Wikipedia:Help desk/Archives/2006 November 25

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Help desk
< November 24 << Oct | November | Dec >> November 26 >
Welcome to the Wikipedia Help Desk Archives
The page you are currently viewing is an archive page. While you can leave answers for any questions shown below, please ask new questions on one of the current Help Desk pages.


Contents

[edit] November 25

[edit] How to add an item to a category page?

Hi,

I want to add Emiliano Mercado del Toro to Category:Puerto_Rican_soldiers , but am not sure how to do it.

Also, I don't think I quite understand how category pages work in general, so pointers to an info page would be nice.

Sorry for the newbie ?s

Ramireja 04:15, 25 November 2006 (UTC) Jose Ramirez

You would type [[Category:Puerto Rican soldiers|Emiliano Mercado del Toro]] at the bottom of the article. That should place him in the category. Kyo cat¿Qué tal?•meow! 04:20, 25 November 2006 (UTC)

At the Emiliano article? Ramireja 04:21, 25 November 2006 (UTC)

Ah yes, it worked! Thx. Ramireja 04:24, 25 November 2006 (UTC)

Yes. What I typed up there. For more info, just type the category name (in your case, Category: Puerto Rican soldiers), then add the "|" stick line (as I call it). After the stick line, type the name of the article or the object in mind that you want under a category. Enclose in brackets.

Final result= [[Category:Puerto Rican soldiers|Emiliano Mercado del Toro]]. Remember to do this at the end of the page, where all the other categories are. Kyo cat¿Qué tal?•meow! 04:29, 25 November 2006 (UTC)

Oh, you got it. Yay! Kyo cat¿Qué tal?•meow! 04:29, 25 November 2006 (UTC)
You seem to have already solved your problem (well done!), but for future reference, you may find Wikipedia:Categorisation#How to put an article into categories useful. — QuantumEleven 11:26, 25 November 2006 (UTC)

Actually there's something here that no-one's mentioned but is quite important. Firstly, all you really need to do is add [[Category:Puerto Rican soldiers]] to the bottom if you want it listed alphabetically by the title as it is written. However, you'd probably want it to be in its correct place alphabetically in the category, which I suspect is under "D" for "del Toro". In that case, you use the vertical bar (called piping in wiki terminology to code the article into a specific alphabetical place in the category like this: [[Category:Puerto Rican soldiers|Del Toro, Emiliano Mercado]]. Grutness...wha? 12:10, 25 November 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Help needed on complex page move/merge

Hi all - I've just performed a fairly complex page move/merge, and think I may have stuffed it up royally. The situation: A year ago, I moved greenstone to greenstone (disambiguation), allowing for the creation of an article on greenstone, the usual name for a New Zealand jade also called pounamu. Over the course of a year, that page had morphed, losing 90% of its original content and now describing a completely different rock (greenschist, sometimes known as greenstone). Since most of the links still referred to the New Zealand jade, it seemed prudent to move the current content to greenschist, create a new page called pounamu for the NZ rock, and move the dab page back to greenstone. Problem is that greenschist already existed as a page. So, I have tried to

  1. merge greenstone into greenschist,
  2. create pounamu from an old version of greenstone, and
  3. move greenstone (disambiguation) to greenstone.

In doing this, I think I've probably stuffed up the page histories, and I may also have confused some facts from one rock that should have been connected with the other rock - if someone more adept at page moves could check it out from one point of view, and if a geologist could check it out from the other point of view, it would be much appreciated! Grutness...wha? 05:24, 25 November 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Prices

I'm working on Park golf, and one section lists the equipment and accessories. Is it appropriate to give an approximate price range for the various accessories? If so, should this be sourced to stores or something like? Notice that the only store I'm presently aware of is a Japanese site, and so may be less useful. Thanks. --Sopoforic 05:51, 25 November 2006 (UTC)

While you can, in principle, indicate price ranges, it probably won't reflect a global view (prices are not the same around the world, a price in Yen of an item in Japan won't be of much use to, say, a reader in Europe), which is what we strive for in Wikipedia. However, since you're taking care to source the information, if you feel it adds something to the article, then be bold and go ahead and add it! — QuantumEleven 11:24, 25 November 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Sister?

please help me,one of your sisers was a great help to me ..I am no longer in her care. I wish to continue...I moved to Georgia, I did not like the sister who came to me. She was wrong. I am not sure how I know this, I just do ...Somehow, she is wrong. gave me a bad feeling...yet she claims to be with Jahovah. I spent many months with siser Debbie...and her beautiful family...she was an insperaation to me, and was her family. I love them and all the wonderful ppl in SE Aluqueque. I still am with..in my heart, Jehovah,,..I believe 1000 over that Jahovah is My personal savior, I am not babtised or anythiing other...

