Wikipedia:Help desk/Archives/2006 December 25

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December 25[edit]

Newsletters[edit]

Is there a way to redirect newsletters from the Novels and Films Wikiprojects to somewhere other than my Talk page? Clarityfiend 00:20, 25 December 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Redirect, as in, have them deliver them to another page? If you don't want them, there should be an opt-out; if you want them put on a subpage instead of your talk page, that should be something to take up with whomever delivers them. The relevant link for the films project seems to be Wikipedia:WikiProject_Films/Outreach#Delivery_options, I assume there is a similar one for the novels project. Essjay (Talk) 00:27, 25 December 2006 (UTC)[reply]
For the novels project, the newsletter sign-up link is Wikipedia:WikiProject_Novels/Outreach#Delivery_options.This project gives the option of delevering the entire newsletter on your user page, or just a notification that is is available.I don`t see an option to have it put on a page other than your user talk page, though. 24.20.69.240 08:44, 25 December 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Hiding Text in Articles[edit]

Hello. I was editing (or trying to edit) some Wikibooks pages and I wanted to enter some problems and answers. My problem has to do with hiding the text so that the user can click a text line (ostensibly "Solution" or something like that) to see the answer. Is there any way to do this on Wikipedia? Thanks a lot for your help in advance.Robinson0120 02:07, 25 December 2006 (UTC)[reply]

I don't know if that's possible, but there is a way to hide text so that only people editing the test will see it. So, it's possible to instruct readers to click the edit button, view the solution, then hit the back button. Edit this text to see what I mean... —Keakealani 02:09, 25 December 2006 (UTC)[reply]


Well, there's: 

<div class="NavFrame" style="width: 40%">
<div style="background: #FFFFF0" class="NavHead">Question</div>
<div class="NavContent">Answer</div>
</div>

Which renders like:

Question
Answer

... So surely there must be some simpler template out there. I don't quite know how to make it hidden by default, though. — Kieff 02:17, 25 December 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Wow, that was quick! Thanks to both of you. (If anybody DOES know how to make that template hidden, a chime in would be really appreciated!) Robinson0120 02:22, 25 December 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Alright! That's exactly what I'm looking for, thanks Flcelloguy!Robinson0120 02:29, 25 December 2006 (UTC)[reply]

PRevent loss of changes when an edit conflict occurs[edit]

When I'm doing an edit and try to save the changes, if someone has edited the article in the meantime, it gives an edit conflict and I lose the changes. If I go back in my editor (I use IE 7 and Firefox), I don't seem to be able to get my changes back. Is there a way to get back to the changes I was making? Bubba73 (talk), 02:14, 25 December 2006 (UTC)[reply]

In the edit page where you get the conflict message go all the way to the bottom of the page and you will see a comparison of your edit. Simply copy your edit. You may have to reformat it and there may actually be a better way that does not require reformatting but this way at least your edit is not lost. 71.100.6.152 02:48, 25 December 2006 (UTC)[reply]
Actually, I believe there are two boxes on the conflict screen. The top one is the changes the other user made, then comes the diff of the two, and after that is a second edit box with your changes. Just copy them from the second edit box to the first, and you will be able to have both the edits. -- Sir Escher talk 03:27, 25 December 2006 (UTC)[reply]
Also see Help:Edit conflict--24.20.69.240 07:36, 25 December 2006 (UTC)[reply]
Actually, if you hit the 'back' button once (in IE at least), it will take you to the edit screen where you typed your post. You can then copy it exactly as you wrote it, hit 'back' again, and restart the editing process. Anchoress 07:39, 25 December 2006 (UTC)[reply]
That doesn't seem to have been working for me lately. I fo "back" and I don't get back to where I was. Bubba73 (talk), 20:59, 26 December 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Justify text nect to an image[edit]

I recall ther is a special "clear" markup line that forces text to wrap around rather than starting at the bottom of an image. What is this line of code? 71.100.6.152 02:44, 25 December 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Like this? -- Sir Escher talk 03:33, 25 December 2006 (UTC)[reply]
Yes, thanks. 71.100.6.152 04:28, 25 December 2006 (UTC)[reply]

The following was moved from the December 17 archive, but belongs here[edit]

Wikipedia is the best![edit]

