Wikipedia:Teahouse

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Permissions after CHUU

Hi everyone, I recently got my username changed but now I see I have got only 6 edits to my name and have rollback, reviewer permissions along with being a confirmed user. Now when I went to edit a page that was semi-protected I could not edit it? I am a bit confused. Soham 12:50, 4 December 2013 (UTC)[reply]

how do I submit an article for inclusion in wikipedia?

I am a scholar specializing in 19th century American women's poetry and chief among my projects has been the recovery of the poetry of Sarah Morgan Bryan Piatt. (My edition of her selected poetry -- Palace-Burner: the Selected Poetry of Sarah Piatt -- came out from U of Illinois Press in 2000, as part of their American Poetry Recovery Series.) Currently, Wikipedia hosts a very brief article on Sarah. I would like to greatly expand this entry but I am unsure how to go about submitting my revision. Where do I find the guidelines for the creation and submission of a full-length article?

Paula Bennett76.127.137.153 (talk) 03:36, 4 December 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Welcome to the Teahouse, Paula Bennett. Although you can contribute as an unregistered IP editor, I recommend you consider establishing an account. This will facilitate communication and collaboration with other experienced editors. Since we already have a brief article about this poet, you should think in terms of improving and expanding the existing article, as opposed to creating and submitting a full-length article. In other words, you don't need to "submit" anything. Just make the current article better, one edit at a time, until it is an appropriate length. Please read the Primer, which I like as an introduction to editing here. Also, Referencing for beginners may prove useful to you. Since you say you have expertise in the topic, you may find Self citation useful. Be cautious to avoid any behavior that could be construed as overly promoting your own research here on Wikipedia. I am not saying that is your intention. Instead, I am offering information to help you avoid possible stumbling blocks in your editing here. Please feel free to return to the Teahouse with other questions, and thanks for stepping forward to help improve this encyvlopedia. Cullen³²⁸ Let's discuss it 05:08, 4 December 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Help with userbox

Hello, I created a userbox at Template:Userbox/translate corresponding articles. Does any one know how to simplify the code like the codes listed for userboxes on Wikipedia:Userboxes/Userboxes ? Moonchïld9 (talk) 02:02, 4 December 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Hi Moonchïld9, this is already done automatically. Just write the name inside {{...}} like {{Userbox/translate corresponding articles}}. However, it's only really useful for others if you replace the constant "2" in the code by {{{1|}}}. This will enable editors to pass their own number of articles as a parameter, for example {{Userbox/translate corresponding articles|3}} to say "3 corresponding articles". If they omit the parameter then it will simply omit a number. May I also suggest saying for example "foreign Wikipedias" instead of "the International Wikipedia". The English Wikipedia is itself one of the many languages in the international site called Wikipedia. Wikilinks in userboxes are also good, for example: "This user has helped translate corresponding articles into English from foreign Wikipedias." PrimeHunter (talk) 02:35, 4 December 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks User: PrimeHunter! his was very helpful! : )

Moonchïld9 (talk) 02:54, 4 December 2013 (UTC)[reply]

I want to make a wiki on my self

recently i tried making wiki page under sebastian gehrig and that is me but they say the info need sources i am my self i am sure i know my self. i want a wiki page on my self(Skgstudios (talk) 23:55, 3 December 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Hi Sebastian. You simply cannot have a Wikipedia article about yourself. You can tell us a bit about yourself on your userpage however, but it is not for a full blown, article-like writeup in the third person voice and promoting any of your businesses. You can however have a wiki page about yourself at the unrelated-to-Wikipedia site, Wikibios. See more at Wikipedia:Alternative outlets. Best regards--Fuhghettaboutit (talk) 00:21, 4 December 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Can't Change Name

Our school recently changed names. I cannot figure out how to edit the name/title of our page though. The information on the page itself was updated. Please help if possible. Walther Lutheran High School. The name should be Walther Christian Academy instead of Walther Lutheran High School.50.73.107.233 (talk) 22:27, 3 December 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Welcome to the Teahouse. I have moved the article. - David Biddulph (talk) 22:39, 3 December 2013 (UTC)[reply]

