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May 28[edit]

Creating a page[edit]

How do you create a page? —Preceding unsigned comment added by Sillysox (talk • contribs)

See :Help:Starting a new page and Wikipedia:Your first article. PrimeHunter 00:05, 28 May 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Why is Wikipedia blurring thumbnail images?[edit]

I noticed that images become very blurry when you resize them to certain sizes. It only happens at the "thumbnail" sizes (i.e. 120px, 150px, 180px, 200px, 250px and 300px).

Here's an example:

Why is Wikipedia doing this? Bug or feature?

Boudewijn 00:24, 28 May 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Most likely because one size is closer to the actual proportions of the image. If you just resize the width without resizing the height proportionally, you actually distort the image somewhat, even if it's only a pixel. Bjelleklang - talk Bug Me 00:52, 28 May 2007 (UTC)[reply]

- Only the width was specified. The height was set automatically. The original is 783x348 which corresponds to 249.75x111. It's also sharp at 252x112 and 251x112 (112 chosen automatically). The jpg file size is 9025 bytes at 249x11 and only 7360 byte at 250x111. 251x112 and 252x112 are around 9100 bytes. I don't know but based on these images it looks possible that the software chooses poorer jpg quality at certain sizes. PrimeHunter 01:33, 28 May 2007 (UTC)[reply]
  - Yes, it's sharp at any size except the thumbnail widths you can set in the 'Files' tab of My preferences. You say it chooses a lower quality, but I don't see jpeg artifacts here, it looks more like a deliberate Gaussian blur. Also, I checked the JPEG quantization tables: both are the same (same jpeg compression level). Boudewijn 02:57, 28 May 2007 (UTC)[reply]
    - It probably is a Gaussian blur, considering that MediaWiki runs ImageMagick in the image back end. Titoxd^{(?!? - cool stuff)} 01:56, 28 May 2007 (UTC)[reply]
      - I have limited knowledge of images and you two sound like you know what you are talking about, so I guess you are right. My layman opinion is that the sharp image is "best" in this case, so it may be a good idea to avoid 250x for this image. PrimeHunter 02:11, 28 May 2007 (UTC)[reply]
        It's not just this image, most JPEG images on Wikipedia are affected. There's even a very bad one on the Main page right now: today's "featured picture" looks like this while it could have looked like this. Anyway, I realize I'm in the wrong place, I'll go and ask the MediaWiki developers about this. Boudewijn 02:52, 28 May 2007 (UTC)[reply]

The effect is no longer visible for this image - I've purged commons:Image:Ducati muffler.jpg. The problem is that settings for thumbnail creation changed a few weeks ago to include a bit of additional sharpening, but thumbnails already in existence then have not been recreated. So if you find an image with this problem, purge the image page and it should be OK after reloading the image or the page with the image. --Dapete ばか 16:10, 28 May 2007 (UTC)[reply]

It's hard to find an image that does not show the problem. If the old thumbnails aren't going to be recreated automatically, does this mean we have to manually purge every single image on Wikipedia? Boudewijn 19:15, 28 May 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Limburger[edit]

It looks as though the Limburger page was vandalized (linked from today's picture of the day)

Someone's already reverted it. If you would like to learn how, see WP:REVERT and WP:VAND. *Cremepuff 222* "As cool as grapes..." 01:15, 28 May 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Signature[edit]

I'm having trouble making my signature. I want it to say "Cheers, JetLover Talk to me!" but it's all one link. How can I fix this? Cheers, JetLover 02:17, 28 May 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Put [[User:JetLover|JetLover]] [[User talk:JetLover|Talk to me]] into the signature box and click "raw siganture". -- John Reaves (talk) 02:22, 28 May 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks! Cheers, JetLover Talk to me! 02:43, 28 May 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Editting uneditable pages[edit]

How do you edit a page if the "edit" link is not there?—Preceding unsigned comment added by TigressofIndia (talk • contribs)

See Wikipedia:Protection policy. PrimeHunter 02:50, 28 May 2007 (UTC)[reply]

You can make a request for unprotection at WP:RFPP or use {{editprotected}}. -- John Reaves (talk) 02:52, 28 May 2007 (UTC)[reply]

