Wikipedia:Help desk/Archives/2007 August 7

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August 7

Only source available is down

Resolved

The now redirected official site, fzerox.com, has information found no where else but on fan sites. The web achieve only sends me to the front page and the page I specifically want is not displaying properly. I have the copy-pasted information from there, so is it possible to use fzerox.com along with the parameter "quote" (with that information) as a citation? Is there anyway to use fzerox.com as a source anymore? FMF 00:31, 7 August 2007 (UTC)

• If you were able to access that web page before, and you used that information as a source in the article, I don't see any reason why you can't cite it as a reference. The {{cite web}} template has a parameter stating the date on which the web page was retrieved. That's done because people recognize that content on a web site changes or gets deleted, so adding the date indicates that it was retrieved at that point in time. If someone is challenging a reference, they'll either have to accept that the information was there in the past, or they'll have to provide evidence to the contrary. --Elkman ^(Elkspeak) 03:36, 7 August 2007 (UTC)

Template messages

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Just how many template messages exist on the English Wikipedia? Hallpriest9 (Talk | Archive) 01:27, 7 August 2007 (UTC)

No idea, go count them :-). Melsaran (formerly Salaskаn) 03:02, 7 August 2007 (UTC)

I'd be counting at WP:TM, since not everything in the Template: space is necessarily a template message - a lot of them would be infoboxes and the like. Confusing Manifestation 04:45, 7 August 2007 (UTC)

Entries for Ella Raines and Robin Olds

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Hi, I am the daughter of Ella Raines and Robin Olds. Robin has just passed away on June 14th. My sister and I would appreciate you adding the information about Robin and Ella's two children as follows, two daughters, Christina Olds of Steamboat Springs, Colorado and Susan Olds Scott-Risner of North Bend, Washington.

Also, for your information, my mother NEVER taught acting classes. That line in your bio is wrong. Please contact me directly for correct information. Thank you, Christina Olds

I removed the acting teacher bit because it was unsourced and contested; it failed our policy Wikipedia:Verifiability. Adding that they had two children might help the article, but I'm not sure that where they live is relevant. Please, though, in addition to following Wikipedia:Verifiability, please heed Wikipedia:No original research. That said... Thank you for your suggestion! When you feel an article needs improvement, please feel free to make those changes. Wikipedia is a wiki, so anyone can edit almost any article by simply following the Edit this page link at the top. You don't even need to log in (although there are many reasons why you might want to). The Wikipedia community encourages you to be bold in updating pages. Don't worry too much about making honest mistakes — they're likely to be found and corrected quickly. If you're not sure how editing works, check out how to edit a page, or use the sandbox to try out your editing skills. New contributors are always welcome. WODUP 02:57, 7 August 2007 (UTC)

Displaying jpg images

Resolved

I uploaded 3 jpg images, but only one of them displays on my page... I can't figure out what's different about the 2 that won't display vs. the one that will... the one that displays is the first one I uploaded. CraigNGC 02:53, 7 August 2007 (UTC)

What are the images? I just might be able to help before I go on a wikivacation...  Jonjonbt 03:00, 7 August 2007 (UTC)

I see Image:Sigmoid.jpg, and I see Image:Sigmoid.JPG and Image:Sigmoid2.JPG which look like the same image to me. Image:Sigmoid1.JPG was already deleted because it was a duplicate. On User:CraigNGC/subpage, the image isn't displaying in the gallery because it's typed out as Image:Sigmoid2.jpg. Maybe try Image:Sigmoid2.JPG. WODUP 03:07, 7 August 2007 (UTC)

Font too large and Wikipedia displays too large

Resolved

I've searched the FAQ's and purged. How do I get my "normal" Wikipedia display back? rich 03:15, 7 August 2007 (UTC)

I'm guessing browser function. You can just close the tab, or the browser and it should restore it; it does for me anyway. i ^said 03:17, 7 August 2007 (UTC)

If your mouse has a scroll wheel, try holding CTRL and scrolling up. Lara♥Love 03:26, 7 August 2007 (UTC)

If you've got Firefox, go to View → Text Size → Normal. If you don't have firefox, tell us what you do have. WODUP 03:43, 7 August 2007 (UTC)

can i forward?

