Wikipedia:Help desk/Archives/2007 September 27

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1 September 27

[edit] September 27

[edit] test pages

I've seen people make test pages on their user page, involving the "/" syntax, I think. I'd like to make a test page for working out formatting, can someone explain how this is done? Thanks, Jeff Dahl 00:41, 27 September 2007 (UTC)

Just like creating any other page, you can put User:Jeff Dahl/sandbox (or some such name) into search and create a new page in that fashion. :) --Moonriddengirl 00:52, 27 September 2007 (UTC)

See more at Wikipedia:Subpages. PrimeHunter 01:50, 27 September 2007 (UTC)

[edit] lost identity

I registered with Wikipedia a long time ago and didn't enter an e-mail address. Now that I am starting to get active with Wikipedia editing, I wish to do it under my username but none of my standard passwords work and I cannot retrieve the password because I didn't enter my e-mail address. How can I retrieve or reset my password? I'm unwilling to forfeit my identity!

I'm afraid that the news for you may not be good. :( Help:Logging in seems to suggest there's no other option. It says, "If you did not enter an e-mail address, or the address was out of date, you will have to create a new account." I'm sorry, and I hope that somebody else knows some work-around. --Moonriddengirl 00:54, 27 September 2007 (UTC)

If you have lost details of a past login then there may be no workaround. But you can still add a link to the top of your user page, to say that this was your old account, if that helps, and that will let people know. FT2 ^{(Talk | email)} 01:13, 27 September 2007 (UTC)

[edit] How do you add your own research?

I want to add a new topic to the Wikipedia encyclopedia. However, I cannot find where to add a new piece of research to Wikipedia. There are only editting places. Not places to put original research. Please help me. Thank you. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Thetrax paradox (talk • contribs) 00:50, 27 September 2007 (UTC)

Hi. I'm presuming here that what you want to do here is create a new page. :)

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 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. --Moonriddengirl 00:57, 27 September 2007 (UTC)

Hiya,

Just to add to what's said above, be aware that the term "Original research" has a specific meaning on Wikipedia. I don't know if it's something you meant though. Anyway here it is:

Wikipedia is for articles on topics that have already gained a degree of widespread notice. It is'nt for publishing one's own new (and unpublished) research or new discoveries, researches or theories. If the subject you are interested in has already obtained notice by others, such that independent unconnected people have already written significantly about it, then it may merit an article. See Wikipedia:What Wikipedia is not and Wikipedia:Notability (and related pages) for more. If you feel it meets the criteria for an article, then you can create a new article yourself as described above, easily. You don't have to ask anyone.

If you literally mean, how do I add a new topic to Wikipedia", the instructions given already are great, and hoefully enough to guide you.

Just be aware that the expression "Original research" is a term with a very specific meaning on Wikipedia. In general it signifies editors who instead of writing about things that already exist in the world, write about things that they believe or have created or decided :)

Regards, FT2 ^{(Talk | email)} 01:12, 27 September 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Lost template

Hi,

I'm trying to ID a template I've seen around on the wiki on some user's pages.

It's a bit like Template:cent, a centalized template, listing all current RFA's.

Can anyone help me ID which template it is? :) Naturally now I want to use it, I can't find it :)

Thanks,

FT2 ^{(Talk | email)} 01:05, 27 September 2007 (UTC)

Is this the one? {{User:Tangotango/RfA Analysis/Report}} — Timotab ^{Timothy (not Tim} ^dagnabbit!) 02:04, 27 September 2007 (UTC)

I prefer {{Wikipedia:Bureaucrats' noticeboard/RfA Report}} myself. GlassCobra 12:35, 27 September 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Primus Telecom

To whom it may concern

I refer you to malicious editing of the Primus Telecom entry. I posted a comment yesterday (26 Sept) regarding incorrect informatioon regarding the alleged closure of the business sales division in Australia. This information is completely false. As i wrote yesterday, feel free to verify by visiting our website www.primustel.com.au

This incorrect entry was deleted from the Primus Telecom entry as of 01:22, 26 Sept. It is extremely disturbing that the previously deleted incorrect information we re-inserted at 00:45, 27 Sept.

It would appear someone has a personal issue with our company. We do not wish to enter into an 'editing war' so perhaps the only way to bring this malicious conduct to an end is to perhaps block this individual from editing our entry.

Thanks for your co-operation.

Yours sincerely

Rowan Lee Public Affairs Manager Primus Telecom {email removed to prevent spam} —Preceding unsigned comment added by 210.50.6.166 (talk) 01:49, 27 September 2007 (UTC)

I would not say that that editor has any "issue" against your company, sir, and pursuing this beyond what it appears to be – simple vandalism – would not be constructive. Please note that Wikipedia's blocking policy is not punitive, and is only used to prevent damage or disruption to Wikipedia. However, note that you are indeed free to remove this information if it is indeed false (be bold in your editing), and you may report such activities to an administrator should such activity persist. Despite this, note that due to Wikipedia's conflict of interest guideline, it would be preferable that you indicated that you made such an edit on the talk page of the article in question. Thank you. Sephiroth BCR ^(Converse) 02:13, 27 September 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Fox Music Chart article

I would like to get my article removed for the moment, as I feel I wont have enough time to make it better within the next few days, and I am worried that once it is deleted by wikipedia and not by my request, that I will not be allowed to put it back on again.

I will need more time to get this article organised properly, as a new website for it is being constructed currently.

