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October 12[edit]

family tree coding[edit]

Hi, I am editing part of a family tree of mine that someone else put up here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Berngardovich_Struve#Partial_family_tree_of_Struve_family

I got the extra lines in but when I tried putting the names of descendants in, it didn't work. I used the same formula I did for adding Julia at the bottom, but I don't know why the next generation won't go in. Please help. Thanks, MeredithMerelinden (talk) 03:31, 12 October 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Before you make Template:Struve any larger than it is already, I think you should discuss whether the extra descendents belong there. I see that Materialscientist (talk · contribs) has asked you a question on your talk page, so I suggest you discuss it there.

If your mention of "a family tree of mine" means that you are a descendent of the Struve family, then I suspect the names you are hoping to add are unlikely to be relevant to an encyclopedia. The tree shows the links between those members of the family who are notable enough to have Wikipedia articles. -- John of Reading (talk) 07:30, 12 October 2011 (UTC)[reply]

locate[edit]

How would i beable to get in contact with The DRS.com, to ask them a question??? Big Daddy, Chuck!!! — Preceding unsigned comment added by 209.236.250.253 (talk) 04:36, 12 October 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Is this The Doctors (2008 TV series)? Wikipedia has no contact information for the show beyond what is on display in the article. The article does have a link to the show's home page, http://www.thedoctorstv.com/, which has a "Contact the Show" link at the top right. I suggest you try that. -- John of Reading (talk) 07:37, 12 October 2011 (UTC)[reply]

flocking[edit]

i'm trying to find companies which manufacture flocking equipment which is used in the spraying of nylon hair like carpeting onto a glue base electro-statically.e.g.car dashboards,door panels,toys,etc — Preceding unsigned comment added by 77.246.55.142 (talk) 06:17, 12 October 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Sorry, in case you haven't known, Wikipedia is an online encyclopedia dedicated towards providing free knowledge to everybody. We are not a directory – there's a thing called "Google", you know. Sp33dyphil © • ©

Adding new product to List of object-relational mapping software article[edit]

Dear Help Desk,

My firm has a new object-relational mapping software dbFrameIT, website http://www.dbframeit.com.

Since there is an article in wikepedia on List of object-relational mapping software, would it be considered advertising to add dbFrameIT to that list and add an article about dbFrameIT.

Thank You

76.104.27.228 (talk) 11:51, 12 October 2011 (UTC)[reply]

The subject may be considered notable if it has been mentioned in appropriate third-party sources; see WP:N. At present that does not seem to be the case. - David Biddulph (talk) 11:56, 12 October 2011 (UTC)[reply]

about the article "Macedonians_(ethnic_group)"[edit]

The whole article is based on a fake fact. Macedonia or to correct it Makedonia (in ancient greece the letter k was written with a line and a conjoint curve like the letter c in the latin alphabet) existed there long before the Skopjens went there. TO correct what I say the Slavs ethnic group came there about 2500 years ago when the real Makedonians lived there long ago about 4000 years ago. The Real Makedonians had emigrated southwards in the land that stand as north Greece today about 3000 years ago. They left behind buildings and many ancient artifacts that belong to them but could not be carried away (such as tombs with ancent greek writing etc.). Today's Slavs alphabet was created by 2 men Cyril and Methodius which they tried to civilize and evangelize the slavian people. Today's Skopjen people are descendants of the slavian people that came to that land. So they can not be descendants of the Ancient Makedonians because of that historic truth. Skopjen people cannot be named as Macedonians ethnic Group. It is not true at all. It is a fake fact that some people created and the Skopjen people accepted as true.

Also there are other articles posted maybe by the Skopjen people inside Wikipedia online Encyclopedia that are not true. It is not my responsibility to find them all and report about them. Your organization has a mecanism to find true or false article posts. Please use it in order to remove all false articles and help the world to learn true history and not the history that some people want the world to know.

Thank you very much for your time.

With respect for your efforts to give people knowledge.

P.S.

If someone believes that I am wrong, then as my people in Greece say: "let him eat vinegar.".

P.S. 2

The word Greece may be a mistake the real name of my country is Hellas and my people is not called the Greeks but Hellines or Hellenic people.

