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May 19

Short footnotes with Cite news template

Is it possible to use short footnotes with the Cite news template? If so, how? Thank you for your help. Vzeebjtf (talk) 02:10, 19 May 2014 (UTC)[reply]

Yes - simply use the template {{cite news}} in the References section and use either the newpaper's title or title and date (depending on whether the same newspaper has been used more than once) as the name parameter in the {{sfn}} template. Yunshui ^雲 _水 08:17, 19 May 2014 (UTC)[reply]

(Full details of the necessary syntax are at Help:Shortened footnotes). Yunshui ^雲 _水 08:18, 19 May 2014 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks a lot! Vzeebjtf (talk) 22:07, 19 May 2014 (UTC)[reply]

Col William Howard Stovall and his son Lt William Howard Stovall, friendly fire incident

Hello, I am writing you to let you know that my Uncle, Lt William Howard Stovall was not killed by "friendly fire" on Dec 31, 1944 on his escort mission to Hanover near Bergsteinfurt-Hollisch, Germany. My Grandfather, Col William Howard Stovall went to great lengths to prove to a very young Lt. Nolan that he had not shot up his sons' plane. The MACR was incorrect. Lt Stovall was involved in a running combat with 7 FW 190 German fighters for 15 minutes over a 50 mile combat. He managed to shoot down 2 EA in this combat but had to bail out as his plane had suffered so much battle damage from EA fire and AA. When he bailed out, he was to low and upon pulling his ripcord his chute did not get to deploy all the way and he was killed when he hit the ground. I know this because I have the letters that my Grandfather wrote to my Grandmother about this very incident. He also spent 5 months searching for the place where his son went down and did find his burial place. He went into Germany on May 8th, 1945 in a jeep to Bergsteinfurt and got conformation about the running combat that his son had been in. He went to the old caretaker of the Evangilist church and the old man showed my Grandfather where he had buried his son. That is one reason why there are no pictures of Col Stovall at the German surrender ceremony. Please let me know if you have any questions.

Sincerely,

Michael G C Webster — Preceding unsigned comment added by 2601:2:8B80:441:FC9E:7667:E313:35BC (talk) 06:26, 19 May 2014 (UTC)[reply]

I'm sorry, but we cannot use your family recollections as a source for Wikipedia articles. If this information has been published in a reliable source then we can use it and the article can be amended. Has it been so published? Spinning Spark 08:01, 19 May 2014 (UTC)[reply]

wikipedia iphone and ipad app

why the app cannot edit and why so hard to find the other language version of a english wikipedia article? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 220.255.1.98 (talk) 09:12, 19 May 2014 (UTC)[reply]

The app will have editing enabled in the next update for logged-in users. --Mdann52talk to me! 11:55, 19 May 2014 (UTC)[reply]

Biographer needed

The page Howard Sandroff, is an incomplete biography of composer Howard Sandroff derived from the Germany entry de:Howard Sandroff. The incomplete English version has been up there for some time (years?) is there someone out there interested in completing the English page (I will help supply text and references).

thanks

12:12, 19 May 2014 (UTC)~~ — Preceding unsigned comment added by 24.13.80.60 (talk)

If you understand the subject, you could expand it yourself, Wikipedia is built by people just like you. Failing that, you could ask at WikiProject Classical music, someone there might be interested. Spinning Spark 15:58, 19 May 2014 (UTC)[reply]

I was told that you are forbidden from writing or editing articles about yourself, so I am just trying to play by the rules.

20:33, 19 May 2014 (UTC) — Preceding unsigned comment added by 24.13.80.60 (talk)

Since you have not registered an account, and didn't say, it would have been rather difficult for me to know that you were Howard Sandroff. But now that you have told me, yes, you are quite right, you should not edit your own article. However, you can make suggestions on the talk page. You can use {{Request edit}} to attract the attention of another editor. Please note that the expected format of requests when using this template is "please replace foo with foobar", where foo and foobar are the exact text in the article. They are also usually declined if not supported with a reference. Spinning Spark 20:49, 19 May 2014 (UTC)[reply]

Tried to create a wiki page but it has been blocked

I have tried to create a wiki page on a subject but it has been blocked. However, for reasons i do not clearly understand, my case is pending. I do not have a number or anything to base that on.

I need help figuring out who to get in touch with and how to contact them to understand where our case is and where it’s being held up.

Immediate assistance will be much appreciated. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 91.75.37.58 (talk) 12:36, 19 May 2014 (UTC)[reply]

Tell us which page you are talking about and we may be able to assist. However, there have been no recent edits from the above IP address except to ask this question (both here and at the Teahouse. Yunshui ^雲 _水 13:47, 19 May 2014 (UTC)[reply]

Draft page resubmission

Hello

I had a draft page rejected 2 months ago - here Wikipedia talk:Articles for creation/New Net Technologies

I have tried re-submitting the article following a review of the references, but the page does not seem to be refreshing, and I have had no updates or responses to any of my updates.

