Wikipedia:Help desk/Archive 45

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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.

Open this post and read what I think about that:,

1 March 18
2 March 19
3 March 20
4 March 21
5 March 22
6 March 23
7 March 24
8 March 25
9 March 26
10 March 27

[edit] March 18

[edit] Taking Over Talk Page

Would I, under any circumstances, take a neglected, never used talkpage and turn it into a group where Users who are friendly with me can hang out.

You mean the way people take over Usenet newsgroups? If it's someone else's talk page, definitely not. If it's your talk page you mean, the primary reason it's there is so other users can communicate with you about the task of building an encyclopedia. People make friends here, obviously, but that's not the goal of the place. Wikipedia is not a free host, blog, or webspace provider. · rodii · 01:14, 18 March 2006 (UTC)

(after edit conflict) Some general chatter is usually tolerated on talk pages, but if, as you're proposing, a talk page became continually and deliberately used for stuff that had nothing to do with the encyclopaedia, it would probably end up being deleted. Even if an otherwise blank page was used for this purpose, it would disrupt future attempts to use the page, and give users the wrong idea about what talk pages are for. --Sam Blanning (formerly Malthusian) ( T | C | A ) 01:18, 18 March 2006 (UTC)

[edit] research help

Doing a paper for school, can you tell me what high school and college courses are needed to be come a biochemist and molecular biologist? Years in college needed? degreee required? preferred colleges? any help would be appreciated thank you.

Factual questions should be asked at the Reference Desk. H e rmione1980 01:55, 18 March 2006 (UTC)

I don't think this question belongs in the reference desk either. You should check the curriculum of a college \ university which teaches these subjects. -- Meni Rosenfeld (talk) 12:19, 18 March 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Help with subst'ing

Is there any way that we can get the fucking queers out of america. I say that we send them to a little island of the cost somewhere and drop a dam bomb on them. Who in there right mind would want to get butt blugged by someone. to subst a template before commiting the change (such as through the "Show preview" button), in order to customize the template instance? I keep having to either make 2 changes in a row (inconvenient for others), or track down and copy the template's source (inconvenient for me). --Tifego 02:17, 18 March 2006 (UTC)

I've run into this difficulty lately as well, since the new citation system doesn't allow for templates, substed or not, within the citation. What I do is put it in a WP:Sandbox and save it, then copy and paste the source (this is for a template with many field to be filled in). It's still a pain. Mak emi 03:06, 18 March 2006 (UTC)

An alternative (probably equally time-consuming, but doesn't require a sandbox): Preview the article with the template, scroll down to the list of templates at the bottom of the page (below the "Save" buttons and small print), right-click or middle-click on the name of the template you wish to use, and open the template in a new window or tab (depending on your browser). Then you can copy and paste the template source back in the preview edit window. — Catherine\^talk 21:59, 23 March 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Albums

Can someone give me the basics on making an album of a band that does not have an album listed? Please? Luke 04:25, 18 March 2006 (UTC)--Luke 23:09, 17 March 2006 (EST)

I think you may have asked this question a few days ago, though I can't find it now. It's not clear what you're asking. Do you want to know how to make an album? Or an article? Or how to add text about an album to an article about a band? Maybe if you give us some specifics it would be easier to help. · rodii · 05:37, 18 March 2006 (UTC)

Adding the album picture, along with various other elements, such as reviews, release date, time, etc. Luke 17:16, 18 March 2006 (UTC)Luke

I think you want to add an infobox. You should probably look at an article that already has one, copy the source and then change the details. For example:

{{Album infobox |
  Name        = Forever Changes |
  Type        = [[Album (music)|Album]] |
  Artist      = [[Love (band)|Love]] |
  Cover       = Love_-_forever_changes.jpg |
  Background  = orange |
  Released    = [[November]] [[1967]] |
  Recorded    = [[June]] to [[September]], [[1967]] at [[Sunset Sound Recorders]] |
  Genre       = [[Psychedelic Rock]] </br> [[Folk-Rock]] </br> [[Baroque Pop]]|
  Length      = 42:51 |
  Label       = [[Elektra Records|Elektra]] </br> [[Rhino Records|Rhino]] |
  Producer    = [[Bruce Botnick]] </br> [[Arthur Lee (musician)|Arthur Lee]]|
  Reviews     = <nowiki>
*''[[All Music Guide]]'' [[Image:5_out_of_5.png]] [http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=10:hz6atr29klmx link]
* [[Robert Christgau]] (A-)  [http://www.robertchristgau.com/get_artist.php?id=841&name=Love link]</li>|
  Last album = ''[[Da Capo (Love album)|Da Capo]]''<br />([[1967]]) |
  This album = '''''Forever Changes'''''<br />([[1967]]) |
  Next album = ''[[Four Sail]]''<br />([[1969]]) |
}}
</nowiki>

You would just have to copy the above code into your article, changing 'Forever Changes' for the name of your album, 'Love' for the name of the artist and so on. Hope this helps. --Cherry blossom tree 00:23, 19 March 2006 (UTC)

What about the album picture and color? Luke 13:32, 19 March 2006 (UTC)--Luke

See Wikipedia:WikiProject_Albums#Infobox for full documentation. --Cherry blossom tree 22:05, 19 March 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Search not working

I've had problems previously re the search not working and decided to be patient... but now I'm getting frustrated. I've been creating a series of articles, and even though some were made days ago they are still not 'searched' for.

For example: five or so days ago I created the article Miss New York USA. Typing "miss new york usa" into the search box (b/c it was suggested that I try lower case letters) and hitting 'go' or 'search' comes up with nothing. However, when I try searching for the more recently created article Tara Conner using 'go' the article comes up right away.

Can someone tell me how to fix this? I can't even start to think how many of my other articles in the series are also affected and its bugging me... CarlyPalmer 04:22, 18 March 2006 (UTC)

There are a couple reasons you might be having trouble. One is that Wikipedia searches are case sensitive, so changing the case makes it less likely you will find the article you need, not more. Note that Miss new york usa is a red link. Another thing is that "Go" and "Search" are two different functions. If you "search" for "Miss New York USA" it probably won't be the first article which comes up, but you'll notice in the upper left corner it will say: You searched for " Miss New York USA" [Index] If you click on that little link, you will arrive at your article. It's an odd way to do it, but there it is. Also, I find that when I simply want to find content about something on wikipedia, without it necessarily being the subject of an article, a Google search of wikipedia is helpful This is in no way an endorsement of Google by Wikipedia or Wikimedia, or any other company, just one user's thoughts Mak emi 04:30, 18 March 2006 (UTC)

Also, you're using two different functions and seem to be expecting the same results. When you hit "Go", that's exactly what it does. It goes to the article with the title just how you typed it. If you were to type in Tara Conner and hit "Search" it doesn't come at the top. Dismas|^(talk) 04:34, 18 March 2006 (UTC)

Thanks.... I swear that until yesterday even trying Miss New York USA with the correct capitalization wasn't working with go -- someone suggested I use all lower case so thats where I ended up this morning. It seems to be working now though so thats good :) Thanks for the pointer that when you search the actual link does appear to the left of the box... that really needs to be more prominent because I wouldn't have seen it if it hadn't been pointed out to me. Even better, your google idea has helped me with something else so thanks for the feedback :) CarlyPalmer 04:48, 18 March 2006 (UTC)

I think sometimes the database (right word?) doesn't get updated fast enough, or indexed, or something that I don't know enough about because I'm not a programmer. Basically, sometimes Wikipedia thinks too slowly, meaning that when you create an article it takes a while to show up in searches. Mak emi 05:00, 18 March 2006 (UTC)

Just out of curiosity, what makes this so urgent? Quality is important, but why speed? Are you on deadline? · rodii · 05:07, 18 March 2006 (UTC)

Not sure who this question is directed to, but for myself I don't mind since I make sure to keep article on my watchlist, and can always find them myself. As you can see above, though, new users can find it difficult to find articles they've recently created (sometimes because they're deleted), which can be frustrating, and in order to welcome more positive contributors, it's nice to make the experience as simple as possible for newcomers. Mak emi 05:17, 18 March 2006 (UTC)

It was directed at CarlyPalmer. I certainly understand that frustration you describe--I'm just trying to understand her concerns and figure out if there is some special urgency at work. From an eventualist standpoint, "there is no deadline" for the encyclopedia, but from a personal standpoint there may be. · rodii · 05:34, 18 March 2006 (UTC)

Lol not frustrated due to speed but to a dislike for things not working :P CarlyPalmer 05:51, 18 March 2006 (UTC)

[edit] internet tecnology

i need a tutorial on internet connectivity as to how it works. via statellite connection o finternet.

You might find what you are looking for in the article about Satellite internet. If you cannot find the answer there, click here to post your question at that article's talk page. If that doesn't solve your problem, you can try asking your question at Wikipedia's Reference Desk. They'll be glad to answer questions about anything in the universe (except about how to use Wikipedia, which is what this help desk is for). I hope this helps. MCB 17:43, 18 March 2006 (UTC)

[edit] How to post on the discussion board

I read the article about John Brown and wanted to post a question regarding something that was not covered in the article. I went to the discussion board but didn't see how to post a separate question. Help would be appreciated. Thanks.

Toni Williams (e-mail removed)

There are several ways. The best one is to go to the talk page of the John Brown (abolitionist) article, and click on the "+" tab on the top (right next to the "edit this page" tab). Fill in your question, click "Save page" and you're done. -- Meni Rosenfeld (talk) 19:39, 18 March 2006 (UTC)

(by edit conflict) If you're talking about the talk page on the John Brown article, you can click this link and post a question there (fill in the topic in the top box and the question in the lower box, just like you did here). F e tofs ^Hello! 19:44, 18 March 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Number24165

Number24165 (Number24165's Talk Page history) has uploaded numerous images. Many of these images were not tagged or tagged incorrectly with the NoRightsReserved tag. Some even have an incorrect source ("MYAFN.com"). I have edited some of the tags to "Fair use in," but now, I'm not so sure.

Number24165's images include: [1], [2], [3], [4], [5], [6], [7], [8], [9], [10], [11], [12], [13], [14], [15], [16], [17], [18], [19], [20], [21], [22], [23], [24], [25], [26], [27], [28], [29], [30], [31], [32], [33], [34] -- Win777 21:09, 18 March 2006 (UTC)

Argh. Thanks for bringing this up. If something like this happens again, you should probably take it to WP:ANI instead. I'm going through his image uploads now. FreplySpang (talk) 21:39, 18 March 2006 (UTC)

Looking at his history, he has removed all notices about this and has now blanked his talk page. Looks like AN:I might be the place to go. · rodii · 17:17, 19 March 2006 (UTC)

This user seems to have improperly cited his sources, as well. Examples: [35], [36], [37], [38], [39]. If you check the reference link given, you'll find that little comes from that page and goes into the article, such as names. People's names show up in the article, but not in the reference given. -- Win777 15:15, 25 March 2006 (UTC)

[edit] March 19

[edit] Unable to make a redirect work.

Could someone look at the redirect page that I attempted to make for Colbert_de_Torcy and tell me what I'm doing wrong? #REDIRECT is showing up as a numbered list rather than doing the expected redirection thing.

I tried using the redirect generating button in the toolbar, I tried cutting and pasting from other redirect pages, I read the FAQs about double redirects and all the other stuff.

Let me know.

Sr.Wombat 02:14, 19 March 2006 (UTC)

The problem was the unicode comma (%2C) in the redirect. Instead of %2C, you needed to use the actual symbol (,) otherwise the redirect doesn't work. F e tofs ^Hello! 02:19, 19 March 2006 (UTC)

That fixed it, thanks a lot! Sr.Wombat 02:38, 19 March 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Coordinates

I just noticed that the German Wikipedia has an option where the coordinates of a location are inserted in the upper-right header. Here is one example: [40]. Is this possible in the English version? Sean WI 06:05, 19 March 2006 (UTC)

I wouldnt see a reason why this wouldn't be possible since the wiki's appear to use similar if not the same software. Since I havent seen this anywhere on the english wikipedia, I would suggest you give the idea on the village pump. Tutmosis 13:55, 19 March 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Infobox: Title Inside

Wiki-star: Whats crackin fellow wikipedians? Spring Break is almost over, but it was a blast! Allright you know how in a Infobox the title is usually outside the box like this article? I want to know how do you make the Title within the Box like this article!

Please be as detail as possible!

Thanks! Wiki-star 06:44, 19 March 2006 (UTC)

[edit] language and gender

Hallo, i'm james from uganda,i would like yuo to help me and answer for me this question;how does language reflect gender division and how it creates gender division? thanks james —Preceding unsigned comment added by 212.88.98.165 (talk • contribs)

This sounds like homework to me, in which case, you should do your own homework.
You should ask your question at Wikipedia:Reference_desk/Language instead of here.
I'm guessing it has something to do with words like "he", "she", and "mankind".

--Tifego 07:05, 19 March 2006 (UTC)

[edit] stubs

what should i do if i think ive expanded an article enough for it not to be a stub anymore? for example ive done a lot of work on the article bodicote and im not sure wheather it should still be a stub or not, thanks Thatperson 08:34, 19 March 2006 (UTC)

You would remove it. However, Bodicote does not have a great deal of information as yet and thus would likely be considered by most, still a stub (it is also desperately in need of copyedit). I do not know of any hard or fast rule, but according to WP:STUB, "A stub is an article that's obviously too short, but not so short as to be useless. In general, it must be long enough to at least define the article's title, which generally means 3 to 10 short sentences. Note that even a longer article on a complicated topic may be a stub; conversely, a short article on a topic of narrow scope may not be a stub." For the moment I would leave the stub tag in place until the article has some more depth.--Fuhghettaboutit 08:50, 19 March 2006 (UTC)

[edit] yes is this page being use to post an online game results and why is it on wikipedia then?

yes it looks like this page is a result page for an online game and has no place on wikipedia

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Dragons_flight/AFD_summary/Contested

It's not for an online game summary. AFD stands for Articles for Deletion.Dragons flight seems to be tracking the articles that have been deleted, kept, moved to Wikitionary, etc. Dismas|^(talk) 11:33, 19 March 2006 (UTC)

Well, you could argue that Wikipedia is a huge MMORPG and AfD is just part of that game... enochlau (talk) 11:42, 19 March 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Can text be vertically aligned in tables?

If I've got a table like this:

{| style="height:100px"
| valign="top" bgcolor=#F8FCFF|A
|-
| valign="bottom" bgcolor=#F8FCFF|B
|}

which produces

is it possible to vertically align A and B so that they appear in the top or bottom of their cells, rather than in the middle, so all the empty space appears between A and B? --Sam Blanning (formerly Malthusian) ( T | C | A ) 12:26, 19 March 2006 (UTC)

Is this table fine for you? (I've modified it) F e tofs ^Hello! 13:53, 19 March 2006 (UTC)

Thanks! One more minor question - the answer to this is probably somewhere really obvious, but what's the background colour of Wikipedia pages - that sort of really, really pale blue? I'd like my table to use that colour instead of white so it blends in with the rest of the page. --Sam Blanning (formerly Malthusian) ( T | C | A ) 14:08, 19 March 2006 (UTC)

Man, I'd never think finding the right color would be so difficult(I took one hour at it)! I first tried looking at the source code, but no luck on that! F e tofs ^Hello! 15:12, 19 March 2006 (UTC)

Ouch. Thanks for that. I would have thought that should be somewhere in Help:Table, but as it's on Meta, perhaps it's too specific - I know not all of Wikimedia has the same background colour. I've boldly added it to the page at meta next to the link to 'web colors' anyway, though. --Sam Blanning (formerly Malthusian) ( T | C | A ) 15:39, 19 March 2006 (UTC)

Don't forget that using pale blue to blend in with the background will only work for the (majority of) people who use the Monobook skin. enochlau (talk) 23:11, 19 March 2006 (UTC)

Hmm... in that case there really should be an all-purpose way of making it blend in. But as long as the majority (including me) use monobook... --Sam Blanning (formerly Malthusian) (talk) 22:28, 20 March 2006 (UTC)

style="bgcolor: inherit;" ought to work. Sam Korn ^(smoddy) 22:33, 20 March 2006 (UTC)

Awesome, thanks. (I think I officially deserve the 'spends too much time editing his userpage' userbox now.) That definitely should be on m:Help:Table - adding it now. --Sam Blanning (formerly Malthusian) (talk) 22:52, 20 March 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Partly Protected Pages

Is it possible to partly fully protect a page for an administrator? ...probably not since I have not see such a thing but I am still wondering. What I mean by partly fully protect is fully protect certain sections of a page while the rest leave as semi-protected. For example at the Community portal page, only make the Bulletin Board semi-protected while everything else can be fully protected since their is no reason to edit those other sections unless your an administrator and know what you are doing. So is it possible to do so? Tutmosis 13:51, 19 March 2006 (UTC)

I think that partially protecting pages is not possible. However, as the community bulletin board is on a different page of that of the community portal, that specific case is possible (BTW, the bulletin board is not protected). F e tofs ^Hello! 13:58, 19 March 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Emotional thinking

How to see the problem in different ways and get different solutions for that problem.How to control our emotions in work place —Preceding unsigned comment added by Muthulakshman (talk • contribs)

[edit] I DIDNT DO IT.