Sorry, but could you please clarify your question? If you're looking to locate a certain person, Wikipedia is definitely not the place to go to. –- kungming·2 (Talk) | Review 06:08, 25 November 2006 (UTC)
I think the questioner has confused a Wikipedia article about some church or hospital with the church's or hospital's official website. It happens all the time. JIP | Talk 08:43, 25 November 2006 (UTC)


[edit] Book on electrical engineering

want to know about book on elictrical engineering

I'm afraid that, as an online encyclopedia, we don't sell books. However, we do have an article on electrical engineering, maybe if you follow some of the external links at the bottom you will come across good books on the subject. Hope that helps! — QuantumEleven 11:20, 25 November 2006 (UTC)
Thanks much. State Alchemist-talk-See You On RuneScape! 00:43, 26 November 2006 (UTC)

[edit] (edit conflict)

Please don't be offended if this is you I'm describing, but why do some people (especially on the Reference Desk) feel the need to write "(edit conflict)" before their posts whenever they're involved in an edit conflict? I haven't been able to figure this out. I personally would never feel the need to do this, and I find it destracting when I see it. Your thoughts? —EdGl 06:54, 25 November 2006 (UTC)

In my own opinion, that represents the fact that Wikipedians wrote that statement or message down, or perhaps a reply without being influenced by subsequent edits. I don't do it personally, but I think it's harmless and it's okay if that's what others are used to. Ironically, I got involved in an edit conflict while writing this. ;) –- kungming·2 (Talk) 07:00, 25 November 2006 (UTC)
I will do it occasionally, when I want to indicate that I am aware the post I am making repeats elements already presented by previous posters. That is, I've taken the time to write a reasonably lengthy reply, only to find that parts of it have already been presented by other posters. Rather than rewrite everything I've written to eliminate any duplication (and risk hitting another edit conflict, where I will have to repeat the process) I'll warn that my remarks follow an edit conflict and let the reader pick out what's important or novel in what follows.TenOfAllTrades(talk) 14:18, 25 November 2006 (UTC)
(No edit conflict) That's exactly the same reasons I do it. Newyorkbrad 21:41, 26 November 2006 (UTC)
That's a good enough reason, thanks =) —EdGl 16:46, 25 November 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Adding extra links to my toolbox etc

Hi, I want to add some internal wikilinks to a new section underneath my toolbox. For example, when you use Topaz's status changer, a new section "status changer" appears underneath your toolbox, with links to change your status.

I want to do that, but add different links (ie: pages I frequently visit) to a new section called "Links" or something.. Hope this is the right place to ask too :) — Deon555talk 06:58, 25 November 2006 (UTC)

You should check out the Wikipedia:WikiProject User scripts. The folks there can probably help you out.—WAvegetarian•(talk) 22:42, 25 November 2006 (UTC)

[edit] The 1,500,000th article?

What is the 1,500,000th article? JIP | Talk 08:47, 25 November 2006 (UTC)

I asked about it on the IRC. One of them came forward – My teacher mike is gay, but it was deleted shortly afterwards. ;-) Now, get back to work, you loltard! — Nearly Headless Nick {L} 14:05, 25 November 2006 (UTC)
I was wondering as well. So is there no official 1,500,000th article? A bit iffy 16:16, 25 November 2006 (UTC)
It seems there's none, at least not yet. See Wikipedia:Village pump (news)#1,500,000th article. – b_jonas 16:56, 25 November 2006 (UTC)
Just noticed on the main page it says it's the Kanab Ambersnail. A bit iffy 18:50, 25 November 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Image licensing help

Despite my experience, I am still a bit lost when it comes to licensing for out of the ordinary images. Can anyone suggest a proper license (or confirm that there is nothing proper) for these two images I would like to upload for the article Irving Crane: 1) [1] from the main page at [2]. At first I thought {{sportsposter}} might work, but the poster is not an illustration of the event depicted. 2) [3] from the main page at [4]. Thanks in advance.--Fuhghettaboutit 11:39, 25 November 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Daylight savings time

Having read all the advantages that daylight saving time creates why not leave it alone and have it all year round instead of confusion twice a year13:53, 25 November 2006 (UTC)

