Wikipedia:Help desk

Welcome—ask questions about how to use or edit Wikipedia! (Am I in the right place?)

• For other types of questions, use the search box, see the reference desk or Help:Contents. If you have comments about a specific article, use that article's talk page.
• Do not provide your email address or any other contact information. Answers will be provided on this page only.
• If your question is about a Wikipedia article, draft article, or other page on Wikipedia, tell us what it is!
• Check back on this page to see if your question has been answered.
• For real-time help, use our IRC help channel, #wikipedia-en-help.
• New editors may prefer the Teahouse, a help area for beginners (but please don't ask in both places).

Ask a question

User interface transfer

Does any easy way exist to transfer the user interface translation from one project to another. I've greatly improved its translation to Slovenian language on Slovenian WP and want to use it now in the English version and on Commons. Thanks very much. --Eleassar my talk 14:01, 30 August 2005 (UTC) You should talk to the wikitech people, either at #mediawiki the IRC channel, at meta or at the wikitech mailing list [1] — Sverdrup 01:25, 31 August 2005 (UTC)

Sun

Why does Sun gets invisible at night?

This question is really a no-brainer: if it didn't, there would be no night. But the reason it does is that because of the Earth's rotation, the Earth gets in between you and the Sun, and it's quite hard to see right through the Earth. — JIP | Talk 15:38, 30 August 2005 (UTC)

cat vertebrae

The article on Cat incorrectly states that cats are more flexible than humans because they have more vertebra [60 vs. 34, if I recall correctly]. Cats only have more vertebrae if you count their tails; from skull to pelvis they have exactly the same number of vertebrae as humans [and indeed, all mammals].

I took that out. Thank you for the catch. I hope you soon feel comfortable adding/editing content in articles yourself but a notice here is welcome too. Thanks again. Qaz 19:26, 30 August 2005 (UTC)

VANDALISM REPORT http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Current_events

Someone posted obscenities on

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

Please delete it. Thank you.

Already taken care of. — JIP | Talk 19:56, 30 August 2005 (UTC)

Were did Thomas Edison work

• This page is for questions relating to general usage of the Wikipedia. For fact-based questions, see Wikipedia:Reference desk. --Kwekubo 02:09, 31 August 2005 (UTC)

concert sponsorship

Hi, my name is Alan Merow with EvelDick Production and attached is a brief description of the concert we are putting on October 29, 2005 . Please look it over and if you have any interests please contact me and I would be more then happy to go into depth about this event and the importance of putting this together and see how your company can get involved with this project.

<snip> ad for concert event removed </snip>

This information is not to be reproduced, transmitted or the information contained distributed in any way

I hope you do realize that just by posting that here, it will be reproduced, transmitted, and distributed in several ways.

Also, ... what? Wikipedia is not a company, it's a group of volunteers that work on an encyclopedia. I'm not sure what you intended by posting that here, but I think I can safely say you won't get any sponsorship from Wikipedia. --Andy Janata 23:08, 30 August 2005 (UTC)

decoding subject

HI! not sure I am on the right track, but recieved this code in a recent email subject line and wondered why and what it meant. Thank you for direction you can lend.

=?ISO-8859-1?Q??=

It's probably something that describes the data in the mail, and your mailserver or client doesn't read/understand. ISO-8859-1 (also called latin-1) is a character encoding, so the piece of data probably describes the text to come. latin-1 is common to use for english and west european languages. (Unicode is better) — Sverdrup 00:56, 31 August 2005 (UTC)

This is a MIME encoding for non-ASCII character data. Any email client that shows you such a string is seriously behind the times regarding worldwide email standards. Without any text between the last two question marks this string is literally a null string (no characters), but the sending system has (quite helpfully) indicated the characters (all 0 of them) are ISO-8859-1 characters where the non-ASCII ones are encoded in quoted-printable. I'd suggest using a different email client. -- Rick Block (talk) 02:31, August 31, 2005 (UTC)

Thank you so much for taking the time to explain. I'm very appreciative of this bit of insight.

Email Change

How do I change my email? I don't find it anywhere in Preferences. --King of ♥ ♦ ♣ ♠ 23:56, 30 August 2005 (UTC)

It's the first item listed under "User data" in preferences. Theresa Knott (a tenth stroke) 00:11, 31 August 2005 (UTC)

question

It says in the Editing Helpl that a colon (:) causes the "line or paragraph" to be indented, however, my experience that it always indents whole paragraphs.

I like to indent the first line of paragraphs - not necessarily the whole paragraph - how do I do that?

BUNI-San 02:03:29, 2005-08-31 (UTC)

Do you want to indent the first lines of paragraphs in a Wikipedia article? No article in the Wikipedia has that format, so it would go against our style guide, and at any rate, as far as I know that sort of indentation is not supported by the MediaWiki software. --Kwekubo 02:07, 31 August 2005 (UTC)

Hi, You might try using a space in front of the line to be indented. I went to the Sandbox and made a table starting each row with a space Phil 14:32, September 3, 2005 (UTC)

About Billy Meier

Hi, I love this place. I've been able to look up so much info about people and things I've had questions about. One thing I noticed about the Billy Meier info you have is that it was ended pretty much saying that critics have found models at his house and pictures were of regular human beings. I listened to a radio show with Michael Horn one day and heard him say that he approached the critics about their claims and one of them actually called in to the show that day. He told the critic that the models were brought to Billy to see if his pictures could be faked. The pictures that were taken of the models were never said to be real. He also asked the critic to duplicate just one of the Meier photos and the critic took about 2 years or more to take photos of some plates. But Meier's photos were put under a whole lot of examination and the critic wouldn't allow his photos to be put under the same examinations. Plus a guy named Marcel Vogel was given some samples from the E.T.s and he was impressed with what he saw. I read that Vogal had something to do with the invention of LCD screens and he worked for IBM or years. I just thought that maybe some of this info should be known also because Billy could be telling the truth. At the end of the summery that ya'll have it sounds more like the case has been concluded and people are just following a lost cause or something. But there hasn't truely been any concrete evidence to disprove Billy.

School Campus problems

I am a student in a school campus with large amount of computer access by all students, and have seen warnings saying if my IP edits more articles it will be banned. The campus has over 1500 students, and wikipedia is a often used resource, which would be greatly missed. I don't know what can be done about this, but would like to know if there is a way of stopping it.

Banned simply means "blocked from editing Wikipedia", not "blocked from reading" - we wouldn't gain anything by stopping people reading, but we do gain by stopping vandals from editing. The editing block is sadly a major reaction, but it's also a major problem; a lot of schools run through a single server, and school pupils are rather happy to vandalise randomly. However, having an account and logging in can avoid you, specifically, from being blocked.

If you're interested, here's some of the recent edits from that IP address - [2], [3] - you can see why vandalism warnings were issued. Shimgray 02:49, 31 August 2005 (UTC)

I've added a shared IP notice to the user talk page to warn future people dealing with vandalism from the IP address. Entering the IP address as a URL takes you to the intranet page for Saint Kentigern College in Auckland. Evil Monkey∴Hello 03:12, 31 August 2005 (UTC)

I don't believe that having an account can avoid being blocked by anonymous IP blocks. When I was using dial-up, an anonymous user had been blocked for spamming; when I connected via dial-up I found myself blocked as well, even though I was logged in. — Knowledge Seeker দ 03:58, August 31, 2005 (UTC)

See Bug 550: Blocks on anonymous users only Bovlb 05:25:30, 2005-08-31 (UTC)

Number of hits

Is there a way of finding out how many hits a specific article in Wikipedia gets? Thanks for any help. Thomas S. Major 04:16, 31 August 2005 (UTC)

The short answer is no. A slightly longer answer is that page hit counters are a feature of MediaWiki (the software used to run wikipedia), but it is turned off at this site for performance reasons. This comes up often enough that it should be on the Wikipedia:FAQ (I'll add it). -- Rick Block (talk) 04:35, August 31, 2005 (UTC)

picture posting

I still do not understand how to place an image on a page I want to update. I've read the editing page and yet I do not grasp it. Let me know how to do it.

• Wikipedia:Image tutorial. - Mgm|^(talk) 04:53, August 31, 2005 (UTC)

Logging in to an account from a blocked IP

If I were to log on to a non-blocked account from a blocked IP, would I be blocked? Does whether the account was created before or after the block make a difference? Does whether the account was created from the blocked IP make a difference? At least both of them together should, because otherwise anyone who has been blocked as an anonymous IP could just sign up for an account and continue. — JIP | Talk 05:14, 31 August 2005 (UTC)

Yes. No. No. See Bug 550: Blocks on anonymous users only. Bovlb 05:24:45, 2005-08-31 (UTC)

Can a Wikipedia Image in Be Used in Another Web Site?

I am creating a web site which contains factual information on several topics to help children with their homework or research. May I use images from Wikipedia articles on my web site? If so, how do I credit them?

Thank you, E. Tal

It depends on the picture. The Wikipedia description page for an image should tell you its copyright status.

Some images in Wikipedia are public domain. Those you can use freely. Others are licensed under the GFDL. If you include those pictures in something you make, then what you make also must be licensed under the GFDL. Lastly, there are some pictures in Wikipedia that we consider fair use under United States copyright law. Those you should probably not use. If you also live in the United States you may be able to claim fair use for an educational website, but if you live elsewhere, most countries use the more restrictive fair dealing. Isomorphic 05:57, 31 August 2005 (UTC)

is the information in wikipedia true

I'm sorry for the question but I want to know,well if you say that everybody can edit wikipedia, is there a possibility some articles to be not true.(the info about the subject to be not real) Thank you for the attention!

Of course there is such a possibility. However, if the subject is particularly prominent and/or well-known, someone will eventually spot the false information and fix or remove it. — JIP | Talk 07:59, 31 August 2005 (UTC)

See also Wikipedia:Replies to common objections. Bovlb 08:26:32, 2005-08-31 (UTC)

Images

I'm almost cretain that you can't but I may as well ask. Can you link to other articls on WP from an image? Forbsey 08:00, 31 August 2005 (UTC)

You can link from the caption. You can also link from the image description page. Does either of these do what you want? If not, please be more specific, and perhaps give an example. Bovlb 08:29:46, 2005-08-31 (UTC)

I think this is yet another request for images that don't link to their description page... - IMSoP 23:22, 31 August 2005 (UTC)

Missing image

I uploaded a file where did it go after it was uploaded? --Adam1213 09:00, 31 August 2005 (UTC)

I can't find any record from your contributions or the upload log that you have uploaded anything. The best thing I can suggest is that you try uploading it again. Thryduulf 09:19, 31 August 2005 (UTC)

If you uploaded before you registered, then perhaps yoy have a rough idea of the upload date. Try searching for your filename or description text in the upload log (as suggested above) or Special:Newimages. Bovlb 15:19:49, 2005-08-31 (UTC)

You have to be registered to upload images. It might have been with a different username though. --fvw* 15:49, August 31, 2005 (UTC)

Lord David Sheppard ex England Cricket captain.

Your entry shows David Sheppard as being born in Reigate Surrey. That is incorrect. He was born in Charlwood Surrey. We live in the house he was born in and have photographs of him when he lived here. His mother visited us some 25 years ago to see what the house was now like and gave us the photographs. The full address is Dormer Cottage, Charlwood, Surrey.

Legitimacy of editing content

As the coordinator of Tyr-Gwyr-Gweryn I recently edited a link to the TGG website [30th Aug], on the 'Cornish People' page, to change a comment from 'A nationalist organisation' to correctly reflect this groups activities as 'A Cornish Affairs & Research Group'. Today [31st], I noticed that this has been changed back to the previously incorrect entry.

By whose authority?

What is necessary to have the correct comment re-instated and secured?

E J Pengelly coordinator "Tyr-Gwyr-Gweryn"

you need to go to the talk page of the article but clicking on the "discuss" tab and state the reasons that you think that the group is not a nationalist organisation there. If your argument is sucsessful then someone will change the article back to your wording. Theresa Knott (a tenth stroke) 12:48, 31 August 2005 (UTC)

If there is some question about the correct way to refer to the group in question, it might be best to bring up the matter on the talk page of the article. (In this case, Talk:Cornish people.) If that route fails to reach an acceptable compromise, adding a note at Wikipedia:Requests for comment will bring additional eyes and minds to the question.

In my–admittedly brief–perusal of the Tyr-Gwyr-Gweryn website, I note that the first objective of the organization is "To secure the political and territorial integrity of Cornwall" [4]. The organization espouses the position that "Cornwall is a country situated at the extreme south west of the island of Great Britain...." [5] In other words, one can see where the perception that the organization is nationalist might arise. (Apologies for repeating some of what Theresa said; we both tried to answer the question at the same time.) TenOfAllTrades(talk) 13:00, 31 August 2005 (UTC)

Disabled????

How long will Wikipedia be disabled?

I'm not aware that Wikipedia has been or will be disabled. Perhaps you are referring to one of the following things?

