-heading proclaiming how ridiculous some of the proceding comments are. In between the two is my comment that is roughly 4 and a half to 5 paragraphs long. So for the sake of intergration into a faq like database I will post my questions clearly at the beginning of this query.

--Helioglyph 10:18, 9 January 2007 (UTC)

Let's take these in turn.

1. If you add content to a Talk ('discussion') page, and nobody challenges it or responds, it's normally safe to add it to the article after a while (one of Wikipedia's guidelines is Be bold in updating pages); if there isn't a consensus, someone will disagree and revert (change back) your edit, and then you can discuss the matter on the Talk page and there will be a discussion. For more information on this process, you might want to read the essay 'Bold, revert, discuss', which discusses how this method can be used even for controversial changes. Of course, if nobody disagrees, then your change will stay.
2. The official guidelines are at Wikipedia:Talk page guidelines. Due to the nature of Wikipedia, it's quite likely that any unofficial taboos would be mentioned in the guidelines anyway.
3. Apart from the talk page, the {{fact}} tag can be added on a part of an article which you think needs a source, or which you want to challenge the verifiability of; for instance, "This sentence is unsourced.". --ais523 10:52, 9 January 2007 (UTC)
4. Wikipedia doesn't allow itself (or any other wiki, for that matter) to be used as a source; similar articles might, however, provide their own sources which are relevant to the article you're interested in, which you could then consult and reference in the article.

Other points you made: the ratings refer to the articles, and exist to help advise WikiProjects identify where to focus their efforts; and the situation which you described with the subheading is probably undesirable, but not worth fixing. Hope that helps. --ais523 10:52, 9 January 2007 (UTC)

NAME CHANGE

HOW DO I GO ABOUT CHANGING MY SON'S LAST NAME FROM HIS MOTHERS LAST NAME TO MY LAST NAMEOKIESTEELERS 11:05, 9 January 2007 (UTC)

Have you tried Wikipedia's Reference Desk? They specialize in knowledge questions, and will try to answer any question in the universe (except how to use Wikipedia, since that's what this Help Desk is for). Just follow the link, select the relevant section, and ask away. I hope this helps. Also, you might like to turn your caps lock off if you want to receive a reply there. Cheers, Tangotango (talk) 11:06, 9 January 2007 (UTC)

Writing in all capital letters is considered the internet equivalent of shouting. - Mgm|^(talk) 11:12, 9 January 2007 (UTC)

Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Bestian Order of Aestheteka

I am writing to enquire why the Bestian Order of Aestheteka entry - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aestheteka%2C_Bestian_Order_of - is up for deletion. We are a legitimate group. The several hundred members that has been 'questioned' would quite like to post their comments concerning whether the page should be Kept or Deleted, but thereisno option for them to do so, unlike the several other Satanic groups which youhave also decided to delete. we are registered in the Slovak Republic as a company entity. our teachings are legitmate and are published in the form of two books - both by Crystal Dreams Publishing in the United States - and by Aestheteka itself elsewhere. As for legitimate links - there were several links to discussion groups, forums and otehr internet entities, due to our globally located membership, yet these have been deleted from the reference page. As for the legitimate existence of the Bestian Order of aestheteka, just do a google on 'aestheteka' and youwill see how substantial both our membership and our coverage is. Please advise - it is hardly non-discriminatory for the refernce to be deletd if its members and adherents cannot comment.

See Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Bestian Order of Aestheteka. The reasons given for deletion are that there are no sources (so the article is not verifiable), and no independent coverage (so there is no way to tell that the subject is notable). If you want the article to be kept, your best chance is to find sources independent of the article itself (coverage in newspapers, discussions about it in journals, that sort of thing), and to add them to the article. You can comment on the deletion at the link I gave above, or by following the 'this article's entry' link on the deletion notice, but your comments are likely to be ignored unless you give a reason based on policy; you'll need to answer the verifiability and notability concerns. --ais523 12:53, 9 January 2007 (UTC)

Also note that having a Wikipedia article may not be the best idea if there are no sources, as people could write negative comments about the organisation in the article and they would be visible to the whole world after a Google search, and without sources there would be no proof that the comments weren't true. --ais523 12:56, 9 January 2007 (UTC)

That "coverage" is illusory. Yes, there are over 9000 hits for the word, but if you exclude Wikipedia and its mirrors, aestheteka -wikipedia, there are less than 1000. Most of the "coverage" is generated by an active campaign of Google-bombing Wikipedia and other sites where a "listing" can be posted by anybody. Jefferson Anderson 21:01, 9 January 2007 (UTC)

Image shows on source computer only...

