Wikipedia:Help desk/Archives/2007 November 30

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[edit] November 30

[edit] Where do I find the banner / tag templates?

I don't know what they are called, which is half the problem. I am looking for the one of those things you put at the top of the page that says something along the lines of "This article needs to be rewritten to meet Wikipedia's style guidelines"; or, colloquially, "This article shouldn't be so chatty and informal" etc.

Case in point from the Stroller history page (which cites no sources and reads like a broken up (but not bad) undergraduate essay.:

"Ever since babies have been born, parents have looked for a convenient way of traveling with their children. From slings to pouches, babies have been transported in a number of ways. Today we do it a bit differently, but how did we get our modern day strollers? Where did it all start?"

Thanks in advance Saudade7 01:53, 30 November 2007 (UTC)

See Wikipedia:Template messages for a list of pretty much everything in this area. For the specific types of messages you are referring to see, I think Wikipedia:Template messages/Cleanup is what you are looking for.--Fuhghettaboutit (talk) 02:00, 30 November 2007 (UTC)
Thanks Fuhghettaboutit for the fast reply! Saudade7 02:08, 30 November 2007 (UTC)
You're welcome.--Fuhghettaboutit (talk) 02:49, 30 November 2007 (UTC)

[edit] WHERE IS THE COPYWRITE DATE?

Im doing a project for Ela and i cant find your copywrite date where is it? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 70.61.65.66 (talk) 02:22, 30 November 2007 (UTC)

Hello. The license Wikipedia uses grants free access to our content in the same sense as free software is licensed freely. This principle is known as copyleft. That is to say, Wikipedia content can be copied, modified, and redistributed so long as the new version grants the same freedoms to others and acknowledges the authors of the Wikipedia article used (a direct link back to the article satisfies our author credit requirement). Thus, there's no copyright per se (note the spelling of that word:-), though this still is in the realm of copyright law. For more on this, please see Wikipedia:Copyrights. To cite an article, click on "Cite this article" from th toolbox links on the lefthand side of an article. Note also that every page in Wikipedia lists at the bottom "This page was last modified..." Cheers.--Fuhghettaboutit (talk) 02:58, 30 November 2007 (UTC)
You may want to read Wikipedia:Citing Wikipedia for information on how to properly cite wikipedia in a paper. --Sopoforic (talk) 03:44, 30 November 2007 (UTC)
If you need a date of the version you looked at, it's at the bottom of each article in the footer. Mac Davis (talk) 05:38, 30 November 2007 (UTC)

[edit] words of songs

how do i find the name of a song from a line of the song? Aebe (talk) 02:47, 30 November 2007 (UTC)

You type it into a search field at Google.com or Yahoo.com or a host of similar sites, in quotes if you know the exact words, and let the magic begin. Search engines are our friends.--Fuhghettaboutit (talk) 03:03, 30 November 2007 (UTC)
If you get too many search results, sometimes you can narrow down a search for a song by adding the keyword "lyric" to your search terms. For example: I saw him dancin' there by the record machine lyric finds I Love Rock 'n' Roll by Joan Jett as the top result (although the link is not to the Wikipedia article, since Wikipedia articles typically do not contain song lyrics, which are generally copyrighted). --Teratornis (talk) 09:01, 30 November 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Styling Template:Fact

Is there any way to style Template:Fact and similar citation templates using CSS? I took a look at the source but I can't find any classes or IDs to style with. Mfko (talk) 02:58, 30 November 2007 (UTC)

Use the class "Template-Fact". So for example to hide them altogether you would use:
 .Template-Fact { display: none }
– Gurch 09:58, 30 November 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Clarification of Notability Example

I am a photographer of noteworthy accomplishment. However, my wikipedia page was recently nominated for deletion due to unsatisfactory notability. We had looked at Art Wolfe's page [1] to understand what was required. Reviewing it again, I'm unclear how his qualified and mine did not. Can you point out which things on his page qualify him, so I can understand what other information I need to include in mine? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 209.166.89.116 (talk) 03:39, 30 November 2007 (UTC)

Without knowing which article you mean, it's difficult to say, but the things on Art Wolfe that indicate notability are the several books published (by normal publishers, not vanity presses) and the list of awards won. --Sopoforic (talk) 03:46, 30 November 2007 (UTC)
A Google search of Art Wolfe yields 193,000 results; a Google search of Dan Karvasek yields 177 hits. Under my real name I get more than 177 hits, am published, and I am still not notable enough to have my own Wiki article. Saudade7 23:18, 30 November 2007 (UTC)

[edit] qualification

are international students required Toefl degree to be accepted to your college? —Preceding unsigned comment added by Tommy naies (talk • contribs) 03:47, 30 November 2007 (UTC)

Wikipedia is not a college, it is an encyclopedia. I think you have the wrong site. -Wooty [Woot?] [Spam! Spam! Wonderful spam!] 03:48, 30 November 2007 (UTC)
If you mean Wikiversity, no. It is an open University. Anyone can study its materials and do its learning activities. (But you may also want to check TOEFL for more info if you want to apply to other universities). Good luck. Dr.K. (talk) 03:58, 30 November 2007 (UTC)
Were you reading an article on Wikipedia about some university? If so, you should go back to the article you were reading, and look either in the External links section at the bottom, or in the infobox at the top right, and you should find a link to the official Web site for that university. Wikipedia has many articles on many subjects, but only a small number of articles are about things that Wikipedia is actually associated with (such as: Wikipedia, MediaWiki, and Wikimedia Foundation). --Teratornis (talk) 08:51, 30 November 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Video game websites

The article listed here [2] does not contain the site www.projectcoe.com

It should be listed under the "P" section as Project COE. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Mikemosha90 (talk • contribs) 03:53, 30 November 2007 (UTC)

That page is a category and categories are only for listing Wikipedia articles. We don't appear to have an article about Project COE. PrimeHunter (talk) 03:57, 30 November 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Id this just like a excyclopeida

I need to know when making a bibilography if I should do it as an internet line or as an excylopedia. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 74.36.189.41 (talk) 03:55, 30 November 2007 (UTC)

The page Wikipedia:Citing Wikipedia should help you. Also, each article has a link in the toolbox on the left side of your page that says "Cite this article". That link will provide you citations in several different formats. Before doing so, however, make sure you check with your teacher or professor that Wikipedia is acceptable to use as a source, and remember that our information is not guaranteed to be 100% accurate. Hersfold (t/a/c) 03:59, 30 November 2007 (UTC)

[edit] How to add a "disambiguation" page to an article, and then add a new article for the same title.

