Help Page Patrollers are a group of Wikipedians who patrol the help desk and help users who have placed the {{helpme}} template on their talk pages. The patrol is an optional service. Patrollers can come and go, and there is no official sign up process.

Regular patrollers may add {{User HPP}} or {{user help desk}} to their user page:

This user is a help page patroller

This user volunteers at the
Wikipedia Help Desk.

What helpers can do

Make sure all messages are formatted correctly,
Answer questions,
Check the Help Me Category and answer questions from users,
Check archives

Patrollers

Add yourself with

#~~~ (Joined ~~~~~)

and if you are not using the userbox, add yourself to the Help Desk Patrol Category.

List

Levonscott User talk:Levonscott User:Levonscott (Joined 07:38, 21 August 2011 (UTC))[reply]
StewieGriffin! • Talk 07:04, 4 June 2008 (UTC) I'm Back Founder of the HPP[reply]
RyRy5 (talk) (Joined 00:20, 31 May 2008 (UTC))[reply]
Hersfold ^(t/a/c) (Joined 21:41, 19 April 2008 (UTC))[reply]
Soxred93 | talk bot (Joined 19:57, 19 April 2008 (UTC))[reply]
...... Dendodge.Talk^Help (Joined 09:34, 20 April 2008 (UTC))[reply]
Alexfusco⁵ (Joined 14:32, 20 April 2008 (UTC))[reply]
Bauani (talk) (Joined 22:31, 20 April 2008 (UTC))[reply]
Kerotan ^{Leave Me a Message} Have a nice day :) (joined 06:27, 21 April 2008 (UTC))[reply]
::Manors:: talk to me (Joined 15:10, 22 April 2008 (UTC))[reply]
Sunny910910 ^{(talk|Contributions|Guest)} (Joined 02:21, 4 May 2008 (UTC))[reply]
Teratornis (talk) (Joined 06:37, 5 May 2008 (UTC))[reply]
Calvin 1998 ^(t-c) (Joined 01:54, 13 May 2008 (UTC))[reply]
Mr. Green^{Hit Me Up}Userboxes (Joined 16:13, 16 May 2008 (UTC))[reply]
Josh Powell (talk) (Joined 14:18, 23 May 2008 (UTC))[reply]
-- ShinmaWa^(talk) (Joined 19:47, 28 May 2008 (UTC))[reply]
-- Natalya 22:45, 28 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Active earlier this year, hope to regain that. Rudget (Help?) 13:23, 1 June 2008 (UTC)[reply]
ChristopherJames2008 (talk) (Joined 13:35, 1 June 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Iamzork (talk) (Joined 11:22, 6 June 2008 (UTC))[reply]
Cedarvale1965-08 (talk) (Joined 02:30, 15 June 2008 (UTC))[reply]
:-) Stwalkerster [ talk ] (Joined 16:12, 15 June 2008 (UTC), but have been doing this for ages)[reply]
–thedemonhog talk • edits (Joined 18:13, 15 June 2008 (UTC); made twenty-three edits to the help desk page prior to joining the patrol)[reply]
IaM7DeadlySins (talk)
Scottydude _talk (Joined 02:09, 14 July 2008 (UTC))[reply]
TermyJW - The One and Only (Joined 13:41, 14 July 2008 (UTC))
Eric (mailbox) (Joined 04:53, 23 July 2008 (UTC))[reply]
Etineskid (talk) (Joined:18:32, 23 July 2008 (UTC))[reply]
ukexpat (talk) (Joined 15:01, 26 August 2008 (UTC))[reply]
Lego K^ontribs T^alk M (Joined 00:51, 12 September 2008 (UTC))[reply]
Chamal ^talk _work (Joined 15:20, 16 October 2008 (UTC), but have been contributing to Help desk long before signing up here.[reply]
Genius 101 ^Guestbook (Joined 22:28, 18 October 2008 (UTC))[reply]
Excirial^{(Contact me,Contribs)} 06:46, 19 June 2009 (UTC)[reply]
-Porchcrop ^{(talk|contributions)} 04:29, 28 June 2009 (UTC)[reply]
$\xi ri\pi i\vartheta \alpha \xi$ (Joined 09:34, 1 August 2009 (UTC))[reply]
Unionhawk ^Talk ^E-mail 18:16, 4 September 2009 (UTC)[reply]
LbB (Joined 14:33, 5 October 2009 (UTC))
Mysdaao ^talk (Joined 15:50, 18 November 2009 (UTC))[reply]
Enti342 (talk) (Joined 21:30, 20 January 2010 (UTC))[reply]
-- PhantomSteve/talk|contribs\ (Joined 07:04, 3 April 2010 (UTC))[reply]
œ ^™ 23:08, 12 May 2010 (UTC)[reply]
Bobby122 (talk) (Joined 15:17, 27 June 2010 (UTC))[reply]
Sainsf--Sainsf<^> (talk) 15:58, 14 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]
Imagine Wizard (talk • contribs • count) Iway amway Imagineway Izardway. (Joined 13:43, 27 August 2010 (UTC))[reply]
John of Reading (talk) (Joined 22:01, 4 November 2010 (UTC))[reply]
—ASPENSTI—TALK—CONTRIBUTIONS (Joined 17:38, 2 March 2011 (UTC))[reply]
Goswamir14- www.rohangoswami.webs.com (Joined 00:33, 12 April 2011 (UTC))
Vibhijain (Joined 11:34, 15 April 2011 (UTC))
Electriccatfish2 (talk) (Joined 16:58, 22 June 2012 (UTC))[reply]
Creeper jack1 (talk) (Joined 21:09, 27 January 2013 (UTC))[reply]
—Prhartcom (talk) (Joined 02:27, 22 September 2013 (UTC))[reply]
Denver C. (talk) (Joined 16:36, 9 May 2015 (UTC))[reply]
Masssly (talk) (Joined 18:12, 12 June 2015 (UTC))[reply]
MarkYabloko (Joined 07:45, 11 November 2015 (UTC))[reply]
Boomer Vial^{Holla! We gonna ball!} (Joined 20:50, 24 February 2017 (UTC))[reply]
TheDoctorWho (talk) (Joined 02:46, 13 January 2018 (UTC))[reply]
Sam Sailor (Joined 21:49, 6 April 2019 (UTC))[reply]
Kichu🐘 ^Discuss (Joined 11:08, 3 March 2021 (UTC))[reply]
Jack Reynolds (talk to me!) (email me!!) (Joined 12:30, 1 April 2021 (UTC))[reply]
Kk09771 (talk) (Joined 17:21, 27 January 2022 (UTC))[reply]
ThatOneWolf ^{(talk|contribs)} (Joined 23:03, 9 November 2023 (UTC))[reply]

November 30

Mirroring Wiki

I searched around but couldn't find this. Is there a 'how to' guide to mirror the wiki locally? I have my own webserver/database - and would like to have a mirror of wiki for "offline" use. It would be personal/non-commercial with just me.

November 26

Barack Obama Entry

I'm sure my question is answered in the extensive FAQ, but I do not have the time to research it right now and I think this is an emergency. There are racial slurs all over the Barack Obama page that should be removed immediately. Thank you. —Preceding unsigned comment added by V woman (talk • contribs) 00:20, 26 November 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Already fixed. Algebraist 00:22, 26 November 2008 (UTC)[reply]

non standard image placement and size

I never fiddle around with images but isn't the image Jean shorts suppose to be in a box or something and smaller than that? (the pose did make me lol however). --Cameron Scott (talk) 00:29, 26 November 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Hilarious. There's a word for what he looks like, but I don't think I ought to use it on Wikipedia. Apart from that little problem, though, I think the image works quite well! —Preceding unsigned comment added by 86.134.12.245 (talk) 00:41, 26 November 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Image deletion

Hi

The coin images listed at Wikipedia:Deletion_review/Log/2008_May_16 under heading "Image:Jersey £1.jpg" were restored as a result of that review, but have since been deleted again. I'm trying to discover on what grounds this deletion was carried out, and by whom. "What links here" searches don't seem to help me. Can anyone help me locate the relevant discussion? Matt 00:45, 26 November 2008 (UTC). —Preceding unsigned comment added by 86.134.12.245 (talk)

Clicking on a redlink, like this one, gives, among other things, the relevant deletion log entry. In this case, the image was deleted by Skier Dude, with no justification given. Algebraist 00:50, 26 November 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Other redlinks like this one give a reason of lack license and source information. —teb728 t c 00:55, 26 November 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Oh I see. I thought that somewhere there would be a link to a deletion discussion page. Is that not so? Can people delete things just on their own say-so without any debate? Matt 01:00, 26 November 2008 (UTC). —Preceding unsigned comment added by 86.134.12.245 (talk)

If an image meets any of the Wikipedia:Criteria for speedy deletion, it can be deleted without discussion. —teb728 t c 01:12, 26 November 2008 (UTC)[reply]