Please can you help? Would it be advisable for me to simply start again?

SMartin1234 (talk) 13:44, 19 May 2014 (UTC)[reply]

Two things. First, the technical one: you have not formatted references correctly. The references need to be enclosed between two tags: <ref> and </ref>. You can find more information at Help:Referencing for beginners. Secondly is the content issue: There's really now way the text you've added makes your entry an encyclopedia article. Your references consist almost entirely of press releases, other Wikipedia articles, and writing by the company itself about itself. Sources should be substantial, independent, and reliable and the references you have provided are none of those. Finally, the prose is a tone and style that is wholly inappropriate for an encyclopedia article. Please understand, as you consider whether or not spending your time to try to fix these problems, whether or not it is worth your while. Not every company that has ever existed would necessarily merit a Wikipedia article. Certainly, Wikipedia does have articles about some companies, however, where it does that is because there's substantial, solid writing about those companies in reliable sources, and the company itself has no control over the content of the article. From the look of what you are trying to submit, it looks like your primary goal is to raise the profile of your own company, and that's not what Wikipedia's mission is. --Jayron32 14:00, 19 May 2014 (UTC)[reply]

Attribution question

Dear editors: I found this old draft: Wikipedia_talk:Articles for creation/Priorities (Album) which had some sources and a ratings box which I felt would improve the article Priorities (album), which was created later by another editor (sigh). I credited the creator of the draft when I moved the sources and the ratings box. Do I still need to move and redirect the old draft to preserve attribution, since no sentences were moved? If so I can move it to Talk:Priorities (album)/Attribution. —Anne Delong (talk) 15:57, 19 May 2014 (UTC)[reply]

No, you can leave that alone, for archive purposes. We appreciate you crediting where you got the references from, but it would be just a little more helpful to link to the article like, "copied from Wikipedia_talk:Articles for creation/Priorities (Album)". Thanks! CTF83! 19:21, 19 May 2014 (UTC)[reply]

Pages in "Wikipedia talk:Articles for creation" are temporary and disappear if not edited every six months, not the best situation archival purposes. That's why I suggested moving the page to a more permanent location. If attribution is needed, I intended to move the draft to somewhere where it wouldn't be deleted, and then add a link to it on the talk page of the receiving article. —Anne Delong (talk) 21:53, 19 May 2014 (UTC)[reply]

how to delete my page

how do I delete my account — Preceding unsigned comment added by 2602:306:C817:3E19:40C:2944:97E:645F (talk) 16:18, 19 May 2014 (UTC)[reply]

Accounts cannot be deleted, because the licence used for Wikipedia material requires accounts to be retained for reasons of attribution. But the right to vanish may be what you want. --ColinFine (talk) 16:58, 19 May 2014 (UTC)[reply]

Editing sections within RfD - linking to wrong sections

I'm looking at Wikipedia:Redirects_for_discussion. If I click on "Edit source" beside a section heading, it opens the editor at a completely different section, higher up the page (eg click on "Colts" and get "Talk:Taiwan (country)"). I can only edit particular sections by trial and error, clicking assorted links before I get the one I want. Is the page corrupt in some way, or what? PamD 19:50, 19 May 2014 (UTC)[reply]

I take it you have VisEd enabled. It's working fine for me even with VisEd turned on. Try reloading the page. If that doesn't work bypass your cache and purge the page. This problem is usually caused by a new heading being added or removed by another editor while you have the page open or you return to a cached version of the page. The id of the heading has changed on the real page, so your cache version now has the wrong ids and you will request the wrong section when you click the edit link. Spinning Spark 21:32, 19 May 2014 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks - I've finished what I was trying to do on that page now, but will try and remember this in case it happens again. PamD 22:07, 19 May 2014 (UTC)[reply]

Adeline Genee Theatre

Why was my entry on this Theatre deleted? Given that is was demolished several years ago it could hardly be described as "promotional" the "excuse" given by the person who decided to obliterate it. It was a historical entry on a beautiful little theatre that was built in 1967 and closed in 1989 and demolished soon afterwards. I was still working on a detailed history of it. Destroying the entry will help ensure that all memory of it is erased from historical memory. Is this your objective? If so, WHY? What is yor agenda here. The Genee fans and memorial group are deeply upset by this. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Rasumovsky (talk • contribs) 20:28, 19 May 2014 (UTC)[reply]

