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.

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What helpers can do

Make sure all messages are formatted correctly,
Answer questions,
Check the Help Me Category and answer questions from users,
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Active earlier this year, hope to regain that. Rudget (Help?) 13:23, 1 June 2008 (UTC)[reply]
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October 13

DRAGNET

There was an actual movie named DRAGNET starring Jack Webb made in 1954 or 1955. In the filmography for Jack Webb the movie is listed, but when clicked on, what is written is about the television series, not the movie.

The movie begins with three men driving out into the countryside (I can't remember the actual location). One of the men carries a double barrelled shotgun and shoots one of the other men. He then re-loads and shoots the dead man again. From there on I don't remember much of the movie other than Joe Friday and his partner spend the rest of the movie solving the mystery.

I have watched for the movie to be shown on TV for years. Even though it may have been shown, I have never seen it.

I hope some of this information will help other readers. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Jwalbin (talk • contribs) 02:22, 13 October 2008 (UTC)[reply]

When you find a problem with Wikipedia, you can make your description easier for others to understand if you link to what you are describing. You seem to be describing Jack Webb#Filmography, which has the following link:

Dragnet (1954)

where Dragnet links to Dragnet (series). That indeed looks like a problem, and furthermore, Dragnet (series) also mentions the same film, but does not link it. These sorts of problems can occur on Wikipedia, because lots of different people write Wikipedia at different times, and they aren't all aware of what the other ones are doing, or will do in the future. Fortunately, {{Google}} is aware of almost everything, so let's ask it:

Search Wikipedia with Google for: dragnet film

and one of the search results is:

Highway Dragnet

That film was made in 1954, but does not list Jack Webb. Neither does the plot synopsis sound like the film you describe. So let's try searching the whole Web:

dragnet film jack webb 1954

That finds more links. Here's a clip on YouTube:

Dragnet Jack Webb 1954 Movie "Fist-Fight" Scene - Fantastic! on YouTube

Does that scene look familiar? You can wait years for something to appear on your TV...or maybe you can search on YouTube. --Teratornis (talk) 05:27, 13 October 2008 (UTC)[reply]

This appears to be the film you describe. Now I want to watch it. --Teratornis (talk) 05:43, 13 October 2008 (UTC)[reply]

there's a wikipedia article on the 1987 Dragnet film. maybe an article on the 1954 film needs to be requested. Sssoul (talk) 05:44, 13 October 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Dragnet has a red link to Dragnet (1954 film) where there once was a one-line page with only content: "Dragnet is a 1954 film based on the TV series." It's also linked from Malcolm Atterbury. I'm not sure whether it deserves its own article or should be redirected to Dragnet (TV series) which currently only has a short mention but nevertheless is placed in Category:1954 films. PrimeHunter (talk) 14:01, 13 October 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Trees and global warming

Considering that over 95% of the world's trees have been depleted by fires , agriculture, lumber industries, fungi, and population growth, I am looking for articles addressing the depletion of the world's trees as contributing to global warming, floods, erosion and storm intensities. I am also asking if there are articles that address the need for reforestation and and replanting trees in strategic areas to reduce wind and water erosion and water runoff. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 71.158.219.249 (talk) 04:06, 13 October 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Well, you could see Deforestation. However, before deciding to add anything, you may want to see Wikipedia:Neutral point of view (not that deforestation follows that policy very well, however). Calvin 1998 ^(t·c) 04:37, 13 October 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Category moves

There's currently a lot of stuff in Category:WikiProject Commonwealth realms that should probably be moved to Category:WikiProject Commonwealth. What is the best way to go about doing this? Prince of Canada^{t | c} 05:04, 13 October 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Check the links under WP:EIW#Cat and scroll down a few lines to the Bots subheading. Some of the listed bots can automate category moves. Moving a category by hand would be extremely tedious if lots of pages link to the category. I will give that subheading a shortcut: WP:EIW#Catbot which may work by the time you read this, unless you are watching this page like a hawk. --Teratornis (talk) 05:34, 13 October 2008 (UTC)[reply]

A hawk, you say? ;) Thank you for the help! Prince of Canada^{t | c} 05:37, 13 October 2008 (UTC)[reply]

(The WP:EIW#Catbot shortcut link works now.) If one of those category bots does the job for you, before this question moves to the Help desk archive, you might post a followup with some brief details of the solution, because future Wikipedia ~~victims~~ users will search the Help desk archives for answers to their burning "How do I ...?" conundrums. --Teratornis (talk) 05:48, 13 October 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Can I create a page without publishing it?

I want to create a page but I don't want to publish it until I have approval... Can I save it somewhere (the work I've done so far) and THEN publish it at another time? --Orangeisgreen (talk) 05:26, 13 October 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Yep. You can create it in your userspace and then move it to mainspace when you think it's ready to be in the mainspace. Just create it in User:Orangeisgreen/Sandbox (it doesn't have to be "Sandbox" at the end though). When you're ready, click the "move" tab at the top and follow the directions there. Does that help? – RyanCross (talk) 05:29, 13 October 2008 (UTC)[reply]

TO SUPLY TIRES MARSHAL TO SYRIA

WE ARE A COMPANY IN SYRIA DEAL WITH TIRES AND TUBES MORE THAN TWENTY FIVE YEARS ,WE ARE4 SOLD AGENT FROM INDIA RE CEAT LIMITED AND FROM TAIWAN RE NANKANG TIRE COP.

IF POSIBEL TO SUPLY US TIRES MARSHAL TO SYRIA WE ARE READY TO DEAL PLEASE CHECK THIS MATTER AND ANSER BACK BEST RGDS OMAR HAFEZ —Preceding unsigned comment added by 66.198.41.15 (talk) 07:55, 13 October 2008 (UTC)[reply]

I suspect, based on your question, that you found one of our over 6 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. Zain Ebrahim (talk) 08:48, 13 October 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Help change article Title

I helped creating the CV for a norweigan director but i accidently didnt spell his last name with a cpaital F. Can somone please help med change from Tor fuglevik --> to Tor Fuglevik

thanks
Erik —Preceding unsigned comment added by Mtgnorgetrainee (talk • contribs) 08:13, 13 October 2008 (UTC)[reply]

I moved it for you. It's now at Tor Fuglevik. But please have a look at WP:YFA and WP:BLP and especially WP:BIO. That article doesn't assert notability and is therefore a candidate for speedy deletion. Zain Ebrahim (talk) 08:54, 13 October 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Editing a Football Strip Caption

Hi,

There is a perticular page of which I visit often (EFFC) and I noticed a few days ago that the football strips for this team were wrong. I tried to edit them myself and was doing pretty well until something went horribly wrong. I've spent days trying to fix it and Ive come so far that they are presentable but have the wrong colours, patterns etc. How do I fix them? Or is there a useful site to help me understand how to use the editor? Or will someone be kind enough as to do it for me?

Thanks. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 80.195.248.209 (talk) 08:42, 13 October 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Would Template:Football kit/doc be what you're looking for? — QuantumEleven 12:13, 13 October 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Contents Box

I was editing a page and previewing it and saving it a couple of times. Then suddenly the Contents Box disappeared. I don't know how, I don't know why, it was just suddenly gone. I have no idea what I did. Do any of you guys know how to get it back or fix it? Thanks —Preceding unsigned comment added by Princessprobelmatic (talk • contribs) 12:16, 13 October 2008 (UTC)[reply]

The Table of Contents automatically appears when there are four section headers in an article. There were exactly four headers in the article, and you removed one, causing the contents to disappear. To get it back, add another header or type __TOC__ (two underscores, TOC, two underscores) somewhere in the article. Xenon 54 12:19, 13 October 2008 (UTC)[reply]

(ec) The contents box will only appear when the article has four or more section headings. If you removed these headings while editing the contents will disappear. You can use __TOC__ to generate a contents box. Garden. 12:21, 13 October 2008 (UTC)[reply]

how can one spread spam?

hey respected administartor n all other wikipedia users !!! i request you to kindly pay attention to your "chindi" called atricle..when it is searched from google then it shows some crap like chindi...kind of orkut...DAVIET...roll no 442/06...is not that a spam?..kindly emend it in order 2 make wikipedia the best search centre n also take some appropriate action against that fellow who did dat?

here is the link..check 3rd result:-

Rajatjainraj (talk) 14:02, 13 October 2008 (UTC)[reply]

That vandalism was added on October 1 and removed from Wikipedia on October 11 in this edit. Google's latest indexing of the page was on October 7 so the vandalism currently shows in their search results. It will automatically be removed next time Google indexes the page. Wikipedia has no control over when that will be. PrimeHunter (talk) 14:10, 13 October 2008 (UTC)[reply]

It's clearly that User:Rajatjainraj did that, as supported by this link. And as for the appropriate action, somebody already did that. E Wing (talk) 14:15, 13 October 2008 (UTC)[reply]

The mentioned "orkut" nonsense was added by 121.243.17.75 on October 1 in [1] and is currently cached by Google. Rajatjainraj added similar nonsense without "orkut" today but I don't have evidence that Rajatjainraj is 121.243.17.75. PrimeHunter (talk) 14:27, 13 October 2008 (UTC)[reply]

i thank mr administrator for your kindly attention. hope you will keep wikipedia clean n spam free as it was . —Preceding unsigned comment added by Rajatjainraj (talk • contribs) 14:40, 13 October 2008 (UTC)[reply]

remove a picture

what if i uploaded the wrong picture by mistake and i want to remove it. The picture i uploaded was kind of personal, and i want to remove it. How?--Dlo2012 (talk) 14:11, 13 October 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Someone may speedy delete it under WP:I10. E Wing (talk) 14:15, 13 October 2008 (UTC)[reply]

You can place {{Db-author}} on it if it was uploaded to the English Wikipedia, but I don't see any image uploads from your account. PrimeHunter (talk) 14:18, 13 October 2008 (UTC)[reply]

well, the thing is that i had uploaded it to uncyclopedia.org, and they don't have a very good help desk there, so i come here for advice.--Dlo2012 (talk) 03:05, 14 October 2008 (UTC)[reply]

This help desk is for the English Wikipedia. I don't know the procedures of Uncyclopedia but it's probably only administrators there who can delete images so you have to find a way to get their attention. You could try asking one listed at [2]. PrimeHunter (talk) 11:45, 14 October 2008 (UTC)[reply]

MBS

Please change the sub heading of this article which lists MBS as a trojan. This is incorrect. The software never downloaded itself. Please see the links for Michael Pollitt's articles of the OFT's press release. Although AV companies may have inaccurately labelled the software as a virus, they had to amend this because it was factual incorrect. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Platte International (talk • contribs) 15:45, 13 October 2008 (UTC)[reply]

