Help desk
< July 10	<< Jun \| July \| Aug >>	July 12 >

Welcome to the Wikipedia Help Desk Archives
The page you are currently viewing is an archive page. While you can leave answers for any questions shown below, please ask new questions on one of the current Help Desk pages.

July 11[edit]

Right to request another user stop posting on my talk page?[edit]

I've looked around for this but not found anything - do I have the right to request another user stop posting on my talk page? If an administrator is relaying concerns to me on my talk page but I do not like the manner in which he speaks to me and he continues after I have asked him to stop, do I have the right to request he stop talking to me and forward his concerns to a different administrator? Thanks! Some guy (talk) 02:35, 11 July 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Considering the AN/I regarding you, and other factors, it would not be advisable to ask the admin to stop posting on your page, as this could be seen as a lack of co-operation on your part (please be aware that I am not aware of the specifics of the AN/I). And provided the admin has not breached policy in his/her posts, then they're free to post on your talkpage, of course, it would be a courtesy if he/she honored your request that they stop posting, but there is no obligation on them to actually do so. If the administrator actually breach's WP:NPA or WP:CIVIL then you can report them to WP:AN/I. So the basic answer is no, as far as I understand policy you can't really stop them posting on your page, unless they make a serious breach of policy, Spitfire^Tally-ho! 08:39, 11 July 2009 (UTC)[reply]

All right, thanks. I was not clear enough in my questions, they were separate questions - what about another editor who is not an administrator? I believe I have seen other editors suggest that "User A can request that User B stop posting on User A's talk page, and if User B continues to do so this is considered harassment." I would like this clarified for future reference to avoid similar problems. Some guy (talk) 10:49, 11 July 2009 (UTC)[reply]

You can ask anyone, even an administrator, to stop posting on your talk page. However, you do not have a 'right' to restrict it. The other editor may or may not comply respecting your request in your userspace. This may create a bad impression of you though (something like you're unable to discuss you point of view properly against the raised arguments, so you are trying to avoid them). So unless it's just plain harassment or trolling (which doesn't seem to be exactly the case here), I'd advise you not to do it. Chamal ^talk 11:01, 11 July 2009 (UTC)[reply]

The Transitition To Shad Moss[edit]

While I do not like that this article consists of only a table - but why doesn't the table even work? Look like the OP copied the table right out of another article where it does work. Rmhermen (talk) 04:45, 11 July 2009 (UTC)[reply]

It contained several unclosed html tags and an unclosed wikilink. I fixed those. —teb728 t c 07:59, 11 July 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Editing during vacation[edit]

Hi. Is it correct that the only people who are able to track the locations where a user is editing from, are the Checkusers and Developers? What if I'm editing from a shared Internet location, ie. a hotel, but with Broadband access from your own laptop? Will I not be accused of sockpuppetry if edits during a short period of time are from locations outside my usual IP address? Thanks. ~A H 1^(TCU) 07:20, 11 July 2009 (UTC)[reply]

CheckUsers don't go around checking accounts without a reason—checks are run only when there is a suspicion of abusive sockpuppetry (i.e. vote stacking at AfDs, RfA/similar pattern of vandalism or PoV pushing from different accounts, etc.). If you don't engage in these activities, chances are that your account will never be checked. --59.95.105.185 (talk) 07:43, 11 July 2009 (UTC)[reply]

As I understand the Checkuser tool, they will look at the address you edited from most recently, and see if that address has ever been used to edit a different account from your established one (be aware that I don't fully understand checkuser), hope this helps Spitfire^Tally-ho! 08:47, 11 July 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Actually, the location can be seen by anyone if you know the IP. There are online tools such as this that can be used for locating an IP. However, using an account means your IP address will be invisible. Only a user with CheckUser permission will be able to find it, but as mentioned above this is only done if there's a strong reason for it. Anyway, there's no rule against the same account using a number of IP addresses to edit. If it's the same account, obviously it would be the same person wherever he's editing from (unless someone has gained unauthorized access course). BTW it's advisable to use an alternative account when editing from public computers (see WP:SOCK#LEGIT). Chamal ^talk 10:02, 11 July 2009 (UTC)[reply]

I'm using a personal laptop connecting to a public IP. Is account privacy still an issue in this case? ~A H 1^(TCU) 13:57, 11 July 2009 (UTC)[reply]

No, you should be OK. I believe Chamal N was referring to public computers like the ones in libraries or internet cafes. If you're using your own computer, it shouldn't be a problem. TN X Man 14:02, 11 July 2009 (UTC)[reply]

