Wikipedia:Help desk
Help Page Patrollers are a group of Wikipedians who patrol the help desk and help users who have placed the {{helpme}} template on their talk pages. The patrol is an optional service. Patrollers can come and go, and there is no official sign up process.
Regular patrollers may add {{User HPP}} or {{user help desk}} to their user page:
This user volunteers at the Wikipedia Help Desk. |
What helpers can do
- Make sure all messages are formatted correctly,
- Answer questions,
- Check the Help Me Category and answer questions from users,
- Check archives
Patrollers
Add yourself with
#~~~ (Joined ~~~~~)
and if you are not using the userbox, add yourself to the Help Desk Patrol Category.
List
- Levonscott User talk:Levonscott User:Levonscott (Joined 07:38, 21 August 2011 (UTC))
- StewieGriffin! • Talk 07:04, 4 June 2008 (UTC) I'm Back Founder of the HPP
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See also
- Wikipedia:Editor assistance (WP:ASSIST)
- Wikipedia:Help desk/How to answer
- Wikipedia:Patrols (WP:PATROL)
- User:Useight/Highly Active
- 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).
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August 24
Contents
How do you make a table of contents? There is nothing about it in the tutorial.ILuvJisung (talk) 06:50, 24 August 2008 (UTC)
- I've found they are automatically created after 4 sections are made. If you want to do it manually you can use {{TOCleft}} or {{TOCright}} —Preceding unsigned comment added by Bvlax2005 (talk • contribs)
- See more about these and other options at Help:Section. PrimeHunter (talk) 17:24, 24 August 2008 (UTC)
Access to sources
Hi. A few months back, I saw a page where users with access to paid sources could fetch articles for other users. I have forgotten where it is located however, and need assistance finding it. Thanks. RedThunder 00:03, 24 August 2008 (UTC)
- I believe you're looking for Wikipedia:WikiProject Resource Exchange--danielfolsom 00:09, 24 August 2008 (UTC)
incorrect information
does anyone besides users check to see if someone has put up information that is incorect? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 24.186.131.119 (talk) 01:24, 24 August 2008 (UTC)
- What do you mean by 'user'? Only people using Wikipedia check Wikipedia's information, more or less by definition. Algebraist 01:26, 24 August 2008 (UTC)
- Sometimes articles are reviewed by outside sources. For example the articles on Bill Clinton and Global Warming were reviewed by university professors and the results were published. However this is a rare, voluntary thing. — Realist2 01:45, 24 August 2008 (UTC)
- Algebraist was saying that it is practically impossible for non-users of Wikipedia to review information on Wikipedia. Even if these people (e.g. professors) had never previously checked Wikipedia, they become users as soon as they review a Wikipedia article. A user is anyone who uses Wikipedia in any way, and is distinct from an editor (editors are a subset of users). — Twas Now ( talk • contribs • e-mail ) 04:26, 24 August 2008 (UTC)
- See WP:V, WP:RS, WP:NOR, and WP:CITE. Everything on Wikipedia that isn't widely known is supposed to cite a reliable source, many of which are online and reachable through external links. Therefore, the information on Wikipedia should be as reliable as its sources. If you see any unsourced claims on Wikipedia that look suspicious, you can mark them with the {{fact}} template. If you see something on Wikipedia that does not accurately reflect what the sources say, then feel free to correct the error. As far as reliability goes, Wikipedia's articles vary widely in popularity. Some articles attract very few readers, and some of those may contain errors that persist for a long time. (The relevant unit of "time" for a Wikipedia article might be the edit, rather than the clock time. An article which gets 50 edits per day is likely to mature faster than an article that gets one edit per month, although the skill and intentions of the editor(s) would have a huge impact.) Presumably, articles that attract lots of readers will also have lots of editors, who hopefully correct the errors. Wikipedia disabled its page hit counters, so you cannot easily tell how many people are reading an article (unless the various third-party sites which try to present this information actually work), but you can look at an article's history and see how many people have edited an article. As Wikipedia grows in importance, there may be collaborative filtering projects which attempt to rate the reliability of Wikipedia's articles and perhaps individual editors as well. --Teratornis (talk) 04:24, 24 August 2008 (UTC)
- Sometimes articles are reviewed by outside sources. For example the articles on Bill Clinton and Global Warming were reviewed by university professors and the results were published. However this is a rare, voluntary thing. — Realist2 01:45, 24 August 2008 (UTC)
need help logging in - forgotten password/new email address
I can't remember whether I have already registered - I think I did a long time ago as my name already exists as an account but I can't remember my password - and any email address I gave originally is no longer in existence so a new password emailed to it is not going to be any help! It is important I can be identified when I put an edit up on the site I wish to correct. Obviously I'm slightly concerned that someone else is using my name (they may of course genuinely have the same surname and initial), but I think I did log on a couple of years ago and I want to keep the same user name. How can I get back in? 79.74.229.134 (talk) 01:30, 24 August 2008 (UTC).
- If you can't remember the password or access the email, then you can't get into the account, so you'd better create a new one. You can redirect the old account's userpage to the new one and put an explanatory note on the new one if you want (after making sure the old account is yours, of course). Algebraist 01:34, 24 August 2008 (UTC)
- Additionally, you can request usurpation of the old account (again, if you are sure the old account is actually yours). Calvin 1998 (t-c) 01:39, 24 August 2008 (UTC)
Sorry if being dim but how do I access the old acount's user page if I can't log in? 79.74.229.134 (talk) 02:09, 24 August 2008 (UTC)
- In the search bar on the left, type in User:YOURUSERNAME, replacing YOURUSERNAME with the one you want, and press enter. Cheers! TN‑X-Man 02:10, 24 August 2008 (UTC)
Wikicode box
Has anyone noticed that the box for special characters under the edit field is doesn't work now? You can still copy and paste the code, but half of the characters that used to be there (such as cryillic alphabet and such) are no longer available and you can't click the text to insert it anymore. Does anyone know why this was removed? Thanks, —Mizu onna sango15Hello! 01:58, 24 August 2008 (UTC).
- I think it was discussed on this same page here. Is this what you were referring to? TN‑X-Man 02:02, 24 August 2008 (UTC)
- Make sure that your JavaScript works and is not blocked (for example, does Twinkle work for you?) Calvin 1998 (t-c) 02:06, 24 August 2008 (UTC)
- Yes, that's the one. I do not think it has anything to do with Js, though! Twinkle doesn't work for me, but only because I run IE and not Firefox. If I'm not the only one who's noticed this error, how can it be just because of Js? Thanks, —Mizu onna sango15Hello! 02:19, 24 August 2008 (UTC).
- Does something like Qui work? As long as your browser supports JavaScript fully it should work (security/script settings in IE might mess with it). Calvin 1998 (t-c) 04:05, 24 August 2008 (UTC)
- If you get a popup when you load this page, then JavaScript is working. To enable JavaScript in IE, see this page--—— Gadget850 (Ed) talk - 11:27, 24 August 2008 (UTC)
- Does something like Qui work? As long as your browser supports JavaScript fully it should work (security/script settings in IE might mess with it). Calvin 1998 (t-c) 04:05, 24 August 2008 (UTC)
Intank eletric gasoline fuel pump for fuel Injectors. / used for carburetor
will a fuel injector intank pump work with a carburetor —Preceding unsigned comment added by 71.127.104.37 (talk) 05:31, 24 August 2008 (UTC)
- Have you tried the Science section of Wikipedia's Reference Desk? They specialize in answering knowledge questions there; this help desk is only for questions about using Wikipedia. For your convenience, here is the link to post a question there: click here. I hope this helps. PrimeHunter (talk) 05:35, 24 August 2008 (UTC)
Spoiler question.
Does the spoiler rule apply to information that is not available to the general public as well as that which is currently available? Specifically, a piece of information on the Secret Invasion page is from an issue not scheduled to be released until 8/27. I was just wondering if that information is included in this rule because there is no way for most people reading to know about it. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Ryheeles (talk • contribs) 05:35, 24 August 2008 (UTC)
- Do you mean Wikipedia:Spoiler? If the information about the unreleased material is from a reliable source, then it can be included. It should probably be presented something like this: "Before [Issue N] was released, [Publication X] stated that [something] happened to [someone]". When the issue is released, the sentence should be changed to "In [Issue N], [something] happened to [someone]". — Twas Now ( talk • contribs • e-mail ) 06:28, 24 August 2008 (UTC)
Merger discussion
The merger discussion on Talk:Federal_Republic_of_Yugoslavia_in_the_Eurovision_Song_Contest#Merger_proposal is going no where, we are just arguing with no end in sight. It is impossible to convince the one opposer. Can someone please close the discussion with whichever outcome they see fit. Thanks. Grk1011 (talk) 14:40, 24 August 2008 (UTC)
- You could also try WP:MEDCAB - I'll take the case if you do (and want me to) - then you'll get some informal mediation on the dispute, rather than an immediate close Dendodge|TalkContribs 14:50, 24 August 2008 (UTC)
Editing the article "Gelfand pair"
I tried to open the article "Gelfand pair" in order to edit it. It existed a month ago. However, now when I tried to open it it opens a dialog box to save a file "Gelfand_pair". This file has no extension and I did not manage to open it with any editor. Still, I could find the discussion page on http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talk:Gelfand_pair
How can I open and edit this article? 132.77.4.43 (talk) 14:56, 24 August 2008 (UTC)
- Here is the link to edit the article - http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Gelfand_pair&action=edit. It sounds like you were possibly trying to edit an image? Let me know if this helps. Cheers! TN‑X-Man 15:00, 24 August 2008 (UTC)
Box at bottom of user page
Yesterday there was a box at the bottom of my and others' user pages with links to contribs, talk, edit count and stuff like that. I thought it was pretty convenient, but it seems to be gone today. Anyone know what I'm talking about or where it went? Grk1011 (talk) 15:22, 24 August 2008 (UTC)
- I don't think we've ever had that. Are you sure you didn't see it at the bottom of users' contributions pages? Algebraist 15:35, 24 August 2008 (UTC)
- You might try {{Usercheck-full}}. --—— Gadget850 (Ed) talk - 16:55, 24 August 2008 (UTC)
- I just remembered more. It also had a button that when i clicked on it it showed a category with all of my sub pages. Grk1011/Stephen (talk) 18:02, 24 August 2008 (UTC)
- That's present in the box at the bottom of contrib pages. Algebraist 18:04, 24 August 2008 (UTC)
- Haha, I just found it and was going to say that. Grk1011/Stephen (talk) 18:20, 24 August 2008 (UTC)
- That's present in the box at the bottom of contrib pages. Algebraist 18:04, 24 August 2008 (UTC)
- I just remembered more. It also had a button that when i clicked on it it showed a category with all of my sub pages. Grk1011/Stephen (talk) 18:02, 24 August 2008 (UTC)
- You might try {{Usercheck-full}}. --—— Gadget850 (Ed) talk - 16:55, 24 August 2008 (UTC)
(undent) If you want to add links to all your user subpages and their talk pages, just add this magic-wordsy code to your user page:
*[{{fullurl:Special:Prefixindex|namespace=2}}&from={{PAGENAMEE}} See all my user subpages] and [{{fullurl:Special:Prefixindex|namespace=3}}&from={{PAGENAMEE}} all their talk pages]
See it in action on my user page at User:Teratornis#Subpages. (I put an extra line break in the example to make it more readable. You don't need the line break if you put that code on your user page.) --Teratornis (talk) 02:59, 25 August 2008 (UTC)
Guidelines for Writing Books
My name is Dale Satre, and I am (or was) the beginning author of the Article "The Big Five" [extinction event(s)]. I am going to embark to create an article about a book titled Shooting at the Moon by Roger Warner. Is there any guidelines for writing about publications here at Wikipedia? —Preceding unsigned comment added by Dale S. Satre (talk • contribs) 16:42, 24 August 2008 (UTC)
- I left you a message on your talk page too but have a read through WP:BK, that should be of use to you. Also, don't forget to sign your posts with the 4 tildes ~~~~, —— RyanLupin • (talk) 16:45, 24 August 2008 (UTC)
Help with a box
am writing an article called Shooting at the Moon (book). If you follow the link, you'll find a grey box under a main box of text. I do not know how it shows up, but I do deem it unneeded. Any ideas how to erase it without deleting the text inside it?--Dale S. Satre 17:13, 24 August 2008 (UTC)
- It was caused by the spaces at the start of some of the lines you typed. That's what leading spaces do in Wikitext, so don't use them if you don't want that effect. Algebraist 17:15, 24 August 2008 (UTC)
posting picture to article
I am writing Shooting at the Moon (book). This website contains the picture of the book I want to post on the web page: [1]. However, i have a limited account, which prohibits me from doing such an action. Can an administrator post the the picture for me? (If copyright law prohibits this, I urge you to abort postage.) (Iam sorry if all my questions are starting to bug you!) --Dale S. Satre 17:58, 24 August 2008 (UTC)
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User_talk:Dale_S._Satre"
- See Help:Images and other uploaded files and Wikipedia:Fair use criteria for instructions. It looks like you figured it out at Image:Shooting at the Moon.jpg. --Teratornis (talk) 02:29, 25 August 2008 (UTC)
Suzan Lewis
This article has been scheduled for deletion. It should not be deleted as it contains factual, historic elements relating to an international celebrity. Thank you for your consideration —Preceding unsigned comment added by Ricksaphire (talk • contribs) 18:14, 24 August 2008 (UTC)
- It's been deleted already.
- It didn't assert the notability of the subject.
- Assuming you are the same Rick Saphire whose website is at www.ricksaphire.com, she's your client.
- You shouldn't be editing articles relating to her, or Jerry Lewis, as you have a WP:COI. 18:52, 24 August 2008 (UTC)
Wikipedia download
I live in a place where there is no internet access. Is there a Wikipedia database available that can be upgraded occasionally? If so where can I find it and how much does it cost?72.11.175.79 (talk) 19:03, 24 August 2008 (UTC)
- There are various database dumps available (all free). The raw databases tend not to dump properly and contain lots of stuff (like full details of every edit) you might not want, so you probably want a static HTML dump. Algebraist 19:09, 24 August 2008 (UTC)
- And there was a CD produced a short while back - follow your nose to Wikipedia:V0.5. GbT/c 19:19, 24 August 2008 (UTC)
- Yes, but that's tiny, out of date, and not free. Algebraist 19:28, 24 August 2008 (UTC)
- And there was a CD produced a short while back - follow your nose to Wikipedia:V0.5. GbT/c 19:19, 24 August 2008 (UTC)
Why the deletion on Biden??
http://newsbusters.org/blogs/tom-blumer/2008/08/24/more-biden-wiki-wackiness-whole-year-disappears
This is a joke, right? You will be adding the info on Biden's comments about McCain from the 2004 campaign back, right??
