Wikipedia:Help desk/Archives/2007 August 3

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August 3[edit]

Coloring specific words in a wiki.[edit]

Given the following sentence, "This is a color test", how would I code the line such that the word "color" used color ID #FF4F00 (international orange) and all other words ("This is a" and "test") used the color ID of #000000 (black)?

This is a <font color=#FF4F00>color</font> test.

This is a color test. forgot to sign -- VegitaU 00:02, 3 August 2007 (UTC)[reply]


Thank you very much.

Title capitalization[edit]

Help! I've started a page on a person, and the first name is appropriately capitalized, but the last name is all lowercase. Can this be fixed? I can't figure out how.

The page is Peter_tishler (note the t should be a T).

BTW, somehow this page has already been flagged by someone. It is all original verifiable content, but as you can see I'm still working on the wiki aspects of it.

Thanks.

Ltishler 01:38, 3 August 2007 (UTC)[reply]

I see you found out by yourself.[1] Someone probably saw the page at Special:Newpages. Some articles are flagged within a minute. PrimeHunter 03:13, 3 August 2007 (UTC)[reply]
Hello. I have the same question. How do you change the capitalization? Thanks!
Oops. Scratch that. I found the answer as well. Now all I have to do is find the "Move" tab, which doesn't seem to be visible to me. :)

How do I request that someone knowledgeable create a new page/definition[edit]

I've been searching for a good definition on the common usage of the term "much vaulted" but since I cannot find that anywhere, I'd like someone to create just such a page on Wikipedia - how do I go about making such a request? —Preceding unsigned comment added by AllanHjensen (talkcontribs)

You're probably thinking of "much vaunted" which appears in a few Wikipedia articles. There is already a definition here: Wiktionary:Vaunt. See: WP:NOT#DICTIONARY. Instead we use Wiktionary for dictionary-type entries. --Teratornis 03:01, 3 August 2007 (UTC)[reply]

I'm so not a new user but I can't figure this out[edit]

So I'm greedily availing myself of the Help Desk resources, though I probably should be able to figure this out for myself. How do I pipe a link to Wikipedia's random page function on my userpage? So that, basically, a user clicking the link would be taken to a random page. I know I've seen this on other user's pages, but I can't seem to make it work myself and I can't remember where I've seen it done. If you know the answer and would prefer to just fix my userpage instead of answer, that's welcome too. Cheers. Dina 02:29, 3 August 2007 (UTC)[reply]

like this: [[special:random|this]] which yields this. -Arch dude 02:34, 3 August 2007 (UTC)[reply]
Awesome, thanks. Long live the Help Desk! Dina 02:44, 3 August 2007 (UTC)[reply]
You might also look at the links under the "Random article" entry below this point: User:John Broughton/Editor's Index to Wikipedia#R. Get to know the Editor's index; the answers to many Help desk questions are on that one page. It's actually entertaining to look up the answers to Help desk questions that one does not already know. --Teratornis 03:26, 3 August 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Problem with User; Please help[edit]

Hi, Sicelidas is deleting my comments to him on the Talk:Virgil Discussion page; he apparently has a history of doing this on various Classical pages, perhaps deleting comments that disagree with him. It would appear he does not understand Wiki Policy very well, and I would appreciate it if a competant user or Admin could talk to him at length. He also insists on using *complicated* language that I (and I'm sure others) find very hard to follow. He's responses are on the verge of rude. I do not want to upset him however as he does seem very knowledgable in his respective fields. In the future, where should I go if I encounter this again? Thank you. Zidel333 02:59, 3 August 2007 (UTC)[reply]

See: WP:TALK#Others' comments. And here are some links from the Editor's index (which I cannot merely link to, because there is no name anchor at this location in the index, so I'm just copying some entries in here):
--Teratornis 03:22, 3 August 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Disputing an article[edit]

How do i question the neutrality of an article? —Preceding unsigned comment added by Saywhatmachine (talkcontribs)

