Wikipedia:Help desk/Archive 48

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This is an archive of the help desk. Please do not edit this page. To ask a new question, go to this page.

[edit] Archive of past questions

1 Archive of past questions
2 April 18
3 April 19
4 April 20
5 April 21
6 April 22
7 April 23
8 April 24
9 April 25
10 April 26
11 April 27

[edit] April 18

[edit] Nonsense

whats yor deffinition of nonsense?—The preceding unsigned comment was added by Itwontbelong88 (talk • contribs) 00:55, 18 April 2006.

I presume you're referring to our criteria for speedy deletion. Please refer to that page for more information. Thanks! Flcelloguy (A note?) 01:44, 18 April 2006 (UTC)

Patent nonsense also helps. Tito xd^{(?!? - help us)} 01:45, 18 April 2006 (UTC)

Nonsense has a decent definition on it. Basically I see it as information that doesn't contribute to knowledge. Ans e ll 01:53, 18 April 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Template:MIG

On MON APR 17 2006 at 10:15 PM EDT, WIKISCRIPPS2K6 wrote:

I need help placing a little hidden message in the template... such as "Please type the call letters in small letters!!!"

How can I do that???

Usage instructions are generally put on the talk page. Ans e ll 02:24, 18 April 2006 (UTC)

[edit] wikipedia toolbar

is there any wikipedia internet explorer tool bar or desktop bar which gives easy access to 'wikians' ? if yes, can any one guide me where to get it from?

Wikipedia:Toolbars might have some information that would be useful. --Hetar 09:12, 18 April 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Move to commons

I've previously uploaded a number of images which are all my own work under GFDL, but has recently found that the Wikimedia Commons is a better place for them to stay. Is there a method to move those images to the commons without simply downloading them, go to the commons and upload them again? --D e ryc k C. 08:18, 18 April 2006 (UTC)

In a word, no. Sorry. —Ilmari Karonen (talk) 09:46, 18 April 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Is this image usable?

I'm currently writing an article on The Blanks, and I was looking for a good picture for the article. On their website they have a picture of all four members. Does this qualify for a promotional photograph (and therefore fair use)? --Doug (talk) 09:08, 18 April 2006 (UTC)

To qualify for a promotional fair use rational the image must come from a press kit, if you want to use the image from the website, it would be best to get permission from the band. --Hetar 09:10, 18 April 2006 (UTC)

Ahh right, thanks! --Doug (talk) 09:15, 18 April 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Wiki Edit Ccounter Problem

I've edited numerous pages over the past few days and my edit count remains the same. Is there a problem with the counter? Is this a result of the replication lag?--Gnosis 16:09, 18 April 2006 (UTC)

The counting tools run on an offline copy of the database on a different machine (the m:toolserver), which has not been receiving updates for some time. See Wikipedia:Village pump (technical)#Toolserver?. -- Rick Block (talk) 17:29, 18 April 2006 (UTC)

[edit] wikiprojects

How do I join a wikiproject and is joining one a commitment?--Yugioh73036 16:35, 18 April 2006 (UTC)Yugioh73036

That specifics depend on which project, but generally, you join a project simply by wanting to join it. That's all. And of course, it is in no way a commitment - We all are volunteers, after all. Some wikiprojects have a list of participants which you can feel free to add yourself to, and a userbox you can add to your userpage. Of course, the idea is that you will also contribute to the field of the project - but no one will force you to do so. -- Meni Rosenfeld (talk) 16:43, 18 April 2006 (UTC)

Ok thanks. I want to join the pro wrestling wikiproject. I mostly edit spelling.--Yugioh73036 00:22, 19 April 2006 (UTC)Yugioh73036

[edit] SVG image help

I was asked by a user to convert a map I created in Illustrator CS2 from gif to SVG, and then upload it to the commons. I had some difficulty uploading the image, and for about a week, the medium resolution version on the image page was rendered very poorly (for some reason it looks ok now). All that strangeness aside, my question is how to embed a font into the SVG. I know I can convert the text to outlines using illustrator, but that seems to defeat the purpose of having selectable, editable SVG images. Any ideas what I am doing wrong, or are fonts not supported? And does anybody know why it took a week for the .png made from the SVG to look decent?--Andrew c 17:11, 18 April 2006 (UTC)

The SVG renderer used by MediaWiki (rsvg, if I remember correctly) apparantly does not support embedded fonts. At least I had this problem with SVGs created by OpenOffice Draw 2.0 (1.x works fine because it doesn't embed fonts). To preserve the ability to edit the text, I suggest you just use a standard font (like Helvetica, Arial, whatever) that does not have to be embedded. I don't think it's important which font is used on the map, anyway. —da Pete (ノート) 09:18, 19 April 2006 (UTC)

Easier said than done. Not caring about what typeface is used is very hard for a designer to do. heh. And my latest project in fact requires specific fonts (I've been adding images for the Template:Infobox font to fill in Category:Typefaces such as Image:Andreas1.svg for Andreas (typeface).) But maybe SVG isn't the best choice for this task due to alias artifacts. So what would your advice be? Use SVG for maps and sacrifice font support? Use SVG but convert fonts to outlines? Use PNG for the font sample pages? Anyway, thank you for your reply.--Andrew c 17:47, 19 April 2006 (UTC)

Whatever you do, if you convert a text object to an outline, make sure the font you're using has a wikipedia-compatible licence (PD, GFDL, etc.). If you were to convert a proprietary font you'd be in essence uploading chunks of the copyrighted font into wikipedia, which would violate the font owner's copyright (if they didn't let you do that sort of thing) and our licence terms (even if the font owner did allow embedding). -- Finlay McWalter | Talk 14:30, 20 April 2006 (UTC)

Excellent point. I forgot completely about that sort of thing. So obviously, SVG is NOT the choice for the the font sample images. And being a designer, I'm very reluctant to sacrifice the typography on my map in favor of the SVG format. It looks like high resolution PNG is the way to go for me. Thanks everyone! --Andrew c 15:09, 20 April 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Subtle vandalism?

Today I see that the large amount of content on Molly had been moved to Molly (Disambiguation). Normally that kind of cleanup is a good thing, but the content of Molly was replaced with a barely notable current event (name of a cat being rescued from New York sewers). Looking through the editor's talk page and history I see that he seems to do this sort of blanket move a lot in perhaps non-helpful ways that has attracted question from other Wikipedians. Anyone have thoughts on this? Should I undo this rather strange move? --Kickstart70-T-C 18:33, 18 April 2006 (UTC)

Yes! If the cat is worthy of an article at all then it should be at Molly (cat). I'd say the same thing about Michael Hill and any other similar ones. I think it's probably good faith, but misguided all the same.--Cherry blossom tree 19:30, 18 April 2006 (UTC)

Second CBT; since the Disambig part is capitalized, I would go toward naivete on the part of the user, and point him/her to the appropriate MOS sections. Of course, Molly (cat) it will likely get AfD'd. --Christopherlin 20:41, 18 April 2006 (UTC)

Thanks. I've done his changes as best I could, and let him know. Hopefully that doesn't start an edit war. --Kickstart70-T-C 22:32, 18 April 2006 (UTC)

PS. Could someone fix his changes to Michael Hill? I'm running out of time and this was no as simple as I had hoped. --Kickstart70-T-C 22:33, 18 April 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Ball Bearing article

The Robert Conrad mentioned in this article... is not the Robert Conrad of american tv fame as the link suggests... —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 134.67.6.24 (talk • contribs) .

I've changed the link to point to Robert Conrad (inventor). See disambiguation for more on how this sort of thing is done in Wikipedia. --Christopherlin 21:06, 18 April 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Deleting Biographical Article at Subject's Request

If a person has an article posted about him and was not aware of the article, what are the criteria for deleting the article because the subject requests deletion? -JCham 21:25, 18 April 2006 (UTC)

I do not believe there is any policy that allows for subjects to request deletion. The two closest things that come to mind are found on the WP:SPEEDY: if the page is an attack page or if the page is "Unremarkable people or groups/Vanity Pages". If the page meets either of these criteria, you can tag it with one of the following templates: db-attack or db-bio. The next think you could do is propose deletion. I suggest you review Wikipedia:Deletion policy, Wikipedia:Deletion process, and Wikipedia:Articles for deletion. All this said, there may be a chance that there is no policy or criteria that would allow such an article to be deleted. Good luck.--Andrew c 21:37, 18 April 2006 (UTC)

Most people who have articles posted on them are not aware of it. But if the people in question are famous and the article is factual, they are allowed to stand. The subject's personal feelings about being written about are not relevant. - 131.211.210.15 07:52, 19 April 2006 (UTC)

In some cases when official complaint is made, it can be deleted by the User:Danny. WP:OFFICE discusses the policy in detail. -Ambuj Saxena (talk) 10:00, 19 April 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Each time zone template

I am aware templates exist to display wikipedian time, do templates exist to display time for individual time zones? – Tutmøsis (Talk) 22:47, 18 April 2006 (UTC)

[edit] How to list an RfC

I have an RfC page that has been created and I would like to list it here since it has met the two person threshold. Problem is, I am clueless on how to go about this.

I understand that I first have to rename the page with the name of the editor I am complaining against, but am not sure how to go about it. Can someone walk me through this, please? Thanks Steth 22:54, 18 April 2006 (UTC)

I went ahead and listed the page for you, in the future, the easiest route would be to follow the instructions at Wikipedia:Requests for comment/User conduct and use the User conduct button to create the RfC page. Once the page has been created, you can edit Wikipedia:Requests for comment/User conduct and add the page to that listing. Let me know if you have further questions. --Hetar 23:44, 18 April 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Edit buttons

Any reason the "Your signature with timestamp" button is not working? Using latest version of Firefox. Or any buttons for that matter. -Zeno McDohl 02:24, 19 April 2006 (UTC)

Do you have JavaScript enabled? - 131.211.210.15 07:53, 19 April 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Where do I report sockpuppet disruption?

I'm convinced that a user has created some sockpuppets to push a POV on a page as a disrupting act of retaliation (for losing an argument and also getting blocked for 3RR). It's blatantly obvious and I've made a fairly large list of evidence, but where do I report it? It seems like there are 20 different places I could report it.... Is there some sort of procedure for this? –Tifego^(t) _{02:28, 19 April 2006 (UTC)}

I should note that I think it's done because the user believes his POV deserves full detail on the page despite apparently nobody else agreeing... more childish than hateful, if that makes a difference. I don't think it counts as an "incident" yet since he's not quite evading a block, but I'm not sure. –Tifego^(t) _{02:40, 19 April 2006 (UTC)}

Here are two pages that may help you. Wikipedia:Requests for CheckUser and Wikipedia:Sock puppetry. If worse comes to worst, there is always the Wikipedia:Administrators' noticeboard. Hope this helps. --Andrew c 02:43, 19 April 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Unresponsive Users

When dealing with a user's controversial edits (that are not neccessarily clear vandalism), what actions should be taken if the user does not respond to questions on their talk page? To word it differently, what should one do if two users are having a revert war but one of the people does not respond to their talk page? 66.30.230.86 03:02, 19 April 2006 (UTC)

If they have broken the 3 revert rule then consider listing them at Wikipedia:Administrators' noticeboard/3RR. Please realize that all sides in an edit war will be treated equally. You might also consider listing the article at WP:3O to get a third opinion on the issue. If you have already exhausted both of the above options, consider Wikipedia:Requests for mediation. --Hetar 05:14, 19 April 2006 (UTC)

Also, a good guide to some steps to take, in what order, can be found on the dispute resolution page. MCB 05:59, 19 April 2006 (UTC)

If they're not responding, keep them informed of the step's you're taking so they still can respond should they feel the need. You should always follow the regular procedures whether a party responds or not. - 131.211.210.15 07:55, 19 April 2006 (UTC)

[edit] April 19

[edit] Formulas not showing up

For instance on the article on the Z_transform I see the error "Failed to parse (Can't write to or create math output directory): X(z) = Z\{x[n]\} = \sum_{n=-\infty}^{\infty} x[n] z^{-n} \"

The equations in that article are all rendering properly for me, so perhaps it was a transient problem. Are you still getting the error message? MCB 05:31, 20 April 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Image syntax

I've been around here a long time, but with my terrible knowledge of image copyright and lack of a camera I don't deal with images often. I just added an image to Joukowsky transformation. The caption isn't showing up - why? Could someone either tell me how to fix it or fix it for me (and I'll watch and learn). Thanks. moink 18:41, 19 April 2006 (UTC)

Thank you Schwarzm! moink 19:24, 19 April 2006 (UTC)

[edit] How to add copyright info to uploaded image

I have written a Wikipedia entry for Collin Brooks (broadcaster, author and journalist).

I uploaded an image (a picture of Collin Brooks, originally from my family archives as he was my grandfather) to Wikimedia but wasn't sure how to categorise its copyright status. I now see a message telling me that it will be removed within 7 days if I don't provide the copyright status.

Q1: How can I edit the copyright status Q2: What do I set it to bearing in mind the picture came originally from our family collection.

Answer:

Simply add the appropriate copyright tag. A list of tags can be found at WP:IT. In this case, I woudl suggest something like {{No rights reserved}} or {{GFDL-self}}. Make sure you also clearly state that the image comes from your family archive. If you have more questions, please let me know. --Hetar 21:14, 19 April 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Deleted Image

Hi, I would like to know why an image that I uploaded a fairly long time ago, Image:Stefano Farina.jpg, was recently deleted? Thanks for your help. Canuck89 21:25, 19 April 2006 (UTC)

This is only a guess, but it was probably because the image wasn't properly tagged, which is now a requirement but wasn't previously. If you upload the image again and add an appropriate tag it should be fine. Of course, it could be something else... --Cherry blossom tree 22:16, 19 April 2006 (UTC)

If you're not sure about where an image went – and you think it might have been deleted – you can check the log. In this case, it seems that the image was uploaded on 16 March 2006 and deleted on 19 April 2006: [1].

It seems that the article had the {{SocEur}} licensing template, which is applied to images taken from www.soccer-europe.com for which we have permission to freely redistribute. That site's owners have not released all of their images for free distribution, only some selected pictures. In order to be clear about which images the site owners have released, we are only permitting the editor User:Soccer-europe.com to use the SocEur licence tag.

In a recent discussion on his talk page, the image in question was one which the site owner explicitly requested that we remove. Hope that clears things up. TenOfAllTrades(talk) 22:52, 19 April 2006 (UTC)

Thanks a lot for your help. Canuck89 23:04, 19 April 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Where is My Contribution?

Hello. I created a new article and submitted it on 4/17/06 at 11:00 a.m. PST. (Today is 4/19/06 at 2:30 p.m. PST. A search on the title results in a message saying there are no articles about this topic on Wikipedia. Perhaps it is too soon for the article to appear?