Thank you again. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 46.176.107.83 (talk) 11:54, 12 October 2011 (UTC)[reply]

I see you also posted this at Talk:Macedonians (ethnic group)— that is the proper place for discussion. You will need reliable sources to convey your argument. This is the English Wikipedia, thus the proper name for the country is Greece; the formal names are listed in the article lead. ---— Gadget850 (Ed) ^talk 15:00, 12 October 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Your IP address is from Greece and it sounds like you are presenting a Greek point of view. See Wikipedia:Neutral point of view. It is not the job of the English Wikipedia to take sides in ethnic and national feuds such as the Macedonia naming dispute. There are lots of reliable sources around the World that don't use the terms Macedonia and Macedonian in the same way as Greece. PrimeHunter (talk) 15:28, 12 October 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Request for translation[edit]

Please translate the following statement to Kenya Language:

Hello Good morning I am representing Kenya — Preceding unsigned comment added by 124.6.181.173 (talk) 12:03, 12 October 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Have you tried the Language section of Wikipedia's Reference Desk? They specialize in answering knowledge questions there; this help desk is only for questions about using Wikipedia. For your convenience, here is the link to post a question there: click here. I hope this helps.--Fuhghettaboutit (talk) 12:11, 12 October 2011 (UTC)[reply]

The querent is also in for some unpleasant experiences if they are so ignorant that they think there is a single "Kenya Language"!!!! --Orange Mike | Talk 12:55, 12 October 2011 (UTC)[reply]

The government only accepts two languages for legal work and the television/radio broadcasts are predominantly only in two languages. There is Swahili and English. I doubt he wants it translated into English, so it must be a request to translate it into Swahili. I doubt online translators will do well for that. -- kainaw ™ 13:00, 12 October 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Google translate does Swahili: "Habari ya asubuhi Habari Mimi ni kuwakilisha Kenya". No idea if that's right or not. Yunshui (talk) 13:04, 12 October 2011 (UTC)[reply]

With online translators it is always worth trying to translate back again as a cross-check; Google Translate gives "Good morning I am to represent Kenya News". - David Biddulph (talk) 13:08, 12 October 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Use of first name vs. family name in a biographical wiki[edit]

Hi,

I wonder if there is a Wikipedia policy for the proper use of names in a Wikipedia biographical wiki.

E.g. when reading the wiki on the Danish astronomer "Tycho Brahe" (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tycho_Brahe), it struck me that most of the time the article talks about "Tycho", wheras I have the feeling that in an encyclopedic context most of the time the family name would be the appropriate one. It's like if a wiki continually were talking about George (Bush), Tony (Blair), Isaac (Newton), etc. It seems obvious that any serious text cannot afford such familiarity.

The issue bears further impact than one would think at first, as unclear policy may induce faulty interpretations. If, like in the case of Tycho Brahe, a person originates from a region where anglo-saxon names aren't the rule, it quickly becomes unclear what the correct name of such a person is: are we discussing a Mr Tycho (as one might think when he doesn't read through the wiki from A to Z) or a Mr Brahe? I'm not Danish, and wouldn't know which of both is the normal first name. I'm sure this goes for most of the non-Scandinavian Wikipedia users.

Exagerated, you think? The highly regarded Bodleian Library in Oxford is currently showing a rare book of ... Mr Tycho in an exhibition highlighting some of its treasures! (see p.7 of: http://treasures.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/domains/shelleysghost.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/local/media/images/Treasures_of_the_Bodleian_exhibition_guide.pdf )

For a good understanding: I do not claim that there is a causal link between the Bodleian error and the Tycho Brahe wiki. But it does proof that "Tycho Brahe" is a good example for the point I'm trying to make, and which boils down to the fact that IMHO a stricter style policy should be applied for the use of names in a biography. Or to be more precise: I wonder if such a policy exists at all, and if the "Tucho Brahe" wiki is just an incidental poor example, or if many biographies on Wikipedia suffer from the same "(first) name syndrom".

I haven't found anything about this topic in Wikipedia's FAQ or MoS (the latter focuses on other important issues like spelling, use of capitals, etc), though I don't exclude that I may have missed it (e.g. due to another, e.g. linguistic terminology being used for this phenomenon).

