Wikipedia:Help desk/Archives/2006 December 17

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December 17

Creating a page in wikipedia namespace

How would I create the page Wikipedia:Example/ExampleA ? This would not be an article but a page in the wikipedia namespace. Thanks! --Banana04131 01:15, 17 December 2006 (UTC)

Same as any other page - go to Wikipedia:Example/ExampleA and click 'Start the page' link. --Sam Blanning^(talk) 01:19, 17 December 2006 (UTC)

Thank you for the quick reply! It just seemed too obvious. . .--Banana04131 01:23, 17 December 2006 (UTC)

See also Help:Starting a new page and Wikipedia:Your first article. You may be also interested in Wikipedia:How to write a great article. Jacek Kendysz 01:28, 17 December 2006 (UTC)

Note that the guidelines cited by Jacek do not apply to pages in the Wikipedia namespace, only to articles! — QuantumEleven 11:10, 17 December 2006 (UTC)

how do i?

how do i donwload the toolbar? —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 68.61.170.66 (talk) 01:29, 17 December 2006 (UTC).

If you mean the Wikipedia toolbar for Firefox, visit here, click on Downloads and then click on the version at the bottom of the list. -- Kesh 01:33, 17 December 2006 (UTC)

Adding comments to the edit

How do I add comments to an edit on the history page? —The preceding unsigned comment was added by Sniper 99 (talk • contribs) 03:32, 17 December 2006 (UTC).

Thanks for asking there is so much that can be gained by doing so. It is called an edit summery, please read more here. — Seadog^Talk 03:33, 17 December 2006 (UTC)

You do that when you're submitting your change. The little line below your edit window, where it says Edit summary, is where those comments go. If you forget and leave it blank, it's going to be blank once you've made the edit. You cannot go back in the History and edit that line. So, be sure to add your edit summary before submitting! -- Kesh 03:34, 17 December 2006 (UTC)

Authorising use in public domain

Dear Wikipedia, How does the creator of an entry go about authorizing its use as public domain? Not sure where to go to find your response, I am... A Newbie

The usual way to do this is to multi-license one's contributions that way. Check out User_talk:Ram-Man/MLFAQ and Wikipedia:Multi-licensing. — User:ACupOfCoffee@ 09:20, 17 December 2006 (UTC)

Please note that multi-licensing your own contributions does not make an article public domain (just your own contributions). Wikipedia's content is licensed under the GFDL, see Wikipedia:Text of the GNU Free Documentation License. By entering text here you've agreed to license it this way. This license allows reuse of the content (including commercial reuse) as long as the terms of the GFDL are followed (which are approximately that the republisher has to also license the content under the GFDL allowing anyone else to reuse the republished content, see Copyleft). -- Rick Block (talk) 14:54, 18 December 2006 (UTC)

Missing Article

I was looking up organs inside the body and I noticed that you were missing an organ. I was trying to edit in "Appendix" to the bodily organs and wasn't sure how to. I just figured I'd let you guys know. Thanks. -Rodney "Rod" Petrin

Are you talking about the Appendix (the third bullet on that page?). Cbrown1023 06:55, 17 December 2006 (UTC)

What is the exact name of the article? —Larry V (talk | contribs) 07:04, 17 December 2006 (UTC)

Help “un” orphaning

I am trying to link up related articles to “un” orphan the article Touch Tanks For Kids. I do not think I am doing it right. Could someone assist me?

Thank you,

CR —The preceding unsigned comment was added by Sc2racing (talk • contribs) 09:12, 17 December 2006 (UTC).

I have no idea what you are asking, can you explain what you mean further? Viridae^Talk 11:11, 17 December 2006 (UTC)

• I think they were trying to stop the article from being an Wikipedia:Orphan article, but if the article itself doesn't exist, there's little I can do to help. - Mgm|^(talk) 13:16, 17 December 2006 (UTC)

Article with wrong name

There is an article on IndiaTimes Group. But actually, the group is called The Times Group (the article is already there). How do we synchronize the two articles? I tried searching the FAQ, but could not get the answer. Jyothisingh 14:00, 17 December 2006 (UTC)

You want to merge them. BigNate37_(T) 18:31, 17 December 2006 (UTC)

High resolution fair use image

According to the fair use templates, images used under fair use criteria need to be of low resolution. What should I do if I see a high resolution fair use image? I'm talking about Image:Microsoft Windows.png. Sorry for possible grammar mistakes, I'm not a native speaker of English. TZM^{Everything is notable} 14:10, 17 December 2006 (UTC)

