Wikipedia:Help desk/Archives/2006 November 3

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[edit] November 3

[edit] {{{parameter|}}} v. {{{parameter}}}

  • What is the difference between {{{parameter|}}} and {{{parameter}}}?
  • What is the difference between {{#if:{{{parameter|}}}|{{{parameter}}}}} and {{#if:{{{parameter}}}|{{{parameter}}}}}?

Thanks.

--OWL 01:15, 3 November 2006 (UTC)

Although I'm not 100%. my guess would be that {{parameter}} specifies "this template, without any options", and {{parameter|}} specifies "this template, with option one of value: null". Nihiltres 01:32, 3 November 2006 (UTC)
Wait a minute. You've got three "{" marks there. I must be talking about the wrong thing - I've never seen {{{ }}} before. Nihiltres 01:37, 3 November 2006 (UTC)
{{{parameter}}} would specify input for the parameter "parameter" when used as a template while {{{parameter|}}} would do the same except that if there is no input, the field will be left blank instead of an unfilled {{{parameter}}} showing. G.He 01:37, 3 November 2006 (UTC)
  • For example, if a template is called "Template:Abc" and {{{parameter|xyz}}} is in it, when used, for example, on "Wikipedia:Sandbox" as {{Abc}}, "xyz" would appear. However, if it's used as {{Abc|parameter=123}}, "123" would appear. G.He 01:43, 3 November 2006 (UTC)
For the second part, you may want to consider reading this. G.He 01:39, 3 November 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Accuracy

How do you know that the information posted on Wikipedia by the general public is accurate?

You do this. It's your responsibility to evaluate the information on Wikipedia, just as you should be evaluating any information that is presented to you by anyone. --Tkynerd 04:11, 3 November 2006 (UTC)
Most non-stub articles list sources; if you're ever skeptical about the assertions make on Wikipedia, you can explore the sources. If you feel they're legit, then Wikipedia is too. It's always best to use multiple sources, since nearly every tertiary source is subject of some flaws, and this is no exception. Tkynerd is quite right that Critical thinking is important, as well. —Keakealani 06:33, 3 November 2006 (UTC)
For a concise treatment of some of the issues surrounding the accuracy of Wikipedia and its dependability as a reference, you might also see Wikipedia:Replies to common objections, Criticism of Wikipedia, and, perhaps most relevantly, Wikipedia:Why Wikipedia is not so great, most especiallly the accuracy section thereof. One would hope that all significant assertions across mainspace pages would be readily verifiable, such that the source exploration suggested by Keakealani would be possible without exception, but in the absence of such complete sourcing, one does well, as Tkynerd notes, to think critically and investigate further that which is unclear or dubious (of course, if you investigate further, you should feel free to be bold and augment the article in order that future readers will have an easier go of it). Joe 07:35, 3 November 2006 (UTC)
Just a grace note. Some articles are subject to much greater scrutiny than others. The articles we consider our best, featured articles, are much more likely to be accurate than a random article.--Fuhghettaboutit 08:21, 3 November 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Search and Go buttons and capitalization

I haVe written an article called 'Shrine of Our Lady of Yankalilla', but for most people it is difficult to access, as it only works on 'Go' (or is it 'Search?' Can you make it accessable on both, and what advice do you give for capitals and/or small case for ease of access?

Fredericton 04:10, 3 November 2006 (UTC)

Hi Fredericton. With regard to the first part of your question, new entries to Wikipedia can take a few weeks to be indexed. Once they are they can be found using the search button. It will happen, just give it some time. As for the second, please see Wikipedia:Redirect, which describes how to makes pages for alternate names of an article, which automatically redirect to the correct article even when the "Go" button is used.--Fuhghettaboutit 04:29, 3 November 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Training center india.

Sir,

 I want to know if there is any institution in Delhi where i can learn baan (ERP) Package.

Pls send me a address if there is any option. My Email address is:-(email snipped)

waiting for your reply.

Whith best wishes, Dhruba.

We are an encyclopedia. I would suggest searching Google. You could also pose a question at our reference desk -- Lost(talk) 08:29, 3 November 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Fair Use Photo

I'm writing to ask about the photo of Ho Chi Minh lying in state -- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Ho-Chi-Minh.jpg and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nguoi_Viet_Daily_News.