Thanks. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Timfoxxy 236 (talk • contribs) 03:06, 27 September 2007 (UTC)

If you would like to delete it, just place {{db-author}} at the top, and an admin will delete it for you. When you feel it's ready, you can replace it. I hope this helps! --Neranei (talk) 03:09, 27 September 2007 (UTC)

Also note that you can create an article in your userspace in order to work on the draft until it is complete. See Wikipedia:User page#How do I create a user subpage? for details. Sephiroth BCR ^(Converse) 03:21, 27 September 2007 (UTC)

You can also save what you have by copying and pasting to a user test subpage, for instance Timfoxxy 236/test. Hope that helps. Cheers, :) Dlohcierekim 03:22, 27 September 2007 (UTC)

Thankyou very much for all your help! My user subpage works and I can freely update my article without any worries of deletion or "peeking". Plus, I have marked my actual article for deletion. Thanks again! Timfoxxy 236 —Preceding unsigned comment added by Timfoxxy 236 (talk • contribs) 06:31, 27 September 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Problem with monobook

User:Flubeca/monobook.js is showing up on the MILHIST backlog of unassessed articles list. We believe that the fix is that ["{{WPMILHIST|class=}}" has to be replaced with ["{"+"{WPMILHIST|class=}}" but it appears that you need admin access or higher to edit the code on that page. Can anyone here take care of the problem? Thanks in advance, Cla68 03:31, 27 September 2007 (UTC)

You don't need admin access, you just have to ask Flubeca to change it, because I think it's kind of rude to change it for someone... Carom 03:47, 27 September 2007 (UTC)

I still don't understand what this monobook thing is. Cla68 03:50, 27 September 2007 (UTC)

Every user has a monobook page. Yours is at User:Cla68/monobook.js. It allows a user to install user scripts that can add various functionalities to Wikipedia. There are scripts that make it easier to revert vandalism for example, or one that creates an incredibly handy pop-up box when you hover the mouse over a link. See Wikipedia:WikiProject User scripts for more info if you're curious. Raven4x4x 07:23, 27 September 2007 (UTC)

I've edited the page to fix the problem (I'm an admin); this happens occasionally by mistake, and either an admin or the user whose subpage the script is has to make the change. (I remember going through several user's scripts to remove them from CAT:AFD a while ago.) If you need such changes done in the future, ask the user in question, the admins' noticeboard, or place {{editprotected}} on the script's talk page to make an edit request. --ais523 08:11, 27 September 2007 (U T C)

[edit] Senator On-Line definition deleted

Senator On-Line definition deleted

I recently added a definition for Senator On-Line - a new independant democratic political party recently approved by the AEC.

It has been deleted and on my mytalk page, it mentions a deletion notice which I can't seem to find. Is there a way I can see why it would have been deleted and how I can post a suitable definition.

Thank you

Zoe Lamont 03:48, 27 September 2007 (UTC)

Hello Zoe Lamont, your article has been deleted because you didn't mention in the article why this political party is notable. A topic is notable if it has received significant coverage in reliable sources that are independent of the subject. Also your article was rather an advertisement, please read WP:NPOV. --Oxymoron⁸³ 06:36, 27 September 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Navigation Popups problem

I have asked at the WP:POPUP talk page, and haven't received an answer. When I go to preview an image, I receive a massage reading, "imagepage preview failed :( is the query.php extension installed?" What exactly is the query.php extension, and where can I get it? Thanks, The Hyb rid 04:24, 27 September 2007 (UTC)

What images are you trying to preview? What are your settings? - Mgm|^(talk) 08:08, 27 September 2007 (UTC)
- Any images, and which setting exactly? The Hyb rid 02:33, 28 September 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Executive Officer

i want to become a ducomentation executive officer in shipping line so what is the procedure and how i got it. please inform me detail. thank u' —Preceding unsigned comment added by 121.50.14.40 (talk) 04:33, 27 September 2007 (UTC)

This is not the right place, to ask this question. First, this page is for Questions about the use of Wikipedia, not questions about the content of Wikipedia. Second, ways of professional training differ from coutry to country. You should ask the appropriate authority or contact a shipping line of your country and ask them for the requirements.--Thw1309 07:00, 27 September 2007 (UTC)

[edit] changing the entry on Robert Mugabe.

Hi Folks,

I got the message below from another user......... Is he working for you? He seems to be telling me what I can and cannot write on this page.

The last bit of his message appears to imply that he alone determines what appears on this page.

Thanks

PS I think Wiki is great.

Hi Anonymous editor.

Thanks for your contributions to Wikipedia, many have been improvements to poorly written, western point-of-view articles. However, in your rewriting of the Mugabe article, most of the changes aren't neutral, and betray a strong POV. For this reason, they'll be reverted. Terms like racist, even if true, have been applied to Mugabe's government as well. Either way, they don't belong in the article. Constantly using 'western' as a disclaimer for view critical of Mugabe is also not neutral - the implication is that only racist westerners are critical of him, which is certainly not true! The claims about the Gukurahundi massacres are well supported by Ndebele sources too, amongst others, and many Africans are extremely critical of Mugabe, even if generally they raise it in a different way.

If you stick to correcting the subtle bias in the article, without replacing it with your own, your changes will be welcomed. Greenman 22:20, 26 September 2007 (UTC) —Preceding unsigned comment added by 77.101.75.15 (talk • contribs)

Greenman does not have the sole ability to decide what is appropriate for an article and what is not and nor do you. I reviewed your edits to Robert Mugabe and they do appear to be in violation of Wikipedia's guidelines on neutral point of view. I would encourage you to read them and, before making such changes, first discussing them on the article's talk page and building consensus for them first. Also, please be aware of the three revision rule. Cheers and happy editing. Into The Fray ^T/C 12:02, 27 September 2007 (UTC)

[edit] How to add wikipedia article widgets on an external site?

