Wikipedia:Help desk/Archives/2007 February 5

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

February 5

Deletion of a page

I used to visit the Wikipedia page for the band "The WBC" very regularly. I tried to visit it today however, and it seems to have disappeared. /the_wbc now directs straight to the World Boxing Council, and the WBC band webpage is now listed as not existing. Where can I look to see if the page has been purposely or inadvertantly deleted? As now the history for "The WBC" site has disappeared also. Confuzzledoifo 01:40, 5 February 2007 (UTC)

Here you go: Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/The WBC. It was nominated for deletion on the 2nd of January. At this point, per Wikipedia:Why was my page deleted?, you can either appeal the deletion, or get a copy of the article to work on in your userspace, as a subpage (for example, as User:Confuzzledoifo/The WBC). If you do the later see, Wikipedia:Your first article for advice. -- John Broughton (☎☎) 02:13, 5 February 2007 (UTC)

Creating account

How do I create an account? I don't seem to find the link or instructions on your home page.

Dr. Sylvia Kahan City University of New York <email address deleted by Kyra_~(talk)>

Here is the direct link to the account creation page. Simply enter the information requested and then you will be able to log in and begin editing. I hope you have a most wonderful day! Kyra_~(talk) 02:20, 5 February 2007 (UTC)

To log in at other times, you click "Sign in/create an account" at the top righthand corner of a page. To log out, you can click "log out" right in the same spot. Kamope · talk · contributions 12:09, 5 February 2007 (UTC)

Racial terms

Can't find policy regarding which terms to use racially, as obviously some terms can be offensive to some, and harmless to others, and such, or terms could be correct in one situation but incorrect in another. -- feb^talk 04:06, 5 February 2007 (UTC)

Wikipedia:Content_disclaimer may be helpful. Xiner (talk, email) 04:28, 5 February 2007 (UTC)

about keyboard

in keyboard why the alphabet key not in sequance ,why thats keys not in proper sequance as a,b,c,d-------

That's actually a question for the Reference Desk since it's not a question about using Wikipedia. But, I think you should take a look at QWERTY since it answers your question well. —Keakealani·?·!·@ 07:17, 5 February 2007 (UTC)

List of best user pages

Where can I find either the "Wikipedia:Best User Pages" or the list of who has the best user page in Wikipedia, by vote? Or does anyone know of anyone with super excellent user pages? --Sadi Carnot 10:33, 5 February 2007 (UTC)

I don't think there's a such thing as Wikipedia:Best User Pages. Kamope · talk · contributions 11:34, 5 February 2007 (UTC)

• I got an Esperanza Userpage Award right before Esperanza and the project both got deleted. - Mgm|^(talk) 11:56, 5 February 2007 (UTC)

Check out User Page Design and, more specifically, the User Page Hall of Fame. —Xhantar^Talk 16:39, 5 February 2007 (UTC)

Yes, the Hall of Fame is interesting. I think, however, there should exist a way for there to be a page on something like "Wikipedia:Top 100 Best User Pages", or Wikipedia:Featured user pages (analogous to Wikipedia:Featured articles), or something along these lines? In this manner, it would be a kind of fun stimulator for Wikipedians who what to see how their pages stack up to others, and also, possibly a way to sort out the best of the best? Anybody interested in starting something like this? --Sadi Carnot 18:36, 5 February 2007 (UTC)

• In what way would that lead to the improvement of the encyclopaedia that is Wikipedia ? --Plek 19:02, 5 February 2007 (UTC)

Let’s see … first, user pages are the backbone of Wikipedia; hence, if the backbone is strong, well-organized, visually-appealing, connectable, well-guiding, easy-to-use, etc., then the organism of Wikipedia will naturally be healthier and easier to use. Second, such a project may very well help new users adapt faster to Wikipedia; from my own experience, the first half-year is kind of a “lost at sea” learning experience. Thus, if new users could be directed to “good examples” right off the bat, we could all save ourselves a lot of time. Third, a synergism may potentially develop in which “new ideas”, “new designs”, new linking methods, etc., may begin to naturally carry over into the articles in a positive way. In short, this would result in a positive feedback effect. Certainly the list of positives is longer than this. --Sadi Carnot 19:09, 5 February 2007 (UTC)