A final option is if the page is only semi-protected and not fully protected, to ask an editor who has had an account for longer than five days to make the edit for you. For clarification of "semi-proctection" and "full-protection" see WP:PROT --Random ^{Say it here!} 03:17, 28 May 2007 (UTC)[reply]

To know about using wikipedia[edit]

59.95.110.133 03:26, 28 May 2007 (UTC)hi wikipedia, i am doing research about shopping mall.And about consumer behaviour towarts shopping mall. i am from India how can i get all information using wikipedia[reply]

To find out what you want to know, try going to the following article Shopping mall. If that does not help you, trying a google search might. Hope that helps. --Random ^{Say it here!} 03:32, 28 May 2007 (UTC)[reply]

For example: Google:"shopping mall" consumer behavior; and the same search restricted to Wikipedia. --Teratornis 14:23, 28 May 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Procedure for reverting vandalism[edit]

The following help page: Help:Reverting does not seem to address my question so I will raise it here. I have been using the following procedure to help fight vandalism but need to know if it should be altered. I use the Recent changes link and look for unregistered users edits. I then click on the diff link and view the edit making sure that it is the current version I am looking at. If it is vandalism, I click on undo link and scroll down to the edit summary box where I append the following: "rv vandalism" to the end of the default line which looks like the following Undid revision 134009056 by Devil deadman (talk) I have been leaving the minor edit box unchecked. Is the procedure considered appropriate and should the minor edit box be check or not?

Personally, I do not check the minor edit box. You're procedure is actually nearly flawless. Nothing done wrong, I would just say that you may want to provide who's version you are reverting from, and who's you are reverting to. Also, after making the revert, place the appropriate warning on the user's talk page. There are some very useful tools that do most of this for you: Twinkle and Lupin's anti-vandal tool. You should check them both out. Redian (Talk) 04:56, 28 May 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks for the reply. Since I generally deal with unregistered users (IP address listed), they generally do not have a talk page and to take the time to create one seems to me to be a waste of time as the likelyhood of them actually reading it would seem to me to be very low. Dbiel 05:34, 28 May 2007 (UTC)[reply]

You should consider warning after reverting vandalism (unless the vandal is already blocked). It is a preventative action and doesn't take much time ;) PeaceNT 05:51, 28 May 2007 (UTC)[reply]

But what good does it do to warn an unregistered user that does not have a talk page created and would probably never look at the warning if it were left? Unless there is some sort of procedure in place that would make use of multiple warnings found on the talk page.Dbiel 06:28, 28 May 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Hi Dbiel. Actually, it is quite likely that the user will see the warning: the bright orange box saying "You have new messages" appears for IPs as well. Often, a single warning is enough to get the user to stop vandalizing, presumably because they are now aware their edits are being watched. In case vandalism persists, it becomes necessary for an administrator to block the IP address, and most admins will not do so until after warnings have been issued. You can read more about this at WP:VAND. Thanks for asking! -SpuriousQ (talk) 11:54, 28 May 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Of course, I should mention this is completely voluntary; you don't need to warn if you feel it takes too much time. You might want to look into third-party tools that facilitate the vandal fighting procees, such as those listed at Wikipedia:Recent changes patrol. -SpuriousQ (talk) 11:59, 28 May 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks for the excellent replies. Dbiel 12:50, 28 May 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Yes, what Redian said, and note that you are not required to mark reversion of vandalism as minor edits, so no worries. You are doing perfectly fine. PeaceNT 04:59, 28 May 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks for the reply. The question is not so much as is it required, but is a vandalism revert condsidered to be a minor edit or not? Dbiel 05:34, 28 May 2007 (UTC)[reply]