I am an artist working on a project called MindMine which consists of a website on the exploration of the brain's functionality.

I would like to add scientific information about the brain from the wikipedia database in the project but not as a boring link button. I have created graphic maps depicting several key areas of the brain and would like to add place markers which only open widget windows on them as does GoogleEarth.

I would really appreciate if you could help me in the right direction.

many thanks! 81.105.61.231 08:54, 27 September 2007 (UTC)rik

You can re-use the text from Wikipedia, provided that you link back to Wikipedia. See WP:REUSE and Wikipedia:Verbatim copying. --h2g2bob (talk) 15:21, 27 September 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Sandbox entry to Wikipedia

I taught several classes on 21st Century Skills the last few months, and one of the class requirements was to contribute to a Wikipedia sandbox on that topic: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=User:Lsinrc/sandbox&action=history Because there is no entry for 21st Century Skills in Wikipedia, I would eventually like to submit the sandbox entry as a Wikipedia entry. How do I go about doing that?

Thanks for your help!

Lennie Symes LSINRC lsymes at tie dot net —Preceding unsigned comment added by Lsinrc (talk • contribs) 10:56, 27 September 2007 (UTC)

Just go to the page by pressing here and copy the content to this page. Be sure, the content meets the requirement of Wikipedia. Please first look at Wikipedia:Your first article.--Thw1309 12:04, 27 September 2007 (UTC)

It is better to move the page, that keeps the full edit history, which is required by Wikipedia's license. The page reads a bit like an essay rather than an encyclopedic entry; so it might be better to make it into an entry for our sister site Wikibooks. Adding the text {{Copy to Wikibooks}} to the page will mark it as an entry to copy there. --h2g2bob (talk) 15:18, 27 September 2007 (UTC)

It's good that you are introducing students to wiki editing, because wikis allow large numbers of remote users to collaborate more efficiently than they can with traditional methods that involve repeatedly carting millions of information workers between their homes and physical offices each day. This will become increasingly important as the world careens closer to running out of petroleum. To make your class even better, you should familiarize yourself with the many different wikis that exist. Be aware that even though Wikipedia is the best-known wiki, and for many people it is the only wiki they have heard of, Wikipedia is actually a very specialized kind of wiki, and most people tend to make incorrect assumptions about Wikipedia on the first encounter. For starters, Wikipedia has complex policies and guidelines for its articles, and Wikipedia's administrators will mercilessly delete any articles that fail to meet those requirements. Even though Wikipedia makes it very simple to create a new article, getting an article to "stick" may be very difficult for a new user. Also read about the different kinds of wikis; see: {{Wiki topics}}. Visit WikiIndex and explore some of the many other wikis that exist. Very likely, there is some other wiki more suitable than Wikipedia for the exploratory editing your students will do. Encouraging your students to edit on Wikipedia without proper training can be like throwing them to the wolves, as they unwittingly violate one policy or another and have their work deleted by people they don't know. You might consider starting your own wiki so you can bring your students along gently in a wiki environment that you control, or use one of the many existing public wikis that cater to education.

On the other hand, if you are determined to get your students editing on Wikipedia specifically (because you examined the other wikis and decided this is really the one you want them to edit), then see: Wikipedia:School and university projects. --Teratornis 16:06, 27 September 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Stopping a possible revert war

Hi all, Two (new?) users, Rocksuk and Crimperman seem to be reverting each others edits to Contact a Family in quick succession. I feel neither edits are valid encyclopedic content. Can someone suggest or show me how you would go about asking them to stop what they are doing? LookingYourBest 12:04, 27 September 2007 (UTC)

I went over and had a look at the articke. Rocksuk's edits, a single purpose account, appear to be vandalism to me. I did not see any similar edits from Crimperman. I've issued Rocksuk a couple warnings regarding WP:3RR and adding unsourced material to articles. The best thing you can do when you run across situations like this, though, if they're not obvious vandalism, is make a report to ~~the administrator's noticeboard for incidents~~ the administrator's 3RR noticeboard, I believe. If the warring is persistent, you could also request page protection. Into The Fray ^T/C 12:21, 27 September 2007 (UTC)

Many thanks for you speedy help. I'm sorry for branding Crimperman with the same brush. These reverts seemed to stem from an IP user (81.149.184.225) adding the line "A worthwhile cause!", which Crimperman was reverting back to. I realise now that this was not thier fault. Thanks again for your intervention. LookingYourBest 12:35, 27 September 2007 (UTC)

Not a problem. I missed that "A worthwhile cuase!" line in my first reversion too, which is I assume what Crimperman was doing too. Into The Fray ^T/C 12:38, 27 September 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Dispute resolution?