If you don't you have exposed this site as a site run by a bunch of biased hacks for Barry Obama. And that my friend is bullsh*t.
ADD IT BACK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! —Preceding unsigned comment added by 68.81.87.240 (talk) 20:16, 24 August 2008 (UTC)
- If you'd bothered to look rather than ranting, you'd know it's there right now. Algebraist 20:19, 24 August 2008 (UTC)
- And FYI, it was never removed from the article, it was moved slightly. May I suggest using a more reliable source for your news? Algebraist 20:26, 24 August 2008 (UTC)
- Good suggestion. The page history (which is visible to everybody) shows the text was moved in this edit with the informative edit summary "moving 2004 section into an intro section here, as he never campaigned for president that year". Your source claims it's missing in the Sunday 11 AM version, but that version is here and as anybody can determine in seconds by searching the page, for example for "McCain", the text is there (including the references). PrimeHunter (talk) 20:43, 24 August 2008 (UTC)
- And FYI, it was never removed from the article, it was moved slightly. May I suggest using a more reliable source for your news? Algebraist 20:26, 24 August 2008 (UTC)
References!!!
I'm creating a page and I've added a reference but I can't seem to get the references below but it keeps on coming up as a black list please help
Jonni Boi 20:59, 24 August 2008 (UTC)
- You did it incorrectly; you typed {{reflist)) instead of {{reflist}}Tombomp (talk/contribs) 21:02, 24 August 2008 (UTC)
- Yes, but when done correctly, the external link turns out to be on the Spam blacklist. Algebraist 21:04, 24 August 2008 (UTC)
I understand now, so it won't work??? Jonni Boi 21:05, 24 August 2008 (UTC) —Preceding unsigned comment added by Jonni Boi (talk • contribs)
- The ukmix link is to a forum, which is not a reliable source, so should not be used as a reference. It looks like the reason given for it being blacklisted is "excessive linkage for a forum site", which is usually the result of one or more parties trying to linkspam the site into articles. --- Barek (talk • contribs) - 21:21, 24 August 2008 (UTC)
can't seem to quote anything on the Yahweh article. It says something about black list? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 86.135.199.16 (talk) 13:33, 25 August 2008 (UTC)
Crucifixion
Is there is the crucifixion in present? —Preceding unsigned comment added by Aquitania (talk • contribs) 21:29, 24 August 2008 (UTC)
- If I understand you correctly, you want crucifixion#Crucifixion as punishment in modern times. Further questions should go to the Reference desk. Algebraist 21:33, 24 August 2008 (UTC)
crucifixion
Can you tell me the websites that are about crucifixions? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 24.165.11.18 (talk) 21:46, 24 August 2008 (UTC)
- Have you tried Wikipedia's Reference Desk? They specialize in knowledge questions and will try to answer any question in the universe (except how to use Wikipedia, since that is what this Help Desk is for). Just follow the link, select the relevant section, and ask away. I hope this helps. Algebraist 21:49, 24 August 2008 (UTC)
Created a New Article...
Not all of the information I included from my research showed up but when I click edit it does show up. Can someone please help me fix this. The page is about American Actress and Dancer Katherine "Kat" Slatery.
All of the important information I researched is under edit.
Please help.
Thanks. Lex. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Miltonmilton (talk • contribs) 21:54, 24 August 2008 (UTC)
- A reference starting with <ref> must end with </ref>, and there must be an instruction telling where to display the references. See Help:Footnotes. I fixed this and some other things in [1] but somebody has suggested to delete the article. PrimeHunter (talk) 22:18, 24 August 2008 (UTC)
image deletion
What is the template to speedily delete an image i uploaded? Grk1011/Stephen (talk) 21:56, 24 August 2008 (UTC)
- {{db-g7}}. Algebraist 21:59, 24 August 2008 (UTC)
- Thanks. Grk1011/Stephen (talk) 22:13, 24 August 2008 (UTC)
Notability of Roman Catholic Bishops
User:RFD brought up a comment on my talk page after I had tagged an article he had created as "may fail the general notability guideline for biographies." RFD stated that he believed bishops who had headed dioceses were automatically considered notable. I wasn't so sure about that, so I decided to ask you friendly people at the help desk.
Thanks for your help. Feel free to move this if I posted it in the wrong place. NuclearWarfare contact meMy work 22:48, 24 August 2008 (UTC)
- Without being able to point to a specific guideline, my gut instinct is that bishops (and I'm assuming this refers to Roman Catholicism) are notable, but that's about as low in the church hierarchy that I would think notability extends. If that wouldn't work, a redirect to the appropriate diocese would be good as well. TN‑X-Man 22:56, 24 August 2008 (UTC)
NW thanks TNX but would still like a fourth opinion, because TNX is unsure. And yes, this was related to Roman Catholic bishops. NuclearWarfare contact meMy work 23:01, 24 August 2008 (UTC)
- Right as I hit submit, I saw the relevant part of the section header. D'oh! TN‑X-Man 23:07, 24 August 2008 (UTC)
- Obviously your local vicar isn't notable, a bishop is a bit wobbly, but one who has headed a diocese (as long as the diocese is notable) is definitely notable Dendodge|TalkContribs 08:54, 25 August 2008 (UTC)
- Right as I hit submit, I saw the relevant part of the section header. D'oh! TN‑X-Man 23:07, 24 August 2008 (UTC)
Question about stubs and other tags
I have recently added tags (such as a stub tag) to several articles I stumbled across. Now, my question is this: Is there some automatic script that adds the article to a list of stubs or something? I want to make sure these articles are noticed by those who can and want to edit them. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 3Juno3 (talk • contribs) 23:40, 24 August 2008 (UTC)
- Yes, articles that have {{stub}} on them are automatically listed. It will happen shortly, if not immediately. However, it may take a while for someone to expand it, so I encourage you to do it yourself. Mm40 (talk | contribs) 23:46, 24 August 2008 (UTC)
- (edit conflict) When you add a stub tag to an article, it is automatically placed in a category with similar stubs. For example, using {{writer-stub}} will place the article in a category with other articles about writers that are stubs. WP:STUB has a lot more details. You should be able to see the category at the bottom of the page to which you added the stub. Cheers! TN‑X-Man 23:49, 24 August 2008 (UTC)
- Note that stub templates are placed at the bottom like [2] (usually before categories and interlanguage links but that makes no difference to the rendered page). PrimeHunter (talk) 00:12, 25 August 2008 (UTC)
- But they should go above a persondata template so that the persondata box is below the stub text. – ukexpat (talk) 00:37, 25 August 2008 (UTC)
Red and Green
On my watchlist, there are red and green fonts inside parentheses that say, like (-412) or (+341). What are they?
- They indicate how many bytes of data have been added or subtracted by an edit. Also, don't forget to sign your posts by typing ~~~~ after your question. Cheers! TN‑X-Man 23:43, 24 August 2008 (UTC)
August 25
Q about Sex
Please excuse me if you find this rather peverse, but I was wondeing about something and could not find the answer on WP. Basically everytime I have sex with my girlfriend she goes to the bathroom straight after. What does she do in there? I mean when a guy ejaculates inside a woman, does the semen usually stay inside her, or do women go to the bathroom go pass out the ejaculate? I never really understood and i'm too scared to ask my gf. Thanks. Mike. 79.75.172.239 (talk) 00:05, 25 August 2008 (UTC)
- Have you tried Wikipedia's Reference Desk? They specialize in knowledge questions and will try to answer any question in the universe (except how to use Wikipedia, since that is what this Help Desk is for). Just follow the link, select the relevant section, and ask away. I hope this helps. Algebraist 00:06, 25 August 2008 (UTC)
- In the seemingly unlikely event that this question is serious, you could try asking Ruth Westheimer, if she's still doing her call-in show. Another option is to read the Creampie (sexual act) article. (Wow, Wikipedia sure is not censored.) --Teratornis (talk) 02:38, 25 August 2008 (UTC)
Making an Infobox for RPG Character Pages
How do you make an infobox? I've tried copying people's and modifying it, it never works right, need help! —Preceding unsigned comment added by 214.13.167.252 (talk) 02:30, 25 August 2008 (UTC)
- If you create an account, you can experiment by editing test templates on a user sandbox page. (See Help:User page, Help:Subpage, and WP:SANDBOX.) Then other people could see what you are doing and help you. If you want to figure it all out by reading the friendly manuals, start with Help:Template and WP:EIW#Infobox. You could join Wikipedia:WikiProject Infoboxes. --Teratornis (talk) 02:44, 25 August 2008 (UTC)
- Do you want to add an existing infobox (for example {{Infobox character}}) to an article, or do you want to create a new type of infobox? The reply by Teratornis assumes the latter which is much harder. If it's the former then say which article you want an infobox in, and we may be able to help much better. PrimeHunter (talk) 02:55, 25 August 2008 (UTC)
Del image moved to commons
This image is both in Wikipedia and in Commons. Will deleting it from Wikipedia cause the commons image to instamagically be used anywhere the original image is currently in use? -- kainaw™ 02:40, 25 August 2008 (UTC)
- That's the way I'd guess, but neither WP:COMMONS nor Wikipedia:Moving images to the Commons seem to come right out and say that. (It seems, however, that moving an image to the Commons would often test the very case you are asking about, and this seems to be a routine operation, so it's hard to imagine an answer to your question other than "yes.") An explicit answer may be hiding in one of the links under WP:EIW#Commons. If you don't get a satisfying answer here, you could ask on Wikipedia talk:Wikimedia Commons. --Teratornis (talk) 02:54, 25 August 2008 (UTC)
- As the wikicode for using images in an article is the same for images hosted on En WP and on Commons, my guess is that as soon as the WP image is deleted, the Commons one "takes over". – ukexpat (talk) 03:35, 25 August 2008 (UTC)
- Perhaps it takes time. The wikipedia image was deleted and now the article has a broken image link. -- kainaw™ 04:14, 25 August 2008 (UTC)
- As the wikicode for using images in an article is the same for images hosted on En WP and on Commons, my guess is that as soon as the WP image is deleted, the Commons one "takes over". – ukexpat (talk) 03:35, 25 August 2008 (UTC)
- Actually, it appears that whomever moved it to commons did not move it properly. The SVG wasn't uploaded, just a png of it. So, now it can't create thumbnails. I wonder if I have the original SVG floating around somewhere... -- kainaw™ 04:17, 25 August 2008 (UTC)
Off topic child support request for legal advice from an anonymous user
How do I cange my child support if I'M not making the same amount.What do I need to do to change my vistation day,to every other weekend,instead of the one I have now —Preceding unsigned comment added by 75.94.69.60 (talk) 03:05, 25 August 2008 (UTC)
- Sorry, it sounds like you are asking for legal advice and we cannot give it. Please consult your attorney. – ukexpat (talk) 03:35, 25 August 2008 (UTC)
ATP (airline transport pilot’s license) equivalent degree
A year ago I did a Google search on the ATP (airline transport pilot’s license) equivalent degree and on your site I found very helpful information. I wanted to use those facts again, but… for one or the other reason I could not find it again. (I've done the search on Wikipedia.)
Do you have any idea where I can find that info? 66.156.87.224 (talk) 04:02, 25 August 2008 (UTC)
The search came up that an “ATP license” is equivalent to a masters degree. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 66.156.87.224 (talk) 04:01, 25 August 2008 (UTC)
- Maybe this is what you are looking for: Airline_Transport_Pilot_License? And that article does not mention anything about it being equivalent to a masters degree.
- Cheers mate!
- Λuα (Operibus anteire) 04:08, 25 August 2008 (UTC)
Name order on articles created by categorization
I added additional categories for the article page "Robert Mac" specifically United States presidential candidates, 2008, American stand-up comedians and People from Tucson, Arizona. His name appears alphabetized by first name whereas the others are by last name (there is not yet any entry in the List of People from Tucson, Arizona). How do I get his name to be listed by last name like the others?Mickmastor (talk) 04:37, 25 August 2008 (UTC)
- Fixed. Type
{{DEFAULTSORT:Last name, First name}}
(in this case{{DEFAULTSORT:Mac, Robert}}
. If you only want to change how he is alphabetized in a single category, then it would be[[Category:1968 births|Mac, Robert]]
, but since this applies to all the categories he is in, we use {{DEFAULTSORT}}. — Twas Now ( talk • contribs • e-mail ) 05:01, 25 August 2008 (UTC)
Redirect templates
The third hatnote at Cloud Gate has a double period because it wants me to add text after saying "X redirects here."--TonyTheTiger (t/c/bio/WP:CHICAGO/WP:LOTM) 05:35, 25 August 2008 (UTC)
- "X redirects here" without further text does not seem useful. That is probably the reason that there is no template for that (see Template:Otheruses_templates#Redirect).--Patrick (talk) 06:31, 25 August 2008 (UTC)
How to create and edit my Wikipedia page
I am attempting to create a page and upload my photograh and biography and I am unable to find the right section.
Could you please assist..?
Thank you
Raphael —Preceding unsigned comment added by Ralouis (talk • contribs) 07:47, 25 August 2008 (UTC)
- It looks like you already wrote your biography (User:Ralouis). Start at Wikipedia:Upload to upload a photograph. — Twas Now ( talk • contribs • e-mail ) 08:04, 25 August 2008 (UTC)
- Also note that your account needs to be 4 days old and you'll need to acquire 10 edits before you can upload an image —— RyanLupin • (talk)
- Also see Wikipedia:Autobiography. User:Ralouis is clearly written with a strong conflict of interest and would be completely unsuited as a Wikipedia article. It could also be deleted as a user page. PrimeHunter (talk) 13:16, 25 August 2008 (UTC)
- Also note that your account needs to be 4 days old and you'll need to acquire 10 edits before you can upload an image —— RyanLupin • (talk)
- If you are looking for somewhere to post your biography, please take a look at http://wikibios.com and http://wikipopuli.com . – ukexpat (talk) 15:55, 25 August 2008 (UTC)
Article creation request
Can you please add an article about the five fuwa like, one article for Beibei,another article for Jingjing, an article for Huanhuan, an article for Yingying and Nini? It is for my Beijing project. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Lesleyrox (talk • contribs) 08:39, 25 August 2008 (UTC)
- We have an article on Fuwa. Each "Fuwa" is not notable enough (nor would there be enough suitable information) to warrant separate articles. — Twas Now ( talk • contribs • e-mail ) 08:44, 25 August 2008 (UTC)
Carmen Cavallaro - ?