How do I add a "disambiguation" page to an article, and then add a new article for the same title? I'm trying to do this to the D_star page, since it also refers to a search algorithm used in artificial intelligence similar to the A_star you have an article about. Thanks, Omar —Preceding unsigned comment added by 201.6.45.214 (talk) 04:10, 30 November 2007 (UTC)

  1. Create your new page as D-STAR (algorithm)
  2. perform a search to see if there are additinal pages that should be listed on the disambiguation page.
  3. Use the move button to move D-STAR to D-STAR (protocol).
  4. edit the resulting redirect page at D-STAR to convert it to a dab
  5. edit the discussion page at talk:D-STAR to un-redirect it
  6. go to the D-STAR page and click "what links here" in the left sidebar. go to each page and convert each link of the form [[D-STAR]] to [[D-STAR (protocol)|D-STAR]]. depending on the page you start wint, =you will frequently find that some of the links should really be to your new page rather than to the old one, or to a third subject that does not have a page. for human names in particular, it's amazing how many alternative uses are mis-linked.
-Arch dude (talk) 12:16, 30 November 2007 (UTC)

For this particular page, you may have a slightly simpler solution. This page already has D-Star and Dstar as redirects. If you are think "D-STAR" itself is not likely to be confused with the algorithm, then you can simply edit the redirect page D-Star to convert it to a dab. To reach the redirect page itself, (here or as in step 4 above) click on a link and get redirected, then click on the link in the little sentence at the top that says (redirected from D-Star). -Arch dude (talk) 12:25, 30 November 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Printing multiple pages

Hi

I want to print mutliple pages under a category in a single go instead of opening each page and printing it. How can I do it.

Regards, Shashi —Preceding unsigned comment added by 220.227.179.4 (talk) 05:21, 30 November 2007 (UTC)

Not sure you can. Due to limitations in the software, I'm pretty sure you'll have to go to each article and print them out individually. Sorry. You might try asking at the tech village pump, where they might have a little more knowledge about this, but I'm not aware of any tool to let you do this. Hersfold (t/a/c) 05:24, 30 November 2007 (UTC)
Actually, you can't. Sorry. Cheers,JetLover (Report a mistake) 05:24, 30 November 2007 (UTC)
I have not heard of a way to do it using only Wikipedia's commands, but I'm sure somebody knows a way to do this with other programs, for example possibly with Wget. Of course by the time a person figured out to do this, it might have been faster just to click on all the pages manually. But the real question is why would anybody want to print a lot of Wikipedia articles? They are much more useful as Web pages, with all the links and so on working. I could see printing one or two articles if a person needed them in the field, but if you need a lot of articles away from your desktop computer, it would be worthwhile to look into a portable solution such as TomeRaider. --Teratornis (talk) 08:44, 30 November 2007 (UTC)

[edit] How do I delete my Wikipedia account?

I accidentally put in a username that i didn't want, so I am wondering how I can delete my account and get another one. —Preceding unsigned comment added by XXawesomewafflesXx (talk • contribs) 05:38, 30 November 2007 (UTC)

You can change your username at Wikipedia:Changing username. --Silver Edge (talk) 05:42, 30 November 2007 (UTC)
It's easier just to create a new account with the username you want. Cheers,JetLover (Report a mistake) 05:44, 30 November 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Doppleganger/Alternate accounts

I would like to create a doppleganger account/alternative account. Is that allowed, or only admins can create accounts? -Goodshoped 05:57, 30 November 2007 (UTC)

First off, dopplegangers are not the same as alternative accounts. Doppelgangers can be used to prevent impersonation of your real user name, however, alternate accounts are used for normal editing purposes in accordance with the sockpuppet policy. See WP:SOCK#LEGIT for some of the legitimate ways to use an alternate account. And no, you don't have to be an admin. Spebi 06:03, 30 November 2007 (UTC)
And is it OK if I create doppleganger accounts to deter vandals (like create an account called "It's Goodshoped, Bitch", or "Pope Mcdonald HermanXXXX"? -Goodshoped 02:52, 1 December 2007 (UTC)
It would be highly unlikely that you could conceive of any/all names a potential disruptive editor would choose, and I'd suggest that you not bother, as issues like that are dealt with quite swiftly. Ariel♥Gold 03:03, 1 December 2007 (UTC)

[edit] articles

Is it allowed for one to copy articles then rewrite and publish in a newspaper —Preceding unsigned comment added by 41.222.13.134 (talk) 09:12, 30 November 2007 (UTC)

See Wikipedia:Reusing Wikipedia content. PrimeHunter 16:00, 30 November 2007 (UTC)

[edit] emails / usernames

Hi,

My name is Matteo Prezioso and I have a Wikipedia account with username 'sowhatfilms' linked to an email I have recently deleted (<e-mail refactored>). I believe I also own another username, matteoprezioso although I am not sure what email was linked to. It's either another deleted email, <e-mail refactored> - or it is the one I use and therefore would like to have registered, <e-mail refactored>). I know it looks like a bit of a mess (it certainly is...) but if this one gets sorted I'll promise to keep it tidy!

