Wikipedia:Help desk/Archives/2007 July 6

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Help desk
< July 5 << Jun | July | Aug >> July 7 >
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.


July 6[edit]

adding content/links[edit]

I just joined wikipedia. How do I add content or links to a specific page? —The preceding unsigned comment was added by Andrewatlanta (talkcontribs).

Welcome. See Wikipedia:How to edit a page and Help:Link. PrimeHunter 00:08, 6 July 2007 (UTC)[reply]

future releases[edit]

I'm looking for the page that discusses policy/guidelines on "future releases". That is, a discussion of whether or not topics like movies that have not yet been released are appropriate in a Wikipedia article. I've see a page on this issue before, but I can't find it now. ike9898 00:37, 6 July 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Maybe: Wikipedia:How the Current events page works, or Wikipedia:Avoid statements that will date quickly? --Teratornis 00:44, 6 July 2007 (UTC)[reply]
Wikipedia is not a crystal ball.--Fuhghettaboutit 00:46, 6 July 2007 (UTC)[reply]
[edit conflict...twice...jeez you guys are quick!]
There's also (of course) Wikipedia is not a crystal ball and Wikipedia:Future event (though the latter is only an essay). Also, maybe there's some information on the templates: {{future album}}, {{future film}}, etc...? tiZom(2¢) 00:48, 6 July 2007 (UTC)[reply]
See also Wikipedia:Notability (films)#Future films, incomplete films, and undistributed films. PrimeHunter 02:00, 6 July 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Addicted to Wikipedia[edit]

Are there any help groups out there? I have a serious problem.

I'd suggest a Wikibreak. Sorry, we can't offer medical advice. Hersfold (talk/work) 01:27, 6 July 2007 (UTC)[reply]
Simple, take a break and enjoy the great outdoors. :) --Hdt83 Chat 05:14, 6 July 2007 (UTC)[reply]
Have someone ban you (trust me, monobook templates don't work), and possibly consult a professional. --ʇuǝɯɯoɔɐqǝɟ 05:20, 6 July 2007 (UTC)[reply]
Take a vacation where you will not have any Internet access for say a week and figure out all the fun stuff you can now do with the free time that you have in meatspace. --BrokenSphere 05:27, 6 July 2007 (UTC)[reply]
This user was blocked several times in the past for posting questions such as these in the help desk. See Contribs and block log. --Hdt83 Chat 05:27, 6 July 2007 (UTC)[reply]

I'm trying to add v • d • e to the left side of the header of Template:Mets but can't figure out how to do that while keeping the template collapsible. How could I do that? Thanks. -- 02:44, 6 July 2007 (UTC)

There's a template for that - {{Tnavbar-navframe}}. I'd help you further, but I'm afraid I'm not too knowledgeable about that template... (I've just seen it used in {{Stars (band)}}) tiZom(2¢) 03:28, 6 July 2007 (UTC)[reply]
Figured it out -- thanks so much!! Amazins490 (talk) 03:44, 6 July 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Budding vandal[edit]

Where do I report a new User:Zezima305 whose first two edits are pure vandalism? Clarityfiend 06:17, 6 July 2007 (UTC)[reply]

You should leave warnings on the user's talk page. Once he's reached the fourth warning, report him to WP:AIV. LaraLoveT/C 06:24, 6 July 2007 (UTC)[reply]

P.S. I don't see that this user exists.

They exist, they just don't have a User or User_talk page yet. See Special:Contributions/Zezima305. Confusing Manifestation 06:39, 6 July 2007 (UTC)[reply]
Handy hint; if you find a user without a user page or talk page, look for the 'User contributions" link on the sidebar. If this link appears, the username has been registered. For example, you can see that User:A 1 does exist, but User:A 2 does not. Raven4x4x 08:45, 6 July 2007 (UTC)[reply]
Or you can check at Special:Listusers. AW 10:36, 6 July 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Is a small city always notable?[edit]

I am thinking of some new articles to write. I was burned the first time because my article was deleted. I have studied some AFD's so I think I am better prepared. Are geographical locations and cities always notable, within reason? Some are merely a sentence or two, though I plan to do a much better job than that. I did not see a notability essay on places, just people, movies, etc.Fineday 06:59, 6 July 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Nearly always. If they're part of a larger district, then it's probably a good idea to make it a subsection instead, but generally if they're big enough to have a local paper, they're big enough to have their own page. --Haemo 07:03, 6 July 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Can't search and find my article topic[edit]

I have created and article and saved it, but when I try to search for it, it does not show. What do I need to do to have my article show up when searched?

