Help desk
< March 2	<< Feb \| March \| Apr >>	March 4 >

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.

March 3

Reverting Updated Information

Hello,

I would like to update the Vancouver Convention Centre page with recent facts. Included in this update is the recent LEED Platinum awarding which has been circulating throughout the industry and is even mentioned on the official website (www.vancouverconventioncentre.com), but is not mentioned in the Wikipedia page. I've tried to update it before but the creator of the page will not allow me and I've tried in vain to contact this person. He/She has not been answering any of my messages on their talk page. If you could let me know if there is a way I can do this, it would be greatly appreciated.

Wikipedia article: Vancouver Convention Centre Wiki-user: Emarsee

Thanks, Saminoske (talk) 00:25, 3 March 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Well, whoever the creator of the article is, they should not by any means be trying to prevent you from editing it. Are you making this update but the creator is undoing it? Who is the creator anyway? Mr. Prez (talk) 00:30, 3 March 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Actually, there are certain situations where you should not be editing an article in the first place. This is one of these situations. You stated on User talk:Emarsee that you work for the centre; this most certainly means you have a conflict of interest. After inspecting your edits it appears they also do not adhere to Wikipedia's policy requiring a neutral point of view for all articles. Your edits portray the centre in an unduly positive light, because of your conflict of interest. Please consider reading Wikipedia:Business FAQ. Xenon54 / talk / 01:03, 3 March 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Post natal depression PPD

You article is unbalanced and as such, dangerous. The emphasis on evolutionary basis and insecurity of the newborn will exacerabate PPD in anyone who has it, Find a health professional to do a balanced article, focussing on the symptoms and the need to get help. It's not about unsubstantiated scientific hypotheses. It's about the millions of women who will log on looking for reassurance, but will find that they are "inadequate mothers who don't want their children". WRONG, DUMB, IRRESPONSIBLE. And not good for the husbands either. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 121.209.87.234 (talk) 04:26, 3 March 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Hello. I suspect, based on your question, that you found one of our roughly three million articles, and thought that we were directly affiliated in some way with that subject. Please note that you are at Wikipedia, the free online encyclopedia that anyone can edit, and this page is a help desk for asking questions related to using the encyclopedia. Thus, we have no inside track on the subject of your question. You can, however, search our vast catalogue of articles by typing a subject into the search field on the left hand side of your screen. If you cannot find what you are looking for, we have a reference desk, divided into various subject areas, where asking knowledge questions is welcome. Best of luck. –turian^{обсудить} 04:29, 3 March 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Turian, I don't think this question was astray. It was a comment specifically about the Wikipedia article, and this is an acceptable place to raise concerns like this. Gonzonoir (talk) 09:18, 3 March 2010 (UTC)[reply]

This page is only for questions about how to use Wikipedia. The appropriate place would be the article's talk page. –Turian (talk) 16:44, 3 March 2010 (UTC)[reply]

{{Astray}} (which I created) even if this question was not appropriate for the held desk, would not be a correct usage. Astray is for questions where the person asking apparently misunderstands where they are or how we are related to the subject of an article, thinking that we were linked directly with the subject, rather than an encyclopedia where an entry on the subject appears (a misplaced general knowledge question would not take astray, it would take one of the {{RD}} templates). Second, "only for using Wikipedia" has always been meant and interpreted broadly to encompass encyclopedia related issues, mostly to distinguish from general help issues, i.e., questions that belong at the reference desk.--Fuhghettaboutit (talk) 17:07, 3 March 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Hi. Please read Wikipedia is a work in progress. If you have the expertise to make postpartum depression better, please be bold and do so. Note that we ask that when people contribute they attempt to cite to reliable sources which verifies the information they add. Especially articles which are not well sourced are often unbalanced and unreliable. Most people already know this about Wikipedia to some extent (while at the same time not understanding how to recognize whether an article is more likely to be reliable by looking at the sourcing). The article in question has multiple tags on it flagging that it is unreferenced which should give most people some idea as to how we feel about its reliability. Again, the best way to fix a problem you find is to roll up YOUR sleeves and get to work.--Fuhghettaboutit (talk) 05:23, 3 March 2010 (UTC)[reply]

