Wikipedia:Help desk/Archives/2007 September 25

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Help desk
< September 24 << Aug | September | Oct >> September 26 >
Welcome to the Wikipedia Help Desk Archives
The page you are currently viewing is an archive page. While you can leave answers for any questions shown below, please ask new questions on one of the current Help Desk pages.


Contents

[edit] September 25

[edit] mental help link

Where is the mental help link located? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 65.182.86.253 (talk) 01:44, 25 September 2007 (UTC)

This is an encyclopedia. I'm not sure what type of link you are looking for but note that Wikipedia does not give medical advice. PrimeHunter 01:56, 25 September 2007 (UTC)

[edit] how to write an articles in wikipedia?

it is my first time to visit wiipedia, and i am interested in writing a an articles for wikipedia. but how? do you mind explain me the step? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 203.130.204.252 (talk) 02:01, 25 September 2007 (UTC)

You will need to first register an account, which has many benefits, including the ability to create articles. Once you have registered, 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 Help:Starting a new page. You might also look at 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 02:04, 25 September 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Image

How do you upload your own image on your user page? —Preceding unsigned comment added by Softballchick12 (talk • contribs) 02:07, 25 September 2007 (UTC)

You can follow the instructions at Wikipedia:Upload and you can read more at Wikipedia:Images. Most likely, you'd need to release your image under a free license. Leebo T/C 03:16, 25 September 2007 (UTC)
Are user pages GFDL licenced? — PhilHibbs | talk 14:41, 25 September 2007 (UTC)

[edit] George William Gordon

Your Wikipedia Encyclopedia has George William Gordon being born in 1820. For many years this was thought to be the correct date. I suspected this to be incorrect as he owned property in 1836 and therefore would only have been 16 years old. As a Genealogist I researched this and have found his Baptismal Entry in the St. Andrew Parish Register Volume 3 Folio 53 that shows he was baptised at the age of 3 months (approx) on 27 December 1815. I can submit a copy of this entry if required. Please advise.

Donald Lindo (<email removed to prevent spam>) —Preceding unsigned comment added by 72.27.154.253 (talk) 03:08, 25 September 2007 (UTC)

Disputed facts require reliable sources to stand on. If reliable sources say that he was born in 1820 and you only have original research without any published references, then 1820 is the more reliable date. It is against Wikipedia policy to publish original findings or research. It needs to be published first; if that's the case, you can cite yourself, but only if your research has appeared in reliable source. Leebo T/C 03:13, 25 September 2007 (UTC)
I'm a little surprised that a baptismal record in a church isn't considered a reliable source. What's the difference between "I found an academic journal that said that George was born in 1815", and "I found a baptismal record that said that George was born in 1815"? Both required searching on the part of the editor to discover the information, and both required the editor to exercise their judgement in deciding that it's the same George as the one in the article. — PhilHibbs | talk 14:36, 25 September 2007 (UTC)
I must have misread the question. The way I read it, it seemed like he had researched this and come up with something that was not on record anywhere. If the date is on record, it shouldn't be disputed in the first place. Leebo T/C 17:53, 25 September 2007 (UTC)

[edit] disambiguate a person

hi I would like to disambiguate the page for Anthony Howell the actor born 1971 to include or refer to or disambiguate to a page to describe Anthony Howell the artist born in the 40s - actually though less commercial a major international artist. He is mentioned in other pages but not linked to.

I created the page but I can't link to it as the other guy shows up everytime.

ft —Preceding unsigned comment added by Fionatempleton (talk • contribs) 04:11, 25 September 2007 (UTC)

All done. Anthony Howell now links to a disambig page that lists both the actor and the performance artist. GlassCobra 05:53, 25 September 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Monobook skin bugged?

When I goto http://en.wikipedia.org/, instead of getting the normal layout for "MonoBook (default)" with the puzzle piece globe, search bar on left hand corner and text in arial; i get a skin that looks like so:

http://img146.imageshack.us/img146/6595/wikiwtfex3.jpg

Note: my skin selected is MonoBook, but i can't change it back to the old skin. Is this a permanent change for the english wikipedia? Is this a problem on my side? I checked the other language wiki's and they still have the old MonoBook layout. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Samuelb88 (talk • contribs) 05:41, 25 September 2007 (UTC)

The problem was somewhere in the Internet between Wikipedia and your browser; what's happened was a one-off glitch that prevented the stylesheet data being sent correctly or corrupted it (this happens at random from time to time). Wikipedia:Bypass your cache (instructions are on the linked page), and your browser should request a corrected version of the stylesheet for you, putting everything back to normal. --ais523 09:43, 25 September 2007 (UTC)