I dug a bit deeper, they were removed from Coins of the Jersey pound by User:OrphanBot because there was no source information. The same bot then tagged the images as orphaned fair use image (speedy delete) which is why it was eventually deleted. - Mgm|^(talk) 01:06, 26 November 2008 (UTC)[reply]
This is intensely irritating. The images were originally deleted as having "no fair use rationale". I spent a considerable amount of time and effort negotiating my way through Wikipedia's labyrinthine processes to apply a fair use rationale and have the images restored -- only, it seems, for them to be subsequently deleted for a different reason that wasn't even mentioned the first time around. In future I won't bother to waste my time. Thank you all for your help. Matt 86.134.12.245 (talk) 01:20, 26 November 2008 (UTC).[reply]

Images

Hello there. I have been working on the Bobby Lennox article and am trying to find an image of him. I am having difficulty working out which images can and cannot be used. For instance, this image of him. How can I tell if its free for use or not? I'm not asking anyone to find me a picture of him to use, just a little bit of advice on how I can find one and know whether or not I can use it. Thanks. Titch Tucker (talk) 01:29, 26 November 2008 (UTC)[reply]

That site’s terms of service appears to license reuse of its content under Creative Commons' Attribution-NonCommercial-Share Alike 2.5 License. The non-commercial restriction is unacceptable to Wikipedia. Wikipedia requires a license for reuse by anyone for anything including commercial use and modification. —teb728 t c 03:50, 26 November 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Can I copy Wikipedia content for my own wiki?

I have started a wiki on my niche website and I would like to know if I can copy wikipedia word for word to populate my own wiki?

For instance, if i want to have a page on my wiki about Barack Obama. Can I just add a Barack Obama internal link, copy the entire Barack Obama page and paste it into mine?DegenFarang (talk) 02:02, 26 November 2008 (UTC)[reply]

You have to give attribution to the source if you copy content from Wikipedia. See Wikipedia:Reusing Wikipedia content. PrimeHunter (talk) 02:21, 26 November 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Thank you. I just read that and I still don't understand. What constitutes giving attribution to the source? I just copied a page completely, verbatim, and at the bottom I added a 'notes and references section' and I stated that the page was copied verbatim from...then I linked to the wikipedia page where I got the content. Is this acceptable?DegenFarang (talk) 02:28, 26 November 2008 (UTC)[reply]

See section 2 of the WP:GFDL. Among the conditions, you must license your copy under the GFDL and you must include a copy of the GFDL license. —teb728 t c 04:00, 26 November 2008 (UTC)[reply]

That license doesn't really sound like it was intended for websites, sounds more like for books or other publications. When it says 'document' does that refer to each individual sub-page or would an entire website be one document? So if I have one copy of the license (and the other stated terms) on my homepage or other sub-page, would that suffice? Or does all of that have to be on each individual sub page which is copied from Wikipedia? —Preceding unsigned comment added by DegenFarang (talk • contribs) 04:37, 26 November 2008 (UTC)[reply]

You might follow the example of Wikipedia itself. It give the text of the GFDL one place at WP:GFDL, and the license statement (“Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.2 or any later version published by the Free Software Foundation; with no Invariant Sections, with no Front-Cover Texts, and with no Back-Cover Texts. A copy of the license is included in the section entitled "GNU Free Documentation License". Content on Wikipedia is covered by disclaimers.”), one place at WP:COPYRIGHT, and links to both at the bottom of each page. And yes you are right that the GFDL is badly suited for a website. —teb728 t c 05:01, 26 November 2008 (UTC) Ps. Wikipedia:Wikipedia Signpost/2008-11-17/GFDL 1.3 talks about an important GFDL change. —teb728 t c 05:46, 26 November 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Ok I missed that link at the bottom of each page. That is what I will do then, add that link at the bottom of all of my pages. I think I have solved this issue then unless anybody else has anything to add. Thanks a lot everybody for your help. —Preceding unsigned comment added by DegenFarang (talk • contribs) 05:55, 26 November 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Time Zone

Does Wikipedia allow changing your signature to the "correct" time zone. --Ramu50 (talk) 01:58, 26 November 2008 (UTC)[reply]

No. It would be confusing if signatures in the same discussion used different time zones. At Special:Preferences under "Date and time" you can set your local time zone so displayed times in some other places like page histories and contributions pages are changed, but not signatures. PrimeHunter (talk) 02:18, 26 November 2008 (UTC)[reply]

An easier method is to use the "gadget" in your preferences to place the UTC clock on your menu bar at the top. It makes it easier than having to calculate your time zone from UTC in your head... Just go to "my preferences", select gadgets, and its under there... --Jayron32.talk.contribs 03:59, 26 November 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Inquiry

Can i have the information about the place where days and nights stays for 6 months —Preceding unsigned comment added by 212.107.116.240 (talk) 03:20, 26 November 2008 (UTC)[reply]

At the North Pole and the South Pole days and nights are six months long. Is that what you are asking about? —teb728 t c 03:52, 26 November 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Please use the Reference desk for factual questions. — Manti core 07:27, 26 November 2008 (UTC)[reply]

IRC cloak

When you fill out the IRC cloak request form, what is it you're supposed to put in the part: @_______ wikipedia.org? --Crackthewhip775 (talk) 05:35, 26 November 2008 (UTC)[reply]

It goes in the form project/Username. So, assuming you want a Wikipedia cloak, wikipedia/Crackthewhip775, or other caps-variants. This should be automatically filled in on the request form, though. — Manti core 07:25, 26 November 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Music singles infobox question

I asked at the wikiproject music noticeboard, but no one answered yet. Does anyone know why singles boxes don't have a space for professional reviews like album boxes do? - Mgm|^(talk) 09:37, 26 November 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Talk Page

Is there any way a user can find out who is watching their talk page?--intraining ^{Jack In} 10:16, 26 November 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Asking nicely? :P No, sorry, there isn't. GlassCobra 10:22, 26 November 2008 (UTC)[reply]

how is it possible for everyone to see the article i wrote in my account

how is it possible for everyone to see my article i have written in my account & how to makea link of my website on your website? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 202.159.234.95 (talk) 11:40, 26 November 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Your question is a little unclear. Please look over WP:SPAM and WP:NOT to make sure that what you're proposing is appropriate for Wikipedia, and, if so, elaborate on your question a little bit. I've posted some links on your talk page which you may find helpful. --Fullobeans (talk) 12:55, 26 November 2008 (UTC)[reply]

page potentially an advertisement?

I have come across a page which is potentially an advertisement - and therefore breaks Wikipedia's guidelines.

The page in question is 'Oscilloquartz'

How do I request a review of this page?

Thanks —Preceding unsigned comment added by LouPhi (talk • contribs) 11:47, 26 November 2008 (UTC)[reply]

You usually tag the page with a cleanup tag, but I don't think it's a good idea in this case. It might be about a company, but it is part of a large very well known group and there's no non-neutral text to be found in the entry. - Mgm|^(talk) 11:51, 26 November 2008 (UTC)[reply]

The revision history of the Oscilloquartz article shows that initially most of the content came from a single user who has only made a few contributions in a three-day period. Then other users edited the article to make it more neutral and remove promotional writing. If you have any well-sourced material to add about the company to make the article more balanced, please add it. To see examples of the "ideal" coverage of corporations, look at some of Wikipedia's featured articles about them. For example: Microsoft and in particular the Microsoft#Criticism and Microsoft#Notes and references sections. Those sections show how an article about a business avoids the "press release syndrome". --Teratornis (talk) 17:45, 26 November 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Help:Trusted user

What is the difference between Trusted user and Flickr image reviewer? Are these same? How can I review a Flickr image?

