Wikipedia:Help desk

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• For other types of questions, use the search box, see the reference desk or Help:Contents. If you have comments about a specific article, use that article's talk page.
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September 20

Editing the MediaWiki side panel

I'm sure it can be done, I just have no idea how. I just want to add another link in there, nothing major. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 76.19.45.187 (talk) 00:28, 20 September 2007 (UTC)

I'm pretty sure it can't be done unless you have developer rights. Sorry. Hersfold ^(t/a/c) 01:03, 20 September 2007 (UTC)

You could make a request for the link to be added at bugzilla, however. You'll have to register an account there to do so. Hersfold ^(t/a/c) 01:05, 20 September 2007 (UTC)

(ec x2)I believe only developers can edit the "toolbox", but the text for the other sections of the sidebar is MediaWiki:Sidebar. Though it's only editable by adminsistrators, you can make a request on the talk page. — Malcolm (talk) 01:07, 20 September 2007 (UTC)

Maybe he means something with his User CSS. I have my CSS set to put my toolbox (My Preferences, My Watchlist, My Contribs, etc.) on the left side of the screen rather than the top. Is it that much harder to add a link? - SigmaEpsilon → ΣΕ 03:12, 20 September 2007 (UTC)

Well, to change it for all users, yes. But adding a link just for yourself can be done with javascript and/or CSS. I'll explain if you want. — Malcolm (talk) 19:21, 20 September 2007 (UTC)

Admins can change the sidebar for all users using MediaWiki:Sidebar. You can change it just for yourself using user scripts; see the scripts list for currently available scripts, or the scripts requests page if there isn't one that does what you want at present. --ais523 09:13, 21 September 2007 (UTC)

What is a word for someone who takes a trips?"

What is a word for someone who takes a trips?" —Preceding unsigned comment added by 68.74.74.28 (talk) 00:51, 20 September 2007 (UTC)

You might be looking for tourist, but remember that the Help Desk is not for factual questions. You'd be better off at the reference desk or perhaps Wiktionary, our dictionary sister project. Hersfold ^(t/a/c) 00:57, 20 September 2007 (UTC)

Automatic Hyperlinking

Hello. Whenever I type in an ISBN, it is linked to Wikipedia Book Sources. Alternatively, whenever I type a full external (outside of Wikipedia) website with the http:// prefix, it is automatically hyperlinked accordingly. This is good. How does Wikipedia do this? Thanks in advance. --Mayfare 00:55, 20 September 2007 (UTC)

I think it's something to do with the CSS, a set of instructions for how pages get displayed. You can edit yours if you like here. Hersfold ^(t/a/c) 00:59, 20 September 2007 (UTC)

P.S. - It's actually more likely it's coded into the Mediawiki software - you'd have to ask at the tech village pump for a mroe detailed answer. Hersfold ^(t/a/c) 01:02, 20 September 2007 (UTC)

See Wikipedia:ISBN and m:Help:ISBN links. PrimeHunter 01:17, 20 September 2007 (UTC)

Also see m:Parser testing/doMagicLinks and mw:Markup spec/BNF/Magic links. --Teratornis 01:21, 20 September 2007 (UTC)

Are there notability guidelines for articles on newspapers?

And if there are, where can I find them? -- Craigtalbert 01:27, 20 September 2007 (UTC)

Hmm. I'm afraid I need a little more clarification. Do you mean that you want to create an article about a newspaper? If so, Wikipedia:Notability (organizations and companies) is where you want to look. If you want to use a newspaper article as a source for an existing article, check our reliable sources guidelines. If that doesn't answer your question, please be a little more specific. Happy editing! GlassCobra 02:23, 20 September 2007 (UTC)

Yes, creating (or just created) an article on a newspaper, the Boulder Weekly. -- Craigtalbert 02:26, 20 September 2007 (UTC)

Question

What is a word for someone who takes a trips?" —Preceding unsigned comment added by 68.74.74.28 (talk) 01:39, 20 September 2007 (UTC)

I'll guess tourist, however, this page is for help using Wikipedia. The reference desk would be the more appropriate place for this. LaraLove 01:41, 20 September 2007 (UTC)

The tile on my page is wrong...it says User: Madison Jones. How do i change that?

How do i change my page title to just say "Madison Jones" and not "User: Madison Jones" at the top, which it reads right now? Is there a way to fix this asap? please let me know, im having difficulties.

Madison Jones 02:57, 20 September 2007 (UTC)

• Are you trying to write an article about yourself? android79 03:00, 20 September 2007 (UTC)
  • ... in which case, please see Wikipedia:Your first article and Wikipedia:Autobiography. The direct answer to your question is that you would move it to Madison Jones per Wikipedia:How to rename (move) a page, but there's already a page there about a different Madison Jones. In this case you'd have to create your page with a different title, see Wikipedia:Naming conventions and Wikipedia:Disambiguation. -- Rick Block (talk) 03:10, 20 September 2007 (UTC)

What you have right now is a user page. It's not meant to be an article, it's meant to be a page that tells other Wikipedia users who you are, for example to know what skills you might be able to contribute to Wikipedia. Confusing Manifestation 03:57, 20 September 2007 (UTC)

Significance of "Requested Article"

I discovered today that someone (not me or anyone I know) dropped the following suggestion into your list of Requested Articles Natural Sciences/Biology under Evolution.

(http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Wikipedia:Help_desk&action=edit&section=new&editintro=Wikipedia:Help_Desk/editintro

"Cancer selection (James Graham's book may be a good start)"

I am James Graham (my book was published by Aculeus Press)and I might be interested in composing an article about my idea on cancer's role in animal evolution. However, I am reluctant to undertake the work if that listing of Requested Articles is less than an "official" expression of interest. I'm not a credentialed scientist and although I've received favorable scientific reactions (including a book review in Nature) some scientists are quite reluctant to take seriously anyone lacking the usual credentials.

To check my bona fides go to 1) my web site http://www.jamesgraham.bz/ (the article linked at Butterflies and Wheels is helpful) and (2) Google Scholar (enter "cancer selection" + graham) for more recent papers that refer to my book rather prominently. See Crespi & Summers (2 papers) and Saul and Schwartz especially.

I've only opened an account with you today and did so only because I discovered my name mentioned in the bit I've quoted above.

I'd rather not undertake the work unless you can give me a "green light". Of course I'm not asking for pre-approval of what I may write only that I will not be automatically rejected because I'm what some call a "layman'.

--Aculeus 03:01, 20 September 2007 (UTC)

You're welcome to do so if you wish. To get started, you may want to take a look at Wikipedia:Your first article and some of our policies referring to article content - mainly neutrality, and our policies on citing reliable sources that can be easily verified. You should also take a look at our criteria for speedy deletion - many new pages get hit by one of those, and I wouldn't want your article to be one of them. Thanks for your help, it'll be useful for us to have an expert on the subject. Hersfold ^(t/a/c) 03:50, 20 September 2007 (UTC)

And, of course, take a look at the conflict of interest guidelines. Just make sure you don't (intentionally or otherwise) promote yourself at the expense of a neutral point of view. Confusing Manifestation 03:55, 20 September 2007 (UTC)

How do I scroll through Recent Changes and how long to update?

Is there a way I can simply click to see each change that's been made to a wiki in chronological sequence? I've looked at the recent changes page, but can't find an easy way to do this.

Also, how long does it take for a change to show up on the log on Recent Changes. There's a wiki that shows the latest change having occurred 3 days ago, although the most recent wiki has to have been updated more recently.

Cheers! —Preceding unsigned comment added by 203.37.119.130 (talk) 04:19, 20 September 2007 (UTC)

Yup, click on the history tab at the top of a window. Or did you mean to wikipedia overall? There's not an easy way to do the latter, that I'm aware since so many changes are constantly being made. --Bfigura ^(talk) 04:58, 20 September 2007 (UTC)

And by 'wiki', are you referring to wikipedia, or other wiki's? I'm only really conversant on Wikipedia, where changes generally show up in the history and Special:Recentchanges as fast as the database permits (usually seconds). Best, --Bfigura ^(talk) 05:02, 20 September 2007 (UTC)

Thanks for your comments. By "wiki" I meant by particular entry within Wikipedia. Cheers. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 203.37.119.130 (talk) 05:08, 20 September 2007 (UTC)

• If you want all edits to a particular entry in Wikipedia, you're looking for the history tab at the top of the article. - Mgm|^(talk) 08:41, 20 September 2007 (UTC)

songs for the groom to dance with his mom

my son is getting married next year and we are trying to find a nice song to dance to. my son wants an italian song sung in italian do you have any suggestions????? i would really appreciate any help that you could give me. thank you very much victoria

ps my e-mail address is <e-mail removed> thanks again. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 205.238.198.79 (talk) 05:23, 20 September 2007 (UTC)

This is the Help Desk for using Wikipedia. Your question would probably be better suited to either the Humanities or Entertainment section of the Reference Desk. Confusing Manifestation 05:26, 20 September 2007 (UTC)

uh, how do I get a block removed?

Hi, I'm user Markmayhew. My account has been blocked, I don't know why, etc. Can you enlighten me? 68.244.164.5 06:02, 20 September 2007 (UTC)

According to the blocklog:

Spartaz (Talk | contribs) blocked "Markmayhew (Talk | contribs)" (account creation blocked) with an expiry time of indefinite ‎ (offensive and abusive interaction with other editors. We don't need that here)

As far as what to do, add the following to your talk page.

{{unblock|your reason here}}.

It's not a guarantee, as the unblocking admin will check in with the blocking admin before doing anything. Hope that helps. --Bfigura ^(talk) 06:25, 20 September 2007 (UTC)

That won't work, as he continued his abusive behavior on his talk page, so it's now protected. He knows perfectly well why he was blocked, as it was pointed out repeatedly. --Pekaje 08:19, 20 September 2007 (UTC)

Joseph Shade

Resolved

Hi there,

I was wondering if you could help me in erasing the mention of where Joseph goes to school as i tried to erase this but it just reverted back. I want this deleted as he is my son and i feel by mentioning where he goes to school it is putting him at risk. thankyou. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Lolly0501 (talk • contribs) 11:10, 20 September 2007 (UTC)

• Hi. I see what you mean. It's removed from the article but will always remain in the article history. If you need that removed you will need to follow the procedure at WP:RFO. Any problems please ask. Pedro |  Chat  11:45, 20 September 2007 (UTC)

question

how can i creat my address and forms my pages —Preceding unsigned comment added by 196.13.185.253 (talk) 11:26, 20 September 2007 (UTC)

If I've understood your question correctly, you create your username by creating an account. Please read over the username policy to be sure your name conforms to guidelines.

To create pages, please first search Wikipedia to make sure that an article does not already exist on the subject. Please also review a few of our relevant policies and guidelines which all articles should comport with. As Wikipedia is an encyclopedia, articles must not contain original research, must be written from a neutral point of view, should cite to reliable sources which verify their content and must not contain unsourced, negative content about living people.

Articles must also demonstrate the notability of the subject. Please see our subject specific guidelines for people, bands and musicians, companies and organizations and web content and note that if you are closely associated with the subject, our conflict of interest guideline strongly recommends against you creating the article.

If you think an article is appropriate, see Help:Starting a new page. You might also look at Wikipedia:Your first article and Wikipedia:How to write a great article for guidance, and please consider taking a tour through the Wikipedia:Tutorial so that you know how to properly format the article before creation.

Your User Page is created in the same way. You may want to review Wikipedia:User page for guidance on what should and should not be included. :) --Moonriddengirl 12:08, 20 September 2007 (UTC)

Adding images to userboxes

How do I add images to userboxes? I have been trying to add my newly created image (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:DAR.GIF) to make a Daughters of the American Revolution userbox but I can't get the image to appear. -- Socal gal at heart —Preceding unsigned comment added by Socal gal at heart (talk • contribs) 11:28, 20 September 2007 (UTC)

• Hi Socal gal. It depends how you are creating the box but normally just use something like "Image:DAR.GIF|43px" wrapped in hard brackets. Are you after something like this; ??

This user is a member of Daughters of the American Revolution

Pedro |  Chat  11:40, 20 September 2007 (UTC)

• • Yes, that is what I want to use. Thank you very much! :)

Dead links

How can i find a dead link to an external website within a Wikipedia page??? Pls if possible leave the comments in my talk page. Amartyabag ^TALK2ME 11:42, 20 September 2007 (UTC)

Dead links will usually show up in red text in a Wikipedia page. Saturn 5 20:02, 20 September 2007 (UTC)

Red links are internal links (wiki links). This question is about external links. Leebo ^T/C 20:13, 20 September 2007 (UTC)

• Dispenser's linkrot spider? - Mgm|^(talk) 22:07, 20 September 2007 (UTC)

Turbine

Dear Sir,

We want turbine of 1MW fully back pressure type , which would supply the steam to our paper plant.

The back pressure turbine is to be connected in the extraction line of our existing extraction cum condensing of turbine of 4MW.

The detail of the existing turbine is as follows:-

1] INLET :- pressure :- 64 Kg/cm2, :- temperature :- 490 deg. centrigrade

2] EXTRACTION :- pressure :- 7 Kg/cm2, temperature :- 265 deg. Centrigrade, 15 TPH

3] Power output :- 4 MW at 26 TPH.

Now your paper machine requirement is changed from 7 Kg/cm2 to 5 kg/cm2. Thus we are need of 1 MW power output to be generated or the how much power we can achieve from the extraction of the turbine by reducing the pressure from 7 kg/cm2 to 4.5 or 5 kg/cm2.

Or kindly suggest us what would be appropriate solution to avoid extra consumption of steam for power output at 7 Kg/cm2 extraction. By going up to extraction pressure at 5 kg/cm2 the steam consumption per kwh would be less.

Thanking you,

With regards,

Dwivedi M. S.

098256 06118 email id :- <email address removed> Gayatrishakti paper and boards ltd.,

Plot no. 799/1, GIDC, 3rd Phase,

Vapi :- 396195.

0260-2400451,2401588, —Preceding unsigned comment added by 59.95.218.150 (talk) 12:28, 20 September 2007 (UTC)

This page is for questions about USING WIKIPEDIA only. Please try the Reference Desk. Also, please do not interrupt other peoples questions with your own. ::Manors:: 12:41, 20 September 2007 (UTC) —Preceding unsigned comment added by Manors (talk • contribs)

How to delete the uploaded Image file

Dear Sir/Madam,

I like to ask, how i can delete the uploaded image file from Wikipedia.

Shersinghrawat —Preceding unsigned comment added by Shersinghrawat (talk • contribs) 12:53, 20 September 2007 (UTC)

Hi. You can request deletion through several different ways, depending on the reason you feel the image should be deleted. The deletion policy may help you determine the best approach. For images, you can request that the image be speedily deleted if it blatantly violates Wikipedia's policies. Otherwise, you can list it for discussion at "images and media for deletion". --Moonriddengirl 13:00, 20 September 2007 (UTC)

If you uploaded it, you should be able to delete it by adding the text {{db-author}} to the page. --h2g2bob (talk) 15:40, 20 September 2007 (UTC)

How to edit the wikipedia page title once it created?

I have created the company page on the wikipedia but while creating the page there was a little mistake in the page title.

I searched for the editing options but didnt got any for the page title.

What should we will need to do to edit the page title alos in the wiki url like /wiki/title.

Thanks.

Amar —Preceding unsigned comment added by 203.193.139.117 (talk) 13:02, 20 September 2007 (UTC)

You will need to be logged in to your account, which needs to be at least four days old. After that, you move the page to the new title. If you haven't already, you might want to review Wikipedia's naming conventions. I hope that helps. :) --Moonriddengirl 13:04, 20 September 2007 (UTC)

Unscrupulous Editing by unknown parties

How do we stop outsiders from editing our site 86.27.147.226 14:00, 20 September 2007 (UTC)

If "our site" refers to a Wikipedia article then note that nobody owns an article. Everybody are allowed to edit articles but if it's heavily vandalized then you can request protection of the page at Wikipedia:Requests for page protection. PrimeHunter 14:11, 20 September 2007 (UTC)

As PrimeHunter says, you can't stop anyone from editing the page, but you can revert vandalism. Leebo ^T/C 14:48, 20 September 2007 (UTC)

family tree

The formatting for a family tree is extremely difficult for me to follow. Maybe it's easier for a computer programmmer, but I'm not one. Is there some program I can download or feature I can use to easily create a family tree? thanks. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 69.251.220.193 (talk) 14:44, 20 September 2007 (UTC)

This page is for help with using Wikipedia. Please see the reference desk for questions like this. Leebo ^T/C 14:46, 20 September 2007 (UTC)

If you want to create a family tree for a wikipedia article see Template:Familytree and the accompanying documentation. This is for wikipedia articles only though. Was there a particular article you wanted it added to? Woodym555 15:34, 20 September 2007 (UTC)

How do we protect our Page/Article against vandalism

How do we Fully Proctect against vandalismInspirepac 14:55, 20 September 2007 (UTC)

You can request protection of the page at Wikipedia:Requests for page protection. --Bfigura ^(talk) 14:57, 20 September 2007 (UTC)

You can't fully protect an article as prevention of vandalism. Full protection prevents everyone except administrators from editing it. Semi-protection is used only in cases of vandalism that can't be reverted by the users who watch the page. Typically that means dozens of vandalism edits by numerous anonymous editors over a course of a few days. If it's less than that, a user can watch the page revert vandalism as it occurs. Leebo ^T/C 15:04, 20 September 2007 (UTC)

Whoops. Quite right. --Bfigura ^(talk) 15:25, 20 September 2007 (UTC)

The edit at Inspirepac is not vandalism. Read the pink box, it explains what is going on there. In addition, please read WP:COI, in which the conflict of intereste rules and guidelines are explained, and WP:USERNAME, which indicates that you should not use a User name which is the same as a company name. Corvus cornix 17:28, 20 September 2007 (UTC)

I put the speedy on them AFTER they asked the question. I'm not sure what inspired the inquiry. --Orange Mike 17:31, 20 September 2007 (UTC)

Oh, sorry, I didn't compare the time stamps. Corvus cornix 17:39, 20 September 2007 (UTC)

Viewing Footnotes during "Show Preview"

When I am editing a section and working on footnotes and references using <ref>, </ref>, and {{reflist|1}}, (cf. History of the Church-Turing thesis) and then want to view my work with "Show Preview", the footnotes are renumbered from 1 for the section. I can deal with that, however, I have not found a way to see what is actually in the footnote. (cf. Fix the reference boo boo.)

What do I need to do to be able to see my footnotes prior to "Save Page"?

Softtest123 15:23, 20 September 2007 (UTC)

The only advice I would offer is to edit the whole page if you want to see the results in the References section. Leebo ^T/C 15:25, 20 September 2007 (UTC)

I sometimes add <references/> to the edited section during preview and remove it before saving. PrimeHunter 15:34, 20 September 2007 (UTC)

That works for me! Thanks. A great help. Softtest123 15:40, 20 September 2007 (UTC)

What a brilliant idea, PrimeHunter! It's never occurred to me to do that. --Moonriddengirl 17:07, 20 September 2007 (UTC)

WP:FOOT does not mention this handy technique. I will add it now. --Teratornis 17:29, 20 September 2007 (UTC)

Glad to be of help. PrimeHunter 17:59, 20 September 2007 (UTC)

Please see WP:FOOT#Previewing and check my addition for errors. --Teratornis 18:15, 20 September 2007 (UTC)

I added a note about temporary renumbering of notes during a section edit. Please make sure I did the right thing.Softtest123 23:41, 20 September 2007 (UTC)

That was a good point to mention. I reworded your addition slightly to move it more toward the active voice, and I added another paragraph describing a complication that just occurred to me: re-using footnotes from previous sections. While I was there, I looked at Wikipedia talk:Footnotes which seems to be having a huge debate over citation styles at the moment. Yikes. --Teratornis 00:25, 21 September 2007 (UTC)

borax paste for prewash

To use Borox for stain removal on a pre-wash item, what is the amount of water to use with Borax to make a viable paste? --Do I just make a paste? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 71.221.60.211 (talk) 16:31, 20 September 2007 (UTC)

You should try reading the directions on the back of the box. We're here to help you use Wikipedia, not do your laundry. Hersfold ^(t/a/c) 16:37, 20 September 2007 (UTC)

Sorry--I thought wikipedia was helpful

I was trying to find information about using borax and was sent to Wikipedia. Sorry to bother you. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 71.221.60.211 (talk) 16:39, 20 September 2007 (UTC)

removed duplicate response and removed section header. Woodym555 16:47, 20 September 2007 (UTC)

We are rather helpful, just not for washing clothes. You're welcome to read our article on Borax, but I don't think it has what you're looking for. Sorry. Hersfold ^(t/a/c) 16:51, 20 September 2007 (UTC)

The stain article might provide some clues, but it does not mention borax. You could try asking on our Reference desk, where volunteers attempt to answer any question. Or you could try searching the Web: google:stain removal borax, which finds many links. Wikipedia tends to be weak on this type of procedural knowledge, because Wikipedia is not a how-to guide. Other wikis do specialize in this kind of information, for example WikiHow. --Teratornis 17:22, 20 September 2007 (UTC)

(edit conflict) The reference desk if for asking these kinds of questions. This page is for help with using Wikipedia. Leebo ^T/C 17:23, 20 September 2007 (UTC)

See these articles on WikiHow about stain removal. --Teratornis 17:24, 20 September 2007 (UTC)

You might mention WikiHow to your friends who sent you to Wikipedia. Much practical information is (or will eventually be) on WikiHow that probably will never appear on Wikipedia, because of Wikipedia's content policies. Wikipedia is merely the world's most-visited wiki, by no means the only one, nor always the most appropriate one for a given need. --Teratornis 17:34, 20 September 2007 (UTC)

Ask Metafilter and Yahoo! Answers are pretty good for stuff like this too, probably Yahoo! Answers in this case more than Ask Metafilter. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Craigtalbert (talk • contribs) 01:51, 21 September 2007 (UTC)

Why don't others see what I added

I am adding our information to this page, "Editing Bradenton, Florida (section)". I see it when I call it up on my computer, but the information is not there from other computers. What am I missing? Sorry if this is a stupid question! ArtCenter Manatee 16:56, 20 September 2007 (UTC)

I don't mean to sound patronizing, but have you saved the changes? Changes should show up within seconds. (To make sure the changes were applied, you can check the history of the page by clicking on the history tab, and seeing if your changes are listed there). Best, --Bfigura ^(talk) 17:00, 20 September 2007 (UTC)

PS: After examining the history (here), it does seem that your changes were applied. Perhaps you need to refresh the browser on the other computer? However, it does seem that some of your changes sound slightly like advertising, which is somewhat frowned upon. (See this page for why that is; or in short: in order to prevent conflicts of interest, we discourage editors from working on articles relating to organizations to which they belong).--Bfigura ^(talk) 17:02, 20 September 2007 (UTC)

Thank you for your response! I should have said so, but yes I saved the changes, and they did show up on my computer within seconds. When I go to the page from another computer today, it still doesn't show the changes, but I do see the changes from the history tab. When or will it be shown on the main page? Sorry, I don't mean to advertise, just make it clear what we do here. I am, as you can tell, a computer novice trying to get by. Thanks! —Preceding unsigned comment added by 71.43.126.66 (talk) 19:39, 20 September 2007 (UTC)

There are very specific requirements for an article to appear on the Main Page. "Today's Featured Article" comes from our collection of featured articles, the best and most comprehensive articles. Did You Know items need to be well-written and substantial new articles. Leebo ^T/C 19:44, 20 September 2007 (UTC)

I'm sorry, by main page I meant for Bradenton, Florida. From Google, search bradenton, fl and wikipedia link comes up, from there you are taken to the page for Bradenton that I am trying to get this information added to. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 71.43.126.66 (talk) 19:49, 20 September 2007 (UTC)

If you're referring to your edits about ArtCenter Manatee, the changes are showing in the article. Leebo ^T/C 19:53, 20 September 2007 (UTC)

Did you try to bypass the browser cache on the other machines? You can find browser-specific info here Saturn 5 19:55, 20 September 2007 (UTC)

Some ISP's cache pages and register updates with a varying delay. Then you may have to find another URL which hasn't been cached, or use another ISP. PrimeHunter 23:10, 20 September 2007 (UTC)

Page Deleton

Hi, I just had my page about my book 'The Forbidden Books' deleted for advertising.

