Wikipedia:Help desk/Archives/2008 February 1

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[edit] February 1

[edit] autohide TOC

Is there code that will auto hide a very long TOC? I don't want to remove it, I just want it to be hidden by default when people view the page. --AeronPrometheus (talk) 00:01, 1 February 2008 (UTC)

{{TOChidden}} PrimeHunter (talk) 00:18, 1 February 2008 (UTC)

Is there a reason why every hidden alternative to a template I've seen looks horrible? I'd rather have a stick figure TOC than that. --AeronPrometheus (talk) 02:01, 1 February 2008 (UTC)

You find the "Bar" that would be on top of the true TOC, to be ugly? I'm not really sure where your problem with hidden templates are atm. Perhaps you can explain a bit more. --TheDJ (talk • contribs) 02:30, 1 February 2008 (UTC)

Is it not technically feasible to code them to look like the regular templates but with a hide command? And if so there could only be one template with the ability to toggle hidden with parameter code. Why must the hidden TOC have the word CONTENT right above the word CONTENT, it's unbecoming of Wikipedia. --AeronPrometheus (talk) 08:38, 1 February 2008 (UTC)

Unfortunately I don't think it is feasible, since the regular table of contents isn't a template, it's generated by the MediaWiki keyword __TOC__ What we'd need is a MediaWiki enhancement that would simply use a keyword to set the proper one to hidden by default (assuming JavaScript is enabled). But the need for an autohidden TOC is sometimes disputed as being only a matter of personal preference. • Anakin ^(talk) 11:42, 2 February 2008 (UTC)

That works for me, so long as no one complains about the gigantic white space it'll create. --AeronPrometheus (talk) 00:06, 4 February 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Brand Named Handbags

Why do people prefer Brand named bags like Gucci or prada, over non named brand bags? What do you all think? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 69.72.124.67 (talk) 00:10, 1 February 2008 (UTC)

I think this question belongs on the reference desk. PrimeHunter (talk) 00:15, 1 February 2008 (UTC)

[edit] How do I Change my user page?

How do I Change my user page?JDog 00:23, 1 February 2008 (UTC)

Your user page is User:JDog Powers. To edit it, go to that page and click "edit this page" at the top. If you mean you want to change your username, see Wikipedia:Changing username. Sign your posts using four tildes, like this: ~~~~ I hope this helps. --Coppertwig (talk) 00:28, 1 February 2008 (UTC)

I tried and a pop-up came up saying do you want to find save of cancel.JDog 00:35, 1 February 2008 (UTC) —Preceding unsigned comment added by JDog Powers (talk • contribs)

If "Use external editor by default" is checked at Editing in Special:Preferences then uncheck it. Your signature should link to your user page. Uncheck "Raw signature" at Special:Preferences or design a signature linking to User:JDog Powers. PrimeHunter (talk) 00:44, 1 February 2008 (UTC)

How do I add a picture to my user page? JDog 00:59, 1 February 2008 (UTC) —Preceding unsigned comment added by JDog Powers (talk • contribs)

To add an image to your userpage and [[Image:<Image name>]] for example to add the Example image it would be [[Image:Example.png]], which would produce

. Also note that only free images (not fair use) may appear on your user page. VivioFateFan ^{(Talk, Sandbox)} 01:30, 1 February 2008 (UTC)

[edit] how do you start o whole new page on something

i am an artist and want to advertise my new band —Preceding unsigned comment added by 71.162.234.247 (talk) 01:16, 1 February 2008 (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 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. VivioFateFan ^{(Talk, Sandbox)} 02:34, 1 February 2008 (UTC)

See also my instructions in the section "making" below. --Coppertwig (talk) 02:37, 1 February 2008 (UTC)

Although Wikipedia has articles about bands, it does not advertise them. Any band covered must already be notable and the article must be written in a neutral encyclopedic tone. Inasmuch as your band is new, it is unlikely that it already has the notability required for a Wikipedia article. --teb728 t c 06:41, 1 February 2008 (UTC) Also, since you apparently are closely associated with the band, you have a conflict of interest in writing about it, and you are discouraged from doing so. --teb728 t c 06:53, 1 February 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Using HTML Markup Codes

Can you use HTML markup codes, such as the color code this color code? —Preceding unsigned comment added by Johnnydeppluvr3942 (talk • contribs) 02:19, 1 February 2008 (UTC)

