Wikipedia:Help desk/Archives/2011 March 11

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March 11

Deletion of Gabriel Weinberg

After I spent time creating an article on Gabriel Weinberg, one of your editors deleted it without warning. I am still not sure why they deleted it and am extremely disgusted by their rude actions. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Davemcd12 (talk • contribs) 00:37, 11 March 2011 (UTC)

Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Gabriel Weinberg may be of interest to you. Was deleted mainly because of notability issues. I can't read the article itself, but it seems to be a legitimate deletion, nothing rude about it. See WP:A7 and WP:G6 for some explanations. Why does this disgust you? The article was deleted for legitimate reasons, and if this act disgusts you perhaps Wikipedia is not the place for you. What interests do you have in seeing such an article created anyway? Rehevkor ✉ 00:45, 11 March 2011 (UTC)

It's a legitimate complaint. Enticing new users to create articles so we can delete them contradicts the spirit of WP:BITE, and wastes everybody's time. The Wikipedia user interface does not do enough to warn the new user that he or she is marching into a minefield when creating a new article. The new user often has no idea that article deletion is a sizable industry here; has probably never heard of WP:CSD, WP:NOT, and WP:AFD; and has no clue about the need to verify article claims and demonstrate notability with reliable published sources in footnote citations. We already have articles for many obviously notable topics, so it's getting progressively less likely for a brand-new user to pick a new topic that has a snowball's chance. Realistically, how much editing skill does a person need to acquire to create new articles that stick? I'd guess six months and 1000 edits to existing articles might be a reasonable benchmark. It would help to compile statistics on the editing experience of people who started articles that later got deleted. At a minimum, the software ought to report those statistics when the new user tries to create a new article. Something like "Warning: you have accumulated 53 edits under this account. Statistics show a 55% deletion rate for new articles created by other editors with the same edit count. You should consider requesting an article instead, or ask for advice on the Help desk." --Teratornis (talk) 04:50, 11 March 2011 (UTC)

Also see Wikipedia:Why was my article deleted?. --Teratornis (talk) 04:53, 11 March 2011 (UTC)

The incarnation deleted by the AfD was created by User:Ddonald99. You seem to have a similar username and a similar attitude problem. You aren’t a sockpuppet are you? —teb728 t c 07:03, 11 March 2011 (UTC)

Please fix my user name

When I created my account I managed to submit it with a typo in the name, so it appears as "Michae_lMcClary" rather than "Michael_McClary". The account creation software won't let me create another new one with the corrected spacing because it's "too close to an existing account". Could the administrators please either correct it for me or purge it completely so that I can create a corrected one? Thanks. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Michae lMcClary (talk • contribs) 02:17, 11 March 2011 (UTC)

If you go to Wikipedia:Changing username/Simple, they should be able to take care of you. --Floquenbeam (talk) 02:21, 11 March 2011 (UTC)

A few things I need to discuss

1. Is the article I've created about little know actress Alexandra_Powers a stub anymore? 2. Is is OK to write a summary about a short novel called More Than Weird by little known author Martyn_Godfrey? 3. Could someone edit the Martyn_Godfrey article? 4. I think Star Trek actor Max_Grodénchik might be of Russian-Jewish descent. Should I ADD THAT IN HIS ARTICLE? 5. I have a clue about Sailor_moon character's Sailor_Pluto and Chibiusa age in the manga. Sailor_Pluto drink wine in the manga hers's proof: http://www.minimanga.com/~eminblack/sailormoonsnipits/images/pluto/setsu.jpg and the drinking age in Japan is 20. So Setsuna in the manga is at least 20. Chibiusa goes through several different designs in the manga as she grows up, but she's almost always wearing some school uniform or another. She's also unusually short for her age, a point that you notice when she hangs around with anyone from her class. When Chibiusa first shows up she's in fourth grade at Juuban Elementary. During the Death Buster's arc she's elected class president of the fifth grade, and at the beginning of the Galaxia arc she and Hotaru are both in sixth grade (classes 1 and 3, respectively). I got that info from this webpage: http://www.chibimoon.net/mangaforms.html Is it a good idea to add that info on Chibiusa and Sailor_Pluto page? Thanks! Neptunekh2 (talk) 07:59, 11 March 2011 (UTC)

