Wikipedia:Help desk/Archives/2007 April 4

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April 4

Reverting with popups

Can someone clarify what the "revert" function on the popups does? Does it revert to the version you're hovering over or to the version before that? This seems to have changed a couple of times. -- Mwalcoff 01:24, 4 April 2007 (UTC)

It reverts to the version that you are hovering over. --LuigiManiac 01:27, 4 April 2007 (UTC)

...Thereby removing all edits/vandalism after that version. Scottydude _talk 16:53, 4 April 2007 (UTC)

Adding Pictures

regarding "how to add pictures" to an existing article for the benefit of all...

See Wikipedia:Extended image syntax for a detailed explination of how to add images, and WP:IMAGE for a more basic overview. --Ybbor^TalkSurvey! 01:43, 4 April 2007 (UTC)

Notability of content in a notable article

Can someone point me towards the policy on content of questionable notability that is in an indisputably notable article. Subject in question is Cambourne, which I feel is currently let down by a lot of non-notable content, but can't find any policy which would tell me whether the most appropriate action is deletion of the relevant parts, marking with some sort of tag, or leaving as it is. Chrisjohnson 02:48, 4 April 2007 (UTC)

Notability can be rather slippery and controversial, as the boundary between "notable" and "non-notable" gets fuzzy at times. In contrast, there's much less room for interpretation on verfiability. Instead of arguing with people about what is or is not notable, try focusing on the objectively obvious shortcomings of the Cambourne article, namely its paucity of citations. Every section in the article ought to have about one footnoted citation per sentence, and there aren't any citations in the article at all yet. Since WP:VERIFY is a core policy (along with WP:NPOV and WP:NOR), and WP:NOTABLE is not, I suggest starting by getting the citations in the article, and everything that can't be backed up with reliable sources should go. Applying WP:VERIFY tends to take care of WP:NOTABLE as a direct consequence, as one working definition of "notable" is having reliable published sources. --Teratornis 05:41, 4 April 2007 (UTC)

The tag to add would be {{Unreferenced}} (as in {{Unreferenced|date=April 2007}}), the same tag we are using to oppress poor unsourced Pam Pinnock. --Teratornis 05:44, 4 April 2007 (UTC)

So I added it. --Teratornis 13:43, 4 April 2007 (UTC)

about mediawiki use

how to make a wiki like www.kids.lovetoknow.com using media wiki software

You probably want to start with Mediawiki.org's Frequently Asked Questions. -- Cyrius|✎ 07:33, 4 April 2007 (UTC)

how do i change my user page nickname? everyone pls don't post your questions in other people's post.Thanks.

user page nickname

how do i change my nickname on or for my user page? Lcbeeson 08:32, 4 April 2007 (UTC)

• Your question is unclear. Your nickname is what appears in your signature, your userpage is something entirely different. It looks like you want to change your username (<-- so click here). - Mgm|^(talk) 08:51, 4 April 2007 (UTC)

Can i delete my account

I was wondering could i delete my account.

• If you have made any edits, you can't as we need to attribute them you. You do however have a m:Right to vanish and you can ask to have your username scrambled at WP:CHU. - Mgm|^(talk) 09:45, 4 April 2007 (UTC)

Userbox

How do you put a picture of a person, a single cover, an album cover, or a picture of an animal into a userbox? —Preceding unsigned comment added by Supermiggelo (talk • contribs)

Signed, Supermiggelo 10:12, 4 April 2007 (UTC)

You do not put a picture of a single or album cover into a userbox. These use "fair use" copyright status which is not allowed on a user page. This is also true for most celebrity pictures. If you have a picture with a free license, the picture can be added in the same way as in an article (but smaller) - take a look at the source of other user boxes to see what to do. I hope this helps, Notinasnaid 10:21, 4 April 2007 (UTC)

Wikipedia:Image use policy might give you some more information. Pictures of people or animals may be free use, but that depends on the individual image. CattleGirl ^{talk | sign!} 10:27, 4 April 2007 (UTC)

Germany

What is germany famous for

• People who do their own homework, perhaps? See Germany to get you started. Notinasnaid 11:03, 4 April 2007 (UTC)

Admission details

Dear Sir/ Madam

I want to know about the application form for admission to MBBS 2007-2008.