Article is cut and pasted entirely from www.activemusician.com
Is that okay or not?
The only thing that is original about the article is the reference cited. (I did that.) —Preceding unsigned comment added by Foreveroptimist (talk • contribs) 10:16, 25 August 2008 (UTC)
- Looking at the active musician website, and it's biographies for other artists, I suspect it's the other way around - they appear to be copying Wikipedia entries without giving the usual licences. Anyone else got a view on this? GbT/c 10:25, 25 August 2008 (UTC)
The Wikipedia article sites NO references. Don't you think that's a little odd? —Preceding unsigned comment added by Foreveroptimist (talk • contribs) 10:32, 25 August 2008 (UTC)
I might agree with you if the writer of the Wikipedia article has cited any references. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Foreveroptimist (talk • contribs) 10:35, 25 August 2008 (UTC)
- The greatest match between Carmen Cavallaro and http://www.activemusician.com/Carmen-Cavallaro-Biography--t8i506 appears to be right after this edit where Wikipedia italicized The Eddy Duchin Story like it is at activemusician. Based on that my guess would be that activemusician copied that version of our article. If it had been the other way around then I would expect the greatest match right after the creation or a big rewrite of our article. Their page is not in the Internet Archive so I haven't been able to test whether we came first. Our article was mainly written by User:Musicmaker. If you really want to know then you could try posting to User talk:Musicmaker, but note that Special:Contributions/Musicmaker shows long periods between edits. PrimeHunter (talk) 12:59, 25 August 2008 (UTC)
Auto-Wikibreak
is it possible to set up a function which automatically puts the wikibreak notification on my page during my holidays? ATMarsden Whadda ya want? 13:26, 25 August 2008 (UTC)
Image Question
Help! I'm a new user, and am having trouble with an image I uploaded.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:1917_-_New_Rockland_Trust_Bank_Bldg_288_Union_St.jpg
(sorry for the URL - I don't know how to do Wikilinks yet)
Why doesn't this image appear on the page? If I make a gif, it shows up. Otherwise, the JPG doesn't seem to work. I've uploaded other JPGs -- most, but not all -- are just fine
Any suggestions welcome!
Pames (talk) 13:52, 25 August 2008 (UTC)
- Image:1917 - New Rockland Trust Bank Bldg 288 Union St.jpg is displaying fine for me in the gallery in Rockland Trust Company. Have you tried clearing your cache? Algebraist 13:54, 25 August 2008 (UTC)
- It's not working for me after clearing my browser cache and purging the server cache. When I click on the raw image link here I get a message about errors in the image. – ukexpat (talk) 16:01, 25 August 2008 (UTC)
- This seems to be browser-dependent: it's fine in Firefox and Opera, broken in IE, and appears in black and white for some reason in Safari (all on WinXP). Should probably take this to the village pump, or somewhere where they know about jpgs. Algebraist 17:02, 25 August 2008 (UTC)
- Weeeeeell, I use Firefox and it's still broken... – ukexpat (talk) 19:27, 25 August 2008 (UTC)
- So much for that theory, then (unless you don't use 3.0.1). Algebraist 22:46, 25 August 2008 (UTC)
- Weeeeeell, I use Firefox and it's still broken... – ukexpat (talk) 19:27, 25 August 2008 (UTC)
- This seems to be browser-dependent: it's fine in Firefox and Opera, broken in IE, and appears in black and white for some reason in Safari (all on WinXP). Should probably take this to the village pump, or somewhere where they know about jpgs. Algebraist 17:02, 25 August 2008 (UTC)
- It's not working for me after clearing my browser cache and purging the server cache. When I click on the raw image link here I get a message about errors in the image. – ukexpat (talk) 16:01, 25 August 2008 (UTC)
- There was a broken configuration setting on the last software update, should be fixed now. Mr.Z-man 22:54, 25 August 2008 (UTC)
- Still broken for me on IE and Safari. Bypassing cache doesn't fix it. Algebraist 00:23, 26 August 2008 (UTC)
- And still broken for me in Firefox 2.0.0.16. – ukexpat (talk) 02:40, 26 August 2008 (UTC)
- Ok, time to take this to WP:VPT. Algebraist 02:42, 26 August 2008 (UTC)
- And still broken for me in Firefox 2.0.0.16. – ukexpat (talk) 02:40, 26 August 2008 (UTC)
- Still broken for me on IE and Safari. Bypassing cache doesn't fix it. Algebraist 00:23, 26 August 2008 (UTC)
Auto-date
I heard that the linking is now "not encouraged", so now users are going everywhere unlinking all dates leaving most without commas and horribly incorrect. I think it was stupid to change that, I mean so what if only registered users can see it, theyre the ones that wiki means the most to. What an inconvenience. ps, where whould I say this. Grk1011/Stephen (talk) 14:01, 25 August 2008 (UTC)
- The guideline for dates is at Wikipedia:Manual of Style (dates and numbers) and there is lots of discussion about date formatting at Wikipedia talk:Manual of Style (dates and numbers). PrimeHunter (talk) 14:21, 25 August 2008 (UTC)
Insert box doesn't work for me
What's with the "insert box"? That's the box under the window where we type in changes and so on (where I'm typing this right now) and immediately under the bold face Do not copy text... warning.
It used to have a long list of symbols, including letters with macrons (which I use frequently since I contribute to several articles about Japanese culture), but not any more. Now it has a pull down menu and a list of a few symbols plus a lot of empty square boxes that don't give anything when you select them. Most of the pull-down menu items are just as bad, except for "Wiki markup," which has a list of Wiki markup symbols.
Timothy Perper (talk) 14:15, 25 August 2008 (UTC)
There should be a drop down menu which gives more options. Is that what you're referring to? Zain Ebrahim (talk) 14:21, 25 August 2008 (UTC)Scratch that. Zain Ebrahim (talk) 14:23, 25 August 2008 (UTC)
- There is discussion about the changes at Wikipedia:Village pump (technical)#New edit tools enabled for everyone and elsewhere on that page. Do you have JavaScript? PrimeHunter (talk) 14:26, 25 August 2008 (UTC)
- Yes, I have Java Script and it's enabled right now -- and box is no good. When I disable Java Script, it's still no good. I'm sorry to say that the material at Wikipedia:Village pump (technical)#New edit tools enabled for everyone didn't help at all. I'm not sure I follow much of it anyway. I think I'll copy this discussion over to that page. But that won't solve the problem. Timothy Perper (talk) 14:34, 25 August 2008 (UTC)
FA assessment
Hi! What is FA assessment? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 193.40.12.39 (talk) 14:43, 25 August 2008 (UTC)
royally pension on non-free media files
Does Wikipedia will pay royally pension on non-free (including fair use and other) media files as a compensionsion? it is a payment of using non-free media files such images or sounds etc. such like Public Lending Rights payment made by some libraries. Thank you.
Wikipedia should be know how many each files is being browsed or used like all other sites all over the Internet.
In simple question is WILL WIKIPEDIA PAY PENSION ON ANY NON-FREE METERIALS ON IT? RushdimIDlike (talk) 15:05, 25 August 2008 (UTC)
- Nope. Tan ǀ 39 15:07, 25 August 2008 (UTC)
- No. Non-free media is licensed under a fair use rational Bvlax2005 (talk) 15:10, 25 August 2008 (UTC)
Changing wikipedia picture
I want to change my user ppicture for Kareena (on sage) to my current picture. But I forget how I added teh pic. Can you help? Thanks, Kar —Preceding unsigned comment added by 76.22.76.61 (talk) 15:28, 25 August 2008 (UTC)
- See Wikipedia:Uploading images, but I'm not sure what you refer to. Do you have a user account here at the encyclopedia Wikipedia? If so then what is the user name? If you are referring to something else, for example the fictional ocean Sage in Yohoho! Puzzle Pirates which is unrelated to Wikipedia then I cannot help. You could try asking at Wikipedia:Reference desk/Computing but it might be better to find a site about the game. PrimeHunter (talk) 16:57, 25 August 2008 (UTC)
Vandalism
What's the proper thing to do when someone is undoing automated vandalism fixes, such as at today's featured article Diary of a Camper? User OSx86 has been warned about such stuff before, but I don't want to get caught in an edit war. jeffjon (talk) 16:08, 25 August 2008 (UTC)
- Well, if they are vandalizing a page, restoring the correct version is not considered edit warring. You can report the incident to WP:AIV as well, if you would like an admin to review the situation. I hope this helps! TN‑X-Man 16:15, 25 August 2008 (UTC)
- User: OSx86 has been indefinitely blocked. Jauerbackdude?/dude. 18:52, 25 August 2008 (UTC)
Rights to an article
I am writng a restaurant-recipe book and would like to use some of the articles as food trivia in my book.
I have no problem stating in my book that Wikipedia is my source for this information; however, I want to make sure that I have the right to use these articles.
I realize that all articles may not be correct but I would be stating that "according to an article on Wikipedia website, the following is a history of the Po-Boy etc."
Thank you for your help,
L —Preceding unsigned comment added by Leschler (talk • contribs) 16:29, 25 August 2008 (UTC)
- Please take a look at this page for guidance on the reuse of Wikipedia content. – ukexpat (talk) 17:06, 25 August 2008 (UTC)
How do I create a "floating quote" of under 50 words?
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/f/fb/Yes_check.svg/20px-Yes_check.svg.png)
I would like to insert a quote of six lines which exceed the limits of the Rquote width (because each line requires a distinct line break not permitted by the Rquote parameter). Inaddition, I would like the quote to be aligned "right" very similar to the Rquote example HERE— with the exception of reducing the size of the quotation marks. Lastly, I would like my quote to be "floated" in a similar manner as the example of a "floating table" as seen HERE under the Heading, Floating Table. I have racked my brain for hours and I am in need of much help. Thank you. Hag2 (talk) 16:54, 25 August 2008 (UTC)
<blockquote>
<div style="text-align: right; direction: ltr; margin-left: 1em;">
TEXT
</div>
</blockquote>
Dendodge|TalkContribs 17:57, 25 August 2008 (UTC)
<blockquote> <div style="text-align: left; direction: ltr; margin-left: 20em;"> TEXT </div> </blockquote>
- well, the above-alterations (i.e. text-align:left; and margin-left:20em) produce something on the rightside of my screen which is about 30%-close to what I require (i.e. I would like to move it farther to the right). If we threw a border around it and "floated it" so that another, larger paragraph would then read above it and below it and to the left, we would have what I require. Hag2 (talk) 18:26, 25 August 2008 (UTC)
- Try {{quote box2}} and enclose your text in
<poem>...</poem>
to maintain line breaks. --—— Gadget850 (Ed) talk - 19:22, 25 August 2008 (UTC)- Gadget, Quotebox2 is good! I can work with that I think. Do you have any idea how I can create a set of quotation marks similar to the Rquote marks, but smaller, and maybe light grey? Hag2 (talk) 19:56, 25 August 2008 (UTC)
- I fiddled around and did a sample at the bottom of Template:Quote box2/examples, but the alignment is off. Rquote is actually a three column template with the quote symbols in the left and right columns. Please refer to WP:MOSQUOTE for the proper use of pull quotes. --—— Gadget850 (Ed) talk - 20:44, 25 August 2008 (UTC)
- Fantastic! Much appreciated! Thanks. Hag2 (talk) 15:10, 26 August 2008 (UTC)
On reporting vandalism
I would like to know what the best way is to report vandalism, particularly new vandals.
In the past, I have reported this to specific Admins, but there has to be a better way.
For example, if a new anonymous user has just made a single contribution, which is an act of vandalism, I can reverse it, of course, but I would also like to report it. Is there an easy way of doing that?
See, for example, Special:Contributions/68.53.40.110. What is the Wikipedia policy in a case like that? Wait for repeated instances? How many repeated instances are required before an anonymous IP address is blocked?
Thank you very much, Pasquale (talk) 19:38, 25 August 2008 (UTC)
- WP:AIV is the best location. Corvus cornixtalk 19:48, 25 August 2008 (UTC)
- See also Wikipedia:Vandalism. Often it's best to start by just giving warnings (which anybody can do) to new vandals. PrimeHunter (talk) 20:28, 25 August 2008 (UTC)
Email Notifications of Article Edits
I'm trying to determine the settings that allow me to track articles via email notifications. If that is not possible, I'd like to determine the best way to manage a wide variety of articles that I have contributed to or am interested in following on an ongoing basis.
--Sbanker (talk) 19:41, 25 August 2008 (UTC)
- It isn't possible. Well, it is but that function has been turned off due to the sheer number of edits that happen every minute. The servers couldn't take all that emailing. The best way to watch articles is with your WP:WATCHLIST. Dismas|(talk) 19:54, 25 August 2008 (UTC)
- Use the RSS Feed, found on the history tab. --h2g2bob (talk) 19:58, 25 August 2008 (UTC)
Evidence that smoking causes cancer?
The following discussion is closed. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page. No further edits should be made to this discussion.