My best,

TB

94.225.75.158 (talk) 14:40, 12 October 2011 (UTC)[reply]

WP:SURNAME is the relevant place in WP:MOS. - David Biddulph (talk) 14:46, 12 October 2011 (UTC)[reply]

And this is an exception. Per Note 1 from the article: "He is now generally referred to as "Tycho", as was common in Scandinavia in his time, rather than by his surname "Brahe"." Looking through the references, you will find works such as "Copernicus and Tycho" and "Tycho's 1004-Star Catalog". ---— Gadget850 (Ed) ^talk 14:54, 12 October 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Yes. He is from the noble Brahe family. Some people from noble families are often referred to by first name. I'm Danish and "Brahe" alone sounds wrong to me. When he is called by one name only in Danish then it's nearly always Tycho. PrimeHunter (talk) 15:06, 12 October 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Fair enough. It seems that two (different) cultural approaches are involved.

As you'll have gathered from my message, not everywhere the Danish way is adopted (or even known), and like it or not, that will keep on creating confusion. So this might very well be a catch 22. (thx for the swift feedback, BTW) — Preceding unsigned comment added by 94.225.75.158 (talk) 16:23, 12 October 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Your example p.7 of [1] says "Tycho, Astronomiae instauratae mechanica, 1598". I don't see "Mr. Tycho" in that document. Lots of serious English sources call him Tycho when they only write one of his names, for example http://www.hps.cam.ac.uk/starry/tycho.html. However, http://www.hps.cam.ac.uk/starry/kepler.html at the same site but with another author (perhaps less familiar with Tycho Brahe) calls him Brahe. PrimeHunter (talk) 17:24, 12 October 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Or Titian or Galileo. Modern name practice was not usual in the European Renaissance, and is not always relevant to its people. Jim.henderson (talk) 17:36, 12 October 2011 (UTC)[reply]

@ Jim

Titian may not be the best of examples, as it is the anglicised version of the original Tiziano,

and apparently both "Tycho" and "Brahe" stay invariable in other languages. But granted, both Tiziano/Titian and Galileo are first names. However, neither of the corresponding wikis mentions where the short name comes from in these cases, whereas there seem to be indications that in Brahe's case it was normal that he would be known under his first name only.

@PrimeHunter

That Cambridge site uses both "Tycho" (predominantly, granted) and "Tycho Brahe", without clarifying why/if Tycho is the preferable form, and leaving open the question if this Cmabridge site even has an anwser. IMHO that is confusing. The Bodleian brochure says "Tycho" indeed, though their library record for their 1598 copy of "Astronomiae instauratae mechanica" says "Tycho Brahe". The British Library catalogues our man as "Brahe, Tycho" which would be the traditional Western approach. As I pointed out before: either form isn't wrong in se, as they both reflect a specific culture, but as a consequence the result will often be confusing, as it will rarely be clear which convention a source uses (and if it is even aware of the different conventions)

Name conventions vary, for example also in Icelandic names (see Ólafur Ragnar Grímsson) and Chinese names (see Yao Ming). Tycho Brahes family name is Brahe so he doesn't need an inital note like those articles. "Tycho" just happens to more common than "Brahe" when only one name is given. I think the article Tycho Brahe does well by starting with the full name and later mainly saying "Tycho", explaining the reason in a footnote. This is a help desk for the English Wikipedia. A general discussion of how names are written and explained in other sources is beyond our scope. PrimeHunter (talk) 22:49, 12 October 2011 (UTC)[reply]

How to add course number for APSWI?[edit]

For a neuropsychology class, I am registered with APSWI and am supposed to edit a neuro-related article for class credit. The class has a course number that allows the professor to track everyone's edits and allows members of the class to view and comment on eachother's edits. But I can't figure out where to enter this course number so I can see all of these things. I have a wiki and an APSWI account but haven't listed a class yet. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Erikadprice (talk • contribs) 15:09, 12 October 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Since Wikipedia exists for itself, and not for any other organisation or course, I don't know anywhere where you might enter it. But you might find something useful at Wikipedia:School and university projects. --ColinFine (talk) 18:11, 12 October 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Invalid time error in Template:ArticleHistory[edit]

Resolved

What is generating the invalid time error in Template:ArticleHistory at Talk:Here We Go Again (Ray Charles song)?--TonyTheTiger (T/C/BIO/WP:CHICAGO/WP:FOUR) 15:49, 12 October 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Fixed - I think you had an invisible control character in there somewhere. -- John of Reading (talk) 16:02, 12 October 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks.--TonyTheTiger (T/C/BIO/WP:CHICAGO/WP:FOUR) 16:57, 12 October 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Right. I copied the line to the Characters field at http://rishida.net/tools/conversion/ and clicked "View names". It said the line ended with U+200E LEFT-TO-RIGHT MARK. PrimeHunter (talk) 17:03, 12 October 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Delete a thread on a Talk Page[edit]

