Wikipedia:Help desk/Archives/2007 August 19

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[edit] August 19

[edit] semi-protection?

I just edited the semi-protected article "eHarmony." Is the fact that I was allowed to do this a bug? 69.143.80.200

Not in the sense you probably had in mind -- looks like either somebody forgot to remove the template, when protection expired, or the template was placed in error. While it seems intuitive that the "this page has been semi-protected" notice means a page is protected, it's actually just one more template, just like any other, and it's sometimes used where it shouldn't be (or not used where it should be). Some people would prefer to change that arrangement, but that's how it works, currently. Apologies for the confusion. :) – Luna Santin (talk) 01:09, 19 August 2007 (UTC)
Protection expired, but the template wasn't removed. We really need a bot that removes the protected template from articles where protection has expired. Corvus cornix 17:03, 20 August 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Deleted information

I was looking up an article on google and it gave me a link to an article in wikipedia. However, when I clicked on the link the page had been deleted. Why would this be the case, and where would I be able to retrieve the information? —The preceding unsigned comment was added by Shunafish (talk • contribs) 00:03:10, August 19, 2007 (UTC).

That depends quite a bit on which article you're looking for. ;) When looking at a page that's been deleted, you should be able to see it's deletion log, including the username(s) of administrators who should be able to provide more specific details, and/or a link to Wikipedia:Why was my page deleted? (which may be a helpful read, regardless of whether it was "your" page). We can probably provide a more complete answer if you give us a link to the deleted article. – Luna Santin (talk) 00:09, 19 August 2007 (UTC)
You can see the article version Google indexed by clicking "Cached" on the Google search results page. Only Wikipedia administrators can see deleted articles here at en.wikipedia.org. PrimeHunter 01:51, 19 August 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Roads and Transit article

Wikipedia--

I just wrote an article entitled "Roads and Transit", which details a ballot measure that Washington state voters in Snohomish, King, and Pierce counties will be voting on this November.

My question: When I put "roads and transit" in the search field, nothing related to my article comes up. However, when I search "Roads and Transit" (with caps) the article I wrote comes up. Is there any way for the search to include no-CAPS on roads and transit?

Thank you —The preceding unsigned comment was added by Zztup (talk • contribs) 00:38:06, August 19, 2007 (UTC).

I have created a redirect for you at Roads and transit. You can do that yourself in the future if you think there's a common typo, spelling variation etc. that people might use to search for or access an article. Have a look at this for more information on redirects. KTC 00:48, 19 August 2007 (UTC)
Roads and Transit has not been indexed by Wikipedia search yet. When that happens it would be the first search result on "roads and transit" if there was no redirect. Note: Search doesn't work on "Roads and Transit" either at the moment. But if you click enter or "Go" in the search box then it goes directly to an article with that name if it exists, without using search. PrimeHunter 01:35, 19 August 2007 (UTC)

[edit] References / Sources

I have provided sourcesin regards to my contribution on , Siosaia Tupou (Namoa), Tu'iKanokupolu, 1830-45. I still being requested to provide references/ sources. How can I resolve this? —The preceding unsigned comment was added by Anacrossan (talk • contribs) 00:41:08, August 19, 2007 (UTC).

[edit] Changing Page title

How do I change the page title of: "Joseph Krysiak"buffalo

The title should be: Joseph Krysiak

--Zrants 01:21, 19 August 2007 (UTC)Zrants

There should be a move button at the top of the article. If not then you have account under 4 days old. Ask someone here to move it for you if your account is no older than 4 days. --Tλε Rαnδom Eδιτor (tαlk) 01:23, 19 August 2007 (UTC)
The account is 2 hours old.[1] NickW557 has moved the article to Joseph Krysiak. PrimeHunter 01:39, 19 August 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Is there a policy on shortening long URLs with TinyURL?