• a particular article that has been protected. - See the talk page of the article concerned and check the protection log to find out who protected it and why.
• an error message due to a busy or non-responsive server. This is a hardware problem and out of your control. The best thing to do is wait a couple of minutes and try again.
• A widely circulated, but incorrect, statement that Wikipedia would be locked or frozen. See Wikipedia:Wikipedia Signpost/2005-08-08/Hype over no announcement

If none of these answer your question, please be more specific about what you mean. Thryduulf 14:23, 31 August 2005 (UTC)

Um, which bit is disabled? Clearly not the part that lets us put messages here, so what are you seeing? Notinasnaid 14:17, 31 August 2005 (UTC)

BRITISH MILITARY DECORATION....GRI

MY FATHER, AN AMERICAN NAVAL AVIATOR, WAS AWARDED A BRITISH MILITARY DECORATION IN 1943. IT IS A CROSS WITH GRI UNDER A CROWN ON ITS FACE. I DID NOT SEE IT LISTED ON YOUR BRITISH MILITARY DECORATIONS PAGE. CAN YOU TELL ME WHAT IT IS, AND WHERE MIGHT I FIND THE CITATION THAT GOES WITH IT? THANK-YOU........HOWARD S. ROBERTS, JR.

That sounds like the Distinguished Service Cross, which makes some sense, as it's a naval decoration. The citation, hmm. Writing to the Ministry of Defence would likely work, or you can try digging through the online archives of the London Gazette - search here. It's a bit of a finicky service involving PDF files, and you'll need to do a lot of reading - but he should be in there if it was a wartime appointment. If that fails, try the MoD as above. Best of luck. Shimgray 13:39, 31 August 2005 (UTC)

Now I'm confused... I can't find any reference to the DSC being awarded to people outside the Commonwealth. Hmm. But it does sound like one... Shimgray 13:57, 31 August 2005 (UTC)

Chasing up a bit, I've found a reference to Leif Larsen, a Norwegian, awarded it. So it looks like it was awarded to non-Imperial naval officers, which clears up that question. Now all we need to do is find out where and when he got it... Shimgray 14:02, 31 August 2005 (UTC)

Vote for deletion?

Somebody has kindly made a Wiki page about me:

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

Very nice.

But.... I don't think I come up to the Wiki threshold for my site, and would like it deleted for now. Haven't got a clue how it's done, but thought it better I don't have a page until I'm ruling the whole world at the very least.

You can add the page to VfD using the instructions found here. This doesn't mean that it will be deleted, just that the community will consider whether the page is worthy of inclusion. --Canderson7 14:14, August 31, 2005 (UTC)

I would be happy to add the page to the Articles for deletion list for you if you're uncomfortable with the process. At the same time, I think that it would generate better discussion if you were able to initiate the process personally. :) (contact) --Alan Au 04:06, 2 September 2005 (UTC)

Someone else changing my post for advertisement

I am having a problem with one of our postings. A year and half ago, I posted information on a typical sauce from Costa Rica. I did not do it for advertisement purposes. A compititor of ours found the posting and change the edits to an advertisement for his website. I have been changing his advertisement back to our information post on a daily basis. I now recieved a notice from you telling me not to use Wikipedia as an advertisement avenue. Any suggestion on how to get this other company to stop changing my words, description to reflect as his own information.

THanks.

Could you provide a link to the article in question? Dismas 14:40, 31 August 2005 (UTC)

From his history it looks to be Salsa lizano. The problem seems to be that this user and his competitor are adding advertisements to the (otherwise very stubby) article. See his ad, his competitor's ad. Neither is appropriate for a Wikipedia article. I've reverted it back to the original stub. Both this user and his competitor ought to cut it out. (That said, I am amused how "his advertisement" becomes "our information post" merely by changing the URL of the store.) — mendel ☎ 16:01, August 31, 2005 (UTC)

Yeah, the only significant difference here seems to be that one of the two advertisers got there first... Shimgray 16:37, 31 August 2005 (UTC)

I did not post the info for advetisement purposes. I wish you would not assume that. I only post text regarding the product itself and included a picture. Thanks.

Database Question: Origin of Many-to-Many (M:N)

In describing the relationship between databases - why is the term Many-to-Many noted as (M:N) as opposed to (M:M)

To avoid implying that there is an equal number on each side. Bovlb 15:45:00, 2005-08-31 (UTC)

That is, the "M" stands for a number, and not for the word "Many". — mendel ☎ 16:03, August 31, 2005 (UTC)

I did not post the info for advetisement purposes. I wish you would not assume that. I only post text regarding the product itself and included a picture. Thanks.

1951 Shriners East/West fooball game

Any idea where I might find the game statistics for this game played in San Francisco December 29, 1951?? Martin S. Jacobs

• Well, the East won, 15-14. [6] --Metropolitan90 03:40, September 2, 2005 (UTC)

Help with Categorization and Namespace

I want to create a new namespace and category called Hip-Hop Stubs, for all stubs related to Hip-Hop. Is there an easy way to make all stubs within Category:Hip_hop go into the Hip Hop Stubs Category, and also be in that namespace. Also how would I have them all display the stub template for Hip Hop stubs? I know how to do this manually, but one human can't search through all of Hip Hop and find stubs. Any way to do it less manually and more automatically?

• Wikipedia:Stubs#New_stub_categories - Mgm|^(talk) 16:43, August 31, 2005 (UTC)

Adding external links to pages

How do I add an external website link to the end of a topic page - and do I need permission or the site checking first?

Put in:

== External links ==

*[http://www.external-link.com/ name]

It may be wise to ask about this on the talk page of the article concerned, as people tend to object to sites added without any reason being given. Shimgray 18:33, 31 August 2005 (UTC)

You do not need permission. However, we do have guidelines and a community consensus on such things. Typically, the following are okay:

• The official site of topic of the article (if the article discusses an organization, person, etc.)
• A web page that gives additional useful information about the topic of the article.

On the other hand, if you are posting a site so people can go there and buy something, or because you think your company might be of interest to people reading the article, then it will be deleted. So don't bother.

— Nowhither 22:26, 31 August 2005 (UTC)

Contacting member "bluuurgh" regarding an image s/he posted

Hi,

I am interested in contacting member "bluuurgh", who posted the image at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Gawhar_shad-1417-2.jpg

But I cannot seem to be able to locate his user or talk page. Any help is appreciated.

Thanks!

Newbie member, boalkan

That user never created a user page. You could try the "email this user" but if that doesn't work (i.e. if they didn't specify and email address) they can't be contacted I'm afraid Theresa Knott (a tenth stroke) 19:05, 31 August 2005 (UTC)

If you click on the (red) user's name at Image:Gawhar_shad-1417-2.jpg, it will take you to an edit screen for User:Bluuurgh. You don't want to edit that. If you click on the 'discussion' tab at the top of that page (also a red link) you will then be able to edit the user's talk page. (Since no one else has left this user a message before, the Talk page hasn't yet been created; you're essentially creating a new page by doing this.) That said, looking at Bluuurgh's contribution history shows only about a dozen total edits, and no editing activity since May—I suspect that Bluurgh isn't reading his talk page much these days. TenOfAllTrades(talk) 19:57, 31 August 2005 (UTC)

Third party contracts

I would like to know of the potencial liability of a company that fails to addopt the contract concluded with the third party,after it starts business?

• You should probably take a look at Wikipedia:Legal disclaimer Notinasnaid 19:19, 31 August 2005 (UTC)

• I imagine that you're asking a general legal question, rather than something specific related to Wikipedia...? You might be able to find a helpful soul over at the Wikipedia:Reference desk who has the expertise to assist you with questions of this nature. TenOfAllTrades(talk) 20:03, 31 August 2005 (UTC)

Restoring previous article - Valle d'Aosta, Italy page

While adding an external link to the Valle d'Aosta (Aosta Valley) page this morning, I appear to have deleted the main article.

Is there a way I can restore the article?

--JVian 19:33, 31 August 2005 (UTC)

I've done it for you. Here is how I did it. I went to the blanked page Aosta Valley and clicked on the history tab to look at the page history. I then clicked on the second to last edit ( i.e. the one before the page blank) and checked it looked OK. Happy that it was good I clicked "Edit this page". A warning comes up because it's an old copy, but that's fine we don't want the latest version. I then clicked save. Theresa Knott (a tenth stroke) 19:52, 31 August 2005 (UTC)

Hubbub

I submitted an article on the etymology of the word Hubbub to Wiktionary (article title, Hubbub), and it was automatically converted to Wikipedia; I am now unable to find the article or any record of its existence or deletion, even though I thought I'd put it on my watchlist. What to do? --shtove 19:42, 31 August 2005 (UTC)

I've just found that Ambi re-redirected the article - back to Wiktionary! Will it end up in limbo? I'd prefer for it to appear in W'pedia, as it involves interesting history and culture, and may attract intelligent edits. Is it permissible for an etymology article to remain on W'pedia? How should I change it to fit the frame? Or should it just go through the 3 reverts rule? --shtove 20:08, 31 August 2005 (UTC)

See Wikipedia:Votes for undeletion. I can't see why the three revert rule would be relevant or useful here. Bovlb 20:18:30, 2005-08-31 (UTC)

Hollywood gossip vs. factual information

I noticed that the entry on Seann William Scott is almost one-third devoted to *speculation* about whether he's gay.

Whether he's gay or not, and regardless of whether people think it's appropriate to include a person's sexual orientation, wouldn't the Wikipedia be of greater value to all if it focused on what is known rather than what might be?

Thanks for your suggestion. When you believe an article needs improvement, please feel free to change it. You can edit almost any article on Wikipedia by just following the Edit link at the top of the page. We encourage you to be bold in updating pages, because wikis like ours develop faster when everybody edits. Don't worry too much about making honest mistakes—they're likely to be found and corrected quickly. You can always preview your edits before you publish them or test them out in the sandbox. If you need additional help, check out our getting started page or ask the friendly folks at the Teahouse. Flcelloguy | A note? | Desk 20:11, 31 August 2005 (UTC)

User links at top...

Is anybody else having a problem with their user links at the top right of the page? It could be just me, but whenever I try to roll my mouse over any of the links, they all shift over to the left hand side of the screen. Is there something wrong with some script that my computer is running? It's really annoying. Thanks. --Lord Voldemort ^{(Dark Mark)} 20:09, 31 August 2005 (UTC)

That's happened to me several times on several different computers, but now it's not happening anymore. Hmm... Flcelloguy | A note? | Desk 20:10, 31 August 2005 (UTC)

Well, I just logged off and closed all my browsers. I logged back on and it seems to be working fine. Weird. --Lord Voldemort ^{(Dark Mark)} 20:17, 31 August 2005 (UTC)

Article correction: Hurricane Katrina

In the first paragraph it says that New Orleans' mayor is Ray Elgin, he is actually Ray Nagin. You can even refer to your links and they say Ray Nagin. -Angela, Sorrento, La.

Thanks for your suggestion. When you believe an article needs improvement, please feel free to change it. You can edit almost any article on Wikipedia by just following the Edit link at the top of the page. We encourage you to be bold in updating pages, because wikis like ours develop faster when everybody edits. Don't worry too much about making honest mistakes—they're likely to be found and corrected quickly. You can always preview your edits before you publish them or test them out in the sandbox. If you need additional help, check out our getting started page or ask the friendly folks at the Teahouse. . Thryduulf 20:42, 31 August 2005 (UTC)

Adding Javascript to Mediawiki

How is it possible to add javascript forms to the mediawiki software? I can't find the answer to this anywhere, (i want to add google adsense to particular sections of my site)

For help that is not related to Wikipedia, but the MediaWiki software you should really refer to www.mediawiki.org — Sverdrup 23:29, 31 August 2005 (UTC)

Links bar/Bookmarks Toolbar

I tried adding Wikipedia to my Bookmarks Toolbar (Firefox for Links bar) but the image has a white background... Is there a page somewhere on Wikipedia for adding to toolbars (ie, a gray or clear background, redirects to the mainpage?)? (I can't just change the icon, it is not possible under the current build of Firefox) --Wulf 21:59, August 31, 2005 (UTC)

Um, if your link is in the "Bookmarks Toolbar Folder" it should appear on the toolbar, same as the RSS default link. If it isn't move it there. If you have, open "Bookmarks", open "Bookmarks Toolbar Folder" and click on the link there, works for me with newly moved/created 'bookmarks'. Alf 22:33, 31 August 2005 (UTC)

It ends up on the toolbar fine, but it has a white background... I was just wondering how I could get the image to be gray/clear. Thanks, Wulf 03:43, September 3, 2005 (UTC)

Uploading an image

• I guess the answer is to see uploading images at Special:Upload, make sure to read and follow the image use policy before you upload any images. It might also be helpful to read Wikipedia:Preparing images for upload. Alf 22:27, 31 August 2005 (UTC)

• And you must be logged into your account: if you haven't, you can create an account. Alf 22:40, 31 August 2005 (UTC)

2nd person "You"

I know that most encyclopedias and research documents never refer to the reader as "you." I've seen too many 2nd person references on Wikipedia, especially on articles about games (Board games, Video Games, Pinball, sports, etc.), or sometimes movie or book reviews. In these cases, I've changed "you" to either "the player" or the character's name, and "your" into "the player's" or the posessive form of the character's name. The only exception is whenever "you" is used in a quotation.

I am wondering if there really is a (written) rule about this on Wikipedia. Is it? or is it not appropriate to use "you" and "your" in the context of the reader? — Kjammer ⌂ 22:41, 31 August 2005 (UTC)

I personally don't like to see the use of "you" unless in a quote. I agree with you. I don't know if there's a policy on this though. Dismas 01:54, 1 September 2005 (UTC)

I can't find any specific direction in the Manual of Style, but I think that any move towards removing the second-person references is acceptable. We have a lot of editors who are experts in their various fields (molecular biology, structural engineering, or Pokemon) but who are very much amateurs at writing. That's the nature of the collaborative environment here—some people are good at adding content, and others are good at massaging it into presentable shape.