- Please now, the Help Desk is not for content disputes. That is exactly what Talk:Health effects of tobacco is for. Calvin 1998 (t-c) 20:19, 25 August 2008 (UTC)
I deleted most of the stuff on Health effects of tobacco because there is no real evidence that smoking causes cancer, yet some guy reverted my deletion.. why? --OuijaBoardOuijaBoard (talk) 19:46, 25 August 2008 (UTC)
- And you got reverted by two different editors because you are removing cited material without discussion. Corvus cornixtalk 19:48, 25 August 2008 (UTC)
- The 'cited material' is merely properganda by liberal hippy douches. I demand and apology. --OuijaBoardOuijaBoard (talk) 19:52, 25 August 2008 (UTC)
- And that ends this discussion. OuijaBoard: if you really have any desire to contribute, then you'll take the discussion to the Talk:Health effects of tobacco page. Exploding Boy (talk) 19:53, 25 August 2008 (UTC)
- No it does not end the discussion. I have yet to see evidence that smoking is harmful. I smoke a pack a day and I am as fit as a fiddle. --OuijaBoardOuijaBoard (talk) 19:54, 25 August 2008 (UTC)
- Anecdotal stories are not a reliable published source. This is not a forum, nor is it the place to discuss the article content. Please discuss this in the article talk page as noted. --—— Gadget850 (Ed) talk - 20:01, 25 August 2008 (UTC)
Getting an account20:00, 25 August 2008 (UTC)
I can't get goung: it constantly starts me over67.188.113.130 (talk)
- Do you get any error message? Take a look at Wikipedia:Why create an account? for some ideas of things that could go wrong. You can also go to WP:ACC and request an account. GtstrickyTalk or C 20:10, 25 August 2008 (UTC)
- Which user name are you trying to get? See also Help:Logging in. PrimeHunter (talk) 20:24, 25 August 2008 (UTC)
Image not displayed?
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/f/fb/Yes_check.svg/20px-Yes_check.svg.png)
I'm using Firefox v3.0.1, and it's not showing any pictures on Wikipedia. I can see the thumbnails, but when I go to see a closer look, (and I click on it), it just shows the picture box (checkered) and a link to the page within the box. Does anyone know a fix to this problem, or is it a bug?
L337*P4wn 21:50, 25 August 2008 (UTC)
- I just noticed that I'm having similar problems. Should be fixed somewhat soon (probably temporary bug). Calvin 1998 (t-c) 21:54, 25 August 2008 (UTC)
- I'm also using Firefox version 3, and it's been working for me all the time, but not today. How weird... (I also posted this on WP:VP/T) SchfiftyThree 21:55, 25 August 2008 (UTC)
Heh, glad It wasn't just me. xD L337*P4wn 21:57, 25 August 2008 (UTC)
Fixed! L337*P4wn 22:12, 25 August 2008 (UTC)
- Comment - nope not fixed for me, Firefox 2.0.0.16. – ukexpat (talk) 14:29, 26 August 2008 (UTC)
Unreferenced template problem
I added an unreferenced tag to An All Dogs Christmas Carol which made the movie poster blank. Schuym1 (talk) 21:58, 25 August 2008 (UTC)
- Heh, no, it's because images have temporarily broke (all images except thumbnails). Calvin 1998 (t-c) 22:03, 25 August 2008 (UTC)
- As seen above, it's fixed. Try a purge or cache-bypass if it still doesn't work for you. Calvin 1998 (t-c) 22:15, 25 August 2008 (UTC)
Wikipedia Toolbar
Do you have a toolbar or other such add-on that would allow me to type in a subject and go directly to an article?
24.86.254.189 (talk) 23:28, 25 August 2008 (UTC)
- This can be done in several ways. For example, in Firefox, you can set the search bar to search Wikipedia by default, or you can use a keyword-linked bookmark pointing to (say) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Search/%s. Algebraist 23:32, 25 August 2008 (UTC)
- I am a Firefox user so I only know ways to achieve this in Firefox. There are 3 ways to do this: 1) The search box to the right of your address bar can be changed to search Wikipedia. 2)Create a bookmark to
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Search?search=%s
Go to your bookmarks menu and right click this bookmark and enter something into the "keywork" section. After you have done this you can enter "keywork John Doe" into your address bar and it would automatically go to the Wikipedia article. 3) There is a third-party extension for Firefox available here. Bvlax2005 (talk) 02:40, 26 August 2008 (UTC)
August 26
Default font
WHAT IS WIKIPEDIA'S DEFAULT FONT and how do I enable it?
I recently reinstalled Windows XP and my previous fonts appear to be in place. When I use Wikipedia however, the text is barely legible. This screen shot (and the two preceding it) provide good examples:
I know how to change the font in Internet Explorer 7 so every website displays the same one. I'd rather not do this because Wikipedia seems to be the only place I visit that's affected.
Thanks for your help! Smithville1977 (talk) 01:27, 26 August 2008 (UTC) J.
{{oldprodfull}} and {{CurrentYYYYMMDD}}
Please see this page and this page. I'd rather not type it all again. ;) Rockfang (talk) 02:58, 26 August 2008 (UTC)
- I don't see a problem. In [4] you say "I'm thinking either there is a bug with {{CurrentYYYYMMDD}}, or the subst suggestion on {{oldprodfull}} should be removed". The subst is required and not a suggestion. It ensures that the displayed date is the day the template was added, as it should be. Without that, it would be the day the template is viewed. Subst'ed templates often produce ugly looking code but the date is rendered correctly at Talk:YouAreTV. PrimeHunter (talk) 13:02, 26 August 2008 (UTC)
- I understand why it was substed. I was just wondering if the {{#switch:{{{1}}}|s=|-}}08{{#switch:{{{1}}}|s=|-}}24 result of this edit was a necessary side effect. Is it possible for the template to be adjusted so that when it is substed, the above bolded text does not appear, but still produces the same end result (the current date being shown)?--Rockfang (talk) 13:16, 26 August 2008 (UTC)
- I'm not a template coder. You could ask for the reason for [5] at User talk:Danbarnesdavies. PrimeHunter (talk) 02:14, 27 August 2008 (UTC)
- It was a year ago, so I'm not sure, but at first glance I think I made it so that by using {{CurrentYYYYMMDD}}, one could insert the current YYYYMMDD as a string without the -s... † DBD 09:25, 27 August 2008 (UTC)
- I'm not a template coder. You could ask for the reason for [5] at User talk:Danbarnesdavies. PrimeHunter (talk) 02:14, 27 August 2008 (UTC)
- I understand why it was substed. I was just wondering if the {{#switch:{{{1}}}|s=|-}}08{{#switch:{{{1}}}|s=|-}}24 result of this edit was a necessary side effect. Is it possible for the template to be adjusted so that when it is substed, the above bolded text does not appear, but still produces the same end result (the current date being shown)?--Rockfang (talk) 13:16, 26 August 2008 (UTC)
Australian Soccer Players
Hi I Have just joined and an not a geek. I have looked through the FAQ's and played around but not changed anything( to scared)
What I am trying to do is to add my name 'Brett Beves' and a few others 'Arno Bertogna' 'Peter Rascopulos' I know that Played soccer for Australia.
The category is Australian Soccer Players, Australian International Footballers. The reference for proof is www.ozfootball.net/ark/players/b/ber.html.
The issue I have found is when you go to edit page it is the header and I cannot get to the list 'hyperlinks' below that is alphabetical.
Can you please give me the directions and the scipt I need to put in to add these people
Cheers
Brett Beves --Brettbeves (talk) 06:05, 26 August 2008 (UTC)
- Category:Australian soccer players and Category:Australia international footballers are categories. This means they show existing Wikipedia articles, and an article is added to a category by editing the article. See Help:Category. If Wikipedia has no article about the players you mention then they cannot be added to a category. Your link should be http://www.ozfootball.net/ark/Players/B/BER.html (capitalization matters in a url). It appears from http://www.ozfootball.net/ark/Socceroo/1981B.html that you were a substitute in a practice game against a club from Hong Kong. I haven't evaluated whether that or other things qualify the mentioned players for an article. See Wikipedia:Notability (people) for guidelines about requirements to get an article, but note that per Wikipedia:Autobiography and Wikipedia:Conflict of interest, it is strongly discouraged to create an article about yourself. You can request an article at Wikipedia:Requested articles (which already has a huge number of requests), or possibly at Wikipedia talk:WikiProject Football (soccer) in Australia (where it may get attention from editors with a special interest in the subject). PrimeHunter (talk) 12:41, 26 August 2008 (UTC)
Question
Question removed after rollback:
Hi. I just came to this site and heard anyone can edit it? Is that true? how can i prove my edit is factual, i mean otherwise anyone could write anything surely no? Thanks. Lee.
- Yes, anyone can edit Wikipedia. However, information must be verifiable. You may notice on a number of pages, there is a list at the bottom page of references where a user can confirm the information seen in Wikipedia. Information that is not referenced can easily be challenged and removed by another user. Bvlax2005 (talk) 06:17, 26 August 2008 (UTC)
So every fact needs a reference? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 79.75.191.6 (talk) 06:23, 26 August 2008 (UTC)
- Not necessarily, mostly information that could easily be challenged. "Google is a search engine" really does not need a reference for the sheer fact that it would be extremely difficult to challenge that statement. "Google is the second most visited site on the internet" could be easily challenged if there is no source to prove it. Bvlax2005 (talk) 06:49, 26 August 2008 (UTC)
ok thanks. all sounds a bit subjective to me, but i guess u just have to apply common sense. thanks anyway for answering my question. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 79.75.191.6 (talk) 06:51, 26 August 2008 (UTC)
Request for help with images
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/f/fb/Yes_check.svg/20px-Yes_check.svg.png)
I have done some changes to Anti-tobacco movement in Nazi Germany. After making them, I was no longer able to see the images (alt text is in place). However I can view the images in their own pages or in the Preview screen. Is this a problem on my end, or is there some sort of bug in play? Can someone help to solve this? Thank you. Jappalang (talk) 06:53, 26 August 2008 (UTC)
- Nevermind, a purge did the trick. Jappalang (talk) 08:22, 26 August 2008 (UTC)
Email change without password
HI.
For reasons I cannot track down, I have completely forgotten my wikimedia login's password. OK, easy so far, BUT...
I no longer have access to the original email address to reset the password on one of these accounts.
What would you need from me to change the default email on my account to something I can open to follow the new temporary password? Any help would be greatly appreciated. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 66.214.243.156 (talk) 07:27, 26 August 2008 (UTC)
- Without the password or email, there's no way for you to access your account. You'll have to create a new one. Algebraist 08:16, 26 August 2008 (UTC)
For immediate action: Slander found on Wikipedia
Dear Sir/ Madam,
I would like to draw your attention to two articles published under the guise of a VTC introduction and that of the Hong Kong Institute of Vocational Education, a member institution, that contained a lot of inaccuracies and more importantly, smear of a serious nature.
A user by the name of Brenda LO888 and ThaddeusB posted at the following link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hong_Kong_Institute_of_Vocational_Education a twisted version of VTC and IVE several times respectively on 21 Aug .2008 and 25 Aug 2008.
While respecting the freedom of speech on your innovative mechanism, I would like to state in no uncertain terms that malicious smearing will not be tolerated.
Please go to www.vtc.edu.hk for the correct information.
Grateful if you could check the pages at issue and revert by 4 pm tomorrow (27 August 2008) as to how these can be resolved.
Many thanks! —Preceding unsigned comment added by Canimbengu (talk • contribs) 07:30, 26 August 2008 (UTC)
- As much as I hate to say it, vandalism is a nasty byproduct of Wikipedia. However, in no way is it acceptable. Currently (as of 08:01, 26 August 2008 (UTC)) the article looks fine, however if the vandalism continues by the same user, you can report them at WP:AVI. Keep in mind that the user must be CURRENTLY AVTIVE when they are reported. Under "User-reported" click the edit link and there are instructions within the edit box on how to list a user for intervention. Bvlax2005 (talk) 08:01, 26 August 2008 (UTC)
- Also it looks like the vandalism was originally introduced by an anonymous editor seen here. I would assume that User:ThaddeusB reverted your changes in haste, incorrectly assuming the edits were vandalism. Although this is only an assumption on my part. Bvlax2005 (talk) 08:05, 26 August 2008 (UTC)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fimo Damaging Innacurracy!!!!!!!
Hi,
At http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fimo it states "According to a 2002 U.S.PIRG report Fimo contains polyvinyl chloride (PVC) mixed with phthalate"
At the bottom of the page, it says "FIMO is phthalate-free and is conform to the stringent European Standard EN 71 part 5 and bears the ACMI-Seal AP "non toxic"."
Clearly there is a contradiction here. If the latter sentence could be moved to the top so as to make clear to any potential customers that there is no phthalate in FIMO that would be great! When I try to edit the page this is not possible.
Please help,
Regards,
Tom Carter
<email removed> —Preceding unsigned comment added by 213.123.132.137 (talk) 08:23, 26 August 2008 (UTC)
- I did a little research and this site says that it does in fact include phthalate. I am by far no expert on the subject however. If you have a source stating that it does not contain phthalate then I would gladly change the article for you. Bvlax2005 (talk) 08:31, 26 August 2008 (UTC)
Please do not include contact details in your questions. We are unable to provide answers by any off-wiki medium and this page is highly visible across the internet. The details have been removed, but if you wish for them to be permanently removed from the page history, email this address. Please sign your post by typing four tildes (~~~~) or clicking the signature button above the edit box which looks like this:
. Do NOT sign in articles. Dendodge|TalkContribs 09:17, 26 August 2008 (UTC)
how can a redirection be undone?
I'm really new to Wikipedia but keen to learn. Havn't found what I need on FAQ and other places so asking you experts.
Want to post some facts about a Smart421 but see that a redirection takes users to a page occupied by content relating to KCOM. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smart421
How can a redirection like this be undone?
I'll be in sandbox today to trial my content before posting.