Hello,

I'm new to editing. I recently uploaded a picture with a caption to an article here at wikipedia. When I checked the article away from the computer that I did the editing at, the image didn't appear in the article. I uploaded the image to wikipedia and followed the instructions for uploading, so I'm hoping someone here can help.

So, the image appears in the article when I view the article from the computer I uploaded the image from, and the picture doesn't appear when I view the page from any other computer. I'm sure I made an error during the upload stage...

The article is "Dustin Diamond" of Saved by the Bell fame.

Thanks,

- J —The preceding unsigned comment was added by Hempdiddy (talk • contribs) 13:27, 9 January 2007 (UTC).

The image appears for me. Try visiting the article and bypassing your cache (Control-F5 on many browsers; follow the link for instructions for your browser). On the other hand, you did make a mistake uploading the image; you marked it as free use, when the picture comes from a copyrighted website. The only way you could use the picture would be if you could demonstrate the picture to be fair use (see Wikipedia's fair use criteria); so you must provide a detailed rationale according to the criteria or it will be deleted in 7 days (otherwise the image would be a copyright violation). (If you decide that the image doesn't meet the criteria, you can place {{db-author}} on the image page to request its deletion.) --ais523 13:37, 9 January 2007 (UTC)

What Does <br /> Do?

A reply on my talk page would be great, thanks!100110100 13:49, 9 January 2007 (UTC)

(Replying here; will copy the answer to 100110100's talk page) The tag <br /> creates a newline at that point, as you can see from the heading on this question (the original question was 'What Does <br /> Do?'). --ais523 13:52, 9 January 2007 (UTC)

It's known as a self-closing tag that is used in HTML markup to format text in the manner described by ais523. You can read more about its use at http://www.w3schools.com/, which is a nice introduction to HTML basics. When you use it in an edit box, Wikipedia adds it to the markup that is created. - Adrian M. H. 16:25, 9 January 2007 (UTC)

Status change when logging in

I remember seeing somewhere that there is a way to change your status when you log in, rather than have to edit your userpage(s). Does anyone know where I can find this? Thanks. | AndonicO ^{Talk | Sign Here} 15:40, 9 January 2007 (UTC)

Never mind, I've got it now. | AndonicO ^{Talk | Sign Here} 20:29, 9 January 2007 (UTC)

Making Wiki!

I want to place a write up of our company history on wikipedia.com. How do I get started? —The preceding unsigned comment was added by KevinAFL (talk • contribs) 15:41, 9 January 2007 (UTC).

First, one minor niggle; Wikipedia's a charity, not a company, so its web address is wikipedia.org (not wikipedia.com, which just redirects here). Writing about your own company is discouraged (see the page about conflicts of interests), because it's hard to stay neutral. One other problem is that many companies aren't notable enough for inclusion in Wikipedia; see the notability criteria guidelines for companies. If you still want to write the article, though, Wikipedia:Your first article is helpful; also read through the Introduction and Tutorial if you haven't yet, as they'll teach you the basics of editing Wikipedia. --ais523 15:46, 9 January 2007 (UTC)

You should also bear in mind that no article is "owned" - once an article on your company exists, anyone (who follows Wikipedia guidelines) can change it, including your competitors. Above all, Wikipedia is not a promotional tool. Notinasnaid 16:11, 9 January 2007 (UTC)

non commercial images

Do we have any helpful pages that explain to a non-Wikipedian why we can't use non-commercial images? Specifically I'm trying to explain why we can use {{cc-by}} and {{cc-by-sa}} but not {{cc-by-nc-sa}}. Is this already written up in a simple way that I can point to? — coelacan talk — 16:02, 9 January 2007 (UTC)

Apparently, this is 'per Jimbo': [8]. He didn't reference any policy discussion in the mailing list post I've linked. --ais523 16:17, 9 January 2007 (UTC)

Aye, but it has to do with GFDL compatability. All GNU licenses stipulate that commercial distribution is permissible. This is part of the "four fredoms", specifically "The freedom to redistribute copies so you can help your neighbor (freedom 2)."