--Littlesjp 07:02, 6 July 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Assuming you are talking about DJ Wicked this shows up just fine. The search function takes a few days to find new articles. Always use the "Go" button instead.--Shantavira|feed me 07:54, 6 July 2007 (UTC)[reply]

validity of mythology article[edit]

How does the article "The First Twelve Laws Of The UM" on user page User:Primoris Sanctus Ordo Of Sanctus Omnimodus Mens fit into the WikiProject Mythology?

Is the article relevant content or an example of using the page as an additional location for her fiction writing? The article is also found on the author's myspace blog, personal website, among other locations. If this is not the proper place to ask the question, please assist me in finding the correct place to ask the question. --Denisemarie 07:11, 6 July 2007 (UTC)Denisemarie[reply]

The small box at the top of the page is a userbox, and the box states that the user is a member of the WikiProject Mythology. The page itself is not part of the WikiProject, and the content on the page is most likely a favourite of the user, that the user has put on his/her page. Kind regards, Sebi [talk] 07:44, 6 July 2007 (UTC)[reply]

My Userpage[edit]

Hello. Recently, i changed the font colour of my userpage. I used the <font> and </font> to change my fonts into orange. Unfortunately, the fonts did'nt change. They are still blue. Can anyone help me? If possible, can you please also put the answer to the question on my talk page too? Thanks alot. --Jacklau96 08:52, 6 July 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Try this: <font face="Blah" color=Orange size=#></font>. AW 09:32, 6 July 2007 (UTC)[reply]
This didn't help. The links are still blue. Why I can do this in userboes and not in userpages? --Jacklau96 09:58, 6 July 2007 (UTC)[reply]
If my eyes don't betray me, I see your font color has already changed to orange (of course except the links). AW 10:11, 6 July 2007 (UTC)[reply]
You can go here for suggestion about designing userpages. AW 10:24, 6 July 2007 (UTC)[reply]
You may have to change all your links to [[Link name|<font color="orange">link name</font>]]. You could also edit your monobook.css and add a { color: orange; } which would turn all your links everywhere on Wikipedia orange, but it would only appear orange for you. Sebi [talk] 10:38, 6 July 2007 (UTC)[reply]
Or stop living in the past and start using standard Compliant code <span style="font-family: Blah, sans; Color:Orange;">Text</span> ("Orange" is a CSS colour and not HTML colour so it probably won't work in <font> tags in all browsers). --antilivedT | C | G 11:22, 6 July 2007 (UTC)[reply]
<font> tags are shorter, which is an important advantage in signatures (it's desirable to keep signature markup short so as to not clutter the rest of the edit page). --ais523 12:28, 6 July 2007 (UTC)
Thanks a lot! It works finally! --JackLau 01:14, 7 July 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Looking for a page- Bhopali Bakar[edit]

Dear Sir/Madam,

I am looking for an old Wikipedia page that was titled 'Bhopali bakar' but now does not seem to exist anymore. Could you please provide me with access to it or re-load it on wikipedia?

Many thanks,

09:52, 6 July 2007 (UTC)

This article was proposed for deletion and was deleted after concensus. You should read the thread and you will know why it was deleted. AW 10:13, 6 July 2007 (UTC)[reply]
According to the discussion, this article was deleted because of failing attribution. You can recreate it as long as you provide it with citations which are based on reliable sources. AW 10:19, 6 July 2007 (UTC)[reply]

2 month old potential copyvio[edit]

Postulated here. I've bothered digging out my manual and while the text is not word-for-word, it is close. For those with the Starcraft manual... start at the last paragraph on page 52 and read onwards into page 53. You'll notice the lines ripped word-for-word from it, with the occasional paraphrashing interspersed. Is this too close for comfort?

