Wikipedia:Help desk/Archives/2006 November 28

Welcome to the Wikipedia Help Desk Archives
The page you are currently viewing is an archive page. While you can leave answers for any questions shown below, please ask new questions on one of the current Help Desk pages.

November 28

re article submission

Recently I submitted an article (which is mine but I had previously uploaded it to wezinarticle who it seems has claimed copyright. This is something I will need to look into further. As a res ukt I uploaded a small article on photography business but it has been removed aftyer I was encouraged to write it. I am now very confused. I also placed external links to relevant helpful sites which have also been removed. I notice there are other sites in External Links that are commercial that seem to be OK - more confusion!!!! I have looked at the guidelines but I know I'm missing something?! —Preceding unsigned comment added by Ebooks (talk • contribs)

Judging from your talk page history, someone judged it to be spam. However, this might have been with the other links you provided. It's hard to tell what it was, though, without the name of the page so we can check the deletion log. Patstuart^{(talk)(contribs)} 03:05, 28 November 2006 (UTC)

I judged all the links he was adding to several articles to be very spammy because of their domain names e.g safe-and-easy-weightloss.com, slim-and-healthy-pregnancy.com, and the-mediterranean-diet.com. The way he insisted on replacing the links after they'd been removed also appeared to be the behaviour of a spammer. Plus, the Photography article gets a lot of people adding their own sites to the external links section. Even if they're not yet-another-gallery or some store selling the latest digital cameras with the most megapixels!, they should go into a more specific article. The photography article is like a portal - explaining the history of photography and touching on a range of topics, but mostly serving as a central launching point for finding other photography-related articles. I wasn't the one who redirected photography business. Maybe it could have been made into an acceptable article, and *maybe* a suitable place for Ebooks' link(s). I see there's already Commercial photography, might it be an equivalent article/topic? --Imroy 03:45, 28 November 2006 (UTC)

I suspect you may have misunderstood if your page was flagged as a copyright violation. If a wikipedia page is found to have the same words as a web page it is likely to be a copyright violation, and is removed unless or until proof is produced that we are in the clear. For example, if the other site has words releasing their pages under a suitable license. Wikipedia has no way to evaluate the statement "but I was the original author!". Generally best in any case to rewrite as the needs of a Wikipedia article are likely to be different from other sites. Notinasnaid 09:12, 28 November 2006 (UTC)

Image question

I'm always answering questions, now i can ask one. I uploaded this image: Image:Matt_Redman_2.jpg, which was freely available on flickr. However, when I viewed this image: Image:Chris Tomlin performing live.jpg, which is also on flickr, it had to have an admin come along and verify it was available. How do I go about this, or, if an admin sees this, could you verify it for me, please? Thanks. Patstuart^{(talk)(contribs)} 03:36, 28 November 2006 (UTC)

Better yet, can you also give me the procedure for moving an image over into the commons, seeing as this artist has articles in other languages? -Patstuart^{(talk)(contribs)} 03:38, 28 November 2006 (UTC)

Unless the Flickr owner has changed the licence (which is a problem with Flickr, it doesn't record licence changes as far I know), Image:Matt_Redman_2.jpg is incorrectly tagged. Flickr says it is a non-commercial creative commons licence - so the image can't be used in Wikipedia (and can't be uploaded to Commons).--Commander Keane 03:56, 28 November 2006 (UTC)

OK, I've put up a commercial-use image. It's so crummy, I've tagged it for db-userreq anyway. But for future reference, how is all of the above done? -Patstuart^{(talk)(contribs)} 04:27, 28 November 2006 (UTC)

Well the flickr review is a Commons process, you just place {{flickrreview}} on the Commons image description page and an admin over there will get to it (link). To move an image to Commons, you actually have to re-upload it from scratch. Wikipedia:Moving_images_to_the_Commons discusses this. I will delete Image:Matt_Redman_2.jpg even though you have replaced the non-free image with a free one, just give me a buzz if you want it restored.--Commander Keane 05:02, 28 November 2006 (UTC)

please...(etc.)

please tell me the exports of panama.

please email me back at <email removed>

thanks alot

Try the Reference Desk or Panama. This is a Help Desk for assistance on the use of Wikipedia, not for your homework. —Keakealani 03:44, 28 November 2006 (UTC)

Why is Essjay's edit counter not working?