It doesn't appear that we have anything more explanatory on Wikipedia than WP:ERP#An explanation so I might just pass that link on. — coelacan talk — 16:26, 9 January 2007 (UTC)

Have a look at User:Fastfission/Noncommercial. Quite nicely explained — Lost^(talk) 16:20, 9 January 2007 (UTC)

Oh, great! Thanks, Lost. — coelacan talk — 16:27, 9 January 2007 (UTC)

Other user is changing information on our page to false info - how we stop this from happening?

I work for GGP, the developer of the Bridgeland Community in Texas. Due to trademark issues, we cannot call the community Bridgeland, Texas and must use the proper name Bridgeland Community. We have a visitor to our information page on Wikipedia who has changed the title name from Bridgeland Community to Bridgeland, Texas and we would like to ensure that this person does not do it again, as there are legal liabilities involved. Is there any way to do this?

Thank you.

There may be no gentle way to say this, so I will have to just come out with it: you do not have an information page on Wikipedia. It is not your page: you do not own the articles to which you contribute. Above all, companies and communities have no special rights over articles about them, indeed it is often considered best if they do not contribute to these articles at all, except to point out errors or make suggestions on the talk page. See Wikipedia:Ownership of articles and Wikipedia:Conflict of interest to start with as some background on Wikipedia policies. Since it is in no sense a part of or controlled by your company, there can be no legal implications to you if Wikipedia's article name happens to be changed. Indeed, if a place is in Texas, it is recommended that the article says so to avoid ambiguities. So you need not worry about changes to the name of the article. Notinasnaid 16:36, 9 January 2007 (UTC)

While I agree with Notinasnaid about ownership and conflict of interest, I disagree with the idea that the article's name is somehow irrelevant. The name of an article should correspond to the name of whatever the article is about, period. If this place is called Bridgeland Community, then the article about it -- assuming, BTW, that there really should be one -- should by God also be Bridgeland Community. (Although in this case, I would recommend following Wikipedia's conventions on article naming for geographic places in the US and using Bridgeland Community, Texas.) --Tkynerd 17:03, 9 January 2007 (UTC)

Submit Mountain Photo(s)

I note that the page on Gasherbrum I (Hidden Peak) has no photo of the mountain. I am now in the process of developing a film from photos taken during the 1958 first ascent and would be happy to contribute color/bw image(s) but my slow computer, DSL and brain have thwarted my effort to discover how to do so. Any help/suggestions would be welcome. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 71.209.142.21 (talk) 17:52, 9 January 2007 (UTC).

There's a Upload file link on the left. Xiner (talk, email) 17:56, 9 January 2007 (UTC)

Please refresh your page after submission. Occasionally it may take minutes for changes to show up. Xiner (talk, email) 17:58, 9 January 2007 (UTC)

Image help

I'm trying to add this image to the infobox on the Debra Messing article, but no matter what I try, the preview won't show the image. Am I adding it wrong, or is there something wrong at Commons? (If you wouldn't mind, please respond at my talk page). ShadowHalo 18:21, 9 January 2007 (UTC)

Linking up entries in different languages

Hi, I translated a site from English to Italian, how do I link them up so that on the bar on the left there are all the languages like normal? Thanks, Aaron Hydroargenium 19:20, 9 January 2007 (UTC)

Just insert in the bottom of the page [[en:English page name]] and [[it:Italian page name]], each preferably on a separate line. Baiji has a lot of examples. And thanks for your contribution! Xiner (talk, email) 19:23, 9 January 2007 (UTC)

Hmm, obviously on the English page you don't need en: and ditto for it: on the Italian page. Xiner (talk, email) 20:13, 9 January 2007 (UTC)

Thanks! I hope to do more. It's awesome that I can practice Italian, learn about random subjects, and help Wikipedia all at the same time. 81.208.83.250 21:29, 9 January 2007 (UTC)

Hi, there Waipawa (in NZ) is 65km south of Napier (not Hastings as you states), or 42km south of Hastings.

what day is it?

Why my account made in pt.wikipedia.org doesn't work in en.wikipedia.org?

I've created an account in wikipedia in Portuguese (since I'm Portuguese), but it doesn't work in the English version of the wikipedia, so I had to create another account with the same name but in English. So now I have two accounts with the same name, which is stupid. Is there any option for me to have just one account and manage to edit pages in English and Portuguese? Thanks... —The preceding unsigned comment was added by Crazy Murdoc (talk • contribs) 19:56, 9 January 2007 (UTC).