User pages are the backbone of Wikipedia? I thought that was the encyclopedia articles... -GTBacchus^(talk) 22:23, 5 February 2007 (UTC)

WikiProjects provide some of the synergism between users that Sadi Carnot seems to be asking for. I think WikiProjects are a better candidate for some of the "backbone" role than user pages are, since one task of a WikiProject is to write style guides that interpret the (general) Wikipedia guidelines for specific topic areas. My user page is a mess, by the way. --Teratornis 23:41, 5 February 2007 (UTC)

• More work for editors, to distract from writing articles, and no endresult improvement to readers of Wiki articles - waste of editor time. SandyGeorgia (Talk) 19:04, 5 February 2007 (UTC)

• Wikipedia is not MySpace. --Ideogram 19:31, 5 February 2007 (UTC)

It is easy to get context confused when talking about Wikipedia. By "backbone of Wikipedia", Sadi was probably referring to the "backbone of the Wikipedia Community", and while users are the community, their user pages could certainly serve as the backbone. I rely on my user page extensively, so for me, it is my backbone here. Without it I'd be a jellyfish. Continuing GT's take on the metaphor, articles are the body of Wikipedia. The navigation system (Wikipedia:Contents and its children) the heart and arteries, or the skeleton, whichever you prefer - both work. Etc.

There's a simple way to rank user pages already in place: the userpage barnstar, and the recipients are already listed on that barnstar's support page. You could rank them there by how many of those have been received. To gather the missing pages, they should be trackable by "what links here", or by a category tag in the barnstar award's wikicode.

Another place to look for award-winning userpages is the archives of Esperanza's user page award contest. The entire page has been preserved, so be sure to check the page history for the record of each contest. (They ran weekly). Many of the nominations are just as good as the winners. And then there's the Wikipedia:List of Wikipedians by number of edits - they could be considered the Community's backbone, and their userpages usually reflect that notion.

Creating a new contest would probably not work, as it would be under constant attack by the Wikipedia Community's stoic element. This isn't a bad thing, as the various factions/elements/glee clubs/whatever tend to keep things balanced.

The barnstar system is an accepted Wikipedia institution, and is accepted by the Wikipedia Community in general, including the stoics.

But that page has its drawbacks, because userpages change. For example, some users leave wikipedia and blank their page when they go, or replace it with a disheartening notice, or go bare bones when they participate less, etc. Permanent links solve this problem.

I hope my comments have helped. Feel free to buzz me anytime. The Transhumanist   08:28, 6 February 2007 (UTC)

Thanet Amateur Boxing Clubs

I wish to make contact with the Thanet Amateur boxing clubs. Can you provide Secretary's contact names and phone numbers also address' of where each club trains and on which night of the week they have theit training nights. Thanks

Des Porter

I think your thinking of another website. This has nothing to do with Wikipedia. Kamope · talk · contributions 11:31, 5 February 2007 (UTC)

Not able to see the info boxes in text

I have grey boxes in place of areas where equations and photos should be. What is wrong?

Is this on one article or many? If just one, which one? Dismas|^(talk) 11:44, 5 February 2007 (UTC)

Tab behaviour

I have noted a behaviour of the wiki technology that I do not understand.

The example that currently demonstrates this is "Biological Warfare" here the is some recent vandalism in the first paragraph. If I click on the page tab the vandalism and a recent edit disappear only to return if I click again. When I tried to edit this page the vandalism is not present on the page that appears in the edit window. I have looked around for an explanation but this volatility of the text is a little diconcerting. RomansHorn 14:19, 5 February 2007 (UTC)

The most recent vandalism I see to Biological warfare was reverted within 15 minutes on February 2.[1] Try reloading the page; see e.g. Wikipedia:Bypass your cache. PrimeHunter 15:07, 5 February 2007 (UTC)

incorrect info

See the page on Helen Keller. Someone posted profanity.