Why is Essjay's edit counter not working? —Preceding unsigned comment added by Meno25 (talk • contribs)

No idea, but if you want to see your edit count - use Interiot's tool. Viridae^Talk 04:24, 28 November 2006 (UTC)

You linked to Tool2, a user script, there; I think you mean this edit counter, also by Interiot, which operates in a similar manner to Essjay's. --ais523 09:12, 28 November 2006 (UTC)

As to why it isn't working: the toolserver got moved quite a while ago, from the server "zedler" to "hemlock". As a result, a lot of the tools got broken. Zedler now works as a database server for the toolserver. Titoxd^(?!?) 21:03, 28 November 2006 (UTC)

What happen

I took a short wiki-break over thanksgiving.. what happened with mediawiki? The wiki code toolbar no longer appears above the edit box and the little DHTML preview popup no longer appears when I hover over links. Whats the deal --froth^{T C} 04:43, 28 November 2006 (UTC)

One of the devs, who shall remain nameless did mess something up in the code which made a bit of a mess, probably to do with that. TehKewl1 04:47, 28 November 2006 (UTC)

user banning

What is the current standard procedure to get a user banned (or at least blocked). There was an account created today during which s/he has done nothing except launch personal attacks against various wikipedians here (even has a website against me and a couple others) and vandalise articles. Should I simply post about this to an admin's page? Or where? Mathmo ^Talk 06:36, 28 November 2006 (UTC)

• Posting it on WP:ANI or the personal attack intervention noticeboard listed there. - Mgm|^(talk) 08:44, 28 November 2006 (UTC)

thanks! went ahead and listed it on the personal attack intervention noticeboard Mathmo ^Talk 11:55, 28 November 2006 (UTC)

Deleting My Old Name Permanently

My old username was my real name. I have since changed my name, but the old page still stays. I would rather not have this page show up on google, so I'd like to delete the old user page. How can I do that? The old name was (name removed to protect privacy). Tracer Bullet 06:37, 28 November 2006 (UTC)

I don't think there is a way to delete an account. Although it takes a lot of resources, it is possible to rename it, if you want. Honestly, your page won't show up on Google unless the person searching already knows your name, and then what do you need to hide? I don't think it's that big a deal, but if it would make you feel safer, you can do that. Ironically, posting your name here is more visible than your original username could have been. —Keakealani 06:40, 28 November 2006 (UTC)

I've deleted your old user page and user talk page, so they no longer redirect to your new name. - Tangotango 06:47, 28 November 2006 (UTC)

Font size and colour

I think I may have asked this before, but I can't find it in the archives (neither can I remember it), so I'll have to ask it again: how do you change font size and colour? Littleghostboo[ talk ] 08:20, 28 November 2006 (UTC)

Oops, I've found it. Never mind. Littleghostboo[ talk ] 08:30, 28 November 2006 (UTC)

Is this OK?

At Adrienne_Shelly#The_Adrienne_Shelly_Foundation, the article is being used to promote donations to a foundation, one that doesn't exist yet, in memory of a person. Surely this is not ok? KenWalker | Talk 08:36, 28 November 2006 (UTC)

• Until it actually has official status in being a existing and legal foundation, that's indeed not OK. Someone already removed it. - Mgm|^(talk) 08:42, 28 November 2006 (UTC)

Well the request for cheques is a no-no per WP:NOT, and the rest of the text (whose content is encyopedic) I removed because it's a copyvio.[1] The info about the foundation (minus the solicitation) can be re-added with a reference, in the author's own words. Anchoress 08:44, 28 November 2006 (UTC)

Tried to remove it myself, but Anchoress beat me to it. Figured it wasn't ok but wasn't sure of right basis. KenWalker | Talk 08:48, 28 November 2006 (UTC)

What is the total number of unregistered users?

Thank you.