books with no ISBN

there are some old books which have no ISBN....should I use those as references???? Nabil Kabil (talk) 19:21, 3 December 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Of course. The presence or absence of an ISBN only matters when a book was actually allocated an ISBN, which no books published before the mid-1960s were. Eric Corbett 19:30, 3 December 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Welcome to the Teahouse, Nabil Kabil. I agree with Eric Corbett that citing old books without ISBN numbers is fine in many cases. And if the book was published in the United States before 1923 and has significant illustrations, you can add those to Wikimedia Commons without any difficulty because copyright has expired. That's a bonus. But in areas where knowledge is developing, such as most academic fields, the newest available high quality sources are preferred. So feel free to use old books without ISBNs, but use them judiciously, being aware that recent scholarship is often the best. Cullen³²⁸ Let's discuss it 20:38, 3 December 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Where no ISBN is available, I often provide the ISSN and/or OCLC number. When you are at Google books and are looking at a publication, if you click on "About this magazine" (or similar), the ISSN will often be provided. The OCLC is easily found by searching the name of the publication at worldcat; once you locate the work and click on it the URL will provide the OCLC number e.g. for the book In Watermelon Sugar, with a URL of worldcat.org/title/in-watermelon-sugar/oclc/1052466, 1052466 is the OCLC and you would just add to your citation (if you were using a citation template) oclc=1052466. Cheers--Fuhghettaboutit (talk) 00:12, 4 December 2013 (UTC)[reply]

question about involvement

hello, how can i get more involved with wikipedia,with not those typical working...can you please tell me?Nabil Kabil (talk) 19:04, 3 December 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Welcome to the Teahouse Nabil. Are you saying you want to get involved with Wikipedia but not as an editor? Or are you asking how someone without a lot of technical skills can edit? Don't worry if you don't have a lot of technical skills. It can seem a bit daunting when you first start editing but it's really pretty simple. One thing that I see often is new editors want to jump into creating new articles. My advise is to find articles that need work. Look for articles that have icons at the top such as a broom or a book and that say things like "This article requires additional references" Also, here are some articles that cover Wikipedia basics that would probably be good for you to take a look at: Wikipedia:Plain_and_simple Wikipedia:Tutorial If however, you want to contribute to Wikipedia but don't want to do editing I'm sure there are ways to do that as well but I'm not the best person to explain those, if you can give us more info (just edit this question again and start typing below my text) we can give you more guidance. RedDog (talk) 01:46, 4 December 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Submission cancelled

Hello, I wrote an article after following the rules of Wikipedia, but it was cancelled. Would you help me please to tell me how could I manage the matter? (Hagar Sobhi (talk) 07:59, 3 December 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Hello Hagar, welcome to the teahouse! Because you asked about this at the Articles for Creation helpdesk as well, another editor, Rankersbro, has looked into your query there at Wikipedia:WikiProject Articles for creation/Help desk#Review of Wikipedia talk:Articles for creation/Horizon Interactive Studios about your declined article submission User:Hagar Sobhi/sandbox. He has a question for you there - perhaps you could check it out? Arthur goes shopping (talk) 08:57, 3 December 2013 (UTC)[reply]

citations

Hello,

Is there any compulsory way to put citations into articles? I mean their details. I apologize if it is obvious to you. I am a newbie, and I have not found this kind of information on Wiki yet.

For example, must I cite something like I did it in the article of John Kerry:

<ref>{{cite news|title=Kerry Sees ‘Big Heels’ to Fill as New U.S. Secretary of State|url=http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-02-04/kerry-sees-big-heels-to-fill-as-new-u-s-secretary-of-state.html|work=Bloomberg|accessdate=February 3, 2013|author=Nicole Gaouette}}</ref>,

i.e. specifying authors, source names, accessdates, and so on?

Or is it still sufficient and acceptable to use it in a simple way such as in AlterGeo:

<ref name="ft">[http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/2836aa06-2041-11e3-b8c6-00144feab7de.htm Financial Times (FT.com): Russia's next tech titans (September 19, 2013)]</ref>?

What is the necessary or merely best manner?

Thanks. Andreykh (talk) 05:08, 3 December 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Welcome to the Teahouse, Andreykh. There is nothing compulsory or necessary about the information in a reference. We do have best practices, though, which can be summarized as follows: the more information, the better. For example, if you cite a book, give us the title, the author, the publisher, the year of publication, the page number(s), the city of publication, the ISBN number, and a link to the book on Google Books or the publisher's website. If the book text is available online, link to the first page cited. I've ranked those data items in rough order of importance, and for compilations, you want to include the overall editor as well as the writer of the specific section cited. And so on. So, your first example is better than your second. Cullen³²⁸ Let's discuss it 05:20, 3 December 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Guestbooks

I have heard of guestbooks, what are they? Kenneth16622 (talk) 03:17, 3 December 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Welcome to the Teahouse, Kenneth16622. Some editors set up a user subpage that they call a guestbook, and invite other editors to leave friendly comments and their signatures. Sometimes, they are called autograph books. In my experience, relatively few serious, highly productive editors pay much attention to these. They may be perceived as a "social networking" type of thing, and Wikipedia is a collaborative project to build an encyclopedia, not a social network. On the other hand, there is a social aspect to collaboration, so these pages are usually tolerated. Cullen³²⁸ Let's discuss it 03:33, 3 December 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Changing Article's Heading

I wish to edit the heading of an article already accepted and published. My article is a biography of Australian theatre director Rex Cramphorn. His full name - Rex Roy Cramphorn - has been used for the heading of the article. I wish his full name to be retained in the text, but his second given name "Roy" to be omitted from the heading.