You could edit it, reduce its size, and reupload it to the same name. Looking at how its used, only the image's page itself has the big version so it shouldn't be a problem. Issues like that are common and left untouched for long periods of time, so thanks for picking that out. BigNate37_(T) 18:34, 17 December 2006 (UTC)

Adding to Wikipedia

How do I add a person to Wikipedia? 70.23.9.7 17:49, 17 December 2006 (UTC)

Do you mean an article about someone? See: Help:Starting a new page. You might also look at Wikipedia:Your first article, Wikipedia:How to write a great article and Wikipedia:Notability (people). Ah, you need to create an account to write articles. Jacek Kendysz 18:10, 17 December 2006 (UTC)

very stupid question from non-html editing person

I came across an article seeking citations. I have found the sources on line without much work. I want to add the citations. What do I need to to do?

for example a patent number is cited. I want the number to be the link to the US Patent site of the patent. I can find the patent, but the link is about four lines long.... How do I hide the link so it is only the patent # in blue?

Or should I just buy a book on html?

thanks —The preceding unsigned comment was added by Jamesromanow (talk • contribs) 18:04, 17 December 2006 (UTC).

Wikipedia:How to edit a page#Links and URLs has a little bit about this. It's best not to use an HTML link, but the wiki markup. For an external link for which you want to give it a name seperate from its address, you do the following:

Code	Result
[http://www.somesite.com/link.php?n=2679221346 Name of link]	Name of link

After the first space, the rest of the stuff inside the square brackets is the link's name. That means if the URL has a space, you need to use the HTML encoded space which if I recall is %20 or something similar. BigNate37_(T) 18:49, 17 December 2006 (UTC)

There are also a few different templates and such that are in use to create citations in articles, including {{cite}}, and I think they're discussed somewhere in the vicinity of WP:CITE. Confusing Manifestation 10:13, 18 December 2006 (UTC)

you have a message notification/ doesn't go away

Someone sent me a message -- a yellow ochre band across my computer screen says I have a message. I clicked on the band, went to the message on my talk page, I read the message, went to the person's talk page who left me the message, and I politely answered. However the yellow ochre band that says "You have a Message" won't go away. How do I allow it to go away? Modernist 18:13, 17 December 2006 (UTC)

Have you tried bypassing your brower's cache? Depending on your browser: Mozilla/Safari: hold down Shift while clicking Reload (or press Ctrl-Shift-R), Internet Explorer: press Ctrl-F5, Opera/Konqueror: press F5. Jacek Kendysz 18:17, 17 December 2006 (UTC)

What is an ED troll?

The term was used repeatedly in a recent ArbCom discussion - any one know what it means? Ronnotel 18:32, 17 December 2006 (UTC)

ED stands for encylopedia dramatica.--Fuhghettaboutit 18:37, 17 December 2006 (UTC)

ouch! just burned my eyeballs - guess I won't be going back there - but thanks for the pointer Ronnotel 18:46, 17 December 2006 (UTC)

creating an entry

I want to create an entry for an American author who is not yet listed on Wikipedia. How do I do this? —The preceding unsigned comment was added by JOlshan (talk • contribs) 19:49, 17 December 2006 (UTC).

See: Help:Starting a new page. You might also look at Wikipedia:Your first article, Wikipedia:How to write a great article and Wikipedia:Notability (people). Jacek Kendysz 19:59, 17 December 2006 (UTC)

Propose an edit to Special:Upload

How do I propose an edit to Special:Upload? There is no talk page for it. --MECU≈talk 20:09, 17 December 2006 (UTC)

WP:VPR. Cbrown1023 20:12, 17 December 2006 (UTC)

The list of the messages that Mediawiki generates for such special pages is listed at Special:Allmessages (red is default, green is anything overriding that). Each of those is in turn a page in the mediawiki: namespace, and those do have talk pages. But most have never been edited, and very few people ever look at them. So you're better getting some consensus as to the change on the Village Pump, and then (armed with that consensus) asking an admin to change the appropriate message on WP:AN. -- Finlay McWalter | Talk 20:17, 17 December 2006 (UTC)

Thank you both. The talk page of the upload at MediaWiki talk:Uploadtext actually has covered my suggestion anyways. But thanks again. --MECU≈talk 20:26, 17 December 2006 (UTC)

Deletion

What do you do if you contribute to an article, and what you write is unjustly deleted? I wrote genuine information to an article, and checked back and it had been deleted for no reason. This annoyed me as the reason I wrote the information was to share it with others, and I am being deprived of that right. I understand that many people abuse this site and it must be stopped, but I was not doing this, and it is unfair that because some people write false information, those who write genuine information should be punished. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by Tkma (talk • contribs) 20:41, 17 December 2006 (UTC).