You can safely feel free to fix the article youself. That's the idea behind the encyclopedia anyone can edit! --Jayron32.talk.contribs 18:20, 13 October 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Actually, MBS (Micro Bill Systems) was aquired by Platte International in early 2008 so there may be a conflict of interest based on the user name. PrimeHunter (talk) 19:26, 13 October 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Sources disagree on whether to call it virus, spyware, trojan horse, malware, or something else, but they pretty much agree it's nasty. I have removed "trojan horse" from MBS but kept the less specific "malware". PrimeHunter (talk) 22:46, 13 October 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Forgot to log in before editing

Good day. I forgot to log in before editing, and 3(?) changes are recorded in the relevant Histories against my IP address 89.168.255.186. I cannot find out how to change IP addresses to my user name, or who to ask. Please help. And add a page or redirection in WP for this as there are many other queries about this. GilesW (talk) 15:47, 13 October 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Unfortunately, there is no way to change the IP address to your user name. Once an edit is in the page history, it stays there as is until the page is deleted or the edits are removed via oversight. I hope this helps. TN‑X-Man 15:51, 13 October 2008 (UTC)[reply]

VF substitutes

Is there any other software (possibly portable) that's similar to VF that doesn't use IRC as the source? (Ideally in-browser, but that's not a necessity since VF was also really good as an external program.) Or else... VF doesn't have an option to use a proxy, does it? (Still, no idea whether IRC as a source will be allowed here, but I noticed that browne.wikimedia.org etc. or even freenode aren't blocked, so I might be able to connect...) -- Menti sock 16:20, 13 October 2008 (UTC)[reply]

WP:HUGGLE but it uses IRC. Old versions let you choose IRC or non IRC feeds. You can check with the developer for the old version code if you want. Gtstricky^{Talk or C} 19:18, 13 October 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks a lot for what you are doing but regarding Farsi you did not put any beautiful pictures from Iran , ( Northren part of Iran , Isfahan, Shiraz or Teharan ..)

Hello there,

Sorry If we could not find the right place to put our comment but you are doing a very nice job and please put few pictures regarding Farsi ( Persian language ) from Iran on your web site , pictures from North of Iran or Shiraz or Isfahan or Tehran )

Best regards,

Arash

70.193.52.251 (talk) 19:17, 13 October 2008 (UTC)[reply]

If you have images of Iran that you would like to share, please feel free to create an account (which has a lot of benefits) and upload them. Wikipedia can always use more good images. Cheers! TN‑X-Man 19:24, 13 October 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Commons:Iran has photographs from Iran, including the places you mention: commons:Iran#Isfahan, commons:Iran#Shiraz, and commons:Iran#Tehran. If you find some that are suitable to add to articles relating to Iran, you can add them by following the instructions in Help:Images and other uploaded files. --Teratornis (talk) 20:14, 13 October 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Names in different languages

Ragarding naming conventions as per WP:NAME,

Does prevalence of a name have higher priority than the official correct version of the name?

Example: Arkansas's state assembly has officially stated that "arkensaw" is the correct pronunciation, and specifically that the pronounciation "ar-kanzas" is incorrect. Now if someone made an article for Arkansas in some foreign wiki langauage, and literally named the article with the spelling that would give the pronunciation arkanzas (instead of the correct spelling that would give the pronunciation Arkensaw), citing prevalence as their reason, wouldnt they be incorrect? Does not being correct over-ride the prevalence criterion for naming convention?

Any takers?--129.111.69.67 (talk) 20:39, 13 October 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Unless, in their native language, the state was called "Arkasnsaz" and not "Arkansaw". Case in point: We do not name our article on Germany as "Deutschland" or "Allemagne" or the name for Germany in any other language. We name it Germany, because although the native German name is "Deutschland", we are at the English wikipedia, so we use the English name.--Jayron32.talk.contribs 21:54, 13 October 2008 (UTC)[reply]

WP:NAME says: "This page documents an official English Wikipedia policy". Other Wikipedia languages may have other policies and I don't know them. In the English Wikipedia, a common name in English sources is often preferred over a more officially "correct" name, and editors often disagree about what is most correct anyway. See WP:NAME#Use common names of persons and thing and Wikipedia:Naming conventions (common names). PrimeHunter (talk) 23:01, 13 October 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Wikipedia tries to download files to my computer?

Sometimes when I input a keyword into the search and click the Go button I get a popup that says wikipedia is trying to download a file to my computer. Is this a virus or computer worm? I always cancel this attemp but then I am back to main page and don't see the page I was looking for. Other times, when typing in the same keyword, I just go right to the wiki-page and get no attempt to download. Why is this? Thanks, 155.104.37.18 (talk) 20:45, 13 October 2008 (UTC)[reply]

It's never happened to me, but I presume it is pages with .ogg audio files which are causing the problem. Allow it - it will allow you to see the article and play the file.

Of course, that might not be it, but it's the best I could come up with. Dendodge|Talk^Contribs 21:58, 13 October 2008 (UTC)[reply]

It hapend to me to. I have some soltion but it is not good, Naimly, rite in the adress text box " http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=ARTICAL_NAME " (replase "ARTICAL_NAME" by the name of the articale that you looking for, you can find it by clicking the Search button insted of Go). Then you will get the artical you wonted then clik "edit this page" and then save. this will fix the problm.

you can also use "http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=ARTICAL_NAME&action=edit" Aizenr (talk) 22:46, 13 October 2008 (UTC)[reply]

It has never happened to me. Do you remember a keyword it happened for? Does it happen each time for the same keyword? There may be some browser settings which respond oddly to page names with certain endings that can be interpreted as special file types. PrimeHunter (talk) 23:06, 13 October 2008 (UTC)[reply]

It is jast hapend to me with "Wikipedia:Highly Active Users" Aizenr (talk) 08:45, 15 October 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Yes, like how I can't look up Wikipedia articles on many websites from work because it blocks URIs ending in .com (assuming that it's a Windows command program), and so have to do the trick Aizenr mentions. Confusing Manifestation(Say hi!) 03:51, 14 October 2008 (UTC)[reply]

It ones hepend to me with the artical "Gelfand pair" but I fixed it using the metod abuve,I think I mentioned this in the help-desk it was cupel of month ago Aizenr (talk) 08:52, 14 October 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Larger text

Sorry I'm not exactly sure this is the right place to be asking but... a for a couple of weeks now everything in Wikipedia appears slightly larger than it did previously. I occaisionally open a page and the text is momentarily smaller (like it used to be) before suddenly enlarging. This isn't really a problem - if anything it's an improvement as I can read everything more clearly but it does strike me as a bit odd. I'm using Windows Vista (Ultimate) with the most recent version (I think) of Firefox, no other webpages seem to be affected (or I might just have not noticed as few other sites are as text based and I probably spend more time on Wikipedia than anywhere else) and I haven't adjusted any resolution settings on my laptop screen. Like I said it's not really a problem but any enlightenment on this issue would be appreciated. Guest9999 (talk)

That does sound odd. I think Ctrl+scroll wheel is one of the shortcuts for changing font size in browsers; is it possible you did this accidentally, and does it help if you do it the other way? Confusing Manifestation(Say hi!) 21:55, 13 October 2008 (UTC)[reply]

I'm using a laptop with no scroll wheel so I don't think that could be the problem; I wouldn't worry about it though, if anything the change is beneficial, I was just wondering if there was an obvious explanation. Sorry for any trouble and thanks for the tip Guest9999 (talk) 23:03, 13 October 2008 (UTC)[reply]

You may have accidentally increased the font size in Firefox. You increase the font size with a "control-plus" and decrease it with a "control-minus." -Arch dude (talk) 00:14, 14 October 2008 (UTC)[reply]

help in editing gelfand pairs

I hope it's the rite plase to ask this requst. I'm curently editing the artical gelfand pair and I wont to put ther a section abut its aplications. so I rote it and put it in the discation page. However my english and riting stayl are to poor to put it in the artical, so I'll b grateful if somebody will fix this section and put it in the artical. Aizenr (talk) 22:34, 13 October 2008 (UTC)[reply]

This is a joke, right? --Jayron32.talk.contribs 00:55, 14 October 2008 (UTC)[reply]

I don't know. I didn't see any edits to that particular page's talk page, but I did see this diff, which was removed by an IP with no explanation. I don't know enough of theory (oh, who am I kidding? I don't know any of it) to know if the Application section belonged. TN‑X-Man 01:09, 14 October 2008 (UTC)[reply]

1)this is not a joke

2)the IP that removed this section was me, I jast forot to log in. I removed it after I rialised that the engilsh ther is not good enaf to apper in public.

3)proboly it was not the write place to ask this requst. can some body tel me where I shold ask itAizenr (talk) 08:58, 14 October 2008 (UTC)[reply]

October 14

Image policy

Am I able to use the images on this page here? Grsz ^X 00:52, 14 October 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Those images are probably copyrighted. Do you have any information to suggest they aren't, by any chance? NuclearWarfare ^{contact me}_{My work} 01:58, 14 October 2008 (UTC)[reply]

I do not. What is the best way to go about obtaining historical photos? Grsz ^X 02:02, 14 October 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Emailing the picture-taker or organization owning the copyright "on behalf of Wikipedia" kindly asking if we can use it here on Wikipedia. For example, see Image talk:WW2 Iwo Jima flag raising.jpg#Permission Obtained from AP (that's a reply from the Associated Press in response to a fax asking for permission to use that image). Calvin 1998 ^(t·c) 02:34, 14 October 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Third-party references

I'm having trouble finding third-party references for a fraternity article that I'm working on. The article is a list of chapters and all of the chapter information (i.e. founding dates, etc.) for the entire list seems to be found only in fraternity sources. As references, I currently have one book (that lacks an ISBN and is published by the fraternity), and two websites that are both tied to the fraternity. Does anyone have any advice to make this article verifiable? — ŁittleÄlien¹⁸² (_talk\^contribs) 01:03, 14 October 2008 (UTC)[reply]

You could try looking on [www.rottentomatoes.com], and look up the movie. They might provide characters. You can also try googlein' it, and place the term "Pi Kappa Phi movie characters". Javascap (talk) 02:28, 14 October 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Are you trying to be funny? — ŁittleÄlien¹⁸² (_talk\^contribs) 02:35, 14 October 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Oh crud, my apologies, I thought you were talking about a movie. My sincere apologies. With that mistake a bit in the past, you can try looking on their main page, and use the search feature on the website to find the information you need. You can also look up the title of the book and see if you can get the ISBN from another page. I hope this response helps more than my prior one o_O Javascap (talk) 02:43, 14 October 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Thank you for your efforts to help. I already used their website and looked for an ISBN in the library of congress. What I need, though, is a reliable third-party source that contains pertinent information. I have sources --but what I want is a third-party source (or two, or three). Any suggestions?