Hi, I would like to delete the globalgamers thread on strategy:talk:March_2011_Update as it is spam but I don't know how to do this. Can anybody explain this? Thanks! Drdee (talk) 16:13, 12 October 2011 (UTC)[reply]

The page uses mw:Extension:LiquidThreads which is not installed at the English Wikipedia. I haven't tried LiquidThreads but see mw:Help:Extension:LiquidThreads#Removing a post. I don't know whether you can remove the section heading. PrimeHunter (talk) 16:58, 12 October 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks! I need to be an admin, I can't do it :( Drdee (talk) 17:13, 12 October 2011 (UTC)[reply]

I'm not an admin there but I could replace the content of the post with "[spam removed]" with the procedure at mw:Help:Extension:LiquidThreads#Editing a post. PrimeHunter (talk) 17:33, 12 October 2011 (UTC)[reply]

The page concerned is not on English Wikipedia, but on Wikimedia Strategic Planning. You would need to ask at their help desk, or equivalent page. I don't know where that would be specifically: you could try strategy:Village pump/en. --Redrose64 (talk) 17:55, 12 October 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Done - the message was deleted by User:Savh, and I issued a block to the IP.

^Avic _ennasis @ 20:20, 14 Tishrei 5772 / 20:20, 12 October 2011 (UTC)[reply]

The line does not respect the right margin.[edit]

I have two paragraphs in a long article that will not respect the margins of the page and continue far off to the right. They are not formatted (to my knowledge any differently that the oher paragraphs, which work fine. Any suggestions? Firescientist. ^{[details removed]} Firescientist (talk) 16:17, 12 October 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Does this refer to the Fire investigation article? What you describe is normally due to having leading whitespace in the paragraph, but I don't see it happening there — frankie (talk) 16:24, 12 October 2011 (UTC)[reply]

I have removed your email address to protect your privacy -- John of Reading (talk) 16:38, 12 October 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Malware warning[edit]

There is a link on your page http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aveling_and_porter At the foot of the page there is an external link: "Steam Dinosaur" – world's oldest surviving traction engine (plus lots of history of early Aveling products" When this is clicked you are given malware warning. Can anyone please advise? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 92.2.14.214 (talk) 16:24, 12 October 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Not good! I have removed it. -- John of Reading (talk) 16:41, 12 October 2011 (UTC)[reply]

See also point 3 at WP:LINKSTOAVOID. PrimeHunter (talk) 16:59, 12 October 2011 (UTC)[reply]

How do I stop someone repeatedly tampering with material I have placed on a WikiPedia page and deleting it[edit]

I have posted important and fully verifiable information on a WikiPedia page. This has been repeatedly removed and my contribution tampered with, often within minutes of my posting the information. After restoring the section several times and it being removed, I now find I am unable to post anything on WikiPedia. I appear to have been blocked by a user named FlufferNutter who clearly does not wish my contribution to be posted. I have no idea how to respond to this interference as I do not fully understand how to comunicate with those responsible or have their actions stopped. This amounts to arbitrary censorship of information that is already in the public domain merely because someone wishes to prevent someone else's written material going online. Please could you advise? Is it permissible for one party to have a greater control over page content than others. Surely tampering with and altering other's contributions at will is not in the spirit of WikiPedia. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 86.133.226.124 (talk) 17:38, 12 October 2011 (UTC)[reply]

1. What article is this about?

2. If you do not want your writing to be edited, used, and redistributed at will, then do not submit it here. --Orange Mike | Talk 18:02, 12 October 2011 (UTC)[reply]

From your description it appears that you were edit warring, and the administrator User:Fluffernutter was justified in blocking you. I'm guessing that the article in question is Warwick Medical School, and Fluffernutter explained several times why they were reverting you, and gave warning on your talk page. As the block message on your talk page said, you may appeal the block, but continuing your disruptive editing from an IP address is not likely to get you a lenient response if you do. --ColinFine (talk) 18:26, 12 October 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Wikipedia editting seems to be made by programmers, for programmers[edit]

I wrote this letter to Jimmy Wales but apparently I was supposed to start here. So here is the letter:

Hi Jimmy Wales,

The "contact Wikipedia" page says that I can contact Jimmy Wales, but this is the closest I could find to his email address, so please forward this to him. I just spent 2 days teaching how to use Wikipedia to the 8th graders at my school. I just gave $75 to the Wikimedia Foundation, the only charitable contribution I've made in the last 6 months. So I'm not some random complaining schmuck, I'm a frequent user who cares a lot about it.