That's it I've about had it!!! Over the past 2 weeks, I've been receiving VERY EXTENSIVE problems here. I have tried multiple browsers and such, and it makes no difference. Now, why I am posting here? Well for some reason about every freaking page that I open, that is long, only loads halfway. Tried refreshing, everything, pages won't finish loading! Not to mention, it takes agonizingly long to make an edit because about every 999/1000 time I click the "save" button while editing it gives me a fucking "Sorry! Your request could not be completed due data loss" or something like that. It's like gambling, it takes, in general, around 7 minutes for it to actually go through! Honestly, I've about fucking had with all of this shit. What the hell is wrong with your damn servers?? I think I should also note that it has tooken my as of now 86 tries and counting for this message to go though. DO SOMETHING IT'S DRIVING ME INSANE!!! --RedPooka 05:52, 25 December 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Here I thought it was only me that was having problems. I posted a question about it a couple days ago and was told that I probably had a problem with my monobook or popups. Since then I have tried blanking my monobook (yes I cleared the cache) and I've also tried switching to Firefox. For me, everything was fine until about 2000 UTC on December 23, and since then, everything is painfully slow and I am also getting the errors when I try to save most pages. --After Midnight 0001 14:30, 25 December 2006 (UTC)[reply]
And see question 6.22 from me. Images fail to load, often. And the page failing to complete, I recall once 2 days ago, it was this very help page that simply terminated unfullyloaded. --Dumarest 17:57, 26 December 2006 (UTC)[reply]
I used Firefox. When I have had problems with Wikipedia I have cleared the cache and it usually seems to clear it up. Firefox has two primary flaws in its current iterations. One is that it is a RAM hog; on my computer it has used as much as 80 MB of RAM and can grow even larger as it is open; sometimes it will crash and then you have to manually end the process because it is still in the RAM. The second is that the cache can sometimes become corrupted and interfere with the appearance of websites due to the corruption, including Wikipedia. If you have not done it already, clear your Firefox cache and/or delete your temporary Internet files and give it a shot again. Make sure to run Scandisk (or CHKDSK, if you are using Windows XP) to ensure that there are no errors with your computer. --Ihmhi 06:58, 27 December 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Populating Wikipedia[edit]

What is the meaning of populating wikipedia? —Preceding unsigned comment added by an unidentifiable user (talk • contribs)

Is it considered acceptable practice to "refactor" someone else's Talk page entries?[edit]

My Talk page comments were "refactored" by User:Milomedes on Talk:Cult (see http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Talk:Cult&diff=prev&oldid=96194817). He moved my comments out of their context in the original discussion section to down below where he created a new section and put them there. When I protested strongly and cited "Don't edit others' comments" at WP:TPG he replied that he hadn't "edited" me, he had "refactored" me, and said "In general, refactoring is ok if there is a significant reason for it, but one does need to be skillful at refactoring" (http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Talk:Cult&diff=next&oldid=96199897). Is he correct that this practice is considered "acceptable"? Thanks. Tanaats 15:56, 25 December 2006 (UTC)[reply]

So long as they do not edit or delete your text, it's sometime acceptable for other users to move your comments to a different section, or to correct improper formatting. Usually, that's done if your comment is off-topic for the current discussion, or if the formatting makes it difficult to follow the conversation.
In your case, I believe it was moved properly. He made clear note of what was moved and why, and it actually helps in a way because now your issue is a separate topic of its own. It's more likely to get the attention it deserves that way.
If the move suddenly makes your comments out-of-context, more difficult to understand or actually change your words, then it becomes an edit instead of simple reformatting. That is not allowed. -- Kesh 18:08, 25 December 2006 (UTC)[reply]
Thanks for the response. I would like to elaborate on my position if I may. I really appreciate any time taken by you or anyone else in sorting through this, because if this is acceptable Talk page behavior on his part then (1) I need to go back and apologize and (2) I need to learn learn what I myself can do or not do on a Talk page.
So...(1) Clearly I was a complete idiot to let myself get dragged into this mire in the first place, and (2) I feel as though everything I was trying to say was totally obscured by all of this "refactoring" on his part.
Again, if this is appropriate behavior on his part then I need to both both apologize to him and to learn from the experience. (I need to learn from it because I am involved in some very contentious articles and I need to learn the rules.) Any further feedback would be very much appreciated. Thanks. Tanaats 19:08, 25 December 2006 (UTC)[reply]
I haven't read your actual dispute, just your help desk comments, but here are my thoughts, for what it's worth: Firstly, editing on highly contentious topics brings out the jerk in all of us Wikipedians. Come to the topic expecting that to happen and you'll be less annoyed when it does. You'll appear thicker skinned. Secondly, knowing the "rules" can only take you so far: agonising too much over whether another user is breaking the rules detracts from producing an encyclopedia, and is itself discouraged. See, for example, here. Thirdly, I personally consider refactoring another user's comments to be a bit naughty, and I get annoyed if other users do it to me (although it is sometimes appropriate or necessary, as Kesh pointed out above). In your position, I would (i) let it go, this time, but (ii) ask the guy you are disputing with not to refactor your comments again. Then if he does so I would consider that uncivil. AndyJones 08:56, 26 December 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Table Formatting[edit]

Hi, I was wondering if anyone knows how I can make the text in just 1 column of a table center aligned instead pasting a script like style="text-align: center;" on every row or making the entire table center aligned? Is there a code I can paste on the top row of the table to do this? Thanks for any help. --snowolfD4( talk / @ ) 17:30, 25 December 2006 (UTC)[reply]

how do I create a new page when a different page has the same title I need to use?[edit]

Hi. I would like to create an article about Ruth Lyons, a Cincinnati broadcast pioneer and creator of the Ruth Lyons Children's Fund. However, there is already an article about "Ruth Lyons" - a fictious character in a soap opera.