Quick answer: see WP:TEMPLATE#Disputes and warnings. --Teratornis 03:13, 3 August 2007 (UTC)[reply]
Another way would be to discuss your concerns on the talk page of the article with other editors. --Hdt83 Chat 03:28, 3 August 2007 (UTC)[reply]
For more details, go to: User:John Broughton/Editor's Index to Wikipedia#Con and scroll down to the "Content disputes:" heading. Just about everything on the subject is in the list of links there. --Teratornis 03:30, 3 August 2007 (UTC)[reply]

What character encoding I should use to see music articles, in the english wikipedia?[edit]

What character encoding I should use to see music articles, in the english wikipedia? I tried a lot of character sets here in my Internet Explorer, but none of them show the 'flat' and 'sharp' signs, replacing both with the same empty square...

The sharp article states: The Unicode character '♯' (U+266F) may display as a sharp sign on some computers, and '𝄪' (U+1D12A) may display as a double sharp. So you need unicode - although double sharp is a failure on my machine. I use Windows XP with Firefox. GB 06:50, 3 August 2007 (UTC)[reply]

incorporation of cc-by licensed text into wikipedia[edit]

PLoS journal articles are CC-BY licensed--can their text be incorporated wholesale into a wikipedia article as can public domain content? I'm currently thinking about this article on the poliovirus. I would include a reference stating where it came from, which would honor the license, but obviously if someone else took that reference out the license would be violated. I'm assuming the CC-BY and GDFL licenses are incompatible but I'm not sure. Calliopejen1 05:42, 3 August 2007 (UTC)[reply]

It looks as if the CC-BY licence only requires attribution, which could be insluded in the GDFL if the attribution was in an invariant text part of the content. However putting on an attribution in wikipedia text is inappropriate, unless you stick it in as a foot note/reference or such like. For pictures this should be OK for wikipedia. So for your particular case you could probably do it and declare an invariant section that cannot be changed that attributes the source. GB 06:46, 3 August 2007 (UTC)[reply]
Wikipedia's license, however, says "no invariant sections." Does this mean it is impossible? Calliopejen1 08:15, 3 August 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Events month by month[edit]

Ellen Conway 08:43, 3 August 2007 (UTC)Recently at work I noted someone using wikipedia The brought up the current events month by month and at the bottom it showed various people who shared your birthdate I can't seem to find that page on your wikipedia[reply]

If you look up any year such as 1980, 1956, etc. the birthdates of particularly notable people are listed as well as month by month events. Dismas|(talk) 08:46, 3 August 2007 (UTC)[reply]
And similary there are articles such as March 16 and September 9 that cover major births, deaths and other events that happened on that date throughout history, and are used as the basis of the "On This Day" template on the Main Page. Confusing Manifestation 12:02, 4 August 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Book references changed to all italic[edit]

All references to books using the "cite book" construction have suddenly started to display with all the text in italic. It should only be the title that displays that way. See for example the reference lists for My Family and Other Animals or National Railway Museum. Devoxo 09:34, 3 August 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Looks okay to me -- both {{cite book}} and MediaWiki:Common.css have both seen relevant edits in the past 24 hours or so; perhaps the issue was temporary. If it's still going on, try bypassing cache and let us know if it's still happening. – Luna Santin (talk) 09:39, 3 August 2007 (UTC)[reply]
It's still happening, and I'm now using a different machine so shouldn't have a cache problem. See, for example, the References section for William Wordsworth. Devoxo 20:48, 3 August 2007 (UTC)[reply]
OK now Devoxo 21:16, 5 August 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Gold piece[edit]

I am looking for information on a $50.00 gold piece---It has a standing Liberty on the front and an eagle on the reverse. It has Roman numerals [ MCMLXXXVII } in UNC condition. If you can give me some information about this coin, and what it would be worth, I would be very appreacitive.

