Wikipedia:Help desk/Archives/2010 March 14

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March 14[edit]

Assistance with creating an account and error made[edit]

Hi,

I added an article to Wikipedia travel page under heading of SLEEP. There was one other property her: Merimbula Motor Lodge. Anyway, I manage to enter article correctly, then went back through edit to make a small change. Believe I tried to underline a word. I am not sure what I did or why or how it happened, but when I 'saved' I discovered that both the Merimbula Lodge article and what I had typed in as 'Capri Apartments'were NOT as they were previously - appearance is now totally different and can only read a small portion of both articles. Sorry, I do not know how to fix: can you help me? Also, I tried to create an account without success: kept coming up with error message saying ....no such name. Can you please explain how I create an account/log in? Sorry to be a pest!

Sincerely,

Jennie Knight Capri Apartments Merimbula <email redacted> —Preceding unsigned comment added by 203.33.165.63 (talk) 02:00, 14 March 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Go to Special:UserLogin to create a account. DES (talk) 02:12, 14 March 2010 (UTC)[reply]
In response to your first question, I can't find the page you're referring to. The only edit made from your IP address 203.33.165.63 is to ask these questions, so your IP address must've changed since you made those changes. What is the exact title of the article you edited? If you can, please create an internal link to the article by adding [[ and ]] around the title. For example adding [[Article]] creates Article. Thanks! --Mysdaao talk 02:37, 14 March 2010 (UTC)[reply]
I can't find the article either. I found Merimbula, New South Wales but nothing on a search for "Merimbula Lodge". DES (talk) 02:46, 14 March 2010 (UTC)[reply]
found it http://wikitravel.org/en/Merimbula#Buy that is on wiki travel, which is not part of wikipedia. i fixed the formatting error. DES (talk) 02:56, 14 March 2010 (UTC)[reply]
Click the "Create one" link at Special:UserLogin to create a Wikipedia account. Wikitravel and Wikipedia use the same software but are unrelated sites and not run by the same organization. There are lots of wikis. PrimeHunter (talk) 03:02, 14 March 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Subcategory[edit]

Resolved
 –  – ukexpat (talk) 19:18, 15 March 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Why isn't Category:Films set on an airplane showing up as a subcategory of Category:Aviation films? I thought the Seealsocat template might have been responsible, but taking it out had no effect. Clarityfiend (talk) 03:33, 14 March 2010 (UTC)[reply]

I see it. Did you click "next 200" to get to subcategories starting with F? PrimeHunter (talk) 03:36, 14 March 2010 (UTC)[reply]
Hah! I thought subcategories were all lumped together on the first page. Thanks. Clarityfiend (talk) 03:55, 14 March 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Mechanics of adding a comment to help improve a Wikipedia article[edit]

How do I get to a place,page, or window within Wikipedia which allows me to type in, and then post, a comment on a particular Wikipedia article intended to help improve it? (I have created an IP account under my nom de plume with which I'm signing this post.) There is a space under the article which can be called up by clicking Discussion, and that space already contains several such comments by other people. But I'm 'hanged' if I can find any way or route which enables me to add my own comment. Any help on this, much appreciated - and (within reasonable limits) the more detailed and step-by-step the advice, the better. James No Blames 14 March 2010 —Preceding unsigned comment added by James No Blames (talkcontribs) 12:53, 14 March 2010 (UTC)[reply]

At the top of the discussion page you mention (known as a "talk page") there is a tab labeled "new section". Click this tab, fill in a title in the "Subject/headline" box, and then type your message in the large box. Please consider reading the talk page guidelines before posting. Xenon54 / talk / 13:12, 14 March 2010 (UTC)[reply]
(edit conflict) If it's unrelated to the existing comments then click the "new section" tab at the top (it may be a link placed elsewhere or say "+" instead if you have changed preferences for your account). A few talk pages are protected and will not have the link for a new user like you. Which article is it? See more at Help:Talk page. PrimeHunter (talk) 13:13, 14 March 2010 (UTC)[reply]
And a useful tip: to sign your comments quickly and easily on a talk page and produce a timestamp, just type four tildes after your comment like this: ~~~~ and the software will sign and date your contribution for you. Don't sign your contributions to actual articles, though. Karenjc 16:26, 14 March 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Backward "R"[edit]

I noticed that the Fred Figglehorn article conains a backward "R" an was wondering how this can be made. Mr. Prez (talk) 15:53, 14 March 2010 (UTC)[reply]

See Ya (Cyrillic). You can simply copy that character, or type it (for example, using a Russian keyboard layout), or use the HTML entity. --Martynas Patasius (talk) 16:00, 14 March 2010 (UTC)[reply]
I found this method also works[1]--intraining Jack In 16:03, 14 March 2010 (UTC)[reply]
(e/c*2) Я is part of the Cyrillic alphabet, which is used to write Russian, Ukranian, Serbian and other Eastern European languages. You can get an Я in the character box under the edit window. Click the "Insert" drop-down menu and select "Cyrillic", and Я is located on the second row in the last "block" of characters. Xenon54 / talk / 16:03, 14 March 2010 (UTC)[reply]
Thanks. Mr. Prez (talk) 16:06, 14 March 2010 (UTC)[reply]
I'd just like to correct something - Я is not used by the Serbian language. Cheers! --Магьосник (talk) 20:11, 14 March 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Hi[edit]

