Wikipedia:Help desk/Archives/2008 May 31

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Help desk
< May 30 << May | May | Jul >> June 1 >
Welcome to the Wikipedia Help Desk Archives
The page you are currently viewing is a transcluded 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] May 31

[edit] found a strange editor - vandalism ?

check out Jhovstkepp

Machete97 (talk) 02:12, 31 May 2008 (UTC)

I'm not seeing any vandalism here. Looks like he accidentally (or maybe intentionally) created an article page on his user page the moved it into article space when he felt it was ready to "go live". Usually when people do that, they do it with a subpage rather than their main user page, but there's nothing wrong with doing it that way... who am I to judge? -- ShinmaWa(talk) 02:21, 31 May 2008 (UTC)
I don't know what "wrong" means either, but I do know "inexpedient." Creating articles directly on one's User page may confuse other editors, as it did in this case, because the user page does not label itself clearly as being a sandbox or scratch page. User subpages are much better for this, because: (a) more users would recognize them as sandbox pages, and (b) an informative user will label his or her subpage collection and explain what they are (for example, I label mine here: User:Teratornis#User sub-pages - hmmm, and come to think of it, maybe I don't want that hyphen). On Wikipedia it is customary for every user to explain his or her actions to other users, for example by leaving informative edit summaries, and by explaining complex actions on talk pages. I think labeling one's user subpages clearly enough to be understandable is in keeping with that spirit. After all, Wikipedia cannot hold together unless users can easily figure out what other users are doing. --Teratornis (talk) 18:13, 31 May 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Camp Rock (soundtrack)'s text

Resolved.

I'm currently cleaning up the above article. If you look at the article, you should notice that it doesn't have external links and it's references. If you edit the article, the external links and refs are there. I can't seem to find out why the refs and external links don't show without being edited. Is it a wikimarkup problem or is it just my PC? Much help would be appreciated. Thanks. -- RyRy5 (talk) 06:19, 31 May 2008 (UTC)

Hi RyRy5. In my experience the most common reason for this sort of error is a badly-formatted reference, so the first thing I checked was whether the end of the displayed text was a reference. Sure enough it was, and that ref was missing its </ref> tag. So the entire rest of the article was being interpreted as part of the reference, and not as text to display. I've fixed it now.
In this case the ref was the last in the article, but sometimes it can happen earlier on:
<ref>My friend told me it was true
Here is some lovely prose for my article
<ref>How could you even doubt this fact?</ref>
And some more prose
Causing the "Here is some..." paragraph to disappear mysteriously because the software is waiting to find a </ref> tag.
Best, Olaf Davis | Talk 08:10, 31 May 2008 (UTC)
I've noticed that before. Thanks, Olaf Davis. Regards, RyRy5 (talk) 08:18, 31 May 2008 (UTC)
It is a shame that MediaWiki cannot automatically detect an unclosed <ref> tag. That's such an easy error to make, and the result is baffling to a user who hasn't learned about it yet. The Help desk gets this question fairly often. I can't imagine the error would be all that hard to detect in the software. But maybe it is hard to detect, since we have had this problem for a long time. --Teratornis (talk) 18:29, 31 May 2008 (UTC)
Actually, its simplistically easy to detect. However, as a general rule, MediaWiki tends to take a hands-off approach to user submissions and does not throw errors or "adjust" the user's input in any way. Traditionally, the detection and correction of problems such as these have been left to bots. -- ShinmaWa(talk) 18:00, 1 June 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Calumny of spam to giacomo.lorenzoni.name.

RESPONSE TO http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MediaWiki_talk:Spam-blacklist#giacomo.lorenzoni.name


79.25.115.224 (talk) 07:16, 31 May 2008 (UTC)

Perhaps giacomo.lorenzoni.name it is “Spam” also in

http://www.cfd-online.com/Wiki/Codes (http://www.cfd-online.com/Wiki/Codes#Solvers "PEEI: a computer program for the numerical solution of differential analytical models (i.e. systems of partial differential equations)."

http://www.mathcs.carleton.edu/probweb/probweb.html (Teaching Resources) "Analytical Argumentations of Probability and Statistics by Giacomo Lorenzoni."

http://www.matematicamente.it/siti_di_matematica/siti_di_matematica/probabilita_e_statistica_20070626179/ "Argomentazioni analitiche di probabilità e statistica (Giacomo Lorenzoni)"

http://www.dmoz.org/World/Italiano/Scienza/Matematica/ "Argomentazioni analitiche di probabilità e statistica"

?