I'm not sure that we need an explicit policy on this point (though if someone can find an appropriate place to mention it in the Manual of Style, it's worth suggesting). I think it's just good writing practice. TenOfAllTrades(talk) 02:59, 1 September 2005 (UTC)

Image file won't upload

Uploading "BrownAnole1.jpg

I have tried every way I know how to upload the subject photo to: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brown_Anole

File:BrownAnole1.jpg | caption =Brown Anole}}

I get this Message every time: Upload warning "." is not a recommended image file format.

Please help: Phillipsacp 20:20, 31 August 2005 (UTC)

Have you been trying to set the destination filename to "BrownAnole" instead of "BrownAnole1.jpg", so the upload form doesn't realise it's a JPEG? Images can be used on more than one article, so the upload form doesn't determine where the image appears. Once you've uploaded it (as BrownAnole1.jpg), you then add something like [[Image:BrownAnole1.jpg|thumb|250px|A brown anole (this is the caption)]] to the Brown Anole article. Does this help? - IMSoP 23:17, 31 August 2005 (UTC)

Editing question from anon user

what is the editorial process of wikipedia

You click on the edit link, you make changes, if they aren't Point of View edits and can be backed up with citations from other sources, they stay, if not then someone will take them out as vandalism. It's that simple. Dismas 01:53, 1 September 2005 (UTC)

Adding an image in a user page

I give up. I thought I was using the correct syntax to add my picture to my user page, but I keep going around in what the Latins use to call the circulus inextricabilus - the circle from which I can not extricate myself. I inserted the following in the text of my page: [Image:Vian-colfiorito.jpg|frame|Vian at Colfiorito, Umbria, 2005]]. I have apparently successfully uploaded the image. Why does my image and the caption not appear on the right side of the text area in a frame? What do I need to do to complete this edit? Help appreciated. --JVian 00:40, 1 September 2005 (UTC)

Fixed, image names are case-sensitive and you forgot to capitalise the JPG part. Keep in mind user pages aren't supposed to be adverts by the way, your user page is sort of skirting the line in my view, though others may disagree. --fvw* 00:46, September 1, 2005 (UTC)

Try [[Image:Vian-colfiorito1.JPG|frame|right|Vian at Colfiorito, Umbria, 2005]] Bovlb 00:45:44, 2005-09-01 (UTC)

Thanks to both Fvw and Bovlb. On the question of whether or not my user page is a kind of "advert", I don't know what to say. To me it's pretty straightforward, providing a brief description of what I actually do in life, and how I am involved in Wikipedia. I don't like to offend the rules, written or unwritten, of the Wiki community, so I would appreciate hearing more views on this subject, but probably on my talk page not here. ---JVian 01:21, 1 September 2005 (UTC)

how to mark a page violating the NPOV policy/ also how to revert

how do i do all the stuff above... the previous version (i edited it) of the article on Sphinx Senior Society is quite biased. I dont know anything about it, i just edited out all of the stuff calling the members "turds" thanks --Insert name here 00:49, September 1, 2005 (UTC)

See Wikipedia:NPOV and Wikipedia:Revert Dismas 01:45, 1 September 2005 (UTC)

Cultural Bias

In all the pages Wikipedia has to offer, I can't seem to find anything on this specific issue. It's possible I overlooked something but I really can't find an answer. What's the policy on cultural emphasis? I know that this is the English component of the encylopedia, but on a random look through of the 1990s page, it seemed that the focus of the "entertainment" section was entirely on the English-speaking world, more specifically North America. Even given that this is the English version, should the emphasis really be on only English entertainment? I'm also aware though about the difficulties involved in English writers writing about entertainment in other languages, I'm just not sure whether or not other things should be included. --Jammoe 01:29, September 1, 2005 (UTC)

You have come across the systematic bias in Wikipedia. As a user created encyclopedia, people are going to write about what they know. A majority of the people who contribute are from the "western world" and so are more likely to have been exposed (in this case) to American pop culture. Because of this what they know is American pop culture and that is what they write about. This can be seen in all parts of Wikipedia. We have a huge article on Terri Schiavo (34 talk page archives and counting), yet our article on Cape Verde is still largely based on the CIA World Fact Book. There are efforts underway to remedy this, such as Wikipedia:WikiProject Countering systemic bias. Evil Monkey∴Hello 01:42, 1 September 2005 (UTC)

Atlantis

I see the Wikipedia page on Atlantis doesn't include Atlantis In America by Ivar Zapp and George Erikson. How do we get this important title (and Mesoamerican location for Atlantis) posted? www.AtlantisInAmerica.com

Eriksongd@aol.com

Thanks for your suggestion. When you believe an article needs improvement, please feel free to change it. You can edit almost any article on Wikipedia by just following the Edit link at the top of the page. We encourage you to be bold in updating pages, because wikis like ours develop faster when everybody edits. Don't worry too much about making honest mistakes—they're likely to be found and corrected quickly. You can always preview your edits before you publish them or test them out in the sandbox. If you need additional help, check out our getting started page or ask the friendly folks at the Teahouse. Dismas 01:34, 1 September 2005 (UTC)

Informal assitance, copy editing.

The information about assisting with copy editing has been reviewed. It is not at all clear that more editors are required to be formally enrolled, regardless of the exhortation at the top of the page.

I spent some years in a cubicle in a Systems Engineering Department in a high tech. company, where, because of my much better grounding in English and other grammars and much wider vocabulary, ended up with a “side” job of cleaning up engineers’ English before it was released from the department. Hinc illae lacrymae!

It is possible that I might be able to help some of the long time, heavily involved copy editors by accepting material, routine or technical, that they would like to off load.

If such adjunct editors are useful, please advise how one might assist in that role.

Scriptor eram.

• I'm not sure what you're refering to. If you want to contribute to Wikipedia then just edit articles. Elfguy 12:02, 1 September 2005 (UTC)

• If you're a copy editor, you should've spelled "assistance" correctly.
  • Oh, my friend, you sadly misinterpet the job of a copy editor--it's to fix other people's typos, not to write correctly yourself. An experienced copy editor 18:58, 2 Sept 2005

Lord Marren/Brian Marren

How can I improve on my submissions concerning Lord Marren, Earl of Kensington, and Brian Marren?

I'll try and make a detailed reply, but bear in mind that it's just my opinion, and others may disagree or have different replies. Also bear in mind that Wikipedia is collaborative, so it doesn't have to be the original author who improves it; some authors are good at content and others at presentation; though if you can do both it's certainly better. I looked at Brian Marren. Thanks for your work by the way, please don't take this as meaning your contribution wasn't welcome.

Here is the article now, in its entirety. My italics, for ease of discussion. (b. 1964 in Sidmouth, Devon England) 9th Earl Of Kensington. Hereditery peer in the British House of Lords known for his Labour Party sympathies and avid support for trade unions. One of the few remaining hereditery peers left in Lords since Prome Minister Blair's sweeping changes to that body's compositional structure in 1997. He is regarded by his coleagues as a scholar, and is often defered to when there is a question regarding British history. Lord Marren is also sometimes noted for his witty repartee with fellow peers and the press, and is the darling of Britain's entertainment community. He has worked on numerous charitable projects in conjunction with various rock and roll artists such as Eric Clapton, George Harrison, Paul McCartney, Elvis Costello, and Keith Richards. An avid musician himself, he also enjoys sailing, sculling, reading, and polo.

Each publication has a style. This doesn't look like a Wikipedia article. More like a printed entry in Whos Who. The popular term, though I can't say I like it as it smacks of Americo-Neologism, is to 'wikify' your article.

(b. 1964 in Sidmouth, Devon England) 9th Earl Of Kensington. Wikipedia style is to write in unabbreviated whole sentences. The first sentence should be a definition, which this is, but should also include the subject name in bold. Example: Brian Marren, born 1964 in Sidmouth, is the 9th Earl of Kensington.

You'll notice some more things, which are how I would write it but not universally agreed. The first is to add links where relevant. Sidmouth is probably relevant, even if it doesn't mention the subject. This is because it will tell people where in the world Sidmouth is, and other interesting details. So I've removed the further geographical qualification. Not everyone in the world knows what an Earl is, so I've linked that too.

The second sentence needs to be, well, a sentence. There's an opportunity to link trade unions as well as hereditary peer. Already, the article is turning into an opportunity to learn about the policical nature of the United Kingdom, which is what it is all about. Next sentence, Prome -> Prime, needs to be a sentence.

Paragraph break here. Lord Marren is also sometimes noted for his witty repartee with fellow peers and the press, and is the darling of Britain's entertainment community. This is bordering on opinion. At least, so it seems to me, not knowing the fellow. If you can back this up with references, that's fine. Also "darling of" is rather colloquial English and may baffle or mislead some readers in the colonies and elsewhere; probably best to find another way to say it. The remainder reads well, but provides opportunities to link personalities and pastimes (certainly sculling and polo, but probably not reading).

I hope this helps! Notinasnaid 10:13, 1 September 2005 (UTC)

I did a first-pass over the articel, adding wiki-links (wikification) and stub-tags, and changign the format of the opening a bit. Note that it is normal to give the birth date (and death date, for a person no longer alive) in parentheses in the first sentance of a biographical articel. see Wikipedia:Manual of Style (biographies) for more on proper formatting issues, and Wikipedia:Manual of Style (dates and numbers)#Dates of birth and death for detailed formatting of the dates. A precise birth date, not merely the year, would be desireable if available. I did not otherwise rewrite -- many of Notinasnaid's ideas above arfe a good idea. It would also be a good idea to register for an account and log in. DES ^(talk) 15:31, 1 September 2005 (UTC)

actor Nick Adams background

would be nice to have nick adams family background--ethnicity--corrected. He was ukrainian (not lithuanian), and might be added, buried in the Sts. Cyril and Methodius ukrainian catholic church/parish cemetery (Berwick, Pennsylvania). This is an Eastern Rite roman catholic church. thnks Bohdan

• The article says he was the son of a Lithuanian coal miner. Not that he was Lithuanian himself. Anyway, the article seems to be protected at the moment. The best course of action is to mention it on Talk:Nick Adams. Don't forget to add some sources to back up your statement. - 131.211.210.12 07:32, 1 September 2005 (UTC)

7" picture disc

Hello, I noticed you have on your website the picture of a 7" picture disc by Hot Water Music "I was on a Mountain" (Epitaph Records). Would you have 1 copy for sale; if not, do you know where I could find this record? Thank you for your help. André Decerf Belgium

• Thank you for your question. Unfortunately, Wikipedia is an encyclopedia, not a record shop. However, you might try posting this on the talk page for the article where the picture was found (click on the Discussion link), or searching the web to find someone selling it. Consider eBay too. Notinasnaid 12:09, 1 September 2005 (UTC)

Vandalism Report: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hermeneutics

This page has been vandalised with obscenities. The last sentence on the section titled "Hermeneutics of Schleiermacher and Dilthey", which is 3/4 of the way down the page. Many thanks.

• User:TenOfAllTrades fixed it. Please read Wikipedia:Revert to learn how to fix vandalism yourself. - 131.211.210.12 13:20, 1 September 2005 (UTC)

Upgrading scientific article to accepted standards of verifiabilty and neutrality

Please clarify the meaning of "whack-job" (see below a transcript of an article's history). I'm not yet familiar with Wikipedia's particular jargon.

I've been editing aspects of an article that didn't conform to accepted scientific form, eliminating personal opinions which don't conform to the scientific and humanistic literature on the topic, beginning to include appropriate references, and using language conforming with currently published peer-reviewed material.

I just found that they have been all deleted on grounds of "reverting a whack-job." I'd like to re-write the article as to make it compliant with the Wikipedia policies, in particular concerning verifiable and referenced neutral information (ie, balanced when conflicting definitions have been published in the scientific literature). I didn't encounter any problems doing so in other articles.

Please advice how to proceed to attain the intended scholarly encyclopedia character in the article of reference (see below).

J.-C. Lerman, Ph.D., NIH Senior Fellow 1984-1986

- please reply to jclerman@gmail.com -

--- from the history of article "sleep paralysis" ---

(cur) (last) 18:25, 31 August 2005 Frecklefoot (revert whack-job 69.9.31.55 did on the article) (cur) (last) 17:39, 31 August 2005 69.9.31.55 (cur) (last) 17:38, 31 August 2005 69.9.31.55 (cur) (last) 17:35, 31 August 2005 69.9.31.55 (cur) (last) 17:29, 31 August 2005 69.9.31.55 (cur) (last) 06:41, 29 August 2005 69.9.31.55 (cur) (last) 06:22, 29 August 2005 69.9.31.55 (cur) (last) 06:15, 29 August 2005 69.9.31.55 (cur) (last) 06:00, 29 August 2005 69.9.31.55 (cur) (last) 00:43, 29 August 2005 69.9.31.55 (cur) (last) 02:48, 28 August 2005 69.9.31.55 (cur) (last) 02:32, 28 August 2005 69.9.31.55 (cur) (last) 02:24, 28 August 2005 69.9.31.55 (cur) (last) 06:43, 27 August 2005 69.9.31.55 (→Normal sleep paralysis) -- anon

Some tips to help you get most out of editing articles in Wikipedia.