I notice other books have pages dedicated to them with links to places to purchase them.

I would like to put a page back up - although structured differently.

From studying other books pages I can see that they are structured differently and would like to try again.

Although I use Wikipedia often, this is the first time I have ever listed an article so am a novice who got it wrong! Emmawhatever 17:49, 20 September 2007 (UTC)

Hi there. In general it's a bad idea to add commercial links to wikipedia (see here for more info). The other people doing it are also probably in the wrong. One page that might be helpful would be the notability policy for books. If your article follows those guidelines, you should be all set. Best, --Bfigura ^(talk) 18:07, 20 September 2007 (UTC)

Writing about your own work is generally frowned upon - we encourage you not to unless you can remain impartial about it. You could list it on the bounty board to encourage others to improve it. --h2g2bob (talk) 18:15, 20 September 2007 (UTC)

Quite correct. Somehow my eye missed the "my" in "my book"--Bfigura ^(talk) 18:19, 20 September 2007 (UTC)

Question (in Georgian I think)

minda inpormacia rusuli snaiperis vintovkis svd s shesaxeb inpormacia —Preceding unsigned comment added by 62.168.163.119 (talk) 18:47, 20 September 2007 (UTC)

Does anyone know how to translate Georgian to English and find out what this means? Leebo ^T/C 19:06, 20 September 2007 (UTC)

I found an online Georgian-English dictionary. Not a translator per se, but none of the above yielded any definitions as spelled... Saturn 5 20:21, 20 September 2007 (UTC)

There's an article at [1] in the lt.wikipedia, is lt Lithuanian or Latvian? Corvus cornix 20:24, 20 September 2007 (UTC)

Did that online dictionary require you to put in the Georgian spellings with the Georgian script? This is clearly approximated using Latin characters. Corvus, I think it's Gerogian mainly because the user is from Georgia. Leebo ^T/C 20:31, 20 September 2007 (UTC)

Ah. I didn't think to check the IP address. But further google searches for some of the words do appear to reference Georgian forums. Corvus cornix 20:42, 20 September 2007 (UTC)

I need Help

Do you know any one the can do the work of a sorceresses if so contact me please. Lester Thabodiaux (if that's how to spell it)

    Uhh, maybe Into The Fray can help.

Help!

Into The Fray, or any other helpers, I have a question on my talk page! Please Answer it! —Preceding unsigned comment added by WinCamXP (talk • contribs) September 20 2007

Turning off in-line cleanup template messages

Is there a way for a reader to have Wikipedia not display messages such a ^{[Citation needed]} (the {{Fact}} tag)? I have an editor removing these templates from an article, and I would like to give him an option besides refraining from vandalism. / edg ☺ ★ 21:09, 20 September 2007 (UTC)

Ask Into The Fray To answer that question. WinCamXP 21:16, 20 September 2007 (UTC)

WinCam, please don't reply unless you're offering help. You may cause an edit conflict with someone who is providing a helpful response.

Edgarde, I'm afraid there isn't. They're there for the purpose of being noticed, so that people using the article for research will know that the preceding statement may not be completely accurate, and editors will know to look for references. I've reverted the editor's removal of the templates and will leave him a note about the tags. Thanks for bringing this up. Hersfold ^(t/a/c) 21:56, 20 September 2007 (UTC)

Help me on Hyperlinks

I need to know how to make a hyperlink with an arrow like everyone else. Just the one with the arrow coming out of the little box.

By WinCamXP —Preceding unsigned comment added by WinCamXP (talk • contribs) 21:30, 20 September 2007 (UTC)

• External links have that image appended automatically. for example --> http://www.google.com - Mgm|^(talk) 22:04, 20 September 2007 (UTC)

• Place the URL inside square brackets to avoid displaying the URL. See more at Help:Link#External links. PrimeHunter 23:04, 20 September 2007 (UTC)

---

• Other tips:

On external links, [2] <-- you will get an arrow with a number.

• [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WP:LINK] <-raw form of the above example

by adding a space after the URL then text,the text will appear in the link, ex. Help on Wikipedia linking

• [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WP:LINK Help on Wikipedia linking] <-raw

On internal link just add [[text]] between two brackets instead of one to interlink WP:LINK

and to change what an interlink displays add a |then text, this is the same link as above

• [[WP:LINK|this is the same link as above]] <-raw
• To link to a Wikipedia sister site, use an interwiki code see m:Help:Interwiki linking▪◦▪≡ЅiREX≡^Talk 23:52, 20 September 2007 (UTC)

login - email not recognised

I created an account as rewardinheaven in July 2006, when I edited the article on the Popular Flying Association (removed stub and wrote article). I would now like to make a small edit to update the article. However I cannot remember my password and it seems my email was not recorded at the time. This surprises me but it means I cannot ask for a new password.

I cannot re-register as rewardinheaven as it is already taken (list confirms this) and do not want to create a second account if possible as this would be confusing and probably not good practice. Can you help please?

rewardinheaven

84.92.189.134 21:30, 20 September 2007 (UTC)

• Did you confirm your account at the time of registration? - Mgm|^(talk) 21:51, 20 September 2007 (UTC)

Also remember you don't need to be registered to edit! Saturn 5 22:48, 20 September 2007 (UTC)

search history

could I save the search history in wikipedia? Thank you! —Preceding unsigned comment added by Stringari (talk • contribs) 23:12, 20 September 2007 (UTC)

Some browsers independently save the information that you input into a search bar (including Wikipedia) but as far as I know there is no way to actually save your search history other than to bookmark or watchlist pages of interest. —Keakealani·?·!·@ 00:04, 21 September 2007 (UTC)

September 21

Shrink/shorten/basically make space that the talk page boxes invade smaller

How do you shrink, shorten, or merge talk page boxes? Is there really a way to create a scroller for them to reduce space? Talk:SanDisk Sansa is a very good example, and it's giving me the nerves. --Jw21/PenaltyKillah^{(discuss•edits)} 02:56, 21 September 2007 (UTC)

{{WikiProjectBannerShell}} will allow you to condense the wikiproject boxes. Depending on how much attention the talk page gets, it may not need the talk page header. LaraLove 03:11, 21 September 2007 (UTC)

Painting listing "Yu Shih-hai" by cplumley2

Good evening,

I have uploaded a painting by Yu Shih-hai. It is also available here on my server:

I belive that it was painted about 1920-30 and was in a collection of paintings from my grandmother's home at 76 Brooks Street, West Medford, Mass. (You have a listing for this home on your service, as Amelia Earhart lived there for a time with my grandparents. When I find my photos of the house I will add the monument to that page.)

I have no idea if this painting is copyrighted and how to list it on your servers.

I am really trying to find out about the artist that I can list the painting for sale.

Thank you for your help.

If you do not know about the copyright, it will likely be deleted. Also, do not post personal information here. Wikipedia is not for selling things. Try Craigslist instead. Into The Fray ^T/C 01:56, 21 September 2007 (UTC)

incorrect image i ubject to using it

there is an image of a nscc color guard on the us naval sea cadet page where the cadets portraied are out of proper uniform in that there Aiguillettes are on improperly 2 of the three strands should go on the outside of the sholder 97.84.155.21 01:37, 21 September 2007 (UTC)NSCC PO3

I assume you mean the page United States Naval Sea Cadet Corps, and the image Image:US Naval Sea Cadet.jpg. Obviously we would like an image with everything correctly portrayed, but right now this seems to be the only image we have of such a cadet. If you have an better image we can freely use (see Wikipedia:Image use policy), we would be happy to use it, otherwise an image with a slight mistake is better then none at all. Prodego ^talk 01:56, 21 September 2007 (UTC)

Creating New

I created a new one, however the text is partially in caps and part not. I need to change the format of the spelling, but it won't let me. How can I fix this? —Preceding unsigned comment added by Fenwaypark (talk • contribs) 01:48, 21 September 2007 (UTC)

I'm not entirely sure I understand. you want to change the format of what exactly? The Kato picture, the article, or something else? Best, --Bfigura ^(talk) 02:04, 21 September 2007 (UTC)

With regards to the article, please do not overwrite an existing article with a new one. :) If you are confident that the Kato you wish to write about meets notability guidelines and you are able to supply proper verification, please establish a new page for him. --Moonriddengirl 02:09, 21 September 2007 (UTC)

Tacos RULE!!!!!!

Watching only part of a page

Resolved

Is it possible to watch a page (especially a talk page) such that only edits to a particular section will show up in the watchlist and edits to other sections won't prevent those "desired section" edits from showing up? - SigmaEpsilon → ΣΕ 03:09, 21 September 2007 (UTC)

No. Only pages are in your watchlist. It is just a list of page names. When you view it, it quickly queries the recently changed database table for pages with a name in your watchlist. That table does not have page sections in it. -- kainaw™ 03:12, 21 September 2007 (UTC)

It would put too much of a burden on the servers to allow sections to be watched. LaraLove 03:14, 21 September 2007 (UTC)

OK. I was just curious. Thanks for the quick response. - SigmaEpsilon → ΣΕ 03:21, 21 September 2007 (UTC)

Grammar

Hi. I've got a question about the grammar (specifically capitalization) in a wikipedia article. The article is for brian_d_foy. Apparently he doesn't capitalize his name. I know there are other 'proper' nouns that aren't normally capitalized. The question is, what should be done at the beginning of a sentence? I would have thought normal English grammar rules would apply, and the text for his name would be capitalized. (I'm particularly looking at the third para beginning 'brian'. I don't have Strunck & White with me, but my 'Australian Style Manual' says in this case: "...proper names that begin with a lowercase letter...either rearrange the sentence so that the proper name no longer starts is or ... convert it to a capital at the start of the sentence" Thanks for any advice. peterl 03:18, 21 September 2007 (UTC)

The Manual of Style has general guidelines on how to format articles, and includes some instructions for special cases such as this, in submanuals such as the one at MOS:CAPS. That particular guide says:

For personal names, capitalize normally within the article, but include the lowercase spelling within the lead. For the article title, follow the lead of outside sources and use the most common spelling and capitalization, per Wikipedia:Naming conventions. For example, if The New York Times and USA Today routinely capitalize the name, use the same style here on Wikipedia. If the situation is ambiguous, capitalize normally.

The submanual on trademarks expands on this a bit further, saying that within the article, standard capitalization should be used (i.e. capitalize the proper noun). In general, though, whatever method you end up using should be what you use throughout the article. Don't switch styles. Hersfold ^(t/a/c) 03:28, 21 September 2007 (UTC)

I suppose one could try asking brian d foy why he enjoys making life more difficult for other people and wasting their time. There are already enough difficulties in life even when everybody tries to cooperate, I should think. I cannot be alone in spotting the irony: his notability derives from his work on Perl, which is part of computing, and the goal of computing is to save labor - that is also the point behind having grammatical rules. In any case, Wikipedia tramples freely on lots of cultural and religious preferences, so I wouldn't worry too much about how brian d foy prefers to render his name. In my opinion (which is by no means authoritative beyond my limited ability to make it sound sensible), do what you have to do to keep our articles looking at least semi-literate. There might be a template somewhere to tag articles that contain goofily-rendered names, or maybe someone could start one (lest another editor should see what looks like an error and "correct" it). --Teratornis 03:38, 21 September 2007 (UTC)

Viewing languages in articles

When I view articles which text written in different languages, I cannot view the text. It always comes up as question marks. In particular, I cannot view Asian languages, or some text written in IPA. Is there something I have to download to view these fonts? This is an example of an article where I cannot view parts of the text: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_writing_system Also, is there a way to request articles to be written? I work for a company I believe qualifies as notable, but agree that my association with the company makes me unsuitable to write it. Do I have to wait and see, or ask someone personally?Pjsiqhh 04:17, 21 September 2007 (UTC)

You can request an article at WP:RA, under the appropriate section. It may take a fairly long time for it to get written, but it's better than doing nothing. Thanks for not trying to write it yourself. :-) As for your first question, which I'm answering last because I had to look up the help page, you should check here for directions on how to get your computer set up properly. Hersfold ^(t/a/c) 04:42, 21 September 2007 (UTC)

How to add photograph to article?

Hi, I wrote an article and would like to add a photo (I own the copyright) to the article/ how would i go about doing this? thank you very much. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Adamtrask1 (talk • contribs) 06:57, 21 September 2007 (UTC)

The easiest way is to upload at Wikimedia commons (and your picture can be used within other projects too). Please go to Commons:Upload. This page leads you through the way. Before you can upload a picture at commons, you have to create an account there. To use a picture within an article, please look at Wikipedia:Picture tutorial--Thw1309 07:22, 21 September 2007 (UTC)

Leonardo da Vinci - Vocational training

Hello. I wonder what Leonardo da Vinci - Vocational training program is. So I searched the program in wikipedia. Would you help me find the explanation or the reference for the Leonardo da Vinci? I'm very looking forward to your reply very soon through my e-mail <email removed for your security>. Thank you very much.

This page was created to help users with questions about the use of wikipedia. For questions about the content please look at Wikipedia:Reference desk and ask your question there. If you should be looking for the european programm please look here--Thw1309 07:30, 21 September 2007 (UTC)

Logo

How do I add a logo for the airline I have written the history for. I can produce a gif image easile, but where toI download it to, and how do I insert it in the page?Tnuag 07:51, 21 September 2007 (UTC)tnuag

You can upload the image via the 'Upload file' box in the toolbox, which will be at the bottom of the left column if you are using default preferences. For instructions on adding an uploaded image to an article, see Help:Image. --ais523 09:15, 21 September 2007 (UTC)

Firstly, it's better to have the image as PNG format rather than GIF. Wikipedia:Upload is the page to use to upload the image, just give it a description and choose a licence tag (such as {{Non-free logo|Airline logos|Central African Airways}}). Then include it with something like logo=Central_African_Airlines_logo.png| in the infobox. — PhilHibbs | talk 09:19, 21 September 2007 (UTC)

Copying a biography with permission...

I recently created a page for a well known south western artist and was given permission from his family to copy his biography from his website. Your copyright bot said that it found the connection and told me to delete the copied material. What shall I do? —Preceding unsigned comment added by BDeVine123 (talk • contribs) 08:29, 21 September 2007 (UTC)

• See Wikipedia:Requesting_copyright_permission#When_permission_is_confirmed Either have the person themselves write to Wikipedia from an identifiable address or forward the permission you got yourself. Also, it's generally not a good idea to copy biographies because they tend not to be written in a Wikipedia compatible format and tone. I recommend you use the facts and write the biography for Wikipedia yourself. - Mgm|^(talk) 08:46, 21 September 2007 (UTC)
  • Also, getting permission is often trickier than it first might seem. Merely granting permission for use in Wikipedia isn't good enough, because Wikipedia can be copied so the permission needs to be broader. Put simply, all material has to be either public domain or licensed in a way that is compatible with the GFDL. The simplest from our point of view is to get the copyright holder to agree to license the material under the GFDL itself, but that can be hard to explain. Sometimes it's easier to re-write the text using just the facts, like Mgm says. If you don't have the time or the confidence to do that, just link the bio in External links and let someone else do it. If the person is notable, then someone will do it eventually. — PhilHibbs | talk 09:13, 21 September 2007 (UTC)

Question

How does Wikipedia ensure the quality of its articles? Bad articles can lead Wikipedia in to very serious trouble especially if they invlove people who might sue you. Simply put how do you check the millions of articles and remove bad edits? —Preceding unsigned comment added by Rylong2 (talk • contribs) 09:29, 21 September 2007 (UTC)

Well, anyone can change the articles in any direction; much of the checking is done by readers who happen to come across the article and correct mistakes in them (the principle is that there are more people who will correct the articles if they come across a mistake than there are deliberately trying to mess them up). There are also people (and computer programs) who monitor all changes being made, trying to spot bad edits and reverting them as they happen. There are other methods as well, but despite these there's no way that Wikipedia can guarantee that all the articles are correct (see the General disclaimer). --ais523 09:34, 21 September 2007 (UTC)

A simple question with lots of answers! Regarding articles on living people we have some very specific policies - see WP:BLP for more. In general, articles can go through a good article review to check for "quality", with the aim of getting articles up t0 Featured status. However the most important thing is this is a wiki! The aim of Wikipedia is constant improvement, and the thousands of people who edit here each day (generally) are all trying to remove bad edits and replace poor content with good content. You can help us!! Pedro |  Chat  09:38, 21 September 2007 (UTC)

See:

• Wikipedia:Overview FAQ#Who is responsible for the articles on Wikipedia?
• Wikipedia:Overview FAQ#How do you know if the information is correct?
• Wikipedia:Replies to common objections
• Wikipedia:Biographies of living persons (as mentioned above)

--Teratornis 15:35, 21 September 2007 (UTC)

GFDL questions

I'm setting up a new wiki soon, and will be importing pages from here using Special:Export. Below are some of the pages

• Template:Sprotected
• Daewoo Magnus
• Middlesbrough
• Asperger's Syndrome
• Disability
• Girls Aloud
• Hallam FM
• MediaWiki:Monobook.css
• MediaWiki:Common.css

Is it a violation of the GFDL to edit the source of the XML files, changing all the ".svg" image files to ".svg.png" files because my webhost does not support SVG uploads??

Thanks, --Solumeiras ^talk 10:23, 21 September 2007 (UTC)

It's not a violation of the GFDL to edit pages (if it were, then Wikipedia would have quite some legal problems trying to run!), but the rules are slightly different if you're editing rather than making an exact copy. See Wikipedia:Copyrights#Reusers' rights and obligations for an informal explanation of what you have to do, or the GFDL itself for the full legal details. (Basically: you have to make it clear what you've done (for instance in the edit history of the image description pages), licence the changes under GFDL (unlikely to be a problem in a GFDL-licenced wiki), keep track of the previous history (which Special:Export handles for you), and make sure that the new version is available in a machine-readable form (unlikely to be a problem in this case; however, as the SVG is probably the preferred form to edit the image in rather than the produced SVG, to be safe I'd recommend you link to the original SVGs somewhere, maybe Wikipedia's copy of them if you can't upload them yourself).) --ais523 10:29, 21 September 2007 (UTC)

• Thanks for that, ais523. I'll have a read through of the copyrights page.

This is an example:

Image:Octagon-warning.svg.png

Image from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Octagon-warning.svg

The wiki I am making is for editing, and not a copy of pages from Wikipedia (like answers.com and other sites that mirror it).

I was unsure about if it was a violation of copyright to change all SVG images to .svg.png images in an imported copy of the pages into my new wiki.

Thanks, --Solumeiras ^talk 10:37, 21 September 2007 (UTC)

That looks fine to me. Just one other quick note: not all images (as opposed to text) on wikipedia are GFDL; see their image description page for licensing information on each individual image. (All images used on templates have to have licences that specifically allow you to do what you're doing, though; this is Wikimedia policy.) The licences used will either be GFDL (as in the example you've given), public domain (this puts no conditions on the image at all, so it's impossible to mess that one up), or Creative Commons licences (which have a subset of the requirements of the GFDL; the most common Creative Commons licence used on Wikipedia would require only keeping track of the author and keeping the same licence, which is a subset of the GFDL obligations). So if you follow the rules as for the GFDL, and copy the licence templates used over, then you're unlikely to have problems whatever the licence. --ais523 10:42, 21 September 2007 (UTC)

• Thank you for that explanation. The only images I was going to re-use would probably be the Nuvola icon sets used on talkpage warnings and templates. I'll have a look at the licences now. At least now I don't have to worry too much. --Solumeiras ^talk 10:46, 21 September 2007 (UTC)

New section

როგორ დავრეგისტრირდე და გამოვიყენო ვიკიპედია ვახტანგი —Preceding unsigned comment added by 85.114.225.127 (talk) 10:58, 21 September 2007 (UTC)

When on the English-language Wikipedia, please always use English, no matter to whom you address your comments. This is so that comments may be comprehensible to the community at large. :) We'd be happy to try to help you if you could translate your question, but questions in other languages may go unanswered unless somebody else who speaks it happens to be manning the help desk. --Moonriddengirl 11:47, 21 September 2007 (UTC)

You could ask your question at the Georgian language version of this page, reachable here.--Fuhghettaboutit 12:20, 21 September 2007 (UTC)

Dubious times in top Asian 'international academy'

I am currently an employee of '__________international academy' in Korea, and am extremely concerned by levels of corruption at the school. The information is true; however, I cannot at the moment produce evidence as i'm an employee there until I fulfill my contract. Having said that, I feel completely outraged with the goings on there and the treatment of some of the students: people need to know.

The academy is very wealthy and influential however, therefore I'm trying to watch my back.

I will publish on this site, but I need to know that they won't be able to track me (I am not kidding with my concerns- if you mess with this organisation, it can have serious consequences).

I know you may deal with a lot of fake stuff, but this is not. I just don't know what to do: people can't get away with this!

I can't say too much here, because this is in the public domain, but i'm just hoping that I can publish with reassurance that I can't be found by them (my employers) —Preceding unsigned comment added by Wynspuds (talk • contribs) 13:58, 21 September 2007 (UTC)

As you note you can't produce evidence, Wikipedia may not be able to help you with this. There is an official policy against original research. And if the evidence that you can produce is not already published in a secondary source, it is not proper for Wikipedia's purposes. As an encyclopedia, Wikipedia is a compendium of known and published facts. However, even if you produce proper secondary sources, Wikipedia can't guarantee your anonymity. While private information is not routinely published, there may be some cases where Wikipedia is compelled to reveal that information. See Wikimedia:Privacy Policy. Depending on the laws of Korea, you might have better luck speaking to local media or locating a supervisory organization to help you. Perhaps you could find a way to deliver your evidence anonymously there? I'm sorry that the situation is so dire, and I hope that you're able to resolve it. :( --Moonriddengirl 14:21, 21 September 2007 (UTC)

There's quite a few places where you could put this information. I seem to remember a Wiki-style site dedicated to this that uncovered some corruption scandal, but I can't remember the name. It was essentially an encyclopedia of "leaks". -Wooty [Woot?] [Spam! Spam! Wonderful spam!] 04:24, 22 September 2007 (UTC)

Persistent infrequent possible vandalism

I watch the article Guiseley. Every so often User:195.171.89.178 comes along and adds that that historian Barbara Haydock is a local resident. I'm not sure that this person exists, and if she does then she's not notable (the entry on her was deleted earlier this year [3]. Every few weeks User:195.171.89.178 adds the name to the article and then I come along and delete it. I've tried discussing it with them, on their talk page and on the article's talk page. What can be done to stop this waste of time? Thanks, Dupont Circle 14:10, 21 September 2007 (UTC)

There's not a whole lot, other than having more people watch it. A long-term IP block wouldn't really be appropriate, since it's not severe vandalism. Semi-protection also wouldn't be appropriate, since the frequency is so low. Leebo ^T/C 14:16, 21 September 2007 (UTC)

center for jewish history

Hi,

I attempted to make changes to the page, "Center for Jewish History". My changes were reverted, per the message below:

"September 2007 Thank you for your recent edit to Center for Jewish History. Unfortunately I had to revert the edit, as sections seeme to have been taken from another source, possibly breaching copyright. These additions also did not have the encyclopaedic style which we try to aim for on wikipedia, but read like an advertisement. Thanks. Quantpole 14:25, 17 September 2007 (UTC)"

I work for the Center for Jewish History, as the primary public affairs staff member, and do most of the writing about the Center. The changes that I attempted to put on the page were accurate AND my own work. I am not sure why my edits were not accepted (nor do I know who posted the Center's wikipedia page in the first place).

Can you please let me know what I can do to correct this information so I can provide the Wikipedia community with accurate and complete information about the Center for Jewish History?