Well I guess language like "beatiful little theatre" and "sadly" make it sound promotional. Wikipedia articles should be written with a detached, neutral tone giving only the facts. It is possible to restore this as a draft so you can work on improving it, but I fear it has an even more serious problem which will get it deleted eventually even if it escapes the speedy deletion process. Articles on Wikipedia need to meet the notability guidelines. One demonstrates an article has notability by providing reliable sources that have substantial discussion of the subject. If you think that you can provide such sources then by all means make a request at WP:REFUND. However, your comment "destroying the entry will help ensure that all memory of it is erased" leads me to believe that this information only ever existed here on Wikipedia so sources are unlikely to be found. Spinning Spark 21:04, 19 May 2014 (UTC)[reply]

My interpretation is that the reliable sources are there, but just in old filing cabinets and on microfilm, and unless people are still talking about the theater, new coverage is unlikely.— Vchimpanzee · talk · contributions · 20:53, 20 May 2014 (UTC)[reply]

It depends whose old filing cabinets and microfilm. If it is a published work in a library then it can be cited as a source. It is not necessary that it can be found in an online newspaper archive, only that it would be possible for another user to go and verify it. If it is an individual person's personal collection of correspondence then no it can't be used, at least not until a reliable secondary source carries out a synthesis of the primary material and publishes the results. Spinning Spark 00:07, 21 May 2014 (UTC)[reply]

Aleksandra Romanic

I am Aleksandra Romanic, classical pianist. I was born in Zagreb on 14.08 1958. I can not imagine who could possibly notify my birthdate on 1944? Who is so malicious or ignorant to submit such a nonsense to Wikipedia and I can not imagine how such a nonsense could ever be excepted by Wikipedia at any time???? Don`t you have a possibility to compare the data in other languages??? Do you need help?? I expect you to immediately change my date of birth. I am also very willing to submit all relevant details of my person and work at any time. With kindest regards, Aleksandra Romanic Prof. Aleksandra Romanic Pianistin Mitglied des Ausländerbeirates München Clemensstr. 121, 80796 München — Preceding unsigned comment added by 92.229.247.68 (talk) 20:45, 19 May 2014 (UTC)[reply]

I have corrected the birth year as per the source present in the article. Thank you for pointing the error out and apologies for any distress it may have caused. --NeilN ^{talk to me} 21:12, 19 May 2014 (UTC)[reply]

The 1944 date was put there in this edit by Yahadzija, who also added "Zagreb" as your place of birth. Maproom (talk) 07:23, 20 May 2014 (UTC)[reply]

Actually, Zagreb was already in the article. The editor has just copied the information into the persondata template. Spinning Spark 07:39, 20 May 2014 (UTC)[reply]

The article is a stub. What is the proper stub template to add to the article? Robert McClenon (talk) 17:08, 20 May 2014 (UTC)[reply]

{{Croatia-music-bio-stub}} Spinning Spark 00:15, 21 May 2014 (UTC)[reply]

Number 10

Could someone copy File:Minnesota Twins 10.png to Commons for me? It's been so long since I've done it that I've forgotten the process. ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 20:46, 19 May 2014 (UTC)[reply]

Hello @Baseball Bugs: You Could use one of the tools Listed at Wikipedia:Moving files to the Commons Like For the common Good Dudel250 (talk) 02:00, 20 May 2014 (UTC)[reply]

Done With the tools available now, it's a fairly quick and painless process. Dismas|^(talk) 10:37, 20 May 2014 (UTC)[reply]

How to submit a paper

How do I submit a paper that I have written to wiki? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 137.150.101.202 (talk) 23:30, 19 May 2014 (UTC)[reply]

If by "wiki" you mean Wikipedia, the answer is that Wikipedia is not the place for publishing your original research. If the subject is notable in Wikipedia's terms, and has already had substantial coverage in published reliable sources independent of the subject, then the process for writing an article is outlined at WP:Your first article.

I added a section heading before your question, as it didn't seem to be related to the section in which it had been placed. --David Biddulph (talk) 02:15, 20 May 2014 (UTC)[reply]

May 20

Query about deletion of all the editing i've done...

I edited a page (Gaddi Kutta) in past but now all it's content is deleted and i can't find it in deletion logs.I don't know why all the content was deleted as what i put was all legit as i use to have most of the Indian mastiffs some of them hard to find now a days. (may be some grammatical errors were present). — Preceding unsigned comment added by Wiki ed red (talk • contribs) 09:58, 20 May 2014 (UTC)[reply]

Your edits are clearly in the history, and were reverted in this diff with an edit summary of "Unsourced edits by Wiki ed red" - What you "know" from personal experience is not sufficient for Wikipedia, all the information you add should be supported by references to reliable sources - Arjayay (talk) 10:07, 20 May 2014 (UTC)[reply]

@Arjayay: Can we not keep his contribution and add a {{citation needed}} tag (strictly, together with Citation and verifiability maintenance templates category)?

