Wikipedia:Help desk/Archives/2007 November 8

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.

November 8

NO SUBJECT

HOW DO I FIND TOPICS ON SOCIOLOGY FOR A SO-STUDIES FAIR !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I NEED IT 4 A GRADE PLEASSSEEEEE TELL ME WAT 2 DO R WAT 2 SEARCH 4!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!>>>>......... —Preceding unsigned comment added by 209.244.43.186 (talk) 00:33, 8 November 2007 (UTC)

Whilst Wikipedians do not need do your homework, i am feeling generous. Have a look at Sociology, List of basic sociology topics and List of sociology topics. Just type in sociology in the search bar to your left and click search. This will take you to search results. Oh, please dont use ALL CAPS as it is seen as shouting in typeface. Hope this helps. Woodym555 00:37, 8 November 2007 (UTC)

can you plase halp me

hi

what is the ratio thank you how to pi —Preceding unsigned comment added by 4.236.129.72 (talk) 01:06, 8 November 2007 (UTC)

I'm not sure I understand your question. Can you please clarify? --Hdt83 ^Chat 01:08, 8 November 2007 (UTC)

Me either but maybe π will help.--Fuhghettaboutit 01:16, 8 November 2007 (UTC)

HELLO I WANT TO KNOW WHAT I NEEDED WHEN I GO TO INDONESIA FOR HOLIDAY I LIVE IN PHILIPPINES I KNOW HAVE TICKET BUT ACCEPT THE TiCKET DO I NEED VISA TO GO THERE FOR HOLIDAYZ???PLS HELP ME I would like to sta rt my own page on Wikipedia. I do not know how to do this, as I am not a frequent user. I looked around for a button for a bit but could not find one. Can anyone help me? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 70.51.56.197 (talk) 01:10, 8 November 2007 (UTC)

Hello! I realize Wikipedia might seem confusing at first, (please click on the blue words to read the policy/guide they refer to). Wikipedia is not like other sites you may have come across. First, it is an encyclopedia. What this means, is that it is not MySpace, or FaceBook, or a place to host personal webspace, or a place where editors can make articles about anything they wish. Wikipedia has Core policies, such as neutrality, notability, verifiability, etc. What does all of this mean? Well, it means that any article on Wikipedia must demonstrate notability (meaning it must be note worthy, covered by the media, etc.), and have reliable, third-party sources (such as news media articles, magazine/trade journal articles) written about the subject, and the information given in the article must cite those sources to verify it is true. From those sources, information is summarized, paraphrased, condensed, and worded neutrally to make an encyclopedic entry (information cannot be copied from other sites). See Wikipedia's manual of style, layout guide, your first article, article development, and how to edit for assistance. Once you've done all these things, if you'd still like assistance, you can submit your entry to articles for creation. Cheers! Ariel♥Gold 01:12, 8 November 2007 (UTC)

Question

Famous Puritan Quotes and annotations relating to —Preceding unsigned comment added by 63.252.13.79 (talk) 01:27, 8 November 2007 (UTC)

I don't see a question and your sentence seems to have been cut off in the middle. In any event, you can take a look at our article: List of Puritans and if you'd like you can check whether Wikiquotes has any quotes by searching some of the names there.--Fuhghettaboutit 01:51, 8 November 2007 (UTC)

Authors

How do I get to know the authors of the various articles posted on Wikipedia. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 205.143.139.36 (talk) 01:38, 8 November 2007 (UTC)

You can click on the history tab on any page. That is a log of every change in the page. The people who made those changes are linked next to each revision. You can talk to then on their talk page, or using the 'email this user' function if you are signed in. I (talk) 01:42, 8 November 2007 (UTC)

Hello, and welcome! There are millions of editors who work on this project, and as an open project, there are literally hundreds of thousands of editors who have created articles. All editors are equal, so if you're looking for help with a specific topic, it might be best to take a look through the WikiProjects to see what editors devote their time to which areas. Hope that helps! Ariel♥Gold 01:43, 8 November 2007 (UTC)

People who ask for authors are often interested in citing an article. If that is the case then see Wikipedia:Citing Wikipedia. PrimeHunter 02:21, 8 November 2007 (UTC)

Editing ar article

My article "Radial Tonebone" was marked for speedy deletion and was thought to be a blatant advertisment. I wish to edit the articl but I am unsure of how I do this.

GuitaringPaul 02:55, 8 November 2007 (UTC).