I also tried searching the list of recent deletions, but could not find it there. If it has been deleted it would be helpful to know why so that I can educate myself and submit articles that better fit your requirements. If I erred in the submission process, that would be helpful to know, too. Where should I look next? Many thanks for your help.Jayme Curtis 21:33, 19 April 2006 (UTC)

I think you posted your article to Wikipedia:Articles for creation. As yet, no-one has seen fit to actually make the article, for whatever reason. As a registered user, you can create the article yourself, by following this link: Achievo Corporation, and copying the text in there. The text is here if you need a record of it. I would advise you to read Wikipedia:Editing help in order to ensure that your article is correctly formatted and also to ensure that the article is an encyclopaedia article, rather than simply promotional material for the company. --Cherry blossom tree 22:13, 19 April 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Help!!

There are several censors/revisionists on Wikipedia who are determined to delete or gut anythign they personally do not agree with or like. One of these is an editor named Demiurge whose relentless attempts at censorship, blocked only when he is caught red-handed by third party Wikipedians, continues unabated. Please review his attempts to delete my additions to the Tim Pat Coogan wikipage. Evidently he is not the only one.

Demiurge is an Irish censor and a Catholic apologist who has attempted to delete edits to pages as various as Ante Pavelic, Tim Pat Coogan, pre-Code (related, ironically, to movie censorship in the USA by the Catholic church), Eamon de Valera (refugee policy during WWII), and many others. Is this individual going to be permitted to censor, delete, edit, sanitize, gut, or whatever he cares to do, with no one stopping him??? He has just blocked my sourced and cited additions to the Wikipage of Tim Pat Coogan (pls. check edit history).

I do not have my own computer so I am using a rental, but if you wish to contact me, please email me at karas_peter@yahoo.com (my friend's email address). I would like to receive a valid reason for his abusive attempts at censorship regarding his "pet" issues.

Thank You, 70.19.67.28 22:40, 19 April 2006 (UTC)

P.S.: This is a very black harbinger for Wikipedia, and its helplessness to block abusive editors, and certainly administrators (which Demiurge is not yet, fortunately, but he will certainly attempt to become one).

Looking at the edit history, I have to say that I would probably go with Demiurge's edits more than yours (look at, for instance, this edit). Mr Coogan is a controversial figure, and must be treated extra carefully to preserve NPOV. Your proposed edit is too full of inflammatory language to be considered NPOV. Try to resolve the dispute on the article's talk page - that's what it's there for. And while by no means mandatory, may I suggest getting an account? It helps to see all your contributions in one place (especially if you are using a rented computer where your IP presumably changes on a regular basis). — QuantumEleven | (talk) 06:37, 20 April 2006 (UTC)

[edit] asking abou t my father account

my father past away and we did'nt know his account so if i give you his name well you help me looking for it ---—The preceding unsigned comment was added by 62.240.49.179 (talk • contribs) .

What's wrong with using/creating your own account? — QuantumEleven | (talk) 06:30, 20 April 2006 (UTC)

Perhaps the user just wants to find his/her father's contributions. MCB 06:34, 20 April 2006 (UTC)

Hmm, good point, MCB. However, since accounts are rarely linked to real names (except for users who use a version of their real names as their account names), I'd imagine it would be rather difficult to find the account in question. Any bright ideas? — QuantumEleven | (talk) 06:42, 20 April 2006 (UTC)

Give us the name and we will look and see if we have any accounts with similar names. Also, suggest some articles that he might have edited, and we can look for an IP address (if he didn't have an account). We have a page commemorating dead wikipedians, so we'd like to know about it. PS I'm sorry for your loss. -lethe ^{talk +} 07:20, 20 April 2006 (UTC)

[edit] translating articles

Is it permissible to publish an article in more than one language version of wikipedia, and if so, should one make an acknowledgment to the version in which it was published first?

Let me point you in the way of Wikipedia:Multilingual coordination. Articles in other languages can be listed on the left hand column underneath the search box - have a look at any major article (like United States) for a good example. Hope this helps! Nuge talk 04:04, 20 April 2006 (UTC)

Yes, you are free to translate articles. Just leave a note of the fact they're translated in the edit summary and on the relevant talk page. - 131.211.210.15 07:47, 20 April 2006 (UTC)

[edit] articles about oneself

Is it permissible to publish an article about oneself in wikipedia, assuming of course that the person has sufficient public interest, for example as a scientist or artist?

It is not recommended. Please see Wikipedia:Autobiography. -- Rick Block (talk) 03:54, 20 April 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Who created wikipedia.org?

Who created wikipedia.org?

Who created wikipedia.org --152.163.100.11?

Feel free to peruse our article on Wikipedia. TenOfAllTrades(talk) 03:06, 20 April 2006 (UTC)

[edit] April 20

[edit] Barnstar

This may sound silly, but I recently received a barnstar for merely acknowledging on my user page that The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time is a cool game. Should I keep the barnstar? It seems a bit undeserved to me. --Hammer Raccoon 13:09, 20 April 2006 (UTC)

There are no real rules governing barnstars (yet), so it's totally up to you. Generally, people will take your Barnstars (and you) more seriously if they're "serious", though. Personally, I'd advise moving the award to your talk page, and leaving it there. But, again, it's your choice.

Incidentally, I like the fact that you came here to ask about this; to me, it defintely shows the right attitude :) --Ashenai 13:16, 20 April 2006 (UTC)

I'd keep it to make sure you're not hurting the giver's feelings, but at the same time work your butt off for a "real" one. BTW, I put a note with every barnstar that details the reason I got it. Make sure yours has one and people will know how serious to take it. - Mgm|^(talk) 21:44, 20 April 2006 (UTC)
Thanks for the suggestions. I moved it to my talk page as Ashenai suggested. --Hammer Raccoon 21:19, 22 April 2006 (UTC)

[edit] ABOUT EDUCATION

HELLLLO MY NAME IS ASAD ALI AND I AM FROM PAKISTAN AND I M DOING B.ED.AND IT WILL BE FINISH IN NOVEMBER .I WANT TO APPLY FOR VISA OF HONG KONG AS A TEACHER AND ALSO WANT SOME MORE EDUCATION ABOUT MASTER IN ENGLISH PLEASE REPLY ME ASAD ALI

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's what this Help Desk is for). For your convenience, here's the link: Reference Desk (when you get there, just select the relevant section, and ask away). I hope this helps. - Tangotango 14:25, 20 April 2006 (UTC)

And a little advice: you might get more answers for your questions if you take the caps lock off :) — ßottesiηi ^{Tell me what's up} 18:32, 23 April 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Articles that contain advertising and links for commercial sites?

I'm just a casual Wikipedia user, but I was looking at the article for Moviemistakes.com and under Membership it mentions that the site costs $10 and includes the quotes Well, what are you waiting for? Join! and It's worth every penny. It also includes a link to the sign-up page for Moviemistakes.com.

I'm not familiar with Wikipedia's policy on this type of (subtle) advertising, but common sense tells me it must be against their rules. Is there somewhere I should report this, or could one of the experienced users here deal with it?172.135.29.182 20:52, 20 April 2006 (UTC)

It's not wrong to mention membership possibilities for sites and their costs, but advertising and recruiting members is. I'll take a look if it hasn't been fixed already. - Mgm|^(talk) 21:46, 20 April 2006 (UTC)

[edit] bibliographical references

I want to add a bibliographical reference (link?) to a number of 17th century poets. How do I do that?

See Wikipedia:Footnotes for information on how to put references intext, and have them formatted correctly in the References section. Ans e ll 22:34, 20 April 2006 (UTC)

[edit] April 21

[edit] Uploading picture from the commons

I've seen a picture on the Commons [2], but I'm unsure how to upload it, is it as per a normal method (If so which licence), or is there a method to it, thanks for yourhelp in advance Danny 16:40, 21 April 2006 (UTC)

When a picture is on the Commons, you can just include it from any Wikimedia project, by typing [[Image:Gb-lu-waterloo-bilingual.jpg]] into an article. Essentially, you can pretend that it's already on the English Wikipedia. -- Creidieki 17:36, 21 April 2006 (UTC)
- Thanks Creidieki, helped a lot, and also ta for the quick response Danny 18:38, 21 April 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Raphael Korman death?

I read just the other day about this 17 year old martial artist that supposedly commited suicide. There was no article at the time. I returned today and can't even find the listing. What happened?

I'm not sure what you're referring to here... I can't find any reference to the incident or person you're talking about here or on the web. What is the listing you're referring to? With more details, we may be able to help. --Estarriol ^talk 12:13, 21 April 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Graph image copyright

Are there options that would allow the uploading of a graph from a science book illustrating the authors' data? Specifically, it's a tree of human population genetics (viewable here). Since it doesn't diminish the value of the authors' copyright, can fair-use be asserted? Moreover, can I create a custom depiction (without altering the accuracy of the data) combining the two graphs printed on that page ?--Nectar 02:47, 21 April 2006 (UTC)

I'm not sure about the actual laws, but Fair use most probably does not apply here. The best thing to do would probably be to make your own version of the graph, and cite the data as coming from the source you copied from. Hope this helps! -- Tangotango 08:01, 21 April 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Reverting to earlier Wikipedia version

The current version of The Sound of Music article has been damaged. Looking at the history, I see that it happened in the 23:01 18 April 2006 revision. How can I restore the prior version? Clarityfiend 05:05, 21 April 2006 (UTC)

When you're in the history page, simiply click on the date of the version you'd like to revert to. Then click "edit page"; ignore the warning and click save. For more informatoin, see WP:REVERT. Good luck! Isopropyl 05:17, 21 April 2006 (UTC)

You were with that slut, who would want to talk you?

[edit] How About WikiMaps

Hi I stay in India. I am afrequent user of Wikipedia. Just got an Idea of WikiMaps. I know it doesn't make sense to US folks. But In India roads are very unorganized and there is no proper method to navigate in unfamiliar places. GPS is not in reach of common man. There are hardly any GPS service providers May be two for a country of 1 Billion people. For now I feel wikifying the maps is a viable solution. As GPS and other thigs evolve these can be reused. There are very few commercial alternatives available But they are too expensive. First I thought I will start this project on my own. Later I realised technological and resource limitations. First thing is Contribution and support of people. Second is the Embedded Graphics tool Embedded in Web-browser to make Maps, I am not even sure if one exist some thing like that. So, What do you think. Any Suggestions.

Maps are a problem, because the people who own map copyright will not release it: it costs millions of dollars to walk around the country or fly in a plane making maps. A free project to make maps would be good, but who has the resources to visit the whole world and make the maps? Notinasnaid 08:29, 21 April 2006 (UTC)

I understand what you want - Google maps is probably the sort of thing you'd like to create. It would be an enormous project to create your own - with things as they currently stand I'd suggest petitioning Google or similar to cover India in detail. Certainly their current maps go well beyond the USA. Copyright would be a massive issue preventing a Wikimaps. Good luck! --Estarriol ^talk 12:43, 21 April 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Last names

Hey my name is Jordan. I am trying to find out about my family's last name. I really don't know where to start and was wondering if you all could point me in the right directions. My email address is [email removed]. Thanks. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 24.74.249.207 (talk • contribs) 07:17, 21 April 2006 (UTC)

Hi. Try a search [3]. Enter your last name in the box, and click on Search. Alternatively, you can use Google to search Wikipedia articles by looking for "YOURLASTNAME site:en.wikipedia.org" (without the quotes). Cheers, Tangotango 07:53, 21 April 2006 (UTC)

Honestly, Wikipedia probably isn't the best bet for this kind of research, although the Jordan (disambiguation) has some info that may be of interest to you. However, the search "genealogy Jordan" plugged into Google yielded immediately useful results. I'd recommend looking there - and maybe you could create a Jordan (genealogy) article with what you find? :-) --Estarriol ^talk 12:22, 21 April 2006 (UTC)

[edit] How do I create an article?

Hey,

I was wondering of making some small facts about some small towns in Norway. How do I do that? —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 81.0.151.145 (talk • contribs) 07:54, 21 April 2006 (UTC)

Hi, there's a list of cities and towns at List of cities in Norway. I don't know if the list is complete, but if it isn't, you can create a new article (see Help:Starting a new page) and link to it from the list. You might also like to follow the format of the other Norwegian city/town articles. Good luck! -- Tangotango 08:06, 21 April 2006 (UTC)

You need to register an account and have it for a little while (I think 4 days, not sure) before you can create new articles. -- Ynhockey ^(Talk) 22:19, 21 April 2006 (UTC)

[edit] prod

is prod broken? Geedubber 08:05, 21 April 2006 (UTC)

Why do you think it is? - 131.211.210.10 09:04, 21 April 2006 (UTC)
What, specifically, are you referring to? Are you talking about the Toolserver? One of the biggest issues with the toolserver is that it is not physically connected to the Wikimedia servers, and oftentimes lags behind it. If you're asking something else, my apologies; would you mind re-phrasing the question? -Mysekurity^[m!] 09:18, 21 April 2006 (UTC)
Yes, toolserver replication for the English Wikipedia is down and it's messing up the PROD process. It's more serious that the normal replication lag. So I think it's fair to say PROD is at least semi-broken. · rodii · 14:28, 22 April 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Cams

Is there a link to all live cams? Thanks.

Can you explain what cams (cameras?) you mean, and how it relates to Wikipedia articles? Thanks, Notinasnaid 09:58, 21 April 2006 (UTC)

Do you mean live webcams? If so, try this:- List of live webcams in the world. There are thousands of them! --Estarriol ^talk 12:35, 21 April 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Searching for Articles

When I try to search for my articles using the search tool I cannot get my articles to appear in the results set even when I use search terms that are very specific to the content of the article. What changes might I need to make to an article in order for it to source in the search results and what factors affect whether or not an article can be searched for successfully? 194.159.99.60 09:40, 21 April 2006 (UTC)

If it is a recently created article you can find it by typing in the exact title and pressing 'Go'. The search feature is only updated every few weeks (ish) so you'll have to wait until the next update for it to be found by searching. --Cherry blossom tree 10:16, 21 April 2006 (UTC)

Bear in mind also that some edits are reverted quickly if they are deemed to be erroneous or vandalism - a quick look at your contributions shows that some have already been reverted. Don't worry, this is a normal part of the learning process here. Certainly, your contributions have been recorded, although it would help to credit them to you if you registered for a user name. If you need any advice on any of these matters, please don't be afraid to ask. --Estarriol ^talk 12:33, 21 April 2006 (UTC)

[edit] im curious

is it possible to take a bath in water and fire at the same time?14:18, 21 April 2006 (UTC)

Although this is not the right place to ask this question (the right place being Reference desk), here what I feel. If you are burning in a hydrogen flame, its considered fire technically, but you are also taking bath in water (2H₂+O₂→2H₂O). Hope this helps. -Ambuj Saxena (talk) 14:38, 21 April 2006 (UTC)

Dude, I totally would have never though of it like that, but it totally makes sense. Good thinking, Ambuj.--Max Talk (add) 15:56, 21 April 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Why does a weeks-old article not show up in the "Search" page search results?