Currently we do not support unified logins. Sorry for the inconvenience. Xiner (talk, email) 19:58, 9 January 2007 (UTC)

Ok man, thanks for the reply Crazy Murdoc 20:13, 9 January 2007 (UTC)

Great, now I have also another account in wiki communs... It should be unified... Crazy Murdoc 21:41, 9 January 2007 (UTC)

The devs are working on it, it should be done pretty soon. See m:Help:Unified login. Prodego ^talk 22:48, 9 January 2007 (UTC)

Allure Magazine

I need to know how to add a NPOV header to the article on Allue magazine - it appears to be an advert for the magazine. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 212.140.240.2 (talk) 20:01, 9 January 2007 (UTC).

In this case the best tag for Allure (magazine) may well be {{advert}}. Just add it before the first line. It would be as well to add it to your watch list so you can assist if the editors have any questions about applying Wikipedia policies. Notinasnaid 20:05, 9 January 2007 (UTC)

Categorization of an article whose subject went by several names

Hey all! At WP:SHIPS, we're having a discussion about categorizing ships that have served in more than one navy, under different names. As an example, take USS Kephart (DE-207), which served in the US Navy and then was sold to the Republic of Korea to serve in their navy. The article is in Category:Republic of Korea Navy ships, but of course it shows up as USS Kephart.

So what's to be done about this? Possible solutions:

1. Just ignore the problem, which makes Category:Republic of Korea Navy ships less useful
2. Create a redirect for the new name (Kyong Puk (PF-82)) and put the redirect into Category:Republic of Korea Navy ships, which means that USS Kephart will not have a link to Category:Republic of Korea Navy ships
3. Create a redirect for the new name, categorize the redirect, and then manually put a link at the bottom of USS Kephart to Category:Republic of Korea Navy ships (see USS Serene (AM-300) for this solution in action)

We could really use some outside input! Is this a problem that other Wikipedians have run into? If so, what did you do about it? In some cases it's possible to split the article in two, like USS Mississippi (BB-23) and Greek battleship Limnos (same ship, two navies), which resolves the problem nicely. However, in other cases the only information about the second navy is "USS x was sold to y and renamed z".

If this isn't the right place to post this, please let me know. Thanks! TomTheHand 20:26, 9 January 2007 (UTC)

You can keep everything in one article, under the name most people will search for it as (the USS name), and put the Korean Navy history in a section of that article. Then create a redirect that links to that section, and categorise the redirect. I think it is correct for USS Kephart to not have a link to the Korea Navy ships category, as it is not a Korea Navy ship. The important thing is to make clear at all points that this is the same ship, just refitted with a different name. Let ma have a closer look at this. You could also try Wikipedia talk:Categorization. Carcharoth 23:23, 9 January 2007 (UTC)

OK, what I did was:

• All the US Navy ship articles are now removed from Category:Republic of Korea Navy ships and instead placed in Category:United States Navy ships transferred to the Republic of Korea Navy. It's a long category name, but very clear and understandable.
• All the Korea Navy ships transferred from the US Navy now have their own redirects, which are categorised at Category:Republic of Korea Navy ships. I used the new 'anchor links work for redirects feature' to link the redirects to the section of the US Navy ship article, as most of the ROKS ships transferred from the US navy don't have articles yet.

Have a play around and see what you think. If/when the ROKS ships get their own articles, the redirects can be updated accordingly (they would be turned into the new article). I'm not sure how many ships the Republic of Korea Navy got from the US Navy under that security agreement, but if they are all listed, and there are lots of normal ROKS ships to write about, then Category:Republic of Korea Navy ships transferred from the United States Navy could be created for people browsing by Korean name and wanting to find that subset of ROKS ships. But for now, that category would largely duplicate Category:Republic of Korea Navy ships. One small point, not all the Korean names are uniform, as I don't really know enough about ship naming conventions, so that might need a little tidying. Carcharoth 01:10, 10 January 2007 (UTC)

Com 215 Written Communication

I need three little messages for an Informative & Positive messages as if I was talking to someone important. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 68.40.244.66 (talk) 20:33, 9 January 2007 (UTC).