ah, I mean that because there is no law, you can do either way you want. It doesn't matter. PeaceNT 05:51, 28 May 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Personally, I mark vandalism edits as minor if they're something completely obvious as vandalism (e.g. "John Smith Likes boys!!!!11oneone!!!11"), but not if it's something there's even a slight chance of me being wrong about (e.g. someone changing a birthday, even if it goes against the cited source). Also, instead of "rv vandalism", you can shorten it to just "rvv" which means the same thing. If a user has gone past the fourth warning template (the one that says "final warning," you should also report them to to Wikipedia:Administrator intervention against vandalism, where an administrator can ban them. If you're only going to be looking for unregistered user edits, you can save time scanning and just use this link. Also, if you enjoy reverting vandalism, may I plug Special:Recentchangeslinked/Category:Living_people? Those pages are generally some of the most critical to keep clear since a)it can lead to charges of libel if inaccurate information stays on too long, and b)most incidents where Wikipedia suffers a hit to credibility (e.g. Sinbad, and Seigenthaler) are to Biographies of living persons. In any event, thanks for helping keep Wikipedia vandalism free :). --Ybbor ^Talk 14:42, 28 May 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks for the useful advise. Could I ask you or anyone else if they might be willing to comment on and provide any suggestion on how to better leave a warning on a talkpage. see the following example:

User_talk:70.153.25.146

Dbiel ^(Talk) 06:29, 29 May 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Writing about a Fire Department[edit]

I registered and would like to write an article. I read the FAQs and getting started info, and it suggest not writing about your company. I am a firefighter for Sacramento Metro Fire Dept. in Sacramento CA and would like to write an article about the department. We are the largest FD in Sacramento County and the sixth largest in CA. The department has numerous specialties that it provides, and has a notable history, including being a part of USAR CA TF 7 which was part of the search and rescue effort of September 11th and Oklahoma City Bombing. I would like to write the article because I think that it is different then a normal company and would not really be advertising. But I also don't want it to get deleted. Can you help me? —Preceding unsigned comment added by Firebug10 (talk • contribs)

First, make absolutely sure the article doesn't exist under a different name. The Wikipedia search function is quite lacking, I would recommend a Google search of Wikipedia. Just add site:en.wikipedia.org before your search terms. While you can write an article about your employer, it is generally not recommended. I would suggest giving a rough draft of the article at the Drawing board first. You may also want to review the neutral Point of view policy. Mr.Z-mantalk¢ 05:47, 28 May 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Sacramento Fire Department exists already as a stub. Feel free to start filling it up with content, but be sure to provide reliable sources for everything you write (see WP:CITE, WP:CITET, and WP:FOOT for instructions on you cite your sources). One of the biggest problems on Wikipedia is that lots of people know lots of things (for example, you are probably an expert about your fire department), but not many people know how to find reliable sources for what they know. If you have some interesting facts to add to Sacramento Fire Department but you don't have sources for them, you can write your claims on Talk:Sacramento Fire Department and ask other editors to help you source them (read the talk page guidelines first so you know how to sign your posts). You might also ask at your local library for help, as often local libraries collect published content about topics of local interest. --Teratornis 14:36, 28 May 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Indic Fonts' Small Text Size Display Problem[edit]

I am working on the Assamese Wikipedia and using UNICODE fonts in it. However the problem is that the default text size of the Assamese unicode is so small that in the articles in Assamese we have to add a BB or HTML tag like <span style='font-size:##.# pt'> to display the texts in a readable size.

However, the problem is with the system messages. If we add a BB or HTML code in the system messages, the code also gets displayed on the output pages. Anybody has any solutions to this problem?

Thanks for listening!! Priyankoo 05:51, 28 May 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Just an idea: It sounds like it would be a solution to increase the default text size of Assamese unicode? I think technical requests like that can be made using the Wikipedia:Bugzilla system... ssepp^(talk) 12:05, 28 May 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks ssepp!! Will try to go to the forum!!

Priyankoo 15:10, 28 May 2007 (UTC)[reply]

WHERE IS THIS PLACE. IS THIS A TOWN,COUNTRY,DIST.[edit]

1.ABIDIAN 2. ROMANIA 3.MONROVIA 4.LOME 5.LIBRIVILLE 6.UKRAINE 7.KANDALA 8.GARLAND 9.LAS 10.POINTE NOIRE 11.VITORIA 12.ITASAI 13.SINES 14.CLYNIA 15.DAMMAM 16.DJIBOUTI 17.DOUALA

You can use Wikipedia to find the answers out. Simply type them into the search box on the left and use the information on the infoboxes. E ^talk 07:49, 28 May 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Milage betwee the cities of China[edit]