• Please don't ask for private e-mail replies, because discussions about articles are best conducted in public, so anyone interested can join in.
• Register as a user. Your contributions will have more weight.
• Wikipedia encourages you to be bold. However, others can be just as bold, so major rewrites, especially of maturing articles, are likely to be reverted as quickly as they are written.
• Many pages may already have a long history of battles, discussion and compromises. You should read the talk pages - and archives of the talk pages - in detail, to find out what has happened before. Some people are very edgy to protect compromises that may have been very long fought.
• Don't start a revert war.
• In general, and always after your changes are reverted, go to the talk page for the article, and use that to discuss proposed changes. The aim is to discuss at length and reach a consensus; only them make the changes.
• I'd recommend going to the talk page and politely asking what was wrong with your contributions. The slang used in the article summary wasn't especially helpful.
• Bear in mind that Wikipedia is a general encyclopedia, so it may need to use a different tone and language than a specialist journal, as well as covering views other than the prevailing establishment views.

I have not read this article, but I have a vague recollection of seeing wars faught over it before. Notinasnaid 14:11, 1 September 2005 (UTC)

I was the one who reverted the edits. The reason was simple: it looked like he was rewriting the article to fit his particular opinions. I thought my revert was justified. However, I'm willing to discuss these changes.

You earlier emailed me (a big no-no) and I told you to bring up your perspective changes on the article's talk page, but you didn't. Instead you made the changes and they looked very POV to me. Now when I reverted your changes, you again don't bring it up on the articles Talk page (as you should, a wiki-standard way of operating), or even MY Talk page, instead you come all the way over to the help desk and ask for arbitration. I don't want to bite the newcomer, but here's my pieces of advice, do everyting Notinasnaid asked you to do. Never, ever ask people to email you. You were able to find your way to Wikipedia to edit the article, you can find your way back to discuss your changes.

Now, if you want to discuss your changes, please do so on the sleep paralysis Talk page. Nothing on Wikipedia gets lost forever. We can always restore your changes if we come to an agreement. But first get a user account (free, it even offers more privacy, not less). And always sign your posts. Even without a user account, you can do this with 3 or 4 tildes (~~~ or ~~~~). The latter is preferred since it also adds a timestamp. Peace. — Frecklefoot | Talk 14:46, September 1, 2005 (UTC)

Well, we do put that link there saying "e-mail this user". I think it is a little too close to biting the newcomer to complain when they actually use it. Since some (perhaps most) Wikipedians see the e-mail option as a last resot, maybe we should put a warning to that effect in the page that comes up when you try to e-mail someone. Johntex 22:02, 1 September 2005 (UTC)

Personally if i didn't want to get email, i wouldn't have filled in that field. I would like to see the policy, guideline, or other consensus page that says that sending email to another user is "a big no-no". I don't think it is. Expecting another user to email you may be inconsiderate, but that is not the same thing IMO. It is preferable to dicuss article content on the article's talk page, not by email or on personal talk pages. DES ^(talk) 22:14, 1 September 2005 (UTC)

Languages

My native language is luganda.and i live in uganda!I am very fluent and i have studied extensively in my language and i would like to share my knowledge with wikipedia by translatying into my own language. The problem is copyright and how i should attain it. i need your advise on this one because i am very eager to work with you directly from my home country and to share first hand information with this media as an ardent fun and lover of Encyclopedia at wikipedia.

Hello!

We have a domain reserved for a Lugandan wikipedia - http://lg.wikipedia.org/ lg.wikipedia.org] - but it currently has no content. If you wish to start translating articles - or writing them yourself - for it, please jump in!

As far as copyright goes, all written content on all Wikipedias is licensed under the GFDL - basically, what this means for you is that you can translate it as much as you want, as long as you give credit to the original author. However, it must then be licensed under the GFDL - but, usefully, all text on Wikipedia projects is licensed this way. The best way to go about this is to make a translation of the article, then add a note on the talk page saying "Original taken from page X at the English wikipedia". You can then add interwiki links to the pages, to link between language versions.

You might also find it useful to register an account here and on the Luganda wikipedia, to make it easier to contact you.

If you've any trouble doing this, or want to ask any more questions, feel free to leave a message on my talk page, and I'll try to help. I've asked some people for advice about working on an "empty language", and I'll see what they say Shimgray 13:23, 1 September 2005 (UTC)

Translation

Hello,

I've been looking around on the English and Dutch Wikipedia site, but I'm unsuccesful in finding information on translating Wikipedia articles from one language to another. Maybe I haven't looked in the right places? I assume that translating English pages to Dutch is allowed? I haven't done so yet, I want a clear answer on it because of possible copyright issues.

Thanks!

Jean-Paul

Basically, see the answer above. Translation is fine between Wikipedias, due to the GFDL license, but it's recommended to say where the translation came from. Shimgray 13:23, 1 September 2005 (UTC)

• Yes, translations are much appreciated. Just make a note on the talk/discussion page that it's a translation and what the source article was. Since all Wikipedia articles are licensed under the GFDL its text can be used for any purpose as long as Wikipedia is given credit and the work itself is released under the GFDL as well. WP:PNT is a good place to start. - 131.211.210.12 13:26, 1 September 2005 (UTC)

Adding 2 names to People from Arkansas

Sid McMath was a former governor of Arkansas who was an early advocate of rural electric power, civil rights and election reform. He was later a famous courtroom lawyer. Joe T. Robinson was a senator from Arkansas who was majority leader under FDR and a candidate, himself, for vice president in 1929 on the Democratic ticket with Al Smith. Both are the subject of Wikipedia biographies. Efforts to add them to the above category have been unsuccessful. How does one do it? Thanks, SOTO

Go to the articles in question, click to edit the last section, add [[Category:People from Arkansas|McMath, Sid]], add an edit summary and save the changes. Go to the category and they should be there. You might have to clear your browser's cache. Dismas 14:26, 1 September 2005 (UTC)

To add an article to a category, edit the article and add [[category:xyz]] to the end of the article (but before any iterlanguage-links the article has), where xyz is the name of the category. For people it is common for them to be sorted by surname in the category listing, to do this use the format [[category:xyz|Surname, Firstname]]. See Wikipedia:Categorisation for more details. Also, please sign your posts on talk pages by using four tildes (~~~~). Thryduulf 14:29, 1 September 2005 (UTC)

copyright infringement, cited text?

Hi,

I recently created the article "Tony Bradan" and included text quoted from a source, which I cited. The text has been removed and a copyright violation statement has appeared at the top of my article. Have I cited the source improperly, or is it forbidden to use quotations in wikipedia?

Thank you, Dan Sich

The text was most likely removed because you basically just copied what someone else had already written... all of it. Including a quote or two for emphasis of specific points is one thing, copying most of an article just to put it in our article is another thing. I would suggest that you read a biography or two about Tony Bradan and then write what you learned in your own words. It would also help you out more if you discussed this on the articles talk page at Talk:Tony Bradan since that is where someone would be looking for discussions on that specific topic. Dismas 14:37, 1 September 2005 (UTC)

A quotation from Tony Bradan himself might be appropriate, as might a quotation from a specific individual commenting on him. On the other hand, I'm afraid it isn't acceptable to reproduce an entire encyclopedia article about him—even when the source is cited. (Some of our articles are based on entries from the 1911 edition of the Encyclopedia Britannica; those are permitted because the copyright on those articles has expired.)

In all cases, quotations should be from primary sources ("Tony Bradan has said...", "Paul Simon has described Bradan's work as...") rather than secondary or tertiary sources like textbooks and encyclopedias.

I would recommend adding to the new draft article at Tony Bradan/Temp. Start with point-form biographical information, then come back and flesh out the text. That way you are less likely to inadvertantly copy material from the external source(s). TenOfAllTrades(talk) 14:47, 1 September 2005 (UTC)

using short, cited, quotations is generally acceptable. However, large-scale copying of copyrighted work, which is what happened on this occasion, is in violation of copyright laws and is therefore rightly forbidden. We have to be particularly careful when the soruce of the material is an organisation or product with which it could reasonably be considered we are competing with. It is reasonable to consider that two encylopaedias to be in competition with each other. An exception to this is if they are two specialist ones with different subjects - e.g. an Encylopaedia of Switzerland is unlikely to be competing against an Encylopaedia of Marine Biology. A general encylopeadia, such as wikipedia, could be competing with both. It would not be reasonable to consider Wikipedia to be in competition with the Weston-Super-Mare Tyre Company, as we are in very different markets, although that does not mean we can violate their copyright. See also Wikipedia:Copyright FAQ. Thryduulf 14:48, 1 September 2005 (UTC)

There were (and are) a number of problems with Tony Bradan. There was a three-paragraph quote from The Canadian Encyclopedia which constituted more than half the article. This is not appropriate for reasons cited above. There was an "About the Author" section giving the anme, email and info about the person who created the article. Wikipedia articles are not suppoed to be signed, insted the history can be use (of course it helps if users register and log on). Books (or other publications, it is unclear) cited as references lised authors but no publishers, ISBNs or publications dates, leading top a suspicion thjat they are unpublished or vanity published. if they are published sources, this lack of info makes it much harder for a user to find them. On the other hand, the editor who added the {{copyvio}} tag did so incorrecntly -- that tag is supposed to completely replace the page. There is a re-written version at Tony_Bradan/Temp which needs to be expanded. DES ^(talk) 15:08, 1 September 2005 (UTC)

donloadin' on mozilla.....time consumin

Guess what.. Firefox is all fine..the way the downloads load on my RAM. I hav a SONY Vaio VGN-A290 with 1GB of RAM. and my whol firefox freezes for say 8 seconds each time i save a pic on my hard disk. I mainly hav downloads of the order of 200 and 500kb onto my harddisk... and I save atleast 100 pics each day and imagine 1000 seconds of waiting jus to save on my hard disk which is already on my hard disk n right in front of my eyes..

A) you don't really spell out what you're trying to find out. Do you have a question or did you just put this up to let us know about your computer problems? B) This is the place for questions about how to do things on the Wikipedia, for general knowledge questions like what you may be looking for, please go to Wikipedia:Reference desk. Thanks, Dismas 14:41, 1 September 2005 (UTC)

Wikiproject

can someone kindly let me know how to start a new wikiproject thank you Gopala Kovvali gopala@optonline.net

See Wikipedia:WikiProject; or do you actually mean a new Wikimedia sister project or your own wiki running MediaWiki? - IMSoP 15:57, 1 September 2005 (UTC)

about wikipedia

hi! i am a first time user of this portal. tell me how does the title wikipedia derived and what is its meaning?

See Wikipedia for an answer. Shimgray 15:56, 1 September 2005 (UTC)

Can't Upload "BrownAnole7acp.jpg" to right place

You have to use the exact image file name, which is "Image:Brown Anole7acp.jpg". (Note the space between Brown and Anole). A sample image tag, to be placed in the artcile where you want the picture, might be:

[[Image:Brown Anole7acp.jpg|right|150px|thumb|Put a caption here]]

For more help lacing images take a look at Wikipedia:Extended image syntax. Nice picture! --Commander Keane 16:44, September 1, 2005 (UTC)

general

where do I add a general but very vital information about an household item and can be accessed by anyone?--ann

Probably under the article about that item, which you could create if it doesn't exist. It eould help if you gave a little more detail. It would also be a good idea if you signed your psotes with four tildas (~~~~) which will expand to your user ID (or IP address if not logged in) and a timestamp. DES ^(talk) 16:17, 1 September 2005 (UTC)

This is a confidential letter.

The page "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fallout_(computer_game)" keeps getting a link to a pair of sites where a convicted sexual predator is known to hide out. Please deal with this problem.

Anon

Anon: I assume you are referring to the "No Mutants Allowed" and "The Radiated Society" links? The problem seems to be that the text including these links is associated with some highly POV comments. In particular, in the 16:03, 1 September 2005 revision of the page, you removed those links by (pretty nearly) reverting to the 07:03, 1 September 2005 version of the page. However your reversion also reinserted some comments that had been removed, including "self-absorbed neo-nazi wannabes" and "petty cry-babies". For obvious reasons, someone called your edit "vandalism" and reverted your reversion, which, incidentally, replaced the links you removed. May I suggest that you concentrate on getting the page into NPOV form and not worrying about where sexual predators hide out, which, to be honest, can be pretty much anywhere. A final note: the issue of sexual predators does not seem to have been discussed on Talk:Fallout_(computer_game) at all; that would be the first place to do it. — Nowhither 17:12, 1 September 2005 (UTC)

Actually, no, this is not a confidential letter. This is a public web page which anyone in the world can visit. Notinasnaid 19:17, 2 September 2005 (UTC)

Using a picture on a page?

I have sucessfully uploaded an image, but I don't understand how to put it on a page. On the page I wanted to use it for, I clicked "embedded image" but couldn't work out how to put my image there. Please could someone explain to me how you put a picture on a page?

• Basically you put an image tag in the article, where you want the image to go. Take a look at the Brown Anole question (here a couple before this one) for some more info, particularly the syntax link. Ask again if you need clarification. Good luck. --Commander Keane 16:37, September 1, 2005 (UTC)

This is how the code looks:

[[Image:Example.jpg|thumb|A caption, that describes the image in nice, friendly sentences]]

Note that the Image name (including file suffix) is case-sensitive. — Sverdrup 19:31, 1 September 2005 (UTC)

DATE OF BIRTH

WHAT DAY IS 23 DECEMBER 1965? WHAT DAY IS 23 DECEMBER 1967?