Thanks for everything,

Matteo Prezioso

- once again

to keep active: username: <e-mail refactored> email: <e-mail refactored>

to cancel: username: sowhatfilms email: <e-mail refactored> —Preceding unsigned comment added by Sowhatfilms (talk • contribs) 10:00, 30 November 2007 (UTC)

Hi, we can't delete accounts, and we cannot change e-mail addresses attached to accounts (as far as I know). Spebi 10:02, 30 November 2007 (UTC)

[edit] How do i create a infobox like those on the RIGHT TOP of many companies' wiki which shows company name, logo, and company info.

How do i create a infobox on the right top of a wiki, for example, google, it shows google, then its logo, the type, founded, headquarters, etc, how do i do that? i have been reading over all FAQ and help and still don't get it. somebody please help. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 67.180.119.149 (talk) 10:04, 30 November 2007 (UTC)

It depends on the subject of the article you want to insert the infobox into. See Wikipedia:List of infoboxes for the right type of infobox for the article in question. Spebi 10:08, 30 November 2007 (UTC)
You can click "edit this page" (or "view source" if it's protected) to see what an existing article does. Google uses {{Infobox Company}}. PrimeHunter 15:56, 30 November 2007 (UTC)
Be aware that usually an infobox goes in the lead section of an article, and the lead section has no section-edit link. Thus you have to click the "edit this page" link above the article to be able to view, insert, or edit the wikitext for its infobox template. --Teratornis 17:58, 30 November 2007 (UTC)

[edit] adding pictures to an article

how do you put up a picture in an article once i have finished uploading it? how will i be able to do this? —Preceding unsigned comment added by Jjguaren (talk • contribs) 10:37, 30 November 2007 (UTC)

Wikipedia:Extended image syntax gives the code for adding images to articles, and Wikipedia:Picture tutorial goes through plenty of examples. Raven4x4x (talk) 12:39, 30 November 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Copying Wikipedia under the GFDL

I wish to copy articles from Wikipedia (which is permitted per WP:GFDL) but I am having a problem actually doing so. I tried transwiki'ing the articles, but the full history wasn't transferred, same for Special:Export.

The actual articles I'm trying to transfer with full page history to my wiki are:

I don't really want to do a copy-and-paste transwiki, as that would probably be a contravention of the GFDL.

Please could someone help me solve this problem?? Thanks, --Solumeiras talk 11:00, 30 November 2007 (UTC)

  • What wiki are you trying to transfer it to? You might want to use the local Import. - 131.211.161.119 (talk) 12:41, 30 November 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Adding comments to my edits, responding to others, footnotes

Hello, how do I add comments to my edits on the history page, how can I respond to someone who edits my page with whom I have a disagreement and how do I put in footnotes using little numbers next to what I want to reference. Last night I tried to delete the page as I did not know how to do any of this rather than have my article up on Wikipedia with problems. Ldsnh2 (talk) 11:31, 30 November 2007 (UTC)

Number 1: Type in the "edit summary" box.
Number 2: Type a friendly message on their talkpage. You can quickly access it by going into the history.
Number 3: Place a web address or book inside <ref></ref> tags NF24(radio me!) 11:42, 30 November 2007 (UTC)
Just to add some explanatory links for the above: for 1, see m:Help:Edit summary; for 2, see Wikipedia:Talk page and m:Help:Page history; and for 3, see Wikipedia:Footnotes and Wikipedia:Citing sources and don't forget, after adding a reference in <ref>text</ref> tags, to add a references section to the article with the tag {{Reflist}} in it.--Fuhghettaboutit 13:25, 30 November 2007 (UTC)

[edit] remove tag

How do I remove a tag after editing and correcting unreliable quotes? —Preceding unsigned comment added by Wlopes (talk • contribs) 12:31, 30 November 2007 (UTC)

Hi. In most cases, you'd just look for the template and remove it. In this particular case, you'd remove part of the template. In the edit window, it looks like {{Articleissues|cleanup=October 2007|unreferenced=October 2007}}. You cut out the part from the second | to the first } so that you have {{Articleissues|cleanup=October 2007}}. However, you really should not do that until the article offers some sources. The problem isn't simply that quotes have no sources, but that there is no source given for any of the information. See our verifiability policy and the guidelines on sources for why sources are necessary and how to implement them. As one further note, when you leave comments on talk pages, you can sign them by typing four tildes (~~~~) so that other editors know who is saying what and when. :) Hope that helps. --Moonriddengirl (talk) 13:04, 30 November 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Recent Changes, where art thou?

I seem to remember Recent Changes in the sidebar, but it is no more. Where did it go? -76.105.146.105 14:15, 30 November 2007 (UTC)

I see it, try bypassing your cache. Jacek Kendysz 14:27, 30 November 2007 (UTC)
Or use this link: Special:Recentchanges. PrimeHunter 15:50, 30 November 2007 (UTC)

[edit] national chemical laboratory

where is the chemical laboratory located?

Many countries have a National Chemical Laboratory, so it's hard to give you a single answer. Have you tried the Science section of Wikipedia's Reference Desk? They specialize in answering knowledge questions there; this help desk is for questions about how to use Wikipedia. For your convenience, here is the link to post a question there: click here. I hope this helps. Rupert Clayton 14:57, 30 November 2007 (UTC)
Your IP address 59.92.82.88 is registered in India so I guess you are interested in the National Chemical Laboratory in Pune, India near Pashan. Their website [3] has more information. PrimeHunter 15:47, 30 November 2007 (UTC)
PrimeHunter's answer illustrates how the Help desk is like Wikipedia's version of OnStar. --Teratornis 18:19, 30 November 2007 (UTC)
Ran by volunteers dedicated to make the best encyclopedia they can? Martijn Hoekstra 18:21, 30 November 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Is there a template to produce a "slide show" style image gallery?