Thanks Cufflinks Cufflinks (talk) 09:40, 26 August 2008 (UTC)
- The reason it redirects to the KCOM page is because Smart421 is owned by KCOM and does not have enough information/notability to justify its own article. To create an article on Smart421 go to the page first, and after it redirects you under the title "KCOM" is line stating "(Redirected from Smart421)". You can click this and it will take you back to the Smart421 article where you can edit it (and remove the line that makes it a redirect). I'm not an expert on either company, but if there is only a small section of information on Smart421 you might want to consider adding it as a section under KCOM. If you have any questions or felt I wasn't clear feel free to ask me on here or on my talk page! Bvlax2005 (talk) 09:49, 26 August 2008 (UTC)
- (e/c) You can go directly to Smart421. When you try going to Smart421 and it redirects to KCOM Group, you should see "(Redirected from Smart421)" just under the article title ("KCOM Group") at the top of the page, you can click that "Smart421" to get to the page you want. — Twas Now ( talk • contribs • e-mail ) 09:50, 26 August 2008 (UTC)
- You really need to expand the KCOM article as the parent of Smart421. If and when that article grow to large, then you can split it off. --—— Gadget850 (Ed) talk - 11:59, 26 August 2008 (UTC)
Obama
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/f/fb/Yes_check.svg/20px-Yes_check.svg.png)
On the Barack Obama article, how come it doesnt mention that he is a racist bigot that wants to tax the middle class? --OuijaBorn (talk) 09:57, 26 August 2008 (UTC)
- I think you already know the answer to that, but I will humor you and point out that Wikipedia is just like any other encyclopedia and has a strict Neutral Point of View policy. Bvlax2005 (talk) 10:00, 26 August 2008 (UTC)
- No I dont know that. Telling people the truth is more important than Neural point of view. I demand access to the Barack Obama article. --OuijaBorn (talk) 10:02, 26 August 2008 (UTC)
- Is taxing the middle class a bad thing? It's better than taxing the working class. Dendodge|TalkContribs 10:07, 26 August 2008 (UTC)
- Is this OuijaBoardOuijaBoard (talk · contribs)? Who initiated the #Evidence that smoking causes cancer? question above? (Also who seems to be angry?) Also who is blocked? — Twas Now ( talk • contribs • e-mail ) 10:08, 26 August 2008 (UTC)
- You have 5 minutes to allow me access to the Barack Obama article so I can 'modify' it. If you do not, I will crush Wikipedia by hacking into all of the articles and deleting them all. You have been warned. --OuijaBorn (talk) 10:11, 26 August 2008 (UTC)
- and no, I have no idea who User:OuijaBoardOuijaBoard is. --OuijaBorn (talk) 10:11, 26 August 2008 (UTC)
- I cannot access the Barack Obama article, I am very very angry. I DEMAND access to it NOW! --OuijaBorn (talk) 10:18, 26 August 2008 (UTC)
- Use
{{editprotected}}
on the talk page of the article, followed by your request Dendodge|TalkContribs 10:24, 26 August 2008 (UTC)
- Use
- I cannot access the Barack Obama article, I am very very angry. I DEMAND access to it NOW! --OuijaBorn (talk) 10:18, 26 August 2008 (UTC)
- You have quite the same demeanor, thus Wikipedia:Requests for checkuser/Case/OuijaBoardOuijaBoard. — Twas Now ( talk • contribs • e-mail ) 10:34, 26 August 2008 (UTC)
- In the meantime, this account has been blocked for twenty-four hours to prevent their carrying out their threat to vandalize Wikipedia. --Orange Mike | Talk 13:40, 26 August 2008 (UTC)
- Ah, there's nothing like politics to get the blood boiling. It's amazing that Wikipedia can deal with such controversial topics without sinking into POV wars. It may be worth pointing out that as long as the U.S. (or any) government spends money, someone has to pay for it, either through taxation or borrowing. The United States public debt is large and growing, and one way to view deficit spending is an attempt by taxpayers to get something for nothing. Since there are no free lunches when it comes to public spending, taxpayers who consume more public goods than they pay for are essentially attempting either to pay for their consumption later, or to shift the cost onto future generations of taxpayers. At the moment, all but the wealthiest U.S. taxpayers consume more public goods than they pay for, although I've read arguments that the wealthy few enjoy the invisible benefit of a stable society that allows them to accumulate wealth, so it's reasonable to tax them disproportionately. That's probably a compelling argument if you aren't rich. What I find impressive is the great success of the U.S. Republican Party at persuading vast numbers of average people to vote in favor of borrowing from the rich at interest rather than taxing them so much, which essentially amounts to average people indenturing their children to pay debt service in the form of future taxes. I suspect Napoleon might smile. --Teratornis (talk) 17:05, 26 August 2008 (UTC)
- In the meantime, this account has been blocked for twenty-four hours to prevent their carrying out their threat to vandalize Wikipedia. --Orange Mike | Talk 13:40, 26 August 2008 (UTC)
Sponsorship: Marathon Runners - Energy Bar
The Marathon Club of the South African Reserve Bank is planning a Time Trial for the staff on the 1st of September. I wanted to put this request forward to the company "Energy Bar"
My request to you: Is it at all possible that you can supply/sponsor us with energy bars at the end of the 4km's run?
Advertisement and mentioning of sponsors will be done electrnically and on the Electronic notice board in the South African Reserve Bank's foyer.
Awaiting your response:
Regards.
Linda —Preceding unsigned comment added by 196.29.247.120 (talk) 12:17, 26 August 2008 (UTC)
- I suspect, based on your question, that you found one of our over 6.8 million articles and thought we were affiliated in some way with that subject. Please note that you are at Wikipedia, the free online encyclopedia that anyone can edit, and this page is for asking questions related to using or contributing to Wikipedia itself. Thus, we have no special knowledge about the subject of your question. You can, however, search our vast catalogue of articles by typing a subject into the search field on the upper right side of your screen. If you cannot find what you are looking for, we have a reference desk, divided into various subject areas, where asking knowledge questions is welcome. Best of luck. GbT/c 12:25, 26 August 2008 (UTC)
- Personal information redacted. Hi. This desk is for help on using the online encyclopedia Wikipedia. You seem to have read one of its articles and assumed it was affiliated with the company therein. Unfortunately, it's not. Sorry. Zain Ebrahim (talk) 12:33, 26 August 2008 (UTC)
Hey
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/f/fb/Yes_check.svg/20px-Yes_check.svg.png)
I want to be an admin make me an admin. --OuijaBland (talk) 12:48, 26 August 2008 (UTC)
- Open a WP:RFA - however, using 3 different accounts (all brand new) is not a smart move. Consider helping for six months or so, and then nominate yourself. Dendodge|TalkContribs 12:50, 26 August 2008 (UTC)
- Make me a fucking admin now or I will report you to your slavemaster Jimbo Wales. --OuijaBland (talk) 12:53, 26 August 2008 (UTC)
- Blocked indefinitely.--Fuhghettaboutit (talk) 12:59, 26 August 2008 (UTC)
- [Biting my tongue so I don't call this "user" something really offensive...] – ukexpat (talk) 14:38, 26 August 2008 (UTC)
- One must cultivate sangfroid to be able to practice civility. Have confidence in Wikipedia as a system - it has withstood far worse. --Teratornis (talk) 17:09, 26 August 2008 (UTC)
- This was a sock of User talk:OuijaBoardOuijaBoard, who was indeffed yesterday. Moving on... Tan ǀ 39 17:11, 26 August 2008 (UTC)
- One must cultivate sangfroid to be able to practice civility. Have confidence in Wikipedia as a system - it has withstood far worse. --Teratornis (talk) 17:09, 26 August 2008 (UTC)
- Make me a fucking admin now or I will report you to your slavemaster Jimbo Wales. --OuijaBland (talk) 12:53, 26 August 2008 (UTC)
write letter
I need to write Diane Feinstein a letter where do I get that information —Preceding unsigned comment added by 207.178.224.157 (talk) 13:20, 26 August 2008 (UTC)
- The Wikipedia help desk is used for asking questions regarding using Wikipedia. I would recommend viewing the article on Diane Feinstein to see if there is a personal site that may have her contact information. Otherwise the Wikipedia:Reference Desk may be able to help you out Bvlax2005 (talk) 13:25, 26 August 2008 (UTC)
- Take a look at her website for contact information. – ukexpat (talk) 14:41, 26 August 2008 (UTC)
Wikipedia disclosure
Where do best improve disclosure of the policies of Wikipedia in article deletion?
Being intrigued by Wikipedia, I spent a good deal of time and effort in a recent submission on Adiposopathy. It was complete with multiple supporting references. It was reviewed by who I believe is the writer of the currently published Obesity article. He did not agree with my article and suggested deletion to Cyclonemin (the Wikipedia representative). Immediately upon hearing this reviewer's objection, Cyclonemin stated: I'd support this being nominated over at AfD, would you like me to nominate it or would you like to do it yourself? This was hardly an objective assessment, and as one new to Wikipedia, represented a bit too enthusiastic zeal to delete the article. Being that the article had just been submitted, I would have thought the focus of Wikipedia personnel should have been on suggestions as to how to improve the article.
This became more understandable, when reading their "hard to miss," very public conversation:
Hey Cyclonenim
Will post the article on Adiposopathy for deletion. This is not a real medical condition. Will appreciate your comments.
On another note wondering if you could give my feedback on the obesity page? I am an ER doc whose hobbies include preventative health and science in general. Nice page by the way. You are good with graphics. --Doc James (talk) 23:12, 24 August 2008 (UTC)
My point is, Cyclonemin and Doc James clearly have a close relationship. That is a good thing, except when it results in bias against other Wikipedia submissions and authors. According to his Wiki profile, Cyclonemin states he is: A 17 year old student from Nottingham, United Kingdom. You can see a picture of me to your left! I will be applying Peninsula College of Medicine and Dentistry to study medicine in a few months (or failing that a neuroscientist). However, as of yet, i'm still a layperson studying at Bilborough College. I'm a Christian. Quite frankly, I love music and I play the guitar (acoustic, bass and electric) pretty much every day. I'm also pretty interested in parkour, photography and drama.
Thus, it is understandable that Cyclonemin values his relationship with past authors of Wiki publications, and wants to foster these relationships. However, Wikipedia should include on their main page that these types of relationships exist, and that currently published authors of Wiki articles - through their relationship with Wiki younger personnel - will naturally have great influence over deletion of future Wiki articles.
Just to be clear. I do not deny that my original submission could have been improved. All of us can improve. Although it had over 30 references, I offered even greater referencing if this would help. But when asked about this possibility, Cyclonemin suggested my best bet was to simply copy the article to my computer, as my article was likely to be deleted. This was not in compliance with the way I read Wikipedia's deletion policies.
The bottomline is this. I think all of us in academia are used to criticism. All of us are used to rejection. However, serious writers of serious articles in Wikipedia would benefit from knowing (before submitting) that deletion of their work may be substantially based upon the opinions of existing authors of existing Wikipedia articles, and the degree of their influence over impressionable Wikipedia staff.
How can I best edit Wikipedia's main page to disclose these potential biases? Thanks. Adiposetech (talk) 14:35, 26 August 2008 (UTC)
- I am inclined to say that this desire to delete your article does not stem from bias. I will admit that I am not medical expert, however it is extremely difficult to find information on Adiposopathy. Two users alone cannot delete your article (especially since neither of them are an administrator). Wikipedia is about consensus not voting. Your article has not been deleted yet and a discussion is currently going on at Wikipedia:Articles_for_deletion/Adiposopathy. At this point I would recommend arguing your case there instead of deciding to blame it on bias. If you still feel that you are being treated unfairly I would recommend getting in contact with an administrator. Bvlax2005 (talk) 15:23, 26 August 2008 (UTC)
- The Wikipedia Main Page cannot explain everything that every potential user needs to know to avoid running into every possible kind of problem, because Wikipedia is one of the most complex Web sites in existence. However, I agree it is regrettable that Wikipedia's user interface does seem overly encouraging to some fraction of, shall we say, optimistic new users who come to Wikipedia with strong assumptions about how Wikipedia ought to work. I myself had no idea that Wikipedia deletes up to several pages per minute, and I did not learn this until I had been stumbling around here for some months. (I have suggested before that the Main Page should include a count of deleted articles below the count of surviving articles which it currently displays, with a link to an introductory page that describes Wikipedia's deletion process.) In addition to being complex, Wikipedia is unlike almost anything that came before Wikipedia, and therefore almost everyone who sees Wikipedia for the first time forms at least a few incorrect assumptions about it. Wikipedia is a do it yourself system, which means everyone who uses it has to self-educate via the difficult methods of RTFM and trial and error. Since we cannot march all new users through a comprehensive introductory course, we have no way to insure that everybody who tries to edit here knows whatever they need to know to succeed at whatever type of editing they attempt. To visualize the scale of the problem, consider that Wikipedia is one of the world's top-ten most-visited Web sites. Imagine going to the headquarters of any of the other top sites (e.g. Google), sitting down at a computer, and editing away on the site without first talking to anybody else who works there. What are the odds that anyone could correctly guess exactly how to comply with all the policies of such a site, without asking any questions first? Wikipedia does actually make this possible, by having amazingly complete instructions, but the instructions are so voluminous that few people can learn them quickly, and Wikipedia does not require new users to demonstrate any understanding of the instructions before editing. (As Jimbo Wales mentions in his lectures about Wikipedia, since anyone else can edit anything we write, we have to learn how to write for our opponents - that is, we must figure out how to write something that everyone else who reads it will find acceptable.) Instead, Wikipedia expects people to make mistakes, and then to learn from more experienced users who correct their mistakes. It's not pretty, and other people have set up other wikis with different policies (e.g. WikInfo), but Wikipedia's approach has made it the most popular user-editable encyclopedia. If you would like a structured introduction to Wikipedia, and you like books, you could read Wikipedia - The Missing Manual. --Teratornis (talk) 16:26, 26 August 2008 (UTC)
- I might add that the notion that a cabal controls Wikipedia is something of an inside joke here. On Wikipedia, there is in fact a sort of a cabal, or rather many fluidly-forming cabals, consisting of everyone who knows the rules that pertain to particular issues. See Wikipedia:There is no common sense - Wikipedia is very rule-driven, so power accrues to users in proportion to their knowledge of the rules. Someone who reads and understands everything linked from the Editor's index would become almost omnipotent here. --Teratornis (talk) 16:32, 26 August 2008 (UTC)
