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June 16[edit]

New Account Confirmation Email Invalid[edit]

Just registered. Received the email with the link to confirm registration, clicked on it and received the error message: "Invalid confirmation code. The code may have expired." I literally just signed up, and clicked the link in the email as it was immediately received. Anybody know whats up? Thanks. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 24.151.119.229 (talk) 01:31, 16 June 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Maybe you logged out of your wikipedia account before you checked your email? I don't know if that would do it, it may.--SJP (talk) 01:36, 16 June 2008 (UTC)[reply]

I don't think that would make a difference. Help:Email confirmation says: "Some email programs may break the confirmation link into two lines. If that happens, please copy all parts of the link together into the browser address bar." Does that help? And can you log in? The confirmation code should only be needed to use email features. PrimeHunter (talk) 01:45, 16 June 2008 (UTC)[reply]

I probably should of looked at Help:Email confirmation before answering;-) Oh well, I will if I get another question like that:-)--SJP (talk) 02:13, 16 June 2008 (UTC)[reply]

science/big universe[edit]

how was rhe univere found by the big bang theory? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 122.163.69.251 (talk) 02:04, 16 June 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Greetings! Sorry, but this is a place where you ask questions that directly relate to wikipedia. However, we do have an area where you can find answers to your questions. Check out our reference desk to find answers to factual questions. I wish you luck in finding the answer to your question:-) Have a great day!--SJP (talk) 02:11, 16 June 2008 (UTC)[reply]

See Big Bang theory for more information as well. — The Hand That Feeds You:^Bite 02:20, 16 June 2008 (UTC)[reply]

This page is for questions about using Wikipedia. Please consider asking this question at the Science 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 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.

What is the template to say an image needs a fair use rationale?[edit]

What template do I stick on for an image that needs a fair use rationale? Something that puts it up for deletion is optional. Guroadrunner (talk) 07:04, 16 June 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Whack on this guy, but he'll put it up for deletion. —97198 talk 10:03, 16 June 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Delete Double gammas Delete[edit]

Two new pages for the price of one, one evil twin [Double gammas]] should have been moved instead of restartred. Advice? —Preceding unsigned comment added by MartinSFSA (talk • contribs) 08:28, 16 June 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Double gammas has already been redirected to Double Gammas. There is no need to delete the redirect (unless Double Gammas is also deleted which could easily happen. e.g. for failing Wikipedia:Notability - and see Wikipedia:Conflict of interest). PrimeHunter (talk) 11:16, 16 June 2008 (UTC)[reply]

What occurred here is called a copy and paste move, which is problematic because the history of the page is stuck on the redirect. Since this was all done by one user, the issue is not too severe, but to clear up any problems, these two pages (the article and the redirect) should be listed at the Cut and paste move repair holding pen to merge their edit histories. -- ShinmaWa^(talk) 12:56, 16 June 2008 (UTC)[reply]

I don't see any need for that here. Users are allowed to copy their own contributions without saying where it was copied from. This is often done when a user starts a page in user space and later copies it to article space. PrimeHunter (talk) 13:02, 16 June 2008 (UTC)[reply]

I agree (which is why I said it was not too severe), however there was a contribution by another user who added an {{orphan}} template. If we want to get super-technical, that was a contribution and the GFDL would require that be preserved. However, at this point, we are splitting hairs and I agree its not really needed in this case. Mostly, though, I wanted to educate about the evils of the copy-and-paste move. :) -- ShinmaWa^(talk) 13:20, 16 June 2008 (UTC)[reply]

I didn't find signs of the {{orphan}} template being copied. PrimeHunter (talk) 13:48, 16 June 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Wikipedia as webhost[edit]

Can I create my own personal site under wikipedia? such as User:xxxxx/yoursite. and enjoy unlimited web storages to put my materials.MRTisConvert (talk) 09:04, 16 June 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Absolutely not. Wikipedia is not a free webhost.--Fuhghettaboutit (talk) 10:08, 16 June 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Articles "Under Construction"[edit]

Is there any guideline on how long an article can be "Under Construction" ? The Generation F article is tagged as such, but hasn't been touched by the author since 17th April. CultureDrone (talk) 09:07, 16 June 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Pages saying they are under construction should use a template from Category:Under-construction templates such as {{Underconstruction}} which says "If this article has not been edited in several days, please remove this template." The "unauthorized" under construction message on Generation F should have been removed long ago. PrimeHunter (talk) 11:05, 16 June 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Regarding providing wikipedia with Telugu version.[edit]