1. No, it's not a stub. See WP:STUB
2. Is it notable per WP:NBOOK? Answer that and you'll have your answer.
3. Could someone? Yes.
4. Not unless you have a reliable source.
5. I have no idea what you're talking about, so I'll leave that to someone else. Dismas|^(talk) 08:04, 11 March 2011 (UTC)

5 - Your conclusion that Pluto is 20 years old will probably get reverted or at least challenged. Reason: one cannot know if the drinking age in a fictitious Japan is 20, too. Just food for thoughts. - (User.0.0.0.1) 10:17, 11 March 2011 (UTC)

I don't know anything about no 5, but I know that Wikipedia does not accept original research, which is what your idea is. --ColinFine (talk) 16:44, 11 March 2011 (UTC)

Request for Comment assitance

At Wikipedia_talk:Wiki_Guides#We_have_met_the_enemy_and_they_is_us five frc have been drafted and are currently sitting with little to no input. My RFC setup history is a little hazy, and the five RFCs in question - Wikipedia:Wiki Guides/Draft RfC:Allow IP editors to create articles, Wikipedia:Wiki Guides/Draft RfC:Change CSD to userspace draft, Wikipedia:Wiki Guides/Draft RfC:Minimize talk page templates, Wikipedia:Wiki Guides/Draft RfC:Allow socializing, and Wikipedia:Wiki Guides/Draft RfC:Welcome new users - have suffered somewhat since the cluster of users watching them have little experience in this field as well. On behalf of myself, Hydroxonium (talk · contribs), and Cjmclark (talk · contribs), could I trouble someone here for help in getting these finished and up (however that may be accomplished) so we could get the feedback we seek on the matters brought up? TomStar81 (Talk) 07:35, 11 March 2011 (UTC)

I should have done this a while ago. I'll clean them up and put them out in to the community for comment. - Hydroxonium (talk) 07:50, 11 March 2011 (UTC)

 Done - Well, most of them. One is waiting on input. - Hydroxonium (talk) 09:55, 11 March 2011 (UTC)

Please help with export!

hello,

I want to export User:GreatOrangePumpkin/Sandbox16 to List of channels on Zattoo. I red Help:Export, saved it as a xml.-file but what should I do now? It says "Now you can use this XML file to perform an import.", and that's everything. Please help me with it. Sad there are no such thing like WP:Request for page exportation, but WP:RFPI. Thank you.--♫Greatorangepumpkin♫T 10:22, 11 March 2011 (UTC)

Why not use copy+paste to merge your rewritten sections into the main article? I don't understand why you need any complicated tools for this. -- John of Reading (talk) 10:41, 11 March 2011 (UTC)

Agreed, it should be fine as long as you attribute one of the edits to dashbot in the edit summary or talk page. Kayau Voting IS evil

... I need to export the history too; I am not stupid not thinking about C&P...--♫Greatorangepumpkin♫T 10:47, 11 March 2011 (UTC)

From Special:Import:

The action you have requested is limited to users in one of the groups: Administrators, Impoters, Transwiki importers.

Perhaps that's why you can't do it? In any case, why wouldn't attribution on the talk page suffice? Kayau Voting IS evil 10:53, 11 March 2011 (UTC)

I wrote to User:RobLa, the only importer on Wikipedia. --♫Greatorangepumpkin♫T 11:03, 11 March 2011 (UTC)

Do you really want your 300 sandbox edits to be listed separately in the article history? -- John of Reading (talk) 11:08, 11 March 2011 (UTC)

(edit conflict)Sure. Want to nominate it to FL; I would be top in the list of the contributions. I would fail with only one edit.--♫Greatorangepumpkin♫T 11:47, 11 March 2011 (UTC)

@GOP: You could ask an admin... Kayau Voting IS evil 11:15, 11 March 2011 (UTC)

Agree John. 300 essentally mundane edits all from GOP. Don't see why the history needs to be merged as well, when the article is the same as except you've cleaned it up. C&P rewrite or merged from would do. KnowIG (talk) 11:42, 11 March 2011 (UTC)

(edit conflict) I had asked a bureaucrat, no answer as yet. I don't feel that they will help me like someone with the special user right "importer". I have no fun to wait long, so contacting him was the right decision. Regards.--♫Greatorangepumpkin♫T 11:47, 11 March 2011 (UTC)

