Wikipedia:Help desk/Archives/2006 November 30

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1 November 30

[edit] November 30

[edit] translation

hi, i really got lost when i tried to find text to translate for you guys in your website, i was going to translate some stuff for you from french and arabic. but your website was not clear enough on how to find the materials.—The preceding unsigned comment was added by 144.162.93.1 (talk • contribs) .

If you're translating from other Wikipedia's, you can just go ahead and do the translation. You'll notice a box on the lefthand corner of t he screen that says "in other languages". However, if it's a direct translation of a non-Wikipedia site, that would constitute a copyright violation, unless you can rephrase it in your own words. The best link I can give you for now is Wikipedia:Spanish_Translation_of_the_Week; look for links on this page, and you might be able to find some help. Patstuart^{(talk)(contribs)} 00:20, 30 November 2006 (UTC)

One of the best ways to find good translation candidates is to search for article talk pages tagged with Template:FAOL for a particular language, which identifies that the foreign language article is a featured article. See this search for articles tagged as featured in the French Wikipedia, and this search for articles tagged as featured in the Arabic Wikipedia.--Fuhghettaboutit 00:49, 30 November 2006 (UTC)

Also take a look at Wikipedia:Translation, which gives guidelines and tips for all translation activities. — QuantumEleven 07:20, 30 November 2006 (UTC)

[edit] What's Wrong with my CSS?

Linky. For some reason, class="wikitable" is not skinning tables over there for me. I've reloaded the cache, those lines check out OK with W3C validation, etc. What am I missing here? –Xoid 02:14, 30 November 2006 (UTC)

Don't worry, the problem seems to have 'fixed' itself. Buggered if I know why, though. --–Xoid 03:48, 30 November 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Wikipedia policies on Wiktionary

Do Wikipedia policies apply to Wiktionary? — Chris53516 ^(Talk) 02:57, 30 November 2006 (UTC)

not exactly. There are some shared policies but for the most part once you get outside the core policies (NPOV GFDL) projects are free to set their own.Geni 03:00, 30 November 2006 (UTC)

I don't like that it's like that. So Wiktionary people can just do whatever they want? I was blocked for no good reason, and I wasn't even warned. That doesn't seem right to me. Thanks for the info. — Chris53516 ^(Talk) 03:04, 30 November 2006 (UTC)

Yes, I'm afraid it is like that, the different wikiprojects are run pretty independently of each other. Your best bet is to look through the Wikitionary rules and guidelines to find why you were banned, and take up the discussion there. Good luck! — QuantumEleven 07:18, 30 November 2006 (UTC)

They can't do just whatever they want. They have to follow Wiktionary rules and policies. - 131.211.210.16 08:39, 30 November 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Inquiry

Sir, How do we enroll our college in Wikipedia? Name of the college: Jalpaiguri Govt Engg College, West Bengal. Pl cooperate. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 210.212.7.5 (talk • contribs) . (S Mal)

Click here: Jalpaiguri Government Engineering College and type away! -- Samir धर्म 03:45, 30 November 2006 (UTC)

You would need to get a user name though. Anonymous users cannot create a page. Also go through the Wikipedia:Policies and guidelines. Articles need to be sourced and written from a neutral point of view — Lost^(talk) 03:48, 30 November 2006 (UTC)

You can't "enroll" a college into Wikipedia. We're not a directory. We're an encyclopedia. Make sure you know what is required from an article before you start typing. -131.211.210.16 08:40, 30 November 2006 (UTC)

[edit] non-NPOV article

Greetings, denizens of the wiki! I've just read an article and I don't think it maintains a neutral point of view. What is the proper way to report or address this? I realize that this is highly subjective, so there any guidelines I should follow? Thank you very much. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by Darkfrog24 (talk • contribs) .

You can add {{POV}} to the top of the article. Then you can just let someone else edit it or edit what you think is in violation. What article is it, anyway? — Chris53516 ^(Talk) 03:40, 30 November 2006 (UTC)

PLEASE be sure to discuss your perceived problems in the article's Talk page, too! Placing a template in an article without any explanation is not very helpful in many cases. --ElKevbo 04:14, 30 November 2006 (UTC)

It's the "History of Abortion" article, particularly the section on ancient times.Darkfrog24 04:58, 30 November 2006 (UTC)

And what is the problem? = 131.211.210.16 08:41, 30 November 2006 (UTC)

The problem is in the section "Legal: History of Abortion Law," particularly the section on antiquity. While the article admits that abortion was either legal or tolerated in some ancient civilizations, six of the seven quotes that follow equate abortion with murder. This could leave the reader with the impression that abortion was equated with murder in most ancient civilizations/most of the time/for most of the period. I realize that it might be hard to find quotes of people talking about something that they didn't find controversial, but I feel that a section on the legality of abortion in antiquity should reflect both societies that criminalized the practice and those that either endorsed it or considered it to be a non-issue. Darkfrog24 15:41, 30 November 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Question about ExpressPCB article

Hello,
I am new to writing and editing Wikipedia articles, and am having a problem about which I could use some advice.

The article I'm trying to publish is called ExpressPCB. It is about a company that custom manufactures circuit boards in small quantities for small businesses, prototypers and students ... individuals who might ordinarily not have access to small quantities of these boards, due to excessive setup costs. I am not the owner of this company, nor am I an employee. The owner is, however, an acquaintance of mine, and he asked me to write and submit an article about his company.

In accordance with Wikipedia policy, I have tried to post an article that did not sound like an advertisement or self-promotion. As a guideline, I looked at articles about major companies, such as Microsoft and IBM to see how one might write about comercial enterprises in an acceptible manner. I gave it my "best shot," but received a message saying that my article sounded too much like an advertisement and that it was "not notable."

I am trying to understand these comments a bit better so that I correct the problems, and would appreciate any specific guidance anyone can give me. To my eye, it does not seem any more of an "advertisement" than many of the wikis I've read about other companies. As to its being "not notable," the only thing I can think of is that ExpressPCB is a small company that is not known to many people. But is a company's size the main criteria as to whether or not it is worth people knowing about?