Resolved

hai sirs

              can i have the facility to forward any article  to a gmail or yahoo  accout?

if yes tell me how. reply me soon —Preceding unsigned comment added by Megalak (talk • contribs)

No, Wikipedia doesn't have a feature like that. WODUP 04:40, 7 August 2007 (UTC)

To see some things vaguely like this (with more emphasis on vaguely than like), go to the Editor's index, scroll down to the "News:" heading, and look at links such as Wikipedia:WikiProject WikipediaWeekly. --Teratornis 05:31, 7 August 2007 (UTC)

How to indicate a citation is needed?

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I know I've seen these before, but can't remember the format. I know it's a superscript where a citation number would go. Is it the words "Citation needed" enclosed in brackets? Or something else?

Also-- I seem to remember these being rendered with blue text (but not as links). How is this done?

Thanks! Bryan

It's a template called {{fact}}, which produces this: . It is a link, but a link to the Wikipedia guideline on citing sources. Confusing Manifestation 04:42, 7 August 2007 (UTC)

Opening a link to a topic

Vfg061528 04:42, 7 August 2007 (UTC)I cannot open links to topics retreived in search box; get error message saying a general protection fault has occured; upon closing the error message, Internet Explorer is closed.

How to create a new article

Resolved

How do I create a new article?

Wikipedia:Your first article. If you are not a registered user, see Wikipedia:Articles for creation. Shalom ^Hello 06:09, 7 August 2007 (UTC)

kidnap article's vanishing act!

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Greetings and salutations,

I was reading up on some kidnapping cases and following a link under the 'similar incidents' i stumbled across a very interesting article. I wanted to read the article again (and send the link for a friend) however it has since vanished. This is my second attempt at trying to find it but my searches have been to no avail.

Here is what i remember of the article; - it was set around the 17th - 18th Century. - it was about a young boy found wandering in the streets. He was about 16 when found but had a mind of a 6 year old. - he was thought to be of noble blood, and perhaps was a distantly related to napoleon. - there were a few attempts on his life, and eventually he was killed by an assassin. - there was a statue resurrected with a plaque saying "here a nobody was killed by a nobody".

With all the above remembered you'd think i could find this article... but alas i need your help!!! Please help me to find this again!!!

Kind regards, Claire***

That's a tough question because you cannot provide us with any names or specific dates. Try looking at articles in Category:Kidnappings. Shalom ^Hello 06:11, 7 August 2007 (UTC)

From memory, (and confirmed by my sources), the person you're after is one Kaspar Hauser, whose article is here. Is this what you were looking for? --Benea 13:20, 7 August 2007 (UTC)

Jew Watch - Frank Weltner Entry

I encountered the Wikipedia entry for "Jew Watch" (jewwatch.com). When I was looking for more information about him on google.com search I noticed that he had linked a fake Wikipedia entry about himself to his anti-semetic website. I think this should be mentioned in the Wikipedia Jew Watch entry as well as a spoof I encountered (killweltner.com) which I feel might be pertinent subject matter.

Also, why is there no Wikipedia entry for Weltner himself, he seems like a dangerous fellow and I think people should know more about him. Is there not enough know information about him to make an entry at this time?

Thanks

Fascinated Fascinated

There is no article because no-one has yet written one. If, after reading Wikipedia:Notability (people) (in a nutshell: the person must have been the subject of published secondary sources) you think there should be one then feel free to create it. Be careful to closely follow Wikipedia's neutral point of view policy, however. Articles cannot contain critical material that is not taken from reliable sources. This is very closely policed on articles about living people, for obvious reasons. Thanks. --Cherry blossom tree 11:45, 7 August 2007 (UTC)

Unfortunately I don't have the ability to write something on Frank Weltner, I don't know much about his personal life; but if I do have pertinent information to the Jew Watch entry how long do I have to wait until I would be able to edit it considering it is a Semi-Protected page?

find Ayat ul Kursi

I have just findout the Ayat ul Kursi

See Throne Verse. utcursch | talk 10:30, 7 August 2007 (UTC)

compromised user account

A message from my new user account, since my old user account appears to be compromised as of today. Nobody has used the account yet to edit articles. But my old password does no longer work. Is there a way to get my account back? How do I prove I am the real Teardrop_onthefire? Teardrop inthewater 10:22, 7 August 2007 (UTC)

If you had entered your e-mail while creating the earlier account, you can go to Special:Userlogin and click on "E-mail new password". utcursch | talk 10:27, 7 August 2007 (UTC)

Unfortunately I didn't Teardrop inthewater 11:31, 8 August 2007 (UTC)

mojo condoms page deleted

Resolved

Hi, A page I loaded on "mojo condoms" was deleted as it was deemed to be advertising.

