Wikipedia:Help desk/Archives/2007 April 30
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[edit] April 30
[edit] Wikicode annoyance: specifying whitespace in code without rendering in the page or (without using nowiki)
Is there a way to include whitespace inside the wikicode itself without it
showing up in the final rendering of the output?
Such as above? The rationale: sometimes it makes it easier to read the raw wikicode if you can space it out a little bit. dr.ef.tymac 01:09, 30 April 2007 (UTC)
- Yes, just add <nowiki></nowiki> tags before and after the code. Of course, this would be a problem if you had other wiki-format in between the tags (such as an internal link using "[[" and "]]"). →EdGl 01:24, 30 April 2007 (UTC)
- I knew I should have said in my original question "oh, by the way, nowiki is not adequate" (for the reasons you indicate) ... but I didn't ... oh well, now I am. ... anyone know a solution *besides* nowiki? dr.ef.tymac 01:28, 30 April 2007 (UTC)
<ul> <li>This is some text. Notice that I have some freedom to space it as I please.</li> </ul>
-
- renders as:
- This is some text. Notice that I have some freedom to space it as I please.
-
- You can also get the MediaWiki parser to ignore leading spaces if you put text in a
<blockquote>
tag, and you can remove the indents with CSS style parameters, I think. If you monkey around with other HTML tags and style them, you might get the effect you want. But I don't know that it would be easier for other people to edit (since the extra tags might create more ways to break things). --Teratornis 01:52, 30 April 2007 (UTC)
- You can also get the MediaWiki parser to ignore leading spaces if you put text in a
-
- Yes, the old "simplicity versus flexibility" trade-off. What I am trying to do is standardize the items in a list article, so your suggestion might be the perfect solution. Thanks. dr.ef.tymac 01:59, 30 April 2007 (UTC)
- Of course, that doesn't fix the annoyance when attempting spacing out "ref" tags ... :( dr.ef.tymac 02:02, 30 April 2007 (UTC)
[edit] Can anyone tell me what happened to "list of advertising cliches" article?
n/t. dr.ef.tymac 04:09, 30 April 2007 (UTC)
- Due to a large amount of unsourced information it was trimmed down to it's lead section and merged into Advertising. It's history can be seen here. --LaraLoveTalk/Contribs 05:51, 30 April 2007 (UTC)
[edit] Deleted Page Recreated
John Taylor Bowles has been recreated even after it was voted to be deleted in late Feburary (I myself voted in it's Deletion Review). What is the procedure for when this happens? Has the article in question been allowed to be recreated? Cheers. Zidel333 04:13, 30 April 2007 (UTC)
- You can put a speedy delete tag on it. See WP:SPEEDY, General criteria #4. Dismas|(talk) 04:15, 30 April 2007 (UTC)
- Thanks for the help, I've already done what was suggested. Zidel333 04:30, 30 April 2007 (UTC)
[edit] Trouble logging in
I cannot log in. My user name is DataGeek1.
My email is DO NOT WRITE YOUR EMAIL ADDRESS HERE! or you will be invaded by spam 15:49, 30 April 2007 (UTC)
Thanks,
Dave
69.209.198.203 04:47, 30 April 2007 (UTC)
- If you gave an email address when you set up your account, you can get a new password sent to that address. Skittle 15:49, 30 April 2007 (UTC)
[edit] Sidebar printing
How do i print just the bar on the side of the screen. I want to print just the bar on the side of the screen for the War on Terrorism page. Below is the source for this. Please delete it if it takes up too much room. Thank you very much for any help.
- You could put the source code on your userpage, click printable version on the toolbar on the LHS of the screen then print from there. Theresa Knott | Taste the Korn 05:02, 30 April 2007 (UTC)
[edit] How to ask help about verrifying an hoax
Sometimes during an anti vandalism patrol using VP I encounter some... strange edit to say the least, from anonymous user, that report really odd fact, but that could possibly have been true. In those case how can I do to get some help about verrifying the hoax (if the allmighty google don't give me anything about it). Remove then watch if it is reposted later ? Revert then ask on talk page a rationale or source ? —The preceding unsigned comment was added by Esurnir (talk • contribs) 05:22, 30 April 2007 (UTC).
- Mostly it's a matter of taste. If it's something that looks fairly innocuous, it might be enough to put {{fact}} next to it, but if it looks likely to cause some BLP problems or similar, then yes reverting and asking for a source is probably a good plan. Confusing Manifestation 06:32, 30 April 2007 (UTC)
[edit] Impartiality
How do I question the imparciality of an article, or any other shortcomming thereof, without editing it?