Thank you W. A. Dickerson email removed

This is a help desk for the online encyclopedia Wikipedia. It appears that you have a question for a coin collector, not an online encyclopedia. -- Kainaw(what?) 14:41, 3 August 2007 (UTC)[reply]
The reference desk may be able to assist you with this. Lara♥Love 18:50, 3 August 2007 (UTC)[reply]
Be sure to tell them the nation that struck the coin, as I imagine that would make a difference in the value. Is this coin an American Gold Eagle? Also read Gold coin and the links therefrom. You should have no difficulty looking up this coin on the World Wide Web and finding a value estimate, once you know the name of it. --Teratornis 22:28, 3 August 2007 (UTC)[reply]
Indeed the description of the American Gold Eagle sounds like your coin. For example: Gold Eagles minted 1986-1991 are dated with Roman numerals. Of course the coin should be in uncirculated condition, because gold coins have not circulated in the United States since the 1930's (the Gold Eagle is nominally legal tender, but only an idiot would try to spend one as currency). The market value of the coins is generally about equal to the market value of their gold content, not their face value. Therefore you can evaluate this coin by clicking here: Google:gold price. --Teratornis 22:36, 3 August 2007 (UTC)[reply]

User contributions to a specific article[edit]

Is there any tool that will allow me to find all the edits made by a specific user to a specific article without having to page through the user's contribitions or the article's history? Deli nk 14:18, 3 August 2007 (UTC)[reply]

The easiest way that I know of is to go to the article history, select to show 500 and press 'CTRL' and 'F'. That will open a find bar, key in the editors name and then just go through each entry. If there is another, quicker way, I don't know of it. Lara♥Love 16:37, 3 August 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Cleaning up vandal's work[edit]

User:86.100.3.250 has done quite a bit of subtle vandalism that needs to be cleaned up. S/he was blocked once and came back. I'm not sure of policy and whether s/he should be blocked again/longer, but mostly I'm looking for help restoring vandalized articles. Is this a good place to ask for such help, and if not, where? Matchups 14:33, 3 August 2007 (UTC)[reply]

You correctly warned him/her about it. I'll keep this user under my watch. If he vandalizes one more time, I'll report it to an admin. Thanks -- VegitaU 14:37, 3 August 2007 (UTC)[reply]
Right, we can stop the user from doing too much more damage, but what about restoring articles? Matchups 18:28, 3 August 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Self redirects in a category listing[edit]

Is it OK/unavoidable to have self-redirects on a category page? For example, there are a couple under Category:Bend knots. They are in italics.--Shantavira|feed me 15:32, 3 August 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Categorization can be avoided with : in [[:Category:Bend knots]] instead of [[Category:Bend knots]]. I have fixed it: [2]. PrimeHunter 15:44, 3 August 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Icons disappeared[edit]

Hello! Please can someone help, for some reason my PC is not displaying all of the icons used for editing an article. Why is this and what can I do to correct it? I only noticed when I was trying to redirect a page and the icon wasn't there. Thank you. DávidSch 17:49, 3 August 2007 (CET).

I know this sounds basic, but have you tried restarting your computer? Sometimes that is all it takes. Lara♥Love 16:35, 3 August 2007 (UTC)[reply]
If it Lara's suggestion doesn't work it might help some helpers to identify the problem by giving us the Operating System and the Web Browser you are running. AndrewJDTALK -- 16:47, 3 August 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Collaboration of the Month[edit]

Hello, I am involved in the U2 WikiProject, and am working on starting a collaboration of the month/collaboration of the fortnight. However, I am not quite sure how to do it, and where notification and such need to be placed. Thanks for your help, Neranei T/C 16:05, 3 August 2007 (UTC)[reply]

I would recommend contacting someone with the Rock music WikiProject. They should be able to help you out with that. Lara♥Love 16:32, 3 August 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Mass changes[edit]