As photography is prohibited in the mausoleum, I wonder about the appropriateness of hosting this photo on Wikipedia. I checked the source page on Tripod from which permission was apparently obtained and cannot find the same photo or any mention of Ho Chi Minh. Plus, the page is devoted to dictators supported by the United States -- a privilege Uncle Ho didn't enjoy.

He is now dressed in black, by the way, when I visited in April 2006.

I am relatively new to Wikipedia and usually confine myself to text corrections, so if there's a better place to ask image-related questions in the future, I would appreciate knowing. Thank you.

Don 08:40, 3 November 2006 (UTC)

Thanks for bringing this up. Looking at the fair use rationale and the edit summary for the upload (and attempting to trace the URLs in the edit summary), it appears there may be questions as to whether the image can be used in Wikipedia, because there is no source data as to who took the photo, and where it was originally published. (I don't think the fact that photography is prohibited at the site has any direct bearing on this issue.) In this type of case, you can attach the tag {{fairusereview}} to the image page, and it will be flagged for attention by other editors. I've added the tag there as an example. Best, --MCB 05:04, 4 November 2006 (UTC)
Thanks very much for the explanation and tag example (and then putting it in so that I can see how it's used). I am happy to contribute to Wikipedia but I remain cautious until I find enough time to look through all the editing rules and advice. This was a great help. Cheers...Don 05:28, 4 November 2006 (UTC)

[edit] I want to suggest a possible violation of rules

How can I suggest such thing about an article? Thanks, Adrian

Some rules are not negotiable, but there may be room for flexibility in some areas. Propose it on the talk page, but be aware that not even a 100% consensus among editors would, for example, allow non-NPOV or copyright violations, once someone outside that cabal discovered it. Notinasnaid 09:19, 3 November 2006 (UTC)
Hehe, it's about advertising in an article...Thanks anyway

[edit] Units

Should units be spelled out in full everytime in the article. WP:MOSNUM isnt too clear about this. Should every mention of metre be metre and not just m, or should just the first one be in full and all subsequent ones abbreviated. I know that all units used in parenthesis should be abbreviated, but the ones that are not in parenthesis. Should they ever be abbreviated? chris_huh 10:41, 3 November 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Number of articles, wikicode for special pages and discussing irrelevant stuff

In Special:Statistics it says

"Wikipedia currently has 2,406,001 articles. This number excludes redirects, discussion pages, image description pages, user profile pages, templates, help pages, portals, articles without links to other articles, and pages about Wikipedia administration. Including these, we have 6,240,780 pages."

Does the number exclude the Main Page? And also how do I look at the code for special pages? And is there any place on Wikipedia where free discussion takes place (not being concerned with the whole "how does this improve the article" stuff (but I don't mean IRC))? --WikiSlasher 10:46, 3 November 2006 (UTC)

Special pages are generated by the MediaWiki software, and thus don't have wikicode. Discussion of the kind you're thinking of takes place, generally, in the appropriate section of the Village Pump. — Dark Shikari talk/contribs 11:04, 3 November 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Greek Articles

Hi I have just posted Greek Articles and I got a message on top of the article saying that it needs translation or it will be deleted.

In most cases there are translated articles in English already. But there are also people who want to read an article in Greek.

Please advice on what to do before I loose what I've writen.

Regards, —Preceding unsigned comment added by Designgraphic (talk • contribs)

If you want to post articles in Greek, use the Greek Wikipedia. This is the English Wikipedia. — Dark Shikari talk/contribs 11:03, 3 November 2006 (UTC)
Articles in Greek should go in the Greek Wikipedia (http://el.wikipedia.org/). You can add "interwiki" links into the English articles so people know there is an article in the Greek wikipedia. Notinasnaid 11:06, 3 November 2006 (UTC)
That user appears to be "spamming" for a Greek company whose name is the same as his/her username; all of the user's edits so far seem to include a link to the company website, and the edit to the list of Greek companies (which I reverted) added it three times at different points in the alphabetic sequence (with Greek-language descriptions in each case). *Dan T.* 13:10, 3 November 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Language Infobox

Are there any guidelines as to what should be the content of language infoboxes? I'm especially referring to the "spoken in" paragraph. Should it contain each and every country where communities of speakers are or were located, or should it rather focus on the question where the bulk of speakers live? Or where the language has any official status?Unoffensive text or character 12:19, 3 November 2006 (UTC)

I moved this to the correct day - it's morelikely to be seen here :) Martinp23 12:36, 3 November 2006 (UTC)

[edit] problems wit uploading article-I need your response please

Hi, I'm trying to upload article about transportation company. I passed over all the FAQs and I really need help! there is no info regarding how should I do that/ I'm not stupid actually, but I spend so much time browsing the website. I'd be very obliged to you if you find a second and help me wiuth it asap.

