Help desk
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February 17[edit]

Making a site wide Sandbox like Wikipedia has.[edit]

I wanted to know how I can make a Sandbox for everyone on my site to use (not just a single user) much like the Sandbox function Wikipedia uses. Thank you.

Are you looking for MediaWiki? Xiner (talk, email) 01:01, 17 February 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Make any page and call it the site's sandbox. There's no special code in the back end necessary. Titoxd^(?!?) 02:59, 17 February 2007 (UTC)[reply]

trying to submit a new page[edit]

Dear Help Desk - I am having trouble trying to submit a new page. Just can't seem to figure out how to do it. I entered the material (below) and selected save, but I am doing something wrong, for it is not appearing on the web. Is there any way you could take the material below and enter it for me? I would greatly appreciate it.

Chris Eskridge, Director American Society of Criminology <email address removed for your protection> <content removed for new page> —Preceding unsigned comment added by Ceskridge (talk • contribs)

Interested parties should discuss the article at Talk:American Society of Criminology and help wikify it at American Society of Criminology. Thanks. Xiner (talk, email) 00:55, 17 February 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Hello good day. i just added the name of a school from where i graduated from. It's a jesuit school, named Sacred Heart School of the Society of Jesus (formerly Sacred Heart School for Boys) located in the heart of a prestigious town in the Philippines called the City of Cebu. The name was changed just a couple of years ago because the school started to enroll female students. I was just wondering when I added this and tried to check it again, it said that this article may be a part of a speedy deletion. I hope that it will remain permanent so that researchers and net surfers would be made known of this school's existence. Please try to confirm or research again so that it won't be erased and will be included in the list of jesuit schools in the country. It is the only Jesuit school in Cebu City and one of the best schools in town.

Moderator, Adminstrator of Wikipedia[edit]

How does one around here become an online administrator or moderator at Wikipedia.org? Can you please send more info to <email removed>

Read WP:ADMIN, tht might answer your question. Viridae ^Talk 06:23, 17 February 2007 (UTC)[reply]

(Edit conflict) See Wikipedia:Administrators and Wikipedia:Requests for adminship. I also removed your email address, as making it public here makes it very public over the entire Internet, and you don't want to get spammed. Titoxd^(?!?) 06:25, 17 February 2007 (UTC)[reply]

about advirtising report[edit]

dev203.122.47.195 06:36, 17 February 2007 (UTC)what are the features of an ideal advirtisment and what is case study[reply]

It appears to me that you want us to answer a homework question for you. While we are happy to give some pointers, the idea of homework is for the learner to actually learn the stuff. By us just telling you and giving the information on a big plate, there is the major possibility that you'd not absorb the info and it'd fall right through. I think a better question to ask is "what do you think make an advertisement work? That should give you some pointers to work from. If you're still stuck, try our very own Reference desk. Just don't expect us to do everything for you. Harryboyles 10:51, 17 February 2007 (UTC)[reply]

University of Notre Dame article[edit]

It looks like a good portion of the article is missing. When you go to edit it, there is more there than on the actual article. I can't tell what the problem is. DandyDan2007 08:34, 17 February 2007 (UTC)[reply]

There was a <ref/> where there should have been a </ref>. Look better now? *Mishatx*-In\Out 08:48, 17 February 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Bot blanking IP talk pages[edit]

Hi. Could any one please tell me the name of the bot used to blank talk pages of IP addresses. Thank you very much. --196.202.92.92 09:34, 17 February 2007 (UTC)[reply]

The only bot listed on Wikipedia:Registered bots that looks like it does this is User:Tawkerbot. Hope this helps. --Cherry blossom tree 11:10, 17 February 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Yes. That's it. Thank you very much. --196.202.92.93 16:20, 17 February 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Shakatak[edit]