I haven't yet found a way of editing the heading - to make it "Rex Cramphorn". Sovereign Court John Austin 23:12, 2 December 2013 (UTC) — Preceding unsigned comment added by Sovereign Court (talk • contribs)

I've moved the page to Rex Cramphorn for you :) For the future see WP:MOVE. Samwalton9 (talk) 23:20, 2 December 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Creating a new page for a section of a pre-existing page.

Would it violate any Wikipedia guidelines if I separated out the "Coast Line" section on Western Line, Taiwan into its own page? The Coast Line is a paired rail line with the Mountain Line, which has its own page. Does that qualify for Wikipedia:Notability? Transphasic (talk) 22:02, 2 December 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Welcome to the teahouse Transphasic. The short answer is that separating out one section of an article does not violate any Wikipedia policies. That doesn't mean it's necessarily a good idea, as with a lot of things it all depends. There are two main things I would suggest you look at. First, the subject of Wikipedia:notability That article goes over the criteria for when a topic rates it's own article. The primary criterion is: are there 3rd party (e.g. newspaper, magazine) sources that have written about the topic? so in this case if people talk about the specific Western Line, not just in the context of the Taiwan rail system but as an entity of it's own. If you decide to make it it's own topic then you need to look at Wikipedia:Splitting_article That describes how to make such a change. As always the place to start is on the Talk page of the current article. Post something there proposing the change and see what people think. One other point, when I looked at the existing article I noticed it had a tag saying it needs better 3rd party references. My advice would be to start there. Before you think about making a new article make the current one as good as possible, or at least good enough so that it doesn't need that tag. Find stories about the railway (including about but not necessarily limited to the Coast Line) and add those as references. You will need to do that anyway if you want to justify why Coast Line needs to be it's own article. RedDog (talk) 03:03, 3 December 2013 (UTC)[reply]

image permissions

Am totally not clear on image permissions. In this case I have permission from the image owner to use it in one wikipedia article... what do I use on the image wizard? Thanks. Anne Wayman Annewannew (talk) 18:01, 2 December 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Welcome to the Teahouse. The image owner needs to follow the process described at WP:donating copyrighted material. - David Biddulph (talk) 18:31, 2 December 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Hello Annewannew. Adding to what David Biddulph said, the fastest and easiest way is for the image owner to set up an account at Wikimedia Commons, which takes only a couple of minutes, and upload the image under an appropriate license, which is also easy using the upload wizard. Please be sure that the image owner understands that anyone, anywhere can use that image for any purpose without payment or permission. Depending on the license selected, other users may be required to credit the image owner. They can't limit use to one article. Cullen³²⁸ Let's discuss it 20:19, 2 December 2013 (UTC)[reply]

If you are referring to a company logo, then no permission is needed from the owner for fair use of a low resolution version in an article about the company. That fair use image can only be used in a completed article (not a draft) about that company, and the image will be hosted here on Wikipedia. Wikimedia Commons is for freely licensed images only. I discussed this in your other question below as well. Cullen³²⁸ Let's discuss it 20:43, 2 December 2013 (UTC)[reply]

not understanding how to code references / reference template

Am trying to use this: Page text.^[1]

to foot note prizes using an reference to a page at the FTC - http://www.consumer.ftc.gov/articles/0199-prize-offers - using this code two things happen:

1 the sentence is truncated

2 when I put it in the article I'm told I don't have the right reference template... have tried a bunch of things that don't work... can someone help please?

Anne Wayman Annewannew (talk) 18:00, 2 December 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Hello Annewannew. When you tried to create a reference, your opening reference tag was lacking a ">" at the end. Each reference tag must start with a "<" and end with a ">", and there must be a starting tag before the content of the reference, and an ending tag after that content. The syntax must be precise. Please read Referencing for beginners for more detail. Cullen³²⁸ Let's discuss it 20:33, 2 December 2013 (UTC)[reply]

In addition, I noticed that you are trying to add a company logo to your draft. Our fair use policy only allows use of a company logo in a main space encyclopedia article, not in a draft article. So, please wait until your article is ready to go live, and then upload the logo in accordance with policy, and add it to the article then. Cullen³²⁸ Let's discuss it 20:38, 2 December 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Hi Anne. In addition to the great info that Cullen gave you one other thing you might like to know, there is a tool you can use to make entering references easier. You don't need to worry about syntax and things nearly as much. When you edit a page look for the toolbar of widgets: Bold, Italic, etc. Click on "Cite" at the far right. That should create another row beneath the pallete that is specific to citation of references. Click on the "Templates" drop down menu and select the kind of reference you need: book, journal, news, etc. The system will then give you a form to fill out. There are lots of fields in every form but remember most of them are optional, if you don't know all the info (actually if you ever fill one of those out completely that would be a first I bet) just fill in what you know, click done and the system will generate the code for a reference automatically for you at the point where your cursor was when you started. Good luck! RedDog (talk) 23:44, 2 December 2013 (UTC)[reply]

how to set single word for my articale without my user name?