How can i know the milage between the different cities of china

Kashghar-> Umumqi->Shanghai->Beijing

Again, use the search box on the left and type each one in. Record the details and then compare at the end. E ^talk 07:50, 28 May 2007 (UTC)[reply]

admission[edit]

hello sir i want to get admission in ur college what is the procedure to get admission this year

Wikipedia is not a college. It's an encyclopedia. E ^talk 08:01, 28 May 2007 (UTC)[reply]

If you mean wikiversity, everyone is free to join :). But I don't think they hand out any degrees. ssepp^(talk) 09:20, 28 May 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Contributions[edit]

G'day, is there any easy way to count how many contributions I've made with my wikipedia account? Cheers, Rothery 11:28, 28 May 2007 (UTC).[reply]

Hi, try Wikipedia:WikiProject edit counters. -SpuriousQ (talk) 11:34, 28 May 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Why Wikipedia is editable[edit]

i have a big confussion that Why Wikipedia is editable ????? any one can change the precious information into garbage, so how can I trust the information I am reading right now is valid or not ???

If Wikipedia weren't editable in any way, it wouldn't exist because nobody would be able to add to it. The minimal barriers to editing mean that anyone can edit almost anything. As the vast majority of editors are benign, and as it's as easy to undo a bad edit as to make a bad edit, the overall balance of edits means that Wikipedia tends to be trustworthy. I don't know of any specific statistics, but I would guess that easily fewer than 1 in 1,000 statements in Wikipedia are false.--A bit iffy 12:31, 28 May 2007 (UTC)[reply]

In my experience it is a lot more than 1 in 1,000 when I know the topic well, and there are probably still many errors I don't discover. PrimeHunter 13:09, 28 May 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Also, there's quite a good, er, Wikipedia article at Criticism of Wikipedia which goes into some of the trustworthiness aspects of Wikipedia.--A bit iffy 12:39, 28 May 2007 (UTC)[reply]

That is why we cite our sources. It is hard to provide citations for garbage. Adrian M. H. 13:41, 28 May 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Unless of course you have your own website and....cite yourself? By the point of course you join the professional scam artist league. Pete Shan osky 02:44, 29 May 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Improve articles links yellow tip.[edit]

Hi sir, good day!

Thanks alot for this greate site and helpful encyclopedia. I dont know if I am in the right place, but I tried hard to find a place for suggestions or improving Wikipedia. If its not the right place, then I would be thankful to removed it to the right area.

My suggestion is about the article links that are embedded in other articles context. Its usually include the yellow tool tip text, as the desired article title only! I think, for importance of time, its better if the tip contains the first small breif intoduction or main defination about the article subject; so that the reader may save time, if he/she needs only the main defination, rather than openning a new webpage!

Sorry for long talking, and thanks for listenning.

Yours always,.. A.H. <e-mail removed>

Please have a look at Wikipedia:Tools/Navigation popups. They should do the same thing, and can be enabled by registered users. Bjelleklang - talk Bug Me 12:46, 28 May 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Author[edit]

who is the author of this site?

Anyone can be! Please see About Wikipedia. Bjelleklang - talk Bug Me 12:46, 28 May 2007 (UTC)[reply]

See: WP:VFAQ#Who wrote article X on Wikipedia?. --Teratornis 16:18, 28 May 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Most of the time, this question has to do with people attempting to cite wikipedia. If you are doing so, try Wikipedia:citing Wikipedia. --Ybbor ^Talk 23:51, 28 May 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Hit Counts[edit]

I'm doing research on English language learners posting on Wikipedia, and I want to report on hit counts of pages they edited or started. Is there any way to find out hit counts for pages? Is there any correlation between the number of page edits and page views? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 219.45.60.48 (talk • contribs)

No, there is no connection between the two, other than that the number of views of each article is at least equal to the number of edits. As far as I know there is no way to find out the number of views, perhaps other than through the m:toolserver. Bjelleklang - talk Bug Me 13:27, 28 May 2007 (UTC)[reply]

There is probably some correlation between amount of page views and amount of edits, since these things are both strongly influenced by how well-known and 'popular' a certain subject is. But it is hard to research this, because hit counts are disabled for performance reasons. ssepp^(talk) 13:34, 28 May 2007 (UTC)[reply]