I'm involved in an increasingly ugly dispute with another editor and the dispute has previously gone to Mediation Cabal. The other user dropped out of the mediation process, disappeared for a few months, and is now back and basically refuses to re-enter mediation. We have some basic disagreements concerning WP:BLP and WP:NPOV and whether fully cited and referenced criticism of somebody's work is allowed in their biography. Its quite apparent from our discussions so far that we aren't going to come to any agreement on our own and, with the other party refusing mediation, I'm wondering if the next step is to bring this to an Arbitration Committee. Let me know if this is the next step I should take, or whether there's something else I should do. Iamcuriousblue 12:27, 27 September 2007 (UTC)

The next step beyond the mediation cabal would be, I believe, to escalate it to an official WP process, which the Cabal is not. I believe that would be mediation. Not being familiar with the dispute or what it covers, though, have you considered opening a request for comment instead? Into The Fray ^T/C 12:32, 27 September 2007 (UTC)

I already took it to mediation – that's what I meant by Mediation Cabal! (I probably stated that wrong.) Also, I made a request for comments quite early in our dispute, and that basically failed to get a response. So if mediation isn't happening (since I need the other person's co-operation to even open a mediation case), is the next step arbitration or something else? Iamcuriousblue 12:38, 27 September 2007 (UTC)

We have a list of steps to take at Wikipedia:Resolving disputes. Looks like one of your options might be Wikipedia:Third opinion, since the dispute only involves you two. Good luck! GlassCobra 12:46, 27 September 2007 (UTC)

Mediation and the Mediation Cabal are not the same thing. The latter is an informal process. Beyond the Cabal, I am not well-versed in process, so I'll leave this for someone else to answer. Into The Fray ^T/C 12:46, 27 September 2007 (UTC)

[edit] email question

how to send email —Preceding unsigned comment added by 80.33.53.113 (talk) 12:14, 27 September 2007 (UTC)

To send email through Wikipedia, you need to create an account and enter a valid email address when setting up your account. From there, the user you want to contact must have email enabled in your preferences. Visit their talk page and in the "tool box" on the left of your screen, you'll see an "email this user" link. Into The Fray ^T/C 12:26, 27 September 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Want to delete my account

Hi It seems that somehow I have ended up with two accounts under very similar names. I would like for both of them to be deleed as well as all references to me. I'd like to see those changed to anonymous.

Gilraen Surion —Preceding unsigned comment added by 213.84.191.162 (talk) 12:34, 27 September 2007 (UTC)

Sorry, but accounts can't be deleted, and all edits must be attributed to the original contributor. They can't be made anonymous or vice versa. Leebo ^T/C 13:44, 27 September 2007 (UTC)

Due to the fact that Wikipedia content is licensed under the GFDL, all edits must be kept for attribution purposes, and so your account cannot be deleted. You do, however, have the right to vanish, which you can exercise by (1) requesting your user page (found at Special:Mypage) and/or user talk page (found at Special:Mytalk) be deleted, by adding the {{db-userreq}} template to them; (2) requesting to change your username to something that is unconnected with you (possibly a random collection of letters and numbers); (3) never logging in to your account again. If you do this, you are still free to register a new username if you wish to continue editing Wikipedia.--Fuhghettaboutit 15:07, 27 September 2007 (UTC)

Do you mean your user page, User:Gilraen Surion? Just add the magic text {{db-author}} to the top of the page and save it; then within a day or two the page will be deleted by one of the admins. --h2g2bob (talk) 15:07, 27 September 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Using references and citations

I am trying to learn how to create a reference list in an article, specifically in the article "Michigan International Speedway." Whenever I add <ref> to the article the article stops at that point when I preview it and save it.... I have also tried to add reflist under notes and I still have the same problem. I know I am doing something wrong so I am looking for advice. Basically I just want to change the links to references and have a notes or reference list. Any help would be appreciated. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Vertigo315 (talk • contribs) 13:32, 27 September 2007 (UTC)

<ref> works like an HTML tag. You need to close it with </ref> after your reference. See Wikipedia:Footnotes for more information on formatting references. Leebo ^T/C 13:39, 27 September 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Images

How do i put pictures on the site —Preceding unsigned comment added by Ted ebdon (talk • contribs) 13:33, 27 September 2007 (UTC)

See Wikipedia:Upload and Wikipedia:Images. Leebo ^T/C 13:39, 27 September 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Controversial editing

I made a controversial, yet true, edit to Jesse Jackson's entry. I want to make sure it is nothing that violates any rules. I also want to make sure that no one can get access to my own personal name or personal info who views this. Thank you so much! —Preceding unsigned comment added by LisaMKH (talk • contribs) 13:38, 27 September 2007 (UTC)

I have reverted the edit you made, because it violates wikipedia's neutral point of view policy. It also violates our guidelines on citing reliable sources for allowing readers to verify all information. You can't post opinions to articles; all information must come from published, reliable sources. On the other note, no one can get your personal information. Leebo ^T/C 13:42, 27 September 2007 (UTC)

Please allow me to qualify that response. :) It may not be a simple matter for someone to access your personal information—in the absence of account abuse, Wikipedia attempts to maintain privacy of its users—but it may be possible under certain circumstances. Wikipedia does not warrant your privacy; please see the privacy policy at the Wikimedia foundation. If you are not logged in, your IP address may be traced with varying levels of difficulty. If you are logged in, information provided at log-in and your IP address may be released under certain circumstances, detailed at that policy. Administrators and users with "CheckUser" access will always be able to determine your IP address by tracing your log-in name. Additionally, the Wikimedia Foundation does not guarantee that unauthorized individuals may not gain access to the IP address linked to your account or to any personal information, such as e-mail address, that you may have provided when you created your account. --Moonriddengirl 15:32, 27 September 2007 (UTC)

[edit] my article

My article was deleted for "nonsense content", which if suppose means I have no corraboration for my story?, sorry if i pissed you guys off. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Skylerspal (talk • contribs) 14:42, 27 September 2007 (UTC)

While your article should not have been deleted as nonsense, it was not a proper encyclopedia article. It had no references and an inappropriate tone for an encyclopedia article. If you want to add the fact about cheeseburgers to cheeseburger, do so with a source. Leebo ^T/C 14:47, 27 September 2007 (UTC)

[edit] how to:

HOw do i make my own page... i want to make my own page about someone and i am having trouble finding out how.--Ryandamanhockeyplaya10956 14:48, 27 September 2007 (UTC)Ryan

[edit] Life Estate

If you have a life Estate in a condo dues that give you the right to vote during elections and also does it give you the right to run for The Board of Directors. They pay all the taxes and the property is in the name of the person with the life estate and they also pay the maintence and all assessments. I am curious as if they can vote at annual meeting, can they attend the Board Meetings and Can they run for the Board.