I was editing Medal of Honor recipient articles to fix a minor infobox problem (e.g. Charles G. Abrell owes allegiance to the U.S., while Stanley T. Adams apparently pledges his to the U.S. Army). I fixed everyone in the Vietnam War, but am not looking forward to all the other conflicts. Can somebody think of an easier way than editing them one at a time? Clarityfiend 16:23, 3 August 2007 (UTC)[reply]

I'm not sure, but it may be something that can become a bot action. Lara♥Love 16:28, 3 August 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Wikipedia Watch List[edit]

When someone sends me a message on Wikipedia, I get a bright orange banner across the top of my screen that says "You have new messages." Is there any way to get a similar banner to notify me whenever a change / edit has been made within my Watch List? In other words, I never know if there is any "activity" on my Watch List unless I specifically go on that page and look at it. Is there a way to notify me, so that I don't have to bother to check it constantly? Thanks. (JosephASpadaro 16:31, 3 August 2007 (UTC))[reply]

The best I can do is Alt-Shift-l for your watchlist. Alternatively, install Lupin (talk · contribs)'s Anti-vandal tool, by adding these two lines to your monobook.js:
//recent changes tracker
importScript("User:Lupin/recent2.js");
That will give you a link in your toolbox towards the bottom of the left panel: "Monitor my watchlist". --HughCharlesParker (talk - contribs) 17:31, 3 August 2007 (UTC)[reply]
And what is the net effect of the above actions? A change has been made in my Watch List ... then what happens (if I followed the above instructions)? Thanks. (JosephASpadaro 18:22, 3 August 2007 (UTC))[reply]
Sorry, I should have given a fuller explanation when I first answered. I don't know how to make it give you a bright orange banner when something on your watchlist is changed - I'm not sure that's possible. Alt-Shift-l is a shortcut key - if you press it when you're looking at a wikipedia page (and you're logged in) it'll take you to your watchlist. Installing the stuff to your monobook.js provides you with a link to a webpage that will check your watchlist for changes once per minute and notify you. Neither of these are quite what you're looking for, but they're the best I've got. --HughCharlesParker (talk - contribs) 12:17, 4 August 2007 (UTC)[reply]
OK - I see what you mean now. Thanks for the suggestions. (Joseph A. Spadaro 20:08, 4 August 2007 (UTC))[reply]

Wikipedia Name Change[edit]

Can a user change his Wikipedia user name? If so, how? Where are the rules / policies / conventions / guidelines for what is acceptable or unacceptable as a user name (i.e., rules like "It has to be at least 5 characters long and it must start with a letter and it cannot contain symbols other than letters and numbers" or stuff like that)? If you do change your user name, does everything start up from scratch ... or does your old history (under your old user name) just follow and attach to your new history (under your new user name)? Does your "old stuff" redirect to your new name? Thanks. (JosephASpadaro 16:37, 3 August 2007 (UTC))[reply]

Yes. See WP:CHU and WP:USURP. Most of your questions are answered there. Your current history will carry over. Lara♥Love 16:40, 3 August 2007 (UTC)[reply]
For guidelines about what's acceptable as a username, see WP:U. (At a glance: you're allowed anything that isn't confusing, misleading, disruptive, promotional or offensive.) --ais523 16:44, 3 August 2007 (UTC)

I guess what I am asking is this. My current user name is "JosephASpadaro". Can I change it to "Joseph A. Spadaro" ...? (That is, change it in such a way that it is grammatically correct with the blank spaces and middle initial period ... as opposed to all letter compressed together with no spaces or punctuation)? Thanks. (JosephASpadaro 18:26, 3 August 2007 (UTC))[reply]

I'm not sure if you can have punctuation in your username. However, you'd want to submit the request at WP:CHU. Alternatively, you can go into your preferences and change your raw signature to appear as you prefer it (with spaces and punctuation) as I have mine set to show color and include a heart. Lara♥Love 18:45, 3 August 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Conflict of Interest in page that is protected[edit]