Let me see what I can cook up on "Teh google" Stand by, please... Javascap (talk) 03:42, 14 October 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Privacy Concerns Regarding Someone's E-mail Address in an AfD

I was reading through the AfDs and noticed that the author of the targeted article posted the text of a personal e-mail he'd received as a way to argue against the article's deletion. I was concerned to note that the article author had included the headers in the e-mail (including the e-mail address of the author of the e-mail). I've searched policies and read instructions on the Administrator's Noticeboard and Requests for Oversight to see if posting e-mails written by others and/or e-mail addresses of other people like this is permitted, but I couldn't find clear guidance. I suspect it is not, especially since it seems likely that the content of the e-mail and the e-mail address were posted without the permission or knowledge of the e-mailer. Am I totally off base here, or is there someone I should notify to redact this info? The AfD is here: <link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=User:MarkS/XEB/live.css&action=raw&ctype=text/css&dontcountme=s">7s_problem_1 The place where the e-mail occurs is obvious as a major formatting break if you scroll down. By the way, this email was also copied to two users' talk pages (I can give the details if needed). Thank you very much! --Silverneko (talk) 02:52, 14 October 2008 (UTC)[reply]

The general answer to that would be no, this is not a good thing. Firstly, the publishing of an email address on a website such as Wikipedia makes it liable to be harvested by spambots (among others), and as you say raises privacy issues (which are not specifically covered by the privacy policy, but in general terms would be considered a poor thing to do without permission and especially without knowledge). Even in cases where someone posts their own email address on a Wikipedia page, such as here or on the Reference desk, the address is usually removed as a courtesy. The other problem is that posting the content of the email, as well as again being something of a privacy issue, is potentially a copyright violation. So I would personally say that the best course of action would be to remove the posting of the email, leave a politely worded message on the poster's talk page, and possibly put a note at the admin noticeboard in case they think the revisions should be deleted and/or oversighted. Confusing Manifestation(Say hi!) 03:46, 14 October 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks so much for your reply. I'm not entirely comfortable removing the e-mail myself for fear of totally hosing formatting and content. My proficiency with Wikipedia tools is nonexistent; you can see from my contributions history that my grand plans for helping out at Wikipedia are as yet unrealized :) I came across this just because I think AfDs are interesting to read once in a while. Do you think it is appropriate to just post on the Administrator's Noticeboard to have somebody more proficient help me out? I don't want to shirk, but...--silverneko (talk) 03:56, 14 October 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Actually, I'm going to give it a try... wish me luck! Thanks for your help.silverneko (talk) 04:04, 14 October 2008 (UTC)[reply]

capital

could uyou please tell us capitals of the all countries in the world? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 195.229.241.173 (talk) 05:47, 14 October 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Try looking at Lists of capitals. Zain Ebrahim (talk) 05:49, 14 October 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Or List of national capitals.--intraining ^{Jack In} 05:50, 14 October 2008 (UTC)[reply]

problem editing the "Pieing" article

I am a new editor. Having edited the intro to the pieing article I attempted to add 2 references, somehow scrambling the references. I apologize. Help from some kind person would be appreciated. --Zanthorp (talk) 07:01, 14 October 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Another user has already fixed it. You hadn't added the references correctly, however. WP:REF, Wikipedia:Referencing for beginners and Wikipedia:Citation templates might help you with it. Cheers. Chamal ^talk _work 07:56, 14 October 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Alphabetical table

Heya... I'm trying to create an alphabetical table/list - ie sorts itself alpha-automagically ... its for poleconomy page . Is this possible ? Boomshanka (talk) 08:50, 14 October 2008 (UTC)[reply]

just found solution, cheers Boomshanka (talk) —Preceding undated comment was added at 08:58, 14 October 2008 (UTC).[reply]

Advice needed - slightly spammy editing

Hi, I have noticed that some pages that I have worked on have been modified in a way that looks OK at first, but doesn't quite feel right and the more I dig the more like spam it feels. The pages are related to the Northeast of Scotland and have had text added relating to the prehistory of the area. All these additions seem to end up on the new page Catto_Long_Barrow, which is currently little more than excuse to hold a link to http://letmespeaktothedriver.com/site/11227/catto.html#fieldnotes. This same link has also been added as a reference to all the modified pages.

This may be a genuine good-faith attempt to improve these articles, but it looks like it may also have been an attempt to drive up traffic to that blog-ish site (which also promoted a book) and even to boost its search engine position (which won't work as Wikipedia uses nofollow!). My biggest problem is that the pages edited are not even that close Cairn Catto (the proper name for Catto Long Barrow). My second problem is that this minor local feature has been added to almost all the geographical pages for anywhere near it!

Pages affected include:

Aberdeenshire
Bullers of Buchan, 4 miles from Cairn Catto
Hatton,_Aberdeenshire, 5 miles from Cairn Catto
New Deer 15 miles from Cairn Catto
New Pitsligo, 17 miles from Cairn Catto
Gardenstown, 29 miles from Cairn Catto

The same links are also on pages including:

Matt Beard (talk) 11:43, 14 October 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Were the links all added by the same editor or IP? --Orange Mike | Talk 14:12, 14 October 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Oops - yes, sorry I forgot to say that they were all added by User:Hadrianheugh, Matt Beard (talk) 14:30, 14 October 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Pictures at the Commons?

Resolved

←Signed:→Mr. E. Sánchez ^{Get to know me!} / _{Talk to me!}←at≈:→ 18:55, 14 October 2008 (UTC)[reply]

(Maybe I should ask this there, but I'm not too familiar over yonder, so can you help me?) So, I've uploaded three pictures with me and some political figures that I would like to be used in their articles that have no pics. Can someone help me to rename them appropriately? Do I just cut me out the picture with Paint? Thanks!

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Image:L_0b8bc2b5fdced94f06dd11fda13832a4.jpg Me with Lupe Valdez

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Image:L_6b34be4e2da0e1de5aeeb6e947186661.jpg Me with Tom Leppert

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Image:L_7510b24ac30a8504f00c19a42af343e6.jpg Me with Roberto R. Alonzo

←Signed:→Mr. E. Sánchez ^{Get to know me!} / _{Talk to me!}←at≈:→ 14:17, 14 October 2008 (UTC)[reply]

I think this probably falls foul of Conflict of Interest on the grounds of "Do not edit Wikipedia to promote your own interests". Unless you can (almost) totally remove yourself. Matt Beard (talk) 14:38, 14 October 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Seconded, and I would remove such pictures from any articles if I found them without you cut out because it is not encyclopedic to have a picture of the figure posing next to some unrelated person. See also Wikipedia:Images#Image choice and placement.--Fuhghettaboutit (talk) 15:16, 14 October 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Well, what I'm saying, I guess, is I wanted to provide pictures for those articles. I wouldn't put me in the article. That's just weird. I wanted to know if it'd be okay to just cut myself out of the picture and leave their picture, upload only them, and use that. I hope I'm explaining correctly. ←Signed:→Mr. E. Sánchez ^{Get to know me!} / _{Talk to me!}←at≈:→ 15:29, 14 October 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Sure. Cut yourself out and upload them to commons naming them intuitively, i.e., Tom_Leppert.jpg. The only thing I wonder if what they will end up looking like just cut out. For example in the picture of you and Lupe Valdez, she has her arm behind your back. I think you might be better off just doing a cropping showing her head and whatever else fits appropriately. Just cutting your outline out and placing a false background or something will probably result in odd looking pictures.--Fuhghettaboutit (talk) 18:46, 14 October 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Alrighty. Thanks for your answers, Fuhghettaboutit and Matt Beard. I will play around with them and see how it turns out. If it seems just a bad picture, I'll just leave it alone. Rest assured you won't be seein' me in any articles! Cheers. ←Signed:→Mr. E. Sánchez ^{Get to know me!} / _{Talk to me!}←at≈:→ 18:55, 14 October 2008 (UTC)[reply]

You could pixelate your face in the photos. If someone later takes a better photo of the subjects, they can upload theirs over yours. In my opinion (which counts for zip) I'd consider almost any legible photo of an article's subject to be a huge improvement over no photo. A perfect photo is better than an imperfect photo, but I think the biggest improvement occurs when an article goes from zero photos to the first (possibly imperfect) photo. This is an instance of the general rule that "something is usually better than nothing." Another example: having bad food is better than having no food, as long as the food is not so bad that it kills you faster than starvation will. --Teratornis (talk) 19:09, 14 October 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Awesome! I'll try that, too! Thx! ←Signed:→Mr. E. Sánchez ^{Get to know me!} / _{Talk to me!}←at≈:→ 03:08, 15 October 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon infobox image

Resolved

– PeterSymonds (talk) 16:35, 14 October 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Hi. I'm trying to add commons:Image:Princess_Margaret.jpg to the article, but the image isn't showing in the infobox. I tested another image and it worked fine, so I'm guessing it's not the template. Any help would be appreciated! :) Best, PeterSymonds (talk) 15:20, 14 October 2008 (UTC)[reply]

See Wikipedia:Village pump (technical)#Uploaded images not appearing in articles. PrimeHunter (talk) 16:11, 14 October 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Ah, thanks. :) PeterSymonds (talk) 16:35, 14 October 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Monobook

What is the reason that the twinkle in my monobook doesn't work? Hairy Perry 15:20, 14 October 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Hmm. The first step is to try bypassing your cache to see if that fixes the issue. Go to your monobook page and press Ctrl+Shift+R. That may resolve the issue. TN‑X-Man 15:28, 14 October 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Nope. That didn't work. I'm using Internet Explorer if that helps with anything. Hairy Perry 15:35, 14 October 2008 (UTC)[reply]

If that didn't work, I would suggest installing all of the modules, by removing any Twinkle stuff you currently have in your monobook and pasting importScript('User:AzaToth/twinkle.js'); (and only that) into your monobook. If that works, you can tweak the settings from there. See the install directions at WP:TWINKLE. Cheers! TN‑X-Man 16:11, 14 October 2008 (UTC)[reply]

See Wikipedia:Twinkle#Browser support. There is apparently no suppport for Internet Explorer. PrimeHunter (talk) 16:09, 14 October 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Why aren't two images appearing at Stephen Crane?

Image:SCrane2.JPG, which I just uploaded a new version of at the Commons, and Image:Battle of Chancellorsville.png, which is newly added to this particular article, but has been on Wikipedia since 2004, are for some reason not appearing at the Stephen Crane article. Is there some issue with the formatting? Am I just not seeing a typo or something? Any advice would be much appreciated, as I hope to submit this for FAC soon. María (habla conmigo) 15:51, 14 October 2008 (UTC)[reply]

See Wikipedia:Village pump (technical)#Uploaded images not appearing in articles. PrimeHunter (talk) 16:05, 14 October 2008 (UTC)[reply]

New Question

Hey There My name is Jeff, and I am a student at Brock University. A professor has requested a report to be done on Wikipedia. My question is what are the Web 2.0 Technologies (wiki's, blogs) used by Wikipedia?