Thankyou

Rupinder

• I think you have made a mistake, sorry to say. We are an encyclopedia, we do not have admission forms. You need to look for the web site for the organisation concerned. Good luck! Notinasnaid 11:02, 4 April 2007 (UTC)

Anonymity

Hi. I would like to contribute entries to Wikipedia and do not mind entering some personal information. However, I wanted to know how easy it is for others to find the IP address of a contributor. I would not want critics of my writign to know how they can find me.

One of my sons is a US Navy SEAL and the other is a Navy Pilot. The military command has advised that we be judicious about drawing attention to my sons' relationship.

I have a book in publication and was advised to write under a pseudonym for the same reasons.

Thank you, Liam Roberts

If you register a username, members will not be able to trace your IP address unless they have access to the Checkuser function, a security feature only authorized for a handful of users for certain reasons, most commonly tracking illegal sockpuppets. As long as you make good faith edits, you shouldn't have anything to worry about. For more information, see WP:ACCOUNT. Hersfold ^(talk/work) 12:47, 4 April 2007 (UTC)

What sort of thing do you mean by "personal information"? Do you mean things that aren't generally known? In that case, I'd have to mention that Wikipedia can only include things that are verifiable (that is, published in a book or another reliable web site, etc.). No fact which can't be verified that way can be included. (The line is "the threshold for inclusion is verifiability, not truth"). Notinasnaid 12:57, 4 April 2007 (UTC)

With regard to your book, if you might wish to write about it, please read COI as well. That is an important policy. With regard to your personal information, please see Userpage and its associated links. It is not necessary to publish any information about yourself, and no-one will ask for any, and the userpage is primarily for outlining things that are relevant to your work on Wikipedia. Adrian M. H. 15:42, 4 April 2007 (UTC)

• You are free to share any information you want. If you feel something is private, don't tell it. I wouldn't have known about your sons if you didn't tell just know and while you're free to, accounts don't have to carry your real name. If you don't want people to be able to trace you. Don't give out your real name or any other information people can use to trace you down. - Mgm|^(talk) 09:27, 5 April 2007 (UTC)

This encyclopedia about

What information does this encyclpedia provide?220.255.255.223 12:36, 4 April 2007 (UTC)

Pretty much anything and everything, up to and including things we don't need information on. Search around - if you're looking for a specific field of information, try browsing through our Portals, or ask a question at our Reference Desk. Hersfold ^(talk/work) 12:43, 4 April 2007 (UTC)

If you are using the default skin, then to the left of every page you should see a navigation box (a box with the word "navigation" above it). Click the Contents link in that box to get an overview of what's here. See WP:NOT for an overview of what is not supposed to be here, and gets deleted to the tune of about 2,000 articles per day. --Teratornis 13:40, 4 April 2007 (UTC)

registering an entry

How do I get to regaister an entry12:46, 4 April 2007 (UTC)~~

I'm not quite sure what you mean. Are you trying to Create an account, make a new article, or something else? Those links should provide the information you need if that's what you're trying to do. Hersfold ^(talk/work) 12:50, 4 April 2007 (UTC)

Child issue

hello, i am the mother of a disabled child, my son who is also a native american indian, has been court ordered in 2 different states for long term treatment at the first available hospital for multiple mental disorders,we moved to tenn. 6 years ago because of a opening at pennisula hospital, but was put on out paient bases. because at the time his meds were working,since that time they have stopped and his been getting in trouble on little stuff .i have tried to get oficial involded to get him placed in the hospital before he got in sreious legal trouble but to no avail. unforunatly now that his 19 and no longer a minor he has gotten to serious trouble which could and shoud have been avoided by simply following the court to begin with .he has serious behavior disorders,and is a threat to himself and others ,his been admitted several times to the hospital because of it.yet they still would:nt inishate the court order, now his facing criminal charges for armed robbery which he was assory to. please help me if you can.