hi friends ,currently my article shows with my user name ,but i dont want to be show it be to the world instead i need to show it to the world by the Name of my Village...and also i dont know how add photos or images of villages so friends can kindly advice me on this.... — Preceding unsigned comment added by Dhivagar Dhurai (talk • contribs) 17:31, 2 December 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Hi :) Currently the article (I'm assuming you mean this one) is within your own userspace and is just a subpage from your user page. To move it into article space you would use the drop down menu in the top right and click the Move button. I discourage you from doing this yet, however, as the article doesn't meet some requirements for Wikipedia articles. The first of those is Verifiability which requires that you prove the subject of the article is notable by referencing with reliable sources. The other issue is formatting. You haven't used any titles or wikilinks, and the article is generally not written quite neutrally enough, try taking a look at other articles to see how they've been written. Samwalton9 (talk) 18:05, 2 December 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Just adding on, the article should be written in 3rd person. e.g. instead "in our village" use " in XYZ village" . --Vigyani_talk^{ਯੋਗਦਾਨ} 03:08, 3 December 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Creating a book, but unable to save it

I do not understand what is happening w/ the creation of my book. When it is downloaded I can't save it in my computer (there is a closed padlock icon) and in the side window the save function is desabled. I have already create my account. Thank you, Cacilda CarvalhoCacilda Carvalho (talk) 12:45, 2 December 2013 (UTC)[reply]

What book are you referring to? Samwalton9 (talk) 12:54, 2 December 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Although you have made an account, it is not yet Autoconfirmed, as you have not had an account for 4 days, nor made 10 edits. According to WP:AUTOCONFIRM "Autoconfirmed users may ...save books to the wiki" I suspect you need to fulfill these criteria, and then the disabled functions will become enabled. Arjayay (talk) 13:14, 2 December 2013 (UTC)[reply]

You need autoconfirmation to save a book in your account for later editing, but you don't need autoconfirmation to download a book you just assembled. Which book format do you choose? Do you reach a screen saying "Download the file"? Can you right click that link and choose to save it? Which browser do you have? PrimeHunter (talk) 13:21, 2 December 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Join a WikiProject

How do I join a WikiProject? Thanks! Cogito-Ergo-Sum 03:17, 2 December 2013 (UTC) — Preceding unsigned comment added by CogitoErgoSum14 (talk • contribs)

Hi CogitoErgoSum14, welcome to the Teahouse! The main page of a WikiProject usally has a list of participants/members or a link to such a list. Click the edit link at the list and add your username in the same format as the existing entries. Many WikiProjects also have a template you can optionally display on your user page to show you are in the project. If you say which WikiProject you want to join then we can say more. You are also allowed to post to a WikiProject discussion page and edit pages within its scope without joining the project. PrimeHunter (talk) 04:59, 2 December 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Thank you very much! I was able to successfully join the WikiProject in question. Cogito-Ergo-Sum (talk) 23:34, 2 December 2013 (UTC)[reply]

How do you do fractions that are not in "special characters"?

Hey. I was using the fractions in "special characters" but I couldn't find 1/10. I am asking how do you get these fractions without using special characters. PaintCraft (talk) 21:59, 1 December 2013 (UTC)[reply]

{{frac|1|10}} gives 1⁄10. --NeilN ^{talk to me} 22:20, 1 December 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Note that Wikipedia:Manual of Style/Dates and numbers#Fractions says: "The use of the few Unicode symbols available for fractions (such as ½) is discouraged entirely, for accessibility reasons among others." PrimeHunter (talk) 22:23, 1 December 2013 (UTC)[reply]

So that would be <math>\textstyle\frac{1}{10}</math> giving

\textstyle {\frac {1}{10}}

. --NeilN ^{talk to me} 22:29, 1 December 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Unsure how to upload website screenshot