Thank you,

Hadas Almagor Deputy Director of Development and Public Affairs Center for Jewish History Hadasalmagor 14:15, 21 September 2007 (UTC)

Thank you for working to improve the encyclopedia. Unfortunately, I have to agree with the person who reverted your edit, because it appears to be largely copy/pasted from another source and reads like an advertisement for the Center. Wikipedia has a number of policies and guideines that must be followed when adding information to an article. Of significance here is the neutral point of view policy. You work for the center, so it would be difficult for you to write a neutral entry on it. This is discussed at Wikipedia:Conflict of interest. You can propose changes on Talk:Center for Jewish History, but please do not edit the article directly. Leebo ^T/C 14:22, 21 September 2007 (UTC)

The other problem is that, as they say, "on the Internet, nobody knows you're a dog". In other words, while we do try to assume good faith in most cases, if you're contributing content that you wrote for another website, it is copyrighted (by you, most likely), and because the content on Wikipedia is supposed to be licensed under the GFDL, we can't blindly accept anything that appears to be non-free content. Yours is one of about three or four questions recently about a similar topic, and I believe if you scroll up a few sections you will see where there is some information on how you can release your text under a free license so that there is no copyright violation involved. Confusing Manifestation 15:36, 21 September 2007 (UTC)

copyright text

Hi there,

I work at Penguin publishers and have been trying to update my author pages and book title pages but having trouble with text. Specifically with Neris and India's Idiot-Proof Diet. Every time I enter the book summary (from our own penguin systems that I myself wrote and has been approved by the author) it gets removed because the bot finds it on another website. Even though it is clearly in my own copy-right. Please help! I also don't know how to add book images which are fully cleared for me to put up on this site without them getting removed.

Jenny

Jenpeng 14:20, 21 September 2007 (UTC)

I don't see a bot doing it. It looks like another user, User:Madman, removed it most recently. Basically, as an encyclopedia article, the page shouldn't contain copied text from another source, even if you own the copyright for that source. It should be written in original words, or you could place a link to your hosted version of the summary. Regarding the images, you need to provide copyright information and a fair use rationale. See Wikipedia:Non-free content. Leebo ^T/C 14:25, 21 September 2007 (UTC)

Intersection

I was wondering how it is possible to do a intersection of 2 categories to find out how many are in both. Such as list of album covers without fair use rationale. Dommccas 15:09, 21 September 2007 (UTC)

You could try asking Jogers, because I think he has Jogersbot update the list. Leebo ^T/C 15:12, 21 September 2007 (UTC)

Thanks i'll ask him Dommccas 15:19, 21 September 2007 (UTC)

• You can also try CatScan; I've got it listed on my userpage. - Mgm|^(talk) 17:45, 21 September 2007 (UTC)

Hallo

Hallo, wie du Windeln trägst? danke. --Co Signer 15:19, 21 September 2007 (UTC)

Please ask questions in English in order to allow more people to understand. Leebo ^T/C 15:24, 21 September 2007 (UTC)

Also, confine your questions to Wikipedia. For questions about things such as diapers, use the Reference Desk. -- kainaw™ 15:27, 21 September 2007 (UTC)

We do of course have an article about Diapers which you may read. If you have a question about editing the German Wikipedia, you could ask at de:Wikipedia:Fragen zur Wikipedia. --Teratornis 15:30, 21 September 2007 (UTC)

weir gut danke --Co Signer 15:32, 21 September 2007 (UTC)

(undent) Note to Help desk volunteers: when questions arrive in languages other than English, Wikipedia:Language recognition chart may be helpful. --Teratornis 15:40, 21 September 2007 (UTC)
Note to Help desk volunteers: this guy' s German is even worse than my English. So this seems to be a stupid joke. Please do not try to help him any more. --Thw1309 17:53, 21 September 2007 (UTC)

Considering your question is in German considering asking your question here. --Тhε Rαnδom Eδιτor 21:08, 21 September 2007 (UTC)

Photo archive

Hello,

I wonder how to proceed to have access to the phto archive as You can find in the French Wiki version "Photo du jour" as photo of the day ?

Please let me know. Thanks in advance, Jean —Preceding unsigned comment added by 195.73.161.116 (talk) 18:34, 21 September 2007 (UTC)

The page archiving the Photo of the Day changes by month, but you can get to all featured pictures by going to Wikipedia:Featured pictures. Leebo ^T/C 18:42, 21 September 2007 (UTC)

removing a flag/message

I have added internal and external links and believe my entry is no longer orphaned. How do I remove the message generated by Wikipedia? —Preceding unsigned comment added by Wendyweiss123 (talk • contribs) 19:23, 21 September 2007 (UTC)

Orphaned means no articles link to it. You need to place links to the article in other articles with appropriate context so that there is more than one way to get to it other than searching. Leebo ^T/C 19:27, 21 September 2007 (UTC)

As Leebo notes, to, erm, de-orphanize an article, you need to find relevant articles elsewhere on Wikipedia that should be linked back to it and add such links there. :) Once you have done so, you simply edit the article to cut out the template. Look for text between brackets. The orphan template looks like {{Orphan}} and may have a date attached. --Moonriddengirl 19:31, 21 September 2007 (UTC)

The article still has a lot of other problems. It is not an encyclopedic entry in its present form, but a list of "medical foods" and links to outside sources. It has few or no wikilinks; no categorization; etc. Please wikify the article first, before worrying about the orphan tag. --Orange Mike 19:45, 21 September 2007 (UTC)

my article doesnt appear when I search

Hi Wikipedians I wrote my first article. It appears under "my contributions" However, it does not appear when I search Wikipedia. What have I done wrong? ILPAC 19:28, 21 September 2007 (UTC)

I see it when I search for CETO Wave Power. Leebo ^T/C 19:31, 21 September 2007 (UTC)

Maybe the Wikipedia seach function had not indexed CETO Wave Power when you searched it but it's in searches now. If you want Google search or other external searches then Wikipedia has no control over when they index a new page. PrimeHunter 19:36, 21 September 2007 (UTC)

New articles

can you write your own articles, and how —Preceding unsigned comment added by 167.155.248.201 (talk) 20:24, 21 September 2007 (UTC)

• Please read Wikipedia:How to start a page. Wikipedia:Your first article details what is and isn't a good idea for article topics. Remember, if you want to write your own articles as in you owning the material, Wikipedia is not the place, see WP:OWN. - Mgm|^(talk) 21:16, 21 September 2007 (UTC)

Fourth Geneva Convention

The Fourth Geneva Convention article starts with Artical 2. It goes on from there but does not include Artical 1. What does Artical 1 say and why is it not included? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 24.21.165.172 (talk) 20:53, 21 September 2007 (UTC)

This sort of question is best asked at the Reference Desk. --Тhε Rαnδom Eδιτor 21:04, 21 September 2007 (UTC)

"Article 1. The High Contracting Parties undertake to respect and to ensure respect for the present Convention in all circumstances."--Thw1309 21:09, 21 September 2007 (UTC)

(edit conflict) The full text can be found in the first link at Fourth Geneva Convention#External links. Article 1 says: "The High Contracting Parties undertake to respect and to ensure respect for the present Convention in all circumstances." Wikipedia does not bring full source texts. Other sites like Wikisource specialize in that. I guess Wikipedia editors have tried to select the articles considered most important. PrimeHunter 21:12, 21 September 2007 (UTC)

See also wikisource:Geneva Convention/Fourth Geneva Convention. PrimeHunter 21:41, 21 September 2007 (UTC)

I want to access wikipedia from my Verizon mobile phone..

Dear friend of the All-knowing Wiki,

I really want to be able to access wikipedia while i'm on the go. I currently have a mobile web 2.0 capable verizon mobile phone. It's not a smart phone or a pda. Is it possible for me to access wikipedia from this?

Thank you for your repsonse.

66.75.4.149 21:27, 21 September 2007 (UTC)

I don't know the technology but maybe Wikipedia:WAP access is of help. PrimeHunter 21:38, 21 September 2007 (UTC)

Arbitrary break

Hello, I recently edited the Wikipedia page for Best Friends Animal Society. Could you please take the disclaimer off the top of the page re: it being written like an advertisement? I think the new copy is much better.

Regarding citations, I'm not sure what you mean by that - and how to cite within an article. If you could please give me some guidance, I'll make the changes.

Many thanks.

John Polis jpolis@earthlink.net —Preceding unsigned comment added by Jpolis (talk • contribs) 21:39, 21 September 2007 (UTC)

A guide to citations is here. Hope that helps. (I've also marked some places where you might need to cite sources). And after a cursory examination, the copy does appear improved, so I'll remove the advertising tag. Best, --Bfigura ^(talk) 21:43, 21 September 2007 (UTC)

Wikipedia:Articles_for_creation

AFC is faulty. The main page doesn't display all articles from the subpage and even though the tags are closed properly, the older submissions header is included in the collapsible close box. Can someone with template and transclusion experience look into this? - Mgm|^(talk) 21:53, 21 September 2007 (UTC)

• Purging either page isn't helping. - Mgm|^(talk) 22:03, 21 September 2007 (UTC)
• Ah, there it is. Missing noinclude close tag meaning nothing after it was included. - Mgm|^(talk) 22:09, 21 September 2007 (UTC)

Admin requested....

If an admin is watching here, can you please take a look at this question for this user? Thanks in advance. Into The Fray ^T/C 22:29, 21 September 2007 (UTC)

I unblocked his IP and re-blocked it to approximately the former length with a soft-block. That should solve the problem. :) Nihiltres^(t.l) 23:04, 21 September 2007 (UTC)

Thanks much! Into The Fray ^T/C 23:06, 21 September 2007 (UTC)

September 22

Edit history

Is it possible to delete some histories from Jena High School. Thanks,Thedjatclubrock :) ^(T/C) 01:11, 22 September 2007 (UTC)>

I don't think it's possible to delete a history, although upon examination I think I understand why you would want to do so, and sympathize. You may want to consider that since a significant section of the article is devoted to "Racial tension" it might be more valuable to demonstrate to readers that that sort of vandalism is not tolerated at Wikipedia and is quickly reverted or edited. I'm sorry not to be able to help you more. Accounting4Taste 01:17, 22 September 2007 (UTC)

Specific versions of articles may be deleted by admins, although it should only be used if the version includes someone's personal information. --Agüeybaná 01:35, 22 September 2007 (UTC)

Walt Disney's "Zorro" television series

There is a mistake on this page regarding the hour-long episodes aired on the Disney anthology series. The article stated that the episodes were shown in color and that they aired on NBC. This is incorrect. All four episodes were filmed in black-and-white and aired on ABC during the 1960-61 season, when the series was called "Walt Disney Presents." The show moved to NBC in the fall of 1961, where it was renamed "Walt Disney's Wonderful World of Color."

How do I make these corrections?

72.245.7.45 01:12, 22 September 2007 (UTC)

You can learn about the mechanics of editing a page at Wikipedia:How to edit a page; anyone can edit a Wikipedia article. However, one important principle at Wikipedia is that content must be verifiable (click on the word "verifiable" to find out more about that policy). You need to be able to back up your assertion about Zorro with reference to an outside source -- a book or a magazine article, for instance -- that says so. My copy of The Complete Directory to Prime Time Network TV Shows doesn't seem to list Zorro separately, so you may need to do some digging. If you don't back up your assertions with a reference, someone else may come along and say that you're wrong and change it back to what it was... I hope this helps. If you need more information, leave a note on my talk page. Accounting4Taste 01:25, 22 September 2007 (UTC)

Please help me about Pokémon Cheating Encyclopedia if you can!

Help! I made an encyclopedia so people could get Pokémon cheats and glitches. I was being nice, so why was my page (Pokémon Cheating Encyclopedia) deleted?! And is there anything I can do about it?

Unfortunately, Wikipedia does not include how-to articles. (See WP:NOT#HOWTO). So Wikipedia might not be the place for an article on how to cheat in Pokemon. However, you might take a look at the Pokemon Wikiproject and see if you'd be interested in contributing there. --Bfigura ^(talk) 02:08, 22 September 2007 (UTC)

I have put Pokémon Action Replay Encyclopedia up for CSD as well. User:Blair Bonnett replied to your earlier edit with this However, this is not suitable content for Wikipedia (see WP:NOT, specifically WP:NOT#HOWTO). If you want to create a Pokémon cheat wikia, you could try somewhere like Wikia or Bluwiki Blair - Speak to me 01:51, 22 September 2007 (UTC) . I think he said it perfectly. This type of content does not belong in an encyclopedia. Please see Pokemon wikiproject for how you can help edit Pokemon related articles. Woodym555 02:15, 22 September 2007 (UTC)

See: WP:WWMPD#If all else fails, try another wiki. You can search for a Pokémon-related wiki on WikiIndex. For example, try: wikiindex:Category:Games and wikiindex:Category:Pokemon. WikiIndex lists several Pokemon-related wikis, including The Pokémon Encyclopedia. Most wikis that specialize in a particular topic accept articles on that topic with fewer content restrictions than Wikipedia has. Which means your work is more likely to be acceptable on a wiki that specializes in Pokémon. --Teratornis 10:27, 22 September 2007 (UTC)

Which is to say, I would have to slightly disagree with the "said it perfectly" assessment, since there was no mention of the suitable alternative wikis that already exist. Starting an entirely new wiki is much harder than editing on an existing wiki, so that would normally be a last resort. In general, it seems too few participants in deletion debates on Wikipedia are fully aware of the several thousand alternative wikis that already exist. Even worse, many of the new users who create new articles on Wikipedia that violate one or more of Wikipedia's policies and guidelines seem to be utterly unaware that there are other wikis besides Wikipedia (and I think Wikipedia needs to do a better job, somehow, of pointing this out to new users who try to create new articles). --Teratornis 10:37, 22 September 2007 (UTC)

I think said it perfectly was a fairly adequate statement. I dont think it is neccessarily our job to mention every single other wiki. Most Wikipedia editors are here to help Wikipedia to develop. That being said the link to the Pokemon Encyclopedia is here: http://pokemon.wikia.com/wiki/Home . I do think that some editors should be guided elsewhere in their endeavours because they have valuable contributions to make to other wikis. We can't provide a link to every other wiki though because, as you say there are thousands. Woodym555 10:46, 22 September 2007 (UTC)

I have been thinking about this problem for some time; my notes are in: User:Teratornis/Outplacement. --Teratornis 23:13, 22 September 2007 (UTC)

Dale Wiley deleted for the wrong reason

I had an article deleted about Dale Wiley, saying that there was nothing notable about him to include him in Wikipedia. I thought it was notable that he was the only player (to best of knowledge) to have played pro basketball both as an able-bodied player and then later as a handicapped player after an accident. I also thought that other people would come across the page to either confirm and add on to the information, or to let us know why the information was no longer accurate. It doesn't help that his fame was from before the days of public internet. He did meet with then-President Ronald Reagan, and played a leading role in organizing the Para-Olympic Games. I have no conflict of interest here. I was simply trying to research Dale Wiley and found that nobody had anything about him in Wikipedia, so I thought I'd just post what I knew and see if more info could be added from other sources more knowledgable than myself. He could be a hero and role model for handicapped persons and specifically for wheelchair-bound persons. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Shrommer (talk • contribs) 02:34, 22 September 2007 (UTC)

You might want to contact the admin who deleted the article (User:Tawker) and see if he would be willing to copy it to your user-space, so that you can improve it. Alternatively, you could go to deletion review, and see if you can get it undeleted there. In either event, you'd also need to make sure that you can create an article with verifiable, independent, reliable sources. Best, --Bfigura ^(talk) 02:44, 22 September 2007 (UTC)

The article wasn't really written in a way that made his notability clear. It wasn't in an ordinary Wikipedia biography style. I'm not sure if you copied the text from somewhere else, but it would need to be completely rewritten. Leebo ^T/C 04:55, 22 September 2007 (UTC)

[Wikipedia Table of ] Contents

Recently, I'm experience the ineffectiveness of the "Content" section of Articles: When I Click on an item, it flickers, but nothing happens - I do not get to the section kisted!

Is that just my prblem? Or is it Vandalism on Wikipedia? Or what?

Best. --Ludvikus 05:32, 22 September 2007 (UTC)

Sounds like a problem with your browser. Have you tried it on another browser or computer? It should work. Leebo ^T/C 05:38, 22 September 2007 (UTC)

WOW! My hat goes off to you (if I were wearing one)! You are Fast and Correct.

The problem was on Netscape. When I switched to Explore the problem disappeared!!!

Thanks so much?

Now how do I fix it? I Love Nescape, and can't stand Explorer!

Yours truly, --Ludvikus 05:46, 22 September 2007 (UTC)

Sorry, can't help with that... I use Firefox. Perhaps the reference desk folks can help with a broswer issue. Leebo ^T/C 05:53, 22 September 2007 (UTC)

See the entries under WP:EIW#Browser. --Teratornis 10:55, 22 September 2007 (UTC)

Sometimes, if a section is closed with the templates which "hide" the content of a section, you can't get to that section by clicking on the ToC. Corvus cornix 21:14, 23 September 2007 (UTC)

Where to ask for others to look at an article?

People need to look at the Judge Judy and Judith Sheindlin article. They've gained the attention of a user (and his many sockpuppets) who has been abusive and seems to think he owns the pages. He called me names and has slowly reverted all my edits (and the edits of others), calling them ridiculous and erroneous, and continually removes cleanup templates. Other uses have commented on the talk page about the article needing cleanup. Where do I ask for experienced Wikipedians to pay special attention to this article? I am not sure Request for Comments is the best place. Kat, Queen of Typos 07:14, 22 September 2007 (UTC)

I'll put both pages on my watchlist. ByeNow is the abusive editor you mentioned? GlassCobra 07:21, 22 September 2007 (UTC)

Also, if it starts to become a matter of policy violation, you could try AN/I. --Bfigura ^(talk) 07:22, 22 September 2007 (UTC)

Thank you. Kat, Queen of Typos 07:25, 22 September 2007 (UTC)

I have left reminders about our civility policies at the talk pages of User:Lormos and User:ByeNow. It's plainly inappropriate for Lormos to use edit summaries like "Oh my fucking god did Rainbow really mess up this page" and to imply that you don't "do anything very useful" on Wikipedia (Talk:Judge Judy). Neither is it proper for ByeNow to call your edits "ridiculous" and tell you to "stop whining". I hope that they will read over the policies and change their approach to the conversation accordingly. It is of a bit of concern that your mention of indefinitely blocked user Tratare and potential sock puppetry was immediately removed from the page. If evidence develops to lead you to believe that such is the case, please consider seeking assistance at Wikipedia:Suspected sock puppets. --Moonriddengirl 12:23, 22 September 2007 (UTC)

Cell Phone Tracking

How do I track the location of a cell phone? <e-mail removed> —Preceding unsigned comment added by 70.57.202.204 (talk) 07:23, 22 September 2007 (UTC)

That's not really a question that belongs here. Try the reference desk. GlassCobra 07:28, 22 September 2007 (UTC)

See Cell phone tracking and you can search Wikipedia with Google for: GPS cell phone which finds some other articles that mention this topic. --Teratornis 10:53, 22 September 2007 (UTC)

article version number

How do I determine the article version number of a particular article? This is so I can use Wikipedia as a source in papers. I read the recommendation on how to reference and it suggested to add the article version number at the end of the URL for that page. However, where is the article version number located?

Thank you! gillian —Preceding unsigned comment added by 85.210.15.245 (talk) 08:24, 22 September 2007 (UTC)

• You can see it by clicking the revision in the history. If you are talking about the most recent version, click: "permanent link" in the sidebar to the left. - Mgm|^(talk) 08:35, 22 September 2007 (UTC)

You probably also want to check out Wikipedia:Citing Wikipedia. Confusing Manifestation 12:49, 22 September 2007 (UTC)

images

how to insert images in the articles of wikipedia?Are the images inserted already loaded somewhere in wikipedia? —Preceding unsigned comment added by Hedonister (talk • contribs) 09:20, 22 September 2007 (UTC)

Yes, they are. To insert an image it first must be uploaded to the servers, then it can be added to articles. See Wikipedia:Uploading images and Wikipedia:Picture tutorial, and there are a lot of other helpful pages in this list. Raven4x4x 09:24, 22 September 2007 (UTC)

please do reply

plaese send me more research papers(if any ) on the subject of thermodynamics of ideal solutions —Preceding unsigned comment added by 59.92.245.43 (talk) 10:03, 22 September 2007 (UTC)

You could start by reading the Ideal solution article. --Teratornis 10:44, 22 September 2007 (UTC)

• Try searching article databases like Pubmed or global ones at an academic library. - Mgm|^(talk) 14:24, 22 September 2007 (UTC)

You can also search with Google Scholar. --Teratornis 21:59, 22 September 2007 (UTC)

ctenophora

what is the structure of aboral sense organ in ctenophora? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 59.93.33.96 (talk) 10:22, 22 September 2007 (UTC)

If you don't find the answer by reading the Ctenophore article, you could try asking on the Reference desk. Or try: google:aboral organ ctenophore. --Teratornis 10:48, 22 September 2007 (UTC)

Is there a way to create your own private experiment page?

I have a future article in mind, but my plan for this article involves a table which will be time consuming to create, and I'd rather make the table before putting it into the article. I'm just wondering how that works, if such a thing exists. DandyDan2007 11:07, 22 September 2007 (UTC)

You can create a sandbox in your userspace. Just click on User:DandyDan2007/Sandbox and away you go. You might want to take a look at Wikipedia:Subpages as well. Woodym555 11:10, 22 September 2007 (UTC)

Using with research function in MS Office

What url is used to include Wikipedia in the research function for MS Office? —Preceding unsigned comment added by Fozzel (talk • contribs) 12:34, 22 September 2007 (UTC)

You could try this URL:

• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Search?search=&fulltext=Search

I like this one, because Google Search often gives better results than Wikipedia's built-in Help:Search method:

• Search Wikipedia with Google

The URL behind that link is:

• http://www.google.com/custom?domains=en.wikipedia.org&sitesearch=en.wikipedia.org

Also see: WP:EIW#Search for information about many ways to search Wikipedia. Disclaimer: I don't know how you would integrate a search URL into Microsoft Office. If it's just a matter of pasting in a URL somewhere, then you can use one of the above URLs. --Teratornis 23:20, 22 September 2007 (UTC)

copyrights

The following image has the following Licensing message attached to it. the same message is attached to the maps of the British, Portuguese and French empire maps. does the license message mean that i have the right to use this map in a publication of my own?

Image:DutchEmpire.png

Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.2 or any later version published by the Free Software Foundation; with no Invariant Sections, no Front-Cover Texts, and no Back-Cover Texts. A copy of the license is included in the section entitled "GNU Free Documentation License".

also, there were animated maps of the same empires that have now been taken off the article. is this because these maps had copyright infringements? or because they were invalid?

Dent09 12:35, 22 September 2007 (UTC)

Yes, the GFDL, which you can read in full at that link, gives you the right to duplicate the content within. It's the same license Wikipedia uses for all of its content. You can find more information here. Unfortunately, I'm not sure why the image was removed, but it's likely there was some form of copyright problem, or a consensus was reached somewhere that a static map works better for our purposes. You're free to look it up in the page history if you like - it's probable whoever removed the image left behind an edit summary explaining their actions. Hersfold ^(t/a/c) 15:01, 22 September 2007 (UTC)

Footnotes

I can't create footnotes correctly. What could I be doing wrong? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 218.101.86.117 (talk) 14:28, 22 September 2007 (UTC)

WP:FOOT has all the details, but a common mistake is not adding <references/> or {{reflist}} to the bottom of the page. --h2g2bob (talk) 14:37, 22 September 2007 (UTC)

Also be sure to close your inline references with </ref>. That one gets me all the time :) —Preceding unsigned comment added by Saturn 5 (talk • contribs) 17:38, 22 September 2007 (UTC)

Yes, thank you sinebot. :P Saturn 5 17:39, 22 September 2007 (UTC)

IGCSE history question on why did some industries not share in the 'boom'? this is during 1919-1941

Q1... explain how new technology affected some older industries?