--Myrecovery ( Talk ♦ Contribs )

There is no finite definition of "trusted user" on Wikipedia, as far as I know. Users can be "trusted" for various tasks and projects. To request Flickr image reviewer permission, post here (you made it to the right page, you just didn't scroll down far enough). Also, please fix your signature, since it's bolding my text (removing the last three apostrophes should do it).--Fullobeans (talk) 13:17, 26 November 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Citations Box
An article about the University of Mary Washington asks users to add citations to the page. I've done that, but the box is still there. How do I get it to go away?
69.255.138.66 (talk) 13:23, 26 November 2008 (UTC)Teresa[reply]
The notable alumni and faculty sections aren't referenced yet. (So asking for additional references is a valid concern. If you've done that, you can get it away by removing the template on the top of the article that inserts the notice. - Mgm|^(talk) 13:30, 26 November 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Image visualization
After I downloaded some images, Wikipedia shows me no more images at all, not even the banners or the logo in the starting page.
Why? How could I restore images? How can I avoid this to happen again?
Abacos (talk) 15:29, 26 November 2008 (UTC)[reply]
How did you download those images? It sounds like something you did caused the images not to display any longer. Did you change any site preferences? Did you change browser preferences since those downloads? - 87.211.75.45 (talk) 17:05, 26 November 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Company Promotion?
A user's (user:TechOutsider Contribs:[1]) edits consist entirely of editing Symantec products, and the edits appear to be all positive. Removing criticism, the use of press-releases as references etc. I would leave the user a note, but I'm not sure what (if any) policies are being breached, and therefore what really to say/query. So I come here to the Friendly Help Desk ;-) Any thoughts? Fribbler (talk) 16:14, 26 November 2008 (UTC)[reply]
I would leave {{Welcomespam}} on his talk page and continue to monitor his contributions. Also, a specific note on his talk page would be good as well. If nothing changes or there is no response, further action may be necessary. Cheers! TN‑X-Man 16:18, 26 November 2008 (UTC)[reply]
As an aside, if WikiScanner was up to date, you could identify if any edits have come from that IP range. Shame, really. TN‑X-Man 16:41, 26 November 2008 (UTC)[reply]
I recommend sending a personal note in which you explain your concerns and explain WP:RS and WP:NPOV (which address the things you described). On the other hand, there is such a thing as too much criticism and in some cases (where the content is not really contentious) press-releases can be a suitable source. So make sure you pick an edit to highlight to the user that is clearly problematic. - 87.211.75.45 (talk) 17:10, 26 November 2008 (UTC)[reply]
What criticism has the user removed? Was it well-sourced and did it otherwise comply with Wikipedia policies and guidelines? (Some criticism on Wikipedia is merely vandalism, after all, whereas other criticism is clearly encyclopedic. It would be nice if every user was completely even-handed in every edit, but it is only necessary for the entire community of Wikipedia users to be collectively even-handed.) Are the users who originally contributed the criticism aware that TechOutsider removed it? If so, how did they react? In any disagreement between Wikipedia users, the side with the most knowledge of Wikipedia's rules "wins." Everyone involved should read WP:OWN, WP:BFAQ, WP:CITE, WP:CITET, WP:FOOT, and the Astroturfing article. If someone criticizes a Symantec product (or anything else) on Wikipedia, other users may challenge the criticism and thus it needs to have reliable sources and be properly footnoted. --Teratornis (talk) 17:32, 26 November 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Images at Talk:Crystal growth#Gallery cleanup
There's a gallery of images at Crystal growth without any captions, but I can see what the content of those images is from the filenames. Can someone explain how to insert captions in the gallery? Maybe we could just undo the gallery and create images individually. Please reply on the article talk page (link in section header), and kindly leave me a note on my talk page if you can answer this. Crystal whacker (talk) 18:19, 26 November 2008 (UTC)[reply]
inserting words using a non-Latin alphabet
Somehow I just don't understand how to input a word in Hebrew, for example. I apologize if this has been covered somewhere in the FAQs, but after searching I just can't find it. I see on the page of "Hebrew Language" this line: |nativename = עִבְרִית 'E-vrit but how does one put in the actual hebrew letters? - —Preceding unsigned comment added by Romddal (talk • contribs)
Thanks in advance...
This page is for questions about using Wikipedia. Please consider asking this question at the Wikipedia:Reference desk. They specialize in knowledge questions and will try to answer any question in the universe (except how to use Wikipedia, since that is what this Help Desk is for). Just follow the link, select the relevant section, and ask away. You could always try searching Wikipedia for an article related to the topic you want to know more about. I hope this helps. I suggest computing or language. Dendodge Talk^Contribs 18:30, 26 November 2008 (UTC)[reply]
I am assuming that the poster is asking about inserting Hebrew characters in WP articles. In edit mode, below the text window and below the "Save page", "Preview" buttons there is a drop down box on the left. Click the down arrow and then click Hebrew. The box to the right should now display Hebrew characters that you can click on to insert into an article. – ukexpat (talk) 18:35, 26 November 2008 (UTC)[reply]
hot link colors
are red links purely and only for links to pages that do not exist yet (and hence represent the author's suggestion that it would be interesting for someone to please contribute)? Should this not be added to the "Links" section in Manual of Style? RobReifsnyder (talk) 20:37, 26 November 2008 (UTC) —Preceding unsigned comment added by RobReifsnyder (talk • contribs) 20:17, 26 November 2008 (UTC)[reply]
If an article is red linked, it means the page hasn't been created yet. Red links mean the target doesn't exist. Best, PeterSymonds (talk) 20:19, 26 November 2008 (UTC)[reply]
See also Wikipedia:Link color. PrimeHunter (talk) 20:26, 26 November 2008 (UTC)[reply]
As well as WP:REDLINK. TN‑X-Man 20:44, 26 November 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Pages about companies
I noticed when reading about the rules of Wikipedia, you are not supposed to make pages about your company. How does a company like Microsoft have a page then?74.7.197.209 (talk) 22:08, 26 November 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Pages on companies themselves are fine, so long as they conform to our notability guidelines on companies and organisations. You are not generally advised to create a page on your own company, due to our page on conflict of interest. The page you flagged, Microsoft, is written by those who probably don't have an official affiliation with it. In a nutshell, pages on companies are fine, but we ask editors to avoid writing about their own because of notability and conflict of interest concerns. Best, PeterSymonds (talk) 22:11, 26 November 2008 (UTC)[reply]
It seems unlikely that Microsoft employees wrote the unflattering Microsoft#Criticism section, not to mention the Criticism of Microsoft article, but I would guess a number of people at Microsoft have read them. See WP:BFAQ to learn more about how business articles work on Wikipedia. Note that the Microsoft article is a featured article, which means the Wikipedia user community has judged it to be an example of the best quality on Wikipedia. The vast majority of Wikipedia articles are of lower quality than this, including many articles about businesses. If a business is obscure, its article on Wikipedia may be full of promotional language and escape the notice of other Wikipedia editors for some time. Since anyone can edit Wikipedia, there is no hard barrier to prevent someone from writing glowing praise about their company (or any other subject they affiliate with), but in due course we expect other Wikipedia editors to notice and then keep things honest by editing for neutrality. If a company or other organization has earned reliably sourced praise or awards, then it is encyclopedic to write about that. Some people have criticized Wikipedia for slanting its coverage toward notable companies, which prevents struggling startups from getting exposure here. Unfortunately for the startups, that's a result of Wikipedia's notability guidelines. Wikipedia is also cruelly indifferent toward the legions of aspiring musicians, actors, etc. out there. Imagine if we had an article about everyone who has tried to become famous. The main problem with non-famous entities from Wikipedia's point of view is that they have not received much coverage yet in reliable published sources, and those sources are the raw material for Wikipedia. --Teratornis (talk) 22:29, 26 November 2008 (UTC)[reply]
I might add that Wikipedia is one of the highest-profile open source projects in the world, and the open source community has a generally uneasy relationship with Microsoft. As a result, it would be remarkable if the Wikipedia article on Microsoft painted an unduly rosy picture. --Teratornis (talk) 22:41, 26 November 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Disappearing act
The copy and paste box below the editing box when you click 'edit this page' used to allow me to click on a symbol and it would automatically paste that symbol into the text box. Now this is no longer the case and I have to copy and paste manually, instead of clicking. Anyone have any idea why? —Cyclonenim (talk · contribs · email) 22:31, 26 November 2008 (UTC)[reply]
It was taking up too much server time, I believe. A Javascript version was tested, but reverted because of page loading time. The history of MediaWiki:Edittools and MediaWiki:Edittools.js will give the full term of events. :) Best, PeterSymonds (talk) 22:36, 26 November 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Ah man. Well that's a pain but I'm pretty sure I'll get used to it. I just use em dashes so much and it saved a lot of time. Cheers for the quick response Peter. —Cyclonenim (talk · contribs · email) 23:02, 26 November 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Yeah, I used them too! You're welcome. :) PeterSymonds (talk) 23:04, 26 November 2008 (UTC)[reply]
I still have the click-and-paste version. Are you blocking javascript or something? Algebraist 14:50, 27 November 2008 (UTC)[reply]
November 27
Warning: Default sort key "Darrell Figgis" overrides earlier default sort key "Figgis, Darrell".
This has appeared at the top of Talk:Darrell Figgis, a page on which I am editing. My questions are , 1) what does it mean? and 2) how do I fix it? Thanks. RashersTierney (talk) 02:12, 27 November 2008 (UTC)[reply]
The listas parameter in the WPBiography template is causing the message, but I don't know how to fix it except to remove "Figgis, Darrel" after the parameter. – ukexpat (talk) 02:20, 27 November 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Parameter I understand, in its general meaning. Listas I don't understand. I know I could begin the process of understanding it, but really its the word WARNING that got me going. Is something about to 'break'? RashersTierney (talk) 02:29, 27 November 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Have removed 'DEFAULTSORT:Figgis, Darrell'. Waiting for Wikipedia to implode! RashersTierney (talk) 02:36, 27 November 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Fixed. Algebraist 02:48, 27 November 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Thanks. RashersTierney (talk) 11:38, 27 November 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Commons name conflict
So, I uploaded the public domain image image:Grub.png. On November 1st, I made it a candidate to be copied to the Wikimedia Commons. Now, I feel up to moving it myself, but find that since then, an image of the same name has been uploaded to the Commons. It is telling me that the Wikipedia image should be renamed. I don't really care what gets renamed, but I would like to know how to resolve this or have it resolved with no naming conflict, and the 4 grub*.png here moved to commons. ~ 10nitro (talk) 03:08, 27 November 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Moving an article to commons usually involved reuploading it there and tagging it for deletion here. I would recommend changing the filename to something that has your username in it. That way everyone can see you made the image and it avoids naming conflicts too. Calling it 10nitro_Grub.png would work, I think. - Mgm|^(talk) 05:47, 27 November 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Submission
How do I submit a page? —Preceding unsigned comment added by Floral2blue (talk • contribs) 04:22, 27 November 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.
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. – ukexpat (talk) 05:04, 27 November 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Template caption not centering properly
Please see {{Earthquake}} at 1968 Illinois earthquake. It is not centering the caption properly.--TonyTheTiger (t/c/bio/WP:CHICAGO/WP:LOTM) 06:29, 27 November 2008 (UTC)[reply]
The caption was centred in the right column of a table. I changed it to span columns. Perhaps instead it should be put into the caption parameter of the image. —teb728 t c 07:43, 27 November 2008 (UTC)[reply]
public health engineering
write an article about the history of public health engineering with relation to the following topics
(1)water supply (2)sewerage treatment (solid waste and soil management —Preceding unsigned comment added by 212.49.78.171 (talk) 07:57, 27 November 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Welcome to the Wikipedia Help Desk. Your question appears to be a homework question. I apologize if this is a misevaluation, but it is our policy here to not do people's homework for them, but to merely aid them in doing it themselves. Letting someone else do your homework does not help you learn how to solve such problems. Please attempt to solve the problem yourself first. If you need help with a specific part of your homework, feel free to tell us where you are stuck and ask for help. If you need help grasping the concept of a problem, by all means let us know. Thank you. Have a look at water supply and sewerage for starters and let us know if you get stuck. Zain Ebrahim (talk) 08:08, 27 November 2008 (UTC)[reply]
using searches
Until recently your search engine was great but now something seems to have changed and I don't understand how to use it any more a search on English civil war returns nothing. At the next stage English+civil+war in any articles also returns nothing. Yet there is a page there - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/English_Civil_War. What am I doing wrong? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 82.32.88.200 (talk) 10:25, 27 November 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Works for me. I typed "English civil war" into the search bar and clicked search and it returned this. What did you do exactly? Zain Ebrahim (talk) 10:28, 27 November 2008 (UTC)[reply]
You could use the Wikipedia Google search. --StewieGriffin! • Talk Sign Listen 12:03, 27 November 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Humor
how to be humor —Preceding unsigned comment added by 218.50.131.100 (talk) 15:18, 27 November 2008 (UTC)[reply]
The most I can do with that is point you to humor. Zain Ebrahim (talk) 17:33, 27 November 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Making content boxes
How can i create a box with contents in on my posts? —Preceding unsigned comment added by Gothminion (talk • contribs) 17:11, 27 November 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Does looking at Wikipedia:Article message boxes help answer your question? Zain Ebrahim (talk) 17:35, 27 November 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Userbox
Can someone tell me what I have done wrong with this userbox? It's just that when I try to put it into by little scroll box it doesn't work. Wikisaver62 (talk) 18:01, 27 November 2008 (UTC)[reply]