Thanks —Preceding unsigned comment added by Jeppy88 (talk • contribs) 17:31, 14 October 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Well, from what I gather, Web 2.0 isn't really a technology per se. You may want to look at the Web 2.0 article. Wikipedia is an online collaborative effort to build an encyclopedia. It doesn't really use blogs or things of that nature. I hope this helps. TN‑X-Man 17:39, 14 October 2008 (UTC)[reply]

As a follow-up, the article on Wikipedia itself may have some useful info. Cheers! TN‑X-Man 17:41, 14 October 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Wikipedia is a project of Wikimedia, if that helps. --Alinnisawest,^{Dalek Empress} (extermination requests here) 17:55, 14 October 2008 (UTC)[reply]

I like Marshall Poe's essay:

Poe, Marshall (2006). "The Hive". The Atlantic Monthly. Retrieved 2008-10-14. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)

I have a few notes and links at User:Teratornis/Theory of Wikipedia and User:Teratornis/Tips for teachers which may or may not help. See also WP:EIW#Research and Wikipedia:Researching Wikipedia. From what I understand of Web 2.0, it's kind of a catch-all label that encompasses a wide range of collaborative software which includes things like blogs and wikis. (Wikipedia is just one of many thousands of wikis, albeit the most-visited.) Both types of collaborative software appeared several years before (some) people started calling them "Web 2.0". Blogs and wikis are both editable by their users, but they differ broadly in their organizing principles. On a wiki, users take turns editing and re-editing articles (or, more generally, pages), so the organizing principle is by topic. Any user can edit any other user's writing. On a blog, an individual editor writes entries in serial order by date, without restriction as to topic, and other users can merely add comments - they cannot edit the primary editor's entries. Thus a blog functions somewhat similarly to e-mail, whereas a wiki is more similar to publishing software that people use to write formal documents. Perhaps the most critical feature for a wiki's success is its built-in revision control system, which tracks the history of every edit by every user. Without the ability to track what every user is doing, and hold them all accountable for their actions, a wiki would quickly succumb to the Tragedy of the Commons. (A blog avoids the tragedy by privatizing the commons - giving various users exclusive control over their own areas of the blog where they can edit. This is neatly analogous to the two ways to avoid Tragedies of the Commons in the real world: find a way to regulate what people do on the commons, or divide the commons into privately-owned parcels.) However, software alone is not enough for a wiki to succeed; it must also have a community of users who have a shared vision. See User:Jimbo Wales/Statement of principles and Five Things Wikipedia's Founder Has Learned About Online Collaboration. You might also watch TEDTalks: Jimmy Wales (2005) on YouTube. --Teratornis (talk) 19:40, 14 October 2008 (UTC)[reply]

add Wade Martin Bio to wikipedia

How do I include the history of Wade Martin's life within wikipedia?

Bio: Wade Martin (Founder and President)

Wade Martin (WM) is an exceptionally prolific, bilingual, driven Renaissance man and founder of JWM Enterprises, the umbrella corporation for JWM Records & WM Studios. WM designs websites for his own companies, takes the photography for his artists’ CD covers and media, writes and orchestrates the successful business and marketing plans for his endeavors. His success over the past fifteen years lies in his innate ability to appeal to a diverse market from Rock, Hip Hop, R&B, AC to Pop, and his musical merits speak for themselves.

Most impressively of all, due to his exceptionally high standards, WM writes, engineers, arranges, edits, performs all instrumentation, produces, mixes, and then masters all of his work single handedly. He’s was one of the first to cracked the US Top 40 with a song he sang, wrote, recorded, and produced. Additionally, WM plays and records over twenty different instruments, and guest judged on American Idol on FOX.

WM builds and designs state-of-the-art recording studios to facilitate his needs from state to state. His newest recording studio, “WM Studios,” is based in Phoenix Arizona, and has developed a reputation as more than just another studio. Built and designed from the ground up by WM himself, WM Studios currently ranks as one of the best studios in the country. The Vocal Booth and Live Room feature wall touch screens so artists may operate Pro Tools remotely or just interface with their lyrics, and also hosts the world’s FIRST ever complete touch screen console designed by WM himself.

WM was born in England; when he was eight, his parents retired to the Canary Islands. It was there that WM learned to speak Spanish fluently. Senor Blass Martinez, a world-renowned South American opera singer, recognized WM's talent as a singer and spent four years putting him through intense vocal training that helped build his powerful yet controlled five octave range

In 1996, WM founded JWM Enterprises as the principal label for his then solo career. WM arrived to the US in 1999 as a singer, producer, and business man, and then retired his career as an artist some years after his arrival. Today, WM’s record label represents extremely talented young artists like JR, Danielle Siren, and Samantha Machado. WM’s role as president of the label is, needless to say, a very active one in which he not only writes and produces music, but also cultivates the talents image, stage productions, and market implementation. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Jwmrecords (talk • contribs) 17:57, 14 October 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Don't do it yourself, as you have a conflict of interest. Ensure that he is notable, then find reliable sources and ask a registered user to do it for you. Hope I've helped. Dendodge|Talk^Contribs 18:04, 14 October 2008 (UTC)[reply]

First of all, you may want to read the following articles: WP:YFA and WP:V. They will discuss how to create an article and, also, go over the verifiability guidelines of Wikipedia. Also, you should take a look at WP:BLP and WP:NPOV. The first article discusses the guidelines that should be followed when writing a biography. And the second discusses Wikpedia's "neutral point of view policy." As it stands, your text seems to violate WP:NPOV. It also reads like an advertisement. — ŁittleÄlien¹⁸² (_talk\^contribs) 18:12, 14 October 2008 (UTC)[reply]

To put it more bluntly, the style of this piece, as it stands, is not unacceptable for Wikipedia and would need dozens of "peacock" words removing. Some of these words are "exceptionally", "prolific", "successful", "innate ability", "exceptionally high standards" and "powerful yet controlled" - Adrian Pingstone (talk) 18:37, 14 October 2008 (UTC)[reply]

When using Wikipedia-specific jargon that the questioner is unlikely to be familiar with, always link to the page that defines it, in this case WP:PEACOCK. Often the shortcut to the page closely resembles the jargon term we tend to use. We know this, but the new users probably do not yet. --Teratornis (talk) 20:41, 14 October 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Also, the text posted above is a cut-and-paste copy of the text on this page which bears a copyright notice. Copyrighted material cannot be used in Wikipedia articles. Deor (talk) 20:59, 14 October 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Well, technically, all text on Wikipedia is copyrighted, but it's been licensed under the GFDL. For copyrighted text from elsewhere to be usable here (assuming it met other Wikipedia policies and guidelines), the copyright holder would have to similarly license it (as per Wikipedia:Donating copyrighted materials). Confusing Manifestation(Say hi!) 22:15, 14 October 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Well, yes, but it seemed unnecessary to explain the matter in such detail when the text itself is so manifestly unsuitable as a WP article. If I saw it while new-page patrolling, db-copyvio would simply be the most convenient way of getting rid of it. Deor (talk) 22:58, 14 October 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Delete Attachments

I'm using SourceForge 4.4, web-based product to track software bugs, and also a place to archive project documents. It has a built in Wiki page area. I uploaded two images to the wiki page and they were displayed at the bottom of the page as attachments.

I can embed them in the page code but they still display as attachments at the bottom of the page. How can I delete attachments from the page?

M- —Preceding unsigned comment added by 129.55.200.20 (talk) 19:31, 14 October 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Have you tried the Computing 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) 19:51, 14 October 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Is information for which a source, other than what's in my memory, disalllowed?

This question relates to a BBC Children's Hour series of plays, so is not really of huge import. However, if sincere memories are barred because there is no corroboration, this may mean that unless somebody else comes up with the same information and can cite sources, in around 20 years time or so, the knowledge is likely to be be lost forever. Is this right?

Segilla (talk) 21:15, 14 October 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Unfortunately, yes. That's what the verifiability policy says. However, while your memories aren't sufficient sourcing for Wikipedia, there may still be an alternative outlet where you could record the information. Confusing Manifestation(Say hi!) 21:59, 14 October 2008 (UTC)[reply]

If an alternative outlet isn't satisfying enough, sometime in the next 20 years you might convince a journalist from a reputable publication to turn your memories into a reliable source. Most likely, the journalist would also need to find corroborating information, but that's what journalists get paid to do. Wikipedia itself is more like a digest of already-published knowledge, so the most fruitful way to approach editing on Wikipedia is to start with some reliable sources, and write articles about whatever they say, rather than start with some arbitrary idea in mind and then try to find sources for it. Of course the human brain naturally does the latter, because we tend to remember ideas rather than where we read them, and thus many aspiring editors come to grief on Wikipedia. As far as losing knowledge forever goes, we know that all knowledge will eventually be lost forever. See: Ozymandias. So whether it happens in twenty years or in ten million years, ultimately everything we do will not matter. Thus I'd suggest focusing more on the problems at hand than on what happens after we die. --Teratornis (talk) 23:20, 14 October 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Carpe diem. --Teratornis (talk) 23:22, 14 October 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Speaking of lost BBC works, we have a featured article about Doctor Who missing episodes. See also Category:Lost BBC episodes and Wiping#BBC. It's sad. PrimeHunter (talk) 00:26, 15 October 2008 (UTC)[reply]

When I feel sad, which happens from time to time in my life of unrelenting pain, I read the Grief counseling article, and then I'm happy about all the money I saved by not hiring a grief counselor to tell me the same stuff. --Teratornis (talk) 05:00, 15 October 2008 (UTC)[reply]

a different definition of financial intelligence

The current definition of financial intelligence on Wikipedia has to do with the gathering of information about financial affairs. There is another, completely different definition of financial intelligence, which has to do with a person's knowledge of financial concepts and the ability to read and interpret financial information. I would like to add an article this other definition. How do I do that?Businessfinance (talk) 21:45, 14 October 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Be bold, edit the article, and cite verifiable sources. Oh, and have a read of the page I've linked in the previous sentence. Confusing Manifestation(Say hi!) 21:57, 14 October 2008 (UTC)[reply]

The two things sound too different to me to discuss in the same article. Intelligence and Intelligence (information gathering) are different articles for a reason. I think finding another article title would be better, for example "Financial savvy", or incorporate it in an existing article. Financial literacy exists but is about personal finances and your user name signals interest in business finance. Maybe Financial planning (business) could be expanded. Financial intelligence can get a hatnote to whatever the other article is called. You may find editors knowing more about the subject at Wikipedia talk:WikiProject Finance. PrimeHunter (talk) 23:00, 14 October 2008 (UTC)[reply]

October 15

How do I add a citation when I find one?