Export+Import also seems like an odd process to me. Wouldn't a history merge suffice? PrimeHunter (talk) 13:28, 11 March 2011 (UTC)

I'm not sure I understand - exporting is a process used to move material between two different Mediawiki wikis, as far as I know. Your source and destination both appear to be on the English Wikipedia, so you don't need to export anything, and a history merge, as PrimeHunter suggests, or a copy/paste with attribution would be the usual means of doing what you want, I think. --Kateshortforbob _talk 13:41, 11 March 2011 (UTC)

The import feature can be used to combine page histories. I know because I made a real mess of it on Wikibooks a while ago. :) I think it's simpler than a histmerge; even though I've never done one before it looks complicated. Which is not to say that import is preferred over histmerge on WP... Kayau Voting IS evil 13:43, 11 March 2011 (UTC)

can I copy and paste any part of Wikipedia and can I make changes i.e. turn the "Blue" link words into plain text?

Answer in plain english please don't understand some of the tec terms used. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 217.34.33.229 (talk) 12:10, 11 March 2011 (UTC)

You can copy and past from Wikipedia as long as you abide to the rules in WP:CC-BY-SA. To delink a word, remove the square brackets around it, so [[Wikipedia]] becomes Wikipedia Regards Kayau Voting IS evil 12:14, 11 March 2011 (UTC)

Small infobox presentation issue

Hello, I'm having just a small problem with size in an infobox here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ghostface_(Scream)

I'm not sure how but I want to expand the width of the first column there, the one that features labels like "Created by" so it more like the one here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Myers_(Halloween)

I've studied them both but cannot see why the Michael Myers one has more even spacing but the Ghostface one remains squashed.

Thanks for readingDarkwarriorblake (talk) 13:26, 11 March 2011 (UTC)

I've switched between the two a few times now and the spacing looks identical. Maybe this has something to do with your screen resolution and size. It might be helpful to post a screenshot of the two so we can see what you're seeing (but leave out the fair use images).--Fuhghettaboutit (talk) 13:45, 11 March 2011 (UTC)

This is how I see it, The one on the right is the Ghostface info, the left Michael Myers. To me at least, the Ghostface labels are squashed up compared to the Michael ones.

http://img836.imageshack.us/img836/5627/27871707.jpg

EDIT: Note that Signature Weapon is on one line in the Michael box.Darkwarriorblake (talk) 13:56, 11 March 2011 (UTC)

I don't see it even in the screenshot. I even went as far as enlarging the image to maximum size and then using an implement to grossly measure the spacing and it appears the same. The two pages use the same type of infoboxes, with identical width and font sizes so it's not that. Are you sure it's not just an optical illusion? Try also increasing to large size and then looking at the space between the J in John Carpenter and the D in Debra Hill and then compare it to the W in Wes Craven and K in Kevin.--Fuhghettaboutit (talk) 23:23, 11 March 2011 (UTC)

I'm very confused there, maybe you're misunderstanding what it is I'm asking. Look at "Signature Weapon" for example, in the left one, its on a single line, in the right it's on two lines. Or "Classification", the gap between that and the text is significantly wider in the left pic than it is on the right. I know I'm seeing it right because its a picture, it cant be a browser issue. Here, this might explain better, notice that even though they are the same width, the red line is significantly further to the left in the bottom infobox. http://img846.imageshack.us/img846/2695/92408579.jpg Darkwarriorblake (talk) 23:56, 11 March 2011 (UTC)

You're not confused. I was. Something about "squashed" makes me think vertically. Anyway the horizontal issue was that the modus operandi entry, being long enough to wrap, moved the entire alignment closer to the descriptors. I put a break in the middle of that sentence and the whole alignment moved out. Sorry for being dense. Does it look better to you?--Fuhghettaboutit (talk) 01:06, 12 March 2011 (UTC)

Yes it does, thank you very much Darkwarriorblake (talk) 01:25, 12 March 2011 (UTC)

This category was deleted for some reason

Could someone please bring back this category that was deleted from some reason List_of_post-Ellen_American_television_episodes_with_LGBT_themes Thanks! Neptunekh2 (talk) 14:26, 11 March 2011 (UTC)