1,000,000 This user likes lying about their contributions so claims that they have one million edits.

<div style="float:left; border:2px solid #f5faff; margin:1px;" class="wikipediauserbox"> {| cellspacing="0" style="width:238px; background:#a3b0bf;" | style="width:45px; height:45px; background:#cedff2; text-align:center; font-size:14pt; color:black; padding:1px; line-height:1.25em; ; vertical-align: middle;" |'''1,000,000''' | style="text-align:left; font-size:8pt; padding:4px; line-height:1.25em; color:black; ; vertical-align: middle;" | This user likes lying about their contributions so claims that they have one million edits. |}</div>
I suggest using {{userbox}}. --—— Gadget850 (Ed) ^talk - 21:31, 27 November 2008 (UTC)[reply]
articles
I had create several article under the name Durham Hockey Association
and now they are deleted. I would like to know why? I do know that the DHAlogo did not have a copyright license initially, but does so now, yet my pages are still gone —Preceding unsigned comment added by Jdoghitz (talk • contribs) 19:47, 27 November 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Here's its entry in the deletion log. It was deleted by User talk:Thingg per Wikipedia:CSD#A7. To avoid speedy deletion, articles need to assert notability. Whether the subject is actually notable is a different debate. Leave a message at the deleting admin's talk page if you want to query this further. If you don't get any luck there, you could try a deletion review. Zain Ebrahim (talk) 19:55, 27 November 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Also, contrary to what you say above, Image:Dhalogo.jpg still has no licensing information. —teb728 t c 20:42, 27 November 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Refrences not working
Why don't the references work for User:Yellow Evan/Hurricane Fausto(2008)? Leave Message ,Yellow Evan home , User:Yellow Evan/Sandbox
Fixed. I think you use those slashes when calling up the ref. Zain Ebrahim (talk) 20:41, 27 November 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Use <ref name=Foo> for the first time you use the reference, with the {{cite web}} template and </ref> to close, and then use <ref name=Foo/> for each time after that you use that reference. Mjroots (talk) 20:45, 27 November 2008 (UTC)[reply]
One half a million dollars..*little finger in corner of mouth*
Hi as many have said before. I hate the huge Donate thing at the top of wikipedia. Where do I express an opinion to remove it from anonymous users? Also where do I highlight that [2] expect to spend $ 1/2 Million on a fund raising team? (with utterly vague objectives See [3] search for 'What's the upshot here: how much bigger is this year's budget compared with last year's? Where are you spending more, and why?'
FYI The second-largest increase is $510K for fundraising expenses: this includes three new positions (Head of Major Gifts, Head of Community Giving, and a Development Associate), as well as an allocation for fundraising expenses (technical help with the database, design support, usability and A/B testing money, fundraising related travel, an allocation for events, etc.)
How much do I have to donate that I get a listed opinion that the current method of generating donations sucks, wikipedia already has plenty of funding for wikipedia to provide a wonderful service, trying to grab a greater portion of the charities market is not required. Pricing plans for various sized fonts appreciated. GameKeeper (talk) 22:37, 27 November 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Most of that appears to be rhetorical, but you can contact the Wikimedia Foundation.--Fullobeans (talk) 03:12, 28 November 2008 (UTC)[reply]
If you are wanting to hide the banner, you can use some code in your monobook.js - but for the life of me I can't remember what it is - or you could block 'siteNotice' with ABP. — neuro^(talk) 05:42, 28 November 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Over riding default image size in infoboxs
This is with regards the article Wen Xiu, the image in the infobox is oversized for the default setting to the extent that the picture has become pixellated. I've tried a number of ways to try and reduce the size of the image but to no avail, can anyone help. Thanks. KTo288 (talk) 23:59, 27 November 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Fixed.[4] It depends on the infobox. The documentation at Template:Infobox Chinese Royalty does not mention a size parameter but I looked at the source and saw imgw. PrimeHunter (talk) 00:22, 28 November 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Thanks, templates are not really my thing. KTo288 (talk) 00:53, 28 November 2008 (UTC)[reply]
November 28
wikipedia to go
Hi I was wondering if there is a way to download all of the articles and the format of wikipedia to a point where it would be useable on a pda or other device without the use of internet.
My email is <email removed> Thank you for all your work this is an amazing site! and I bet I'm one of those ignorant people asking a stupid question, but, yeah thats kinda how it's gonna work out if this is really the job you want. thanks anyways! —Preceding unsigned comment added by 71.252.129.92 (talk) 00:25, 28 November 2008 (UTC)[reply]
The Version 1.0 Editorial Team are trying to complete this goal, version 0.7 is planned to be released later this year. Also, why would you want to download the entire encyclopedia? The file size would be enormous and you would have out of date articles as Wikipedia is always under development. – Jerry^teps 02:29, 28 November 2008 (UTC)[reply]
It does require internet access, but there's also Wapedia.--Fullobeans (talk) 03:06, 28 November 2008 (UTC)[reply]
how do i make an article?
i need to know —Preceding unsigned comment added by Smeds1 (talk • contribs) 00:30, 28 November 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.
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. Algebraist 00:34, 28 November 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Mumbai
can u breifly tell me about mubai bomb blasts —Preceding unsigned comment added by 117.201.32.242 (talk) 04:33, 28 November 2008 (UTC)[reply]
The article November 2008 Mumbai attacks might help you. Chamal ^talk 04:53, 28 November 2008 (UTC)[reply]
How to reference a website in an infobox
I am editing the page of Mark Yudof, which includes Template:Infobox University Chancellor. One of the fields is "website". In what format should I populate this? The page for Shirley Jackson (physicist) shows Office of the President, while the page for Richard C. Levin displays the URL (http://www.yale.edu/opa/president/). Is there a preferred format? Thank you. Espertus (talk) 07:25, 28 November 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Since the infobox documentation does not give a preference, use your own judgment. You can also discuss it on the infobox talk page. --—— Gadget850 (Ed) ^talk - 12:11, 28 November 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Avoid having it in printable version
Those huge images in Reference_ranges_for_blood_tests#Sorted_by_concentration have a separate, vertical, image for printing:
Vertical, together with molarity image, for easier printing
However, how to avoid these images to appear in the usual printable version of the article, where they are of little use when they are horizontal? Mikael Häggström (talk) 08:32, 28 November 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Navbox needs to be expanded
I am working on Category:United States House of Representatives delegations navigational boxes. Specifically, I am doing {{ILRepresentatives}} and {{NYRepresentatives}}. It looks like {{Navbox}} will only handle 20 list/group combinations. This needs to be expanded to about 60 to handle states like New York and California.--TonyTheTiger (t/c/bio/WP:CHICAGO/WP:LOTM) 09:06, 28 November 2008 (UTC)[reply]
You can discuss expansion on the Navbox talk page. You may also be able to create this in chunks and put them within another Navbox using the child feature; again, discuss this at the Navbox talk. --—— Gadget850 (Ed) ^talk - 12:22, 28 November 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Do you have any formatting suggestions so that its (I have reformatted the IL one) flag and seal placement are more harmonious with those of the states with less than 21 districts.--TonyTheTiger (t/c/bio/WP:CHICAGO/WP:LOTM) 17:09, 28 November 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Unable to log in
My user name is: LLP
When I try to log in I receive a warning that the password is wrong and the possibility to use the password reminder. After 24 hours and having received nothing, I try to log in again and receive the following message:
"Login error. A password reminder has already been sent within the last 24 hours. To prevent abuse, only one password reminder will be sent per 24 hours."
Since I don´t receive any notice from you, the only possibility is a wrong email address.
Can you help me?
Thank you.— Preceding unsigned comment added by 194.65.92.45 (talk • contribs)
Unfortunately not. If you can't access (or remember) the email address you used to register, you won't be able to reset your forgotten password. Sorry! Zain Ebrahim (talk) 10:30, 28 November 2008 (UTC)[reply]
See Special:Contributions/LLP to make sure LLP is your account. You could try checking with your mail provider and mail software to see if the password post was blocked as suspected spam. PrimeHunter (talk) 12:54, 28 November 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Template Choices
What kind of template should be applied to an article when:
words like “dramatic shift” and “revolution” are properly used in the lede, and