I've just read the page on the Jazz-Funk group Shakatak and at the top of the page it says :This is not written in an acceptable style normally associated with an encyclopedia article". What does this mean exactly? Sounds almost caustically sarcastic!(Or am I just reading it the wrong way?0 This is a serious question as I am a relatively new visitor to your gr8 site....The piece read perfectly okay to me!?! Jeffrey Reed(<email address removed>)

It means what it sounds like, but I don't think it applies to this article. It was added a few months ago, when the article looked very different - seehere. I don't think it applies anymore, so I will remove it. --Cherry blossom tree 11:07, 17 February 2007 (UTC)[reply]

I've removed your email address to avoid spam. --K.Z ^Talk ^• ^Vandal ^• ^Contrib 11:18, 17 February 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Mick Brown[edit]

Hi, There is an existing article about Mick Brown (the drummer) and I'm wanting to create a new page about Mick Brown (the journalist) but am not sure how to do this. (I have created a new page before, so I know how to do that, but never where the page name was already in use.) Is a disambiguation page needed? Thanks.

Create the page at Mick Brown (journalist). Then, if you think they are of approximately equal prominence, move Mick Brown to Mick Brown (drummer), and create a disambiguation page at Mick Brown. If the drummer is more "important", just add a note at the top of the page saying something like "If you were looking for the journalist, see Mick Brown (journalist)." Hope that helps. Trebor 11:53, 17 February 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Question about Images[edit]

I have uploaded an image that I got from a website, in particular the Indianapolis Star's website. I am not sure what to do when adding a copyright tag to it, and if that is even possible when getting an image from a website. What should I do? —Preceding unsigned comment added by Johnnyb2963 (talk • contribs)

I think you're talking about this image, which is very probably under copyright. Unfortunately, we can't just use images we find on the web if they are copyrighted; preferably, they are under some free licence (for instance the GFDL). If they are copyrighted, we can only use them in accordance with our (strict) fair use policy, and the image must meet several criteria. In this case, I don't think that's likely as the image is easily replaceable. For more information, read our image use policy. Hope that helps. Trebor 15:25, 17 February 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Contents box[edit]

How do you get this to appear on an article? I've added level 2 headlines to the page (like this- == Headline text ==) but no contents appear.

You need 3 or more headings; have a look here for more info. Trebor 16:34, 17 February 2007 (UTC)[reply]

If you want to force a table of contents to appear, add __TOC__ whereever you want the box to appear. Hersfold ^(talk|work) 17:26, 17 February 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Multilingual account[edit]

is it possible to use the same account to edit the english and german wikipedias?

No, you'll have to create a different account. GhostPirate 18:29, 17 February 2007 (UTC)[reply]

But they can have the same name. *Mishatx*-In\Out 20:43, 17 February 2007 (UTC)[reply]

China[edit]

Is wikipedia really forbided in china?? —Preceding unsigned comment added by Daisy 110790 (talk • contribs)

Responded to on user's talk page. Xiner (talk, email) 19:04, 17 February 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Template for "this article is in the process of a major renovation"[edit]

I know that there's a template for this purpose, does anyone know where it is? Thanks! Joie de Vivre 19:14, 17 February 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Try {{inuse}} and the others listed at the linked page. Cheers!--Kchase T 19:17, 17 February 2007 (UTC)[reply]

This page may be helpful, too. Xiner (talk, email) 19:20, 17 February 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Problem: those are for "project pages" and "template pages". I need the one that says "This article is undergoing a major whatever". Thanks. Joie de Vivre 19:25, 17 February 2007 (UTC)[reply]

No, they just use conditional logic that tells them which namespace they are. If you try {{inuse}} in an article, it will say article, instead of template page. Titoxd^(?!?) 19:31, 17 February 2007 (UTC)[reply]

These templates are for use within articles. Just insert codes like the one Kchase gave into the article. You'll see. Xiner (talk, email) 19:30, 17 February 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Oh, very nice, very nice! Thank you! Joie de Vivre 17:18, 19 February 2007 (UTC)[reply]

adding citation[edit]