- If the point of view is hideously non-neutral (see WP:NPOV), add {{POV}} to the top of the article and explain your concerns on the Talk page. If the article just doesn't quite seem to pass Raul's Razor (Rule #13 on the list), then it's probably enough to voice your concerns on the Talk page. It helps if you have some evidence backing up your assertion that the article isn't neutral. For other possible shortcomings, such as uncited statements etc, again the Talk page is often the way to go, and there are also some other boilerplates you can put up at Wikipedia:Template messages. Confusing Manifestation 06:32, 30 April 2007 (UTC)
[edit] Yearbook a valid reference?
I'm not sure this is the right place to ask, but just in case... for an article of a high school, is it acceptable to use the school yearbooks as references for information? --LaraLoveTalk/Contribs 06:00, 30 April 2007 (UTC)
-
- They are published for the general academic community for the schools by a publisher that specializes in yearbooks. The yearbooks in question are considered to be some of the top of the their field (per competition). Zidel333 15:23, 30 April 2007 (UTC)
- Are yearbooks "published" in a real sense? That is, could anyone in the world readily buy that yearbook, and will they be able to (perhaps finding it used) in years to come? Notinasnaid 06:56, 30 April 2007 (UTC)
- Yes. It's the published ones. It's for a GA/n I've put on hold. The question was brought to me, but I'm not sure. I would assume it would be, but I don't know how easily one can order an archived yearbook. I'll have them check with the publisher. Thanks. --LaraLoveTalk/Contribs 15:27, 30 April 2007 (UTC)
[edit] wikipedia copyrights
hello, i am working in a company developing educational materials. i would like to use some wikipedia entries for one of our lesson plans, mostly short biographies of historical characters. i would like to upload my lesson plan and the wikipedia bios to my company website, adding wikipedia references when needed, as people usually do when they quote from a reference material. am i allowed to quote wikipedia in my company website, or is there a copyright that forbids me to do so? i couldn't find wikipedia policy in this regard. thank you for your help, 192.117.182.168 07:39, 30 April 2007 (UTC)
- Wikipedia is licenced under the GFDL. If you're planning to reuse it, you probably want to read (or ask your lawyers to read) the full legal details of Wikipedia's copyright. I'm not a lawyer, but my understanding is that if what you want to do is reupload Wikipedia's material verbatim, you need to also upload a copy of the licence under which the material is licenced (which I've linked above), and provide a method to access the page history (see the 'history' tab), as well as mention on the page what licence it's licenced under and give links for the history. See Wikipedia:Copyrights#Reusers' rights and obligations for the Wikipedia policy involved, and Wikipedia:Verbatim copying for an essay about reusing Wikipedia's content. --ais523 07:48, 30 April 2007 (UTC)
[edit] User can't log-in
Have been a registered user on Wikipedia for over a year, but the sign in page is telling me that my password is incorrect even thought I haven't changed it. What do I do to change it? User:Escaper7 132.185.240.122 10:56, 30 April 2007 (UTC)
- If you have your email enabled, you can click on a link asking Wikipedia to email you a new password. ElinorD (talk) 10:58, 30 April 2007 (UTC)
- Your password's probably the same as your username; all such usernames were blocked by developers recently to prevent them being compromised. As you haven't set (or possibly haven't confirmed) an email address (which would be needed to recover your password), your options are to create a new account or to persuade a developer to give you back access to the old one. (The developers are quite busy; in addition, they won't reset an account without uncontrovertable proof that you own it, and if your password is your username everyone knows it now, so it can't be used as proof. You're probably better off creating a new account.) --ais523 11:01, 30 April 2007 (UTC)
- Don't really want to create a new account, so how do I go about asking to to access my existing account? Short of that, I think I'll probably give Wikipedia up as ll my editing history, comments and discussions will be lost. If it's supposed to be so easy for anyone to edit, why is it the case that someone who goes to such efforts to register is effectively treated the same as someone with a permanent block ie for vandalism. If a password needs to be changed, why no warning or prompt? User:Escaper 7132.185.240.120 11:09, 30 April 2007 (UTC) BTW, doesn't having a second account then make me a sockpuppet or something? 132.185.240.122 11:10, 30 April 2007 (UTC)