79.25.115.224 (talk) 07:16, 31 May 2008 (UTC)

I'm sorry, I don't understand what question you're trying to ask about using Wikipedia. Do you have one? Olaf Davis | Talk 12:41, 31 May 2008 (UTC)

[edit] A quick question...

Can recently deleted images be possibly undeleted? That's all thanks. --.:Alex:. 09:12, 31 May 2008 (UTC)

Depends. Yes, if they're not copyvios. What image did you have in mind? PeterSymonds (talk) 09:41, 31 May 2008 (UTC)
One that was deleted because it was unused. An IP vandal removed it for no apparent reason and consequently it was deleted because no one noticed it had been removed. I'll have to check the name of it though. --.:Alex:. 16:57, 31 May 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Deleting desktop icon?

✔ Resolved. Use Ref Desk

I went to copy this picture;

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Anarchy-symbol.svg


and put it on my friends desktop as a joke and it came out a little square that we now cannot get rid of.

Right ckicking on it doesn't provide a delete link like any other icon does.

How can we get this outta this computer?

Thank you. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 65.7.59.204 (talk) 11:49, 31 May 2008 (UTC)


Just change the background to something else? It's not an icon. -mattbuck (Talk) 12:09, 31 May 2008 (UTC)
Also this page is for asking questions about using Wikipedia - the computing section of the reference desk is a better place if you have similar questions in future. Olaf Davis | Talk 12:40, 31 May 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Wikipedia Font

✔ Resolved. Font discovered by user.

What font is the Wikipedia logo? Like where it says WikipediA, The Free Encyclopedia. I've read it somewhere on the wiki. StewieGriffin! • Talk 14:36, 31 May 2008 (UTC)

The closest I can find is Times New Roman. It's the same as the font, but the W doesn't cross over, I think that was drawn manually...... Dendodge .. TalkHelp 14:41, 31 May 2008 (UTC)
That would make WIKIPEDIA...... Dendodge .. TalkHelp 14:45, 31 May 2008 (UTC)
It's Hoefler Text.StewieGriffin! • Talk 14:54, 31 May 2008 (UTC)
I thought this question came up before, so I searched the Help desk archive for: Search Help desk for: wikipedia logo font. That finds this previous question:
in which a user claimed it's a Bodoni font. However, Wikipedia:Wikipedia logos#The current logo says the logo caption is in Hoefler Text Small caps. --Teratornis (talk) 17:56, 31 May 2008 (UTC)
For the record, we also have an FAQ entry about the logo: WP:MFAQ#LOGO. --Teratornis (talk) 18:35, 31 May 2008 (UTC)

[edit] HELP

Hi,

I was hoping you could help. After some articles online I have found out that Michael Tsarion no longer has a wikipedia site. Why has it been taken down? I find this most upsetting as Michael Tsarion is just about to release a book completely about Astro-Theology, which is a subject that your site has written nothing about <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Astro-theology> This subject is one of the hottest topics right now in alternative research and it would be of great help if you could bring this information out. - Thank you —Preceding unsigned comment added by 76.236.29.255 (talk) 16:12, 31 May 2008 (UTC)

It turns out I deleted that a while back; the discussion is here. Wikipedia's editors reached a consensus that the article did not meet the inclusion criteria, which are WP:N, WP:V, WP:BIO, WP:RS and WP:NPOV. Hope this helps. Best, PeterSymonds (talk) 16:19, 31 May 2008 (UTC)
Also see: Wikipedia:Why was my article deleted? That page has instructions on how to find alternative wikis which accept a wider range of topics about alternative research (and almost everything else) than Wikipedia currently does. --Teratornis (talk) 18:02, 31 May 2008 (UTC)
Looking for Astrotheology? --—— Gadget850 (Ed) talk - 18:02, 31 May 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Image deletion