Yes Wikipedia does support color codes such as <font color="#9955BB">this color code?</font> which would produce this color code?. Also I think there was a page that listed the supported HTML codes, but I can't remember what the name of the page was. VivioFateFan ^{(Talk, Sandbox)} 02:30, 1 February 2008 (UTC)

The page about HTML in wiki that you are referring to, can be found here. --TheDJ (talk • contribs) 02:57, 1 February 2008 (UTC)

I added the missing / in the second font tag, so it doesn't change the font for the rest of the page. Confusing Manifestation(Say hi!) 03:02, 1 February 2008 (UTC)

And for a list of the available HTML tags in MediaWiki, see Help:HTML in wikitext. Confusing Manifestation(Say hi!) 03:03, 1 February 2008 (UTC)

[edit] making

How do you make your own new page? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 24.253.109.55 (talk) 02:26, 1 February 2008 (UTC)

Once you're sure you want to create an article, you can type the name of the article into the search box and click "go". It will tell you there is no such article, and it will give a red link "Create this page". Click on that to create the new page. --Coppertwig (talk) 02:36, 1 February 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Remove history

{{helpme}} I need help, someone writing about me and my name is still in the history despite the page being edited.

Hello anonymous user. People will help you here, but we need to know which page has this problem. Can you give us a link? An indication to where your name is in that page's history and why it should not be would also be appreciated. --TheDJ (talk • contribs) 03:11, 1 February 2008 (UTC)

You can submit a request at WP:RFO Soxred93 | talk count bot 03:12, 1 February 2008 (UTC)

[edit] hi

how can i create a new word and get the definition for it? —Preceding unsigned comment added by Neworleansalgiers (talk • contribs) 05:45, 1 February 2008 (UTC)

If it is a word that is in common use, you could add it to Wiktionary. If it is a new word that you have just created, I know of no place for it. In any case Wikipedia is an encyclopedia—not a place for definitions. --teb728 t c 06:29, 1 February 2008 (UTC)

You also might want to check out the following links: Wikipedia:Avoid neologisms, Wikipedia:No original research, Wikipedia:Verifiability, and Wikipedia:Wikipedia is not for things made up one day. VivioFateFan ^{(Talk, Sandbox)} 06:37, 1 February 2008 (UTC)

You can go to the Urban Dictionary website and add it there. Corvus cornix_talk 23:22, 1 February 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Contribution

What is my starting point in contributing an article? —Preceding unsigned comment added by Aclopez714 (talk • contribs) 06:33, 1 February 2008 (UTC)

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.

[edit] Invader Species

list of invader specis found in south Africa —Preceding unsigned comment added by 164.151.130.2 (talk) 09:59, 1 February 2008 (UTC)

I tried a few searches and there does not appear to be any article on Wikipedia exploring this subject. Have you tried the Science section of Wikipedia's Reference Desk? They specialize in answering knowledge questions there; this help desk is only for questions about using Wikipedia. For your convenience, here is the link to post a question there: click here. I hope this helps.--Fuhghettaboutit (talk) 11:10, 1 February 2008 (UTC)

List of invasive species#Southern Africa looks like a place to start. ("Invasive" is the standard term here, rather than "invader," possibly explaining the search futility.) --Teratornis (talk) 18:14, 1 February 2008 (UTC)

[edit] adding a new section or page

Hi - I can see how to edit a section. How do I start a new section or page? —Preceding unsigned comment added by Deborah M Bailey (talk • contribs) 11:30, 1 February 2008 (UTC)

See Help:Section. Click "edit this page" at top to edit the whole page.

[edit] list of all the articles of a category and it's subcategories

Can I see list of all the articles belongs to a category and all the subcategories of the category (recursively) ? Actually I need list of all the articles of "Mathematics" category and it's subcategories. But Category:Mathematic page shows articles which belongs directly to the Mathematics category and links to subcategories. That's not my wish. My wish is "a" list of all the articles of Mathematics category and it's subcategories. Is it possible? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 147.46.24.54 (talk) 12:12, 1 February 2008 (UTC)

I don't believe so. You will have to click on the subcategory links to view articles in those categories. XENON54 | talk | who? | 01 Feb 2008 12:15_GMT

There are too many mathematics articles for a single list. Have you seen List of mathematics articles? PrimeHunter (talk) 12:20, 1 February 2008 (UTC)