Thanks for notifying. Vandalism to Helen Keller was reverted earlier today within 2 minutes.[2] I guess you refer to the previous revision. Most vandalism is quickly removed. You are also welcome to do it yourself; see Help:Reverting. PrimeHunter 15:47, 5 February 2007 (UTC)

IMETS

I have a problem with the entire paragraph - Actual Usagein your IMETS article. I read both the reference documents and could not find information to support the claims in this paragraph. What/Who is the source for the following verbiage: [edit] Actual usage In recent deployments to Iraq, IMETS usage has not lived up to its intended purpose. Most of the information needed for forecasting can be gathered from other sources, such as AFWA’s Joint Air Force and Army Weather Information Network (JAAWIN), making IMETS unnecessary. More realistically, IMETS is used as a locker, and computer parts are scrapped for usage by SWO. I am asking because I am a Deputy Project Director for IMETS and have evidence to the contrary. Thanks

(contact details removed; Helpdesk questions are replied to on this page)

If you find an inaccuracy in Wikipedia's articles, you can fix it yourself by using the 'edit' button. If you think a substantial part of the article is incorrect, you should give a source to prove your point, as this reduces the chance of the article being changed back. If you are associated with the subject of the article, it's also worth reading the conflict of interest guidelines; in such cases, you have to try hard to stay neutral. You can also try making your concerns known on the article's discussion page (Talk:IMETS). If the text there doesn't have a source, given its negative view, it's quite possible that it's wrong and at least needs sourcing, so you could also put {{TotallyDisputed}} (or one of the other cleanup templates) on the section to dispute its neutrality and factual accuracy; if you do this, you should make your point on the talk page. --ais523 17:02, 5 February 2007 (UTC)

Splitting an article

How can you go about splitting an article. In the page about EOKA somebody added a section about EOKA B, a separate organisationl. The majority of contributors in the talk page believe the article should be split. Can you please tell me how this can be done? Larisv 17:02, 5 February 2007 (UTC)

Create a new article with the name that you want to split to, using the text from the relevant parts of the old article (you can copy it from the edit window), make sure you mention in your edit summary that you're splitting the article, and what article you're splitting it from. Then blank (remove) the parts, or most of the parts, that you've moved over, making it clear in the edit summary what you're doing and where the information moved to. --ais523 17:07, 5 February 2007 (UTC)

See also: Wikipedia:How to break up a page. --Teratornis 23:07, 5 February 2007 (UTC)

Old (lost) Wilberforce Colony

I have just finished a full article on Wilberforce Colony. One of the persons mentioned there has a page at Austin Seward. When I go to that page, the topic mentioned, Wilberforce Colony. is a link - TO MY just done page. In the history for that page, the latest revision is 18 October 2006, well before I did the current page. Did I overwrite - screw up - or such another page that used to exist??? --Dumarest 19:44, 5 February 2007 (UTC)

I doubt you could have overwritten a pre-existing article; the history would show that, and it does not. You would have also seen the pre-existing article text when you tried to edit it. For example, if you go to Help:Starting a new page and type "Wilberforce Colony" now, the resulting edit window shows the current article text. Maybe that pre-existing link was a red link at the time when you did your edits. See: WP:RED. On Wikipedia, people can link to any title, regardless of whether an article with that title exists. Many examples are here. Your username: Dumarest is a red link as I write this, because you have not yet made your user page. --Teratornis 23:21, 5 February 2007 (UTC)

I think the page used to exist but was deleted. Then you created the page. Or the link was red for the longest time then you created the article. Either way. You did not do any thing wrong. -- Darkest Hour • ¿? 23:24, 5 February 2007 (UTC)

There are no deleted edits in the page history. It was simply a red link. Rmhermen 04:57, 6 February 2007 (UTC)

copyright

Dear wikipedia-

I love this website. As a biologist, so far I am yet to see an articte which I did not feel that it was very well written.

