Wikipedia:Help desk/Archives/2006 November 10

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[edit] November 10

[edit] Edit does not show up in my watchlist

Here's something odd: I edited a page that is on my watchlist, but the edit does not show up on the watchlist. (I don't have "Hide my edits" or "Hide minor edits" set, or anything like that.) I looked at the contents of my watchlist ("display and edit the complete list"), and the page is there. I looked at the page itself, and my edit is in the page itself, and in the history, and the watch/unwatch tab says "unwatch", indicating the page is currently being watched. I reloaded my watchlist several times. I edited other watched pages, and they showed up. But not the mystery edit. So then I clicked "unwatch" on the page, and got the expected result. I then clicked "watch", and got the expected result. Back to my watchlist... my edit is still not there. The watchlist function does not appear to use the server cache (it's generated on the fly), so I can't purge the cache. Ideas? --MCB 00:50, 10 November 2006 (UTC)

Does the history of the article confirm that you made the edit? Also, if you revert an article to get rid of vandalism at the same time as another editor and their edit hits the system first, you won't get credit for that edit. Could that be it? Dismas|(talk) 00:52, 10 November 2006 (UTC)
It shows up in the history, and in the page itself, and wasn't a revert, and no one else edited the page around the time I did. The page has been edited further, and the latest of those edits show up in my watchlist. On further analysis, I think I might have a clue: I made this edit, which was adding {{sprotected}} to a page, and then immediately performed the sprotection itself, which is an admin action rather than an edit, but it shows up in the history as a minor edit through the workings of the software. The latter may just not show up in a watchlist correctly, so I'll see if it happens again, and file a bug report if it does. Thanks for responding and if anyone else has any ideas, please post! Thanks, --MCB 02:42, 10 November 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Is an informal fan poll usable?

A user and I are in conflict (and we do have an RFC in place) regarding the spelling of one Rainbow Brite character's name - Moonglo vs. Moonglow. Although the article currently notes that the TV series spells it Moonglo and the merchandise line uses Moonglow, the user wants to change the article to read that fans use Moonglo most often. Personally, on fan sites, I've seen them used pretty equally. Well, apparently this user is taking a poll at a fan forum and wants to use it as citable proof that Moonglo should be used. My concern is that a fan poll is not a concrete citation - what if this week one spelling wins, but next week more users vote and another spelling wins? Furthermore, there are other fan sites in existence, and said user is only giving fans at one particular site the chance to vote, which would be a problem with a poll on any subject - only a limited number of people interested in the issue will have voted. What is official policy regarding polls? Kat, Queen of Typos 00:59, 10 November 2006 (UTC)

Polls on websites are neither verifiable nor scholarly, and they're original research. Therefore, don't use them. --Wooty  Woot? | contribs 01:16, 10 November 2006 (UTC)
  • Discussions regarding editing Wikipedia articles should best be kept on the article's talk page (including polling, in order to directly allow all Wikipedia users to know what are the article's debates or issues). As far as policy regarding voting, Wikipedia is based on the consensus of users, however, a citation linking to a poll that was deliberated on a fan forum is as you stated considered "not concrete." Admins or Wikipedia employees do not determine the information that is required to reflect or not reflect in an article. All they can do is add editing tags stating the article requires citations regarding its info, the article is disputed for its neutrality, etc. (the only exception to removing content immediately is when it is regarded as vandalism).¤~Persian Poet Gal (talk) 01:18, 10 November 2006 (UTC)
I was asking about Wikipedia's policy on polls. There is info on the talk page already about the issue as well as a link to this post. I was only explaining the issue in order to provide context. Kat, Queen of Typos 02:05, 10 November 2006 (UTC)
  • Use Moonglo if that is the name used in the show's credits. And use Moonglow when you're talking about the piece of merchandise. - 131.211.210.15 08:49, 10 November 2006 (UTC)
I think you are posting in the wrong place 131.211.210.15. Kat, Queen of Typos 18:57, 10 November 2006 (UTC)

[edit] I WANTED TO KNOW

hello i was wondering how do u add pages to your website .... because i wanna place a bio about one of my artist on this site please respond thank you

(email removed).

Please read the Very Frequently Aaked Questions at the top of the page. Note that your subject must be verifiable and you must adhere to a neutral point of view. It is often bad for someone connected to the subject to write an article on them, as it has inherent POV problems. --Wooty  Woot? | contribs 01:18, 10 November 2006 (UTC)
  • It also requires correct unabbreviated English spelling of words like "you". - 131.211.210.15 08:47, 10 November 2006 (UTC)

[edit] proposed merge between wood engraving & woodcut (WE & W)

This is about printmaking. Proposed merger tags were put on these two some months ago. The one on W has been removed now - don't know when. The W talk page there appears to have been cleared, or never had anything, but on the WE talk page there are numerous commentas against the merge, the last (before mine today) in May 06.