There are some tools that can do this on the Toolserver (which seems to be currently down) including CatScan and CategoryTree. You can run CategoryTree directly from here using Special:CategoryTree, entering "Mathematics" as the category to display and selecting either "all pages" or "pages except images". Please note however that the output on Wikipedia is limited to only display a maximum of 200 pages per category. Nanonic (talk) 13:57, 1 February 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Warning templates

Is there a series of progressively more severe warning templates, like those for vandalism, that apply to non-notable contributions? I am thinking here of schoolkids who add their own birthday to the October 17 article for instance or want to add the goals they got in the playground to a list of top goal scorers. This sort of thing seems to come up a lot but none of the templates I know of seems to say quite the right thing. The nearest I can find is {{subst:uw-unsor1}} but this is really aimed at something else. SpinningSpark 15:44, 1 February 2008 (UTC)

uw-unsorX is certainly the closest template you will find to match the behavior you described. To some extent it doesn't really matter too much as the kids doing the vandalism aren't going to care if you got it right. ;-) FWIW, When I'm not sure if the template is going to match I just fall back on the general vandalism template. —Noah 18:42, 1 February 2008 (UTC)

I take your point that at the end of the day it doesn't really matter, if they stop, problem over, if they don't, then treat as vandalism. But my problem is for the first one, or possibly two warnings, I might well be dealing with a misunderstanding of Wikipedia rather than vandalism so I don't want to be throwing that accusation around at first. The uw-unsorX templates have the problem that they suggest (and even volunteer my help) that adding references will make the entry ok, when in reality, there are no such references to be had. SpinningSpark 22:14, 1 February 2008 (UTC)

People add non-notable birthdays to the days of the year article like fifty times a day. I just revert it and don't even bother warning the first time, because they tend not to do it again. • Anakin ^(talk) 11:59, 2 February 2008 (UTC)

I give them a uw-t1 warning. Corvus cornix_talk 21:37, 2 February 2008 (UTC)

[edit] User ID?

In my user preferences, underneath my username, is a user ID number. What purpose does this serve? Perfect Proposal ^{Speak Out!} 16:21, 1 February 2008 (UTC)

A technical means. It is coupled to your username, and the primary means trough which your contributions to Wikipedia are tracked in the databases. Having it separate from your username is helpful in case a user wants to change his username. --TheDJ (talk • contribs) 16:28, 1 February 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Recommendation for using sortable tables in other articles

Sorry for this long winded & possibly confusing post, but I think it may provide a useful feature that could be used throughout Wikipedia…

Based on a recent separation of article List of museums in the United States into separate Lists of museums by state , there has been an ongoing discussion as to the standard format of the new state level pages, see Talk:List of museums in the United States. One of the new proposed formats includes a sortable table such as List of museums in Alabama. However, one shortfall of this method is inability for articles on cities to link to the museum pages by state to show museums in their town as done in San Francisco. I always believed one of the strengths of Wikipedia is the ability for pages to link to each other. With this in mind, is it possible to create a code so that a page like San Francisco can automatically sort a table via a specific column using a specific search word? For example, if the List of museums in California was reformated like the List of museums in Alabama with one table for the entire state instead of sectioned by city, would it be possible to link to that list so that all the museums in “San Francisco” show at the top of the table when linked to & accessed from the San Francisco page? In other words, when the table of museums is viewed, it automatically sorts with all museums in “San Francisco” at top of the “Location” column (& the same would happen if Los Angeles links to the table with all LA museums appearing at the top). This would preserve the way it works now for San Francisco. (The only way it works now is to create separate tables by city, which will no longer work if the entire state is merged into one table.) This would probably require some code writing, but once done, this would be very useful feature for articles across Wikipedia. This would allow articles to incorporate tables in many cool ways in the future. Thanks! FieldMarine (talk) 16:39, 1 February 2008 (UTC)

I'm by no means an expert on what you're trying to do, but did you see Help:Sorting#Sorting with hidden sortkey and Help:Sorting#Secondary sortkey? Maybe there is already some feature you could use. If not, then while you're waiting for someone to code this feature, in the meantime what's wrong with using categories to build lists of museums by whatever attribute you need? Also note that the problem you describe above is an instance of a general class of problems that structured wikis and semantic wikis may someday solve a little better than we are partially solving now with categories and sortable tables. For an even more comprehensive solution, see Douglas Lenat's Cyc program:

Computers versus Common Sense at YouTube

While you're watching Lenat's talk, notice how he mentions skilled human labor as a limiting factor in his attempt to build the Cyc system. The whole time you'll be shouting "Take a look at Wikipedia's collaborative model!" but unfortunately he won't hear you. --Teratornis (talk) 20:39, 1 February 2008 (UTC)

Use of categories was discussed & I agree that using them has many merits in certain cases. However, in the case of Lists of Museums, it's a huge work-in-progress & many of the museums on the list do not yet have articles in Wikipedia, see List of museums in Florida. Maybe I'm missing something on that point, but it seems to me that using categories generally works well when articles are already included in Wikipedia? Thanks! FieldMarine (talk) 21:00, 1 February 2008 (UTC)

Is it possible to export a sortkey into a table from a linked article? For example, could the San Francisco article plug in “San Francisco” into a variable sortkey at the “Location” column of the table to initiate a sort for San Francisco? If so, how could I do this? Thanks! FieldMarine (talk) 21:21, 1 February 2008 (UTC)

On categories: yes, a page must exist before it can be in a category. To be in a category, a page must contain a category link, so the page must exist to do that. Categories are therefore for organizing pages which exist. If the list of museums contains many red links, it sounds as if you are also using it as a to-do list. Nothing is improper about that, but in general, to-do lists work better as subpages of the appropriate WikiProject. In other words, use the WikiProject to keep track of pending work, rather than article space, and you won't have to worry as much about overzealous admins deleting your stubs and so on. You can write pages under the WikiProject specifically for organizing the work, so they won't have to simultaneously meet all the standards for pages in the main article space. As far as how to dynamically insert sortkeys into a table from an article, the straightforward way would probably be to put the whole table into a big template so you can pass parameters to it. You might search Wikipedia's Template: namespace for examples first, that is, look for templates by other people that contain big tables with fancy sorting possibilities. For example:

table sortable

finds some interesting templates: {{Nts}}, {{dts2}}, etc. that you could study for clues. --Teratornis (talk) 17:41, 2 February 2008 (UTC)

[edit] article traffic tracking

A few weeks ago, I went to some external site that generated little traffic charts for any wikipedia page you typed in. (Not just a list of the top pages). I think it was new when I went to it. Does anyone know what this page is? I can't find it in Google or in my Firefox history... Calliopejen1 (talk) 16:46, 1 February 2008 (UTC)

Well, there's a stumper. I could not find anything like the site you describe by trying some Google searches either. I suggest reading the articles: Web counter and Web analytics and their talk pages. Maybe you will see some jargon term that jogs your memory about some specific text you saw on this site, enabling you to choose good keywords for a Google search. For example, the Web analytics article links to Web Traffic Data Sources & Vendor Comparison which lists a number of sites, maybe including the site you visited. --Teratornis (talk) 17:49, 1 February 2008 (UTC)

Are you looking for the WikiDashboard from PARC.com? —Noah 18:38, 1 February 2008 (UTC)

Nope, but hurray for google desktop! I totally forgot I had reinstalled it and could use it to search everything I've looked at.... It's http://stats.grok.se in case anyone else is interested. Calliopejen1 (talk) 20:44, 1 February 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Writing an article

I would like to place an article on a person whom I and the martial arts community feels is important what is the best way to do this with Wiki? I have tried and I am not sure what I am doing wrong. Any advice? thanksGeorgear22 (talk) 16:47, 1 February 2008 (UTC)

If you still think an article is appropriate, see Wikipedia:Your first article and Wikipedia:How to write a great article for guidance, and please consider taking a tour through the Wikipedia:Tutorial so that you know how to properly format the article before creation. Perfect Proposal ^{Speak Out!} 16:59, 1 February 2008 (UTC)

[edit] becoming a recognized authority

To Whom It May Concern,

I am one of the owners of www.dugoutcentral.com - a baseball site operated by former major leaguer Mike Pagliarulo and baseball scouts. One of our readers tried to link to one of our articles on Wikipedia, but it was taken down with the note "not a recognized authority". My question is how we become a recognized authority in the minds of the Wikipedia editor community.

As evidence of our authority, I submit to you two links.

1. Rob Neyer of ESPN writing about us: http://insider.espn.go.com/espn/blog/index?entryID=3220317&searchName=Neyer_Rob&action=login&appRedirect=http%3a%2f%2finsider.espn.go.com%2fespn%2fblog%2findex%3fentryID%3d3220317%26searchName%3dNeyer_Rob

2. Scouting report posted in USA Today: http://www.usatoday.com/sports/baseball/playoffs/2007-10-03-indiansyanks-watch_N.htm

Thank you —Preceding unsigned comment added by 68.247.97.184 (talk) 17:08, 1 February 2008 (UTC)

You will find this helpful in deciding what kind of links are considered desirable in Wikipedia articles; Wikipedia:External links.