It was deleted due to the discussion here. If you want it back (which in my opinion will not happen), you can take up your argument at Wikipedia:Deletion review. Dismas|^(talk) 14:32, 11 March 2011 (UTC)

It was a list and not a category. It was restored in order to be moved to User:Otto4711/List of post-Ellen American television episodes with LGBT themes. PrimeHunter (talk) 17:22, 11 March 2011 (UTC)

Insomnia

Hi my name is raymond and i've been awake for almost 3 days now because every time i lay down my skin feels like i'm being stuck with tacks. I'm ok during the day with lotions and over the counter treatments. I've used the doctors steroids for many years, but i'm left with white, blothy scars. I have Atopic Dermatitis that never seems to go away. Please help i need to sleep. so tired. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 74.37.157.216 (talk) 14:30, 11 March 2011 (UTC)

Wikipedia does not give medical advice. See WP:MEDICAL. - David Biddulph (talk) 14:35, 11 March 2011 (UTC)

Account for nothing but entering future (incorrect) information tables about a reality show?

I'm dealing with America's Next Top Model, Cycle 16 and the user User:MuchBetter88. It appears that most of the edits for MuchBetter88 are for posting multiple different tables on how people get kept and sent home over the entire series including the episodes that have not been aired yet. You can see on User_talk:MuchBetter88 a number of tables, the last two are possible continuations for this season with different winners that she can cut and paste into the article. It also appears that she also did so on the previous cycle of the show. Does anyone have suggestions on templates to place on the user's talk page? This doesn't quite seem like normal vandalism and unreferenced doesn't seem quite right either. I'm also dealing with other users like this on other programs.Naraht (talk) 14:52, 11 March 2011 (UTC)

You don't need a template. If you have constructive comments to place on the user's talk page, just do it. - David Biddulph (talk) 15:00, 11 March 2011 (UTC)

Given that her talk page is taken up by sample tables, I sort of feel that a template would be more appropriate and slightly less likely to be ignore.Naraht (talk) 16:17, 11 March 2011 (UTC)

I'm a bit unclear on this. What's wrong with preemptively working up tables to make updating the live article easier? Dismas|^(talk) 15:01, 11 March 2011 (UTC)

I assumed that the concern was that this diff added results through to the end of the contest, when not many episodes have yet been screened. We presumably don't have a WP:RS to tell us whether the information for the later episodes is true or not. - David Biddulph (talk) 15:13, 11 March 2011 (UTC)

Yes, that is correct. And for many of these types of users, multiple results to the end are posted by the same user, indicating that the information is not only without RS, it is in fact incorrect.Naraht (talk) 16:17, 11 March 2011 (UTC)

atopic dermatitis

I don't know if my last page went through. I guess i should have read the directions. I have been having trouble sleeping because of my eczema. Every part of my body that is touching the bed, feels like thousands of needles sticking in me. I have cotton blankets and clothes, so i know it is not that. My skin treatments that I have found by trial and error work well during the day. but the same treatments do nothing at night. It almost seems to make things worse. I've tried the seroids from the doctors, but they have left me with many scars and i don't want any more. I watch what I eat and use non perfumed shampoos and eucerin cleansers. They help my day but nothing for my night. please help.74.37.157.216 (talk) 14:57, 11 March 2011 (UTC)

It did go through. It's two sections above this one. And we still won't answer it per WP:MEDICAL. Please, go see a doctor. Dismas|^(talk) 14:59, 11 March 2011 (UTC)

Saving named references to use in multiple pages?

Hello,

I have been editing a number of somewhat related pages and I find myself wanting to use the same references in different pages. Is there a way to create a collection of named references that I can use on any page I edit? Currently you have to create each reference for every page, and then name it for use on just that page. I'd like to have a collection of named references tied to my user account, so that for every page I go to edit, I can click on Named References and my list will be there already. Is that possible?