[edit] finding when text was added to an article

I'm sure I read recently that someone had a tool that enabled you to locate which edit introduced a particular item of text into an article. Can anyone direct me to that tool? — Timotab Timothy (not Tim dagnabbit!) 06:18, 25 September 2007 (UTC)

Not remembering the actual name, but suspecting it had something to do with "querying" the database, I search the page for "query". Result? The thread #How_to_find_the_author_of_a_particular_passage_within_a_topic.3F and User:AmiDaniel/WhodunitQuery. Confusing Manifestation 06:27, 25 September 2007 (UTC)
Thank you. Next problem, I'm not running Windows. On the other hand, my further research tells me I no longer need it. Thanks anyway. — Timotab Timothy (not Tim dagnabbit!) 06:40, 25 September 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Test Cases

where to find details abt test cases of various user interfaces? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 68.254.179.254 (talk) 08:58, 25 September 2007 (UTC)

Does GUI software testing help? --Teratornis 06:33, 26 September 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Test Cases

where to find details abt test cases of various user interfaces? Nitasha <e-mail removed> —Preceding unsigned comment added by 68.254.179.254 (talk) 09:00, 25 September 2007 (UTC)

Not actually sure what your question is. Is it to do with which user interface for, say, a computer, was most effective? x42bn6 Talk Mess 10:52, 25 September 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Gimme_More

Reference 6... what is going on???--Mostargue 09:27, 25 September 2007 (UTC)

Someone removed the first instance of a cite, and the second one (which only carries a name) broke. It should be fixed now. --Pekaje 10:15, 25 September 2007 (UTC)
And interestingly enough, that warning is actually a very recent feature (I just finished reading The Signpost). Should help fix up a lot of references. Now they just need a big fat warning when there are more opening <ref> tags than closing, as that tends to hide text. --Pekaje 13:29, 25 September 2007 (UTC)

[edit] phrase not found- what did I wrong

I was hoping that I could find references and explanations, definitions about certain expressions: like "patently contradictory". Why could Wki not find this phrase and give me an exact definition? What did I wrong? I used the SEARCH function. Thanks Gottfried —Preceding unsigned comment added by 207.216.128.245 (talk) 09:42, 25 September 2007 (UTC)

You may be looking for Wiktionary. Both words are defined there: patently contradictory. There is really not a lot to write an encyclopedia article about, and Wikipedia is an encyclopedia. --Pekaje 10:18, 25 September 2007 (UTC)
For the relevant policy, see Wikipedia:What Wikipedia is not#Wikipedia is not a dictionary and Wikipedia:Wikipedia is not a dictionary. PrimeHunter 14:27, 25 September 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Hm. References disappeared?

Could someone have a look at the page Red Angus? In the normal window, there is no See Also, or References and External Links- however, when clicking the edit window and scrolling, it appears there. Anybody know what's wrong? CattleGirl talk 10:33, 25 September 2007 (UTC)

'Twas a broken reference tag: [1] x42bn6 Talk Mess 10:45, 25 September 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Inserting references

Can you please tell me how to insert references into an entryBronwynhelicopter1 11:19, 25 September 2007 (UTC)

WP:REF has all the instructions. In short, references look like this :<ref>Your reference</ref> and then to display them, <references /> is used, usually under a ==References== heading. See [2] at my sandbox for an example. x42bn6 Talk Mess 11:22, 25 September 2007 (UTC)
Also of possible interest to you is the basic guideline is at Help:Footnotes. More detail can be found here. :)--Moonriddengirl 11:24, 25 September 2007 (UTC)

Hopefully someone will still see this, but I don't really think it's worth making its own topic. What's the difference between using <references /> and {{reflist}}? Is one better to use than the other?

For short articles, the <references /> tag will do. But {{reflist}} does a little more than that - it makes the references into small text, and you can use a parameter (like {{reflist|2}}) to create multi-column reference list. See Template:Reflist for the documentation. x42bn6 Talk Mess 03:49, 26 September 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Article edited but not to find on Google list yet

I edited the article about Fleury Lionossier but when I go to Google and search Fleury Linossier Wikipedia the article does not show up on the list. Could you help to find a way? thanks Alexandrine —Preceding unsigned comment added by Alpinault (talk • contribs) 12:03, 25 September 2007 (UTC)

It will take some time before it shows up on Google. I'm not sure how long exactly, I'm thinking 12 hours, but I'm sure someone else will swoop in here shortly with the precise amount of time. LaraLove 12:05, 25 September 2007 (UTC)
The precise amount of time is...drum roll...no precise amount of time. It depends on how fast google is spidering Wikipedia, how fast Google indexes the page once spidered and a host of factors susceptible to variation.--Fuhghettaboutit 12:25, 25 September 2007 (UTC)
Fleury Linossier is in Google search now and their cached version says "retrieved on 23 Sep 2007 22:39:05 GMT.". That is only 4 hours after creation.[3] It apparently took a lot longer before it was included in searches. PrimeHunter 14:23, 25 September 2007 (UTC)
Yes Google indexes Wikipedia quite fast. For example if you change an article it will usually be updated in Google within a few hours. I'm not sure but I suspect that Google uses the wikipedia logs to help it know what to index Nil Einne 16:52, 25 September 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Feedback on deleted article