I JUST USED THE WEB SITE TODAY FIRST TIME. TRIED TO ENTER A USER NAME TOLD I HAD 6 AND COULD NOT. NOW TOLD I HAVE BEEN VANDALIZING SITE AND NEVER EVEN LOOKED ON THOSE SITES. BOUGHT COMPUTER USED COULD HAVE BEEN PREVIOUS OWNER POSSABLY? PLEASE HELP ME GET MY OWN ID AND CLEAR UP THIS MATTER. EMAIL ME (aol email address removed to protect from spam)

                                   THANK YOU
                                JEFFREY L. SPEARS

It has nothing to do with your computer; it has to do with the IP address that AOL assigns you when you log on. The message you got indicates that someone else recently had the same IP; indeed thousands of people have probably had that IP recently. Wait a bit, then try to register a username again. You can also safely ignore the message on your "talk" page; those messages were left for previous users who got randomly assigned the same IP. Another thing you can try is logging out and then back on; you should be assigned a different IP, perhaps one which has not used up its recent "quota" of new user names. Antandrus (talk) 15:56, 19 March 2006 (UTC)

To get your own login, go to Special:Userlogin. enochlau (talk) 23:12, 19 March 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Peppy Ankylosaurus

What are we going to do about Peppy Ankylosaurus? One or more people keep submitting it on WP:AFC, vandalising both its AfD discussion and the user pages of people who decline its submission. I do not personally watch Yoshi cartoons or whatever it's about, so all my information comes from Wikipedia. So far I've come to the conclusion that it's a fanfic character only and not officially recognised by the copyright holder. If this is the case, it has no place whatsoever on Wikipedia, just as no other fanfic-only character has. I googled for it and got 11 hits, almost half of which came from Wikipedia, the others from places like fanfiction.net, Yoshizilla and DeviantArt. This supports my suspicion that it's a fanfic-only character. Claims like "it exists" are no more good than claims that a Transformers fanfic character I created ten years ago and used in one Usenet-published story exists. JIP | Talk 16:46, 19 March 2006 (UTC)

Maybe we could revert them, warn them and block them if they persist? --Sam Blanning (formerly Malthusian) (talk) 17:22, 19 March 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Additives

I need to know if Glyceryl Monostearate and Magnesium Stearate are produced from animal products or plant material. Maybe from both!

Gary Casey

(email removed to protect from spambots)

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. --Sam Blanning (formerly Malthusian) (talk) 18:48, 19 March 2006 (UTC)

[edit] creating new entry for people with the same name?

hi - I want to make an entry for a British artist called Paul Graham, but that name already links to a web designer of the same name who has his own entry. how do I get around this duplication and point linking articles, eg in 'Arts' to the right Mr Graham? —Preceding unsigned comment added by Peegeenyc (talk • contribs)

You would have to create the page with a more specific name, like Paul Graham (artist). F e tofs ^Hello! 20:02, 19 March 2006 (UTC)

This is discussed in length at Wikipedia:Disambiguation, specifically at [41]. You probably want to move the current page to Paul Graham (web designer), create your page on the artist at Paul Graham (artist) and make Paul Graham link to both, with the template {{dab}} at the bottom. Sam Korn ^(smoddy) 20:08, 19 March 2006 (UTC)

Don't call it Paul Graham (web designer), though, because Paul Graham is not primarily a web designer. He's a programmer, entrepreneur, and author (and, yes, artist). Original poster, are you thinking of Paul Graham (photographer) maybe? · rodii · 21:42, 19 March 2006 (UTC)

Oh—you created that yourself. Well done. However, I assume that you are Paul Graham, so I would caution you against much involvement in an article about yourself. Please see WP:AUTO for more. · rodii · 21:52, 19 March 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Accounts in different languages

Do I have to create separate accounts for two different language editing? It seems that I cannot use one account for both languages. Mosharaf Kabir 20:15, 19 March 2006 (UTC)

You're right. F e tofs ^Hello! 20:17, 19 March 2006 (UTC)

It's planned to eventually bring in a centralised log-in system, but there are several difficulties in doing this. For example, some users use different names on different accounts. Another issue is that many people might already be using the same name on different wikis (for example, someone called "Example user" on the English Wikipedia might be totally separate from the person called "Example user" on the French Wikipedia. --Kwekubo 00:18, 22 March 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Dysentery

For the lastest article on dysentery. Can you tell who was the publisher, where ti was published and the author. this is for my assignment.

Do you mean our latest article on Dysentery? If you want to cite it, see Citing Wikipedia - as every article has multiple authors, it's complicated. --Sam Blanning (formerly Malthusian) (talk) 23:23, 19 March 2006 (UTC)

In the "toolbox" to the left of the article, there should be a link called "Cite this article". That will give you citations in various citation formats (MLA, APA, etc.). -- Creidieki 00:06, 20 March 2006 (UTC)
(I've left note on user's talk page.) -- Creidieki 00:13, 20 March 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Align Text Right

Wiki-star: Whats crackin folks? I'd like to know how do you align the text right with it's image.

You know when you thumb an image, and then you either put it in the center, left, or right? Well, what if you pit the image to the right, how do you start the text on the right as well? Usually the text will start to the left.

Thanks! Wiki-star 23:46, 19 March 2006 (UTC)

Do you mean the image caption or all the text on a page? --Cherry blossom tree 00:08, 20 March 2006 (UTC)

Wiki-star: All the Text. Not the image caption.

68.201.230.144 01:30, 20 March 2006 (UTC)

This is one way to do it, though it isn't recommended in most cases. Text should usually be allowed to align left, so if you try to right align a whole article you will probably be reverted. --Cherry blossom tree 12:59, 20 March 2006 (UTC)

CBT speakes the truth. Text should rarely be right-aligned (except sometimes in tables) or centered (except in titles, wedding invitations or fancy restaurant menus) or justified (unless there's an expert typographer involved). · rodii · 13:58, 20 March 2006 (UTC)

I agree. There seem to be rather too many questions from people who want to specify the exact font, size, color, text layout, alignment etc. of articles. Is there a Wikipedia policy that we can refer to that articles should not be jazzed up visually, but written to a completely standard layout? Printed encyclopedias don't allow authors to choose a font or alignment, and if it wants to look "professional" why should Wikipedia? Even user pages, which are supposed to be for the benefit of the community, not the vanity of the creator. Notinasnaid 14:05, 20 March 2006 (UTC)

[edit] March 20

[edit] Help pages hosted on Meta

Several of the pages in the Help hierarchy don't seem to be very user-friendly for Wikipedians, because they're copied directly from the Meta pages. Is there a page somewhere that explains why help pages are hosted on Meta, and how to change this for an individual page? I was looking at Help:Recent changes, for example, and instead of giving practical advice that's specific to the English Wikipedia, it spends time talking about Mediawiki and other concepts that endusers shouldn't have to be exposed to. I'd like to spin it off from the Meta page, but neither that page, the talk page, or the page on Meta explains how to do that or whether it would be appropriate or appreciated. -- Creidieki 00:05, 20 March 2006 (UTC)

The theory is that the same help page will serve for Wikipedia, Wikinews, Wiktionary and all the others. What kind of things were you thinking of including? Actually, this would porbably be better brought up at m:Help talk:Recent changes. --Cherry blossom tree 00:11, 20 March 2006 (UTC)

Well, at the moment, that page seems to be both "description of Mediawiki features for Mediawiki administrators" and "description of Wikipedia features for Wikipedia endusers". It does a pretty good job of the first, but not really at the second. Am I correct that it's being used for both tasks? What would be the best way to split off a description meant for endusers? -- Creidieki 00:19, 20 March 2006 (UTC)

Yeah, I see what you mean. If anything that article should cover just the Wikipedia stuff, with another page for the general Mediawiki stuff. If you bring it up at the main Help:Contents page (which links to Help:Recent changes]]) then people who sort out the help pages might see it there.--Cherry blossom tree 00:35, 20 March 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Languages and duplicate accounts

I am already logged into the Spanish language Wikipedia. Do I have to create a different account for the English version?

Yup. One day, we will have a single unified login for all the projects. This day, however, does not seem to be coming very fast... Shimgray | talk | 00:14, 20 March 2006 (UTC)

[edit] how can i know the author's name of the articel

how can i know the author's name of the articel?02:00, 20 March 2006 (UTC)69.140.228.254

Since Wikipedia is a wiki, there is no one author for any article since many people contribute to each article. If you have a question or comment on an article, it is best to leave it on the talk page of the article, where all contributors can discuss. -- Nataly a 02:11, 20 March 2006 (UTC)

If you click the "history" link at the top of the page, you can see who contributed to an article. You can also use TDS' article contribution counter. For example, history of Sun and TDS' tool view of Sun. — ApolloCreed ^{(comment) (talk)} 04:02, 20 March 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Adding anon contributions to contribution history

Before I registered I made some anonymous edits. I remember seeing that there is a way to request having these contributions added to your contribution history, but now I can't find what it was. Could you remind me? Lambiam ^Talk 03:39, 20 March 2006 (UTC)

I'm afraid that's not possible anymore. It used to be possible, but it took up too much time for the developers. Henrik 08:42, 20 March 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Talk page archives

When is it appropriate to archive one's talk page? Does the process involve anything other than a simple move and then a link on the new talk page? Thanks! Isopropyl 06:22, 20 March 2006 (UTC)

You can read about the guidelines for archiving article talk pages here: Wikipedia:How to archive a talk page. The 'rules' for your own talk page are much more relaxed, you can do whatever you prefer. It might be preferable to cut-and-paste the contents into the archive rather than move the entire page, that way, the entire edit history is preserved in one place. However, that's a minor quibble at best. — QuantumEleven | (talk) 06:46, 20 March 2006 (UTC)

Thanks! Isopropyl 06:53, 20 March 2006 (UTC)

It's common to archive when the page gets too long, but a lot of people archive earlier when they feel like it. - 131.211.210.16 12:08, 20 March 2006 (UTC)

[edit] question on physics.

i want answer of following questions. q1>two similar balls, each of masss m are hung from two silk threads, each of length (l). the balls are given similar and equal charges q. what is separation between the balls in equillibrium situation?

i am giving engineering cet in mumbai in maharashtra. it is common entrance test. it contain hsc science syllabus. i have to do it own without any class. please guidance me.

i have to do more practice in mathematics and calculus

i have problem in conics, vectors and geometry and integration. please provide me sutable sites for it that my study become easy.

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. Henrik 08:39, 20 March 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Future of Wikipedia

Isn't there a place for discussing the future of Wikipedia? I've been looking around something awful but such a place dosn't seem to exist. Is there no plans for conceptually developing Wikipedia? Is this the model? I've heard several users come up with great ideas to improve wikipedia but I can't find the "portal" or whatever for this - which is weird since there are portals or work groups for pretty much anything else i.e.. WP:ESP, WP:HOPE, Wikilove. Celcius 11:09, 20 March 2006 (UTC)

The Village Pump has a section for proposals, but mainly new ideas (if they are sufficiently different from existent procedures and projects get their own page for fleshing out the idea and discussing it before it goes live. - 131.211.210.16 12:11, 20 March 2006 (UTC)

To clarify: No, this is definitely not the model. Wikipedia is very young, and is still constantly evolving. In fact, the amount of new ideas is so large that no page can centralize the discussion of all of them, so as mentioned, each one gets its own page. -- Meni Rosenfeld (talk) 18:09, 20 March 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Request for info

Hello,

This is Kiran from ESS Solutions LLC, i am looking for the images like Plats like this please click on this link http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Recorded_Plat_Survey_System i need the plats images i am unable to search this in the website for dirrerent for different parcels for US States, so please guide me how to retrieve the images like this from this web link.

Looking forward for an early reply,

Kiran

Wikipedia is an encyclopedia, and just contains this sample image. To save this sample image you can do as you would for any web image; how you do that depends on your browser. Do you have any further questions about editing or reading Wikipedia? Or do you need more advice on how to save pictures in your browser (if so, what is your browser)? Notinasnaid 11:50, 20 March 2006 (UTC)

Block and lot maps (often called "land tax maps") for specific locations in the U.S. are accessed at different government agencies depending on the location sought. Note that some areas of the country do not use this system at all. In New York City, for example, they are maintained by the Survey offices of the City Registers of each of the five boroughs. You can find out this type of information for most counties of a state by contacting the main court of the county in the state in which the land you want the map for is located. This is the various Supreme Courts in New York, the analogue of which is probably the civil, district or county court of a county in many other states. --Fuhghettaboutit 11:54, 20 March 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Swiss Cottage article/image

I have edited the article on Swiss Cottage, and wanted to include an image to strengthen my point. I have managed to upload the image, but not on the correct page.

If you look at my contributions you'll see the image on a separate page - Swiss Cottage 02.jpg

The image is not copyrighted, and was owned/used by my now deceased father, colored in by my mother.

Grateful if you could incorporate it into the Correction I've put in brackets in the main article.

Thanks

Tony Papard

To include an image in an article, you should insert the text [[image: Swiss Cottage 02.jpg]] into the article at the appropriate point. I'll add it for you and merge your information into the article.--Cherry blossom tree 22:49, 20 March 2006 (UTC)

[edit] New template: where should it go?

I created a template, Template:Userify, for gently letting newbies know about the difference between user pages and main pages. My questions:

1. Is there something else like this?
2. Could this template be improved?
3. What are the best Wikipedia: space pages on which to "advertise" this template, so that other recent-changes patrollers and Anti-Vandalism people learn about it and use it?

Thanks! --M @r ē ino 21:04, 20 March 2006 (UTC)

How about listing it in Category:User warning templates, at Wikipedia:Template messages/User talk namespace or alerting Wikipedia:WikiProject user warnings ? --Cherry blossom tree 22:39, 20 March 2006 (UTC)

- Thank you, Cherry! I have done all three, and I'm feeling very Wiki-patriotic. --M @r ē ino 00:10, 21 March 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Page not appearing

I recently created two pages (Malmonde and Axel Rudi Pell), and they both work when I search for them in the search box on the left, but not when I search for them in the google/wikipedia toolbar in my browser. Is this a lag time problem from the toolbar, or do I need to do something for them to appear? Thanks! --IronChris 21:15, 20 March 2006 (UTC)

The Wikipedia Search (as opposed to Go) function only updates periodically (every few weeks) for performance reasons. Google will not find the page until it has been spidered by their, er, spidering machine. This is also not immediate, but (I think) it is helped if you make relevant links to your articles from other articles. --Cherry blossom tree 22:44, 20 March 2006 (UTC)

[edit] FLAGGING PAGES for biased opinions.

How do you flag pages on Wikipedia? For example, I've seen pages which say things like "This page has been flagged as having a biased viewport" or "the factual accuracey of this article is under examination" etc. How do you do this? —Preceding unsigned comment added by Spuddlesworth (talk • contribs)

See Wikipedia:Template_messages/Disputes, it lists all the things you can enter to make those warnings. –T_if_eg_o^(t) _{00:46, 20 March 2006 (UTC)}

Make sure you explain on the article's talk page (accessible by clicking 'discussion' at the top of every page) why you have added the tag, and be prepared to work out your dispute with the other editors there. If you don't explain what you feel makes the article inaccurate/non-neutral/whatever, the tag may just be removed. The tags are not there to warn other users that the article is bad, but that there is an ongoing discussion with the aim of making it better. --Sam Blanning (formerly Malthusian) (talk) 21:52, 20 March 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Revert history description wrong, wondering what happened?

I found the following today on the Tropical Cyclone article history:

(BOT - Reverted edit by User talk:DavidH (44686996) - reverted to User talk:146.23.68.25 (44671722)).

First, the edit wasn't by User talk:DavidH; I'm DavidH and didn't do the vandalism that was being reverted. Second, why would any edit be listed as being by a user's "talk"? My talk page also has a recent change that was also reverted.

Did the person who did the revert just type in the wrong info, or was this really done by a bot, and if so, why is the description wrong, and why the revert to a version before my edit?

I had done an edit to this article, then a vandal erased the whole article and left just a vulgar exclamation, then the person/bot reverted, but to the version just before my legit edit. Can someone take a look and let me know what happened and if the history can be made more accurate? Thanks -- DavidH 21:50, 20 March 2006 (UTC)

That's a messed-up bot. Complain at User talk:Tawker. · rodii · 22:23, 20 March 2006 (UTC)

Thanks, I got a note from Tawker and read up on the bot. Yep, there's been a problem, but I got the right version saved now and I'll go back to boldly editing where I was. DavidH 00:30, 21 March 2006 (UTC)

[edit] linking

what kind of permission do i need to link to your site from a personal site?

To link? None. That's the nature of the web. · rodii · 22:16, 20 March 2006 (UTC)

You can link to a particular article, or heading within it, or for that matter to the Wikipedia mainpage SailorfromNH 02:47, 21 March 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Robots and Jargon

ROBOTS: I keep noticing robots that do certain types of editing and leave very cryptic notes in the History of the pages they edit. For example: KocjoBot (robot Adding: sl). What are these robots? Are they explained anywhere? What does Adding:sl mean? Is there a list of the robots somewhere that tells us what each robot does? Can the robots be re-programmed to spell out what they do rather than using jargon like Adding:sl?

JARGON: I keep running into jargon such as the Adding:sl by a robot and NPOV and RTFA in some Talk page discussions. Is there a page somewhere that explains all of the jargon terms that the more experienced Wikipedians keep using? Thanks, - mbeychok 05:20, 21 March 2006 (UTC)

Adding SL probably refers to putting a language category tag or some other bit on a bunch of pages. The description could certainly be more helpful. NPOV is the big principle -- "Neutral Point of View." See WP:NPOV. RTFA -- Request for Featured Article status? I'm not sure where all the jargon is explained, but try the Village Pump WP:VP, a place to ask and discuss insider stuff with Wikipedians. -- DavidH 00:35, 21 March 2006 (UTC)

Wikipedia:Project shortcuts and Wikipedia:Edit summary legend for edit abbreviations, List_of_Wikipedias for language abbreviations like sl and Wikipedia:Bots for a list of those. Rmhermen 00:49, 21 March 2006 (UTC)

Rmherman: Thanks, that was just what I wanted. - mbeychok 05:20, 21 March 2006 (UTC)

Also see: Wikipedia:Glossary. All the Wikipedia terms you ever wanted to know. — QuantumEleven | (talk) 13:55, 21 March 2006 (UTC)

RTFA usually stands for "Read The Fucking Article" and is pretty uncivil. Not really Wikipedia jargon, nor is it likely to go over well here. · rodii · 03:21, 21 March 2006 (UTC)

Although "RTFA" is somewhat abrupt, I don't think those coming from the hacker community take it as uncivil: Rather, it basically means "This has already been explained in a manner far better than I can reproduce here, and you will gain a better understanding quicker by using the references rather than carrying on this conversation." Kundor 06:23, 21 March 2006 (UTC)

This is just a wiki version of RTFM. —WAvegetarian•_{_{CONTRIBUTIONS}}^{^TALK}• ^{^EMAIL}• 01:55, 22 March 2006 (UTC)

[edit] March 21

[edit] Tiamat

In the entry on Tiamat, you link Tiamat (THE Mother of All Living) with the Hebrew Hawa (Eve), citing the Genesis description of Eve as 'mother of all living'. The appelation sounds alike, but I question its accuracy.