I'd post this back on the talk page for it but nobody noticed it last time and I frankly don't have the time nor the motivation to do something about it myself. --Xoid 10:58, 6 July 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Just tag the article for a re-write; those pages are mazes of poor writing and in-universe material anyways. --Haemo 11:02, 6 July 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Inconsistent Distances - air/road which should be used?[edit]

I found an inconsistency that I fear will be quite frequent:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perth%2C_Western_Australia

Shows a distance from Perth to Sydney of 4144 km.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sydney

Shows a distance Sydney to Perth of 3314 km.

I can only guess that one is road-distance the other as the crow flies.

What is the right way of presenting this information? Is it defined anywhere so users know what distance they get on screen?

In Google Earth road distance is 3953km, while direct distance is 3310km. --antilivedT | C | G 11:27, 6 July 2007 (UTC)[reply]

OK, so the first one was wrong even for road distance. But which one should be used? Is there a way to add this information to the city profile?

Please sign your posts with four tildes (Hersfold (talk/work) 12:50, 6 July 2007 (UTC)). Thanks, that's just so we know who to talk to.[reply]
I can't find anything in the Manual of Style that addresses this, but here's how I would handle it: What context is the distance in? Is it "XXX miles Southeast of City Y," or is it "XXX miles Southeast of City Y on Highway Z?" If there really isn't any context, then add a little note beside it, such as (Driving) or (Geographical). If there's nowhere that specifically states "this should be used", then we should go along with what most articles seem to follow. If, as in this case, there does not appear to be a consensus, be bold and make it up. Hersfold (talk/work) 12:50, 6 July 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Sorry about the missing signature! I am by no means a regular user ;-) Nevertheless I like to help out. The distance information is given in a summary table on the right side. In edit mode it looks like "Infobox Australian Place| type = city". Further down "dist3=3314" sets the distance. The output that is generated says (amongst other locations in a dot list): "3314 km from Perth". So, no context is given, but it seems to be a defined field for that specific kind of table. Is there a description of all the fields? Maybe that should define what kind of distances are default. 150.101.147.169 13:14, 6 July 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Road distances are not unique. Multiple routes are often possible (except for two locations linked only by a single route). Various mapping sites and software packages may disagree on the length of a given route. All of them, in turn, may differ from a direct measurement using a well-calibrated cyclocomputer. I doubt that Google Earth really delivers four digits of precision for a typical road route, even though it reports all those digits. --Teratornis 16:12, 6 July 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Creating multiple external links[edit]

Dear administator,

I am a little confused with regards to the policy about creating multiple external links.

I wish to add external links from the pages of destinations such as Paris and New York, towards the informative online travel guides provided by Rough Guides. Although these pages will be from the same main website, each link would be to a separate section, which provide comprehensive information regarding the different locations. These are highly useful and relevant links. They also give users a wider choice of travel information from a well known and reputable source. In this respect I believe they would contribute to the Wikipedia page and thus would be separate from spamming. They do not lead directly to a sales website for the books but an informative site.

In light of these facts, is it possible to add external links to various different locations as they will contribute beneficial information without having them removed as 'spam'.

Kind regards

Markrushmore 11:43, 6 July 2007 (UTC)markrushmoreMarkrushmore 11:43, 6 July 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Well, Wikipedia is an encyclopedia; external linking guidelines indicate that they should be treated like an extension of the page, for material which cannot be included in an article. For instance, an essay written by the subject. They are not loosely related material, which might be "useful", like a travel guide. --Haemo 12:11, 6 July 2007 (UTC)[reply]
Your links may be better suited for other wikis like those at List of wikis#Travel. PrimeHunter 13:50, 6 July 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks for the help- I had no idea how great and easy to use this website would be!

adding destinations to HP Scanjet 5370C[edit]

How do you add destinations to the drop down menu for a HP Scanjet 5370C? I need to add MS Word.