I tried to ask this yesterday, but the question was mangled by the wikimedia software change and seemed to get ignored, so I hope no-one minds me asking again:

I've read around the image help and picture tutorial but can't seem to find the answer to this. I'm aware of the <gallery> tag and the {{gallery}} template, but I'm looking for something that lets the reader flip through a series of pictures. For an example, see the French language wikipedia article fr:Pétra. That uses a template named  {{Images}} (see sections Géologie and Principaux monuments, for example), but this doesn't seem to exist in the English wikipedia. For starters, I'd like to display some representative pictures in the article on David Roberts (painter), without overwhelming the text.

Is there a similar template here? Is there a way to use the French template? Is there a reason why we shouldn't use this type of template? (I can see that it might not translate well to a print version, but that would seem to be a decision for a later time.) To me it seems to be a much less intrusive presentation in certain circumstances than the full gallery presentation. Rupert Clayton 14:49, 30 November 2007 (UTC)

If such a template doesn't exist it could be easily created by copying (and translating) the French template. Time permitting, I'll give it a go at the weekend. Astronaut 16:18, 30 November 2007 (UTC)
Notice that the French template uses functions toggleImage and ImageGroup at fr:MediaWiki:Common.js.
Thanks. I have created a translated version of the template at Template:Slideshow. However, I'm not sure how to proceed with the two functions in fr:MediaWiki:Common.js. Is there a procedure for adding them to en:MediaWiki:Common.js? I have added some questions to this effect on en:MediaWiki_talk:Common.js so perhaps someone will enlighten me there. Thanks! Rupert Clayton 00:43, 4 December 2007 (UTC)
I have formally requested the necessary JavaScript functions at Wikipedia:Village pump (proposals)#Add a Slideshow template, based on existing functionality in French wikipedia. Anyone with suggestions or comments on this is welcome to join the discussion there. Thanks. Rupert Clayton (talk) 18:14, 5 December 2007 (UTC)

[edit] suggesting a topic

Hi I may be being really dumb but I have trawled the help and cannot find where to suggest a new topic for someone to create a page about. I came across lots of red links to other suggestions but couldn't for the life of me find how to submit my own! Please help. I am wanting a page about Igor Tjarkovsky, the russian who saved his premature babies' life by bringing her up in a tank of water, leading to the start of water births. Can you help? Or could you point me to the right page?

Thanks in advance Sarah—Preceding unsigned comment added by 81.96.252.58 (talk • contribs)

Hi Sarah. Wikipedia:Articles for creation allows unregistered and anonymous contributors to create new articles with the assistance of experienced Wikipedians. If you have an idea for a good article subject, but do not want to provide text for the article, you can make an article request instead at Wikipedia:Requested articles. Alternatively, if you want to discuss and plan an article, please go to the drawing board. Cheers.--Fuhghettaboutit 15:06, 30 November 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Article Deletion

I recently created a short article on a prescription drug that I take called Animi-3. I put basic facts about the drug and referenced a number of different medical web sites that have written about Animi-3. I was hoping to be able to expand on the topic (as well as have other do the same) once I got the basic article up and had time to do some more research. When I first posted the article I went to search for it and couldn't find it, at the same time I was having computer issues so I thought it simply didn't save, so I put the information back in and submitted it to find out that the first one and about a minute later the second one was quickly deleted, it was said that it was advertising. I am unsure why it was deleted because of that, there was nothing in the article that was advertisement, I simply wanted to get information out regarding this drug. I tried to flag the article for a hold so that I could justify the importance of it on the talk page but was not given the opportunity to do so. What do I need to do to get the article posted? Thanks!BeachTeach007 15:50, 30 November 2007 (UTC)

You need to talk to the admin who deleted the article, to see what their concerns were. For me, I would also point out that Animi-3 sounds like a brand name; you might have better luck if the article were about the actual drug, using its proper name. Also, be aware that not all drugs are inherently notable; you must establish notability, as with any new article. --Orange Mike | Talk 15:56, 30 November 2007 (UTC)
Thanks for the advice, Animi-3 is the name of the actual drug, it is made by a company called PBM Pharmaceuticals. I was able to find a number of reliable, well respected 3rd party sources that talk about Animi-3 and its benefits. BeachTeach007 16:04, 30 November 2007 (UTC)
Technically, it's not a drug. It's a prescription-only nutrition capsule containing certain vitamins and Pharmaceutical Grade Omega-3 Fish Oil. Good luck on the article. --Orange Mike | Talk 16:12, 30 November 2007 (UTC)
re: "...about a minute later the second one was quickly deleted." (sigh) this is exactly what I was talking about earlier Give the newbie a chance to complete his article. If it's still advertising a little while later, then delete it.
To the original poster: There are a lot of policies here at Wikipedia (look around this help desk page and you will see lots of links these policies). As a general rule, articles should cite reliable sources that establish the subject's notability. If you have a close relationship to the company, you need to be aware of possible conflicts of interest, the rules on company spam and that Wikipedia is not a place to advertise a product. Perhaps the best way to get to complete your article before it is deleted, is to develop your article as a subpage of your user page (click on this red link to start editing there). It can be moved to the main article namespace when completed.
Astronaut 16:49, 30 November 2007 (UTC)
Thanks! The links are very helpful! I am not associated with the company in any way. I was searching around wikipedia and noticed that there wasn't an article on Animi-3 and decided to take a stab at writing one. I have noticed on other articles that company logos are used, do I need to get any type of permission from the maker of Animi-3 to use the logo on this site? I think it would add to the article to use their logo. Thanks! BeachTeach007 17:09, 30 November 2007 (UTC)
The full copyright law applies to that logo; read WP:IMAGES for some guidance on this. --Orange Mike | Talk 17:30, 30 November 2007 (UTC)
And WP:LOGO specificly applied for logos. Martijn Hoekstra 17:55, 30 November 2007 (UTC)