I've just searched for the article "Pantalaine" using Wikipedia's "Search" page. The only hit that comes up in the search results is "McSweeney's," with a relevancy of 6.9%. It seems strange to me that the "Pantalaine" page itself does not show up in the "Search" page search results for "Pantalaine." Is the "Pantalaine" article not indexed properly? (And while we're at it, why does the "Search" page yield different results from the ever-present "search" sidebar -- sandwiched between "navigation" and "toolbox" -- which takes me right to the "Pantalaine" article"?) Thanks --Crudefutures 16:06, 21 April 2006 (UTC)

The searching is updated every few weeks or so (not on any regular schedule that I am aware of), which is why it doesn't show up when you search. However, when you put "Pantalaine" in the search box and click "Go", it takes you right to the article Pantalaine. "Go" takes you right to the article of the name, and "Search" searches for the article. -- Nataly a 16:25, 21 April 2006 (UTC)

Additionally, hitting enter will try going directly to the article first, and, failing that, will take you to the search page. -Mysekurity^[m!] 21:30, 21 April 2006 (UTC)

[edit] My Signature

Is there a way I can customize my signature so when I type the tildes, it will come out in the way I want it? Please respond on my talk page. Thanks!--Brendenhull 19:37, 21 April 2006 (UTC)

Answered on his talkpage. --E ivind ^t ^@^c 20:17, 21 April 2006 (UTC)

Also see WP:SIG and it's talk page (copied to user talk page as requested). --Estarriol ^talk 20:37, 21 April 2006 (UTC)

[edit] April 22

[edit] Food

Hi I just wondering if any body help me out about what actually means about "Raita" and "Chicken 65" how the name originated, well i know what it is?

You might wish to see Raita for more information. Unfortunately this does not contain any information of word root. If you find it do add it. -Ambuj Saxena (talk) 14:17, 22 April 2006 (UTC)

Better yet, if you find it then you can add it to our sister project, Wiktionary. Again, there's no entry for raita there, but Wiktionary would be the proper place for etymology. TenOfAllTrades(talk) 12:11, 23 April 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Multiple "edit" buttons on one line

Hi, I'd like some help resolving something - I want to know how to avoid the moving of the "edit" buttons when you put multiple pictures down the side of an article after putting an infobox at the beginning. My example is at Denistone railway station, Sydney - the edit buttons all appear (on my computer at least) next to the Neighbouring Stations section. Is this my computer, a known problem with WP, or something I can fix? Thanks for your help. (JROBBO 02:03, 22 April 2006 (UTC))

That's a known problem (I think it is browser-dependent, though). The problem is the many images on the right side of the article. You can work around this by either moving some of them to the left or by putting all of them into an appropriate <div> tag. I remember that somebody wrote templates to fix this problem with many images, but I can't remember the name of these templates. Kusma (討論) 02:11, 22 April 2006 (UTC)

See also bugzilla:1629 for the official bug report. Kusma (討論) 02:13, 22 April 2006 (UTC)

[edit] How to edit Biblical_scholars?

At http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Biblical_scholars, there is an "edit this page" tab at the top. Pressing it activates a block like the present one. The edit block does not, however, list entries on that page. Rather it has only the word "Scholars" (no "biblical"). I entered "John P. Meier" (without doubles parentheses), but the Preview page showed his name only on a level above the listing biblical scholars. and un-highlighted. How do I edit his name so that it becomes a link in http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Biblical_scholars ? Thanks. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by Thomasmeeks (talk • contribs) 03:17, 22 April 2006 (UTC) ---------

You have to edit John P. Meier, not Category:Biblical scholars, see Help:Category. Just add [[Category:Biblical scholars|Meier, John P.]] to the bottom of John P. Meier, and it should appear in the category. Hope that helps, Kusma (討論) 03:22, 22 April 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Editing guidelines for anonymous vandal's User page?

I'm somewhat mystified about the proper way to edit the User Page for an anonymous IP address that constantly being banned for vandalism, in particular User:205.213.111.51.

It seems none of the Wikipedia admins have been unable to figure out why this address is the source of so much vandalism.. and so I hope this User page will help provide details for the admins dealing with future vandalism from this proxy address.

I created this User page today since I'm a network administrator at one of the state organizations using this filter-proxy address, and I also added a reference to this user page, on its talk page.

However, when accessing Wikipedia through that address, it's highly unclear how someone who is being blocked would know to even find this user page for them. It says something like "your address 205.213.111.51 is being blocked from editing." But then when I click on the 205.213.111.51 it says "no such page exists, try searching for it." I then click on the search link provided and it takes me to a weird Special Page with no apparant path to the User page.

I tried to create a simple redirect from 205.213.111.51 to User:205.213.111.51 to provide a direct means of getting to the user page details, but someone put the redirect up for immediate deletion within minutes..

Is this one of the rare situations where a redirect to a User page is acceptable? The redirect would help people who are unknowingly coming through the proxy to find that User page about their filter-proxy address.

I've no idea how this should be handled.

--DMahalko 09:57, 22 April 2006 (UTC)

If a user is editing using a specific IP address, they will get a orange banner informing them they have messages which links them to their user talk page. There's no need for additional redirects of any kind. Most regular Wikipedians know they should check for evidence of vandalism by such a user on the talk page (which can also carry information of it being shared IP) or in the block log. "205.213.111.51" is an article title, not a userpage, so naturally, you couldn't see any contributions. An article doesn't have any contributions. Try User:205.213.111.51 instead. - Mgm|^(talk) 17:02, 22 April 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Personal information

Hi, a few months ago, I made the mistake of posting some personal information on an article talk page; it is currently in an article talk page archive. According to m:Right to vanish and m:Privacy policy there is a chance I can get it deleted - how do I go about it (I can be contacted by e-mail by the Special:Emailuser feature if needed). Thanks. Farrel123 12:17, 22 April 2006 (UTC)

Also, as the page was archived by a page move, so the help I need is quite straighforward, as the information is in the history of only one page. Farrel123 12:41, 22 April 2006 (UTC)

I should be able to delete that specific edit you made from the page history. What page was it? Do you know what IP or account you made the edit under, or, failing that, can you be more exact about when you made it? This will help in finding the revision to delete. --Sam Blanning^(talk) 19:16, 22 April 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Image usage

How do I use an image that is already in use by a wiki article in another language (i.e. Hebrew), in an English language wikipedia article? Thanks. Israelish 13:55, April 22, 2006 (UTC)

If its a free image (not fair use or similar copyright status), consider uploading it in commons. Images in commons can be used across all wikimedia projects. If it isn't free, upload it to English Wikipedia with suitable license. -Ambuj Saxena (talk) 14:05, 22 April 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Screenshots

If I were to use screenshots from either published videos or broadcast TV shows to illustrate articles, would that count as fair use, and if so, how should I credit them? For example, the Trevor and Simon article doesn't yet have an image, and it would be fairly easy for me to make a screenshot from one of their commercial videos. --Q4 15:23, 22 April 2006 (UTC)

Hello Q4, In the Special:Upload page, you will find a pull down menu titled "License" in which you can specify the license. From what I gather from the information you have posted, you should use {{tv-screenshot}} under the "Screenshots" category. -Ambuj Saxena (talk) 15:57, 22 April 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Templates for Deletion

Just out of intrest, how long are templates put up for deletion?, I know it a strange question, but I've put a template up and wondering how long the debate lasts for Thanks for your time Danny 16:40, 22 April 2006 (UTC)

Templates that have been listed for more than seven days are eligible for deletion if a rough consensus to do so has been reached or no objections to its deletion have been raised. For more info check out WP:TFD. --Hetar 21:00, 22 April 2006 (UTC)

Thanks for your assistance DannyM 21:48, 22 April 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Oklahoma Land Rush

I've found some substantial factual problems with the Oklahoma Land Race article, enough that it probably needs to be completely rewritten. The writers have conflated the opening of the Unassigned Lands in 1889 and the opening of the Cherokee Outlet in 1893. However, the problem seems to be bigger than that -- the inaccuracies are in the Land Run article as well. I flagged the Oklahoma Land Race article as disputed, but when the factual problems are strewn across multiple interlocking articles like this (especially ones that don't get updated that often), what do you do? --D Wilbanks 19:11, 22 April 2006 (UTC)

I would first explain the problem in detail on both of the article's talk pages, citing any additional sources you may have. Because Wikipedia is a collaborative effort the page probably can't be simply rewritten from scratch. However, this is what makes contributing to Wikipedia so much fun, the chance to work with others. I would also consider using a to-do list on the talk pages if that clarifies what needs to be done as well as possibly bringing this to the attention of Wikipedia:WikiProject Fact and Reference Check and some of their fine members. Hope this helps! --Hetar 21:13, 22 April 2006 (UTC)

Thanks! I've laid out all the issues in the talk page. Hopefully, someone will notice it and go about making changes.... --D Wilbanks 01:21, 23 April 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Sub Pages

Is there a way to view all of my user page sub pages? Thanks, Linuxerist E/L/T 19:30, 22 April 2006 (UTC)

Yep! You can use the All pages tool -- Nataly a 19:33, 22 April 2006 (UTC)

Thanks a bundle! Linuxerist E/L/T 19:42, 22 April 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Need to share a file other than a image

I need to be able to supply other users with a text file of data. One of them needs to redraw some figures that I have made, I used a spreadsheet to calculate thousands of data points using public domain data what I need now is a way to share the results with other users. Please tell me how to do it.Cadmium 20:21, 22 April 2006 (UTC)

Wikipedia isn't really a file host or an image host for that matter. It's an encyclopedia. If your looking to host a file on the internet, I recommend you check out [4]. --Hetar 20:57, 22 April 2006 (UTC)

Assuming that this data is for use in a Wikipedia article I see no problem with uploading it to Wikipedia, though I agree that an external storage provider such as http://www.yousendit.com is probably more appropriate for this purpose. If you can put it in an acceptable file format you could try commons - see Commons:Commons:File_types. --Cherry blossom tree 21:19, 22 April 2006 (UTC)

The data is for use in a wikipedia article, I have checked commons and it does not appear to support a proper text file, what I want to share with the person is a file of lots and lots of numbers which he can then redraw a set of graphs from.Cadmium

If it is just a text file, can you not simply copy it into a subarticle (eg User:Cadmium/Sub) and let the other person save it back to a text file?--Cherry blossom tree 21:59, 22 April 2006 (UTC)

I have sorted it out.Cadmium 09:34, 23 April 2006 (UTC)

[edit] New Page/Topc

How do I add a new topic/page to Wikipedia —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 81.132.38.75 (talk • contribs) .

You have to have an account and be signed in to be able to create pages on Wikipedia. You can create an account here and more details about creating new pages can be found at Help:Starting a new page. Good luck! --Hetar 21:17, 22 April 2006 (UTC)

[edit] international fonts

Whenever I view a wiki page with Arabic, Hebrew, or other international fonts, the alignment of some types of text (bold, italic, color, links...) gets skewed so that it overlaps plain text and extends beyond the edge of the page (without scrolling possibilities). This happens with Mozilla, Camino, and Foxfire. I use a Mac OSX. Please help me! Cgboeree 23:20, 22 April 2006 (UTC)

[edit] April 23

[edit] topic of software engineering

Dear Admin of Wikipedia or whoever else,

I am here to talk about the software engineering page. I think you should edit that page and make sure that all of the facts on there are completly right. You should also edit it in a way that most people should be able to understand what it is trying to say, instead of having to click on all of those words(that most people don't comprehend). As an example, if a high school student had a project, or had chosen that topic, the might not have understood what all that page was all about. So please edit that page so we can all get to learn and not just people who already know the termonalogy for software engineering.

sincerly,

can i send my message to the admin of wikipedia? —The preceding unsigned comment was added by ♥HolliSter cHick♥ (talk • contribs) .

Hello, Wikipedia follows the Wiki model of editing, so if you feel an article needs improvement, feel free to do it yourself. If you have any comments about the article, use the associated talk page to talk to other editors of the article. Cheers, Tangotango 04:24, 23 April 2006 (UTC)

[edit] I have a photo to upload

I want to put it into the Lisa Roma article. It's a photo from a 1930 newspaper which has gone out of business. I got it from a research library. Is this easy to do? All of the instructions seem rather daunting. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by GeorgeLouis (talk • contribs) .

If the photo is in a digital form you can get started right away. If it is in hardcopy, you will need to scan it first. Once you have the digital image stored on your computer, click "Upload file" in the toolbox on the left hand side of your screen. Select the file you want to upload using the "Choose File" button. The next field should now display the name of the file as a default. If you want to give the file a different, possible more descriptive, name, you can change this field to your desired name. The next field is where you mention your source. In this case, you would put the names of the newspaper and the photographer. The final thing is licensing. This is where you say the legal status of the image. A photo from 1930 is still under copyright by default. You will have to check the research library's terms of use to see if the images contained have been released into the public domain or if there are any other specific licensing things associated with the images. From what you have said so far, however, it doesn't seem like this is a free use image or falls under any fair use criteria. Check out Wikipedia:Image copyright tags for more information. It isn't quite so daunting if you use the index to focus in on what you're intrested in. —WAvegetarian•_{_{CONTRIBUTIONS}}^{^TALK}• ^{^EMAIL}• 14:57, 23 April 2006 (UTC)

[edit] =={{Link FA}} not producing star==

I recently created the article Trabancos River, which is a Spanish language featured article that had no entry here. The template, {{Link FA}} when placed next to an other language link (es:Trabancos, the last entry in the article when in edit mode) is supposed to make a star next to the other language link on the left-hand side of the screen to indicate that that other language article has featured status (actually it's Link FA|code for language of foreign article—in this case es). It's not working, or at least it's not showing up for me. I thought it might be a cache issue but clearing has no effect. Can you see the star? If not, any suggestions? Thanks in advance.--Fuhghettaboutit 03:48, 23 April 2006 (UTC)

I just fixed it. I just moved the link template to be above the interwiki links. Tito xd^{(?!? - help us)} 03:55, 23 April 2006 (UTC)

Unfortunately, you may have fixed it so that others can see it, but it's still not appearing for me (and I cleared my cache again). I also copied the formatting directly from another article where the star is propogating, i.e., [[es:name of foreign article]]{{Link FA|es}}, so that formatting should work. But, if you can see it, that likely means others can too, which was my intent; so whatever my cache/browser/sui generis problem is, is irrelevant. Thanks for the help. --Fuhghettaboutit 04:05, 23 April 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Turkish literature on homepage - appropriate?

Do you really think featuring Turkish literature on the home-page on Orthodox Easter is appropriate? Seems like extraordinarily poor judgement.—The preceding unsigned comment was added by 69.181.107.77 (talk • contribs) .