I am not a big fan of the "slap a maintenance tag on it" school of Wikipedia editing, but I've done just that on this article because I agree that it is horribly unreferenced at the moment and I think it is a good idea to make that quite clear to readers. (What I know about postnatal depression would fit on a Femodene pill, so I think this could do with the help of knowledgeable editors.) I've alerted the two Wikiprojects associated with the article as well, and have queried Wikiproject Medicine's assessment of the article as B class. With that many totally uncited sections I don't think it can possibly meet that standard. Gonzonoir (talk) 10:04, 3 March 2010 (UTC)[reply]

(Outdent) I have deleted the worst paragraph, more work needs done to that section and as noted the whole article actually. See discussion here for more information.Wikipedia_talk:WikiProject_Medicine#Postpartum_depression. To the ip editor who first raised this problem, I would recommend be bold and edit the page. I have sent you a welcome message with more information on how to contribute to the encyclopedia, the encylopedia that anyone can edit. :)--Literaturegeek | T@1k? 13:25, 3 March 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Where is a good place to let editors know about a new template I created?

Resolved

– - here at least, discussion continues at Wikipedia:Village pump (miscellaneous). – ukexpat (talk) 19:19, 3 March 2010 (UTC)[reply]

I just want to spread the word about a new template that I created, {{down arrow}}. You use it in the lead, to indicate the specific section in the body where the material will get greater coverage. I've tested it at Morse v. Frederick and Callisto and Roe v. Wade and sun, and I am hoping it catches on. Andrew Gradman ^talk/_WP:Hornbook 06:13, 3 March 2010 (UTC)[reply]

This should have been discussed before being implemented, since this introduces a major change to the appearance of our articles. If this is adopted, it would mean having to change the MOS guideline for lead sections. Perhaps you should discuss this at Wikipedia:Village pump (proposals), with a link to the discussion from Wikipedia talk:Lead section. ≈ Chamal ^talk ¤ 07:32, 3 March 2010 (UTC)[reply]

OK. I reverted the changes and have started a threat at village pump (misc). Andrew Gradman ^talk/_WP:Hornbook 08:15, 3 March 2010 (UTC)[reply]

basic template query.

Resolved

– figured it out myself. {{#if:{{{argument}}}| output if argument is not empty | output if argument is empty.}} Andrew Gradman ^talk/_WP:Hornbook 20:25, 3 March 2010 (UTC)[reply]

I would like {{myTemplate|X}} to render as [[#X|⬇]], and {{myTemplate|X|Y}} to render as [[#X|Y⬇]]. How would I code that?

Thanks. Andrew Gradman ^talk/_WP:Hornbook 08:40, 3 March 2010 (UTC)[reply]

For {{myTemplate|X}}, you can simply use [[#{{{1}}}|↓]]

For {{myTemplate|X|Y}}, you can use [[#{{{1}}}|{{{2}}} ↓]]

≈ Chamal ^talk ¤ 09:01, 3 March 2010 (UTC)[reply]

But how do I create one template that does both. I assumed it would include an #IF. Andrew Gradman ^talk/_WP:Hornbook 14:35, 3 March 2010 (UTC)[reply]

my suggestion

when i look up some items,i found there are some template box that include the similar items in the bottom of the page. that is a great idea. but why don't you put some time lines to sort these items. for example the word "VXI",which is a computer bus standard (desktop),there are also some bus standard in the template box like PCI PCI-Express etc. if you provide a time line of the invent years of these standards,that would be easy to sort and clear to understand the before and after relationship.

so far ,thank you all for providing us a great web site,which, i think can be written in human history. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 125.33.172.31 (talk) 09:41, 3 March 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks for your suggestions. Wikipedia is made by volunteer editors, ordinary people like you, Please, be bold and make any changes to articles that you think appropriate. --Beloved Freak 17:15, 3 March 2010 (UTC)[reply]

The suggestion is about a navigation template (called a navbox) Template:Computer bus. See Wikipedia:Categories, lists, and navigation templates. Navboxes are generally only for easy navigation to other articles and not additional information like invention years. That can be placed in list articles like List of computer bus interfaces. Certain navboxes, for example for annual or periodic awards and contests, may include the relevant year as in Template:AcademyAwardBestPicture 1981-2000. The invention year of a product is less closely related to the products inclusion in a navbox. PrimeHunter (talk) 18:47, 3 March 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Formatting of Sydney Ferries page