Resolved

I just had an article deleted that I worked very hard to cite properly. It was immediately marked for speedy deletion (blatant advertising) after submission, and I thoroughly explained every source and cited examples of other "safe" articles that followed the same practices. I even edited the article based upon the reasons given for speedy deletion to comply. I received no response, and then found article completely deleted this morning with no feedback. I don't know if the administrator I discussed with responded to my earlier comments, and since the talk page was deleted, I'll never know what they were if they had.

How may I get a second chance with the editor who removed my article? I am willing to comply with standards. Thank you - SyrinxZ 13:23, 25 September 2007 (UTC)

Hi SyrinxZ. I'm sorry this has happened to you. The article was deleted by User:Persian Poet Gal. I've just looked at the article, and although cited, all the citation seemed to come from the website(s) of the subject. I think you may have issued regarding reliable sources and certainly sources independent of the subject. I'm afraid I'm not prepared to revert Persian Poet Gal's deletion, as the article really was pretty much blatant advertising. You are of course welcome to go direct to her, as you seem to be genuinely trying to create content in good faith. Sorry. Pedro :  Chat  13:33, 25 September 2007 (UTC)
Thank you Pedro for getting back to me so soon. What I tried to explain to her was that only 3 of the 7 citations were in some way from the website, others were reputable publications such as Inc. magazine. I cited the website multiple times (for factual statements such as their timeline) because I wanted to provide basis for the facts. A number of other Wiki company articles I used for reference made statements about company history that were without citation, which appeared to be sufficient for them. I was willing to remove the list of company links (except for the parent company's) and I'll even remove the timeline if that is the point of contention, although it is useful information. I guess I'm having trouble understanding what particular aspect of the article is blatant advertising, when to me the content is so similar to other company articles that have passed muster. If you can help me identify that, I am willing to rework it to be approved. Or if approaching Persian Poet Gal is my only recourse, I will pursue that as well. Thank you! SyrinxZ 13:44, 25 September 2007 (UTC)
I have restored the page and moved it to User:SyrinxZ/Home Décor Products‎, where you can work on it and discuss it with the deleting admin if you'd like. I removed the "Inc." because I'm fairly sure the naming conventions recommend leaving things like that off. One thing I'd suggest is removing all the external links to the other websites. You already listed them, so it does seem slightly promotional to link to them all below. Granted, I wouldn't call the article blatant advertising, but that's one thing I noticed. Leebo T/C 14:00, 25 September 2007 (UTC)
Good call Leebo. SyrinxZ If you would like myself, Leebo or Persian Poet Gal to review the article before posting into the main space please just approach us on our talk pages. I shouldn't speak for others, but they're both experienced and friendly editors so I'm sure they'll be happy to help. Marking this as resolved. Pedro :  Chat  14:05, 25 September 2007 (UTC)
Thank you for restoring the article. Please note that without the "Inc.", the company name essentially becomes a general phrase rather than a brand, which may confuse a reader. I have removed the list of links at the bottom, keeping only the parent company's, which I felt was appropriate. I've also removed one company website citation. Please review the article and let me know if these revisions are sufficient. If they are, how is the article restored to the original page? I thank you very much for your help and time.SyrinxZ 14:23, 25 September 2007 (UTC)
I found the section that describes it: Wikipedia:Naming conventions#Companies. An article about home décor products‎ in general would probably not have a title simialar to this one. It would probably be home décor or list of home décor products‎, if such an article was justifiable. Note the lower case letters for each word. Leebo T/C 14:29, 25 September 2007 (UTC)

[edit] s/w testing

if we want to b a very good s/w tester without having sound knowledge of progamming thn from where should i start? Nitin (bhatia_nitin84@yahoo.co.in) —Preceding unsigned comment added by 122.162.124.14 (talk) 14:51, 25 September 2007 (UTC)

The Help Desk is for questions relating to using the Wikipedia site itself. Your question is probably better to be asked at the Computing Reference Desk, where you will likely find an answer. Arakunem 20:34, 25 September 2007 (UTC)

[edit] more understanding

hi how do i get abbreviations on economics,business matters

Hello, I'm not exactly sure what you are asking, but I suspect you might want to ask your question at the Humanities Reference Desk. This page (Help Desk) is more for questions about actually using and navigating the Wikipedia site. The Reference Desk would be more appropriate for your question. Arakunem 20:36, 25 September 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Creating a page that has false information for educational purposes

Hiya,

Is there anyway that I can create a page that has inaccurate information on it, to show my students the importance of checking their sources when researching.