You comment might be more appropriate on the talk page of the main page; you can access it here. I can think of no reason it would be inappropriate, however, and you might want to expand your concern there with a more detailed explanation.--Fuhghettaboutit 04:17, 23 April 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Link incorrectly goes back to original article

Sentence_diagram links to Tree_diagram, which from the context is an alternative method to the one discussed on Sentence Diagram, but Tree_diagram is a disambiguation page that links right back to Sentence_diagram. This seems wrong to me, but I've no idea what should be done to improve it. Is there a policy which covers situations like this? —The preceding unsigned comment was added by Jamoche (talk • contribs) .

It is not a perfect situation because as yet there is no distinct article on Tree diagram. Because tree diagram refers to two different things, once someone wants to write that article it would be posted under a name like Tree diagram (linguistics). Then the disambiguation page would be updated to refer to the that article with its link, and the link in Sentence diagram to Tree diagram would be updated to pipe the link to the correct article. If you have the requisite knowledge, you can Be Bold and create the article. All you would need to do is click on the red-linked article name above and start writing.--Fuhghettaboutit 04:35, 23 April 2006 (UTC)

Alas, I don't know anything about tree diagrams - I learned the old way and followed the link out of curiousity. Thanks, though. Jamoche 04:41, 23 April 2006 (UTC)

You're welcome--Fuhghettaboutit 04:52, 23 April 2006 (UTC)

[edit] something about the hydrological cycle

HI, I WOULD LIKE TO KNOW HOW DOES THE HYDROLOGICAL CYCLE OF A DRAINAGE BASIN IN THE TROPICAL LANDSCAPE DIFFER FROM THAT IN THE TROPICAL DESERT LANDSCAPE. IS THERE ANYONE CAN HELP ME? THANK YOU VERY MUCH! AS I HAVE TO FINISH THE EASTER ASSIMANET ON TIME!! —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 219.79.67.19 (talk • contribs).

Have you tried the science section of Wikipedia's Reference Desk? They specialize in answering knowledge questions there. I hope this helps.--Fuhghettaboutit 09:05, 23 April 2006 (UTC)

thank you very much!~

[edit] Jargon

I just looked at the article Brown snake and realised a "jargon" template would be useful to highlight articles that need to be translated into plain English. There is a template called {jargon} but this says something completely different. Is there a template that does what I want, or how can I create one? Shantavira 09:20, 23 April 2006 (UTC)

{{Confusing}} might fit the bill.--Fuhghettaboutit 09:30, 23 April 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Image Gallery

Im trying to make an image gallery to try and make the various Starbucks store pictures tidier, though when I've done <gallery> (IMAGES) </gallery> as suggested in editing help, and shown preview the pics seemed to have dissapeared, and obviously because of this I've cancelled the edit, is there any reason for this? (and NB if there is a spelling mistake here, thats not the root cause as I have copied and pasted the spellings from the editing help article), help me please, thanks in advance DannyM 12:40, 23 April 2006 (UTC)

Well, I tried to move the images around some so they weren't just in a straight line down the side. Hopefully this suits your taste. We don't really want to use galleries for something like this, IMO. --LV ^{(Dark Mark)} 13:58, 23 April 2006 (UTC)

Thanks, looks a lot better in my opinion DannyM 15:06, 23 April 2006 (UTC)

[edit] RE: Finding my heritage

How do I find out if I have Cherokee heritage? My fathers mother was indian either Cherokee or Navaho. I know they lived in Virginia & Vest Virgina. Surname was Embrey, or Rider. I have traced our roots to 1740. Can anyone advise? I would appreciate any help.

[edit] purple heart award

How do I add my dads name to list of people who have been awarded the purple heart in Vietnam —The preceding unsigned comment was added by Kmedwards (talk • contribs).

If you're talking about Category:Recipients of the Purple Heart medal, you would have to create an article on your father and add [[Category:Recipients of the Purple Heart medal|Smith, John]] to the bottom of that article, which would automatically add him (as well as a link to the category at the bottom of his page). Replace Smith, John with your father's actual name. That bit's important so that he appears in the right place in the category - without it he would appear under J for John instead of S for Smith.

However, please see Wikipedia's guidelines on biographies before you write an article about your dad - not all soldiers are notable enough to have an article in an encyclopaedia. At a minimum you need to be able to write based on reliable sources and not your own recollections. It's generally a bad idea to write articles about [subjects]* you know well - it's better to wait for someone else to do it. See WP:AUTO for more. --Sam Blanning^(talk) 16:37, 23 April 2006 (UTC)

*(added by WAvegetarian 21:50, 23 April 2006 (UTC))

[edit] How to insert an image?

How to insert an image?--Alex 2006 18:29, 23 April 2006 (UTC)

WP:PIC has a good tutorial, while WP:XIMG has the full syntax. But briefly, the syntax you're most likely to want to use would be [[Image:Picture.jpg|thumb|Caption goes here]], which puts the image (Picture.jpg) in a thumbnail and adds a caption. To make the picture bigger or smaller than the default thumbnail size, use [[Image:Picture.jpg|thumb|250px|Caption goes here]] - the 250px is the size parameter. --Sam Blanning^(talk) 18:31, 23 April 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Categories?

I'm quite sorry if I just missed where this information is stated, but how do you add an article (in this case I'm speaking of Ben Lewis which I created) to certain categories? And where is the list of categories that you can add articles to? Gina Mason

To add an article to the category 'example', add [[Category:Example]] to article, usually to the bottom. To find categories try an alphabetical list, a cateogry tree or just look at the pages of similar articles to see what categories they are in. --Cherry blossom tree 21:32, 23 April 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Sub-userpage deletion

If one is not an admin, is there a way to delete a page you've made, e.g., User:Exampleman/Temporary?

Add {{db-owner}} to the page and it should disappear soon enough--Cherry blossom tree 21:28, 23 April 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Image help

I have tried twice, unsuccessfully, to upload a better version of Image:MollyinPodcast.jpg. It shows up in the edit history, and the dimensions changed, but the same image, albeit with a different aspect ratio, is still there. I initially edited the image with iPhoto, then with Preview (both Mac OSX applications). It displays as it should on my computer. I don't understand this. —WAvegetarian•_{_{CONTRIBUTIONS}}^{^TALK}• ^{^EMAIL}• 21:43, 23 April 2006 (UTC)

Have you cleared your browser cache?

[edit] Merging templates

What should I do if I think two templates should be merged with each other? There definitely seems like there's some duplicated effort between Template:Indian Music and Template:Indianclassicalmusic, but I think slapping Template:Merge onto them will screw them up. Should I put it on the talk page, or use <noinclude> or what? —Keenan Pepper 22:29, 23 April 2006 (UTC)

Both of the solutions are fine. I prefer the <noinclude> one as it displays on the template page itself, and not everyone might visit the talk page. F e tofs ^Hello! 13:07, 24 April 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Footnote problem

Footnote 4 in Judith Butler only seems to work one way: if I click on "4. ↑ [...]" in the "Notes" section, it goes to the jump "^[4]" in the text, but if I click the latter, it doesn't go to the former. --zenohockey 23:13, 23 April 2006 (UTC)

Try it now. F e tofs ^Hello! 00:47, 24 April 2006 (UTC)

Looks fine; thanks. --zenohockey 04:15, 25 April 2006 (UTC)

[edit] April 24

[edit] loren eiseley

Online collection of Eiseley's essays and poetry. This is unrelated to Eiseley and shows a row of naked bottoms and discusses joining Buddha. Eiseley might be shocked, but for sure,his friends will ne.

I'm afraid I don't understand your question. Is the material you mention part of Wikipedia, and if so, in which article? (It does not appear to be in the Loren Eiseley article.) This is a place to ask questions about editing Wikipedia. If you have a factual question about Eiseley's work which is not answered by the article, try the Reference Desk. MCB 06:27, 24 April 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Identifying articles to wikipedia

If I type "clinical engineering" in under the Serach function, the article is returned. But if I try to cite it from another article, e.g., "Medical Devices", wikipedia highlights it in red saying that an article of that name does not exist. How do I make that (and subsequent) articles known to the wikipedia for future citations?

Thanks,

Rick Schrenker

The article is already known, but the problem is capitalization. You should try linking to Clinical Engineering rather than clinical engineering. F e tofs ^Hello! 00:36, 24 April 2006 (UTC)

BTW, I've rename the article to the second title as I think it's more appropriate to link it that way. F e tofs ^Hello! 00:38, 24 April 2006 (UTC)

And if it isn't already Medical Devices should be called Medical devices. - 131.211.210.10 07:45, 24 April 2006 (UTC)

[edit] How to determine if a wiki page exists with a spider

Hello, I have a web page with a list of people's names. For each person who has a wikipedia entry, I'd like to link to it. Is there a low-bandwidth, not-too-burdensome (for your server) way for me to query for the existence of a wiki entry? Something like an XML return to a GET or POST request where I submit a list of page titles to check for? Thanks, 67.174.180.72 01:15, 24 April 2006 (UTC)

If you are making a large number of queries, you should consider downloading the database dumps to your own computer. The "all_titles_in_ns0.gz" file, in particular, has a list of all page titles and is not too large. Hope this helps! -- Tangotango 08:08, 24 April 2006 (UTC)

That database dumps page is very helpful. Thanks very much. 67.174.180.72 05:13, 25 April 2006 (UTC)

[edit] mailing address

How do I send an email or letter to Oprah

Have you tried the Miscellaneous section of Wikipedia's Reference Desk? They specialize in answering knowledge questions there. For your convenience, here's the link to post a question there: click here. I hope this helps.—WAvegetarian•_{_{CONTRIBUTIONS}}^{^TALK}• ^{^EMAIL}• 01:45, 24 April 2006 (UTC)

Oprah has a website all of her own. It should contain all the info you need to contact her. - 131.211.210.10 07:45, 24 April 2006 (UTC)

[edit] who wrote this article?

i need to know who wrote the article on modest mussorgsky

you can find out by clicking on the article history tab however if you want to know how to cite it you want this link.Geni 01:59, 24 April 2006 (UTC)

[edit] art appreciation

we are looking for egyptians middle times....Agriculture,imports and exports and education.

Have you tried the Humanities section of Wikipedia's Reference Desk? They specialize in answering knowledge questions there. For your convenience, here's the link to post a question there: click here. I hope this helps. MCB 06:31, 24 April 2006 (UTC)

[edit] whom did one vote elect chair of the NAACP BOard of Directors?

I'm doing research on this and I haven't found this one can you help it's for school

thank you brenda

[edit] Windpower generation+blockdiagrams

[edit] potential free contacts in relays define and explain

please define me the what is actually meaning of potential free contacts in electromechanical relays.

these contacts are safe for circuit.

I'd recommend asking a reference question like this one at the Wikipedia:Reference Desk; you'll get better answers there. Alex (t) 06:15, 24 April 2006 (UTC)

[edit] fashion

how do i get to know about fashion brands and designers?

[edit] Town Of Zahou, Turkey

To whom it may concern,

Re: Town Of Zahou, Turkey

I am going to meet some people from Erbil Iraq, and my contact will pick me up in TOWN OF ZAHOU, Turkey!!! so far I search every map on the net but I could not find this town anywhere.... can some help me out with this matter??????????

Thanks and Regards,

Abdul Samad [email removed]

[edit] Bad redirect

I hope I'm putting this in the right place, but I doubt it. :) I renamed a page badly -- Commonwealth College, Arkansas -- thinking that it was the only Commonwealth College since no others were showing up in my search. It turns out that there is another Commonwealth College, this one in Pennsylvania, and it just doesn't have any entry yet. The Commonwealth College page needs to be a disambiguation page, not a redirect to Commonwealth College, Arkansas like it is now. *facepalm* I'm so sorry! Beginning 12:42, 24 April 2006 (UTC)

It's okay, don't worry about making mistakes. Other people can always undo what you've done. I've gone ahead and made the changes you requested, but in the future it's perfectly fine to edit redirects. The easiest way to get t othe redirect page is by clicking the link under the title of the page, where it says "redirected from". You can edit from there. Good luck! Isopropyl 12:59, 24 April 2006 (UTC)

Don't worry - nothing has been changed that can't be readily fixed - just chalk it up to wiki-experience. A search suggests that the State university page mentions the Commonwealth College in Pennsylvania that you refer to - but it's a red link. Checking the redirect page, Commonwealth College, I see that only the State university and this page link there... no real harm done. Until someone supplies a unified article on Commonwealth College, Pennsylvania, it's better for the redirect to take them to the Arkansas article. Unless you are aware of an article for the Pennsylvania College? A toplink on the Arakansas article will help point anyone looking for the Pennsylvania College to the State University article, which I'll add now. Thanks for editing! --Estarriol ^talk 13:10, 24 April 2006 (UTC)

Wow, Isopropyl did all the required editing while I was writing my response and checking the facts. Way to go, Iso! :-) --Estarriol ^talk 13:12, 24 April 2006 (UTC)

Yay, thank you both so much! The sad thing is, I actually have been around for a long while, but I rarely if ever make more "technical" changes like moving articles. I'm pretty much just an editing girl, plain and simple. :) I wasn't sure if there was some kind of special template I would need to use to make any of the changes I wanted to make after my little screw-up, so I figured asking was a lot better than guessing. Thanks so much again! Beginning 01:36, 25 April 2006 (UTC)

what are the literary devices used in the book ARTEMİS FOWL the arctic incident —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 85.107.166.36 (talk • contribs).

[edit] How do I make a table?

Hi, I edit a lot of french writers and it would be good to be able to create simple tables for the bibliographies, left column giving details of the original french, right column details of the corresponding English translations. Otherwise you get a very long list.

Please could someone tell me how to do this? Many thanks Felonati 19:14, 24 April 2006 (UTC)

See Wikipedia:How to use tables and Meta:Help:Table. An example follows. --Estarriol ^talk 20:05, 24 April 2006 (UTC)

Original French	English Translation
Entry 1	Entry 1 Translation
Entry 2	Entry 2 Translation

Here are two pages to help you get started: Wikipedia:How to use tables and Help:Table. If you have any specific questions, feel free to ask them. One thing I may recommend, if you know of a page that has a similar table to the one you want, I would copy the code and replace the content with your own. You can use the Wikipedia:Sandbox for your experimentations. Hope this helps. --Andrew c 20:06, 24 April 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Copyvio question

A number of articles about individual Transformers characters contain a biography section which I know to be a word-for-word copyvio of the character's entry in the Transformers Universe comics. They are hard to find on-line (mostly because of copyright reasons in this case too!) but I have read enough of those comics to be able to identify the material. What should be done about this? Should I just remove the copyvio material? JIP | Talk 19:39, 24 April 2006 (UTC)

The best option is probably to rewrite the section so that it is no longer a copyright violation. --Hetar 20:59, 24 April 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Case-insensitive search?