The Eve appation clearly means 'mother of all living [humans]', whereas the Tiamat appelation clearly includes all of life as we currently know it, and quite a bit of life that we do not know (she is said to have spawned human-beast hybrid monsters and given birth to all the gods as well as providing the 'stuff' of which 'man' was made. If I am not mistaken, Tiamat was a direct ancestor of Marduk, who is said to have created humans out of her flesh. This implies material (literally) link rather than descent. Eve was created by a God (names vary according to tradition) as a physical, human mother of a particular lineage.

As such, the analogy linking them would, to me, appear to be erroneous and highly misleading. If the Hebrew Hawa concept (which I am not too closely familiar with - yet) is significantly different from the Eve of Genesis, then that reference should be made - not the Genesis appelation which sounds the same, but is demonstrably not.

Put it into current, scientific language, the descriptions of Tiamat and the Eve of Genesis might be: Tiamat would correspond to the prmordial ooze, that first flicker of life, perhaps a single-celled organism, that divided over and over till its far descendants became all the varied species that populate our planet while Eve would represent the prototypical first woman of the Homo Sapiens Sapiens species, multiplying over and over till her human descendants filled the Earth and sent emails picking apart Wikipedia definitions of Tiamat. So, one divides while the other multiplies....

Would you like help clarifying your entry?

Sincerely, Alexandra Belaire —This unsigned comment was added by 70.29.62.127 (talk • contribs) .

I've copied this to Talk:Tiamat, where it might better be addressed. --Christopherlin 03:21, 21 March 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Person what I am

I am always looking for most mysterius existence of myself. The reality of so called ego who is concluded by cerebral nerve-scientist as whole of brain. That is brain equal heart and equal ego. Is it true ? Or it is rather belonging to something great of objectivism.

Yes, this is precisely correct. Well done. · rodii · 03:18, 21 March 2006 (UTC)

I think I'm missing something here. –T_if_eg_o^(t) _{00:46, 20 March 2006 (UTC)}

No, nothing is missing, it merely has the appearance (or should that be non-appearance?) of missingness. Jamse 11:21, 21 March 2006 (UTC)

I think of it as the absence of appearingness. · rodii · 12:39, 21 March 2006 (UTC)

[edit] How do I vote for an article nominated for deletion (AfD)?

Please help! I have navigated the Wiki site for several hours now attempting to find out how I may vote to either keep or delete an article in the AfD. I cant find any button or process for adding my "Keep/Delete/Merge" vote! Why is this so hard? Is it to keep the "sock puppets" from mass-voting? Is there a button I should be using or is there a difficult code/tag I need to learn? —This unsigned comment was added by Encise (talk • contribs) .

Simply edit the section and add *'''Keep''' (or delete, or whatever) after all the other votes. AmiDaniel (Talk) 03:01, 21 March 2006 (UTC)

After that, you can then add an explanation for your vote and sign with ~~~~ AmiDaniel (Talk) 03:02, 21 March 2006 (UTC)

Remember that Articles for Deletion is a discussion instead of just a mere vote (which is why it was renamed from Votes for Deletion). Adding a reason in line with Wikipedia policies will make it more likely people will agree with you and gives your opinion more weight. Be sure you read up on the appropriate policies before you enter into AFD discussions. - 131.211.210.14 08:33, 21 March 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Quotations / Block quoting?

Is there a way to to a block quote for an extended quotation? Please respond on my talk page as well. Thanks. --Hyphen5 03:39, 21 March 2006 (UTC)

Just type <blockquote>quotation text</blockquote>. --Fuhghettaboutit 03:47, 21 March 2006 (UTC)

[edit] what things cost in 1845

I am looking to find how much things cost people in the year 1845

Jason Jasper

You might find this page useful Current Value of Old Money. In the future. please ask questions such as this at the Reference desk. This page is for questions about using wikipedia. --Fuhghettaboutit 04:46, 21 March 2006 (UTC)

Also, if you want better answers, make sure you ask a complete question. If you want someone to tell you what things cost in 1845, they also need to know what country and currency you are talking about. - 131.211.210.14 08:35, 21 March 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Renaming image on commons

This is probably fairly simple, but I've not done it before and I'd be bound to make a mess, so I'll ask the experts :). There's a picture on WP Image:MountTongariro.jpg. This picture actually shows Mount Ngauruhoe (a vent of Tongariro, but nearly always regarded as a separate mountain). I've just removed it from the Tongariro article and replaced it with a picture of Tongariro itself (which is at Image:Tongariro.jpg). I'd like to change Image:MountTongariro.jpg's name to Image:Ngauruhoe.jpg, but I don't know how - and what's more Image:MountTongariro.jpg is copied from a file in commons which would also need to be renamed. Anyone either able to change it for me or tell me how to go about it? Grutness...wha? 05:57, 21 March 2006 (UTC)

I would have saved the two images, replaced the original image (Image:MountTongariro.jpg) with the correct one, uploading the Mount Ngaurohoe one in a different location. If you have admin powers, or if you know someone who could do that for you, it's as easy as deleting Image:Tongariro.jpg, that you uploaded, and follow the procedure. I don't know if any admin would do this for you with a speedy tag (db or CSD G7), if you explain on the talk page. F e tofs ^Hello! 12:54, 21 March 2006 (UTC)

I do have, but I still don't understand what to do with this. The current Image:Tongariro.jpg is at the right name - there is no such thing as "Mount Tongariro", in the same way that there's no such thing as "Mount Pike's Peak" or "Mount Fujiyama" - it is simply Tongariro. Tongariro.jpg is at the right name - the problem is with the image at the name "MountTongariro.jpg", which I didn't upload. And it's also at Commons and the instructions for dealing with things there is so occult and intractable that I wouldn't dare try to change something there. Grutness...wha? 00:17, 22 March 2006 (UTC)

So why is the title of our article Mount Tongariro? (Fetofs is confused). Yes, Commons is a very obscure place. I didn't help much, did I? F e tofs ^Hello! 00:28, 22 March 2006 (UTC)

Well, you tried :) The article was originally at Tongariro - but that name can also refer to things like the Tongariro National Park. Also it was for a certain amount of consistency - the three volcanoes in the region are usually refered to as Mount Ruapehu, Mount Ngauruhoe, and Tongariro, but the use of the word "Mount" is sometimes attached to (or removed from) all three. Perhaps I should reverse the redirect... Grutness...wha? 01:02, 22 March 2006 (UTC)

[edit] What is the purpose of a Reference?

Wiki-star: Wassup wikipedians! Good to see you all too! I'm trying to understand the reason authors insert "References" within their article. What is the real purpose of it? I see all kinds of writings and all. What is it for? I want to know because it's catching my attention!

Thanks again! Wiki-star 10:28, 21 March 2006 (UTC)

Original research is not allowed in Wikipedia. Everything in Wikipedia has to have been published already somewhere else, somewhere reputable. So, the references tell the reader where to look to check the article is valid. Every Wikipedia article should have references. Eventually, all the articles will either have references, or be deleted because they can't be checked. Notinasnaid 10:34, 21 March 2006 (UTC)

Backing up your claims is a very important part of any scholarly work (Wikipedia being an example of this, but this also applies, in many cases much more stringently, to things like theses, essays, dissertations or other papers). Take an example - I could write that Richard Feynman was born in Los Angeles. You would read this and take it at face value, even though it's completely wrong (he was born in New York). This is no good - if you were doing research (or writing a Good Wikipedia article), everything you write should be verifiable. What does that mean? It means that a reader should be able to see where every bit of information comes from. If you see that the information about the birthplace of Richard Feynman was put in with nothing but the say-so of some guy who goes under the name QuantumEleven, that information is possibly questionable. However, if the information cites a reference (such as a biography of Feynman), then you can trace the information, look up the biography, and find out where the person who wrote it got his info from. Did he know Feynman personally? Does he cite where he got the information about his birthplace from? Is he a reputable, professional writer? All this can help you to decide how good a given piece of information is. If, for instance, the reference to Feynman's birthplace is a copy of his birth certificate, that's very solid info and you can be almost sure that it's correct. Without sources, all you would have would be a collection of random people's opinions on a subject, and no way of knowing how accurate or correct those opinions are.

Is citing references hard, dreary work? Sometimes, yes. But it improves articles immensely, and helps Wikipedia's credibility as an information repository. — QuantumEleven | (talk) 11:04, 21 March 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Javascript tools

I was using FF 1.5.0.1, at Special:Newpages, when I had to exit the browser to use IE. When I restarted the browser, none of my tools in User:Fetofs/monobook.js are working anymore! Do you have any idea of what happened? F e tofs ^Hello! 11:29, 21 March 2006 (UTC)

Were you still logged in? Your monobook.js only is applied when logged in. I hope this helps. --Christopherlin 15:25, 21 March 2006 (UTC)

Sorry, it doesn't... F e tofs ^Hello! 22:31, 21 March 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Template for quotations

A few weeks ago, I recall coming across a Wikipedia page which had a long quote (spanning about a dozen lines or so) typeset beautifully, with large, faded quotation marks inserted into the background, offset from the main text and so forth. I remember looking at the source and saw that it was done with a template of some sort (where the parameter was the text to be typeset). Now I can't find it anymore! Does anyone know what this template might be (a search around the Template and Wikipedia namespaces didn't turn up anything)? Thanks in advance! — QuantumEleven | (talk) 13:46, 21 March 2006 (UTC)

Was it perhaps Template:Quotation or Template:Quote_box? Rasmus (talk) 15:17, 21 March 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Writing and submitting an article

I'm having trouble locating the basic instructions for writing and submitting an article. Can you give me the address of the exact page where the instructions are? I'd love to speak with someone about it! I'm happy to call. Mary Lee Kortes (phone number removed) —This unsigned comment was added by 66.108.37.80 (talk • contribs) .

Wikipedia:Your first article is a good starting point. It says this:

Be bold.
Sign in with your account name. If you do not have an account, you can create one here.
Please don't create vanity pages, advertising, or personal essays.
Be careful about: copying things, controversial material, redundant articles, extremely short articles, and local-interest articles.

What is the topic of the article? It should meet Wikipedia:Notability criteria. I recommend creating an account at the Sign in page. Wikipedia:Why create an account? explains some of the benefits of that.

If you don't wish to create a user account, try Wikipedia:Articles for creation. I hope this helps. Good luck! --Christopherlin 15:18, 21 March 2006 (UTC)

Perhaps it's best for you to start at Wikipedia:Welcome, newcomers and/or Wikipedia:Tutorial. -Mgm|^(talk) 17:27, 21 March 2006 (UTC)

[edit] mathematics

sir..

why integral of cosmxcosnx=90,m=n

=0,m!=n

with limits from 0 to 180(pi)

is called orthogonal property of legendre's polynomial... —Preceding unsigned comment added by 59.163.146.11 (talk • contribs)

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 topic, and ask away. I hope this helps. Specifically on the help desk page, there is a link to the Mathematics reference desk.--Adam ^(talk) 15:45, 21 March 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Edit summary

What is the proper way to enter an IP address into the edit summary so that it will be wikilinked. Double bracketing results in a red link. hydnjo talk 16:27, 21 March 2006 (UTC)

IP addresses are treated like users, so [[User:127.0.0.1]] is probably what you want to do. --Christopherlin 16:43, 21 March 2006 (UTC)

I should have been more specific. I'm looking for the proper way to enter a valid anon's IP address into the edit summary so that it appears as a blue wikilink in the page history. Double bracketing either as [[127.0.0.1]] or [[User:127.0.0.1]] yields a red wikilink in the page history. hydnjo talk 18:40, 21 March 2006 (UTC)

What happens is that when anons are linked to their contribution history, that appears blue (as all contribution histories do). To link that you need [[Special:Contributions/127.0.0.1]]. [[User:127.0.0.1]] links to the user page, which for an anon is almost always empty and therefore red. I believe the admin rollback automatically links to the contribution page in its edit summary, as do entries on page histories. --Sam Blanning (formerly Malthusian) (talk) 18:48, 21 March 2006 (UTC)

OK, I tried [[Special:Contributions/127.0.0.1]] (using a valid anon IP) and did get a blue wikilinked (but rather clunky) Special:Contributions/127.0.0.1 in the edit summary of the page history. So, the secret admin sign is outed, whenever we see a blue and simple IP in the edit summary, it was by an admin rollback. ;-) hydnjo talk 19:39, 21 March 2006 (UTC)

Yeah, but you can still pipe the link like so: [[Special:Contributions/127.0.0.1]] and get 127.0.0.1 in the edit summary. --Christopherlin 20:15, 21 March 2006 (UTC)

Christopherlin, I don't see the difference between what you're calling a pipe link [[Special:Contributions/127.0.0.1]] and what I tried (see my post just above your's) which yielded Special:Contributions/127.0.0.1. hydnjo talk 21:39, 21 March 2006 (UTC)

A piped link is something like this --> MacGyverMagic's contributions (see edit window). Links only get blue when the page it links to exists. - Mgm|^(talk) 21:52, 21 March 2006 (UTC)

So [[Special:Contributions/127.0.0.1|127.0.0.1]] in the edit summary should produce 127.0.0.1 in the page history. OK, thanks all, hydnjo talk 22:07, 21 March 2006 (UTC)

[edit] finding which editor added something

Is there an easy way to find which editor added a particular bit of text to an article (without tediously going through the history and comparing different versions)? Bubba73 (talk), 18:09, 21 March 2006 (UTC)

I don't know if there is, but I have some suggestions (possibly obvious, and if so forgive me) for how to do the tedious process efficiently: copy the highlighted text then click 100 or so hits down on the date and search for the text in that prior version using the find function (cntrl+f). If still there, try one hundred more (of course, depending on how many edits the particular article has total, you might start with 20, 50, 150, 200 etc.). Once you find a version that doesn't have the text, the process of elimination between that version and the last you checked should not take too long using the same method for the in between versions. I'm curious too and hoping someone else has a better answer because I have also sought this out in certain articles--Fuhghettaboutit 18:25, 21 March 2006 (UTC)

I was considering that too tedious. A couple of times (once yesterday), I found something that had been in an article for a long time, which seemed like vandalism to me. But it is too difficult to track down who added something many versions ago. Bubba73 (talk), 18:39, 21 March 2006 (UTC)

I don't believe it's too tedious. If you do it right, with a binary search, it's very likely to take less than 8 page views. -- Meni Rosenfeld (talk) 19:17, 21 March 2006 (UTC)

That's still a lot of work for a human, and something the computer could do better. Bubba73 (talk), 20:53, 21 March 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Discussion tab starts a new article?

I was reading the article for "One for all, and all for one", and clicked on the discussion tab. I got a page that expected me to enter text for a new article. "We don't have an article for "One for all, and all for one", it said.

Is this a bug, or is this how it looks to start a discussion?

TIA,

--Lyle

--216.169.206.170 22:00, 21 March 2006 (UTC)

Discussions (we call them talk pages) are just regular pages (editable in just the same way as regular pages) that are attached to an article. So if you went to the article One for all, and all for one and clicked its discussion tab, it would take you to Talk:One for all, and all for one. As no-one has started that discussion, that talk page doesn't exist. If you just type stuff in there and save, you'll create the talk page for that article, and the above link (and the link in the discuss tab) will change from red (meaning there's no such article yet) to blue (meaning there is now such an article). -- Finlay McWalter | Talk 22:08, 21 March 2006 (UTC)

OK, well that makes sense. Sorry to be so dense as to miss the word "Talk" up there in huge latters. Thanks! LyleG 03:56, 22 March 2006 (UTC)

[edit] I created a page called RFC 2445 wiki-ized

I created a page called "RFC 2445 wiki-ized" but now I can't find it to edit it. I suspect the dash has messed things up. Is there a way to rename the page? Do you have a suggestion for something better than "wiki-ized"? "Wiki version"? "Wiki Format?"

--65.42.35.57 22:32, 21 March 2006 (UTC)

I'm not sure if I understand what your question. Did you create an article on Wikipedia under the name RFC 2445 wiki-ized, which contained the text of the page you have linked to, and now can't find it? If this is correct, I imagine that the article was speedily deleted as a copyright violation as the text of the linked page clearly states "Copyright (C) The Internet Society (1998)." Please clarify if I have misunderstood the question. --Fuhghettaboutit 23:16, 21 March 2006 (UTC)

I have a better suggestion. Don't make self-references in the title to the fact this is a wiki. If we need an article on it, just call it RFC 2445 (it's a redirect to iCalendar now. Please do not copy copyrighted material. Just because it's on the internet doesn't mean it's free to use. - 131.211.210.17 09:34, 22 March 2006 (UTC)

[edit] The browsebar: who uses it?

Categories · Glossaries · Lists · Overviews · Portals · Questions · Reference · Site news · A-Z Index

Who actually uses the above browsebar, and how do we find this out?

Discussion is underway HERE to remove links from it, and to remove the bar itself from many of its current locations, but we don't really have a basis upon which to base such decisions. Do newbies use the bar? Do non-editors who never read talk pages use the bar? Does Wikipedia have any way to gather this kind of data? Any help on Wikipedia's feedback mechanisms would be most appreciated. --Go for it! 23:19, 21 March 2006 (UTC)

Have you tried the Miscellaneous section of the Reference Desk? They specialize at answering knowledge questions there. Yes, this is a joke :) F e tofs ^Hello! 00:26, 22 March 2006 (UTC)

[edit] March 22

[edit] Fixing an accidental anonymous edit?

I accidentally made an edit to the Arfenhouse article while not logged in, and I'm concerned about hackers finding my IP and hacking me. Is there a way for a user in this situation to revert the ownership of an anonymous edit to a registered user? TheGreenHerring 00:18, 22 March 2006 (UTC)

I'm afraid not. F e tofs ^Hello! 00:22, 22 March 2006 (UTC)

You're IP address is one of the most visible things in any online activity. Besides, there's a limited number of IP numbers. If they really wanted to, hackers could just try them one at a time. Instead of trying to hide your IP, try to keep your Windows/Linux/Unix/OSX and browser updated with security patches and don't download or open any trojan horses or other viruses (make sure you have an updated virus scanner and also make sure you back up often). - 131.211.210.17 09:39, 22 March 2006 (UTC)

[edit] cannot create a new account & need a hard -copy manuscript to edit--````

Hi. I would like to sign up and have tried several times without success; the failed log-in window appears. What I would like to do is practise my new editing and proofreading skills,and am happy to edit text wherever I see a need. I know how to volunteer. I would be grateful if anyone has a manuscript in hard copy (of about 10 000 words) that I can practise on, and give feedback to. Margie.