Mahidant mastiff is also a close relative of tibetan mastiff as their environment of origin is similar(Himalayan range).^{[citation needed]}

- Rishidigital1055 (talk) 11:12, 22 May 2014 (UTC)[reply]

WP:RFC on a WP:AFD discussion?

Are this kind of requests ok? As far as I understand, the procedure applies only to articles and the conduct of users. Avpop (talk) 10:48, 20 May 2014 (UTC)[reply]

I have removed it. It is certainly unusual, however, you are not correct that RFCs apply to only articles and users. They can be used to discuss policy pages also, or any page in the Wikipedia namespace. However, they are supposed to be used on the talk page of the page in question. So one could have, for instance, an RFC about an AFD, perhaps discussing whether it was being conducted properly, but an RFC within an AFD is just conflating two different processes. AFD already has a system for bringing these to the attention of interested editors. If the editor does not feel this is enough they may post neutral notifications on appropriate wikiprojects etc. Spinning Spark 11:41, 20 May 2014 (UTC)[reply]

Referencing errors on Wikipedia:Requested articles/Arts and entertainment/Literature

Reference help requested. Got the error message about my edit to add Brandan Chapman to the fiction writers list. I understand that the 'reflist' needs to be added somewhere, but I can't really find where. I do see that the citations I added are '1' and '2' when the citations before and after go in numerical order. So if I could get a clear explanation of where to add this reflist thing, that would help solve the problem. Thanks, Ragnosk (talk) 10:56, 20 May 2014 (UTC)[reply]

User:Ragnosk, you don't need to use ref tags on that page. You can simply supply the links that you're using as references after your article suggestion. Dismas|^(talk) 10:59, 20 May 2014 (UTC)[reply]

mark melymick

Please explain why info page about Mark Melymick was taken down?? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 99.233.90.220 (talk) 16:18, 20 May 2014 (UTC)[reply]

Mark Melymick was deleted because it was created 10 June 2013 without any references of any kind on the article. It sat until 21 June 2013 and no one added any sources to the article. It was decided that all articles of living people of living people created after 18 March 2010 must have sources or they will be deleted and since the article never had any sources it was deleted. GB fan 16:24, 20 May 2014 (UTC)[reply]

cannot log in!!!!

Hi there,

I just had to create a whole new user name and profile because I couldn't log in under my old one. Wikipedia said they were sending me a password reset email, but it never came (which has happened before).

I want my old profile back! — Preceding unsigned comment added by Davidcolmannyc (talk • contribs) 17:06, 20 May 2014 (UTC)[reply]

Have you checked your spam folder for the password reset? Is your email account the same as it was when you created the account originally? What is the original user name? (I see that you are using a new registered account.) Robert McClenon (talk) 17:18, 20 May 2014 (UTC)[reply]

The Death Of Marilyn Monroe

Re your article on the "Death Of Marilyn Monroe", allow me to insert the following link........

http://www.williambranhamhomepage.org/lmonroe.htm

Allow the public to consider ALL aspects related to her death.

GL - Editor of the above referenced HomePage and link on the Death Of Marilyn Monroe. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 174.116.16.131 (talk) 17:34, 20 May 2014 (UTC)[reply]

I'm afraid not. Wikipedia includes information only from reliable sources (see Wikipedia:Identifying reliable sources) and personal webpages are not considered reliable. --Jayron32 17:40, 20 May 2014 (UTC)[reply]

Bullying and school bullying problem

The bullying article keeps getting clogged up with material that really belongs to school bullying. Is there a banner I could use to request to editors to put school bullying material in the right place ? Just putting a note about this on the talk page is unlikely to be effective as many editors dont look at talk page.--Penbat (talk) 18:25, 20 May 2014 (UTC)[reply]

A banner on the article with instructions to editors is not appropriate. Using {{also|School bullying}} might help a bit but the best solution is probably to use an edit notice. The linked page explains how to request an edit notice if you don't already know a friendly admin to do it for you. Spinning Spark 18:54, 20 May 2014 (UTC)[reply]

You can try this, ostensibly intended for readers, but also useful for editors.