I want to upload a screenshot for an article I'm making, about a game portal, GameJolt. I'm having problems with "Provide source and copyright information"- what should I be picking? The screenshot is of the homepage, which is accessible for everyone, if that means anything. Thanks.Honno (talk) 21:32, 1 December 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Hello, Honno, and welcome to the Teahouse. Wikipedia has to take copyright very seriously. The homepage is undoubtedly copyright, and a screenshot of it will be subject to that same copyright. It may not be used anywhere in Wikipedia, unless it can be used in a way which meets all the criteria for using non-free material. I am not familiar enough with that to be sure, but I doubt that it can be used. Sorry. --ColinFine (talk) 21:48, 1 December 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Greetings Honno and welcome to the teahouse. To expand a bit on what Colin said Copyright issues are some of the most tricky things that Wikipedia editors have to deal with. It's one of the most common sources of confusion because the standards that people are used to on the general Internet are not the same !here. At Wikipedia we have to take copyright very seriously because there are legal issues. So in general when you need an image the best place to go is the wikipedia:commons Anything in there is something Wikipedia has the rights to. That probably won't help you though. However, there is a fair use exception that MAY apply in your case. I simply don't know I don't edit articles about video games. But for music albums you can use the cover art from the album with a fair use exemption. And I looked at articles for Grand Theft Auto and World of Warcraft and they seemed to use the cover art from the box so maybe you can. I do agree with Colin though this is a rare case when the normal wp:be bold has to be tempered with legal considerations and if you aren't sure better to assume you can't use it. Here are some articles to look at to figure it out: wp:non-free content and Wikipedia:Non-free_use_rationale_guideline. BTW, one more thing to consider, how notable is GameJolt? Have there been articles written specifically about it in the press? If not it may not even meet the requirements for wp:notability so the question would be moot. RedDog (talk) 22:33, 1 December 2013 (UTC)[reply]

One last point, from your comment it sounds as if you have already found the Upload form to upload a fair use file. If you have and if you are going through the process of answering those questions and you are at a point that none of the questions apply to your case then you are unfortunately done, if at any point in that process you don't see one of the possible exceptions that applies to your case then your case does not fall under fair use and you can't use the file. RedDog (talk) 22:38, 1 December 2013 (UTC)[reply]

First of all, [1] here's the article in question (as you can see, it's currently pending review). Regarding notability, I believe GameJolt is notable enough- first page on "indie games", a few high profile games (including being the main legitimate host of IWBTG since december 2008), and has been talked about on reliable, independant sources a few times. Actually, looking at the Websitenotability, it says the subject needs "The website or content has won a well-known, reputable, and independent award, either from a publication or organisation," which is a problem. I disagree with that necessity, but that's for another discussion. Anyway, presuming the article is legitimate, what if I get the owner's permission? I'm a moderator on the site (yeah yeah, it's neutral and not advertising and all) and could get something, although I'm not sure what could constitute as evidence. I'd also not want to take up too much of the owners time. What would Wikipedia want? Honno (talk) 07:15, 2 December 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Hello Honno. I am afraid that you are putting the cart before the horse here, and I hope you understand the metaphor. What I mean is that, if the topic is notable and worthy of an article on Wikipedia, and if a screenshot is appropriate for that article, then and only then would it be appropriate to upload the screenshot. We never, ever, ever add fair use images to any page that is not a main space encyclopedia article. It simply isn't allowed under Wikipedia's copyright policies. So please focus on the immediate task at hand: getting the draft article accepted to the main space of the encyclopedia. Cullen³²⁸ Let's discuss it 07:41, 2 December 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Yeah, sorry about that, getting a bit enthusiastic with this wikipedia business. Thanks for the time you've guys spent to comprehensibly answer me. Honno (talk) 19:12, 2 December 2013 (UTC)[reply]

1 11 21 1211 111221 ?

complete the series by telling us next two no. to come monty 18:38, 1 December 2013 (UTC) — Preceding unsigned comment added by Mohanagrawal13 (talk • contribs)

This isn't a page for puzzles but we have an article about that sequence. Just enter it in our search box. PrimeHunter (talk) 18:51, 1 December 2013 (UTC)[reply]

My courses

In user preferences there is an option to list 'my courses'. I have looked at the list of courses. Are these all provided free of charge? Greenmaven (talk) 09:17, 1 December 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Hi Greenmaven. The option is at Special:Preferences#mw-prefsection-misc. Special:Courses shows these courses are mostly offered by universities. It's often part of a university course for students there. Wikipedia:Course pages#Education Program course and institution pages says: Any user may enroll as a student using an "Enroll" tab at the top of the course page. To prevent non-students from enrolling on a course page, an enrollment token may be set that must be entered upon enrollment. PrimeHunter (talk) 19:15, 1 December 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Can i make pages about these things

Animal urine, and Cow urine... Adding into pages like "Urine", or Urine therapy may distract from the actual subject.

Can be made into long pages, if tried. Bladesmulti (talk) 08:46, 1 December 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Welcome to the teahouse Bladesmulti. To answer that question you need to consider those topics in the context of Wikipedia:notability So for example if people write articles or books on the topic it's more likely to be notable. You also should probably look here at Wikipedia:Splitting_article That describes when there is so much info on a sub-topic that it's worth it's own article and how to make that change when needed. Also, before making a change like that be sure to describe what and why you plan to make the change on the Talk Page of the article where the current information exists. My intuition would be "Cow Urine" doesn't rate it's own article but I don't know anything about the topic. RedDog (talk) 00:15, 2 December 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Article Title Change: Hetaera to Hetaira

Hi,

I was recently reviewing the Hetaera article, which discusses a type of courtesan in Ancient Greece. In the article, these courtesans are referred to both as “hetaerae” and “hetairai,” with the former spelling being used predominantly.