Здравствуйте. Меня зовут Андрей. Я хочу использовать в английской Википедии. Можно ли научить меня? Я ношу подгузников много времени. Где я могу начать редактировать Wikipedia? --RealentPottage (talk) 16:20, 14 March 2010 (UTC)[reply]

http://ru.wikipedia.org Xenon54 / talk / 16:26, 14 March 2010 (UTC)[reply]
I need russian speaker on this website please? --RealentPottage (talk) 16:32, 14 March 2010 (UTC)[reply]
Пожалуйста, прочитайте Wikipedia:Tutorial (Википедия: Учебник), и вы также можете прочитать Wikipedia:Welcoming committee/Welcome to Wikipedia (Википедия: приветствуя комитета/Добро пожаловать в Википедию). Однако, если вы не понимаете по-английски, это будет очень трудным для редактирования в английской Википедии. Вместо этого попробуйте Русская Википедия которые здесь, как другой человек говорил выше. Я сделал эту должность с помощью программы перевода компьютера, и я надеюсь, что это не слишком искажены. удачи.--Fuhghettaboutit (talk) 16:53, 14 March 2010 (UTC)[reply]

WMRO-AM Radio, Gallatin, TN[edit]

To: Jimmy Wales:

The information on WMRO Radio, is somewhat wrong. I ask that you correct some of the information, due to it is killing my business. First thing, the station is on the air, 24/7. The wrong log is on the page. The Logo has changed.

You may reach me at <tel# and email removed>

Please help this little business out! Thanks for your time.

Scott Bailey Owner/Operator WMRO Radio, Gallatin, TN —Preceding unsigned comment added by 65.13.241.254 (talk) 16:36, 14 March 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Hello Scott. Jimmy Wales probably doesn't look at this page (he might - who knows?) Many volunteer editors look at this page, to answer questions.
You can edit the page, just as you did this page, to remove any errors. You should be aware that editing an article you are closely associated with is frowned on, as you are likely to have a conflict of interest; but removing incorrect, unsourced information from the article will certainly be acceptable. If you were tempted to add material (especially if it is not sourced by an independant reliable source, that would be more problematical, and you would be better advised to post on the article's talk page, saying what you think should be added (with references), so that an uninvolved editor can add it. --ColinFine (talk) 18:56, 14 March 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Instructor wanted[edit]

Quesiton:

How can I find an instructor (for pay) to show me step-by-step how to upload an article on Wikipedia? and other functions fo Wikipedia? —Preceding unsigned comment added by Taghzieh (talkcontribs) 17:37, 14 March 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Hello Taghzieh. I don't know where you can find somebody who would want paying. If you go to WP:Adopt-a-User, you'll see how you can put out a request for a volunteer Mentor. Perhaps one of them would be happy to be paid! --ColinFine (talk) 18:59, 14 March 2010 (UTC)[reply]
Wikipedia is -- and always will be -- free. You will never need to pay an instructor. I recommend you take a look at the tutorial or the missing manual, which is literally the a book on Wikipedia. Xenon54 / talk / 19:11, 14 March 2010 (UTC)[reply]
Also, we generally don't "upload" articles, we edit them. "Uploading" refers to content created elsewhere, such as images. It is permissible to upload text content from another source only if that source is free content. Otherwise, the text we add to Wikipedia is in our own words. See Idea-expression divide. What content do you want to add on Wikipedia? Be aware that Wikipedia does not want most knowledge, only a particular subset of it. Many people come to Wikipedia with wrong ideas about what is allowed here. --Teratornis (talk) 20:50, 14 March 2010 (UTC)[reply]
The only "upload" of an article would be to write it in plain text on Notepad and then create-and-paste. That's not really necessary, as you can do that within a newly-created article, provided you remember to scan-and-copy before you hit "save", in case the site wacks out. ←Baseball Bugs What's up, Doc? carrots→ 21:20, 14 March 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Login question[edit]

Hello Wikipedia staff,

The Log in says I have an account but says the User name is already established, but will not direct me on how if so do I get or change my password to it.

Please Help, <e-mail redacted> ```` —Preceding unsigned comment added by 174.44.225.100 (talk) 20:24, 14 March 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Maybe you chose a user ID that someone else had already set up. Try going to that user page and see if anything is there already. ←Baseball Bugs What's up, Doc? carrots→ 21:25, 14 March 2010 (UTC)[reply]
What is the username? PrimeHunter (talk) 00:25, 15 March 2010 (UTC)[reply]
  1. ^ Insert footnote text here