- Alternate accounts are allowed as long as they're not used for purposes like double-voting; see WP:SOCK. The last person who had the same problem as you emailed a developer (brion at wikimedia.org, in particular); they could prove their identity by using their account on the Italian Wikipedia (which had an email set), but you haven't linked to any other-language accounts on your userpage so I'm not sure if this method is open to you. The reason for the block, I think, was that a vandal was guessing the passwords of established accounts and using them for vandalism; this was done at the technical level, and has nothing to do with most Wikipedia users (this is way above what administrators can manage). --ais523 11:17, 30 April 2007 (UTC)
- If you can prove who you are somehow, perhaps a checkuser? You could go to requests for change name, and have them rename your account, which would effectively mean that your username and password wouldn't be same anymore. The problem with that is now everyone here knows what your password is, so the chances of your account becoming compromised might be too high, therefore a bureaucrat might reject the request. But you can try anyway if you think it might work. Alternatively you could use a checkuser to prove who you are, and they might be willing to change your password for you, if you do this through email --VectorPotentialTalk 13:34, 30 April 2007 (UTC)
- Alternate accounts are allowed as long as they're not used for purposes like double-voting; see WP:SOCK. The last person who had the same problem as you emailed a developer (brion at wikimedia.org, in particular); they could prove their identity by using their account on the Italian Wikipedia (which had an email set), but you haven't linked to any other-language accounts on your userpage so I'm not sure if this method is open to you. The reason for the block, I think, was that a vandal was guessing the passwords of established accounts and using them for vandalism; this was done at the technical level, and has nothing to do with most Wikipedia users (this is way above what administrators can manage). --ais523 11:17, 30 April 2007 (UTC)
- Don't really want to create a new account, so how do I go about asking to to access my existing account? Short of that, I think I'll probably give Wikipedia up as ll my editing history, comments and discussions will be lost. If it's supposed to be so easy for anyone to edit, why is it the case that someone who goes to such efforts to register is effectively treated the same as someone with a permanent block ie for vandalism. If a password needs to be changed, why no warning or prompt? User:Escaper 7132.185.240.120 11:09, 30 April 2007 (UTC) BTW, doesn't having a second account then make me a sockpuppet or something? 132.185.240.122 11:10, 30 April 2007 (UTC)
[edit] problems with image sizes
Hi, the images I have had added to my various pages have gone a bit weird and resized themselves to original sizes. For example on my user page I have used the code
[[Image:Sydney_harbour_bridge_dawn.jpg|right|thumb|150px| frame|Photos I have contributed - The bridge just after sunrise (with no boats on the harbour)]]
which has for a long time shrunk a large photo to an acceptable size, for some reason (in the past month perhaps) stopped shrinking the photo..
Does anyone know why? Thanks in advance for your help!!
Cheers Actuarial disco boy 11:09, 30 April 2007 (UTC)
- I don't think you're supposed to use both 'thumb' and 'frame'. Try using just one or the other; at least one of them will probably work. (The meaning of one of those words changed recently, but I can't remember which.) --ais523 13:30, 30 April 2007 (UTC)
Excellent - it worked, thanks for that !!!!!! Actuarial disco boy 19:37, 30 April 2007 (UTC)
[edit] Old messages -- supposedly to me (critical)
Hello, I just signed up for Wikipedia. I have made one comment on one subject - "Junk DNA" (made last week, when I signed up for an account). I made some comments on the talk page, not an actual edit.
When I look up an article I am notified I have messages waiting. When I view them there are several criticisms from 2006 that say I was guilty of invalid comments, and other bad behavior, when I tried to edit articles which I don't think I ever even viewed, let alone edited.
I want to participate in Wikipedia according to the rules and I try to use a sensible, constructive approach. I certainly don't mind it if others write comments about my actual comments, etc.
Is there some way to clean this out so I can start with a clean slate and I can get accurate feedback in the future, if and when needed?
Also, if there is a case of mistaken identity, can you correct it?
Thanks, Martin Denker 13:23, 30 April 2007 (UTC)
- I suspect the messages that you saw were seen by you while you weren't logged in. When a user isn't logged in, Wikipedia has only their IP address to use to determine who they are and send warnings and messages. So the warnings probably went not to you, but to someone with a similar Internet connection (for instance, someone who uses the same ISP as you if you're at home, or someone at the same workplace or school). There are no warnings on your username talk page; while logged in, you should be able to avoid irrelevant messages. Hope that helps! --ais523 13:29, 30 April 2007 (UTC)
[edit] List of Extensions used by Wikipedia
Where can I find a page that lists the extensions used by Wikipedia? —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 208.190.205.92 (talk) 14:26, 30 April 2007 (UTC).
