Wikipedia:Help desk/Archives/2007 June 16

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June 16

Where's the article?

A few days ago I created an article in Spanish by translating the original English version but it's not showing. Can you tell me why? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 205.170.235.246 (talk • contribs)

If you created the article in the Spanish Wikipedia then it is somewhere at http://es.wikipedia.org. Contributions by your IP number to the Spanish Wikipedia are not registered here at the English Wikipedia which is located at http://en.wikipedia.org. Instead, they can be seen at http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Especial:Contributions/205.170.235.246. Is the article http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aaron_Austin ? PrimeHunter 01:25, 16 June 2007 (UTC)

By the way, you can link articles on the same subject in different languages. See Help:Interlanguage links. PrimeHunter 01:32, 16 June 2007 (UTC)

Referenced translations missing

The article Moonmilk has 7 links to other languages, of which the following don't exist:

• it:latte di monte
• hu:montmilch
• pt:leite de lua
• ro:montmilch

Of course, each of these could have been deleted for a number of reasons. But in none of the languages did I see a link to "why was this article deleted". The language links have been in the article for quite a while, and have been edited in between, so that it appears unlikely that they never led to articles in the first place. Is there any other explanation for this, or is it just coincidence that it happened in so many languages? — Sebastian 00:10, 16 June 2007 (UTC)

They were added by this edit by 194.138.39.97 who hasn't made many edits. The article was only a sentence at the time. Before deleting them, you might want to confirm with Wikipedia:Translation. -- Jreferee ^(Talk) 01:29, 16 June 2007 (UTC)

Thanks for looking this up, and for the hint to WP:TIE. I now see that there probably never were articles in those languages, but the IP editor still added useful information - I'll ask on TIE what best to do with that information. — Sebastian 02:31, 17 June 2007 (UTC)

King of Pakistan

Was there a king of pakistan?

King of Pakistan might assist you. -- Jreferee ^(Talk) 01:11, 16 June 2007 (UTC)

Inserting a photo

I inserted a photo of a book into Guy de Rothschild but there is some sort of printing appearing with it. I'm new here and (some anonymous edits) and have no idea what it was that I did wring. Can someone help? Warren WL

The printing appearing with the image came with the original, uploaded image. See Image:ContrebonnefortuneRothschild.jpg. Book covers may be fair use to illustrate an article discussing the book in question. However, use of a book cover in an article about the person on the book cover might be copyright infringement. This page has some discussion on the topic. Also see Wikipedia:Non-free content for more information. -- Jreferee ^(Talk) 01:17, 16 June 2007 (UTC)

funnel

what is a funnel? and its functions?

Try the funnel article. - Zeibura ^Talk 02:02, 16 June 2007 (UTC)

Spam filter?

Two users have said they were unable to post to my talk page because of a spam filter? One user said "PS... I can't post on your talk page because of your "spam filter" it says it's because of ORKUT.com...which I am on..."

Any heads up?Sethie 02:25, 16 June 2007 (UTC)

Your talk page included the text "orkut.com/Comm", as part of a link. A link tag (<a href="url">text</a>) is automatically created by the software Wikipedia uses when a URL begins with "http://" and is otherwise normal, so I removed the "http://" from the beginning (diff). You can see the spam blacklist, which triggered the filter, here. "\.orkut\.com\/Comm" is the regex there that caused the spam protection filter to go off. Gracenotes^T § 03:03, 16 June 2007 (UTC)

Basically, it's fixed now. Sorry if I gave too many details :| Gracenotes^T § 03:05, 16 June 2007 (UTC)

Interesting... not sure Sethie understands and, thank you so much for fixing it.... your note was very gracious. ;) Sethie 04:58, 16 June 2007 (UTC)

Word processing

Word processing term for feature that allows text to flow down onto the next line without user hitting the return key? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 24.236.132.16 (talk)

See Word wrap. PrimeHunter 03:25, 16 June 2007 (UTC)

images of super mushak aircraft,s instruments

i need pics and animations of pitot static system of supermushak (MFI-17) aircraft—Preceding unsigned comment added by 202.163.91.166 (talk • contribs) 03:52, June 16, 2007

I would suggest you try searching Google. This is a page for asking questions about Wikipedia itself. -- Kesh 03:57, 16 June 2007 (UTC)

Translations

Is it allowed (legal) to translate an existing English article on Wikipedia to another language and post it as an article for the destination language? That would imply that the contents will not be changed at all.