I teach a single intro bio class for non majors. I was a bit embushed with having to pick a textbook on a spot and the one I picked has very little on the next few lectures which I am about to give. Wikipedia has extremely good information on a number of these, albeit a bit more than I would want the students to learn. Since they paid a lot of money for a textbook already I would like to find a way so that they did not have to buy something new, too. If I could quote some sections from wikipedia and put it on the university's server "blackboard" it would be a tremendous help. I guess I could just post the links and go around the copyright issue (or am I wrong about that?), but if I quote, I could take out and simplify easily the issues. Would I need to ask for permission for every single item, or could perhaps I get a blank one for the duration of the course?

Your help is greatly appreciated.

Sincerely, Charlie szekeres

Certainly. Take a look at Reusers rights and obligations for the legal explanation, but basically you need to (a) license your version under the GFDL (as well as include the full text of it somewhere on your server), and (b) link to the previously mentioned license, as well as the Wikipedia article you took the material from, and acknowledge it as the source any where you use the material. Prodego ^talk 22:10, 5 February 2007 (UTC)

In addition to the above, and at the risk of stating the obvious: you do not need to ask anyone's permission to use content from Wikipedia. That's what the "free" in "the free encyclopedia" is all about. --Plek 22:24, 5 February 2007 (UTC)

Writing articles in other languages

Hi, first I would like to tell you that it took quite a time until I came to this page so I can write you my question. I think the HELP page(s) should be improved cause sometimes they're not very helpful. Now, my problem is, I want to write or and translate some articles in my language(Albanian-Shqip), because I think it would be useful to Albanians to have some articles in Albanian. But I just can't do that,I tried many links, but it looks impossible. There are some articles in many languages, like the article about submarines, and when I saw the link for Shqip(Albanian) on the left, I added some more information, but when there is nothing writen in Albanian about a topic, I just can't find out how to do that. I hope you understood me. Please, please give me an answer.

Thanks Mic

If you go to http://www.wikipedia.org, you'll see a list of the languages that Wikipedia is available in. Click on "Shqip" and you'll be transported to the Albanian Wikipedia, where you can edit and create articles just as on the English version. Note that user accounts are not valid across different Wikipedias, so you'll need to create a separate user account on the Albanian Wikipedia. Hope this helps. --Plek 20:47, 5 February 2007 (UTC)

Fake store URL

Wikipedia, On 16 January, 2007, a user named XfairgameX (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Contributions/Xfairgamex) modified the Wikipedia sites of my employer, American Apparel, and it's founder Dov Charney. They added a link marked "American Apparel Online Store" which directed to the URL: http://www.americanapparelonlinestore.com

This is not the real American Apparel online store, which may be found here: http://www.americanapparelstore.com

Rather, this URL is a fake site which has copied the American Apparel store graphics and architecture. We are trying to get to the bottom of what this fake domain is trying to accomplish, but Wikipedia should be aware that this user is linking to a fake online shopping URL, and it would be prudent to assume that there is some sort of fraud being committed. XfairgameX should be blocked from editing in the future. I will modify the American Apparel and Dov Charney Wikipedia entries to point to the appropriate URL. Thank you for your cooperation in this matter. Spencer Windes American Apparel Web Communications Coordinator

I will remove the link from the relevant article; however, obviously we cannot simply switch to your given address without relevant proof, sources, etc... Your contact with relevance to this matter is much appreciated, and I hope that this resolution is satisfactory. Kind regards, Anthonycfc ^{[T • C]} 20:36, 5 February 2007 (UTC)

I have removed the links to the site http://www.americanapparelonlinestore.com and http://www.americanapparelstore.com; the present version of the article can be viewed here, and my changes can be viewed through this diff (differential - comparison of edits). I hope this is satisfactory; when the variability of the link you have presented is confirmed, it will be re-added to the article. Kind regards, Anthonycfc ^{[T • C]} 20:43, 5 February 2007 (UTC)

Anthony, what kind of proof would work for you? If you check the registrar on www.americanapparel.net or www.americanapparelstore.com, you can see that it comes back to American Apparel Inc. 747 Warehouse St. Los Angeles, Ca 90021. Also, if you do a search on Google, you will find that these sites are top ranked, as we get several hundred thousand visitors a week. Let me know what proof I can provide to confirm that this is the official American Apparel website, and I'll get it to you. How about a picture of me in front of the big pink factory in downtown L.A.? Thanks!