Thanks Sue McKinley —Preceding unsigned comment added by 66.25.101.21 (talk) 14:52, 27 September 2007 (UTC)

You'll need to ask someone in your condo association or someone from the Board of Directors. Wikipedia cannot answer questions like this which involve specific rules for different parts of the world and different legal statuses. Leebo ^T/C 14:54, 27 September 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Is there a problem with my account?

This is Collin238, formerly Collin237. Is there a problem with my account?

Collin238 15:25, 27 September 2007 (UTC)

Which kind of problem should be there?--Thw1309 15:29, 27 September 2007 (UTC)

I had forgotten my original password, and I tried to request a new one. The system said I had no email address on file. I actually have no use for more than one account, and anyway I now cannot access the other one. However, I suppose there's nothing anyone can do about this.

I was worried about an attack on my account because I had been previously arguing against hate speech on another website. Although I was saying all hate is wrong, the fact that I had mentioned I was Jewish had led to the hate speech instigators accusing me of a Jewish POV. When I was investigating various accusations against Jews, I noticed the hate speech entry in Talk::Halakha and deleted it with a note to that effect. I hope there is an edit log that can confirm what it had said before. Collin238 17:57, 28 September 2007 (UTC)

If you're worried about sockpuppet issues, don't be. So long as you don't use the two accounts in conjunction for prohibited purposes, such as using the one to support the other in discussions (which woud be impossible given the similarity in names:-) you're fine. Just review that link to see where problems would arise.--Fuhghettaboutit 15:35, 27 September 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Reverts

Could you please tell me how to revert to an older edition (not just undo) as I have seen this done many a time. Please answer on my talk page and here (I will be offline shortly). Thanks! -- Casmith_789 (talk) 15:43, 27 September 2007 (UTC)

Copy of reply on talk: You can go to an old version of the page and edit it. This would revert all changes added to it since that date. For a series of reverts use the compare selected versions nodes on the history tab and then press undo. This can be used for multiple cases of vandalism. Both instances really, should only be for vandalism. If it is an editorial or format dispute then take it to the talk page for discussion. Hope this helps. Woodym555 16:15, 27 September 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Table issue

Hi there,

Have a look at this page: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Departments_of_Nicaragua

On FF 2.0.0.7, the table is partly under the infobox on the right-hand side. On IE 7, the table and accompanying image are way down on the page (under the infobox), leaving a butt-ugly empty space. I tried fiddling with it a ways back, but I don't know enough about wiki editing to fix it to my satisfaction. Is anyone else willing to give it a shot? I'm tired of seeing it messed up like that. :) Richardmtl 15:52, 27 September 2007 (UTC)

It depends what screen resolution you are using. I have it all on one page. Sorry but there is not much you can do to fix it. You could try forcing a line break using <br> Woodym555 16:11, 27 September 2007 (UTC)

I've tried to fix this by floating both of these to the left side of the page and adding a {{clear}} to the end of that. That works for FF, but not sure about MSIE.--h2g2bob (talk) 16:19, 27 September 2007 (UTC)

Hey, looks good enough for me, both on FF and IE, thanks a bunch! Richardmtl 17:17, 27 September 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Do I need to get permission to do an article?

I would like to do an article on Will Makar. Do I need to get permission to do it? Shirlyn Makar <email removed> —Preceding unsigned comment added by Shirmak (talk • contribs) 16:16, 27 September 2007 (UTC)

No need for permission, but make sure you establish that he is notable enough for inclusion. See Help:Starting a new page. --h2g2bob (talk) 16:23, 27 September 2007 (UTC)

I notice the name you sign with is the same last name as the individual you wish to write about. If you are related, review the page Wikipedia:Conflict of interest to make sure you do not inadvertently violate Wikipedia's neutral point of view policy when writing about Will Makar. Leebo ^T/C 17:20, 27 September 2007 (UTC)

The "Google test" (google:Will Makar) suggests you want to write about the American Idol contestant. Currently Wikipedia has Will Makar as a redirect to American Idol (season 5) (to get to the Will Makar redirect page, click this link). That means someone would need to expand the redirect page into a proper biography article. See Wikipedia:WikiProject Biography for information about how to do that. --Teratornis 06:15, 28 September 2007 (UTC)

Unless he's done something noteworthy besides being in American Idol, I recommend you not to write about him. The redirect is most likely the result of a merge designed to keep down the number of stubby articles appearing. It's better to wait until you have enough information to write a reasonably sized biography of the guy.- Mgm|^(talk) 08:27, 28 September 2007 (UTC)

[edit] The ancient Egyptians invented the first writing paper. It was called What?