✔ Resolved. Requester figured out his/her own question. -- RyRy5 (talk) 21:34, 31 May 2008 (UTC)

If anyone knowledgeable about image policy can help me with this one - fill me on in the applicable policy, point me to the appropriate help desk - I'd really appreciate it. I left the below message on an admin's talk page who deleted an image I recently uploaded:

Sorry to be another one of those folks, but, "you deleted my image" - Image:Kips bay.jpg. I was wondering - is there any recourse for me on this? I found the NYPL link on Wikipedia:Public_domain_image_resources, and I did actually call the permissions desk of the library, where I was verbally granted permission to use this image on Wikipedia. Did I tag improperly? Is this not a valid way to "earn" permission to use an image? I'm admittedly a bit naive on this front, but I'd really like to use this image for Landing at Kip's Bay (for obvious reasons). Thanks for any help you can give. Tan | 39 17:01, 31 May 2008 (UTC)

Figured it out on my own, resolved. Tan | 39 17:36, 31 May 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Copyright

I am creating an initial draft for an article. I used a good source [1] here. There is a paragraph where several information comes from the said source. I am a bit confused over copyvio question. Can anyone please tell if this paragraph constitutes coyvio of this reference? I have vastly changed the semantics and there are no other source available for this information. Otolemur crassicaudatus (talk) 18:35, 31 May 2008 (UTC)

I personally don't think so, but a good way to avoid copyright infringement/plagiarism that I recently learned in school is to first take notes from the reference (like on note-cards), then re-write it in your own words, therefore eliminating any chance of possible copyright infringement. Calvin 1998 (t-c) 19:17, 31 May 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Globe logo

I was reading recently that the Wikipedia Globe logo wasn't as clear as one on another language wikipedia. I've searched the village pump but I can't find this discussion. Could anyone help? Thanks. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 89.143.81.140 (talk) 21:17, 31 May 2008 (UTC)

How did you search the Village pump? The {{Google custom}} template has some searches on the Village pump archive pages; did you try those? Wikipedia talk:Wikipedia logos#Smoothing the logo? mentions a difference between the logo appearance on the French and English Wikipedia, and sure enough, I see it. Is that what you mean by "clear"? --Teratornis (talk) 01:13, 1 June 2008 (UTC)

[edit] How to relocate picture on Wikipedia article.

When the article Ferrari is viewed using Mozilla Firefox RC2, the image captioned "A Ferrari 312PB during the team's final year in the World Sportscar Championship." appears to be overlapped partially by the line of text above it. I intend to move the image down slightly in order to solve this problem, however I am unable to find any material in the help section instructing me on how to do this. Any replies will be greatly appreciated. Dav115 (talk) 22:14, 31 May 2008 (UTC)

Doing... I believe placing <br clear="all"/> right after the image should fix it. I'll try. Calvin 1998 (t-c) 23:03, 31 May 2008 (UTC)
Y Done - the image might be in the wrong place though... Calvin 1998 (t-c) 23:05, 31 May 2008 (UTC)
You could try using a gallery tag to organize the images. See Wikipedia:Gallery tag and an example in High-visibility clothing#Gallery for one possibility. --Teratornis (talk) 01:18, 1 June 2008 (UTC)

Brilliant, thank you both very much for your help. Dav115 (talk) 18:29, 1 June 2008 (UTC)

I moved the 312PB image to line up opposite the World Sportscar Championship section. The white space after the previous section is still really ugly though. – ukexpat (talk) 14:17, 2 June 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Redirect

Should a redirect ever have categories (e.g. Exocomp)? Clarityfiend (talk) 22:40, 31 May 2008 (UTC)

For my $.02, I don't believe so. The redirect simply points to another page, which has categories of its own. TN‑X-Man 22:42, 31 May 2008 (UTC)
(ec) Yes they have categories depedning on what type of redirect they are, there is an abbreviations redirect category, a misspelling category, an alternative name category and a bunch of other categories I can't remember...--Serviam (talk) 22:50, 31 May 2008 (UTC)
See Wikipedia:Categorizing redirects. PrimeHunter (talk) 22:48, 31 May 2008 (UTC)