Wikipedia:Help desk/Archives/2006 December 5

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[edit] December 5

[edit] Dealing with a dead link

~~I have encountered a dead link at the references section of the article named Volume Shadow Copy Service.~~ What should I do when I encounter a dead link? Just delete the dead link or report it. (If I should report it, can you inform me how to do it.)

Mkartan 00:18, 5 December 2006 (UTC)mkartan

Please see Wikipedia:External links#What can be done with a dead external link. -- Rick Block (talk) 01:35, 5 December 2006 (UTC)

[edit] 3RR in regards to speedies

If a user reverts a speedy deletion tag, and I have reverted it twice, can I revert it again without violating WP:3RR? --Wo o ty Woot? contribs 01:38, 5 December 2006 (UTC)

Yes. Reverts of simple vandalism are not amenable to 3RR. You can revert a vandalizing edit 100 times and never transgress 3RR. See the entry for Avoidant vandalism at Wikipedia:Vandalism#Types of vandalism. Note that removing speedy tags is often the province of new users. Give them the benefit of the doubt, and don't forget to warn them with {{drmspeedy}} and subsequent warnings in that series. Of course, if the tag is improper in the first place, i.e., the article meets no criteria for speedy deletion, in that case the removal (especially with an explanatory edit summary) would not be vandalism (but that's just common sense).--Fuhghettaboutit 01:56, 5 December 2006 (UTC)

though generally in such cases use of the {{hangon}} template is more appropriate, with a note on the talk page about the dispute. GeeJo ^(t)⁄_(c) • 20:16, 9 December 2006 (UTC)

[edit] font size

I m not able to incresase the font size of the text on the wikipedia results page and the font size which apears to me is too small

Click View -> Text Size -> Larger. --Wo o ty Woot? contribs 02:22, 5 December 2006 (UTC)

In most Windows browsers, you can also hold down "Control" and roll back the scroll wheel to increase text size. GeeJo ^(t)⁄_(c) • 20:16, 9 December 2006 (UTC)

[edit] References/Page Numbers

I'm doing a lot of edits to the Gordon Ramsay article using his biography. Adding quotes and other information. Would like to cite page numbers, but using the ref tag, don't know how to put numbers in with each instance. Do I need to change over to Harvard style? There are already quite a few references using the ref tag. Jmdustin 02:41, 5 December 2006 (UTC)

I'm not sure if you've already tried it, but you might like to look at Wikipedia:Citing Sources. It's a bit weighty, but it probably has what you're lokoing for. Patstuart^{(talk)(contribs)} 06:58, 5 December 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Deleting My Account

How do I delete my user account? Yayacaca 03:03, 5 December 2006 (UTC)

impossible because of legal reasons with the GFDL. Cbrown1023 03:05, 5 December 2006 (UTC)

see WP:USERNAME#Deleting_your_user_account for more info... Cbrown1023 03:06, 5 December 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Merging History

It appears that the old "copy/paste" manuver was used to fix the redirected page Batou, with all history up to and including the first such move still located on the redirected page Buttetsu Bateau. Could someone please merge these two histories togather on the Batou page? 129.108.96.190 05:13, 5 December 2006 (UTC)

Done. See Wikipedia:How to fix cut and paste moves. -Patstuart^{(talk)(contribs)} 06:48, 5 December 2006 (UTC)

hi I'm <3 == KTM SCHEDULE TO KLUANG ==

WHAT IS THE KTM SCHEDULE TO KLUANG?

I'm sorry, I've done a search on both Wikipedia and Google, and I can't say I know what you're referring to. Please, it would help if you could be more specific. -Patstuart^{(talk)(contribs)} 06:46, 5 December 2006 (UTC)

Have you tried Wikipedia's Reference Desk? They specialize in knowledge questions, and will try to answer any question in the universe (except how to use Wikipedia, since that's what this Help Desk is for). Just follow the link, select the relevant section, and ask away. I hope this helps.

If you are looking for information about Keretapi Tanah Melayu trains to Kluang, then try http://www.ktmb.com.my/ PrimeHunter 15:47, 5 December 2006 (UTC)

How'd you find that Hunter? I couldn't find a thing! Patstuart^{(talk)(contribs)} 15:53, 5 December 2006 (UTC)

I tried http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=ktm+kluang and found out what KTM and Kluang was. PrimeHunter 15:58, 5 December 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Proper format?