Q2... explain what impact the tariff had on certain industries?

Q3... explain the reason why the wages of workers in certain industries remained low in comparison to profits.

Q4... why should the government have been concerned about poverty in the USA during the 1920's?

Q5... do you think the government would do anything to help these workers? why ?

Q6... explain whether you agree or disagree with this statement? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 217.69.179.16 (talk) 15:28, 22 September 2007 (UTC)

The help desk is for questions on USING Wikipedia ONLY. try asking that question at the Reference Desk. DeSalvionjr Talk | Contribs 15:37, 22 September 2007 (UTC)

Note, however, that the reference desk is not there to do your homework for you. You're not going to learn anything by not doing the work yourself. Hersfold ^(t/a/c) 16:43, 22 September 2007 (UTC)

Hidden search box

Have you considered placing the search box closer to the top of the welcome page.

As the box now is located, I find I cannot view it even at the bottom of the 1st page. I must scroll down to it on the left of my screen.

Most people, I would bet, come to Wikipedia to search for something and not to read the articles - though they are of interest, generally worth looking at.

Why not place the search box where it is immediately visible at the top of your 1st page ? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 71.99.0.184 (talk) 16:31, 22 September 2007 (UTC)

It's visible on my screen. Try making your font size smaller in your browser, or adjusting your screen's resolution. Unfortunately, there's not much we can do about this anyway, as such changes would have to be made by the MediaWiki developers. Hersfold ^(t/a/c) 16:42, 22 September 2007 (UTC)

It's right in the middle of the left side of my screen when I'm at the top. Of course, I have a larger than average resolution. Try increasing your screen resolution. Leebo ^T/C 17:47, 22 September 2007 (UTC)

If you go to Special:Preferences and change skin to Classic or Cologne Blue then the search box should be at top, but many other thnigs change at the same time. PrimeHunter 18:43, 22 September 2007 (UTC)

Haven't received e-mail with new password

Hi. I registered a couple days ago, and when I logged in yesterday I apparently forgot my password. I hit the "e-mail new password" button, but I haven't received an e-mail yet. I tried to hit the "e-mail new password" button again, but it says I've already had an e-mail with a new password sent to me.

I'd appreciate any help anyone can offer.

69.183.180.185 17:38, 22 September 2007 (UTC)

First, I'd check to see if the email is getting trapped in a spam filter somewhere. Other than that, there isn't a way to recover the password without having access to the email address that originally registered it. So I'd suggest creating a new account. Best, --Bfigura ^(talk) 17:41, 22 September 2007 (UTC)

If your account had a number of edits, you might want to paste a link on the new accounts page informing people that the previous account was yours. --Тhε Rαnδom Eδιτor 23:53, 22 September 2007 (UTC)

Use images from another (language) Wikipedia

Hi,

how can I use an image in my article, if the image has been uploaded to a different Wikipedia? To be more specific: I wrote an article in the English Wikipedia and uploaded an image for this article. Now I would like to use the same image for the German article. Using the standard command didn't work, however. So, how do I have to do this? I bet there is another way than simply uploading the same image to the German Wiki.

Your help is appreciated, thank you!

Regards

- spitfire —Preceding unsigned comment added by Spitfire ch (talk • contribs) 18:11, 22 September 2007 (UTC)

Since the image you uploaded is being used under a claim of fair use, you will need to upload it again on the German Wiki, sorry. If it was an freely licensed or public domain image, you could have uploaded it to the Commons instead and been able to do this. It's not possible to link to images across languages due to the limitations of the software, and the German Wiki would need a local copy of the fair use rationale in German. Sorry. Hersfold ^(t/a/c) 18:26, 22 September 2007 (UTC)

I see, I will upload the images to common from now on, I wasn't aware of this. Thanks for your help! --Spitfire ch 18:54, 22 September 2007 (UTC)

Hang on there - You can't upload fair use or copyrighted images to the Commons. They won't accept them, they're very likely to get deleted, and you're very likely to get blocked over there if you do so. Fair use images MUST be uploaded to the project you intend to use them on locally. Hersfold ^(t/a/c) 19:03, 22 September 2007 (UTC)

But also check to see what the German Wikipedia's fair use policy is (it will probably be linked on the image upload page). I believe they have a much stricter policy than here. Confusing Manifestation 22:36, 23 September 2007 (UTC)

Storm Thorgerson & my band

Okay. So my band's page had been deleted a while back. It is now back up. But now, I'm having trouble linking our band's name from Storm Thorgerson's wiki to ours. He did our first album cover.

band name: Program The Dead. any help would be appreciated.

P.S. our Title says "Program the dead" We prefer it have a capital D. ANy help on how to fix this if it can be fixed? —Preceding unsigned comment added by HelsinkiValo (talk • contribs) 19:19, 22 September 2007 (UTC)

I fixed both and now the article is at Program the Dead as you asked. AngelOfSadness talk 19:26, 22 September 2007 (UTC)

Wikipedia Information

I've recently joined a site that wants to create their own wiki, it is a fan based website and the site does not have much information on the characters included in the wiki, I was wondering if there is any rules against or any regulations which means I can't copy the information from wikipedia, and use it on the site. I was wondering if this is allowed or not? I thought it would be best to check first. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 87.102.21.98 (talk) 20:43, 22 September 2007 (UTC)

You can reuse Wikipedia content as long as you comply with the GNU Free Documentation License. See Wikipedia:Reusing Wikipedia content for more information. WODUP 20:50, 22 September 2007 (UTC)

Acronym versus name

I noticed that "Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency" redirects to DARPA. Is this correct or should the acronym redirect to the actual name of the agency? I am wondering because I added a redirect from "Homeland Security Adv..." to HSARPA similarly, but this does not seem appropriate. Micah J. Manary 20:59, 22 September 2007 (UTC)

I read the discussion on the DARPA page about this issue, but the only reason given is that "DARPA" is what is used my the media/public. Is HSARPA even well known enough to be used by one name or another? Micah J. Manary 21:08, 22 September 2007 (UTC)

See Wikipedia:Naming conventions (abbreviations). PrimeHunter 22:12, 22 September 2007 (UTC)

Basically what that says is to use whichever is more common. I'd go with the precedent set by DARPA in this case and leave "Homeland Security blah blah" redirecting to HSARPA. The acronym's a lot shorter and easier to search for anyways. Hersfold ^(t/a/c) 22:16, 22 September 2007 (UTC)

Turning a math into a non-math

I have a title that I want to use involving the sign "X" (which can commonly stand for multiplication) as well as the "=" sign that I wish to use for the title. But every time I try to use it, Wiki treats it like a math equation, even with text words. How do I stop this? -StrangerAtaru 21:22, 22 September 2007 (UTC)

what exactly is the title? Micah J. Manary 21:24, 22 September 2007 (UTC)

• (the full information is in the edit, it just comes up weird on the actual Wiki -StrangerAtaru 22:00, 22 September 2007 (UTC)

(edit conflict) I guess you are referring to equal signs in the template in [4]. It doesn't matter how you write multiplication. An equal sign in a template is usually interpreted by the software as an assignment to a parameter so your code produces this which doesn't work:

• 172.

Here is one way to fix it (click edit to see what I did):

• 172. Shinken X Yamiken X Fist = Running Wild (真拳×闇拳×拳＝暴走, Shinken x Yamiken x Kobushi = Bōsō)

Here is another way where I replaced each = with {{equals}}:

• 172. Shinken X Yamiken X Fist = Running Wild (真拳×闇拳×拳=暴走, Shinken x Yamiken x Kobushi = Bōsō)

Is this what you want? PrimeHunter 22:03, 22 September 2007 (UTC)

• Ah, thanks! The second one seems to fit better since it requires less of the knowledge of the 1/2/3 thing) —Preceding unsigned comment added by StrangerAtaru (talk • contribs) 22:07, 22 September 2007 (UTC)

Footnotes (again)

I include the tag at the bottom of my page, and I also include the opening and closing tags all the time. What else could I be doing wrong? I've checked the help list but I still can't figure it out. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 218.101.86.117 (talk) 23:30, 22 September 2007 (UTC)

Can you save a test edit that doesn't work, selfrevert it if it's in an article, and post a link to it? It's much easier for us to see what you are doing wrong than guessing it. PrimeHunter 23:39, 22 September 2007 (UTC)

Yes indeed we need the name of the article you are having problems at. --Тhε Rαnδom Eδιτor 23:51, 22 September 2007 (UTC)

I need some information about Pearl Harbor..

how did the Pearl Harbor begin and Why did it happened? In what year did this war begin. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 202.70.113.3 (talk) 23:35, 22 September 2007 (UTC)

We're not here to help you with your history assignments. —[[Animum | talk]] 23:39, 22 September 2007 (UTC)

Try seaching information on your own by entering "Pearl Harbor" in our search box or at http://www.google.com. PrimeHunter 23:43, 22 September 2007 (UTC)

Try taking a look at Attack on Pearl Harbor. --Тhε Rαnδom Eδιτor 23:48, 22 September 2007 (UTC)

Right-aligned link on same line as other text without newline

I'm making a page that will be transcluded into a small-ish box on several article Talk pages (example), and I want a right-aligned "[Edit]" link on the same line as the center-aligned title ("FAQ"). How do I do this without adding a new line?

My goal is to remove the whitespace the [Edit] link current adds between the title and the first bullet list item. / edg ☺ ★ 23:46, 22 September 2007 (UTC)

You could try a single-row table. I've edited the page for you already, the code looks like this:

{| width="100%" style="background:none; border:0px;" class="plainlinks"
|-
| width=25% | <!-- intentionally blank cell -->
| align=center width=50% | '''FAQ'''
| align=right width=25% |[http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Wikipedia_talk:WikiProject_Pink_Floyd/FAQ&action=edit Edit]
|}

And produces:

FAQ

Edit

Hope this is what you were looking for; if not, please feel free to revert. Hersfold ^(t/a/c) 03:42, 23 September 2007 (UTC)

Thanks for this! / edg ☺ ★ 03:56, 23 September 2007 (UTC)

September 23

External Link to Racist Commercial Site

I am concerned about an external link on an entry for a racist musician; this external link leads to a commercial mail-order site that sells the racist recordings of the musician in question. (I refer to Johnny Rebel (singer).)

Is it acceptable to permit an external link to a purely commercial site of this nature?

Sincerely,

--Skb8721 00:50, 23 September 2007 (UTC)

I removed this. Were this the official site of a racist musician, it would be acceptable to include. However, it appears to be a catalog link. May or may not be the "official source" to buy this artist's music, but WP:EL requires either the artist's official site, or something uniquely informative. / edg ☺ ★ 01:09, 23 September 2007 (UTC)

Racism really should be of no concern in this decision. External links should be directly related to the subject, officially affiliated with the subject, or at the very least a reliable source if the link is for additional information. If a link doesn't meet these requirements (expanded upon at Wikipedia:External links), then it can be removed. This is true whether we're talking about Ghandi or Hitler. Leebo ^T/C 01:49, 23 September 2007 (UTC)

Right. I should have made that more clear in my reply. / edg ☺ ★ 02:09, 23 September 2007 (UTC)

OK, thanks. I understand, and will remove this external link in the future if reinstated by others, not because it is racist, but because the external link leads to an unofficial commercial site that contains no additional or reliable information.--Skb8721 18:19, 23 September 2007 (UTC)

creating websites

how do i make a website —Preceding unsigned comment added by 71.210.108.68 (talk) 01:25, 23 September 2007 (UTC)

I would bring your question to the reference desk. This page is for Wikipedia-related questions. Thank you. Sephiroth BCR ^(Converse) 01:36, 23 September 2007 (UTC)

Some people don't know the right terminology. If it is a Wikipedia article you want to create then read the following.

You will need to first register an account, which has many benefits, including the ability to create articles. Once you have registered, please search Wikipedia first to make sure that an article does not already exist on the subject. Please also review a few of our relevant policies and guidelines which all articles should comport with. As Wikipedia is an encyclopedia, articles must not contain original research, must be written from a neutral point of view, should cite to reliable sources which verify their content and must not contain unsourced, negative content about living people.

Articles must also demonstrate the notability of the subject. Please see our subject specific guidelines for people, bands and musicians, companies and organizations and web content and note that if you are closely associated with the subject, our conflict of interest guideline strongly recommends against you creating the article.

If you still think an article is appropriate, see Help:Starting a new page. You might also look at Wikipedia:Your first article and Wikipedia:How to write a great article for guidance, and please consider taking a tour through the Wikipedia:Tutorial so that you know how to properly format the article before creation. PrimeHunter 02:14, 23 September 2007 (UTC)

Icons and images

Is there a page, perhaps on commons, that lists images to be used on wiki for userboxes and such? Like the little smilies and icons used in headers, warning templates and userboxes. LaraLove 04:27, 23 September 2007 (UTC)

Nuvola, Category:Icons, Icons (computing), Archive, Icônes, and I'm sure there are more. Sebi _[talk] 04:30, 23 September 2007 (UTC)

Thanks! I found Category:Icons like 45 seconds after I posted this. I very much appreciate that and the other links, however. Thank you! LaraLove 04:31, 23 September 2007 (UTC)

Expand an article code

Quick Question what's the code to put a box at the top to request expanding an article.

i thought it was {expand} —Preceding unsigned comment added by DTGardner (talk • contribs) 04:35, 23 September 2007 (UTC)

{{expand}}, not {expand}. You must use the two curly brackets, rather than just one. Sebi _[talk] 04:47, 23 September 2007 (UTC)

discussion page

How do I contribute to a discussion page? I am registered. SmJOE 06:10, 23 September 2007 (UTC)

Go to the discussion page by clicking on the "discussion" tab at the top of the page, and edit it. For more information on what to put on a talk page, see WP:TALK. Hersfold ^(t/a/c) 06:15, 23 September 2007 (UTC)

New pages

How do I find out all the new articles created by a user? -- Jreferee T/C 06:11, 23 September 2007 (UTC)

In Special:Newpages, enter the user's name in the box. Note that this list may not show older additions, as some of the articles I've created do not appear. It also does not appear to list articles that were created as redirects. Hersfold ^(t/a/c) 06:14, 23 September 2007 (UTC)

Rugz created Jeff Bays, but when I enter Rugz at Special:Newpages, nothing show up. -- Jreferee T/C 06:18, 23 September 2007 (UTC)

I think the log is cutting off all entries older than a certain date for some strange reason. The only other alternative would be to search though the contributions, which would appear to be a potentially nightmarish task, unfortunately. Hersfold ^(t/a/c) 06:39, 23 September 2007 (UTC)

The date seems to be sometime between August 22nd and August 24th - apparently logs get truncated at some length, which currently is somewhere in that range. Hersfold ^(t/a/c) 06:52, 23 September 2007 (UTC)

There appears to be no automatic way to find old articles created by a specific user.[5] PrimeHunter 12:12, 23 September 2007 (UTC)

I looked briefly through the Editor's index with Ctrl-f searches for "stat" and "query" (by no means would this be an exhaustive search for pages that might pertain to the question, so I would suggest further search in the Editor's index). That finds several interesting links about Wikipedia statistics and querying Wikipedia's databases, but I did not immediately find a simple way to determine a user's page creations. (The brute-force method, of course, would be to download a Wikipedia database dump and figure out some queries to run on it.) DBpedia.org looks interesting, but the sketchy description only mentions information from article content, not article authorship. You might find someone to help you at Wikipedia:WikiProject Database analysis, or m:Requests for queries. --Teratornis 16:24, 23 September 2007 (UTC)

Other people want to do this: m:Requests for queries#List of all articles created by user foo and m:Requests for queries#List of pages I created. I suspect this user could determine the necessary query (she started Wikipedia:WikiProject Database analysis). --Teratornis 16:34, 23 September 2007 (UTC)

Article # 2,000,000

What was the 2,000,000th article? 72.197.202.36 18:23, 23 September 2007 (UTC)

See the previous discussion at: Wikipedia:Help desk/Archives/2007 September 10#What was the two millionth article? --Teratornis 18:32, 23 September 2007 (UTC)

Be aware that because Wikipedia administrators frequently delete articles, while editors constantly create new articles, there may be uncertainty about exactly which article is the two millionth article. It is possible for the article count to have crossed two million more than once. For example, suppose the article count reaches 1,999,999 for the first time. The next article to be created will be the two millionth. But then if administrators delete several articles quickly, the article count could drop below two million, and another new article could then be the two millionth article. And with something like 50% of new articles getting deleted, it's possible one or more of the (potentially several) two millionth articles themselves could be deleted later. If we ignore deletions entirely, and only consider the two millionth article to have ever been created, the English Wikipedia probably passed that threshold months before the count of existing (created and not yet deleted) articles reached two million and stayed above it. At best we can probably say that on a particular day, the article count reached two million, and after some time had passed, the article count did not decrease below two million again. Of course there is nothing to stop large-scale article deletions in the future, for example if Wikipedia adds more things to the list of what Wikipedia is not, or decides to change the way it handles stubs and redirects. And of course I could be completely wrong about all of this. --Teratornis 19:55, 23 September 2007 (UTC)

Please help...need a link

Hello tthere,

11:30, 23 September 2007 (UTC)11:30, 23 September 2007 (UTC)~I want a link in wikipedia, that can give me answers to various "synonyms and antonyms".

thanks. neha

I'm not sure what kind of answers you want but it doesn't sound like something Wikipedia does. The external links in synonym and antonym may be useful. PrimeHunter 12:08, 23 September 2007 (UTC)

Microsoft Word will provide synonyms and a limited number of antonyms -- select the word while holding down the ALT key. Accounting4Taste 15:04, 23 September 2007 (UTC)

You are asking for a Thesaurus. Many entries in the English Wiktionary list synonyms and antonyms for a given word. There is also a wiktionary:Category:Wikisaurus, but it doesn't seem very far along. --Teratornis 16:52, 23 September 2007 (UTC)

José Bernal: Artist bio

I have been working on the bio for José Bernal and I have not finished working on it. Two days ago I found out that the bio -although not posted under the heading of José Bernal- is appearing under my user name: Labs1950 -Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, José Bernal... I would like to know how that happened. Please inform, I would be most appreciative. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Labs1950 (talk • contribs) 11:44, 23 September 2007 (UTC)

User:Labs1950 is your user page. According to the history [6] you created it there. You can move it if you want. PrimeHunter 12:02, 23 September 2007 (UTC)

Hello

Hello.I am a Turkish Wikipedian.I want to help you against vandals.Because I think I can learn the working of en.wikipedia fighting against vandas.To do this I need a monobook.Could someone prepare me a monobook?Thank you in advance.Sincerely.Sağlamcı 13:06, 23 September 2007 (UTC)

I'm not sure what you mean by a "monobook" -- Wikipedia seems to define that as a "style sheet" -- but if you read the article at Wikipedia:Vandalism, you should have a good understanding of what things are considered vandalism and what Wikipedia editors do about them. If you're looking for templates of what to write, one way would be to observe how other editors work against particular kinds of vandalism (you can find test cases by reading the postings at Wikipedia:Administrator intervention against vandalism) and by copying those messages and trying to use them in the same circumstances. I hope this helps; if this isn't the information you were looking for, you can reply here. Accounting4Taste 15:01, 23 September 2007 (UTC)

The MediaWiki software which Wikipedia uses offers a monobook skin, which you can select in your preferences. I'm not aware of what the monobook skin has to do with fighting vandalism, which is not to say there is no connection, just that I cannot recall hearing of one. In addition to the above references about vandalism, you can also see WP:EIW#Vandal for all the heavy reading material a person could need to eradicate insomnia. --Teratornis 20:29, 23 September 2007 (UTC)

There are a few scripts you can add to your monobook to help fight vandalism, such as TW. -- 68.156.149.62 21:12, 23 September 2007 (UTC)

Help with {{articleissues}}

How can I make the template {{articleissues}} have a "show button" so issues are hidden to take up less space. See below.

Issues

Thedjatclubrock :) ^(T/C) 13:08, 23 September 2007 (UTC)

search for a contributor or user

Is it possible to search for a contributor/user?Capp131e 14:04, 23 September 2007 (UTC)

To search for them by their username on wikipedia, you can use Special:Listusers and type their username in the box provided. AngelOfSadness talk 14:11, 23 September 2007 (UTC)

(edit conflict)Yes, just put the prefix "User:" into the search bar. So for yourself you would type User:Capp131e into the search bar. Or you could look through Special:Listusers which lists all usernames. (it has about 6 million entries, though there is a search bar there.) You could look through Category:Wikipedians as well to see wikipedians by their interests. Hope this is what you want. Woodym555 14:14, 23 September 2007 (UTC)

Help finding the name I used to edit an article and log in name used?

I edited an article and went back to it to see if I was in the history in my attempt to find the log in name I used or the account name I created. The information I posted is about an athlete I went to school with, Fred Carr. Few few, if any, other persons would or should recall the information.

However, I am not in the editing history, although the text I typed is posted and shown correctly. Is there some way for me to recover or find my log in name, password and then be able to edit other sites with this same information, or is it simply easier for me to create a new name for editing?

Tx's George Salazar Barnett, I may have used just: "George Salazar" —Preceding unsigned comment added by 71.226.114.164 (talk) 15:11, 23 September 2007 (UTC)

User:George salazar made this edit to Fred Carr (football player). Click the "History" at the article to see it. PrimeHunter 15:18, 23 September 2007 (UTC)

How does one overcome this tag -- "This article or section is written like an advertisement."

How does one overcome this tag -- "This article or section is written like an advertisement."

The article can be found at -- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steven_Starr

I have thus far searched the FAQ and followed the guidelines. FYI, as I am actually the subject of this article (but not the original author), I've attempted to follow the guidelines to clean it up, but I'm not sure how to address the tag further and would appreciate guidance.

Thank you,

Vaneigem 15:22, 23 September 2007 (UTC)

• I see you embedded several external links in the text that are meant to verify the facts. You should put those in a references section (or link them at the end of a sentence (simply put square brackets around the link.) What is it that makes you noteworthy to mention? That should be in the article's lead section. I think producing films and those awards are more important than being the CEO of a website. - Mgm|^(talk) 15:35, 23 September 2007 (UTC)

indicators

how do we prepare natural indicators at home —Preceding unsigned comment added by 59.96.97.26 (talk) 16:51, 23 September 2007 (UTC)

Hello! This isn't the kind of question that should be asked at the help desk, have you tried the Reference Desk science section? They specialize in knowledge questions, and will try to answer any question in the universe (except how to use Wikipedia, since that is what this Help Desk is for). Just follow the link, select the relevant section, and ask away. I hope this helps! Love, Neranei (talk) 16:53, 23 September 2007 (UTC)

"Indicator" of what? And if you "prepare" something, is it still "natural"? --Teratornis 18:27, 23 September 2007 (UTC)

You can try a Google search.[7] PrimeHunter 23:44, 23 September 2007 (UTC)

How to find the author of a particular passage within a topic?

I am looking for the author of a particular passage (phrase or sentence or paragraph) within a topic, but I get lost trying to use the "low level" tools hist and diff, partly because the topic I'm looking at (Text-to-Speech Conversion) has a quite long, voluminous and many-many-authored history.

So, how can I focus my search for an author of a particular snippet?

(I ask because I want to check with the relevant authors before making a change that has significant implications for the (sub-) topic as a whole.)