I have no idea why you are having problems opening an account, but you do not presently need to register in order to edit articles. Just go to an article and click on the "edit this page" tab at the top. Clicking here will take you to a collection of articles that have been tagged as requiring copyediting.--Fuhghettaboutit 04:18, 22 March 2006 (UTC)

[edit] my password

My user name is Rlazarowich. I used to log in for almost 2 years without a password because my password was "blank". Suddenly, a few months ago, I no longer was allowed to log in with this method. When I asked for a password to be emailed to me, I received no email. Therefore, I would like to know how I can log in again and what and where my password is. Thanks. --4.233.123.131 04:21, 22 March 2006 (UTC)

Did you included an email adress when you signed up? That's the one the email will be sent to. Make sure you check your spam filters. Sometimes they're a bit overenthusiastic. If nothing works, ask User:Brion VIBBER, the person responsible for this particular issue. I would also recommend you don't ever use blank passwords anymore. They don't offer any protection and they allow people to accidentally guess them and gain access. All it takes is a slip of the finger. - 131.211.210.17 09:45, 22 March 2006 (UTC)

[edit] creating a new article

Having searched for the term "skafolk" and finding no results, I would like to know how to write that entry. I found the edit an entry button, but how do I make a new one?

See Wikipedia:Your first article and Help:Starting a new page for some good info. Dismas|^(talk) 04:57, 22 March 2006 (UTC)

I'm just guessing, but perhaps it's included in the article on ska? - 131.211.210.17 09:45, 22 March 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Editing a Wikipedia

I am clicking on the "edit this page" tab at the top of a Wikipedia page (or on a section-edit link). This brings to a new page with a text box without containing the editable text of the original page.

Try browsing back to the page you were trying to edit. It might have been that someone deleted the page, or that you were editing the bottom section of a page and someone removed (or collapsed) the section, causing MediaWiki to think that you were trying to edit a new section. If you keep having problems, ask here again. Tito xd^{(?!? - help us)} 06:36, 22 March 2006 (UTC)

Which page and which section are you trying to edit? Occasionally, with very long pages with massive numbers of sections, the section numbering gets skewy, and as Tito said, the software may think you're trying to edit a section beyond the last one. In that case, you may have to edit the whole page at once (Edit button at the top instead of next to a section). — QuantumEleven | (talk) 07:16, 22 March 2006 (UTC)

[edit] precautions taken against bird flu

we r doing a project on precautions to be taken against bird flu.i want the information which a 8yr old kid can understand.

Try H5N1 or the reference desk. Alex (+) 07:07, 22 March 2006 (UTC)

(after edit conflict) I was also going to suggest influenza pandemic, but the Reference Desk is your best bet. Note that they won't do your homework for you, but they might give you some pointers. — QuantumEleven | (talk) 07:09, 22 March 2006 (UTC)

[edit] How to divide the page

I want to divide the page into certain number of partitions such that I can edit the required portion of the page only but not the whole page at a time.

You can do this by creating sections, like so: ==Header== See this help page for more info. Alex (+) 07:25, 22 March 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Editing

A line should divide the page into sections such taht if one section is edited the other should not get edited.

Wow, everyone seems to want to know this today. To divide a page into sections, simply write them like this:

==Heading==

===Sub-heading===

===Sub-heading===

====Sub-sub-heading====

==Heading==

That will put the headings in suitably big and bold font, add the section edit button next to each one, and generate a table of contents automatically if there are enough headings. If you want to try it out, copy and paste that text above into the Sandbox. --Sam Blanning (formerly Malthusian) (talk) 10:08, 22 March 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Can I submit my article to be posted on Wikipedia?

Hi,

I was just wondering whether I could post my article on wikipedia website? If so, what are the rules? I would appreciate a quick response.

Thanks & Regards Andy

See Wikipedia:Your first article and Help:Starting a new page for some good info. Dismas|^(talk) 09:03, 22 March 2006 (UTC)

[edit] How to place edit button for editing a section

How can I place a edit button to edit a particular task

You mean the [edit] link next to each section heading? That gets put there automatically for each heading. — QuantumEleven | (talk) 09:17, 22 March 2006 (UTC)

Thank u sir---nirupama

[edit] Editing Infobox's

Wiki-star: Hello once again fellow wikipedians! Today, i want to know something again. In many articles, i realize they have an organized image within a box, like this article. Now, you see how that article has the Front image, with all kinds of description within the box? How do you edit that box?

Same thing with this one. How do you edit their front image? I can't seem to add anything new to the existing image.

Thanks! Wiki-star 10:06, 22 March 2006 (UTC)

Click on the edit link at the top of the page, then look near the bottom of the edit page and you will see a bunch of links to templates. That top template is actually the second listed, Template:DB Character. Click on the link to the template and it will bring you to that template's page. Click the edit link again and you may edit that template. Look at the templates talk page for instructions on its use. Dismas|^(talk) 10:17, 22 March 2006 (UTC)

[edit] How/where to rename a template?

Template:LabourPartyPresidents needs renaming to LabourPartyLeaders or somesuch. Can someone do this and/or explain/point to how to do this? Thanks. Carcharoth 12:28, 22 March 2006 (UTC)

You can click on the "move" tab (the equivalent to "rename"), to the right of the edit button. See Help:Moving a page for more info. However, the move tab may not appear to new users. F e tofs ^Hello! 13:47, 22 March 2006 (UTC)

That will leave a redirect from the "LabourPartyPresidents" template name to the new name. Should I just move it and then nominate the redirect for deletion? I don't think the title "Labour Party President" exists, though the title "Labour Party Chairman" does, and was once held by the leader as well (today, they are separate roles). Also, are all templates CamelCase, or is this just a very old template? ie. Should I move it to a "Labour Party Leaders" template rather than a "LabourPartyLeaders" template. Also, does the phrasing of templates matter as much as the names of articles? ie. would "Labour Party Leaders" or "Leaders of the Labour Party" be preferred, and is it necessary to put "UK" qualifiers in the template name to distinguish from other countries, as is done in article namespace? Carcharoth 08:19, 23 March 2006 (UTC)

You can move it, edit the articles using it, and then nominate the redirect for deletion. Or you can just leave the redirect alone; one more orphan redirect scarcely matters. As for the name, any of your suggestions will do, but it doesn't really matter much — the naming conventions are much less strict for templates than for articles, since template names are not normally visible to readers. —Ilmari Karonen (talk) 22:24, 23 March 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Correct Licence information for photographs

Good day. I am an amateur photographer with a large database of photos I have taken myself. I would like to upload some of the photos for various articles, specifically buildings and other sights for places which I have been to. For example I have a picture which I would like to upload for this article Gediminas Castle of the castle itself. I have been reading the licencing information and I have been struggling to choose the correct licence for the image. I amobviously the original owner of the work, but I would like to have the photo available for use whereever within wikipedia. How do I tag it correctly? Thank you Tyhopho 13:43, 22 March 2006 (UTC)

Wikipedia is released under a free license, so the image must be also released with a free license. You can upload the image and the click on the edit button to insert one of these tags: {{GFDL-self}}, {{cc-by-sa-2.5}}, {{pd-self}} or {{No rights reserved}}. Follow the links I've given if you want more info about each of the licenses. F e tofs ^Hello! 13:50, 22 March 2006 (UTC)

To emphasise, you must release the photo for use by anyone (subject to certain license conditions, if you choose). You cannot limit use to Wikipedia. Notinasnaid 14:15, 23 March 2006 (UTC)

[edit] enquiry for email address of chief justice of india

plz intimate the mail id or contact no of chief justice of india to this user —Preceding unsigned comment added by RSYADAV (talk • contribs)

[edit] External links

Is it appropriate to link from an article to an external discussion board / forum on the same topic? Quarkstorm 15:08, 22 March 2006 (UTC)

That depends. Which article, which forum? Most of the time the answer is no, though. Very few discussion board add enough quality information to an article and the first and foremost criterion is site quality. If the forum has a parent site, it's a better idea to link to the parent site and have the readers find the forum from there. - Mgm|^(talk) 19:12, 22 March 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Searching

I just created an article about The Mirror, but when I search either Wikipedia or Google for it, it doesn't come. This happened before, in my article Zaib-un-nissa Hamidullah, but that now appears. Also, some pictures of Zaib-un-nissa Hamidullah that I uploaded do not appear in Google when I search for Zaib-un-nissa Hamidullah. Please help ASAP, am very worried.--Le Grey Intellectual 15:12, 22 March 2006 (UTC)

The answer is within the question. New articles take a few days to appear in Google search, and a long time (measured in weeks) to appear in Wikipedia search. You can always find the article by typing the exact name and clicking "go" or pressing "enter". -- Meni Rosenfeld (talk) 17:49, 22 March 2006 (UTC)

Oh, okay. Thanks. But wot about the pictures? Does the same rule apply to them?--Le Grey Intellectual 06:00, 23 March 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Editing Included Page?

I see an error on an included page that is on several newspaper pages. I would like to correct it. But I can't find the page which is labeled

Knight_Ridder_Newspapers

The include portion begins with two { and ends with two }

v • d • e

Knight Ridder

Knight Ridder newspapers to join The McClatchy Company
Belleville News-Democrat • The Bellingham Herald • The Biloxi Sun Herald • The Bradenton Herald • Centre Daily Times • The Charlotte Observer • Columbus Ledger-Enquirer • The Idaho Statesman • The Kansas City Star • Lexington Herald-Leader • The Macon Telegraph • The Miami Herald • The Myrtle Beach Sun News • El Nuevo Herald • The Olathe News • The Olympian • The San Luis Obispo Tribune • Fort Worth Star-Telegram • The State • Tallahassee Democrat • The Wichita Eagle

Knight Ridder newspapers to be sold by McClatchy
Aberdeen American News • Akron Beacon Journal • Contra Costa Times • Duluth News Tribune • Fort Wayne News-Sentinel • Grand Forks Herald • The Monterey County Herald • Philadelphia Daily News • The Philadelphia Inquirer • St. Paul Pioneer Press • San Jose Mercury News • Wilkes-Barre The Times Leader

Current McClatchy-owned newspapers
Anchorage Daily News • The Beaufort Gazette • The Fresno Bee • Rock Hill (S.C.) Herald • Hilton Head (S.C.) Island Packet • Merced Sun-Star • The Modesto Bee • Raleigh News & Observer • The Sacramento Bee • Minneapolis-St. Paul Star Tribune • Tacoma News Tribune • Tri-City Herald

If it's two {'s, then it's a template. The page you're looking for is Template:Knight_Ridder_Newspapers. Misza 13 ^{T C} 15:28, 22 March 2006 (UTC)

That was quick!!! Thank you!!!!

[edit] Anonymity

I always sign my entries with four tildes, but I recently asked a rather embarrassing medical question in the reference section: medical/science category under the assumption that it would be anonymous, and not signing with the tildes.

As one of my responses, I was told that my entry was not truly anonymous, and this worries me. Is this true? If so, how can I remove any association between myself and the question asked?

Thanks

I'm afraid this is true - Anyone can look at the page's history, or your contribution list, and see what questions you asked. And there isn't much you can do about it - Only Wikipedia developers can change these things, and I doubt this is sufficient grounds for their intervention. But I don't think you have much to worry about, since it isn't likely that anyone will come upon this information randomly. And even if they do, they don't know you in RL, so what's the problem? If you're really concerned about it, perhaps you can ask your user page to be deleted to remove any connetcion between your Wikipedia and RL identity. -- Meni Rosenfeld (talk) 17:44, 22 March 2006 (UTC)

Perhaps this is a case were a sockpuppet would be useful lol. :)--Adam

^(talk) 20:51, 22 March 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Creative Commons tag for Images

This is a followup question to an earlier one I posted regarding tags for images which I have created. The person who responded dealt with my question completely - however I have a further concern. The creative commons tag supplied allows for commercial use of the image which I do not want. I would like to release my work under this licence [42] but I can't find a tag for it. Any suggestions? Tyhopho 17:33, 22 March 2006 (UTC)

Sorry, but I don't think Wikipedia allows non-commercial use licenses. To quote Jimmy Wales, "non-commercial only licenses are not acceptable for wikipedia and will be deleted" The only CC licenses permitted are listed here, and I'd recommend the one I told you about earlier. Your license is listed listed here, on the banned list off CC licenses. I suppose you were looking for {{cc-by-nd-nc}}, right? F e tofs ^Hello! 19:43, 22 March 2006 (UTC)

Fetofs - you are a font of knowledge and help - i didnt know about that policy but now i do! I was reasonably happy with the tags you suggested earlier but was just looking to nail down the issue of commercial / non commercial, and you have helped in that. thanks again Tyhopho 19:58, 22 March 2006 (UTC)

[edit] March 23

[edit] strategywiki?

i heard that there's a strategywiki-page wich has game-strategies on it.Is this true?

Google is your friend. · rodii · 23:33, 22 March 2006 (UTC)

You're probably looking for this. It's a wiki, but it's not part of Wikipedia. Alex (+) 23:38, 22 March 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Vandalism at Opus Dei

Please help. The Opus Dei article has been vandalized and its hard to open it completely. Thanks. Walter Ching 00:52, 23 March 2006 (UTC)

Could you be more specific? I went through the last several edits and saw no vandalism. Also, this sort of question is probably better asked at the Administrator's noticeboard. · rodii · 02:38, 23 March 2006 (UTC)

Thanks for your reaction, Rodii. And sorry as well. I was shocked as well when I tried to open in another computer. Perhaps it had something to do with my other computer not opening the page due to some computer glitch. Truly sorry, but very grateful for your reaction. Walter Ching 09:10, 23 March 2006 (UTC)

[edit] As a collaboratatively written site, should Wikipedia be used for academic research?

I personally love to look up subjects in Wikipedia for an overview for various topics & current events & often read its articles as a springboard to conduct more research on a new subject.

However, as a site where anonymous, sometimes non-expert, writers colloborate on research, is the Wiki format appropriate for consultation & citation in academic research? I read on another page here that Wikipedia promotes independent confirmation of facts through other sources, but does that render Wikipedia articles sources of information that are to be discouraged from using for academic research?

Many instructors who teach entry-level college courses I have had conversations with tell their students not to consult Wikipedia as a source for their research, because its writers are anonymous & articles are open to the public to edit. But at the same time, a study has shown that Wikipedia has been found to be as accurate as Encyclopedia Britannica.

And finally : ), if I were to consult an article on Wikipedia, but go on to read & cite a source that restates the factual information that I initially read about in Wikipedia should Wikipedia be listed as a source I consulted?

Many thanks for addressing these issues, mspeed

Personally, I use Wikipedia for nonformal research. When doing formal research, if I consult Wikipedia at all, it is only as a starting point to see where to go.

Which is not to say that Wikis have not had success in the academic realm. The biological engineering lab which I am associated with has its own Wiki where information about reactions and reagents and so forth are listed. It's not really oriented towards research but more towards science. If you're interested in this aspect, there's certainly a wealth of opportunity. Hope this helps! Isopropyl 01:28, 23 March 2006 (UTC)

Wikipedia is not a specialist reference nor is it even remotely infallible. We're still not quite as reliable as Britannica even in our best subjects (read the study again!) Besides, the only use for an encyclopedia, any encyclopedia, in academic research is as a starting point. Someone writing an acadmic paper should be digging deeper than that.

A friend of mine had a problem because he was using Wikipedia as a reference in his own subject for his doctoral work, and there was a subtle but important technical misunderstanding in an article he used. This is an excellent example of how not to use Wikipedia.

In answer to your last question.. personally I wouldn't cite Wikipedia if you had another source available. Remember, a Wikipedia article is at best a secondary, and more probably a tertiary source. Most other things you could cite would be secondary or even primary. Isomorphic 02:33, 23 March 2006 (UTC)

I don't allow my (university) students to cite Wikipedia--or indeed any encyclopedia--in part for the reasons given above and in part because it's lazy and I'm trying to get them to broaden their research and not go for the "one source" that gives you the illusion of perspective on an issue. Doing research involves learning to synthesize and coming to a nuanced understanding of the intellectual landscape. Not only does using Wikipedia undermine that, but Wikipedia itself depends too much on simply cherry-picking sources that support the existing POV of an article. I love this place, but it's simply not up to any kind of scholarly standard. It's a good way of getting one's feet wet on a topic, and endlessly interesting, but that's all. · rodii · 03:00, 23 March 2006 (UTC)
If you do use a Wikipedia article as a source, keep in mind a few things:
1. Try to use articles that are referenced, and verify the article with the references it uses.
2. Keep in mind that featured articles have gone through higher scrutiny than the rest, but are not infallible.
3. Don't use it as a single source. Fact-check everything.
4. Cite the permanent link to an article. You can do that by clicing on the "Permanent link" button on the sidebar, or even better, use the built-in citation function by clicking on "Cite this article." Be sure that you check the format of the citation, though.
5. Primary and secondary sources are ideal, so use them first, and then look at Wikipedia if you need to cite something.
6. Also, see our Researching with Wikipedia page for more ideas.

Tito xd^{(?!? - help us)} 05:32, 23 March 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Accuracy

I just wanted to find out some information about the accuracy of some of the content since it is open to the public. Is it all researched before it is posted and are any of the postings just the opinions of an individual?

Actually, that's a matter of debate. According to WP:OR, what's posted should not be just whatever findings happen to be gathered by any one person. You should reference other published and citable works when creating an article. We as editors do our best to try and catch things, but of course things slip through the cracks. If you see a mistake, the policy is to be bold and fix it. Hope this helps! Isopropyl 05:30, 23 March 2006 (UTC)

To put it differently: Since anyone can edit Wikipedia, every piece of text is essentially the opinion of an individual. However, if a piece of text is not appropriate (false, subjective, unverifiable, unnotable...) it can (and usually is) removed by other individuals. The net result is that any fact you see in Wikipedia has probably been scrutinized by many people, and if it survived, it's probably true. The key word is "probably", so you should always be careful and never use Wikipedia as an only source for something important. -- Meni Rosenfeld (talk) 10:25, 23 March 2006 (UTC)

[edit] adding edit button

After the headings are inserted how to add the section edit button next to each one, and generate a table of contents automatically if there are enough headings.