I'm afraid Wikipedia is not a legal service nor a lawyer. It would be best to seek your own advice. x42bn6 Talk 14:02, 4 April 2007 (UTC)

Original research warning

An article I expanded (Downtown Music) was labeled with warnings about inadequate references and original research. In response I've heavily footnoted and bibliographed it. Is it kosher, after so doing, to remove the warnings? or does an editor (as I imagine) have to look it over? And can I assume that even if most of the references are from my own books, published by respectable publishers, my citing of them will be sufficient? Thanks, Kylegann 14:29, 4 April 2007 (UTC)

• If warnings are no longer appropriate, remove them. WilyD 15:45, 4 April 2007 (UTC)

(Edit conflict) If you're citing work other than your own, then that's absolutely fine. It's only original research that is not permitted (which I would imagine could include your own published works?) I assume that you mis-typed your link; I'll search for it later and have a look. With regard to removing tags, I am not aware of any policy that forbids it, since you are working in the capacity of an editor who has improved the article. If you, in your unbiased judgment, have improved it to the required standard, then I would say go ahead and take the tags out. You can always leave an explanatory note on the talk page. Adrian M. H. 15:49, 4 April 2007 (UTC)

It's acutally Downtown music (small M). It looks well sourced and your refs are well formatted. Just split the article a little bit with some headings if you can (at least one, after the first paragraph). Adrian M. H. 15:53, 4 April 2007 (UTC)

Actually, your own published works are usually fine by WP:OR (dependat on how you publish them), they're just a little sketchy via WP:COI. They're not original research, however. WilyD 16:01, 4 April 2007 (UTC)

Interest income from Sched B

I entered a wront amount for Armed Forces Bank and want to correct it? ----

But cannot get back to the entry form.

Miles

—The preceding unsigned comment was added by 68.224.7.232 (talk • contribs). whose only edit is to this page.

Type the name of page you just edited in the search and click "edit" BuickCenturyDriver (Honk, contribs, odometer) 16:20, 4 April 2007 (UTC)

global warming and carbon dioxide level

I read a lot of papers about the relationship between carbon dioxide level and global warming. But i confuse if the carbon dioxide is mainly reason leading to global warming or just a temperature cycle? I also saw the film" An Inconvenient Truth". Responding to this film, many people felt scared, including me. However, many scientist are against Al Gore's opinion. So can you help us to figure out what the relationship between them?

That question belongs at the Reference Desk. Scottydude _talk 16:50, 4 April 2007 (UTC)

• I moved your question Here where you'll get an answer WilyD 17:42, 4 April 2007 (UTC)

User names

I have an editor review at Wikipedia:Editor review/casmith 789. However, due to strange capitalisation, my username is Casmith_789 even though I typed it in lowercase. This leads to the editor review template being wrong, and links to a blank page. Is there any way of getting around this problem (the difference between upper and lowercase)? -- Casmith_789 (talk) 16:39, 4 April 2007 (UTC)

All names and articles begin with a capital letter, even if you type it in lowercase. BuickCenturyDriver (Honk, contribs, odometer) 21:57, 4 April 2007 (UTC)

talk page

How could I sign my name to the talk pages?Mily smily 17:32, 4 April 2007 (UTC)

You use four tildes (~). --LuigiManiac 17:38, 4 April 2007 (UTC)

Computer Technology Update

how to know the update in computer technology chakrirajini17:35, 4 April 2007 (UTC)

I'm sorry, but I can't understand your question, could you clarify it a bit? --LuigiManiac 17:41, 4 April 2007 (UTC)

I need to add external reference to a section of optical carrier?

the reference is contained in a report prepared for senate armed servces found on one of my servers I have a need to uderstand this edit process (vista is causing problems with the edits? I can peinm point the problem (too random event to explain) when I post it shows when I go back it is not there

can you restore talk iand hisory for Cyberdyneinc 17:56, 4 April 2007 (UTC)??????

forgot my user name and password

please could u forward my user name and password as i have bloody forgot it email removed for privacy

Hello, you shouldn't post your email here as it's a very good way to open yourself up to spam. If you have lost your password or email, click the "Email New Password" button at the login screen. We are unable to tell which account you owned, and for privacy reasons, we couldn't access your password even if we did.

