Wikipedia:Help desk/Archives/2009 January 7

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January 7[edit]

sorting table[edit]

Resolved
 – ukexpat (talk) 16:46, 7 January 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Hi guys, my table used to "sort" but now it doesn't, please help ;) Ryan4314 (talk) 00:37, 7 January 2009 (UTC)[reply]

This is probably WP:VPT#Sortable tables & Firefox 3.0.5. Algebraist 00:39, 7 January 2009 (UTC)[reply]
Seems your right, solved. Ryan4314 (talk) 04:03, 7 January 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Creating a sandbox or subpage for new article[edit]

Help. I have difficulty setting up subpage or user page. Instead of the article title, the system injects my user ID. Isn't the User ID for account purposes only. I need to be able to name the article. Where is my main page which has the user subpage/sandbox access? I want time to construct the article before posting to main page for review. I have read on the site that subpages are discouraged/banned and sandbox is the preferred mode for 1st timers. Help. Thanks. I need to be able to name my article and work on constructing it before it goes to the main page. Thanks. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Ynotnow (talk • contribs) 04:06, 7 January 2009 (UTC)[reply]

There are no preexisting links to user subpages. You can create a personal sandbox by editing the user subpage User:Ynotnow/Sandbox. You can create more subpages if you want, for example User:Ynotnow/Sandbox2 or User:Ynotnow/Name of the article you are working on. PrimeHunter (talk) 04:35, 7 January 2009 (UTC)[reply]
Hello there. I'm not sure where you read that subpages are discouraged; we actually highly encourage the use of subpages for drafting new articles or substantial revisions to existing ones. To set one up:
  1. Create a page at User:Ynotnow. This is your main userpage, which will act as an anchor for all of your user subpages.
  2. Edit User:Ynotnow and include this text: [[/Subpage]]. This creates a link to a subpage which you can then create. You can call the subpage whatever you like; the important bit is that the first character inside those brackets is a slash /.
  3. Once you're sure your article meets all of our policies (see WP:YFA for some tips) you can "move" the page to the article space. That link should provide you with instructions on how to do so, but if you need help, we're always open.
Hope this helps! If not, WP:SUBPAGE might be able to help you out as well. Hersfold (t/a/c) 04:36, 7 January 2009 (UTC)[reply]
I guessed Ynotnow read somewhere that article subpages are discouraged/banned. The banned part is true: They are disallowed and not recognized as subpages. The subpage feature is turned off for mainspace articles so a mainspace page with '/' in the name, for example OS/2, is treated like any other article name and not as a subpage of OS. PrimeHunter (talk) 04:44, 7 January 2009 (UTC)[reply]
In case it's not clear, when we say "Create a page at User:Ynotnow" we mean you actually click on that red link, and you will get an edit box similar to the one you faced when you added your question to the Help desk. Also see the WP:TUTORIAL and WP:CHEATSHEET. If you are new to Wikipedia, be advised that starting new articles from scratch that "stick" can be one of the more difficult tasks here. Some very large percentage of new articles by new users get deleted; the most important factor is the topic area you choose to write about. Some topics in particular are like the La Brea Tar Pits, luring all sorts of unsuspecting new users to their demise. Especially high mortality rates apply to marginally notable areas of youth culture, such as articles about non-famous bands. If you want to write about something really boring, such as a bridge or a dam, or something slightly less boring like a wind farm, there are still many examples of those kinds of installations which are notable enough for articles but don't have articles yet. See WP:NOT for a concise summary of what you should not write about here. If anything is unclear, you know where to ask. --Teratornis (talk) 05:06, 7 January 2009 (UTC)[reply]

contribution disappeared by still listed under my contributions[edit]

My contribution to the Joseph Priestley page disappeared. What happened?

It still shows under "my contributions": 20:56, 6 January 2009 (hist) (diff) Joseph Priestley ‎ (→Legacy)

I have not received any notices that there was a problem. The contribution was the fact the Priestley had an asteroid named in his honor and I provided a citation.