I recently created the article "WebcamCash" and I noticed that it only comes up in the search results if I type it with the exact same case as the article title. That is, only a search for "WebcamCash" returns my article, not "webcamcash" or "Webcamcash".

However when I search for other articles the case doesn't seem to matter. For example, a search for "lightspeed media corporation" returns the article on "Lightspeed Media Corporation" but a search for "webcamcash" does not return the article on "WebcamCash".

How can I make sure my article comes up no matter what case the user chooses in the search field?

Thank you! Barry --Blackdog69 20:51, 24 April 2006 (UTC)

It has to do with redirects. You can create a redirect by going to the page you wish to redirect to WebcamCash (for example, Webcamcash — all article titles must start with capital letters) and place #REDIRECT [[WebcamCash]] in the edit box. Hope that helps. H e rmione1980 21:23, 24 April 2006 (UTC)

It also has to do with with the search engine itself. The go-button will take you to the article title you typed directly. It takes longer before it will show up under tyhe search button. - 131.211.210.12 07:28, 25 April 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Colour Vanity

I'm a noob and originally thought the fact that my handle was in red was just to make it easier for me to see it. Now I've noticed I'm not the only one. I assume this is a rating thing, so how long before my handle is blue like most folks? PhilipPage 20:57, 24 April 2006 (UTC)

On wikipedia, red links indicate pages which don't exist yet. Go to your own page, User:PhilipPage, and add some content. Forever after, your handle will be in blue. AndyJones 21:17, 24 April 2006 (UTC)

Your "handle" is actually a link to your userpage. If you click on it, you will be taken to a screen where you will see "Wikipedia does not have a user page called PhilipPage." Then, click on "edit this page" at the top, create a userpage, and voila! The name in your signature will turn blue. Hope that helps. H e rmione1980 21:18, 24 April 2006 (UTC)

Ahhhhh, thanks folks! PhilipPage 01:48, 25 April 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Why is article being deleted?

I keep submitting an article titled Cedar High School. Every few days when I check back it is deleted. Why? Thanks.

I can't read the mind of the deleting admin, but looking through the deleted edits it looks like it fails to state the significance of the school. We don't post contact information for places or people in Wikipedia, and the article needs to have more information than just that, mascots, and what sports they do. If you can point to a notable person (i.e. a person who has a Wikipedia entry) who went to that school and put that in the article, it might stand a better shot at not being deleted. H e rmione1980 21:21, 24 April 2006 (UTC)

None of what you said is justification for deletion, and especially not speedy deletion of a school. The admin may have had a reason I'm unaware of (like copyvio, or attack), but if they used you're reasoning, they would be in violation of policy. Note, there was no AFD for the given school. The admin really should have given a reason. [5]. If any admin used that reasoning you suggested, it would go to WP:DRV (and has in the past, and been overturned). I can't see the full content of the old article, so I can't tell what the situation is. --Rob 22:28, 24 April 2006 (UTC)

Let's not start the school debate again, please. Articles on schools are no different than any articles. And like others, they should show why the subject is notable enough to get an entry. I checked the edit history and the deleted version all were pretty much yellow pages entries listing the address and phone number and Wikipedia is not the Yellow Pages or a phone book. - Mgm|^(talk) 07:33, 25 April 2006 (UTC)

Articles which contain nothing but contact information are speediable under CSD A1 or A3. "Intercourse High School is a high school in Intercourse, Pennsylvania" is not a stub, for example, it's a "rephrasing of the title" and can be tagged with {{db-empty}}. --Sam Blanning^(talk) 09:10, 25 April 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Bosnian Wikipedia

Hello, i wanna ask why the Bosnian Wikipedia is only in the Latin script and not also in the Cyrillic script because both scripts are the offical scripts in Bosnia? Can´t we change this that bove scripts will be allowed in the future? --Jakuz 22:12, 24 April 2006 (UTC)

Well, I don't know if you'll find anyone here that knows for sure. Have you tried asking on their equivalent of Talk:Main Page? (That might not be the most appropriate place to ask, maybe their Village Pump would be better. Obviously I speak no Bosnian, so I'm flying purely by interwiki links from enWiki here.)

But I would guess that they decided to pick an alphabet and stick to it, and chose the Latin script as the one that was readable to the largest number of people. I doubt many editors would be willing to write every edit twice, once in each language, and the alternative would be to have two different Bosnian Wikipedias, with articles that were more or less out-of-date on each alphabet - or even reflected different points of view. --Sam Blanning^(talk) 22:30, 24 April 2006 (UTC)

In the Serbian Wikipedia you can choose betwenn the latain and cyrillic script. Maybe they can use it to. --129.143.4.67 08:23, 25 April 2006 (UTC)

Hello, I have start here a discussion about using a tool like in the Serbian Wikipedia to choose between two scripts. The Serbian Wikipedia would also give the tool to the Bosnian Wikipedia. But I think the problem is that some nationalism users of the Bosnian Wikipedia will be against this. But we have to change this. I think if the civilisation in Bosnia is also writing in the Cyrllic script we have to use it in the Bosnian Wikipedia too. --Jakuz 22:47, 25 April 2006 (UTC)

Can't we let a tuning on a neutral place about using the Cyrllic script on the Bosnian Wikipedia? --Jakuz 22:50, 25 April 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Andrew Lost needs more links

Andrew Lost was made by me on March 4, 2006. Since then, a total of 5 people have edited it besides me (Ambuj.Saxena; 142.109.45.57; RussBot; JoeBot; JoshuaZ). It links to a total of 4 places (Time travel in fiction; My user page; J. C. Greenburg; here). I heard somewhere that it's bad to have an article with too little links, or an orphaned article. But I don't know where else to link it to. Should I be worrying about this? Jonathan ^talk 22:42, 24 April 2006 (UTC)

A completely orphaned article is almost certainly a bad thing, but one with very few article links isn't necessarily. For a series of books, the author's article and lists may well be the only links that fit. The important thing is how many links there could be, and how many of them aren't yet there. Awards that the book won, book reviewers who've said they're their favourite books, are a few possibles that spring to mind, if any such exist.

Jugendweihe is a page I translated from the German Wikipedia, and probably serves as an extreme example of where there is room for more links - only one article links to it here (Angela Merkel) but there are many far more relevant links on deWiki. I do plan to go around the English equivalents of those articles and see if there's room for more links there. Don't hesitate to look out for similar places where your article can be linked from - think of it less as self-promotion and more as helpful information. People can always revert you :-). Doing a search for "Andrew Lost" to see if there are any places where the text exists but it isn't wikilinked may turn up some. --Sam Blanning^(talk) 23:09, 24 April 2006 (UTC)

[edit] "Watchlisting" categories

Is there any way to watchlist a category, such as Category:Wikipedians looking for help, to see when new entries appear? --Sam Blanning^(talk) 23:15, 24 April 2006 (UTC)

You can use the "related changes" link in the toolbox to see all changes in articles in the category, serving as a quasi watchlist. Thanks! Flcelloguy (A note?) 23:17, 24 April 2006 (UTC)

The above is pretty much the only thing you can do. Since articles are added to the category by editing the article rather than the category. Watching the category itself won't help. - Mgm|^(talk) 07:35, 25 April 2006 (UTC)

[edit] April 25

[edit] dancing

adventages of dancing? how dancing effect the indian culture & how many types of dance in india ? —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 59.94.128.172 (talk • contribs) .

You may be looking for Wikipedia:Reference Desk, where folks can answer just about any question under the sun. This page is for questions about Wikipedia. One article you might enjoy is Indian folk dances but that hardly is a comprehensive answer to your question. Powers 00:12, 25 April 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Permanent Link

Hi. I've been on Wikipedia for a while, and I know most of the basic formatting and such. But I was just wondering, when you go to an article, what does the "Permanent Link" button on the left - hand side bottom toolbar do? When I press it it doesn't seem to do anything. Please leave an invisible message at my talk page. Freddie 01:20, 25 April 2006 (UTC)

It links to the specific version of the page you are viewing at that time. That is, if you view the page now and go back later the article could have had edits made to it. But if you view the article through the permanent link you saved previously, you can view the old version. This is useful for those who are (misguidedly, IMO) citing a Wikipedia article in an academic paper and want to make sure there are no confusions between different versions of an article. -Greg Asche (talk) 02:02, 25 April 2006 (UTC)

[edit] How do I change the look of my user name?

How do I change the look of my user name?

Thanks for your response.

arti dixson —The preceding unsigned comment was added by Artidixson (talk • contribs).

If you want to change your username, you can list yourself at Wikipedia:Changing username. If you just want to change how your signature appears, you can take a look at Customizing your signature. -- Nataly a 02:29, 25 April 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Reverting

I would like to know how to do the (Reverted edits by 00.00.00.00 (talk) to last version by 00.000.000.000) type of revert. Can regular users also do it or only admins? Thanks, Shlomke 02:29, 25 April 2006 (UTC)

Anyone can revert pages - well explained instructions can be found at Help:Reverting. -- Nataly a 02:46, 25 April 2006 (UTC)

Also, that kind of summary is usually given by administrative rollback, which is currently granted only to sysops. Tito xd^{(?!? - help us)} 05:28, 25 April 2006 (UTC)

There is a script that allows this format called GodMode Light if I remember correctly. Unfortunately, I have no idea where to find it. - Mgm|^(talk) 07:37, 25 April 2006 (UTC)

Wikipedia:WikiProject User scripts/Scripts, about halfway down. --Sam Blanning^(talk) 09:02, 25 April 2006 (UTC)

Thanks to everyone. I'm checking it out.... Shlomke 10:19, 25 April 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Whitney Houston / Crack Allegations

There's been an edit war going on Whitney Houston for weeks in which one or more anonymous users blank out any reference to allegations of crack use by Houston. Only one of the edits has had a comment. There've been many attempts to draw the editors into a discussion on the talk page with no success.

I've been reverting from time to time, but... they're very persistent. Can anything be done or is Ms. Houston never to be soiled by such scurrilous accusations on Wikipedia? Thanks -- Richfife 06:06, 25 April 2006 (UTC)

If they refuse to engage in discussion and consensus is in favour of the paragraph, just keep reverting them. If they revert more than three times in one day, ask on WP:AN/3RR for a block (if they change IP but it's clearly the same person, list all their IPs). If they switch IP so fast blocking doesn't work, ask on WP:RPP for semi-protection. Nothing much else can be done, unfortunately. --Sam Blanning^(talk) 12:42, 25 April 2006 (UTC)

[edit] How do I get this monobook.js to work?

Trying to follow instructions at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:User_Wikipedia/RC_patrollers to use that monobook shown there... but I've tried just about every way of doing it I can think of, and it comes out looking all wrong on my page. Like it loses all its formatting, and so doesn't work. The strangest thing is if I look at my page while not logged in, it looks fine. But once I do, it's all broken. You can see what I've tried in the history at User:Goldom/monobook.js, but it may look fine to others, since they aren't logged in as me. In fact, it even looks fine to me in the history. But not when it's the current page. I have no idea. Can anyone help? -Goldom 莨夊ｩｱ謚慕ｨｿ 08:20, 25 April 2006 (UTC)

I don't use that specific script, so I'm kind of guessing, but I think you got it right the second time. I think the code you need to enter is {{subst:User:Voice of All/RC/monobook.js}}, without the nowiki tags which you have at the time of writing. The way it appears in fixed-width font is deliberate. Remember that you need to purge your browser's cache after saving your monobook before it'll work - IIRC, on Internet Explorer you press Ctrl-F5, on Firefox Shift-F5. --Sam Blanning^(talk) 16:26, 25 April 2006 (UTC)

[edit] e-government

Differentiate between e-government and e-governance with examples

I was going to refer you to the Reference Desk, where the experts on every subject under the sun hang out (as opposed to here, where we only talk about how to use Wikipedia). However, they strongly object to doing other people's homework, so please sit down at your desk with a pen and a piece of paper, and don't play on Wikipedia until you're done. — QuantumEleven 11:58, 25 April 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Conditional lines in a table template

I am trying to modify a table in an infobox template so that some of the rows can be optional. This is done in many info boxes. User:Notinasnaid/Temp shows the current attempt. You can see a #if in there. Unfortunately, when the line contains

! style="text-align:left;"

then, while the rest of the row disappears you are left with the actual text style="text-align:left;" in bold, escaping from the conditional. If this is changed to

| style="text-align:left;"

the text disappears, but that would be changing the design of the info box, which I am trying to avoid. Any clues? Indeed, I have struggled to find where the #if stuff is documented. Notinasnaid 12:02, 25 April 2006 (UTC)

Is there a better place for questions like this? Notinasnaid 07:57, 26 April 2006 (UTC)

The #if syntax is documented at m:ParserFunctions. Per the "tables" section, you're running into a current limitation. You can use HTML table syntax as an alternative. -- Rick Block (talk) 00:45, 27 April 2006 (UTC)

[edit] tennessee

WHERE WAS THE CAPITAL OF TENNESSEE FIRST LOCATED?

[edit] gold egg lay

does a ordinary goose lay GOLDEN eggs?i yes why?if no why?PLLEASE ANSWER AS SOON AS POSSIBLE URGENT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!THKZ

Please read the instructions at the top of this page. This page is for questions about using or editing Wikipedia. Thank you. Notinasnaid 12:29, 25 April 2006 (UTC)

If you kill the goose and cut it open, maybe you'll find out... *Dan T.* 12:32, 25 April 2006 (UTC)

Normally you would ask at the Reference desk. But I can give you the answer to your question: no. And why... well, because that would be an incredible feat of biology. Also, if gold could be grown organically, it wouldn't be so expensive. --Sam Blanning^(talk) 12:36, 25 April 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Requests

Hi! Just recently joined and would like to create some biology stubs. I looked at the requests page and noticed one of them was for 'intermediate filament protein' and there is already a 'intermediate filament' article. I created a page called 'intermediate filament protein' and redirected it to the other one, then deleted it from the request page. Was that right? My question- If someone requests something that's already there then do you always have to make a new page, even if they phrase something in an odd way that no-one else is likely to type in? If you know what they are meaning but there is already a page on it. Hope that makes sense :) Linberry 13:12, 25 April 2006 (UTC)Linberry

My initial instinct would be to try to contact the person that made the request, either via their talk page or by leaving the comment. But looking at the requested articles page, requests aren't signed, nor is there space for commenting, so that would be extremely tedious. So, I think you have to just hope that if you did something wrong, they'll contact you.

By the way, if you haven't already seen it, you might be interested in Portal:Biology: there's a 'suggested tasks' bit at the bottom specific to biology, and also links to various specialist WikiProjects you can sign up to. --Sam Blanning^(talk) 16:22, 25 April 2006 (UTC)

If they mean the same thing, you've done fine. You don't have to fulfill all requests. Some don't deserve articles and some names defy naming conventions. The one you fulfilled appears to have been a good choice of a redirect to make. - Mgm|^(talk) 16:33, 25 April 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Vandalism on Page

The entry for 'Yom Hashoah' has been changed with text that is in extremely poor taste, especially because today Yopm Hashoah is observed. How do you revert to the original language on the page? Thank you.