I feel I have sorted the problem in WE, which was that the 1911 text also covered W, which everybody agrees is a different technique. The merge tag should now be taken off, I think, but I don't like to do it myself & have not found the correct procedure in a search.

Please advise if I can/should just do it, or alternatively forward this to the correct administrator. Or should it be left for a period? Thanks Johnbod 02:19, 10 November 2006 (UTC)

At Wikipedia:Merge it is stated: "If there is a clear agreement after two weeks that the articles should be merged, then go ahead and merge them. If there is no response after four weeks then go ahead and merge the articles." Nothing covering you situation exactly, but I think we can read into this the negative implication, that where there is opposition and no response after a few weeks, "go ahead and remove the tag. We also operate by consensus. Since there appears to be consensus not to merge, go ahead and remove the tag. Finally, if someone adds a tag such as this one which appears to me to be simply incorrect in its goal, you can be bold and remove the tag.--Fuhghettaboutit 02:33, 10 November 2006 (UTC)

Many ThanksJohnbod 17:02, 10 November 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Landfills filled

What happens if landfills have no more space????—The preceding unsigned comment was added by 210.0.142.78 (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). Just follow the link, select the relevant section, and ask away. I hope this helps.--Fuhghettaboutit 03:48, 10 November 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Uploaded..now what?

Okay,I've uploaded my image to the wikimedia commons.would someone be able to check and see that everything is in order,so it doesn't end up removed?The link is here:http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Image:Donnawilliams2003.jpg Sorry to bother you but this is my first uploaded image and I want to make sure that everything is in order.Serenaacw 03:38, 10 November 2006 (UTC)

  • Can't see anything wrong with it. Source info and licensing are both there. - 131.211.210.15 08:46, 10 November 2006 (UTC)

ThanksSerenaacw 10:37, 10 November 2006 (UTC)

[edit] How can I get Wikipedia info into my own files?

That is to say, I'd like to have a Wiki that's akin to Google Notebook, as though it were a combination of the two. So, if I wanted to look over information I've found on wikepedia about, say, "Tantric Sex," "The Matrix," and "Reservoir Dogs," and put it all on a page, how could I do that?

thanks,

Bblakeney 04:10, 10 November 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Writing an Injunction

Can you give me help on writing an injuction. I need one to stop a petition from being handed out before I have enough time to get it stopped. Deals with lies. harrassment detrament of chacter.—The preceding unsigned comment was added by 67.136.136.168 (talk • contribs) .

I think you would be well advised to hire an attorney but if you're really going to try to do this yourself, I suggest going to your local court's free law library, if it has one, and see if the librarians can give you some help in locating example motions to work from. That being said, your question would be better suited for the Wikipedia:Reference desk/Humanities. This help page is for questions related to using Wikipedia.--Fuhghettaboutit 05:57, 10 November 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Getting a different sort of help

If I would like an image made for me, where would I go to?

†he Bread 05:24, 10 November 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Notices on User talk pages

Hi, I've started using class="usermessage" on my talk page for notices. It stands out nicely, but I'm a little worried about people clicking on it, instinctively reacting as if it were about a new message on their talk page. Is there an alternative CSS class that I can use instead? Thank you. --Kjoonlee 06:14, 10 November 2006 (UTC)

Change the background colour? Just add style="background-color: #ff0000;" and replace the hex with whatever color you want (in hex form or a color name [1]). -- Consumed Crustacean (talk) 07:42, 10 November 2006 (UTC)
Thank you, but I'd rather use an existing class, so that someone as picky as I am (hah!) can choose their own colours... --Kjoonlee 08:08, 10 November 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Moving Contributions from my IP to my User Account

Hi, I made some edits forgetting to log in that I a spent a bit of time on, and I was just wondering if its possible to associate contributions I made under my IP address with my current user name. Thanks! Breenius 07:39, 10 November 2006 (UTC)

  • You might be able to if it's a non-dynamic IP, using Wikipedia:Changing attribution for an edit, but that is a laborious procedure for the people who have to do it. Why not link the IP on your userpage and leave a note on which edits you did. - 131.211.210.15 08:43, 10 November 2006 (UTC)

[edit] project

Most respectfully,i beg to state that i m a student of electrical engg.i want to convert the solar light into electricity. please tell me procedure.

  • You're probably interested in our article on solar panels. - 131.211.210.15 08:41, 10 November 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Confused about deleting an article.