--62.114.227.231 11:10, 28 November 2006 (UTC)

It's quite hard to tell, really, because the only way we can identify unregistered users is by IP address, and there are IPs used by more than one user and users who use more than one IP (there are some exceptional cases, such as IPs through which several hundred thousand people are capable of editing, although probably most of them don't edit Wikipedia). You can get a sense of how many unregistered as opposed to registered users edit by looking at Special:Recentchanges. --ais523 11:38, 28 November 2006 (UTC)

Keep in mind that registered users would probably edit far more often than unregistered users so most of the names on that list are registered - but there are many more unregistered accounts than registered (every registered user has been unregistered at some point and not all users register) --froth^{T C} 16:37, 28 November 2006 (UTC)

Impossible relocation

Randroide 11:18, 28 November 2006 (UTC)

Hi. I am trying to move Procon-ten to procon-ten, because (just as in the case of al-Quaida), the initial "p" should be lower case (see picture on the article).

The software does not allow me to do this:

Source and destination titles are the same; can't move a page over itself. Please check that you didn't enter the destination title into the "reason" field instead of the "new title" field.

Moreover: I recall that some technical glith has to be circumvented to allow an article name to start with lower case.

Thank you.

• While lower-case first letters are implemented on Wiktionary. Wikipedia still uses capital first letters. If that messes with the title, see what to do at for example the first line of the edit screen of iPod. - Mgm|^(talk) 11:20, 28 November 2006 (UTC)

• • Solved!. {{lowercase|title=procon-ten}} is the key to the issue. Thank you very much for the fast answer.

• • Would it be proper to write this question in the FAQ section?.Randroide 11:24, 28 November 2006 (UTC)

If you would like to do so, I don't see how it would be a problem. Make sure you put it under the right section, though. -Patstuart^{(talk)(contribs)} 11:58, 28 November 2006 (UTC)

Done. Please check my work: Wikipedia:Troubleshooting#Lower-case_first_letters.Randroide 12:07, 28 November 2006 (UTC)

I'm going to move that to Wikipedia:Technical_FAQ, if you don't mind. -Patstuart^{(talk)(contribs)} 12:35, 28 November 2006 (UTC)

Not at all. Thank you for your attention.Randroide 12:38, 28 November 2006 (UTC)

And I've reworded and reformatted the entry. I've also removed procon-ten from the list of examples so we only have examples a majority of the readers are going to recognize. - Mgm|^(talk) 12:50, 28 November 2006 (UTC)

Template change:

I just tried to modify Template:TestTalk in order to wiki-link the page being referred to, and it's not showing up when I'm previewing the warning that I'm attempting to add on another user's page. While it did seem to work when I tested it in the Sandbox, it seems to behave differently when I moved it into production. Is there a way to fix this, or should I revert the change?

In case you're wondering, I'm placing it on User talk:Haj-japan, since that user reverted vandalism warnings placed on that page per norm. The user has no previous edits, aside from a personal attack placed on another user's page, his own auto-bio on the userpage, and his reverts. --Sigma 7 12:47, 28 November 2006 (UTC)

Try using the sandbox - WP:SANDBOX - to try posting your template in use . The sandbox also has test templates there too. But, in this case, it seems to be working, as I tried it on my own. Patstuart^{(talk)(contribs)} 12:51, 28 November 2006 (UTC)

BTW, you will not want to get into a revert war with a user on warnings on their talk page. This has been debated ad nauseum, and policy currently does not prohibit it. Patstuart^{(talk)(contribs)} 12:52, 28 November 2006 (UTC)

Insert track listing

I am new to all this and not very good at computer speak so in simple terms I would like to know how to insert Track listing information for an album. The point in case is for a band called Godspeed, on the page they mention the album so I clicked on it and there is no information, I have that information, so how do I create a page or link. I tried but to no avail. Thanks in advance.

Is there an existing article you want to edit, or no article at all and you want to create a new article? Notinasnaid 18:53, 28 November 2006 (UTC)

Entry with the same/similar name

I just added a new entry to wikipedia called 'John MacMurray' (note the two capital Ms) but there is already an entry for 'John Macmurray' (one capital M).

These two individuals are different people - one is a musician the other a philosopher - but people might get them mixed up. I expected wikipedia to go to a page with a list of both entries after I typed "john macmurray" (lower case) into a search, but it immediately took me to the older article on the philosopher.