I believe a brief article about this company would be of value to the Wikipedia readership, because ExpressPCB has proven itself to be highly innovative in its use of existing technology and performs a useful service to the engineering community.

I would like some input from readers as to what I can do to bring my article more in line with Wikipedia publication standards

Thanks in advance for any help you can provide.

-Michael Friedman —Preceding unsigned comment added by Novamike (talk • contribs)

Hello, the problem the editor put up that the article should be deleted is that it does not show the notability of the company. Please see the notability guideline for companies, to see if the company your trying to write and article about can have a article here at Wikipedia. If it does meet one of those then make note of that in the page and remove the notice. Also you do not have to write html code to get spacing, the Wiki software does it automatically. --Simonkoldyk 04:01, 30 November 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Large edit etiquette

I've found an article that I'd like to contribute to, but it needs a lot of work. Sections need rearranged, some paragraphs should be moved to other sections, other sections need to be created whole cloth, etc. Is it best to do my edit all at once on the page as a whole, or a series of smaller sectional edits? Individual edits would be easier to follow in the history, but anyone watching will get spammed on their watch page by the number of edits I'd be making. - Kesh 04:09, 30 November 2006 (UTC)

I think making the edits a section at a time sounds like a good idea. You won't be "spamming" anyone's watchlist as only the most recent edit to a particular article appears on one's watchlist. --ElKevbo 04:12, 30 November 2006 (UTC)

Also, use the {{Inuse}} template to warn people so you don't get edit conflicts. And post a note on the talk page. Anchoress 04:14, 30 November 2006 (UTC)

Thanks for the tips! I'll be sure to make use of that tag. — Kesh 05:35, 30 November 2006 (UTC)

Make sure, though, you check each of your edits, so you don't have to make additional ones to fix typos. - 131.211.210.16 08:43, 30 November 2006 (UTC)

Yeah, that's a good point. When I'm copyediting a really messy article, I copy it and paste it into Word so it'll find the spelling errors, extra spaces, etc. Anchoress 04:46, 1 December 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Vanishing images

I've suddenly lost the ability to see the image Image:RVL-A-CW.jpg, besides its high resolution link. It doesn't show up in articles, and I can't see it on the description page here or in the commons. I've seen other images do the same thing. Why is this, and what can be done? -- Consumed Crustacean (talk) 04:42, 30 November 2006 (UTC)

The image url is http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/ad/RVL-A-CW.jpg , it contains the string "ad" which is blocked by some anti-ad program thingos. --Commander Keane 04:50, 30 November 2006 (UTC)

Dang, that was doing it. I'm using Adblock Plus; just had to whitelist http://upload.wikimedia.org and all is good. Thanks. -- Consumed Crustacean (talk) 04:56, 30 November 2006 (UTC)

does the ad string in that picture indicate something, or was it purely a random specificity?--Diablorex 16:44, 2 December 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Blocking a user

A user User:Dangerous-Boy has been following my edits for last two days and has been tagging every Pakistan related article that I edit with a template with Republic of India which is extremely provacative territorial claim; as present day India is different from pre-1947 India which was called Subcontinent. After a lengthy discussion at User_talk:Dbachmann#Szhaider, where I and others gave him a solid reason to stop adding Indian tags to Pakistan related and Afghanistan related articles. User:Dbachmann gave a suggestion about creating a neutral tag without Indian flag refering to entire subcontinent. I created such a tag (Template:WP SouthAsia) and replaced indian tags with this new tag. But User:Dangerous-Boy removed this too and doesn't seem to convinced by any rational explanation. He is clearly following his own political agendas comparing India related articles with Pakistan related articles and he insists adding Indian scripts to Pakistan related articles (see Wikipedia:Village pump (policy)#Use of vernacular scripts in India bio articles - 1). He has violated 3RR rule many times and I suggest he should be blocked to stop this meaningless edit war. It is wasting a lot of my time but I cannot stand such political aggression on Wikipedia. I suggest all Subcontinent history related articles should be tagged with Template:WP SouthAsia. Szhaider 05:13, 30 November 2006 (UTC)

You have been doing the same thing. Removing Indian history tags from articles of the same relevance such ancient indic civilizations. You have already been told not to do this by other users yet you contine. You have reverted countless times and do not cease. The pak tag that u put on the articles is respected and stays there. Yet, you remove the indian history tag there assessments that have long been there. At the time of this writng there is no Wikipedia:WikiProject History of South Asia only Wikipedia:WikiProject South Asia.--D-Boy 05:19, 30 November 2006 (UTC)

This one is not really for the help desk. Ideally it should be taken to WP:DR. However there are several ongoing discussions about it including one at WT:INB. Please participate and try to resolve along with others there — Lost^(talk) 05:22, 30 November 2006 (UTC)

I created Wikipedia:WikiProject South Asia to stop you (User:Dangerous-Boy) from tagging Pakistan related articles with Republic of India flags. I created a neutral Template:WP SouthAsia to replace your politiclly provacative and offensive tag. This new template covers the whole region, good for both Pakistan and Republic of India. Yet you are still imposing your nationalist approach towards the countries which are not part of and never were part of Republic of India; which was created, as we know it today, on August 15, 1947. Szhaider 05:27, 30 November 2006 (UTC)

Szhaider, Discussion about this is going on at WT:INWNB. Creating South Asia project and tagging articles with it will not make the India project go away. Please discuss and let us come to a consensus on how best to solve this. -- Ganeshk (talk) 06:07, 30 November 2006 (UTC)

Szhaider is merely accusing a good faith contributot of imperialism. Funny, because szhaider is trying to formulate a "Pakistani history" (when Pakistan wasnt even an idea before the 1930's and wasnt a country before 1947). The only meaningless edit war around here is some problematic Pakistani users trying to rid wikipedia of "Indian propaganda" (Indian propaganda = mainstream reliable sources).Bakaman _Bakatalk 04:14, 2 December 2006 (UTC)

Szhaider is talking abour article Moen-Jo-Daro and other related to indus civilization, i think you should tag those as Sindh or Indus civilization beacuse Moen-Jo-Daro is historical place of sindh rather then india, and i have seen other article Raja Dahar, he was sindhi rather indian,i am suprised to see indian user putting his country tag on it? beacuse if you read sindh was sperated counrty at that time and it was seprate .i have source for it i am asked i will give it .