Becky Moore

This help desk if for questions about using Wikipedia. You can ask at Wikipedia:Reference desk/Computing. PrimeHunter 13:45, 6 July 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Anonymous IP address users[edit]

I realise that registered users are allowed to add content to & edit their main page in order to add details such as their wikipedia activity, interests etc, and to archive & edit their talk page. However, are anonymous IP address users allowed to do something similar on the IP address pages, as to me it seems that in doing so they are claiming, and adding content to, something that is not actually theirs to add content to and edit? I ask specifically about one IP address user who has -

  1. - added content as if they were a registered user with details about their interests on wikipedia and a picture (added not on the main page though, but for some reason on the talk page, for the IP address)
  2. - deleted content from the talk page (specifically some messages left by other users)
  3. - archived (twice) some content from the talk page

I was under the impression that only registered users were allowed to do any of this? If that is the case what can and should be done about it? I have no wish to prevent anyone from using wikipedia, just that perhaps they should at the least be encouraged to register, and whether they are actually allowed to edit what they are clearly thinking is their home page at present. Thank you in advance for any assistance.

Hi there. IP editors are allowed to edit like registered users except that IP's cannot create articles and sometimes articles are protected from vandalism in such a way that they cannot be edited by anyone except registered users. The specifics you mention are allowable although removing warnings and such is frowned upon. JodyB talk 14:47, 6 July 2007 (UTC)[reply]
Two other points: an IP cannot create any page other than a Talk page (which is presumably why the IP commented on their own Talk page rather than the associated User page), and IPs tend to change hands between people now and then, which is one reason why registered user User pages are much more common than IP "user pages" (because the information could soon be referring to the wrong person). --ais523 15:09, 6 July 2007 (UTC)
Thanks for the replies, I wasn't really sure and that has clarified it and of course explained why they used the talk page as a User page. I didn't realise that IP editors could only create a talk page, so if they have removed warnings, it is frowned upon, should those warnings be replaced? thanks. ♦Tangerines BFC ♦·Talk 20:38, 6 July 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Making columns[edit]

What's the preferred way to put text into columns? I've found both {{Multicols}} and {{col-begin}}, with appropriate following tags. Both seem to work. "Multicols" is the one you find by following links down from Wikipedia:Template messages to "formatting", but "col-begin" is "protected", which I think means it's one of WP's key templates. What's an editor to do? And how/where should I look for this info? PamD 14:52, 6 July 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Well, you could click "toolbox | What links here" on each of {{Multicol}} and {{col-begin}} to see which is more popular. Normally the first place I look for information about editing on Wikipedia is: User:John Broughton/Editor's Index to Wikipedia but this is one of the rare instances when a Ctrl-f search on the obvious keyword ("column") finds nothing appropriate. Tip: if you display template names using the {{Tl}} template, you can see whether you are spelling the template name correctly; e.g., {{Multicols}} generates a red link because that template does not exist, whereas {{Multicol}} generates a blue link because it exists). --Teratornis 15:18, 6 July 2007 (UTC)[reply]
The help text on the {{col-begin}} page links to Wikipedia talk:Manual of Style/Archive 35#Columns in articles which may or may not help. I should add that the What links here feature is useful for looking up articles which use a given template, and you can examine the wikitext of such articles to see examples of how to use the template. --Teratornis 15:29, 6 July 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Hey[edit]

I removed the picture on the page Takumi Nakayama because I was on it without your permission. I am the guy on the far right . Dont let this happen again. --NotebookSevereConditions 15:09, 6 July 2007 (UTC)[reply]

I have replied on your talk page. JodyB talk 15:26, 6 July 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Focault's Pendulum Esoteria[edit]

Excuse me sir or madam,

Why please was the page 'List of Esoteric subjects in Focault's Pendulum' deleted please? I didn't create it but I thought it was an interesting and worthy article. I can find no reference to it the deletion log.

thanks in advance

Geoff (SmokeyTheCat)

See Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/List of esoteric subjects in Foucault's Pendulum. Shalom Hello 17:40, 6 July 2007 (UTC)[reply]

stadium infobox[edit]

Hi, the infobox at Template:Infobox Stadium does not show all the information inserted. Is there a way to fix this. Thanks in advance. Tbo 157 15:41, 6 July 2007 (UTC)[reply]