Hi. I'd like to change a page (Broccoli, discussion of 3'3'Diindolylmethane in "Cultivation, Preparation, and Nutritional Value" section) that I believe has a conflict of interest where a company appears to be promoting their product by discussing benefits and then in the references (references 8 & 9) linking to their website which links to purchase the product. Wikipedia should not be used for this type of promotional benefit, but rather for the non-biased discussion of topics. How would I go about updating this page to not include this conflict of interest link since the page is protected? Thanks for the help.Saltsister 17:57, 3 August 2007 (UTC)[reply]

I can edit it and you should be able to edit after being a user for five days, also I agree that there is a conflict of interest, see [3], but let me say that if you have an opposite conflict of interest it's best that you wait for someone else to make the edits. Jeffrey.Kleykamp 18:16, 3 August 2007 (UTC)[reply]
Understood, thank you for your prompt response. Saltsister 18:40, 3 August 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Tabbed page format[edit]

Hello, I would like to create a page similar to the one here with only 2 tabs. Is there a good refernece document on creating this ? Thx.

This is what you're looking for. Lara♥Love 18:42, 3 August 2007 (UTC)[reply]
  • Hey Lara, I not quite getting it from the instructions on that page. Is there another tutorial you can think of? If you give me a 2 tabbed template with some text... I would praise you forever!
The tabbed Tutorial page is really a set of pages. It is held together with the tab header page that you don't really see, and then that controls what happens with the individual tab pages. Go here Wikipedia:Tutorial/TabsHeader, and look at the contents (edit the page). Then each of the individual tab pages starts with a little code to identify which tab they are, e.g., /TabsHeader|This=1 is at the start of the Front Page tab page. Good luck. Alfrodull 23:04, 3 August 2007 (UTC)[reply]
I was able to set up a very simple two tab page (three pages - the tab header page, the first tab page, and the second tab page in my Sandox. Feel free to copy it to get started. It is here. Alfrodull 01:33, 4 August 2007 (UTC)[reply]
  • I'm still confused on creating the tabs header pg. The first line on your tab header pg. references Wikipedia:Tutorial/Tabs. Do I need to reference this pg? What do I need to put on the first line of the tabs header pg.? I am creating this on an internal wiki site for my co.
Yes, that page, or one with the same content needs to be referenced. So you will need to make a page like it on your internal wiki.Alfrodull 17:27, 8 August 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Proposed mergers[edit]

Hi. I have noticed that there is a huge backlog at Category:Merge by month. I would like to ask if any user can deal with this backlog or if it needs to be done by an admin. Thanks.Tbo 157 18:49, 3 August 2007 (UTC) Can I also ask the same question for Wikipedia:Requested moves.Tbo 157 19:00, 3 August 2007 (UTC)[reply]

I've fixed the link. You need to put a colon (:) before category when internal linking to it. AndrewJDTALK -- 19:06, 3 August 2007 (UTC)[reply]
Anyone can merge articles. Just follow the instructions! :) -- Stwalkerster talk 20:23, 3 August 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Use of sound to subdue humans[edit]

I have been asked by several individuals who work at a high security prison, whether or not there is a possibility to use loud ultra high frequency sound to subdue prisoners who are rioting. Currently, the guards use tear gas and are wondering if there is any way sound could be used to temporarily disable dangerous individuals in lieu of toxious gas.


dgager

You want to ask this at Wikipedia:Reference desk/Science. The help desk is for editing questions. --Sopoforic 20:17, 3 August 2007 (UTC)[reply]
See Less-lethal weapons, Long range acoustic device, and Sonic weaponry. I admit to being troubled by evidence that individuals who work at a high-security prison can't seem to perform a simple search on Wikipedia. What's wrong with our educational system? --Teratornis 22:19, 3 August 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Threatened with account closure[edit]

I added a new article about an online project. The article that I was attempting to add was apparently deleted in the past (I assumed for lack of citations, as that is about all I could decipher from the cryptic messages - I'm new here, sorry).

User "realkyhick" then added a speedy deletion request and when I (researched how to and then) added a {{hangon}} tag, he threated to terminate my account! Is this how your company operates? If so, is it possible to get a refund on my past monetary donations?! I find this threat offensive and uncalled-for.