- If you're referring to MediaWiki extensions, see Special:Version. --ais523 14:29, 30 April 2007 (UTC)
Yes .. this information is very helpful. Thanks!
[edit] Finding name of pro who taught tennis at Armory on Chicago's north side in 1960s
That's the info I seek. His first name was George. He was Irish. He said he had been a world champion in amateur competitions - in the 1920s or 1930s, I guess. Anyone know? How would I find out? Rhsnew 14:36, 30 April 2007 (UTC)§
- Try asking at the Wikipedia:Reference desk; this page is for questions about editing Wikipedia. -SpuriousQ (talk) 14:55, 30 April 2007 (UTC)
[edit] Vandalistic redirect - cannot figure out how to fix it
User:Moironen has decided to redirect Wikipedia:Why was my page deleted? to DOMINATION BLACK. The history at the redirect shows only his edit, so how can it be reverted? He had already vandalised the page by replacing all its content, then made this redirect while I was reverting his vandalism. Can anyone help to sort this out? Adrian M. H. 14:42, 30 April 2007 (UTC)
- Actually, it was a move rather than creating a redirect, and the history moved with the page. I've deleted the redirect (an admin power) and moved it back and then deleted the redirect that move created. RJFJR 14:49, 30 April 2007 (UTC)
- Thanks for your assistance. Adrian M. H. 14:53, 30 April 2007 (UTC)
[edit] I need wikipedia
is it ok for me to copy an article and put it on my own site if i state that it is from wikipedia and put a web link to that page from my site? —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 80.193.19.136 (talk) 15:41, 30 April 2007 (UTC).
[edit] User:Namcorules - I appear to have forgotten my password, or somebody has changed it
I am User:Namcorules, editing Wikipedia with an IP account because somebody appears to have changed my password, or I have just forgotten it. I don't have an email address, so if I have just forgotten it and somebody who has direct access to the database is reading this, could they please retrieve it for me? Namcorules 16:45, 30 April 2007 (UTC)
- Sorry, retrieving passwords is not possible. If you don't know your password and didn't set an e-mail address, you can register a new account. Notinasnaid 15:50, 30 April 2007 (UTC)
- If you choose your password to be the same as your username, it has been blocked automatically. In that case, contact a Developer for assistence. - Mgm|(talk) 21:11, 30 April 2007 (UTC)
[edit] HowToOpenThings is a valid entry
HowToOpenThings is marked as a questionable entry. It is a new business that belongs in Wikipedia as much as any other Web base business. Perhaps you marked this entry becuase I created the Wiki entry before the site launched. We launched last week, so can we have the HowToOpenThings entry removed from the 'questionable' content category?
Check the page, I've added press releases about the site, blog entries from others, etc.
Thanks
Rien Heald co-found, HowToOpenThings (Removed e-mail address as noted above). —Preceding unsigned comment added by Howtoopenthings (talk • contribs)
- New businesses do not belong in Wikipedia, nor do established businesses, unless they are notable. Wikipedia is not a business directory. For the criteria we use, see Wikipedia:Notability. Have their been multiple non-trivial newspaper articles about your business for example? If so, the article needs to give them. The article, in other words, has to prove that the business is notable. Blogs do not count at all, and press releases, while they are useful as references, don't prove notability. In addition you should never create an article on your own business or one you are connected with. If a business is notable, in time other people will do this, perhaps after some years. I hope this helps you understand why your article may be deleted. Notinasnaid 16:27, 30 April 2007 (UTC)
- (edit conflict)Does it pass notability standards for companies? As you'll see from those links, it requires that a subject be covered in multiple, independent, reliable sources. There is also the obvious conflict of interest involved when you create an article about your own company. Adrian M. H. 16:31, 30 April 2007 (UTC)
[edit] Data-driven list article (e.g., List of advertising slogans from a central table)
After having done a considerable bit of tedious tinkering and re-organization of List of advertising slogans (which probably no one really cares about anyway) it occurs to me that maintaining this content would probably be *much* easier if the entire list could be stored in a single, central "table" somewhere, and the separate articles generated from the table, instead of editing them and separating them all by hand.