The ancient Egyptians invented the first writing paper. It was called what?Arnon Chaffin (Talk) 16:29, 27 September 2007 (UTC)

You may mean Papyrus, but this is really a reference desk question. This page is for help with using Wikipedia. Leebo ^T/C 16:32, 27 September 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Online-now icon

How do users add an online-now icon to the top of their userpages?--Avant Guard 16:43, 27 September 2007 (UTC)

See User:StatusBot for more information. Unfortunately, it's not working at the moment. GlassCobra 16:52, 27 September 2007 (UTC)

If you're referring to the placement of such a status in corner above the typical text portion of the page, the HTML style command "position:absolute" with a set of coordinates allows you to place an object anywhere within the page. You could try looking at a user's page to see exactly how they do it. Leebo ^T/C 16:55, 27 September 2007 (UTC)

[edit] images from Commons

Is there a difficulty with links to images in commons. I first came across this in Sundials as images randomly seemed to disappear and return on a later visit. I have noticed it in userboxes images as well. Am I missing something simple here. This has happened on three computers and through Internet Explorer and Firefox so should not be (e.g.)cache. Any pointers gratefully received. Thanks Edmund Patrick ( ^confer _work) 17:23, 27 September 2007 (UTC)

Who do I call to disput an open account. there are no phone numbers here on the report. Thanks

nathan

sorry Nathan you might need to add this again under a title - hit the (+) at the top of the page. All you have done is add it to a question about images. Edmund Patrick ( ^confer _work) 19:11, 27 September 2007 (UTC)

[edit] account

how to delete an account —Preceding unsigned comment added by Spencestudios (talk • contribs) 18:09, 27 September 2007 (UTC)

Due to the fact that Wikipedia content is licensed under the GFDL, all edits must be kept for attribution purposes, and so your account cannot be deleted. You do, however, have the right to vanish, which you can exercise by (1) requesting your user page (found at User:Spencestudios) and/or user talk page (found at User talk:Spencestudios) be deleted, by adding the {{db-userreq}} template to them; (2) requesting to change your username to something that is unconnected with you (possibly a random collection of letters and numbers); (3) never logging in to your account again. If you do this, you are still free to register a new username if you wish to continue editing Wikipedia. --Moonriddengirl 18:13, 27 September 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Non-English characters appear garbled

I think this might be a problem with the web browser I use to access Wikipedia (Mozilla Firefox), although on the off-chance it's a problem with Wikipedia itself, I thought I'd ask about it here.

In all interwiki links to articles in languages which use non-English characters and in regular English Wikipedia links to articles with such characters, the non-English characters are broken, rendering the link unusable. For example, I'll see a link to the Montréal article, yet in Firefox's status bar, where the linked-to URL is displayed, "Montréal" appears as "MontrÃ©al," and if there is an "in other languages" column accompanying the article, the same thing happens; the link to the Arabic Wikipedia is rendered as follows:

http://ar.wikipedia.org/wiki/ÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂªÃÂ±ÃÂÃÂ§ÃÂ

...which also breaks the link. Following these links invariably leads to an "article not found" search page. The only way around this I've seen is to copy the title of the non-English article and paste it into the search box. As you can imagine, this gets annoying very quickly.

I'm using Firefox 2.0.0.7 (although this problem has been present regardless of which version I've used), and it's configured to use Unicode (UTF-8) character encoding by default. Switching to other encodings doesn't fix the problem.

Any suggestions? Avalyn 18:49, 27 September 2007 (UTC)

Well, that's just broken. Wikipedia pages are sent in UTF-8, but it looks as if your browser thinks the links are in ISO Latin 1 or something like that. Hmm... does it happen also over SSL? If not, I'd suspect some broken proxy is messing things up between Wikipedia and your computer. —Ilmari Karonen (talk) 19:40, 27 September 2007 (UTC)

Yeah, it's broken, no doubt about it. It does indeed happen over SSL, and as far as I know there are no proxies between my computer and the rest of the net. Oh, and the weird thing is that this doesn't happen in any other browser I've tried (MSIE and Safari). Avalyn 19:43, 27 September 2007 (UTC)

Your Firefox settings might be somehow messed up. I'd suggest deleting (or renaming, it's safer) your Firefox profile directory and seeing if that helps. (I can't remember exactly where it's found on Windows, but I think it may have been under "C:/Windows/Documents and Settings/Yourusername".) Note that doing this will make you lose all your bookmarks and browser settings (although, if you only renamed the directory, you may be able to import your old bookmarks file which is found somewhere within it). The other thing I'd try would be uninstalling Firefox completely and reinstalling. If neither of those help, then I'm stumped. —Ilmari Karonen (talk) 20:06, 29 September 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Change an incorrect name

Someone set up a wikipedia page for me but gave the wrong name for the name I was born under. I was able to change a couple of other factual mistakes using the edit button, but there's no edit or move option for my name in the first paragraph. Could you tell me how to do it, or if there's a place to add a correction at the bottom? Thanks. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 75.104.135.101 (talk) 18:55, 27 September 2007 (UTC)

If the page you are referring to is Anne Stuart, the title of the page matches the first line of the article, so I don't see the issue. If there is a problem, someone can move the page to the correct title. To move a page requires that you have an account for at least four days. This is deter vandalism. Dismas|^(talk) 19:02, 27 September 2007 (UTC)

[edit] You have new messages?