Click this, and go to the edit tab of the page, and edit the page. Do not remove the speedy deletion tag though. SmileToday☺(talk to me , My edits) 02:57, 8 November 2007 (UTC)

"Clincl Fraid

I was shocked to say the least when I received the message "Click Fraud" as I was searching through various realotors in search of a particular housing need. I apologize for evidently clicking on your site too many times! Needless to say, I will not do so in the future. Perhaps there was a warning beforethis "Click Fraud" page appeared. If so, I missed seeing it and would have stopped immediately. If there is not such, I suggest you advise people before we continue too far. I, for one, am not totally compute illiterate, but, I doubt I am the only one that felt a little insulted when this page appeared. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 66.169.60.154 (talk) 03:34, 8 November 2007 (UTC)

Say wha...? ? Anybody understand what's going on here? --Orange Mike 03:47, 8 November 2007 (UTC)

It looks like this user might have gotten here from another site, and wound up at Click fraud. Corvus cornix 03:48, 8 November 2007 (UTC)

Please add link from my site.

Please add link from my site to the Reference sections of wikipedia contents wherever applicable.

bcdalai Site: http://bcdalai.blogspot.com/ <address removed for privacy reasons> —Preceding unsigned comment added by 122.50.170.113 (talk) 03:48, 8 November 2007 (UTC)

I'm sorry, Wikipedia doesn't do link swapping, and you would need to prove that your site meets our needs, and, being a blogspot site, it would be pretty hard to prove that. Corvus cornix 03:49, 8 November 2007 (UTC)

Governance in wikipedia

I am a professor of management. I am working on a research project on the emergence of govenance in an open community such as wikipedia. what kind of information is available on this?

ram04:11, 8 November 2007 (UTC)Rambmisra--Rambmisra 04:11, 8 November 2007 (UTC)

I would suggest starting with the Wikipedia:Administration FAQ. --Orange Mike 04:23, 8 November 2007 (UTC)

To this I would add this page under "Administrators" which gives nearly (if not all) pages related to the various responsibilities, and information regarding administrators, and also this link: Wikipedia:Bureaucrats. Ariel♥Gold 04:27, 8 November 2007 (UTC)

Trying to flag for neutrality concerns

I just ran across an article with questionable neutrality. I want to flag it, but can't find info on how to do that. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Erinfish (talk • contribs) 04:28, 8 November 2007 (UTC)

You're looking for the list of cleanup templates, and specifically, {{pov}}. If it's blatantly advertising, you could mark it for deletion with {{db-ad}}. Hersfold ^(t/a/c) 04:30, 8 November 2007 (UTC)

ABOUT HYDROXIDE

OH is a hydroxide group.But why can't we write as HO group —Preceding unsigned comment added by 202.65.136.101 (talk) 06:23, 8 November 2007 (UTC)

The Help desk is for questions about Wikipedia itself. It's not clear, but it sounds more like you have a science question, which would be better asked here. -- Kesh 12:15, 8 November 2007 (UTC)

You might find the answer in International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry nomenclature. --Teratornis 18:32, 8 November 2007 (UTC)

Can't log in

Hi,

I have a user name of Dieselfumes and today when I opened my computer I wasn't logged in. Well its been such a long time since I have had to log in that I forgot my password. When I tried to email for it the system did not recognise my username. What should I do? Should I sign up again? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 86.130.158.177 (talk) 09:41, 8 November 2007 (UTC)

The only way to retrieve a lost password is via the email address you gave when you signed up, but you appear not to have given an address. It's probably best to create a new username, stating on your userpage that you used to be User:Dieselfumes but lost your password. You might want to give an email address this time so that you can retrieve your password if you lose it; the email address is kept secret, and the only other thing it does is allow users to use Special:Emailuser to email you without discovering your email (and you can opt out of that in Special:Preferences if you don't want to be contactable by email). --ais523 09:48, 8 November 2007 (UTC)

Adding media files to a page

I have noticed that some sites have song previews on them. How do I add such a song preview to a page so that readers can listen to them?

Thanks, Bugalugs13 11:02, 8 November 2007 (UTC)

First, you need to make sure that you're fine as far as the copyright situation on the song preview goes. In most cases, you won't be able to get a song preview under a free-use license (see commons:Commons:Licensing for a description of what licenses are allowed), so you won't be able to upload a song preview. If you do find a freely-licensed preview, convert it into Ogg Vorbis format, and upload it via Wikipedia:Upload; then see Template:Listen for instructions on adding it to an article. Hope that helps! --ais523 11:19, 8 November 2007 (UTC)

Is this page infected?