If you did not register an email address with your account, then I'm afraid you will need to make a new account. Hersfold ^(talk/work) 20:18, 4 April 2007 (UTC)

• If you entered that emailaddress when you signed up there's a button/link to retrieve a forgotten username or password, but if you didn't there's no way for us to find out which account belongs to you. - Mgm|^(talk) 09:20, 5 April 2007 (UTC)

Deletion of recent article created - "3D Architectural Solutions (3DAS)"

Hello,

I'm sure you get many inquiries, but hopefully you can help me with this. I recently created an entry for our business biography called "3D Architectural Solutions (3DAS)". I just looked today, though, and noticed it has been deleted. Also, I noticed that (through my account) my recent collaborations have been deleted too. So, there isn't a way for me to retrieve the article. Can you help and get the article posted back up?

Thank you, (remove contact info)

It was deleted under the reasoning: g11, which means it was an considered an advertisement. Please see WP:SPAM. If you wish to contest this, you can go to deletion review, but as a member of the said company, the deleiton was probably valid. Patstuart^talk·edits 18:48, 4 April 2007 (UTC)

making a page

how do i make a new page??

See Help:Starting a new page. Patstuart^talk·edits 18:50, 4 April 2007 (UTC)

And see Wikipedia:Why was my article deleted? to see what often happens next to new pages by new users. A rule of thumb: if you have to ask how to make a page, you may have not read anough about the policied and guidelines to avoid the many pitfalls for new articles. If your first attempt gets deleted, keeping reading the help pages and try to do better on your subsequent attempts. --Teratornis 23:51, 4 April 2007 (UTC)

How to auto-insert date string in a Wiki page

I would like to auto insert today's date into a wiki page. For example:

Today is 2007-04-04

(where 2007-04-04 keep changing every day to reflect that day's date)

See Help:Magic_words#Time. Xiner (talk) 20:04, 4 April 2007 (UTC)

gm bedford pick up vans

Would like to see the whole range of GM bedford pick up vans from 1958 to 1976. I cannot find any pictures. Thank you. Anton Peters

No 'edit' on page

The 'Hamilton Bulldogs Players' page needs editing (must be merged with 'Hamilton Bulldogs Players 1996-2002' - but their is no 'edit' buttom. How do I edit this page?

Thanks

Chesterfield99 20:04, 4 April 2007 (UTC)

There is an "edit this page" link at the top of the Category you're referring to... if you still can't see it for some reason, try clicking here instead. It appears that the category you're trying to merge in doesn't exist, however... If you are trying to recategorize pages into Category:Hamilton Bulldogs players, you don't need to edit any categories, but rather each article that should be placed into that category. Hersfold ^(talk/work) 20:14, 4 April 2007 (UTC)

Hyperlinking

I have used the hyper link button on the edit page section to highlight the title Cosmos Sports and the link does not take effect. Can anyone help me?

Smosey 20:21, 4 April 2007 (UTC)

I'm not sure what you mean. To make an external link, enclose the link and the displayed text in single brackets, like this: [http://www.example.com Sample]. For an internal link to another page on Wikipedia, use double brackets and separate the name of the page and the displayed text with a vertical bar, like this: [[Page Name|Sample]]. If you're trying to make a section heading into a link, the format should work the same, just enclose the whole link in the equal signs like so: ==[http://www.example.com Heading]==.

Has this helped at all? If not, please let us know. Hersfold ^(talk/work) 21:20, 4 April 2007 (UTC)

Clicking the hyperlink button places [[Link title]] brackets in the text. First hightlight a word or words with your mouse then click the hyperlink button. Or replace "Link title" with the name of the article you want the link to point to. BuickCenturyDriver (Honk, contribs, odometer) 21:46, 4 April 2007 (UTC)

Information in wrong article

Please, there is some information in an article and I think it is not appropriate to that article, a separate one should be created instead. I could simply remove it, but I prefer to mark it with some tag and afterwards remove the information. Can you suggest what tag should I use?