Thanks.

Yes, that's encouraged. See Wikipedia:Translation for more info. - Zeibura^(talk) 04:58, 16 June 2007 (UTC)

Image credits

I'd like to know what the Wikipedia policy is on crediting photographs uploaded under (for example creative commons attribution) license IN THE ARTICLE.

The case that I am referring to is of one photegrapher putting a 'Photo by XXXX YYYYYY' into the thumbnail description of every image. For some reason, this irks me quite a bit. It is not standard on Wikipedia, at all, and it is a bit like me putting my name under an article I just wrote (not legally the same I know, different licenses), so everybody will know:"Hey its me!" So what is the policy on this? MadMaxDog 06:55, 16 June 2007 (UTC)

That should definitely be removed. Not sure on policy, but it's definitely not something that falls under the MoS - G1ggy ^Talk/_Contribs 06:58, 16 June 2007 (UTC)

If you look at the Wikipedia fair use copyright tags, the tags typlcally only requires that "all available copyright information" be listed on the image page, not on the article page. Wikipedia:Captions states that Who took the photo generally is only included in the caption of the image in the Article if the photographer is notable, such as Ansel Adams. You may want to check out Wikipedia is not a vehicle for advertising. -- Jreferee ^(Talk) 19:33, 16 June 2007 (UTC)

Wrong information

While reading Dielectric i found some missprint.Like "EM wave trvel through a dielectric both speed & wavelenth decrease.& frequency remain constant.

MY view is that if wavelength decrease in dielectric material ,then how can frequency remain constant.

frequency = 1/wavelength.

Please check it.

I thought it was $v=f\lambda$, which allows for speed and wavelength to decrease while frequency remains constant. x42bn6 Talk Mess 11:04, 16 June 2007 (UTC)

And note that frequency is one over the time period, not wavelength. Frequency is number of oscillations/waves/anything per second and has dimension s^-1, while 1 over wavelength has dimension m^-1. i.e. the units don't match. x42bn6 Talk Mess 15:09, 16 June 2007 (UTC)

Um..you might want to check it out at the Reference Desk, which specialises in general knowledge. Cheers!! -Zachary_crimsonwolf 13:09, 17 June 2007 (UTC)

I am having a problem with signing in

Hi how is everyone today,the reason I am contacting you is that I am having a problem signing in . my sign in name is kenfred yet every time I attempt to sign in I am told that I do not exist .I became a member when I set up my account back in march of this year I have not had a need to ask for any assistance up untill now as I was trying to find a way to mount my old hard drive to retreive my important information from it and then to purge it so that I could use it as a storage drive.Have I done something wrong or to cause you to block me if so please let me know at it may be as simple as the fact that I have not signed in from march untill now, if it is the problem ,could you please help to rectify this problem.Thank you for your time in this matter.Sincerely kenneth clements I look forward to hearing from you ,bye for now. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 24.150.83.195 (talk • contribs).

According to the user list there is no user registered as Kenfred (User:Kenfred). As users are never deleted (no matter how long ago you last signed in), and the account hasn't been renamed, the account has never been created. Might you have used a different spelling for your username, or did you register with one of our sister projects instead? If not, then it appears your registration didn't complete properly, but the username hasn't been taken since so you can still register it if you wish.

Regarding your hard drive issue, if you wish to find out some advice, you can ask at the computing reference desk at Wikipedia:Reference desk/Computing. Hope that helps, mattbr 13:43, 16 June 2007 (UTC)

Wikipedia

what are the conditions for joining wikipedia and can a dot org domain join it. is it free — Preceding unsigned comment added by 196.208.47.6 (talk)

Wikipedia is a free encyclopedia that anyone can edit. All you need is an account. And the volunteers who help wikipedia are called wikipedians. For more info see: Wikipedia:Introduction . Regards Dep. Garcia ( Talk + | Help Desk | Complaints ) 10:34, 16 June 2007 (UTC)