—Preceding unsigned comment added by 71.252.57.111 (talk) 17:09, 23 September 2007 (UTC)

• Hello! What I would suggest doing is checking the history for the most frequent authors and asking them first. However, one of the core policies of Wikipedia is to be bold in editing; if the editor does not agree with you, he or she will revert it, and you can discuss it on the article's talk page. Hope this helps! Love, Neranei (talk) 17:15, 23 September 2007 (UTC)

• (edit conflict) You can try User:AmiDaniel/WhodunitQuery. I haven't used it. If you give the exact article name and text here then we can find it for you. PrimeHunter 17:19, 23 September 2007 (UTC)

• The exact article name is Speech Synthesis and the text is "extremely irregular spelling" —Preceding unsigned comment added by Schwenn (talk • contribs) 17:35, 23 September 2007 (UTC)
  • Added in [8] in 2004. PrimeHunter 17:43, 23 September 2007 (UTC)
  • Thank you very much. To pursue my original question (so that I can do that sort of thing on my own in future), generally how did you find that particular contribution (i.e. what search tools did you use)? (I tried WhodunitQuery.exe but it failed in a way I couldn't debug.) —Preceding unsigned comment added by Schwenn (talk • contribs) 18:06, 23 September 2007 (UTC)

    I examined the history manually, viewing 500 versions at a time and using (approximately) binary search on the versions to see which had the text. It took 1-2 minutes. I have not attempted to use WhodunitQuery. PrimeHunter 21:08, 23 September 2007 (UTC)

.

Hello, I am a reformed vandal turned into editor. I know how to get unblocked automatically. Would you like to know? --Daaneoapaariechenstaatz 18:14, 23 September 2007 (UTC)

Well, what you should do is post an unblock message on your talk page. The blocking admin will review your request, and decide whether or not to unblock you. Though, if you can post here, then you are probably already unblocked. Hope this helps! -- Neranei (talk) 18:18, 23 September 2007 (UTC)

If you really know a way to unblock yourself without administrator help then it would be a type of hacking and the method should not be published. You can email an active m:developer about it. PrimeHunter 21:21, 23 September 2007 (UTC)

uploading articles

I'd like to upload my research article on Rev. George Micklejohn, an Anglican bishop of North Carolina, and a fiery Tory, who was a prominent tract writer during the Revolutionary era and a well-known eccentric. Wiki doesn't have anything on him. Problem is that I can't cut and paste the article, or upload and then edit it. Is there no alternative to typing the whole thing over again. Kristina Simms —Preceding unsigned comment added by Kristina Simms (talk • contribs) 20:07, 23 September 2007 (UTC)

if you have it typed, there is no reason why you can't create a new article on Micklejohn, then cut and paste. However, you should probably read the guildelines for making a new article first. Smartyshoe 20:15, 23 September 2007 (UTC)

If, as it seems, you don't have a computer source from which to cut and paste but just a hard copy, one alternative is to scan the material and then use a text recognition program. For example, if you have adobe acrobat (not the free version) you can "recognize text using OCR" (OCR stands for optical character recognition). It's a pretty good program, though it always makes some mistakes. One thing you should be aware of is that if your paper simply synthesizes other sources, that may be appropriate, but if your research is to attempt to expand the literature on this person, to reach original conclusions, that material would not be suitable. We must not publish original research here, as Wikipedia is by definition an encyclopedia—a tertiary source.--Fuhghettaboutit 20:39, 23 September 2007 (UTC)

OK, thanks. I will take some time off and study this. May or may not be able to do it. My enthusiasm is waning.  :-) The article is in in WORD on my computer. I tried "select all." "copy" and then "paste" and that didn't work. I looked for a way to simply upload the article into the box on Wikipedia but could not find a way to do that. Nom, it's not research that comes to an original concludion. It's just historical research with proper citations. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Kristina Simms (talk • contribs) 01:28, 24 September 2007 (UTC)

Wikipedia does not allow Word documents as articles. It must be converted. See Wikipedia:Tools#Importing (converting) content from other formats to Wikipedia (MediaWiki) format. PrimeHunter 01:39, 24 September 2007 (UTC)

Converting, as noted above, is useful because it automates certain formatting issues, but something else is going on that the copy and paste is not working. I'm betting this is a matter of pasting to the correct place. Clicking here will take you to the correct place to paste the word content. If you don't avail yourself of a conversion tool, and even if you do, you would likely benefit from taking a tour through the Wikipedia:Tutorial which teaches wikimarkup and the basics of Wikipedia's style guidelines.--Fuhghettaboutit 03:55, 24 September 2007 (UTC)

Hallo!

Is there someone who can tell me how my article about "Titus Leber" is not only found with the checkbox User on. I want that this articel can be found under "Titus Leber". What kind of change do I have to do?

Best Regards

Janina Fischer —Preceding unsigned comment added by Janina Fischer (talk • contribs) 20:58, 23 September 2007 (UTC)

You have edited your user page User:Janina Fischer which is not part of the encyclopedia and not included in standard searches. If you want it to be a Wikipedia article then move it to Titus Leber. PrimeHunter 21:13, 23 September 2007 (UTC)

I've taken the liberty of moving the article and removing the redirect from the User page. That said, the article will need some work before it's up to Wikipedia's standards, so I've added a cleanup tag to it. -- Kesh 23:26, 23 September 2007 (UTC)

Edit history

Is there a way/utility that will ferret out a specific user's edits to a specific page? Into The Fray ^T/C 22:07, 23 September 2007 (UTC)

This might do and there are similar tools here. However, things on the toolserver are using a replica database, which has a variable time lag. At the moment it is nearly 6 days out of date. Angus McLellan (Talk) 22:26, 23 September 2007 (UTC)

Thanks much! Into The Fray ^T/C 22:36, 23 September 2007 (UTC)

Orphaning bot (no, not OrphanBot)

Is there any bot that orphans or switches templates? It's for this TFD closure, and would no doubt be useful in the future. — Malcolm (talk) 23:14, 23 September 2007 (UTC)

Many of the generic bots can do it, and you can ask for the job to be done at WP:BOTREQ. However, in this specific case it would probably take longer to approve and code the replacement than to switch them all manually. --Pekaje 23:49, 23 September 2007 (UTC)

September 24

renaming 'edit this page' tab via user scripts

I would like change the text of the 'edit this page' tab to simply 'edit'. I know I can do this through User scripts, but I'm not exactly sure how. I know it would be something along the lines of: ca-edit.innerHTML = 'edit'; but this does not work. What am I doing wrong? - SigmaEpsilon → ΣΕ 02:06, 24 September 2007 (UTC)

I experimented around myself and found that this code:

addOnloadHook( function (){
    var edit_tab = document.getElementById('ca-edit');
    var talk_tab = document.getElementById('ca-talk');
    edit_tab.firstChild.innerHTML= 'edit';
    talk_tab.firstChild.innerHTML= 'talk';
});

does the trick. (I also renamed 'discussion' to 'talk'.) - SigmaEpsilon → ΣΕ 03:30, 24 September 2007 (UTC)

I'd suggest a slightly more cautious approach:

addOnloadHook( function (){
    var edit_tab = document.getElementById('ca-edit');
    var talk_tab = document.getElementById('ca-talk');
    if (edit_tab) edit_tab.firstChild.innerHTML = 'edit';
    if (talk_tab) talk_tab.firstChild.innerHTML = 'talk';
});

That way, you won't get JavaScript errors (which can prevent other scripts on the page from running normally) on pages that don't have those tabs (such as Special: pages). —Ilmari Karonen (talk) 18:18, 24 September 2007 (UTC)

Oh. Good idea. Thanks. - SigmaEpsilon → ΣΕ 23:22, 24 September 2007 (UTC)

registration required - need to notify?

I need to cite a website where registration is required to read the information. This is the only place the information is avaliable. Is it necessary to notify readers that the site requires registration? I'm asking because my personal preference is to be made aware if I need to register, 'cos then I don't click the link. So using the {{citeweb}} template, how would I include that note? -- Matthew Edwards | talk | Contribs 02:44, 24 September 2007 (UTC)

Well, I don't know if it conforms to the MoS, but you could always do something like this:

Or any variation thereof, but I don't think it's necessary. Into The Fray ^T/C 03:25, 24 September 2007 (UTC)

Thankyou. I agree it's not necessary, but it's just nice to be forewarned, I feel. :) -- Matthew Edwards | talk | Contribs 03:59, 24 September 2007 (UTC)

Deleted Mayflower Compact line - not sure if I did it correctly.

There was inappropriate/irrelevant use of language on the site for the Mayflower Compact. Since I have assigned my students to study this document, I tried to edit it by deleting that line. I don't know if I edited it correctly. Also, after I deleted it, I noticed that my info might be availabe to anyone. Is it? If so, can you delete my home info?

Thanks,

Meredith —Preceding unsigned comment added by 70.211.74.210 (talk) 03:02, 24 September 2007 (UTC)

Hmm. I'm not sure what you mean. There has apparently been a lot of recently vandalism to Mayflower Compact but, beyond that, I couldn't find any edits by a username approaching Meredith, nor any from your IP (or one close to it) in the past couple days. Can you elaborate on what information you feel that your edit contained? Into The Fray ^T/C 03:19, 24 September 2007 (UTC)

Wikipedia Toolbar?

Are there any plans of creating a Wikipedia Toolbar (like the Google or MSN or Yahoo Toolbar)?125.18.50.2 03:08, 24 September 2007 (UTC).

There's some Wikipedia-related software at www.download.com -- this [9] for instance. Into The Fray ^T/C 03:12, 24 September 2007 (UTC)

Though, really, most of what's there seems to be written for now largely obsolete versions of the popular web browsers. If you're running a current version of IE or Firefox, you can always alter the default search bar in order to use/add Wikipedia as your default/secondary search engine. Into The Fray ^T/C 03:14, 24 September 2007 (UTC)

There's a Windows Vista gadget that allows you to search WP. Now if there was an RC gadget... Marlith ^T/C 04:14, 24 September 2007 (UTC)

High School Application Volunteer

I am going into High School and writing applications. Would it be appropiate to list the countless hours I have spent on Wikipedia as volunteer work? If so, how could it be proven? Marlith ^T/C 04:13, 24 September 2007 (UTC)

Not really. Although you are a volunteer working to improve Wikipedia, I can't imagine a school treating it on the same level as other forms of community service, such as working at the library, or participating in a trash cleanup on a beach. I would think they would criticize you for staring at a screen more than doing the aforementioned activities, but then again, that's my viewpoint. If you really are intent on doing this, then you can prove it via using a edit counter. Interiot's edit counter is one of the more popular ones. Insert your user name and it will display the number of edits you have made, to which mainspace, and the articles that you have edited the most. Print that out for proof I guess (seeing as you can input any user's name in there, it isn't exactly a reliable source). Sephiroth BCR ^(Converse) 04:19, 24 September 2007 (UTC)

If we line up all Wikipedians end to end, we'd probably all point in different directions, and the direction I point is the diametrical opposite of any school which would disparage editing on Wikipedia. If I were the Supreme Commander/Big Kahuna/Grand Mufti of the Known Universe, I would not only encourage editing on Wikipedia by students, I would mandate it (although for completeness, I would generalize this to include editing on other wikis which accept a wider range of content, such as original work and local interests). Face it, if we send generations of kids to pick up trash on beaches, we will still have trash on beaches in the future, so what did that accomplish? At best, we would just be running in place. With wikis, we can create entirely new forms of value, and prepare the next generation to face the extreme challenges that await them - challenges their parents seem barely able to comprehend. When petroleum runs low, business as usual simply isn't going to cut it. Today's kids desperately need to learn how to create value without having to drag so many human brains back and forth every day just to move information (drive to work, sit in front of computer, go to meetings, shuffle paper, drive home, next day: repeat). Transportation in the United States consumes about a third of our energy, but unlike the other energy-consuming sectors, transportation is extremely dependent on petroleum, an increasing fraction of which has to be imported from showcases of stability and gratitude such as Iraq. But even military conquest can't put more oil in the ground. With Hubbert's curve making transportation steadily more expensive (in every way), and Moore's law making telecommunication steadily less expensive (also in every way), the priority now must be to substitute telecommunication for transportation everywhere possible. Telecommuting has struggled for years to become a serious contender, but here comes Wikipedia almost out of nowhere with a formula that actually works. Millions of perfect strangers have managed to generate a product of value and complexity rivaling perhaps anything coming out of the corporate world. That is to say, if we can build this without having to put on suits and waste gasoline and travel time or kill people on highways in the process, what couldn't be built this way? Of course I am aware of the extreme irony that the Founder of Wikipedia loves to jet around the world. But the jetting around is irrelevant to the vast bulk of the actual work of building the encyclopedia.

What a student will learn by editing on Wikipedia will probably be more valuable and relevant in his or her career than anything else they teach in high school. It borders on tragedy that more teachers haven't learned enough wiki editing to grasp this.

Of course, students who edit on Wikipedia will (or should) learn that Wikipedia is not a soapbox, so I would ask anyone who feels offended by the above soapboxing to simply revert your personal memory of having read it. So anyway, Marlith, if you run into resistance from your educators about recognizing the value of your Wikipedia contributions, and you need someone to present irrefutable arguments on your behalf, perhaps in a manner just slightly over the top (but really, can we overstate the importance of the collapse of civilization? And a touch of gallows humor never killed anyone), just leave a note on my talk page. --Teratornis 05:21, 24 September 2007 (UTC)

Adding/editing message

I opened an account tonight and tried to leave a message for user name "geology guy". My user name is Maugham7. My message is at the bottom of his page and appeared as an edit to someone elses message, and was too wide to fit into the format. I can't find any edit tools to correct the width or make a seperate topic. Maugham7 —Preceding unsigned comment added by Maugham7 (talk • contribs) 04:30, 24 September 2007 (UTC)

I've made the required edit to User talk:Geologyguy. The problem was that you used a couple of space-bands (spaces) at the beginning of each paragraph. As a general rule, if you start each paragraph without those spaces (flush left), your paragraph will be formatted correctly. If you wish to indent the entire paragraph, start it with a colon (:). If you wish to create a bulleted list, begin your paragraphs with an asterisk (*). I hope this helps. If there's something further you need help with, you can leave a message here or on my talk page. Accounting4Taste 04:38, 24 September 2007 (UTC)

I've also rearranged the material you wrote on that talk page so that it forms a separate section with a heading, as you requested. If you are on a talk page, you can use the "Post a comment" link at the left of the page and it will create two boxes, one above the other -- the box on top will automatically be formatted as a heading, or a "new topic", and the box below will be correctly formatted as text.

If you'd like a way to test this and other types of formatting, you can follow the link [[10]] and create a sub-page off your own user page called a "sandbox", following the directions there. A sandbox is a page where you can experiment with the appearance of things you type, and you won't be bothering anyone. I'm going to start your talk page off with a welcome message that will get you started with some useful Wikipedia tools. If there's anything further you need, you can leave a message here or on my talk page. Accounting4Taste 04:47, 24 September 2007 (UTC)

Thank you, you have been most helpful. Maugham7 —Preceding unsigned comment added by Maugham7 (talk • contribs) 04:50, 24 September 2007 (UTC)

You may want to bookmark the cheat sheet which lists the most common editing commands, which we call wikitext markup. Wikitext markup is purposely compact, to maximize editing speed by experienced users, but to gain this compactness requires making things like leading spaces part of the formatting commands. This has the unfortunate side effect of tripping up some new users, but most people can learn enough in a few hours to edit productively. For more information on the formatting problem you ran into, see: Help:Wikitext examples#Just show what I typed. --Teratornis 05:53, 24 September 2007 (UTC)

Heruka article question

Heruka comes from the words, "hey!" and "-ruka"?

If you read this edit followed by the next one, you'll know what I mean. The first edit seems ridiculous and both this one and the second edit (by the same IP address) is unsourced, but after others' contributions, it now has links and now has its own section. Any suggestions? --JDitto 04:31, 24 September 2007 (UTC)

It seems the vandalism to that page has already been reverted. Further, since that IP (72.1.206.12) has been on a vandal spree lately, I'll report it to Administrator intervention against vandalism. In the future, you can take this sort of thing there directly. Best, --Bfigura ^(talk) 05:14, 24 September 2007 (UTC)

Say what?? It wasn't changed! It still says,

The name "Heruka" is made up of the prefix "he-" meaning "hey!" and "ruka", a rich term implying many levels of subtle meaning...

at the first section. I've refreshed it several times to even make sure. --JDitto 04:11, 26 September 2007 (UTC)

Page deleted?

Gah! My page was deleted "california_akia" before I even had a chance to do anything with it!

It seems that the article was deleted by an administrator, who cited the extremely short nature of the article and the fact that you were the only contributor for his deletion reasoning. If you wish to recreate the page, then I would recommend working on it by making a page in your user space (see WP:USER#How do I create a user subpage?), and then moving that article into the main space. Sephiroth BCR ^(Converse) 06:44, 24 September 2007 (UTC)

There's also an {{underconstruction}} tag. --h2g2bob (talk) 10:27, 24 September 2007 (UTC)

Question

Please visit Talk:Autism for the question please, I can't seem to have this page working well, thank you. Ishad Lamar Jackson —Preceding unsigned comment added by 71.96.249.234 (talk) 08:19, 24 September 2007 (UTC)

I've visited Talk:Autism and can't see your name or your IP number there, and I've looked at the Autism article and can't see any formatting problems. Could you please be more specific about what it is you want to do, and make a specific reference to a specific section of the talk page that contains your question? Accounting4Taste 14:53, 24 September 2007 (UTC)

Original research

I might have the chance to personally interview someone, but I have nowhere to publish this information. I'm assuming that interviewing someone about something they've experienced counts as original research. However, I'd have to say that the information is correct unless the person lies to me. So, my question is, if I get an interview with this person and then publish it somewhere, perhaps on a personal website or something, does that count as a reliable source? If it's not, what could I do to make it a reliable source? —Preceding unsigned comment added by Davidovic (talk • contribs) 12:40, 24 September 2007 (UTC)

It's still Original Research to interview the person. To make it acceptable here, the information derived has to be published in a reliable source publication, of the kind which does its own fact-checking (people do lie to interviewers). A blog or personal website would not qualify.--Orange Mike 14:21, 24 September 2007 (UTC)

I have two observations:

• There are many other wikis which accept original research, for example WikInfo. Also check WikiIndex for wikis that specialize in the topic area of your interview subject's interests.
• Given all the ideas that have been published so far, on so many topics, it's difficult for anyone to be entirely original. There's a good chance your interview subject's ideas have been published before, in whole or part; perhaps your subject is not fully aware of the extent of the relevant literature. After you publish the interview on another (hospitable) wiki, you might search for published sources for your subject's "original" work. If Wikipedia does not already have article(s) about those ideas, you might try to create them (bearing in mind the high risk that new articles by new contributors may end up getting deleted). If your interview subject is not notable enough to have been written about already (the person in addition to the ideas), you might have a better chance of writing an article that "sticks" here if it is about the published ideas rather than about your interview subject (the person) specifically.

If you could give us information about your interview subject and the content of his or her ideas, we could reply specifically rather than hypothetically. --Teratornis 16:15, 24 September 2007 (UTC)

The subject is William Nessen, a journalist who reported in Aceh during the separatist conflict there. As far as I know, he was the only reporter to spend time with the rebels. There are several stories about him but they only cover basic details. I'm working on it for The Black Road and possibly for an article about Nessen himself. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Davidovic (talk • contribs) 21:58, 24 September 2007 (UTC)

Keeping history of searches

How do I create a history of topics that I've looked up? I'm always being interrupted partway through a reading and then I forget the trail of words/topics that I've covered. At the very least, I'm looking for the equivalent of a post-it note so I can remember to "start here" in my big encyclopedia book. Thanks!

Pengbe 12:50, 24 September 2007 (UTC)Belinda Peng

PS I'm not sure how I'm supposed to find the response to this question. Still a newbie!

Some browsers will automatically save a search history for you. If your browser doesn't, then one way to remind yourself to go back to a page is to 'watch' it using the 'watch' tab on the top of the page; you can then look at your watchlist to see which pages you're watching, and changes to those pages. You could also use your browser's bookmarking or favourites function; your browser probably also has a 'history' function (that's different from Wikipedia's page history) that lets you know which pages you've been visiting recently. Hope that helps! --ais523 13:17, 24 September 2007 (UTC)

In your web browser (normally Internet Explorer or Firefox) you can check the history (by pressing and Ctrl+H), or bookmark any interesting pages. Information on these features on Firefox: [11][12]. --h2g2bob (talk) 13:20, 24 September 2007 (UTC)

Also see:

• Wikipedia:Tip of the day/January 28 - Your very own Wikipedia bookmark page

By editing your own "Reading list" section on your user page, you can teach yourself more about wikitext markup. --Teratornis 16:21, 24 September 2007 (UTC)

SBI (talk · contribs) isn't Sbi (talk · contribs) ?

Since when is it possible for 2 different users to register the same name with different patterns of CAPS? I realize both accounts are over a year old (at least) and there didn't used to be a system to prevent people from registering similar names, but for all intents and purposes, aren't these identical names? Ie. shouldn't the software have disallowed this from the start?--VectorPotential^Talk 13:04, 24 September 2007 (UTC)

This sort of thing isn't allowed any more - it used to be allowed, but the software now forbids names which can be confused easily. Usernames are like page names (first letter doesn't matter; the rest do). --h2g2bob (talk) 13:08, 24 September 2007 (UTC)

Deleting pages

Please delete these pages. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Template:U.S._Senate_election_in_California, http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=U.S._Senate_elections_in_California, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1996_U.S._Senate_election_in_California, http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=California_United_States_House_elections%2C_1996. --Socal gal at heart —Preceding signed but undated comment was added at 13:10, 24 September 2007 (UTC)

Hi. :) The deletion policy may be helpful to you, as it explains the criteria for which articles are commonly deleted and the processes for requesting or suggesting that they should be. --Moonriddengirl 13:31, 24 September 2007 (UTC)

Apparent markup problem in editing a Wiki article

Sir/Madam:

I am trying to add a few paragraphs, with citations to authority, to the Wiki article entitled "History of Special Relativity", en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_special_relativity, at the end of the Criticisms of Relativity Theory section. In fact, the new paragraphs have already been added. The trouble is, firstly, some of them are in grey text boxes, unlike the rest of the article. Secondly, also unlike the rest of the text, the added paragraphs have almost no right margin. And thirdly, the section notes are in paragraph format, not listed by number as notes usually are.

I have spent a few hours studying Wiki editing tutorials, FACs, etc, without success.

Can someone there help me to edit this article correctly?

Cordially,

RAmesbury 13:18, 24 September 2007 (UTC)

The easiest way to avoid that is to not add spaces before each line, in wiki-markup, that creates a box. If you want to have a space at the start of a sentence, use a : It will create the space without also creating the box. --VectorPotential^Talk 13:21, 24 September 2007 (UTC)

On a related note, you may also want to read up on WP:MOS#Sources, for a better idea of how to format your citations in keeping with wikipedia style conventions. --VectorPotential^Talk 13:29, 24 September 2007 (UTC)

How to copy and paste pictures and formulas strings

I did not successfully copy and paste the pictures & formulas into my word document.

The other is ok to me.

WOuld you pls help me copy & paste those pictures & formula onto my word files?

Thanks.