“ huge turning point in… political history” is properly included in a lower subject section, and

the article includes no issue discussion about what makes the article so important, other than a bare right versus left political reference?
Issues are easily ref’able from several povs. The article is near the roots of a continuing Wikipedia and real world hot topic. It appears ‘consensus’ has not discussed issues, since article creation, my bias suggests consensus wants to keep it that way, No-POV rather than WP:NPOV. What to do… suggestions, list of possible choices. Thanks. Regards, CasualObserver'48 (talk) 10:48, 28 November 2008 (UTC)[reply]
See Wikipedia:Template messages. Specifically Wikipedia:Template messages/Cleanup. --—— Gadget850 (Ed) ^talk - 12:18, 28 November 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Resolved, thanks for the links; I should not lose them. CasualObserver'48 (talk) 12:41, 28 November 2008 (UTC)[reply]
One way to not lose these links is to put {{Wikipedia template messages}} on your user page. Although if your user page gets out of hand then it is possible to start losing things on it too. --Teratornis (talk) 23:05, 28 November 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Adding Video Content
Is it allowed to link to a video report on the subject? Are video links allowed on a topic?
In addition, how does a notability notice get removed on an article? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 74.73.87.107 (talk) 13:54, 28 November 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Which topic do you have in mind? You are allowed to upload videos the same way you would upload images - except they have to be in Ogg Theora format. Links to YouTube, etc. are generally not allowed. To remove a notability notice, prove that the subject is notable. See WP:NOTE for more. Xenon 54 14:03, 28 November 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Yes, videos are allowed on any topic as long as they're relevant. That said, we do not accept videos that are copyright violations (not in uploads and not in external links) - Mgm|^(talk) 17:36, 28 November 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Recently I demonstrated the notability of the Blayney Wind Farm, New South Wales article to the satisfaction of the user who had put a {{Notability}} template on the article. See:
The notability template addition

My edits to the article

My notification of the other editor and his response

That case study illustrates one way to go about it. If you present your notability proof directly to the editor who put the {{notability}} template in an article, you can see whether you get agreement. It's a courtesy to notify that editor directly, rather than just unilaterally remove the template when you think you've fixed the problem. If that editor later stumbles on your change, and disagrees with it, the fact that you did not contact the editor directly might get the disagreement off to a bad start. Being bold is part of Wikipedia's cultural norms, but so is being considerate. --Teratornis (talk) 23:15, 28 November 2008 (UTC)[reply]
"Award winning"
Is there a guideline that says that the intro of a biographical article shouldn't include the words "award winning" or similar such wording? I've looked through WP:BLP and WP:INTRO but can't find anything. I know I've seen these removed various places but can't recall the guideline which was cited for such removal. Dismas|^(talk) 14:28, 28 November 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Well, award winning can be seen as a bit weaselly and peacocky to bend those guidelines into adjectives; what awards did the subject win? The high school's battle of the bands contest? or a Peabody? Wikipedia:Words to avoid also comes to mind.--Fuhghettaboutit (talk) 15:02, 28 November 2008 (UTC)[reply]
You may see a relevant discussion at Wikipedia_talk:Neutral_point_of_view/Archive_29#POV_in_first_sentence.3F. Simply put, the introduction should "introduce" what or who the subject is. Awards, criticism, etc. may come later. The awards may make a person notable, but do not define them. This is why we don't want to label people as "award-winning", instead we say they "have won this and that award". Also, beginning an article with phrase "award winning" is considered POV, as Fuhghettaboutit said, how do we determine which award is important enough to warrant a mention? And what about awards with negative POV implication, like Golden Raspberry Award? (To win this award in one's career may be considered a "notable" event, but do we have to start the intro with "xxxx is a Razzie-winnig actor"?) --PeaceNT (talk) 15:30, 28 November 2008 (UTC)[reply]
History merges and preserving redirects for GDFL compliance - can this be explained?
I do not understand the concept of a history merge, or how it works. Nor do I understand why when an article is redirected following an AFD debate, it must be retained in redirect form. After all pages are regularly deleted and these are not preserved. May someone explain?-Boshinoi (talk) 15:02, 28 November 2008 (UTC)[reply]
When pages are deleted, they are still preserved in the deleted history; they are not removed completely. They are just hidden from non-administrators. When a page is merged, the old history of the page must be there also, as per GFDL, there must attribution for every edit. When an article is redirected, the history is contained in the history of the redirect; Henry VIII will redirect to Henry VIII of England, but if you click on the Henry VIII "redirected from" link, you can see the history of that redirect. In a nutshell, every edit must be attributed, including deleted edits. Only oversighted edits are hidden from just about everyone, but oversights are done under special circumstances. Best, PeterSymonds (talk) 15:07, 28 November 2008 (UTC)[reply]
To add just a bit more. Pages that can be safely deleted are those whose content are not preserved in any other article on Wikipedia. The retained redirects you mention, I believe, are formerly articles whose content have been copied/merged/etc. to another article - an article that continues to exist. Because the GFDL requires acknowledgement of all edits to a page, the history of these redirects must be kept. When we look at the history of the redirects, we know where the content (of the destination articles) come from. About how history merge works, you may see Wikipedia:How to fix cut-and-paste moves. Hope that made sense. :) --PeaceNT (talk) 15:17, 28 November 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Often, history merges will mess up the edit history of the resulting page in such a way it's no longer useful in the period both pages existed, that's why redirects are kept after merges, the history is still available, but the edits do not interfere with the history of the existing page. - Mgm|^(talk) 17:34, 28 November 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Changes which occure when coppying a text to word and saving it16:26, 28 November 2008 (UTC)79.176.11.215 (talk)
I copied a text from wikipedia to word and I made some changes which are relevant only for my pourpouses. Isaved the document and when Iopened it again I saw "jump to navigation...."' changes in the document, "edit" at the beggining of any paragraf, the list of all the languages .... an so on. What have I done wrong and what do Ihave to do in order to avoid this? Thanks for everything!!!
When you copy from Wikipedia to Word, it copies everything on the page - this includes [edit] links and the sidebars too. To avoid this, copy one section at a time. — neuro^(talk) 18:31, 28 November 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Or copy the printable version. Algebraist 18:43, 28 November 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Help with math,time, and if/then/else for a calender
I am trying to get my calender to be automated so I won't have to change it, but the following won't work! {{ #if:{{#expr: {{#time:t}} >= 30}} | 30| }} It is supposed to be if t(which is number of days in the month) >= 30, then write 30, else, do nothing I keep trying differnt ways but it's not working D: — Preceding unsigned comment added by Costest (talk • contribs)
Questions like these are easier to answer if you give some context. You seem to refer to the template code on your user page. Where did you get that code? Did you write it yourself from scratch, or did you substitute it from a template such as {{CURRENTCALENDAR}}? Please read How to Ask Questions the Smart Way. The question as you posed it might only be answerable by someone who just happened to have recently done exactly what you are trying to do, and the odds may be low that such a person would be among the handful who are monitoring the Help desk just now. Which means if someone is going to answer the question, they will need to take a detailed look at what you are doing, the sources you used, and why you decided on this particular step to reach whatever your actual goal may be. --Teratornis (talk) 23:36, 28 November 2008 (UTC)[reply]
personile file
How do i create a personal file box on the right side of the page? —Preceding unsigned comment added by Michael DiNunzio (talk • contribs) 18:34, 28 November 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Probably what you are asking about is an infobox template. There are several infobox templates, depending on what kind of person or thing the article is about. For example, the infobox for a football player would be {{Football player infobox}}. —teb728 t c 22:07, 28 November 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Infoboxes are to put in articles which are normally about subjects other than yourself (unless you are notable enough to have your own article). If by "personal" you mean boxes about yourself, you want to read about userboxes to put on your user page. Every registered Wikipedia user gets to have a user page, and an unlimited number of user subpages, but these are supposed to assist with your work on articles, not as a social networking site type of thing. --Teratornis (talk) 22:56, 28 November 2008 (UTC)[reply]
However, that guideline tends to be fairly loosely interpreted, as long as you aren't vandalizing or advertising. Some users festoon their user pages with teeming flocks of userboxes, to the discomfort of Jimbo Wales who doesn't care much for userboxes actually. While a few infoboxes can be useful to show other editors what sort of articles you tend to edit, I advise against going overboard with vast collections of personal trivia boxes. That might give other users grounds to challenge you, for example if you get on someone's bad side in a content dispute. --Teratornis (talk) 23:01, 28 November 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Table help
I want to make a table where every cell has a black border. However, to do this, I've been doing "style=border-right:1px solid #000; border-bottom:1px solid #000;" though this is a lot of code for almost every cell. Is there an easier way of doing this? E.g. look at the table below as an example.