See also Wikipedia:Technical FAQ#Can I add a page hit counter to a Wikipedia page? for a more detailed explanation. PrimeHunter 13:40, 28 May 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Since you are doing research, see: Wikipedia in academic studies and Wikipedia:Wikipedia Signpost/2007-05-14/Academic journal coverage. Also research this: sign your posts on talk pages. Be aware that Wikipedia is but one of many wikis, and not necessarily the best wiki for arbitrary goals that differ from Wikipedia's stated goal of building a free encyclopedia of the highest quality. If your language learners can write encyclopedically, that's great, but if they just want to practice their English, they may do better on some other wiki. For example, you asked about page hit counters. The MediaWiki software that powers Wikipedia has page hit counters enabled by default, but on Wikipedia this feature is disabled. Smaller wikis generally don't have performance problems, so they tend to leave that feature enabled. Wikipedia has, by far, the highest public profile of any wiki; for example, millions of visitors come here as a result of Google searches; perhaps many are not yet aware that other wikis exist. However, not being aware of other wikis is not by itself valid reason to be editing on Wikipedia. Search WikiIndex for wikis with subject focus of interest to your language learners; some may have less stringent policies and guidelines than Wikipedia. --Teratornis 16:53, 28 May 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Limited language proficiency users[edit]

I have been having language learners post and edit Wikipedia. Is there an official policy on how proficient a user needs to be to post? Would Wikipedia prefer these users write in their own language or the simple wiki site? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 219.45.60.48 (talk • contribs)

Everyone is welcome, but please be aware that articles may be deleted. Starting in the natural language wiki could be a good idea in order to become familiar with how to use a Wiki, and also with common policies. Bjelleklang - talk Bug Me 13:27, 28 May 2007 (UTC)[reply]

There is no policy on minimal proficiency. As long as it is understandable and has good content it should be fine, other users can improve the English. ssepp^(talk) 13:40, 28 May 2007 (UTC)[reply]

If a user is not yet capable of writing as well as an existing article has already been written, it would be best for that user to suggest his or her contribution on the article's talk page. This will attract the attention of other users who can judge whether the contribution is worthwhile, and edit it as necessary before integrating it into the article. If the language-learner must edit the article directly, he or she should at least explain his or her language proficiency level on the article's talk page, and request other users to review his or her edits. Note that to establish credibility with other editors, you and your language learners should create accounts and log in before editing, and learn to sign your posts on talk pages. The majority of vandalism comes from users who have not logged in; if your language learners write in broken English without logging in, they could easily make themselves seem like vandals to experienced editors, who naturally learn to stereotype rather mercilessly because vandalism is so common and relentless on Wikipedia. --Teratornis 14:13, 28 May 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Saving an image as SVG[edit]

I understand that SVG is the msot preferrable format for uploading diagrams, etc. but how do I save an image as SVG, or convert it to SVG? —Preceding unsigned comment added by Redl@nds597198 (talk • contribs)

See: Scalable Vector Graphics#Tutorials, Wikipedia:WikiProject Illustration, Wikipedia:Graphics tutorials. In general, if you start with a raster image, you or someone else will have to redraw it as a vector image. There is no generally capable automatic method for doing this conversion; it requires something currently labeled as "intelligence" to recognize shapes in an arbitrary raster image and convert them into outlines. ("Intelligence" basically means "nobody quite knows yet how some brains can do that.") --Teratornis 13:53, 28 May 2007 (UTC)[reply]

How to report abuse?[edit]

How do I report an abuse of Wikipedia (example, foul language).

Do you mean WP:Vandalism? You can remove it yourself (WP:Revert) or you can mention it here and someone else can remove it. ssepp^(talk) 14:16, 28 May 2007 (UTC)[reply]

posting new topic[edit]

i was just wondering what the guidelines were about posting a new article about a person or place

The most important content policies are neutrality and verifiability. Addhoc 14:19, 28 May 2007 (UTC)[reply]

You should probably read Wikipedia:Your first article. If the article you write does not assert WP:notability it will probably be deleted. ssepp^(talk) 14:21, 28 May 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Cancel auto debit donation[edit]

Please cancel our auto debit of $ 10.00 per month, effective immediately. (personal data removed).