I think I saw *somewhere* a listing of the proper format for listing songs, records, books, etc in an article, ie, what gets italics vs what gets underlines, etc. However, I've looked in every place I can think of, but I can't find it! Does such a thing actually exist? (I'm trying to wikify Carlos Salzedo.) Thanks!--Mpwrmnt 07:27, 5 December 2006 (UTC)

WP:MOS would be a good starting point. Viridae ^Talk 07:28, 5 December 2006 (UTC)

Ah, yes! That's good. I must have skipped over it in my frustration. It IS possible to get lost around here when you're new, so I appreciate your help! Thank you! --Mpwrmnt 08:55, 5 December 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Moving a Subpage

I recently was able to get my username changed. I succeeded in moving my user and talk pages over to my new username, but I had a subpage on my old user page which didn't come with it. Is it just gone, or it there a way to retrieve it? I can't figure out how to get TO it to move it, since my old user page is just a redirect now. Thanks! --Mpwrmnt 09:04, 5 December 2006 (UTC)

It's not gone; probably the easiest way to find it is to go to your contributions (click the 'my contributions' link in the top-right of the screen) and filter them to User space. When you find the subpage, click on its name, and you'll be taken to the page; you can then move it to your new userspace (by using the 'move' tab and changing the username in its name). --ais523 09:41, 5 December 2006 (U T C)

Or go to Special:Prefixindex, select the "User" namespace, type in your old user name, and click go: there you are. Lupo 09:50, 5 December 2006 (UTC)

Wow! Thank you both! That was easy! I *like* the Help Desk! You kids are great! Thanks, --Mpwrmnt 10:05, 5 December 2006 (UTC)

You're welcome. It's been quite a while since the last time anyone called me "kid". :-) Lupo 11:12, 5 December 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Special:Filepath

What exactly is this for? My guess is something to do with files; so I type in Garment.jpg and all i get is the saeme page.

It's meant to discover the filename on the image servers for an image based on its name within Wikipedia, but I was trying to get it to work a while ago and couldn't. --ais523 09:38, 5 December 2006 (U T C)

Type Special:Filepath/Garment.jpg. It doesn't link you to the image description page (which is the default behavior of MediaWiki) but rather to the image itself. Tito xd^(?!?) 19:30, 5 December 2006 (UTC)

[edit] chlorination

procedure of chlorination of fruits and vegetables before processing?

[edit] ARTICLES

Where do I get to a new page to start my article?

Just type the name of the article in the search bar. If it already exists, the article will appear. If it does not exist, you will be given an option to create the article. — Lost^(talk) 10:14, 5 December 2006 (UTC)

Try reading WP:VFAQ. - Mgm|^(talk) 10:49, 5 December 2006 (UTC)

Also see Help:Starting a new page- 24.20.69.240 03:57, 7 December 2006 (UTC)

[edit] edits to since deleted articles

Say I add a db-bio tag or something similar to an article, and it gets deleted after (because of the tag). I notice that my edit disappears from my contributions list, but is that edit still counted in my "edit count"? Thanks.

--wj32 ^{talk | contribs} 10:36, 5 December 2006 (UTC)

Most, if not all, edit counter tools are based on your contributions list. If your edit gets deleted, it won't be counted. - Mgm|^(talk) 10:50, 5 December 2006 (UTC)

(edit conflict) Doubt it. As I understand it the scripts get your edit count from your contributions list, so theres is no way they could count anything from deleted articles. Viridae ^Talk 10:51, 5 December 2006 (UTC)

I will be quick to say that is true, if it is an article that you have edited and it gets deleted the edit counter doesn't pick up the edit. Also you will notice in your contribs you will see that the contrib to the deleted article is gone. Also don't let this stop you from patrolling new pages as we need many people to do this task! — Seadog (Talk) 18:35, 5 December 2006 (UTC)

It is impossible to figure out directly the number of deleted edits; they are not listed in Special:Contributions because they are listed in the Archive table instead of the Text table. As a result, the SQL query that the contributions list uses does not reach them. Be warned, though, that this behavior is expected to change very soon in the future. Currently, the only way to see them is to make an SQL query directly via the Toolserver, but that is not available in the English Wikipedia, as the copy of the enwiki database is completely b0rked. Tito xd^(?!?) 19:28, 5 December 2006 (UTC)