The front end of Wikipedia is fine. You can't be a top 10 website in the world without being reasonably user friendly. However, I've been teaching technology for 14 years, and editing a page, which I did in earnest for the first time today (after using Wikipedia religiously for many years), is very difficult. The back-end feels like it was written by programmers, for programmers. Wikipedia needs to make the editing experience as easy as the knowledge consumption experience to fulfill it's mission.

Here are two examples of editing experiences that I struggled with today. My school's Wikipedia page has three requests to add citations. So I tried to add citations. Good luck with that. The reference tool in the editor brought about some error where I needed to add code like {{{reflist}}} to the bottom of the page. Are you serious? Citations, a core feature of Wikipedia, required an experienced user to delve into help files to figure out. Good luck teaching my 8th graders this core skill. It's shameful.

Secondly, it turns out that you can't get changes to pages on your watchlist emailed to you. Again another trip to the help files. It turns out that RSS is the only way to get notifications. I tried RSS 3 years ago and it game me a headache, so I don't use it. Again, are you serious? You expect casual users to configure RSS just to follow pages they care about? Again, shameful.

I'm curious to hear your thoughts. 66.44.92.2 (talk)Matt

You can go to Special:Watchlist whenever you like if you don't want to use RSS. Checking a web page is no more complicated than checking your email. Further, I would despise getting over 100 emails a day to tell me every change to every page that I watch. -- kainaw ™ 17:45, 12 October 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Again, you speak from a Wikipedia power user's perspective. I follow one website that I care about. I would like (and I suspect other casual editors would like) a daily or weekly digest email of changes made to the site. It's not asking much, and it's much more convenient than me checking a website regularly. 66.44.92.2 (talk) 17:51, 12 October 2011 (UTC)Matt[reply]

You may be interested in the visual editor. Work on it has begun this year, and it's not as easy as it ought to be.

There are a number of things the developers regret doing. See mw:MediaWiki architecture document/How and why. Unfortunately these things did happen, and it's incredibly difficult to fix now.

RSS however (or in this case Atom) is supported by most browsers and email clients, as well as various other applications. You shouldn't need to configure anything to use Atom; even the three year old browser I'm currently stuck with can handle it natively and let me open it in other applications. Reach Out to the Truth 18:16, 12 October 2011 (UTC)[reply]

I am not saying this will be easy for all 8th graders, but Wikipedia:Referencing for beginners is the best page I know to learn the basics of adding citations. Part of the problem is that while Wikipedia is huge, it is run by the Wikimedia Foundation, a non-profit charitable organization, and operates on a shoestring budget, funded by donations. While it's true that a huge volunteer force is at work, imagine this: the English Wikipedia, a top ten website, is only one of a few hundred websites operated the Foundation, and the Foundation has, last I checked, just 75 employees! It is little wonder then that everything about the interface is not perfect.--Fuhghettaboutit (talk) 18:41, 12 October 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks for the thoughtful reply. When you insert the first reference into an article you'd think that the reference list code and a reference heading would automatically be added without adding additional code. Seems like common sense. Getting an error message when trying to add your first reference is preposterous. And I understand setting up RSS isn't hard, but I should not need to. RSS is for people who gather information from multiple sources. I read news from three website, I'd rather go there to get news than have it come to me. I have no need for RSS. I wager the vast majority of the internet users are like me, they use email regularly and have no desire to set up RSS. Asking casual users to jump through a hoop, even if it's a simple hoop, to use a core feature is preposterous. It should be as easy as checking a checkbox saying "send me an email with a weekly digest of changes." 66.44.92.2 (talk) 18:42, 12 October 2011 (UTC)Matt[reply]

I get it, the Visual Editor should help, and the issue is on the foundation's radar. It just seems like a lot more effort over the last few years was put into consuming information rather than producing information. 66.44.92.2 (talk)Matt