However, I feel that the “hetairai” spelling should be the primary spelling and that “Hetaira” (the singular form) should be the title of the article. This change should be made because “hetaera” comes from Medieval Latin while “hetaira” comes directly from Ancient Greek. (See “Hetaera” Entry in Online Etymology Dictionary as a reference.) I wouldn't have a problem with the “hetaera” spelling, except that the article's references use the term “hetaira” and while the article mentions many Greek historical figures and primary sources, it doesn't mention a lot of Latinate ones.

Despite this reasoning, I'm hesitant to change the article's title and content because I'm a newbie editor and I don't want to (1) create an editorial mess or (2) offend people with more classical knowledge than me.

This account brings me to my question: should I edit the article on my own or somehow look for approval from other editors?

Thanks for helping me with this. I hope this question is appropriate for the Teahouse. 67.174.12.194 (talk) 02:59, 1 December 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Welcome to the Teahouse, IP editor 67 and so on. Any question about editing Wikipedia is welcome here. I was going to recommend that you raise the issue on the article's talk page, but noticed that you already have. I also lack the classical knowledge, but in general, we use the article title most commonly used by the reliable sources that discuss the topic in detail. Also worthy of mention is that a spelling in the Latin alphabet of a word from Ancient Greek does not actually come "directly" from that language, as it used a different alphabet. It is instead a transliteration. See Romanization of Greek for more information. I suggest that you wait a few days for response on the talk page. Cullen³²⁸ Let's discuss it 03:26, 1 December 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Mats Lidström - Photos and copyright question

I have been working on the page about cellist Mats Lidström and would like to add some photos if possible.

I have been in contact with Mats and he has supplied a number of photographs in which he owns the copyright. He is happy for these to be used on Wikipedia in perpetuity but would like to retain the copyright in the images.

Can I use these photos? In which case how do I prove I have permission and how do I protect Mats' copyright (he would be happy to just have a copyright notice in the picture comment).

I have tried reading the policy on uploading images but it is really not clear how to proceed in these particular circumstances.JCarolHaynes (talk) 00:59, 1 December 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Welcome to the Teahouse, JCarolHaynes. Uploading the photos to Wikimedia Commons under a Creative Commons license does not mean giving up the copyright, but it does mean that the photos can be freely used by anyone, anywhere, at any time, for any purpose without payment or permission. The only obligation on anyone using the image is that it must be attributed to the copyright holder. He can't limit the use of the photos to Wikipedia only. If Mats accepts the terms of the Creative Commons license, then he should set up an account on Wikimedia Commons and upload the photos himself. That is a quick and easy process. Doing it by snail mail or email or through a third party is a lengthy and usually unnecessary hassle, in my opinion. Cullen³²⁸ Let's discuss it 01:30, 1 December 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Still confusing - looking at wikimedia commons it says you can only upload image you generate yourself - by definition Mats didn't take action photos of himself but was assigned the copyright for those images. I am meeting him for a cello lesson soon - I think the simplest solution is I take a camera and then donate my own photos!!! Thanks for your help JCarolHaynes (talk) 00:12, 2 December 2013 (UTC)[reply]

If Mats hired or asked someone else to take the photographs of him on his behalf, with the understanding in advance that all rights to the photos belonged to Mats, then the copyrights belong to him, and he can upload them to Commons. Some professional photographers and photo studios retain copyright on their work, and sell only prints of their work. This should be clear in the original agreement with the photographer. Your plan of taking photos yourself and donating them is an excellent idea, if you are willing to do so. Cullen³²⁸ Let's discuss it 03:49, 3 December 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Notability

I was going to ask this at the notability noticeboard, but saw that it was now shut. Is Dan Tan Seet Eng noticeable? He was the leader of a major match fixing ring. Thanks, Mat ty.007 10:48, 30 November 2013 (UTC)[reply]

The best question to ask whether deciding an individual is notable is: "does the subject have significant coverage in reliable sources that are independent of the subject?" A more detailed guide, known as the General Notability Guidelines can be found at WP:GNG. But if the subject doesn't have multiple independent sources covering them (such as magazine or newspaper articles, tv news clips, documentaries, encyclopaedia articles etc) then they're not notable. If they do, then they are. Hope this helps. - Shudde ^talk 10:54, 30 November 2013 (UTC)[reply]