If you are wondering whether it would be appropriate to make an external link to a given domain then see Wikipedia:External links. PrimeHunter 12:12, 16 June 2007 (UTC)

And if you are considering to make an article about a website then see Wikipedia:Notability (web). If it is your own site then also see Wikipedia:Conflict of interest. PrimeHunter 12:15, 16 June 2007 (UTC)

Preferences

I went to my user preference page with the aim to seeing how a different "skin" affected the appearance of articles. Having done that, I can access the page, but cannot use some of the functions on the menu, including the "skin" which I want to set back to the default. The current "skin' i have is reaaly bugging me and making it difficult to edit, but when I click on the menu, it doesn't respond at all. --Amandajm 12:03, 16 June 2007 (UTC)

I don't really know much about skins, but another user might. But in the meantime see: Help:Preferences#Skin, Wikipedia:Skin and m:Skins. Regards Dep. Garcia ( Talk + | Help Desk | Complaints ) 12:12, 16 June 2007 (UTC)

The problem that I am having is not just trying to change the skin back. It is as if, having changed the skin, the entire preferences Menu is not functioning, except the time and date option. Everything else doesn't work any more. --Amandajm 12:53, 16 June 2007 (UTC)

I am not an expert on this either but trying the page with a different browser might do the trick. If you only have one, the new Safari3 beta, or Mozilla firefox are easy to download, assuming you have a high speed connection.--Fuhghettaboutit 13:01, 16 June 2007 (UTC)

I can't help with the other issues you are having, but this link from the Wikipedia:Village pump (technical) FAQ should load your preferences in the default skin and allow you to change your preferences back again. Hope that helps, mattbr 13:25, 16 June 2007 (UTC)

Thank you for your help! I really beginning to get quite cross! Now I back with the default that looks nice and tidy, I'm happy! --Amandajm 13:38, 16 June 2007 (UTC)

Wiki Integration?

Why don't wikimedia, wikipedia, wikitionary, Simple Wikipedia and the like all use a single account?

SpeakoutLOUD 14:44, 16 June 2007 (UTC)

They should eventually, it is in the process of being worked out. Viridae^Talk 14:47, 16 June 2007 (UTC)

Link: m:SUL. Gracenotes^T § 14:59, 16 June 2007 (UTC)

Help with tables

I'm having trouble getting table code to work properly. Is there a table code guru somewhere who can help me fix the problem? Thanks, Gatoclass 16:16, 16 June 2007 (UTC)

Hi! I'd be glad to help if I can. What's the problem? Gracenotes^T § 16:19, 16 June 2007 (UTC)

Gracenotes would love to help, but more info is available here: Help:Table. Regards Dep. Garcia ( Talk + | Help Desk | Complaints ) 16:35, 16 June 2007 (UTC)

Yes, I've been to the Help table. Unfortunately, it gives a quite inadequate explanation IMO.

My specific problem is with a sortable wikitable. The problem is that if the first cell in a column contains text as well as numbers, the column defaults to alphabetic sort mode instead of numeric sort mode. The help table says that to get around this you have to include the code "sm=n" in the first cell, but it gives no further explanation and no matter how many different ways of including that string I try, it doesn't work and the table continues to sort alphabetically. I just need someone to tell me how to get the "sm=n" string to work. Thanks! Gatoclass 17:13, 16 June 2007 (UTC)

Apparently the instructions would be at Help:Sorting. But to be frank, I am very confused by them. Our sorting script is from the 1990's, with a couple of hacky modifications... it is just baffling to me. Gracenotes^T § 18:54, 16 June 2007 (UTC)

Yeah, me too. Thanks very much for trying though :) Gatoclass 05:54, 17 June 2007 (UTC)

Where have the footnotes gone

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

I tried to create some footnotes, following the Wiki instructions (at least I thought I was) but they don't appear in a list at the end of the article. Where have I gone wrong? Thanks.Staug73 16:17, 16 June 2007 (UTC)

You cannot use <ref/> to close a reference entry. You must use </ref>. There is a HUGE difference. Youth in Asia 16:43, 16 June 2007 (UTC)

Thanks Youth in Asia, and thanks for fixing footnotes in the article. I shall be more careful in future.Staug73 13:00, 17 June 2007 (UTC)

editing email address; deleting second account

Hi -- I joined Wikipedia this morning and, because it's early, entered an incorrect email address on the new user form. The account is steveng57 and I entered steveng@soonic (or some double-letter typo) instead of steveng@sonic.net

And of course when I didn't get an email confirmation of the account setup, I just created another one: steveng68

So I'd like to fix the email typo on the steveng57 account and kill the other account entirely. The only info I can find on modifying user accounts is here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Cheatsheet -- and it's not helpful in this case.