I've noticed that sometimes long URLs in the references section will expand the page width. I'm wondering if it's acceptable to use a TinyURL instead of allowing these long URLs to disrupt page formatting. Are there any policies or guidelines on this? --Wolf530 (talk) 01:31, 19 August 2007 (UTC)

Give it a link title and the link will use the phase instead of displaying the URL - [http://www.example.com link title]. No need to worry about how long the URL is that way. KTC 01:40, 19 August 2007 (UTC)
Incidentally, I believe TinyURL and similar sites all tend to be blacklisted links, due to previous abuse issues. But I believe KTC's suggestion should help you out, unless there's something I'm missing, here. – Luna Santin (talk) 01:42, 19 August 2007 (UTC)
TinyUrl is blacklist, however, if you use the proper citation template this shouldn't be a problem. --Haemo 01:43, 19 August 2007 (UTC)
TinyURL#Criticism explains why we don't use it on Wikipedia. For more about TinyURL, search the Wikipedia: namespace for it. That finds some interesting links, such as: Wikipedia:External links#Redirection sites, which says:
  • URL redirection sites are not to be used. Examples of these sites include tinyurl.com and makeashorterlink.com.
--Teratornis 02:48, 19 August 2007 (UTC)

Thanks everyone. --Wolf530 (talk) 20:31, 19 August 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Changing all users' default skin

If you remove/rename the default skin to something else after a MediaWiki installation already has users, how can you ensure that no one has changed their preferences since then? I see at http://www.mwusers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1000 that Rob Church believes it's possible, but he doesn't specify... -- nae'blis 02:14, 19 August 2007 (UTC)

[edit] How do I link to a page on the Japanese language Wikipedia?

I wanted to add Sagara (娑伽羅) to the disambiguation page because it doesn't sound like a Vedic king (it is in fact one of the Hachidai Ryuuou). However, I don't know much about Sagara at all (or, more importantly, I know of no reliable sources about it), so I don't think I should be the one to create the English article about it. Instead, I would like to link to the Japanese article about the Hachidai Ryuuou. The title of the article about the Ryuuou on the Japanese-language Wikipedia is "八大竜王" (I would make that a link, but I don't know how to).

I have tried to link to the Japanese page by using the full URL, but when I tried, it gave me an "エラー" (an error in Japanese that told me that I was linking from the wrong language or something to that effect).

For now I have just put in some English red links, but those are just temporary. How do I link to the page on the Japanese wikipedia from the disambiguation page for "Sagara"?

- - ジリー 03:32, 19 August 2007 (UTC)

[[:ja:八大竜王]] becomes ja:八大竜王--Silver Edge 03:37, 19 August 2007 (UTC)
(Edit conflict) To make a link to another language Wikipedia, add ":code:" to the beginning of the link, where "code" is replaced by the appropriate language code. For example, ja:メインページ will link to the Japanese Main Page. Removing the initial comma ([[ja:whatever]]) will add Japanese (or whatever language) to the "This article in other languages" link at the left side of the page.
For what you're trying to do, I would first request that the article be translated from Japanese. Once that translation is done, add [[ja:八大竜王]] to the bottom of that article if the translator didn't already. Then you should add a link to the English version of the article to the disambiguation page. Links in disambiguation pages should remain within the same language whenever possible.
For more help with inter-language links, see Help:Interwiki linking. Hersfold (t/a/c) 03:45, 19 August 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Contents boxes

Why do the Sydney suburban articles have no contents boxes when other ones do for example Bankstown, New South Wales does not have one, but this one does Cronulla Sand Dune System and how can this be fixed.--Ad@m.J.W.C. 05:21, 19 August 2007 (UTC)

Anyone out there--Ad@m.J.W.C. 09:40, 19 August 2007 (UTC)

Is there something wrong with my question--Ad@m.J.W.C. 10:31, 19 August 2007 (UTC)

No, just a limited number of people to answer. See WP:TOC for info on tables of contents. I couldn't see why one doesn't appear in the Bankstown article, but I forced one with __TOC__ under the lead paragraph. Perhaps the Village pump (technical) might have an answer for you. Cheers Kevin 10:43, 19 August 2007 (UTC)
It was caused by {{Mapit-AUS-suburbscale}} which added __NOTOC__ [2] for no apparent reason. Maybe it was only intended for the template page. I have moved it inside <noinclude>.[3] PrimeHunter 13:09, 19 August 2007 (UTC)
Thanks for that, I saw the changes in a couple of articles and knew that someone did something. Thanks.--Ad@m.J.W.C. 13:19, 19 August 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Password forgotten ...