What might I have done wrong? —Preceding unsigned comment added by Jessecarllane (talk • contribs) 06:01, 7 January 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Please see the talk page at Talk:Joseph_Priestley#Asteroid -- GateKeeper(X) @ 06:05, 7 January 2009 (UTC)[reply]
For general information about how to track changes on Wikipedia, see Help:Watching pages, Help:Page history, and Help:User contributions. Your contributions will show all the edits you have made to every non-deleted page as long as Wikipedia continues to run. However, your edits will only continue to be visible in the current revision of an article if no one else has removed or edited over them. Think of the history of a page as being like a geologic column. The old layers of rock can remain for billions of years, but tons of overlying rock may obscure them. The MediaWiki software which powers Wikipedia provides features for tracking changes, and this built-in revision control system is absolutely critical to the smooth functioning of a wiki. Without the ability to track every edit by every user, Wikipedia would soon degenerate into a mass of vandalism and nonsense. The fact that Wikipedia doesn't turn into garbage is something like a minor miracle, and I guarantee you will not regret any time you invest in learning how this minor miracle occurs. --Teratornis (talk) 09:56, 7 January 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Why is everyone on here Unionist?[edit]

Hiya. Why is everyone here a UK Unionist? There's so many people who are. 78.148.91.80 (talk) 08:41, 7 January 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Please read the page header; this page is only for questions about using Wikipedia. I'm not sure quite how you're making that assumption, though. haz (talk) 08:54, 7 January 2009 (UTC)[reply]
The English Wikipedia article claims that only 15.9% of contributors are from the United Kingdom. Presumably most of the rest are less concerned about whether the U.K. maintains its integrity, or Balkanizes. Indeed, probably only a minority of Wikipedia contributors even know what you mean by "Unionist." However, your view of the English Wikipedia may be distorted, depending on which subset of articles you read. Perhaps you have stumbled upon some group of contributors who share a particular point of view - there are lots of groups like that in various parts of Wikipedia (see: Blind Men and the Elephant and Wikipedia:WikiProject Countering systemic bias). For example, Wikipedia is both highly orderly and highly complex, traits which attract disproportionately many people with high IQs. Perhaps the high-IQ people in the U.K. are more likely to be Unionists (I have no idea) than whichever demographic segment you are in. --Teratornis (talk) 10:08, 7 January 2009 (UTC)[reply]
Wow. Deja vu. GbT/c 10:10, 7 January 2009 (UTC)[reply]
My troll radar is going nuts. – ukexpat (talk) 19:35, 7 January 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Renaming a wiki entry title[edit]

How can I rename an entry's title? The entry I made was "Dennis mendiola" and I simply want to replace it with "Dennis Mendiola." Is there a way to do that without having to Move the page? My account doesn't seem to give me the option to 'move'. Please help!

Mpestano (talk) 09:17, 7 January 2009 (UTC)[reply]

That is exactly the proper way to fix the situation. You will have the power to move an article after your account has been confirmed. I'll do it for you this time. Dismas|(talk) 09:20, 7 January 2009 (UTC)[reply]
Your account becomes autoconfirmed when it has made 10 edits (and is at least 4 days old but yours is already much older). PrimeHunter (talk) 13:08, 7 January 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Fixing mistakes -- I tried to fix a mistake[edit]

I was trying to edit an entry on Anthony Bonner. When I hit the Edit function, the only thing on my screen was a bunch of gobbleygook. The info on the page was not in the edit box.

I consulted the entry on Anthony Bonner because I was listening to a radio commercial in which Bonner's ex-coach, Jeff Van Gundy, was talking about him. Van Gundy was talking about when Bonner was issued a subpoena, but the commercial never explained what Bonner did.

I went to Wikipedia to find out what Bonner did. The article said NOTHING about what Bonner did and was ERRONEOUS about the commercial. The article said the coach in the commercial was "unknown." The coach was identified several times as Jeff Van Gundy, who coached Bonner with the New York Knicks.