- Since Wikipedia works by collaboration, Wikipedia editors are working together almost all the time. Any attempt to map the connections and relationships between editors would be impossibly complicated; it would be easier to map the family tree of a small city. When I imagine, after two years at Wikipedia, trying to post a list of editors whom I have worked with amiably, and might be likely to work with again in the future, I have to shudder a little bit. But it's true that the rules trump everything; anyone who can make a clear, cogent, correct appeal to the rules can get everything his heart desires here (assuming that his heart only desires things that are consistent with the rules). -FisherQueen (talk · contribs) 01:21, 27 August 2008 (UTC)
- I might add that the notion that a cabal controls Wikipedia is something of an inside joke here. On Wikipedia, there is in fact a sort of a cabal, or rather many fluidly-forming cabals, consisting of everyone who knows the rules that pertain to particular issues. See Wikipedia:There is no common sense - Wikipedia is very rule-driven, so power accrues to users in proportion to their knowledge of the rules. Someone who reads and understands everything linked from the Editor's index would become almost omnipotent here. --Teratornis (talk) 16:32, 26 August 2008 (UTC)
- The Wikipedia Main Page cannot explain everything that every potential user needs to know to avoid running into every possible kind of problem, because Wikipedia is one of the most complex Web sites in existence. However, I agree it is regrettable that Wikipedia's user interface does seem overly encouraging to some fraction of, shall we say, optimistic new users who come to Wikipedia with strong assumptions about how Wikipedia ought to work. I myself had no idea that Wikipedia deletes up to several pages per minute, and I did not learn this until I had been stumbling around here for some months. (I have suggested before that the Main Page should include a count of deleted articles below the count of surviving articles which it currently displays, with a link to an introductory page that describes Wikipedia's deletion process.) In addition to being complex, Wikipedia is unlike almost anything that came before Wikipedia, and therefore almost everyone who sees Wikipedia for the first time forms at least a few incorrect assumptions about it. Wikipedia is a do it yourself system, which means everyone who uses it has to self-educate via the difficult methods of RTFM and trial and error. Since we cannot march all new users through a comprehensive introductory course, we have no way to insure that everybody who tries to edit here knows whatever they need to know to succeed at whatever type of editing they attempt. To visualize the scale of the problem, consider that Wikipedia is one of the world's top-ten most-visited Web sites. Imagine going to the headquarters of any of the other top sites (e.g. Google), sitting down at a computer, and editing away on the site without first talking to anybody else who works there. What are the odds that anyone could correctly guess exactly how to comply with all the policies of such a site, without asking any questions first? Wikipedia does actually make this possible, by having amazingly complete instructions, but the instructions are so voluminous that few people can learn them quickly, and Wikipedia does not require new users to demonstrate any understanding of the instructions before editing. (As Jimbo Wales mentions in his lectures about Wikipedia, since anyone else can edit anything we write, we have to learn how to write for our opponents - that is, we must figure out how to write something that everyone else who reads it will find acceptable.) Instead, Wikipedia expects people to make mistakes, and then to learn from more experienced users who correct their mistakes. It's not pretty, and other people have set up other wikis with different policies (e.g. WikInfo), but Wikipedia's approach has made it the most popular user-editable encyclopedia. If you would like a structured introduction to Wikipedia, and you like books, you could read Wikipedia - The Missing Manual. --Teratornis (talk) 16:26, 26 August 2008 (UTC)
- Some notes to your post. When you create a page, the top of the window says "Before creating an article, please read Wikipedia:Your first article". That page warns several times that articles may get deleted. Doc James has many edits to obesity but is not the creator or sole editor. Like most Wikipedia articles, it has many contributors. Click the "history" tab and the older links at the bottom to see the page history. Anybody can nominate an article at Wikipedia:Articles for deletion. Doc James actually created the nomination page [6] before making the post [7] that Cyclonenim replied to [8]. And the post was made at Talk:Adiposopathy. As far as I can tell, it was directed at anybody who wanted to discuss the article and not aimed at Cyclonenim who just happened to be the first to reply. You call Cyclonenim "the Wikipedia representative" and later refer to "Wikipedia staff", but Doc James and Cyclonemin are both volunteer editors, just like you and almost everybody else. I don't know whether they knew eachother before, but many editors get in contact with eachother to discuss articles and that is not considered a problem. After getting a second opinion (which is not required), Doc James completed the nomination for deletion. You and others can comment at the ongoing Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Adiposopathy. It is listed at Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Log/2008 August 24 and Wikipedia:WikiProject Deletion sorting/Medicine, so editors who monitor deletion discussions can see it and choose whether to comment. PrimeHunter (talk) 01:44, 27 August 2008 (UTC)
- The thing that really struck me about this complaint was that Adiposetech has worked on his/her Wikipedia article for one week -- and Doc James has only been an editor for about six weeks longer than Adiposetech. They're both quite new editors. I doubt that it's appropriate to say that Doc James clearly has a close relationship with anyone on Wikipedia at this time. WhatamIdoing (talk) 07:33, 27 August 2008 (UTC)
Shortcut to citing
I am citing the same book multiple times, but different pages each time so I can't use <ref name=blank/>. Is there a shortcut to do this without writing the citation out over and over again? Copana2002 (talk) 14:37, 26 August 2008 (UTC)
- OK, I found it here. You simply create a notes section in addition to the reference section and cite the page number within the text. eg. <ref>[[#Smi00|Smith 2000]]: 4</ref> Copana2002 (talk) 15:09, 26 August 2008 (UTC)
- Thanks for the solution. I guess that's the best we can do at the moment, but it looks a little kludgey to me. Perhaps we should ask the coding gurus over at {{Cite book}} if there is a better way. – ukexpat (talk) 16:18, 26 August 2008 (UTC)
- I just happened across a better way: <ref name=NAME>NAME, p. 1</ref>. – ukexpat (talk) 22:06, 26 August 2008 (UTC)
- Thanks for the solution. I guess that's the best we can do at the moment, but it looks a little kludgey to me. Perhaps we should ask the coding gurus over at {{Cite book}} if there is a better way. – ukexpat (talk) 16:18, 26 August 2008 (UTC)
Global Account
I am creating a global account but someone has my name on the Polish wikipedia, one I will start using after I learn Polish on Wikiversity. This other Wikipedysta:Donek has not made any edits at all while I have made over 1000. Is it possible for me to acquire ownership of that userpage? P.S. I don't speak Polish yet so I cannot ask people on the Polish wikipedia. Donek (talk) 15:12, 26 August 2008 (UTC)
- There is no policy in the English Wikipedia for essentially stealing someone else's account (regardless of how often the person used the account). You must ask the user if you can have the password and start using the account. -- kainaw™ 15:24, 26 August 2008 (UTC)
- I don't think this is true. Tan ǀ 39 15:28, 26 August 2008 (UTC)
- The English Wikipedia has Wikipedia:Changing username/Usurpations. That page has an interwiki link to the Polish pl:Wikipedia:Przejmowanie nazwy użytkownika which includes instructions in English. PrimeHunter (talk) 15:44, 26 August 2008 (UTC)
- I don't think this is true. Tan ǀ 39 15:28, 26 August 2008 (UTC)
- The information at http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Help:Unified_login#Someone_is_using_my_name_on_another_wiki.2C_how_can_I_get_that_account.3F explains what to do if someone has your account name on another project. Bvlax2005 (talk) 15:27, 26 August 2008 (UTC)
Table(s) of Contents
Is there a reason that all TOCs default to "collapsed" mode (that is, I have to click "[show]" to see the whole Table of Conents)? I have not noticed this behavior before. Is this new, or does it only apply to unregistered (or unlogged-in) users? 137.148.237.84 (talk) 16:35, 26 August 2008 (UTC)
- I'm not noticing this behavior, but I am logged in. I tried logging out, but I still see the table of contents in an article I was viewing (which happens to be Hurricane Gustav (2008), if it matters), even after reloading the page. You could try searching the Help desk archive for previous instances of this problem:
- but that doesn't seem to find anything relevant. You could try different search keywords. You might have a browser issue. --Teratornis (talk) 17:18, 26 August 2008 (UTC)
- I see that the TOC on each page now has a [hide] link. Someone must have added this feature and initially set it to hide by default. --—— Gadget850 (Ed) talk - 17:34, 26 August 2008 (UTC)
Jimbo Wales
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/f/fb/Yes_check.svg/20px-Yes_check.svg.png)
I was reading through your encylopedia, and I noticed on the Jimbo Wales article that you refer to him as 'Wales is the current de facto leader of Wikipedia'. The term leader seems like a sociallist commnuist term does it not? Is Wikipedia a left-wing organisation? --LateKernelAmsterdam (talk) 17:14, 26 August 2008 (UTC)
- The term leader has a very broad use. For example, the President of the USA is sometimes referred to as the leader of the Western world. The word has no special link to socialist terminology, IMO. Wanderer57 (talk) 17:24, 26 August 2008 (UTC)
- Wikipedia does not fit into traditional political labels. Wikipedia is a system for Commons-based peer production, which is a different kind of social organization than was able to exist before the introduction of the World Wide Web in general, and wiki software in particular. Since Wikipedia is so enormous, depending on which part of Wikipedia you observe, you may find analogies with many different forms of earlier social organization, including socialism and libertarianism. (See Blind men and an elephant.) For more information, read the links under WP:EIW#Community, WP:EIW#Research, and WP:EIW#Basic_Info. You may also enjoy reading:
- Poe, Marshall (2006). "The Hive". The Atlantic Monthly. Retrieved 2008-08-25.
{{cite web}}
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ignored (help)
- Poe, Marshall (2006). "The Hive". The Atlantic Monthly. Retrieved 2008-08-25.
- I have some random notes at User:Teratornis/Theory of Wikipedia which may someday become worth looking at (although I may be blinded by optimism). For now there are some links to books and lectures by thinkers such as Clay Shirky and Yochai Benkler. --Teratornis (talk) 17:28, 26 August 2008 (UTC)
- Wikipedia does not fit into traditional political labels. Wikipedia is a system for Commons-based peer production, which is a different kind of social organization than was able to exist before the introduction of the World Wide Web in general, and wiki software in particular. Since Wikipedia is so enormous, depending on which part of Wikipedia you observe, you may find analogies with many different forms of earlier social organization, including socialism and libertarianism. (See Blind men and an elephant.) For more information, read the links under WP:EIW#Community, WP:EIW#Research, and WP:EIW#Basic_Info. You may also enjoy reading:
- The term "leader" is being used as exclusionary, not inclusionary. It means he is not an official. He is not elected. He is not appointed. He is not a dictator. He is not the owner. It is excluding a lot of other titles and leaving him with the ineffectual title of "leader". -- kainaw™ 17:30, 26 August 2008 (UTC)
- Can we have a Wikipedia election? I wish to be head of Wikipedia. If he wasnt elected, then that makes him a dictator because he took control of power without public vote. --LateKernelAmsterdam (talk) 17:32, 26 August 2008 (UTC)
- This is probably just another Ouija sock. Tan ǀ 39 17:33, 26 August 2008 (UTC)
- Ouija Sock? What does that mean? --LateKernelAmsterdam (talk) 17:41, 26 August 2008 (UTC)
- See WP:EIW#Sock. You cannot be elected because Wikipedia is not a democracy. --Teratornis (talk) 17:52, 26 August 2008 (UTC)
- Ouija Sock? What does that mean? --LateKernelAmsterdam (talk) 17:41, 26 August 2008 (UTC)
- This is probably just another Ouija sock. Tan ǀ 39 17:33, 26 August 2008 (UTC)
- Can we have a Wikipedia election? I wish to be head of Wikipedia. If he wasnt elected, then that makes him a dictator because he took control of power without public vote. --LateKernelAmsterdam (talk) 17:32, 26 August 2008 (UTC)
- Are you accusing me as a sock puppet? I am not such thing, what makes you think I am a sockpuppet? And if Wikipedia is not a Democracy, then what is it? A dictatorship? --LateKernelAmsterdam (talk) 17:56, 26 August 2008 (UTC)
- It's a meritocracy. You've obviously been here before and appear to be editing solely to disrupt Wikipedia. Tan ǀ 39 18:01, 26 August 2008 (UTC)
- Proof? --LateKernelAmsterdam (talk) 18:02, 26 August 2008 (UTC)
- WP:DUCK. Indef blocked, we don't need to waste time on this. Tan ǀ 39 18:04, 26 August 2008 (UTC)
- Proof? --LateKernelAmsterdam (talk) 18:02, 26 August 2008 (UTC)
List of language equivalents
What is the purpose of the list of language equivalents that appears at the end of articles but only on the edit page? I just added the Arabic equivalent of abacá to the English-language article, but I don't know whether this list is meant to provide a translation for the article title or a reference to the equivalent article in the appropriate language Wikipedia. If the latter, my addition may be inappropriate. Fbarw (talk) 18:43, 26 August 2008 (UTC)
- It is a link to same article in a different language's version of Wikipedia. The same list should appear on the left hand side of the page when you view an article. Cheers! TN‑X-Man 18:46, 26 August 2008 (UTC)
- Thanks. Now I'll go back and delete my additions. Fbarw (talk) 18:59, 26 August 2008 (UTC)
- For details, see Help:Interlanguage links and WP:EIW#Interwiki. --Teratornis (talk) 19:02, 26 August 2008 (UTC)
- Thanks. Now I'll go back and delete my additions. Fbarw (talk) 18:59, 26 August 2008 (UTC)
How can I add my company to Wikipedia?
Hi, I want to add my company to Wikipedia. Does this have a cost? And how would I go about doing this? Please help. Thanks.
66.166.56.194 (talk) 18:55, 26 August 2008 (UTC)
- There is no cost. Though your company should meet certain notability requirements. And someone else should probably write the article due to a conflict of interest. Dismas|(talk) 18:57, 26 August 2008 (UTC)
- See WP:BFAQ. There is no monetary cost to editing on Wikipedia, but there can be other kinds of costs, such as the fact that no one owns a Wikipedia article, so an article about your company may contain both good and bad information about it, whatever people can reliably source. --Teratornis (talk) 18:59, 26 August 2008 (UTC)
Removal of "Appearances In Popular Culture" from Dodge Charger page?
I recently spent several hours to add a area to the Dodge Charger page, and put in a new section. When I went today to add a new one I had just found, I found the section completly gone! I have seen nearly all other car pages have a "Appearances In Popular Culture" section, and none of them have been removed. I believe this to be important information, and it deserves to be there! But, why was it removed?65.26.158.208 (talk) 19:46, 26 August 2008 (UTC)
- The popculture section was removed by Ckatz with the comment 'we avoid this sort of trivia'. The place to discuss this is at Talk:Dodge Charger (B-body), but see Wikipedia:Trivia sections and Wikipedia:"In popular culture" articles for some background first. Algebraist 19:51, 26 August 2008 (UTC)
I represent two comedians, Josh Blue and John Heffron, and need to change the content on their pages
Hello,
I have the approved bios and headshots for comedians Josh Blue and John Heffron. This is the only information they want to appear on the website besides the links to their websites. What steps do I need to take to make sure these changes happen? I need to make sure this happens as soon as possible.