A A A

1 ABC ABC ABC

1 ABC ABC ABC
--Dafterror (talk) 22:11, 28 November 2008 (UTC)[reply]
If the "state of the art" for tables is judged using this page then you may be out of luck. —Noah 22:49, 28 November 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Actually, looks like doing style="border-collapse:collapse;" does exactly this.Dafterror (talk) 22:55, 28 November 2008 (UTC)[reply]
In case you haven't seen this yet: Help:Table. --Fullobeans (talk) 22:58, 28 November 2008 (UTC)[reply]
I did, and it did not help at all. I've figured it out anyway; adding style="border-collapse:collapse;" to the start of the table makes me only have to add style="border:1px solid #000;" which really does cut down the code, like in the code below in the table.Dafterror (talk) 23:02, 28 November 2008 (UTC)[reply]

A A A

1 ABC ABC ABC

1 ABC ABC ABC
Counting characters in an article
What is a good method or tool for counting charaters in an article. I am interested in counting the charters in two on my new articles of Frank Daniel Gerber and Daniel Frank Gerber. How many do you show for each? Does the characters in the info boxes count? And wording in the Footnotes? --Doug Coldwell ^talk 23:14, 28 November 2008 (UTC)[reply]
See the links under WP:EIW#Long such as WP:SIZE. I don't know if there is one standard way to count the characters in an article. That probably depends on what you mean by "in". For example, do you mean the number of characters that have to fit into the edit box when you edit the whole article, or do you refer to the words of readable prose that the reader must read? The (human) reader's perception of article size may be different from the (computer) Web browser's perception. --Teratornis (talk) 23:21, 28 November 2008 (UTC)[reply]
You can always copy and paste into a word processing application, or into any number of websites like this one. As far as what counts toward the total character count, that depends entirely on what you're counting it for. --Fullobeans (talk) 01:05, 29 November 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Thanks for ideas. I am counting it so that I know I have enough characters to qualify for a DKY article, minimum of 1500. In my MS Word program it counts Frank Daniel Gerber as 1672 and in the above Java program it is 2037. When a count is made for DYK does the spaces between words count? Apparently my MS Word program does NOT count the spaces, but just the actual characters. Does the characters in the info boxes count toward the total count for DYK? --Doug Coldwell ^talk 16:12, 29 November 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Blocking template and banned users
I'm confused by this block template:

You have been temporarily blocked from editing in accordance with Wikipedia's blocking policy for abuse of editing privileges. Once the block has expired, you are welcome to make constructive contributions. If you believe this block is unjustified, you may contest the block by adding the text {{unblock|your reason here}} below, but you should read our guide to appealing blocks first.
It says that the block is temporary, but it doesn't explain for how long. So when a user receives this un-specific template, how are they to know when it expires? And suppose a banned user evades a ban by moving to another country and editing Wikipedia from there? Would anyone be able to notice? if it is the same user --Crackthewhip775 (talk) 23:18, 28 November 2008 (UTC)[reply]
See the {{uw-block1}} page. The documentation lists a "time" parameter that the person who places the template should fill out with the duration of the block. For more information see WP:EIW#Enforce and WP:BLOCK. --Teratornis (talk) 23:25, 28 November 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Any attempt to edit while blocked will result in you seeing this enormous infodump, which tells the blockee when the block will expire, among other things. Algebraist 23:29, 28 November 2008 (UTC)[reply]
What's up with the $, though? I don't get it. --Crackthewhip775 (talk) 23:34, 28 November 2008 (UTC)[reply]
When the user sees this message, the $ will be replaced with the details from the actual block. For example, $6 will be replaced by the duration of the block, and $2 will be replaced by a summary of the reasons for the block. Raven4x4x (talk) 23:40, 28 November 2008 (UTC)[reply]
See Help:MediaWiki namespace and Wikipedia:MediaWiki namespace. The MediaWiki namespace works differently than the other namespaces that ordinary users can edit. --Teratornis (talk) 23:43, 28 November 2008 (UTC)[reply]
austrslisn customs and values
what values and customs does autralian have —Preceding unsigned comment added by 203.167.207.134 (talk) 23:44, 28 November 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Have you tried Wikipedia's Reference Desk? They specialize in knowledge questions and will try to answer any question in the universe (except how to use Wikipedia, since that is what this Help Desk is for). Just follow the link, select the relevant section, and ask away. I hope this helps. Algebraist 00:17, 29 November 2008 (UTC)[reply]

November 29
Template:Location_map_USA_North_Carolina
I had a go at trying to fix the template used in this article but without success (I used Template:Location_map_Alabama as an example). Has anyone any idea what's wrong with it? --Lo2u ^{(T • C)} 01:12, 29 November 2008 (UTC)[reply]
I don't see a problem. Could you be a bit more specific, please? — neuro^(talk) 08:41, 29 November 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Actually, it was fixed shortly after I posted that, with this[5] edit, but thanks.--Lo2u ^{(T • C)} 13:06, 29 November 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Collapsible boxes
I would like to have a few boxes on my user page that can collapse (be hidden until [Show] is selected). I can't seem to find a template or an HTML tag to help me. Can you point me in the right direction? Thx! ←Signed:→Mr. E. Sánchez ^{Get to know me!} / _{Talk to me!}←at≈:→ 03:52, 29 November 2008 (UTC)[reply]
There's several ways, but one of the simplest is to use "collapsible collapsed" in the heading of a table.

Example #1

THIS IS HIDDEN TEXT

Example #2

THIS IS HIDDEN TEXT

Another Method is this:

Example #3: Using divs

This method uses divs instead of table syntax. You can display some text here, and then have the user Click Show to display additional text.

Hidden Text goes in here.
I like this method best.