How to add section edit button?

They are added automatically, as are the tables of contents if you have more than 4 headers. If it doesn't appear for you, then it may mean it is something you set in the Preferences for a registered user; in that case, I encourage you to create a free account. You can also force tables of contents to appear in a particular place by adding __TOC__ to a page in the desired place. Tito xd^{(?!? - help us)} 05:05, 23 March 2006 (UTC)

[edit] uploading file in wiki

How to upload a file in wiki as well as uploading an image in wiki.

If you're using the default layout, you'll see a small section labeled "toolbox" on the sidebar to the left. There, you'll find a link to Upload file. Enjoy! Isopropyl 05:35, 23 March 2006 (UTC)

[edit] without using toolbox uploading a file

Is there any wiki syntax to upload a file without using toolbox

Erm, I'm not quite sure what you mean. If you want to upload a file, you need to go to Special:Upload. — QuantumEleven | (talk) 08:27, 23 March 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Chantelle Mitchell

I would like to merge this page with Chantell Newbery because it is the same person.

Hi! A good place to start would be to read the page Wikipedia:Merge, which explains how page merges and moves work. By the way, I do see an article on Chantelle Newbery, the Australian swimmer, but do not see one named Chantell Mitchell or Chantelle Mitchell. Can you point out the one you believe should be moved? Or are you referring, perhaps, to a user page? MCB 07:39, 23 March 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Two questions about contributing to Wikipedia

Hi! There are a few things I'd lie to know: 1. I would be interested in contributing to wikipedia by writing/completing articles and making translations from English and French to Romanian. But if, later on, I will want to mention this activity in a CV, by what means could i prove I am the author of those contributions? 2. Do I need any kind of certificate in order to make translations?
Thank you very much,
Raluca Enescu
Bucharest, Romania —This unsigned comment was added by High Flyer (talk • contribs) 08:49, March 23, 2006.

Hi there! If you want to translate to Romanian, then you'd best visit the Romanian Wikipedia, since on the English Wikipedia we only write articles in English. However, you are more than welcome to also contribue here, and if you want to try your hand at translating into English, take a look at Wikipedia:Translation into English, there are plenty of articles on other Wikipedias which have no equivalent on the English one. You don't need any kind of certificate or anything, just type away! If you make mistakes, don't worry too much, someone will very likely pass by the article in the future.

As for 'proving you're the author', that's easy - sign up for a username (which you already seem to have done), and every time you edit an article, your name will show up on the "History" tab (check out the History tab for this article to see your contribution). However, an article is never 'yours', it is collectively editted by any number of Wikipedia contributors. However, through your username, you can at least showed that you made a contribution.

One last note on usernames - you'll need to register separately for the English and Romanian (and French) Wikipedias. A global login still doesn't exist, however, you are free to use the same username on all if you wish.

Good luck, and have fun! — QuantumEleven | (talk) 08:25, 23 March 2006 (UTC)

[edit] to list my home base job

I don't understand that where i post my classified ad.

Short answer, you don't. See WP:NOT. Are you maybe confusing Wikipedia with http://www.Craigslist.com ? DavidH 09:30, 23 March 2006 (UTC)

[edit] India

Where do I search "On this Day" with respect to Indian events only.

You can't - Wikipedia is by nature a global website and we don't restrict ourselves to sole coverage of one nation or region.

However, there is a large and active community of users over at Portal:India, who maintain a list of India-related news stories, Wikiprojects and more. Go check it out! — QuantumEleven | (talk) 13:24, 23 March 2006 (UTC)

[edit] About login as a user

Dear Sir,

 I have Wikipedia account.What is the difference in using your website with and without login.

Waiting for your reply. My Mail-id : <removed to stop spam>

People who login have benefits like the ability to mark edits as minor, a personal userpage, and several other things. Also, when you have registered for a while you will be able to create new pages instead of editing existing ones. Finally, when you are logged in, your edit will be attributed to you instead of your IP, which is useful if your IP is shared or if you use multiple ones yourself. - 131.211.210.10 13:35, 23 March 2006 (UTC)
(after edit conflict) You can find out all about it at Wikipedia:Why create an account?. — QuantumEleven | (talk) 13:37, 23 March 2006 (UTC)

[edit] ejuculation / sperm ejection....

Dear all,

Thanks for this site. it has been very usefull for us to clear the doubths on various issues and mainly ejuculation. we have been married for 10 yrs. only of late we came to know about ejuculation.

My wife is pregnant (third child) due by may this year. after this we want to go for birth control. 1. My question is if my wife goes for birth control will the ejuculation stop.

2. If i go for birth control will sperm stop ejecting. because i enjoy ejuculation and she enjoys sperm ejection.

3. Which is the safe method. and is it better for me to do birth control or my wife.

awating for your advise.

thanks and regards,

rdgs nelson. Dubai.

(after edit conflict) Thanks for your compliments about Wikipedia. This page is the help desk for problems and questions about using the site - I think your question would be better placed at Wikipedia:Reference_desk/Science. Briefly though, birth control for your wife will not affect your ejaculation at all. A male vasectomy would not prevent your ejaculation, but would prevent sperm from being present in the ejaculate. The birth control article, should have informaiton about which forms of birth control are considered most reliable. Johntex\^talk 15:25, 23 March 2006 (UTC)

That being said, Wikipedia does not give medical advice. See your doctor or other properly qualified health professional. --Christopherlin 20:38, 23 March 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Earth Science

Out of all the natural disasters which one is the most dangerous?165.155.128.153 16:30, 23 March 2006 (UTC)

^(talk) 16:34, 23 March 2006 (UTC)

If a comet hit the Earth, it would all be over. A large meteor impact is believed to have caused the last ice age and the extinction of the dinosaurs. The Black Plague killed a third of the population of Europe during the middle ages. But by far the worst "natural disaster" endured by the human race is the mosquito. The mosquito is responsible for causing more deaths than all natural disasters combined, and itself represents an ongoing natural disaster: worldwide, mosquitoes are estimated to transmit disease to more than 700 million annually, and will be responsible for the deaths of about one in 17 people currently alive. [43] The mosquito genus anopheles carries the malaria parasite (see Plasmodium falciparum). Worldwide, malaria is a leading cause of premature mortality, particularly in children under the age of five, with around 1.3 million deaths annually. Most species of mosquito can carry the filariasis worm, a parasite that causes a disfiguring condition (often referred to as elephantiasis) characterized by a great swelling of several parts of the body; worldwide, around 40 million people are living with a filariasis disability. Most species of mosquito can carry the viral diseases yellow fever, dengue fever, epidemic polyarthritis, encephalitis, Rift Valley fever, and West Nile virus. Fortunately, mosquitoes do not transmit HIV or AIDS. Viruses carried by arthropods such as mosquitoes or ticks are known collectively as arboviruses. West Nile virus was accidentally introduced into the United States in 1999 and by 2003 had spread to almost every state.
Whether or not this answer is acceptable, of course depends upon your definition of natural disaster.
I hope you found this useful, or at least interesting. --Go for it! 19:01, 27 March 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Editing the title of a page and a caption on that page

Wikipedia has the following link:

Image:Henry_Cowell_and_the_Rhythmicon.jphttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Henry_Cowell_and_the_Rhythmicon.jpg

The image is not of Henry Cowell as the contributor DCGeist has stated but of Joseph Schillinger. I'm a historian of Schillinger's life and work and I can attest that it is he.

I have left information at the bottom of Geist's article correcting his information and referring readers to another image of Schillinger at the rhythmicon. This image was used in an article about Schillinger that I wrote for the Smithsonian Institute for the Archives of American Art.

I've tried to contact DCGeist using the email address he left on his contributor page. My message bounced. My questions for you are the following:

1. How can the title of this page be corrected? 2. How can the caption under the image be corrected?

Please contact me on my talk page.

--20:13, 23 March 2006 (UTC)

It looks like DCGeist has responded in the Summary section of that image's page. You may wish to post there in order to attempt to clarify the matter. Also, you can post a message to his talk page; many users prefer that to email. MCB 22:02, 23 March 2006 (UTC)

[edit] reporting poorly written articles

I spent a lot of time looking through the FAQs and was not able to find a bulletin board or other system to report poorly written articles.

I feel that the information supplied at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Contact_us/Article_problem/Poorly_written is not very helpful and can even be considered rude by many users. Imagine its effect especially on someone new to Wikipedia! I wouldn't be surprised if many people spend quite a bit of time searching for a place to report a badly written page and then find that page telling them to correct it themselves. That's frustrating at the very least.

Not everyone has the time, means, knowledge, or interest in correcting an article, but it would greatly improve the quality of Wikipedia if those people could at least report badly written pages. That way, the community would have a list of known problematic pages that others with the time etc. can correct.

Even experienced Wikipedia users find pages that they notice are in very bad shape but that they don't want to or are unable to improve. BTW, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Treaty_of_Asunci%C3%B3n is the page i wanted to report. I don't even understand what the author is trying to say in some parts. We may need someone who speaks Portuguese to figure that out on the basis of the Portuguese original. --Espoo 20:30, 23 March 2006 (UTC)

Perhaps a {{cleanup}} tag could be put on these types of articles. This places the articles in a category where editors can have their attention called to it.--Adam

^(talk) 21:10, 23 March 2006 (UTC)

I will put this article on my ever-increasing to-do list, to improve on it based on the Portuguese version.--Adam

^(talk) 20:49, 23 March 2006 (UTC)

Thanks for the quick answers. Is there any bulletin board or similar place besides this page for reporting bad pages? Any chance of getting such a page and adding info about the cleanup tag you mentioned to this page?: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Contact_us/Article_problem/Poorly_written ? --Espoo 22:42, 23 March 2006 (UTC)

There is no reason to mention the indivdiual articles. This is a help area on how to edit wikipedia. Editors watch the cleanup category and these articles will get improved.--Adam

^(talk) 23:02, 23 March 2006 (UTC)

Without an explanation of the cleanup tag at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Contact_us/Article_problem/Poorly_written most users will not know about it. (I don't dare add the info there because it looks so official.) Even if that page gets that explanation, most will not feel comfortable with such a technical procedure. Wikipedia needs a bulletin board for reporting bad pages and/or a cleanup (report) tab next to "edit this page". --Espoo 23:44, 23 March 2006 (UTC)

I see that you did, in fact, dare to add this info to the page on what to do about poorly written articles. Good for you! This is Wikipedia. When something obviously needs doing, you don't have to ask permission to do it. Isomorphic 06:06, 24 March 2006 (UTC)

Well, there are some official pages on basic policies etc. that one is not supposed to touch or to at least first discuss changes, and i thought this might be one of them.

What about the chances of getting a cleanup button or tab on each page? Most normal users are incapable of dealing with something as geeky as {{cleanup}}.

And what about an easily accessible bulletin board / forum with a link in the main navigation box? Most users no doubt consider the many subdirectories under http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Help:Contents a bureaucratic runaround. Many people like searching through hierarchically organised information, but most users are better at communicating and getting help in more modern, direct ways in a live discussion. --Espoo 07:22, 24 March 2006 (UTC)

The default on Wikipedia is that you can edit anything unless it says not to. Be bold in editing pages has been one of our rules from the start. Even if you really do make a mistake, someone else can easily correct it by reverting to an earlier version of the page. So why be timid?

As for a bulletin board or forum... not sure what you're looking for. This help desk is as close to live discussion as anything on Wikipedia will get. Isomorphic 08:20, 24 March 2006 (UTC)

This help desk is not easy to find. I would guess that most users that click on Help are frustrated by the list they find at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Help:Contents Very few find or think of clicking the unintuitive link Communication when they're looking for a help desk. Their frustration increases a lot due to the erroneous link to a non-existent link "be sure to check the "Where to ask questions" link". I couldn't figure out how to change Communication to what it should be: "Asking questions, Getting in touch, Keeping informed". Even if i do figure it out, this is a good example of a page that normal users are probably not supposed to change because a lot of time has gone into deciding on the current content and on deciding to not have anything else. I wouldn't be surprised if i got angry responses to changing something there. I'll post a comment on its talk page. I also finally found what looks like the right place to propose a cleanup tag/button, the Village Pump. --Espoo 02:12, 25 March 2006 (UTC)

And i also now found just what i was looking for at the beginning of this post, namely a bulletin board or other system to report poorly written articles: Wikipedia:Cleanup. And i already added it to Wikipedia:Contact us/Article problem/Poorly written too. --Espoo 23:19, 30 March 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Hammonds Student Center, Springfield, Missouri

Hello -

The name of the basketball arena at Missouri State University should be listed as Hammons Student Center in the index of College Basketball Venues ... not Hammonds Student Center. In the index, it is listed as Hammonds, although in the actual description it is spelled correctly.

Hi, and welcome to Wikipedia. You can easily make that kind of correction yourself! Please take a look at how to edit a page and give it a try. MCB 22:09, 23 March 2006 (UTC)

[edit] How I can Post an article on Wikipedia

I am new to Wikipedia. I would like to know how I can write or post an article on Wikipedia. I have written an article on Mahatma Gandhi and World. I would like this to be part of Wikipedia. Please explain to me step by step. Thank you. Santosh C. Verma

Please see Wikipedia:Your first article. But you may want to read over our current articles on Mahatma Gandhi and World. Dismas|^(talk) 21:00, 23 March 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Template

Hi there, is there some sort of tempalte that I can use to put on the talk page of an article stating that I have permisson from a certain website to put their content onto Wikipedia? I am doing this for Morris Family becuase he is in this situation, and is having trouble. If there isn't, I assume just typing it onto the talk page will be fine. Thanks! Kilo-Lima|^(talk) 21:16, 23 March 2006 (UTC)

Please read using copyrighted work from others, and if you decide to use the work and need to have it released under a free license in order to be able to be included in Wikipedia, follow the procedure explained in the Request for Permission page. Cheers, MCB 22:16, 23 March 2006 (UTC)

[edit] How do I delete a contribution I have uploaded (photo) ?

How do I delete a contribution I have uploaded (photo) ?

Add "{{db-author}}" to the image description page. An admin will come along and delete it. —Ilmari Karonen (talk) 22:14, 23 March 2006 (UTC)

[edit] How can you rename a template?

Continuing the seemingly stalled discussion at Wikipedia:Help_desk#How.2Fwhere_to_rename_a_template.3F...

I've have been reading Help:Template and looking over the Templates for deletion instructions, but can't see anything about how to ask for a template to be renamed. It doesn't help that the Help:Template instuctions don't even mention the template deletion process! For the template in question, Template:LabourPartyPresidents, a simple redirect won't do as the original name is misleading. If it was renamed, or just deleted and created again under a new name, would I need to redo the pages that use the template? There are 17 such pages, shown here (excluding where I've linked to it in trying to get help for this). Carcharoth 22:07, 23 March 2006 (UTC)

You can rename a template the same way you'd rename an article: by using the "move" tab, or if that doesn't work for some reason, by posting a request at Wikipedia:Requested moves. This won't automatically change the articles that use the template, of course — you'll either have to do that manually, or ask someone with a bot for help. For 17 pages, I'd recommend just editing them yourself. —Ilmari Karonen (talk) 22:18, 23 March 2006 (UTC)

Doh! I was getting "move" and "redirect" confused (I'm currently trying to sort out a redirect tangle). Sorry about that. I'm clear now on what needs doing. Thanks for the help. Carcharoth 22:33, 23 March 2006 (UTC)

OK, we now have Template:UK Labour Party Leaders and Template:LabourPartyPresidents. Everything important links to the former, which should also contain the history from the latter, now redundant template, so I'll put the redundant one up for deletion. Carcharoth 23:19, 23 March 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Accredited College?

Is Nichols College in Dudley, MA. an accredited college?

email removed

[edit] March 24

[edit] How to paste the image from my computer

Dear Sir, I have edited and added more imformation in the page named 'Bhadravathi'(link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bhadravathi#History).Now I want to paste the Image to this page. The source to this image is in my computer. Send me more information about this to: <email removed>

Hello, and thank you for contributing to Wikipedia. To paste an image into Wikipedia, first you must upload the image at this page. Then, please read this help page which will tell you how to place the image in the article. By the way, I removed your email address as placing it on this page means that it will receive a lot of spam. Thelb⁴ 08:15, 24 March 2006 (UTC)

Read more: Wikipedia:Picture tutorial

[edit] Account Problem

I registered here as the The Pride of New York on February 7th. I forgot my password and am currently unable to log into my account. I tried to request my password, but it hasn't turned up in either the Inbox or Bulk Mail. Is there anyway I can retrieve access to my account?

NOTE: I posted here previously on this issue, but didn't receive help.

I'm afriad there isn't. Your only options are trying to recall your password, or creating a new account. In any case, remember to write down your passwords in the future, or choose passwords which you won't forget. -- Meni Rosenfeld (talk) 10:42, 24 March 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Editing Infobox's: Version 2

Wiki-star: Hello once again fellow wikipedians. Excellent to be back on the site! My last version of this question, was answered, and i really appreciated that! But i was still confused as to what i really need to do. So, let me ask again!

I'd like to know how do you insert a new data into an existing template or infobox. I tried to insert a new data, but nothing showed up. Could you please explain thoroughly. Leave out zero information please! Thanks again!

Wiki-star 08:19, 24 March 2006 (UTC)

You just have to access the template page (Usually on the Template: namespace) and edit it normally. I don't see what's the problem, could you please say what's the template you're trying to edit and what's the problem? F e tofs ^Hello! 12:54, 24 March 2006 (UTC)

Wiki-star: Well how do you access the template page? What is the template page? If can, just give me a link that will answer my questions. You're just being even more confusing not explaining yourself!

Wiki-star 21:01, 24 March 2006 (UTC) Thanks!