—Wavelength (talk) 19:10, 20 May 2014 (UTC)[reply]

I have added a hatnote to the article as suggested by Wavelength. As Wavelength notes, a hatnote is nominally oriented to readers but is also useful to editors and is permitted. Robert McClenon (talk) 20:16, 20 May 2014 (UTC)[reply]

cheers--Penbat (talk) 20:20, 20 May 2014 (UTC)[reply]

while a banner on the article would not be appropriate, a special notice above the open edit box (like the one that pops up here on this page) can be placed if there is consensus, although they are rarely effective. -- TRPoD aka The Red Pen of Doom 00:13, 21 May 2014 (UTC)[reply]

True. Open edit boxes are often not effective. (We get too much posting of personal information at the Help Desk that needs to be redacted, for instance.) However, hatnotes are visible to both readers and editors. Robert McClenon (talk) 02:38, 21 May 2014 (UTC)[reply]

It's possible it could be effective. I requested an edit notice for an article for a book because people kept adding story info from the film adaptation to it, and those kind of edits are practically down to zero at this point on that article. It's really a matter of how many people who edit the article catch, pay attention to, and understand the notice. - Purplewowies (talk) 08:47, 21 May 2014 (UTC)[reply]

CODASYL Acknowledgement

One of the sources in the COBOL article is the CODASYL Journal of Development, which requests that any work that reproduces part of it begin with a rather lengthy acknowledgement (pp. iii–iv). However, it goes on to say that for shorter quotes the acknowledgement is not necessary. Although there are several references to the journal, none I believe are more than a "short passage". Is it still worth including the acknowledgement (like many others (mostly compiler manuals) have done) or is the citation in the article sufficient?

No, and if the article is breaching the copyright of the journal then the material should be removed. I have no view, and have not looked to see if it is, but that is the position. Text must be released under a free licence, if an acknowledgement is required (beyond the attribution in the reference) then it does not belong on Wikipedia in the first place. Spinning Spark 18:45, 20 May 2014 (UTC)[reply]

Using those materials as references (and indeed including short quotations from them) is perfectly acceptable "fair use" under US copyright law and Wikipedia guidelines, and does not require any acknowledgement.--ukexpat (talk) 19:12, 20 May 2014 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks for the help, guys. The acknowledgement is not required, and the journal says that "Any organization interested in reproducing this ... in whole or in part ... is free to do so", so I'll follow your advice and leave it out. Thanks again! EdwardH (talk) 07:15, 21 May 2014 (UTC)[reply]

Acceptable sandbox use

Dear editors: A discussion at WP:MFD led me to look up acceptable uses of the sandbox. I had a little trouble finding the information, which turned out to be at Wikipedia:About the Sandbox, although I'm sure I must have read this when I first joined Wikipedia. It basically says that if it's not nasty and not copyright, you can create it in your sandbox. Does that mean that it's okay to create a whole article on a topic that already exists in the main encyclopedia and keep it there for a long period of time? On other user pages, I believe that this type of content is unacceptable under WP:FAKEARTICLE. Are sandboxes an exception to this? Is there a policy page that covers this and mentions sandboxes specifically? —Anne Delong (talk) 19:09, 20 May 2014 (UTC)[reply]

I'd say no. The first sentence at your link says, "Userspace is not a free web host and should not be used to indefinitely host pages that look like articles, old revisions, or deleted content, or your preferred version of disputed content". CTF83! 19:19, 20 May 2014 (UTC)[reply]

I found Help:My_sandbox too, and by following the instructions in that I can create User:CaptRik/sandbox. As this is in the user namespace I assume WP:FAKEARTICLE applies still therefore if the article is obviously not being worked on then it's fair enough to delete. I might be misunderstanding things though... CaptRik (talk) 19:22, 20 May 2014 (UTC)[reply]

FAKEARTICLE does apply, especially to POV fork/copies of existing articles created to maintain bad versions.. -- TRPoD aka The Red Pen of Doom 00:16, 21 May 2014 (UTC)[reply]

Well, what you have said pretty well agrees with my interpretation, but I seem to be the only one at Wikipedia:Miscellany for deletion#User:DVMt/sandbox who is expressing this point of view. Perhaps someone who has had more experience with MFD could check this out, so that if I am in the wrong in this particular instance I can remove my !vote. —Anne Delong (talk) 04:19, 21 May 2014 (UTC)[reply]

It looks like a fake article to me. As TRPOD says, that policy in particular applies to POV forks, which this is. As to the other editors who say that the policy doesn't apply because it has a sandbox banner, I think that they are mistaken. If I were not required to assume good faith, I would suggest sock-puppetry, but I am required to assume good faith. In other words, never suggest that those who disagree with you are impersonating themselves when they may just be mistaken. Robert McClenon (talk) 14:56, 21 May 2014 (UTC)[reply]

Creating a professional wikipedia article

Good Day ma'am/sir,

How to create an article like this? Facebook

I have an article but I want to look like that :) What I mean is, the box on the right side.

Hope you will help me.

Thankyou! — Preceding unsigned comment added by AngeloFabia (talk • contribs) 19:26, 20 May 2014 (UTC)[reply]

See Help:Infobox. And good luck with the article. AndyTheGrump (talk) 19:34, 20 May 2014 (UTC)[reply]

Before you start, take a moment to digest how to make proper wikilinks - I edited your message above to remove the full URL and use the wikilink [[Facebook]] to create the link to the article.--ukexpat (talk) 16:35, 21 May 2014 (UTC)[reply]

May 21

Popups/nags

I realise that popups/nags are tremendously popular and effective, but just for argument's sake, if I wanted to remove the one that constantly whines about my lack of an account, how might I go about it?