So for example, the central table could have the following fields:
slogan_category ;; slogan_text ;; slogan_company ;; slogan_years ;; ad_agency ;; notes
and then a page could be generated by transcluding subsections from the table based on category:
{{SloganTable|FoodCategory,FashionCategory}}
I'm sure it is not feasible to allow WP contributors to edit a database table but is there a way to do this using just transclusion and a central 'flat file database' (xml or whatever)? This would make managing the content much easier. Thoughts? Comments? dr.ef.tymac 16:56, 30 April 2007 (UTC)
- What you want is a structured wiki which MediaWiki is not (see TWiki for what you're missing). There are many situations where structured wiki features would come in handy, so the topic comes up often. --Teratornis 23:51, 30 April 2007 (UTC)
[edit] hgdkhkdgjgfjgfjhgj
How do you know the autor of a wikipedia page? —The preceding unsigned comment was added by BEWARE of kristin (talk • contribs) 17:22, 30 April 2007 (UTC).
- Wikipedia:Who writes Wikipedia. Or view the very first entry in the history if you want to find out who created an article. Adrian M. H. 17:31, 30 April 2007 (UTC)
- If you want to know the author because you need to cite a page, please use the "cite this page" link on the left instead. - Mgm|(talk) 21:08, 30 April 2007 (UTC)
[edit] Adjusting the value produced by a template variable
I was thinking about adding the local time (which is currently 1 hour ahead of UTC) to my user page. Is it possible to add 1 hour to the value produced by the {{CURRENTHOUR}} template variable by adding something to the transclusion, ie: {{CURRENTHOUR|+1}} or something like that? Or is that a feature that has to be already present in the template itself? I'd be quite happy to make my own if that's the case. Adrian M. H. 17:50, 30 April 2007 (UTC)
- You might be interested in m:ParserFunctions, towards the bottom of the page, not quite what you're looking for, but it will do what you want it to, if you play around with it enough--VectorPotentialTalk 20:20, 30 April 2007 (UTC)
[edit] Interwiki transclusion
Is it possible to transclude pages from another Wikipedia or Wikimedia project? Specifically, I would like to transclude pages in my Wikimedia Commons user space into parts of pages in my user space here, using links like {{:commons:User:Seattle Skier/Images}} or {{commons:User:Seattle Skier/Images}}. I have tested those links already, they do not work (nothing is transcluded).
I have read Wikipedia:Transclusion, Wikipedia:Sister projects, and Wikipedia:Interwikimedia link, and can not find the answer. Thanks for your help. --Seattle Skier (See talk tierS) 18:15, 30 April 2007 (UTC)
- I don't think it's possible. Suppose you want to transclude a page from an obscure project. If it gets vandalized, we here at en-wikipedia can't do anything short of deleting the page to fix things. Particularly with small projects it can take quite some time to get a local admin to jump in. I think the inability to transclude between projects is a security measure. - Mgm|(talk) 21:07, 30 April 2007 (UTC)
-
- MediaWiki has the feature; see: mw:Manual:$wgEnableScaryTranscluding. However, I am pretty sure this feature is disabled on Wikipedia, for the reasons Mgm states. --Teratornis 23:44, 30 April 2007 (UTC)
[edit] wikitionary template?
hello, i am trying to find a template i think i came across once. it states that a section is better moved to wikitionary, or something of that sort. does it sound familiar to anybody? thanks, trespassers william 18:23, 30 April 2007 (UTC)
- I haven't checked through them all, but you might find it here: Wikipedia:Sister projects. Adrian M. H. 19:04, 30 April 2007 (UTC)
- I think you mean Template:Copy_to_Wiktionary. I found it quickly by searching for wiktionary at Wikipedia:Template messages/Cleanup. S Sepp 19:27, 30 April 2007 (UTC)
- That one is listed in the second section of my earlier link. It looks like the one that you need. Adrian M. H. 19:38, 30 April 2007 (UTC)
- Yep, i suppose it is. and the cleanup list is useful too. thank you both. trespassers william 19:53, 30 April 2007 (UTC)
- That one is listed in the second section of my earlier link. It looks like the one that you need. Adrian M. H. 19:38, 30 April 2007 (UTC)
[edit] Email question
The E Mail address you gave me was [removed] however it stses that this does not exist.Have copied and pasted from your E Mail so cannot uderstand -John Forsyth, secondary E Mail address is [removed] 82.39.129.48 19:23, 30 April 2007 (UTC)
[edit] Using wiki for coursework
I'm currently working on some biology coursework. I've managed to get some information from Wiki which I can use in my coursework. However - my problem is this - at the end of my c/w I need to give references for information which I have gained (much like Wiki articles) - when using Wiki articles for information, do I need to reference to Wiki...or do I need to specifically reference to the sources from which information in the Wiki article is gained? In other words, do I reference wiki, or do I reference the sources which are found at the bottom of the Wiki article?