Hi, For a quite long time I'm trying to remind me of the password of my account (User:Simon), but in vain. Can someone of the Admins help me? I haven't written anything with the account yet. — That you don't only have an IP from me, I'm also here and there. Thanks, Simon 62.203.222.53 07:51, 19 August 2007 (UTC)

Did you set an email on the account? i said 07:52, 19 August 2007 (UTC)
No, unfortunately not, and because of that I'm asking here ;) 62.203.222.53 10:40, 19 August 2007 (UTC)
If you really want the username back, you might try registering a new user and asking for usurping of the old one. Since there are no edits (or only deleted edits) on the account, it should be perfectly acceptable (you can also say that it was your old account that you forgot the password for, but that may not help). And then this time please remember your password, and set an email address! :-) --Pekaje 11:27, 19 August 2007 (UTC)
Ah, nice. Thanks a lot :) Usually I can remember my passwords … Greetings, Simon respectively LivingShadow 12:11, 19 August 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Elizabeth Bishop

I am writing an article on Elizabeth Bishop. Can I put examples of her work in the article ? Can I put a full poem or poems ?

Tovojolo 08:32, 19 August 2007 (UTC)

I don't think you can put entire peices of work in an article, because of copyright concerns. I also don't think it's generally done to put peices in either, unless what is included is specifically notable by itself. i said 08:56, 19 August 2007 (UTC)
See also WP:LYRICS. PrimeHunter 12:37, 19 August 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Sections on talk page

Sorry if there's a more appropriate desk for this... Would someone be able to have a look at my talk page? I've found that when I click on an [edit section] button, it goes to edit the section below it... which makes for frustrating editing. Is there any faulty coding in there? It never used to do this... Help would be appreciated :) Cheers- CattleGirl talk 08:36, 19 August 2007 (UTC)

Fixed. It was because the {{Wikipedia:WikiProject_Alternative_music/Newsletter/July 2007}} template was placed right beside the section heading. --Silver Edge 08:54, 19 August 2007 (UTC)
Thanks :) CattleGirl talk 08:58, 19 August 2007 (UTC)
You're welcome =D --Silver Edge 09:22, 19 August 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Please restore my page. The editor was completely wrong in his reasoning for deletion, and I can prove it. My page was TOTALLY legit.

You have deleted the 'National Association of Heavy Equipment Training Schools' page from your files. The person who deleted it said that it was an advertisement from an employee with no documentation. That is simply not true. I created it awhile ago because I attended a school that belongs to that association and I felt it deserved to be in the general body of knowledge, so I created the article. I also had documentation cited - its been written about extensively and I gave newspaper links. I think maybe people with a more intimate knowledge of the Association added info to the article, but why delete my whole article? How stupid. I'm not happy that some renegade editor just threw it out. Stuff like that makes Wikipedia very unreliable and when you throw out legitimate information you defeat your whole purpose. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by Rhettniel (talk • contribs) 09:46:40, August 19, 2007 (UTC).

Issues with deleted articles should be taken to deletion review. Cheers Kevin 10:46, 19 August 2007 (UTC)
See also Wikipedia:Why was my article deleted?. National Association of Heavy Equipment Training Schools was deleted by Phil Sandifer. It should be discussed with the deleting administrator at User talk:Phil Sandifer before taking it to deletion review. PrimeHunter 12:35, 19 August 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Explanation of curly brace as wikipedia markup?

Hi,

I have been searching Wikipedia unsuccessfully for a section that explains exactly how Wikipedia uses the curly brace characters { and } both singly and in pairs.

Shouldn't Wikipedia:Curly bracket make some reference to Wikipedia's editorial use of the curly brace --? Something like:

"For the use of curly braces as markup characters in Wikipedia, see Wikipedia:CurlyBraces."

--similar to the reference to Wikipedia templates at the top of Wikipedia:Template?