See Wikipedia:Village_pump_(technical)#Prompt_to_create_an_account_whenever_I_make_an_edit Dudel250 Chat PROD Log CSD Logs 04:24, 21 May 2014 (UTC)[reply]

Why don't you register an account and avoid the nags? Registering an account has various advantages, such as concealing information about your location and ISP, and the ability to edit semi-protected pages. Robert McClenon (talk) 15:39, 21 May 2014 (UTC)[reply]

Khartoum

Does Khartoum have a official website? If not, where dose the seal file:Krt logo.png come from？--淺藍雪^❉ 05:53, 21 May 2014 (UTC)[reply]

The corresponding file at the Arabic Wikipedia, ar:file:Khartoum logo.png, mentions a sudan.gov.sd URL. Unfortunately that's a dead link for me, so I can't verify it. -- John of Reading (talk) 06:04, 21 May 2014 (UTC)[reply]

Try http://www.krt.gov.sd/. Not saying that's where the image came from, but it appears to be the official website and has the seal. Spinning Spark 10:03, 21 May 2014 (UTC)[reply]

I cannot access to this web, if anyone can make sure, please put it on the summary section of file:Krt logo.png as the source.--淺藍雪^❉ 14:28, 21 May 2014 (UTC)[reply]

No, can't do that. The website verifies that this is the shield of the city, but it is not the source of the image on Wikipedia which is what is needed on the file page. Although it is heraldically the same, it differes in slight detail like the exact colour, detail dimensions etc. Spinning Spark 16:42, 21 May 2014 (UTC)[reply]

The link listed in the Arabic site page you gave does seem to be in archive.org, but I don't see the logo there. It's not a perfect test, but I'd guess that was never actually the source.--Otus scops (talk) 19:38, 21 May 2014 (UTC)[reply]

Bad grammar in Wikipedia

Why is the English so bad? In virtually every article there are mistakes in English. Especially in those that are written by non-native English speakers. I always tell my students not to trust the grammar in Wikipedia. In today's picture of the day for example you say that the Cathedral started construction. Is that the first example of self-build? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 46.227.170.111 (talk) 07:39, 21 May 2014 (UTC)[reply]

The English is bad because it is written by real human beings, acting as unpaid volunteers! I have posted at Wikipedia:Main Page/Errors about today's picture, so an admin may fix that. Any time you see a spelling or grammar error in an article, feel free to improve it. -- John of Reading (talk) 08:04, 21 May 2014 (UTC)[reply]

Yes, a new editor who knows about and cares about correct grammar will be very welcome here. Stick around, register too, and fix every bit of poor writing you see. (I hope you have plenty of time!) HiLo48 (talk) 08:51, 21 May 2014 (UTC)[reply]

See also Wikipedia:Community portal#Help out. PrimeHunter (talk) 09:04, 21 May 2014 (UTC)[reply]

And WP:GUILD are always after new members. - X201 (talk) 09:05, 21 May 2014 (UTC)[reply]

Please consider registering an account. If you register an account and complete the required number of edits to be auto-confirmed, you will be able to correct the grammar in semi-protected articles. Registration has other advantages also. Robert McClenon (talk) 15:00, 21 May 2014 (UTC)[reply]

Which are explained here: WP:BENEFITS.--ukexpat (talk) 18:29, 21 May 2014 (UTC)[reply]

adding a graph

I want to put a graph into a Wikipedia article - it currently exists in an Excel spreadsheet. How do I do this? ThoughtIdRetired (talk) 13:06, 21 May 2014 (UTC)[reply]

Copy the graph by tight clicking on white space inside the graph canvas/box. Then open Paint. Press Ctrl+V to paste the image. Resize the paint canvas by pulling the little square at the lower right corner of the white space. to fit the graph. Save it. Upload it. --Fauzan^{✆ talk}_{✉ mail} 13:25, 21 May 2014 (UTC)[reply]

(edit conflict) You may find some useful advice at Commons:Convert tables and charts to wiki code or image files#Convert CSV, DSV, or Excel to HTML or wikitext. --David Biddulph (talk) 13:27, 21 May 2014 (UTC)[reply]

David Biddulph, that link did not work for me.--S Philbrick (Talk) 13:36, 21 May 2014 (UTC)[reply]

It's c:Commons:Convert tables and charts to wiki code or image files#Convert CSV, DSV, or Excel to HTML or wikitext. /~hue sat lum/ 13:55, 21 May 2014 (UTC)[reply]