(undent) Let's not forget to mention the page: Wikipedia:Why was my article deleted?. Be aware that Wikipedia is just one of thousands of wikis, each with its own policies for content. Almost certainly, you can find another wiki which will accept your article, if you can't get it to "stick" on Wikipedia. For example, Wikicompany wants to list every legally incorporated company in the world. Perhaps WikiHealth will accept an article about Animi-3. --Teratornis 18:12, 30 November 2007 (UTC)

Great advice Teratornis, I will be checking those places out as another option for posting this article and others in the future. BeachTeach007 19:04, 30 November 2007 (UTC)
And thank you for staying positive despite having your article zapped. If it's any comfort, everybody here has had plenty of their own work "mercilessly edited" by others. (Think of it as a game in which we try to guess what we should write that will survive everybody else's impulse to clobber it.) I should add that for just about everything Wikipedia is not, someone else has started a wiki to take Wikipedia's rejects. (Except for the most egregious spam and vandalism, but maybe someone has started a wiki for that stuff too.) If you can't find a wiki you like, then in the worst case you can start your own: b:Wiki Science/How to start a wiki. I have mused about this problem of Wikipedia deleting so many articles - I regard it as an ergonomic shortcoming of Wikipedia, that Wikipedia makes it much easier to start editing articles, than to learn that Wikipedia has all these fantastically complicated policies and guidelines that can bite back. However, I haven't thought of a solution that works better than what we have. It is not practical to try to intercept every new user who is thinking about creating a new article, and actively inform them about which obscure policy or guideline they are about to violate. That would require the intervention of expert human intelligence in real time, but wikis are a form of asynchronous communication, which means we do not actively intervene in each other's work during the actual editing. Instead, each user contributes a self-contained "chunk" of information, and other users come along later and modify it. If someone is going to make a mistake, we pretty much just have to let them make it, by the nature of a wiki. When a wiki has complex rules that are not apparent to beginners (and Wikipedia has staggeringly complex rules), mistakes are virtually inevitable for new users. Even experienced users make mistakes. --Teratornis 21:24, 30 November 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Adding a footnote

I'm trying to add a footnote to an article and it doesn't seem to be working. My footnote would be the first one on this page. Does anyone know the specific steps I need to follow? (I've tried the < ref > markup, and it creates a footnote, but then if you click on the footnote, it doesn't link to the reference)

Thanks! Grumpy otter 15:54, 30 November 2007 (UTC)

You added the <ref> ... </ref> part just fine. You need to add a <references/> tag at the bottom so the references know where to show up. -- kainaw™ 16:00, 30 November 2007 (UTC)
Great -- thanks! Now, how do I do that? I've looked all over the editing info and can't find the answer. Grumpy otter 16:19, 30 November 2007 (UTC)
Click "edit this page" and add the text <references/> in a references section. See more at Wikipedia:Footnotes. PrimeHunter 16:36, 30 November 2007 (UTC)
Yay! Thank you for the link to the footnotes info! Grumpy otter 20:57, 30 November 2007 (UTC)

[edit] New Question

Hi Every buddy,

 Can you send me the Informatica 8.0 materilas and BOXI amterials .please help me

my mail id is [email removed]

This is for questions about Wikipedia, not Informatica. -- kainaw™ 16:00, 30 November 2007 (UTC)
We do, however, have an article about Informatica containing contact information for the company. (And by the way, the Informatica article needs a bit of wikifying; specifically, it has some improperly-indented lines that should be bullet list items.) --Teratornis 18:15, 30 November 2007 (UTC)

[edit] can't edit abusive content

About 1/3 of the way down the following page http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public_holidays_in_Canada this text exists :"But dont forget that cayln jacks off to pictures of santa on the weekends." I don't know how to remove it. Thanks

Thanks for the note, it was fixed by 66.58.183.3 (talk · contribs). In general you can undo vandalism in any of several ways:
  1. Click "edit this page" tab at the top of the screen and remove the vandalism
  2. Click the history tab; by clicking on dates you can see old versions, and compare them using the radio buttons on the left. Find the last unvandalised version and restore it (see Help:Reverting).
  3. Use the "undo" button in the history
For more information, see WP:VAND. Hope this helps, and thanks again! --TeaDrinker 18:41, 30 November 2007 (UTC)
It was removed 45 minutes ago.[4] Maybe you need to bypass your cache to see the current version. PrimeHunter 18:42, 30 November 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Steve Pavlina article repeatedly vandalized and deleted.

The Steve Pavlina article was repeatedly vandalized and deleted this week after it had been approved and online for some time. The deletion is obvious vandalism if you look through the recent changes, a result of a spamming forum member who was banned (from the Pavlina LLC forum of 10,245 members here: http://www.stevepavlina.com/forums/)

Anyway, the article was blatantly vandalized by this banned member, then deleted even though it easily met notability requires.. what can we do to get it back online and protected?

Best, Dan Linehan —Preceding unsigned comment added by Puredemo (talk • contribs) — Puredemo (talk • contribs) has made few or no other edits outside this topic.

Wikipedia is not an advertising service. Promotional articles about yourself, your friends, your company or products, or articles created as part of a marketing or promotional campaign, will be deleted in accordance with our deletion policies. For more information, please see Wikipedia:Spam. So far, every article about Steve Pavlina inserted into Wikipedia has been deleted as blatant advertising. If Pavlina is genuinely notable, some impartial third party may write an article about him; but it hasn't happened yet. Deletion of advertisements and spam do not constitute vandalism. --Orange Mike | Talk 19:52, 30 November 2007 (UTC)
Your information is out of date. The previous version of the article didn't support notability, but I created a new version in July citing numerous news sources that demonstrated Steve's notability and was as NPOV as humanly possible. There's a copy of the article on my talk page. The article was successful at DRV. This version of the article stood without incident until recently it was vandalised and the vandalised version deleted. --Irrevenant [ talk ] 08:14, 3 December 2007 (UTC)


@ Orange Mike - He runs the number one most visited personal development site on the web with a daily reach of millions of monthly pageviews. See http://www.alexa.com/data/details/traffic_details/stevepavlina.com

The forum alone has more than 10,000 members. Steve Pavlina is the most prolific personal development writer online, with thousands of published articles available on his site. His nearest competitor in the field would Tony Robbins, who only has approximately 10% as much web presence (compare via alexa), yet Tony Robbins has a huge wikipedia entry http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tony_robbins

Steve Pavlina is also a 10k / hour keynote speaker, was the CEO of deterity software, the president of the Association of Shareware Professionals(ASP) in 2000, etc etc.