All content was factual and I believe you are being biased against smaller brands/companies. If you going to delete my page please be consistent and delete, "innocent Drinks", "Durex", "Coca-Cola", etc. I am happy to reword anything that caused offence.

Regards Paul Santry

From what I've seen of the article ("mojo provides a fun, edgy, alternative condom brand to shake up the traditional...") it seems to be written in a promotional manner. Contrast this with any of the articles you named to see why this was deleted and they weren't. If you wish to recreate your article in a more neutral style then you may do so, but you may like to read some of Wikipedia:Business' FAQ, Wikipedia:Conflict of interest, Wikipedia:Neutral point of view and Wikipedia:Notability (organizations and companies). Thanks. --Cherry blossom tree 11:38, 7 August 2007 (UTC)

(Following edit conflict) The article, in the form you posted it, screamed adspeak—like language lifted from a promotional brochure. In fact it did indeed consist of nothing but promotional language; it was a blatant copyright violation of the brand's website, and could have been deleted on that independent basis as well as because it asserted no importance. Note also that if you are connected to this product you should not be writing the article as you would have a conflict of interest. If this article is to "stick", it needs to be written with neutral language and must cite to independent, reliable sources which treat the subject in a substantive manner. (remainder removed as redundant)--Fuhghettaboutit 11:49, 7 August 2007 (UTC)

outdoor space for camping

buzztard music composer page was deleted

Resolved

I am the author of that software, but have not initially created the page. I was about to extend the page (was more like a stub before), but had to notice that it is gone. This leaves some dangling links. Unfortunately the comment in the Deletion log is not helpful at all. It says "(non notable software, expired prod)". Google has 15,900 hits for buzztard alone where the first hit page is all related to the project. I also question the competence of one person to decide what is notable and not. Besides the product is not expired. Is there a chance to revive that page? Can I access the article and propose a extended version. Ensonic 13:26, 7 August 2007 (UTC)

"prod" is a deletion process. It does not stand for "product." someone places a prod template on the page, and nobody objected for five days. An administrator then reviewed the page and agreed with the original prod when it expired. If anyone had objected during the five days, the deletion would not have happened. SO, tow people took positive steps, to delete, and nobody (of the many people who watch prods) took a positive step to object. Nevertheless, You can still raise an objection and get the article re-instated. Please see WP:PROD for the whole process. Incidentally, the reason prod was invented was to simplify non-controversial deletes. Unfortunately, it sometime nukes a worthwhile article. I'm personally somewhat ambivalent about this, but if you click on "random article" about ten times, you will prpbably see why we need something a bit less cumbersome than WP:AFD to permit reasonable quality improvement. And thanks for spending time tryng to improve Wikipedia. -Arch dude 14:07, 7 August 2007 (UTC)

Template overkill?

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I keep a subpage for headlines about upcoming films (seen here), and it's fairly long at 123 KB. I use both Cite web and Cite news templates to add the headlines, so I can easily copy/paste them into film articles when they are created. However, at around this point, the templates do not display properly, only showing either "Template:Cite web" or "Template:Cite news", which is the same pattern to the end of the subpage. Is this because I've used both templates too many times in this subpage, or is there another issue? —Erik (talk • contrib) - 13:36, 7 August 2007 (UTC)

There's a limit to how much templates can be used on a page, called the 'pre-expand include limit'. You can look at the generated HTML source for a page, to see how close you are to the limit; the page is pretty long (I've waited for ages trying to load it), and here's the statistics for it:

<!-- 
Pre-expand include size: 2045925 bytes
Post-expand include size: 594763 bytes
Template argument size: 372417 bytes
Maximum: 2048000 bytes
-->

The pre-expand include is just below the maximum, implying that the maximum was reached and the software stopped parsing templates on that page. I'd suggest splitting it into several smaller pages, to reduce the load on the servers, and they'll start parsing the templates again correctly for you. --ais523 17:02, 7 August 2007 (UTC)

Ok, I've broken it up into further subpages, and the templates all seem to show now. Thanks for the advice, and sorry to put you through these ages of loading time. :) —Erik (talk • contrib) - 17:31, 7 August 2007 (UTC)

needing info. on the role of dalmations with the fire service.