Look at the articles on 1965 and 1967 and you'll have your answer. AND BY GOD PLEASE STOP YELLING!! Dismas 17:53, 1 September 2005 (UTC)

Dismas: Careful. The answers to those questions are on the pages now, because I put them there. But when you wrote, 1965 contained neither a calendar nor a link to a calendar. Of course, I suppose it was reasonable to assume that the calendars were there .... — Nowhither 21:13, 1 September 2005 (UTC)

Ah, I had seen so many year pages with calendars that I just figured that it was part of some year page template. You learn something new every day... Dismas 00:31, 2 September 2005 (UTC)

Finally

I wrote the aritcle on Dorothy Melne Murdock, AKA Acharya S.

In my origional Article, I was unbiased. I gave her ideas and backgorund, and also how her credentials are suspect and her ideas considered les than reliable.

I also referenced her soruces, such as Barbara Walker and Kersey Graves.

Now, the article has been edited, and no longer reflects an unbiased veiw.

It seems they have copied hr own self promotion form her website and pasted it her with a little modificaiton to make it appear as a Wikipedia article.

Please reapir this damage, as it will mislead people.

• Found the article Acharya S. Please move your comments that you have added to the article itself onto the Talk (Discussion) page for the article, so that there can be a proper discussion of the changes, and a consensus can be reached. That is the first stage of resolving disputes in Wikipedia: there is nobody who will take anyone's word for things. (I have also removed the space from one of your paragraphs in this article. The effect of a space is to put your writing into a strange box. Wikipedia style is not to indent paragraphs.) Notinasnaid 18:37, 1 September 2005 (UTC)

Capital letters.

While searching for an article on the film Re-Animator, I noticed something that could be frustrating to your users. When I typed "re-animator" (w/out the quotes) into the search box on the main page, the results said there was no article for the film yet. I then searched on the director, Stuart Gordon & also came up with nothing. I was only able to find the article by searching the actor Jeffrey Combs & using the link listed there.

In the end, the only way I was able to search the article directly was by capitalizing both the R and A in the title. Is there some way to fix this so it isn't necessary to use capital letters. Most users may not realize this & try to enter a new article on a subject they can't find.

• The "Go" button looks for articles with the title you typed in. If you want to look for similar entries, you should click the "Search" button instead. - Mgm|^(talk) 18:52, September 1, 2005 (UTC)

Experienced user, so why can't I find out how to do things?

I have just spent nearly a quarter of an hour trying to find out how to raise a copyright violation problem. The thing is, I'm a moderately experienced user (a couple of months, I think). So if I can't easily find these things, I wonder how many other people have difficulty and just give up.

Actually, I did find it in the end. (Note: For people who don't read things properly, my question is NOT about how to deal with copyright violations.) But I've found several times in other situations that I just can't find out easily how to do things.

This how-to for "copyvios" is simply an example of what I'm talking about. I had seen other Wikipedians' copyvio notices here and there through random browsing, but I didn't make a note at the time how they did it. I hadn't needed to then. But when I came across a page just now whose material appeared to be lifted from another site, I wanted to raise the copyvio notice.

I must have waded through seven or eight pages of instructions about this, that and the other. Several times I ended up at the "Wikipedia:Copyright FAQ" page. Strangely, it does not actually indicate what to do if you suspect a copyright violation.

So what I'm really asking is: is there a page or a searchable manual anywhere that tells people how to do things? Perhaps there is, and I've just missed it - if so, where is it?. Or perhaps there isn't (and nobody's ever wondered why there are so many obvious advertising pages, copyrighted information etc. etc. lying around).--Finbarr Saunders 19:59, 1 September 2005 (UTC)

I've found that if I just type Wikipedia: and then the words I'm looking for I can find the help page associated with what I'm looking for. Such as Wikipedia:Revert or Wikipedia:Copyright violation or some such thing. But yes, help can be rather hard to find about specific topics... Dismas 20:18, 1 September 2005 (UTC)

You say: "I've found that..." — implying that you too had to scratch around to work out how to do things ;-) But many thanks for your response, Dismas - appreciated. --Finbarr Saunders 20:27, 1 September 2005 (UTC)

I agree that it can be very frustrating sometimes trying to find information about using Wikipedia (some people have claimed to have spent three hours looking before posting to this page). Unfortunately, there's a lot to know, and we can't put everything front-and-centre. As you've discovered by now, the page you want is Wikipedia:Copyright problems. Wikipedia:Copyrights links to it (albeit buried at the bottom), and is itself linked from the bottom of every page; a couple of months ago, I proposed adding some helpful lead text to that page, and I have now implemented my suggestion on Wikipedia:Copyrights/e. I have also added a link to copyright problems from Wikipedia:Copyright FAQ. Where else would you have expected to find this information? Cheers, Bovlb 20:33:41, 2005-09-01 (UTC)

Finbarr: I heartily agree. After almost 5 months and nearly 800 edits, my impression is that figuring out how to do the more advanced things here is pretty difficult. The resources for beginning editors are doing okay, I think. I had very little trouble figuring out how to edit and the basic syntax. But how do I (for example) start a RfC, create a subcategory, get an IP banned, mark an article as disputed, submit a candidate Featured Article, request a peer review, or become an administrator? I have no idea, and I have no idea where to look. I could probably find these things, as I've found plenty of other things, using a mostly haphazard search. But there needs to be a better way. I'm not sure what it would be, though. — Nowhither 21:43, 1 September 2005 (UTC)

I completely agree. I've been here for almost a year and still have trouble finding some things. Some users create their own "Tool" page, or a collection of tools on their user page. See, for example, User:Zzyzx11. If you can find a set of tools you like, just click edit and then copy and paste all the code over to your own page. You can improve the set of tools to suit your own style as you go. I do think we need to look at this from a system wide level, and create a better categorization of links at the Community Portal (or somewhere else). Johntex 21:52, 1 September 2005 (UTC)

Interesting. I haven't been here that much longer (only since Feb 2005, although i have rather more edits than nowither) but I know how to do most of those things, and am confident that I could find out any of the others in minutes. Why have I found these sorts of things relatively easy to pick up, while others have not? DES ^(talk) 22:00, 1 September 2005 (UTC)

I cannot remember exactly how or when I put those lists of tools on my user page, but I sort of recall that I first saw some admins put Template:deletiontools and Template:Resources for collaboration and their user pages...so I did that to. Then at some point I went through Wikipedia:WP, the list of Wikipedia shortcuts, and started to jot down the pages that I seemed to frequently visit. I also did that for Wikipedia:Special pages, the list of special and statistical pages that are automatically updated by the software. Then I also swa I link to [[Wikipedia: on Help:Contents and listed that too.

But the main thing for an intermediate or advanced user to learn more about Wikipedia is to start with the pages that are linked from Help:Contents and scan through all of them... or you can just ask questions here or at WP:AN. Zzyzx11 (Talk) 10:20, 3 September 2005 (UTC)

FYI:

• instructions are at WP:RFC.
• You can just add the enw category to any relvant article, then edith the page for the newly created category. Add the prent category top that page so that the sub-cat is a member. (see Wikipedia:Category#How to add category links to an article page, and how to assign subcategory links to a category page However it might be a good idea to consider discussing a new sub-cat on Wikipedia talk:Categorization if it might be contrversial.
• Try WP:AN/I or WP:VIP.
• use {{disputed}} or {{npov}}. See Wikipedia:Template messages for lots of othe useful tags.
• See Wikipedia:Featured article candidates.
• See Wikipedia:Peer review.
• See WP:RFA.

I hope some pattterns are obvious. DES ^(talk) 22:00, 1 September 2005 (UTC)

• I think most things are relatively easy to find from one of the links at the Help article. But I looked at the various copyright pages and I have to agree it's not obvious. It should be much better now. Elfguy 23:26, 1 September 2005 (UTC)

See also Wikipedia talk:Copyright FAQ#Proposed improvement and Wikipedia:Village pump (proposals)#Proposal for new copyright notice. Bovlb 09:01:47, 2005-09-02 (UTC)

I agree with most of the above, finding help can involve a very long 'link trail'. The thing is, the information is there somewhere, but finding it can be convoluted and not very user friendly. My user page will just end up as one huge set of links for helpful stuff that is buried :( This must scare off some newcomers. --Cactus.man 10:29, 3 September 2005 (UTC)

no anonymous posting should be allowed

Hi

As a new reader of your site and part of a new page, I have found that people who can post anonymously sometimes and quite often do it ruthlessly.

Aa popular radio show that is now being inundated with more facts about listeners and callers than the shows, which is where the problem lies.

when you can hide behind the screen of anonymity, you can tell malicious lies about people (myself and others) change facts that I know are true cause i worked there, alter history and move things around so that someone who lets say called the show once gets listed.

I is odd that the people who appeared on the air with the show have been moved to a separate page, that is difficult to find....by who?...an anonymous poster.

all I ask is that it is fair. Everyone may post whatever they like, but be accountable for it. This is a great site What can be done about this. Everyday it changes and changes and its almost all lies. People write about themselves and blow themselves up so much and no one even knows who they are, except them and their 2 friends

Thank you

You are accountable for your actions. In fact, your IP adress is . I know that because you posted. There are no site hoswts that would take any page down, so there is no worry about that. Thanks anyway for your suggestion and that you care about the site. Howabout1 ^{Talk to me!} 23:53, September 1, 2005 (UTC)

I am very much accountable for my actions, indeed, but I believe you are mistaken. this is the very first thing I have ever posted on this wickipedia and I do not appreciate listing my IP for the world to see, please, if I could have figured out how to work this page and talk to u personally I would have

I thank you and was just asking a question.

By posting at all, your IP is visible. That is, unless you create an account. I appreciate your question. What am I mistaken on? Howabout1 ^{Talk to me!} 00:42, September 2, 2005 (UTC)

The idea of barring 'anonymous' contributions is not a new one; see Wikipedia:Village pump (perennial proposals)#Abolish anonymous users. There are arguments both pro and con for allowing anonymous editing. For what it is worth, anonymous editors are in some ways easier to monitor than logged-in users, because their IP addresses are visible in each page's edit history. Anonymous editors are expected to abide by the same policies as every other Wikipedia editor, and can–and do–face sanctions when their behaviour is inappropriate. TenOfAllTrades(talk) 02:57, 2 September 2005 (UTC)

Addition of name to list of famous Jews

Under the category for Political Activists, the name Abbie Hoffman was left out. He was a civil rights activist, anti-war activist, social activist, humorist, author, and founder of the Youth International Party. I feel his name being left out is very noticeable. A cornerstone of Jewish nature is that of social change whether it be Abbie Hoffman, Jerry Rubin, Schermer and Cheny (Freedom Riders killed in Mississippi conduting voter registration, Karl Marx etc. etc.

Thanks for your suggestion. When you believe an article needs improvement, please feel free to change it. You can edit almost any article on Wikipedia by just following the Edit link at the top of the page. We encourage you to be bold in updating pages, because wikis like ours develop faster when everybody edits. Don't worry too much about making honest mistakes—they're likely to be found and corrected quickly. You can always preview your edits before you publish them or test them out in the sandbox. If you need additional help, check out our getting started page or ask the friendly folks at the Teahouse. Dismas 00:26, 2 September 2005 (UTC)

Pop-ups

I just wanted to mention, in case you were unaware, that there are adverts popping up on your pages.

Thanks,

fabe kuhn

Could you please tell us the address of the page, and the rough time you visited it, so we can look into this? That said, I believe we are popup free; you might wish to check your browser. Shimgray 02:23, 2 September 2005 (UTC)

Or download Ad-Aware. --Andy Janata 11:03, 2 September 2005 (UTC)

DJs and VFD

Is there any precedent on the notability of DJs? This DJ seems to do OK on a Google test, but part of me feels that a DJ is inherently non-notable (although that could be just my bias). I was toying with the idea of listing this article on VFD. GinaDana 05:26, 2 September 2005 (UTC)

• I don't know about Andrew Casric, but I'm sure DJs are not inherently non-notable. Dutch DJ Tiësto, for example is famous around the world. I would apply the WP:MUSIC guidelines on DJs and treat them like any regular musician. - Mgm|^(talk) 15:06, September 2, 2005 (UTC)

Eliminating [edit] tag

On my user page, I am creating headers inside a table, which creates several unsightly [edit] tags. Is there a way to supress these across the table or the entire page? Scm83x 08:35, 2 September 2005 (UTC)

Yes, there is you'll have to include the text __NOEDITSECTION__ somewhere in the page — Sverdrup 10:51, 2 September 2005 (UTC)

g

when

Could you explain a bit more on what you'd like help with... Alf 11:00, 2 September 2005 (UTC)

• Usually after 'f'. - Mgm|^(talk) 15:06, September 2, 2005 (UTC)
• Usually followed by "golly gosh". (possibly only in U.S.) Elf | Talk 19:03, 2 September 2005 (UTC)
• Directly after "Oh". (again, possibly only in the U.S.) Dismas 19:08, 2 September 2005 (UTC)

Using Wikipedia images for commercial use

Hi. I am new to the site and have been looking at the images page (dog breeds).I would like to use some of the dog breed images on products like cups etc to sell at the dog shows. Whilst the information on this page says that I may use the images for commercial purposes, another area of your site says that I must check that each image is in the 'public domain'. How do I check that each individual dog image is free to use?