To say that a bio page for him is advertising is ridiculously obtuse. Someone generating tens of millions of monthly pageviews doesn't need an advertising page on Wikipedia. That kind of traffic puts his site in the league of powerhouse new media companies like boing boing and reddit, but with only one publisher, and if that isn't notable, what exactly is?

edit - Here is the cached page from google, with notable links to articles from USA Today, the Guardian, etc. 209.85.173.104

You may want to see our policies on notability for web content and biographies, as well as the criteria for speedy deletion. According to the deletion log, the page has been deleted 4 times over the past year and a half, not including one time when it was unprotected. The first time was a result of a deletion discussion here. All deletions thereafter were under speedy deletion criteria, first G4 for reposting the same article deleted by discussion, second under A7 for a lack of notability, and most recently under G11 for blatant advertising. Wikipedia has a very strong stance that all articles must be neutral - regardless of what the subject is, if the article is strongly biased for or against the subject, the article is at risk of deletion. Even articles such as Wikipedia and Jimmy Wales must meet these same standards. If you still don't feel as though your concerns have been addressed, you may want to contact the deleting administrator, who can can find by viewing the deletion logs here. Hersfold (t/a/c) 20:31, 30 November 2007 (UTC)
While an AfD discussion over a year ago resulted in a deletion of the article, and subsequent re-creations may not have been in line with Wikipedia with regards to neutrality, non-advertisement, etc., it does appear that he may now satisfy WP:BIO, as he's been mentioned in a number of news articles, here are a few examples: (Not all may be considered WP:RS per WP guidelines, however,) The New York Times, USA Today, Guardian Unlimited 1, Guardian Unlimited 2, MSNBC, CNET news, Web Worker Daily, California's Job Journal, and Evolving Times. Ariel♥Gold 20:40, 30 November 2007 (UTC)

@Hersford - Oh, you mean this deleting admin? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:%5Edemon Let me get right on that.—Preceding unsigned comment added by 72.5.171.250 (talk) 20:42, 30 November 2007 (UTC)

With regards to the above, please realize the context of that admin's userpage banner, it is a quote of a comment made by someone else, on their talk page that was related to another editor's content dispute. Ariel♥Gold 20:45, 30 November 2007 (UTC)

@Ariel - The admin stripping thing is a joke then? I didn't realize. I'm not sure what a banner is, beyond some sort of online advertisement.72.5.171.250 20:55, 30 November 2007 (UTC)—Preceding unsigned comment added by 72.5.171.250 (talk) 20:53, 30 November 2007 (UTC)

Yes, ^demon has a wicked sense of humor, and often uses quotes in the banner on their userpage. :o) (Also, please sign your talk page comments, by typing four tildes after your comment, (~~~~) Thanks! Ariel♥Gold 20:53, 30 November 2007 (UTC)

Where should we go from here to get the page back online? The google cached copy was already pretty neutral.72.5.171.250 20:55, 30 November 2007 (UTC) 72.5.171.250 20:57, 30 November 2007 (UTC) Puredemo 20:58, 30 November 2007 (UTC)

I would probably suggest that you take the case to deletion review, present your reasons, with valid reliable, third party sources, and request a neutral, non-involved editor create the article to avoid deletion again. Ariel♥Gold 20:58, 30 November 2007 (UTC)

Well, I put it here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Deletion_review/Log/2007_November_30#Steve_Pavlina (I borrowed some of your copy, hope thats Ok.) Puredemo 21:16, 30 November 2007 (UTC)

[edit] creating a new page

How do I create a new page? —Preceding unsigned comment added by Melatti (talk • contribs) 21:03, 30 November 2007 (UTC)

I realize Wikipedia might seem confusing at first, (please click on the blue words to read the policy/guide they refer to). Wikipedia is not like other sites you may have come across. First, it is an encyclopedia. What this means, is that it is not MySpace, or FaceBook, or a place to host personal webspace, or a place where editors can make articles about anything they wish. Wikipedia has Core policies, such as neutrality, notability, verifiability, etc. What does all of this mean? Well, it means that any article on Wikipedia must demonstrate notability (meaning it must be note worthy, covered by the media, etc.), and have reliable, third-party sources (such as news media articles, magazine/trade journal articles) written about the subject, and the information given in the article must cite those sources to verify it is true. From those sources, information is summarized, paraphrased, condensed, and worded neutrally to make an encyclopedic entry (information cannot be copied from other sites). See Wikipedia's manual of style, layout guide, your first article, article development, and how to edit for assistance. Hope that helps! Ariel♥Gold 21:03, 30 November 2007 (UTC)

[edit] When you make a new article, how do you make that info box on the right side where you can put information?

When you make a new article, how do you make that info box on the right side where you can put information? —Preceding unsigned comment added by Guy from canada (talk • contribs) 21:04, 30 November 2007 (UTC)

Please see Help:Infobox for information, Cheers! Ariel♥Gold 21:04, 30 November 2007 (UTC)
If you refer to this article: The Day of Black Sun Part 1: The Invasion, that seems to be about a television program. If so, then see: Wikipedia:WikiProject Television for guidelines on how to write such articles. Also study some television program articles that have earned the highest quality rating on Wikipedia; for the best ones, see:
For general guidelines, see WP:LEAD, WP:LAYOUT, WP:RS, WP:CITE, WP:FOOT, and WP:BETTER. --Teratornis 21:37, 30 November 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Block an IP?