I don't understand the question. Try explaining the problem at Template talk:Infobox Stadium.
I'm copying the source code for the infobox at Gillette Stadium. If you copy that code and replace as necessary, you should get something that looks reasonable. Generally, if you leave a field blank in the source code, it will not show up in the visible article layout. Shalom Hello 17:37, 6 July 2007 (UTC)[reply]
{{Infobox_Stadium |
  stadium_name      = Gillette Stadium |
  image             = [[Image:GilletteStadiumLogo.jpg|100px]]<br>[[Image:revsgame.jpg|300px]]|
  location          = [[Foxborough, Massachusetts]] |
  broke_ground      = [[March 24]], [[2000]] |
  opened            = [[September 9]], [[2002]] (grand opening)|
  owner             = [[Robert Kraft]] |
  operator          = [[Robert Kraft]] |
  surface           = [[FieldTurf]] (as of 11/26/06)<br />Grass (2002-11/12/06)|
  construction_cost = [[United States dollar|$]]325 million |
  architect         = John Bolles |
  former_names      = CMGI Field ([[2002]] prior to Patriots opening) |
    tenants           = [[New England Patriots]] ([[National Football League|NFL]]) ([[2002]]-present) <br> [[New England Revolution]] ([[Major League Soccer|MLS]]) ([[2002]]-present)  |
  seating_capacity  = 68,756 ([[American football|football]] & [[Football (soccer)|soccer]]) |
}}

Apologies for the poor explanation. I meant to say that there is a problem with the template at Template:Infobox Stadium and i am unsure on how to fix it. The problem with the infobox is that Certain information in the infobox such as services engineer does not appear on the article after filling in the information on the edit page. Thanks.Tbo 157 17:34, 7 July 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Need assistance to change[edit]

In the below information the park acres is only a total of 42 with 16 developed. can you also use our webstie www.elmwoodparkzoo.org

The Elmwood Park Zoo in Norristown, Pennsylvania provides year-round admission to a collection of over 300 animals representing 100 species in 80 acres of exhibits. The zoo began operation in 1924. Exhibits of the 16-acre zoo include the Andrew L. Lewis Wetlands Aviary, The Bayou, and the Grasslands Exhibit. The zoo is accredited by the Association of Zoos and Aquariums and operated by the Norristown Zoological Society, and participates in a number of its species survival programs.

Today, Elmwood Park Zoo welcomes over 150,000 visitors annually.


[edit] Trivia

about c language[edit]

in 'c' language scanf and printf acts as a function overloading how? 61.2.231.58 17:00, 6 July 2007 (UTC)[reply]

The help desk is for questions on using Wikipedia only. You may want to try Wikipedia:Reference desk for questions on knowledge. In fact, I've taken the liberty of posting your question here. Hope this helps! RJaguar3 | u | t 17:18, 6 July 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Changing Username Appearance[edit]

I remember seeing in my user preferences, that it gave the option to change the way one's username ("nickname") appears on talk pages, etc. It said that to make the "raw signature" one must provide all the source code. What is the format for the source code and what do I need to include? What are my formatting and other options in making a custom "nickname"/username appearance, and what are the code syntax for those options? Thanks. Dragon Smaug 17:25, 6 July 2007 (UTC)[reply]

You can do nearly anything possible in either wiki formatting or HTML with your sig, though if you do too much or an overly garish design you'll annoy people. (See Wikipedia:Signatures) For instance, my raw sig (which is rather plain), is created by [[User:tjstrf|tjstrf]] <small>[[User talk:tjstrf|talk]]</small>, and when I sign, it generates that followed by the date and time. --tjstrf talk 17:30, 6 July 2007 (UTC)[reply]
Read tjstrf's link Wikipedia:Signatures first, but Wikipedia:How to fix your signature may also be useful. --ais523 17:31, 6 July 2007 (UTC)

In case we still haven't implied an answer to your original question: the signature is written in wikimarkup (see Help:Editing), but most signatures end up looking like HTML with square brackets for links rather than <a> tags. --ais523 17:34, 6 July 2007 (UTC)

Thanks everyone. I'm looking forward to experimenting with it. Smaug(talk) 18:53, 6 July 2007 (UTC)[reply]
Just don't do something extremely annoying like:
                    _ _
             _     //` `\
         _,-"\%   // /``\`\     ===
    ~^~ >__^  |% // /  } `\`\   =
           )  )%// / }  } }`\`\ === == =   =  = = ===
          /  (%/'/.\_/\_/\_/\`/   = = = = === = = = =
         (    '         `-._`   === =   = = = === ===
          \   ,     (  \   _`-.__.-;%>              =
         /_`\ \      `\ \." `-..-'`     =============
        ``` /_/`"-=-'`/_/
           ```       ```
ha ha :) I wont. Smaug(talk) 19:07, 6 July 2007 (UTC)[reply]
Haha, Tony Sidaway would have a heart attack if you did that. --tjstrf talk 19:12, 6 July 2007 (UTC)[reply]
If you still have problem with your sig, get advice from User:NikoSilver. He's a professional signature maker. He even owns a signature shop. AW 02:57, 7 July 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Bias![edit]