Perhaps you should try doing your homework. This page is for help on using the wikipedia. You might want to try one of our reference desk for information related to your assignment, but don't expect anyone here to do your homework for you. —Mitaphane _talk 03:58, 10 January 2007 (UTC)

Reference problem

I have been "wikifying" the references to Daniel Rodriguez article. I didn't write the article, and the creators didn't know how to do anything, so left a big mess. Anyway, I managed to format 34 0f the 36 references with no problem, but two of them refuse to wikify themselves! The ref #s are 26 and 34. I have tried everything, from using cite web/news templates, to doing it manually, and nothing works. I'm at the end of my rope and would appreciate some help with it. Thanks a lot. Jeffpw 20:33, 9 January 2007 (UTC)

Ok, I fixed the refs (hopefully got the details right) using Template:Cite web. Hope that helps. Trebor 23:11, 9 January 2007 (UTC)

Thank you so very very much! That was driving me batty! Jeffpw 23:13, 9 January 2007 (UTC)

Search

How do i advance search?

Please see Wikipedia:Search. Xiner (talk, email) 21:55, 9 January 2007 (UTC)

Template:PD-Soviet

Hi, I'm from the Hebrew Wikipedia. We too have the above license. I understand it was canceled in Commons. We have several pictures with this tag, most of them from your this wiki. What should we do with them? Thanks, Yonidebest 21:25, 9 January 2007 (UTC)

Which Southern State owned the most slaves?

Please help me!!! I cannot find clear info! —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 70.233.187.133 (talk) 21:49, 9 January 2007 (UTC).

Hi. Please ask such questions at the Reference desk. This is for Wikipedia-related questions only. Thanks. Xiner (talk, email) 21:52, 9 January 2007 (UTC)

Recreation

How do I get a page to link to its history? See

You have [[special:mytalk|new messages]]. ([[Special:Mytalkhist|last change]]).

Gets

You have new messages. (last change).

But It does not link to my talk hist.

Darkest Hour ^{Ж Ж Ж Ж Ж} 22:57, 9 January 2007 (UTC)

Well I don't think that you can link it to your talk hist, if you were it would be through an external link. But I personally would not advise you to put that "you have new messages" on your userpage since it will greatly confuse the newcomers, greatly. See it through the eyes of the newcomer. Arjun 23:08, 9 January 2007 (UTC)

Yes, you have to use an external link. Copy the full URL and single-bracket it ([]). Xiner (talk, email) 23:10, 9 January 2007 (UTC)

political map of nothern europe

do you have the map of nothern europe that is already filled in?

I'm not sure about the question, but Wikipedia:Reference_desk would be the place to ask. Xiner (talk, email) 23:07, 9 January 2007 (UTC)

Is Image:Northern-Europe-region-map-extended.png what you're looking for? User:Zoe|(talk) 23:09, 9 January 2007 (UTC)

Questioning Nuetrality

How does one go about questioning the neutrality of an article?

Thanks, -Vince Petaccio —The preceding unsigned comment was added by VincePetaccio (talk • contribs) 23:51, 9 January 2007 (UTC).

Check out Wikipedia:Verifiability. Xiner (talk, email) 00:04, 10 January 2007 (UTC)

If you have concerns that an article is not WP:NPOV, the best course of action is to raise these concerns on the article's talk page. --Tkynerd 00:06, 10 January 2007 (UTC)

You might also try to bring it to the attention of the Wikipedia Neutrality Project if there isn't too many people who frequent the discussion page. —Mitaphane _talk 03:54, 10 January 2007 (UTC)

Need article-namespace sandbox

Is there anything like a "sandbox page" in the main namespace (article namespace)? I'm debugging a template which uses ParserFunctions to cause it to appear differently depending on which namespace it is in. Of course, I'm having trouble with the conditions when it is placed in article namespace. I could not find anything at About the Sandbox to help me. I could create a page named something like Page for testing templates which use ParserFunctions but if there is a better alternative, I'd like to use that. :) Thanks! —DragonHawk (talk) 23:59, 9 January 2007 (UTC)

To my knowledge no article namespace sandbox exists. Perhaps there is some place you could request to create such a page for testing purposes to have it speedied shortly after. DoomsDay349 00:30, 10 January 2007 (UTC)

Darn, I was hoping I was just missing something obvious. Well, thanks for the quick response. I'll see if anyone at the pump has any ideas. —DragonHawk (talk) 04:30, 10 January 2007 (UTC)

You could always create a subpage of the article or even make the article (because not many would see it, probably only new page patrollers), then leave a note on the talk page explaining the situation. James086^{Talk | Contribs} 04:33, 10 January 2007 (UTC)

Advertisment

How do you add the message that an article reads like an advertisment? —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 69.142.39.222 (talk) 01:53, 10 January 2007 (UTC).