Where should I report an Ip address that has been vandalizing pages? They have received constant warnings and needs to be blocked ASAP.  — Noah¢s (Talk) 21:18, 30 November 2007 (UTC)

If the editor has received the proper warnings in succession for today's disruptive edits (not only old warnings from weeks/months ago), review the instructions at WP:AIV to report them. Cheers, Ariel♥Gold 21:20, 30 November 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Internet research

This is a pretty general question and not regular help-desk fare, I know, but I'd be grateful for any pointers you can give me. I'm happy to try one of the reference desks if you think they would be a better bet.

I'm not a student nor an academic, and generally I do my research in old-fashioned books, of the paper kind. However, occasionally I want or need to look up academic papers on the internet, and I wonder what the options are for an individual with a computer at home but without a £multi-thousand budget to subscribe to a service designed for university libraries?

To make my question a bit more specific, and to give an example: in relation to something I was researching for one of the wikiprojects, I was referred to: John Jowett, "Johannes Factotum: Henry Chettle and Greene's Groatsworth of Wit", Papers of the Bibliographical Society of America, vol. 87, no. 4, (1993), pp. 453-86. AndyJones 21:33, 30 November 2007 (UTC)

Google Scholar is one place to check. --Teratornis 21:38, 30 November 2007 (UTC)
You could google for a copy. I'm not sure about this area of study, but in mathematics at least it is fairly common to find copies of papers on the author's web sites. Also, you could try emailing the author for a copy. They are often happy to help. Finally, you can try asking someone who does have access to a university library if they can get you a copy. There are plenty of us around here. --Sopoforic 21:40, 30 November 2007 (UTC)
Also, you might get some love on Wikipedia:WikiProject Fact and Reference Check. --Teratornis 21:42, 30 November 2007 (UTC)
You can go to your local University and pay for a yearly library card that allows you access to the physical library, and that will give you access to a proxy service for the University's server. This should give you access to all the articles and online journals and databases that your University subscribes to - JSTOR articles, Medline, and all the Wilson Web, Bibliography databases, NexusLexus, OED etc. I think at the University of California schools, which are public/state schools, it costs non-students $100-200 a year. Maybe private Universities don't offer this? I think they give discounts if you are retirement age too. What you get will depend on what the University itself subscribes too. Saudade7 23:47, 30 November 2007 (UTC)
P.S. I downloaded the article for you. It is a JSTOR article in a PDF format. If you give me your email I will email it to you. You can leave it on my talk page or here. If I knew how to post it somewhere I would do that, but I don't. Saudade7 00:06, 1 December 2007 (UTC)
Oh! I see that you are in England. I have done research in London and it is much different than in the US. I had to write letters for everything! Still, I imagine that there should be a way for you to get this access through a university, no? I am currently living in Paris which is library heaven. They have everything and you pay a fee for a year's usage. Anyway, after I get your email I will send you the article and then you will have my email and then if you need any other occassional articles from JSTOR etal. just write to me and it is very easy for me to do, no problem. I'm not a Capitalist! Saudade7 00:19, 1 December 2007 (UTC)
Thenk you, everyone, for your help with this. I've replied separately at Saudade7's talk page. I have this article now. AndyJones 00:25, 1 December 2007 (UTC)

[edit] What files link to an image

When I go to an article and click on an image, if I click on "what links here" it says that no articles link to the image. I thought this used to work. Is there some bug? Bubba73 (talk), 22:07, 30 November 2007 (UTC)

For some reason, I don't think whatlinkshere works for images. However, this is worked around by providing a list of files linking to that image on the bottom of the image's page. NF24(radio me!) 22:16, 30 November 2007 (UTC)
Simply click the link at the top of the image, that says "File links" to see what pages use what image. Cheers, Ariel♥Gold 22:34, 30 November 2007 (UTC)
OK, thanks! Bubba73 (talk), 23:51, 30 November 2007 (UTC)

[edit] External Links

I am looking for the external links that will provide me to book reviews written by authors, specifically William Corebett.

Have you tried Wikipedia's Reference Desk? They specialize in knowledge questions and will try to answer any question in the universe (except how to use Wikipedia, since that is what this Help Desk is for). Just follow the link, select the relevant section, and ask away. I hope this helps. Ariel♥Gold 22:33, 30 November 2007 (UTC)

[edit] im confused

i dont know how to make a page on wikipedia. how do you do it? —Preceding unsigned comment added by Garrettsmage (talk • contribs)

Before creating an article, please search Wikipedia first to make sure that an article does not already exist on the subject. Please also review a few of our relevant policies and guidelines which all articles should comport with. As Wikipedia is an encyclopedia, articles must not contain original research, must be written from a neutral point of view, should cite to reliable sources which verify their content and must not contain unsourced, negative content about living people.
Articles must also demonstrate the notability of the subject. Please see our subject specific guidelines for people, bands and musicians, companies and organizations and web content and note that if you are closely associated with the subject, our conflict of interest guideline strongly recommends against you creating the article.
If you still think an article is appropriate, see Wikipedia:Your first article and Wikipedia:How to write a great article for guidance, and please consider taking a tour through the Wikipedia:Tutorial so that you know how to properly format the article before creation. PrimeHunter 22:42, 30 November 2007 (UTC)
  • Why is this question asked so often when it is covered in the FAQ? - Mgm|(talk) 22:48, 30 November 2007 (UTC)
They don't call it the Help desk for nothing. That includes help about using the FAQ. Dr.K. 23:00, 30 November 2007 (UTC)
True, but I've never seen someone asking for help about how to use the FAQ. - Mgm|(talk) 23:02, 30 November 2007 (UTC)
Of course not. They don't know it exists. That's why they have to ask the Help desk ;). Dr.K. 23:06, 30 November 2007 (UTC)
It's even in the veryFAQ. And why does the help desk get so many posts that are not about Wikipedia when the top says in big red letters:

This page is for questions about USING Wikipedia only.