I performed an edit as an anonymous user, I guess a bot didn't like it, now I permanently have "You have new messages (last change)." at the top of every page. This is annoying - how can I get rid of it? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 74.41.65.190 (talk) 19:05, 27 September 2007 (UTC)

Have you tried clicking the "new messages" part to go to your talk page and read the message? GlassCobra 19:08, 27 September 2007 (UTC)

Yes. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 74.41.65.190 (talk) 19:09, 27 September 2007 (UTC)

Try clicking on your talk page, as if you were going to read the message, and then, click on the edit tab. Then, in the address bar of your browser, replace action=edit with action=purge and see if that fixes it. Titoxd^{(?!? - cool stuff)} 19:10, 27 September 2007 (UTC)

It is a software bug that has been reported to the developers. bug 9213 Have you tried pressing shift+F5? That clears your cache. It should go eventually. Sorry i can't help more. Woodym555 19:11, 27 September 2007 (UTC)

Neither of these options helped. Anyone at my office who goes to Wikipedia is going to get the big orange bar... oh well. I hope they fix the bug soon. This is frustrating because I was trying to revert a vandalized page when I got the bot message - no good deed goes unpunished I guess. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 74.41.65.190 (talk) 19:19, 27 September 2007 (UTC)

Just went away, excellent. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 74.41.65.190 (talk) 19:21, 27 September 2007 (UTC)

As the (now fixed) link shows, it is a common problem that the developers have not yet been able to rectify. It can be quite a problem. Some ip addresses do not get the bar at all, some like you cannot get rid of it. I remember one post by an ip saying that it disappeared after 15 mins. (now confirmed by you) Thankyou for trying to revert the vandalism. The bot saw you diff blank the page. You were removing the vandalism i know, but in doing so you blanked the page which is what that bot looks for. Really, you should have looked at the page history and reverted to the last clean version. Thankyou for trying though. Woodym555 19:28, 27 September 2007 (UTC)

Yes, at first I wasn't sure what to do, I blanked the page and then realized I should have just reverted it to a clean version, which I then did immediately. Obviously I don't edit often. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 74.41.65.190 (talk) 19:33, 27 September 2007 (UTC)

[edit] What does "article tagged" mean?

At the top of an article, it says: "This article has been tagged since January 2007." What does that mean?

Brucehartford 19:29, 27 September 2007 (UTC)Bruce Hartford

I assume you're referring to Birmingham campaign. Tags are the boxes at the top of an article that alert readers and editors to possible problems in the article that need to be solved. For example, the tag on that article says that it's too brief, and needs to be expanded, and that tag has been there since January. The dates are just a reference for other editors; sometimes they aren't at all useful, and sometimes they're very, very handy. -FisherQueen (Talk) 19:31, 27 September 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Entry pulled because of false complaints

Dear Wikipedia:

In 1986, I wrote and copyrighted a story in the APA "Alarums and Excursions" that became a role-playing game urban legend: Eric and the Gazebo. That APA was edited by Lee Gold. I rewrote an expanded version of that story (I had a longer column inch requirement) for the APA "The Spellbook" edited by Corey and Lori Cole. The longer version was reprinted in 1989 with my permission, copyright, and attribution, in The Mensa Bulletin, and from there I foolishly allowed John Chu to reprint it on the internet, which at that time was still not widely known or used outside of academia and the military.

From there it was reprinted and plagiarized so often that it reached the heights of foolishness when in 1993, after telling my story at a panel at DunDraCon, I was accused of stealing that story. Thus I became aware of plagiarism on the internet, and have been defending my copyright ever since.

I can demonstrate (through copies of the original publication) my copyright in The Spellbook. I can probably demonstrate as well (I'd have to dig a bit) my copyright in Alarums and Excursions, and possibly The Mensa Bulletin. Any internet search on Eric and the Gazebo will show that there are numerous sites which properly attribute the story, including one (dreadgazebo.com) which took their name from my story, with my permission. I have put in literally hundreds of hours defending my copyright, all for a story for which I have so far received two Lollagazabo gaming convention T-shirts and one copy of the Knights of the Dinner Table compendium.

As this story has been widely told, and at least one fame crazed child who was not even born when the original incident happened (I rewrote and added many jokes to the original incident) has claimed it for her own game, all evidence to the contrary, some people feel that the attribution is in error. This woman told Jolly Blackburn the story he used in his original printing of the Knights of the Dinner Table story even though she was a toddler when my first copyright appeared. In his reprinting, Jolly updated the attribution and even allowed me to explain why I will never again allow anything I write to be reprinted on the internet. Some people have seen the original KotDT comic and not the corrected Compendium. Some people have heard the story and believe it to have been told instead of retold. All these problems could be considered either copyright violation against me if not identity theft.

Which brings us to Wikipedia. There was an Eric and the Gazebo entry in Wikipedia for quite some time before a friend told me about it. Various people who *knew* I had written it made sure it had my name on it. Various other people who *believed* I had not written it complained or changed it themselves. When I learned of a Wikipedia entry about a story I had written, I modified it slightly, since after all as the author and copyright holder who knows it better than I? And at last Wikipedia has pulled the entry entirely.

This is grossly unfair to me, the legitimate copyright holder and author of the piece. I have worked on a dozen computer games, written a novel, and won a national title at bridge, but I was more proud of the Wiki entry than any of those other things. And yet plagiarists, or people who honestly but mistakenly believed the plagiarists, have forced the removal of that entry.

I can put you in contact with Corey and Lori Cole, designers of the Quest For Glory series and other computer games, who will testify as to my recollection of the publication in the 1980s in The Spell Book. I can probably arrange contact with Lee Gold of Alarums and Excursions for the same purposes (I haven't spoken to her for a while, but I know how to reach her). I can submit photocopies of my original publications, notarized if necessary. But I do not know where and how to submit such things. Of course a simple internet search on Eric and Gazebo will lead to John Chu talking about how he typed the story in in 1989 from its original publication in The Mensa Bulletin, and will not mention that John Chu added an "e" to convert Ed Whitchurch's name to Ed Whitechurch.