I did create one earlier with my username as the page title, but it was of course deleted.

Thanks

Staffbrooks 15:41, 25 September 2007 (UTC)Staff Brooks

If you don't want to use the sandbox, perhaps the best way would be do use a page in your user-space. Ie, something like User:Staffbrooks/Dummypage. --Bfigura (talk) 15:45, 25 September 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Displaying special symbols

I am having problems just displaying wiki text for the following symbols.......if you take a look at the editing page you will understand what I mean.

©

®

™

--Gawatkin 15:46, 25 September 2007 (UTC)

Hi Gawatkin.
Those things aren't actually wiki markup things, they are HTML entities.
to get &copy; use &amp;copy;
to get &reg; use &amp;reg;
to get &trade; use &amp;trade;

regards.  — Timotab Timothy (not Tim dagnabbit!) 17:11, 25 September 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Try to find old version of an article

I'm trying to find the text of an old version of an article. I go to the history tab and I click on a version date, but I just get a discussion of the article not the old text? I'm looking at the article on anatta.

Thanks, Eric —Preceding unsigned comment added by 208.42.90.24 (talk) 16:09, 25 September 2007 (UTC)

It works fine for me. E.g. this is the first version of the page [4]. Are you sure you aren't looking at the article talk page? Nil Einne 16:23, 25 September 2007 (UTC)

Thanks for the help. I think what I did was to first go to the discussion tab and then the history tab. If I first go to the article tab and then the history tab I do get the old article text. It seems like it would be better to make the edit and history tabs sub tabs to the article and discussion tabs. Thanks, Eric

[edit] Thomas and Lucy Lew Dalton

Hello,

I wrote an article for wikipedia on Thomas and Lucy Lew Dalton. It is in wikipedia, but when I "search" the names the article does not appear?

Did I do something wrong?

Martha

I'm not sure why the search is not revealing the article for you, but it did come up for me at Thomas and Lucy Lew Dalton. LaraLove 17:05, 25 September 2007 (UTC)
It's in Wikipedia's own search function. Maybe you searched it somewhere else? PrimeHunter 17:45, 25 September 2007 (UTC)

[edit] how do I submit a bio to Wikipedia

WIKIPEDIA ENTRY

Chuck Lesnick is the City Council President in Yonkers, NY, elected in 2005 to a four-year term. He is a Democrat presiding over New York’s fourth largest city with approximately 200,000 residents and a budget in excess of $800 million. He maintains a general practice in co-op and condo law, real estate transactions and commercial development. He spent nearly 20 years serving in government with The United States Department of Housing & Urban Development; former Governor Mario Cuomo; Congresswoman Nita Lowey; and the City of Yonkers (as Director of Economic Development). In the private sector he worked as an executive with several property management and affordable housing development corporations.

He holds a B.A. in Economics and Political Science from Yale, a Master’s Degree in Urban & Regional Plan¬ning from the Woodrow Wilson School of Public & International Affairs at Princeton and a J.D. from the New York University School of Law.

He and his wife, Dr. Beth Schorr-Lesnick, have two daughters.

for more information, please contact 914-377-6060 —Preceding unsigned comment added by Lafahren (talk • contribs) 16:21, 25 September 2007 (UTC)

If you have reliable and verifiable sources, you can make the page yourself! As this is a biography, be sure to visit WP:BLP, as biographies of living persons have some special considerations that should be followed. Other than that, Be Bold! Arakunem 17:06, 25 September 2007 (UTC)
Being bold includes a fair chance that your article could get deleted, so save a copy of whatever you enter here. Also see WikiIndex for other wikis which accept biographies with fewer requirements than Wikipedia imposes. For example, WikiBios appears to accept biographies with few restrictions. Developing your biography on another wiki (where it is less likely to get deleted) will make it easier for you to bring it up to encyclopedic content than if your only copy is on Wikipedia (where it could get deleted). --Teratornis 19:09, 25 September 2007 (UTC)

[edit] DBMS

architecture of dbms along wid its diagram —Preceding unsigned comment added by 59.162.185.99 (talk) 16:27, 25 September 2007 (UTC)

Can you be more specific as to what you are asking? Also note that this page is for help with using wikipedia, and not for questions on specific topics (such as Database management, if that is the DBMS you are referring to. The Reference Desk is better suited to those type of inquiries. Arakunem 17:11, 25 September 2007 (UTC)
If you are asking about the structure of the database underlying Wikipedia itself, see: mw:Manual:Database layout along with the cool diagram. Also check these Google search results on mediawiki.org for the keyword: database. --Teratornis 19:03, 25 September 2007 (UTC)