Titoxd is hinting at the plans for a new Special:Deletedcontribs that are being cooked up at the moment, but it would be visible to admins only. --ais523 09:35, 6 December 2006 (U T C)

I wasn't going to stop new page patrolling just because it doesn't count in my edit counts! :D --wj32 ^{talk | contribs} 09:33, 6 December 2006 (UTC)

It used to be that Kate's (and maybe interiot's Kate wannabe?) edit counter tools picked up the number of deleted edits, but the feature was removed from the tool after a discussion on the mailing list (or IRC?). GeeJo ^(t)⁄_(c) • 20:19, 9 December 2006 (UTC)

[edit] VFD (I think thats what its called)

How do you set a page up for deletion?

That depends on what sort of page. Eeverything: WP:CSD. Articles only: WP:AFD, WP:PROD. Templates: WP:TFD. Categories: WP:CFD. Redirects: WP:RFD. Misc. pages: WP:MFD. All the instructions are on those pages, please read them first - paticuarly the speedy ones, as they are the most stringent. Viridae ^Talk 11:20, 5 December 2006 (UTC)

VFD is the old name for AFD. It was renamed to discourage a voting mentality. -Mgm|^(talk) 11:37, 5 December 2006 (UTC)

If you're interested in the AfD process, AfD in 3 steps is a useful guide to help you get started. --ais523 11:44, 5 December 2006 (U T C)

[edit] creating my userpage

i am a new user . how do i create my userpage?

Click on your username in the top-right of the screen (just to the left of 'my talk'). You can also use this link: Special:Mypage. --ais523 13:32, 5 December 2006 (U T C)

[edit] edit external links

I would like to add a link to Malerie Marder's entry: www.gvdgallery.com (Greenberg Van Doren Gallery); how do I go about this? I got confused when I hit edit...

Thanks!

Wikipedia:Introduction will teach you the basics about how to edit pages; just copying the style of the other links there should produce a reasonable appearance for the external-link entry. You may want to read Wikipedia:External links to make sure the link is appropriate for the article. --ais523 16:05, 5 December 2006 (U T C)

[edit] Question About Removing Links on other programs

when i am copying and pasteing information from example the queen page and when i put it on my school coursework on microsoft publisher i cant get away the link colours that show the information is from the internet how do i fix this please reply thanks 86.12.238.124 18:14, 5 December 2006 (UTC)

I've encountered the same problem. Just backspace and retype it, I found it best. Also, bear in mind that direct copies, though allowed by the licensing of Wikipedia, may be frowned upon by your teacher/professor. Dooms Day349 18:20, 5 December 2006 (UTC)

Yeah that would be definitely frowned upon your teacher (don't do it!). Cheers. — Seadog (Talk) 18:23, 5 December 2006 (UTC)

(ack, stop edit conflicting!)Go to edit->paste special->unformatted text. And he's right, don't plagiarize your paper by copying from Wikipedia. It's not only dishonest, it's just a bad idea. -Patstuart^{(talk)(contribs)} 18:24, 5 December 2006 (UTC)

Another way to avoid having the formatting copied by MS Word is to paste the text into notepad, then select it in notepad and copy it. This is a workaround to remove the formatting, insofar as you believe the formatting being there in the first place is a bad thing. BigNate37_(T) 18:50, 5 December 2006 (UTC)

Though I believe it's legal. Still, don't. Dooms Day349 18:48, 5 December 2006 (UTC)

Wait a minute if I am not mistaken plagiarism of any kind is illegal isn't it? — Seadog (Talk) 19:32, 5 December 2006 (UTC)

Depends on the licensing - plagurising public domain stuff isn't illegal (although it can get you cited for academic dishonesty) - and plagerising Wikipedia is the easiest way to get caught. In an astronomy 101 course we caught about 40 students plagerising Wikipedia because they all copied a fairly nonsensical sentence - since everyone said the same thing that didn't make sense, we applied google directly, and busted the whole lot. WilyD 19:46, 5 December 2006 (UTC)

Heh. Nice. Some students don't believe that professors do read and edit Wikipedia... and if you end up copying their words, they are quite likely to catch you in the act. But yes, it is academic dishonesty of the first caliber. If you're caught doing that in college, prepare for your F, a "Failed for cheating" grade, or expulsion. So, one sentence summary: Don't do it. If you're going to use Wikipedia material, cite it instead. Tito xd^(?!?) 19:52, 5 December 2006 (UTC)