Hi wikipedia help desk. Why don't you provide Wikipedia in Telugu language. If it is provide in Telugu Language also it is useful to many persons and Identifying the One of the Indian Language into WWW. please once think about that. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 203.123.189.233 (talk) 10:42, 16 June 2008 (UTC)[reply]

The Telugu Wikipedia is at http://te.wikipedia.org. PrimeHunter (talk) 10:57, 16 June 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Template[edit]

The {{birth date and age}} template does not work properly. If someone died and their would-be next birthday passed and we looked back to a revision of the article when they were alive, it would show their would-be age. Please fix. And do the same with {{age in years and days}}. Interactive Fiction Expert/Talk to me 12:22, 16 June 2008 (UTC)[reply]

{{birth date and age}} and {{age in years and days}} work as intended. Template transclusion uses the current day and template content, and doing otherwise would be confusing in many situations. Updating is required when somebody dies but without such templates or similar, manually updating the age would be required every year. Using the templates is easier and produces correct ages more of the time (because manual updates would be delayed or not happen). If you are looking for encyclopedic information then see the current revision. Historic revisions are stored for other reasons. PrimeHunter (talk) 12:43, 16 June 2008 (UTC)[reply]

(e/c) In order to prevent constantly having to update the age of individuals on over 50,000 articles, these templates calculate a person's age based on the time and date of the user looking at the page, rather than the revision date. This holds true even for earlier versions of the page. In other words, the age is universally derived from data in the article. I would say that this is not something that is in need of being "fixed" in that it is working exactly as designed. -- ShinmaWa^(talk) 12:44, 16 June 2008 (UTC)[reply]

These templates are not appropriate for deceased persons— use {{death date and age}}. --—— Gadget850 (Ed) ^talk - 12:58, 16 June 2008 (UTC)[reply]

The question was in regards to seeing the {{birth date and age}} template on a historical revision of the page when the person was still alive and showing their current age as if they never died. For example, if you look at a revision for Heath Ledger from last year, it shows his age at 29, even though he died at age 28. -- ShinmaWa^(talk) 13:14, 16 June 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Copying the "Table of United States Metropolitan Statistical Areas" to an Exce Spread Sheet[edit]

Hello:

I am doing a marketing study and I and I would like to copy the Table of United States Metropolitan Statistical Areas to an Excel Spead sheet. Can I do that? If so how could that be done. I tried to highlight cut and paste but that did not work. Is the another place to get this dats so I can work with it?

Thanks

—Preceding unsigned comment added by Wikifindi (talk • contribs) 13:32, 16 June 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Highlight and copy the test. Open Excel and start a new sheet. Right click and select Paste Special > Unicode Text. --—— Gadget850 (Ed) ^talk - 15:29, 16 June 2008 (UTC)[reply]

That worked. Saved me lots of time.Thanks so much!!!!

—Preceding unsigned comment added by Wikifindi (talk • contribs) 18:53, 16 June 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Kindle EBook[edit]

RE; St. Augustine of Canterbury article www.wikipedia.org Our Lady of Lourdes article www.wikipedi.org Our Lady of Perpetual Help article www.wikipedi.org Prayers for Soldier Book KINDLE BOOK AMAZON

Kindle Book

We wish to copy material from the Web sites of www.wikipedia.org Her Majesty's Government and relicense it under the GFDL for a future AMAZON KINDLE BOOK AND EBOOK.. We would be grateful if you could provide us with the official position of the Stationery's Office on this matter.

I can be contacted by e-mail at <redacted>, by telephone at <redacted>

Thank you for your time and consideration.

Sincerely Margo Snyder

[edit] Genera —Preceding unsigned comment added by 141.151.118.184 (talk) 14:37, 16 June 2008 (UTC)[reply]

There's no need to relicense it under the GFDL as it is already under that license. As long as you adhere to the terms of the WP:GFDL, you may do with the material from Wikipedia as you please, including creating ebooks. -- ShinmaWa^(talk) 15:43, 16 June 2008 (UTC)[reply]

How to embed our logo[edit]

Hello there, I'm just not managing to embed our logo into the text box on the right hand side of our page. the logo is here:

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d1/COE_logo.jpg

Our page is here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_Audiovisual_Observatory

I'd be very grateful for help here.