Can I do this myself, or does a sysop, administrator or bureaucrat have to do it? If the former, pls direct me to a page that tells me how; if the latter, I'd appreciate it if you or someone in tech support could make those changes when you get the time. Also, it seems there's a third option; I could request sysop powers long enough to make the changes myself, then revert to the peasant class? I may have misread that one.

Anyway, let me know when you can. Thanks a lot.

Cheers,

sg

Log in as steveng57, and click on this link. In the email-address field, type in the correct email address. However, user accounts can never be deleted. > Animum < 16:33, 16 June 2007 (UTC)

Thank you, but so far the confirming email hasn't arrived. Is that because the other login requirements -- password, et, -- are fine and I'm already logged in? I just can't tell from available information. Also, too bad about wiping the other account. Think that might change someday?

And thanks again for getting back. I'm going to go mess with some of the functions and, if I'm cleared at basic security level, then I guess this all worked. If not, I'll send you a message and we can go from there.

Best,

sg

About IRC

Can I invite myself by typing /msg chanserv invite #wikipedia-en-help ?Arnon Chaffin (I'm listening!) 16:51, 16 June 2007 (UTC)

Now you can, since the channel is +g. However, the general way to join a channel is by typing /join #wikipedia-en-help Gracenotes^T § 16:58, 16 June 2007 (UTC)

Thank you,anyway I know how to join a channel thank you for your help.Arnon Chaffin (I'm listening!) 17:01, 16 June 2007 (UTC)

Oops, I was wrong. You can only invite other users with +g if you're in the channel. (+g != ChanServ inviting) Gracenotes^T § 17:02, 16 June 2007 (UTC)

Trying to fix a problem on the MECHANICAL TELEVISION page.

I can't seem to access the top paragraph for editing. I've edited this paragraph previously, but now can't find the "EDIT" link.

In the top paragraph, I made a statement that only mechanical television electronics come from the twentieth century.

I also mean to say that mechanical television mechanics come from the nineteenth century. Somehow, the current version says instead that the electronics come from the nineteenth century. Here, I want to change "electronics" to "mechanics."

Please help me to find the "EDIT" link for this paragraph.—Preceding unsigned comment added by 76.193.177.2 (talk • contribs) 13:27, June 16, 2007

Use the "Edit this page" tab/link at the very top of the page. In general, the first section in an article (the lead) doesn't have an edit link associated just with it. --ElKevbo 18:35, 16 June 2007 (UTC)

Book mark within an article

Could you tell me. Is there a way to put a reference like see section 45 and link it to section 45? of the article (as you would do with a bookmark in html? --Akc9000 21:03, 16 June 2007 (UTC)

Bookmark (or save to favourites) normally as usual. Then go to that bookmark and then right-click it and go to its properties. To the URL/location, add #your section. So, for example, for this question, bookmark the Help desk. Then change its URL to "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Help desk#Book mark within an article". It should then link to this question (as long as it isn't archived, of course). x42bn6 Talk Mess 21:06, 16 June 2007 (UTC)

When this question archives, its link will be:

• Wikipedia:Help desk/Archives/2007 June 16#Book mark within an article

The above link will change from red to blue in a few days. --Teratornis 21:42, 16 June 2007 (UTC)

Mark Boyle site

Hello i am Mark boyle's site agent he Makes sites which are generally called Boyle111 and are forum and arcade sites but he currently doesn't have a site but one is going to open in July and i was wondering if it is against the rules for creating a page called Boyle111 (Site) and site info in there and also make a page called Mark Boyle (Site creator) with info about Mark but thats the reason i signed him up on her because i wanted to create one for him and i would be active if this is allowed but if it's not allowed then there is no point in creating a page and getting it delted therefore i won't be active so i would like a quick reply and thank you for reading my enquiry.