Alfred —Preceding unsigned comment added by Lokca (talk • contribs) 13:33, 24 September 2007 (UTC)

Which article are you trying to copy and what happens when you try? Leebo ^T/C 14:45, 24 September 2007 (UTC)

Wikipedia:Tools#Export: Conversion to other formats has some links but there doesn't appear to be something for Word. Maybe you can export to html and read that with Word, but some things would probably convert poorly or not at all. PrimeHunter 01:07, 25 September 2007 (UTC)

Need Admin to LOCK Plácido Domingo article asap

To admin, please look at the revision history on the edit warring. The anonymous editors have getting out of hand, it is hard for us to protect the article day and night. We would be appreciate if the article could be locked from anonymous editors, at least for a week. On behalf of Wikipedia:WikiProject Opera- Jay 15:26, 24 September 2007 (UTC)

You can request this sort of thing at Wikipedia:Requests for page protection (WP:RFPP). --ais523 15:29, 24 September 2007 (UTC)

Advertising vs. Informing

Hello out there,

We are trying to create a Wikipedia page for the Social Thought and Political Economy program at UMASS-Amherst. We keep running into the problem of "creating an ad", which is not what we're trying to do. We're looking to include a history of the program, including campus and offcampus activism, student projects, and some of the ways STPEC is a dynamic and unique program at the University (for example, this entire project is student run, as is the program, from picking classes to making staff decisions). Any help on this would be much appreciated, Thanks! STPEC 15:30, 24 September 2007 (UTC)

You might want to read some of Wikipedia's policies and guidelines. Firstly, the way you are saying "we" and use the acronym of the group as your username, it seems like it's a "role account" (accesible by more than one person). Role accounts are not allowed. Next, there are guidelines for notablility that must be met for a subject to have an article. It's a conflict of interest for the group to create an article about itself, which is where the "ad" description is coming from. Leebo ^T/C 15:34, 24 September 2007 (UTC)

Also, if you read the deletion log, the page was deleted as a copyright infringement of this page. You can't copy over text from other sources to use as Wikipedia articles. Leebo ^T/C 15:37, 24 September 2007 (UTC)

Also, why are you trying to create your article on Wikipedia? Thousands of other wikis exist, including several which are specifically about education - and lo, it appears that your august institution operates its very own wiki. The fact that Wikipedia is the only wiki most people have heard of doesn't make Wikipedia the best choice for every type of writing. Wikipedia has some of the most stringent requirements of any wiki for its content. A wiki which specializes in a particular topic typically allows a wider range of articles about that topic than Wikipedia does. It looks like UMassWiki wants your article because it already lists STPEC as a red link - so click here and start editing. --Teratornis 16:39, 24 September 2007 (UTC)

What's happened to tags?

What's happened to all the tags? things that {{clean-up}}, {{db-band}} etc no longer seem to have a border around them to make then stand-out on the page. why? --Fredrick day 15:34, 24 September 2007 (UTC)

If you're talking about the standardization of templates, see Wikipedia:Article message boxes and Wikipedia talk:Article message boxes. Leebo ^T/C 15:39, 24 September 2007 (UTC)

If you don't see a border at all, it's possible you have an old cached stylesheet; try bypassing your cache. (The new templates do have a border in the current version of the stylesheets, but some old stylesheets don't have the code for the borders in them.) --ais523 15:42, 24 September 2007 (UTC)

Sportster piston removal

I am trying to remove the piston from a harley sportster engine. I am having trouble getting the wrist pin retaining circlip. I tried a small screwdriver and an awl but I can't get under it to pop it out. How can I get it out? Also, can I reuse the circlip or should I make sure to get a new one? —Preceding unsigned comment added by Pilotbob (talk • contribs) 15:35, 24 September 2007 (UTC)

Have you tried Wikipedia's Reference Desk? They specialize in knowledge questions, and will try to answer any question in the universe (except how to use Wikipedia, since that is what this Help Desk is for). Just follow the link, select the relevant section, and ask away. I hope this helps. Leebo ^T/C 15:41, 24 September 2007 (UTC)

Please do NOT ask the Reference Desk. You should contact your local mechanic or Harley dealer. We can't offer advice for anything other than how to use Wikipedia, especially if there is a regulated and licensed profession for that purpose. Please see our disclaimers. Hersfold ^(t/a/c) 15:42, 24 September 2007 (UTC)

Hersfold is right. Lapse in judgment. Leebo ^T/C 15:44, 24 September 2007 (UTC)

Google:harley sportster piston removal finds some authors who seem to have issued mechanical advice on this topic; whether they should issue such advice, I do not know. While it may be a safe assumption that because the questioner can afford a computer and Internet access, he probably inhabits a jurisdiction which does have a suitably licensed and regulated profession to service motorcycles, we lack the information to be sure of that. Perhaps he writes to us from an untamed land, where the personal freedom to tinker with one's own ride at one's own risk using information supplied by pseudonymous strangers over the Internet remains uninfringed. --Teratornis 16:02, 24 September 2007 (UTC)

Acceptible Sources

Some editors are claiming that Fox News and blogs which print reports are not accptible sources. Is this true?Kirin4 15:45, 24 September 2007 (UTC)

Some editors feel that Fox News is a biased and unreliable source; others disagree. Blogs are not generally considered reliable sources for reports; a good blog (regardless of affiliation) will have a link to the original report, which should be sought and used instead. See WP:RS and WP:WEB for more details. --Orange Mike 15:55, 24 September 2007 (UTC)

Some people feel Fairness and Accuracy in the Media FAIR is a bias source yet it used frequently. Fox is the leading U.S cable new network how can that be biased. If so how can the NY Times with their recent moveon.org fiasco and the recent Jason Blyare be used. It looks like liberal political correctness to me.Kirin4 16:47, 24 September 2007 (UTC)

Fox being the most popular network has nothing to do with quality - the highest-selling newspapers in the United Kingdom are tabloids but are frowned upon as reliable sources on Wikipedia. And a couple of incidents does not destroy reliability. TIME often prints corrections in its next issues if it finds any in previous ones - yet TIME is still established as reliable. That said, all sources, even reliable ones, can be disputed and discussed on, and the reliability of various media can be disputed on the talk page of reliable sources. I'm not really an expert on these things but you should get a better response there. x42bn6 Talk Mess 16:57, 24 September 2007 (UTC)

Relliablle sources seems to have a majority that say Fox is relliable one dissenter. Who decided relliable?Kirin4 18:34, 24 September 2007 (UTC)

Fox, regardless of it's POV, is a major broadcaster, so it probably qualifies as reliable under WP:RS, assuming that you're citing published content. That said, if an article only cited Fox, and did so with a bias, it could be tagged for not following the neutral point of view policy. As for blogs, no, they're generally not considered reliable (see here). Hope that clears things up some. --Bfigura ^(talk) 18:45, 24 September 2007 (UTC)

New template problems

I'm trying to create a set of music templates to use as a standard for musical artists. Located right HERE, the templates are nearly complete. The only thing that need to be tweaked is the header. I need to center to center the header so it aligns with the main body (i.e. center the "name" part with "discography", "singles", etc.). I don't want to use {{tnavbar-collapsible}}. Could somebody fix that for me? (Oh, BTW, if there's a reply to this, could you reply on my talk page. Thanks!) MITB LS 15:56, 24 September 2007 (UTC)

Aren't there already templates for this? LaraLove 17:37, 24 September 2007 (UTC)

Template:Navbox musical artist. Have improvements been made to this? LaraLove 17:39, 24 September 2007 (UTC)

Yes, but... I feel that one single template can't support all templates of different genres. Cause many templates (of this same navbox) are structured differently from each other, I feel that it may be appropriate to have separate templates for each (notable) genres, but with the same standard structure. Improvements to the current Navbox can be made (to support non-mainstream genres/miscellaneous genres). I'll work to try to get as many templates to this code. Anyway, I came for one question: IS there a code to center the header with the body of the template? MITB LS 00:11, 26 September 2007 (UTC)

Quöoestëërëichenstaäd

Höëwereich doerëichën yooüüerëichen ëdaatenöörd arëich päägëzimmercreighën? --Plasteraaoenstaad 16:39, 24 September 2007 (UTC)

A quick Google search suggests that only "arëich" is a word (with different accents) and in Czech, but this doesn't look remotely Czech. In fact, each other word returns no Google results. Is this nonsense? I'm pretty sure I see "How do you edit a page" in there. x42bn6 Talk Mess 17:05, 24 September 2007 (UTC)

I concur. Leebo ^T/C 17:24, 24 September 2007 (UTC)

He is speaking Draafstein (or Draafsteinen). He is saying literally, "How do you a edit page?" --FredricksStaad 18:25, 24 September 2007 (UTC)

"Draafstein" has no Google hits and appears to be a hoax language. PrimeHunter 00:56, 25 September 2007 (UTC)

I've never even heard of this, but I can look at the comment and see how FredricksStaad got that message from it. It's probably some kind of internet-born inside joke. The Hybrid 01:01, 25 September 2007 (UTC)

This section seems to be duplicated below. x42bn6 Talk Mess 11:08, 25 September 2007 (UTC)

Continuous column numbering

Is it possible to have continuous column numbering for the 50 wards of the Template:Chicago City Council rather than having the numbers restart at 1 in each column?--TonyTheTiger (t/c/bio/tcfkaWCDbwincowtchatlotpsoplrttaDCLaM) 16:39, 24 September 2007 (UTC)

Since it is already using the navbox template, I don't see how to use the multi-column numbered list template also. So, I suggest replacing the wikipedia #'s with <ol> and <li> where you can change the starting number of each column's ol. -- kainaw™ 16:43, 24 September 2007 (UTC)

Thanks.--TonyTheTiger (t/c/bio/tcfkaWCDbwincowtchatlotpsoplrttaDCLaM) 17:20, 24 September 2007 (UTC)

Pronunciations are garbled characters

Pronunciations on wikipedia are garbled chracters, often including strange little squares, etc. Obviously my computer is not set up properly. But I have not been able to find how to fix this. It seems like this would be a common question, but apparently it isn't. Any ideas? Thanks. Melizg 16:46, 24 September 2007 (UTC)

It's quite possible that your computer doesn't have any font installed that's capable of displaying the symbols. Many Web browsers will automatically try to select a font that can display them; Internet Explorer doesn't, so Wikipedia sends it a list of fonts to try. Here is the list; do any of these fonts exist on your computer?

"Chrysanthi Unicode", "Doulos SIL", Gentium, GentiumAlt, Code2000, "TITUS Cyberbit Basic", "DejaVu Sans", "Bitstream Cyberbit", "Arial Unicode MS", "Lucida Sans Unicode", "Hiragino Kaku Gothic Pro", "Matrix Unicode"

If any of those fonts are there, then for some reason your browser isn't automatically selecting the right font, and you can fix the display for your username by writing

.IPA {font-family:"name of font here"}

in Special:Mypage/monobook.css (a page that you have that contains user-specific style overrides) and bypassing your cache. If none of them are there, it seems probable that your computer is incapable of displaying the characters because it doesn't know what shape they should be; in such a case, you'll have to install new fonts. Hope that helps! --ais523 16:52, 24 September 2007 (UTC)

Problem at footnote section

In the page: Status of religious freedom in Malaysia, what is wrong with footnote number 6? I can't get rid of the brackets. kawaputra^torque 17:05, 24 September 2007 (UTC)

User:Fuhghettaboutit fixed it. It was a line break in the link text itself. x42bn6 Talk Mess 17:12, 24 September 2007 (UTC)

Ah i see. Thanks! kawaputra^torque 17:19, 24 September 2007 (UTC)

As noted above, any line breaks, extra spaces—things of that nature—can mess up the formatting. If you write offline, and then try to import here, you have to check for such things. One easy way to do so is, once in edit mode here, do a search (on many computers cntrl+f) for double spaces and then remove them.--Fuhghettaboutit 17:21, 24 September 2007 (UTC)

It is duly noted. Thanks. kawaputra^torque 17:59, 25 September 2007 (UTC)

font

why is wikipedia in script on my computer? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 24.252.242.237 (talk) 18:02, 24 September 2007 (UTC)

It's possibly one of your settings on your browser. See Tools > (Internet) Options and poke around to see what your default font is. It might be set to Script - Wikipedia does not set default fonts, it goes by the browser's settings - which are typically Times New Roman and Arial. x42bn6 Talk Mess 18:04, 24 September 2007 (UTC)

(edit conflict) The only instructions about the font that Wikipedia sends (except in some special cases) is 'font-family:sans-serif'; that is, it requests that your browser uses a font without serifs, but otherwise doesn't specify what it is. Your browser seems to be interpreting this request in an unusual way (maybe its default sans-serif font is set to something weird); what browser are you using? --ais523 18:06, 24 September 2007 (UTC)

Photo's

How can I see the photo's I've uploaded?

OhSoSofaay 18:26, 24 September 2007 (UTC)

You can go to your contributions (the 'my contributions' link at the top of the screen), select 'Image' as the namespace, and then click on the image's name. Or you could just look at a page/article that you've added them to. --ais523 18:28, 24 September 2007 (UTC)

You can also take a look at your log page; it shows all the pictures you've uploaded, among other things. GlassCobra 21:37, 24 September 2007 (UTC)

Quöoestëërëichenstaäd

Höëwereich doerëichën yooüüerëichen ëdaatenöörd arëich päägëzimmercreighën? --Plasteraaoenstaad 16:39, 24 September 2007 (UTC)

A quick Google search suggests that only "arëich" is a word (with different accents) and in Czech, but this doesn't look remotely Czech. In fact, each other word returns no Google results. Is this nonsense? I'm pretty sure I see "How do you edit a page" in there. x42bn6 Talk Mess 17:05, 24 September 2007 (UTC)

I concur. Leebo ^T/C 17:24, 24 September 2007 (UTC)

He is speaking Draafstein (or Draafsteinen). He is saying literally, "How do you a edit page?" --FredricksStaad 18:25, 24 September 2007 (UTC)

To Plasteraaoenstaad/ Töereich Plasteraaoenstaad: Oeneereich dië tööep öffäaleich die päägëzimmercreighën, faandüuereichën "edit the page" (innereichenplaätz Draafstein,"ëdäätenöörd thaasenoördic päägëzimmercreighën") thëëreëizimmercreighen cläack itërëichen. --FredricksStaad 18:46, 24 September 2007 (UTC)

I can find no Google results for Draafstein or Draafsteinen. Leebo ^T/C 18:54, 24 September 2007 (UTC)

Draafstein is a regional language {sparingly in the Transvaal) which refers a dialect of Afrikaans. Only about a thousand speakers and is used in a mixed sence. --FredricksStaad 18:57, 24 September 2007 (UTC)

Looks to me like a hoax, some kind of substitution code thing like pig Latin. --Orange Mike 18:59, 24 September 2007 (UTC)

That's what I'm thinking. Leebo ^T/C 19:00, 24 September 2007 (UTC)

Not a hoax, not vandalism, It is a slang/dialect. Please stop accusing me of this, Im only trying to help this User. If you dont believe me, please refer to an Afrikaans user. --FredricksStaad 19:14, 24 September 2007 (UTC)

If you feel confident the user is helped, then the issue is resolved. There is no need to continue to assert your point. Leebo ^T/C 19:18, 24 September 2007 (UTC)

The user is proberly condifident about the help I gave him. I just dont want to be called a lier. --FredricksStaad 19:28, 24 September 2007 (UTC)

I don't believe it. My mother tongue is a dialect of Afrikaans (or merely, Afrikaans is a dialect of my mothertongue) and I am sure that Plasteraaoenstaad's message is not in any dialect of that language. It must be the Double version of that language! HandigeHarry 19:32, 24 September 2007 (UTC)

User:HandigeHarry, is jy van Transvaal? --FredricksStaad 19:49, 24 September 2007 (UTC)

No, I'm from the Netherlands. And my language is, AFAIK, the only language of which a Double version exists. HandigeHarry 06:35, 25 September 2007 (UTC)

Only about one thousand speakers, yet he feels inclined to ask his question in that language on the English Wikipedia? And you, another one of those thousand, happens upon it? What are the statistical chances of that? LaraLove 19:55, 24 September 2007 (UTC)

Not to be blunt, but what is the point of that question? Or of the "It's not true" thread? If the question was answered, then there's not much more to see here. Titoxd^{(?!? - cool stuff)} 19:57, 24 September 2007 (UTC)

The person that asked the question was someone I knew. He is a local friend using the new internet we have. Its a cultural thing we Afrikaaners do. He can only speak Afrikaans and one of its dialects Draafstein. --FredricksStaad 19:59, 24 September 2007 (UTC)

(undent) The Help desk gets a lot of hoax-type questions, so we tend to be skeptical of things that look unusual. If you and your friend are new to the Internet, you may wish to see the Afrikaans Wikipedia. We have editions of Wikipedia in many languages; this is the English Wikipedia, where questions should be in English. The Afrikaans Wikipedia is much smaller than the English Wikipedia currently, but if you are bilingual then perhaps you can help by translating articles from English to Afrikaans. Also see Wikipedia:WikiProject South Africa. --Teratornis 21:18, 24 September 2007 (UTC)

You might start, for example, by writing an article about Draafstein in Afrikaans. Although first you should read about the article policies on the Afrikaans Wikipedia (I certainly cannot help with that). --Teratornis 22:07, 24 September 2007 (UTC)

Of course, if he wishes to edit a page, he has already done so: [13]. x42bn6 Talk Mess 05:03, 25 September 2007 (UTC)

How to make new edits show up upon search

Good afternoon.

I made a change to a page on "FreeLife" today and still see the old page pop up first.

How do I get my new changes to show over the old information? Right now, in order to see my new changes, I have to click on the link at the top of the page that says, "redirected from FreeLife, where I am then able to click the FreeLife link and see my new changes.

I'd like my changes to be the front facing page instead. Can you help me to fix the page?

Thanks! —Preceding unsigned comment added by 71.209.173.140 (talk) 19:05, 24 September 2007 (UTC)

I removed the leading ">" characters from your message which were messing up your (probably) intended formatting. It's hard to tell from your question what the problem is. FreeLife is an article; Freelife is a redirect to FreeLife (page titles on Wikipedia are case sensitive after the first letter, so FreeLife and Freelife are distinct pages, although one is a redirect to the other). The IP Address under which you posted your question shows no other edits (see: Special:Contributions/71.209.173.140); did you make your edits under some other user name or IP Address? The revision history of the FreeLife article suggests a revert war is in progress. That may be why your edits are not appearing. --Teratornis 21:31, 24 September 2007 (UTC)

Thank you for the explanation. Is it possible to have all search options, "FreeLife, Freelife, freelife, free life, Free Life," to direct to the current "FreeLife" site created under my IP Address?

Thanks! —Preceding unsigned comment added by 71.209.173.140 (talk) 22:44, 24 September 2007 (UTC)

Your original problem may have been that you needed to bypass your cache. Freelife is a redirect to FreeLife in the Wikipedia sense of a redirect but not in the html sense. Freelife leads to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freelife (lower case l in URL) and FreeLife leads to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FreeLife (upper case L in URL). Wikipedia should generate the same page except for details like a redirect message on the former, but it's possible your computer had cached an old version of the former URL and not of the latter URL.

FreeLife does not have a space in its name and many articles contain the consecutive words "free life" with a space [14], so I don't think it would be a good idea for Wikipedia to redirect "free life". PrimeHunter 00:45, 25 September 2007 (UTC)

Editing Wikipedia Pages

Hello-

I attempted to edit the Wikipedia page for Ovi(Nokia's internet services). I followed the instructions and the changes appeared on the screen. I did press save. However, 30 minutes later, those changes were no longer found on the page. The information I am trying to input is: "The brand name OVI was created for Nokia by Lexicon Branding." I was also trying to input an external link - http://www.lexicon-branding.com.

Can you please explain why this is happening and what I can do to correct this problem?

Thanks,

Kaley —Preceding unsigned comment added by SailBoat1982 (talk • contribs) 19:30, 24 September 2007 (UTC) SailBoat1982 19:31, 24 September 2007 (UTC)

Someone disagreed with your edit and removed what you added. Check the history. You could try discussing it with them. Leebo ^T/C 19:32, 24 September 2007 (UTC)

(edit conflict) Looks like another user reverted your changes. Promotional external links aren't allowed here. GlassCobra 19:34, 24 September 2007 (UTC)

trying to locate Right / left wing Radio in Canada

Trying to find Right and Left Wing Radio shows in Canada -unavailable. So does someone or you add this topic.? calgaryman2003@hotmail.com —Preceding unsigned comment added by 68.147.37.48 (talk) 19:51, 24 September 2007 (UTC)

I'm not sure if we can help you there. Wikipedia does not readily categorize radio shows as "right wing" or "left wing" because of the neutral point of view policy. Shalom ^Hello 21:35, 24 September 2007 (UTC)

Wikipedia would not itself apply subjective labels, but we could cite someone else's published labelings. However, Wikipedia is not a directory, although we do have a number of list-type articles. That basically means we don't try to list everything, but some people do list a lot of things. See WP:LIST for the guidelines about what sorts of lists are appropriate here. You might also check Wikipedia:WikiProject Canada and Wikipedia:WikiProject Radio to see if there is any activity about political radio in Canada. Also look for other wikis; try: wikiindex:Category:Canada, wikiindex:Category:Radio, and wikiindex:Category:Politics. If you want to create a new article you must register an account, but be aware that Wikipedia deletes lots of articles for failing to comply with our complicated policies and guidelines, and thus it can be difficult for new users to create new articles that "stick." Aspiring contributors should spend a few months editing existing articles before creating new ones, to learn how Wikipedia works. Be aware that many other wikis have much more lenient policies for article content, and are often better for people who aren't ready to write encyclopedically yet. --Teratornis 21:44, 24 September 2007 (UTC)

when johnny comes marching home

Hi, I added a fact to this page. Now it is asking for the citations of where the information came from. I have no problem providing the information but can not figure out how to add it to the page. Please help Captorourke 20:01, 24 September 2007 (UTC)

Perhaps the guideline on citing sources will contain the information you need. If it doesn't, please let us know, and we'll be happy to help further. :) --Moonriddengirl 20:31, 24 September 2007 (UTC)

A example ref, <ref>{{cite web|url=www.example.com|title=The Example of Examples|accessdate=2007-09-24}}</ref>. Insert the right info and that should do it, assuming your ref is a web ref. --Тhε Rαnδom Eδιτor 21:39, 24 September 2007 (UTC)

Making Wikipedia my homepage.

How can I make Wikipedia my homepage? Whenever I need to go on it, it gets really annoying typing the address in or opening my favourites and would be a lot easier and more useful if it opened up every time I start the internet. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 89.242.8.195 (talk) 20:58, 24 September 2007 (UTC)

It depends on your web browser. Usually, you can go to the Options/Preferences dialog box, and type your home page there. Titoxd^{(?!? - cool stuff)} 21:00, 24 September 2007 (UTC)

If you use Mozilla Firefox, for example, you can also select View | Toolbars | Bookmarks toolbar, and bookmark Wikipedia into your Bookmarks Toolbar Folder. Also, technically, you do not "start the Internet" - rumor has it Al Gore already did that. --Teratornis 21:07, 24 September 2007 (UTC)

Or if you have IE 7 right click on the icon. There should be a properties selection, left click it. Then there will be a area to set your homepage set it to http://www.wikipedia.org/ --Тhε Rαnδom Eδιτor 21:37, 24 September 2007 (UTC)

Why the main www page? Wouldn't it be easier to set it to http://en.wikipedia.org? GlassCobra 21:39, 24 September 2007 (UTC)

And I'll jump into the fray (har, har) with a note that you can set up IE (7.0, at least) with multiple home pages. Tools > Internet Options > General Tab > add in the box at the top. It will open with multiple tabs. Into The Fray ^T/C 22:16, 24 September 2007 (UTC)

Article moved by a third party before WP:RM processed ended

I nominated Lean Mean Fat Reducing Grilling Machine to be moved to Foreman Grill on WP:RM. However, today, User:Neil, before reading my RM discussions on the talk page, moved the page "arbirarily"[15]. Should I move it back to its original place? And should I leave something warning-like to User:Neil?--Samuel di Curtisi di Salvadori 22:33, 24 September 2007 (UTC)

To be honest i think it was a straight forward page move. I don't think neil should be templated, especially since his comment about not realising there was a move. Neil is a very experienced editor. I don't think you would be able to move it back anyway, it needs an admin to go over a redirect. As he says, if there are any objections to the move then it should be discussed then. Woodym555 22:39, 24 September 2007 (UTC)

Also is the problem how to make the RM nomination speedy ended and put a boilerplate over the discussion on talk...--Samuel di Curtisi di Salvadori 01:57, 25 September 2007 (UTC)

BEWILDERED!!