[edit] Creating a page

I cannot figure out how to get to the page that I can create. I would like to create an aricle and not edit it. I read your FAQS, but I do not see anything on how I actually get to the page that I can create.

  • You need an account to create pages. If you don't have one or don't want one (I can't see why you wouldn't want a free account without giving any personal details), you can also use Articles for creation. Please remember to the core policies of verifiability and neutrality and take a look at the stuff we don't accept at WP:NOT. You may also be interested in WP:YFA - Mgm|(talk) 10:55, 10 November 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Is there anywhere to object a vandalism-warning?

I just edited a page and just then I received a warning saying I was doing vandalism. I don't understand at all and I found nowhere to object. I really need the admin to answer me why my editing is considered as vandalism. Please tell me where to object. Thanks.—Preceding unsigned comment added by 211.166.227.235 (talk • contribs)

If your IP address changes all the time then you will get the occasional message that was not intended for you but rather for someone else. --WikiSlasher 12:41, 10 November 2006 (UTC)
Please bear in mind too that anyone can and may issue vandalism warnings, not just administrators. It is not a formal thing, but you can note your objections to the label on your talk page. Best of all, though, is to engage in discussion on the article's talk page about your proposed edits. The warning you are commenting on referred to this edit [2], which deleted much of the article, and would certainly be called vandalism. If you didn't make this change, all the more reason for you to get an account, so you don't get mixed up with vandals. Notinasnaid 17:40, 10 November 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Job

Hello, I've created an account, but what is next? Is there a list of jobs I can do? Thank you

  • I'll track down their username and post a welcome message. - Mgm|(talk) 13:16, 10 November 2006 (UTC)

There's always chores to do if you follow some links from Category:Wikipedia backlog ;) --WikiSlasher 13:19, 10 November 2006 (UTC)

[edit]

Here are some tasks you can do:

(This list is taken from the Community Portal, linked on the sidebar at the left of the screen.) --ais523 13:34, 10 November 2006 (UTC)


[edit] Request for blocking a user

I don't know if this is the right place to air this but I'd like to report user Kevin 13 who is willfully ignoring rules on Wikipedia:Image use policy and Wikipedia:Image copyright tags after 25 warnings. Check out User talk:Kevin 13. I'd like to know if Kevin 13 can be blocked as his contributions are both useless and disruptive. Thank you very much.

I suspect that Kevin 13 may also be going by the name Wowowee 2006 as both users were tagged for the same violation. See User talk:Wowowee 2006.

[edit] Hernia

hernia/what are the systems that come with a hernia in abdomine,caused by reconstructive surgery on breast and the repair was taken from my abdomine,now I have a hernia,what are the systems for a hernia. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 74.141.18.144 (talk • contribs)

This question should be asked at Wikipedia:Reference desk/Science. You can read about the characteristics ("symptoms") of abdominal hernias at the hernia article. However, if requesting medical advice, please consider asking a doctor instead. McMillin24 contribstalk 15:26, 10 November 2006 (UTC)

[edit] photos not appearing on target page - please help

I've correctly tagged a couple of photographs showing my authorship and given licence details. I've also correctly indicated the target location on the main entry "Chemetco". However, the photographs do not appear on the page.

This is puzzling me as I had actually managed to load make them appear earlier, only to realise that I had't then included my license and authorship details.

Please help me to complete this entry. Many thanks in advance,

Alistair SiddonsAstral highway 15:28, 10 November 2006 (UTC)


I fixed the first picture. Apparently, ".jpeg" was supposed to be ".jpg." I don't know what's wrong with the second picture. Maybe it's mispelled or something. Doberdog 15:44, 10 November 2006 (UTC)Doberdog

[edit] Changing the "new message" box appearence

Hello.

Whenever I receive a new message, an orange and intrusive box appears on the top of every page I am watching, until I read my talk page.

I would like change the box appearence, for example reducing it and changing its colour (which is really annoying). It would be even better to change its position, for example having the "my talk" link (the one close to "my preferences" link) underlined/coloured/else.

Is this possible?