[edit] If my account does not have a listed e-mail address

If my account does not have a listed e-mail address, and I have forgotten my password, how do I either get the password or have the password reset?-Chytraeus3733 —Preceding unsigned comment added by 75.43.141.249 (talk) 16:34, 25 September 2007 (UTC)

As far as I'm aware, there is no way this account can be recovered unless you remember your password. In some cases, you can use the process here Wikipedia:Changing username/Usurpations however as the account User:Chytraeus3733 has minor edit to the article space this will probably not be possible. In future, either make sure you remember your password or register with an e-mail. Nil Einne 16:47, 25 September 2007 (UTC)
You are allowed to create a new acount in this situation. If you had more edits on the old account then you could have mentioned it on the user page of the new account, but it may not be needed here. PrimeHunter 17:39, 25 September 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Numbering with same number

Is there anyway to use auto numbering # while either hiding one of the numbers or similar? For example if I have a list or things ordered in some way

  1. A
  2. B
  3. C

And A and B are equal so should have the same number 1 while C should be 3 (i.e. there is no 2) is there anyway to either show 1 twice or hide the 2 or something like that? Or must the numbering be done manually? Nil Einne 16:41, 25 September 2007 (UTC)

I don't know of a way to get it to skip a number or get it to show a number twice, but look at the code for the following:

  1. A
    • B
  2. C

or

  1. A
    B
  2. C

Does that give you any ideas? If not, there is always m:Help:List. But it sounds like you may just need to not use wikicode to accomplish your goal.-Andrew c [talk] 17:15, 25 September 2007 (UTC)

If you use HTML lists rather than wikitext lists, you can control ordered list item numbering, and the style of numbering (Arabic numerals, Roman numerals, upper/lowercase letters, etc.). Let me know if you need an example or if that was enough of a hint. And see Help:List which describes some of the options with HTML lists. --Teratornis 18:56, 25 September 2007 (UTC)
At the risk of appearing ignorant, if I had this problem I wouldn't attempt automatic numbering, I'd just type
1. A
1. B
3. C

... etc. Is there a specific reason that wouldn't work on the article you're working on? AndyJones 20:08, 26 September 2007 (UTC)

I believe he means something like this:
  1. A
    B
  1. C
Right? Titoxd(?!? - cool stuff) 20:15, 26 September 2007 (UTC)
I was thinking of something like a race result: joint winners therefore nobody in second place, but someone came third. I expect Nil will let us know if that was the idea. AndyJones 20:20, 26 September 2007 (UTC)

[edit] i submitted two facts

di rubydium is a real substance that is not found in nature but in thoery on other planets and two i submitted a attp fictious weapon which is based on THEL which is in your article so why delete them when i added them and checked back 2 days ago it was removed and im not happy :( —Preceding unsigned comment added by Lugia 1985 (talk • contribs)

Someone may have questioned the validity of your facts. Usually editors will tag them with [citation needed], but technically any unsourced fact may be removed by any editor. The best way to prevent this from happening is to have a reliable and verifiable citation for the fact, and to add that to the article's References section. More information on adding citations can be found here. Arakunem 17:14, 25 September 2007 (UTC)
Looking at your edits, Arakunem is correct. What you state may be true, but without a reference, it is not encyclopedic and therefore will be removed. -- kainaw™ 17:23, 25 September 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Where to go for Wiki Server issues?

Is there a place to report problems with the wiki site itself? I'm getting 500 (internal server error) when accessing Special:Watchlist. Thanks! —Preceding unsigned comment added by Arakunem (talk • contribs) 17:01, 25 September 2007 (UTC)

Thank you SineBot! *baps self* Arakunem 17:02, 25 September 2007 (UTC)
Hi. I don't know, but for some reason, I'm experiencing the exact same problem! Thanks. ~AH1(TCU) 17:05, 25 September 2007 (UTC)

This appears to be wroking now, at least for me. I would still like to know if there is a spot dedicated to reporting issues with server health, etc. Thanks! Arakunem 17:25, 25 September 2007 (UTC)

You can always ask at the Village Pump or on IRC channel, but if there seems to be server problems, chances are those clever people at Wikimedia already know about it... --saxsux 18:27, 25 September 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Watchlist error

All fo a sudden today, I am unable to access my watchlist. The following error is coming up:

The website cannot display the page

HTTP 500  
  Most likely causes:

The website is under maintenance. The website has a programming error.