Resolved

im trying to find information about dalmations and there role with the fire service. i cant find anything. can you help me?24.210.254.98 14:49, 7 August 2007 (UTC)

Try searching within the relevant articles (e.g. Dalmatians). If this does not work, do a Google run. If you cannot find it anywhere, you may ask it on the reference desk; the help desk is only for questions about the workings of Wikipedia. Melsaran 15:51, 7 August 2007 (UTC)

Images

Resolved

How do I retrieve an image from the commons. Do I just copy down the code, eg. Image:Example.png, or do I have to upload it again for Wikipedia? - Pheonix 15:08, 7 August 2007 (UTC)

Yes, you just copy the image name and insert it normally. You don't have to upload it again. GhostPirate 15:45, 7 August 2007 (UTC)

Deleting user name from existing entry

Resolved

I apparently edited without logging in. My user name appears on the HISTORY page. I would like to get rid of it. How? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 64.69.116.238 (talk • contribs) 17:20, 7 August 2007

Sorry, that is not possible for legal reasons. The names of all contributors are stored in the history of a page for compliance with the GNU Free Documentation License. Melsaran 15:48, 7 August 2007 (UTC)

Req. article list blanked?

Resolved

OK this is probably the wrong place to ask, but are the requsted article lists regularly blanked? I was checking out medicine-related article requests and someone had blanked it and added only two requests (this was in all medicine sub-categories). Looked a lot like vandalism to me, but because I wasn't sure I didn't revert it myself. Jack Daw 15:40, 7 August 2007 (UTC)

Yep, an IP address blanked the page and added some vandalism. I'll try to fix it now. Thanks. Hersfold ^(talk/work) 18:23, 7 August 2007 (UTC)

Anchor Links (type #link) in <imagemap>

Resolved

I ran into a problem with <imagemap> -- it won't let me use anchor links. for example, if you try to use #link, the actual link will go to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/#link instead of normal anchor link behavior. I have seen somebody bring up this problem at wikimedia, but the solution was beyond my understanding. It appeared that they were modifying the actual <imagemap> extension which I obviously can't do here. Could somebody please help me with this? Here is the image map I'm trying to use:

It is possible to use a link in the format page#link to use anchor links, but since this is a TOC template, multiple articles would use it. That would make it impossible to make a direct reference to a page in this situation. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Ben Boldt (talk • contribs)

My first guess about what to do, without actually looking seriously at the problem, would be to try linking from the image map to a redirect page which in turn links to the section you want on another page. --Teratornis 15:57, 7 August 2007 (UTC)

For an example of a redirect that links to a section on another page, see: WP:PAPER, and the redirect page itself, without redirection. You could try linking to WP:PAPER from your image map just to see if this will work. Also note, your question would be easier to answer if you would link to the page(s) describing the feature you are trying to use, which appears to be mw:Extension:ImageMap. You could study the other examples in Category:Wikipedia imagemaps to see if anyone else has managed to link to name anchors. --Teratornis 16:06, 7 August 2007 (UTC)

This is a bug in the ImageMap extension — or, arguably, in Title.php, which should do the right thing automatically in this case rather than requiring the caller to worry about it. Anyway, I've fixed this particular problem in rev:24657. (The reason I haven't fixed it in Title.php is that the code gets rather complicated if there are query parameters and variants involved, and I don't have the time to figure it out right now. Fortunately, ImageMap doesn't need to worry about either of those.) —Ilmari Karonen (talk) 17:07, 7 August 2007 (UTC)

Is there anything I can do right now or do I have to wait until <imagemap> is updated? I can't quite wrap my mind around how a redirect page could help. Since these are anchor links, the browser should stay on the same page and just scroll to the appropriate anchor rather than visiting different pages.

Ben Boldt 20:56, 7 August 2007 (UTC)

The one thing you could do is to hardcode the name of the target page in the links. Of course, that rather defeats the point of using a template in the first place. The {{FULLPAGENAME}} variable would help, except that variables don't work in imagemaps either. :( —Ilmari Karonen (talk) 14:52, 8 August 2007 (UTC)

Attorney in Arizona

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Help me. I need to find an attorney in Arizona that deals with slander issues. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 206.173.25.197 (talk • contribs)

Sorry, that's not something that we at Wikipedia can help you with. Melsaran 17:40, 7 August 2007 (UTC)

1991 Australian Grand Prix

Resolved

Hi, I have been improving the ‘1991 Australian Grand Prix’ page, but some of my references have been removed. I would therefore like to ask what the reason is behind the removals?