I see in articles that there are notations of where a citation is needed? Does anyone know how to add those when I find them. Depending on whether it is a book or a website, it is hard to tell what is the proper format? If it isn't a bother could you put a link on my talk page? Thank you. Elmmapleoakpine (talk) 01:34, 15 October 2008 (UTC)[reply]

All questions get answered here, sorry. It seems what you're looking for is the citation guidelines, which gives an overview of citations. Most of the information you want should be there. --Alinnisawest,^{Dalek Empress} (extermination requests here) 02:39, 15 October 2008 (UTC)[reply]

You might find the template below useful:

Visual inline citation guide

Formatting references using inline citations
All information in Wikipedia articles should be verified by citations to reliable sources. Our preferred method of citation is using the "cite.php" form of inline citations, using the <ref></ref> elements. Using this method, each time a particular source is mined for information (don't copy word-for-word!), a footnote is placed in the text ("inline"), that takes one to the detail of the source when clicked, set forth in a references section after the text of the article. In brief, anywhere you want a footnote to appear in a piece of text, you place an opening <ref> tag followed by the text of the citation which you want to appear at the bottom of the article, and close with a </ref> tag. Note the closing slash ("/"). For multiple use of a single reference, the opening ref tag is given a name, like so: <ref name="name"> followed by the citation text and a closing </ref> tag. Each time you want to use that footnote again, you simply use the first element with a slash, like so: <ref name="name" />. In order for these references to appear, you must tell the software where to display them, using either the code <references/> or, most commonly, the template, {{Reflist}} which can be modified to display the references in columns using {{Reflist\|colwidth=30em}}. Per our style guidelines, the references should be displayed in a separate section denominated "References" located after the body of the article.
Inline citation code; what you type in 'edit mode'	What it produces when you save
Two separate citations.<ref>`Citation text.`</ref><ref>`Citation text2.`</ref> Multiple<ref name="multiple">`Citation text3.`</ref> citation<ref name="multiple" /> use.<ref name="multiple" /> == References == {{Reflist}}	Two separate citations.^[1]^[2] Multiple^[3] citation^[3] use.^[3] References_________________ ^ Citation text. ^ Citation text2. ^ ^a ^b ^c Citation text3.
Templates that can be used between `<ref>...</ref>` tags to format references {{Citation}} • {{Cite web}} • {{Cite book}} • {{Cite news}} • {{Cite journal}} • Others • Examples

--Fuhghettaboutit (talk) 02:54, 15 October 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Get to know WP:FOOT, WP:CITE, and WP:CITET. If you do, you will probably be in the top decile of Wikipedia editors by skill. If you look at WP:FACR and some featured articles, you'll see most of them have lots of references and format all of them with citation templates. That's one of the big differences between featured articles and much of the rest of Wikipedia. For Wikipedia to reach its goal of getting every article up to featured quality, either most of our 47,748,422 users will have to smarten up a whole lot, or we will need better software tools to make adding references so simple that the majority of Wikipedia users can do it (or bots can do it). I would like to see all publishers who want to get cited by Wikipedia (and who wouldn't?) adding citation data to their pages in some standard format accessible to, say, the Universal Reference Formatter (see {{Google scholar cite}} to see how that works). --Teratornis (talk) 04:51, 15 October 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Change page name

Hello,

I just wrote an article about Micro-x-ray fluorescence, but I misspelled the page name. I put Micro-x-ray fluoresence and it is supposed to be Micro-x-ray fluorescence. How can I change the page name? —Preceding unsigned comment added by Grullon21 (talk • contribs) 01:50, 15 October 2008 (UTC)[reply]

You can move pages when your account becomes autoconfirmed after 4 more edits. I'm not sure about the best capitalization but the main thing is probably correct spelling and I moved it to Micro-X-ray Fluorescence for now. PrimeHunter (talk) 02:13, 15 October 2008 (UTC)[reply]

How to Request a Title of Article be Changed

I tried to change (correctly) the name of an article but I got this message:

The page could not be moved: a page of that name already exists, or the name you have chosen is not valid. Please choose another name, or use Requested moves to ask an administrator to help you with the move. Do not manually move the article by copying and pasting it; the page history must be moved along with the article text.

I went to the "Requested moves" link but have no idea how to request there. There's no textbox or link where I can submit my request. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Stepusual (talk • contribs) 02:11, 15 October 2008 (UTC)[reply]

You can edit a section at Wikipedia:Requested moves by clicking "edit" to the right of the section. The best place depends on the move you want, and maybe we can fix it right here. What is it? PrimeHunter (talk) 02:18, 15 October 2008 (UTC)[reply]

creating a redirect

If I created a redirect for Scream 4 to go to Scream (film series), would I be given a stern talking-to? I'm not sure I should since the Scream 4 page has gone through so many deletions. Dismas|^(talk) 04:01, 15 October 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Unless one of the people who deleted the page before happens to be reading the Help desk just now (a possibility, I suppose), essentially you are asking the rest of us to predict what the people who deleted the page before will do when they see your new redirect. I can think of two ways to figure out what those people will do:

Ask them.
Create the redirect and see how fast they delete it (or not).

I'd lean toward asking them, if it was my problem. --Teratornis (talk) 04:41, 15 October 2008 (UTC)[reply]

It was protected and required an admin. I have redirected it. PrimeHunter (talk) 12:50, 15 October 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks. Dismas|^(talk) 18:57, 15 October 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Government of New York

Why is Government of New York listed at Category:United States statewide political official templates?--TonyTheTiger (t/c/bio/WP:CHICAGO/WP:LOTM) 06:38, 15 October 2008 (UTC)[reply]

probably one of the templates has a problem. I'm looking now. Ling.Nut ^{(talk—WP:3IAR)} 06:54, 15 October 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Template:Current New York statewide political officials was recently edited to not include a couple of categories. I think that it might actually take up to a few days in some cases for all of the categories and pages to reflect changes. I know that I saw a notice to that effect on CAT:CSD or something pretty recently. WODUP 06:59, 15 October 2008 (UTC)[reply]

No... the template needed a /doc subpage, so I made one.. the cats should have been added there. Moved them. See Wikipedia:Template documentation. Ling.Nut ^{(talk—WP:3IAR)} 07:11, 15 October 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Then why is Government of New York still listed in Category:United States statewide political official templates? WODUP 07:16, 15 October 2008 (UTC)[reply]

I don't see it. Clear your cache? Ling.Nut ^{(talk—WP:3IAR)} 07:19, 15 October 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Well, it's gone now, but it was there... really... I swear... WODUP 07:24, 15 October 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Now the template and its documentation are in the wrong places. Category:United States statewide political official templates should contain templates not documentation pages.--TonyTheTiger (t/c/bio/WP:CHICAGO/WP:LOTM) 13:22, 15 October 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Request for a bot to do something

How do I set up a request please that a bot regularly goes through List of photographers, deleting anyone with a red link? Kittybrewster ☎ 09:30, 15 October 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Some people consider me an evialllll deletionist; but even I am uncomfortable with the idea of something that crucial being done by a bot. This is a serious matter; some of those folks may deserve their own articles, and a redlink can be a clue as to places where Wikipedia is lacking. --Orange Mike | Talk 13:24, 15 October 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Isn't there a bot that does something like this for date articles? For example, someone adds a redlink to October 15th and the bot reverts it. I think there are limitations though (e.g. the bot only reverts once per article per day). TN‑X-Man 13:58, 15 October 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Once a day would be fine. At the moment the job is being done by editors. Kittybrewster ☎ 17:43, 15 October 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Well, Pseudobot only works with date articles. I think (but am not positive) that many people agreed that the majority of redlinks added to dates were vandalism. I don't know if that applies to other articles/lists. I hope this helps. TN‑X-Man 17:51, 15 October 2008 (UTC)[reply]

IE hangs when loading into wikipedia

Hi i have a group of users who frequently access to wikipedia site. However lately they have been encountering this problem:

IE hangs when trying to load www.wikipedia.org. No responses from IE. I would need to terminate the session and restart again. Sometimes after shutting down and restart it works, but some other times it will just not response.

Is there any solution for this? or advise you could give relating to this problem? thanks —Preceding unsigned comment added by 82.118.67.5 (talk) 13:26, 15 October 2008 (UTC)[reply]

This page is for questions about using Wikipedia. Please consider asking this question at the Computing reference desk. They specialize in answering computer 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 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. Chamal ^talk _work 15:13, 15 October 2008 (UTC)[reply]

software that allows your files to speak to you

I am looking for a software program that will read the files I enter into my folers and instead of my reading then (I only have one eye and get eye tired quickly) it will read them to me.

I receive thousands of pages of legal files (paraticularly depositons) and I am looking for a way of reviewing them without going more blind.

If you are not able to assist me, please point me in the right direction. Thanks for your time and consideration.

www.securityoffice.com —Preceding unsigned comment added by 96.245.206.159 (talk) 14:30, 15 October 2008 (UTC)[reply]

This page is for questions about using Wikipedia. Please consider asking this question at the Computing reference desk. They specialize in answering computer 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 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.BTW, please do not provide your personal information here. Chamal ^talk _work 15:06, 15 October 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Getting Started

how do I go about getting started? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 63.215.28.105 (talk) 14:46, 15 October 2008 (UTC)[reply]

There are a bunch of ways to get started editing Wikipedia. The best way is to find a subject that interests you and look for ways to improve articles. You can also create an account, which has a lot of benefits. Be bold and help out! If you have any questions, feel free to ask them here or on my talk page. Cheers! TN‑X-Man 14:57, 15 October 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Wikipedia is a do it yourself system, which means you have to read lots of friendly manuals to figure out what to do. Start reading at Help:Contents. Take the tutorial. Be bold, but always in proportion to your knowledge of Wikipedia. As you know from real life, the less people know about something, the more cautious they should be with it. However, Wikipedia is much more rugged than most things; almost any mistake you can make here is relatively easy for other editors to revert, so you can learn by trial and error with considerably less bloodshed than is typical in real life. If you want a human to personally guide you, see WP:ADOPT. If you want a structured introduction to Wikipedia, see Wikipedia - The Missing Manual. For general information about Wikipedia, see Wikipedia, wiki, and MediaWiki. You could also read this Help desk every day and follow the links from the answers to questions. The Help desk illustrates very well the kinds of problems successive waves of new users run into repeatedly as they try to figure out the giant puzzle of Wikipedia. By learning from other people's problems, you will experience fewer of them. If you are serious about learning to edit on Wikipedia, I recommend making an account so you can begin editing your user page. Your user page is a place to write notes about what you are doing, add links to the articles you are working on, and to the internal document pages you are studying or refer to often. For example, you will want to remember the Editor's index - the single page that probably answers more questions about Wikipedia than any other. --Teratornis (talk) 18:48, 15 October 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Probably the easiest way to start is to read articles that interest you, and fix any typographical errors you see. Wikipedia always has lots of misspelled words and so on, especially in articles that attract a large proportion of casual editors and have had lots of recent editing activity. You can fix most typographical errors even before you have learned much of Wikipedia's wikitext markup language. See Help:Editing and Help:Wikitext examples. Also, you did not tell us what subjects interest you. Many people who edit on Wikipedia tend to focus on particular subject areas. For many subjects, there are corresponding WikiProjects where editors coordinate their efforts. --Teratornis (talk) 18:56, 15 October 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Help