Please help. Sincerely, --Le Grand Roi des CitrouillesTally-ho! 17:05, 25 September 2007 (UTC)

Hi. I'm getting the same problem. See my post on the above section. Well, if you can't check your watchlist, just go edit something you want to. I know, Wikipedia now experiences a lot of problems due to the largeness. I'm pretty sure it should recover soo. Thanks. ~AH1(TCU) 17:09, 25 September 2007 (UTC)
Thank you for the reply. Naturally, I noticed that someone posted about it above after I posted the same question. :) Also, it seems to work now. Best, --Le Grand Roi des CitrouillesTally-ho! 17:14, 25 September 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Britney Spears Vandalism

These 2 users have constantly been vandalizing the Britney Spears's fifth studio album page with fake album covers, track lists and other info. Is there any way to give them a warning or block them?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User_talk:Flojo2008

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User_talk:Britneyboy —Preceding unsigned comment added by Thankssir (talk • contribs) 17:39, 25 September 2007 (UTC)

I’ve given both users a warning that they may be blocked if they continue to add unsourced or original information to any Wikipedia articles. If it continues, report them to WP:AIV and they will probably be temporarily blocked. Leebo T/C 17:47, 25 September 2007 (UTC)

[edit] sports attire - whst sport do they wear silks

sports attire - whst sport do they wear silks —Preceding unsigned comment added by 86.112.206.91 (talk) 18:57, 25 September 2007 (UTC)

It is not uncommon for martial arts uniforms (especially kung fu) to be silk. Also, I've seen many jockeys wear shirts that have a silk appearance. -- kainaw™ 19:03, 25 September 2007 (UTC)
In thoroughbred horse racing, and in harness racing I believe, jockeys wear shirts called silks, which display unique colors and patterns that represent the stable that owns their mount. I imagine that they are nylon or something similar now, although they originally were made of silk. --Stephenlegh 20:08, 25 September 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Wiki mini atlas

Hi sorry to bother you, but do you know who I could contact in relation to the Wiki Atlas? Its just I've been recently been putting all the towns and villages in Tibet on wikipedia including the map coordinates but for some reason the place names aren't showing on the map. Particularly when you zoom in it should show many of the places already started. Could somebody help me please ♦ Sir Blofeld ♦ "Talk"? 19:08, 25 September 2007 (UTC)

This is Wikimapia?Kfc1864 talk my edits 01:43, 26 September 2007 (UTC)
See: WP:EIW#Map for (perhaps) the most comprehensive list of links to pages about maps in relation to Wikipedia. Whatever you're looking for should be in there somewhere. --Teratornis 06:20, 26 September 2007 (UTC)
  • I remember that, it is a userscript. Have you tried contacting the creator? - Mgm|(talk) 10:13, 26 September 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Reward

If you like the job a user has done how can you reward them--72.79.88.21 19:21, 25 September 2007 (UTC)

Barnstars are a common token of appreciation. Arakunem 20:21, 25 September 2007 (UTC)
If you want to reward users with actual cash money or donate to the Wikimedia Foundation on their behalf, see: Wikipedia:Bounty board and Wikipedia:Reward board. --Teratornis 20:38, 25 September 2007 (UTC)
a plain old thank you note on the user's talk page is also appropriate, and usually more personal than a barnstar. -Arch dude 23:42, 25 September 2007 (UTC)
I tend to do both. Give em a nice graphic and instead of a standard thank you write a personal message to go with it. - Mgm|(talk) 10:12, 26 September 2007 (UTC)

[edit] "citation needed" question

One of my edits had a "citation needed" notice. I cited a website. Do I leave the notice alone so an administrator can delete it, or can I delete it? —Preceding unsigned comment added by Mmark089 (talk • contribs) 19:35, 25 September 2007 (UTC)

See WP:CITE for information on how to properly make the citation. Once you have cited the fact appropriately, you may remove the "citation needed" (which will appear as {{fact}} in the edit window. Just leave an edit summary explaining that you have made the citation. Arakunem 20:23, 25 September 2007 (UTC)
(after edit conflict) Once you provided the citation, feel free to remove the {{fact}} tag. On a related note, you seemed to have some trouble with the {{cite web}} template. I fixed it for now, but please remember to check out if the template has some documentation the next time you have trouble with one of them. --Pekaje 20:26, 25 September 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Help with Using Wikipedia content in other works.

I've read all I can find about resuing Wikipedia content in other works, and I have not quite answered my question. Mostly about how to attribute wikipedia content. WHere is the appropriate interactive forum to ask such a rather complex question? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 162.114.211.143 (talk) 19:55, 25 September 2007 (UTC)

The Village Pump is a forum for in-depth discussions of Wiki policies and other technical issues. However, a simple answer might be to click the "Cite this article" link in the left pane of any article, which includes the proper ways to attribute Wiki articles in other media. Arakunem 20:28, 25 September 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Hygrometer

how to make an hygrometer —Preceding unsigned comment added by 24.231.40.191 (talk) 20:45, 25 September 2007 (UTC)

You might find what you are looking for in the article about Hygrometer. If you cannot find the answer there, click here to post your question at that article's talk page. If that does not solve your problem, you can try asking your question at Wikipedia's Reference Desk. They will be glad to try and answer questions about anything in the universe (except about how to use Wikipedia, which is what this help desk is for). I hope this helps. Hersfold (t/a/c) 21:49, 25 September 2007 (UTC)

[edit] vandalized metatag on Google?