How the person editing this didn't notice the name of the coach is pretty amazing. But I couldn't edit the article to correct the information. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Zwrite (talk • contribs) 09:26, 7 January 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Sorry to hear that you're having problems trying to edit the Anthony Bonner article - I've had a look and when you click the edit button the contents of the article are all presented as they should be. Maybe have another try to see if it's still the same?
Do you have a reliable source to the effect that the coach was Van Gundy? If so then the article can be amended accordingly. GbT/c 09:28, 7 January 2009 (UTC)[reply]
You can click the "edit this page" tab at the top to edit the whole page. If you click an "edit" link to the right of a section heading then you only edit that section. By default there is no edit link for the lead section and the only section edit link in Anthony Bonner is at Anthony Bonner#External links. I suppose the source could look like gobbleygook to a new editor. It only contains templates and categories so it's different from the displayed page. PrimeHunter (talk) 13:04, 7 January 2009 (UTC)[reply]

port folio management[edit]

kindly provide any web sites to view current scenario in port folio management —Preceding unsigned comment added by Wphurry (talk • contribs) 09:34, 7 January 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Have you tried Wikipedia's Reference Desk? They specialize in knowledge questions and will try to answer any question in the universe (except how to use Wikipedia, since that is what this Help Desk is for). Just follow the link, select the relevant section, and ask away. I hope this helps. GbT/c 09:39, 7 January 2009 (UTC)[reply]

References & footnotes[edit]

A simple question. About the reference in articles, where should I p<link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=User:MarkS/XEB/live.css&action=raw&ctype=text/css&dontcountme=s">ut it in the text? Like this?

Or, more clearly, like this?

Thank you very much. --85.53.134.85 (talk) 11:29, 7 January 2009 (UTC)[reply]

The reference should be after the comma. The usual way is to use them after punctuation marks. See here for more info. Cheers. Chamal talk 11:51, 7 January 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Move image to Commons?[edit]

Can this image be moved to Commons? Dismas|(talk) 11:29, 7 January 2009 (UTC)[reply]

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Audra_Lynn_bw.jpg -- GateKeeper(X) @ 19:40, 7 January 2009 (UTC)[reply]
Um, thank you? Now I guess I should go figure out how you did that... Dismas|(talk) 06:39, 8 January 2009 (UTC)[reply]
GateKeeperX used CommonsHelper to transfer the image from en.wiki to Commons. « Gonzo fan2007 (talk) @ 06:43, 8 January 2009 (UTC)[reply]

links removed[edit]

hi,

yesterday i added some links to some recent interviews i did with music artists such as The Wombats and Patrick Wolf. All of the links i did have been removed, saying i was advertising, but i simply wanted people to come and see the article, there are many other links like the ones i placed on Wiki.

My website is a free website so i'm not after any money from Wiki users etc. Can you please Tell me why this is?? —Preceding unsigned comment added by Wordyxxx (talk • contribs) 12:32, 7 January 2009 (UTC)[reply]

  • Posting links to your own website because you want people to see it is advertising too even if you're not after money. I recommend you discuss the merits of your interview with the people who removed the links (you can find out their username in the article history which contains every single edit ever made to the page) - Mgm|(talk) 13:26, 7 January 2009 (UTC)[reply]
Or on the talk pages of the relevant articles. – ukexpat (talk) 19:36, 7 January 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Help with template[edit]

Resolved
 – TN‑X-Man 17:12, 7 January 2009 (UTC)[reply]

See what I attempted to do here. The current "rights" link on Template:Formeradmin is worthless. Is it possible to make a link to the meta rights log showing when the user's rights were removed? Mike R (talk) 15:39, 7 January 2009 (UTC)[reply]

I think I've sorted it – it now correctly links to the user's enwiki rights change log on meta. haz (talk) 16:02, 7 January 2009 (UTC)[reply]
Yes, looks good! Thanks! Mike R (talk) 17:06, 7 January 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Who can see my IP[edit]

When I am logged into here, who is able to see where I am logging in from? I am guessing only the paid employees, or highest admins. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 72.11.144.119 (talk) 15:58, 7 January 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Only those with CheckUser status, and only when there is suspicion of account misuse. You can see the list of CheckUsers here. haz (talk) 16:02, 7 January 2009 (UTC)[reply]
But as you can see from this if you don't log in then every editor here can do a WHOIS on your IP address and get details on were you are editing from. BigDuncTalk 20:33, 7 January 2009 (UTC)[reply]

May a subject be part of more than one Wiki?[edit]

Resolved

I have searched Wikipedia for an article on the Science Fiction writer Linnea Sinclair. It doesn't exist. But there is a page about her on RomanceWiki [1]. So would it be allowed to make a page with the same name and content on the "regular" Wikipedia? Perhaps there's a Help Page that might help me understand these issues?