It has been reverted and the vandal warned. Please check if its Ok now. In order to revert a page, just go to the version you want to revert to and save it after clicking edit. For details see WP:REVERT. -Ambuj Saxena (talk) 14:56, 25 April 2006 (UTC)

Well, important or popular pages tend to be on the watch lists of several (or many) users, and thus tend to get reverted rather quickly - there's a bit of a revert war on that article at the moment. Since you've posted, it's been reverted several times. Reverting is not the most obvious procedure for a non-admin, but instructions are found in Help:Reverting. Hope that helps and thanks for contributing. Please remember to sign in (or create an account if you haven't) and sign your talk page contributions with ~~~~ which will create a signature including the date and time, as I am about to do. -->> --Estarriol ^talk 15:06, 25 April 2006 (UTC) :-)

[edit] Link image to page?

Thank you for any assistance that you can provide on linking images to pages.

Do you mean that you are editing an article in Wikipedia, and you have a picture, on own your hard disk, that you want to add to the article? Notinasnaid 15:18, 25 April 2006 (UTC)

Left a note on how to do it and a Welcome note - I think it means insert an uploaded picture into an article Brookie :) - a will o' the wisp ! ^(Whisper...) 15:43, 25 April 2006 (UTC)

Wikipedia:Picture tutorial and Wikipedia:Extended image syntax explain how to insert an image into an article. If you want to link to it like any other page without actually displaying it, just put a colon (:) in front of it. - Mgm|^(talk) 16:35, 25 April 2006 (UTC)

[edit] cricket

DId pakistan ever win against india in a world cup match?

There are 2 main areas you can research this:-

Research in the Cricket World Cup article and the Cricket World Cup category page linked to at the bottom of that article, the latter of which seems to contain articles on each series.
As in the Wikipedia:Reference Desk, an area where volunteers who specialise in such reference questions may be able to help you. The Help Desk page that you have asked this question on is for questions about Wikipedia, and editing Wikipedia.

--Estarriol ^talk 15:42, 25 April 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Profile

Hello, How does one create a user profile, identifying who they are, gender, age, interests? Thank you. Elovesme99 15:17, 25 April 2006 (UTC)

It's very easy - you (and all users) have a user page, on which you can put, within sane limits, any profile information you like. A link to it is what appears when you put four tildes (~~~~) to sign a comment, as you just did. Elovesme99 - that's a link to your user page. Edit it just like a normal page. You also have a talk page, just like an article does, which other users can use to communicate with you. When your talk page is modified, you'll receive a very clear message at the top of each page. I'll edit your talk page now to demonstrate. You're welcome to use my talk page if you have further questions on this. --Estarriol ^talk 15:26, 25 April 2006 (UTC)

We have a help page at Wikipedia:User page with some notes on how to best use your User page, what you can (and what you shouldn't) put on there. I hope you find it helpful! — QuantumEleven 15:40, 25 April 2006 (UTC)

I was just getting ready to ask the same question <g>. There apparently isn't a default created ... perhaps there could be (but I can see that there could be problems). When I have more wikipedia experience I could perhaps volunteer to assist in implementing this, as appropriate. ---Lynn 18:25, 25 April 2006 (UTC)

I'm sure that I saw an infobox for Wikipedia users once, so you could enter your name, age, etc. and have it appear like the boxes at the side of articles on animals or albums. That would be a useful starting point, but I'm damned if I can find it now. Anyone else have any idea where it was?

By the way, why do you keep inserting the {{newbie}} template into your posts? --Sam Blanning^(talk) 18:46, 25 April 2006 (UTC)

Found it. It's Template:User infobox. --Sam Blanning^(talk) 18:54, 25 April 2006 (UTC)

Yep, I recommend using infoboxes, Lynn. A plethora of useful templates is the consensus preference over a default user page. With infoboxes and other templates, you can form the core of an interesting (and attractive) user page with very little effort. Personally I think it's better to not have a default user page, as it's often the best practical sandbox that a new user has to play with (i.e. creating non-trivial content), and it's nice to have the sense of building something from scratch. —Estarriol ^talk 19:04, 25 April 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Popup links

HowTo: Have a pop-up link rather than a full href-like link?

Is there a way to insert a quick pop-up link so that a full link is avoided? This would be beneficial to people with a slow POTS modem.

Scenario with example:
I wasn't sure what trolls meant. There was a link that obviously provided a definition, but clicking on it took me to a whole new page. Maybe I'm just pathetically lazy, but that was just too much trouble when a simple pop-up definition would have been preferred (to avoid the Back click).

I am aware that browser portability almost certainly applies.

BTW:
WinHelp is obsolete, but it was able to provide this capability for context sensitive help. I have participated in several open source software projects, and have not figured out how to get HtmlHelp to provide popup definitions for an application's documentation; so I realize it isn't a simple problem.

Thanks for participating in wikipedia, especially the behind the scenes (but vital) Help.

--Lynn 15:52, 25 April 2006 (UTC) Lynn Allan

To have have links open in new windows, you'd have to change your monobook.js file, but I'm not really well-versed in editing that. You could however install the popups from WP:TOOLS which shows you the first few lines of an article when you hover over a link, which should suit your needs just fine. -0 Mgm|^(talk) 16:38, 25 April 2006 (UTC)

Thanks. I'll look into your suggestion. Right now, my inclinations to do it right or don't do it at all is causing huge wiki overload.

Rephasing ... actually it appears that an alternative hover would work ... but now I want to check how that is done ... assuming it might be possible since so far wiki seems capable of reading my mind.

e.g. when you hover your mouse over a wiki link (like my nickname below), the underlying link appears. Now if that could be expanded/replaced with the definition itself ... hummmmm (and wiki is intoxicatingly ADDICTIVE ... I know some retired professors who might LOVE wiki) ---Lynn 18:39, 25 April 2006 (UTC)

If you use Firefox, you can just middle-click on any link to have it open in a new tab. Comes to the same thing and saves you a back-click (and a reload on a slow modem). Not that I'm plugging Firefox or anything..... ;-) — QuantumEleven 21:51, 25 April 2006 (UTC)

(Hi Lynn--you don't need to insert the newbie template. That would be the sort of thing an editor would insert on your talk page to offer you some help. · rodii · 00:43, 26 April 2006 (UTC))

[edit] PERSONAL FINANCES

MY KOREAN GALPAL IS A SPENDTHRIFT AND I AM A SAVER/INVESTOR WHO RETIRED AT AGE 47 (17 YEARS AGO) WHO LETS MY MONEY WORK FOR ME. SHE THINKS THE ONLY PURPOSE FOR MONEY IS TO BE SPENT, WHICH IS WHY SHE HAS NONE. SHE ADMITS THAT SHE HAS NO CLUE ABOUT MONEY MANAGEMENT. COULD YOU GIVE HER A QUICK "CRASH COURSE" IN PERSONAL MONEY MANAGEMENT, WRITTEN IN THE KOREAN LANGUAGE PLEASE. SHES 44 WITH 2 TEEN DAUGHTERS AND NATURALLY WANTS ME TO FINANCE ALL HER WASTEFUL SPENDING. THANKS FOR YOUR HELP.........PLS REPLY TO MY E-MAIL ADDRESS; (removed to protect from spam)

That would be a request for the reference desk, this page is for help with using Wikipedia. Good luck, and please don't type in ALL CAPS - it comes across as shouting. --Sam Blanning^(talk) 18:37, 25 April 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Actor James Read

How do I change some personal information on him? I'd like to point out his full name is not James Christopher Read but James Christopher Read II. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by Robinepowell (talk • contribs).

Robin :o)

Looking at the article, you seem to have it figured out. --Sam Blanning^(talk) 18:35, 25 April 2006 (UTC)

[edit] HowTo: Recover article that was speedily deleted (appropriately)?

I submitted an article with too much adherance to Be Bold.

It was a neologism done out of ignorance and overconfidence on my part, and was speedily deleted. I concur with the speedy deletion. I didn't realize the submitted p.g.o. TLA was an inside family joke, and I am now curious where it originated.

I'm not intending to resubmit the TLA., but I would like to check what I wrote. I didn't save the article to the clipboard, and I am too inexperienced with wikipedia to see how to accomplish the recovery.

If this helps, here is a link to the Talk page for the article. I suppose I should look harder, but I haven't been able to figure out how to unarchive the original.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talk:PGO

Thanks. ---Lynn 18:19, 25 April 2006 (UTC)

As it seems harmless enough, I've restored it and put it at User:L d allan/PGO. -- Finlay McWalter | Talk 18:32, 25 April 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Possible spam 'external links'

I've found a user 69.41.168.41 who has posted spammy links to some car articles. They are 95% adverts, but some contain emissions data for vehicles. I need a second opinion on whether these links should be deleted --Davidjamesgill 22:17, 25 April 2006 (UTC)

Yes, they should be. They have terrible Alexa ranks (around 2.5 million for the ones I checked), and negligible Google presence. They also don't seem to be terribly informative. The fact that they were all added by a single user is a third strike against them. Delete and blacklist, sez I. --Ashenai 22:21, 25 April 2006 (UTC)

Delete the adverts. Keep the emission data.- Mgm|^(talk) 22:51, 25 April 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Need an article fix

I just did a revert on Lurlene McDaniel and my computer pulled out some words. I need someone to please put it back (My computer wont do it). Shlomke 23:36, 25 April 2006 (UTC)

I have fixed the page for you. For some reason, it seems like the characters for the word "adult" were replaced with blank spaces or some other character that didn't show up on my computer. I have no idea why this happened, but at least I believe I have fixed the article for you. I also wikilinked young adult books. --Andrew c 00:35, 26 April 2006 (UTC)

Perhaps Shlomke's browser has a ridiculously over-protective content filter installed, which won't let him post the word "adult", for fear of it possibly referring to adult entertainment, or to call it by its real name, pornography. JIP | Talk 16:55, 27 April 2006 (UTC)

[edit] new page

how do i create a page for a new subject not yet covered by wikipedia? —The preceding unsigned comment was added by Jwpatrick (talk • contribs) .

Hi Jwpatrick. Instructions on starting an article is explained on Starting a new page. You might also look at Your first article and How to write a great article. By the way the {{helpme}} template is for placing on your talk page, if you want someone to come there to help you. --Fuhghettaboutit 23:54, 25 April 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Wikipedia storage

Every time a user edits an article then saves it, is a separate file created? If so there must be literally billions of seperate files. How many gigabytes of storage does this take up. -Gillean666 23:59, 25 April 2006 (UTC)

Well, wikipedia isn't stored in files; it's stored in a MySQL database. Every time someone changes something, a delta is recorded in that database. Deltas are, generally, quite small (as the changes are generally quite small) so lots of changes (even to a big article) don't consume massive amounts of storage. As to how big the whole thing is - you can download it yourself (either just the latest version, or a much bigger version that has all those deltas too) at Wikipedia:Database download. Due to wikipedia's enormous size (and the great number of deltas some articles, like George W. Bush) have received, the full version with deltas is about 24 GBytes compressed (and lord only knows how big uncompressed). -- Finlay McWalter | Talk 00:08, 26 April 2006 (UTC)

Thank you for your prompt and informative answer Finlay --Gillean666 00:15, 26 April 2006 (UTC)

[edit] April 26

[edit] Linking to image in Commons

I'm trying to link to an image available in Wikipedia Commons. The problem is that an image with the same name (Herschel.jpg) also exists in Wikipedia itself. Is there any way to override the default behavior of using a local image if present and only going to Commons if no local image is present? What makes this particularily annoying is that the local image is marked for deletion in the near future due to it's licensing. ThreeBlindMice 01:57, 26 April 2006 (UTC)

No, I don't believe you can do that, bar reuploading the commons image to another name. THis is, incidentally, a good illustration of why "Herschel" is a bad image name (if it had been called "John_Herschel_uoftexas.jpg" then this wouldn't be an issue. -- Finlay McWalter | Talk 02:01, 26 April 2006 (UTC)

Thanks for the quick reply. I'm reluctant to upload the image from Commons since it seems a waste of space to duplicate it (especially under another name). Do you know if there is a way to rename the image in Commons and have a redirect in Commons under the current name to the new name (since that image appears to be used by some other language wikipedias)? If not, is it better wikipedia practice to upload the image under a different name or to wait until, hopefully, the conflicting image is removed? In terms of naming the image, the image in commons should really be something like "Herschel Space Observatory.jpg". ThreeBlindMice 02:08, 26 April 2006 (UTC)

No, images can't be redirected, I think, but reuploading at least one of the images under another name (make sure you keep the source and copyright info) should solve the problem. - Mgm|^(talk) 04:59, 26 April 2006 (UTC)

For the sake of fairness, I'd say rename both. Unless the Commons image is already widely used, in which case it may be easier to just rename the local one. —Ilmari Karonen (talk) 14:15, 26 April 2006 (UTC)

Thanks for all the advice. Just to close this out I figure I'd post that what I ended up doing. I found the source of the original image that I wanted to use from Commons and uploaded it again with a more descriptive (and hence less likely to collide with another image) name. I then changed the six or seven other language wikipedias to use the new image name (mainly for consistencies sake). As per Mgm's suggestion I made sure that the new upload had the same source and copyright information as the orignal image (also added a link back to the orignal image and provided a comment as to why the same image now exists twice). Hopefully I didn't go against any established Wikipedia or Wikepedia Commons rules. ThreeBlindMice 04:08, 27 April 2006 (UTC)

[edit] What "Source Information"?

Wiki-star: Ok i'm kinda getting pissed of here. Wikipedia is saying that this picture needs "Source Information", whereas this image looks the same, but does not need one. Can someone please tell me difference between these images, and how am i suppose to solve the Image Source tag? How can i add an image source? What is an Image Source? Thanks!