I'm a little confused as to what you mean by "insert new data". The template you were referring to before looks like this (from the Vegetto article):

{{DB Character|

RefName=Vegetto|

Appears in=DBZ|

JapName=ベジット|

RomName=Bejitto|

AniName=Vegito|

MangaName=???|

AltName=Vegetto Vegito Bejitto Vejītto|

CanonTo=Original [[Manga]]|

FirstApp=Issue #??? (DBZ Issue #??)|

Race=[[Saiyan]] ([[Fusion (Dragon Ball)#Potara Earring Fusion|Fused]])|

FamConnect=<li>[[Vegeta]] (''fusee'')<li>[[Son Goku (Dragon Ball)|Goku]] (''fusee''):

}}

If, for instance, you wanted to add a "FirstApp" (which I'm guessing is the first appearance of the character), you would just remove the question marks that are there now and put in whatever issue # that was appropriate.

If you wanted to add another field to the template, for instance the character's age, you would need to edit the template itself, not just that character's article. The template can be found here. This will add an "age" field to every article that uses that template. The coding for the template itself can be quite complicated. The Help file for templates is at Help:Template. There is quite a bit of info there. Dismas|^(talk) 23:05, 24 March 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Meanings of words

wher to get meanings of words i type

In a dictionary, of course! F e tofs ^Hello! 13:05, 24 March 2006 (UTC)

Also try Wiktionary

[edit] Subcategories

Why is Category:Joan of Arc a subcategory of Category:Historical figures portrayed by Shakespeare? Is that correct or a mistake? Of course the Joan of Arc article should be (and is) in the Shakespeare category. AndyJones 14:08, 24 March 2006 (UTC)

Hmm. Joan of Arc was portrayed by Shakespeare. Is the argument that not everything relating to Joan of Arc is of interest to people who are interested in Shakespeare? I guess that makes sense. So the remedy is to put Joan of Arc in that category but remove the subcategory from that category. Am I understanding you correctly? ... OK, I removed it--also, by the same logic, Category:Julius Caesar. We'll see how that goes over. · rodii · 15:22, 24 March 2006 (UTC)

Thanks, works for me. As you rightly say, Joan of Arc belongs there, as does Julius Caesar, but I couldn't see any rationale for their associated categories being there. Let's see if anyone questions their removal. Otherwise nothing more to do, I think. Thank you. AndyJones 20:22, 24 March 2006 (UTC)

[edit] page editing

i made a page on the band FM BAts it says that it is up for deletion what can i do to make it proper for display? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 204.100.220.2 (talk • contribs)

You should add a comment at Talk:FM Bats explaining why you think the band is notable, fix grammatical errors, put it in a suitable category, add links to related subjects, and add the stub notice {{US-punk-band-stub}}. You can remove the {{prod}} notice, it is based on the understanding that no-one objects to the delete. -- Meni Rosenfeld (talk) 16:47, 24 March 2006 (UTC)

According to FM Bats the reason is "non notable band". If that is the case, then it isn't the article that is the problem, but the band. To be kept, a band must be notable as described in Wikipedia:Notability (music). Check that carefully. If it turns out that the band are notable after all, then (a) update the article to include information that shows this (b) make sure the information is sourced (e.g. give a URL to back it up) (c) go to the discussion linked to make this point. Make sure you do all of (a), (b) and (c), otherwise the article is likely to go anyway. After that... well, if the article survives, there are other things to change. For example, you are expected to use mixed case (big and little letters) as appropriate. Good luck! Notinasnaid 16:51, 24 March 2006 (UTC)

[edit] List of user subpages?

How can I get a list of my user subpages? Over a period of time I have created a bunch of them, sometimes as temporary editing spaces for articles, sometimes to preserve a discussion, sometimes just for formatting experiments. I'd like to clean them up, but I don't remember all their names, and can't seem to find a way of listing them. Thanks! MCB 19:20, 24 March 2006 (UTC)

Special:Allpages/User:MCB. Kusma (討論) 19:27, 24 March 2006 (UTC)

Or even better: Special:Prefixindex/User:MCB. Kusma (討論) 19:29, 24 March 2006 (UTC)

Excellent... thank you! MCB 19:31, 24 March 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Changing title

I was just wondering how does one change the name of an article. example: Rialto municipal airport to Rialto Municipal Airport.--Rb26dett 19:46, 24 March 2006 (UTC)

As a registered user, you can click move on the top of the article to make your change.--Adam

^(talk) 20:05, 24 March 2006 (UTC)

Thank you!!

[edit] What to name ogg files for Wikipedia sound

I tried to create the canonicalized form of the article name, or whatever it said, but a message came up saying I couldnt save at that URL. Help please? --Articuno1 21:56, 24 March 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Article name change

I've been editing/re-writing the article on Jeffry Kripal (under the category of American Academics). He requested that I change the article name to include his middle initial; so that the title of the article reads "Jeffrey J. Kripal." I know how to edit the text but what about this? How do I make this sort of title change?

Thank you, Mahamaya1 22:15, 24 March 2006 (UTC)

You would need to move the article. If you have been here long enough the "move" tab should be at the top of the article. Click on that and move the article to the new name. If that tab isn't available to you yet, you can put a request for the article to be moved at Wikipedia:Requested moves. Dismas|^(talk) 22:25, 24 March 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Question on redirects / wikibooks

Question, is it allowable (or even possible) to use #REDIRECT to redirect an article to a wikibooks article? --Xyzzyplugh 23:31, 24 March 2006 (UTC)

No, redirects to wikibooks and other sister projects do not work. They just display a clickable link to the destination rather than automatically sending the user there. --CBDunkerson 00:41, 25 March 2006 (UTC)

I would use {{softredirect}} for a redirect to another project. F e tofs ^Hello! 01:27, 25 March 2006 (UTC)

Shouldn't redirects outside the project be strongly discouraged, even forbidden? The projects need to have a degree of self-containment. External links and links in the See Also section should be fine, but external redirects could cause headaches further down the line. I would suggest writing a short article (maybe based on material from the wikibook), and then reference the said wikibook at the end of the article. Carcharoth 01:33, 25 March 2006 (UTC)

Thanks for the responses. The problem is that we have large numbers of articles on cocktails which are nothing but recipes, lists of ingredients. These have been/are going to be transwikied to wikibooks. There's really no way to expand these wikipedia articles, once the ingredient lists are removed you end up with nothing but "x is a cocktail made with gin" or some such thing, so I'm trying to figure out what to do with them all. I started out Prod-ing them, now instead I'm redirecting them to List of cocktails, which contains links to the wikibook versions of the cocktails. Still not sure how best to handle all this. --Xyzzyplugh 02:39, 25 March 2006 (UTC)

I think that's a fine solution until someone can write a proper article. Redirecting to Wikibooks may cause people to think Wikipedia is a recipe book, or redirecting to wiktionary may cause some people to think Wikipedia is a dictionary. If we can't have an encyclopedia article under a specific title, it should be either a redirect to a Wikipedia page or left empty. - Mgm|^(talk) 11:54, 25 March 2006 (UTC)

[edit] email editing

i have given my email address wrongly and wish to edit it but i could not find where to go and give in the right email.

Go to Preferences and you can set it on the 'User Profile' tab. --CBDunkerson 00:31, 25 March 2006 (UTC)

[edit] March 25

[edit] What links here giving strange result for Ptolomy

At the "What links here" page for Ptolomy (a redirect of a common mis-spelling of Ptolemy) this page is listed: Vijayalaya_Chola. However, I cannot find the word Ptolomy, or a link for that word, in the article. What is happening, and is this normal? Carcharoth 00:58, 25 March 2006 (UTC)

Someone's just corrected it - [44] - it seems that it was a piped link, which is presumably why you didn't notice it. Shimgray | talk | 01:03, 25 March 2006 (UTC)

Um, yes. That was me. :-) I had written this, but had an edit conflict with you. Guess I should be used to questions being answered very quickly here! "Oops! Had a closer look. The Ptolomy was hidden in geographers. As it wasn't visible, there wasn't really a need to correct the spelling, but I did anyway. While I'm here though, how reliable are the "What links here" pages? I know that you have to be careful with templates, because if the template was subst.ed, then you can't really find stuff to correct it. Am I right in thinking that you have to hope that people used subst.ing correctly?" Carcharoth 01:05, 25 March 2006 (UTC)

[edit] different types of visas

what is a visa and how many types of visas provided by immigration department of any country

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. MCB 02:54, 25 March 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Does this mean they are under GFDL?

The new website of Opus Dei says it "offers...audiovisual materials": See [45]. See also [46] Does this mean we can already upload them and that they are under GFDL. Thanks. Walter Ching 02:57, 25 March 2006 (UTC)

What leads you to believe that they are under the GFDL? Each page of both the older and the new web site has a copyright notice at the bottom, "© 2006, Opus Dei Information Office". Simply because the images are provided "on request" to journalists and others does not imply that they are released under the GFDL or any other free license. They would need to explicitly release them under a free license. Please read using copyrighted work from others, and if you want to ask them to release the material under a license we can use, follow the procedure explained on the Request for Permission page. Cheers, MCB 03:13, 25 March 2006 (UTC)

Ok. Now I get it! Thanks. Walter Ching 03:59, 25 March 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Babel Boxes...

Hello,

Could you please give me a hand sorting out my Babel box - I like Francs2000's one, but have no idea how to do it. I also want it to be only one column wide, but not have it bump into other things, like it does the 'inuse' template. I'm new to all this you see, and don't know every single tag available...

--Joe 04:14, 25 March 2006 (UTC)

I made a small change to your user page to get the inuse tag to not butt into the babel tags. Is that what you were going for? Dismas|^(talk) 04:34, 25 March 2006 (UTC)

Thanks, it was useful but what I was looking for was related to userboxes. In the end, I drew my inspiration from the userbox on your User page! --Joe 23:33, 25 March 2006 (UTC)

Well, I'm glad that I could help then! Dismas|^(talk) 02:57, 26 March 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Short paragraphs

I have begun to attempt to bring some order to the pages dealing with Accounting. Many of them are very short and are essentially just a definition of a term e.g., Current assets. Currently all these pages have found their way into the category of Accounting. None of these pages are ever going to develop into an article. I am new to the editing Wikipedia although an old hand in website development. I need some advice on how to merge these short paragraphs into one page without losing the ability to get to a term such as Current assets. Currently, of course, the reader is taken directly to the page. Just making it a part of a page means that they would get every page in Wikipedia with those words. Is there some way to create a glossary of accounting terms? —Preceding unsigned comment added by Oudmatie (talk • contribs)

One option is that you could put them in a list, perhaps List of accounting terms, and then redirect all the articles to that list. Dismas|^(talk) 14:05, 25 March 2006 (UTC)

Or you could make the article into a glossary such as Glossary of accounting terms. After gathering the text of the disparite articles and making into a list or glossary, in order to do make the pre-existing pages into redirects to that list or glossary, simply blank the text of the pre-existing pages and type ''#REDIRECT [[Insert name of glossary page created]]''. Thereafter anyone typing the name of those articles will automatically be sent to your glossary (there's a button at the top of each page when in edit mode labelled #R, which automatically formats this text). In order to see what a glossary might look like and how to format, you could use Glossary of pool and billiards terms as an example. --Fuhghettaboutit 14:55, 25 March 2006 (UTC)

These options may be acceptable, but I don't agree with the premise that "none of these pages are ever going to develop into an article". Topics like current and long-term classification involve more than mere definitions. While there are deficiencies in Wikipedia's accounting coverage, I don't think it would be helpful to remove a large number of useful articles and replace them with a single glossary. An accounting glossary would be fine, but it should not replace existing articles. It can link to them for further information. Rhobite 17:15, 25 March 2006 (UTC)

Second the above and thinking that it was pretty irresponsible of me to have tacitly sanctioned such actions without looking into and commenting on the appropriateness of the proposed blanking of multiple articles by a newcomer. --Fuhghettaboutit 18:01, 25 March 2006 (UTC)

[edit] add my own article?

how do i add my own article? or can i not? —Preceding unsigned comment added by KirkKolar (talk • contribs)

(question was asked by KirkKolar) I don't know the proper method myself. I always just type http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/blahblah (if blahblah is the article's name) in my browser's address bar, this opens a page saying that there is no such article, if there isn't one, and gives an option to create the page. --Xyzzyplugh 04:47, 25 March 2006 (UTC)

There are better ways to physically create the article - for example, typing the desired name of the article in the search box and clicking "Go" (not pressing enter). In any case, be sure to check out Wikipedia:Your first article. -- Meni Rosenfeld (talk) 10:12, 25 March 2006 (UTC)

[edit] reporting errors on protected pages

How can one report errors on protected pages like this?: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Contact_us

This is another argument for adding a cleanup tab or button to all Wikipedia pages to automate the geeky process of adding a cleanup tag, which most users cannot handle. I added a comment to the talk page, but it hasn't been noticed. --Espoo 11:52, 25 March 2006 (UTC)

If notes on talk pages aren't noticed you can ask here, or at the administrators' noticeboard (WP:AN). Admins can edit protected pages. - Mgm|^(talk) 11:56, 25 March 2006 (UTC)

The point is that there are many, many notices which can be added to an article. Cleanup is just one of them. We can't add a tab for every possible notice. I don't think such great mental efforts are required in order to type {{Cleanup}}.

In any case, when linking to a page in Wikipedia, you can make an internal link by using double brackets: For example [[Wikipedia:Contact us]] will become Wikipedia:Contact us. -- Meni Rosenfeld (talk) 16:44, 25 March 2006 (UTC)

I think the original poster is referring to the specific problem of needing to correct an error on a protected page. Indeed, it is not a great mental effort to add a {{cleanup}} tag, but if it's protected, a non-admin can't edit the page. The suggestion, therefore, is to provide some sort of automated mechanism that alerts others that a protected page needs attention. I'm not personally convinced that this is a big enough problem to warrant modifying the software, but it is not an unreasonable suggestion. MCB 18:31, 25 March 2006 (UTC)

Many if not most users of international keyboards do not know how to use the AltGr key, which is necessary for writing braces on most keyboards.

From the point of view of most new users of Wikipedia, almost everything seems geeky and difficult. If we want to get at least some of the many new users interested in participating, we need to enable a very easy feedback mechanism. The most common feedback that we could get that would be of interest to us is that there is a problem on some page. I would guess that 90% of computer users would not be able to do more than notify that they noticed a serious problem. Since many of those new users can be quite capable of noticing serious errors, it would be of great use to have a simple button saying "Click here to report a serious problem with the content or language of this page." Many experts also consult Wikipedia nowadays regularly. Many of them do not have time to do more than click a button. To eliminate too many false alarms, it would probably be best to have a page poll that lets users vote on the quality of the page on a scale of 1 to 5, for example. This could be coupled with a button saying whether one is an expert or not in the subject.

If the above has not made this clear, i'll say it more directly: a cleanup tab or button is the most important notice Wikipedia needs IMO. --Espoo 22:08, 30 March 2006 (UTC)

To report an error on a protected page that you would like to have corrected, use {{editprotected}} on the talk page. Kusma (討論) 22:10, 30 March 2006 (UTC)

I see you already did. Sorry. Kusma (討論) 22:14, 30 March 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Deleting people's entries in Talk Pages

Is it ever acceptable to delete other people's entries in the discussion tab? What about cases like Talk:Somnophilia where it's irrelevancy trailing off into gibberish? Thanks. Irrevenant 13:02, 25 March 2006 (UTC)

For the moment I have fixed the formatting and added the author's signature. --Fuhghettaboutit 13:08, 25 March 2006 (UTC)

There are cases where deleting people's posts can be cosidered, but I don't think this is one of them. There it's just a person's opinion about the subject of the article, which may be irrelevant but that doesn't make it elligible for deletion. Things like outright vandalism of the talk page or vulgar personal attacks against other editors, are things which can be cosidered for deletion. -- Meni Rosenfeld (talk) 16:39, 25 March 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Help!!

How do I create an article that doesn't yet exist in Wikipedia? —The preceding unsigned comment was added by FearTheFallen (talk • contribs) 09:46, March 25, 2006 (UTC)

See Wikipedia:Your first article. Dismas|^(talk) 15:02, 25 March 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Main Page

How do I make articles apear on the Main Page? —Preceding unsigned comment added by Aaron Pepin (talk • contribs) 10:13, March 25, 2006

Editing the main page is restricted to administrators --rogerd 15:20, 25 March 2006 (UTC)

As a featured article? See Wikipedia:Featured articles. Dismas|^(talk) 15:21, 25 March 2006 (UTC)

[edit] How would my Indian name be intepreted in USA

I am K.R. Vaishnav from India (South India) which stands for Kidambi Ramu Vaishnav.

Kidambi is my family name, Ramu is my Father's name and Vaishnav is my name.

The Indian passport contains my name as :

Surname : Kidambi

Given Name : Ramu Vaishnav

What would my First, Middle and Last name be for Universities in the United States of America and also for the US Counslate (Visa Purpose)????

Thanks and Regards

K.R Vaishnav

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. -- Meni Rosenfeld (talk) 16:45, 25 March 2006 (UTC)

[edit] how are the articles listed in the Wikipedia search

I posted the article "Roland John Morris, Sr." in Wikipedia a couple of days ago. But when I do a search for the article, it doesn't come up yet. The name of a former Senator Roland S. Morris is the only article that comes up. Is there something more I need to do to have the article included in the directory? Thanks Morris Family 16:23, 25 March 2006 (UTC)

Articles take a few weeks from being created to appearing in search. For now, you can find the article if you type its exact name, Roland John Morris, Sr., in the search box. -- Meni Rosenfeld (talk) 16:34, 25 March 2006 (UTC)

[edit] I can't see images on the articles page.

Hello, I have a problem.

I can't see images on the articles page. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 81.93.72.198 (talk • contribs)

Do you have a specific example? Are the image boxes there, but no images in them? Or do you not see anything image-related at all? -- Nataly a 18:46, 25 March 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Correcting the title of an article

Your article on a Navy ship is entitled USS St. Paul (CA-73). The correct name of the ship is USS Saint Paul (CA-73). How can that correction be made?

Thank you.