Thank you for your kind help. Debresser (talk) 16:32, 7 January 2009 (UTC)[reply]

You are more than welcome to contribute a page on the author. There are a few things of which to be aware first, however. First, in order to qualify for an article, the person must be notable, which usually means they have received in-depth independent coverage in reliable sources. Secondly, have any of her books been on a best-seller list? That would be a great starting point. To get started, I recommend looking at this guide. For an example of an author's page, check out Stephen King or Tom Clancy. Cheers! TN‑X-Man 16:37, 7 January 2009 (UTC)[reply]
A wiki is just a type of website and there are thousands of wikis. There is no relationship between RomanceWiki and Wikipedia (except that they use the same MediaWiki software). Wikipedia and some other wikis are run by the Wikimedia Foundation but RomanceWiki is not. PrimeHunter (talk) 21:59, 7 January 2009 (UTC)[reply]
Note that most wikis not run by the Wikimedia Foundation have different content policies than Wikipedia. Typically, a non-WF wiki will focus on a relatively narrow topic area, and may have more lenient criteria for inclusion within that topic. In some cases (such as Wookiepedia, WoWWiki, etc.), a major motivation for starting the wikis was to create alternative outlets for a large volume of fancruft which fails to meet Wikipedia's standards for encyclopedic content. (People who are topic-area enthusiasts often have a different view of what is "notable" than the general Wikipedia community does - a fan community will often value comprehensiveness over reliable sourcing, which is the opposite of Wikipedia's priority order). This means that a non-WF wiki may have many articles which do not meet Wikipedia's criteria for inclusion. The Linnea Sinclair article on RomanceWiki has very little content, and does not cite any sources. If that's all the material you have on this author, it would be a stub article on Wikipedia at best, and would probably draw early challenges of notability and sourcing. You will need to find some reliable sources that are independent of the subject that you can cite. Your contributions suggest you've been active on Wikipedia long enough to avoid the typical beginner mistakes when creating a new article, so I suggest you try googling for Linnea Sinclair and see what sources you can find. And see: WP:FOOT, WP:CITE, WP:CITET, WP:LAYOUT, and WP:WWMPD. Your best bet might be to create an account on RomanceWiki first, if you haven't already, and try to bring the article up to Wikipedia standards over there, before copying it to Wikipedia. --Teratornis (talk) 23:00, 7 January 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks everybody for your answers. And yes, I also came to the conclusion that an article on Wikipedia will have to be better than that article on RomanceWiki. I do think this author is worthy of her own page in Wikipedia, as I'm sure the article will show. Thanks again. Debresser (talk) 09:00, 8 January 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Editing Own Article[edit]

Hello, This is Amy fisher and I am contacting you from my website email address [email address redacted] 1.I noticed someone using my name amyfisher and complained to Wikipedia abouth that. A new account Amy Fisher was set up for me which is fine and I am currently using it. However, since I am a public figure and entertainer and my name is copyrighted, I was told to contact you to have the other user name amyfisher removed. Please do that for me. 2.Now that I have an account, how can I delete and rewrite the Wikipedia page about me with actaul factual information and photos of myself that I would like to contribute to my namesake. I would also like to have the ability to update the Wikipedia information on me from time to time. Thank you for your help, Amy Fisher —Preceding unsigned comment added by Amy Fisher (talk • contribs) 18:29, 7 January 2009 (UTC)[reply]