At the Wikipedia end, account privacy is the same for a logged-in user no matter where they are logged in from. At your end, things are different, but this has nothing to do with Wikipedia, it is a generic issue with the local network at your end. In your house, you connect to a piece of equipemt under your control, (a firewall, I hope) and thence to the Internet. On vacation, you connect to equipment under someone else's control. If you use wireless in a hotel, you may very well be connecting to someone who is pretending to be the hotel, and this person can see all of your traffic. If you are paranoid, you should only connect to Wikipedia and you should log into the secure server instead of the regular server. Then, your computer will use encryption and none of the equipment between you and the Wikipedia servers can see any ofthe contents of what you send and receive. -Arch dude (talk) 14:17, 11 July 2009 (UTC)[reply]

lebanese nationality law[edit]

Hi,

On wkipedia I have found many information about caountries such as Austria,Switzerland and Egypt that talk about the cicitzenship laws regarding the following topics/contents but I could not find any similar info about the lebanese nationality law.....I need some information on the lebanese citizenship law, that answers my questions according to the lebanese citizenship according to the following contents....

here are some website information samples: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Egyptian_Nationality_Law

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

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

Contents 1 The Code 2 Acquisition of the Citizenship 2.1 Considered Egyptians 2.2 Birth in Egypt 2.3 Birth to an Egyptian Parent 2.4 By Marriage 2.5 Naturalization 3 Loss of Egyptian Citizenship 3.1 Citizenship Forfeit 3.2 Citizenship Withdrawal 4 Resumption of Egyptian citizenship 5 Dual Citizenship 6 Recent Amendments —Preceding unsigned comment added by 212.98.136.42 (talk) 11:12, 11 July 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Hmm, it does not seem that we have an article on the Lebanese nationality law. However, this would be a great chance for you to write it! You can register an account and create the article straightaway or you can remain anonymous and submit a draft of the article to the articles for creation page. We already have some tips for first-time article writers listed here and we'd be happy to help answer any questions. TN X Man 12:28, 11 July 2009 (UTC)[reply]

INFO ON VIDA GUERRA & MARIA CHECA.[edit]

CAN SOMEONE ADD IN VIDA GUERRA BIOGRAPHY <material removed>. I WANT TO ADD A MARIA CHECA PHOTO IN HER BIOGRAPHY.HOW DO I ADD THE PHOTO? —Preceding unsigned comment added by Kyle1976 (talk • contribs) 13:11, 11 July 2009 (UTC)[reply]

I DON'T KNOW WHAT YOU'RE TALKING ABOUT. But really, tone down the capslock abuse please. weburiedoursecretsinthegarden 13:18, 11 July 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Wikipedia loading time[edit]

The wikipedia article space seems to be loading very slowly for me. Are there any problems server side? --Drogonov (talk) 16:31, 11 July 2009 (UTC)[reply]

I'm encountering the same proplem at the moment, it happens. Chances are that yes, its a problem with the servers, but you can end any other processes that your computer is running if you want to try and speed it up (although this may not have much affect), all the best, Spitfire^Tally-ho! 16:35, 11 July 2009 (UTC)[reply]

I was getting slowness and and 503 errors for a good portion of the morning. The problems started around the time that today's Tour de France stage ended (~1500 UTC) and just ended about 30 minutes to an hour ago (~1600-1630 UTC). Xenon54 (talk) 17:09, 11 July 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Same here. It feels like dial up all over again, except all the other sites I try load much faster. Wikipedia's servers can be pretty notorious for loading slowly, so I'm not that surprised. ~ Troy (talk) 18:14, 11 July 2009 (UTC)[reply]

I think it's fair to say that they Wikipedia servers generally provide good performance given the size and income of the Wikimedia foundation. However, there are occasional outages which are normally resolved within a short time. Rjwilmsi 18:39, 11 July 2009 (UTC)[reply]

While that's true, the magnitude of English Wikipedia may still be a little much for the servers, which will cause recurring issues. Having said that, it should be resolved soon enough if there isn't too much traffic. ~ Troy (talk) 18:57, 11 July 2009 (UTC)[reply]

(EC) It just seems that there have been more outages, major ones as well as frequent smaller ones, in the recent past than before though. It still is running somewhat slow for me at the moment. --Saddhiyama (talk) 19:00, 11 July 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Vandalism?[edit]

[1] Is this guy a vandal? —SpaceFlight89 (talk) 19:59, 11 July 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Probably. I issued him a warning; if he returns to do the same sorts of edits, please report him at WP:AIV. --Jayron32.talk.say no to drama 20:14, 11 July 2009 (UTC)[reply]

If you suspect a user is commiting vandalism and their edits appear un-constructive post this on their talk page {{subst:uw-vandalism1|PageName}} ~~~~ (type in the name of the page on 'PageName'). By doing this you are telling them that their edit appears unconstructive and that test edits should be done in the sandbox. With some users by not warning them, it may lead them to continue their behaviour and not know that they are disrupting the project. I would safely say this person is vandalising and should be warned. Ottawa4ever (talk) 23:39, 11 July 2009 (UTC)[reply]