I'm sorry Anthony, I meant to say "registrant" not "registrar".

A phony Web site which masquerades as a real Web site may be part of a phishing or pharming scam. --Teratornis 23:29, 5 February 2007 (UTC)

Let's not go overboard here with requesting "proof" about which is the real and which is the fake URL. A google search can usually answer that question, as can whois information. In general, it's safe to presume that the original URL (that is, one appearing on an early version of the article) is the real one. And as Teratornis said, there are folks who make a nice living getting people to go to the wrong website and give their credit card info; let's not help them out by leaving contested URLs in place, please. -- John Broughton (☎☎) 17:25, 8 February 2007 (UTC)

User Page--Who Controls This?

I have a user page that is associated with my name: Curmudgeon99

Who controls what appears on this page? Do I or does user Doug Bell?

If the former, then I prefer to remove the trash from past conversations.

If it is the latter, then please delete my Wikipedia account immediately.

What do you mean? Also please sign your comments using --~~~~. --D.H. • (TextMe)•(MyWork) 22:50, 5 February 2007 (UTC)

I think Doug Bell explained this very clearly on your talkpage. You can move the 'trash' from your page, but if you just delete it rather than archive it, people are likely to add it back. You have some control over what appears on your talkpage, but so does the entire wiki-community. You shouldn't just delete comments people make without very good reason, and you should avoid archiving conversations until they've been inactive for a while, or templates until they've been up for a while. Obviously, if someone comes along and vandalises your talkpage with obcenities, you can remove that. And to clarify, Doug Bell has no more or less right to edit your talk page than I do, or anyone does. Skittle 23:49, 5 February 2007 (UTC)

Infoboxes

Do infoboxes have a built-in size limitation? I was listing Emmy Awards in an Actor Infobox and all was good, but at some point the box stopped working. When I removed a couple of the awards (and freed up some space), the box worked again. Any suggestions? --Vbd 22:00, 5 February 2007 (UTC)

• This should help

The box should have a px sizing. If you increase the px sizing you should be just fine.

It should look like this: hight:200px|width:500px :just change the #to what you need. --D.H. • (TextMe)•(MyWork) 22:57, 5 February 2007 (UTC)

I worked around the problem by making the image size smaller, thereby creating more room for the text I was trying to add. But for future reference, I would like to have a clearer understanding of your response. Where do I insert the h/w px sizing changes for an infobox? Thanks. --Vbd 03:05, 7 February 2007 (UTC)

How to deal with someone using WP for self-promotion

I'm posting anon because I don't want to escalate this unless I have to, so I'm just asking for advice in general at the moment. For the last six months or so, I've had dealings with a user whose only purpose on WP seems to be to get his name into as many articles as possible, citing sources he has personally created elsewhere on the internet (e.g. those free press release services that'll publish anything and links to his vanity-published books) in order to pass himself off as some sort of notable celebrity. He tends to pop up from time to time and re-add the changes to little-watched articles when he hopes that everyone has forgotten about it. I've tried explaining about reliable sources to him on numerous occasions but he refuses to listen. Anyone have any ideas as to where I should take this if it carries on? It doesn't seem to be 'vandalism' (as defined by WP) as such, so I'm a little stumped. Thanks for any help you can give me. --81.77.233.16 22:49, 5 February 2007 (UTC)

Take it too WP:COI. --D.H. • (TextMe)•(MyWork) 22:59, 5 February 2007 (UTC)

You may wish to set up a requests for comment (look at that page to see if this is a good method of resolving this), and the guideline that D.H. mentioned is particularly pertinent. Of course, usually, the best way is discussing it with the said person, in a civil, polite, but frank manner. Check out WP:DR. Gracenotes^T § 23:05, 5 February 2007 (UTC)

when do i find out if its been accepted

hi i wrote an article on the theory of crabs-in-the-barrel and i've looked up the articles that were up for consideration on that day-they all have answers as to whether they were accepted or not but my article is just sitting there with no feedback-when will it be considered?