Thank you

Kate —Preceding unsigned comment added by Easy Export (talk • contribs)

Try Wikipedia:Your first article. Please note that you should not be writing about any company you are connected with. Notinasnaid 13:28, 3 November 2006 (UTC)

[edit] COMMERCIALS

WHO IS THE BAND ON THE NISSAN TRUCK COMMERCIAL209.153.34.45 14:26, 3 November 2006 (UTC)

Have you tried the Miscellaneous 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. (Be sure to turn your caps lock off to receive a reply ;) ) - Tangotango 14:28, 3 November 2006 (UTC)

[edit] what is a heart beat counter

Heart rate monitor Anchoress 15:24, 3 November 2006 (UTC)
Hi - I'm just removing the example image as it wasn't really relevant. In future, questions such as yours should really be directed to the Reference Desk, where factual questions are answered. The help desk, this page, is really for questions about using wikipedia. Thanks, Martinp23 16:11, 3 November 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Who would be willing to help me make a killer User page?

...Because I really have no idea what I'm doing in that department! Click here to see what I mean and then click here to send me some code to make a table listing, among other things, the languages I can speak (as well as what else I can use certain codes & markup language to list!)

Read up on Esperanza's Trading Spaces. Anchoress 20:45, 3 November 2006 (UTC)

[edit] PerfectDisk screenshot replacement

Hello, I'm hoping you can assist me.

I am trying to replace the current screen shot listed for PerfectDisk v7. I uploaded a new file "pd8_ccmain.jpg" which I can see in the Windows screenshots so I know the new image uploaded. I can not find how to replace the current one: raxco_pd.png with the new one for version 8: pd8_ccmain.jpg.

Any direction you could give me would certainly help. Thanks Sherry Murray Raxco Software

[edit] Image:Courier.jpg

Hi there, Awhile ago I uploaded Image:Courier.jpg, a fair-use album cover, and included it in the infobox for Courier (album). I have not yet been able to view the image within the article. I've tried waiting a few days, adding all appropriate templates, etc. I'm still not seeing it in the article. Any ideas? Also, I don't know if it is relevant, but there was a file of the same name deleted in Sept. '05. Thanks, -MrFizyx 19:50, 3 November 2006 (UTC)

I think that did it. See it now. Looking at it now, I added the picture but cannot get rid of the writing around it. Maybe you can do that. ~Babygator23~ 01:28, 4 November 2006 (UTC)

[edit] My home page

I want to personalise my home page a bit like put down my alma mater ect... how do I do this?—The preceding unsigned comment was added by Roryf1 (talk • contribs) .

Your user page is at User:Roryf1. You can just go there and edit it. -- zzuuzz (talk) 20:29, 3 November 2006 (UTC)

[edit] pictures

how do i put a caption under a picture?--Jgmz 20:51, 3 November 2006 (UTC)jgmz

The Picture Tutorial will walk you through the whole process. --Wolf530 21:02, 3 November 2006 (UTC)
Basically: [[Image:example.jpg|right|thumb|Captions]] --Bowlhover 21:05, 3 November 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Fair Use Rationale - Okay?

I was just wondering if these: Image:The_Notorious_Notations.jpg, Image:Wonderlandtour05.jpg and Image:Therocketsummer_cd.jpg were satisfactory? Hopefully or I'll have to re-do about 16 *hates copyright details* --Stacey 22:23, 3 November 2006 (UTC)

They defaintly are, great work on it. --TBCΦtalk? 04:06, 4 November 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Searching for contributions from an IP range?

Is there a way to search for contributions from an entire IP range (e.g., 255.255.255.*)? Thanks, TheronJ 22:26, 3 November 2006 (UTC)

[edit] article ID number

How do I find an article's ID number to enter for the reviewed version? Specifically, I need the ID number for Space Shuttle Challenger disaster. I just passed it as a GA, but didn't realize there was a special ID number I needed to enter. your help would be sincerely apppreciatedJeffpw 22:32, 3 November 2006 (UTC)

You can see it in the URL of that version. So for example, if you go to the history page and open the 30th of November version of that article: [1] the URL shows the ID as 84592934. There might be an easier way to do it but this method works. - Akamad 00:16, 4 November 2006 (UTC)