My degree is in history, so I understand the importance of attribution and of verifying ones sources. I'm not asking you to believe me without validation, although in my opinion adequate verification can trivially be found by anyone using Google. But this Wikipedia entry is important enough to me to spend yet more time and money to fight for it. Please tell me how I can validate "Eric and the Gazebo" so you can restore its entry to the Wiki and, perhaps, stop allowing the plagiarists to change it.

Yours truly, Richard Aronson <phone number and email removed>—Preceding unsigned comment added by 12.193.119.234 (talk) 19:48, 27 September 2007 (UTC)

If you review the deletion log for Eric and the Gazebo, you will see that it was deleted under speedy deletion criterion A7. This means that the deleting admin decided the article did not establish how the subject met Wikipedia's notability criteria. Your best bet would be to take this to deletion review, where the decision by that admininstrator can be evaluated and possibly overturned. Leebo ^T/C 20:18, 27 September 2007 (UTC)

Also see: Wikipedia:Why was my article deleted? and especially the section on trying another wiki. If you want to maintain an author's level of control over your article, you might try entering it on WikInfo. Editing on Wikipedia tends to be something of a free-for-all, and articles about controversial topics can lead to protracted edit wars. On Wikipedia, even if your opponents are deranged, they can waste a lot of your time if they are determined and know how to game the system. (We have a guideline against gaming the system, but the guideline exists because lots of people game the system.) --Teratornis 20:48, 27 September 2007 (UTC)

The A7 speedy deletion criterion is for "people, groups, bands, clubs, companies or web content". As the story originally appeared in print, it does not qualify as "web content", and it certainly doesn't fall under any of the other categories to which A7 applies. Rather than taking the matter to deletion review, I've instead undeleted the page and submitted it for discussion at articles for deletion. Feel free to express your opinion there (but please read these guidelines first). —Ilmari Karonen (talk) 19:44, 29 September 2007 (UTC)

[edit] uploading ringtones

When I click on http://wiki.howardforums.com/index.php?title=Special:Upload&wpDestFile=Example.ogg I get an error saying I must be logged on and I aalready am logged on. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 216.113.168.128 (talk) 20:03, 27 September 2007 (UTC)

This page is for questions related to using Wikipedia. If you have a question about another wiki, you should ask there, or you could try the reference desk. Leebo ^T/C 20:19, 27 September 2007 (UTC)

You may have reached the Wikipedia Help desk because the HowardForums Wiki help page (not HowardFora Wiki?) links to Help:Contents on Wikipedia. Whoever set up the HowardForums Wiki did that to skip the job of creating their own help files. That means you are reading help for Wikipedia, which won't exactly apply to HowardForums (although the editing commands should be much the same). By linking to Wikipedia's help, HowardForums does not imply that the Wikipedia provides support about using HowardForums. Many smaller wikis lack their own user communities to provide support. That means to use those smaller wikis, you often have to figure out how to solve problems on your own. --Teratornis 20:29, 27 September 2007 (UTC)

The HowardForums Wiki administrators seem not to be paying enough attention to linkspam such as this. Lots of people install their own MediaWiki wikis because the software is free to download and relatively easy to install. However, administering a wiki requires a lot of work, much more than an "install and forget" type of job. Therefore, I would expect to have problems if I were trying to use the HowardForums Wiki. This is not to say that wiki will fail, just that it needs more users who are benevolent, dedicated, and knowledgeable. --Teratornis 20:40, 27 September 2007 (UTC)

The only page in their Help namespace [1] is a one-liner linking to Wikipedia without saying it's an unrelated site. I tried editing the page but it didn't work. PrimeHunter 01:33, 28 September 2007 (UTC)

[edit] pronunciation

where do I find phoenetic spelling for correct pronunciation? 20:15, 27 September 2007 (UTC)20:15, 27 September 2007 (UTC)

Wikipedia articles for subjects with unusual, non-standard, or foreign pronunciations often include an IPA pronunciation. For pronunciations of standard English words, you should look at a dictionary (since Wikipedia is not a dictionary, it would not have this information for every word). Leebo ^T/C 20:23, 27 September 2007 (UTC)

Wiktionary has pronunciation information for many words. Also see International Phonetic Alphabet. Do you need pronunciation for your personal use, or are you trying to add IPA to Wikipedia articles? If the latter, see: Wikipedia:Manual of Style (pronunciation). --Teratornis 20:34, 27 September 2007 (UTC)

[edit] How to submit an article

How do you get to the page to write an article and then how do you submit it?

I can not find the right icons to click on to get to the writing box (got there once but there was no way to submit it for consideration)??? Nothing say "Submit" that I can find??? —Preceding unsigned comment added by Grangerc (talk • contribs) 21:20, 27 September 2007 (UTC)

That's a lot of links, so here's a short version. Search to see if it already exists → Check the subject is notable → Start a new page → Write for an encyclopedia --h2g2bob (talk) 23:42, 27 September 2007 (UTC)

At the risk of sounding cynical, but in fact I'm just being realistic in the case of a large fraction of users new to Wikipedia, here is my suggestion for an even shorter version: Wikipedia:Why was my article deleted? I think the most important thing for a new user to understand is that Wikipedia deletes a lot of articles. Many of the "good" topics already have articles, so as Wikipedia continues to grow, the remaining topics to write about become increasingly harder, on average, to get past the deletionists. --Teratornis 06:01, 28 September 2007 (UTC)