The main template for the page The Simpsons (season 20) isn't looking like it's suppose to - can anyone help? Ay^{(Reply!,Contribs!)} 15:29, 15 October 2008 (UTC)[reply]

I have hidden the table of contents on the page and the page now resembles season 19. Is that what you meant? Cheers! TN‑X-Man 16:03, 15 October 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks! I meant the template itself was broken, but now it's fixed. Now, without the Table of Contents, it matches season 19. Thanks a lot! A _talk 18:30, 15 October 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Using columns within a table cell

Hi, I'm having a hard time finding a method of instituting multiple columns of text within a table cell without having it look crappy or distorting the rest of the table. Specifically, I'm trying to divide the Coauthors cells into columns in the Jeffrey A. Wilson article, because they are very long and stretching the cells vertically. I've tried the {{col-begin}} template and using a nested table (like this), but despite basically doing what I wanted, they either end up distorting the parent table or creating a visible minitable in the cell which is an eyesore. Is there any way that I can divide the lists of coauthors into columns without it being ugly or harming the rest of the table? Abyssal (talk) 20:27, 15 October 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Just glancing at it offhand, I'd suggest trying to make multiple columns for the coauthors in the main table, and using a colspan to put a single heading over the two or three coauthor columns. Then you can manually distribute the coathors among their columns. You can probably figure out how to not draw a line between the coauthor columns. I'm too lazy to work out an example here, but I could if you don't follow what I mean. Look at all the table examples under WP:EIW#Table to get more clues. --Teratornis (talk) 00:53, 16 October 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks for the suggestion. :D I've since implemented it. How does the article look? And no I couldn't figure out how to get rid of the border between the columns even after RTFMing. Any help on that front? Abyssal (talk) 10:16, 16 October 2008 (UTC)[reply]

I killed the borders for you in one cell, you can do the rest; note also the valign. I really dislike the periods and so rmv'd a few, but you can stick them back in if you insist upon them. :-) Note also my comments on the article's Talk... Ling.Nut ^{(talk—WP:3IAR)} 11:13, 16 October 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks, Ling! Abyssal (talk) 15:11, 16 October 2008 (UTC)[reply]

October 16

Recent Changes Transcluded only

Special:RecentChangesLinked/whatever will show all changed pages both linked to and transcluding the target whatever. Is there a way of hiding the linked pages to show (only) the transcluding pages, for example Special:RecentChangesLinked/Template:whatever&hidelinks=1 does not work ? Peet Ern (talk) 12:08, 13 October 2008 (UTC) [reply]

~~I tried asking this at Wikipedia:Village pump (technical)#Recent Changes Transcluded only a few days ago but have not got any responses.~~

~~Peet Ern (talk) 22:59, 15 October 2008 (UTC)~~[reply]

Now answered at Wikipedia:Village pump (technical)#Recent Changes Transcluded only. At the moment it does not work but is "on the to do list". Peet Ern (talk) 02:09, 17 October 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Change of name

Hello. I have two questions: 1.) is there a place I can change my name to User: Archaeopteryx (the real name of the dinosaur bird I wanted to name myself after but got misspelled) and 2.) once this happens, will the edits I previously have done appear under the new name too? As always, I would like to be contacted on my talk page, and as always, thank you for answering.--Archeopteryx (talk) 00:20, 16 October 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Replied on user talk. PrimeHunter (talk) 00:28, 16 October 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Yeah, another question

Sorry for another question. Is it possible to add "skins" to your user page so the text is in front of the picture?--Archeopteryx (talk) 00:37, 16 October 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Do you mean only for you to see, or for everybody to see? I don't know either way, but if nobody else gives you a compact answer, read the links under WP:EIW#Custom. If the answer exists, it's probably in there. --Teratornis (talk) 00:44, 16 October 2008 (UTC)[reply]

I mean for everybody to see.--Archeopteryx (talk) 00:46, 16 October 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Well this is just me, I do not think it is possible for a couple of reasons. Because of the difference of formats between browser's eg, IE,FF,Oprea etc it might not work work correctly universally. And I have not seen it done before. So may I suggest to add text to an image before uploading using ms paint or paint.net or anything else. Like I said this is just my thoughts for your question, Does anyone agree or have any other suggestions?.--intraining ^{Jack In} 00:50, 16 October 2008 (UTC)[reply]

A skin is only for you to see. If you want to make something for everybody to see, you might be able to put text in front of a picture with a <div> tag, but I've never tried that. See Help:HTML in wikitext for clues about what might be possible. --Teratornis (talk) 01:02, 16 October 2008 (UTC)[reply]

How to do a reverse dictionary lookup?

what do i do if i know the meaning of the word but i dont know what word it means????? thanks :] —Preceding unsigned comment added by 69.14.51.12 (talk) 00:54, 16 October 2008 (UTC)[reply]

You can try {{Google}}-ing for the meaning that you know, and maybe the word will come up. You could also type the meaning you know in a question on Wikipedia:Reference desk/Language and ask people to tell you some words that have that meaning. (Time to go watch a Presidential debate now.) --Teratornis (talk) 01:02, 16 October 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Any good thesaurus should help you out such as this one.--intraining ^{Jack In} 01:10, 16 October 2008 (UTC)[reply]

i just posted my first creation on wikipedia and...

The persons name is "Don Blum", but for some reason it's listed as Don blum? Can anyone tell me how to fix this? Adamandsuzie (talk) 11:25, 15 October 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Answered on user's talk page regarding what moving is. « Gonzo fan2007 (talk) @ 03:36, 16 October 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Infobox State_Senator parameter

At Richard Cordray I am having trouble with a governor3 parameter in {{Infobox State_Senator}}. What is going on?--TonyTheTiger (t/c/bio/WP:CHICAGO/WP:LOTM) 03:55, 16 October 2008 (UTC)[reply]

I think I fixed it ([3]); the parameter governor3 was being set twice, once to blank, I am not exactly sure how MediaWiki processes such instances but it was causing it to behave as if governor3 was not set. Icewedge (talk) 04:12, 16 October 2008 (UTC)[reply]

It honors only the last instance of a parameter. --—— Gadget850 (Ed) ^talk - 09:44, 16 October 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Keeping my Biography accurate or 'locking' a biography.

Hello!

My question is this: Is there a way to 'Lock' a biography? I spent hours last night putting a new one together, only to have someone re-post old news.

Thanks! —Preceding unsigned comment added by AceySlade (talk • contribs) 05:09, 16 October 2008 (UTC)[reply]

No. You can't just turn up as User:AceySlade, edit an article about (allegedly) yourself and expect it to stick. You need independant third-party reliable published sources and verifiability. You need to read WP:COI. Discuss changes on the talk page. Kittybrewster ☎ 05:24, 16 October 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Also see WP:OWN. You do not own the articles at Wikipedia, even those about yourself. If information about you is publicly availible in reliable sources, it can be part of an article about you. If you are not notable, then there shouldn't be one... --Jayron32.talk.contribs 13:10, 16 October 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Keep in mind WP:BLP as well. That policy imposes strict limits on what we can include in articles about living persons. --Tkynerd (talk) 13:38, 16 October 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Cathal Crowe

Is this properly listed for deletion? If not what is missing? Kittybrewster ☎ 05:16, 16 October 2008 (UTC)[reply]

I went ahead and did the final step: listing it at Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Log/2008 October 16. Grsz ^X 05:21, 16 October 2008 (UTC)[reply]

How do I make an SVG?

So, several of the images I've made ought to be SVGs. How on earth do I make one? WP:USOP says it's easy, WP:SVG Help says what to do if you're having troubles uploading one, but I can't find anywhere that says HOW to make one. Do I need a special program? What? — The Man in Question (gesprec) · (forðung) 06:13, 16 October 2008 (UTC)[reply]

The article on SVG has a section which lists some applications which can be used to edit, create, and save files in SVG format: Scalable Vector Graphics#Support in applications -=# Amos E Wolfe ^talk #=- 07:40, 16 October 2008 (UTC)[reply]

If you are dedicated you can create them by hand using notepad or some other text output editor. SVG definition is a available at w3. Simple svg files can be easily created by hand, for example

, or

Peet Ern (talk) 01:48, 17 October 2008 (UTC)[reply]

How do I contact a user concerning a SUL account?

Firstly: Sorry for posting my question here. - I don't know where else to place it. I hope you can help me.
Secondly: I wanna make a SUL account for the user "sokai". I "own" (have created) this account for de.wikipedia.org and meta.wikimedia.org projects. Because it already exists at en.wikipedia.org I can't create the wanted SUL account. So I contacted Sokai at her/his talk page but I don't think s/he will answer my request because of her/his inactivity since 2006. So my question is: What do you think will be the best way to get that SUL account?
Thanks & bye -- --Sokai-new (talk) 12:54, 16 October 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Follow this link [4]. It gives the instructions for how to usurp a username in order to create a global log-in. Cheers! TN‑X-Man 12:59, 16 October 2008 (UTC)[reply]

lost

looking for information on how to report some severe problems with a site on the net —Preceding unsigned comment added by 76.11.77.48 (talk) 13:57, 16 October 2008 (UTC)[reply]

This page is for questions about editing Wikipedia. Please consider asking this question at the 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. --Orange Mike | Talk 14:23, 16 October 2008 (UTC)[reply]

If the problem is on Wikipedia we might be able to help. If you saw an error or problem on another web site you should try and contact their webmaster. Sometimes there is a link to a webmaster's email on the "contact" page of a website or perhaps at the bottom of the homepage. Scottydude _talk 14:25, 16 October 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Incorporating information from official government sources

I would like to greatly expand and improve the article on the French King Bridge. The Massachusetts Highway Department has a superb article about it on their website. The most useful thing to do would be to incorporate the entire text of the MHD article in the Wikipedia entry -- with appropriate credit, of course. However, I cannot find any information about copyright policies or the GFDL on their website. What should I do? —Preceding unsigned comment added by Paul Abrahams (talk • contribs) 13:59, 16 October 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Do not copy the web page or any part of it as it is. Take the necessary information from it and write the article yourself, providing the website as a reference. Please see WP:COPY for Wikipedia's copyright policy. Cheers. Chamal ^talk _work 14:04, 16 October 2008 (UTC)[reply]