Can anyone tell me if there is some way to get Wikipedia to go to a list page so that when people run a search for either they won't get them mixed up and can see that there are indeed two?

Thanks

Use a Wikipedia:disambiguation header. Don't use a full page if you're disambiguating only two names and one is more notable than the other. ColourBurst 15:15, 28 November 2006 (UTC)

For example of this, see Ian MacDonald and links. Notinasnaid 17:45, 28 November 2006 (UTC)

New Articles

I am working on editing an article about the Texas Bowl, and because it has no link to the Houston Bowl, I need to create a new entry for the Houston Bowl. How do I do this?

One way is to edit a link to Houston Bowl in somewhere (Texas Bowl, for instance), and then click on the link whilst logged-in. You should get an empty edit screen where you can start the article. There are also other methods of starting an article. You may want to read Wikipedia:Your first article for more information about starting a new article. --ais523 16:56, 28 November 2006 (UTC)

I see that Houston Bowl redirects back to Texas Bowl. In that case, to start the new article you need to click on the link on the "redirected from" message after visiting Houston Bowl, and edit that. --ais523 16:57, 28 November 2006 (UTC)

Help!!!!

Whenever i go onto Wikipedia and anyother wiki hrwiki.org or lostpedia.com it always has the date November 19th stuff on the main page. Yet on other computer it is fine. How do i fix this???

Some people need to use the purging version (place ?action=purge on the end of the URL, for instance http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Main_Page&action=purge) to get the most up-to-date version of the Main Page. This question was asked on November 26; here's the answer I gave then, after a short discussion:

A script is the only other possibility, to automatically redirect from the normal Main Page to the purged one (for your account only). Try adding the following to Special:Mypage/monobook.js:

addOnloadHook(function() {
if(location.href=="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Page")
  location.href="http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Main_Page&action=purge";
});

This is adapted from the script I use to autopurge my user page. The script will only work when you're logged in, though. --ais523 17:12, 28 November 2006 (UTC)

Text/image overlap

Hi, i'm trying to edit the Atonement page however the introductory paragraph is overlapped by one of the portal graphics. Could someone tell me how to fix this (or fix this and then tell me how they did it!) Thanks. Simon 17:38, 28 November 2006 (UTC)

Images sometimes do not display

Over the last few days, when I view most pages, some of the images do not display as images, but only as text. When I click on them to go to Commons, it says that "The image cannot be displayed because it contains errors", but often when I return to the page ten refreshes later it appears as normal. I am running XP with Firefox and anti-spyware software. Why does this happen, and can I fix it? --86.146.76.221 18:57, 28 November 2006 (UTC)

I have that problem sometimes with a computer that I use. I don't know what the problem is. I think that perhaps you need to allow Firefox to display images that are not from the originating website... hope I could help. ~ Flameviper 17:36, 30 November 2006 (UTC)

Yeah, i've had the same problem in the last couple of days. At first i thought i had changed a setting in Firefox, but everything there was normal. Also, my settings allow images from other sites, and i still have the problem. I either have to keep refreshing the page, and it eventually shows up, or i just use IE, which i don't really like doing. I wish i could help.HBW 13:25, 1 December 2006 (UTC)

????????

I NEED TO FIND A SALUTATION TO REPLACE TO WHOM IT MAY CONCERN.

THE LETTER IS TO UNIVERSITY SCHOLARS, ENGINEERS AND LAB MANAGEMENT IN GENERAL. NOT DIRECTED TO ANY CERTAIN DEPARTMENT OR PERSON.