Wiki-star 06:32, 26 April 2006 (UTC)

The image taggers have spoted on but not the other. An image source is an explanation of where it camefrom and hopfuly who owns the copyright.Geni 07:17, 26 April 2006 (UTC)

Yes, this is not "Wikipedia saying something", but rather the work of human editors. Image tagging is explained fully on Wikipedia:Image use policy and Wikipedia:Image copyright tags. I'm afraid it's one of the steepest learning curves of basic editing, but once learned isn't tricky after that. It's extra hassle but good for the overall integrity of the encyclopedia, and useful for other editors. It's also a realistic legal requirement for using images. —Estarriol ^talk 07:45, 26 April 2006 (UTC)

Simple rule: unless you fully understand the copyright laws of the United States, don't upload any image less than 80 years old, unless it's a photograph you took (and not a photograph of something copyright). Please don't expect other editors to run around after you and magically make the copyright "right". They won't; they will just delete the image, because Wikipedia can't afford the risk of being sued. Notinasnaid 07:55, 26 April 2006 (UTC)

in fact only upload images you have taken. Even PD due to age has it's complexities.Geni 15:46, 26 April 2006 (UTC)

So only copyright lawyers can upload images to WP? Or are you exaggerating a bit with the "fully understand" comment? Powers 17:00, 26 April 2006 (UTC)

No, I don't think I'm exagerating. The abuse of "fair use" in Wikipedia is truly astonishing, many uploaders taking it to mean "I want to use it". In fact, the whole process is upside down, with people finding images and then seeking a way to use them, rather than actively seeking the (very rare and unusual) images that are genuinely permitted. The really scary thing is that no legal action is needed (as I understand it); copyright holders can simply file a demand for payment for the use of images, which for some providers could amount to hundreds of thousands of dollars worth. Notinasnaid 12:18, 27 April 2006 (UTC)

[edit] RSS Feeds

Does anyone know if there is any RSS feeds avaliable for the things on the front page (ie This day in history, featured article, that type of thing), and if not, are there any plans to implement such a thing?
007bond 07:09, 26 April 2006 (UTC)

Please see Wikipedia:Syndication (shortcuts WP:RSS, WP:XML). — Knowledge Seeker দ 07:32, 26 April 2006 (UTC)

[edit] rhythmic gym

what is the meaning of " pump- swing circle " in rhythmic Gymnastics.

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's what this Help Desk is for). For your convenience, here's the link: Reference Desk (when you get there, just select the relevant section, and ask away). I hope this helps. - Mgm|^(talk) 07:39, 26 April 2006 (UTC)

[edit] new to wiki. How do I answer question?

I have a message from user Valentinian

How do I answer it?

Pontoppidan 08:25, 26 April 2006 (UTC) Pontoppidan

You can either answer on your own talk page by clicking the edit link and replying beneath it, or you can answer on Valentinian's talk page. Remember to indent your replies by putting : at the start for clarity. GeeJo ^(t)⁄_(c) • 08:37, 26 April 2006 (UTC)

You could also use * to indent as I just did. I recommend posting to User talk:Valentinian as you did here. If you didn't put a notice up about where you answer it's unlikely they will check back. Make it as easy as possible to find the answer for them. They'll like you for it. :) Mgm|^(talk) 10:27, 26 April 2006 (UTC)

[edit] How far should we go in recreating original punctuation in titles?

Hi all,

I'm in the middle of trying to clean up Create/Recreate: the 3rd Millennial Culture (a currently-advertorial article about a transhumanist-advocacy book) and I've reached the conclusion that when I'm done it'll need moving to fit the naming conventions (as it currently includes the subtitle in the article name). However, the proper title of the book appears to be "CREATE/RECREATE" (judging by this mirror of the publisher's webpage selling it, which has a copy of the cover too), all caps. I've done a quick test to determine that the lower-casing is not a software limitation, but I can't find anything in the manual of style and naming conventions pages about whether we should slavishly follow the original capitalisation in titles. My gut instinct is that all-caps is ugly and shouty, but I just thought I'd get some more opinions. --Bth 08:57, 26 April 2006 (UTC)

I'd check how it's listed on Amazon and other bookseller sites too. If the all-caps title still is the correct way to name it, then it should be even if it sounds shouty. I would actually be a little more worried about the slash than the caps as a slash denotes a subpage, but I don't see why it can't be included in this case. - Mgm|^(talk) 10:26, 26 April 2006 (UTC)
- Very good point -- is there anyway to escape the slash's subpagination behaviour? The book doesn't appear on Amazon AFAICS (but its notability has been asserted within its field). --Bth 11:18, 26 April 2006 (UTC)
  - There are no subpages in the main (article) namespace, so there's nothing to escape. —da Pete (ノート) 13:55, 26 April 2006 (UTC)
    - Ah, brilliant. Thanks! I've decided on a move to CREATE/RECREATE ugly though it is. (But I'm curious now about the general case: for other namespaces, is there a way to create a title with a slash in it that doesn't get interpreted as a subpage?) --Bth 17:43, 26 April 2006 (UTC)

There are several articles on Japanese music albums whose titles are in all caps. (I think on music groups, as well.) It seems to be a convention, though it's odd, since the original titles are in Japanese. Is there a discussion on this? User:Zoe|^(talk) 18:57, 26 April 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Shares (Physical) Certificates

Dear Sir

I had applied for (Rs.15,000) Share (Physical) Certificates (500 x 30) in number through balloting. And with the Grace of Almighty Allah my name appeared in the list of successful candidates. But unfortunately, when I contact my Allied Bank Limited, Naval Complex Branch, Islamabad officials told me that they have received Certificates of successful candidates but there was no envelop received in my name by the Bank as yet.

What should I do and whom I should contact to recover my Certificates.

Yours sincerely

Syed Askari Raza Phone: 051-9260002 (Ext: 278) —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 202.134.137.26 (talk • contribs).

[edit] can you tell me how to install windows XP

hello i am sravani and would like to know some thing about installation of windowsXp in a new computer?and some more details about software and hard ward

Please see Reference_desk/Science, where you first asked this question, and I already answered it. Notinasnaid 14:50, 26 April 2006 (UTC)

[edit] can you tell me how to install windows XP

hello i am sravani and would like to know some thing about installation of windowsXp in a new computer and some more details about software and hard ward

Have you tried the Science section of Wikipedia's Reference Desk? They specialize in answering knowledge questions there. For your convenience, here's the link to post a question there: click here. I hope this helps. -- Tangotango 14:58, 26 April 2006 (UTC)

Just for everyone's information, there has in fact been a recent change in policy: computer questions should now go to the Mathematics desk. The high-falutin' justification is that the fundamentals of computer science come under Maths, but the real reason is an attempt to even out the workload between the two. --Bth 17:50, 26 April 2006 (UTC)

[edit] about entran

i want to know about entrance test of NCL in pune univercity. from when it starting & how to fill the form or what is the process about it? kindly help.

[edit] Japanese inventions

What have the Japanese invented or discovered?

[edit] bath shower doors

why you can't find door unless you special order? 50,1/2 by 55 height

[edit] I don't know what i'm doing

I had to write an article for wikapedia for my class. can i just give it to someone and they just put it on the site for me. I really can't figure out how to use the site and don't have enough time to listen to the tutorial. my email is commented out . thank you.

You need to register an account click here and then go to http://en.wikipedia.org/The_title_of_your_article (where 'The_title_of_your_article' is the name you want it to have) and click 'create this article' and put the text into the box that comes up. Alternatively you can post it at WP:AFC but that could take a few days.--Cherry blossom tree 18:12, 26 April 2006 (UTC)

You need to write a Wikipedia article for your class? That's quite unusual. But, anyway - take a look at Wikipedia:Your first article and Help:Starting a new page, they're nice and short and should give you some tips on how to submit your article. On a personal note, if you take the time to write an article but can't be bothered to understand how Wikipedia works, it strikes me as a bit odd... — QuantumEleven 18:25, 26 April 2006 (UTC)

It's actually quite common these days as an assignment--either for an individual or a whole class collaboratively. · rodii · 18:47, 26 April 2006 (UTC)

Which continues to feel funny to me... Wikipedia is a global, public encyclopedia project, open to anyone, not affiliated with any single institution. Because of this, all Wikipedia articles created by school students as a class project are immediately visible to the entire Big Bad Internet. This means, of course, that if you come back to Wikipedia after creating your article, you will probably see comments from people you've never heard of, and quite probably will never meet in your life. JIP | Talk 19:31, 26 April 2006 (UTC)

That's life (a) on the internet; (b) on Wikipedia; (c) er... that's life. Pick one. People don't seem to grasp the concept that publishing something means publishing something, I agree. On the internet, no one knows you're a dog, but everyone knows you're in middle school, or something. · rodii · 19:55, 26 April 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Creating a quick stub

I want to create a stub so that tonight at work I can come back and edit it, but so maybe others will see that it's a stub and go, oh yeah, let me help with that.

So my quick question is, how do I create a stub?

Specifically for: Casavant Mining

Related question, how do you do the multiple searches autolink to one page feature? Related search: CMKX or CMKM

If you are an anonymous IP, you have two choices:

Register a user account, or
Submit the stub to Wikipedia:Articles for creation.

If you already have an user account, simply type the stub's name into the search box, click on the resulting redlink, and start writing. 19:28, 26 April 2006 (UTC)

If you don't want people to start helping before you get a chance to finish it, consider starting a subpage in your Userspace. After you finished you can ask and administrator to move the article in the article namespace. (You'll be able to do it yourself after you've been on Wikipedia for a while.) - Mgm|^(talk) 20:50, 26 April 2006 (UTC)

[edit] get rid of "you have a new message since last change"

I have been working for several hours putting up an article http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clean_Living_Movements and making various changes.

I still have "you have new message" on my screen. Where is this message? Is there anything else i should look at for the Clean Living Movements entry?

Simply click on the "new messages" link on the nice little orange bar you got. It'll forward you to your user talk page, and that'll sort it out. Note that you get this nice little orange bar every time anyone (other than you) edits your user talk page in any way at all. Not just new messages, but even the most minor corrections to earlier messages, etc., trigger this feature. JIP | Talk 19:25, 26 April 2006 (UTC)

Here are some other tips to make your editing easier. First, articles in Wikipedia can be linked to from anywhere on Wikipedia by simply putting double brackets around the article title, like this: [[Clean Living Movements]]. There is no need to type out the full http:// address. Second, you should always sign your comments with four tildes, like this: ~~~~. That way people can respond to you. Welcome to Wikipedia! --Ginkgo100 01:43, 27 April 2006 (UTC)

[edit] HOW TO CHANGE THE TEXT OF A BIOGRAPHY ON WIKIPEDIA? THANK YOU.

I am trying to locate the biography of Mr. Robert L. Bernstein. He wants to change it. I am ready to do it? But I do not know how to access the original text of the biography.

Thank you for your assistance.

It's at Robert L. Bernstein, and you can edit it simply by clicking 'edit this page' at the top. But bear in mind that you should write neutrally and based on what can be verified - I don't know what changes Mr Bernstein wants to put through, but people don't write best about themselves - see WP:AUTO. --Sam Blanning^(talk) 19:48, 26 April 2006 (UTC)

"He wants to change it". Yikes. It is almost always a very bad idea for someone to edit their own biography, or someone close to another to edit their biography. NPOV is very hard to maintain in such circumstances, even if the intent is honest. I advise you, and Mr Bernstein, to leave it alone. If you really must edit it, please read WP:AUTO thoroughly first. — Estarriol ^talk 21:28, 26 April 2006 (UTC)

Sometimes, a person may notice something truly wrong about their own article. They need to be able to know that we will investigate such a thing. A good way to do this is to post on the talk page of the article stating what the concern is, and preferably with some links to verifiable references. Then the matter can be discussed and acted upon. Some articles get less editor traffic than others. If a message on the talk page does no get a response, the next step could be to post back here, or apply {{peerreview}} or post to WP:ANI if there is truly a bad problem with the article. Johntex\^talk 21:50, 26 April 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Hugh Moran

Hugh Moran now provides management services and strategic communications counsel as president of BPR Communications in Portage la Prairie, Manitoba.

Hi! You can edit the Hugh Moran article yourself to add this information. Please take a look at how to edit a Wikipedia article and give it a try. Cheers, --MCB 05:53, 27 April 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Is Unfair Criticism of a personality allowed if placed in "Quotation Marks"?

I noticed TV producer David Peckinpah was listed on the Recent deaths page, so I looked at his own page and noticed some strong insults, including David Peckinpah is the property of Satan and David Peckinpah is an agent of evil.

This seems wrong to me. Is this kind of extreme criticism allowed as long as the statements are actually quotes taken from the internet? One of the quotes appears to be taken from a chatroom. Where do the Wiki guidelines draw the line as to who can be quoted in an article?

(The article is clearly biased against Peckinpah as well, but it was the use of obscure quotes as sly insults that bothered me).

172.163.203.212 20:25, 26 April 2006 (UTC)

They're quotes, and the quotes have been verified, if you feel it needs a more neutral tone, you can improve it by giving more detail about his life. User:Zoe|^(talk) 20:44, 26 April 2006 (UTC)

I know they're quotes, and I realise they've been verified. I asked where Wiki guidelines draw the line as to who can be quoted in an article. Am I to assume that absolutely any quote that can be verified is allowed on Wikipedia?

So, if someone posts a message on Imdb, for example, saying the Pope is a pedophile, it's OK to repeat this on Wikipedia as long as there are quotation marks around the quote and a link to the original statement? 172.137.199.93 21:57, 26 April 2006 (UTC)

I've cut down the whole section into a more neutral form. Those quotes were mostly taken from chatrooms/message boards and stuff, so their status as reputable sources is cloudy anyway.--Cherry blossom tree 22:04, 26 April 2006 (UTC)

Yeah, those quotes were pretty dodgy, and there wasn't much to the article past the results of a google search for "david peckinpah." The question is a good one, though it's not really a helpdesk question. You might raise it at WP:Village pump. · rodii · 22:25, 26 April 2006 (UTC)

To the original question, the answer is simply NO. See WP:NPOV. "Unfair" criticism, whether it's quoted and sourced or not, does not adhere to the NPOV policy. On the other hand quoting a reputable source is a very good way to include "fair" criticism. -- Rick Block (talk) 23:43, 26 April 2006 (UTC)

[edit] 1,100,000th Article

What was the 1.1-millionth article? Whatever it was, it was just created today at approximately 12:35 PM Central time.

Now, for statistics- It took ~54 days, 19 hours, and 26 minutes to add 100,000 articles to Wikipedia (from March 2nd to April 26th.) At this rate, we will hit 2,000,000 on approximately September 3, 2007. --Shultz IV 22:09, 26 April 2006 (UTC)

Did you really move this question farther down the page and leave a snippy edit summary about not getting an answer in 5 hours? Perhaps this question is not as easy to answer as you think. Try to be patient. · rodii · 22:20, 26 April 2006 (UTC)

This is a high-traffic page on WP (or at least it looks that way), so I was kind of expecting an answer in under an hour. Jordanhill Railway Station was found to be the 1,000,000th article because there was a "tracking" utility. I read that somewhere, so I had reason to believe that same utility would figure out what the 1.1-millionth article is. --Shultz IV 22:48, 26 April 2006 (UTC)

Sometimes questions are easy to read but very hard to answer. Unless someone had set something up to specifically record the 1,100,000th article, only someone with access to the database would be able to actually research which article is the 1,100,000th. A "standard administrator" would likely not be able to do it. -- Ch'marr 23:00, 26 April 2006 (UTC)

The 'tracking system' was only used for the millionth article, it isn't normally in operation. The 1100000th article isn't that important, no-one has yet posted it to WP:A or WP:VPN, for example, so I assume it wasn't tracked. You can get a rough estimate without tracking but it's only a case of looking at a few that are at roughly the right time and picking your favourite. Someone may have done this, I don't know. --Cherry blossom tree 23:02, 26 April 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Margins, Colmns, and Indenting single-spaced paragraphs

1) How do you set margins, so the lines aren't so long?