The text will be in the public domain as a work of the US Federal Government, but you should only quote it - we write our own articles here, rather than copying other people's. Dendodge|Talk^Contribs 15:13, 16 October 2008 (UTC)[reply]

The Massachusetts Highway Department is a U.S. state agency rather than an agency of the U.S. Federal Government. As such, it may have a different copyright policy. The Massachusetts Highway Department site displays this copyright notice in the footer of every page in the small sample I just looked at. Welcome to the dark side of Federalism. --Teratornis (talk) 16:14, 16 October 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Also, it should be noted that not EVERY part of the U.S. Federal Gov't releases its work into the public domain. NASA, for example, retains the copyright on some of its work. Always read the fine print carefully, and when in doubt, don't copy it. Personally, I find the blind copying of large chunks of text, especially in the context of Wikipedia, to be intellectually lazy. For one, it probably violates WP:NPOV, since it doesn't provide a balance of information from availible mainstream sources. It is providing the text of a single source as the sole text. --Jayron32.talk.contribs 16:34, 16 October 2008 (UTC)[reply]

No NASA cannot create copyrights either. They can inherit them or host copyrighted material as other fed branches do, though, so caution is indeed warranted. Rmhermen (talk) 00:59, 17 October 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Connecting to Adobe Reader

Have a Gateway Computer (1999),using Windows 98.Can I update my Adobe Reader,as cannot read some messages?Grateful for reply.Thanks Peter Lane. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 80.189.148.133 (talk) 15:29, 16 October 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Have you tried the computing 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. TN‑X-Man 15:36, 16 October 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Microsoft discontinued support for Windows 98 on 11 July 2006. Most Windows software vendors have stopped supporting their products on Windows 98. That means new versions of Windows software often do not run on Windows 98. If you want to run old computers as long as possible, you might consider using non-proprietary Linux as your operating system, because all the proprietary software vendors follow a strategy of obsoleting their products routinely to force customers to purchase upgrades. Newer versions of Windows probably won't install on hardware from 1999, so the software upgrades force customers to buy new hardware too. In contrast, Linux tends to be more tolerant of old hardware. Of course switching from Windows to Linux is far from trivial. Perhaps the simplest way to upgrade your computer is to buy a new system unit. You can get a new low-end system unit for as little as $200-$300 today which will run rings around any personal computer from 1999. --Teratornis (talk) 18:40, 16 October 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Font is messed up on Wikipedia only

So I must have hit some key combination on my machine while viewing wikipedia (I am using windows xp, and browsing using firefox 3.0.1), and now the font on wikipedia is screwy. I don't know if it is just bigger (ctrl- doesn't make it look right), or if it is a different font altogether, but I find it really distracting. I took a screenshot, and posted it here: http://img201.imageshack.us/my.php?image=wikifontkn1.jpg

Your help in fixing this is greatly appreciated. Man It's So Loud In Here (talk) 15:34, 16 October 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Changing default location of User

I've moved from the UK to the US, but my wikipedia seems to still have a UK bias and to be going via a UK server. I thought it would automatically update with my new IP address from my US ISP. Is this not the case? —Preceding unsigned comment added by Exchaoordo (talk • contribs) 16:14, 16 October 2008 (UTC)[reply]

How do you mean? While different articles are written by people from different English speaking parts of the world, there aren't different "versions" of Wikipedia published. There's just the English Wikipedia. --Jayron32.talk.contribs 16:31, 16 October 2008 (UTC)[reply]

If you are referring to the interface language then it can be set at Special:Preferences. Options include "English" and "British English". Click Save after choosing. I don't know how large the difference is. You can choose time zone under the "Date and time" tab in preferences. PrimeHunter (talk) 21:08, 16 October 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Image Question

I hope that someone can help with an image difficulty. There is an image of Richard Marx that he finds to be inappropriate for posting on Wikipedia. Is it possible to find a way to remove the photograph? It was posted by Itsmyright, but Richard really would like it removed. How would I go about removing the image if the editor decides not to comply? Thank you in advance for your help. --Candy156sweet (talk) 17:53, 16 October 2008 (UTC)[reply]

It appears the photo has been replaced by another version that was uploaded yesterday. Is the version to which you object, or the earlier version? TN‑X-Man 18:21, 16 October 2008 (UTC)[reply]

It's the earlier version that needs to be removed. The current photo on the article is just fine. Richard would like the grainy photo used previously on the article removed as soon as possible. --Candy156sweet (talk) 18:35, 16 October 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Replied on my talk page, per user note there as well. TN‑X-Man 19:53, 16 October 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Radio stations that trade frequencies

In Myrtle Beach, SC, WSYN essentially traded frequencies with WYAK, which became WLFF. I thought continuing the history of WSYN in a new article would be a good idea, since it would be pointless to have WYAK's history just stop. But WYAK didn't just become WLFF. There was a frequency change, and I believed that the old history of WSYN belonged in the article with WLFF. WSYN seemed to have changed format; I know now that's wrong, since just dropping local DJs does not constitute a format change and people exaggerated about the difference in the music. Add to that the fact that someone wrote after the switch about the old WSYN in the WSYN article, which seems logical if you think about it.

When I asked for comments on another site, one person supported keeping the history with the frequency. He said that's how he handled WLXC and WOMG. I took a look and those articles don't make sense. In fact, looking at the hisotries, it appears someone just copied and pasted the history of each station without acknowledgement of the contributions in each station's history. For those articles, it seems obvious: restore those articles to the way they were, and replace the contributions made by others since the trade.

For WSYN and WLFF, it appears name changes are in order. The current information for each station should go with the appropriate station. I have seen one version of the history of one article (or perhaps both) which described the change as WYAK trading places with WSYN and becoming WLFF. What is the proper way to handle the situation?Vchimpanzee · talk · contributions · 18:28, 16 October 2008 (UTC)[reply]

I have no idea. If nobody else answers here, you could try at Wikipedia talk:WikiProject Radio. For information on fixing improper moves, see the links under WP:EIW#Moving, for example Wikipedia:How to fix cut-and-paste moves. --Teratornis (talk) 22:12, 16 October 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Wikipedia

How do I get all of this stuff on here —Preceding unsigned comment added by Charlesedward (talk • contribs) 19:05, 16 October 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Before creating an article, please search Wikipedia first to make sure that an article does not already exist on the subject. Please also review a few of our relevant policies and guidelines which all articles should comport with. As Wikipedia is an encyclopedia, articles must not contain original research, must be written from a neutral point of view, should cite to reliable sources which verify their content and must not contain unsourced, negative content about living people.

Articles must also demonstrate the notability of the subject. Please see our subject specific guidelines for people, bands and musicians, companies and organizations and web content and note that if you are closely associated with the subject, our conflict of interest guideline strongly recommends against you creating the article. Please read over that guideline carefully if you do decide to create the article, as you will want to pay particular attention to neutrality and impeccable sourcing.

If you still think an article is appropriate, see Help:Starting a new page. You might also look at Wikipedia:Your first article and Wikipedia:How to write a great article for guidance, and please consider taking a tour through the Wikipedia:Tutorial so that you know how to properly format the article before creation.

GFDL is a license by which copyrighted material is freed for modification and reuse, commercially or otherwise. Anything you put on Wikipedia may be published in any other format, and the only right you retain to it is the right to credit. Because our content is licensed under GFDL, we cannot accept text copied from other sources, even if permission is given to Wikipedia to publish it. All material that is submitted here must be freely available under those terms.

As you are new to Wikipedia, please let me note that there are policies and guidelines tucked behind the colored text. I hope that this information will prove helpful to you.Vchimpanzee · talk · contributions · 19:50, 16 October 2008 (UTC)[reply]

The question is ambiguous. At least these two quite different interpretations are plausible:

How do I put (some unspecified) stuff on Wikipedia?
How do I get the stuff that is already on Wikipedia?

The first response answers the first interpretation when "stuff" means new articles. If the questioner meant the second interpretation, the answer would depend on what the user means by "get." For some general answers to possible meanings of the second interpretation, see WP:EIW#Download. --Teratornis (talk) 22:06, 16 October 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Article section under discussion template

I vaguely recall a template that will mark a section of an article as under discussion on the article's talk page. I failed to find the template. Guidance? Thanks. -- davidz (talk) 20:43, 16 October 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Why is it need to be discussed? (Many can be found at Wikipedia:Template messages/Cleanup.) Gtstricky^{Talk or C} 20:52, 16 October 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Error on SanDisk page

Hello I recently discovered a significant error on the SanDisk page. It says, inaccurately: "Sandisk was aquired by Sony Corporation as an extension of it's media arm in 2007."

This is not true. SanDisk is an independent, publicly traded company and we are not a part of Sony.

My name is Ryan Donovan and I look after corporate communications here at SanDisk. My contact details:

(contact info removed for privacy) —Preceding unsigned comment added by 63.163.107.100 (talk) 20:56, 16 October 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks for reporting this. The claim was added 3 days ago with no source. I am unable to find any support for it so I have reverted it. PrimeHunter (talk) 21:13, 16 October 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Template help

How do i get rid of the "V D E" links on a template that has been set in an article so it doesn't update? Grsz ^X 21:10, 16 October 2008 (UTC)[reply]

I'm not sure what the perceived problem is. Which article and template is it and why don't you want the links? They usually seem practical to me. PrimeHunter (talk) 21:17, 16 October 2008 (UTC)[reply]

2007-08 Pittsburgh Penguins season#Personnel. It was previously just transcluded while the season was in progress as Template:Pittsburgh Penguins roster. However, now that it's in the past, the roster on the last day was copy and pasted to the article because the template would continue to be updated and would not reflect the actual roster for that season. The links are no longer needed. Grsz ^X 21:24, 16 October 2008 (UTC)[reply]

OK. It seems [5] fixed it. The edit summary assumes the template was substituted. PrimeHunter (talk) 23:06, 16 October 2008 (UTC)[reply]

That's something I dislike about template substitution - it doesn't always leave an audit trail. Audit trails matter on Wikipedia because we constantly have newer users who learn how to edit on Wikipedia by studying the edits that other users make. It may not be obvious, from looking at a mess of wikitext, that it resulted from a template substitution. --Teratornis (talk) 23:13, 16 October 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Blocking