Thankyou Karen -Australia

Clicking on an image will take you to its image page, the details about what licence it has should be there. Alf 11:30, 2 September 2005 (UTC)

Per nasty messages

http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=User:Iago_Dali&action=history

On my user page I found this anonymous note:

Stop vandalizing Pages. This is your last worning or you will be forced to stop editing wikipedia.

I have not vandalized anything. I have had one argument with someone who removed an external link on the Life Of Pi page that I added because he dislikes Internet critics.

From the contributions page I copy the most recent:

I have trimmed the contributions list; it is available at Special:Contributions/Iago Dali TenOfAllTrades(talk) 13:25, 2 September 2005 (UTC)

These are all valid edits made in good faith- correcting spelling errors, removing a wrong addition of a novella as a short story, trimmin excess adjectives and prepositions, etc.

The same cannot be said for

(cur) (last) 21:29, 1 September 2005 65.94.117.169

The person who left the nasty- and misspelled threat on my user page. I don't know who this is or why they left it, but I stand by my edits and would like to report 65.94.117.169 for harassment. I can see no other reason for the remark save that someone has a reason of their own for naming my good edits vandalism.

Please get back on this. Thank you, Iago Dali 12:34, 2 September 2005 (UTC)

Followup on harrasment

I noticed that on the page for theis anonymous user there were other people complaining he/she harassed them:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User_talk:65.94.117.169

Thanks for experimenting with Wikipedia. Your test worked, and has been removed. Please use the sandbox for any other tests you want to do. Take a look at the welcome page if you would like to learn more about contributing to our encyclopedia. Thanks. -- GraemeL (talk) 18:34, 30 August 2005 (UTC)

Please stop adding nonsense to Wikipedia. It is considered vandalism. If you would like to experiment, use the sandbox. Thank you. -- GraemeL (talk) 18:45, 30 August 2005 (UTC)

Im not the one who vandalizes with proxies. You even admitted it in your talk page! Shame on you, you self centered bastard!

Ok, what is going on? I just signed on my computer, I was planning on writing a big article, then it says I was vandalizing and stuff? And whats all that stuff in this talk page? I never once vandalized a page...

Can someone please contact this person and ask them to stop harrassing? Thanks, Iago Dali 12:43, 2 September 2005 (UTC)

As you saw, a number of warnings were placed on the anonymous editor's Talk page (User talk:65.94.117.169). In addition to the spurious message he left on your User page, he was also vandalizing other articles. Consequently, he was temporarily blocked from editing by one of our admins, SimonP: [7]. The block was placed about nine minutes after he left the obnoxious message on your User page. If he comes back and continues his bad behaviour, he will be blocked again.

With respect to the message he left on your User page, you can safely ignore and erase it. The anonymous editor was acting as an Internet troll, hoping to cause trouble and provoke some sort of reaction. Only Wikipedia Administrators can block others from editing, and they won't block without good reasons.

If an editor is engaging in a pattern of destructive behaviour (rude messages, blanking pages, etc.) you can always leave a message at Wikipedia:Vandalism in progress; administrators regularly check that page, and will be able to follow up on your concerns rapidly. TenOfAllTrades(talk) 13:25, 2 September 2005 (UTC)

Thank you much. I have generally tried to clean up redundancies and make NPOV. I've added several links, and clarifications as well, and note all but the most minor grammatic or spelling error changes. I realize that disagreements occur, such as one I have with a link to an online review of Life Of Pi, and I suspect I'll either lose or seek mediation. Troll or not, I think we can disagree civilly, for no one's life is at jeopardy in this process, merely their likes or not. Thanks, again. Iago Dali 13:42, 2 September 2005 (UTC)

Policy on using prose?

Following up a discussion I had with another user, do we have a policy on using prose in articles rather than adding facts in template-style at the bottom of articles? Warofdreams 12:51, 2 September 2005 (UTC)

Could you be a bit more specific about the article or situation in question? The short answer is that some data are best presented as part of a table or template, while other data make more sense as prose.... TenOfAllTrades(talk) 14:31, 2 September 2005 (UTC)

Yes, good point. The discussion was around User:Adam Carr's addition of (useful) information about the representation of various towns in the unreformed House of Commons in template-style format (although not in this case actually using a template). While it seems that this may now have been resolved, I was interested to know if we have any policy on situations such as this. Warofdreams 15:37, 2 September 2005 (UTC)

Brian Eno/Paul Rudolph

On the page for Brian Eno's "Before and After Science" album the musician Paul Rudolph is listed but the external link leads to an American architect of the same name.It would be better to link it to http://www.punk77.co.uk/punkhistory/thesoundofladbrokegrove.htm or http://www.bbc.co.uk/music/classicpop/reviews/pinkfairies_fairies.shtml

which I would do myself if I had any idea how to

tony cheetham

To create an external link, enclose the URL in single square brackets. Following the URL, add a space and the text that you want to appear for the link. So,

[http://en.wikipedia.org Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia]

looks like: Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia

There are more details on how and what to link at Wikipedia:External links. TenOfAllTrades(talk) 14:30, 2 September 2005 (UTC)

In fact, the problem was with an internal link. I have teased the two senses of Paul Rudolph apart. Please feel free to contribute an article on Paul Rudolph (musician). You can start by clicking on the link (currently red) in the last sentence. Bovlb 14:50:44, 2005-09-02 (UTC)

e-mail address to fiedol castro

That is a factual question - not appropriate for this forum. Leonard G. 15:01, 2 September 2005 (UTC)

The reference desk is the more appropriate place. Dismas 15:33, 2 September 2005 (UTC)

National Vanguard is NOT a "White Supremacist" organization

Why does your website continue to call The National Vanguard a "White Supremacist" organization when the NV leadership has said they are not Supremacists but rather White Nationalists or Separatists?

You do not call the Black Panthers a "Black Supremacist" organization so why the obvious hypocrisy with pro-White organizations? Why don't you refer to them in the manner they wish to be referred? The people who run Wikipedia have a history of negativity towards all things regarding White Nationalists and show no such hostility regarding non-white groups.

I insist you take the words "White Supremacist" OUT of the description of the National Vanguard. Otherwise you risk permanently destroying your reputation as a fair website. What you have done is placed yourselves in the crosshairs of white people who agree with White Nationalism and in fact anyone seeking objective NOT subjective information about any subject.

Sincerely, Dr.Madison Taylor

If you feel a change is needed, feel free to make it yourself! Wikipedia is a wiki, so anyone (yourself included) can edit any article by following the Edit this page link, see how to edit a page. Provide an Edit summary in the "Edit summary" box and/or leave a full explanation on the relevant talk page. Alf 15:51, 2 September 2005 (UTC)

• You should check out what Wikipedia is and why your "request" is useless. Anyone can edit articles here, that's the whole point. Note however, that articles have to stay NPOV, and anyone including obvious biased material risks being reverted, and from reading your comment, I wouldn't be surprised if that's what you had in mind. Elfguy 16:52, 2 September 2005 (UTC)

Looking at National Vanguard (American organization), it currently says "The National Vanguard is a white supremacist / white nationalist organization", with links to both terms, which are further compared and cross-referenced in each other's introductions. The edit history of that page shows that this is a point of contention, but the correct place to discuss the best wording is the article's discussion page. Perhaps the best move would be to clarify the case for calling it supremacist, just as there is currently a quote making the case against - but I know nothing of the topic, and don't particularly want to, so this is just provided as a starter for discussion. - IMSoP 12:46, 3 September 2005 (UTC) [note: perhaps this section should be moved, or archived later, to the Talk page in question?]

I want the show page of manual calledNorton, Thomas (Ed. John Reidy) (1975). Ordinal of Alchemy. London: Early English Text Society.

I WANT KNOW ABOUT THIS MANUAL & COST OF THE MANUAL Norton, Thomas (Ed. John Reidy) (1975). Ordinal of Alchemy. London: Early English Text Society.

Try a bookseller. Try http://www.abebooks.com/, who have entries from thousands of booksellers. Notinasnaid 19:11, 2 September 2005 (UTC)

This edition, specifically, has ISBN 0197222749. If you click that link, you'll be taken to our book-sources page; it'll give you a set of links to library catalogues and online booksellers which may have this item. (Amazon.co.uk, for a start, have one for about £16). Shimgray 22:09, 3 September 2005 (UTC)

Wiki Tool Bar?

I use Wikipedia almost every day now. Are there plans to make a Wiki tool bar, or at least a button that would launch Wikipedia from the standard IE toolbar? It would be so much easier than using bookmarks. Just an idea.

Well, there is a Wikipedia extension for Mozilla Firefox. I'd highly recommend Firefox, actually--I've found it to have lots of features that aren't available in IE. You can get the extension here. Best, Meelar (talk) 20:41, September 2, 2005 (UTC)

Englsih

The place of English language in Nigerian institution in a second language situation.

The best place to seek factual information is at our Reference desk. Here at the Help desk we mostly answer questions about Wikipedia's processes and procedures. TenOfAllTrades(talk) 19:39, 2 September 2005 (UTC)

endorphin

Dear sirs,

Can y0u tell me which plants increase endorphin

kiss and thank you

Gordana

For answers to factual questions, the best place to ask is at our Reference desk. Here at the Help desk we mostly deal with questions about how to use Wikipedia itself. That said, hot chile peppers will stimulate the release of endorphins—there are probably others. TenOfAllTrades(talk) 19:37, 2 September 2005 (UTC)

How does new contrib respond to rejected edits?

Recently I edited the entry for the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) because the information was skimpy and minorly misinforming. My edits were rejected and the page returned to its orginal, citing that the edited text was piecemeal work from the ASME site. I understand why that comment seems or is true, but I work for ASME in the Communications dept. and much of the copy is either written by me and it is accurate. (I also have been responsible for the writing of the history of ASME found on the ASME site. I thought the references provided were sufficient for sources.)

How would I have better approached this or can this be rectified? I could not figure out the talk page, because I did not see a way to enter a message.

The reason I came to be editing this ASME page was at the request of an ASME member who thought better information should be available. Both IEEE and ASCE have additional, more complete information. If what was done for ASME (by me) was not acceptable, what recommendations would you have for updating this information.

Diane Kaylor, ASME Communications kaylord@asme.org

If you cite your sources either in references or on the talk page and the edits you made were not 'cut and pastes' from the article, the edit stands less chance of reversion. I would say however that anything done on or for a companies behalf (likely includes copy written by you), normally is the property of the company, anything done in their time also, I think. Alf 20:07, 2 September 2005 (UTC)

1) Explain who you are and what you are doing on Talk:American Society of Mechanical Engineers. 2) It would be better to rewrite the content enough that it doens't look like a cut & paste from the ASME site. Besides, the article should have an encyclopedic tomne which the web site probsbly doesn't. 3) any extensive copying from the site would require a formal release from ASME under the GFDL and this is almost surely more trouble than doing a rewite. 4) Please sign talk page comments with 4 tildas (like this: ~~~~ which expands to your user ID (or IP if not logged in) and a timestamp. 5) Please register for and use a user ID, it helps lend credibility to your edits. DES ^(talk) 20:21, 2 September 2005 (UTC)

Virus Checker

Does anyone know of a free virus checker? Does such a thing even exist these days? Thanks in advance for any help. PubLife 19:48, 2 September 2005 (UTC)

• Yes, there is. AVG Antivirus has a free edition, but to have it most effective you should update the virus definition files, so the program recognizes the latest treaths.- 82.172.23.66 19:50, 2 September 2005 (UTC)
  • Of course, I should've given the link: http://www.download.com/AVG-Anti-Virus-Free-Edition/3000-2239_4-10342876.html - 82.172.23.66 19:51, 2 September 2005 (UTC)
    • Thanks Mgm, truly the most helpful of all wikipedians! 86.128.106.251 20:09, 2 September 2005 (UTC)
• Oh come on! You've made me blush! :) - Mgm|^(talk) 20:33, September 2, 2005 (UTC)

See, thats why I gave you a barnstar. Howabout1 ^{Talk to me!} 23:27, September 2, 2005 (UTC)

• If you may find it neccessary, Panda Software has a virus scanner that you don't have to download a program for: http://www.pandasoftware.com/products/activescan/com/activescan_principal.htm Tim Rhymeless (Er...let's shimmy) 09:48, 3 September 2005 (UTC)

pictures on your website

There are pictures of an erect and a non erect penis attached to your coverage of the Hurricane. I am sure this is a mistake. I am not offended by these images but, expect that many of your surfers will be.

One of Wikipedia's great strengths is that anyone can contribute to our articles. Unfortunately, some people are jerks. Wikipedia articles–particularly articles that are widely read or that discuss controversial topics–occasionally attract childish vandalism. Fortunately many of our editors keep an eye on such articles, often by watching the list of recent changes to Wikipedia. Looking at Hurricane Katrina now, it seems that the damage to the article was very quickly repaired. TenOfAllTrades(talk) 20:25, 2 September 2005 (UTC)

Unregistering

How do I unregister my account? Account is jazzybear2

We currently do not have the technical abilities to unregister any accounts. You can, however, either blank your user and talk pages, or request that it be deleted. If you wish for it to be deleted, you can let me know, contact any other admin, or add the {{deletebecause|REASON}} tag on your pages. I do ask, though, to consider the many benefits of keeping an account. I hope this helps! Flcelloguy | A note? | Desk 00:25, 3 September 2005 (UTC)

Actually, User:Jazzybear2 only has one edit (which was to this page), and has no user or talk pages. Thus, there will be no need for the above; there's really no harm done in having an account registered. Flcelloguy | A note? | Desk 00:28, 3 September 2005 (UTC)

Rolling over contributions made as an anonymous to a user account

I've been considering registering a Wikipedia user name (I've been editing here for a few months now under my IP address), but was wondering something: is it possible to transfer over the contributions made when I was posting under an IP address to my new screen name? (In other words, could the contributions listed under my IP address, or rather both of them, be moved to the contribtions list of my new user name)?