Of the two links you provide, one is a blog, and therefore not considered an authoritative source and the other does not appear to mention your organisation as far as I can see. It is also helpful when asking questions on a specific edit to an article to provide a link to that article, or even better, a diff of the actual edit in question. SpinningSpark 17:40, 1 February 2008 (UTC)

Oh, beg your pardon, I was searching the USA Today page for "dugoutcentral" as all one word. I now see that you are there. SpinningSpark 17:45, 1 February 2008 (UTC)

[edit] country flags

Hi! How do I add a flag next to a title in level 4? For example:

[edit] Heading

works, but:

[edit] Heading

doesnt work!

Ferdinand h2 (talk) 17:14, 1 February 2008 (UTC)

You need to put it in the heading tag, as I have done. Algebraist 17:39, 1 February 2008 (UTC)

[edit] do i have to be a black man to join gods the earths?

im puerto rican and i would like to know what i have to do because im a muslin but im looking to get smarter and i know i still could surpass some knowledge so i would like to know what i have to do76.118.222.224 (talk) 19:37, 1 February 2008 (UTC)yusuf7777

Hey! By the sounds of your question, you might think we are directly related to the material in the articles. However we are not. If you would like to add to this Wikipedia, see Help:Editing. I recommend getting an account, as it has many benefits. Good luck! _{WEBURIEDOURSECRETSINTHEGARDEN}^{play it cool.} 20:06, 1 February 2008 (UTC)

[edit] new entry

Can I begin a new topic or page? —Preceding unsigned comment added by Blmf20 (talk • contribs) 21:27, 1 February 2008 (UTC)

yes, first search for it to make sure that it doesn't already exist, and then make sure the article is notable and has suitable references, and once your done editing the article hit save.--Kerotan ^{Leave Me a Message} Have a nice day :) 21:31, 1 February 2008 (UTC)

(edit conflict)Hi there, you sure can!

If you still think an article is appropriate, see Wikipedia:Your first article and Wikipedia:How to write a great article for guidance, and please consider taking a tour through the Wikipedia:Tutorial so that you know how to properly format the article before creation. --The Helpful One 21:32, 1 February 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Gallary of User Styles

In the Gallary of User Styles under Voice of All's Admin Monobook, am i permitted in transferring the monobook,js into my monobook, most of the scripts on the list i use, however some of the scripts won't probably work because of my current posistion but am i able to. Terra ^{User page} 22:03, 1 February 2008 (UTC)

Please elabourate. Are you trying to copy Voice of All's monobook and paste it into User:Terra/monobook.js? I am confused by the wording of your question. XENON54 | talk | who? | 01 Feb 2008 22:43_GMT

Here's the link which i'm wanting to have http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Gallery_of_user_styles#Voice_of_All.27s_Admin_Monobook it leads directly to what i'm talking about. Terra ^{Terra's talkpage} 10:01, 2 February 2008 (UTC)

I've decided to place the script into my monobook.js, there's nothing that new about it, all it includes is some of the scripts which i have already got, all i can see from the script is two new features on the toolbox which is New pages & the new users links. Terra ^{Terra's talkpage} 10:18, 2 February 2008 (UTC)

[edit] your copyright infringement comments to image

re copyright infringements against image of my product arresoe 6 system 6320 for which I am the sole proprietor of all rights inclusive all industrial and copyrights world-wide my rights as industrial designer and constructor have to be respected they can be informed immediately to a secure telefax or email address this regarding to french,german,belgian and us design patents as well as the awards received - at the file specification it is informed that the arresoe 6 system has the US Design Patent 267192 BRUYERE-VINCENT INDUSTRIAL DESIGN —Preceding unsigned comment added by Michel de la Bruyere Vincent (talk • contribs) 22:32, 1 February 2008 (UTC)

The image in question: Image:Mbv-arresoe-6-system-1981-bg-6320.jpg, needs a fair use rationale to prove that it is fair use. _{WEBURIEDOURSECRETSINTHEGARDEN}^{play it cool.} 22:41, 1 February 2008 (UTC)