I've been happy in the past to just enter typo corrections and this is only the second article that I've tried to create. If your guardians are so antagonistic that I'm going to have my account yanked for creating a page (and just now he accused me of self-promotion!! I'm not even affiliated with the content!), I want to hear it from someone with a "@wikipedia.org" after their e-mail.

Good day. Mangler 21:48, 3 August 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Hi! It is impossible (as far as I know) for anyone to close your account. However, it is possible that your account could be blocked. However, admins need a reason to block you. It appears that you are trying to create an article about a non-notable topic. Wikipedia cannot have articles about everything, so only those which can show notability about it's subject are allowed. I would recommend you find something notable about Brotherhood 2.0, then try again. Or, do something else, like write an article on one of the topics listed here. :) -- Stwalkerster talk 22:01, 3 August 2007 (UTC)[reply]
Mangler, having reviewed your work, and the responses from both you and User:realkyhick, I must say that I don't see where realkyhick has done anything wrong. He is stating the gist of policy, informing you of what might happen. Heck, I don't think he was rude either. The fact is Brotherhood 2.0 at the moment would probably fail Wikipedia:Notability if it were put up at Wikipedia:Articles for deletion; I myself would vote Delete for it, and I'm an Inclusionist. If he did anything wrong, than he broke Wikipedia:Etiquette.
Just for the record, it wasn't so much that he marked it for removal (though at the time I did have a comment in the discussion page inviting debate on that topic, which he apparently ignored and just marked regardless). My problem is in the Discussion comments on my user page. I started the article, he marked for speedy removal, I marked with hang-on, then he informed me: " Please stop. If you continue to ignore our policies by introducing inappropriate pages to Wikipedia, you will be blocked."
That seems like quite a threat in response to simply adding a hangon element, doesn't it? Another user removed the speedy, and now there's a third user recommending removal for a different reason, but he's done so politely and I have no problem with that. I found the use of the icon, the bold, and the overall tone quite rude, especially after I tried to follow the only recourse left legitimately to me, the Discussion page and the hangon tag.-Mangler 00:06, 4 August 2007 (UTC)[reply]
If however you still feel wronged, find an Admin to help you, or contact the Wikipedia:Administrators' noticeboard/Incidents for help. Please note however, he said Block, (temporaily not allowed to edit) not Ban (longer periods to forever). Blocking itself is not too bad, when I first came to WP, I was blocked about 5 times during my WP learning curve. Zidel333 22:36, 3 August 2007 (UTC)[reply]
I agree that that user (hicks) could have toned down the response, but he is right in some respects. The encyclopedia eventually filters out what should and should not belong, and in my experience, the subject that the article concentrates on will not last long. Speedy deletion is an early warning sign to you, the contributor.
Creating new articles isn't the best way to start off here, because, yes, over-zealous editors will quickly dissolve any enthusiasm you might have toward contributing. I suggest you take a look at how many articles are regularly up for deletion (184 articles were nominated in just one day), as that will reveal to you more about why deletion is such a big deal. ALTON .ıl 22:23, 3 August 2007 (UTC)[reply]
I'm sorry that Mangler took offense to my action. However, I will point out that the article in question was already speedy deleted three times over the past few months, as evidenced by this link. If this user was not the one to originally post those articles (I'm not an admin and have no way to check that deep into the "innards"), then I offer my apologies. However, if he was — and being the creator of this vlog as well as the latest original author, I would suspect it was — then the warning was appropriate, as a third re-posting would indicate that he has had some encounter with Wikipedia policies by now.
You continue to make the unfounded (and incorrect, btw) statement that I'm the originator of the vlog. That is untrue. Hank and John Green are the creators and live in Montana, and Indiana, respectively. I'm sure someone from WP can show that I'm in New Mexico, as per my ip-address. Your insistence on this falsehood is an example of the attitude to which I am lodging the complaint. I myself only learned about the vlog about 2 weeks ago, and it has existed for eight months now. If you're wondering why I have extensive information regarding the vlog, it's because I've watched it in its entirety over the last two weeks, and everything that I've posted here comes directly from the video entries. Just because I watch TV doesn't mean I own NBC either.-Mangler 01:05, 4 August 2007 (UTC)[reply]
I'm more than happy to step aside from this whole issue. I noticed that the article now has a prod; I assume the author will contest that and it will go to AfD, at which time I will vote for strong delete. Aside from that, I'll have no further involvement in this. Realkyhick 00:52, 4 August 2007 (UTC)[reply]
Update: I just checked the talk page, and I see that Mangler says he was not the author of the other articles and had no connection with this vlog. I must say that this surprises me very greatly, given the exceedingly great detail in his article, which would mean more than a regular familiarity with the subject. But I will take his word for it. My sincere apologies. I still, however, stand by my assessment of the subject's notability, and will still vote to delete should it come to AfD. As I have said to others in the past, "The best-written article in the world cannot overcome a lack of notability." Realkyhick 01:05, 4 August 2007 (UTC)[reply]
This, I accept (though it was rather dripping with insincerity). I might argue that if 3 different people (and I assume 3 based on the dates of deletion being so far apart) are trying to create this page, it might have some notability, or at the very least a growing one. As mentioned in the article itself, its popularity exploded (about the time I myself discovered it) in mid-July, and so its entirely conceivable that it will continue to do so and indeed have a place here. If now is not that time, so be it. Again, my complaint with you was your assumptions, your tone, and your aggressiveness to threaten me, rather than to discuss in the Discussion page. If those messages were merely templates that you've created, I suggest you rewrite them before casting aspersions to legitimate (and new) users. -Mangler 01:16, 4 August 2007 (UTC)[reply]
For the record, the message with the warning icon was made with the template {{uw-create3}}. Realkyhick has not contributed to it but chose to use it, apparently based on an assumption that you had created the page before. The template is part of the series {{uw-create1}}, {{uw-create2}}, {{uw-create3}}, {{uw-create4}}. Note that the last which was not used is a last warning. PrimeHunter 02:33, 4 August 2007 (UTC)[reply]
OK, I'm glad that the issue is cleared up. I'm still availible if there are any other concerns. Zidel333 03:33, 4 August 2007 (UTC)[reply]