Mark's agent

Like it says several questions above, if you are considering creating an article about a website then see Wikipedia:Notability (web). If it is your own site then also see Wikipedia:Conflict of interest. -- Rick Block (talk) 21:47, 16 June 2007 (UTC)

Wikipedia articles typically are built/edited from information contained in Wikipedia reliable sources, such as information from newspapers and books, and usually by people who have no relationship to the topic. As Mark's agent, you may run into conflict of interest problems in creating the Boyle111 article and the Mark Boyle (Site creator) article. Also, writing an article from your personal knowledge may be using original research, which does not meet the No original research policy. For others reading this thread, see Mark Boyle boyle111 on Teenwag. -- Jreferee ^(Talk) 21:47, 16 June 2007 (UTC)

hello

please let me know in the easiest way! how to delete my user page, eberything is very confusing, too many options to click, thanx, peter

See How do I delete my user and user talk pages? -- Jreferee ^(Talk) 21:40, 16 June 2007 (UTC)

Same Names.....but the other individual has "questionable credentials"....??

Hello my name is Robin Galloway. I am a working American Actress here in the US. I seem to be having a cyber war with a Scottish DJ named Robin Galloway....well,not a war exactly.....but he is a confrontational person passive-agressive and across the seas... not a warm person, let's put it this way. I have begun making move very quickly only one year out of graduate school......theater and now moving into television.....i have reviews.....references, sources, "big names" of American theater, writers and directors. Film with whom I have already worked. Links to tv.com,, two of my own personal website's , imbd, etc, etc..... And I am not a confrontational person......but this guy has tried to shut me out at every corner since discovering we shared the same name......taking robingalloway.com......big deal....i could care less. But now it seems he has made a preimtive strike to prevent me from submitting my name and information to Wikipedia. Are there ways to get around this? I noticed his sight is "on watch" because he has no credentials. I do!! Lots of them! I am by no means famous - yet - but I believe this sight to be an excellent and strong marketing tool for professionals across the board....not too mention I was a historian before becoming an actor, and I just could navigate for hours. And I am a Robin Gallowy with an interesting story and history......I am currently working on the first one woman show about growing overseas as a child of the US soldier......in collaboration with a screenwiiter.....22:01, 16 June 2007 (UTC)22:01, 16 June 2007 (UTC)~~.not that i am trying to bump the guy.....how can we share the wikipedia and maintain our names and integrity?

Thank you.

Sincerely, Robin Galloway

Wikipedia has a built-in way for handling two people with the same name. It's called Disambiguation. In this case, we could move his article to Robin Galloway (musician) and you could have yours at Robin Galloway (actress), with the main link going to either a disambiguation page, or the most notable article.

However, we have strict rules about notability. I'm not sure if either of you would satisfy those rules well enough to have your own pages. You'd be best to request someone else write an article about you to prevent a conflict of interest. Hope that helps! -- Kesh 23:16, 16 June 2007 (UTC)

Hi Robin. Are any of the Robin Gallowy's listed at IMBD you? This will help us to give you better assistance. -- Jreferee ^(Talk) 03:13, 17 June 2007 (UTC)

I am being harassed

sOMEONE IS THREATENING TO BLOCK ME WITHOUT GIVING ME A REASON Warfwar3 22:05, 16 June 2007 (UTC)

According to your talk page, you've been edit warring and vandalizing. So, yes, they've given reasons you can be blocked. -- Kesh 23:18, 16 June 2007 (UTC)

World Calendar template

I need some help at editing of Template:World Calendar. Can somebody make an uniform of columns. It is quite messy. Let them be spacious. Thanks, --Janezdrilc 22:17, 16 June 2007 (UTC)

I must admit I don't understand what the table is meant to show, but I made the columns widths uniform. To increase the width of the whole table (to make it all more "spacious"), add a "width" tag to the first line. E.g.