On the username page it says "You are welcome to use your real name, but in some cases, you will need to prove you are who you say you are. You can do this by sending an e-mail to info-en@wikimedia.org; be aware that the OTRS system that handles e-mail is operated entirely by volunteers, and an immediate reply may not be possible." Also, please check out WP:BLP and WP:COI. Good luck, —Noah 19:00, 7 January 2009 (UTC)[reply]
A user "Amyfisher" does indeed exist, but has not been used once for contributions since its creation in April of this year, which would suggest that the account is inactive – users cannot be removed entirely from the system, but administrators do have the ability to block the account should it be used inappropriately. With regard to editing your own article, please be advised that such edits are frowned upon (see the policy pages on conflicts of interest and autobiographical edits) and that all content must be verifiable by reliable secondary sources. Also, we cannot help with legal queries here; if you have any, please e-mail the OTRS system. If you have any other queries, then please feel free to reply here or leave a message at my talk page. haz (talk) 19:08, 7 January 2009 (UTC)[reply]
Since the username User:Amyfisher has no contributions (or deleted contributions) it may be possible to usurp that username by visiting this page. GbT/c 19:25, 7 January 2009 (UTC)[reply]
I doubt that your name is "copyrighted". There are surely a number of people named Amy Fisher in the world, and it would be very surprising if you could stop them from using their own name. With regard to editing the article about you, it's not forbidden, but you should read WP:COI before you do so. Deor (talk) 20:54, 7 January 2009 (UTC)[reply]
I've already sent her a non-template message with links to WP:AUTO, WP:COI and WP:OWN. --Orange Mike | Talk 21:06, 7 January 2009 (UTC)[reply]
You mention that you want to upload photos of yourself. You do that at the Upload file link in the toolbar of every page. Note that any photo of you must be released under a free license, i.e. one that allows reuse by anyone for anything. (A professional portrait is not licensed that way unless you have made a special agreement with the photographer.) —teb728 t c 09:23, 8 January 2009 (UTC)[reply]
I am handling this on OTRS at Ticket:2009010710017924. Stifle (talk) 09:41, 8 January 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Insertion of factual information: Im still new to WIkipedia[edit]

over the last day, i have edited information onto a few wikipedia pages. i admit that two of the edits were more opinion than fact, but if i have my own personal pictures which will back up my edits as fact do i still have to wait the required minimum four days of membership before i can insert a picture? should i just wait the required 4 days before i edit such information? please help. dstein2484 —Preceding unsigned comment added by Dstein2484 (talk • contribs) 19:20, 7 January 2009 (UTC)[reply]

You are correct in that your account must be autoconfirmed before you can upload pictures. You have a couple of options. You can wait four days and make the ten required edits, or you can upload the pictures to Commons, which does not have such requirements. Cheers! TN‑X-Man 19:23, 7 January 2009 (UTC)[reply]
Hello Dstein2484, TnXman gave you the right answer about images. As for "backing up" your opinion with images - I don't think it would be a good idea, as all the editors must try to follow the policies of no original research and neutral point of view while editing articles. :)--Unpopular Opinion (talk) 19:31, 7 January 2009 (UTC)[reply]
And Commons can be found here. – ukexpat (talk) 19:38, 7 January 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Image of map[edit]

How can I make a map to insert in an article? Thank you.Hammerdrill (talk) 19:48, 7 January 2009 (UTC)[reply]

There is a Project dedicated to maps, take a look at Wikipedia:WikiProject Maps. – ukexpat (talk) 20:43, 7 January 2009 (UTC)[reply]
And see WP:EIW#Geo and WP:EIW#Map. What kind of map do you want to make? Wikipedia has an existing set of templates to make locator maps. See the documentation under {{Location map start}}. --Teratornis (talk) 23:39, 7 January 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Subcategories[edit]

Hello, I was looking at the category SVG maps of China and it says it is a category of Maps of China but under the Maps of China category it doesn't come up at the top of the page with other "subcategories". Why is this? I was going to go and move all the SVG maps in the Maps of China category to the SVG category, but I don't want to mess anything up... TastyCakes (talk) 21:04, 7 January 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Click "next 200" on commons:Category:Maps of China to see the subcategory. PrimeHunter (talk) 21:50, 7 January 2009 (UTC)[reply]
  1. ^ XXX
  2. ^ XXX
  3. ^ XXX
  4. ^ XXX
  5. ^ XXX
  6. ^ XXX
  7. ^ XXX
  8. ^ XXX
  9. ^ XXX
  10. ^ XXX
  11. ^ XXX
  12. ^ XXX
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