How can I create my article? I know I've seen different articles with the same title, so what's the secret. When I tried to create a "new page" with the title Ruth Lyons, the existing page came up for editing, and I don't want to step on someone else's article. 

       -- thanks, WikiJoan

WikiJoan 17:25, 25 December 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Its called disambiguation. You can get more info here WP:DAB.
What you can do here is move the current article to Ruth Lyons (character) and create your article as Ruth Lyons (broadcaster). Then created a disambiguation page at Ruth Lyons and link it to both articles, something along the lines of the Mercury page . --snowolfD4( talk / @ ) 18:33, 25 December 2006 (UTC)[reply]
You also may want to check what links to that page, and if it is specific to the Ruth Lyons (broadcaster) version, update the links. -- Sir Escher talk 05:43, 26 December 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Help Using Collapsible Text Boxes[edit]

Someone at this help desk pointed me to collapsible text boxes. They seem to work very well on certain pages but aren't functioning on others. I'm currently trying to edit a page, but the text boxes come out wrong: See http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Trigonometry/Radian_and_degree_measures and look at the bottom to see what I mean. On my talk page (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User_talk:Robinson0120), however, it works perfectly. Nothing important seems to have changed in the implementation, so I'm at a loss for what's going on. A pointer would be greatly appreciated. Robinson0120 18:33, 25 December 2006 (UTC)[reply]

I'm not sure why that method does not work, but I ran across this today, and it should:
For me it seems to start on 'hide', and needs to be clicked twice, but thats the only problem I have had. -- Sir Escher talk 07:34, 27 December 2006 (UTC)[reply]
Thanks for showing the template. The hide function does work on the wikibooks page, but I can't seem to resize the boxes to give the solution and answer spaces more room. I've been playing around with it a bit but I still can't seem to figure it out. What I really want to know is why the first type won't work on the Trigonometry page...Robinson0120 15:55, 27 December 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Determining whether a particular user is logged in or not[edit]

Is there a link that can be followed or command that can be invoked to determine whether a particular user is logged in or not, or to retrieve a list or search an index of currently logged in users? --User:Ceyockey (talk to me) 20:21, 25 December 2006 (UTC)[reply]

No. The problem is that the Wikipedia servers mostly don't have any way of knowing when a user is logged in. A user who can't have a valid login cookie is obviously not logged in, and a user whose browser sends a cookie while retrieving an article (or saving an edit) is definitely logged in at that instant, but those probably aren't exactly what you want to know. The only real way to find out would be to ask the user, but that would be useless since the answer would always be "yes". :-) --Derlay 00:00, 28 December 2006 (UTC)[reply]
Thank you. I thought that might be the case. --User:Ceyockey (talk to me) 00:58, 28 December 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Unnamed question[edit]

How do I declare at the beginning of an article that that article is a translation into English from another language?

  • Such a declaration is usually either put in the sources section near the end or the first edit summary. I prefer the sources section, or the bottom of the article. There's no strict rules for it, but it should definitely not go at the top. - Mgm|(talk) 22:20, 25 December 2006 (UTC)[reply]

congenital spherocytosys[edit]

hello, i am sending this e-mail from Greece .My name is nikos . I am a memper of the greek spesial forses of navy.I am a Greek navyseal. before i join the navy i had a surgery of splenektomy because of Splenomegaly. As a member of the greek navyseals one of our dutu is to proseed in millitary dives . Either with scuba or with oxygen and some times with nitrox or mixed gas . My question is : can i proseed in that kind of dives with the historic of congenital spherocytosys ? if no what is the problem ?

Yours sincerely

nikos —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 85.73.3.97 (talk) 21:44, 25 December 2006

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. Jacek Kendysz 21:49, 25 December 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Vandalism[edit]

This guy (Mhking) told me i was adding nonsense to Wikipedia when all i did was change Nick GAS to Nickelodeon Games and Sports for kids.I'm sorry but i do not see how that is "vandalism". How will I know next time if it is vandalism?That was not nonsense.I dont know what Mhking is talking about.

See Help:Moving a page. Jacek Kendysz 23:23, 25 December 2006 (UTC)[reply]
To change the actual title add this text to it: {{User:1ne/Title|ENTER THE TITLE YOU WANT HERE}} ; obviously you need to replace the text "ENTER TITLE YOU WANT HERE" with what you want the large text at the top to say. Hope I've helped. Cheers and regards, Anthonycfc (talk • email • tools)
Thanks, but it wasnt the article,it was in List of Dish Network Channel.

Anthonycfc (talk • email • tools) 23:27, Monday December 25 2006 (UTC)

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