Link rot

I have been trying to repair a broken link in a footnote in Bad Romance, #70 at the beginning of section 5.1. Reflinks has repaired it, but it has somehow knocked out the next footnote, and from looking at the wikicode in the text for both footnotes, I cannot see what has gone wrong, because it looks OK. The next footnote, at the end of the blocked quote, should be called #70 as well, as it cites the same source, but it is now numbered #71 and throws up an red error message. I did not even touch this footnote. What has gone wrong? I looked at the help page the red message directed me to, but still could not sort it out. .--P123cat1 (talk) 15:02, 21 May 2014 (UTC)[reply]

It looks like AnomieBOT has repaired it automatically - or was that another problem? - Arjayay (talk) 15:06, 21 May 2014 (UTC)[reply]

No, there is a red error message in the text now and red error messages in the "References" list for two footnotes now, #71 and #72.. .--P123cat1 (talk) 15:23, 21 May 2014 (UTC)[reply]

I see that it twice has <ref name="Rolling Stone"> where it should have <ref name="Rolling Stone" />. But my attempts to correct this have not helped. Maproom (talk) 15:34, 21 May 2014 (UTC)[reply]

Take it one edit at a time. In this edit you deleted the definition of the reference "MTV_News", but you are still trying to use it without it having been defined. Not surprising that you get an error message. --David Biddulph (talk) 16:13, 21 May 2014 (UTC)[reply]

Looking at it further, I see that AnomieBOT rescued the orphaned ref in this edit, but you promptly deleted the definition again in this next edit. You might be safest leaving references alone until you understand what you are doing. --David Biddulph (talk) 16:20, 21 May 2014 (UTC)[reply]

In fact this latest edit was even worse, because not only did it delete the definition of the reference "MTV_News", but it left the ref tag unterminated so that the following text, including the definition of ref "vh1" was all ignored until you got to a ref termination tag. I've put it back to the last working version. --David Biddulph (talk) 16:28, 21 May 2014 (UTC)[reply]

As there were definitely not any redlinks after AnomieBOT had repaired the reference, as can be seen in this version, I wonder what you were seeing. You may need to purge your cache more frequently, to be sure you are looking at the current version, not one stored by your browser. - Arjayay (talk) 16:36, 21 May 2014 (UTC)[reply]

@David Biddulph: Thank you for restoring the footnote. Unfortunately it contained the broken link I was originally trying to repair, but I have straightened this out now, and all footnotes with the same citation are properly grouped. - P123cat1 (talk) 17:59, 21 May 2014 (UTC)[reply]

@Arjayay: Thanks for the tip about purging the cache. I didn't see the version corrected by AnomieBot at all, so was obviously not working with the "current" version. - P123cat1 (talk) 18:09, 21 May 2014 (UTC)[reply]

new page

I created a draft in article wizard and now I can't find it. I have logged out and in since I started the draft. The page is called Ron King (Beauty)15:13, 21 May 2014 (UTC)DDlb5 (talk) 15:13, 21 May 2014 (UTC)[reply]

Draft:Ron King (Beauty) (You should be able to find this by looking at the 'contributions' tab in the upper righthand corner. It shows all your edits that haven't been deleted.) RJFJR (talk) 15:15, 21 May 2014 (UTC)[reply]

copyright issue re graph

I have prepared a graph for inclusion in an article. The graph is entirely my own work. The data for the graph comes from a book published in 1981 (the reprint date of the copy I have). The data is from the appendix of the book and copies a journal written in 1866 showing, amongst other things, the daily distance run by a tea clipper.

So I have extracted some figures from an 1866 journal that is printed in a 1981 book.

How do I sort out the copyright issues to upload this to the article. It seems to me that it has to be OK as it is no different than taking data from any other source and putting in the text of the article, but answering the copyright questions for the upload is a problem. ThoughtIdRetired (talk) 16:12, 21 May 2014 (UTC)[reply]

Data isn't copyrightable, but the form in which that data is presented can be. So as long as your graph isn't a direct copy of the graph in the book, it should be OK. You can use {{self}} to show yourself as the image's creator and whichever of the Creative Commons license options that you wish.--ukexpat (talk) 16:44, 21 May 2014 (UTC)[reply]

The use of acronyms is not helpng the reader if the person does not know what the acronym represents.