Resolved

Trying to add a comment to the following discussion page:

http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Talk:Dubbo%2C_New_South_Wales&action=edit

It won't let me save, and gives a message that an illegal hyperlink has been detected. I am able to edit any other page (have just done test edits on a few that I contribute to on a regular basis) , but not this one and wonder what the problem is - can Wikipedia test this for me? I notice that there have been no edits on the discussion page since July this year which seems strange. --MichaelGG 11:42, 8 November 2007 (UTC)

It doesn't appear that the page is protected, nor does it seem to have been in the past. Kesh has edited it in the last five minutes, so that doesn't seem to be a problem. What was the website you were trying to link to? It could be on the Spam blacklist. --Kateshortforbob 12:21, 8 November 2007 (UTC)

edit conflict Problem solved. What's happening is that the page included a link to a website that has since been added to Wikipedia's spam blacklist. Normally, that's meant to prevent people from adding a spam URL to a page, but if the URL was added before that address was put on the blacklist, it stays there. The next time someone tries to edit & save the page, it warns you that a blacklisted link is on the page and tells you (at the bottom) what the URL is. You can just go back, delete the link and then save. Take a look at my edit to see what I did. Hope that helps! -- Kesh 12:22, 8 November 2007 (UTC)

Thanks for explaining Kesh - I didn't know the spam blacklist worked like that. Learn something new every day... -- Kateshortforbob 16:58, 8 November 2007 (UTC)

Does Wikipedia earned any awards?

Does Wikipedia earned any awards? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 64.113.191.5 (talk) 13:05, 8 November 2007 (UTC)

Yes. You can read about it in the awards section of the Wikipedia article. --Sopoforic 14:04, 8 November 2007 (UTC)

Edit/Revise/Modify/Update a Page

I was given permission to re-do the wikipedia page on Herbert H. Clark. How do I go about editing/revising/modifying/updating this page?

Tawana Spellen —Preceding unsigned comment added by Tspellen (talk • contribs) 13:57, 8 November 2007 (UTC)

Go to the page and click the "Edit" tab at the top of the page. Please note that everyone has permission to re-do the page, not just you. -- kainaw™ 14:00, 8 November 2007 (UTC)

First of all, you don't need permission from anyone to edit a page--Wikipedia is the free encyclopedia that anyone can edit. Second, you might want to look at Wikipedia:Tutorial for some basic information about how to edit. --Sopoforic 14:02, 8 November 2007 (UTC)

As Sopoforic said, you don't need permission. Who gave you "permission"? If it was the subject of the article, then please make sure you don't violate Wikipedia's conflict of interest guideline. Corvus cornix 18:25, 8 November 2007 (UTC)

Page move to current redirect

While patroling new pages, I came across Fan Dub. Google returned far more hits for "fandub", so that seems the more logical title for it. However, Fandub is a current redirect to voice acting. What's the best idea here? Thanks. Martijn Hoekstra 15:31, 8 November 2007 (UTC)

This type of move requires a temporary deletion of the desired location (in this case fandub) so that the history of the current location (Fan Dub) isn't lost in the process. You can make such a request at Wikipedia:Requested moves. I would propose it on the talk page first though. Also consider asking at Talk:Voice acting, since it seems there have been several attempts to write about this subject, including an Amateur voice acting article that became a redirect to voice acting. Leebo ^T/C 15:34, 8 November 2007 (UTC)

I just found the deletion log for fandub as I could imagine something of the sort happened, but there wasnt one. Thanks for Amateur voice acting I didn't come across that one yet. Best to make a post on the talk page of Voice acting and Fan Dub both? Martijn Hoekstra 15:41, 8 November 2007 (UTC)

That's probably a good idea, but you could also leave a note for the creator of Fan Dub to go to Talk:Voice acting, since the article is new and likely won't have many people watching it. Leebo ^T/C 15:47, 8 November 2007 (UTC)

I'll do it that way then. Martijn Hoekstra 15:51, 8 November 2007 (UTC)

Addition to "Melatonin"

When I try to add a few lines including references I get the message site error 3. Here is what I'm trying to add.Rhansler 16:18, 8 November 2007 (UTC) Rhansler

Since it is principally blue light that suppresses melatonin, wearing glasses that block blue light in the hours before bedtime.