Best regards, Panarjedde 15:37, 10 November 2006 (UTC)

If you know CSS, then you can change some aspects of the appearance of Wikipedia by modifying your CSS file at Special:Mypage/monobook.css. It requires examining the HTML code first, though. –Mysid☎ 16:19, 10 November 2006 (UTC)
If you use Mozilla Firefox, its Web Developer extension lets you examine all CSS code on one page. That's how I found out about class="usermessage". --Kjoonlee 17:49, 10 November 2006 (UTC)
If you use something like
.usermessage { border: 2px solid yellow; color: black; background-color: white; }
in your monobook.css file then you'll be able to customize the usermessagebox's look. Please feel free to use my talk page to check if your CSS changes work as intended. --Kjoonlee 17:49, 10 November 2006 (UTC)
Thank you, I will try and let you know. If someone wants to help me test this feature, please sent me a message.--Panarjedde 18:09, 10 November 2006 (UTC)

[edit] adding a article

How do you add an article? —Preceding unsigned comment added by Songi360 (talk • contribs)

See here. Trebor 16:25, 10 November 2006 (UTC)

[edit] footnote

How do I footnote something? —Preceding unsigned comment added by Midnight man (talk • contribs)

See Wikipedia:Footnotes. Trebor 16:25, 10 November 2006 (UTC)

[edit] images/fair use/copyright

I've read through the fair use and copyright guides, as well as the general info on uploading images and external linking, but I'm still a bit vague. What should I do in the following case?

I edited Neutral Milk Hotel to correct a mistake about a band pseudonym, and linked to an image (gig poster) which supported the correction in the external links. Should I have uploaded this? It's on the website of a NZ band and I've no idea why or what kind of copyright applies to it (obviously someone designed it so it will be copyrighted). Should it not even be linked or uploaded at all? Help!Tippling.philosopher 18:55, 10 November 2006 (UTC)

Image fair use guidelines basically say it's OK to upload a copyrighted image when there is no free-use alternative. Feel free to read up on WP:FU. However, you usually only want to include one fair-use image of the band at a time; or so goes my understanding. It's probably OK to have a link to a gallery of images, or to the page where the image is located, though. -Patstuart(talk)(contribs) 03:45, 11 November 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Customizing Signatures

I'm trying to change my signature to Tcpekin. This is the code:

[[User:Tcpekin|<font color=#FF0000>T</font><font color=#4682B4>c</font><font color =#228B22>p<font color=#660099>e<font color=#CC5500>k<font color=#FFBF00>i</font><font color=#6600FF>n</font>]]

When I try to set it as my signature in my preferences, however, a box says that it is a invalid raw signature; check HTML tags. What does that mean, and how do I fix it? Thanks, Tom 19:01, 10 November 2006 (UTC)

See Wikipedia:How to fix your signature. --Quiddity 19:09, 10 November 2006 (UTC)
I think you haven't closed some <font> tags. Make sure every <font> tag has a </font> tag to go with it, and try again. Hope that helps... Nihiltres 19:10, 10 November 2006 (UTC)
You may also want to enclose the values in quotes (like <font color="green"> instead of <font color=green>)...that helped my signature a lot

[edit] quick question

I found a collection before of deleted (archived) very comical pages that were in wikipedia and removed does anyone what I'm talking about?? could you please provide a web address or link.

thanks in advance —The preceding unsigned comment was added by Hondaracer (talk • contribs) .

See Wikipedia:Bad Jokes and Other Deleted Nonsense -Quiddity 19:10, 10 November 2006 (UTC)


Thanks Quiddity

 Racer

    Today, there are three kinds of people: the have's, the have-not's, and the have-not-paid-for-what-they-have's 15:54, 13 November 2006 (UTC)

[edit] How do you add a new section?

There's this article for left-handed people and there is no "external links" section. I want to add this new section to add external links for further info. How are you supposed to do that? —Preceding unsigned comment added by Veggie PMS (talk • contribs) 19:28, 10 November 2006 (UTC)

You can simply edit the article and add in your external links. However, I will warn you now that you must be VERY careful when adding links. We don't take spamming kindly, so make sure your links are relevant and that there is no hint of advertisement in them. Generally, links are only needed if there is information can cannot be covered in the article itself - otherwise, add it in and cite instead. If you're unsure, you can try posting on the talk page of the article with your suggsted link. Post here or let me know if you have any trouble. Good luck! —Keakealani 19:44, 10 November 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Administrators and WP:CSD

Not a new user, but I have a question: Can an administrator delete an article himself if he/she feels it meets CSD criteria? I'm talking about if nobody has nominated the article and the administrator just deletes it on his own instinct. Or does the article have to be nominated by someone other then the deletionist? - Tutmosis 19:39, 10 November 2006 (UTC)

I'm not an admin, so I can't tell you for sure, but I'm fairly positive that admins can delete articles without them first being nominated, if they're very obvious speedies. I'm sure there are at least a few admins who do new page patrol, and when I'm doing that I often get to articles which are already deleted - either they manage to get nominated and deleted within a few seconds or they were just deleted right off. —Keakealani 19:44, 10 November 2006 (UTC)
There is no technical reason preventing it. For anything other than an obvious vandalism job, though, the community has a strong perference for the "one tags, one deletes" approach. Shimgray | talk | 19:52, 10 November 2006 (UTC)
Okay thanks guys, just a random thought I had today. - Tutmosis 20:07, 10 November 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Trouble with uploaded image

Tried to upload image of book cover to:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nowhere_Man:_The_Final_Days_of_John_Lennon%2C

The image did not go to the intended page and now I can't find the image.