I am a true believer that acronyms are being abused to the point of not getting to the POINT. I just tried to look up what the letters represented for MSCI World Index and got nowhere even with using WIKIPEDIA. What do the letters MSCI represent? Also what do the letters OTRS rerepresent involving the Contact Team. As my life evolves up to the age of 60 years old texting seems to have started the use of acronyms to an extreme and now we should require a texting acronym dictionary to keep up. Acronyms has created a noway, nowin, nowhere, nogood, and nowise society. I wish writers would help us nonacronym nonfunctional savy readers with this ongoing problem. I hope I have humored the reader of this discussion. Lets get a Wikipedia acronym dictionary and a little better on the acronym usage. As you can tell I am somewhat anti-acronym. I beleive they create lazy writers. Signed, StevieD

P.S. what is "GFDL". I guess I'll have to click on the link to find out. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 108.228.16.226 (talk) 17:26, 21 May 2014 (UTC)[reply]

I think all the regulars here would agree that we tend to overuse acronyms. The Tea House was designed as a more user-friendly venue for new users and we try not to "over-acronym" there. To answer your questions, "OTRS" is the "Open-source Ticket Request System", which the volunteer response team uses to receive, manage and respond to e-mails. "GFDL" is the GNU Free Documentation License.--ukexpat (talk) 17:36, 21 May 2014 (UTC)[reply]

Does the first paragraph under 'History' in MSCI answer your first question? AlexTiefling (talk) 17:41, 21 May 2014 (UTC)[reply]

I see you already got an answer PDQ, but I will add mine ASAP. :-) Acronyms can be very useful, such as using SCUBA instead of writing out "self-contained underwater breathing apparatus" ever time it's mentioned in a diving article. Either the abbreviation tool can be used to expand the term when you hover over it, or it can be made into a link which you can click on to get the full article. However, that link option can cause a problem, if understanding each article requires you to follow links to several others, which in turn require several others, etc.

You can add the following tag:

for any article which overuses acronyms, as shown:

StuRat (talk) 17:42, 21 May 2014 (UTC)[reply]

The best practice in US Government documentation is that the first time that an acronym is used, the phrase should be spelled out with the acronym in parentheses, as in "GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL)", with an acronym list either at the beginning or the end of the document. The first practice is appropriate in Wikipedia. I will check the Manual of Style (MOS) to see whether it specifies that practice. Robert McClenon (talk) 21:28, 21 May 2014 (UTC)[reply]

Using the phrase in full the first time and then using the abbreviation is exactly what the MOS specifies. Robert McClenon (talk) 01:12, 22 May 2014 (UTC)[reply]

You asked for a Wikipedia acronym dictionary. Here it is Wikipedia:Wikipedia abbreviations--S Philbrick (Talk) 14:38, 22 May 2014 (UTC)[reply]

What template to use with this sort of article

Hey community. I recently reverted another user's good-faith edits, and while poking through the user's edit history, I found this article in their userspace. It appears to be an ongoing project, and I would consider it a vio of WP:NOTWEBHOST. My plan was to talk to the user and then nominate the article for deletion via Miscellany for Deletion (CSD under U5 seemed inappropriate since they've edited other pages), but before doing that, I wanted to template the article with some obvious indication that it is not an article. I settled for Template:User page, but it doesn't have the visual impact that screams "This is not an article" Any suggestions for an alternative? Template:Userspace draft doesn't seem appropriate either, as the article should never be submitted to AfC. Thanks, Cyphoidbomb (talk) 18:13, 21 May 2014 (UTC)[reply]

You don't have to template anything. The procedure you described would work perfectly: Start a discussion with the user, ask them for an explanation, suggest they request deletion themselves using db-u1, if they do not, use MFD. There's no need to tag it, per se. You could also use db-u5 yourself, but that may be considered a rude gesture towards a productive editor, and taking a more deliberative approach may be better for all. --Jayron32 18:18, 21 May 2014 (UTC)[reply]

How long to spam IP editors with account creation messages?

Tracked in Phabricator
Task T67566

This message appears now for IP editors with each edit, a new feature appearing last few days.

"Join Wikipedia Create an account to edit and you can: Track your contributions Follow updates to your favorite pages Connect with other Wikipedia editors Get early access to new features"

A suggestion, is to kill your broken, bloated bureaucracy and bullying culture, maybe a better way to keep editors and to encourage account creation. Many editors deliberately use dynamic IP and should not continually be pestered to make accounts with each edit. 92.40.92.145 (talk) 18:49, 21 May 2014 (UTC)[reply]

@92.40.92.145: You're indeed not the only one reporting this - in fact the WMF has already confirmed this is a bug that should hopefully be fixed soon. This thread suggests cleaning your cookies in the meantime, as this should prevent further messages until the bug itself is actually fixed. Excirial^{(Contact me,Contribs)} 18:53, 21 May 2014 (UTC)[reply]

I agree that the frequency with which the nag appears is a bug. However, registering an account has several advantages, including the ability to edit semi-protected pages, the ability to participate meaningfully in AFD and RFC discussions (because closers often discount IP addresses because in those discussions they are sometimes sockpuppets), and the ability not to identify your geographic location and ISP. Robert McClenon (talk) 21:24, 21 May 2014 (UTC)[reply]

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