For example, I made statements within the ‘race’ section that most defiantly need references to prove the claims. This includes reference number three and four, on the page. However the reference comes from an F1 clip from Youtube that is BBC footage. How, therefore can I provide the evidence, in the referencing, without being subject to copyright and editing?

I would like to keep the reference in the page because it is vital to the document and is vital evidence to the claim.

Thank You

Generally, Youtube isn't considered a reliable source due to the fact that anybody can manipulate and post a video with no oversight. If you can find the same video on the BBC site, you can link to it there, but Youtube isn't the best place to look, even if it looks like an authentic BBC broadcast. For more information, see WP:RS and WP:V. Hersfold ^(talk/work) 18:19, 7 August 2007 (UTC)

Linking years, not dates

Resolved

Should years be put in brackets? As in "Joe was born in 1876"? I understand that dates should be put in links, but what about just a reference to a year?MarkinBoston 18:30, 7 August 2007 (UTC)

Generally individual years shouldn't be linked unless as part of a full date. --Cherry blossom tree 18:40, 7 August 2007 (UTC)

Updating Wikipedia

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My company just relaunched our new website and it was brought to my attention that we should update our listing on Wikepedia.

I'm not the most technical person but I did try to update some minor pieces of info which was fine, but then I tried to edit a larger part, saved it and now I've completely ruined our page on your site. I've obviously edited out some important coding because it looks completely different from what was initially there.

I have tried to follow your editing instructions, but as I said, I'm pretty much technically clueless.

Would someone be available to help put those important codings back in so our page looks abit more legible?

Any help would be greatly appreciated. --Scarnp01 18:38, 7 August 2007 (UTC)Paola Scarnato, BTG plc

I think I've fixed it - it was just missing a couple of squiggly brackets. --Cherry blossom tree 18:50, 7 August 2007 (UTC)

Login Errors

Resolved

I just signed up and have been unable to login. I have tried about 8 times unsuccessfully. It tells me my username or confirmation code are wrong. Neither of which is true. I edited a page and wish for my IP address NOT to be shown, so I signed up in order for that to not happen.

Thank you in advance.

Krystal

My only suggestion is to attempt the process again. Lara♥Love 19:25, 7 August 2007 (UTC)

AfD Question

Resolved

(brownize)

Sirs:

I'd like to learn why my article "Benedictine School" was Speedy Deleted and whether I may somehow re-post it (deletion log: 07:31, 3 August 2007 Sir Nicholas de Mimsy-Porpington (Talk | contribs) deleted "Benedictine School" (content was: '{{db|Advertising, copyvio from http://www.benschool.org/benedictine.html as well}}

The Benedictine School –Benedictine...').

I actually did mark it "hang on" but did not get a chance to receive comments on which to edit.

While I can see where it might be classified as advertising, it seems arbitrary, in that schools, ie: Benedictine High School, Benedictine Military Academy, Benedictine College, are allowed similar listings.

If the problem is a copyright violation with the school's website, I wrote the web site copy so it is OK with me to use it.

Can you suggest a way to modify my article to be within Wikipedia policies? I include a copy of the text below for your convenience.

Thank you for your consideration.

Steve Goodman Gsteve 18:55, 7 August 2007 (UTC)

Benedictine Programs and Services – Benedictine Programs and Services provides educational, residential and day services for children and adults with developmental disabilities, ages 5 through 60. School programs include: functional academics; speech therapy; psychological, psychiatric, social work, counseling and case management; assistive technology; physical and occupational therapy; vocational and transitional services; and intensive collaborative programs designed for students within the Autism Spectrum. Benedictine's Open Community Program operates 28 state-licensed group homes for adults throughout Maryland and Delaware. The Benedictine Foundation is the development office, the mission of which is to secure the financial resources needed to assure the future of the Benedictine School for Exceptional Children and its programs and services. The organization is managed by the Sisters of St. Benedict and is recognized nationally for its pioneering approach to educating and caring for children and adults with developmental disabilities. Sister Jeannette Murray, O.S.B. is Executive Director. The state-of-the-art campus is located on Maryland’s rural Eastern Shore, 14299 Benedictine Lane, Ridgely, Maryland 21660. A fully approved, non-sectarian service provider caring for individuals with special needs without regard to racial, ethnic, or religious background. For further information, call 410-634-2292, or visit the web site at www.benschool.org.