Wth is this? Criticism of religion, but no Criticism of evolution?? Shows Wikipedia's bias. NPOV my ass!--Tehbachelor11 17:39, 6 July 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Try reading through Evolution next time. It's under Objections to evolution. Since you seem so concerned, I've turned your link into a redirect (and corrected the capitalization), which is the easiest way to link it to the proper article. As a side note, we really have no interest in your ass. -- Kesh 18:30, 6 July 2007 (UTC)[reply]
So I came up with this awesome idea. It's called a "Jump to conclusions mat"! --ʇuǝɯɯoɔɐqǝɟ 19:57, 6 July 2007 (UTC)[reply]
Wikipedia's notion of a neutral point of view does not mean all viewpoints receive equal treatment. For example, people who believe the universe was created five seconds ago by the Flying spaghetti monster who created a world having a convincing appearance of much greater age, and implanted us all with complete but fictitious memories of a past which never actually occurred, probably find their manifestly unfalsifiable yet idiosyncratic point of view underrepresented here. But that's no problem, because anyone with an axe to grind is free to start their own wiki. For example, the Wikimedia Foundation donates its fine MediaWiki software (paid for by the Foundation's donors) to anyone who wants to download it, with no limits on what they can publish with it. Thousands of individuals and groups have set up their own wikis, including CreationWiki. --Teratornis 20:29, 6 July 2007 (UTC)[reply]

can not sign in or log in to Wikipedia[edit]

I can not sign in or log in to Wikipedia and my account.

If you set a password for your account when you first created it, you can click the "Email new password" button on the Login page. Otherwise, you'll need to create a new account. Shadow1 (talk) 18:41, 6 July 2007 (UTC)[reply]


MAIL[edit]

How do you know what is your e-mail for wikipedia? and How do check your e-mail in wikipedia? Kapr0233

Wikipedia does not have its own email system. The only email is if you registered with an email address. If you did, people on Wikipedia can click a link to send you a message which will automatically go to your email address. -- Kesh 19:30, 6 July 2007 (UTC)[reply]
See Help:Email confirmation and Wikipedia:Emailing users for information about how you might use e-mail in connection with Wikipedia. However, a lot of communication between users occurs on talk pages here. Talk pages might even be the "preferred" method, although our 47,333,134 registered users probably have lots of different preferences. --Teratornis 20:12, 6 July 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Notability guideline applicable to online computer games?[edit]

I've checked out WP:WEB but that doesn't really seem to apply. I also had a look down the list but couldn't see one that was really applicable. As a result of this I'm asking which guideline I should be following..

Thanks,

shas 19:50, 6 July 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Not to be disrespectful, but I'm wondering which item under WP:WEB#Criteria you think does not apply to an Online game. They all look applicable to me, although I'm not an expert with online games by any means. I looked at Talk:Online game to see if any WikiProjects oversee it, which might provide more guidance, but it has no project tags. Category:Online games lists quite a few articles. Picking one at random (Battletech 3065) and looking at its talk page shows that the article is part of WikiProject Video games. You could look at the project page to see if they clarify the guidelines for notability. Note that WikiProjects merely interpret Wikipedia's policies and guidelines for a particular subject area; they do not override the site policies. --Teratornis 00:57, 7 July 2007 (UTC)[reply]
I asssume you are thinking of Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Starport: Galactic Empires (result was delete) and Starport: Galactic Empires which is already tagged with {{Notability|Web}}. The relevant WikiProject for this type of game seems to be Wikipedia:WikiProject Massively multiplayer online games, and it has a "task force" Wikipedia:WikiProject Massively multiplayer online games/MU* which says:
"This task force is intended to cover all MU* games and hopes to improve, expand, and assist all articles under it's scope. The task force was originally created to help decide what MU* games are and are not notable as some editors expressed concern over the notability of many of the MU*-related articles."
I wish people would say which article they have in mind when they ask a question. PrimeHunter 01:22, 7 July 2007 (UTC)[reply]
You'd be correct to think that I was talking about Starport: Galactic Empires, and, looking again at the criteria I should probably have read them a little more closely :/ I'll have a look at the stuff you mentioned, Teratornis, thanks.
thanks to all who responded, shas 07:44, 7 July 2007 (UTC)[reply]

format[edit]

how do you make the font size smaller again?