However, implementing your easy checkbox is not easy. I'm sure that you think all the changes are sitting in a box just waiting to be emailed, but that is not the case. Sending email from a web server is only easy for those who know nothing about network security. What if you give Wikipedia the wrong email address? It will be spamming someone else. So, there needs to be a "verify my email address" application written. What if an email bounces because you got rid of your old email address? Wikipedia will get a bounce message each time it sends an email? That takes up space and bandwidth. Who volunteers to monitor for bounced email messages and take the time to delete old email addresses? What if the bounce was a one-time error and not the result of an outdated email address? Then, who's email address goes in the "Reply To" field? We can't have people emailing the Wikipedia server. It cannot respond. Who is going to volunteer to respond to the thousands (likely millions) of replies this email address will get? Notice that I haven't even got into the security aspect of it. Spammers will make edits that are designed to cause the Wikipedia server to email millions of people with ads for their fake viagra meds. Some volunteer will block it. Then, they will spam a different way. Eventually, a volunteer will block it. Then, they will spam a different way, etc... That is just barely scratching the surface of the implementation problem.

The good news is that it is being worked on. If someone changes your own page or your own talk page, you can get an email. That is more limited in the whole problem scope. -- kainaw ™ 18:59, 12 October 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Some Wikimedia sites - for example, the Portuguese Wikipedia and Wikimedia Commons - do have a setting in My preferences/User profile/E-mail options called "E-mail me when a page on my watchlist is changed", but this is not provided in English Wikipedia. --Redrose64 (talk) 19:19, 12 October 2011 (UTC)[reply]

"E-mail me when a page on my watchlist is changed" is not enabled at the English Wikipedia for performance reasons. It is the largest wiki operated by the Wikimedia Foundation and has millions of user accounts. Thanks for your $75 contribution. If everybody was as generous then many things could be improved. You refer to Wikipedia:Contact us. I see it says: "Although you can contact founder Jimmy Wales, he is not responsible for individual articles or the daily operations." Jimmy Wales is our encyclopedia article about him. Jimmy Wales#External links has the link "Jimmy Wales' Wikipedia userpage", going to User:Jimbo Wales (it may sound odd that his biography lists it under external links but Wikipedia articles are reused by many other sites where a Wikipedia user page would be an external link). Perhaps Wikipedia:Contact us should link directly to User:Jimbo Wales but most subjects, including yours I think, are better suited for other places. PrimeHunter (talk) 00:34, 13 October 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Well, Primehunter, in fact, the Jimbo Wales page has zero constraints on sending complaints to Jimmy Wales, but he recommends coming here first. Which I did, and I got an answer from people who answered my concern (unlike you, who focussed on who I addressed the concern to) and they said basically, "yup, citing sources is very difficult for casual users, do your best, a fix is in the works." And thanks to them I don't need to email Mr. Wales 66.44.92.2 (talk)Matt

Jimmy Wales and User:Jimbo Wales are different types of pages with different purposes. Wikipedia:Contact us only links to Jimmy Wales which is an encyclopedia biography like thousands of others in Wikipedia, written by ordinary volunteer editors and not the subject (it may have minor contributions from the subject). There is only contact information on User:Jimbo Wales which is a user page for a Wikipedia editor, written by the editor himself (it may have minor contributions from others). I got the impression from your first post that you had not found the page User:Jimbo Wales and did not know how to contact Jimmy Wales directly so I pointed out the page but also mentioned that it might not be the best choice to contact Jimmy Wales personally about your concerns. Wikipedia:Contact us links directly to this help desk and I thought that was how you got here but I may have been wrong. Other parts of your post had been addressed by others when I came here and I didn't feel a need to add to their comments. PrimeHunter (talk) 01:10, 14 October 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Based on [2] (which refers to Wikipedia:OTRS) I guess Wikipedia:Contact us may not want a direct contact link to Jimmy Wales but instead want users to read through the options to find an appropriate contact place or answer for their specific issue. PrimeHunter (talk) 00:47, 13 October 2011 (UTC)[reply]