Please see Sydney Ferries. On my browser (IE7) there is a large amount of white space after the first sentence, probably related to the size of the infobox on the right. I can't see how to fix this; can anyone help, please? Many thanks, --Richardrj ^talk ^email 10:29, 3 March 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Not the infobx as such. There was an image directly after the first sentence. I moved the image up to below the infobox and used {{FixBunching}} to ensure the edit links did not bunch up. Thanks for noting your browser, as it looked OK in FireFox. ---— Gadget850 (Ed) ^talk 11:23, 3 March 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Great, thanks. --Richardrj ^talk ^email 11:33, 3 March 2010 (UTC)[reply]

forgoten pasword for my fax2email account

I <name redacted> Forgot my password for my fax2email account no:<redacted>, please help me by sending it to this email address :(email address redacted)

Please —Preceding unsigned comment added by 41.246.230.235 (talk) 11:02, 3 March 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Sorry but you seem to have landed up on the wrong page. This is a page for answering questions about how to use Wikipedia. If you've lost a password, you should contact the people who gave you the account. Good luck. --Richardrj ^talk ^email 11:10, 3 March 2010 (UTC)[reply]

I have removed your personal details, and am contacting the oversight team to get these removed from the history of this page. -- PhantomSteve/talk|contribs\ 11:15, 3 March 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Deletion nomination error

Resolved

– ▒ ♪ ♫ Wifione ♫ ♪ ▒ _―Œ^{♣Łeave Ξ мessage♣} 05:29, 5 March 2010 (UTC)[reply]

I nominated Wikipedia:Please bite the newbies for deletion using Twinkle and provided a reason, but the nomination is not showing up in that pages edit history or on Miscellany for deletion. Please sort this out. Immunize (talk) 14:36, 3 March 2010 (UTC)[reply]

I'm not sure how you expect people on the help desk to sort this one out for you: the Twinkle-assisted edits didn't go through (which happens sometimes) so no-one but you knows, or can know, what your rationale was. You'll have to complete the process manually, or try renominating the page for deletion via Twinkle and delete the duplicate warning. If you've got issues with Twinkle, then see WP:TWINKLE for its known limitations and its bug-reporting system. --Bencherlite ^Talk 14:45, 3 March 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Er, yes it is and the MFD discussion is -->this way. – ukexpat (talk) 19:01, 3 March 2010 (UTC)[reply]

who do I ask to get a block removed?

title pretty much sums it up, If someone can point me in the right direction that would be great. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Throwaway93456 (talk • contribs) 16:30, 3 March 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Every block and ban message explains how to do it. See Wikipedia:Block#Unblocking. -- kainaw ™ 16:36, 3 March 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks but its not really helpful as I was also blocked from editing my talk page, this block goes back over a year ago. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Throwaway93456 (talk • contribs) 16:41, 3 March 2010 (UTC)[reply]

The instructions are at Wikipedia:Guide to appealing blocks. If your talk page is not editable, you should send the unblock request to unblock-en-l@lists.wikimedia.org. Creating this account is considered an evasion of the block. Please don't use this account for anything else. Your unblock request may be denied if you continue to use this account. --Mysdaao ^talk 16:43, 3 March 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Further, "do not use this account" also includes using IP addresses. It is simple to check which IP addresses are used by this account and match those up to posts that are made without logging in. Using an IP address to evade a block is just as bad as using an account to evade a block. -- kainaw ™ 17:06, 3 March 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Locating Move Tab

hello

I’m tyring to move a page in wiki. I started folowing the wiki instructions at:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Help:Moving_a_page#Before_moving_a_page

But am having no luck in moving my page

In particular in relation to the instructions re moving a page: The steps for moving a page are as follows:

1. With the correct page displayed, click on the "move" tab near the top of the page (in default Monobook skin)…

I cannot locate the "move" tab on my page which is the page on top of the stack at:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Contributions/AgRince

My reason for the move is:

My page is an article that has been created as a subpage of a Wikipedian's user or user talk space for development purposes and it is ready to be posted to the mainspace

I want to change the name from User:AgRince/Social Science Research on Greatness

To Social Science Research on Greatness

Any guidance much appreciated

AgRince (talk) 16:49, 3 March 2010 (UTC)[reply]

The move tab appears when your account has been autoconfirmed. That normally happens after the account is four days and old and has made at least ten edits. Are you editing through a Tor network? If so, your account will be autoconfirmed when it is 90 days old and has made at least 100 edits.