88.105.187.51 19:45, 30 April 2007 (UTC)
- You should ask your teacher. They may say (a) cite Wikipedia, that's fine: if so use the "Cite this article" link at the left of the article or (b) you may not cite Wikipedia: if so, you must use the original references. That means reading them, not just copying the citations. So teachers will remove some or all marks for Wikipedia use, so don't guess! Notinasnaid 19:52, 30 April 2007 (UTC)
-
- Ok, thanks...that's helped!
88.105.187.51 19:56, 30 April 2007 (UTC)
[edit] Batch changes ("is comprised of" -> "comprises")
I know this can be a controversial operation, but is it possible to perform batch edits across the Wikipedia corpus?
I specifically would like to replace all instances of the annoying "is comprised of" with "comprises", and there should be no exceptions. Is there an easy way to do this?
Thanks Steven 20:48, 30 April 2007 (UTC)
- Actually, in some cases "consists of" might be a better substitute. You can ask the creator of User:Humanbot to jump in, but I suspectthere's already another bot in operation suitable for such a task. - Mgm|(talk) 21:04, 30 April 2007 (UTC)
- In fact, to say that "X is comprised of Y" is to give a list of ingedients or subdivisions Y which togehter make up X, while to say "X comprises Y" is to say that all Y are included in X, but does not inmply that the list is complete. In any case, making pruely stylistic changes en masse across the whole project ought to at least have the support of a reccomendation in the Manual of Style and even then might well be considered controversial. Bots should not be sued for controversial tasks, IMO. (Personally i find the form "X comprises Y" far more akward ans annoying than "X is comprised of Y"). If revert wars are bad, bot wars would be unthinkable, so please don't do this without obtaining consensus at the MOS page first. DES (talk) 21:15, 30 April 2007 (UTC)
Don't worry, I'm not trying to start a war, nor will I litigate against bots :)
However, I do disagree with your distinctions. The very usage of comprise as a direct synonym for compose, although widely used, is incorrect IMO and disputable in all dictionaries at the very least, especially the passive form "is comprised of". "To comprise" means to "to be composed of", not "to compose". Therefore "to be comprised of" actually translates to "to be to be composed of of". If "X is composed of Y", then the equivalent is "X comprises Y" or "X consists of Y".
Therefore, no instance of "is comprised of" is valid and instead should either become "comprises", "is composed of" or "consists of". The universality of this rule makes it a good candidate for a mass change, since there is no danger in altering the meaning of a sentence. Steven 02:02, 1 May 2007 (UTC)
- See: List of frequently misused English words#Comprise. --Teratornis 16:56, 1 May 2007 (UTC)
One of my hobbies is correcting "is comprised of." I just use Google and some convenient features of the Opera web browser, but Autowiki supposedly helps too. BUT: you cannot automatically edit. "comprised of" is used to mean multiple things; an editor must decide which one. "composed of" is probably the closest to a universal replacement, closely followed by "consists of." Often, the phrase is actually a superfluous complication of the sentence and you can replace it with "is" or "has." "is made up of" is sometimes best. "comprises" is actually subtly different from "is composed of." "comprises" indicates taking in or encompassing things that have an independent existence as opposed to being separable into those things. A good example of "comprises" is "the company's Pacific Northwest division comprises Washington, Oregon, and Idaho." "Consists of" would suggest the division is the states themselves, while "is composed of" would suggest the states are nothing but pieces of that division. Bryan Henderson 17:39, 22 July 2007 (UTC)
I have read that the Oxford English Dictionary supports (actually uses) "comprised of." But I believe all American dictionaries, and probably modern British ones as well eschew it. It is not consistent with the rest of English grammar or the etymology of the word "comprise." Bryan Henderson 17:39, 22 July 2007 (UTC)
[edit] Vertical Line
How do I get a vertical line in my article? Please respond fondly, Meldshal42 20:52, 30 April 2007 (UTC).