He's not necessarily plagiarizing, it may actually be part of the assignment to find something from the internet. It might still break copyright law, but the education fair use exemption (or its equivalent in the country he/she is from) may cover it, and besides that no one is going to sue a kid for printing out a web article and pasting it on poster board or whatnot. -- Consumed Crustacean (talk) 19:59, 5 December 2006 (UTC)

Copying Wikipedia material directly for academic work is normally copyright infringement because universities generally don't allow such work to be licenced under the GFDL, which is a requirement for work based on Wikipedia. Of course, this assumes that you can't claim fair use (which might be possible in some countries, but IANAL). --ais523 09:13, 6 December 2006 (U T C)

For most professors, who are also mostly not lawyers, it comes down to misrepresentation. What work did the student do, how much of the work was authoring the paper and how much of the work was quoting someone else? For my school, at least, academic integrity as it relates to academic misconduct is explained such as thus:

"Assignments, tests, and examinations are designed for students to show the instructor how well they have mastered the course material. When the instructor evaluates the student’s work, it must therefore be clear which ideas and words are the student’s own. The general principles of academic integrity for students doing course work are that they are to do their own original, individual work, unless told otherwise by the course instructor, and are to give credit for other people’s ideas or words[1]."

Anyways, I'm not sure this has any bearing on the original question. BigNate37_(T) 15:13, 6 December 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Enfamil

REDIRECT Infant Formula

What is your question. IF you want to read about how to do redirects please do so here. — Seadog (Talk) 18:37, 5 December 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Statitistics on paticular pages or search terms

I would like to gather statistics on particular pages or search terms. In particular, I would like to know how often a particular term is searched on, or the hit rate on a particular page. I am gathering this information for a professional society. We would like to know how often Wikipedia is used to gather information about our specialty. Are there any tools to do this? Thank you

I'm afraid that Wikipedia's hit counters were switched off for performance reasons, so the information you want isn't available; only the 100 most popular pages are listed. If you go to Special:Statistics, there's links to most of the information that is available. --ais523 09:10, 6 December 2006 (U T C)

[edit] Where'd that box come from?

Can someone please look at the formatting for my user page http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Mpwrmnt and tell me what I did that caused a dotted-line box to appear around "Thanks for being patient with the Newbies!" I like it, but I didn't intentionally do anything to create it, so I don't know how it got there! Thanks! --Mpwrmnt 19:22, 5 December 2006 (UTC)

It's due to [[Image:WikiThanks.png]] '''Thanks for being patient with the Newbies!'''. Since it has whitespace at the beginning of the line, before the link to the image is made, it shows it as pre-formatted text

like this.

Tito xd^(?!?) 19:24, 5 December 2006 (UTC)

Thank you!

--Mpwrmnt 19:55, 5 December 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Cannot log on

I have created, successfully and account but cannot log in. I am getting an error message that there is no such user name. When clicking the email confirmation link sent to me, I return to the log in page and then successfully log in! I can look at my account and change things normally: my account does exist! However, when logging out and then trying to log in I cannot. Wiki says I do not have the correct user name. I check the case of the user name, it's correct. I even changed my password several times, but that did not fix the problem. Any suggestions from anyone?

One thing that could be causing your problem is your capitalization. Wikipedia usernames are case-sensitive, so User:TitoXD, User:TitoxD and User:Titoxd are different accounts. Tito xd^(?!?) 20:08, 5 December 2006 (UTC)

TitoXD, thanks for the response, but as I stated above, I check the case of the user name. I wrote down the exact user name including the case, but tried different combinations as well. (UC, LC and UC first letter, etc.) No luck. One thing to note, Wiki sent me a confirmation email with a link back to the log on page. When using this link I can log on and my user name is correct! I think there is a problem with the log on server database. Pixalhead

Yep, they should have sent you an email telling you your IP address, the name of the account, and a link to confirm your email address. If it's possible, what is the exact name from that email? We can check whether an account exists or not by checking Special:Listusers. For example, if your username is Pixalhead, you can see here that we can't find an account under that name. The email should have the name of the account... what is it exactly? (And don't post your IP address, we don't need it.)Tito xd^(?!?) 20:23, 5 December 2006 (UTC)