If you want to make the text size smaller on Wikipedia you can use the <small>small text</small> code. If you mean on your web browser then go to the tools/options menu and check under font size. --Hdt83 Chat 19:58, 6 July 2007 (UTC)[reply]

HELP! Unacceptable server lag! AAH![edit]

Hi. When I checked my watchlist, there was a giant problem! It said, due to high database server lag, changes newer than **** seconds may not be shown in the watchlist! Oh noes! I tried refreshing it, but the problem just won't go away! The number just keeps getting larger, and now the lag is over half an hour! I depend on my watchlist to keep me informed of new changes! How can I edit with such a high lag, with changes not displayed! How long will this last? Will this ever end? Thanks. ~AH1(TCU) 20:21, 6 July 2007 (UTC)[reply]

That is due to the database keeling over and dying. There's not really anything you can do about it but wait for it to catch up, which usually involves someone at wikimedia wetvac'ing the coffee out. Just be patient, click random article, and edit that --ʇuǝɯɯoɔɐqǝɟ
Seems to have been fixed. The message is gone. --Hdt83 Chat 20:28, 6 July 2007 (UTC)[reply]
Yep, working now, though contribs are being a tiny bit laggy (12-18 seconds). The thing was jammed at 12:37 Pacific time (37 minutes after the last hour) for about 45 minutes though. --tjstrf talk 20:30, 6 July 2007 (UTC)[reply]
One thing a person could (theoretically) do about it would be to donate a large amount of money to the Wikimedia Foundation, some of which would probably go toward buying more servers. However, it would take a large donation to make a noticeable difference, and that would only help temporarily, as Wikipedia keeps growing. Maybe some enterprising third parties will set up more mirrors of Wikipedia and provide the CPU-hogging features such as watchlists that Wikipedia's servers probably can't do adequately for everyone. Another option might be to find other wikis specializing in your subject areas of interest that aren't so busy yet. If only a few hundred editors are interested in editing a particular article, ideally they shouldn't have to compete with 47,333,134 other users for server time. --Teratornis 00:40, 7 July 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Would Like To Rename Article "Synonym"[edit]

The article Muzafer Sherif has a "synonym" (is there a technical term for this?) of "Robbers Cave Experiement", which I'd like to correct to "Robbers Cave Experiment". Haven't a clue how. Any advice? Thanks. — Raymond Keller 20:44, 6 July 2007 (UTC)[reply]

I think the technical term you're looking for is a redirect - when a user visits the page Robber's_Cave_experiement, they automatically get redirected to Muzafer Sherif (incidentally, bear in mind that on Wikipedia the use (or not) of an apostrophe in a page title makes a difference - thus the page Robbers Cave Experiement doesn't exist (or didn't until I'd handled this query), but the page Robber's Cave Experiement did exist, and is the page you're talking about.
Whilst it would be possible to correct the redirection by deleting the page with the mis-spelling, what I think is a better solution (given that it's a quite specific page name - it's not like it's a common phrase that has been mis-spelt) is that both pages (ie. Robber's Cave Experiement and Robbers Cave Experiment) are redirected to point at Muzafer Sherif. Just to be on the safe side I have also created redirect pages for Robbers' Cave Experiment and Robbers' Cave Experiement - if you now click on any one of those four links you should (if I've done it right) end up at Muzafer Sherif automatically.
If you have any questions, feel free to leave me a message on my talk page. Giles Bennett (Talk, Contribs) 21:50, 6 July 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Stub index[edit]

How do you get a company name to appear in the stub index? —The preceding unsigned comment was added by Tsartor (talkcontribs).