Thanks

Alison Hindhaugh Information Officer European Audiovisual Observatory —Preceding unsigned comment added by Audiovisual observatory (talk • contribs) 16:07, 16 June 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Done...... Dendodge .. Talk^Help 16:11, 16 June 2008 (UTC)[reply]

AFD[edit]

I created an article for Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Jamie Morgado,but I can't create the required table. Someone speedy it,or make the afd,because I can't!--Fireaxe888 (talk) 16:15, 16 June 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Done I've listed it at Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Jamie Morgado (2nd nomination), it makes an extra page but it works so...... Dendodge .. Talk^Help 16:22, 16 June 2008 (UTC)[reply]

(edit conflict)Dendodge has nominated the article for you and I have redirected your nomination to his. Cheers! TN‑X-Man 16:24, 16 June 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks a lot guys!--Fireaxe888 (talk) 16:29, 16 June 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Deleting my Wiki Account[edit]

How do I delete my wiki account. I accidently created two and I do not want them both. Please help.

Thank You Sarahbreyer (talk) 17:16, 16 June 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 are still free to register a new username if you wish to continue editing Wikipedia....... Dendodge .. Talk^Help 17:18, 16 June 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Translation from Wikipedia to external site[edit]

Someone took the trouble to translate the article World Bodypainting Festival, which I originally wrote, into Spanish outside Wikipedia. They even fail to cite a source, and all. As I understand it, the GFDL allows use of material from Wikipedia articles in external sites unrelated to Wikipedia. But from what little I know of Spanish (mostly through French and Latin) this is a really excellent translation of my original work. Can it be used on the Spanish Wikipedia? JIP | Talk 19:45, 16 June 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Yes - their work would have to be GFDL licensed...... Dendodge .. Talk^Help 19:47, 16 June 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Good, thanks. I'll have to see whether I can do it myself with my extremely limited Spanish skills or I'll have to ask a native Spanish speaker to help me. JIP | Talk 19:49, 16 June 2008 (UTC)[reply]

See WP:EIW#Reusing and Wikipedia:Reusing Wikipedia content. You can find Wikipedians who speak Spanish with this search:

Search Wikipedia's Category: namespace for: wikipedians spanish

For example, that finds Category:User es. --Teratornis (talk) 20:17, 16 June 2008 (UTC)[reply]

The answer is yes only if their article is a translation of the Wikipedia article. But translation is a rather subjective matter: That is, did they translate, or did they express the same ideas in their own words? I notice that the article claims copyright with all rights reserved. —teb728 t c 20:59, 16 June 2008 (UTC)[reply]

They did basically translate the article. With my limited Spanish skills, I can see that pretty much all of my article is there, even the smallest details. Only the latest addition about the new Asia awards is missing. It looks like they have added some of their own original material at the end, but it is very short, by far the most of the text is a translation of the Wikipedia article I wrote. JIP | Talk 05:02, 17 June 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Hang on a minute, aren't translated versions of public domain works typically copyrighted? For example, a new Swahili translation of Shakespeare could not be freely reprinted, but would be the copyright of the publisher, right? So is our intrepid Spaniard not within her rights to withold the right of reuse on the Spanish translation? Skomorokh 01:09, 17 June 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Yes, but Wikipedia articles are not in the public domain; they are copyrighted and licensed under the GFDL. A translation is a derivative work and by GFDL must also be licensed under GFDL. —teb728 t c 02:27, 17 June 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Actually it's not that simple. His use of GFDL content doesn't transform his work into GFDL, it just makes it so he's violating the original author's copyright if he doesn't freely license his own translation. Your remedy would be to ask him (either kindly, or threatening legal action) to license his work under the GFDL. Inclusion of his translation here would just be a second copyright violation. Oh, and translations are definitely copyrighted. Mangostar (talk) 08:14, 17 June 2008 (UTC)[reply]

One more Boy George link to change[edit]

Thanks so much for the help a couple days ago - I noticed that the link under the Boy George photo on the right (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boy_George) still points to boygeorgeuk.com - would it be possible to also have that linked changed to point to http://www.boygeorgelive.com - I didn't see any place there to do this myself, but also have to admit that as much as I spend a lot of time on wikipedia reading articles, I have not much insight into actually modifying the content.