Thanks Inamariesmile (talk) 20:45, 26 August 2008 (UTC)
- Handling this one on User talk:Inamariesmile. Friday (talk) 20:50, 26 August 2008 (UTC)
Licensing issues
I have witnessed a user remove several recently added paragraphs from an article, and create a separate article with that exact information. However, in the page history the user who copied and pasted the text is given credit for the writing. Is this alright? Is there anything that can be done about it? Does it comply with licensing policy? « Diligent Terrier [talk] 21:03, 26 August 2008 (UTC)
- Copy-paste article creation is a GFDL violation, yes. (It's also done constantly.) There are two ways of dealing with it: the first is a history merge, which is messy and requires admin intervention. The other, which works well for simple cases (like spinning out a couple paragraphs by a single author when the article is new) is to just dummy edit the page and give credit to the original writer(s) that way. --erachima talk 21:33, 26 August 2008 (UTC)
- History merges are not possible in terms of paragraphs. It does not comply with licensing policy unless they are the only people who have ever edited the said paragraphs. A null edit stating which text the article came from in the edit summary should be done, and a reminder about the licensing policies to the user concerned. Woody (talk) 22:01, 26 August 2008 (UTC)
Collapse the TOC
I've been searching for almost an hour, and can't seem to find information anywhere outlining how to collapse a TOC or "Contents" box at the top of an article. Thanks in advance. — Hucz (talk) 21:56, 26 August 2008 (UTC)
- Doesn't the [hide] box show up by default, or do you want it collapsed by default? — Twas Now ( talk • contribs • e-mail ) 22:34, 26 August 2008 (UTC)
- Sorry for not being very clear, what I want is to be able to collapse it on default when loading the article. So that when the article had loaded, it's already collapsed and needs to be expanded. Thanks. — Hucz (talk) 01:09, 27 August 2008 (UTC)
- I don't think this can be done and it seems likely to me that many users would be confused if the default state varied between articles. Where and why do you want to do it? PrimeHunter (talk) 02:05, 27 August 2008 (UTC)
- Oh okay, thanks for clearing that up. I was going to have it on my userpage. — Hucz (talk) 19:02, 27 August 2008 (UTC)
Trivial Mention
What is a trivial mention? Schuym1 (talk) 22:24, 26 August 2008 (UTC)
- A mention that is either barely given, or barely worth noticing. — Twas Now ( talk • contribs • e-mail ) 22:33, 26 August 2008 (UTC)
- Thanks for the answer. Schuym1 (talk) 22:35, 26 August 2008 (UTC)
- For example, if the source has a "List of foo" and the "foo" you're trying to demonstrate notability is only mentioned on the list, that would be a trivial mention. Navin Johnson once tried to demonstrate his notability in a Steve Martin movie by pointing out that he was in the phone book, but this is a trivial mention (as well as primary source). SDY (talk) 22:50, 26 August 2008 (UTC)
- Thanks for the answer. Schuym1 (talk) 22:35, 26 August 2008 (UTC)
AFD problem
I nominated four Bratz movies for deletion at once and the nomination does not appear correctly. Please help. Schuym1 (talk) 23:49, 26 August 2008 (UTC)
- Well, I guess I won't be getting any help. Schuym1 (talk) 00:11, 27 August 2008 (UTC)
- Just have a little patience, we are all volunteers. I started to fix it before your 00:11 post but Bvlax2005 saved first so I only fixed a few other details. PrimeHunter (talk) 00:29, 27 August 2008 (UTC)
- I fixed it for you. In the future remember to user the template
{{subst:afd2 | pg=PageName | cat=Category | text=Reason the page should be deleted}}
instead of merely listing the articles on the deletion discussion page. Bvlax2005 (talk) 00:16, 27 August 2008 (UTC)- Oops. It's weird that I forgot that. Schuym1 (talk) 00:20, 27 August 2008 (UTC)
Why don't you add video to the articles?
I was wondering if wikipedia will/ or is planning to add video or animate examples to the article pages, ie: animation/video of planets rotating around the sun in the planet article, or video/animation of how an engine works, etc, etc —Preceding unsigned comment added by 66.214.35.177 (talk) 23:51, 26 August 2008 (UTC)
- The joy of Wikipedia is that the question could easily be turned around: why don't you do it? There isn't an editorial board that directs tasks. If you had a specific request for this kind of animation, you might ask at the relevant project (WP:AST or WP:CAR), but the only practical way to make wikipedia better is just to dig in your heels and lend a hand. Just for the record, I think I've seen a couple of engine animations in articles, such as Otto cycle and Wankel_engine#Design. SDY (talk) 00:03, 27 August 2008 (UTC)
- I think Wikipedia has steered clear of adding a video option for a number of reason. The additional server/bandwidth strain would be insane, especially for a company that relies on donations for its income. How much will a video even help the content of an article? I don't believe video content can fall under a fair use rationale therefore finding non-copyrighted videos would be like finding a needle in a proverbial haystack. I do agree with you though that animated pictures (such as a GIF animated) might be useful in some cases, such as the rotating planet idea. However, I think that a full on video feature such as what is seen on YouTube is not in our near future. But who knows, maybe one day...? Bvlax2005 (talk) 00:31, 27 August 2008 (UTC)
- We do have animations - see, for example, Engine - and we do have video - see, for example, Galloping Gertie. However, both of these require the video to be made, put in an appropriate format, and released under a copyleft license or in the public domain. While the number of images that meet those constraints is relatively large, the number of animations and videos is significantly smaller. As pointed out, if there's something missing from Wikipedia, feel free to fix the problem yourself. Confusing Manifestation(Say hi!) 01:05, 27 August 2008 (UTC)
Hey fellow IP guy. Try taking a look at WP:VIDEO. You may find some information on how to upload your OGG files. Good luck converting you file to ogg. --CyclePat (talk) 01:23, 27 August 2008 (UTC)
Becoming an admin
Hi, I think i would like to consider becoming an admin on here one day, but i fear my poor record on this site might count against me. Basically my first few edits on my account were vandalism, but from there I reformed and went on to make around 5000 constructive edits. However I also used to have a bad record for posting copyrighted images, but i stopped that now. The problem is I never leave edit summaries, and also I am really bad for making lots of small edits to the one article within a short space of time. For instance i have made over 500 minor edits to several individual articles. I notice most editors on here are not like me and make large changes in 1 or 2 edits but personally i like to make my large changes over several hundred edits and often over several days. Will this effect my chances of being accepted as a syop in future. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 79.75.209.42 (talk) 23:57, 26 August 2008 (UTC)
- You are unregistered and this is your only edit, which might hurt. — Twas Now ( talk • contribs • e-mail ) 00:04, 27 August 2008 (UTC)
- I have an account, i'm just too shy to log in to ask this question. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 79.75.209.42 (talk) 00:09, 27 August 2008 (UTC)
- In that case: 1- you probably shouldn't do that (sort of looked down upon, and it might be interpreted as a violation of WP:SOCK) 2- The main question being debated during an WP:RFA is whether you can be trusted with the tools and can be trusted to use them according to Wikipedia policy. Since it is a discussion, no one can really say for sure whether that will be an issue. A bad history, although it won't help, usually will be semi-ignored if your recent actions clearly state that you've learned or turned a new leaf. Calvin 1998 (t-c) 00:32, 27 August 2008 (UTC)
- Perhaps it would help to go to WP:ER, or do some admin coaching before you submit an RfA. Both avenues should be able to help you evaluate the constructivity of your recent edits. PerfectProposal 00:49, 27 August 2008 (UTC)
- Calvin is right. But, he's also pointed it out in such as fashion that appears to agree with Wikipedia's policy called WP:DICK. 1 - You have the right to remain anonymous and hold many account. Having a sock is not specifically band. In fact, the creator of Wikipedia at one point, if not still, used sock puppets to remain anonymous. However, it's difficult to build, or as in the case of many administrators who have violated the community's trust (the illusion), the community's trust. 2 - Calivin is correct. Nevertheless, excuse the the vulgarity, you'll have to "suck a lot of ass" if you're any little bit as verbios as I and even then, you may see your RFC removed in shame. A word of advice... the only special about an administrator is that he has the end of a janitors mop. Where he puts it, sometimes isn't always pretty. WP:ER, is probably a good suggestion. But, I've noticed, people that become administrator are the one hungry for power and the ones that put on a good show by editing lots and lots of articles. Making the bold but good edits and clearly voicing there opinion (which more then often, concededly and surprisingly, makes good sense). p.s.: (Sucking up also helps. Writing messages like I just did, which can create fractures (and eventually requiring some sort of WP:CON) is also a good thing to try and avoid. Hence as Gandi may say "be humble"!) --CyclePat (talk) 01:17, 27 August 2008 (UTC)
- Perhaps it would help to go to WP:ER, or do some admin coaching before you submit an RfA. Both avenues should be able to help you evaluate the constructivity of your recent edits. PerfectProposal 00:49, 27 August 2008 (UTC)
- In that case: 1- you probably shouldn't do that (sort of looked down upon, and it might be interpreted as a violation of WP:SOCK) 2- The main question being debated during an WP:RFA is whether you can be trusted with the tools and can be trusted to use them according to Wikipedia policy. Since it is a discussion, no one can really say for sure whether that will be an issue. A bad history, although it won't help, usually will be semi-ignored if your recent actions clearly state that you've learned or turned a new leaf. Calvin 1998 (t-c) 00:32, 27 August 2008 (UTC)
- I have an account, i'm just too shy to log in to ask this question. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 79.75.209.42 (talk) 00:09, 27 August 2008 (UTC)
August 27
Finding information within an old edit which may be delete
Hello, I remember using a resource which was called "A history of... transportation" (maybe it was modern, or motorized,) but anyways... at one point in time I had that source in an image. The image was in the article Steam tricycle,(Historical link) and it was File:A history of technology p424(coal bicycle).PNG. Anyways, I found the information I was looking for, but I was wondering if there was somehow we can search through the "text" that we've added (which is in our contributions)? You know what I mean, not just the edit summary of our contributions but the actual "edit" (ie.: the historical link[9])? Can we search the actual edit? It's obviously possible to look into the history of every edit, surelly there must be some type of bot that we could use to search? Similarly is there a way to search through the text (or as I call it "edit") we add to an article but then the article, or image, is deleted (such as the aforementioned image)? Can the first person responding to this please notify me on my talk page. Thank you. --CyclePat (talk) 00:52, 27 August 2008 (UTC)
Help request - bunching
I really should know how to do this but I confess I don't. Can someone take a look at Karl Ferris and fix the bunching issues? Thanks in advance. – ukexpat (talk) 01:22, 27 August 2008 (UTC)
- I fixed it using {{FixBunching}} as suggested here. It's not ideal because it results in some empty space on the right side, but I'm not sure how to get rid of that while keeping the edit links in the right place. Pyrospirit (talk · contribs) 01:34, 27 August 2008 (UTC)
- Great thanks -- I reduced the size of the first two thumbnails to default and that has removed the excess white space. – ukexpat (talk) 04:16, 27 August 2008 (UTC)
Help questions
I need help with a few things. Please see below.
1.) I had Vundo, but it is now gone. How can I assure that it won't come back so I can use Wikipedia in the most effective way?
2.) I have a 1995 Dodge Ram. It has a forced induction, charge air cooled 5.9 liter diesel engine with a manual injector pump. The cost of a gallon fuel for this vehicle is very high and I only get 25 miles per US gallon of #2 Diesel and about the same on heating oil. Is there any way to improve the efficiency of this vehicle so that my transportation costs can be reduced?
3.) I am confused by the notability guidelines in WP:NOTE. There seems to be disagreement about their meaning during deletion discussions. Is there an official clarification regard this matter.
Thanks, Testmasterflex (talk) 04:33, 27 August 2008 (UTC)
- 1) I would recommend a good anti-virus or anti-spyware program.
- 2) The Help Desk is for questions regarding using Wikipedia. I would recommend either a Google search or seeing the Reference Desk for help.
- 3) Is there something specific that confuses you at WP:NOTE? It seems fairly clear to me, although I'm sure some of that came with experience. If you have a specific problem with it I might be able to be a bit more helpful. Bvlax2005 (talk) 05:18, 27 August 2008 (UTC)
- On your third question, the notability guidelines are quite clear; how they apply to an individual article is not, as many articles put up for deletion are borderline or an unusual case. Also, there is some disagreement among editors as to how inclusive Wikipedia should be with new articles of obscure or questionable notability. See also m:inclusionism and m:deletionism. Pyrospirit (talk · contribs) 13:31, 27 August 2008 (UTC)
Newbie Account: banned ?
Hello, i have been making good edits to wikipedia since the last few months now, only via anonymous! ... and people keep requesting me to open an account,.... and now that i have created an account, wikipedia fails to open up,.... i cant even read it,... requesting page times out.... i at the same moment of time can read wikimedia thru the various proxy websites available ... so its definately not my browser or my ISP!
the only solution is digging thru my cookies and deleteing the wikipedia cookie! ... then everything works,.... if i login again,... it works till the time im browsing,... if i restart my PC, the same,... no page will open, requesting page times out!