I've reverted all his edits (they were all vandalism) Cavie78 (talk) 14:19, 13 July 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Is Twitter a reliable source?[edit]

Apparently the Disney pop duo Aly & AJ have changed the name of their act to 78 Violet, and two reliable sources agree that the name is spelled with two words and an uppercase V. However, "Aly & AJ's Twitter" claims it is "78violet. No spaces. All lower case letters". Since the article has been moved repeatedly between Aly & AJ, 78violet and 78 Violet, I am keen to avoid another set of moves if it is unnecessary. So, should the Twitter source be ignored because it is not a reliable source despite it appearing to be from the girls themselves? Astronaut (talk) 20:42, 11 July 2009 (UTC)[reply]

The operative term there is "appearing to be". How do you know? And do they have an official website somewhere? Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots 20:54, 11 July 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Anyone can claim to be someone who they aren't, so an ostensible "appearance" will not be sufficient. If the source is not verifiable, it has no place here. ~ Troy (talk) 20:56, 11 July 2009 (UTC)[reply]

If they have an official website and they say "our twitter site is such-and-such", that would presumably be reliable. But presumably their official site would also have the group's correct name, rendering the twitter issue irrelevant in this case. Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots 20:59, 11 July 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Well, the latest news on their Official site is from June 25 whilst the Twitter is from July 8. I think I'll sit on it for a while and see what news comes in the next few days; but if the editor who asked me to move it all to 78violet wants to do it himself, then I won't revert for now. Astronaut (talk) 23:24, 11 July 2009 (UTC)[reply]

http://www.alyandaj.com/?em18=717_-1__0_~0_-1_7_2009_0_0&content=news says it's their twitter site. PrimeHunter (talk) 23:30, 11 July 2009 (UTC)[reply]

If it actually is the girls submitting the tweets, then they could have just typed it with lower case and no space for the sake of not having to use the shift or space keys on their mobile device. They have marketing people to worry about how it's spelled in articles, on banners, t-shirts, etc. I'd use the article's (reliable sources) spelling for now. see below for reasons for the strike out. Dismas|^(talk) 23:40, 11 July 2009 (UTC)[reply]

The tweet linked is very specific: "78violet. No spaces. All lower case letters." Algebraist 23:45, 11 July 2009 (UTC)[reply]

I haven't a clue about those two, and have no idea what "78 Violet" refers to. Is it possible that both are correct? The Chicago Blackhawks were alternately known as the Black Hawks for many decades, even in their own publications, before finally settling on Blackhawks. Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots 23:39, 11 July 2009 (UTC)[reply]

As said above anyone can claim to be whoever on twitter. However there might be another reaosn for it, twitter has a maximum character count of 128 i think so it quite possible if they are the people in question they are jsut cutting the twitter for more space to twitter so to say--Andy (talk - contrib) 23:45, 11 July 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Have you actually read the tweet cited? Or even the excerpt quoted by Astronaut above? Algebraist 23:46, 11 July 2009 (UTC)[reply]

My apologies. I retract my previous point. Dismas|^(talk) 23:50, 11 July 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Interestingly, however, it appears that there is Twitter verification of some more prominent accounts precisely in order to avoid problems with impersonation.[2]. Aly and AJ's has been, it appears [3]. I'd not seen this discussion, but based on this verification, and some borderline reliable sources that are now also using the spelling on googlenews, I have moved the article to the spaceless version. --Slp1 (talk) 19:39, 12 July 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Template help[edit]

What does "{{refer}}" do? Clarityfiend (talk) 21:40, 11 July 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Looks like its intended to be a shortcut for use on disambig pages, for example: Joypad uses it, all the best Spitfire^Tally-ho! 21:45, 11 July 2009 (UTC)[reply]

(e/c) It's for disambiguation pages. It takes the name of whatever page it is on and places "NAME may refer to". Check out Magnesium iron silicate hydroxide, for example, where it is in use to generate the first line. By the way, I have always found that finding out what a template does is easily done by clicking on what links here and then seeing the manner in which the pages that are found are using the template. Cheers.--Fuhghettaboutit (talk) 21:49, 11 July 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Back to the Future III[edit]

Where did they film Back to the Future III? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 68.2.115.214 (talk) 22:46, 11 July 2009 (UTC)[reply]

You might find what you are looking for in the article about Back to the Future III. If you cannot find the answer there, you can try asking your question at Wikipedia's Reference Desk. They specialize in knowledge questions and will try to answer just about any question in the universe (except about how to use Wikipedia, which is what this help desk is for). I hope this helps. Algebraist 22:48, 11 July 2009 (UTC)[reply]