It also needs a license/copyright tag from WP:ICT. Also, the page mentions something about public domain, but the watermark says “Copyright. All rights reserved.” I do not understand. --teb728 t c 23:04, 1 February 2008 (UTC)

It appears you are the designer of the item in question and wish to release the image into the public domain. If so, and if you (rather than the photographer) indeed also own the copyright to that specific photograph, then you should edit the image description page and add "{{PD-self}}" to it. You should also preferably upload a version of the image with the surrounding text removed, in order to fully comply with our image use policy (but if you don't, someone else will probably crop the image for you). —Ilmari Karonen (talk) 17:38, 2 February 2008 (UTC)

[edit] AfD closure by non-admin

Resolved. Handed off to Wikipedia:AN/I#Pookeo9 - user has been admonished to refrain from closing AfD debates

Can non-admins close an AfD prematurely or is this vandalism? Example: Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/The Southern Cat Rocks On (and look through the history). It looks like this user has been doing this a bit lately: Special:Contributions/Pookeo9. Wyatt Riot (talk) 23:14, 1 February 2008 (UTC)

Yes, this needs to be brought up in WP:AN/I. Soxred93 | talk count bot 23:20, 1 February 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Vandalism

I am a member on a couple other wikis so I know how to edit and stuff. What I am wondering is what really is Wikipedia vandalism and what can I as a user do to help? Swirlboy39 (talk) 23:28, 1 February 2008 (UTC)

Hey, welcome to Wikipedia! It's not often a user comes to Wikipedia with some wiki editing experience! See WP:VAND for info on vandalism. Soxred93 | talk count bot 23:31, 1 February 2008 (UTC)

(edit conflict)Vandalism is the damage of articles, like removing large areas of text without a valid reason, or replacing a page with obscenity's, stuff like that. You can report obvious and persistent vandals at Wikipedia:Administrator intervention against vandalism. Before posting there, a final warning in an escalating series should have been posted to the user's talk page (for example {{Uw-vandal4}}, {{Uw-spam4}} or {{Uw-speedy4}}), and the user must have vandalized within the last few hours, including after the final warning was given. Various warning templates can be found at Wikipedia:Template messages/User talk namespace. Your block request is unlikely to be acted upon unless you follow these steps. Cases that are not simple vandalism can be reported at WP:AN/I. Of course, in conjunction with warning against and reporting vandalism, you have the ability, mandate and are encouraged to revert all instances of vandalism you find yourself.--Kerotan ^{Leave Me a Message} Have a nice day :) 23:34, 1 February 2008 (UTC)

Have a look at Wikipedia:Most vandalized pages, and consider watching a bunch of pages from there to find and undo vandalism quickly. Remember to always assume good faith unless an edit is obvious vandalism. • Anakin ^(talk) 12:16, 2 February 2008 (UTC)

If you are just looking to go on a vandal hunt rather than looking after specific pages, a good place to start is Special:Recentchanges. Click on the "diff" next to any suspicious item to see the edit. Most likely to be vandals are IP accounts, accounts without a userpage (red links) and edits without an edit summary. But as Anakin says, assume good faith. A redlinked IP talkpage with no edit summary might be a good editor who just wants to stay anonymous. Concentrate on edits to main article space rather than talk pages. Best vandal types for humans to go after are those that sneakily alter facts such as numbers. More obvious vandalism like obscenities and page blanking are usually caught by the bots much quicker than you can get to them. Good hunting! SpinningSpark 16:58, 2 February 2008 (UTC)

Wikipedia:Help desk/Archives/2008 February 1

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Contents

[edit] February 1

[edit] autohide TOC

[edit] Brand Named Handbags

[edit] How do I Change my user page?

[edit] how do you start o whole new page on something

[edit] Using HTML Markup Codes

[edit] making

[edit] Remove history

[edit] hi

[edit] Contribution

[edit] Invader Species

[edit] adding a new section or page

[edit] list of all the articles of a category and it's subcategories

[edit] Warning templates

[edit] User ID?

[edit] Recommendation for using sortable tables in other articles

[edit] article traffic tracking

[edit] Writing an article

[edit] becoming a recognized authority

[edit] country flags

[edit] Heading

[edit] Heading

[edit] do i have to be a black man to join gods the earths?

[edit] new entry

[edit] Gallary of User Styles

[edit] your copyright infringement comments to image

[edit] AfD closure by non-admin

[edit] Vandalism

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Navigation

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