You can request that your account be confirmed by going to Wikipedia:Requests for permissions and following the instructions there. --Mysdaao ^talk 17:01, 3 March 2010 (UTC)[reply]

You can also request the move by following the instructions at Requested Move - but it takes 7 days before it will happen, you might want to consider a post at request for feedback to make sure your page will be suitable for Article space. Ronhjones ^(Talk) 20:00, 3 March 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Note that your page title does not conform to Wikipedia's guideline at WP:LOWERCASE. Also see WP:NOTWIKI and WP:LAYOUT. And be aware that most new articles by brand-new editors get deleted. It's much better to edit existing articles until you understand how Wikipedia works. It's possible for a new article by a new editor to "stick", but it's what they call a "low percentage play" in team sports. That's because Wikipedia is unlike anything most people have experienced before, so new editors almost always make incorrect first assumptions about the rules here. I certainly did. Since the article you started is already up for deletion, you should look at WP:ALTOUT and WikiIndex to find another wiki that might be more welcoming to this content. --Teratornis (talk) 22:39, 3 March 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Another way of requesting someone move the page for you is by posting at the top {{Move draft}}.--Fuhghettaboutit (talk) 01:28, 4 March 2010 (UTC)[reply]

pronunciation guides?

I'd like to see Wikipedia include (LOCAL) pronunciation guides for geographic locations that are not necessarily pronounced phonetically, such as Opequon (VA), Norfolk (VA), Gloucester (VA), Natchitoches (LA), etc. If people might mispronounce your town (or your name), please include the correct pronunciation. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 72.73.40.212 (talk) 21:10, 3 March 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Thank you for your suggestion. When you believe an article needs improvement, please feel free to make those changes. Wikipedia is a wiki, so anyone can edit almost any article by simply following the edit this page link at the top. The Wikipedia community encourages you to be bold in updating pages. Don't worry too much about making honest mistakes—they're likely to be found and corrected quickly. If you're not sure how editing works, check out how to edit a page, or use the sandbox to try out your editing skills. New contributors are always welcome. You don't even need to log in (although there are many reasons why you might want to). If you have certain pages in mind that need pronunciations, I would encourage you to either edit the page or to add a comment on the talk page requesting a pronunciation. Because Wikipedia is maintained by volunteers, though, there's no guarantee that your request will be fulfilled in a timely manner (or at all, for that matter)... Calliopejen1 (talk) 21:54, 3 March 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Many articles on British towns, cities or counties already have an indication of pronounciation, see for example Gloucester, London, Norfolk, Oxford, Reading; see WP:IPA for a guide to the various symbols. It should be simple enough for something similar to be added to Opequon, Virginia; Norfolk, Virginia and Gloucester Courthouse, Virginia (I note that Natchitoches, Louisiana already has it). I would prefer not to do so myself, since I am British, living in England and would certainly get the pronounciation wrong. If you are unsure as to the best course, it might be an idea if you were to bring up the subject at Wikipedia talk:WikiProject Virginia. --Redrose64 (talk) 22:22, 3 March 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Article categorization.

I just began using HotCat, and I just wanted to ensure that my categorizations of pages were correct-for instance adding Leukocytosis to Category:hematopathology. A reply would be greatly appreciated. Immunize (talk)

As a technical matter, you added the category successfully. As to whether the categorization is substantively correct, you're probably better off asking at Wikipedia:WikiProject Medicine. Calliopejen1 (talk) 21:51, 3 March 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Searching

What has happened to Wikipedia? Not very user-friendly, anymore. I can't find a "search" option, without scrolling all over the place -- and then, I don't know what to do? OK, I'm 70, and I expect things to change, I just wish they'd change for the better...174.98.158.177 (talk) 22:08, 3 March 2010 (UTC)[reply]