I have made numerous attempts at attaching a photograph on to the article I am writing on José Bernal, artist. Sometimes I have failed, but sometimes I have been successful in the upload of the photograph. Presently I have uploaded the photo, but it does not show on the article that I am writing. Why is that? I need to know what to do to have it appear on the article. Also, I am just about finished with writing it and want to know what I must do to submit it for approval so that it can be made available to the public domain of WIKIPEDIA under JOSÉ BERNAL. Thank you!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! —Preceding unsigned comment added by Labs1950 (talk • contribs) 22:52, 24 September 2007 (UTC)

Hi there, Labs1950. You appear to be working on your article on your user page. I added the image there, rather quickly and hamfistedly to show you at least the basic image conventions. For more indepth coverage, I recommend WP:IMAGE. But you might also want to find and use a good infobox template such as the one on Salvador Dalí. That's generally what I've done in the past. Also, you're probably better off working up articles at User:Labs1950/sandbox rather than on your own user page.  :) Cheers! Into The Fray ^T/C 23:06, 24 September 2007 (UTC)

First the article's name should be José Bernal, as article names do not take all caps. The article can be created by moving your userpage to that name, which would preserve the page history. Note that for future reference, it's a better practice to work on draft articles at a subpage, rather than at your userpage proper. Though it is not an absolute bar, you should be aware of our strong discouragement of users writing articles about themselves and people they know, as such articles present a conflict of interest and inevitably are not written from a neutral point of view, which we require for encyclopedia articles. Indeed, looking over the draft article, there are neutral point of view issues. In any event, there is no approval process. You can simply move it as I have advised. Note that upon moving the article, the software will automatically create a redirect from your userpage to the article. That should be quickly edited to no longer be a redirect.--Fuhghettaboutit 23:11, 24 September 2007 (UTC)

I added a reference to an article, but reference does not appear.

I am in the process of adding information on university endowments (in the little infobox thingie) to a number of college and university articles along with a reference (using a template I found on another page). It worked fine on the article for Gannon University, for instance. But when I did the same thing for the University of Akron, the endowment figure appears in the Infobox but the reference info does not appear anywhere, even though there is a link to a footnote in the infobox on the live page. I hope that makes sense.

Am I missing something really obvious? Please let me know if I am doing something wrong. (I noticed there is not a References section on the University of Akron page, but when I tried adding it, the page preview did not automatically put the reference there underneath it, so it didn't seem like that mattered.)

Thanks....I'm still pretty new, as you see. --Brianwantium 23:24, 24 September 2007 (UTC)

And it's there now.....that was, uh, magical. Nevermind. Maybe it takes a minute for the References section to be created? --Brianwantium 23:28, 24 September 2007 (UTC)

Hi there: I've just fixed University of Akron. You were close to solving your problem, I think. If you look at the very last entry on the page, after the famous alumni and before the categories, you'll see a heading surrounded with double-equals-signs that says References, and then below it a tag in double curly brackets that says Reflist. It's the Reflist tag that's the crucial part; it accumulates all the references cited above it on the page in numerical order. I viewed it and there is now a reference cited there, so it looks like everything else is okay. If I can help more, let me know. Accounting4Taste 23:30, 24 September 2007 (UTC)

Oops. Apparently mine overwrote yours without edit conflict! I'm guessing because I edited a section only? One of the mysteries of Wikipedia. Since I prefer {{reflist}} myself, I'll restore yours. :) --Moonriddengirl 23:32, 24 September 2007 (UTC)

Hi. Everybody is pretty new at one time or another. :) University of Akron did not have a "reference" section where the footnote can be recreated. I've put one in, so the reference shows up. A simple guideline for this can be found at Help:Footnotes. Basically, you create a section which you name something like notes or references, ==Footnote==. Beneath that, you put <references/> or, if you like small text in notes and have a lot of them, {{reflist}}. A longer description is available at Wikipedia:Footnotes. :) --Moonriddengirl 23:31, 24 September 2007 (UTC)

Awesome....you people rock. I understand now. --Brianwantium 23:31, 24 September 2007 (UTC)

LOL now do you think you could explain edit conflicts to us? I have no idea what happened either. Glad you got the information you needed, no matter how. Accounting4Taste 23:34, 24 September 2007 (UTC)

Help:Edit conflict#Prevention says: New since v.1.3 is CVS-style edit conflict merging, based on the diff3 utility. This feature will only trigger an edit conflict if users attempt to edit the same few lines. See also [16]. PrimeHunter 00:24, 25 September 2007 (UTC)

Two Million

I see we have recently passed our 2 millionth article. Any idea what the 2 millionth was?--TonyTheTiger (t/c/bio/tcfkaWCDbwincowtchatlotpsoplrttaDCLaM) 23:35, 24 September 2007 (UTC)

See Wikipedia:Help desk#2,000,000th article? and Wikipedia:Help desk/Archives/2007 September 10#What was the two millionth article?. It is currently considered to be El Hormiguero. Note that the actual article may vary because of deletions etc. Woodym555 23:42, 24 September 2007 (UTC)

The Wikimedia Foundation agrees, see foundation:Wikipedia Reaches 2 Million Articles. --h2g2bob (talk) 01:23, 25 September 2007 (UTC)

September 25

mental help link

Where is the mental help link located? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 65.182.86.253 (talk) 01:44, 25 September 2007 (UTC)

This is an encyclopedia. I'm not sure what type of link you are looking for but note that Wikipedia does not give medical advice. PrimeHunter 01:56, 25 September 2007 (UTC)

how to write an articles in wikipedia?

it is my first time to visit wiipedia, and i am interested in writing a an articles for wikipedia. but how? do you mind explain me the step? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 203.130.204.252 (talk) 02:01, 25 September 2007 (UTC)

You will need to first register an account, which has many benefits, including the ability to create articles. Once you have registered, please search Wikipedia first to make sure that an article does not already exist on the subject. Please also review a few of our relevant policies and guidelines which all articles should comport with. As Wikipedia is an encyclopedia, articles must not contain original research, must be written from a neutral point of view, should cite to reliable sources which verify their content and must not contain unsourced, negative content about living people.

Articles must also demonstrate the notability of the subject. Please see our subject specific guidelines for people, bands and musicians, companies and organizations and web content and note that if you are closely associated with the subject, our conflict of interest guideline strongly recommends against you creating the article.

If you still think an article is appropriate, see Help:Starting a new page. You might also look at Wikipedia:Your first article and Wikipedia:How to write a great article for guidance, and please consider taking a tour through the Wikipedia:Tutorial so that you know how to properly format the article before creation. PrimeHunter 02:04, 25 September 2007 (UTC)

Image

How do you upload your own image on your user page? —Preceding unsigned comment added by Softballchick12 (talk • contribs) 02:07, 25 September 2007 (UTC)

You can follow the instructions at Wikipedia:Upload and you can read more at Wikipedia:Images. Most likely, you'd need to release your image under a free license. Leebo ^T/C 03:16, 25 September 2007 (UTC)

Are user pages GFDL licenced? — PhilHibbs | talk 14:41, 25 September 2007 (UTC)

George William Gordon

Your Wikipedia Encyclopedia has George William Gordon being born in 1820. For many years this was thought to be the correct date. I suspected this to be incorrect as he owned property in 1836 and therefore would only have been 16 years old. As a Genealogist I researched this and have found his Baptismal Entry in the St. Andrew Parish Register Volume 3 Folio 53 that shows he was baptised at the age of 3 months (approx) on 27 December 1815. I can submit a copy of this entry if required. Please advise.

Donald Lindo (<email removed to prevent spam>) —Preceding unsigned comment added by 72.27.154.253 (talk) 03:08, 25 September 2007 (UTC)

Disputed facts require reliable sources to stand on. If reliable sources say that he was born in 1820 and you only have original research without any published references, then 1820 is the more reliable date. It is against Wikipedia policy to publish original findings or research. It needs to be published first; if that's the case, you can cite yourself, but only if your research has appeared in reliable source. Leebo ^T/C 03:13, 25 September 2007 (UTC)

I'm a little surprised that a baptismal record in a church isn't considered a reliable source. What's the difference between "I found an academic journal that said that George was born in 1815", and "I found a baptismal record that said that George was born in 1815"? Both required searching on the part of the editor to discover the information, and both required the editor to exercise their judgement in deciding that it's the same George as the one in the article. — PhilHibbs | talk 14:36, 25 September 2007 (UTC)

I must have misread the question. The way I read it, it seemed like he had researched this and come up with something that was not on record anywhere. If the date is on record, it shouldn't be disputed in the first place. Leebo ^T/C 17:53, 25 September 2007 (UTC)

disambiguate a person

hi I would like to disambiguate the page for Anthony Howell the actor born 1971 to include or refer to or disambiguate to a page to describe Anthony Howell the artist born in the 40s - actually though less commercial a major international artist. He is mentioned in other pages but not linked to.

I created the page but I can't link to it as the other guy shows up everytime.

ft —Preceding unsigned comment added by Fionatempleton (talk • contribs) 04:11, 25 September 2007 (UTC)

All done. Anthony Howell now links to a disambig page that lists both the actor and the performance artist. GlassCobra 05:53, 25 September 2007 (UTC)

Monobook skin bugged?

When I goto http://en.wikipedia.org/, instead of getting the normal layout for "MonoBook (default)" with the puzzle piece globe, search bar on left hand corner and text in arial; i get a skin that looks like so:

http://img146.imageshack.us/img146/6595/wikiwtfex3.jpg

Note: my skin selected is MonoBook, but i can't change it back to the old skin. Is this a permanent change for the english wikipedia? Is this a problem on my side? I checked the other language wiki's and they still have the old MonoBook layout. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Samuelb88 (talk • contribs) 05:41, 25 September 2007 (UTC)

The problem was somewhere in the Internet between Wikipedia and your browser; what's happened was a one-off glitch that prevented the stylesheet data being sent correctly or corrupted it (this happens at random from time to time). Wikipedia:Bypass your cache (instructions are on the linked page), and your browser should request a corrected version of the stylesheet for you, putting everything back to normal. --ais523 09:43, 25 September 2007 (UTC)

finding when text was added to an article

I'm sure I read recently that someone had a tool that enabled you to locate which edit introduced a particular item of text into an article. Can anyone direct me to that tool? — Timotab ^{Timothy (not Tim dagnabbit!)} 06:18, 25 September 2007 (UTC)

Not remembering the actual name, but suspecting it had something to do with "querying" the database, I search the page for "query". Result? The thread #How_to_find_the_author_of_a_particular_passage_within_a_topic.3F and User:AmiDaniel/WhodunitQuery. Confusing Manifestation 06:27, 25 September 2007 (UTC)

Thank you. Next problem, I'm not running Windows. On the other hand, my further research tells me I no longer need it. Thanks anyway. — Timotab ^{Timothy (not Tim dagnabbit!)} 06:40, 25 September 2007 (UTC)

Test Cases

where to find details abt test cases of various user interfaces? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 68.254.179.254 (talk) 08:58, 25 September 2007 (UTC)

Does GUI software testing help? --Teratornis 06:33, 26 September 2007 (UTC)

Test Cases

where to find details abt test cases of various user interfaces? Nitasha <e-mail removed> —Preceding unsigned comment added by 68.254.179.254 (talk) 09:00, 25 September 2007 (UTC)

Not actually sure what your question is. Is it to do with which user interface for, say, a computer, was most effective? x42bn6 Talk Mess 10:52, 25 September 2007 (UTC)

Gimme_More

Reference 6... what is going on???--Mostargue 09:27, 25 September 2007 (UTC)

Someone removed the first instance of a cite, and the second one (which only carries a name) broke. It should be fixed now. --Pekaje 10:15, 25 September 2007 (UTC)

And interestingly enough, that warning is actually a very recent feature (I just finished reading The Signpost). Should help fix up a lot of references. Now they just need a big fat warning when there are more opening <ref> tags than closing, as that tends to hide text. --Pekaje 13:29, 25 September 2007 (UTC)

phrase not found- what did I wrong

I was hoping that I could find references and explanations, definitions about certain expressions: like "patently contradictory". Why could Wki not find this phrase and give me an exact definition? What did I wrong? I used the SEARCH function. Thanks Gottfried —Preceding unsigned comment added by 207.216.128.245 (talk) 09:42, 25 September 2007 (UTC)

You may be looking for Wiktionary. Both words are defined there: patently contradictory. There is really not a lot to write an encyclopedia article about, and Wikipedia is an encyclopedia. --Pekaje 10:18, 25 September 2007 (UTC)

For the relevant policy, see Wikipedia:What Wikipedia is not#Wikipedia is not a dictionary and Wikipedia:Wikipedia is not a dictionary. PrimeHunter 14:27, 25 September 2007 (UTC)

Hm. References disappeared?

Could someone have a look at the page Red Angus? In the normal window, there is no See Also, or References and External Links- however, when clicking the edit window and scrolling, it appears there. Anybody know what's wrong? CattleGirl ^talk 10:33, 25 September 2007 (UTC)

'Twas a broken reference tag: [17] x42bn6 Talk Mess 10:45, 25 September 2007 (UTC)

Inserting references

Can you please tell me how to insert references into an entryBronwynhelicopter1 11:19, 25 September 2007 (UTC)

WP:REF has all the instructions. In short, references look like this :<ref>Your reference</ref> and then to display them, <references /> is used, usually under a ==References== heading. See [18] at my sandbox for an example. x42bn6 Talk Mess 11:22, 25 September 2007 (UTC)

Also of possible interest to you is the basic guideline is at Help:Footnotes. More detail can be found here. :)--Moonriddengirl 11:24, 25 September 2007 (UTC)

Hopefully someone will still see this, but I don't really think it's worth making its own topic. What's the difference between using <references /> and {{reflist}}? Is one better to use than the other?

For short articles, the <references /> tag will do. But {{reflist}} does a little more than that - it makes the references into small text, and you can use a parameter (like {{reflist|2}}) to create multi-column reference list. See Template:Reflist for the documentation. x42bn6 Talk Mess 03:49, 26 September 2007 (UTC)

Article edited but not to find on Google list yet

I edited the article about Fleury Lionossier but when I go to Google and search Fleury Linossier Wikipedia the article does not show up on the list. Could you help to find a way? thanks Alexandrine —Preceding unsigned comment added by Alpinault (talk • contribs) 12:03, 25 September 2007 (UTC)

It will take some time before it shows up on Google. I'm not sure how long exactly, I'm thinking 12 hours, but I'm sure someone else will swoop in here shortly with the precise amount of time. LaraLove 12:05, 25 September 2007 (UTC)

The precise amount of time is...drum roll...no precise amount of time. It depends on how fast google is spidering Wikipedia, how fast Google indexes the page once spidered and a host of factors susceptible to variation.--Fuhghettaboutit 12:25, 25 September 2007 (UTC)

Fleury Linossier is in Google search now and their cached version says "retrieved on 23 Sep 2007 22:39:05 GMT.". That is only 4 hours after creation.[19] It apparently took a lot longer before it was included in searches. PrimeHunter 14:23, 25 September 2007 (UTC)

Yes Google indexes Wikipedia quite fast. For example if you change an article it will usually be updated in Google within a few hours. I'm not sure but I suspect that Google uses the wikipedia logs to help it know what to index Nil Einne 16:52, 25 September 2007 (UTC)

Feedback on deleted article

Resolved

I just had an article deleted that I worked very hard to cite properly. It was immediately marked for speedy deletion (blatant advertising) after submission, and I thoroughly explained every source and cited examples of other "safe" articles that followed the same practices. I even edited the article based upon the reasons given for speedy deletion to comply. I received no response, and then found article completely deleted this morning with no feedback. I don't know if the administrator I discussed with responded to my earlier comments, and since the talk page was deleted, I'll never know what they were if they had.

How may I get a second chance with the editor who removed my article? I am willing to comply with standards. Thank you - SyrinxZ 13:23, 25 September 2007 (UTC)

Hi SyrinxZ. I'm sorry this has happened to you. The article was deleted by User:Persian Poet Gal. I've just looked at the article, and although cited, all the citation seemed to come from the website(s) of the subject. I think you may have issued regarding reliable sources and certainly sources independent of the subject. I'm afraid I'm not prepared to revert Persian Poet Gal's deletion, as the article really was pretty much blatant advertising. You are of course welcome to go direct to her, as you seem to be genuinely trying to create content in good faith. Sorry. Pedro :  Chat  13:33, 25 September 2007 (UTC)

Thank you Pedro for getting back to me so soon. What I tried to explain to her was that only 3 of the 7 citations were in some way from the website, others were reputable publications such as Inc. magazine. I cited the website multiple times (for factual statements such as their timeline) because I wanted to provide basis for the facts. A number of other Wiki company articles I used for reference made statements about company history that were without citation, which appeared to be sufficient for them. I was willing to remove the list of company links (except for the parent company's) and I'll even remove the timeline if that is the point of contention, although it is useful information. I guess I'm having trouble understanding what particular aspect of the article is blatant advertising, when to me the content is so similar to other company articles that have passed muster. If you can help me identify that, I am willing to rework it to be approved. Or if approaching Persian Poet Gal is my only recourse, I will pursue that as well. Thank you! SyrinxZ 13:44, 25 September 2007 (UTC)

I have restored the page and moved it to User:SyrinxZ/Home Décor Products‎, where you can work on it and discuss it with the deleting admin if you'd like. I removed the "Inc." because I'm fairly sure the naming conventions recommend leaving things like that off. One thing I'd suggest is removing all the external links to the other websites. You already listed them, so it does seem slightly promotional to link to them all below. Granted, I wouldn't call the article blatant advertising, but that's one thing I noticed. Leebo ^T/C 14:00, 25 September 2007 (UTC)

Good call Leebo. SyrinxZ If you would like myself, Leebo or Persian Poet Gal to review the article before posting into the main space please just approach us on our talk pages. I shouldn't speak for others, but they're both experienced and friendly editors so I'm sure they'll be happy to help. Marking this as resolved. Pedro :  Chat  14:05, 25 September 2007 (UTC)

Thank you for restoring the article. Please note that without the "Inc.", the company name essentially becomes a general phrase rather than a brand, which may confuse a reader. I have removed the list of links at the bottom, keeping only the parent company's, which I felt was appropriate. I've also removed one company website citation. Please review the article and let me know if these revisions are sufficient. If they are, how is the article restored to the original page? I thank you very much for your help and time.SyrinxZ 14:23, 25 September 2007 (UTC)

I found the section that describes it: Wikipedia:Naming conventions#Companies. An article about home décor products‎ in general would probably not have a title simialar to this one. It would probably be home décor or list of home décor products‎, if such an article was justifiable. Note the lower case letters for each word. Leebo ^T/C 14:29, 25 September 2007 (UTC)

s/w testing

if we want to b a very good s/w tester without having sound knowledge of progamming thn from where should i start? Nitin (bhatia_nitin84@yahoo.co.in) —Preceding unsigned comment added by 122.162.124.14 (talk) 14:51, 25 September 2007 (UTC)

The Help Desk is for questions relating to using the Wikipedia site itself. Your question is probably better to be asked at the Computing Reference Desk, where you will likely find an answer. Arakunem 20:34, 25 September 2007 (UTC)

more understanding

hi how do i get abbreviations on economics,business matters

Hello, I'm not exactly sure what you are asking, but I suspect you might want to ask your question at the Humanities Reference Desk. This page (Help Desk) is more for questions about actually using and navigating the Wikipedia site. The Reference Desk would be more appropriate for your question. Arakunem 20:36, 25 September 2007 (UTC)

Creating a page that has false information for educational purposes

Hiya,

Is there anyway that I can create a page that has inaccurate information on it, to show my students the importance of checking their sources when researching.

I did create one earlier with my username as the page title, but it was of course deleted.

Thanks

Staffbrooks 15:41, 25 September 2007 (UTC)Staff Brooks

If you don't want to use the sandbox, perhaps the best way would be do use a page in your user-space. Ie, something like User:Staffbrooks/Dummypage. --Bfigura ^(talk) 15:45, 25 September 2007 (UTC)

Displaying special symbols

I am having problems just displaying wiki text for the following symbols.......if you take a look at the editing page you will understand what I mean.

©

®

™

--Gawatkin 15:46, 25 September 2007 (UTC)

Hi Gawatkin.

Those things aren't actually wiki markup things, they are HTML entities.

to get &copy; use &amp;copy;

to get &reg; use &amp;reg;

to get &trade; use &amp;trade;

regards.  — Timotab ^{Timothy (not Tim dagnabbit!)} 17:11, 25 September 2007 (UTC)

Try to find old version of an article

I'm trying to find the text of an old version of an article. I go to the history tab and I click on a version date, but I just get a discussion of the article not the old text? I'm looking at the article on anatta.

Thanks, Eric —Preceding unsigned comment added by 208.42.90.24 (talk) 16:09, 25 September 2007 (UTC)

It works fine for me. E.g. this is the first version of the page [20]. Are you sure you aren't looking at the article talk page? Nil Einne 16:23, 25 September 2007 (UTC)

Thanks for the help. I think what I did was to first go to the discussion tab and then the history tab. If I first go to the article tab and then the history tab I do get the old article text. It seems like it would be better to make the edit and history tabs sub tabs to the article and discussion tabs. Thanks, Eric

Thomas and Lucy Lew Dalton

Hello,

I wrote an article for wikipedia on Thomas and Lucy Lew Dalton. It is in wikipedia, but when I "search" the names the article does not appear?

Did I do something wrong?

Martha

I'm not sure why the search is not revealing the article for you, but it did come up for me at Thomas and Lucy Lew Dalton. LaraLove 17:05, 25 September 2007 (UTC)

It's in Wikipedia's own search function. Maybe you searched it somewhere else? PrimeHunter 17:45, 25 September 2007 (UTC)

how do I submit a bio to Wikipedia

WIKIPEDIA ENTRY

Chuck Lesnick is the City Council President in Yonkers, NY, elected in 2005 to a four-year term. He is a Democrat presiding over New York’s fourth largest city with approximately 200,000 residents and a budget in excess of $800 million. He maintains a general practice in co-op and condo law, real estate transactions and commercial development. He spent nearly 20 years serving in government with The United States Department of Housing & Urban Development; former Governor Mario Cuomo; Congresswoman Nita Lowey; and the City of Yonkers (as Director of Economic Development). In the private sector he worked as an executive with several property management and affordable housing development corporations.

He holds a B.A. in Economics and Political Science from Yale, a Master’s Degree in Urban & Regional Plan¬ning from the Woodrow Wilson School of Public & International Affairs at Princeton and a J.D. from the New York University School of Law.