{| cellspacing="0" cellpadding="4" border="1" width="70%"

or whatever percentage (of the whole screen width) that you want. Matt 01:33, 17 June 2007 (UTC)

Very thanks, it works. --Janezdrilc 10:12, 17 June 2007 (UTC)

Unhide

Oops! I wanted to test the "Hide" feature on the current top of page message and it worked just fine but now I can't seem to figure out how to undo that that hiding action. Am I destined to never again get a worldwide WP alert?  :-( ~ hydnjo talk 22:21, 16 June 2007 (UTC)

There is another way but deleting your browser cache/history/private data will work. Ctrl+Shft+Del in Firefox. GDonato (talk) 22:23, 16 June 2007 (UTC)

Tools/Delete Browsing History/Delete In IE. GDonato (talk) 22:24, 16 June 2007 (UTC)

Yeah, I tried that (Safari) without success and also closed the browser app (which really clears the cache) but the message is still hidden. ~ hydnjo talk 22:28, 16 June 2007 (UTC)

So GDonato, what is the other way? ~ hydnjo talk 22:51, 16 June 2007 (UTC)

On Safari simply click Safari -> Reset Safari... and then OK. This will clear everything (including your Autofill) but not your bookmarks. Scottydude _talk 23:13, 16 June 2007 (UTC)

Pretty radical Scottydude but it did indeed work. So, was the "hide" instruction in the WP cookie(s)? Oh, and thanks for mentioning about the bookmarks or I wouldn't done it - thank you. ~ hydnjo talk 23:23, 16 June 2007 (UTC)

Sure, anytime. Scottydude _talk 02:15, 17 June 2007 (UTC)

login

Hi, I'm Alethe. I've worked hard on several articles, opened stubs and have groomed others. Once I used Firefox instead of Safari, due to the latter's repeatedly collapsing on my Mac when clicking on Amazon titles, as I did bibliog. research. Consequently I'm asked to login again, but what I tho't was my password isn't working. Apparently, I failed to provide an email address when I first logged in. However, I'd like to keep the name "Alethe", which means 'truth' (from 'not forgotten') in Greek. Any way I can get a new login password without giving it up? Thanks, 74.112.219.182 22:39, 16 June 2007 (UTC)Alethe

If I'm understanding this correctly, you switched browsers and the browser you were using before had you logged in by default, correct? Now that you've switched, you realize that you've forgotten your password. Why not switch back to the old browser, that has you logged in, put in an email address into your preferences, then have your password sent to you? Dismas|^(talk) 22:48, 16 June 2007 (UTC)

Agreed - if the cookies are on the computer, you may still be able to use it to log in and provide an email. But in any case, the answers you're looking for can be found at Help:Logging in. I do not believe this is possible, though. However, if it's really bugging you, because you do have a fair number of you might be able to contact a developer at User talk:Secretlondon. Just don't tell him I sent you. The Evil Spartan 22:53, 16 June 2007 (UTC)

Naming a page

I would like to create a page on the 1794 treason trials, but I cannot decide whether to name it "1794 Treason Trials" or "1794 treason trials." Help:Page name and Wikipedia:Naming conventions (capitalization) did not clear up the matter for me. Sometimes the 1794 Treason Trials are capitalized in the scholarly literature and sometimes not. Are they a proper noun? Are they sometimes a proper noun? Should I default to lower case since they are not always capitalized? Thanks. Awadewit | talk 22:59, 16 June 2007 (UTC)

As a unique event, I'd go with full capitalization on the title. I would consider it a proper noun, like War of the Roses. -- Kesh 23:20, 16 June 2007 (UTC)

You're probably as knowledgeable as anybody about the subject - use your own discresion; this kind of naming convention issue comes up all the time. ;) The Evil Spartan 23:22, 16 June 2007 (UTC)

Thanks. Awadewit | talk 23:44, 16 June 2007 (UTC)

And ensure you redirect one name to the other. Youth in Asia 00:15, 17 June 2007 (UTC)

Check out how Treason Trials (1794) named their write up. The Wikipedia artice Treason Trial may need to be renamed to provide some clarity (e.g., there were more than one of 'em). Oddly, the articles on John Horne Tooke, John Thelwall, and Thomas Hardy (political reformer) do not mention Treason Trials by name. You might want to fix this (with Wikipedia relialbe sources. It seems like a good topic, one that will fit well within Wikipedia. -- Jreferee ^(Talk) 03:33, 17 June 2007 (UTC)