The search box is over there on the left hand side of the page, just above the "Go" and "Search" buttons... – ukexpat (talk) 22:12, 3 March 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Wikipedia has no one single appearance. How Wikipedia looks to you depends on several factors, such as whether you have logged in to Wikipedia (and possibly customized Wikipedia's appearance), and whether you have enabled JavaScript in your Web browser. See Wikipedia:Browser notes. You can see some examples of how Wikipedia appears in various browsers in Commons:Category:Wikipedia screenshots. --Teratornis (talk) 22:28, 3 March 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Not allowing me to edit a page

Resolved

– ▒ ♪ ♫ Wifione ♫ ♪ ▒ _―Œ^{♣Łeave Ξ мessage♣} 05:36, 5 March 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Hi there

This is my first time wanting to edit a page here - The page in question actually references to a website I own, and what I wanted to do was create a new wiki page and link to the original page. However, this wiki does not have the edit function. Can anyone tell me why this is?

Thanks —Preceding unsigned comment added by Passpok (talk • contribs) 22:35, 3 March 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Go to the very top of the page, and you should see a tab that says "edit". If you want to edit a section, go to the section, and you should see an [edit] tab on the far right if the section header. Hope this helps, --The High Fin Sperm Whale 22:41, 3 March 2010 (UTC)[reply]

(edit conflict) Since you didn't tell us the page title, we can only guess what the problem might be. Maybe the page might be protected from editing by users who are not yet autoconfirmed. Also, it is unwise for new users to create new Wikipedia articles. In most cases they get deleted, because very few new users can correctly guess Wikipedia's complex rules for content. --Teratornis (talk) 22:43, 3 March 2010 (UTC)[reply]

This is the page in question i would like to edit - guessing it must be locked down http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tavi_Gevinson ? —Preceding unsigned comment added by Passpok (talk • contribs) 23:28, 3 March 2010 (UTC)[reply]

The answer is yes. Tavi Gevinson was semi-protected by User:Bearian on the 24th of January due to excessive violations of our Biography of living persons policy, in particular apparently the inclusion of personal information about a minor. While the article is semi-protected, it cannot be edited by unregistered users, or by registered users whose account is less than four days old or have fewer than ten edits. So, if you make a few contributions elsewhere (and trust me, there's always a page that needs editing) and wait until the weekend, you should be able to edit Tavi's article (although I do recommend you take a quick look at that policy I linked to make sure you know what kind of edits are ok on a biography). Confusing Manifestation(Say hi!) 23:53, 3 March 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Ah great, makes perfect sense... ill hunt around and will do some editiing... Thanks —Preceding unsigned comment added by 82.29.112.2 (talk) 19:00, 4 March 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Changed email address and password lost

Since I registered User:Vernonwhite , I have left the employer whose equipment I used to access WP and forgotten the password. Can you help me gain access to User:Vernonwhite as a User, please? I would like to check any material in draft and then delete this User. Vernon White ^{. . . Talk} 23:13, 3 March 2010 (UTC)[reply]

If I understand correctly that you've lost the password to that account, as well as access to the email linked to it, then I'm afraid there is nothing we can do. You can simply continue using this new account instead; if you want to link the two accounts, a note to that affect on the talk page of each account would do the trick. Sorry. --Floquenbeam (talk) 23:24, 3 March 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Vandalism

This user 213.166.17.2. He's doing a series of vandalism, you can do to check their history. This guy is doing profanity on the pages. I do not like, do not want him to be here. What can I do?. --Eduardofoxx13 (talk) 23:32, 3 March 2010 (UTC)[reply]

In future, it works a little more smoothly if you report vandals at WP:AIV. But I've blocked that IP address for three months as a repeatedly-blocked, nothing-but-vandalism IP. Thanks for the notice. --Floquenbeam (talk) 23:41, 3 March 2010 (UTC)[reply]

(ec) It looks like they've already been blocked (according to the notice up the top of their contributions page), but generally the correct response is (1) revert the blatant vandalism, (2) place the appropriate level of escalating warnings on their talk page, (3) if they continue to vandalise past one of the higher-level warnings, report them to WP:AIV. Confusing Manifestation(Say hi!) 23:47, 3 March 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Actually, ConMan has a point; I should have said that you should check to see that they've been warned recently, and report to WP:AIV only if vandalism is continuing after a recent high level warning. --Floquenbeam (talk) 23:51, 3 March 2010 (UTC)[reply]