Forwarded to donation mail adress of the wikimedia foundation. ssepp^(talk) 15:48, 28 May 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Article about companies[edit]

I recently posted an article about the company I work for, bsi insurance, and it was deleted. I'm thinking it was deleted since maybe they thought it was advertising. After that, I decided to look around and there are such pages for State Farm Insurance (and other insurance companies). Now I'm confused, why did this only happen to my page? If there was one little thing wrong I don't think it should have gotten deleted.... (I only talked about the history and the locations of the company) —Preceding unsigned comment added by 66.244.210.160 (talk • contribs)

Please take a look at WP:ORG to check if your company meets the notability guideline. Also, as you mentioned this is the company you work for, please be aware of WP:COI. PeaceNT 15:37, 28 May 2007 (UTC)[reply]

- I looked at what you said and I think this company deserves to be noted. Although it is not even close to the size of state farm, it is one of the largest brokers in manitoba. I took all my information from their website which I think is a notable source. Can you bring that page back or do I have to get a secondary source to remake it? (they will probably add the same sort of information) - USER —Preceding unsigned comment added by 66.244.210.160 (talk • contribs)

See Wikipedia:Why was my article deleted? to find out what the deletionists disliked about your article and to inquire about getting a copy of your article back for your use. A company's own web site is not by itself a reliable source for an article about that company (although I don't know if that's the reason why your article got deleted). --Teratornis 17:00, 28 May 2007 (UTC)[reply]

To answer your question about the existence of similar articles, that is covered by WP:WAX. It is quite common for editors ask "why delete this article when all these similar articles exist?" but you have to take into account why the other articles exist. Some of these articles may actually meet the requisite guidelines and policies to a sufficient degree to avoid nomination, but many others are victims of the backlog, indifference or lack of experience/knowledge on the part of anyone who notices them, or simply not being noticed at all. Adrian M. H. 17:25, 28 May 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Reference List[edit]

Is it possible to hide a long ref list the way you can hide the contents list? Quakerman 15:38, 28 May 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Trying to find something about this, I found this post: Wikipedia_talk:Citing_sources#Show.2Fhide_references. ssepp^(talk) 16:02, 28 May 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks! Quakerman 16:18, 28 May 2007 (UTC)[reply]

putting name in alphbetical order[edit]

Hello,

How can the name "Thomas Piercy" be put in the alphabetical list on the Clarinetist page? Thank you

The article Thomas Piercy has been included into Category:Clarinetists incorrectly. If you edit that article, you'll see a list of categories at the bottom; the Clarinetists category entry should be formatted like the others to alphabetise it properly. (You can make this edit yourself.) Hope that helps! --ais523 15:57, 28 May 2007 (U T C)

See Help:Category. Another editor just fixed it by adding a sort key. You may have to refresh Category:Clarinetists in your browser to see Mr. Piercy in his proper place. --Teratornis 17:03, 28 May 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Note that you can also specify the sorting order once for all categories with Template:DEFAULTSORT as I have done in [1] PrimeHunter 20:09, 28 May 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Message other users[edit]

How do you send a message to other Wiki users? —The preceding unsigned comment was added by Miles Blues (talk • contribs).

The easiest way is on their "talk" page. Just click on the user's page (by clicking on their name), click "discussion" and "edit this page" and leave your message there. (Remember to sign it with four tildes.) Quakerman 16:20, 28 May 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Thank you!Miles Blues 16:38, 28 May 2007 (UTC)[reply]

See Help:Talk page. --Teratornis 16:54, 28 May 2007 (UTC)[reply]

There is also: Wikipedia:Emailing users. --Teratornis 20:07, 28 May 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Biography Page[edit]

Hello All, I am a new Wikipedia user and started off yesterday by editing spelling mistakes in various biography pages (sad I know, but have to start somewhere).

I had a look today and suddenly cannot open any of the index pages for biographies beginning with 'A, B C D' etc from the Biography page. These were all working fine yesterday, but today are in red and open 'There is no page with this exact name' pages.