-- GateKeeper^(X) @ 05:45, 29 November 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Super awesome. I also like your favorite box. Thanks!! ←Signed:→Mr. E. Sánchez ^{Get to know me!} / _{Talk to me!}←at≈:→ 07:17, 29 November 2008 (UTC)[reply]
And there is the template {{hidden}}. --—— Gadget850 (Ed) ^talk - 08:36, 29 November 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Spelling
On most UK-related articles, I see US Spelling. Why is this? 78.150.156.0 (talk) 09:18, 29 November 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Can you give us some examples? Also see WP:ENGVAR. Zain Ebrahim (talk) 09:55, 29 November 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Either someone missed it, or someone changed the spelling without knowing the rules. Please give some examples so we can take a look at it. - Mgm|^(talk) 10:57, 29 November 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Oops on upload
I meant to upload an image of myself on Commons, but accidentally did so on Wikipedia. What do I do? (Or should I do anything?) Thx! ←Signed:→Mr. E. Sánchez ^{Get to know me!} / _{Talk to me!}←at≈:→ 10:25, 29 November 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Putting something on Commons means it can be used in other Wikimedia projects. Unless you plan on registering for other wikis like another-language wikipedia or something like wikiquote, or wikibooks, there's nothing you really need to do. Otherwise, request speedy deletion for the image (just mention it was a mistake) and reupload on the commons. - Mgm|^(talk) 10:55, 29 November 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Oh, okay. I'm already unified on all Wikimedia projects. I may want to use it later. Thanks! ←Signed:→Mr. E. Sánchez ^{Get to know me!} / _{Talk to me!}←at≈:→ 11:14, 29 November 2008 (UTC)[reply]
postal and zip codes for the U.S.A. and Israel.
Pls what is the postal zip codes for the U.S.A. and Israel. Pls answer now Thank you. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 81.199.144.164 (talk) 11:57, 29 November 2008 (UTC)[reply]
This page is for Wikipedia related queries. You might want the reference desk. — neuro^(talk) 13:58, 29 November 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Neuro's right, but the brief answer is: there are many. See postal code. --Fullobeans (talk) 14:36, 29 November 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Template for citing British Library catalogue
I have needed to cite a couple of books (see talk:Shepton Mallet (HM Prison) which, due to age, do not have ISBN numbers. I can find them listed in the British Library Integrated Catlogue but I cannot find a template that allows me to reference their entry in the catalogue. There are templates for Library of Congress catalgue references (template:LCC and template:LCCN). Is there such a template or, if not, how do I create one (I am not very technical)? Thanks. Dmvward (talk) 12:07, 29 November 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Regarding cropping a cc-by-2.0 image
Hey I was wondering if it is ok if you had a image on Flickr that was cc-by-2.0, but cropped it to remove unwanted things on it? Rvk41 (talk) 14:37, 29 November 2008 (UTC)[reply]
You can. Just upload it under a different name (in case someone prefers the older version), give attribution to the original image and don't change the license. - Mgm|^(talk) 15:09, 29 November 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Assuming it doesn't have an 'nd' (no derivatives) clause attached. See Creative_Commons#Types_of_Creative_Commons_Licenses - Mgm|^(talk) 15:11, 29 November 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Late LateShow Template (Ireland)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Template:The_Late_Late_Show on this template, te first section is titled 'Presenters - and is further defined by'Animals' and 'Humans'. On the human side are the actual presenters of the show, on the animal side is the owl that is a feature in the show's intro titles. This page should be under a section called others or something along those lines, which the absurd animal section deleted. Im not confident enoughin mytable editing abilities to attempt this so I'd appriecate any help in getting this done. Syferus (talk) 15:42, 29 November 2008 (UTC)[reply]
I don't really see how the owl is a presenter, but yes, I have never watched the show, so I'm not really informed enough to make a decision on that. — neuro^(talk) 16:44, 29 November 2008 (UTC)[reply]
New branch of fitness science
My question is how do I introduce this new science at Wikipedia?
I am a structural engineer who had knees that were nearly useless. For several years I tried using the principles of building and construction and leverage to drive the resistance to my core mobility muscles doing their running motion, without loading these forces through my knees or feet.
After perfecting this in water (while wearing a life jacket) I realize that I had stumbled over a science that is not precisely recognized yet.
"Fitness Engineering" does not look at human body generically as does Human Physiology. It is a science of engineering joint and weakness bypassing devices that receive muscle effort and full motion range before their forces would enter joints, then return most (if not all) of the resistance to the motion and effort only to the effort applying muscles to strengthen them. "Human Physiology" often prescribes leg joint overloading exercises to little old ladies in walkers to increase their heart and mobility power.
Fitness Engineering designs devices that bypass their worn out joints to allow far more effort and range from, (and up to hundreds of times more external resistance to return only to) their big body muscles and hearts, allowing their body muscles and hearts to become and stay very strong despite worn out leg joints, balance disorders or motion debilitations. Without exception all of today's cardio and mobility strengthening exercises and devices still drive all of the exercises forces through joints, where they eventually to suddenly wear out or break them down, even on very powerful bodies.
Because modern fitness exercises drive far more force through joints, they eliminate millions of people who are too old, obese or physically disabled to walk stand or swim from having real exercise methods that can massively strengthen their body cores and hearts. Because there may be nothing wrong with their core muscles and hearts beside a weakness elsewhere, Fitness Engineering, is the new science of keeping muscle strengthening forces only where they are needed, nowhere else.
Like all real engineering sciences, Fitness Engineering is also a product constructing science as it develops devices that bypass the weak links of our bodies to allow our muscles to face motion resistance through their fullest range motions. Other sciences like Bio Mechanics and Bionics may seem similar to Fitness Engineering as aspects of all three cross over, but aspects of structural engineering cross into all sciences that deal with any form of physical matter that is affected in any way by gravity. Bio Mechanics is not a product developing science as it is a study of what nature has already engineered.
Bionics, like Fitness Engineering successfully concludes with a working physical product attached to the body; however bionic products do not differentiate between enhancing what the body already does, or could do with its own power. Bionics produces devices that add new or unnaturally enhance abilities beyond what nature provides our bodies.
Although the products of Fitness Engineering may have other uses that provide advanced or unnatural abilities, they are all primary designed to strengthen parts of individual bodies that modern joint overloading methods cannot, or only lightly reach. Fitness Engineering will always first focus muscle effort and resistance forces focused on specific muscles, with new devices or methods, however they are not limited to only doing this.
For Example a new device we have utility patents pending we trademarked as Lower Body Oars, can massively strengthen the hearts and core mobility muscles of millions of severely disabled people, and almost instantly cure the atrophy that plagues their stationary bodies, painlessly. However this same device can also provide athletes and swimmers with a new way to competitive speed race their bodies through water, under their own power.
There could be a debate as to Fitness Engineering being a branch of Bionics, because all of our announced device designs are body attached, however this is not an absolute aspect as we have also designed devices that do not attach. Likewise our first products are used in water but that is also not a prerequisite for Fitness Engineering, as we have plans for dry land and even outer space fitness devices. Many of these just increase the particular muscle strength and or range for the motions of a specific sport, activity or occupation.
Again my question is how do I introduce this new science at Wikipedia?
PS. You can watch a video of Body Oars working at bodyoars.com or a short musical version at Youtube.com by searching "Body Oars" there. —Preceding unsigned comment added by The Paddleman (talk • contribs) 17:08, 29 November 2008 (UTC)[reply]
If it's something you can up with - you don't, We don't publish original research. If it's something that people have published about in text books, scholar texts, articles in major news sources, then we have have an article on it. --Cameron Scott (talk) 17:13, 29 November 2008 (UTC)[reply]

(ec) Wikipedia is an encyclopædia, and as such, is not an appropriate place for introducing new scientific ideas. The appropriate place to introduce new scientific ideas is in scientific journals. Get a few papers published, and then a Wikipedia article might be appropriate. Algebraist 17:15, 29 November 2008 (UTC)[reply]
|
How can I type this symbol: | using a standard keyboard? It is sometimes irritating to have to select Wiki markup and then click on the thinnest symbol when I use it so often! Thanks. --DerRichter (talk) 19:07, 29 November 2008 (UTC)[reply]
SHIFT + BACKSLASH. Right above the enter key, there should be a key with \ and something that looks like ¦. The ¦ will type a |. Calvin 1998 ^(t·c) 19:14, 29 November 2008 (UTC)[reply]
||||||||||||||||| haha yes. That will save me so much time. Thanks. --DerRichter (talk) 19:15, 29 November 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Reflist does not appear