I am reasonably familiar with the GNG, but I didn't want to waste my time, so wanted to check that he was notable. Given a Google search, and a Google news search, I would say he is. Thanks, Mat ty.007 10:56, 30 November 2013 (UTC)[reply]

It can be hard sometimes to determine whether the person is the subject of the article, or just mentioned in passing as part of coverage of another topic. - Shudde ^talk 10:59, 30 November 2013 (UTC)[reply]

One example is this of which he is definitely the subject. Thanks, Mat ty.007 11:12, 30 November 2013 (UTC)[reply]

That is a strong source, Matty.007, but please be careful to write the article in compliance with our policy on biographies of living people. The challenge is that his notability comes from allegations of criminal behavior. However, he hasn't been convicted, and it seems he is being held without charges in Singapore, but has been charged in other countries. Please do not state in Wikipedia's voice that he is guilty, and use the highest quality sources for references. Avoid citing sensationalistic, tabloid-style coverage. Cullen³²⁸ Let's discuss it 21:38, 30 November 2013 (UTC)[reply]

I am trying to be wary this time, so have written the article in my sandbox and asked a few editors to have a look over it. Thanks, Mat ty.007 08:15, 1 December 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Help on Wiki entry African-American family structure

Dear Teahouse,

I would really appreciate if you all would look over the African-American family structure article as I hope to create an all encompassing article representing the African-American family structure. MichaelSamJr (talk) 00:28, 30 November 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Welcome to the Teahouse, MichaelSamJr. As we already have an article African-American family structure, you should set out to improve the existing article rather than creating a new article. I suggest beginning by writing a critique of the current version on the article's talk page, as a way of checking your perceptions against the opinions of other interested editors. Cullen³²⁸ Let's discuss it 04:24, 30 November 2013 (UTC)[reply]

MichaelSamJr, I have now read the article's talk page and see that you are the primary author and are actively seeking input from other editors. This is the right approach, and I apologize for misunderstanding your question on first reading. Cullen³²⁸ Let's discuss it 03:32, 1 December 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Turn a subsection of an existing article into a separate article

Hei! We are a group of students and would like to expand the subsection of an existing article into a separate page. Can anyone help us how to do this? Thank you! CaroEhr (talk) 19:31, 29 November 2013 (UTC)[reply]

@CaroEhr: Welcome to the Teahouse. Splitting a section of an article into a new article is simple. All you really have to do is copy over the content (link to the article you got it from in the edit summary), and summarize the new article at the top of the page (this is called the lead section). Two optional (but recommended) steps are to put {{Copied}} on the new article's talk page and add {{Main|new article}} n the old subsection. Happy editing, --Jakob (Scream about the things I've broken) 19:38, 29 November 2013 (UTC)[reply]

See more at Wikipedia:Splitting. PrimeHunter (talk) 19:42, 29 November 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Thank you Jakob and PrimeHunter! Somehow I did not come over the splitting article!CaroEhr (talk) 19:49, 29 November 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Another question, can the new article have the same title as the old subsection? If so, how do I create the new page, if searching it on wiki and then clicking on create does not work, if a subsection already exists.CaroEhr (talk) 13:27, 1 December 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Yes definitely! What's currently happening is you're being redirected from the page you want to create to the existing article. When you arrive at the existing article you should see, in small writing at the top, "Redirected from [article name]". Click on the article name and you'll end up at the article you want to create, just replace the redirect code :) Samwalton9 (talk) 13:37, 1 December 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Thank you! Sorry, I am new to wikipedia and the whole thing seems rather complicated ;-)CaroEhr (talk) 13:56, 1 December 2013 (UTC)[reply]

No worries! That's what this page is here for, if you need anything feel free to ask me on my talk page. Samwalton9 (talk) 14:38, 1 December 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Submitting portrait photos for bios

Hi. Have just submitted my first article for approval. The tutorials were a lot of help and generally clear; but I've stumbled onto an element for which I can't seem to find instruction. I want to submit a b/w portrait photo of my subject along with the article, yet I can't find instruction on how to do this. Can someone please point me in the right direction? The photo is not copyrighted: it was used extensively at the time for newspapers and advertising, and the company that used it went out of business ten years ago. Thanks. Kana 18:43, 27 November 2013 (UTC) — Preceding unsigned comment added by Butcan (talk • contribs)

Hello, and welcome to the Teahouse, Butcan. The factors you mention do not allow us to conclude that the photo is not copyrighted. It is routine for copyrighted photos to be used in newspapers and advertising, and this has no effect on copyrights. When a company goes out of business, it is common for its intellectual property including copyrights to pass to its creditors, or the copyright may belong to the original photographer. Bankruptcy does not make copyrights disappear. Unless you have explicit information showing that the photo is copyright-free, or has been released under an acceptable Creative Commons license, then we must assume that a copyright exists. In that case, the photo can only be used under narrow fair use provisions. In the case of a person, that would be only if the person was dead. If the person is alive, there is always the chance that a freely licensed photo could be obtained. If you give more details about the situation and the photo, we may be able to provide more help. Cullen³²⁸ Let's discuss it 07:53, 28 November 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Hi, Jim. By way of intorduction: my "real" name is Eugene, or Gene.