Can someone please have a look and tell me if there is a problem, or if I am just doing something wrong. Many thanks MaryLou71 18:10, 28 May 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Hi, do you mean this page? Category:Biography All the links are working okay for me. If you were talking about another page than please provide a link so we can take a look at it. Thanks. -- _Hdt83 ^Chat 18:18, 28 May 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Hello, thanks for the swift response. This isn't the link I meant. If you go to the Main Page and click on category 'Biography' on the right hand list you will see Categories 'People' and lower down - 'By Name' and an alphabetical list. When you click on A it should give you a list of all biographies for people where their name begins with Aa. This is not working for me. Am not sure how to add a like, so will attempt to paste one, but sorry if it doesn't work! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portal:Biography

'people by name' was deleted per this deletion discussion: Wikipedia:Miscellany for deletion/List of people by name. The argument seems to have been that the list would be too large and too hard to maintain. I have removed the links from the biography portal. ssepp^(talk) 19:06, 28 May 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Thank you for that. I was a bit worried I had managed to break something! I read through the discussion and admittedly am a bit confused by the rationale, but at least I know why it doesn't work :-) MaryLou71 19:25, 28 May 2007 (UTC)[reply]

renaming Bob Berry[edit]

Can anyone please help me renaming Bob Berry to something like Bob Berry (ice hockey) or so. So that next we can create a disambiguation page for Bob Berry, and next create (at least one) more Bob Berry page(s)? It's no trouble renaming the page of course, but what about (all the large number of) the pages that link to it? Thanx in advance Dick Bos 18:16, 28 May 2007 (UTC)[reply]

On the top of the page, you'll see a button that says "move", click on it and follow the dircetions on that screen. See WP:MOVE for more info. *Cremepuff 222* "As cool as grapes..." 18:24, 28 May 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Sorry, I went ahead and started making changes. There actually aren't that many pages that link to it - but there are a few templates that appear on a bunch of pages. When we update the templates, then those pages are automatically removed from the list.

I did Bob Berry (hockey player), to conform with some of the other hockey disambiguation pages that I saw. Then I realized that he's a coach too. So if you want me to change it to Bob Berry (ice hockey), just let me know. I've got AWB, so it's not too difficult.

PS - make sure I didn't miss any. tiZom_(2¢) 19:06, 28 May 2007 (UTC)[reply]

the show / hide thingy[edit]

Hi, can someone tell me how to make a show / hide bar (that drops down to reveal the contents) so that I can fit all the stuff on my user page into one screen? Thanks in advance. - TwoOars ^{(T | C)} 18:52, 28 May 2007 (UTC)[reply]

User:John Broughton/Editor's Index to Wikipedia#Ser has the entry:

Wikipedia:NavFrame - dynamic navigation (series) boxes (collapsible - hide/show)

Studying that might tell you what to do (I don't know as I have not messed with this). --Teratornis 20:05, 28 May 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Exactly what I wanted. Looks easy enough. Thanks a lot! :) - TwoOars ^{(T | C)} 20:15, 28 May 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Main talk page?[edit]

Hi, i am a new user to wikipedia but i currently have an account on wookiepedia. I am just curious to wether or not on wikipedia there is a main talk page, like that on wookiepedia (it's called the senate hall).--Red*Leo 19:50, 28 May 2007 (UTC)[reply]

I think you mean the WP:Village pump. ssepp^(talk) 19:54, 28 May 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Also Wikipedia:Community Portal. For the list of everything you need to know about editing here, see: User:John Broughton/Editor's Index to Wikipedia. --Teratornis 20:02, 28 May 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Vandalism[edit]

It seems as though the word "porn" is placed intermittantly throughout the article on Rupert Murdoch where it does not belong.

There is no such thing as a Vice President of porn or a Cheif Executive Officer of porn.

See comments on his personal life.