KAREN BARLOW

• "Dear sir/madam," could work, but make sure you don't put the letter in all caps like you did this question. - Mgm|^(talk) 19:46, 28 November 2006 (UTC)

Wrong Pills Put in same bottle for my 14 year old daughter for an antibiotic

I was administering my daughters medication after she had, had oral surget which the medication was pennicllin. She proceeded in taking what she thought was the same pill but asked me about it because it looked different when I would give it to her so I poured out all the pills and gave her the one I knew was the correct one because it was marked I have been trying to contact the pharmacist but they want me to bring in the pills which I will do but first I need to know from experts what pill this is it has 93 on one side 5134 on the other side and it is oval shaped.141.156.166.193 19:11, 28 November 2006 (UTC)Vilma Beverly

Erm.... Science Reference Desk?--86.146.76.221 19:24, 28 November 2006 (UTC)

• When it comes to pills, the pharmacist is the specialist. Wikipedians shouldn't give medical advice. - Mgm|^(talk) 19:48, 28 November 2006 (UTC)

Per the note above, you'll probably have more success at the Science Reference Desk; this Help Desk tends to be better equipped to answer questions about using Wikipedia itself. I'll note that the 93 imprint probably means that it's a pill made by Teva Pharmaceutical Industries; that doesn't help you much, though, as they're one of the biggest makers of generic drugs in the world.

A quick online search (see here for one) doesn't reveal a match to the 5134 imprint your provided. It's possible that it's a new item that hasn't made it into the online databases, or that there is a typo(?) in the number you've provided. TenOfAllTrades(talk) 20:13, 28 November 2006 (UTC)

It could be 5 34. Many oval pills have two numbers with a split in the pill between the numbers. It looks like 5|34 - which is easily mistaken for 5134. --Kainaw ^(talk) 20:58, 28 November 2006 (UTC)

Unblocking a computer

This is a networked computer that many people use to log in to, as I went on the computer (and tried to edit a section on islam) I found that following message appear

"Your user name or IP address has been blocked by SemperBlotto. The reason given is this: silliness

You may contact SemperBlotto or one of the other administrators to discuss the block. Note that you may not use the "e-mail this user" feature unless you have a valid e-mail address registered in your user preferences. If you have an account, you can still edit your preferences when you are blocked.

Your IP address is 213.249.229.58. Please include this address in any queries you make"

It seems like someone has done something illegal by wikipedia's standards and now I am blocked! I cant find how to contact SemperBlotto (the best I can get is a page that talks about him). I dont have an account yet (because the only major editing I have done was the heated debate in the 'Alladdin' section), How do I unblock either me or the computer? (as the message has stated, the IP address is attatched)

You can talk to SemperBlotto by going to User talk:SemperBlotto and clicking on the "+" symbol near the top of the screen to give him a new message. Nihiltres 19:27, 28 November 2006 (UTC)

• If you're blocked, then how can you post here? - Mgm|^(talk) 19:49, 28 November 2006 (UTC)

Perhaps he's using a dynamic IP. ~ Flameviper 17:37, 30 November 2006 (UTC)

• Are you sure it's SemperBlotto. He doesn't appear to have blocking powers. - Mgm|^(talk) 19:51, 28 November 2006 (UTC)

Uploading Copyrighted Images

I've read through the pages on image posting, and I am still confused. I would like to post the image of the bicycle on this page, http://www.arpan.com/english/product.asp?id=3, on the wikipedia page Mixte. The photo shows a classic mixte bicycle, patterned after French bicycles from the 1950s. I have talked with the owners of the website on which the photo resides, and they would be tickled pink to have this photo in Wikipedia. Is there a way to post the image with proper credit/copyright information, or are all such photos from commercial websites not allowed? Fbagatelleblack 19:27, 28 November 2006 (UTC)

• Apparently, I asked the wrong question here. Anyone want to offer a suggestion as to how I should have asked for information on this subject? Thanks. Fbagatelleblack 18:46, 30 November 2006 (UTC)

Jesus site

some one hacked your resource for Jesus.

• High-profile articles are often the target of vandals. I suspect it was fixed before you reported it here. Next time you see something like this, you can follow the instructions at WP:REVERT to fix it yourself. - Mgm|^(talk) 20:16, 28 November 2006 (UTC)

satellite images

wikipedia used to provide close-in satellite images which were pssible to navigate and could locate any building on earth can u pls tell me the link as i m not able to ge that

That wasn't Wikipedia. Perhaps it was Wikimapia, or Google Earth. Notinasnaid 19:58, 28 November 2006 (UTC)

Expletive filled entry

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chris_Pronger

Someone has entered a long, filthy, curse-filled personal attack on Chris Pronger at the start of the Chris Pronger listing.