Have you tried the humanities section of Wikipedia's Reference Desk? They specialize in answering knowledge questions there; this help desk is only for questions about using Wikipedia. For your convenience, here's the link to post a question there: click here. I hope this helps.--Fuhghettaboutit 17:16, 25 November 2006 (UTC)
Referring you to the correct reference desk is appropriate, but since you're here I might as well answer this question. Year-round daylight time was tried in the U.S. in 1974 during the first energy crisis, and discontinued as a result of (among other things) parents complaining about their elementary-school-aged children (such as myself) having to walk to school in the dark. Newyorkbrad 21:40, 26 November 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Central Heating

Cleaning sludge and adding an inhibitor to water based central heating radiator system.

Wikipedia is not a search engine. If you have a specific question about central heating, the Reference desk would be the better place to ask. This page is for questions on how to edit Wikipedia itself. Dismas|(talk) 14:20, 25 November 2006 (UTC)

[edit] How many articles are created per day?

To me, it looks like upwards of 1,000! About how many per day nowadays? Trosk 15:12, 25 November 2006 (UTC)

Well 2,408,912 articles as of the second I save the page!__Seadog ♪ 15:22, 25 November 2006 (UTC)
  • Last time I checked over 3000 articles were created daily, but a lot of those are deleted shortly afterwards. Why not check Wikipedia:Statistics? - Mgm|(talk) 16:06, 25 November 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Stephen Bishop, Mammoth Cave guide

Help! While trying to edit the last paragraph in the long article on Stephen Bishop, Mammoth Cave guide, the long article disappeared. I may have done something bad inadvertently. The last paragraph in that article contains speculation about Charlotte Bishop and details surrounding the tombstone of Stephen Bishop. The factual edit was this:

Harold Meloy, Mammoth Cave Historian, wrote in 1977 ("Stephen Bishop: The Man and the Legend" in "Caves, Cavers and Caving" edited by Bruce Sloane), that James Ross Mellon of Pittsburgh, PA visited Mammoth Cave for a week in November, 1878. Charmed by the stories he heard of Stephen Bishop, he met Charlotte, Stephen's widow, who managed the hotel dining room. She led Mellon to Stephen's gravesite which had "only a cedar tree to mark it." He promised her he would have a stone properly carved. Mellon, at that time, was president of the City Loan Bank in Pittsburgh. Three years after Mellon returned to Pittsburgh he remembered his promise to Charlotte and arranged for the carving of the stone. In 1881 the monument carver, using a second-hand stone from a Civil War soldier's family that was unable to pay, chiseled off the soldier's name and carved "STEPHEN BISHOP, FIRST GUIDE AND EXPLORER OF THE MAMMOTH CAVE. DIED JUNE 15, 1859 IN HIS 37 YEAR." The stone was shipped to Mammoth Cave and installed on Stephen's grave. Meloy said, "The error in the date of death [1859 vs. 1857] detracted nothing from the legend now reinforced by a permanent record in stone."

Another minor edit in that same paragraph: Charlotte's last name before she married Stephen Bishop was Brown.

I am the co-author of four books on Mammoth Cave and author of a new historical novel about the life of Stephen Bishop. I uncovered this information in my research. Roger W. Brucker <e-mail removed to prevent spam> RogerBrucker 16:16, 25 November 2006 (UTC)

Using your own research is a violation of WP:OR, just FYI. --Wooty Woot? contribs 19:56, 25 November 2006 (UTC)
Roger - you did zap a big chunk of the article in this edit, but someone has since restored it. As the policy Wooty links to notes, every addition to wikipedia should be supported by a reliable source; specualtion (other than the sourced speculation of notable persons) shouldn't be added. -- Finlay McWalter | Talk 20:04, 25 November 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Problems with image not displaying properly in article

Hello,

I would like to ask you if you could take 2 minutes of your time to look at an image I uploaded to replace an old image that also wasn't showing properly. The new one doesn't show either. I am sure I have rectified and input the correct licensing information from previous experiences.

The article concerned is http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thin_film

The image in question is http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Linearschematic.jpg

I really hope you can assist me on this.

Thank you very much in advance.