Tag it with the appropriate stub template, such as {{company-stub}}. Find a list of them at Wikipedia:Stub templates. tiZom(2¢) 23:07, 6 July 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Omega Psi Phi[edit]

I am Second Lieutenant Tandon L. Mardis of the United States Air Force and I am a member of Omega Psi Phi Fraternity, Incorporated. I was wanting to know why it was that the information on this page is extremely scarce and what can be done to improve it. There are many brothers I know that would be more than happy to provide information regarding this area. Please let me know what avenue to take regarding these changes.

Tandon L. Mardis <e-mail removed for privacy purposes>

Please leave a message on my talk page. I am a part of the fraternities and sororities WikiProject, and am currently working to improve NPHC related articles. Thanks. Miranda 21:32, 6 July 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Accident with altering a template page[edit]

I accidentally altered the following template page with the wrong information:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Template:US-finance-company-stub

How can this get corrected —The preceding unsigned comment was added by Tsartor (talkcontribs).

With Help:Revert. Also, we usually refer to templates like this: {{US-finance-company-stub}}. --Teratornis 21:46, 6 July 2007 (UTC)[reply]
Just to expand on Teratornis' comment (I remember this sort of thing confusing me greatly when I first started on Wikipedia) - if you want to show a template's name in your text without including the template, or having an awkwardly named link, use the following text - {{tl:Template:templatenamehere}}. Giles Bennett (Talk, Contribs) 22:10, 6 July 2007 (UTC)[reply]
Rather, {{t1|templatenamehere}}. :o) tiZom(2¢) 23:03, 6 July 2007 (UTC)[reply]
It's hard to know how much detail to give a questioner. Many of my Help desk responses are ridiculously verbose. It's either way too much or not enough, I guess. I kind of assume, however, that people who edit on Wikipedia will figure out pretty quickly that when they see something on a page and they want to know how it works, they can click an edit link and look at the corresponding wikitext, then cancel out of the editor window. So I would expect that if someone wants to see how I did this: {{US-finance-company-stub}}, they will click the edit link and look at the code. (Put it this way: someone who doesn't figure out how to learn from examples is going to have a rough time editing here.) But just to add to the overkill, I'm using Template:Tl to display the template, and of course we can use that template to display itself: {{Tl}}. Now that I'm rambling rather aimlessly, I could mention that in my earlier phase of learning wikitext editing, I occasionally wished for a "wikitext annotator": a way to link each item in a page of wikitext to the help topics that explain it. --Teratornis 00:51, 7 July 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Three.com.au[edit]

Hi,

(E-Mail removed for security purposes)

I would like wikipedia to start a hutchinsons telecom, "Three.com.au"

since I find that in the mobile tv and planet three section, 3G, they make the buttons so sticky, and if you click on something, such as, a news text, or news photo, you could be charged 50 cents, or many dollars. It's like how people accidentally click on wrong links and their phone bill gets huge! "Planet 3", and "Mobile TV menu" on th3 3G phone is tricky.

My email is (E-Mail removed for security purposes)

Thanks, please reply.

If you are asking about how you can get Wikipedia on your cell phone, there are some possibilities for that. See for example Tomeraider. But I can't really make sense of what you wrote. I'm not familiar with whatever system you seem to refer to. Although maybe you refer to 3 (telecommunications). --Teratornis 05:36, 7 July 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Added an image and its gone wrong slighty[edit]

Hi there,

i've recently bought a new digi cam and thought i'd update some of the photos of my local area with higher quality photos. I've just changed a photo for the Bishops Cleeve site http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bishops_cleeve and as you can see, the image of the church takes up the entire page. I intended it to still be the preview you usually see on the right hand side. I'd appreciate it if someone could change this for me and also inform me on what i've done wrong (i'm new to editing wikipedia you see) so in the future i won't make the same mistake.

Thanks

Tfennell 23:07, 6 July 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Just turn the "frame" to "thumb", and be sure to add a size parameter if the picture is large. I went ahead and edited Bishops cleeve to fix it. Also, I put the bottom picture on the left so everything wasn't crowded on the right. Feel free to change it if you want. (By the way, for help with images, see Wikipedia:Extended image syntax) tiZom(2¢) 23:22, 6 July 2007 (UTC)[reply]