A big reason that its hard to provide tools to help with references is that the English Wikipedia has not decided any single citation style. Since each article may do it differently, we can't set up a tool to run automatically to help with references. It's somewhat like university, where each professor has a style he/she wants you to use. If you have a contribution to make with a source, but can't figure out the referencing system, just put the source in parenthesis, with enough information to figure out exactly where the information is, and someone will come along and put it in the right format. Jc3s5h (talk) 12:59, 13 October 2011 (UTC)[reply]

^That is excellent advice we ought to give more often. Fixing a ref is a trivial task for a WikiGnome, and we have plenty of those. Adrian J. Hunter^{(talk•contribs)} 05:39, 14 October 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Edit/update[edit]

Hi

I just tried to update a link but it didn't work out how I imagined. This is in the Knightswood section and is a link to Trinley Brae Allotments - No 38. When I penned this originally I was told not to add in a direct link but this would be added below, which is what happened - thank you for that. As I did not compile that bit I cannaot see how to update it and my attempt has created a new link below all the others - so sorry for that. Is is possible to amend this?

Regards

Richard Fedorko

Trinley Brae Allotments, Knightswood Glasgow UK — Preceding unsigned comment added by 66ric (talk • contribs) 18:19, 12 October 2011 (UTC)[reply]

I assume you refer to [3]. In order to edit an inline reference, you must edit the section where the reference is used and not the references section. See Wikipedia:Referencing for beginners. Given the nature of your edits, I suspect you have a conflict of interest so see also Wikipedia:FAQ/Organizations. PrimeHunter (talk) 21:52, 12 October 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Company Info[edit]

I've noticed companies have posted a page about their company, founding, products, website links, etc. In particular, a competitor of ours has done this and the result is consistent high ranking in search results. Is this ok to do?

Thank you. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 24.22.209.75 (talk) 18:19, 12 October 2011 (UTC)[reply]

No. Firstly, just as every person in the world may not necessarily merit inclusion in this encyclopedia, not every company in the world necessarily merits inclusion in this encyclopedia. Wikipedia's minimum standards for meriting an encyclopedia article are located at Wikipedia:Notability in general and at Wikipedia:Notability (organizations and companies) for companies specifically. Secondly, we ask that people do not write about topics with which they have a conflict of interest (see: Wikipedia:Conflict of interest), which means that you have an interest (to promote your company) which is in conflict with the interests of Wikipedia, which is to be an encyclopedia. If, perchance, your company happens to be notable enough for an encyclopedia article (and it may or may not be, I don't know), then someone who doesn't work for your company will eventually write about it. Thirdly, does the presence of another article about a company necessarily mean anything? Not really. Some articles are about companies which are highly notable (like, say, Walmart). Some articles shouldn't have been created in the first place, and should probably be deleted. Either of these facts doesn't mean anything at all about whether or not your company meets the minimum guidelines to have an article written about it, and regardless, you shouldn't be writing about it. You may want to familiarize yourself with Wikipedia:FAQ/Organizations. Are there any more questions we can help you with? --Jayron32 18:29, 12 October 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Receive The Signpost on a page other than my talkpage[edit]

Resolved

Is it possible to have the issues of Wikipedia:Wikipedia Signpost delivered to a page other than my talkpage (for example to a page such as User:Toshio Yamaguchi/Signpost)? Toshio Yamaguchi (talk) 18:26, 12 October 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Yep, see the instructions at Wikipedia:Wikipedia Signpost/Subscribe#For English Wikipedia talk pages. It has to be a subapge of your talk page though. Reach Out to the Truth 18:31, 12 October 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Yes, I figured that out while reading the instructions. Thanks very much. Toshio Yamaguchi (talk) 18:40, 12 October 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Watchlist question[edit]

hello,

why some of the articles disappear from my watchlist?--♫GoP♫_T ^C _N 18:43, 12 October 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Do you mean that the articles have disappeared from your full list of watched pages, Special:EditWatchlist, or only from the "My Watchlist" page, Special:Watchlist that displays articles that have been edited? The latter has a line of Show/Hide options at the top which may make articles disappear unexpectedly. There's a lot more detail at Help:Watching pages. -- John of Reading (talk) 19:33, 12 October 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Not sure, but I think it is a display error. If I open an article that is on my watchlist, there is a "Watch" tab instead of "Unwatch". Also (not related), if comparing to article versions, the former version is not the first, but the second version, so that I sometimes miss-revert, so I basically revert the good version back. Another bug is, if not logged in, I see an old version of a page, and if I log in, it's vanished. Can you help to fix some of those bugs? Thanks.--♫GoP♫_T ^C _N 19:46, 12 October 2011 (UTC)[reply]