The writer Elizabeth Kolbert gets a simple straightforward entry on her actual Wikipedia page. But the link to that article on Google has a very different tone:

"Elizabeth Kolbert - Wikipedia, the free encyclopediaElizabeth Kolbert (b.1961) is a journalist and author best known as the 'chicken little' of the global warming cult of bad science, for her book titled ... en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elizabeth_Kolbert - 16k - Cached - Similar pages - Note this"

Is someone hostile to global warming science messing with your metatags? I don't need to hear back from anyone; just wanted you to be aware of this. You probably are already.

thanks, Diana Landau —Preceding unsigned comment added by 207.90.163.99 (talk) 21:14, 25 September 2007 (UTC)

Google is reading from a cached version of the page, so may be displaying a version that was non-neutral and/or vandalized. It should be updated sometime soon. We don't have any control over what Google looks at when Google bots search our pages, or when. Hersfold (t/a/c) 21:47, 25 September 2007 (UTC)
You can click "Cached" in the Google search results to see the version Google indexed and when they did it. It currently says "retrieved on 16 Sep 2007 20:10:36 GMT". We had the bad text from September 15 to September 20 [5] (and again from September 22 to 23). PrimeHunter 23:35, 25 September 2007 (UTC)

[edit] benefits and drawbacks of using Wikipedia

What are the benefits and drawbacks of using Wikipedia? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 165.190.100.215 (talk) 21:18, 25 September 2007 (UTC)

For an in-house answer, see Wikipedia:About. For an article within the encyclopedia, see Wikipedia and Criticism of Wikipedia. Shalom (Hello • Peace) 21:31, 25 September 2007 (UTC)
Also see: WP:EIW#Critic and WP:EIW#Community. You could clarify your question by telling us what you want to use Wikipedia to do. Wikipedia has many uses, with different benefits and drawbacks. For example, if you want to use Wikipedia to learn about topics for which we have featured articles, you'll probably get more benefits than if you want to learn about topics for which we only have stub articles. Wikipedia can either be very good or very bad, depending on when and where you look. However, many people tend to generalize about all of Wikipedia from the tiny subset they have actually viewed. --Teratornis 06:28, 26 September 2007 (UTC)


[edit] Saving a userbox as shortcut.

Hello, I have just created the userbox below with HTML, but I don't know how to save it as a shortcut such as:

{{User Vexillology}}

or how to submit it for others to use. Can anyone help? Thank you!!

This user is a Vexillologist.





--Electrafiction 22:01, 25 September 2007 (UTC)

When you put curly brackets around something and it responds as a template, it's in the template namespace. So, this would need to be at Template:User Vexillology. Leebo T/C 22:07, 25 September 2007 (UTC)


Thanks, that worked! Now I feel (slightly) less stupid. --Electrafiction 22:28, 25 September 2007 (UTC)

Actually, I'm going to disagree with Leebo. Many userboxes don't belong in the main template namespace. What you would need to do is to create a usersubpage, such as User:Electrafiction/User Vexillology with only the code for the userbox, then when you want to transclude that box onto another page, you can type {{User:Electrafiction/User Vexillology}} and have the same thing happen as if it were in the template namespace. WP:USERBOX#Which_namespace.3F discusses this more. If the userbox is found to not be encyclopedic and is in the template namespace, it can be deleted (where if it is in the user namespace, there is more leeway). Hope this helps. If you decide to move the userbox, remember to {{db-self}} the old page. Thanks. -Andrew c [talk] 02:07, 26 September 2007 (UTC)
I think this is a matter of preference, and the userbox in question is both non-divisive and useful for encyclopedia collaboration. I don't see why it would be disallowed from the template namespace. Of course, users are entitled to keep userboxes in their own space, but they shouldn't be in the template namespace when they're divisive or non-collaborative. Perhaps you misunderstood my use of the phrase "This one would need to be..." I was referring to where it would need to be in order to make the curly brackets read it that way, not referring to userbox guidelines. Leebo T/C 02:56, 26 September 2007 (UTC)
Well then I agree completely. Sorry to say that I disagreed. :) I really wasn't trying to be divisive. -Andrew c [talk] 03:09, 26 September 2007 (UTC)
No, it's understandable given my vague wording. Leebo T/C 03:13, 26 September 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Using Wikipedia for Internal Business Information

I work for a non-profit housing counseling service. We are currently helping homeowners who are behind on their mortgages work with lenders to obtain work-out options. As this forclosure epedemic comes to a head, I am looking for a better way to collect, store, alter our group knowledge.