Is there a specific policy on Wikipedia that states if a user has been editing for a certain period of time, and has more talk page/user page edits than mainspace, they can be blocked with no warning? ~ Bella Swan^? 21:22, 16 October 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Short answer, no. Would you like the long answer as well? _Gb^T/c 21:24, 16 October 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Well, yes. Specifically, I would like to know if there is any way an admin could do this and not go against policy. ~ Bella Swan^? 21:26, 16 October 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Depends. The over-riding principle is that blocks are preventative (that's to say, to prevent damage to the encyclopaedia) and not punitive (that's to say to punish the user for transgressions). What it therefore depends on is what the person is using their userspace for - and so I'm minded to ask if you have a particular user in mind? If, for example, they're consistently using their userspace to create spam articles that are then rapidly deleted, then they should be warned and, if appropriate, blocked if they continue to do so in defiance of those warnings. If, however, what they're doing is spending most of the time tweaking a userpage that isn't strictly a breach of any other policy, but showing overall that they're not really here to contribute constructively to the project, then they should be encourage, very gently at first, to contribute. If they don't, then they should be encouraged more - blocking that sort of user, one who isn't here to be disruptive, but who doesn't appear to be overtly constructive - should be a last resort. _Gb^T/c 21:38, 16 October 2008 (UTC)[reply]

The user I had in mind was User:HJH Lady Renegade (previously named User:Rebel Queen Pokeynut). She was blocked for "not treating website as a encyclopedia", and blocking her was a very ineffective thing to do, so I decided to look into it. The admin, User:Ryulong, blocked her with no warning, and when I read the blocking policy, it said nothing about allowing someone to block another user for having more talk page/user page edits than mainspace edits. To be honest, the only realistic thing that could be expected from the user is indignation and resentment for being blocked and their user page deleted for a reason unkown to them. A warning first would have made it more acceptable, but it just seemed ridiculous. Apparently he had a policy to back it up, but I couldn't find one that supported what he did. It really did more damage than good in this case, and I'm sure it will if used in other cases. I forget to mention: she did have significantly more talk/user space edits than mainspace, but didn't show that she was on Wikipedia only for the talk, she asked me to be her adopter, and I was for time, and she did contribute mostly during that time, but then started contributing more so to talk pages and such, in which she should have recieved a warning. Her block was lifted, but the fact remains of whether or not the original block was justified. ~ Bella Swan^? 21:59, 16 October 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Well, these things are all subjective to a degree (and they have to be). Potentially she should have received a warning - in any event, it's all somewhat academic - she was unblocked, and chose then to retire, according to the note here. Should she have been blocked in the first place? It's as impossible to say "yes, for sure" as it is to say "no, absolutely not", because blocking is, ultimately, subjective. Did the blocking admin do anything wrong, or abuse the tools in any way? Nope. Could things have been done differently? Of course, but then they always could be. _Gb^T/c 22:03, 16 October 2008 (UTC)[reply]

I get it. In this sort-of-unique case, the only thing that could be used was the admin's opinon. Do you know of the proper place for me to suggest it to be policy that a warning should be issued before blocking so that this sort of mess doesn't happen again? ~ Bella Swan^? 22:14, 16 October 2008 (UTC)[reply]

The proper place would be WP:VPR, but I can almost guarantee it will get shot down as instruction creep. Mr.Z-man 22:17, 16 October 2008 (UTC)[reply]

What about broadening the "suggested" rule of having to warn an user of their vandalism several times before blocking them to this situation? ~ Bella Swan^? 22:25, 16 October 2008 (UTC)[reply]

It is already part of policy. See Wikipedia:Blocking policy#Education and warnings. Without having reviewed her edits exhaustively, this user did seem to be treating Wikipedia like Myspace, and causing minor disruption because of that, but as persons to be blocked go, she is (was) about as close to a low priority as you could get. Most out-and-out vandals receive two or three warnings before they're blocked. The tacit rule of the culture is only block without warning for obvious vandalism-only accounts, or for instances of highly disruptive or extreme edits (move vandalism to high profile pages; racist edits; vicious attack pages; etc.) As such, if she was really blocked with no prior warnings followed by a failure to heed them (as I said I didn't look very deeply), I would say this was extremely poorly handled and the potential for damage from such a block far outweighs any prevention. This user was thirteen. In three or four years she might have become a really great user. Now she's probably gone forever. If you look at her unblock request, she certainly seemed to have potential. It was the opposite response of most vandals.--Fuhghettaboutit (talk) 22:37, 16 October 2008 (UTC)[reply]

(undent) In my opinion, Wikipedia should encourage young people to learn wikitext editing, even if it means they make some frivolous MySpace-type user page edits. Userspace edits don't get in the way much, and as kids grow up, eventually some will develop serious interests and write encyclopedically about them. In that case, the newly-serious young person would already understand wiki editing basics, so their article space edits would at least look good. Instead we have lots of people attempting to learn how to edit by starting off in article space, which just wastes more time for the editors who clean up or remove the trial and error learning projects. If user pages are the sugar that lures more free labor to Wikipedia, that's incredibly cheap for us. Kids have a burning need to socialize online, so they might as well do it on a site where they also learn lots of useful things. Contrast the socially redeeming value of Wikipedia with that of, say, MySpace or Friendster. Besides, Wikipedia has a history of rehabilitating (some) vandals - surely we could "rehabilitate" someone whose chief transgression is being sociable. --Teratornis (talk) 23:31, 16 October 2008 (UTC)[reply]

I whole-heartedly agree with both of you, but the question is, how can we prevent an editior with a lot of potential to go through something like this and quit because of it? ~ Bella Swan^? 00:13, 17 October 2008 (UTC)[reply]

In general? I think you have to think about this as what it is: an exception to the rule, which is a class of problem that we see all over the place, not just in block application, and which is inevitable when you throw together a few tens of thousands of regular editors and 1,600 administrators. Most people who are indefinitely blocked have warranted that treatment, and most users whose edits are of similar character to this user, and get noticed, get warned repeatedly before a block is imposed. As I noted above, warning first is strongly recommended in policy, especially when the character of the edits are not extreme and I do think this is a rarity. Thus, I don't think there's anything more to be done in general. In the specific, well, you can take this specific situation further; make your feelings known on the admin's talk page; post at WP:AN/I, or not. I can tell you that this is very unlikely to result in any broad action unless you could identify a clear and deep pattern of abuse by the specific admin, which I have no idea whether or not is the case. This may be the exception to the rule for him or her. Administrators do make mistakes, overreact, are subject to having bad days. I know I've made a few in my time.--Fuhghettaboutit (talk) 00:43, 17 October 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Teratornis, very good answer. I feel like you were talking about me in 2006 (=]) and I totally agree with what you said. —Ed 17 for President _{Vote for Ed} 03:33, 17 October 2008 (UTC)[reply]

I was talking about me ... but that was before computers were invented. And surprisingly, I also agree with what I said, but not totally. I do agree with you agreeing with me, however. All seriousness aside, if smiling is going to be frowned upon here, maybe the Wikimedia Foundation could think about starting a wiki specifically for kids - Wikidpedia. (Unfortunately, someone is already using the name.) A place where kids can be (wi-)kids, but we use all our high-powered MediaWiki technology and the highly-evolved Wikipedia social order stuff to gradually assimilate them into the Borg i.e. Wikipedia proper. I'm just kind of throwing this suggestion out there, not that I would be volunteering to do anything resembling actual work, although I could answer questions on their Help desk now and then, teach them about the harmful effects of growing up, so hopefully they won't repeat my mistakes. --Teratornis (talk) 05:33, 17 October 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Article Name Change

"You can edit a section at Wikipedia:Requested moves by clicking "edit" to the right of the section. The best place depends on the move you want, and maybe we can fix it right here. What is it? PrimeHunter (talk) 02:18, 15 October 2008 (UTC)"

It's http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patlabor:_The_Movie_2

The name of the movie is not Patlabor: The Movie 2. It's Patlabor 2: The Movie —Preceding unsigned comment added by 24.86.103.169 (talk) 23:18, 16 October 2008 (UTC)[reply]

I see what you mean from the poster of the film, but this particular article looks like it shouldn't be moved without discussion. Why don't you post your thoughts at Talk:Patlabor: The Movie 2? Darkspots (talk) 23:47, 16 October 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Yes, both names have 5-digit Google hits so a discussion first seems in order. PrimeHunter (talk) 23:59, 16 October 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Okay, I've posted my thoughts. --Stepusual (talk) 00:49, 17 October 2008 (UTC)[reply]

FAQ section in some articles like CD, DVD etc...

Hi,

Is it okay to add a FAQ section to some articles. eg: why an audio CD tracks are found as 1kb files in PC?

depending on the relavance, some of them can be added to main article as an explanation and remove that specific question. This helps people who knows what is not covered to answer their question. Experts can answer that question either "as an answer" or "as explanation in main article and remove the question".

etc...

-RadhaKrishna —Preceding unsigned comment added by Arkrishna (talk • contribs) 05:05, 17 October 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Sadly, WP:NOT#FAQ. Wikipedia itself has a FAQ, but we don't edit articles in the typical FAQ format. Not even our FAQ article has a FAQ. --Teratornis (talk) 05:41, 17 October 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Naming of an article

Okay, so here's the deal. I merged Calvine High School to Calvine High School, Sacramento California because I found that the articles were duplicated and somebody else had proposed the merge in April. But the title "Calvine High School, Sacramento California" is an eye sore. It should be "Sacramento, California" with the apostrophe in type of writing. Furthermore, per WP:NC(S) it should either be titled "Calvine High School" or in the case that that title is already taken, it should be named "Calvine High School (Sacramento, California)". So I was wondering whether this page should be moved to "Calvine High School" (VERY confusing now that the article that was there previously was merged INTO this one) or should it be moved to "Calvine High School (Sacramento, California)" (less confusing... but I don't know how well that'd work given the situation)? I strongly believe the article needs to be renamed, but I don't know what to rename it, or what would work best on wikipedia. I'm still relatively new. Killiondude (talk) 05:39, 17 October 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Biographies & First-Hand Knowledge

I have tried in vain to find an answer to this question in the FAQs and using the Google search thing, and found nothing...

If you have first-hand knowledge of a living person, and you notice information missing from their biography, can you add the missing information without a source? I cannot find a legitimate source that meets Wikipedia's standards, and I've read multiple times that "original research" is not acceptable, but this isn't really research.

Denis Leary is my godfather, my mom grew up with him, we're very close with their family, and so on. His article doesn't mention his sister Ann, or the grammar schools he went to, or a few other random things I'm not thinking of right now. Can I just add them? Or do I have to find an acceptable source to cite, even though I know for a fact it's true because I know him? Would if help if I called him and asked him to verify it? WordBounce (talk) 09:29, 17 October 2008 (UTC)[reply]

[1] Citation text.

[2] Citation text2.

[multiple-3] Citation text3.

[1]

[2]

[3]

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