You've raised three issues:

I switched to Monobook temporarily and saw the "Watch"/"Unwatch" tab behaving as it should. If this isn't working work you for one or two specific articles, then I suggest you check with Special:EditWatchlist/raw that the exact article title is listed on your watchlist.
Don't know! Is this happening frequently, or only in tricky cases where other users are editing the article at the same time as you are asking for the diffs?
Logged out users may sometimes see stale versions of a page. The problem may be caused by delays in synchronising the Wikipedia servers (which can be fixed by purging the page); or by your browser (which can be fixed by bypassing your browser cache); or sometimes by incorrect caching by your ISP.

If the first two issues are still a problem, I suggest you start new threads at Village pump (technical), since this Help desk thread will be archived fairly soon. -- John of Reading (talk) 07:15, 14 October 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Hanks[edit]

I hope I have the right place. A friend was looking up my fathers father & so on. He came accross the name Hanks. He decided to check if they were related to Tom Hanks. He says it was the actor Tom Hanks. So we are distant cousins. He went farther and found we were cousins of Abraham Lincoln. No money involved in any way but if is interested I would be glad to tell Mr Hanks what he found out about his ancesters. He is sure about this information. We are distent cousins of Abraham Lincoln. Of course this information and a dollar will get you a cup of coffee. Thank you Curtis Baker ^{[details removed]} — Preceding unsigned comment added by 76.172.3.54 (talk) 19:22, 12 October 2011 (UTC)[reply]

I'm not sure that you are in the right place! This is Wikipedia, the online encyclopedia, and this Help desk is intended for questions relating to using or editing it. We have no special way to get your message to Mr Hanks. (I have removed your email address to protect your privacy). -- John of Reading (talk) 19:27, 12 October 2011 (UTC)[reply]

I believe that Tom Hanks already knows about the Abraham Lincoln family connection. He has commented in the past about descending from Lincoln's mother's brother. The Mark of the Beast (talk) 23:05, 12 October 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Offer and acceptance[edit]

Ben sent a written offer to adams to sell him a car for $5000.ben stipulets that the offer must be responded before the next week.adams left a message on ben's phone asking the model of the car,ben wishies to sell the car to chipo.whats the legal position between ben and adam at the time adam seeks to sell the car to chipo. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 77.246.55.97 (talk) 19:57, 12 October 2011 (UTC)[reply]

We cannot offer legal advice. Please see the legal disclaimer. Contact a lawyer. ^Avic _ennasis @ 20:12, 14 Tishrei 5772 / 20:12, 12 October 2011 (UTC)[reply]

And if you're a law student, we won't do your homework for you either. Go read the chapter on Offer and Acceptance again. --Elen of the Roads (talk) 21:21, 12 October 2011 (UTC)[reply]

I really hope this isn't my attorney; IANAL, but even I know this. The Blade of the Northern Lights (話して下さい) 23:48, 12 October 2011 (UTC)[reply]

You should spend more time indoors, watching Judge Judy. Tonywalton ^Talk 00:01, 13 October 2011 (UTC)[reply]

I highly doubt this is a law school question. By the way, the word you are looking for, if that's not just a typo, is "stipulate". Also, your fact pattern is ambiguous because you have not advised whether the week has or has not passed at the time Adam seeks to sell the car to Chipo, though the context implies it has not.--Fuhghettaboutit (talk) 00:00, 13 October 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Not every law school question is masterfully crafted, but I hope a law school student would know how unethical it would be to go online and ask others to answer a question they had been assigned. Monty ₈₄₅ 00:08, 13 October 2011 (UTC)[reply]

identying author of subject or person[edit]

I am trying to see if it is possible to identify an author or editor of a particular subject or person on wikipedia — Preceding unsigned comment added by 66.87.4.216 (talk) 23:34, 12 October 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Yes; go to the article in question, and click the tab that says "history" at the top of the page. This will identify every account which has edited the article since its creation, and the exact nature of each edit. --Orange Mike | Talk 23:37, 12 October 2011 (UTC)[reply]

See also Wikipedia:Who writes Wikipedia and Help:Page history. PrimeHunter (talk) 00:50, 13 October 2011 (UTC)[reply]