Material taken straight from the school's website is unlikely to be appropriate for an encyclopaedia article. Try taking a look at some good articles about schools such as Westfield High School (Fairfax County, Virginia), Broad Run High School and Lubbock High School. If you can write even a short article in a similar style to these then it will not be deleted. You may also like to read Wikipedia:Conflict of interest and Wikipedia:Neutral point of view. --Cherry blossom tree 19:32, 7 August 2007 (UTC)

Images

Resolved

i know this sounds really bad and i sound like a noob. How do i post images or i mean link from wikipedia commons and have them not see the link but the image? Many thanks, .:!Ninja!:. 19:00, 7 August 2007 (UTC)

You can do this by inserting a colon at the start of the link. [[:image:bananas.jpg]] = image:bananas.jpg. --Cherry blossom tree 19:27, 7 August 2007 (UTC)

The question is the opposite: How to display the image instead of a link (as the editor did in [1]). Write [[Image:Paradiso Canto 31.jpg]] to display the image. See Wikipedia:Images for more details. PrimeHunter 21:16, 7 August 2007 (UTC)

How do you add images onto wikipedia?

Resolved

How do you add images onto wikipedia? I'd like to contribute a few.

Take a look at Wikipedia:Images and Wikipedia:Uploading images. --Tλε Rαnδom Eδιτor (tαlk) 19:17, 7 August 2007 (UTC)

2 Tabbed page in Mediawiki

Resolved

I see a very simple two tab page (three pages - the tab header page, the first tab page, and the second tab page here.

The first line on the tab header pg. references Wikipedia:Tutorial/Tabs. How do I reference this pg on an internal Mediawiki for my company? What do I put on the first line of the tabs header pg. to make 2 tabs on a page? I tried making it an external link, but that did not work.

General MediaWiki questions will receive the best response at mw:Support desk. This page is for questions about Wikipedia. --Cherry blossom tree 19:36, 7 August 2007 (UTC)

Edit alerts

Resolved

I am active on WP:OLYMPICS and I am often awaiting a reply on the page so that I can do something project-related. Out of curiosity, is there a monospace code that would put the following banner on the top of any page for instance when the project's talk page is edited, just as what would happen if your talk page were edited?

The Olympics WikiProject talk page has been edited.

Thanks to anyone with the hack! Jared (t)  19:22, 7 August 2007 (UTC)

I can't see such a tool listed at Wikipedia:Tools, which is where I'd expect it to be. Sorry. --Cherry blossom tree 19:41, 7 August 2007 (UTC)

If you can identify the people you are trying to notify, you could leave notes on their user talk pages. --Teratornis 19:54, 7 August 2007 (UTC)

It would probably be a good idea to ask this question at the Wikipedia:Reference desk/Computing. You will probably get a better answer there. --Tλε Rαnδom Eδιτor (tαlk) 22:24, 7 August 2007 (UTC)

Uploaded image does not display

I have uploaded an image that does not display except when you click on it to get the full size image. (image MoO3_chains.png). what am I doing wrong? Axiosaurus 20:38, 7 August 2007 (UTC)

Seems to be working fine. The code used was: [[Image:MoO3_chains.png]] AndrewJDTALK -- 21:02, 7 August 2007 (UTC)

Ah I see what you mean now. Personally, I've never seen it but I'm sure it's happened before. The image seems to work nonetheless even if it doesn't display on the Image Description page. AndrewJDTALK -- 21:15, 7 August 2007 (UTC)

English wikipedia

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Hi. Is there currently any plan to separate the English wikipedia for Britain and America. I know that in articles, the spellings used should be relevant to the country the article is related to or if it is unrelated, that it should be written in the same way that the person who created the article wrote it. Can I ask you if there have been any such debates in the past. Thanks in advance.Tbo 157 21:18, 7 August 2007 (UTC)

There are no plans to split the English Wikipedia in this manner, since however you spell it the language remains more or less the same. See Wikipedia:Perennial proposals#Enforce_American_or_British_spelling for more details. --Cherry blossom tree 22:16, 7 August 2007 (UTC)

er Exuse me i am a very english gentlman and i know for a fact that british and american spellings are different i wish you to change it and KNOW that they are different thank you.