Any help appreciated,

Thanks,

Brad 10:39, 19 August 2007 (UTC)InBalance

You're right that there is no specific page on the stand alone use of braces but they are always used, as far as I am aware, for templates, parser functions and variables. For an explanation of those, see Wikipedia:Template namespace, m:Help:Template, m:Help:Advanced templates m:Help:Parser function and m:Help:Variable. There's a huge amount to swallow there. At its most simple, when you you want to place a template, for example template:Help me, you do so by surrounding the name in two braces {{Help me}} which displays the text of the template on any page, or you substitute it by typing {{subst:Help me}} which places the text of the template on the page. Triple braces are used for variables inside templates. I know of no use for single braces. The page you refer to is a section of our encyclopedia article on the punctuation symbol itself in the mainspace. I don't know that Mediawiki's use of braces for templates and the like is notable enough for inclusion there proper but if your suggested hatnote were to be placed, I think it should link to Wikipedia:Template namespace.--Fuhghettaboutit 13:53, 19 August 2007 (UTC)
Hi Fuhghettaboutit, thanks for responding and for your helpful advanced tips. The underlying problem I'm having with templates is that I can't get them to expand on my private MediaWiki installation. I tested template expansion in the sandboxes on both Wikipedia vs. MediaWiki. Templates expand on Wikipedia but not on MediaWiki. Doesn't that seem absurd? I just posted this question to the Mediawiki help desk. -- Brad 19:24, 19 August 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Simple from stupid.

Hello

I just wanted to add and expand request on an article,and looked on help to find the tag, but got totally caught up in stubs, templates, and tags, and found no information to assist me to edit the article to add the tag "expand".I wonder if you could assist me to find the format to do so. For example is it <expand/>? or {{expand}}. When does one use the<> notation, and when does one use {{ }}. If you could direct me to pages which will assist me to edit using correct formats in general, I would be so pleased. I did by the way, look at the how to edit page with no luck.

Hope you can help

Carol.

To add the tag, put {{expand}} into the article. Cheers Kevin 11:20, 19 August 2007 (UTC)
Wikipedia has lots of help pages. You have to read a lot of them to learn where to find the various bits, and that takes time and effort. I recommend getting to know this page, where you can find answers to almost every question that comes up about editing on Wikipedia:
Several pages are relevant to your question, if you want more background information besides the (correct) answer above, including:
--Teratornis 17:31, 19 August 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Looking For article

Do you know where the past articles in "Did you know" goes? (I cant find an article about a certain tower in "did you know" which was the first article in "did you know" on 08/17/07) —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 210.1.73.71 (talk) 12:52:24, August 19, 2007 (UTC)

I believe you're looking for the Did you Know? Archives, specifically the most recent one here, where it says " ...that while under construction the Lena Water Tower in Lena, Illinois had to be demolished and rebuilt because it began to crumble?" Hersfold (t/a/c) 12:59, 19 August 2007 (UTC)
se here--Pheonix15 13:01, 19 August 2007 (UTC)

[edit] "Evan Drake troubles"

Jester, if you've deleted pages relating to Evan Drake Savoie, can you please put them back up so people will know about his background, the planning of his kill and the trail? If you do, I'll be respecting you for years to come. I'm not a Savoie sockpuppet. The True Truth 13:02, 19 August 2007 (UTC)

I think you might have meant to post that on Swatjester's talk page. He's probably not going to read that here. Also, you may want to read our deletion policies as well as the Criteria for Speedy Deletion. Hersfold (t/a/c) 13:07, 19 August 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Moving pictures to Commons

What is the best way to move my pictures to Commons without having to retype all the tags? I remember someone mentioned about some kind of third-party software to do this? I am an admin at en:wiki, so deletion of redundant images should not be a problem. --Asteriontalk 13:05, 19 August 2007 (UTC)

Ta-da! See also Wikipedia:Moving images to the Commons. :-) Hersfold (t/a/c) 13:09, 19 August 2007 (UTC)
Great, thanks! --Asteriontalk 14:21, 19 August 2007 (UTC)