It depends,what exactly are you proposing? Do you want to merge/move the content to another article or create an article with the problem content? If so, see merging and splitting tags. If you think the content should just be removed, you have a couple options. It depends on the reason for removal. For Point-of-view issues, try {{NPOV}}. For other issues, see all the tags here for a full list. Mr.Z-mantalk¢Review! 20:54, 4 April 2007 (UTC)

• It would help if you're more specific about which article and content you're talking about. - Mgm|^(talk) 09:16, 5 April 2007 (UTC)

Formating Error on my User page

I added a user box box on my user page, and I have a persistent error. The characters |} are under my last userbox, in the userbox box, making it bigger than it needs to be (and fairly ugly, too). Any ideas? Enuja 20:39, 4 April 2007 (UTC)

I've fixed it. I arranged the userboxes in a one column, with one box on each line. Why that worked I'm not really sure; its probably a quirk of the Userboxtop and Userboxbottom templates. Mr.Z-mantalk¢Review! 20:49, 4 April 2007 (UTC)

Graham King

I would like to update Graham King's page on your site. How can I do that?

• Go here or click the "edit" tab on the top of the page. — Reinyday, 21:22, 4 April 2007 (UTC)
  • Please read some of the guidelines first, though. Start at Help:Contents/Editing Wikipedia. Adrian M. H. 21:24, 4 April 2007 (UTC)

class="wikitable sortable"

Hi. I came across a sortable table at List of sports attendance figures. However, when I try to sort by attendance, it just sorts from 1-9 or 9-1, ignoring how many digits the numbers have in them. For example, it thinks the three biggest stadiums are attended by: 986,771, 98,026 then 951,860 people. Is there a way to get it to sort properly, so that 17 million will appear before 900,000? Should I add leading zeros? Is there a discussion of this somewhere? Thanks! — Reinyday, 21:21, 4 April 2007 (UTC)

See Help:Sorting. Skimming through that, it looks as though you should remove the commas from the numbers, as the code can't recognize them. It explains in more detail there. Hersfold ^(talk/work) 21:36, 4 April 2007 (UTC)

Messages on talk pages

how do i send a user an instant message like he is doing to me? he has edited a page, and his reasoning isnt at all correct. he sent me a narky message and i need to point out his mistakes. user is wirbelwind

Firstly, please include a heading so that your question is not attached to the one above it; I have added a suitable title for you. Secondly, you need to sign all your comments. With regard to your question, it is best kept private by leaving a polite message on the user's talk page, rather than name names here. Adrian M. H. 21:29, 4 April 2007 (UTC)

Wikipedia Owners

Who are the peopl that made wikipedia?216.248.121.16 21:56, 4 April 2007 (UTC)

Please post your question as a new section so it remains separate from other's questions. Wikipedia was founded by Jimbo Wales and the Wikimedia Foundation. Hersfold ^(talk/work) 22:21, 4 April 2007 (UTC)

The people that wrote Wikipedia, on the other hand, are too numerous and varied to list. -- Cyrius|✎ 22:47, 4 April 2007 (UTC)

And we're still working on it. I don't think we're ever going to finish it! Adrian M. H. 22:50, 4 April 2007 (UTC)

Deleting account

How to delete your account? —Preceding unsigned comment added by Tarquinn1313 (talk • contribs)

You can't. You can, however, get your username changed and never log in again. This is probably more work than it's worth, but you have the right to vanish. Nihiltres 22:46, 4 April 2007 (UTC)

See Wikipedia:Username policy#Deleting_your_account -- Cyrius|✎ 22:46, 4 April 2007 (UTC)

'Edit'

I am trying to merge statistics from two sites (Hamilton Bulldogs players, and Hamilton Bulldogs players 1996-2002). I cannot seem to find how to edit these player entries - in otherwords, the content of the site (not the heading) seems blocked.