Maybe people are afraid we will lose our work and want to help us out. PrimeHunter 23:08, 30 November 2007 (UTC)
I can't possibly top the great reply just above. But just look at the heading of this section. When people are confused they need active help. A small section called FAQ doesn't necessarily catch your eye when you are confused. Dr.K. 23:20, 30 November 2007 (UTC)
This might be a stretch, but do you think that maybe people don't know what FAQ stands for? Maybe it should say in big pretty letters at the top of the page, "Before posting, see if the question you want to ask is answered HERE!" Also, the FAQ link is (visual-rhetorically) really difficult to see above the BIG RED BANNER. I bet people don't even notice it up there.
This is true. It gets literally overshadowed by the red banner. Dr.K. 00:23, 1 December 2007 (UTC)
Of course, (despite the BIG RED BANNER) people really do post lots of questions here that have nothing to do with using the Wiki - but those questions *do* get answered! It cracked me up yesterday how many people offered answers to the question, "Will ever scientists find The Element Which Has No Mass But Has Resistence. What scientist will be able to answer this question?" - That question got 7-8 responses! It was a literal geek-fest! Saudade7 23:35, 30 November 2007 (UTC)
No comment. Dr.K. 00:23, 1 December 2007 (UTC)
We used to get significantly more ref desk type questions before we instituted the red banner. Since we're on the subject, you all may have noticed that the banner was actually changed back to black and USING was decapitalized and ununderlined (if that's a word) a few days ago, which I reverted. Since we have a cavalcade of help desk regulars here (where else), here's the diff of the rationale for the change and my reversion [5]. Anyone have a second opinion on this?--Fuhghettaboutit 00:05, 1 December 2007 (UTC)
Both points have merit. One is on the loud side and maybe slightly offensive to some, the other more elegant and subdued but won't possibly catch as many eyes. I cannot decide either way. Dr.K. 00:23, 1 December 2007 (UTC)
The banner design is discussed at Wikipedia talk:Help desk#Style of this page. PrimeHunter 01:16, 1 December 2007 (UTC)

(undent) In general, meta-discussion about how to organize the Help desk belongs on Wikipedia talk:Help desk rather than the Help desk itself. This discussion may be confusing to new users who come to the Help desk for help, although we are discussing ways to un-confuse them. --Teratornis 22:09, 1 December 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Interwiki template usage

I've been trying to use a wikipedia template (Infobox Company) in another MediaWiki wiki. I've set $wgEnableScaryTranscluding = true; and set the iwtrans bit in the interwiki record for wikipedia.

The effect I get is that the MediaWiki page transcludes the template documentation, not the template itself.

How can I use a wikipedia template in another wiki?

The source I am using in my wiki looks like this:

{{wikipedia:Infobox_Company
  | name             = The Corporation Company
  | logo             = [[Image:Example.png|160px]]
  | type             = [[Public company|Public]] ({{nyse|TCC1}}, {{tyo|TCC1}})
  | genre            = Corporate histories
  | foundation       = [[New York City]], [[United States|U.S.]] (1900)
  | founder          = Wikiped Wikiad
  | location_city    = [[Seattle, Washington]]
  | location_country = [[United States|U.S.]]
  | location         = 
 }}


Thanks for any help! (and I have struggled for several hours RTFM already...) Andronico 23:43, 30 November 2007 (UTC)

You have to wrap the documentation in <noinclude></noinclude> tags. That should get it to work. NF24(radio me!) 23:52, 30 November 2007 (UTC)

(I'm not sure exactly how to respond on this page...)

The documentation is at [[6]] Does this Wikipedia page need the <noinclude></noinclude> tags?

Andronico 00:45, 1 December 2007 (UTC)

The way to respond on this page is by following the talk page guidelines, although strictly speaking the Help desk itself is not a talk page. It just acts like one. Basically, indent your replies with one more level of leading colons than the previous reply uses. If a discussion gets long and the indentation gets more than five levels deep, write (undent) in the left column and start over with no indenting. And sign your posts in the usual way for talk pages. To address your question, I and a co-worker have copied and adapted a number of templates from Wikipedia to several corporate wikis running on the MediaWiki software. I have not tried to use $wgEnableScaryTranscluding = true;, as we needed to customize everything we copied from Wikipedia anyway. Porting templates is straightforward but tedious. Many templates, especially infoboxes, use CSS style classes, so you need to copy some or all of MediaWiki:Common.css from Wikipedia to your wiki. MediaWiki:Common.css is a protected page, but you can view the wikitext and copy it, no problem. Once you have all the style classes your templates need, then you just copy templates from Wikipedia to template pages of the same name on your wiki. This is where the fun begins, because many templates on Wikipedia themselves transclude other templates, so it can take some time to recursively dig down to the bottom to get all the templates you need. To tell what templates a given template uses, click its edit link, then look at the bottom of the editing page below the edit window for a list of templates the given template transcludes. Fortunately, it's not Turtles all the way down - the template pile is finite, so eventually you will have all the necessary templates copied over to your wiki. Whether you want to copy the documentation for each template is up to you. I prefer to merely link to the documentation on Wikipedia, and if necessary, I write comparatively short documentation about whatever I changed in the template. That's a quick summary of the method. In theory, questions such as yours (about using MediaWiki on your own wiki) are supposed to go in mw:Project:Support desk, but responses tend to be slower there than here. --Teratornis 22:28, 1 December 2007 (UTC)