Unfortunately, there is not a way to attribute IP edits to a particular user. While bureaucrats do have the technical capabilities to transfer one user's account to another, this cannot be done with anonymous IP addresses. I do, however, strongly urge you to create an account. Once you create an account, you can place something like "I contributed under the IP address of XXX.XXX.XXX" on your user page. I hope this helps, and encourage you to join us! Flcelloguy | A note? | Desk 00:31, 3 September 2005 (UTC)

• Short answer, no. Elfguy 00:33, 3 September 2005 (UTC)

How to add new article to existing category?

Hello there, I would like to add a new article to an existing category. The category is Neighbourhoods of Tokyo followed by a list of different neighbourhood names which you can click on for info. I would like to add a new neighbourhood but it is not obvious (to me!) how to do this. regards Nick

To add an aricle to a category, type [[Category:Name of Category]] at the bottom of the page. Edit the article and put [[Category:Neighborhoods of Tokyo]] at the bottom of the article. Although it doesn't have to be at the page's bottom, but that is where future editors will look for them. — Kjammer ⌂ 00:47, 3 September 2005 (UTC)

need to move page to spanish wikipedia

Maferefun Shango! is in spanish and I don't know how to move it, hopefully, one of you more expierenced can help, thank you Ybbor 02:09, 3 September 2005 (UTC)

See m:Transwiki, or list on Wikipedia:Pages needing translation. Best, Meelar (talk) 02:10, September 3, 2005 (UTC)

Hurricane Katrina Levee

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

I went to this site, clicked on one of the links and found a picture of a man's genatalia. I don't need your services.

Reed rstrunk@comcast.net

Wikipedia is a wiki, which means anyone can edit. Unfortunately, that means anyone can vandalize as well. The particular instance has no doubt been reverted by now (or else I'll get it forthwith). To learn how to do so yourself, you can visit Wikipedia:Revert. Best wishes, Meelar (talk) 02:38, September 3, 2005 (UTC)

Error in spelling

I'm don't know how to do it myself, and don't want to mess up the article, but your piece on "Benny Moré" should have "Beny" with just one "n" in its title. It is correct in the body of the article, but the title seems to have been written by someone not too familiar with how Beny Moré's name is spelled. Thanks.

Benny with 2 n's gets ~33,000 google hits while Beny with one n gets ~36,000. I'm not saying either one is right but it seems like a lot of people can't agree on the spelling of the man's name. Perhaps the original writer of the article did this on purpose...? Dismas 03:12, 3 September 2005 (UTC)

The writer reports that Beny changed his name to Benny in 1945. Is that wrong? Notinasnaid 08:21, 3 September 2005 (UTC)

Spelling the name with one n has a redirect to spelling the name with two. This redirect has existed since December 2003. Anyone using the one-n spelling will still get to the article. --Andy Janata 13:32, 3 September 2005 (UTC)

duplicate categories:Cemeteries by Country, Famous Cemeteries

duplicate categories: Cemeteries by Country, Famous Cemeteries. I have done entries in these two categories for the 'English' Cemetery, Florence, as it fits both but it seems the classification system for cemeteries could be better organised? Thanks, Julia Bolton Holloway

• The whole point of categories is that you can categorize a page in multiple categories. They both serve different purposes. In the first you can search for cemetaries by country, the other collects all famous cemetaries. I do agree that since most cemetaries need to be famous to get an article in the first place, so it ma be a good idea to put them in the "by country" category every time you know where it is. - Mgm|^(talk) 06:33, September 3, 2005 (UTC)

Readability

It would certainly be nice if you would use a typeface that was clearer and more readable. Thank you, Irv Schmidt Lakewood WA USA

• What's wrong with this particular typeface? Is it too small? Anyway, if you register for an account you'll have the ability to change Wikipedia's appearance when you visit. - Mgm|^(talk) 06:36, September 3, 2005 (UTC)

Lyrics links on music pages

I was just wondering about lyrics link on music pages, if they should be there. Personally I think not, as anyone can use google to find specific lyrics if they wish. Also some of the lyrics sites commonly have annoying ads and the likes. I am asking because I see them on some pages, and think they are better off without them. Anyway, hope I asked this in the right spot, didn't find anything about it elsewhere. Thanks! Baseballfan 07:29, September 3, 2005 (UTC)

I think not (but am not trying to describe a policy) since almost all lyric sites are in violation of copyright. And, as you say, many of them are also commercial entitities, trying to make money from your clicks. If the band themselves include lyrics on their own web site, well, that probably doesn't need a separate link, but since there would in any case be a justification for that single link the description could mention "includes lyrics". Notinasnaid 08:18, 3 September 2005 (UTC)

• Wikipedia should not encourage illegal activities. And linking to copyvio lyrics sites encourages their use. Stick with official band websites. - Mgm|^(talk) 11:28, September 3, 2005 (UTC)

What is difference between half treaded and full treaded wood screw

We want to know what is difference between half treaded and full treaded wood screw? Why machine screw cannot be used for wood application? Is it advicable or better to use half treaded or full treaded screw for wood application?

Please reply on swanbom@vsnl.com for attention of Mr.Nilesh Shah.

• Please read the top section of this page. Factual questions belong on the reference desk and we generally don't answer by email. If you're really interested in the answer, you should make an effort to check back for one. - Mgm|^(talk) 11:31, September 3, 2005 (UTC)

Articles present in most language editions

Not sure if this is the right place to ask. Is it possible to know which articles are present in the maximum number of wikis and, in particular, which articles are present in the maximum number of wikis but not in en.wiki? Such a feature might be used to create a list of articles worth adding to en.wiki. Thanks a lot. Andrea.gf 09:31, 3 September 2005 (UTC)

• As they are likely to be in the de: or fr: editions, the lists at Wikipedia:Missing articles from fr.wikipedia.org and Wikipedia:Missing articles from de.wikipedia.org should give you this information. Warofdreams 19:46, 3 September 2005 (UTC)
  • You can also check proper names that aren't translated across languages (people, places, bands) using the Global Wikipedia Article Search -- a great tool among my Wikipedia bookmarks. — Catherine\^talk 23:10, 3 September 2005 (UTC)

Image Copyright Issues

I want to upload some images from CalPhotos. All of the images I want to use contain the following conditions:

• Using this photo Permission is granted to use this photo for any personal or academic purpose as long as notification of use is sent to XXX@XXx and the image is clearly credited with © 2005 XXX. To obtain permission for commercial and other uses, or to inquire about reprints, fees, and licensing, or if you have other questions, contact XXX@XXX.

I have contacted all the authors in question, and all have confirmed their agreement to use under the GDFL license. One author, however, has confirmed his agreement for use of his images, but subject to prohibiting any commercial re-use. I think this precludes uploading under GDFL. I have looked through all image copyright tags, read all the copyright pages etc and cannot see any way to use these images on WP with this restriction.

Could some knowledgeable soul please advise me if there is an available license here, or on Commons, that is appropriate.

Thanks. -- Cactus.man ^{> Reply}  09:48, 3 September 2005 (UTC)

That is correct; restriction to non-commercial use only precludes licensing under the GFDL. Persuant to a May 2005 decision, Wikipedia no longer accepts non-commercial use or by-permission images (see the mailing list notice here). A full list of permissible licenses can be found at Wikipedia:Image copyright tags. TenOfAllTrades(talk) 14:27, 3 September 2005 (UTC)

Thanks for the reply. Such a shame, WP must be missing out on so many good images because of this discrepancy with the GDFL. Surely some smart lawyer types could sort that out?? At least I will be able to use the other images under GDFL. Cactus.man ^{> Reply}  08:26, 4 September 2005 (UTC)

Asking again..

I asked this earlier, and didn't receive any sort of answer, so, here the question is again:

Somewhere, there was a list on Wikipedia of US towns that had articles (or needed them, too, I think), that had been created independently, without the census additions from Rambot. Can't seem to find it anymore, where is it? Tim Rhymeless (Er...let's shimmy) 21:42, 28 August 2005 (UTC)

Mirrors

At Portal:Cricket I simplified the categories section which had links like:

• [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Cricketers Cricketers]

into the wiki format (which looks the same):

• [[:Category:Cricketers|Cricketers]]

Then a user reverted my changes, citing "it's better this way for mirrors"

What is the policy about this? --Commander Keane 10:15, September 3, 2005 (UTC)

• First and foremost we should think what's best for Wikipedia itself. Internal wikilinks are changed into something those sites can understand, so it wouldn't be too hard to do the same with categories. I think categorization should be done with Wiki code. - 82.172.23.66 13:26, 3 September 2005 (UTC)
• I'll respond at Portal talk:Cricket#Editting difficulties to minimise duplication. - IMSoP 15:02, 3 September 2005 (UTC)

Layout problem with Ipswich page

There's a problem with the layout of the Ipswich page near the photo of the marina. Can anyone help with seeing what's wrong there? --Phil Holmes 10:29, 3 September 2005 (UTC)

I've done something with Ipswich re that image, it's better, but still looks odd, but that's due to the lack of text in the surrounding paragraphs: so feel free to edit the Ipswich article yourself. Alf ^melmac 12:28, 3 September 2005 (UTC)

I have moved the map into the info-box, in line with other articles. This seems to have also fixed the odd behaviour with edit links for each section. Layout around the marina image is probably browser specific, but looks fine to me (Firefox 1280x1024) -- Cactus.man ^{> Reply}  09:19, 4 September 2005 (UTC)

Z transforms

Intoduction : We are having majorly 2 types of implimentations like Direct form I and Direct form II(or canonical form.

Question:

             Direct form I 's dis ADV is more no of hard ware using.
            Direct form II 's is more delay involved because 
                            is there any other dis adv other than this in direct form II
please mail me if you get an answer raghavan@ee.iitb.ac.in

units of measure

I noticed that a great many articles, when providung units of measurements, use a notation similar to this:

21 feet (7 m)

I believe it should be made a policy to default to the standardized metric (and scientific) SI units, adding other units like feet, fahrenheit, mph, etc if desired by an/the editor. Of course there would be reasonable exceptions to this rule, eg: in aviation where the use of nm (nautical miles) or knots is required.

I did a 10 minute search on wikipedia regarding this issue, but (my fault, I'm sure) couldn't find any pertinent info.

thanks in advance - chic happens

See Wikipedia:Manual of Style (dates and numbers)#Measurements, which suggests putting the "original" measurement first, and converted versions later. It also implies that agreement should be sought on a case-by-case basis; in some cases, the units used may need to reflect the geographical or historical position of the topic under discussion, for instance. But in general, I'd probably agree that where neither was the "source" or "more appropriate" unit, the SI should come first. - IMSoP 12:31, 3 September 2005 (UTC)

If Merka accepted metric units, we wouldn't have any problem. If the only country in the world to resist metric units were any other country than Merka, we would happily use metric only. But apparently Merka gets to dictate global policy. — JIP | Talk 11:05, 4 September 2005 (UTC)

What Available Sources?

To what extent can we glean info from encyclopedias and online web pages to flesh out stubs and immature article?

Thank you Phil 14:27, September 3, 2005 (UTC)

As much as you like, provided that you express the results of your gleaning in your own words. What you can't do is copy text from other places. You ought to cite your sources judiciously under "Sources" so that others can verify. Bovlb 14:33:39, 2005-09-03 (UTC)

Thank you Bovilb for such a quick and clear reply. Now I can go to work.Phil 15:29, September 3, 2005 (UTC)

Listing sources we have not (recently) examined

I wish to include a couple of sources in an article: one I have seen before, but not in a very long time; the second I have not ever seen (physically), nor is it in English. However, these are perhaps the only two primary sources for the topic, and anyone interested in the subject would be interested in getting one of these books. Both books are listed in the Library of Congress and WorldCat databases; these provide the information necessary to give complete citations for both books.