Individual lenders have different policies, differents states and counties have different assistance programs and eligiblities. This is all very technical information.

Is there a way to use Wikipedia or another Wiki source (please suggest) to manage internal business information? For instance, the "foreclosure" page on wikipedia is beautifully written for an introductory user; however is quite inadequate to hold the detailed information from day to day.

Also, is there a way to net/group Wiki pages that are relevant on the Wiki website? This could be very useful for training new counselors. Instead of writting internal manuals, we can simply have new-hires read well written and well selected Wiki pages.

Please advise a new Wiki user on the hidden potential for this project to benefit housing counselors that are dealing with quickly changing information.

Thanks,

Brian Hunt 216.38.139.218 22:21, 25 September 2007 (UTC) Consumer Credit Counseling Services - San Francisco

Wikipedia is an encyclopedia. Wikimedia is a software package that you can use to implement a wiki of your very own. Many companies and other organizations have done this. If your company does nothave the IT skills to implement a wiki based on Wikimedia, there are also many "light-weight" implementations, or you can hire a consultant. Good luck, and happy wiki-ing! -Arch dude 23:20, 25 September 2007 (UTC)
Sorry, i missed your other question. Yes, you can use any information at all from Wikipedia, for any purpose: it is all copyrighted by the individualo contributors and licenced to you under the GFDL. Please read and understand the license: you must attributr the articles to Wikipedia, but that's all. However, please be aware that anyone can edit any article, so your had better make sure that you carefully check any article you intend to use professionally. -Arch dude 23:25, 25 September 2007 (UTC)
Wikimedia is the organization that runs Wikipedia. The software it runs on is called MediaWiki.--Max Talk (+) 03:38, 26 September 2007 (UTC)
Brian, you are asking about how to start your own corporate wiki, especially if by "internal" information you mean information you do not wish to share with the general public. Wikipedia itself would be unsuitable for most of the content you would want to develop as wiki pages within your organization, because Wikipedia is an encyclopedia rather than a business-oriented wiki application. See: b:Wiki Science/How to start a wiki for some tips. The MediaWiki software which powers Wikipedia is free for download, and it's quite easy for any competent system administrator to install, but you start off with a bare-bones wiki, and it's a long way from there to developing the kind of high-quality content, layout, etc. that you see on Wikipedia. Ideally, your organization should have at least one person who has extensive wiki editing experience (for example, someone who has an edit count of 1000 or higher) to guide the struggling new users and clean up their initial attempts. If nobody at an organization knows anything about wikis, the wiki initiative would probably fail. Wiki editing is not terribly tough to learn, but it's a lot easier on a well-establish wiki such as Wikipedia, where there are thousands of experienced editors to keep order. If you want to try experimenting with MediaWiki on your own computer (without needing to set up a full-blown Web server), see: mw:Manual:Wiki on a stick. Also see WikiIndex to see if there are any public wikis catering to your interests. --Teratornis 06:14, 26 September 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Quotes

There is a template or markup out there that puts text in the middle of the screen beneath and above graphical looking quotation marks. I've seen it umpteen times but, of course, now that I want to use it, I can't find it again or an appropriate template. Can someone point me in the right direction? Into The Fray T/C 22:39, 25 September 2007 (UTC)

You're probably thinking of {{blockquote}}, or you can use <blockquote>This tag</blockquote>. — Malcolm (talk) 22:43, 25 September 2007 (UTC)
Perfect. Thank you! Into The Fray T/C 22:45, 25 September 2007 (UTC)
Similarly, you might be looking for {{Cquote}}, which is a more graphical version. Cheers, ARkY // ¡HaBLaR! 00:12, 26 September 2007 (UTC)

[edit] create account

i am trying to create an account and it tells me i can't log in because i have no account!!??? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 69.141.107.23 (talk) 22:42, 25 September 2007 (UTC)

Hmm. Not sure on this one. Try visiting Special:Userlogin and clicking the "create one" link that appears above the login. If you do that and are still getting an error message, please let us know exactly what the error message is. Alternatively, visit Wikipedia:Request an account and follow the instructions there to have someone create an account for you. You will need a valid email address for that method. Into The Fray T/C 23:38, 25 September 2007 (UTC)
Yes, it seems you were trying to log in to an existing account, rather than create a new one. Follow Into The Fray's instructions and everything should work fine. Raven4x4x 00:37, 26 September 2007 (UTC)