Thanks for your help! Dog Walking Girl (talk) 18:47, 11 March 2011 (UTC)

I don't think so. You can always give a descriptive name for the reference, and then paste it to pages that need it. That is probably the best you can get. CTJF83 18:54, 11 March 2011 (UTC)

What might be possible from looking at the references that you are doing is to create templates that connect to the appropriate USDA Plants and Jepson Plants Database locations sort of like the imdb template Template IMDb_name and then you could put that under see also. This would mean that what you would be adding might look like {{USDA_Plants|id=QUGAG2|name=Oregon white oak|Variety=Quercus garryana Douglas ex Hook. var. garryana }} and it would become a link to the right place on the USDA website with a link that looks like USDA Plants: Oregon white oak (Quercus garryana Douglas ex Hook. var. garryana). I don't know enough about plant terminology to know what you would want there, but it is a possibility.Naraht (talk) 19:17, 11 March 2011 (UTC)

Two solutions:

• You can create a bibliography page and cut and paste as needed. See User:Gadget850/Pershing bibliography.
• You can create a specific-source template. See Category:Specific-source templates and Category:Biology source templates. ---— Gadget850 (Ed) ^talk 19:57, 11 March 2011 (UTC)

OK, Thank you. These are both good suggestions, the first one for web databases like USDA Plants, and the second for journals and books. This will make things a bit easier. Dog Walking Girl (talk) 17:15, 13 March 2011 (UTC)

Looking for a template

Hi, I'm looking for a certain template to place on the user page on my now 'dusty' (i.e. I no longer use it) alternative user account, User:Chevymontecarlo_alt. I can't remember what the tag itself is, but it produces a template at the top something along the lines of 'this user is no longer active on Wikipedia'. I've tried searching but to no avail; I can't think of any suitable terms. Please help. Thanks very much. Chevymontecarlo 21:11, 11 March 2011 (UTC)

{{Retired}}? – ukexpat (talk) 21:16, 11 March 2011 (UTC)

Redirect to your current user name? CTJF83 21:20, 11 March 2011 (UTC)

Okay, thanks! Chevymontecarlo 07:09, 13 March 2011 (UTC)

My new page has not been confirmed by e-mail yet.

A few days ago I created an entry called Verisma. The first surprise was that when I login the header is 'User:Verisma' instead of just 'Verisma'. I've no idea why this has happened but I'd like to know how to correct it. Secondly after creating a fairly full page of information (using the edit facility) I saved my page, but when I subsequently try to find my page using the search facility it says it cannot find it. I can log in and go to my page since it is listed at the top right, but I, and other people cannot find it through a search. Also I was expecting a confirmation e-mail when I had got my page up and running but it hasn't come yet. This suggests that somehow I have failed to activate the page. Can you tell me how to fix this please? Many thanks. SC.Verisma (talk) 21:59, 11 March 2011 (UTC)

Your text is on your user page at User:Verisma. For it to appear in mainspace, it must be moved there. However, at the moment it is not ready to be moved as it does not cite any reliable sources demonstrating that this ensemble is notable per these guidelines. Also, your user name is probably in violation of the user name policy. – ukexpat (talk) 22:12, 11 March 2011 (UTC)

Update: the article is now at Verisma. – ukexpat (talk) 22:16, 11 March 2011 (UTC)

I'm not aware of any mechanism which will send you an email when an article is "up and running". In fact there is no such concept in Wikipedia: all articles are immediately "up and running" as soon as they are edited; but it may take some time for the indexes to catch up. --ColinFine (talk) 00:49, 12 March 2011 (UTC)

Update: article was moved and user name blocked as a spam name, and then the article was deleted. Racepacket (talk) 12:05, 14 March 2011 (UTC)

Pink Narcissus article

Hi, I tried to upload an image to the Pink Narcissus page, but I did it wrong. If possible, could someone either upload the image or tell me how to do it? I put the URL for the image on the page so you'll know which one. Thanks. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 76.179.1.199 (talk) 22:30, 11 March 2011 (UTC)

Wikipedia has to obey the laws of copyright. Your suggested image is part of this Fashion in Film page with no indication of its copyright status, so it would be too risky to upload it here. Sorry! -- John of Reading (talk) 10:01, 12 March 2011 (UTC)

Lori_Rom

Could someone please clean up the article about Lori_Rom? Thanks! Neptunekh2 (talk) 23:49, 11 March 2011 (UTC)

You could! Everyone is encouraged to help with Wikipedia. I understand not everyone wants to take on projects like that, but, remember you are encouraged to be bold on Wikipedia! --Thekmc (talk) 00:05, 12 March 2011 (UTC)