Best wishes, Antony Addy

I've fixed it, Antony. I'm not sure what exactly was the problem, but in my experience, sometimes an old image tag will not display a new picture, and a new tag must be written to overwrite it. Thanks for letting us know about this! –- kungming·2 (Talk) 18:13, 25 November 2006 (UTC)

[edit] header tags

The following debate has been relocated to Wikipedia:Village_pump_(policy)#Header_tags

[edit] Survey

Add * Support (in favor of set of 3 tags) or * Oppose (in favor of 1 tag) followed by a brief explanation, then sign your opinion with ~~~~

For other persons named Robert Johnson, see Robert Johnson (disambiguation).
For alternate spelling see Robert Johnston
See also: Bob Johnson, Rob Johnson, Bobby Johnson, and Robert Johnston

vs.

For other persons named Robert Johnson, see Robert Johnson (disambiguation).
  • Support I spent a great deal of time yesterday editing all articles and dab pages for persons named Robert Johnson, Bob Johnson, Rob Johnson, & Bobby Johnson and made some minor changes for persons named Robert Johnston and Bob Johnston. This morning I woke up to some controversy regarding the use of some tags I put at the top of the Robert Johnson article pages and the bottom of the dab page. Someone placed the following explanation on my talk page. I am unsure whether I violated WP:MOSDAB, but I propose that the former set of tags should be returned to these pages instead of just the later single tag. Although in creating dab we assume people know the correct spelling of what they are searching for and design the page according to the premise that someone searching for the exact correct thing could end up in the wrong place because of multiple referents for this exact correct search. However, on article pages, I think it may be appropriate for particularly confusing names to add multiple tags like I propose. In fact, why was the bottom of the 3 tags created if not for a purpose like this. If I was named Robert Johnson and people kept confusing me with other people, I might want the former tags. Also, I think novice wikipedians could end up on any Robert Johsnon page while looking for Robert Johnston, or any of the other Johnsons. Feedback awaited. TonyTheTiger 17:07, 25 November 2006 (UTC)
  • Comment What about "For other people named Robert Johnson, see Robert Johnson (disambiguation); also Bob or Rob Johnson or Johnston". I'd just like to see it not use up more than one line. Steve 19:52, 25 November 2006 (UTC)
I could put Robert Johnston in the see also tag:
For other persons named Robert Johnson, see Robert Johnson (disambiguation).
See also: Bob Johnson, Rob Johnson, Bobby Johnson, and Robert Johnston.
Of course, I could manually code it without the tags in one line as well since the templates won't print on the same line. TonyTheTiger 20:24, 25 November 2006 (UTC)
  • Comment I don't know that the help desk is the best place at which to situate a survey of this sort (I don't object–and will offer my thoughts straightaway–but others might view this as a request for discussion rather than as a request for specific guidance), and I wonder whether you might have more success eliciting the views of the community writ large at WP:VPP or Wikipedia talk:Manual of Style (disambiguation pages). Joe 20:24, 25 November 2006 (UTC)

The above debate has been relocated to Wikipedia:Village_pump_(policy)#Header_tags

[edit] Blocking Pages

How do you block an article? I'm trying to block World Wrestling Entertainment roster as it keeps being constantly vandalised, can you tell me how to do it? Leave comments underneath... 86.20.53.195 19:26, 25 November 2006 (UTC)

Only administrators can protect articles. You may request semi-protection for an article on WP:RPP.--Húsönd 19:29, 25 November 2006 (UTC)

[edit] I'm writing a research paper.

hey!. I am writing a research paper for school and I need to know the author of http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dialysis#Principle. Any information that you could tell me would be great. Thank you!


69.164.194.233 20:26, 25 November 2006 (UTC)

Okay...It is really hard to know who exactly wrote that particular part but here is the history of the editors who have editited the entire article. If you need any help do not hesitate to contact me. Hope it helps.__Seadog ♪ 20:30, 25 November 2006 (UTC)
Have you looked at Wikipedia:Researching with Wikipedia? You should also look at Wikipedia:Citing Wikipedia. You shouldn't cite any particular author for a section or article as the encyclopedia is collaboratively written.—WAvegetarian•(talk) 22:39, 25 November 2006 (UTC)

[edit] how do I change my keyboard settings?

How can I use Wikipedia Hebrew Version? When I type in the search box of Wikipedia Hebrew version the letters appear in English, how can I change them to Hebrew? I have microsoft XP and am able to use the installed Hebrew font in microsoft Word but not in Wikipedia Hebrew version Thanks

I expect that it has something to do with the default language of your browser. Look in the options/setings to see if you can alter it. --Cherry blossom tree 22:30, 25 November 2006 (UTC)
I don't think this will work. WP 09:16, 26 November 2006 (UTC)
Press alt+shift or click the language icon on your task bar.WP 09:15, 26 November 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Having trouble finding a qoute and information about it.