Use the {{advert}} template. — Kieff 01:58, 10 January 2007 (UTC)

If it's really blatant advertising - that is, "it would need to be fundamentally rewritten in order to become encyclopedic" (WP:CSD), and there's no version to revert to that doesn't have this problem, tag it for deletion with {{db-advert}}. --Sam Blanning^(talk) 02:50, 10 January 2007 (UTC)

/

how do u use wikipedia?

Short question, impossibly long answer. Although "Just click 'edit this page' at the top, be bold and jump in" would do for some. For a better introduction to editing though, try Wikipedia:Introduction and the Wikipedia:Tutorial. --Sam Blanning^(talk) 03:10, 10 January 2007 (UTC)

Hmm...I think this is kind of ironic since the text on the help page that links says "Help desk for asking how to use wikipedia". Yeah basically click the edit this page and be bold! Arjun 04:09, 10 January 2007 (UTC)

Keys for ~/¬ and @/" switching around

For some reason, recently a couple of the keys on my keyboard have been switching around when I use Wikipedia, apparently at random times. To type " (quote marks) I should be pressing shift-2, but sometimes it switches to 'shift-, the button two keys right of 'L', which should produce'@'. The ~ (tilde) should also be shift-#, between /@' and the enter key, but it keeps switching to the key left of '1'.

I think this may have something to do with American keyboard layout (mine is UK), as I used to have an Amiga where the '@' and '"' were the opposite from what was printed on my keyboard as well. I think this started happening around 17th December, because I first noticed it when I went home for Christmas and used my parents' computer, and assumed that was the problem - however, I'm back at uni now and it's still happening. I have no idea what causes the keys to switch - sometimes I just try to write quote marks or my signature, and find I'm writing '@' or '||||'. Then as I've started using 'the wrong button' it switches back the way it should be and I'm typing '¬¬¬¬'. Anyone know?

I can't swear that the fault is with Wikipedia, as I don't use this computer for any other writing atm, but if it isn't then I don't know why my parents' computer did it as well. --Sam Blanning^(talk) 03:09, 10 January 2007 (UTC)

I can't see how a particular web page would change your keyboard layout, but have you checked to see if you have two or more keyboard layouts installed? (If you're running Windows XP, you can check that in Regional Options in the Control Panel) Maybe you're accidentally pressing the key combination that switches the layouts around... Cheers, Tangotango (talk) 03:16, 10 January 2007 (UTC)

Yes, on an American keyboard the button two spaces to the right of L when combined with shift produces quotes, and the number 2+shift creates the @ symbol. It's likely an issue with that. Then again, if you've gotten liquid into your keyboard it can screw things up (I've done it). DoomsDay349 03:18, 10 January 2007 (UTC)

Your regional settings are probably set to American. Go to Control Panel, Regional and Language Options, Keyboards & Languages, Change keyboards - and select the UK one. I'm using Windows Vista so the exact menus may be different - but that should solve yer issues. --Sagaciousuk ^(talk) 03:21, 10 January 2007 (UTC)

My keyboard was set to UK when I looked, but I'm putting money on Tangotango's idea. Is the key combination in question Shift-Alt-something? Since my parents' computer had Firefox 2 installed, which requires you to use Shift-Alt for Wikipedia shortcuts, maybe that made me start inadvertantly switching layouts - even though I have 1.5 here, I haven't dropped the habit of pressing shift (since it works either way). I've removed the US keyboard layout from the list, hopefully that'll fix it. Thanks for your help. --Sam Blanning^(talk) 03:55, 10 January 2007 (UTC)

I had a similar problem (I couldn't log in cause my password used @ and I couldn't find it on the keyboard) and it turned out the keyboard was set to UK. When changed back to US the keys produced what they had labeled. I think you may need to add the US keyboard layout back to the list in order to correct it. James086^{Talk | Contribs} 04:06, 10 January 2007 (UTC)

I've had this (or a similar) problem before. The quote sign (") and apostrophe sign (') both went haywire. Rebooting fixed it. Carcharoth 04:13, 10 January 2007 (UTC)

Moving AfD to the OLD page so deletion can be processes

how do I do this ? does it have to be done by an administrator ? tx