How do I resolve this.

Thanks.—Preceding unsigned comment added by Rentamuse (talk • contribs) 19:41, 10 November 2006 (UTC)

The image you uploaded has been deleted. Take a look at this and this and this and this. Dylan Lake (t·c·ε) 22:01, 10 November 2006 (UTC)

[edit] How do I edit the "Edit Summary"?

I made a mistake in the "Edit Summary" when making a minor edit to an article. I need to correct it. How do I do this? I understand that the "Edit Summary" page states "After saving the page, the summary can not be edited--another reason to avoid spelling errors." but there has to be a way. —Preceding unsigned comment added by AshCokeandDash (talk • contribs) 19:41, 10 November 2006 (UTC)

You can make a dummy edit with a summary like "the previous edit was <blah blah blah>". —Keakealani 19:45, 10 November 2006 (UTC)

[edit] change preferences

how do I change skins? —Preceding unsigned comment added by Terryclemm (talk • contribs) 21:50, 10 November 2006 (UTC)

Go to your Preferences and choose the tab that says "Skin". Mark the one you want and hit "Save". —Keakealani 21:52, 10 November 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Reverting a particular edit

It is possible to revert one edit yet leave the next dozen edits of the article intact? Of course, I mean without deleting that particular edit; I am looking for a shortcut on the history page.

I already have the pop-up tool.--Patchouli 22:43, 10 November 2006 (UTC)

I dont believe thats possible, you going to have to remove/restore what ever is wrong manually. - Tutmosis 22:54, 10 November 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Copyrighted material on user subpages

Here's a silly question. Say that I'm working on a brand new article, and it's going to take a while to write, and I have to compile from several sources. Is it ok to put copyrighted material (e.g. material from the website, from news artices) in a sandbox temporarily so that I can write the article? Or does that still constitute copyright infringement? If so, can I include all sources, and avoid that problem? tiZom(2¢) 22:45, 10 November 2006 (UTC)

I would advice against that, even though there is no specific guideline for a such a situation, it be best to avoid possible problems by not doing it. You can easily save the text onto your computer through a text editor and refer to it when ever you wish. - Tutmosis 22:51, 10 November 2006 (UTC)
If an article at any point starts as a copyvio, even if it's changed eventually, it can still be labelled as a copyvio. If you're using the source just for reference, why not just keep a link in your sandbox? There's no reason to keep a direct copy of a website, and it would definitely raise red flags. Don't think there's a /rule/ against it, but I would strongly advise another method of referencing. —Keakealani 01:03, 11 November 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Article I printed off for a school paper -- need your help on this.

Hello, I need your help on a Research Methods Problem Statement paper I am writing and due to turn in next Wednesday, 11-15-06. I used the following article and put it under my reference page at the end. My teacher is helping me on my draft paper of this and sent the following information back to me to get help on. Here is the article and the question(s) that she wants me to answer & get back to her on. Here it is:

Article is: Unborn Victims of Violence Act of 2004 -- this involved Pres. Bush signing this into law on 4-1-04 at the White House. It involved Laci Perterson & her unborn child, Conner, who were killed by her husband, Scott Peterson in 2002 and who is now on deeath row in San Quntion. And I thought this was all good and well and I was finished with this part.

Teacher is e-mailing me back asking me the following: Who is the Author & Year?

This is how I typed the cite under my references & she has this is red to correct & I don't know how to cite it any better, how?? (http://en.wikipedia.org./wiki/Unborn_Victims_of_Violence_Act) and that is what is being questioned. So do I used the web page cite off of the main page which is (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Page)???

Please someone help me out so that I can finish up this Problem Statement Paper and turn it in for an "A" paper.

I just need to know what I did wrong if at all because I usually cite web pages correctly all the time.

Thanks again and e-mail me back at: [redacted to prevent spam] Sincerely, Mrs. P H [redacted].

Hi. Take a look at The "Citing Wikipedia" Page, it gives information and instructions on how to cite Wikipedia articles. Basically, you need to use the 'Cite this article' link on the left hand side in the toolbox, when you are viewing the article. Let me know if you need anything else here. Slater — Deon555talk 00:02, 11 November 2006 (UTC)
Umm try Wikipedia:Citing Wikipedia. - Tutmosis 00:03, 11 November 2006 (UTC)