I'm trying to find specific information about a qoute. The qoute is "The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the one."21:12, 25 November 2006 (UTC)

In general, this question would better be placed at the Reference Desk where questions of a factual nature should go. This Help Desk is for questions about Wikipedia. You might find information about that quote at Altruism though. Dismas|(talk) 21:18, 25 November 2006 (UTC)
...or at Star Trek II: The Wrath Of Khan, since that quote was used in that (though it was almost certainly not the original source!) Grutness...wha? 12:22, 27 November 2006 (UTC)

[edit] help with adding photo to page

I have uploaded a photo and do not know how to add the photo to a page or link it to a page.

how do I go about doing that? —Preceding unsigned comment added by Bphelps (talk • contribs)

See Wikipedia:Picture tutorial. Dismas|(talk) 21:16, 25 November 2006 (UTC)

[edit] What links here - updating

How long after one fixes a redirect in a template, how long does it take for the "What links here" pages to update to reflect that the template has been changed? Or do I need/should I go around and hit edit/save without changing anything else on those pages so that the template updates? Dismas|(talk) 22:18, 25 November 2006 (UTC)

  • If changes aren't immediate you need to go around to hit the templates with a trivial edit to see them updated. I recommend Wikipedia:AutoWikiBrowser. - Mgm|(talk) 22:33, 25 November 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Image Licensing

I'm remaking an image in SVG. The image is licensed under the GFDL. Does my remake need to be licensed under the GFDL too? And, does the "License" field in the document proprieties in Inkscape matter? Cause I can't find the GFDL in the list. -yksyksyks 22:32, 25 November 2006 (UTC)

I think your remake would count as a derivative work and so would have to be licenced under the GFDL. I don't know Inkscape but I doubt that the licence field matters, as long as the licence is noted on Wikipedia. --Cherry blossom tree 22:36, 25 November 2006 (UTC)
If you're basing your SVG on the original (PNG or GIF or whatver) then your image is a derivative work of the original, so the owner of the copyright on the original owns the copyright on the new one too (you may also co-own the copyright on the new work, but maybe not). In that case you're stuck with the GFDL. We don't use the licence info that Inkscape embeds into an SVG for anything, so you can feel free to leave that blank. You can, if you feel like it, say it's GFDLed in the normal metadata fields. -- Finlay McWalter | Talk 22:37, 25 November 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Permanent link

what does Permanent link in the toolbox mean? --TheEgyptian 22:41, 25 November 2006 (UTC)

It is a link to that version of an article. Any subsequent changes to the article will not be displayed when following that link. It is useful when attempting to cite an article, for example. --Cherry blossom tree 22:50, 25 November 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Image upload error

I'm trying to upload an SVG image and I'm getting this error: ""." is not an accepted image file format."

Source filename: /home/yuriks/adsr_graph.svg Destination filename: ADSR Envelope Graph Description: A representation of ADSR as used in sound synthesis, although applicable in other areas.


SVG remake of Image:ADSR Envelope Graph.svg

(Re)Made in Inkscape by yksyksyks.

License: GFDL


Anyone knows what's going on?

Are you sure it's a) a valid SVG file (that between you editing it in Inkscape and you uploading it, it hasn't gotten damaged somehow) and b) its extension is .svg -- Finlay McWalter | Talk 23:20, 25 November 2006 (UTC)
Be sure you're saving it as a "Plain SVG" in Inkscape too, rather than an "Inkscape SVG". -- Consumed Crustacean (talk) 05:33, 26 November 2006 (UTC)
Inkscape SVG works perfectly fine for me. WP 09:13, 26 November 2006 (UTC)
  • I don't think you can use ":" in a destination filename. - Mgm|(talk) 11:03, 26 November 2006 (UTC)

[edit] AWB find-and-replace

I'm trying to use AutoWikiBrowser 3.0.5.2 to replace {{Web Browsers}} with {{Web browsers}}. I made the list of transclusions of Template:Web Browsers, checked the box to enable find-and-replace, went to the "Normal" menu, and entered

Find {{Web Browsers}}
Replace with {{Web browsers}}
[Checked] CaseSensitive, Enabled

Then I clicked "Done" and "Start." But despite 17 transclusions, AWB didn't make any replacements. What did I/it do wrong? --zenohockey 23:20, 25 November 2006 (UTC)

Apparently it did if you see Special:Whatlinkshere/Template:Web browsers. Harryboyles 04:44, 26 November 2006 (UTC)