Channing M. Zucker Captain, U.S. Navy (Retired) Archivist and Historian for the USS Saint Paul Association —Preceding unsigned comment added by Chanzucker (talk • contribs)

What you want to do is move the page to a new name. If you have been here long enough, there will be a "move" tab at the top of the page, and you can use that and the instructions given to move it. If not, you can add the page to Wikipedia:Requested moves, or just let us know here and we will do it for you. For more information, you can take a look at Wikipedia:How to rename (move) a page. -- Nataly a 18:56, 25 March 2006 (UTC)

(After edit conflict) I have made the requested change (checked both google [47] and Wikipedia:Naming conventions#2.36 Ship names for input). Thank you for finding this error. If you are a registered user and make a certain number of edits, you can make the change yourself in the future by clicking on "Move" at the top of an article. --Fuhghettaboutit 19:05, 25 March 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Test Pilots

Do you have any information on those who began testing the Mosquito aircraft, especially a pilot by the name of Gordon Wrigley. He may have been the first pilot to fly the Mosquito Aircraft in Canada. He was with the RCAF. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 70.51.114.238 (talk • contribs)

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. -- Meni Rosenfeld (talk) 19:17, 25 March 2006 (UTC)

[edit] milo hamilton baseball announcer

milo hamilton what y ears did he an nounce chicago baseball. thank you —Preceding unsigned comment added by JA370204 (talk • contribs) (email removed)

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.--Fuhghettaboutit

[edit] Question

I just wana kno which team were the champions of NFL in 2005—Preceding unsigned comment added by 202.88.46.2 (talk • contribs)

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.--Fuhghettaboutit

[edit] Creating new lists...

how do i create a new list on wikipedia?

Exactly the same way you create articles (see: Wikipedia:Your first article), but make sure it's not something in the list at WP:NOT and that we don't have a similar list under another name before you create it. - Mgm|^(talk) 21:58, 25 March 2006 (UTC)

[edit] ditial toys

there is this one toy that has a town on line and I do not know how to spell it

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). You might also want to clarify your question a tad, it's hard to make out what you are asking. --Fuhghettaboutit 01:54, 26 March 2006 (UTC)

[edit] March 26

[edit] My monobook.js

I'm having a problem implimenting the scripts I found on this page. Whenever I put them on my monobook page, it seems to work fine, but then nothing works. It only worked the first time, when I created the page, so I don't know what's going on. I give my permission to anyone who wants to go in and fix the problem if you can! Thanks a lot! → J @red ^talk+ _ubx 03:00, 26 March 2006 (UTC)

Have you refreshed your browser cache? In most browsers holding down the Shift key while clicking "Reload" will do it. In IE you should press the Ctrl and F5 keys at the same time, while in Opera just F5 will do. —Ilmari Karonen (talk) 14:34, 26 March 2006 (UTC)

[edit] DAVEY,PAXMAN&CO.LTD.

I am looking for the above manufacturer

I googled that and got a link to Paxman (engines). Also, in the future, try asking this type of question on the Reference Desk, which is for questions like this. The Help Desk is for questions about using Wikipedia.--Max Talk (add) • Contribs • 06:21, 26 March 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Linking to other wikis

How do I link (in an edit on wikipedia) to an article in another wiki such as, say, WikiFur (furry.wikicities.com)? --Chibiabos 07:20, 26 March 2006 (UTC)

In the case of Wikicities, the format is wikicities:c:wikiname:pagename. For more information, see m:Help:Interwiki linking.--Max Talk (add) • Contribs • 08:06, 26 March 2006 (UTC)

[edit] help me: my submission did not appear

I edited several paragraphs on ATM's but my submission did not appear. I signed up for an account. was there something more I should have done?

No, you did everything right! You edited the article on Automated teller machine on March 12 (see the difference here). That was quite a while ago, and a lot happens on that article (see the edit history). What probably happened is that another contributor took your changes and integrated them further into the article, perhaps moving the information around, adding a few more bits and pieces, so that you don't immediately recognise it as your own. If you look at the fourth paragraph of the first section ("History"), you'll see most of the information you originally put in (on the origins of ATMs for the blind), but reworked and with added info.

It looks like everything is working right as it should be on Wikipedia! :) — QuantumEleven | (talk) 10:15, 26 March 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Skins

Help! I changed my skin on Wikipedia to classic - now I don't know/can't find a way to change it back! How do I do this? --Jen-Qualla

Hi there! Click on "My preferences" (top of the screen, all the way to the right in "Classic" skin), click on the Skin tab, and change it back! — QuantumEleven | (talk) 10:17, 26 March 2006 (UTC)

[edit] "Back to top"

I recently came across a new template, Template:btot which was being added at intervals in long articles to provide a "back to top" link. I don't think it's a good idea, but I don't want to start a discussion of that, here, particularly. I really want to know what would be the best way to raise a discussion, or whether there is any way to find if a Wikipedia policy applies. Clearly, raising the template for deletion is a possibility, but it seems, well, harsh. Notinasnaid 14:25, 26 March 2006 (UTC)

That is one ugly color. I don't know the answer to your question, but I certainly don't like the template, and would remove it from any article I was editing. Considering that one can just hit the Home button on one's keyboard, I don't see the point of any Back to Top templates. --Xyzzyplugh 16:27, 26 March 2006 (UTC)

I totally agree with Xyzzyplugh. We've got keyboards for that. I would go ahead and start that Template for Deletion nomination. If you want to make it a little less harsh, you could ask the template's creator or whoever keeps adding them for their reasoning first. - Mgm|^(talk) 18:42, 26 March 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Fired for being black!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

HI MY NAME IS ANTHONY CARR IM A 26 YEAR OLD BLACK MALE AND I EMAILING YOU TO SEE IF YOU CAN HELP ME I FELL I WAS FIRED DUE TO BEING BLACK :( I WORKED FOR FORBES HOSPITAL IN MONROEVILLE PA FOR THE PAST YEAR OR SO THE BOSSES WILL TREAT ME BAD LIKE THEY WILL PUT ME IN THE POT SINK FOR 12 HRS A DAY ALL WEEK LONG, ILL ASK FOR A DAY OFF AND THEY WILL NOT GIVE IT TO ME SAYING YOU HAVE TO WORK OR YOU'LL GET FIRED, WHERE I WORKED ME JOB WAS LIKE THESE IF YOU HAVE 10 POINTS YOU WILL BE FIRED WELL THEY GOT ME UP TO 9 POINTS BUY NOT GIVING TIME OFF I NEED SO ON 3/06 AND 3/07 I GOT VERY ILL AND MY DOCTOR SAID I COULD NOT GO TO WORK DUE TO THE ILLNESS AND GIVE ME PAPER WORK TO GIVE THEM AND I DID WELL ON 3/24 WHEN I WENT INTO WORK I GOT PULLED INTO THE OFFICE AND THEY FIRED FOR MISSING THE 3/06 AND 3/07 AND I ASK WHY DID IT TAKE 20 TO FIRE ME THEY DID NOT ANSWER ME AND THERE A MIXED LADY THAT WORK THERE BY THE NAME OF GINA SHE HAS 9 POINT TO IN A LITTLE SNOW STROM GINA CALLED OFF ANS SAID SHE NEED TIRES FOR HER CAR AND THEY NEVER FIRED HER BUT FIRED ME FOR BEING SICK SO I THINK I GOT FIRED FOR BEING BLACK I HOPE YOU CAN HELP ME

THANKS ANTHONY CARR

Call the Equal Economic Opportunity Commission (EEOC) in Pittsburgh or the office of the congressman for the district in which Monroeville is. They will tell you the procedure for asking for an investigation as to whether the hospital has a pattern of discriminatory hiring and firing practices. It is rarely possible to prove that a single person was discriminated against unless there have been clearly racist remarks or incidents (which you don't mention), but if they have rarely hired black applicants or fire them at a higher rate, it might support your claim. It is of course possible that your trouble with them is not related to your race. alteripse 15:26, 26 March 2006 (UTC) PS, this is not the place for such a question (wp:reference desk is better), I am not a lawyer and this is simply a suggestion not legal advice, wikipedia is an encyclopedia not an assistance agency, and finally typing in ALL CAPS comes across as YELLING in this type of context. But good luck anyway.

Three words: Lowercase letters. Punctuation. JIP | Talk 09:11, 27 March 2006 (UTC)

[edit] MARY ROSE TIME LINE

NEED A COPY OF THE MARY ROSE TIME LINE

^(talk) 17:05, 26 March 2006 (UTC)

Did you read our article on Mary Rose? It would take a bit of effort on your part to turn it into a timeline, but the information is there. - Mgm|^(talk) 18:46, 26 March 2006 (UTC)

[edit] bAn!?

Will I even have my @ss banned?
Even if I didn't hAck, or do anything illegal!? Vandal
Me just a normal Xino...doing my @ss job:P

So will I be banned?

"wat's up:P" >x<ino 17:09, 26 March 2006 (UTC)

Why would you want to get banned? We aim to only ban people who did something wrong, but sometimes innocent people get caught up in the ban too. You should call yourself lucky if that didn't happen to you. If you don't want to work on Wikipedia anymore, you can just leave. You don't need to be banned to stop editing. - Mgm|^(talk) 18:49, 26 March 2006 (UTC)

[edit] How to get started using Wikipedia

I apologize. The answer is probably staring me in the face, but I don't see it - yet.

I have a web site (not very active). I want to post a paper and let the world question, comment - and improve the paper. Am I correct in that this is one of the purposes of Wikipedia.

I recall reading somewhere that I have to buy some software to be able to do that. Where can I buy it?

Thanks ew

Wikipedia doesn't allow original research. So if by a "paper" you mean something that you have created like a thesis paper or some such thing, this is not the place. If you would like to write about certain people, places, things, etc. and have resources to cite then you may be interested in reading Wikipedia:Your first article as well as Wikipedia:What Wikipedia is not. And there is no software to buy for using or editing Wikipedia. Dismas|^(talk) 18:48, 26 March 2006 (UTC)

However, if you want the visitors of your site to help with that paper, you could look into running a wiki of your own. Using [[MediaWiki software is probably to complicated, but you could read b:Wiki Science:How to start a wiki. - Mgm|^(talk) 18:52, 26 March 2006 (UTC)

[edit] can anyone have a bio listed with wikipedia?

Can anyone have their bio listed in wikipedia?

Short answer, no. Longer answer, if they are notable enough they can but it's generally not advisable that they write their own bio because it would most likely be very one sided. See WP:BIO for more info. Dismas|^(talk) 19:15, 26 March 2006 (UTC)

... and, if you're thinking about yourself, see Wikipedia:Autobiography (which is linked from WP:BIO). -- Rick Block (talk) 19:19, 26 March 2006 (UTC)

[edit] linking a photo to an existing article of mine

I have uploaded an image, Rljetley.jpg in wiki's server by clicking on the Upload file hyperlink in the bottom left navigation window. This image belongs to Major General Ranjit Lal Jetley. I want this image to appear in the front left of my article provided by the hyperlink: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maj-General_Ranjit_Lal_Jetley

Please advise to do this, as using to the toolbar in the edit window doesn't allow to link the image to the article.

Regards,

Major General Ranjit Lal Jetley.

I've added the image for you. For more on adding pictures, please see Wikipedia:Picture tutorial. Dismas|^(talk) 20:23, 26 March 2006 (UTC)

[edit] What's happened to images?

Suddenly, all thumb images (coded to appear on the right) are suddenly appearing on the left and the text is not folded around them? Are you aware of this? For example look at Met Office and Air Quality Index. - mbeychok 20:48, 26 March 2006 (UTC)

It's not appearing this way to me. The images are showing up on the right and seem to look correct. Is it still doing it? Could it be your web browser? -- Nataly a 22:47, 26 March 2006 (UTC)

[edit] New messages box

For some reason this site keeps giving me the yellow "new messages" box with "You have new messages (diff)." I've tried to purge both my browser cache and the server cache, but it keeps coming back. -- King of Hearts ^talk 22:22, 26 March 2006 (UTC)

Have you gone to read the messages. You need to go to your talk page in order for WP to realize that yo "got the message".

If this isn't the case, then you may be at a site or userpage where a practical joke messages userbox is placed. Just navigate away from the page and it will go away. → J @red ^talk+ _ubx 22:24, 26 March 2006 (UTC)

I was getting that constantly earlier tonight. Try making a small edit to your talk page, that seemed to do the trick for me. the wub "?!" 23:19, 26 March 2006 (UTC)

Strange. It does that every few months, now it's gone. -- King of Hearts ^talk 03:39, 28 March 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Starting An Article On Wikipedia...?

I sent an email to Wikipedia many months ago, asking the following question which I never receieve an answer; so I am asking it again many months later!:

How does one go about starting an article on Wikipedia..?!

--Mlauzon 23:10, 26 March 2006 (UTC)

This page should help: Help:Starting a new page. I usually just go to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/(name-of-new-article) and edit from there. I also posted some useful links on your talk page. — TheKMan^talk 23:20, 26 March 2006 (UTC)

[edit] March 27

[edit] Sailor Moon Illegal Websites

Hi, I need a moderator's help for this question. Danny Lilithborne was dealing with the subject, but no longer knew how to answer it. I posted a website that gave out episodes of Sailor Moon, which no longer has licenses in the U.S. Danny removed it and told me that it was illegal to post that website, I wanted to know if I could repost the website to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sailor_Moon as a link. Here are the two conversations I had with Danny to prove that the website did not provide illegal content.

Illegal Sailor Moon Websites

Hi, Danny. I just wanted to ask why the pages I added are illegal. These pages provided content of music and episodes that are no longer released to the U.S. I mean, I know the series was licensed to North America as a dubbed project, but the licenses expired last year for North America's Sailor Moon, which would make the content legal again, wouldn't it? I was just wondering if the content would still be illegal or not. Thanks for taking the time to read this query. Please respond back and sorry for my ignorance in legal activites. -24.99.158.9 05:07, 26 March 2006 (UTC)

   * Stars isn't licensed; everything else still is. Danny Lilithborne 20:28, 26 March 2006 (UTC)

Re:Illegal Sailor Moon Websites

Hi, Danny. I went on the web to find some sites for you to look at to prove that the licenses have already expired. The first license for DIC, the company who was involved with Sailor Moon up to Sailor Moon R, had the licenses expire in March 31, 2004. The licenses for the DVD's, held by ADV, also expired in March. Geneon's licenses for the movies expired on December 31, 2004. Finally, the Sailor Moon S and Sailor Moon SuperS licenses expired in June 2005 for both the DVDs and series. If you still don't believe me, then please contact me back. Some of the other websites in the links page for Sailor Moon would also contain illegal content. You can see these websites to make sure about the licenses. -24.98.81.66 22:02, 26 March 2006 (UTC):

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sailor_Moon_(English_version)#Home_Video

http://www.animenation.net/news/askjohn.php?id=1212

http://www.iwaynet.net/~sos/kablooey.html

http://www.eternalsailormoon.org/updates.html

I'm still a little uncomfortable about it. You should talk to Wikipedia moderators about the issue. Danny Lilithborne 22:09, 26 March 2006 (UTC)

Whether or not some licence has expired is irrelevant. The content is still copyrighted, and anyone making it available on the internet (from most countries) is breaking the law. -- Finlay McWalter | Talk 00:16, 27 March 2006 (UTC)

In terms of Wikipedia policy, external links in articles should be chosen very carefully, and special care should be taken to avoid linking to sites which provide material that infringe copyrights. As stated in Wikipedia policy on external links, "External sites can possibly violate copyright. Linking to copyrighted works is usually not a problem, as long as you have made a reasonable effort to determine that the page in question is not violating someone else's copyright. If it is, please do not link to the page. Whether such a link is contributory infringement is currently being debated in the courts, but in any case, linking to a page that illegally distributes someone else's work sheds a bad light on us (see Wikipedia:Copyrights and in particular Contributors' rights and obligations)." MCB 05:53, 27 March 2006 (UTC)

Let's just add a specific point on Sailor Moon which I understand is Japanese. According to Japan copyright law the copyright will last for 70 years. So only Japanese productions made before 1936 can be freely copied, put on web sites,etc. Sailor Moon started in 1992, so there are another 57 years before such a site can be legal. Notinasnaid 08:47, 27 March 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Jim Davis (politician)

Can somebody fix the bold on the prettytable templates? Better yet, could somebody condense them so there are stacked in a grid rather than vertically? Neutrality^talk 05:32, 27 March 2006 (UTC)

I de-bolded them, I'll need more information about the "grid" you want before I can help with that. Ask on my talk page if you are still interested. KillerChihuahua^?!? 22:22, 27 March 2006 (UTC)

[edit] How to use Font in half letter?

Hello Mr. Administrator, This is Bhavin Joshi from Ahmedabad, Gujarat(India). I have edited some portion of the page about Gujarat from English to Gujarati. I have written all the correct information by best of my knowledge.

But i have found that i was unable to write half character, which is mostly used in Gujarati language. So Pls help me regarding this, that how to write that. These half characters are not provided or i was unable to find. Pls. reply.

Thanks, Bhavin Joshi. —This unsigned comment was added by 202.131.103.130 (talk • contribs) 08:02, March 27, 2006 (UTC).

First, not just admins answer questions here and many admins aren't male. But to get to your question, Wikipedia uses Unicode. I'm not sure exactly what you're trying to type, but if you can find how it is encoded in unicode, you should be good to go. Hopefully someone here will know what exactly it is that you're trying to get and can give you better guidance.—WAvegetarian•_{_{CONTRIBUTIONS}}^{^TALK}• ^{^EMAIL}• 07:30, 27 March 2006 (UTC)

Could they possibly be talking about sub-script as in H₂O? Dismas|^(talk) 09:24, 27 March 2006 (UTC)

Maybe it is similiar to Japanese scripts. Japanese fonts are typically fixed width, and include the Latin alphabet. But in order to save typesetting space they also include half-width Latin characters that occupy half the width of a Japanese character. I'm not entirely sure whether such typographical conventions have a Unicode number, any more than the italic version of a letter would. Notinasnaid 14:20, 27 March 2006 (UTC)

first of all sorry for that, but what exactly the problem is - i want to write word VISHVA(world) - for that i m using 2 and half characters. the first is VI, second is half character - that is SH and last character is VA. Actually, full characters are provided, but how to write half character is not provided. So. Pls help regarding this. -Bhavin

I think I know better about what he's asking about (although I know nothing about Unicode or the problem's solution). In the Devanagari script, full letters include the following vowel sound. Thus, the first "full letter" of VISHVA is "VI." The next sound is "SH" which has no following vowel. Therefore, it must be written as a "half letter," or a conjuct with the next (and last) letter "VA." The Gujarati script operates in exactly the same way. My browser doesn't seem to have the right fonts installed to display anything in Gujarati or Devanagri scripts, but I think this section might be helpful. Vijay 05:00, 3 April 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Malayalam Books, Poetry

Dear sir, How can I type and upload files to wikipedia, malayalam language. I have some experience in translation from English to malayalam for a US company (Health Research Asia). I am interested in literature in malayalm and for typing in malayalam language i used Unicode MS of Microsoft. Can use any other font but please tell me rules and the font used for malayalam pages

Narendranathan

Hi there, you may be interested in the Malayalam language Wikipedia. — TheKMan^talk 13:32, 27 March 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Where do I report tampering?