- You mean this one? "|". There's a box below the edit screen, the second item in wiki markup is this symbol, it's called the pipe and it's also on your keyboard. On some keyboards it's shown as having a break in the middle, but it's the same one. _ Mgm|(talk) 21:01, 30 April 2007 (UTC)
Thnak you so, so much!Meldshal42 21:43, 30 April 2007 (UTC)
[edit] Airco DH.6
I uploaded a picture to complement this article - on closer inspection I realised that the picure of the aircraft concerned is a mirror image (note the number on the tail). When I tried to resubmit a corrected version of the file (identical except for being "flipped" round the right way) it seemed to accept the new version but still displays it reversed!
Please either fix this or advise me how to do it - I cannot delete the existing file of course.
Soundofmusicals 22:02, 30 April 2007 (UTC)
Now it's gone and corrected itself, I think - all I needed was patience!!!
Soundofmusicals 22:09, 30 April 2007 (UTC)
[edit] Adminship
Hi. I had a question about adminship? How do you apply for it? Thanks Meldshal42
- See Wikipedia:Requests for adminship. PrimeHunter 22:08, 30 April 2007 (UTC)
Thanks. Meldshal42.
[edit] No such section
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Jump to: navigation, search This is a talk page. Please respect the talk page guidelines, and remember to sign your posts using four tildes (~~~~).
You tried to edit a section that doesn't exist. Since there is no section 21, there's no place to save your edit.
Return to Main Page.
- I got this funky error on a page with 21 edit sections and I tried to edit the 20th & the 21st. The talk page in question is, (Talk:List of Warriors characters). Regards, «razorclaw» 22:32, 30 April 2007 (UTC)
-
- I've seen that before when I clicked a section edit link on an instance of a page that had been sitting in my browser for a while, and sometime after I had downloaded that page from the server, someone else had deleted some sections from the page. Thus the number of the section I was trying to edit had actually been reduced to a smaller value by the deletion, but the section edit link I clicked referred to the original larger number. The solution is to refresh the page in your browser; if that does not help, try purging. --Teratornis 23:37, 30 April 2007 (UTC)
[edit] James Bond Girls
What has happened to the categories of "Actresses who played Bond Girls" ? and "James Bond Cast Members" ?
These were extremely useful categories but they seem to have disappeared.
Is there anything to replace them ?
--Tovojolo 22:50, 30 April 2007 (UTC)
- There is List of actresses who portrayed Bond girls but it looks like its up for deletion. You could also check out Bond Girl for list of actresses who have been bond girls. —Mitaphane ?|! 23:10, 30 April 2007 (UTC)
[edit] front page html
How come all the side bars are at the end of the page now??? This is a real problem, I don't like scrolling down - or using a hyper link to get to the search function. PLease revert to the original front page! JP MacDonald —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 142.68.171.60 (talk) 22:59, 30 April 2007 (UTC).
- Which version of Wikipedia are you using? Lemonflash(Talk)
[edit] Editing
Where do I go to make a new contribution? Amartin26 23:37, 30 April 2007 (UTC) Amartin26
- That question is, "Where do I not go?" You've made one contribution here already - that edit of yours. I tend to go to Random article to look for stuff. Or you can clean up a requested article - loads of things to do. Wikipedia:Community Portal might give you ideas. x42bn6 Talk 23:55, 30 April 2007 (UTC)
- Try joining a WikiProject that specializes in what you are interested in and see what they need done. The easiest way to find one is to go to the most broad page and find the Wikiproject banner near the top of the talk page. (Ex. to find the USA Wikiproject, go to the talk page for United States). Mr.Z-mantalk¢ 00:23, 1 May 2007 (UTC)
- If you mean how to make a new article, see Help:Starting a new page and Wikipedia:Your first article. PrimeHunter 01:06, 1 May 2007 (UTC)
[edit] How do I report a user?
How to I report this user to get him banned or something? What he does is he's replacing articles with things like "my butt" and so on... Is there any warning-template I can use or something? - Aki 23:55, 30 April 2007 (UTC)
- Post the user's name on WP:AIAV. Make sure you warned him/her first. BuickCenturydriver (Honk, contribs) 23:58, 30 April 2007 (UTC)
- (EDIT CONFLICT)
Can you tell us who is doing this to you? Here are some warning templates for vandals [1]. If you need to report someone for blatant and persistent vandalism, use WP:AIV otherwise post a message to WP:ANI. -- Hdt83 Chat 23:59, 30 April 2007 (UTC)