Thanks for your very informative reply to my query about how to upload photos. Since I posted that question I've discovered the tutorial pages on posting photos and have printed them out for future reference. Now, back to the particular photo I would like to upload - After reading your reply last night I called my source for the photo and he gave me its history. Before I go into detail, I feel a bit of an explanation on how things usually get done in Hawaii is necessary. We are very casual about things we do, and little thought is given to possible consequences. Usually it works out fine, but sometimes it can lead to a big mess. The subject of the photo and my profile, his name was John, owned a very good Canon camera. His best friend, Jerry, was the source of the photo I want to use. For decades, John and Jerry would use the camera to take photos of each other as the need for publicity pics arose. In the mid-1980s John called Jerry to come over to his studio in Kona to take some publicity photos which Jerry did with John's camera. John had the pics developed, selected the ones he wanted to use, and turned the negatives over to his publisher who then made prints for the press releases. Usually, the negatives would be returned to John, but Jerry can't say with 100% certainty that happened in this case. Jerry, by the way, as executor of John's estate, is currently going through thousands of negatives, prints and slides before sending them off to the Univ. of Northern Iowa with all of John's papers. So, the question: who owns the copyright to the subject photo? If Jerry does, he says he would be happy to write a release, or whatever is needed by the Wiki-folks. He feels John's publisher wouldn't have any claim to the photo since they were just using it for a short time. If the copyright was John's, then Jerry as his executor, would be the person to give use permission. So, do we have our bases covered? Or do we have a big Hawaiian mess? I await your balanced and impartial wisdom with much anticipation. Cheers, Gene Kana 19:30, 28 November 2013 (UTC) — Preceding unsigned comment added by Butcan (talk • contribs)

Hello Eugene, whom I will also call Butcan. Please be aware that I am not a copyright attorney, and I also don't play one on TV. I did visit Hawaii with my wife and son last month, though, and we cruised around the four major islands. Based on your description of the situation, I conclude that Jerry is the likely copyright holder, both as the original photographer, and as John's executor, who owned the camera and "commissioned" the photo in a Hawaiian style handshake deal. Accordingly, Jerry should set up an account on Wikimedia Commons, and upload the photo there, under a Creative Commons license allowing free use of the image by anyone. It's easy. That's if Jerry is willing to do so. Cullen³²⁸ Let's discuss it 05:55, 29 November 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Good morning, Cullen328

Thanks for the above. I called Jerry and he's agreed to do what it takes to get said photo uploaded to Wikimedia Commons and available for the article. Meanwhile, I've gone ahead and submitted the biography on the artist, and it has entered the pipeline. Exciting stuff!

Butcan Kana 21:03, 1 December 2013 (UTC) — Preceding unsigned comment added by Butcan (talk • contribs)

Asking help for my article

Hello, I am currently writing my article, named " DUROMAC(M)SDN BHD".I have some problems for writing a neutral point of view. I worked with another editor in Wikipedia for my article, we have listed our five major sources. We think that three are Notable, and two are Noteworthy, but would like an experienced reviewer to make sure what we are doing. :-) See the comment-section of my AfC submission. Thanks much. Here is a link[2]--Clover1991 (talk) 03:43, 3 December 2013 (UTC)[reply]

For the Mother of Megan Meier

MEGAN MEIER WILL ALWAYS HAVE A PLACE IN MY HEART AS WILL HER MOTHER--72.222.190.188 (talk) 07:45, 3 December 2013 (UTC)--72.222.190.188 (talk) 07:45, 3 December 2013 (UTC)Bold text--72.222.190.188 (talk) 07:45, 3 December 2013 (UTC) [[File:Megan Meier|16px|framed|you will never be forgotten & I do not even know you God Bless you no one should ever have to feel your pain. You were too young for someone to do what they did. Theres no peace. God Bless your parents for speaking for you and for that that's how they cope. I felt her anger. I know what that can do people do not get it.I want your story tild and told and told until as we are speaking for you baby girl. Know that you touched strangers.[reply]

Hello. Please be aware that the Teahouse is for asking and answering questions about editing Wikipedia, and not for other purposes. Thank you. Cullen³²⁸ Let's discuss it 07:59, 3 December 2013 (UTC)[reply]

New Article

How would I create an article if there is a related subject? 3.14Master (talk) 18:49, 3 December 2013 (UTC)[reply]

^ Link text, additional text.

[test-1] Link text, additional text.

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