[edit] 2k38 problem

i would like 2 get some info abt 2k38 problem

That's not what it's usually called. Sometimes Y2K38. See Year 2038 problem, but in future I recommend the reference desk. Notinasnaid 11:37, 30 November 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Previewing Categories

When I add a category tag to the bottom of an article and then hit the preview button, the category box does NOT appear in the preview, but when I save my edit and go back to the article page, it's there! Is there any way to check to make sure I got the category right BEFORE I save the edit? Thanks for your help! Newbie Laurie Fox 11:35, 30 November 2006 (UTC)

Scroll right to the bottom of the page, below the box of special characters. The category previews are there. --ais523 11:37, 30 November 2006 (U T C)

[edit] Oaxaca Mexico story should be on your front page.

The murder of American journalist Brad Will and the courageous response to voter fraud just a few hundred miles away with a massacre of people protesting exploitation and election fraud should be on your front page.

Thank you.

We're not a news service. We only list news when the related articles are updated and they have to be suggested on the right page first too. See Talk:Main Page for more instructions. - Mgm|^(talk) 16:57, 30 November 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Implementing Babel boxes on Simple English Wikipedia

Users on the Simple English Wikipedia would like to implement Babel boxes on user pages. I think I know how to do it, in a klunky way, starting from scratch. But I wonder if there is an easier way, copying the implementation from another Wikipedia. I can't find the source code; "Template:Babel" goes to a page of information, not to the source code for the Babel template. Any advice, or can you direct me to appropriate documentation? How do most other Wikipedias do it? What is the best way? Thanks. --Coppertwig 14:50, 30 November 2006 (UTC)

Take a look at Template:Babel again. If I'm understanding you correctly, then you'll find the code by hitting "edit this page" and looking at everything that is NOT within the "noinclude" tags. So basically, remove everything after the first "noinclude" tag, and you should be on your way. tiZom_(2¢) 15:12, 30 November 2006 (UTC)

Thank you! That's exactly what I needed to know. So it was right there all the time -- I just didn't look hard enough. Just like in RL! I've copied Template:Babel over to Simple English Wiktionary, and I've copied a few templates such as Template:User en-3, and now it's working! Thanks! By the way, I meant Simple English Wiktiionary and said Simple English Wikipedia by mistake, but I've actually copied the Babel template over to both of those. --Coppertwig 01:37, 1 December 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Missy Elliott vandalism

How can I report a page that seems tempered with/vandalised? I came across the Missy Elliott page and found there is no article but the words "She's fat and ugly" —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 217.12.14.240 (talk • contribs) .

Hey, thanks for spotting that! Usually things like that get taken care of swiftly, but it seems that one was overlooked for a long while. Here's what you do:

Pull up the history of the page using the history tab at the top
Locate the last good version of the page (usually if the page has been vandalized, then it will be the second one in the list
Click on the date of that edit - that will bring you back to the state of the page before it was vandalized
Once the correct version is on your screen, select edit this page
Don't make any changes, but type in "revert vandalism" or the like into the edit summary bar, and save the page. (There will be a pink warning bar at the top of the edit page, indicating that you are editing an outdated version of the page. This is alright, because that's exactly what you're doing.)

Hope this helps...and thanks again for pointing that out! tiZom_(2¢) 15:21, 30 November 2006 (UTC)

Hey, by the way, I noticed that you've got a lot of edits... you should consider registering so you can get some extra benefits to WP (user page, preferences, watchlist, etc.) tiZom_(2¢) 15:24, 30 November 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Submitting an article

I am trying to subimt an article. Am I supposed to do it by uploading the file from the "uplaod file" selection on the lefthand column? Is there another way to do this? I am a little confused. Thanks for any help!!

No, you only upload pictures, not articles. To create an article, you just edit it, typing in what you need. But I would strongly recommend you start by editing other articles, so the process will be more natural. See Wikipedia:Your first article Notinasnaid 15:56, 30 November 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Biology textbook

I was looking through my old things the other day and found my old biology textbook. IT's fairly recent, informative, and the images are spectacular. I was wondering if I could upload the images/text from the book. This would be a big help, because many of the biology articles here are painfully small. Thanks. ~ Flame vip e r 17:47, 30 November 2006 (UTC)

I am very doubtful that the material in the textbook is licensed to permit it to be placed in Wikipedia. It's almost certainly protect by copyright and not available under a free license. Therefore the copyright holder probably still maintains the exclusive right to redistribute the material. I might be wrong so doublecheck. In any case, thanks for the offer! Perhaps there are some other ways you can help improve the biology articles by referencing (but not copying) the material from your textbook? --ElKevbo 17:59, 30 November 2006 (UTC)

Just in case you were wondering, copyright nowadays typically lasts 70 years after the death of the author. Notinasnaid 18:39, 30 November 2006 (UTC)

The pictures, too? Because they're just phenomenal... Oh, well. I'll try referencing it. Thanks. ~ Flame vip e r 19:14, 30 November 2006 (UTC)

Yes, the pictures too, except it will be the death of the artist unless a contract was signed transferring copyright to the author, or perhaps publisher. Now you see why so many articles are not illustrated, and many never will be! Notinasnaid 19:20, 30 November 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Question

How do I mark a page as out-of-date? —Preceding unsigned comment added by Rdbrittain (talk • contribs)

You don't need to, go ahead and update it. --Majorly 17:59, 30 November 2006 (UTC)

You can also use the {{update}} template if you don't have the time or expertise to make the necessary updates. --ElKevbo 18:00, 30 November 2006 (UTC)