Chesterfield99 22:33, 4 April 2007 (UTC)

Articles by the titles Hamilton Bulldogs players and Hamilton Bulldogs players 1996-2002 do not exist, and show no signs of having existed. Hamilton Bulldogs (1996-2002) has been merged into Hamilton Bulldogs, and should not be edited. Edits to the Hamilton Bulldogs article itself are still welcome. -- Cyrius|✎ 22:51, 4 April 2007 (UTC)

Category: Hamilton Bulldogs players exists as does Category: Hamilton Bulldogs players 1996-2002...they should be merged, and I still cannot seem to do it. Thanks

Chesterfield99 13:35, 5 April 2007 (UTC)

The merge has already been handled by someone. For future reference, what determines whether an article is in a category is the category tag in the article itself. Editing the category only edits the descriptive text at the top, not the listing. To move articles into another category, you need to change the tags in the articles. -- Cyrius|✎ 09:04, 6 April 2007 (UTC)

How can a user account be deleted?

Apparently User:Coolman76 wants to delete his account (see Talk:Mstare88 for details). I don't know what advice to give. --Richard 23:32, 4 April 2007 (UTC)

The user is indefinitely blocked, which is the closest you can get to deleting an account. See m:Right to vanish. The user pages may be deleted, but the block notice will remain. Xiner (talk) 23:43, 4 April 2007 (UTC)

Do we have a policy on comprehensibility of technical articles?

Look at Gonality of an algebraic curve, for example. Completely incomprehensible to the average person. Is this considered acceptable on obscure technical articles, or would we prefer that they actually make sense? --Xyzzyplugh 23:48, 4 April 2007 (UTC)

It's not a policy, but the manual of style does say one should make technical articles accessible. -- Cyrius|✎ 23:53, 4 April 2007 (UTC)

Well, topics such as abstract algebra and group theory are tough to make comprehensible to the average person. The article could benefit from presenting some illustrative examples, if any exist with low-enough dimensionality to meaningfully plot. It would also help if the article had a section outlining or summarizing the pre-requisite topics of study one would have to master to make sense of the article. The non-specialist might be able to piece that together by following the various hyperlinks on jargon terms in Gonality of an algebraic curve, but most of the link destinations would probably be similarly incomprehensible, and those articles are not written in a way to serve as the most economical introduction to just those concepts necessary to enable someone to understand Gonality of an algebraic curve. In any case, it's odd that Talk:Gonality of an algebraic curve is still empty, and has no code such as the following marking the article as being part of Wikipedia:WikiProject Mathematics:

{| class="messagebox standard-talk"
|-
|align="center"|[[Image:Nuvola apps edu mathematics.png|50px|WikiProject Mathematics]]
|align="center"|This page is part of '''''[[Wikipedia:WikiProject Mathematics|WikiProject Mathematics]]'''''. 
|-
|}

You might visit Wikipedia:WikiProject Mathematics, in particular WP:WPM#Some issues to think about, which discusses the problem you raise. Look at some of the featured mathematics articles to see the best examples of mathematics articles on Wikipedia. Presumably those are more accessible. If you can understand those, then maybe hope exists for Gonality of an algebraic curve. It's possible that the prerequisite-knowledge problem is so great that the more esoteric mathematics articles may remain inaccessible to the non-expert no matter how anyone writes them, at least until effective artificial intelligence becomes available, and computers can tailor the necessary tutoring sessions to each user. But even then, until genetic engineering raises mathematical acumen and extends the average lifespan (and perhaps provides the necessary urge to learn math), there are probably lots of people who simply couldn't live long enough to master advanced mathematics even at the fastest rate they are able to learn under the most ideal tutoring. Some people can't be taught to read and write, for that matter. Which means Wikipedia cannot be comprehensible to everyone even if we keep it simple. --Teratornis 00:25, 5 April 2007 (UTC)

Perhaps multiple articles can be written, such as with General relativity, which has a non-technical introduction at Introduction to general relativity. --Ybbor^TalkSurvey! 01:11, 5 April 2007 (UTC)