Thanks for the notification. I have reverted the article to a version without this vandalism. ssepp^(talk) 20:16, 28 May 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Archived RFCs (Requests for Comment)[edit]

On a discussion page a user refers repeatedly to prior rfc's as dispositive of a disputed issue. I cannot locate the rfc's in question, nor even any on a related topic, though I did check http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Requests_for_comment, including the "Issues by Topic Area" box, and did text searches for likely rfc's, as well. Are there other rfc's, archived elsewhere? Is there a global search function for all rfc's, archived or otherwise? Do older rfc's resolve an issue forever and ever, rendering further discussion outlawed? Xenophon777 21:06, 28 May 2007 (UTC)[reply]

The wikipedia search function is pretty low quality. You might be able to find it using a google search of wikipedia, using syntax like this: [2]. ssepp^(talk) 21:13, 28 May 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Google search for URLs containing: Wikipedia:Requests_for_comment may be more precise. However, I'm wondering why you omitted the most critical items of information from your question:

The identity of "a discussion page."
The identity of "a user."
The identity of "a disputed issue."

By omitting these details, you prevent others from performing other kinds of searches, or considering the dispute from other angles, not to mention we are left to scratch our heads over the Elephant in the room issue of why you aren't simply asking "a user" to identify the "prior rfc's" he/she refers to, so you can read them. Is "a user" actually referring to these rfc's, or merely alluding to them? I'm not familiar with how rfc's archive. I have seen some discussion areas on Wikipedia that do not archive, in which case the normal search methods don't find old discussions that exist only in page histories (WP:VPT being an example of a page with this problem the last time I checked it; in what to me seems stupefyingly opposed to reason, Wikipedia:Village pump (technical)/Archive only stores old questions and answers for seven days after they "archive"). If you're looking for something like that, you'll have to determine the approximate date when it would have been on a particular page, and look at revisions of the page from around that time. --Teratornis 22:55, 28 May 2007 (UTC)[reply]

It appears that rfc's may not "archive" in a way that makes them visible to search engines or Wikipedia's own search function, if I can generalize accurately from this example: Wikipedia:Requests for comment/User names/Archive. That page merely has URL links to previous revisions from the page history, which means the rfc discussions have sunk into the Deep Web, unlikely to be Googled again. Until Google figures out how to index the Deep Web along with the visible Web. In the meantime, you'll either have to get lucky or get some clues to find the rfc discussions you seek. Or you could download the Wikipedia database and write your own Deep Wikipedia search functions with MySQL. --Teratornis 23:26, 28 May 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Wikipedia has also requested that some things are not indexed by search engines. See robots.txt and our own http://en.wikipedia.org/robots.txt. PrimeHunter 23:39, 28 May 2007 (UTC)[reply]

http://en.wikipedia.org/robots.txt contains the lines:

User-agent: *

Disallow: /w/

I think that means we ask all search engines to not index any history pages, diffs, former versions of articles, and certain other things. That seems reasonable to me. PrimeHunter 00:44, 29 May 2007 (UTC)[reply]

I would guess that the elephant in the room is to be found at Talk:Armenia. AndyJones 12:57, 29 May 2007 (UTC)[reply]

(N)POV[edit]

How does one report a bias article --Stonelance 21:54, 28 May 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Just add {{POV}} to the top of the article. ~ ΜΛGиυs ΛΠιмυМ ≈ √∞ 21:55, 28 May 2007 (UTC)[reply]

You may also see this list of more specific templates you might apply; it is often helpful to offer with each a suggestion on an article's talk page as to how problems might be ameliorated. Best, though, if you are interested, is to fix problems (consistent, of course, with WP:NPOV) yourself! Joe 03:26, 29 May 2007 (UTC)[reply]

(removed email adress)[edit]

Is there an email address on Frank Tate?

The Help Desk is for asking questions about using wikipedia. In any case, we don't give out people's email adresses on wikipedia. ssepp^(talk) 22:15, 28 May 2007 (UTC)[reply]

I recommend trying a google search for that sort of information. --Random ^{Say it here!} 01:17, 29 May 2007 (UTC)[reply]

FN49 page[edit]

I edited the page and it's all wrong,I don't know how to fix,thanksSafn1949 22:21, 28 May 2007 (UTC)[reply]

I have reverted your edit to FN49. I don't know the proper numbers but just didn't want to leave it in that state. PrimeHunter 22:50, 28 May 2007 (UTC)[reply]

What seems to have went wrong is that you removed two closing brackets of a link: ]]. This left a link which opened, but never closed. ssepp^(talk) 22:54, 28 May 2007 (UTC)[reply]