What is it with my account or my IP or both :-( 59.94.145.117 (talk) 06:09, 27 August 2008 (UTC) Msolution
- I've never heard of this problem happening to anyone else, so it is most likely an issue with your Internet connection or your browser. If your current browser is Internet Explorer, try switching to Firefox briefly and see if that fixes the problem. Also try restarting your modem (or whatever you use to connect to the Internet). Make sure that your security settings and/or firewall settings aren't blocking Wikipedia. If none of these work, I recommend you try browsing and editing Wikipedia through the secure server. Pyrospirit (talk · contribs) 13:38, 27 August 2008 (UTC)
- User:Msolution has never been blocked. Your problem is not mentioned at Help:Logging in. I also guess it's a problem on your end, maybe temporary. Try logging in from another computer and another Internet connection to see whether that works. PrimeHunter (talk) 13:56, 27 August 2008 (UTC)
Search Facility
Why is the search facility on wikipedia so bad? If you don't know the correct spelling for something, or you don't type it exactly as the article is named on wikipedia then you can never find what you're looking for. I notice this facility was slightly enhanced when they added the dropdown which displays all the articles that match what you are typing into the search box, but still it could be greatly improved. Who is working on improving this? 79.75.129.4 (talk) 07:00, 27 August 2008 (UTC)
- The MediaWiki software does have a feature that suggests spelling corrections (such as what you might see on a Google search) however is currently disabled due to coding issues. If you do have problems finding a certain article I would recommend doing a Google search on the topic and include the word "Wikipedia" in your search. Bvlax2005 (talk) 07:13, 27 August 2008 (UTC)
- Including 'site:en.wikipedia.org' works better, as does going to Special:Search and selecting Google as your search engine. Algebraist 08:25, 27 August 2008 (UTC)
Recover account without password and without access to email
I would like to recover a wikpedia account but I cannot remember my password and I also cannot remember the password for the email account to which the account was assigned. But I remember the name of the wikipedia account and the name of the e-mail account. What can I do to recover this account? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 70.58.197.60 (talk) 08:26, 27 August 2008 (UTC)
- Your email provider might have some way for you to recover the account without the password. Otherwise you're out of luck. Algebraist 08:29, 27 August 2008 (UTC)
- Simply put if you can't remember your password and do not have access to the e-mail associated with it you are out of luck. As mentioned above you can try to regain access to your e-mail, otherwise you would have to create a brand new account. Bvlax2005 (talk) 08:33, 27 August 2008 (UTC)
Question about Jimbo
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/f/fb/Yes_check.svg/20px-Yes_check.svg.png)
Is it true that Jimbo Wales got into a lawsuit with some jewish religious group? --BlasternMinnesota (talk) 10:00, 27 August 2008 (UTC)
- The Help Desk is for questions regarding using Wikipedia. If there is no note of it on his Wikipedia page, I would recommend either a Google search or seeing the Reference Desk for help. Bvlax2005 (talk) 10:05, 27 August 2008 (UTC)
- Wow, what an unhelpful help desk. The Help Desk is for helping people, not for suggesting Google. And why isnt the Help Desk a desk? It is on a webpage. Shouldnt it be 'Help Page'? It is clearly not a desk, unless I turned my moniter on its back. --BlasternMinnesota (talk) 10:08, 27 August 2008 (UTC)
- Hilarious! — Twas Now ( talk • contribs • e-mail ) 10:33, 27 August 2008 (UTC)
- Wow, what an unhelpful help desk. The Help Desk is for helping people, not for suggesting Google. And why isnt the Help Desk a desk? It is on a webpage. Shouldnt it be 'Help Page'? It is clearly not a desk, unless I turned my moniter on its back. --BlasternMinnesota (talk) 10:08, 27 August 2008 (UTC)
- I wish to rename the help desk 'Help Page' for legality purposes. How can I achieve this? --BlasternMinnesota (talk) 10:35, 27 August 2008 (UTC)
- Oh, Ouija, your antics never fail to amuse. — Twas Now ( talk • contribs • e-mail ) 19:07, 27 August 2008 (UTC)
health science/ medicines
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/f/fb/Yes_check.svg/20px-Yes_check.svg.png)
Is there any treatment using mercury?if so why isit saying that mercury is poisonus? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 117.192.229.63 (talk) 11:01, 27 August 2008 (UTC)
- Have you tried the Science section of Wikipedia's Reference Desk? They specialize in answering knowledge questions there; this help desk is only for questions about using Wikipedia. For your convenience, here is the link to post a question there: click here. I hope this helps. Algebraist 11:05, 27 August 2008 (UTC)
- You have deleted my comment for the 2nd time. Is there anywhere where I can report mischevious admins? --BlasternMinnesota (talk) 11:15, 27 August 2008 (UTC)
- Not when you have been blocked indefinitely. By the way, Algebraist is not an admin. PrimeHunter (talk) 13:44, 27 August 2008 (UTC)
- And not likely to become one either if he or she continues to be so
mischeeveousmisscvehheousmischeviousnotty Wanderer57 (talk) 14:11, 27 August 2008 (UTC)
- And not likely to become one either if he or she continues to be so
IP requests a redirect
Can a registered user please redirect Social Anarchism or Lifestyle Anarchism to Social Anarchism or Lifestyle Anarchism: An Unbridgeable Chasm. Alternatively, should the latter be moved tyo the former? Do Wikipedia's naming conventions for books recommend including the subtitle? Thanks —Preceding unsigned comment added by 217.42.88.45 (talk) 11:47, 27 August 2008 (UTC)
- Done by Algebraist. Pseudomonas(talk) 12:29, 27 August 2008 (UTC)
- Thanks. Could you also get Alexander Tabarrok pointing at Alex Tabarrok? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 217.42.88.45 (talk) 19:01, 27 August 2008 (UTC)
- You could just create an account and do this yourself, you know. Users can create pages immediately after signing up. Algebraist 19:03, 27 August 2008 (UTC)
- Done. — Twas Now ( talk • contribs • e-mail ) 19:18, 27 August 2008 (UTC)
Uploading a jpg image
I am trying to ask a question about who the painter of a portrait of Marchese di Astorga, Viceroy of Naples 1672-675 might be. I am finding it impossible to find out how to upload the image despite creating an account for myself. However I have managed to place the image on Commons, but how do I move it to a question page within Humanities (or a general question page)? Jblln1234 (talk) 13:46, 27 August 2008 (UTC)
- You can display an image in a similar way to linking to a page, by using square brackets. For example, [[Image:Marchese di Astorga]] (using the name of the image you uploaded). For the purpose of asking a question at the reference desk, it would probably be better to link to the image by putting a colon (:) in front, like this: [[:Image:Marchese di Astorga]], so that the image doesn't display (possibly slowing down the page) but people can easily go to the image in question.--BelovedFreak 13:53, 27 August 2008 (UTC)
Thanks but as you can see I am not very good at this: the link doesn't seem to be working. Suggestions?Jblln1234 (talk) 14:49, 27 August 2008 (UTC)
- An editor has fixed your reference desk post.[10] See more about images at Wikipedia:Picture tutorial. PrimeHunter (talk) 15:28, 27 August 2008 (UTC)
Gettin a pag deleted
Hi all,
how do i get a page i made by accident deleted without getting a warning? i was trying ot make a sub page for old talk but accidentily made it anormally page--Andrewcrawford (talk) 14:00, 27 August 2008 (UTC)
- Place {{db-g7}} at the top of the page. Cheers! TN‑X-Man 14:02, 27 August 2008 (UTC)
- I have deleted Archiveold/Old. PrimeHunter (talk) 14:29, 27 August 2008 (UTC)
- Thank youAndrewcrawford (talk) 15:16, 27 August 2008 (UTC)
- I have deleted Archiveold/Old. PrimeHunter (talk) 14:29, 27 August 2008 (UTC)
Page moved, but talk page didn't
Help! I moved Brennan Torpedo to Brennan torpedo but the talk page wasn't moved, though the history page was. I didn't untick the default "Move associated talk page". Salmanazar (talk) 14:09, 27 August 2008 (UTC)
- Check again. It looks like it's been moved now. PerfectProposal 14:13, 27 August 2008 (UTC)
- Talk:Brennan torpedo already existed (with only content a message about redirecting to Brennan Torpedo). It required an admin to delete Talk:Brennan torpedo when moving Talk:Brennan Torpedo there. I have done it. PrimeHunter (talk) 14:15, 27 August 2008 (UTC)
- Thanks! Salmanazar (talk) 14:27, 27 August 2008 (UTC)
- Talk:Brennan torpedo already existed (with only content a message about redirecting to Brennan Torpedo). It required an admin to delete Talk:Brennan torpedo when moving Talk:Brennan Torpedo there. I have done it. PrimeHunter (talk) 14:15, 27 August 2008 (UTC)
unified login
I just made an account and it has automatically been put into the global login system. How can I get out of this? I use the various wikimedia projects under a different name on each, and whereas before I would log into each individually, now when I log into wikipedia I am automatically logged out of all other wikimedia projects and logged back into them under the wikipedia global name. This is extremely frustrating as I then have to re log back into each project again and again. Is it possible for a user to be taken out of the global login system? 79.75.211.94 (talk) 14:35, 27 August 2008 (UTC)
- You'll have to ask a steward over at meta.- Trying to dig up a link here... :P PerfectProposal 14:45, 27 August 2008 (UTC)
- Please login, and see [11] PerfectProposal 14:59, 27 August 2008 (UTC)
Making a Page Searchable? And Public
Hi,
I would like to put a page up on the chatity I work for. I created an account called Chai Cancer Care and have created a page but can only search for it within 'Users' other charities have their own pages which are not User pages. How do I do this please? What have I done wrong?
Many thanks,
Please see Your first article.
- Ensure that you have an account and you are logged in. If you don't have an account, create one
- Make sure the subject is notable enough to have their own article
- Find references
- Make sure no article on the subject exists under a different title by typing the subject into the search box to the left (←) and clicking 'Search'
- Type the page name in the search box to the left (←) and click 'Go'
- Click 'Create this page'
- Create the article, including all your references, making sure you adhere to the Manual of Style and our article layout guidelines
- Be aware that Wikipedia deletes thousands of new articles for failing to adhere to our policies and guidelines. New articles by new users are at extra risk of deletion, due to new users' unfamiliarity with our rules. Consider gaining experience by editing existing articles before attempting to create new ones
PerfectProposal 14:53, 27 August 2008 (UTC)
- (edit conflict) For a page to have an article on Wikipedia, it must first meet the notability guidelines. Regardless of whether your organization meets these guidelines, however, it might not be a good idea for you to create an article on it. Since you work for this charity, you have a conflict of interest when writing about it on Wikipedia. One of the most important Wikipedia policies is maintaining a neutral point of view in all articles, which can be very difficult for people with a close connection to the subject of an article.
- You can still request that someone else create the article through Wikipedia:Requested articles. Or, you can write the article yourself, as long as you make sure that it is as unbiased as possible and uses reliable, independent sources to verify all information in it. If you cannot find reliable and independent sources, it almost certainly does not meet the notability guidelines.
- Some useful information on how to write and create a new article is located at Wikipedia:Your first article. Pyrospirit (talk · contribs) 15:01, 27 August 2008 (UTC)
WIKIPEDIA ELECTION
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/f/fb/Yes_check.svg/20px-Yes_check.svg.png)
Go to User:ElectionDemocratic/Election08 and cast your vote! --ElectionDemocratic (talk) 14:52, 27 August 2008 (UTC)
- (sigh), I think this is another ouija sock. Admin? PerfectProposal 14:54, 27 August 2008 (UTC)
- Agreed. This appears to be the same guy, at least based on editing patterns. TN‑X-Man 14:58, 27 August 2008 (UTC)
- It seems that the user's been blocked, and the page deleted now. PerfectProposal 15:07, 27 August 2008 (UTC)
- Agreed. This appears to be the same guy, at least based on editing patterns. TN‑X-Man 14:58, 27 August 2008 (UTC)
How babies are made
Ok i've heard the story about sex, but i dont buy it. i mean how can it be possible that an egg and sperm makes a human being??? seems impossible to me so i was wondering whether there are any alternative theories as to how babies are made? Cheers. Dylan. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 79.75.129.4 (talk) 16:53, 27 August 2008 (UTC)
This page is for questions about using Wikipedia. Please consider asking this question at the Wikipedia:Reference desk. They specialize in knowledge questions and will try to answer any question in the universe (except how to use Wikipedia, since that is what this Help Desk is for). Just follow the link, select the relevant section, and ask away. You could always try searching Wikipedia for an article related to the topic you want to know more about. I hope this helps.PerfectProposal 17:13, 27 August 2008 (UTC)
To H.R.Manager
Dear Sir, I would like to ask you if you have a employe named Le Mihn Thia in your bank or not,Thanks. Waiting your reply Dr.Sameh Aziz —Preceding unsigned comment added by 41.233.187.45 (talk) 17:02, 27 August 2008 (UTC)
Please do not include contact details in your questions. We are unable to provide answers by any off-wiki medium and this page is highly visible across the internet. The details have been removed, but if you wish for them to be permanently removed from the page history, email this address.PerfectProposal 17:15, 27 August 2008 (UTC)
- Hello. I suspect, based on your question, that you found one of our over two million articles, and thought that we were directly affiliated in some way with that subject. Please note that you are at Wikipedia, the online free encyclopedia that anyone can edit, and this page is a help desk for asking questions related to using the encyclopedia. Thus, we have no inside track on the subject of your question. You can, however, search our vast catalogue of articles by typing a subject into the search field on the left hand side of your screen. If that is not fruitful, we have a reference desk, divided into various subjects areas, where asking knowledge questions is welcome. Best of luck. PrimeHunter (talk) 17:29, 27 August 2008 (UTC)
Dotted box around lead section
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/f/fb/Yes_check.svg/20px-Yes_check.svg.png)
Hello, The article Cambridge special access scheme has a dotted box around the first paragraph. Can someone fix it? --80.202.87.84 (talk) 17:05, 27 August 2008 (UTC)
- It appears that when the dated prod was removed, a space character was left in front of the text in the first paragraph. By removing the extraneous space, the formatting was fixed.
- Note: The prod was removed with no maintenance to resolve the issues that caused it being added. As a result, I've inserted {{notability}} and {{unreferenced}} tags to the article, which are issues which should be addressed to avoid someone choosing to submit the article for a more formal WP:AFD review. --- Barek (talk • contribs) - 17:19, 27 August 2008 (UTC)
User page
How do you create a user page? Thank you.Voiceperson (talk) 19:44, 27 August 2008 (UTC)
- You have one. Dendodge|TalkContribs 19:45, 27 August 2008 (UTC)
- If you mean a user subpage, see WP:Subpages#How to create user subpages. Algebraist 19:52, 27 August 2008 (UTC)
- Your user page is User:Voiceperson as you wrote.[12] PrimeHunter (talk) 20:04, 27 August 2008 (UTC)
how do you become a admin
how do you become a adminstroter cause i dunno know —Preceding unsigned comment added by Cyberdemon4 (talk • contribs) 19:57, 27 August 2008 (UTC)
- See Wikipedia:Requests for adminship. A lot of edits are required to have a chance. PrimeHunter (talk) 20:00, 27 August 2008 (UTC)
- Please see WP:RFA to learn more about the process. Expanding on what PrimeHunter said, as you have two edits - this one being one of them - I'd say you are unofficially 6 months and 4998 quality edits away from meeting most editor's minimal requirements. Instead, for now, I might read the five pillars of Wikipedia, and focus on making some solid contributions to the project. Tan ǀ 39 20:01, 27 August 2008 (UTC)
how do you ban user ( why are users not allowed to ban other users )
how do you ban a user and why are user not allowed to ban other users cherrs cyberdemon4