How do I handle these? Should they be included under "References"? The Wikipedia pages on the subject state that everything under "References" should be in English and things we can directly examine. (By the way, the article in question is Babm; it's pretty minimal at the moment, but I'm planning on expanding it and getting more (i.e., secondary) sources.) S. Neuman 15:04, 3 September 2005 (UTC)

Usually it is preferable to avoid non-English references, but there are certainly exceptions. In this particular case, the text is question was written by the creator of the article's subject. To omit the reference would be like writing an article on calculus or gravity that omitted mention of Newton's Principia Mathematica. If you don't explicitly include it as a reference, it certainly needs to be mentioned somewhere in the article. TenOfAllTrades(talk) 16:06, 3 September 2005 (UTC)

English references are obviously preferred, but no-one will likely object to a non-English citation if you make sure to mention what language it's in! If it's titled in that language, adding a quick gloss of what the title means might also be useful. Shimgray 16:52, 3 September 2005 (UTC)

The most common solution I've seen is to add a "Further reading" section above "References", with a brief note explaining why it's significant. — Catherine\^talk 23:05, 3 September 2005 (UTC)

Spurious "Edit" tag appears in text

The "Brown Anole" article has a spurious "Edit" appearing in the text of the "Description" paragraph. Please tell me how to get rid of the spurious "Edit" in that paragraph only Thanks Phil 15:27, September 3, 2005 (UTC)

It seems to be gone now...let us know if it comes back. TenOfAllTrades(talk) 16:09, 3 September 2005 (UTC)

This looks like the same sort of problem that's affecting the Ipswich page. There are 3 edit tags above one section and none above the 2 sections above it. It looks to be associated with photographs to the right of the text. --Phil Holmes 16:16, 3 September 2005 (UTC)

Interesting...is it a browser issue? I can't reproduce the problem in Opera 7.54 or in IE6. TenOfAllTrades(talk) 16:19, 3 September 2005 (UTC)

I often get the "jumpy" edit button, in Firefox. I still have a screenshot from the last time I asked about this on the Help desk (and recevied no explanation). The screenshot.--Commander Keane 17:28, September 3, 2005 (UTC)

It is browser related. I've put some screenshots illustrating this at Layout problems --Phil Holmes 18:27, 3 September 2005 (UTC)

• Fixed it somewhat. Elfguy 23:42, 3 September 2005 (UTC)

Hooray! The spurious "Edit" is gone. Thanks Phil 00:28, September 4, 2005 (UTC)

I think the problem was the map being placed outside the info-box. See Wikipedia:Help_desk#Layout_problem_with_Ipswich_page. All edit links now seem to appear in the correct place. -- Cactus.man ^{> Reply}  11:04, 4 September 2005 (UTC)

Copyright Question

I don't clearly understand the GNU Free Documentation License. I just want to know if I could use content from Wikipedia on my website? I know the answer to this is yes, but what must I do in order not to infringe on any copyright issues? Do I just need to put a link on my webpage back to the article on Wikipedia?

• Putting a link to here would be a good idea. The license says the files are free, you can use them, copy them and modify them. However they are copyrighted so the copyright notice must remain, also if you do copy or modify them, you must provide them for free also, you can't take them and make them proprietary. Elfguy 18:08, 3 September 2005 (UTC)

• There's some useful information at Wikipedia:Copyrights regarding your rights and obligations when you reuse/reprint/reproduce Wikipedia content elsewhere. TenOfAllTrades(talk) 18:20, 3 September 2005 (UTC)

Page has degraded into an ideological fight, how & where do I reoprt this?

The Liberty Dollar page has degraded into an ideological fight. The article used to be very fact based--it is now a battlefield for the ignorant & rude. Someone with authority needs to step-in & settle this. A reversion to about a year ago wouldn't hurt either.

How & where do I reoprt this?

Thanks,

--Lance W. Haverkamp 19:04, 3 September 2005 (UTC)

You can follow the steps at Wikipedia:Dispute resolution. If you're looking for more input from other editors, a Wikipedia:Request for comment might be the way to go. Good luck. Meelar (talk) 19:06, September 3, 2005 (UTC)

Hmmm, That's not quite what I'm looking for: Those all appear to assume there is a specific factual dispute, and/or that I'm involved in a dispute. Neither is the case, I'm simply trying to report a fire without being handed a fire-hose. Is there some group who's job it is to be a "beat cop" or "UN Peacekeeper" around here?

Thanks,

---

• In the end we need to make sure our articles are factual. And most disputes revolve around what someone perceives as true. Try mediation. It's aimed at coming to an agreement so the article can return to a state everyone can live with. With RFC you can get a bigger group of Wikipedians to voice their opinions. Neither is neccessarily to do with facts. But because factuality is the eventual aim for articles, it's usually part of the dispute. - Mgm|^(talk) 20:30, September 3, 2005 (UTC)

Correction needed

In the article Butterflies (television series) the link for Andrew Hall links to a South African cricket player, not to the actor. Does a disambiguation page neede to be created for Andrew Hall, and a new one for the actor? Am fairly new to this, so don't know how to create a disambiguation page.

HOW LONG DO I WAIT

That depends: what are you waiting for? Mindspillage (spill yours?) 21:27, 3 September 2005 (UTC)

If it's a bus; 3 will come at once. --GraemeL ^(talk) 21:52, 3 September 2005 (UTC)

Happy Camper

why did you delete my article?

Which article specifically are you referring to? Perhaps I can help or explain. For general tips on how to write a good article, you can check Wikipedia:The perfect article. Best, Meelar (talk) 21:37, September 3, 2005 (UTC)

Byron Lewis

I would like to why "Hall Monitor" deleted the article I posted about Byron Lewis?

It had nothing rude or offencive.

Hodge

2005-09-02 15:23:32 Hall Monitor deleted "Byron Lewis" (WP:CSD A7)

A7 appears to be: An article about a real person that does not assert that person's importance or significance. If the assertion is disputed or controversial, it should be taken to VFD instead. For details, see Wikipedia:Deletion of vanity articles.

I suggest that you contact Hall Monitor directly, or go to Votes for Undeletion. Bovlb 21:56:45, 2005-09-03 (UTC)

Linking to Same Subject, Different Language

On Wikipedia:How to edit a page, it describes how to link to a page on the same subject in another language.

It gives the format: language code:Title and example fr:Wikipédia:Aide (shown without the double [])

However, I cannot seem to get this to work.

Would I be correct in assuming this could be used to link the English Ferrari page to the Italian Ferrari page, for example?

Is there something disabled with multi-language links at present?

This does not appear as a link in the text, but rather as an interwiki link at the side of the page - look on the left-hand side, under the "toolbox" section, and you'll see "In Other Languages". The idea is that the two articles are linked this way, rather than relying on links "in the text". If you wish to actually include the link in the text, add a : (a colon) before the beginning, so in yout example it'd be a link to :fr:Wikipédia:Aide - thus fr:Wikipédia:Aide. The same trick allows you to link to image pages without displaying the image (:Image:Foo...) or categories without putting the page itself in that category (:Category:Foo...). How that helps! Shimgray 22:42, 3 September 2005 (UTC)

case on file or how many case?

hope you can help me or point me in the right way!! i'm tring to find case that file or been in the past. of a trucking company. look for any case that WERNER ENTERPRISES, OR WERMER. LOOK FOR CASE THAT HAVE BEEN THERE YOUR COURT. OR ANY ON GOING CASE. I NOW, AND HAVE SEE THE WEB SITE. THAT SHOW THE CASE. CAN YOU HELP??

• No. Elfguy 23:43, 3 September 2005 (UTC)

Thank you for your help

The Wikipedia has been an incredible resource for me. Here is my result. Please check if it is correct and pass it on.

e^(phi) = 5

Thanks again.

This contact page is confusing.

Er, it's probably not precisely correct. How did you derive this result? By my calculations, $e^{\phi }=e^{\frac {1+{\sqrt {5}}}{2}}\approx 5.043165643...$ — Knowledge Seeker দ 04:01, September 4, 2005 (UTC)

One user account in multiple language editions

Can I use the same user account in two different language editions of Wikipedia?

I've signed up a user account in the English Wikipedia, and created a user page. All seemed to work fine until I tried to log in through the Chinese Wikipedia. My user name and password do not work in the Chinese edition. I ended up having to sign up a new account again in the Chinese Wikipedia. It's as if the two language editions of Wikipedia are not related to each other. Although I used the same user name in both editions, but they appear to be two separate accounts, each with its own user page.

Is there a way to merge the two user accounts? Or can I use one of the accounts for both language editions?

Sam Chen 03:44:34, 2005-09-04 (UTC)

Short answer: No. Long answer: You are correct, each language version uses its own distinct database. There is no way to transfer accounts and use the same one at both places. You can add interlanguage links between your user page and/or just copy it around, though. --Andy Janata 04:09, 4 September 2005 (UTC)

Transparency not working

I edited the image Vatican coa.png, and used green as the transparent colour to prevent the white parts of the image (such as the Papal Tiara) from being displayed as transparent. You can check for yourselves that transparency works just fine - not a slight hint of green on the image:
File:Vatican coa.png
But when the image is inserted with a smaller size, a green glow appears around the edges, the same shade of green which should have been rendered as transparent. Here it is at 120px:
File:Vatican coa.png
Is there anything that can be done to prevent this, other than changing the transparent colour back to white?

--Fibonacci 04:43, 4 September 2005 (UTC)

Sudoku

How to find answers to the daily sudoku puzzles — Preceding unsigned comment added by 12.214.64.95 (talk • contribs) 2005-09-03 22:04:39 PDT (UTC)

I don't know. Have you tried the sudoku article? Whose daily puzzle? Bovlb 05:44:44, 2005-09-04 (UTC)

How does the tag for "cleanup" get removed?

I just edited the entry "The Bradley Method® of Natural Childbirth" because I noted that it had been tagged for clean-up. Is there somewhere that I submit the revisions? How does this tag get removed? In my oh-so-humble opinion, the tag, which still appears at the top of the page, is now unnecessary!

Thanks!

Tara Rice

When you hit the "edit this page" link you will notice what appears in between these quotes: "{{cleanup-date|August 2005}}" as the first thing on the page. To remove the tag, just delete that. I left it there so you can have the joy of removing it and also because I did not check to see if I agree that it should be taken off. Be bold in taking tags like that off when you think they no longer apply. If it turns out you are too bold, someone will just put it up again so no harm, no foul. Qaz 05:22, 4 September 2005 (UTC)

Creating a Personal Article

Hello! I'd like to create an article (even if it can only stay on for a day) about a friend of mine. He thinks that this site is very neat, and I'd like to surprise him by having him find an article about himself (listing some of his interests, areas of expertise, the University he attends, ect.) There doesn't seem to be anything explicitly forbidding this in Wikipedia policy, but it also seems like something many people would do if it were permitted. Is this actually an acceptable use of this site, or did I miss the criteria that would eliminate it? Thank you!

-anon

Sorry, that's not allowed. See Wikipedia:Vanity guidelines and Wikipedia:Notability for more details. Hope you and your friend continue to edit, however. Meelar (talk) 05:59, September 4, 2005 (UTC)

P.S. You're allowed to have essentially whatever you like on your user page, User:Masha godina. You can put material about your friend there, if you like. Or your friend could register an account and place it on his user page.

Edit summaries

Hey -- I've been editing on Wikipedia for a little less than a month now but I'm still getting used to all the nuts and bolts of things like all the protocol to follow. My question is this -- often I see edit summaries that say things like "Reverted edit by X to last version by Y", or things about helping with disambig links. Are there templates for these sort of things, or are they added by the wiki software, or do people type them in manually? --Quicksandish 06:17, September 4, 2005 (UTC)

That's the automatic summary given when an administrator uses the "rollback" button to revert vandalism. See Wikipedia:Administrators for more. Unfortunately, if you're not an admin, you'll have to do it the long way, and write your own summary (though you could type that it manually, but something like "rv vandalism" will suffice for a manual revert). The disambig link is something different. If you follow the link to that project, you'll see the instructions for it. It's just a copy and paste, wiki linking-syntax holds in the edit summary too, so that's why it works. Dmcdevit·t 07:52, September 4, 2005 (UTC)

Defender of the Wiki

Can anyone who was around Wikipedia during the 2004 Indian Ocean Earthquake crisis explain what were the circumstances behind the creation of the Defender of the Wiki barnstar? The explanation at Wikipedia:Barnstar is not specific or detailed enough. --Titoxd 07:24, 4 September 2005 (UTC)

I wasn't invloved in that myself, but I gather it had to do with the sketchy, possibly fake charity QuakeAID (read that and the talk page for more). The User:Baoutrust (see his talk page) after the tsunami used Wikipedia's donations pages to spam it with their fraudulent link along with all the other charities. I think it was User:Radman1 that went after them, resulting in some nasty attacks on him and vandalism of his user page. And then there was this filth on their website that gives me chills to read. I didn't know that's what the barnstar came from, but that's about what happened with that. Dmcdevit·t 07:48, September 4, 2005 (UTC)

Wikipedia lists

I'm currently editing Television shows featuring older versions of cartoon characters (it's listed on the Articles that need to be wikified page) and I need to know what kind of list I should use to replace the one that's currently being used. Should I use an annotated list and move the show summaries under the name of the show? I'm not quite sure why it's listed as an Article that needs to be wikified, I'm just assuming this is why --Scapegoat pariah 07:51, 4 September 2005 (UTC)

I would maybe change it to a list such as:

• show title - summary
• show title - summary

Like that with the titles in alphabetical order. You can probably remove the wikify tag now too. Dismas 08:12, 4 September 2005 (UTC)

Explanation of CSD Rule

Can someone please explain the meaning of rule A4 of WP:CSD#Articles? Thanks

--Registered User hiding behind an anon 08:24, September 4 2005 (UTC)

• Sometimes people write a Wikipedia page to try to contact someone or communicate with a friend. Since this is not what Wikipedia is meant for, such pages can be speedied. - Mgm|^(talk) 08:42, September 4, 2005 (UTC)

A New Link?

Hi,

I was wondering if on the page

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

whether we might be able to have a link for our new (this week) site http://www.yourmonaco.com

I'm not sure if this is the right place to ask, and whether we might be good enough to qualify for a mention, but if so our details are:

Hotels, weather and street map of Monaco and Monte Carlo. Also real estate prices and closing costs and procedures, Monaco Grand Prix, articles, press reviews and Monaco flights plus Nice airport information. http://www.yourmonaco.com

Thank you.

Roger welbeck36@hotmail.com