universe[edit]

How long is a lightyear?

Do your own homework, and 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. Hint: try Light year :) -- Stwalkerster talk 22:03, 3 August 2007 (UTC)[reply]

How to get help and attention to improve a page?[edit]

Ive found two pages, which are somewhat contradicting. However, I dont know what page is correct or whether a term has two different meanings. The problem is that in the discussion sector hardly anything has ever been written. How can I get some attention to these pages to get advise and help how to solve this issue? --Smallchanges 22:19, 3 August 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Good question, I have been in this position before. I would do some research by looking at the article references, or going to a search engine. To draw attention to an article with this particular problem, place {{Contradict-other|[[Article]]}} on the tops of the pages that contradict themselves, replacing article with the opposite article, and then give a description of what the contradiction is on the talk page. I hope this helps, --wpktsfs 22:26, 3 August 2007 (UTC)[reply]

pictures from public domain[edit]

I am writing a story and need a few pictures of specific places, people or art work. I could find some of these pictures on the Wikipedia website. They all are in the "public domain" and supposedly free to use. If I want to use them, do I have to mention that I found them on the Wikipedia website? Please let me know. I would appreciate your answer. Thank you Bochima 23:09, 3 August 2007 (UTC)[reply]

I am not a copyright lawyer, nor do I have extensive knowledge of copyright. To the best of my knowledge, if the images are "public domain" (not GFDL) meaning they have no copyright, you may use them however you like. Please see WP:C for more information. --wpktsfs 00:15, 4 August 2007 (UTC)[reply]