Resolved

Resolved
Hi. I've put together a little stub, necklace splitting problem. But the ref list does not appear for me, even though I have references in the article and {{reflist}} at the bottom. It did yesterday when I last added some material. What gives? Robinh 20:11, 29 November 2008 (UTC)
A hidden comment started with . Fixed. Algebraist 20:18, 29 November 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Ach! Of course. Thanks, algebraist. Ironically, the reason I was trying to edit the article this evening was to remove the hidden comment. Best wishes, Robinh 20:39, 29 November 2008 (UTC)
Why does my signature (which I type using four tildes) appear as plain text, while everyone else has a clickable username? This happens in the sandbox too. Robinh 20:55, 29 November 2008 (UTC)
Because you told it to. You can change your signature at Special:Preferences. Algebraist 20:59, 29 November 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Well you live and learn. Thanks! Robinh (talk) 21:05, 29 November 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Using foreign characters in an article
Can anyone offer advice on typing foreign characters from a standard English keyboard and operating system? Does it have anything to do with UTF vs. 8 bit characters? I recently edited the page hyung and I believe I erased all of the foreign characters, but I cannot tell because they all appear as question marks on my screen in the first place. Thanks. User5802 (talk) 21:43, 29 November 2008 (UTC)[reply]
You need to install the right fonts to be able to read articles with foreign characters, and to able to edit them without damage. Have a look at Help:Multilingual support. Algebraist 21:51, 29 November 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Thank you very much Algebraist. User5802 (talk) 23:05, 29 November 2008 (UTC)[reply]
You are right that one of your edits [6] changed many foreign characters. Another editor reverted it. If you view the diff without the right font then you probably see red question marks on both sides of the diff, but there are only real question marks on the right side. I accidentally deleted special characters (mainly in interlanguage links) on a couple of pages long ago when I edited some pages in an old text editor. PrimeHunter (talk) 01:22, 30 November 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Yup I modified the article again once I had the proper fonts installed. User5802 (talk) 04:20, 30 November 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Media-Wiki question
Which is the Media-Wiki page for the "From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia" that appears under the title -- C D 22:14, 29 November 2008 (UTC)[reply]
MediaWiki:Tagline. :) Best, PeterSymonds (talk) 22:17, 29 November 2008 (UTC)[reply]
November 30
How do I delete my account?
My mother is furious because I created an account without permission. What is the deletion process? Grader12 (talk) 02:33, 30 November 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Due to the fact that Wikipedia content is licensed under the GFDL, all edits must be kept for attribution purposes, and so your account cannot be deleted. You do, however, have the right to vanish, which you can exercise by (1) requesting your user page (found at Special:Mypage) and/or user talk page (found at Special:Mytalk) be deleted, by adding the {{db-userreq}} template to them; (2) requesting to change your username to something that is unconnected with you (possibly a random collection of letters and numbers); (3) never logging in to your account again. If you do this, you may not register a new username to continue editing Wikipedia as invoking your right to vanish is final. Woody (talk) 02:38, 30 November 2008 (UTC)[reply]
"Right to vanish" is mainly about the right to make a dramatic exit. If you simply stop editing, the same effect occurs, except you don't make a final, self-aggrandizing statement as you go out the door. If your mother doesn't want you to continue to edit Wikipedia, don't. This is a voluntary project, and if you just stop editing, no one is going to come to your house to make you start up again. --Jayron32.talk.contribs 04:17, 30 November 2008 (UTC)[reply]
How do I Link to image page without embedding the image?
How can I add a link to an image in the text of a page (such as talk page) without embedding the actual image? If I use the syntax "[[Image:Latin alphabet Aa.svg|this image]]", I get the embedded image, , as I would expect. I'd like to insert a blue link such as this image that links to the image page. I know I can use a fully qualified html link, but is there a wiki image link syntax for what I want to do? -- Tcncv (talk) 03:14, 30 November 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Add a colon like this: [[:Image:Latin alphabet Aa.svg|this image]] — Sebastian 03:22, 30 November 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Thanks. -- Tcncv (talk) 03:26, 30 November 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Subcats don't show up anymore after piping

Resolved
A while ago, I added "|use" to "[[Category:Energy]]" in Category:Energy use comparisons. This category showed up earlier in Category:Energy, but now, instead of showing up under "U", it's gone. Am I blind, or what's wrong here? (The same happened with at lease one other subcat.) — Sebastian 03:21, 30 November 2008 (UTC)[reply]
I see it in the category. Note that category sorting is case sensitive and it's under "u". PrimeHunter (talk) 03:41, 30 November 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Oh, duh! I must have taken that for another "µ" ;-) Thanks! — Sebastian 04:09, 30 November 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Tom Murphy (Titan News Television Founder)
Tom Murphy (Thomas David Murphy) was born April 5, 1987 in Salem, OR. He was a student at West Salem High School in Oregon in which he was a co founder of "TNT" also known as Titan News Television in the Spring of 2003. Tom Murphy encountered complications with the student Leadership club the fallowing year with TNT and decided to leave its production to Student Chris Zigenhagel of Student Leadership and decided to spearhead a monthly show named "PTV" also known as Promethean Television. Tom Murphy was working within his Newspaper publications class alongside Lucas DeWilde on PTV under the supervision of Video Production teacher Grant Huhn and Newspaper teacher John Divelbiss. PTV would go on under student Lucas DeWilde after Tom Murphy graduated in 2005.Tom Murphy volunteers at Capital Community Television which is a subsidiary of Comcast. Tom Murphy is currently working towards a film and video bachelors of arts degree and still resides in Salem, OR. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Atomxmurphy (talk • contribs) 04:38, 30 November 2008 (UTC)[reply]
It looks like you are wanting to create a biography of person who may not meet Wikipedia's notability guideline; most people are not notable enough to have an article on Wikipedia. Articles must demonstrate the notability of the subject, citing to reliable sources which verify their content. —teb728 t c 08:00, 30 November 2008 (UTC)[reply]
do an article
What I have to do if i want to add my link that is relevant to the Business Research article that is speaking about routine e-mail and memos, my link is http://routinemails.weebly.com/ so i tried to to link it to it but it didn't work. i created an article but also didn't work. please i need help because i need to know what is the good way to add the link about routine e-mail messages and memos please help in this —Preceding unsigned comment added by Comm 212 8 (talk • contribs) 06:41, 30 November 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Your edits, Special:Contributions/74.57.17.11 and Special:Contributions/Comm 212 8 were reverted by a bot and by two different editors. Please take time to review our external links & spam guidelines, and take note that Wikipedia is not a repository of links, not a directory, nor an advertising service; amd when you have a conflict of interest, you should avoid linking to a site you are connected to. —teb728 t c 07:35, 30 November 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Two articles on the same subject
EE Times and Electronic Engineering Times appears to be about the same subject. I would merge them, but I don't know which one of those names the article should be under. --Silver Edge (talk) 07:37, 30 November 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Have a read of Wikipedia:Manual of Style (abbreviations)#Acronyms as words in article titles; I'm sure you're more familiar with the topic than I am. :) — Manti core 09:13, 30 November 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Uploading a PD photohraph
I have prepared an article, and I want to add a couple of historical photographs (public domain and commons. I have spend hours and hours in Wilipedia and Commons trying to work out how to do this, but am in treacle. If I can be directed to an upload template for Wikidedia, I will upload the pics and if anyone wants to delete them, OK. Uploading to Commons seems unnecessary, and extra steps.Mav62 (talk) 11:38, 30 November 2008 (UTC)[reply]

v t e Wikipedia help pages
*Visit the Teahouse* or the Help desk for an interactive Q & A forum. FAQs (?) Reference desks (?) Noticeboards (?) Cheatsheet (?) Directories (?)**
About Wikipedia (?)	Administration Purpose Principles Policies and guidelines What Wikipedia is not Disclaimer (parental advice) Making requests Who writes Wikipedia?
Help for readers (?)	FAQ Books Copyright Glossary Mobile access Navigation Other languages Searching Students Viewing media
Contributing to Wikipedia (?)	Advice for young editors Avoiding common mistakes Etiquette Simplified Manual of Style Simplified rule-set "Ignore all rules" "The rules are principles" Style-tips Tip of the day Your first article (article wizard)
Getting started (?)	Why create an account? Introductions by topic Graphics tutorials Picture tutorial IRC (live chat) tutorial VisualEditor user guide
Dos and don'ts (?)	Accessibility Biographies Biographies (living) Categorization Consensus Discussions Disambiguation Images Leads Links Lists References Tables Titles (of articles)
How-to pages and information pages (?)	Appealing blocks Article deletion Categories Citations/references Referencing for beginners Citation Style 1 Cite errors References and page numbers Convert Diff Editing Minor edit toolbar edit conflict Find sources Files Footnotes Image deletion Infoboxes Linking (link color) Logging in Merging Page name Renaming pages Redirect Passwords Email confirmation Reverting Simple vandalism cleanup Talk pages (archiving simple archiving) User contributions WP search protocol
Coding (?)	Wiki markup Barcharts Calculations Characters Columns Elevation Hidden text HTML Lists Magic words Music symbols Sections Sounds Tables Templates Transclusion URL Visual files
Directories (?)	Abbreviations Contents (Encyclopedia proper) Departments Editor's index Essays FAQs Glossary Guidelines Manual of Style Policies Tasks Tips Tools
Missing Manual Ask for help on your talk page (?)