Thanks again for all your help! Jud Haynes 142.162.21.151 (talk) 21:24, 16 June 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Done :). Seraphim♥Whipp 21:48, 16 June 2008 (UTC)[reply]

All pages by DEFAULTSORT[edit]

Is there a way to get a list of all pages sorted not by article title but by the sortkey provided by DEFAULTSORT (if present). It would be helpful for making disambiguation pages for people with the same last name, so does this ability already exist or do I need to make a proposal over at the village pump? Caerwine Caer’s whines 21:53, 16 June 2008 (UTC)[reply]

When a question languishes for several hours without a response, that suggests the question is not easy for Help desk volunteers to understand. It helps if you give more detail about the basic problem you ran into, for the benefit of volunteers who haven't just done whatever you just did before coming to the Help desk. I'm guessing the problem is that our biography articles have titles consisting of "first name last name", and thus the Wikipedia search box and Special:Allpages are not very useful for finding all the articles about people who share a particular last name - our search tools would be great for finding people who share a first name, and how useless is that - but many or some of those articles might use the {{DEFAULTSORT}} magic word with the value of the subject's last name, to cause the subject's article to sort by the subject's last name on any category pages showing the subject's article. Therefore one way to find more of the articles about people who share a last name would be by querying up a list of articles with {{DEFAULTSORT}} values starting with the last name you are interested in. Did I guess correctly?

If the last name is not a too terribly common word, you might find some of the pages you want by searching Wikipedia with Google for that last name. (That probably wouldn't help much if you were looking for people with a last name having other meanings, such as "Green" or "Brown", since Google doesn't have any semantic features for searching on Wikipedia, such as to find only biographies.)

I did, however, try searching Wikipedia with Google for: DEFAULTSORT, to see what came up, and this result looks interesting:

User:Polbot/ideas/defaultsort

Several users who commented on that page appear to have thought along these same lines, so you might find something useful or someone(s) to bounce ideas off. I quickly skimmed some of that discussion, and it looks like the search you want to do is a little more complex than you might be thinking, since not every biography article uses {{DEFAULTSORT}} "correctly" (or in a standard way).

Also see WP:EIW#Query, for example this link might be useful:

Query Wikipedia - semantic database extracted from Wikipedia that can be queried

I'm sorry that I don't know a simple solution to what you want to do, but the links above might get things going. Your question is another example of something we currently seem to lack on the Help desk: real expertise on doing complex queries on Wikipedia's database. But we know where the Editor's index is, and if something is do-able on Wikipedia, the Editor's index probably points the way. --Teratornis (talk) 05:07, 17 June 2008 (UTC)[reply]

I'm taking back what I said about searching Wikipedia with Google for: Green. I should probably experiment rather than speculate, especially when the experiment is so simple. That finds a lot of people whose last name is "Green." The first human shows up on the second or third results page, and thereafter each results page shows from zero to several people. It's pretty easy to visually scan the results and pick out the biography articles from the other article results. Google ranks page titles higher than text in an article's body, so most of the articles that have "Green" somewhere in the title will probably rank higher than the kajillion articles that only have the word in their bodies. Which means by the time you scroll deep enough in the search results to see articles that don't have "Green" in their titles, you've probably seen all the articles about people named "Green." So, before you go off and perform the Labors of Hercules to figure out the database query you need, see what you can do with simple Google searches on Wikipedia for the last names you are interested in disambiguating. That's my story and now I'm sticking to it. --Teratornis (talk) 05:22, 17 June 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Looks like Category:Biography articles with listas parameter will do a good deal of what I was looking for, though not all. Caerwine Caer’s whines 05:35, 17 June 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Searching Wikipedia with Google for: Green finds some fictional characters, such as the Green Hornet and the Green Lantern, who might deserve a spot with the real Greens on a disambiguation page (or would "Green" be their first names?). Just for fun, I looked at our actual Green (disambiguation) page, and lo! The Green Hornet and the Green Lantern are not in the list of fictional characters there, nor in Green (name)#Fictional characters named Green. So that's a possibly real problem for somebody else to fix (me, I'm going to bed now, and hoping the bat that somehow got into my house noticed the front door I left open for it and flew outside). --Teratornis (talk) 05:42, 17 June 2008 (UTC)[reply]