• Without knowing what article you're talking about it is hard to be specific, but you should check the article history tab to see who removed it and why, then start a discussion with them. Also, information might be genuine, but in Wikipedia it should be verifiable, so if you add information from personal knowledge or hearsay it probably gets deleted. - Mgm|^(talk) 20:51, 17 December 2006 (UTC)
• Another detail I would like to point out, and you may not like, is that you do not have any rights to spread information through Wikipedia. You are more than welcome to contribute content (which may be edited ruthelessly), but you get no assurance that your work will be maintained in the way you envisioned. You may already be aware of this, I just wanted to point this out in case you or someone else reading this thought that what they write in good faith would be exempt from alteration or removal. Sometimes, something that is verifiable, properly sourced and written from a neutral point of view is still removed from an article because an editor feels the article is better without it or with other information in its place. The article's talk page, or in lieu of that an RfC, is the venue to pursue for that type of issue. BigNate37_(T) 21:39, 17 December 2006 (UTC)

deleting account

If I do not use the account for a very long time, will my account delete itself? Is there any way to delete my account?

Thanks!

• No, account will not disappear and if you made any edits they cannot be deleted either because the edits you made need to be attributed to someone in the database. - Mgm|^(talk) 20:52, 17 December 2006 (UTC)

Forgot password...

nvm fixed. ty!

indef block rules?

When a user is indef blocked, are they still allowed to edit under their IP? The user in question is not sockpuppeting, per se, because they have not registered a new account, but they've begun editing anonymously. Is that permitted? — coelacan talk — 21:52, 17 December 2006 (UTC)

Probably depends on why the account was blocked. We don't indef block IPs. Wikipedia:Blocking policy has more info.--Kchase T 21:54, 17 December 2006 (UTC)

• If they stop the behavior that got them banned in the first place it's not a problem. Otherwise, no, it's not allowed. - Mgm|^(talk) 23:47, 17 December 2006 (UTC)

download

where does the pix go that i attempted to download? —The preceding unsigned comment was added by Comptiques (talk • contribs) 22:23, 17 December 2006 (UTC).

That depends on your browser settings - what browser are you using? If you're using Firefox, go to Tools -> Options, click on "Main" (at the top), and see what's entered in the field "Save files to:". — QuantumEleven 22:30, 17 December 2006 (UTC)

Mt. etna eruption violence

What is Mt. etna eruption violence

Have you tried Wikipedia's Reference Desk? They specialize in knowledge questions, and will try to answer any question in the universe (except how to use Wikipedia, since that's what this Help Desk is for). Just follow the link, select the relevant section, and ask away. I hope this helps.--Joshua Chiew 22:50, 17 December 2006 (UTC)

Whats the box that says You can give the gift of knowledge?

Well i know what that is, but why does it have green blocks, and why is it split up, does wikipedia have a target to meet through fundraising? Ahadland 23:34, 17 December 2006 (UTC) 23:34, 17 December 2006 (UTC)

I think the target this time is 1.5 million. More information at here --Banana04131 23:41, 17 December 2006 (UTC)

I have 2 questions

• I am trying to set up a talk page. I have a link so that comments can be enterred onto the talk page Talk. The problem is the link still has part of the code on the on my talk page. How do I hide the code? Are there templates that can be used for this to make it simpler?

• When I originally set up my preferences I put in a nickname, jack. Consequently when I sign in with the

four tildes jack comes up rather than Johnalden. This is a conflict.Can this be changed to be a uniform Johnalden?

See Steel Square history Johnalden if the previous stuff does not link you.

--Jack 23:34, 17 December 2006 (UTC)

Hi there! To answer your questions in order:

1. Your user talk page is at User talk:Johnalden, but I'm not sure what you're trying to do. If you're trying to hide the previous conversations on your talk page, don't worry about it, user talk pages are meant to have lots of old conversations on them, that's normal (take a look at my talk page!). If this isn't what you were asking about, could you please clarify?
2. This one is easy, click on "My preferences" (at the top of the screen, just right of centre) and fill in the signature you'd like in the "signature" field.

Does that answer your questions? — QuantumEleven 08:39, 18 December 2006 (UTC)