(it was there as of November 28 2006)

• Articles are subject to constant change. In this case, the article was fixed before you posted here. - Mgm|^(talk) 20:20, 28 November 2006 (UTC)

Policy

SOMEWHERE there is a policy/guideline that says place of birth/death shouldn't go in the lead. I just can't seem to remember where... Mikker ^(...) 20:47, 28 November 2006 (UTC)

It doesn't specify what shouldn't go in the lead of a biographical article, but Wikipedia:Manual of Style (biographies) does specify what should go in the lead paragraph of a biographical article. --ElKevbo 20:53, 28 November 2006 (UTC)

Thanks for this, it lead me to Dates of birth and death which answers this question specifically. KenWalker | Talk 03:59, 29 November 2006 (UTC)

help with images

hi i uploaded an image and it was the wrong one how can i delete it? thaaanx—Preceding unsigned comment added by Manish182 (talk • contribs)

Tag it with {{db-author}} and that will get rid of it shortly.Kchase T 22:23, 28 November 2006 (UTC)

Confirmation email

I have just joined and am being asked to to confirm my email address. When I click on the link contained in the email sent by Wikipedia I am then being told that the confirmation code has expired despite me doing this instantly.I have tried this on a number of occasions. Can you help as I am becoming very frustrated.—Preceding unsigned comment added by Tony133 (talk • contribs)

Don't worry about it. For most editors, having email confirmed is never really necessary unless you plan on running for adminship.Kchase T 22:23, 28 November 2006 (UTC)

Affidavit as reputable source

A Wikipedia editor is proposing to quote allegations from an affidavit that was filed in a 1988 court case that was settled out of court. The allegations are being presented as facts about the topic at hand. Is this considered a reputable source? Thanks! —Preceding unsigned comment added by 63.162.81.184 (talk • contribs) 17:04, November 28, 2006

An affadavit is not a source of facts, of course, but if it is verifiable, its existence is a fact, and it is a fact that the accusations appeared in it. That is not the same as saying it is proper to include it in the article, see especially Wikipedia:Biographies of living persons: muck raking is not permitted. Major, significant, press coverage of the accusations might be a minimum condition for their appearance. Notinasnaid 22:16, 28 November 2006 (UTC)

Thanks much. This is very helpful. Let me give a couple more details. The affidavit is by a former employee of an organization and alleges specific things such as fraud. The editor wants to include the allegations as a way of making the point that the organization is fraudulent. I assume from what you say that this isn't acceptable evidence in a Wikipedia article. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 63.162.81.184 (talk • contribs) 17:27, November 28, 2006

It depends on the context and the exact proposed wording, among other things. Without knowing the specifics, it would probably be acceptable to use the affidavit as evidence that the company was accused of wrongoing but it's certainly not evidence of actual wrongdoing. There is also the possibility of giving the incident undue weight if the discussion in the article is out of proportion to the proper weight of the incident in question. Finally, please remember that the standard of inclusion in Wikipedia is verifiability not truth. --ElKevbo 22:43, 28 November 2006 (UTC)

Excellent points all. Really helpful.

It's worth bearing in mind that (again, without knowing anything about this case) employees may make all manner of claims against their ex employees for any number of reasons, not limited to getting compensation for unfair dismissal, and getting revenge. My instincts would be against including this at all, and it absolutely cannot be used of evidence of wrongdoing. Settling out of court can never be considered an admission of guilt. Notinasnaid 09:26, 29 November 2006 (UTC)

First ten accounts on Wikipedia (January 2001)

I was rencently looking at the stats here, and I saw that Wikipedia had 10 contributors in January 2001. Does anyone have a list of those 10 accounts, and whether any are still editing Wikipedia? Carcharoth 23:10, 28 November 2006 (UTC)

I'd say Jimbo Wales (talk · contribs) would be one †he Bread 23:30, 28 November 2006 (UTC)

Check this out: [2]. Cbrown1023 23:33, 28 November 2006 (UTC)

Actually, this one is probably the best: [3]. Cbrown1023 23:35, 28 November 2006 (UTC)

Thanks! Carcharoth 02:14, 29 November 2006 (UTC)