Did you create your account on the English Wikipedia? All wikis and all different language Wikipedias require separate accounts. - 131.211.210.14 09:08, 6 December 2006 (UTC)
Another suggestion: it could be that somehow the username has characters you can't see. I recommend this path. (1) return to the e-mail and follow the link so you are logged on; (2) come back to this discussion. (3) post a reply. (4) sign your reply by typing four tildes, that is, ~~~~. This will show clearly in the message your logged on username, and let the people here investigate more. Notinasnaid 10:49, 6 December 2006 (UTC)

[edit] A tracker

Is there a good way for me to track my adventures through the wikipedia universe? Track favorite pages, areas of interest, etc? Maybe this isn't a wiki thing, but something somebody else put together? Asdead.Asleaves 21:19, 5 December 2006 (UTC)

You do have a watchlist. You can look at your own contributions at Special:Contributions/Asdead.Asleaves.--Kchase T 21:23, 5 December 2006 (UTC)

The watchlist and contributions pages are helpful. Personally, use those and I also maintain a follow-up list (simply a user-subpage I created) so I can list articles/images/whatever that I want to keep tabs on. It allows me to use the related changes option as well as remember to edit pages even if they go untouched for a while. BigNate37_(T) 21:37, 5 December 2006 (UTC)

[edit] stadium

missing from you list is edgbaston cricket ground , cap 21000, home of warwickshire cricket club and many great england matches Bongboy68 21:36, 5 December 2006 (UTC)

I'm not sure which list you refer to. It's on List of stadiums. Do you mean Edgbaston Cricket Ground is missing from List of cricket grounds in England and Wales? It mentions "County Cricket Ground (Edgbaston)" with a link to Edgbaston Stadium which redirects to Edgbaston Cricket Ground. I know nothing about cricket but put a message for other editors on Talk:List of cricket grounds in England and Wales. PrimeHunter 23:19, 5 December 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Info has disappeared from page

An entire section of the Stalking article is not showing, even though the text is there (can see it when you click edit). I tried deleting the text and repasting it in, but it still doesn't show after a save. Can anyone tell me what's up with this? (this is not a new section of the article, btw, it's been there for months and months) It's the section on "Types of Stalkers" and gender, underneath "Psychology and Behaviors," that is not showing up. 69.154.163.125 21:47, 5 December 2006 (UTC)

I think I've fixed it. You've got to put a space and a slash at the end of a short tag for a previous reference.--Kchase T 22:00, 5 December 2006 (UTC)

Im doing a research paper nad i have to do my bibliogrophy cards, and i cannot find all the copyright, publisher, etc. And i am just wondering if you could give me the info helpme 69.247.37.76 23:01, 5 December 2006 (UTC)

See Wikipedia:Citing Wikipedia; also, click on the "Cite this article" link in the left sidebar on any article. Tito xd^(?!?) 23:04, 5 December 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Talk pages

Congrats on a terrific service. As a regular user I have created an account. I now wish to make some suggestions re improving your section on pythagorian triples which I think is inadequate and,also, contains a confusing statement. As I am not a professional mathematician I do not wish to actually make the edits,just point out where I think it can be improved. I have been to yr talk/discussion page(also to help & FAQ's)but can't see how to actually enter my comments.I tried pressing alt t and alt e without success. Plse tell me how to do this. (Apologies from a newby).Can I send them to you here instead? ReggieReggieclough 23:23, 5 December 2006 (UTC)

Welcome to Wikipedia! Thank you for your kind words. To bring up a new topic for discussion on any talk page, go to it, and look up top at the tabs. You'll see a "+" on one of them. Click that, enter a title in the "subject/headline" field, then enter your message in the "message" field. There's a "+" sign on one of the tabs on this page, so scroll up and see what it looks like. Thanks, and happy editing! —Pilotguy (push to talk) 23:49, 5 December 2006 (UTC)

(redacted after edit conflict) You would go to the article on Pythagorean triples (<---that's a link), hit "discussion" at the top of the article to access its talk page (every page on Wikipedia has an associated talk page), and enter your message exactly as you did here, i.e., either by <text removed which duplicates the above> or click "edit this page" at the top of the talk page, scroll down to the bottom, make a section header by typing text with two equal signs on either side (==header text==), hitting return, typing your message and then hitting the save button. No need to apologize for being a newbie; we all were, and that's what this page is for.--Fuhghettaboutit 23:57, 5 December 2006 (UTC)