2) How do you write in colmns?

3) How do you indent single-spaced paragraphs, to make

reading easier?--Chuckmareanjr@earthlink.net 22:34, 26 April 2006 (UTC)

I suspect you've been trying to start lines with spaces or tabs, yes? If you don't do this then you will get normal linebreaks.
You can do it in a table (see Help:Table) but it's not generally done for normal articles
Paragraphs on Wikipedia aren't indented. I'm not sure what you mean by single spaced, you should always leave a blank line between paragraphs when editing to ensure that the paragraph break appears.

--Cherry blossom tree 22:38, 26 April 2006 (UTC)

You might wish to try the Tutorial which provides answers to a lot of editing questions such as your formatting concerns. I have left a number of other links on your talk page, which you can access by clicking on your name at the top of the screen to go to your userpage, and then clicking on discussion, at the top of that screen--Fuhghettaboutit

Don't try and apply your own formatting styles to your articles, at least, not in the way you're suggesting. Not only is it fighting a losing battle, but you'll also make it hard for future editors to amend your articles. Of course, apply arrangements where it makes sense to do so :) But, honestly, if I found an article that had been especially formatted that way, I'd undo it all to make it formatted the same way as the rest of Wikipedia. Formatting consistency between articles makes the whole wikipedia easier to use. -- Ch'marr 23:04, 26 April 2006 (UTC)

[edit] My monobook suddenly borked

A lot of my scripts have suddenly stopped working - except popups. Topaz's status changer and a couple of scripts for automatically nominating articles for deletion and leaving {{test}} messages on people's pages have both disappeared. I've reverted back to the last version that was working properly all day, and tried the usual purging the cache, but nothing doing. Anyone have any ideas what went wrong? --Sam Blanning^(talk) 23:31, 26 April 2006 (UTC)

If it's your computer/browser rebooting might solve. By the way, did you ever watch the actual congressional hearings? I am no fan of Bork, but the main questioning line he was responding to was really subtle and he really didn't contradict himself the way it is made out, but the senators couldn't understand the distinctions he was making--Fuhghettaboutit 23:39, 26 April 2006 (UTC)

I'm English. Who? But thanks, I'll see if a good night's sleep cures it. --Sam Blanning^(talk) 23:47, 26 April 2006 (UTC)

Well, it's working at work, but on my home computer it's still broken. I tried with Firefox and IE and all my scripts but popups aren't working. Could anything have caused this? --Sam Blanning^(talk) 17:59, 27 April 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Category policy

Where would I pose a question or make a recommendation about the policy for inclusion in a wide range of categories? (My specific issue has to do with the hundreds of "deaths" and "births" categories and whether only articles about real-life humans should be placed in those categories.)--M @r ē ino 23:50, 26 April 2006 (UTC)

I suppose a good place to start would be Wikipedia talk:WikiProject Categories. -- Meni Rosenfeld (talk) 08:58, 27 April 2006 (UTC)

Thanks. I followed that link and posted a message at Wikipedia_talk:Categorization#Births_and_deaths.--M @r ē ino 14:11, 27 April 2006 (UTC)

[edit] April 27

[edit] How do I put certain images up in exchange for another?

exactly what the title said.

Sincerely, xWo

First, read the Image Use Policy. Then upload your new image. Be sure it is free from copyright issues (normally it should be public domain or covered by a license such as the WP:GFDL; if you created the image yourself, you must release it to the public domain or license it under the GFDL). You do that by logging in, then clicking "Upload file" on the task bar on the left of the screen. After you have uploaded the image, go to the page where you want to place the image, click "edit this page" at the top of the screen, and change the name of the old image to the name of your new image. Don't forget to save. --Ginkgo100 01:35, 27 April 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Wikipedia:Template messages/User talk namespace

Hello. Can any editor use the User Warnings templates (Wikipedia:Template messages/User talk namespace) or are they to be used exclusively by administrators? Thanks. -- Andrés 00:40, 27 April 2006 (UTC)

Anyone, as much of the things here work :) F e tofs ^Hello! 01:01, 27 April 2006 (UTC)

You certainly can use them, and are encouraged to do so when necessary! Wikipedia is essentially self-policed in terms of vandalism. You might want to visit the Counter-Vandalism Unit. All it takes to join is to declare oneself a member. --Ginkgo100 01:30, 27 April 2006 (UTC)

Thanks a lot, Fetofs and Ginkgo. -- Andrés 02:55, 27 April 2006 (UTC)

Also, a good rule of thumb would be that pretty much anything that regular editors are technically able to do, they are allowed to do. -- Meni Rosenfeld (talk) 08:54, 27 April 2006 (UTC)

Aside from vandalising pages, making personal attacks or legal threats, etc. GeeJo ^(t)⁄_(c) • 15:43, 27 April 2006 (UTC)

In terms of "administrative" actions that all editors are capable of, I think the only one that they aren't "allowed" to do is closing of deletion discussions, which don't need admin tools to close unless they end in a verdict to delete, but should only be closed by admins anyway. --Sam Blanning^(talk) 15:51, 27 April 2006 (UTC)

I was wondering if my comment was unclear enough to justify a clumsier, yet more accurate, wording. Of course, what I meant was anything that an adiminstrator is allowed to do and users are able to do. That is: compared to administrators, users are only limited by technical feasibility. With occasional exceptions, of course. -- Meni Rosenfeld (talk) 17:57, 28 April 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Augmenting a Contents page.

In http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Compiler_optimizations I'm ready to add an article, but I can't see how to edit the contents page so as to place a link to the page-to-be. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by NickyMcLean (talk • contribs) 04:40, 27 April 2006 (UTC)

Hi, you can add an article to a category by putting [[Category:CategoryName]] near the bottom of the article you wish to add. For example, you could create an article on a compiler optimization and put [[Category:Compiler optimizations]] at the bottom of that article. Hope this helps. Tangotango 05:09, 27 April 2006 (UTC)

Thanks. Via your advice the deed is done: a link to the Lazy Evaluation page appeared by the expedient of editing that page to declare a "come from" the compiler optimisations page, and behold! The compiler optimisations page was changed! Whee!

[edit] Move article SolidEdge

I do not have an account, because I use German Wikipedia. Is there anybody who could move the article SolidEdge to "Solid Edge" please? That is the correct writing, see the discussion page and official website.
Thanks --84.155.99.225 12:08, 27 April 2006 (UTC)

Gemacht. In future, you can ask at Wikipedia:Requested moves. --Sam Blanning^(talk) 12:11, 27 April 2006 (UTC)

Thanks. Sorry for using the wrong page but I did not find anything matching by using the search function. --84.155.99.225 12:26, 27 April 2006 (UTC)

[edit] category adoption

How do I adopt a category and what will be expected from me for an adopted category? --ramit 14:05, 27 April 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Contact from Journalist Dimetros Woldu of the Addis Ababa

I am Vera Maria Roberto, I reside in the south of Brazil and desire to locate Journalist Dimetros Woldu–Service of Communication of Ethiopia–Orthodox Church in Addis Ababa. Please, if it is possible to help me I thank.

Vera Roberto Santa Catarina - Brazil

[edit] Edits lost

I recently added to an article on the city of Lecce, and logged back on to see that it was cut. I've seen pages on food here, so was it moved or cut, and if so, why? Ssilvestori, Lecce, Italy

Can you tell me why my addition to 'Lecce' was cut?--Ssilvestori 17:13, 27 April 2006 (UTC)

If you click on Lecce then on the History tab at the top, you will see the history of the article and any comments. If you want to disagree with the comments, click on the Discussion tab for the article, and try to reach a consensus with the other editors. Notinasnaid 17:20, 27 April 2006 (UTC)

[edit] add graphics

how do I add graphics to my recently-contributed article on ice detectors? --No Ice 17:38, 27 April 2006 (UTC)

Well, that depends on whether the graphics exist already or not. If they exist in printed form, and you have the rights to do so, you can scan them in and upload the image file using this link: Special:Upload. If they exist as a graphics file already, you can just upload it (again, if you have the rights to do so). Otherwise, you'll need to find a way to create a graphic using a graphics program, then upload it.

Also, I would suggest perusing the Manual of Style; your new article on ice detectors needs some cleanup work to come up to Wikipedia standards. Powers 17:53, 27 April 2006 (UTC)

[edit] How to add a product entry to a list of collaboration software

Hi. I have been reading the section of collaborative software and wanted to enter our company's name there, in the section on commercial or proprietary software. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_collaborative_software)

I attempted to enter a listing, with a link to the website (since I wasn't sure if I could create a page on the software in Wikipedia) and it was removed twice.

I read your policy on "vanity pages", and it seems to me that this is a legitimate use -- to list various collaborative software, and I would like to have our software listed there.

Please tell me how to go about this, and I don't want to hear "Have someone else do it who is not related to the company." It looks pretty clear to me that others with interest have entered information for some of these products. I am perfectly happy to maintain a balanced POV.

Is it true that a link on this list of software should go to another page in Wikipedia? Is it OK for me to create that page, if I set up an account? --71.198.23.88 18:32, 27 April 2006 (UTC)Jon Kennedy

Hi, I'm the one who deleted your link. We're trying to get a handle on the vast amount of spam and vanity that infests the software pages right now, and will probably begin deleting entries without articles, entries that are external links, or entries that are obviously just spam (see WP:SPAM). So yes, ideally to be on that list your product would have an article written about it. However, that article cannot be an ad or just a press release. This is an encyclopedia, not a web directory, search engine or advertising vehicle. An article about your product should be written from a neutral point of view (WP:NPOV), and any information should be verifiable (WP:V) from some third-party source; in practice this usually means it will have been written about in the media--a simple link to your website doesn't suffice. If such a media writeup hasn't happened, that probably means that your product isn't notable enough for an article here. Notability is a hard thing to judge, but you may want to take a look at WP:CORP and WP:WEB for some guidelines.

The key thing to grasp is that Wikipedia is not here so you can promote your product. It's an encyclopedia. It's popularity and ease of editing has meant that many, many people with something to promote see it as a tempting target for advertising and search engine optimization. We are under incredible pressure from spammers and marketers of all sorts, and many people waste time they could spend editing instead fighting back the tide. You may look at that page and see lots of links that are less deserving that yours--that doesn't necessarily mean that you're deserves to be there; it more likely means that some of those links are going away soon. So please don't think of "listing" your software at Wikipedia--instead, with luck, your software will become independently notable and someone else (not you) will write a nice neutral article on it. If you do go the route of writing an article and using that to get yourself listed, be aware that that article may be deleted as spam, or as being about a non-notable subject.

I hope you don't hear this as any kind of attack on you personally or your product. It's just... we're trying to write an encyclopedia here. I urge you to read some of the links about and ask questions here or on the List of collaborative software talk page. Regards, · rodii · 19:15, 27 April 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Linking direcly PDF

After reading WP:EL I'm still not sure if it's OK to give an External link directly to a PDF. I've come acrose a number of external links on the wiki which link direcly to a PDF. Can someone who understands this policy clarify? Shlomke 19:34, 27 April 2006 (UTC)

I don't see anything wrong with linking directly to a PDF, as long as the link clearly states it's a PDF file. JIP | Talk 20:53, 27 April 2006 (UTC)

Sure, especially if it's a reference. I hate to search a site for the page people actually meant to reference to. If there's more external links (rather than references) to the same site, mentioning only the main page should be enough. - Mgm|^(talk) 10:33, 28 April 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Syntax

—The preceding unsigned comment was added by 4836.03 (talk • contribs) .

You haven't really asked a question. If you're asking about the syntax of that hieroglyph sentence, then you'll want the languages section of the reference desk. This page is for help with using Wikipedia. --Sam Blanning^(talk) 22:01, 27 April 2006 (UTC)

Sam, if the question is to what you reference, it is a question on how to use Wikipedia. See the code that generated the message (<hiero>S29-Z7-U29-G1-Z6</hiero>). I'm curious about it myself. F e tofs ^Hello! 23:08, 27 April 2006 (UTC)

I meant the language syntax rather than the code syntax. As in "should a broken paper clip be used to begin a sentence" and "should the dowsing rod be pointing at or away from the gangly bird". Obviously I was mistaken. The hieroglyphs show up fine to me, so I would have thought that it is the correct use? --Sam Blanning^(talk) 09:49, 28 April 2006 (UTC)

What I mean is, is that the correct use of the Hiero tag? Oh, and while you're at it, I am curious to what it means.

Yes, it appears to be the correct use of the tag. If you leave a note on my talk page, I could try to check what it means/if it means anything when I get to my reference book.

(Click "talk" in my signature, then the + at the top of the new screen to leave a message). - Mgm|^(talk) 10:30, 28 April 2006 (UTC)

That looks like the hieroglyphics from Lost (TV series). — TheKMan^talk 10:36, 28 April 2006 (UTC)
A quick search shows, that Kman is likely right. See the image in this blog. According to Jim Loy's Egyptian Hieroglyphs Dictionary it means "make healthy" (if we assume the last stick glyph is a determinative). Someone named Radical Bender made a post that seems to corroborate this idea and also posted a snap from the dictionary page I referred to here. - Mgm|^(talk) 15:51, 28 April 2006 (UTC)

[edit] search tags

hi i just wanted to know how to give search tags (like meta tags for HTML) on my page i can get the page when i type the full file name but on giving parts of the pages i cant get the page it doesnt even show up on the search list please advice bye antony —The preceding unsigned comment was added by Antonyfm (talk • contribs) .

You can't. There are no meta tags equivalent. However, the reason the search is not working is because the database which the search function uses is only catalogued periodically. Give it some time and the page will be indexed and show up through search. Note also that if the page you are inquiring about is an article, and it has likely misspellings or idiosyncratic punctuation, and you want others to be able to find the page even if they don't type its name correctly, you can create appropriate redirects --Fuhghettaboutit 20:32, 27 April 2006 (UTC)

[edit] external link icon

what is the icon next to external links? does it have a name? who made it? how can i use it in my site?

-- drolldurham

Could you be more specific, please? The words 'external links' show up in many, many places in Wikipedia. --Sam Blanning^(talk) 21:59, 27 April 2006 (UTC)

Do you mean the thing that pops up after/next to an external link like http://www.bbc.co.uk? --Cherry blossom tree 22:10, 27 April 2006 (UTC)

If you mean (

), find it at Image:External.png.--Max Talk (add) 22:42, 27 April 2006 (UTC)

that's the one, thanks -- drolldurham

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