Pages should only be out of date if they are overtaken by current events; generally the current events should add to the article or replace speculation. Articles aren't out of date just because they are about things that happened long, long ago. Notinasnaid 18:38, 30 November 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Headline capitals

I created an entry, 'The City Congregation', but it's appearing as 'The city congregation' and I'm unclear how to restore the capitals for the 2nd and 3rd words. Heather Chait 18:41, 30 November 2006 (UTC)

Are you referring to an article or a section of an article? It helps to be specific in your questions. If it's an article, I can move it. If it's a section, it's a simple matter of capitalizing your words. ~ Flame vip e r 19:16, 30 November 2006 (UTC)

Never mind. I moved it to The City Congregation. Thanks for asking. ~ Flame vip e r 19:17, 30 November 2006 (UTC)

Many thanks!162.84.206.115 23:26, 30 November 2006 (UTC)

[edit] ()(contents)()

How doi get the contents on my talk page to leave? I know there is a special way to do It but I do not Know how. --Darkest Hour 19:42, 30 November 2006 (UTC)

Just add __NOTOC__ someplace on the page. --Werdan7^{T @} 19:55, 30 November 2006 (UTC)

I see (N)O (T)able (O)f (C)ontents, Thanks --Darkest Hour 20:24, 30 November 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Can someone check me to make sure I'm editing correctly?

Hi! My name is Diane Yoder,and I am editing the entry for Superior, Wisconsin; I am originally from the area, and noticed that the entry had incorrect information and was woefully underdeveloped. I am working with Tracy Mandelin from the Superior-Douglas County Visitors and Convention Bureau (AKA the Superior Chamber of Commerce). Tracy wrote up the entries in the History, Economy and Education sections, and told me to cite these entire entries as "Superior Chamber of Commerce using the web address as a citation.

Since no one else is discussing this entry or editing this entry, I would feel better if someone would take a look at it and let me know if I'm doing things right. I hate to feel as if I am hogging all the fun!

Thanks so much for your time, Yodedp27 20:53, 30 November 2006 (UTC)

If you go back and look at the page, you will see where another user changed your use of [http://somesite.com] to <ref>http://somesite.com</ref>. Also, you should expect some of what you've added to be removed. Phrases such as "Douglas County residents are committed to providing the highest level of education for both the youth and adult populations." are barely factual. In fact, it is a false statement because it only requires one counter-example - any single person in Douglas County who is not committed to education. Others, such as "a challenging liberal arts education with top-quality professional training" are simply point-of-view. Both can be reworded so that they are (true) factual statements by digging up resources. For example, if you find an article listing the top 10 most challenging liberal arts programs in the U.S., you can use that as a reference stating that it is a challenging liberal arts program. --Kainaw ^(talk) 21:13, 30 November 2006 (UTC)

Changes made. I simply took out the objectionable statements--it is hardly worth spending hours doing the research, and the statements added nothing of value anyway to the article. Thank you!Yodedp27 21:37, 30 November 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Works cited

How do you site this page for a works cited page in mla format??

See Wikipedia:Citing_Wikipedia. --Kainaw ^(talk) 21:14, 30 November 2006 (UTC)

Put your MLA Wikipedia citation in the following format:

"Title of Entry." Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopedia. (in italics) Date you accessed the entry. Wikimedia Foundation, Inc. Date you put entry on your References page of your paper. (web address of Wikipedia entry).

So an example entry would look like this:

"Iroquois." Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopedia. 9 June 2006. Wikimedia Foundation, Inc. 20 June 2006.

I hope this helps!

You can also access the MLA format at the MLA website: http://www.mla.org/style_faq or at the Owl Purdue Online Writing Center at http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/557/01/ bottom of page. 65.31.53.55 01:37, 1 December 2006 (UTC)

[edit] What is wrong with Wiki?

Wiki servers are busy? Try again later? Whats going on, every one on wikipedia at once? --Your friend, Darkest Hour 21:33, 30 November 2006 (UTC)

It happens in the evenings. Don't worry about it; it'll go away in a bit. Dooms Day349 21:47, 30 November 2006 (UTC)

My theory is: when the servers get a little slow because by coincidence many people click on things at about the same time, then some people figure while they're waiting for a few seconds for that page to load they'll do something else, so they go and click on something else in another browser window. Being Wikipediholicss, of course, they have other Wikipedia tasks going in all their other browser windows. So that increases the load on the servers even more. Rather than taking 5 minutes to edit a page (which doesn't put any load on the servers during the time the person is editing) people are clicking to try to load a page, then clicking again because it doesn't seem to be working or clicking to load another page. Finally things get so bad that some people get messages like "the servers are busy" and they finally give up and go and get a cup of coffee and come back. By then things are back to normal, because luckily people don't all return from their coffee machines at the same time. That's why when it advises you to wait a few minutes it doesn't specify exactly how many minutes to wait. My solution? While things are normal, I load a page I want to read or a page I want to edit (and I click "edit") in a browser window and leave it sitting there while I do other stuff. Then when the servers get busy (or my ISP takes too long switching IP addresses or whatever it's doing) I can just do stuff with that page that I already have loaded. Better for me, and better for everybody else too since I'm not clicking 3 times a second while the servers are already busy. --Coppertwig 12:38, 1 December 2006 (UTC)

If ever you encounter slowness here, you might be able to ascertain the source (namely, whether the problem is on the 'pedia's end—most probably with the servers—or yours) by visiting the Writing Pot WikiStatus page, which provides generally the speed at which reading, writing, and uploading is proceeding (provided such information is readily updated by other Wikipedians), or by partaking of one of the English Wikipedia IRC channels, where discussion about the status of the servers (at least in such instances as server response is slow or non-existent) is frequent. Joe 07:00, 3 December 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Userboxes

How do I create a userbox? I know the code for the content, but I don't know how to create it.