172.206.39.129 22:59, 7 August 2007 (UTC)

Yes we know they're different too. But unlike, say, French or Japanese or Tamil, the difference between US English and UK English is not so much that an article written in one can't be read by a speaker of the other. Given that there is no clear majority of either side editing Wikipedia, there would be no way to enforce one over the other, so the only way to please as many people as possible would be to make 2 English Wikipedias (not counting Simple English, of course) - and given that they would be expected to have exactly the same content, only with different spellings, the effort required to maintain them would be completely unfeasible. Confusing Manifestation 23:11, 7 August 2007 (UTC)

Consider these relevant facts:

• Wikipedia is an American invention.
• Wikipedia is hosted in America.
• The Siege of Yorktown was a decisive Franco-American victory.

Clearly, this whole problem began in the late 1700's and stems from the failure of English diplomacy to keep the French out of English colonial affairs (without French assistance, the American rebellion would almost certainly have been crushed, and I'm surprised this point isn't made more clearly to American schoolchildren today, for example when they recite the Pledge of Allegiance which implies God had something to do with picking the winner but no mention whatsoever of the true patrons of America, the French). Had England managed to maintain political control of her American colonies, American English might have evolved in lockstep with the mother tongue just as Canadian English, Australian English, Indian English, and Jamaican English have. All seriousness aside, I have stated my opinion before that I believe the proper place to implement localization is in the Web browser, but this will have to wait until computers can pass the Turing test. I.e., computers must become "smart" enough to "read and understand" Web pages and translate their content into the version most compliant with the user's preferences. The fact that CAPTCHA technology still works tells us that present-day computers are nowhere near up to the task. --Teratornis 15:22, 8 August 2007 (UTC)

I am an American, and find myself quite capable of reading Britsh newspapers online with a minimum of discomfort. The Reader Comment sections of The Scotsman are another matter. :) To paraphrase Rodney King - surely we can all get along. MarkinBoston 21:57, 11 August 2007 (UTC)

Sorting varible number parameters for columns and rows

I am trying to create number parameters for sorting (ex. sorting_table|table1|5|10 5 being the number of rows and 10 being the number of columns). Is that even possible? I would like to be able to add or remove rows so a generic sorting template can be used for many different articles. The articles will have similar information but different names.Ricky.Garcia 16:50, 7 August 2007 (UTC)

I don't entirely understand your question. m:Help:Sorting deals with making sortable tables. Does this help? --Cherry blossom tree 22:33, 7 August 2007 (UTC)

Sorry,I will explain, I want to be able to create a generic table in which I can set the number of rows and columns within the Template and change without changing the template. Instead of having to have several different templates with the same information.Ricky.Garcia 03:10, 8 August 2007 (UTC)

Image metadata

Resolved

Does anyone know how to go about fixing the links in an image's metadata? I assume there is a script that does this automatically which means an admin will most likely have to take care of it. If you look at the metadata for pictures taken by a Canon camera, the link points to Canon, not Canon (an example of a pic I uploaded yesterday is here - scroll to the bottom). Thanks. ♫ Bitch and Complain Sooner ♫ 21:38, 7 August 2007 (UTC)

Heh... yeah, that would be a slight problem. I think that would have something to do with the software, as the metadata is collected when you upload the image. Try mentioning this at the tech pump or failing that Bugzilla, as there is no guarantee someone with access to the relevant system will read this. You'll have greater chances there. Hersfold ^(talk/work) 22:23, 7 August 2007 (UTC)

One of the MediaWiki: namespace pages relating to exif data would have to be changed in a fancy way to make this happen. There may be technical problems associated with this, so it would be best to ask at Wikipedia:Village pump (technical) first. --Cherry blossom tree 22:31, 7 August 2007 (UTC)

Spelling & moving re paragraphs

Resolved

What is the simplest way to check one's spelling in -- say -- a new paragraph one has just written for an article?

Also, what is the simplest way to move a paragraph to another part of an article?

Thank you. Dr.Bastedo 22:50, 7 August 2007 (UTC)

For moving a paragraph, you can just click "edit this page" on top of the article and move it by cut/pasting. And a spelling check can be done using a built-in spelling checker (Firefox has one), using RegExTypoFix, pasting it in Word and do a spelling check there, or just do it manually. Melsaran 22:52, 7 August 2007 (UTC)

Thanks for the response! ♥

Moving the paragraph sounds do-able.

But the other (i.e., spell-check) I am doubtful of. I'll see what I can do, of course. Dr.Bastedo 23:58, 8 August 2007 (UTC)