Hello, Looking at the [48] entry I found that someone's tampering with the article. Who should I inform about this, since I don't know the correct procedure for correcting it myself?

Thanks, -- Nosforit @ 62.72.251.121 09:53, 27 March 2006 (UTC)

I've gone ahead and reverted the article. If you see something like this again, you can do this yourself by reverting the article. Dismas|^(talk) 10:29, 27 March 2006 (UTC)

Ah, thanks. I see how it's done now. =) --Ceriel Nosforit 10:39, 27 March 2006 (UTC)

[edit] about ray charles

i want to know how can i find a good imformaton about ray charles

Do you want more than is already in our Ray Charles article? Notinasnaid 14:31, 27 March 2006 (UTC)

[edit] SOLAR ECLIPSE; 29th March 2006 (Wednesday)

WOULD LIKE TO KNOW MORE ABOUT SOLAR ECLIPSE OF 29TH MARCH.

HOW IS GOING TO AFFECT DIFEERNENT "RASHIS: MESHA, VRUSHABHA ETC ). KINDLY INFO ABOUT ALL SIGNS. IF HARMFUL FOR ANY SIGN, WHAT IS THE REMEDY LIKE DHAN, PRAYERS, WEARING GEMS/STONES." TIME OF ITS START AND END. WOULD LIKE TO GET REPLY AT THE EARLIEST SO THAT CAN PREPARE SELF & OTHERS ACCORDINGLY.

THANK A LOT!.

GOOD WISHES TO ALL.

AWAITING EARLIEST REPLY.

NEENA BHAMBHANI

^(talk) 14:53, 27 March 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Adding a redirect

How can one add a redirect to the list of airports in the Airports in California article?--Rb26dett 17:17, 27 March 2006 (UTC)

What are you trying to do? An article either is, or is not, a redirect. I presume you mean Airports of California, which is itself a redirect, as there is no Airports in California article...or did you want to create that as a new redirect? Notinasnaid 17:30, 27 March 2006 (UTC)

Perhaps you're trying to link to a page while using a name other than the page title? Check Wikipedia:Piped links. - Mgm|^(talk) 21:22, 27 March 2006 (UTC)

Sorry, my mistake... I meant Airports in California. I couldn't figure out how to add Rialto Municipal Airport.

I think I see the confusion. Category:Airports in California is a category (see Wikipedia:Categorization), not a normal article, and I think you're asking how to get Rialto Municipal Airport to appear in the list of articles in this category (which has nothing to do with special articles called redirects, see Wikipedia:Redirect). Assuming this is what you want, add [[Category:Airports in California]] to the end of the Rialto Municipal Airport article. More info about categories and how to use them is at the Wikipedia:Categorization article. -- Rick Block (talk) 00:14, 28 March 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Someone please explain to administrator importance of courtesy and professionalism.

Please help, I am very surprised at the rude tone in an administrators talk page and other places he/she writes. I believe an administrator should be polite, always. The link is: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User_talk:MONGO

Please have someone explain to this administrator the importance of courtesy. He/she appears rude and/or on a "power trip."

Thank you very much, Happy Splashy Happysplashy 19:05, 27 March 2006 (UTC) ___________________________ Some examples:

Mongo. Hello I just recently authored and article with the heading E-snob or Electronic snobbing and I feel that you have unfairly removed this article without notice or reason. This, in my opinion is very rude and I am upset to have gone to alot of trouble to contribute to the wiki community and produce a new entry, only to have it whisked away.

After the page was created an 'importance' banner appeared which invited the use of the talk feature to discuss the article importance which had not been given a fair time duration to commence.

You may feel PERSONALLY that this article was not suitable, but is it up to one person to remove information from the public ? or is it up to the public to remove the information through a democractic proces of concensus?

Please re-post my original article and let the wiki community decide wheather or not they feel it is "important" , as I know there are many people across the internet community who feel and agree that the term described in my article is vaild and truely exsists.

I apologise for the format and manner in which this comment/request has been placed, as I am unaware of how else to contact you.

Kind regards. Author. (preceeding was from User:Big boi oi)

It's not an article...the term doesn't even exist. Basically, your article stated that an "E-snob" is someone who doesn't respond to email or instant messanger alerts...it's not an article because it is completely unreferenced, and was a sijmple speedy delete based on a number of reasons. It's gone, please spend your time here creating real encyclopedic articles rather than filling up Wikipedia with non articles. Thanks!--MONGO 19:36, 5 March 2006 (UTC)

_____________________________________ As you mus be knowing {old and experienced administrator that you are},Wikipedia users are allowed to write their beliefs in their userboxes-otherwise there would NOT be a "beliefs template" userbox.So if I believe in Anti-Americanism I would,according to Wikipedia policy be within my rights to express my views on my talk page.If you were indeed aagainst bigotry in all its forms you would have also edited the Anti-Pakistan comments on my userpage.Why did you not do so?I am not disrespecting you,I am merely asking why you{an aged and wise administrator} did not edit both comments.Please reply as soon as possible. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by Prasi90 (talk • contribs)

Labelling yourself as anti-American is bigotry, while stating that Pakistan is a military dictatorship is not an insult to Pakistani people, just their government...got it?--MONGO 08:58, 10 March 2006 (UTC)

____________________________________

Earlier I had added two userboxes to my userpage.In one I stated-This user believes he is being harassed by the administrator M-N-O.Here I did not name any administrator in particular since there is no administrator named M-N-O.So it cannot be said that I was personally insulting anyone can it?Please clarify this.Also when I mentioned your name and said that you had deleyed what I had written in the userbox because you opposed my views I was saying the truth as can be seen by viewing my userpage history.Prasi90 11:18, 10 March 2006 (UTC)

Ah, this diff says a lot more than "M-N-O" doesn't it?.[3] What part about being on probation do you not understand? You have had 4 different admins block you, so it's just a matter of time from what I can see. As far as your constanting asking me trollish questions here...it is disruption and another block is just around the corner...wake up.--MONGO 11:25, 10 March 2006 (UTC)

With recent RfA contributions (Special:Contributions/Prasi90) I think a lot of people are getting a little exasperated with this user. I've created an RfC at Wikipedia:Requests for comment/Prasi90, which I invite you to comment on. Thanks haz (user talk)e 20:10, 14 March 2006

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You have mentioned on my talk page that my RfA votes are solely for disruption?Kindly explain what you mean by that.According to Wikipedia policy I am free to vote as I please-without even necessarily giving reasons for my votes.Also please stop asking me to "grow up".In contemporary slang telling a person to "grow up" implies that the said person is immature.Thus what you said to me may be counted as a minor personal attack.Also did you notice the revert I made to my userpage under the summary "MONGO has a point".Please do understand that I just want to be a good editor.Prasi90 04:25, 15 March 2006 (UTC) —This unsigned comment is by Prasi90 (talk • contribs) .

Oh you mean the one before you did this edit? [5] in which you call me stupid...stop playing games...you are exhausting the communities' patience. Did you respond to the Rfc filed against you by another editor?--MONGO 04:31, 15 March 2006

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I'd have to say that www.911truth.org is nothing but brainwashing nonsense. Please also see WP:3RR about our three revert rule as you have tried to put the same information in the September 11, 2001 attacks three times now and a fourth attempt will violate our policies.--MONGO 08:13, 20 March 2006 (UTC)

There is scientific evidence, http://www.physics.byu.edu/research/energy/htm7.html, and I am logging all who inhibit the truth.

For the 7th generation

Oh, I feel so enlightened by the truth...I am so thankful that now I too can spread this gospel of science to all who need enlightenment...by logging, do you mean you're going to take a chainsaw to me?--MONGO 10:23, 20 March 2006 (UTC)

[edit]

Re:Vandalism warnings.

If the vandalism has not already been reverted I will revert it.However,some times,the reverting has already been done,but warnings have not been issued.That's why I only have to add the warnings. Do you have anything constructive to add to Wikipedia? I am inclined to think that you do not.--MONGO 16:25, 19 March 2006 (UTC)--Correct me if I am wrong but this seems like a minor personal attack against me. -Be a good scout and grow up now. This is not a playground.--MONGO 17:26, 14 March 2006 (UTC)- This one too:please explain what you mean by "grow up and be a good scout". .Also thank you for clearing my doubts about the blog issue I e-mailed you about. PS-If you are officially asking me not to issue vandalism warnings,please express yourself more clearly.I do not know whether you are merely commenting on my actions or whether you are giving me an official warning."I do not think you are in a position to be issuing warnings to others at this time."This is what you wrote on my talk page.Now does this count as a warning or are you merely expressing your personal displeasure at my actions? User:Prasi90 08:57, 20 March 2006 (UTC)

Yes, you say you are in Scouting, so I asked you to be a good Scout. I think you are acting immature, so I asked you to grow up. You warn editors not to vandalize articles, yet you do not revert their actions, you only issue warnings. In light of your editing history, it seems obtuse that you would consider yourself to be lecturing other editors on vandalism. As far as your emails...you mean the ones in which you stated that you were going to copy and paste some of your rude comments into blogs and that there was nothing I could do about it...yes, that is right you can do that. I strongly urge you to find all the blogs you can and post whatever you want there...if I were you, I would dedicate all my internet time to blogs, why waste your valuable time here in Wikipedia, when you could be working on a blog somewhere.--MONGO 10:17, 20 March 2006 (UTC)

The main question I wanted an answer to was whether you were officially warning me against issuing vandalism warnings or whether you were merely expressing your personal viewpoint.If it were the former,I would have to stop warning users against vandalism since I had been formally warned by an editor.If you were making a casual statement then I would not be bound to follow your advice.Please clarify this.Also calling me immature as you have done above seems a bit like a personal attack.I am,as I have mentioned only 16.So please forgive me if I am a less mature editor than you-I am after all significantly younger than you.I will certainly take your advice and create a blog soon.Please clarify the "vandalism warning" matter.

PS:-Also in the last sentence of your message you have typed-"....why waste your valuable time....when you could be working on a blog somewhere."This is a question you have asked me,and a question is always followed by a question mark (?) not a full stop.Ofcourse I do not doubt your fluency in English.I was merely bringing to your notice an error you had made.Thank You.

User:Prasi90 16:41, 20 March 2006 (UTC)

My guess is that this editor is very young, lacks direction in wikipedia and has a resentment of the United States.

This is an edit you made on my RfC page.Yes,I may be a young editor but I do not see what this has to do with the issue of my RfC.I believe in the value of "grey cells" not "grey hairs".So please try to refrain from using my age as a yardstick for my capabilities as an editor on Wikipedia.(Once again you made an error while typing that word out-its Wikipedia,not wikipedia-proper nouns begin with capital letters). PS-I thought I should explain my "grey cells","grey hairs" comment. "Grey cells" refers to brain-cells (neurons).Having a large number of neurons makes one more intelligent.Having "grey hairs" is a sign that one is elderly.The jist of what I wanted to say was that although I may be young,I am probably much smarter than many men who are twice or thrice my age.If you still have any doubts regarding the meaning of the sentence explained above,feel free to contact me. User:Prasi90 03:27, 21 March 2006 (UTC)

I'm not elderly.--MONGO 03:35, 21 March 2006 (UTC)

I never said that you are elderly,what I said was that you are elder to me.There is a difference between the two.User:Prasi90 05:01, 21 March 2006 (UTC)

To be honest, I'm not exactly sure what you want, but I suspect it can best be achieved with a request for comment.--Cherry blossom tree 21:28, 27 March 2006 (UTC)

He is rude and should not be in a position with authority. He should be removed from that position .Happysplashy 05:02, 28 March 2006 (UTC)

If this is what you want, then I suspect Wikipedia:Requests for comment is what you're looking for. Note that step 1 in this process is for you to discuss the issue directly via the user's talk page (have you done this?). -- Rick Block (talk) 05:30, 28 March 2006 (UTC)

This appears to be none other than editor Prasi90 (talk · contribs) aka 202.177.246.3 (talk · contribs), who has been blocked numerous times for a several different reasons. A quick scan of the talk pages of these accounts and the fact that these are Happysplashy's only two edits so far to Wikipedia, should suffice.--MONGO 05:40, 28 March 2006 (UTC)
See also, still active Rfc signed by numerous editors in regards to Prasi90 located here--MONGO 05:43, 28 March 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Ordering of interlingual links

I've seen interwiki language links (he, ja, etc.) ordered by their native wording (Ivrit, Nihongo, etc.) in many articles as well as by bots. However, I've also read, I think on this help desk, that there was a discussion and it was decided that the links should be ordered by the 2-letter code (a much more logical decision IMO). Was there really such a discussion? Or is there any written guideline or concensus regarding how interwiki links should be ordered? Thanks, Y Ynhockey ^(Talk) Y 20:42, 27 March 2006 (UTC)

If you've seen bots order them by their native name, we've got bots doing different things. As far as I know the logical way (alphabetical) is the right one. Did you check the manual of style? - Mgm|^(talk) 21:19, 27 March 2006 (UTC)

I'm fairly sure that there's no firm policy on order of interwiki links. See Wikipedia:Language order poll and various discussions on Wikipedia talk:Interlanguage links for the long version of that answer.--Cherry blossom tree 21:23, 27 March 2006 (UTC)

In the past, I understood that most sort-ordering bots were based on pywikipediabot, which used the native language order in pywikipediabot wikipedia.py-file, so unless that has changed, the default should be by native language. Noisy | Talk 17:23, 28 March 2006 (UTC)

[edit] help me

i want to write a paragraph about myself but i dont know how to choose the topic..???

Hi there, you may be interested in registering as a Wikipedia user. See Wikipedia:Why create an account? for some of the benefits, Wikipedia:Username to learn about user names, and Wikipedia:How to log in for you know what =P. Then just go to your user page, and add whatever info you wish. — TheKMan^talk 21:02, 27 March 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Table help

There are a couple of tables over at water cycle that would benefit from some good formating, which I am unable to provide. I'm not such a wizard in that department. Help would be greatly appreciated. Cheers, Daniel Collins 21:41, 27 March 2006 (UTC).

They already have the standard wikitable/prettytable formatting, which looks fine to me. Is there anything special you want? --Cherry blossom tree 22:15, 27 March 2006 (UTC)

Thanks. You fixed the biggest problem. I was hoping also to squeeze the heading of one of the columns into two lines, moving the text "(million cubic km)" down. I couldn't figure out how to do this for a column heading. And an even more cosmetic change would be to left-align the left hand columns (though I admit notthoroughly looking into that). Thanks! Daniel Collins 22:24, 27 March 2006 (UTC)

Is that what you wanted? The left align thing is a bit of a long way round - there might be a more elegant solution that I'm not aware of. --Cherry blossom tree 22:36, 27 March 2006 (UTC)

That is very good indeed. Thanks you for your help, and I'll refer to those tables for future formating. May the water cycle not be too active on you. Daniel Collins 00:00, 28 March 2006 (UTC).

[edit] IP block

My brother keeps spamming up a page. If the IP is blocked, can I still use my account? --Generalcp702 21:43, 27 March 2006 (UTC)

No, I'm afraid not. But if you put a note on your IP page explaining the situation then anyone blocking it should see it, take it into account and only block it for a brief period.--Cherry blossom tree 22:11, 27 March 2006 (UTC)

IP page? --Generalcp702 22:58, 27 March 2006 (UTC)

There are IP user pages just like your user page, User:Generalcp702. The IP page is located at User:*IP*, where, of course, *IP* is to be substituted for your IP. If it's dynamic I'm afraid there's no solution. F e tofs ^Hello! 23:04, 27 March 2006 (UTC)

By the same token, if it's dynamic, then there really isn't a problem either, (: as an ip block will probably not do much of anything--64.12.116.11 23:05, 27 March 2006 (UTC)

[edit] User editing articles as a soapbox

216.232.185.105 and I have been involved in a tug-of-war over certain articles pertaining to British Columbia government programmes and crown corporations, specifically the Insurance Corporation of British Columbia, Medical Services Plan, and Agricultural Land Reserve. User inists on editing articles to insert a negative bias, and refuses to engage in discussion concerning the same (I've tried both in article talk pages and his/her user talk page). After a few days quiet, the user is at it again. Unfortunately, these articles are not widely edited enough to elicit support from other editors in maintaining the neutarlity of their contents, but they are accessed often (according to Google) by British Columbians seeking information on these locally important topics. I already involved the Mediation Cabal on the ICBC page, but I don't know where next to go to get the user to stop this habit - or even get him/her to talk about a consensus approach! Fishhead64 21:50, 27 March 2006 (UTC)

It looks like you might already be aware of this, but Wikipedia:Resolving disputes has a list of resources, and a list of steps to take (in order of precedence) in order to attempt to resolve disputes with other users. MCB 06:03, 28 March 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Wikipedia Word Count

Roughly how many words are there on wikipedia? --William percy 23:04, 27 March 2006 (UTC)

I checked the statistics pages and crapped out so I decided to conduct a quick, really rough calculation. Using the random article button I opened up ten pages, copied the words and pasted into wordperfect and did a word count (14,464). Then I multiplied by 104,713.70 (the number of articles on wikipedia, divided by ten) and voila: 1,514,578,956. words. I'm sure it's quite wrong, but probably not be an order of magnitude. --Fuhghettaboutit 23:36, 27 March 2006 (UTC)

As of December 2005, there were ± 340 million words (proving I interpreted the detail statistics correctly). -- Nataly a 00:03, 28 March 2006 (UTC)

Proving that starting with a small statistical sample is very dangerous. --Fuhghettaboutit 01:38, 28 March 2006 (UTC)