WmCliff 23:14, 30 November 2006 (UTC)

There's detailed instructions at Wikipedia:Userboxes. - Mgm|^(talk) 23:42, 30 November 2006 (UTC)

Think of a name for your userbox such as "User:Myusername/Userboxes/User SparkysOwner" (if your username is Myusername and your userbox is about being the proud owner of Sparky, for example.) That's if the userbox is most appropriate in your own userspace. If it's to be widely shared maybe "Template:User SparkysOwner" would be the appropriate name; it can still be shared with other users if it's in your userspace (I saw a page somewhere talking about moving all controversial or non-encyclopaedic userboxes into user space as is done in the German Wikipedia; can't find it now. Certain things like ads or hate messages are not appropriate even in user space.) Apparently the name does not have to begin with "Template:". Type the name into the search box. It will say the page doesn't exist and invite you to create it. You can then insert your template content. You can use the template like this: {{User:Myusername/Userboxes/User SparkysOwner}}. See for example how I've customized the TeX userbox on my user page. Maybe the last word "User" in the template name is redundant and superfluous and unnessary. --Coppertwig 12:23, 1 December 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Can I get an email notifying me when changes have been made to an article?

Can I get an email notifying me when changes have been made to an article?

I can't figure out how to do this -- is it possible?

No, not least because you might end up getting thousands of e-mails a day. Imagine the strain on Wikipedia, as well as your inbox! Editors wanting to keep track of pages use their "watch list". Regular editors simply check their watch list each time they come to Wikipedia. Notinasnaid 23:33, 30 November 2006 (UTC)

Thanks for the quick answer, Notinasnaid. I thought this might be the case, but wanted to be certain. There is an article I have made edits to, which routinely gets reverted by another party so quickly that I assumed he must have figured out how to get some kind of notification. Since he has a job, I thought it was not possible he's so obsessive that he constantly checks for any changes to the article -- but apparently he does!

User:facts@michelthomas.org

Most Wikipediholics permanently have their watchlist open in their browser, and refresh it every few minutes... :)

Also, please sign your posts on talk pages by using four tildes, like this: ~~~~. It makes it easier to keep track of who said what. — QuantumEleven 07:35, 1 December 2006 (UTC)

It is possible to have notification emails sent to you on Wikipedia's sister projects Meta and Commons, where watchlisted pages and talk pages are unlikely to change as much. The feature isn't enabled on Wikipedia, though, for reasons given above. --ais523 08:35, 1 December 2006 (U T C)

Versions of a page are supposed to prevail because they are more encyclopaedic, not because someone looks at their watch page more often. There's the 3-revert rule 3RR, for example: a person is not supposed to revert the same page more than 3 times in one 24-hour period (with some exceptions). People are not supposed to get into revert wars. They're supposed to discuss things on the talk page and try to reach consensus, and if not, then there is an arbitration process. --Coppertwig 12:01, 1 December 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Is it possible to obtain a list of all of the article titles on Wikipedia, as Wikiwax.com has apparently done?

I am building a free mobile application called BerrySearch that includes the ability to search Wikipedia and has autocompletion of article titles to save the user typing. I was able to crawl a subset of the article titles using static pages and I have completion working for that subset. However, some of the titles are only listed on /w/ dynamic pages that are forbidden by robots.txt, so I can't crawl those.

Special:Allpages. —Centrx→talk • 23:34, 30 November 2006 (UTC)

If you want to trawl a list automatically, there's a more suitable one via query.php: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/query.php will give you instructions. --ais523 08:38, 1 December 2006 (U T C)

[edit] Author suggests using Wikipedia for promoting/publicizing (!) books

I was reading this Web page (I have no connection to the author, I was looking over books on writing): http://www.websavvywriter.com/blog/ and read with great interest the paragraph "Publicize Your Book on Wikipedia." Yes, it's exactly what it says it is, how to integrate references to a (your) book into relevant Wikipedia articles. The last sentence about making sure content is both relevant and factual is technically correct at a literal level, but I see this as "stealth spam" and it surely goes against the spirit of Wikipedia (which could end up loaded with many 'facts' entered only because they are related to commercial products). I haven't found any of the info she says she's put in about one of her books, though I only searched for her name. Everyone has their own biases, but when one adds content relating to something one is personally and/or commercially involved in (WITHOUT, persumably, disclosing such involvement), it just can't be right. I haven't found the specific Wikipedia policies or guidelines that warn against this type of thing, though I'm pretty sure I've read them months ago. Where do I go from here? Benbradley 01:29, 1 December 2006 (UTC)

Wikipedia:Conflict of interest is a recently created policy that was created after a person conceived a business to sell their services for creating a Wikipedia article. It is related. WP:SPAM always applies as well if appropriate. —Centrx→talk • 01:35, 1 December 2006 (UTC)

People using WP for advertising purposes is disgusting. I posted a comment on that entry warning against such use - might help. Nihiltres 02:38, 1 December 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Placing Wikipedia search window into site

Hello

Is there HTML code availible to place the Wikipedia search window into another site?

<form action="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Search" >
<input id="searchInput" name="search" type="text"  value="" />
<input type='submit' name="go" value="Go" /> 
<input type='submit' name="fulltext" class="searchButton" id="mw-searchButton" value="Search" />
</form>

Should do it. I hav not tried it though. --Midnightcomm 01:55, 1 December 2006 (UTC)

I've tried it; it works. --ais523 08:40, 1 December 2006 (U T C)

[edit] Redirect?