Please look at this diff and show me how to do it correctly. I would think they should all have a footnote "1" since the footneot is the same. But is doesn't do this automatically.--BirgitteSB 19:29, 17 February 2007 (UTC)

No, it doesn't, because if you use "bare" <ref> tags, MediaWiki has no way of knowing that they're pointing to the same object. The way to reference them is by adding a name to the citations, which I did for you on the article. More info as to how to do that is documented in Wikipedia:Footnotes. Titoxd^(?!?) 19:35, 17 February 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Thank you very much--BirgitteSB 19:38, 17 February 2007 (UTC)

Text Size[edit]

I use Internet Explorer 7. because of my eyesight, I like to enlarge the view by using the + sign. Typically I expand it to 125%. When I do that on Wikipedia, the text expands beyond the edge of the viewable window. I have to scroll left or right to see it all. Can your pages be set to fill the viewable window at 100% of the width regardless of the magnification? For example, I have it set at 125% in this help screen, and several words at the right end of the lines do not appear without scrolling. Blaird 19:54, 17 February 2007 (UTC)[reply]

I think it has to do with your browser, unfortunately. Trying it on both Safari and Firefox didn't glitch. If possible, I'd suggest switching to a more standards-compliant browser. Dåvid Fuchs ^{(talk / frog blast the vent core!)} 20:03, 17 February 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Writing an #if statement in a template whos conditions depend upon the contents of a variable within the template[edit]

I need to write a template where parts of it only show up if a variable in the template has been assigned a value. For example:

Template:WikiLink

[http://wikipedia.org/w/{{{page}}} Wikipedia.org]

Would be the template, and this is what I want it to do

{{#if {{{page}}}= | | [http://wikipedia.org/w/{{{page}}} Wikipedia.org]}}

So that only if {{{page}}} has been defined will the rest be displayed. Can any tell me how to accomplish this? Thanks.

That's exactly what the #if function does. If the parameter has been defined, it returns the text after the first bar, and otherwise it returnes the text after the second bar. -Amarkov moo! 20:09, 17 February 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Right, but it doesn't seem to work with template variables... or am I missing something? Is it supposed to?

Oh, wasn't sure what you were asking. It works for template variables, but only if you write them as {{{parameter'''''|'''''}}}, with that extra bar. So the code you would want is {{#if:{{{page|}}}|[http://wikipedia.org/w/{{{page}}} Wikipedia.org]|(whatever you want displayed if the parameter isn't defined)}}. -Amarkov moo! 20:24, 17 February 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Thank you very much, that was exactly what I needed!

Lost Password without e-mail address[edit]

Greetings! I've created a username back in 2005 and had some minor edits on articles of the Wikipedia in English. Then I've been away for a pretty long time (2 years or so), with no edits to Wikipedia. However, now I came back and I would like to use my old username (I also have a username in the Portuguese Wikipedia - w:pt:usuário:Planck). But low and behold... I forgot my password after 2 years. And... at that time I did not enter an e-mail address. Now I've read I could contact someone and "persuade" this person to access the database and retrive this password for me. I've honestly tried thousands of times to use every possible combination of password that I've ever used in my life, and I can't seem to find the right one. Is there any help I can get? I really would like to keep using my old username! Please, any help is appreciated. If any more info is needed, I can provide. Thank you so much in advance. 221.60.52.173 20:33, 17 February 2007 (UTC)[reply]

My suggestion is to create a new account, if you didn't type in a email address. Since you've didn't type a email address in, we can't be sure if its your account. --K.Z ^Talk ^• ^Vandal ^• ^Contrib 21:21, 17 February 2007 (UTC)[reply]

editing a headline[edit]

I created a page about someone but the last name in the headline is in lower-case and I can't figure out how to capitalize it. All help is appreciated.

The name is Ryan Glasper.

Thanks!