He and his wife, Dr. Beth Schorr-Lesnick, have two daughters.

for more information, please contact 914-377-6060 —Preceding unsigned comment added by Lafahren (talk • contribs) 16:21, 25 September 2007 (UTC)

If you have reliable and verifiable sources, you can make the page yourself! As this is a biography, be sure to visit WP:BLP, as biographies of living persons have some special considerations that should be followed. Other than that, Be Bold! Arakunem 17:06, 25 September 2007 (UTC)

Being bold includes a fair chance that your article could get deleted, so save a copy of whatever you enter here. Also see WikiIndex for other wikis which accept biographies with fewer requirements than Wikipedia imposes. For example, WikiBios appears to accept biographies with few restrictions. Developing your biography on another wiki (where it is less likely to get deleted) will make it easier for you to bring it up to encyclopedic content than if your only copy is on Wikipedia (where it could get deleted). --Teratornis 19:09, 25 September 2007 (UTC)

DBMS

architecture of dbms along wid its diagram —Preceding unsigned comment added by 59.162.185.99 (talk) 16:27, 25 September 2007 (UTC)

Can you be more specific as to what you are asking? Also note that this page is for help with using wikipedia, and not for questions on specific topics (such as Database management, if that is the DBMS you are referring to. The Reference Desk is better suited to those type of inquiries. Arakunem 17:11, 25 September 2007 (UTC)

If you are asking about the structure of the database underlying Wikipedia itself, see: mw:Manual:Database layout along with the cool diagram. Also check these Google search results on mediawiki.org for the keyword: database. --Teratornis 19:03, 25 September 2007 (UTC)

If my account does not have a listed e-mail address

If my account does not have a listed e-mail address, and I have forgotten my password, how do I either get the password or have the password reset?-Chytraeus3733 —Preceding unsigned comment added by 75.43.141.249 (talk) 16:34, 25 September 2007 (UTC)

As far as I'm aware, there is no way this account can be recovered unless you remember your password. In some cases, you can use the process here Wikipedia:Changing username/Usurpations however as the account User:Chytraeus3733 has minor edit to the article space this will probably not be possible. In future, either make sure you remember your password or register with an e-mail. Nil Einne 16:47, 25 September 2007 (UTC)

You are allowed to create a new acount in this situation. If you had more edits on the old account then you could have mentioned it on the user page of the new account, but it may not be needed here. PrimeHunter 17:39, 25 September 2007 (UTC)

Numbering with same number

Is there anyway to use auto numbering # while either hiding one of the numbers or similar? For example if I have a list or things ordered in some way

1. A
2. B
3. C

And A and B are equal so should have the same number 1 while C should be 3 (i.e. there is no 2) is there anyway to either show 1 twice or hide the 2 or something like that? Or must the numbering be done manually? Nil Einne 16:41, 25 September 2007 (UTC)

I don't know of a way to get it to skip a number or get it to show a number twice, but look at the code for the following:

1. A
   • B
2. C

or

1. A

   B

2. C

Does that give you any ideas? If not, there is always m:Help:List. But it sounds like you may just need to not use wikicode to accomplish your goal.-Andrew c ^[talk] 17:15, 25 September 2007 (UTC)

If you use HTML lists rather than wikitext lists, you can control ordered list item numbering, and the style of numbering (Arabic numerals, Roman numerals, upper/lowercase letters, etc.). Let me know if you need an example or if that was enough of a hint. And see Help:List which describes some of the options with HTML lists. --Teratornis 18:56, 25 September 2007 (UTC)

i submitted two facts

di rubydium is a real substance that is not found in nature but in thoery on other planets and two i submitted a attp fictious weapon which is based on THEL which is in your article so why delete them when i added them and checked back 2 days ago it was removed and im not happy :( — Preceding unsigned comment added by Lugia 1985 (talk • contribs)

Someone may have questioned the validity of your facts. Usually editors will tag them with , but technically any unsourced fact may be removed by any editor. The best way to prevent this from happening is to have a reliable and verifiable citation for the fact, and to add that to the article's References section. More information on adding citations can be found here. Arakunem 17:14, 25 September 2007 (UTC)

Looking at your edits, Arakunem is correct. What you state may be true, but without a reference, it is not encyclopedic and therefore will be removed. -- kainaw™ 17:23, 25 September 2007 (UTC)

Where to go for Wiki Server issues?

Is there a place to report problems with the wiki site itself? I'm getting 500 (internal server error) when accessing Special:Watchlist. Thanks! —Preceding unsigned comment added by Arakunem (talk • contribs) 17:01, 25 September 2007 (UTC)

Thank you SineBot! *baps self* Arakunem 17:02, 25 September 2007 (UTC)

Hi. I don't know, but for some reason, I'm experiencing the exact same problem! Thanks. ~AH1^(TCU) 17:05, 25 September 2007 (UTC)

This appears to be wroking now, at least for me. I would still like to know if there is a spot dedicated to reporting issues with server health, etc. Thanks! Arakunem 17:25, 25 September 2007 (UTC)

You can always ask at the Village Pump or on IRC channel, but if there seems to be server problems, chances are those clever people at Wikimedia already know about it... --saxsux 18:27, 25 September 2007 (UTC)

Watchlist error

All fo a sudden today, I am unable to access my watchlist. The following error is coming up:

The website cannot display the page

HTTP 500  
  Most likely causes:

The website is under maintenance. The website has a programming error.

Please help. Sincerely, --Le Grand Roi des Citrouilles^Tally-ho! 17:05, 25 September 2007 (UTC)

Hi. I'm getting the same problem. See my post on the above section. Well, if you can't check your watchlist, just go edit something you want to. I know, Wikipedia now experiences a lot of problems due to the largeness. I'm pretty sure it should recover soo. Thanks. ~AH1^(TCU) 17:09, 25 September 2007 (UTC)

Thank you for the reply. Naturally, I noticed that someone posted about it above after I posted the same question. :) Also, it seems to work now. Best, --Le Grand Roi des Citrouilles^Tally-ho! 17:14, 25 September 2007 (UTC)

Britney Spears Vandalism

These 2 users have constantly been vandalizing the Britney Spears's fifth studio album page with fake album covers, track lists and other info. Is there any way to give them a warning or block them?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User_talk:Flojo2008

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User_talk:Britneyboy —Preceding unsigned comment added by Thankssir (talk • contribs) 17:39, 25 September 2007 (UTC)

I’ve given both users a warning that they may be blocked if they continue to add unsourced or original information to any Wikipedia articles. If it continues, report them to WP:AIV and they will probably be temporarily blocked. Leebo ^T/C 17:47, 25 September 2007 (UTC)

sports attire - whst sport do they wear silks

sports attire - whst sport do they wear silks —Preceding unsigned comment added by 86.112.206.91 (talk) 18:57, 25 September 2007 (UTC)

It is not uncommon for martial arts uniforms (especially kung fu) to be silk. Also, I've seen many jockeys wear shirts that have a silk appearance. -- kainaw™ 19:03, 25 September 2007 (UTC)

In thoroughbred horse racing, and in harness racing I believe, jockeys wear shirts called silks, which display unique colors and patterns that represent the stable that owns their mount. I imagine that they are nylon or something similar now, although they originally were made of silk. --Stephenlegh 20:08, 25 September 2007 (UTC)

Wiki mini atlas

Hi sorry to bother you, but do you know who I could contact in relation to the Wiki Atlas? Its just I've been recently been putting all the towns and villages in Tibet on wikipedia including the map coordinates but for some reason the place names aren't showing on the map. Particularly when you zoom in it should show many of the places already started. Could somebody help me please ♦ Sir Blofeld ♦ ^"Talk"? 19:08, 25 September 2007 (UTC)

This is Wikimapia?Kfc1864 talk _{my edits} 01:43, 26 September 2007 (UTC)

See: WP:EIW#Map for (perhaps) the most comprehensive list of links to pages about maps in relation to Wikipedia. Whatever you're looking for should be in there somewhere. --Teratornis 06:20, 26 September 2007 (UTC)

Reward

If you like the job a user has done how can you reward them--72.79.88.21 19:21, 25 September 2007 (UTC)

Barnstars are a common token of appreciation. Arakunem 20:21, 25 September 2007 (UTC)

If you want to reward users with actual cash money or donate to the Wikimedia Foundation on their behalf, see: Wikipedia:Bounty board and Wikipedia:Reward board. --Teratornis 20:38, 25 September 2007 (UTC)

a plain old thank you note on the user's talk page is also appropriate, and usually more personal than a barnstar. -Arch dude 23:42, 25 September 2007 (UTC)

"citation needed" question

One of my edits had a "citation needed" notice. I cited a website. Do I leave the notice alone so an administrator can delete it, or can I delete it? —Preceding unsigned comment added by Mmark089 (talk • contribs) 19:35, 25 September 2007 (UTC)

See WP:CITE for information on how to properly make the citation. Once you have cited the fact appropriately, you may remove the "citation needed" (which will appear as {{fact}} in the edit window. Just leave an edit summary explaining that you have made the citation. Arakunem 20:23, 25 September 2007 (UTC)

(after edit conflict) Once you provided the citation, feel free to remove the {{fact}} tag. On a related note, you seemed to have some trouble with the {{cite web}} template. I fixed it for now, but please remember to check out if the template has some documentation the next time you have trouble with one of them. --Pekaje 20:26, 25 September 2007 (UTC)

Help with Using Wikipedia content in other works.

I've read all I can find about resuing Wikipedia content in other works, and I have not quite answered my question. Mostly about how to attribute wikipedia content. WHere is the appropriate interactive forum to ask such a rather complex question? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 162.114.211.143 (talk) 19:55, 25 September 2007 (UTC)

The Village Pump is a forum for in-depth discussions of Wiki policies and other technical issues. However, a simple answer might be to click the "Cite this article" link in the left pane of any article, which includes the proper ways to attribute Wiki articles in other media. Arakunem 20:28, 25 September 2007 (UTC)

Hygrometer

how to make an hygrometer —Preceding unsigned comment added by 24.231.40.191 (talk) 20:45, 25 September 2007 (UTC)

You might find what you are looking for in the article about Hygrometer. If you cannot find the answer there, click here to post your question at that article's talk page. If that does not solve your problem, you can try asking your question at Wikipedia's Reference Desk. They will be glad to try and answer questions about anything in the universe (except about how to use Wikipedia, which is what this help desk is for). I hope this helps. Hersfold ^(t/a/c) 21:49, 25 September 2007 (UTC)

vandalized metatag on Google?

The writer Elizabeth Kolbert gets a simple straightforward entry on her actual Wikipedia page. But the link to that article on Google has a very different tone:

"Elizabeth Kolbert - Wikipedia, the free encyclopediaElizabeth Kolbert (b.1961) is a journalist and author best known as the 'chicken little' of the global warming cult of bad science, for her book titled ... en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elizabeth_Kolbert - 16k - Cached - Similar pages - Note this"

Is someone hostile to global warming science messing with your metatags? I don't need to hear back from anyone; just wanted you to be aware of this. You probably are already.

thanks, Diana Landau —Preceding unsigned comment added by 207.90.163.99 (talk) 21:14, 25 September 2007 (UTC)

Google is reading from a cached version of the page, so may be displaying a version that was non-neutral and/or vandalized. It should be updated sometime soon. We don't have any control over what Google looks at when Google bots search our pages, or when. Hersfold ^(t/a/c) 21:47, 25 September 2007 (UTC)

You can click "Cached" in the Google search results to see the version Google indexed and when they did it. It currently says "retrieved on 16 Sep 2007 20:10:36 GMT". We had the bad text from September 15 to September 20 [21] (and again from September 22 to 23). PrimeHunter 23:35, 25 September 2007 (UTC)

benefits and drawbacks of using Wikipedia

What are the benefits and drawbacks of using Wikipedia? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 165.190.100.215 (talk) 21:18, 25 September 2007 (UTC)

For an in-house answer, see Wikipedia:About. For an article within the encyclopedia, see Wikipedia and Criticism of Wikipedia. Shalom (Hello • Peace) 21:31, 25 September 2007 (UTC)

Also see: WP:EIW#Critic and WP:EIW#Community. You could clarify your question by telling us what you want to use Wikipedia to do. Wikipedia has many uses, with different benefits and drawbacks. For example, if you want to use Wikipedia to learn about topics for which we have featured articles, you'll probably get more benefits than if you want to learn about topics for which we only have stub articles. Wikipedia can either be very good or very bad, depending on when and where you look. However, many people tend to generalize about all of Wikipedia from the tiny subset they have actually viewed. --Teratornis 06:28, 26 September 2007 (UTC)

₵₵₵

File:Allotaah.JPG --MonChatSplash 21:27, 25 September 2007 (UTC)

This user is asking how to create a page, he does not know english. --Darwin Evident 21:29, 25 September 2007 (UTC)

What should I tell him? I can write his dialect. --Darwin Evident 21:39, 25 September 2007 (UTC)

Tell him to go to Help:Starting a page and follow the instructions there Cheers, ARkY // ¡HaBLaR! 21:42, 25 September 2007 (UTC)

Direct him to the proper language encyclopedia. We can't really accept non-English articles here, and if he doesn't know English, he'll be able to understand the directions there better anyway. Hersfold ^(t/a/c) 21:44, 25 September 2007 (UTC)

File:Helostartinga.JPG --Darwin Evident 21:53, 25 September 2007 (UTC)

File:Allotahhdie2.JPG --MonChatSplash 22:02, 25 September 2007 (UTC)

This is bit ridiculous, most computers support any kind of text you could want to write with. There's no need for huge pictures. What language is this that the two users who just created their accounts in the last hour are communicating in? Leebo ^T/C 22:04, 25 September 2007 (UTC)

If he doesn't speak English, how did he work out how to upload images? -FisherQueen (Talk) 22:08, 25 September 2007 (UTC)

File:Pahtoadvsorry.JPG --Darwin Evident 22:12, 25 September 2007 (UTC)

The Pashto Wikipedia clearly doesn't need to user pictures to write. Also, I'm obviously not an expert, but the writings here and at that Wikipedia don't look similar. Leebo ^T/C 22:15, 25 September 2007 (UTC)

I have told him to do go the Pashto encyclopedia. The language is a written form of Pashto.Theres a traditional form and a "computerised" form. Traditional is usually easier to understand. To can find an arabic simplified form on the Flag of Saudi Arabia. I have also told him to learn the computer form of Pashto. That version is more simplified for the internet. --Darwin Evident 22:14, 25 September 2007 (UTC)

I highly suspect that this is the same troll that tried that hoax Afrikaans dialect earlier. Certainly fits the same pattern of an entirely new user popping up and asking a question in a language nobody understands/has heard of, followed by a reply from a similarly new user that just so happens to understand the language. --Pekaje 22:52, 25 September 2007 (UTC)

I concur with Pakaje. — Timotab ^{Timothy (not Tim dagnabbit!)} 03:56, 26 September 2007 (UTC)

Saving a userbox as shortcut.

Hello, I have just created the userbox below with HTML, but I don't know how to save it as a shortcut such as:

{{User Vexillology}}

or how to submit it for others to use. Can anyone help? Thank you!!

This user is a Vexillologist.

--Electrafiction 22:01, 25 September 2007 (UTC)

When you put curly brackets around something and it responds as a template, it's in the template namespace. So, this would need to be at Template:User Vexillology. Leebo ^T/C 22:07, 25 September 2007 (UTC)

Thanks, that worked! Now I feel (slightly) less stupid. --Electrafiction 22:28, 25 September 2007 (UTC)

Actually, I'm going to disagree with Leebo. Many userboxes don't belong in the main template namespace. What you would need to do is to create a usersubpage, such as User:Electrafiction/User Vexillology with only the code for the userbox, then when you want to transclude that box onto another page, you can type {{User:Electrafiction/User Vexillology}} and have the same thing happen as if it were in the template namespace. WP:USERBOX#Which_namespace.3F discusses this more. If the userbox is found to not be encyclopedic and is in the template namespace, it can be deleted (where if it is in the user namespace, there is more leeway). Hope this helps. If you decide to move the userbox, remember to {{db-self}} the old page. Thanks. -Andrew c ^[talk] 02:07, 26 September 2007 (UTC)

I think this is a matter of preference, and the userbox in question is both non-divisive and useful for encyclopedia collaboration. I don't see why it would be disallowed from the template namespace. Of course, users are entitled to keep userboxes in their own space, but they shouldn't be in the template namespace when they're divisive or non-collaborative. Perhaps you misunderstood my use of the phrase "This one would need to be..." I was referring to where it would need to be in order to make the curly brackets read it that way, not referring to userbox guidelines. Leebo ^T/C 02:56, 26 September 2007 (UTC)

Well then I agree completely. Sorry to say that I disagreed. :) I really wasn't trying to be divisive. -Andrew c ^[talk] 03:09, 26 September 2007 (UTC)

No, it's understandable given my vague wording. Leebo ^T/C 03:13, 26 September 2007 (UTC)

Using Wikipedia for Internal Business Information

I work for a non-profit housing counseling service. We are currently helping homeowners who are behind on their mortgages work with lenders to obtain work-out options. As this forclosure epedemic comes to a head, I am looking for a better way to collect, store, alter our group knowledge.

Individual lenders have different policies, differents states and counties have different assistance programs and eligiblities. This is all very technical information.

Is there a way to use Wikipedia or another Wiki source (please suggest) to manage internal business information? For instance, the "foreclosure" page on wikipedia is beautifully written for an introductory user; however is quite inadequate to hold the detailed information from day to day.

Also, is there a way to net/group Wiki pages that are relevant on the Wiki website? This could be very useful for training new counselors. Instead of writting internal manuals, we can simply have new-hires read well written and well selected Wiki pages.

Please advise a new Wiki user on the hidden potential for this project to benefit housing counselors that are dealing with quickly changing information.

Thanks,

Brian Hunt 216.38.139.218 22:21, 25 September 2007 (UTC) Consumer Credit Counseling Services - San Francisco

Wikipedia is an encyclopedia. Wikimedia is a software package that you can use to implement a wiki of your very own. Many companies and other organizations have done this. If your company does nothave the IT skills to implement a wiki based on Wikimedia, there are also many "light-weight" implementations, or you can hire a consultant. Good luck, and happy wiki-ing! -Arch dude 23:20, 25 September 2007 (UTC)

Sorry, i missed your other question. Yes, you can use any information at all from Wikipedia, for any purpose: it is all copyrighted by the individualo contributors and licenced to you under the GFDL. Please read and understand the license: you must attributr the articles to Wikipedia, but that's all. However, please be aware that anyone can edit any article, so your had better make sure that you carefully check any article you intend to use professionally. -Arch dude 23:25, 25 September 2007 (UTC)

Wikimedia is the organization that runs Wikipedia. The software it runs on is called MediaWiki.--Max Talk (+) 03:38, 26 September 2007 (UTC)

Brian, you are asking about how to start your own corporate wiki, especially if by "internal" information you mean information you do not wish to share with the general public. Wikipedia itself would be unsuitable for most of the content you would want to develop as wiki pages within your organization, because Wikipedia is an encyclopedia rather than a business-oriented wiki application. See: b:Wiki Science/How to start a wiki for some tips. The MediaWiki software which powers Wikipedia is free for download, and it's quite easy for any competent system administrator to install, but you start off with a bare-bones wiki, and it's a long way from there to developing the kind of high-quality content, layout, etc. that you see on Wikipedia. Ideally, your organization should have at least one person who has extensive wiki editing experience (for example, someone who has an edit count of 1000 or higher) to guide the struggling new users and clean up their initial attempts. If nobody at an organization knows anything about wikis, the wiki initiative would probably fail. Wiki editing is not terribly tough to learn, but it's a lot easier on a well-establish wiki such as Wikipedia, where there are thousands of experienced editors to keep order. If you want to try experimenting with MediaWiki on your own computer (without needing to set up a full-blown Web server), see: mw:Manual:Wiki on a stick. Also see WikiIndex to see if there are any public wikis catering to your interests. --Teratornis 06:14, 26 September 2007 (UTC)

Quotes

There is a template or markup out there that puts text in the middle of the screen beneath and above graphical looking quotation marks. I've seen it umpteen times but, of course, now that I want to use it, I can't find it again or an appropriate template. Can someone point me in the right direction? Into The Fray ^T/C 22:39, 25 September 2007 (UTC)

You're probably thinking of {{blockquote}}, or you can use <blockquote>This tag</blockquote>. — Malcolm (talk) 22:43, 25 September 2007 (UTC)

Perfect. Thank you! Into The Fray ^T/C 22:45, 25 September 2007 (UTC)

Similarly, you might be looking for {{Cquote}}, which is a more graphical version. Cheers, ARkY // ¡HaBLaR! 00:12, 26 September 2007 (UTC)

create account

i am trying to create an account and it tells me i can't log in because i have no account!!??? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 69.141.107.23 (talk) 22:42, 25 September 2007 (UTC)

Hmm. Not sure on this one. Try visiting Special:Userlogin and clicking the "create one" link that appears above the login. If you do that and are still getting an error message, please let us know exactly what the error message is. Alternatively, visit Wikipedia:Request an account and follow the instructions there to have someone create an account for you. You will need a valid email address for that method. Into The Fray ^T/C 23:38, 25 September 2007 (UTC)

Yes, it seems you were trying to log in to an existing account, rather than create a new one. Follow Into The Fray's instructions and everything should work fine. Raven4x4x 00:37, 26 September 2007 (UTC)

September 26

User Page Info Boxes

I am attempting to create my user page. How do you put those side bar boxes on (EX: This person is from Pennsylvania...This person is a Green Bay Packers fan, etc)

"bluestar301"

See Wikipedia:Userboxes. PrimeHunter 01:33, 26 September 2007 (UTC)

HELP AGAIN.

Fred_Thompson_presidential_campaign,_2008#_ref-Forbes20070905_0

THANK YOU.--Mostargue 02:26, 26 September 2007 (UTC)

Ah, I think I see the issue. In order to create a reference, in this case called an inline citation, type the text <ref>Name of reference</ref>, which I believe should solve your problem. Cheers, ARkY // ¡HaBLaR! 02:30, 26 September 2007 (UTC)

The issue may have been that these were "ref name=" tags to references that had been cut from earlier in the article. I went back to September 9th and found the references to cut and paste at the two broken "ref name" tags. --Moonriddengirl 02:35, 26 September 2007 (UTC)

Category Page counter - does one exist

Is there currently a automated tool that can be used to count the number of pages in a specific category? The manual method of counting the number to pages using the next 200 link is very tedious when the page count exceeds 5,000 Dbiel ^(Talk) 02:42, 26 September 2007 (UTC)

If there is a way, it's probably listed under WP:EIW#Cat. For example, maybe User:PockBot can do what you want. It seems to list all pages in a category, but I don't see that it gives a total count. However, I have not tried running it. --Teratornis 06:46, 26 September 2007 (UTC)

...

I'm making my last improvements on my userpage. On the bottom of the page, there are two collapable bars which, when opened, reveals my other userboxes. The problem is that some of the userboxes don't have their rightful images on them, nor there is a link to the image (for example: compare {{User Vietnamese}} to how it is on my userpage). Is these a way to fix this, or is it just like that? It can be edited HERE. Oh, and by the way, could you reply to this on my talk page? MITB LS 02:51, 26 September 2007 (UTC)

a question was posted and mentioned i write musicals

can't find the actual question and some information that i write musicals when i get on wikipedka —Preceding unsigned comment added by Lhsamet (talk • contribs) 04:46, 26 September 2007 (UTC)

This Google search of the Help desk finds the following question:

• Wikipedia:Help desk/Archives/2007 July 8#Posting an article about myself

Is that what you mean? You can keep track of links like that by adding them to your user page. If you don't understand that, someone can add it for you. --Teratornis 06:39, 26 September 2007 (UTC)

Primus Telecom

To Whom it may concern

I refer to a recently added addition to an edit (21 September) regarding the operations of Primus Telecom in Australia. The edit claims inter alia that Primus has closed down its business sales division.

This claim is completely false. For verification, please see our website www.primustel.com.au and you will see the 'Business Solutions' section.

Far be it for us to speculate as to the motivation behind such a posting however one could not discount the possibility of a disgruntled former employee or indeed a competitor.

We request you immediately delete this section from the Primus Telecom section.

Yours sincerely

Rowan Lee Public Affairs Manager Primus Telecom <email removed for your security> —Preceding unsigned comment added by 210.50.6.166 (talk) 05:06, 26 September 2007 (UTC)

The information has already been removed - unless I'm missing it. Thanks. Hersfold ^(t/a/c) 05:40, 26 September 2007 (UTC)

Image reversion

I discovered that an image that I had previously uploaded, John Henry.jpg, had been overwritten with another image. In an attempt to fix this I used the revert button (I also re-imported the overwriting image as 20070926061700!John Henry.jpg, adjusted the links and left a note on the original importer's talk page asking them to provide a copyright). The revert causes the correct image to appear on the linked pages. However, the overwriting image still appears on the image page itself. I wanted to ask if there is a way to get the correct image to appear on the image page, or in order to accomplish that, should I re-import the original image as a new version? —Preceding unsigned comment added by Rtrace (talk • contribs) 07:33, 26 September 2007 (UTC)

Bypass your cache. Don't worry about it, I used to make that mistake all the time. The image is correct now (though a renaming to avoid ambiguity might be in order). --Pekaje 08:10, 26 September 2007 (UTC)

Wikipedia URL for mobile telephones

What is the preferred URL for using the Wikipedia (English) search engine from a mobile telephone with internet connection? 89.139.86.59 08:40, 26 September 2007 (UTC)DavidShu

See Wikipedia:WAP access. utcursch | talk 08:59, 26 September 2007 (UTC)

adding your own profile

how do you add your own profile?