I have found an article by the name of Soul Patrol that I believe isn't notable enough to have its own article. I think it should be merged with Taylor Hicks and redirected, but I don't know what to do about it. It's a page that isn't very trafficked and there's no Wikiproject that I know of that covers it, so if I proposed it to be merged, probably noone would see it. What should I do? Tennis DyNamiTe ^{(sign in)} 02:36, 1 December 2006 (UTC)

I suggest merging into Taylor Hicks, and redirecting. Needs referencing. Dooms Day349 02:39, 1 December 2006 (UTC)

Yes, but do I have to propose it somewhere, or do I just do it? Tennis DyNamiTe ^{(sign in)} 02:44, 1 December 2006 (UTC)

Yes, you should propose it in the appropriate articles. Instructions on how to propose merges are at Wikipedia:Merging and moving pages. --ElKevbo 03:30, 1 December 2006 (UTC)

Just be bold, redirect it and if someone complains you can discuss it. No need for proposing, just useless bureaucracy. If someone complains, just take that seriously and learn your arguments for the move by heart ;-) (and be sure to don your armour before you do it ;-) ). Seriously, if you're knowledgeable about the topic, just do it. Don't start an edit war over it, but stay open for discussion. Intelligent decency needs no rules. Niels|en talk-nl talk (faster response)| 03:47, 1 December 2006 (UTC)

If it's a page that isn't trafficked much or at all, you can put the merge tag on it, wait a couple of weeks as in the instructions, and no one will reply, so then you can go ahead and merge. If it isn't trafficked much then there's no harm leaving it there a couple of weeks -- no one will read it anyway. You might be surprised and find that someone actually does reply and that there turns out to be a reason to keep the separate page after all. Or you can be bold as suggested; it can always be put back the way it was if necessary. --Coppertwig 11:53, 1 December 2006 (UTC)

I have proposed it since Taylor Hicks is frequented more often. Thanks for all the replies! Tennis DyNamiTe ^{(sign in)} 21:44, 1 December 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Thomas Malton Article

I wrote an article on Thomas Malton (an architect and painter of note) about two months ago but the piece has disappered. The article's edit history has disappeared from my edit history too.

Can anyone tell me what might have happened to it? Downunda 03:35, 1 December 2006 (UTC)

Hmm the entry for Thomas Malton in the deletion log reads WP:CSD#A7, which means the person wasn't notable enough for inclusion, however, since I'm not an admin I can't see the article itself. If Malton is of note, you might want to add links to reputable sources in an eventual rewrite, or you can nominate it for undeletion. Niels|en talk-nl talk (faster response)| 03:47, 1 December 2006 (UTC)

The version is visible through google's cache here. It looks notable to me; I would go to deletion review, or bring it up with User:J Di, who deleted it, and would probably undelete it for you (try the latter first, and failing that, try Deletion Review). -Patstuart^{(talk)(contribs)} 03:53, 1 December 2006 (UTC)

Actually, I'll send him a note on my own. -Patstuart^{(talk)(contribs)} 03:54, 1 December 2006 (UTC)

Thanks for that Patstuart- I appreciate your help with this matter! Downunda 04:04, 1 December 2006 (UTC)

Thanks here too to Patstuart, forgot to go through the google cache. From what I saw Thomas Malton is surely notable, if you need any more help, just ask. Niels|en talk-nl talk (faster response)| 04:07, 1 December 2006 (UTC)

I know this isn't the place to bring this, but I think the notability criteria (which is actually just a guideline) is misused a lot in speedy deletions. It's mean to be used to allow admins to speedy articles like, Sparky. Sparky is my 11 year old German Shepherd. We found him in a burlap sack down by the river. He once saved my family's life when our smoke alarm didn't go off during a fire. It shouldn't be used as punishment when editors fail to fully flesh out new articles quickly enough with enough information or references; that's what the regular prod and expansion/references templates are for. Anchoress 04:12, 1 December 2006 (UTC)

In fairness, if Sparky saved a family's life in such a spectacular fashion, he probably deserves an article too. I will start one tomorrow ;-) Downunda 04:28, 1 December 2006 (UTC)

Still speedyable as a vanity article, since if the dog is really that great he must have written the article himself. ;-))) Anchoress 04:33, 1 December 2006 (UTC)

I do not use speedy deletion criteria as a punishment. If I dislike a person or feel they need to be "punished", I stay away from them. If a person cannot assert notability in an article's first edit, that is their problem. _JD^talk 06:10, 1

December 2006 (UTC)

Could you describe what you mean by "assert notability"? Does the article have to say "This person is notable"? Does it have to have citations in the first edit? Does it have to have something on the Discussion page saying "This person is notable"? Or what? Thanks. --Coppertwig 11:54, 1 December 2006 (UTC)

I don't know about anyone else, but if I've got an article I'm not sure about, I make certain I do some Google searches and try to see if there's some potential notability with regards to the subject before I tag it. Citations included in the first edit would certainly be helpful in asserting notability. (Not sure how often it's done, but if I'm writing an article, I do it offline and paste the sourced results in when I create it, rather than starting it with a single line and fleshing it out with multiple edits - which probably results in a lot of these speedy tags.) Tony Fox (arf!) 17:25, 1 December 2006 (UTC)

Thanks for your quick response. Downunda 10:33, 1 December 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Random article as Internet Explorer home page

Hello

How can I get a random Wikipedia page to come up everytime I open Internet Explorer? This would be a fantastic feature!

71.114.61.215 04:54, 1 December 2006 (UTC)

Copy the random article address into the homepage field of your internet preferences. That address is http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Random Dismas|^(talk) 04:56, 1 December 2006 (UTC)

(edit conflict with Dismas :D) Easy! Just set your homepage to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Random. Nihiltres 04:57, 1 December 2006 (UTC)

OK cool, I'm changing my home page for the first time in 6 years! Anchoress 05:02, 1 December 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Invalid code

I have just joined and am being asked to to confirm my email address. When I click on the link contained in the email sent by Wikipedia I am then being told that the "Invalid confirmation code. The code may have expired."I have tried this on a number of occasions. Can you help me why this is happening?202.56.245.162

Are you logged in and using the same browser for email and Wikipedia? --Daniel Olsen 06:46, 1 December 2006 (UTC)

How long ago did you request the code? I think they expire after a certain amount of time. Try requesting a new confirmation code from Wikipedia. — QuantumEleven 07:28, 1 December 2006 (UTC)

Remember, only the link in the most recent email will work. - Mgm|^(talk) 09:15, 1 December 2006 (UTC)

[edit] untitled question

How can I see my house in this website?