[edit] broken template

Template:Infobox Egyptian Political Party is used on a number of pages - but doesn't work. And hasn't since at least Nov 2006 when a comment was left on its talk page. Can anyone sort it out? Rmhermen 13:31, 19 August 2007 (UTC)

I see whats wrong with it, will fix it and tidy it up. Andyreply 13:37, 19 August 2007 (UTC)
Did a bit more work on it and it's much nicer now. Fixing it up on all the articles it's being used on now. Hersfold (t/a/c) 15:01, 19 August 2007 (UTC)
Thanks, everyone. Rmhermen 01:37, 20 August 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Citing YouTube

I seem to remember having seen a cite template for YouTube, but my searches fail me. Does anyone know if this exists? Or am I losing it? Lara♥Love 13:53, 19 August 2007 (UTC)

There is, {{YouTube|id|title}}. Remember, though, that YouTube isn't generally considered a reliable source. Hersfold (t/a/c) 13:58, 19 August 2007 (UTC)
I have a clip of Pete Wentz refering to Fall Out Boy as pop-punk. That's all I need. Thanks! Lara♥Love 13:59, 19 August 2007 (UTC)

[edit] How do you put a picutre onto a certain page?

I want to put pictures of Kings Of Leon onto their member pages but I don't know how...can you help? —The preceding unsigned comment was added by Catherinemunday (talk • contribs) 14:33:48, August 19, 2007 (UTC).

If they aren't already on Wikipedia's database, you'll have to upload them. To add them to an article, use [[Image:Blah.jpg|100px|Caption goes here]]. Majorly (talk) 14:39, 19 August 2007 (UTC)
But please make sure that the images are properly copyrighted. If you're not the copyright owner, follow the instructions for determining whether the images fall under fair use. Images from music videos or album covers would not be acceptable fair use for articles about the individuals. Corvus cornix 17:07, 20 August 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Copyvio's

What I do about copyvio's? I've deleted the edit, and left a note to that effect on the article talk page, what else should I do? Gatoclass 19:29, 19 August 2007 (UTC)

It's advisable to let the offending editor know by leaving them a note or using a template WP:TT Andyreply 19:34, 19 August 2007 (UTC)
Thanks, since I've had a number of differences of opinion with this editor already I thought it might be best if the warning came from an admin rather than an adversary, so I contacted one. Although in retrospect, maybe I should have done it myself anyhow. Oh well, too late now, but thanks for your help. Gatoclass 20:00, 19 August 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Referencing to an inteview I'm about to make?

I've started Happyslip, but I can't find enough info on the Web, so I'm considering inteviewing her via e-mail. Is it OK to ask her to license via GFDL the content of her response email? Then where do I put it, is it ok Talk/src and referencing to there in the main article? What else can I do? --Outspan 19:56, 19 August 2007 (UTC)

This sounds very much like original research (which is not allowed). What you can do is wait for reference material about her to be published in other sources. -- Rick Block (talk) 20:34, 19 August 2007 (UTC)
The article now is at AfD. See Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Happyslip. -- Jreferee (Talk) 17:28, 20 August 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Becoming an Administrator

How does a person become an Administrator on Wikipedia? —The preceding unsigned comment was added by ICarriere (talk • contribs) 21:40:55, August 19, 2007 (UTC).

Hi there, please see WP:RFA and WP:ADMIN for more information on becoming an administrator. Andyreply 21:44, 19 August 2007 (UTC)
Also see Wikipedia:Admin coaching. The question may relate to ICarriere's talk page thread Incivilty by Admin. David Levy became an admin in December 2005. See Requests for adminship/David Levy. -- Jreferee (Talk) 17:07, 20 August 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Correcting the entry on Oversteer

I would like to make a separate statement on the subject of oversteer because the existing entry is misleading and I don't see how I can do this by editing. The basic steering characteristics of a car are apparent, in a turn, without any sliding taking place, and I would like to explain the parameters involved. Fdudley 22:23, 19 August 2007 (UTC)

What, exactly, is your question? -- Kesh 22:49, 19 August 2007 (UTC)
It appears they answered their own question. -- Jreferee (Talk) 16:54, 20 August 2007 (UTC)