Exton Kings Page—The preceding unsigned comment was added by Kingscass (talk • contribs).

Hi Kingcass. There is no feedback acceptability process for regular articles. Once an article is created, unless it is deleted, "it just sits" as you say, forever, with anyone able to edit it. Looking at your contribution history, I see no edits under your username prior to posting here. This could be because the page you are referring to was deleted or because you were edited while not logged in. If you can provide some more detail, such as the exact name of the article, and what page you saw feedback on (was it maybe Wikipedia:Articles for creation?) we can probably help more.--Fuhghettaboutit 00:55, 6 February 2007 (UTC)

It's at Wikipedia:Articles for creation/2007-02-03. A few other suggestions from the same day have not been reviewed. Wikipedia:Articles for creation says there is a backlog. I don't know how long it can take. PrimeHunter 15:51, 6 February 2007 (UTC)

Kingscass, since you have a User ID, you can create the article yourself. The Articles for creation page is for anonymous users who cannot or do not want to create user IDs. Corvus cornix 17:39, 6 February 2007 (UTC)

EXTON KINGS

the Exton Kings are a part of the DVHLZ—The preceding unsigned comment was added by Kingscass (talk • contribs).

I am confuzzled. If you've noted that an important, verifiable fact is missing from an article, feel free to be bold and add it in there, citing a reliable source. Gracenotes^T § 23:56, 5 February 2007 (UTC)

No pics!

When I went to search for pictures I could not see them! They are there because my mouse turns to a finger on a hand but I cannot see them. Please help. All security settings are on low for this site and the site the pics are on. Any one else using Mozzila having the same problem? -- Darkest Hour • ¿? 00:02, 6 February 2007 (UTC)

Have you tried right-clicking on the picture and then clicking "show picture" ? --`/aksha 01:31, 6 February 2007 (UTC)

Yes I have but I would rather see the wii pictures with out having to go through the hoops to see a picture. What is wrong with Mozzila? And IE?

Tools -> Options -> Load Images Automatically -> Exceptions. Make sure wikipedia isn't on there. --Wooty Woot? contribs 05:27, 6 February 2007 (UTC)

Gare Centrale (Montreal)

{{s-start}}
{{s-rail|title=Via}}
{{s-line|system=Via|line=Toronto-Montreal|previous=Dorval|rows2=2}}
{{s-line|system=Via|line=Ottawa-Montreal|previous=Dorval|hide2=yes}}
{{s-line|system=Via|line=Montreal-Quebec|next=Saint-Lambert|rows1=5}}
{{s-line|system=Via|line=Ocean|next=Saint-Lambert|hide1=yes}}
{{s-line|system=Via|line=Chaleur|next=Saint-Lambert|hide1=yes}}
{{s-line|system=Via|line=Saguenay|next=Ahuntsic|hide1=yes}}
{{s-line|system=Via|line=Abitibi|next=Ahuntsic|hide1=yes}}
{{s-rail|title=Amtrak}}
{{s-line|system=Amtrak|line=Adirondack|previous=|next=Saint-Lambert}}
{{end box}}

Aldershot (GO station) & Fallowfield railway stationare quite irrelevant, but I can't find where they are embedded in the table (box) so I can't remove them. Peter Horn 20:55, 5 February 2007 (UTC) Peter Horn 20:57, 5 February 2007 (UTC)

I'm not sure what you are asking. Can you specify exactly which line of the box you are trying to remove? --`/aksha 01:29, 6 February 2007 (UTC)

I'm talking about the phrases "toward Aldershot" and "toward Fallowfield", two phrases that do only appear in the finished version and that are meaningless & irrelevant. "Dorval" is OK. Peter Horn 02:06, 18 February 2007 (UTC)

"toward Aldershot (GO station)" & "toward Fallowfield railway station"

How does one get rid of those out of "Dorval????? Peter Horn 01:40, 20 February 2007 (UTC)