You can't, this is an encyclopedia. Try google earth. --Wo o ty Woot? contribs 09:13, 1 December 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Subpages

Ok, I *finally* succeeded in creating a subpage on my userpage. user:Laurie Fox But the / (which I thought was just a formatting instruction to say that what follows is going to be a subpage) shows up in the name of the subpage. I don't know how to get rid of it without getting rid of the instruction. Am I missing something? Thanks! Laurie Fox 10:55, 1 December 2006 (UTC)

I've done some piped linking. Have a look at your userpage again. Is that what you were looking for?- Mgm|^(talk) 11:00, 1 December 2006 (UTC)

You mean User:Laurie Fox/Runaway Star: Clarifying? The page is displaying as it's supposed to: sub pages show the name of the user in whose space they're created. -Patstuart^{(talk)(contribs)} 11:01, 1 December 2006 (UTC)

WOW! Instantaneous fixes! You kids [That's a term of endearment, not a reference to anyone's age!] are amazing!! Thank you! Laurie Fox 11:08, 1 December 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Parâkramabâhu I

A user contacted me. He lost half the article while trying to edit it, and can't put it back. I think he formatted the references wrong. Any help is sincerely appreciated. Jeffpw 11:59, 1 December 2006 (UTC)

Foun\d the error myself, never mind, but thank you anyway. Jeffpw 12:04, 1 December 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Good Morning

Lorisurfgirl Here, My email is <removed>. It is a little difficult sending you messages (even with instructions), would you send me your email so we can have easier communications? I would really appreciate it. Hope to hear from you soon. Ciao, for now!!!!!!!!!

Sending along some help. - Mgm|^(talk) 12:34, 1 December 2006 (UTC)

[edit] my account at wikipedia

hello there! i made an account on wikipedia with an ID "Exploring4u" in which reply i got an e-mail and cofirmed my account.Now the next day when i logged in they are not accepting it.WHY?

Your account was indeed created. I'm not sure exactly what you mean by "not accepting" or "it." Please clarify.—WAvegetarian•(talk) 14:27, 1 December 2006 (UTC)

[edit] none

history about richmond,virgina

This is an encyclopedia. We aren't a search engine. You might try looking at the history section of our article on Richmond, Virginia, which can be found at that link or by typing Richmond, Virgina into the search box.—WAvegetarian•(talk) 18:22, 1 December 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Christopher West

I would like to create an article on Christopher West, the Catholic author. Right now, typing "Christopher West" will redirect to "Chris West," a science fiction writer. I believe that the science fiction writer's article also shows up under .../wiki/Christopher_West. This may be because of the redirect, but I'm unsure. I'm new at this, and couldn't find exactly what I needed in the Wiki:redirect article. Chris West is an appropriate article title for the sci fi author, but I don't want to wreck or lose him by creating the new one. Just need to know how to get rid of the re-direct. I also think there needs to be a disambiguation page, and I've not made those either. Thanks, Cjbeyer 15:49, 1 December 2006 (UTC)

To get rid of a redirect, visit the redirect page (which shifts you onto the page it redirects to), then click on the link on the 'redirected from...' at the top of the page; you can then edit the redirect out and make it into the article you want. If there are only two articles with similar names, you can use {{Otheruses4}} rather than a disambiguation page; write {{Otheruses4|the Catholic author|the science fiction writer|Chris West}}, and you'll get a header on the page letting people travel from one to the other. (You should also put a comparable header at the other end.) --ais523 15:55, 1 December 2006 (U T C)

[edit] Strategic Air Command

Strategic Air Command - Individuals keep moving wings and deleting them from the article. How can this behavior be stoppwed. R. E. Mixer 15:52, 1 December 2006 (UTC)

Taking a look at the article, I can't see the behaviour mentioned, unless it's been taking place over the course of months. (I see an anon IP has been working on it regularly, but their additions don't seem to be problematic from the glance I've made.) The best way to approach a disagreement over content in an article is to discuss it on the talk page, where editors can talk over inclusions and removals and come to a consensus on the content. Either that, or approach the editor making the changes directly on their talk page. Tony Fox (arf!) 17:20, 1 December 2006 (UTC)

[edit] External Links

Several organizations I work with are mentioned in articles related to health spas. I notice that some spas mentioned have external links pointed at them, while others don't. Can I add external links to the organizations (which support spas) or would that be considered as spam. I believe the links would be helpful to inidividuals researching health spas and looking for more in depth information. If that is acceptable, how do I go about adding external links in a manner acceptable to wikipedia. Thanks Mike Raptorbytes 16:23, 1 December 2006 (UTC)

Take a look at the guideline on external links for information on the matter. I don't think links to organizations would be problematic, as long as they aren't commercial, but see how they stack up next to the guidelines before going forward. Tony Fox (arf!) 17:15, 1 December 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Image deletion

Two days ago I uploaded an image that I no longer want to use. Do I have to go through the 5 day notice process or is there a way that, as the provider, I can just delete it?—Preceding unsigned comment added by Blbucklin (talk • contribs)

Just tag it with {{db-author}}. Kusma (討論) 16:37, 1 December 2006 (UTC)

[edit] My article being deleted.

My article being deleted by Brookie giving no reason, PLZ help me out. Another article, not created by me, was also deleted for no reason by Brookie. Can you please restrain your rights and authorities?—Preceding unsigned comment added by Hulaa (talk • contribs)

According to the deletion log, Brookie has deleted a couple of bank pages as A7, meaning they are not sufficiently notable to merit inclusion in Wikipedia. Is one of those the article you are talking about?--Kchase T 17:34, 1 December 2006 (UTC)

I dont think that article is not notable, it should not be deleted, plus the title now is blocked. Please release the protection and let me edit it again, thanks! User_talk: Hulaa

If you have an issue with the deletion of an article, you can bring it up at Deletion Review. Do read the notability guidelines prior to doing so, however, to ensure your article meets the guidelines. Tony Fox (arf!) 21:44, 1 December 2006 (UTC)

[edit] How can i delete my user page

how can i delete my user page —Preceding unsigned comment added by The-One-06 (talk • contribs)

Add {{db-author}} to the top. It will alert an administrator that you created the page and wish to delete it. —K e akealani 17:47, 1 December 2006 (UTC)

[edit] changing a heading

I changed the wording of a heading in an article, saved it (as I usually do when I make changes) and then discovered the heading and brief entry under it had disappeared. What ahppened ad what do I do. It was not intentional.