Use the Move tab near the top left of the screen .... I have done this one for you :) Abtract 21:15, 17 February 2007 (UTC)[reply]

thanks Abtract

Wikitable formatting[edit]

Is there an easy way to make each of the four wikitables at List of recordings preserved in the United States National Recording Registry have the same column widths. TonyTheTiger 21:25, 17 February 2007 (UTC)[reply]

You can set the widths. Check out m:Table, hopefully that should help. If not, get back to me. delldot | talk 21:43, 17 February 2007 (UTC)[reply]

help non urgent[edit]

See Wikipedia:Reference_desk/Humanities#Category:Germanic culture - category made by possibly only one user - unfortunately - appears misguided - suggest delete the whole lot if possible - ie all instances of category:germanic culture

Is this possible. Thanks87.102.2.106 21:52, 17 February 2007 (UTC)[reply]

If you think the article is uncontroversial, feel free to add {{db-catempty}}. --K.Z ^Talk ^• ^Vandal ^• ^Contrib 01:51, 18 February 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Works (images) by the government of Canada[edit]

Are images made by the Government of Canada in Public Domain or Fair Use? One Example: Picture of Judge from [1].--Natl1 (Talk Page) (Contribs) 22:28, 17 February 2007 (UTC)[reply]

All I can say is maybe. {{PD-Canada}} says if it was published under Crown copyright more than 50 years ago, then it's public domain. If it was taken before 1949 and the author died more than 50 years ago, it's public domain. Otherwise, it's still copyrighted. If you want input from people who take a look at copyrights frequently, consider asking at WP:MCQ. ShadowHalo 00:03, 18 February 2007 (UTC)[reply]

According to Canada's copyright act here, it must have been made over 50 years ago. Otherwise, you have to find some fair use rationale as the copyright would still belong to Her Majesty, in other words, the Canadian Government. Hersfold ^(talk|work) 00:08, 18 February 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Site not working[edit]

Was Wikipedia just down? I couldn't load the site for at least half an hour and neither could anyone else on my hall. There's nothing on my watchlist from the past forty-five minutes, but I want to make sure it wasn't just me. ShadowHalo 23:42, 17 February 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Down for me too. Viridae ^Talk 23:43, 17 February 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Yup, me too. --Kurt Shaped Box 23:48, 17 February 2007 (UTC)[reply]

It's everyone. Its fine now though. ~ Arjun 23:44, 17 February 2007 (UTC)[reply]

My word, that better not happe again, I started getting the shakes! RyanPostlethwaite^{See the mess I've created or let's have banter} 23:49, 17 February 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Due to a problem with the load balancer, if anyone's interested. Trebor 23:52, 17 February 2007 (UTC)[reply]

I'm interested, how did you find this out? Viridae ^Talk 23:56, 17 February 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Was just coming here to ask the same question! RyanPostlethwaite^{See the mess I've created or let's have banter} 23:57, 17 February 2007 (UTC)[reply]

On IRC: #wikimedia-tech was updated with what was going on (and a massive flood of users came to #wikipedia). Trebor 00:00, 18 February 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Yeah, I tried to get on IRC, but what software do you need? RyanPostlethwaite^{See the mess I've created or let's have banter} 00:02, 18 February 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Ah, IRC. Pity I can't access that, or I would have been one of the flood. Viridae ^Talk 00:03, 18 February 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Some IRC client. mIRC is pretty standard. I use Chatzilla which is a Firefox extension. Trebor 00:09, 18 February 2007 (UTC)[reply]

How to cite this encyclopedia?[edit]

I want to cite the second volume of Science Fiction and Fantasy Literature (1979), edited by R. Reginald, titled "Contemporary Science Fiction Authors II"--it's an update of what was previously an independently-published encyclopedia called Contemporary Science Fiction Authors, First Edition (1974). How do I cite it with {{cite encyclopedia}}? See what I have over at Robert Aickman#References; do I need to add an "edition" note, or... ? grendel|khan 23:59, 17 February 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Your reference looks fine to me. -- Chairman S. Talk ^Contribs 00:13, 18 February 2007 (UTC)[reply]