Suemcp 19:38, 1 December 2006 (UTC)

The text you changed ended with two equal signs. You deleted the two equal signs. They are required for the header, so I put them back. --Kainaw ^(talk) 19:50, 1 December 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Vandalism reporting

Is there a way to easily report a vandal? I am looking for something as simple as putting {{vandal|2006-12-01}} on a user/IP talk page. Right now, it is a lot of legwork (more specifically, mousework) to bounce from page to page reporting it everywhere. --Kainaw ^(talk) 19:55, 1 December 2006 (UTC)

Yep: Wikipedia:Administrator intervention against vandalism (WP:AIV).—WAvegetarian•(talk) 20:00, 1 December 2006 (UTC)

Wait, are you asking for a template that would automatically alert someone of the vandal when placed on said vandal's talk page? That doesn't exist afaik. There may be a script available at Wikipedia:WikiProject User Scripts that would automate listing at WP:AIV. —WAvegetarian•(talk) 20:03, 1 December 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Sortable Tables

Where do I find information on that new feature? Does it always make all columns sortable? Can we use sort keys? Rmhermen 20:50, 1 December 2006 (UTC)

m:Help:Sorting has got some info.--Commander Keane 02:39, 2 December 2006 (UTC)

[edit] vandalism at wikipedia

There is vandalism of the article on the hockey player Joe Watson, including profanity. Could you please rectify it?

    Also, I'm being accused of using copyrighted material on the season-by-season

account of NHL regular season, but they only cite 1966-67---ONLY! Yes, ALL of my contributions to all the NHL seasons have been from copyrighted sources, but the events themselves are not copyrighted. If the accounts actually happened, I feel I am not in copyright violation. I feel that the public should have a reference source to turn to, and don't you think wikipedia should be that source? Thus, I feel that I am actually doing a service by uploading the events. So please tell JGTraynor to lay off removing my contributions from the NHL regular season history.

    Never have I uploaded nonsense. In the case of the articles on hornets and the

element mercury, in which I was accused of vandalism, I was actually trying to inform the public, not trying to vandalize the site. There has been no attempt on my part to deliberately vandalize any article at wikipedia. It really angers me when other members turn on me and accuse me of damaging the site. It's not true, and I think it's just personal spite on their part because they hadn't thought of what I have uploaded. This kind of abuse should stop.Corey Bryant 21:04, 1 December 2006 (UTC)

First - do not indent. Just add a blank line between paragraphs. It makes your comment look much better.

Second - You can remove vandalism much easier than coming here to ask someone else to do it. Just click on History, click 'edit' on a previous version of the page, and click 'save'.

Third - You were accused of copying copyrighted material word-for-word. That is not allowed. You can write your own take on the events, but you cannot copy someone else's work without permission. --Kainaw ^(talk) 21:09, 1 December 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Plea for help

To whom this may concern, I beseech your assistance. Five days ago I was stranded on a desert island. Today, I found an empty bottle of water, and I placed this not inside it and released it to the sea, in the hopes that someone might find it as respond. Help Me! I'm Trapped in the Help Desk!--Nintenfreak 21:18, 1 December 2006 (UTC)

Stand in the water for a couple of days until the sea creatures get used to you, capture a pair of sea turtles, lash them together with hair plucked from your back, and ride them to safety. It's worked before. Tony Fox (arf!) 21:42, 1 December 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Personal Use of my talk page

As a fairly new user, and frequently in need of referencing pointers from you guys which I easily forget, can I make notes to myself on my talk page, my own Q&A if you like, for my purposes only? Any policy to say no? Thank you. JohnClarknew 21:41, 1 December 2006 (UTC)

Perhaps the better way to go would be to create a subpage from your user page where you could keep those items and not clog up your talk page; you can create a new page by placing a link someplace (maybe like [[User:JohnClarknew/notes]] and going from there. Tony Fox (arf!) 21:49, 1 December 2006 (UTC)

You can do just about anything you want with your userpage, the main thing is to keep it Wikipedia related. See User space for info on what's allowed. Your own Q&A would be perfectly fine. --MECU≈talk 16:00, 2 December 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Images

How do I add an image to an entry that already exists? —Preceding unsigned comment added by Sford (talk • contribs)

Take a look at WP:Images for tips on image uploading and use. And please sign your posts with four tildes. Thanks! Tony Fox (arf!) 21:49, 1 December 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Deletion of article that has been duplicated

Just noticed that this article [[1]] has since been recreated at [[2]]. Should I tag the first one for speedy deletion? Thanks. Cribananda 22:41, 1 December 2006 (UTC)

Don't worry about the tag, its done. Viridae ^Talk 22:47, 1 December 2006 (UTC)

Thanks! Cribananda 22:51, 1 December 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Editing Stroud Railway Station

Wikipedia,

I'm trying to change the picture on Stroud railway station, however when I click on edit this page what is displayed in the edit box is Guffey is a small town in... what is this, have I done something wrong?

Its OK sorry I've sorted it now—Preceding unsigned comment added by Bobbyq11 (talk • contribs)

Wow, that one's just weird. It was doing the same thing to me for a few moments, but now it's back to showing the proper page. Weeeeeird. (The page is at Stroud railway station, for anyone who wants to investigate this perplexing situation.) Tony Fox (arf!) 23:26, 1 December 2006 (UTC)

WP:VPT#Major edit glitch. Patstuart^{(talk)(contribs)} 01:13, 2 December 2006 (UTC)