The refname format can only have one word and a set number of characters. Put it in inverted commas like this :<ref name="Kayumov 2005"/> and you get around the problem. e.g. wearing glasses that block blue light in the hours before bedtime.

References

Reliable source?

Is this site a reliable source for the Christi Shake article? I say it isn't since it's a near exact copy of the material here. Another editor feels that it is and is using the supposed real name from that site in the article. Dismas|^(talk) 16:19, 8 November 2007 (UTC)

Nope it is a mirror from about this version. It should not be used as a source, you are correct. You might consider listing it at WP:MIRROR. Woodym555 17:59, 8 November 2007 (UTC)

Thank you! Dismas|^(talk) 18:03, 8 November 2007 (UTC)

confirm / authenticate e-mail address

Looking at my Preferences page, I find that my e-mail address is not confirmed. It looks correct, but when I try to confirm, the message appears saying that I have already been sent a confirmation e-mail.

After several tries, I have not yet received such an e-mail.

What should I do next?

kwshafer 16:20, 8 November 2007 (UTC)

First, check to make sure the email address you supplied in your preferences is spelled correctly. Next, check your email's junk mail folder; it's possible it could get filtered. Leebo ^T/C 16:33, 8 November 2007 (UTC)

computer fraud

your page told me alot except where to report it to? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 76.122.133.209 (talk) 16:23, 8 November 2007 (UTC)

You mean, where should you report computer crimes? The reason this isn't explained in the aricle is because Wikipedia cannot give legal advice, and the answer would change drastically depending on where you live. You'll need to contact local authorities. Leebo ^T/C 16:35, 8 November 2007 (UTC)

Linking album covers

Thanks to everyone who answered my question yesterday about fair use of album covers. It would be a big help to me if someone could explain how to link an album cover to an article about an album. Believe me I'm trying, but I can't seem to figure it out. Someone has placed the incorrect album cover in the Wu-Tang Clan article that I was asking about yesterday.

This is the article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/8_Diagrams

This is the correct image that I uploaded yesterday: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Wu8DiagramsCover.jpg

Could someone explain to me how to put the correct album cover in that article? Thanks again!--Scullynj 16:26, 8 November 2007 (UTC) —Preceding unsigned comment added by Scullynj (talk • contribs) 16:25, 8 November 2007 (UTC)

If you click on the edit tab at the top of the 8 Diagrams article, you'll see something that safe {{Infobox Album, then a lot of lines like | something = something. There's one that says "| Cover = 8 Diagrams.gif". To use the image you uploaded, change this to "| Cover = Wu8DiagramsCover.jpg". Hope this helps! Angus McLellan (Talk) 16:38, 8 November 2007 (UTC)

I added the image for you. The user above explained how. You can see what I changed here. ---CWY2190^TC 16:39, 8 November 2007 (UTC)

Excellent! That explained more than you know! Thanks!--Scullynj 16:48, 8 November 2007 (UTC)

Inserting a contents table into an article

How do you insert a contents table into an article? --Batman1963 16:45, 8 November 2007 (UTC)

The software automatically creates the table from the section headings (the ones set off with paired sets of double, triple, etc., equals signs). --Orange Mike 16:48, 8 November 2007 (UTC)

You can force a TOC to appear with the magic word __FORCETOC__ or make one appear somewhere other than above the first section with __TOC__ (can't be used multiple times). Note that the automatic generation of a TOC Orange Mike referred to can be overruled in a user's preferences by unchecking the appropriate box in the Miscellaneous section. If the box is checked, a TOC will automatically appear on articles with more than 3 section headers. Leebo ^T/C 16:50, 8 November 2007 (UTC)

Editing the beginning of an article?

Lately i've been adding some information about the Nissan Laurel but i cannot edit the top part of the article. Any reason why? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nissan_Laurel

Petter... —Preceding unsigned comment added by ChaoS1990 (talk • contribs) 17:45, 8 November 2007 (UTC)

Click on the "edit this page" tab on the very top-center of the page. ---CWY2190^TC 17:51, 8 November 2007 (UTC)

You can also access section editing for the top of the article by copying the URL of any section editing button in an article and when you paste into your computer's browser, change the number at the end to section=0.--Fuhghettaboutit 17:57, 8 November 2007 (UTC)

You might also install User:Ais523/editsection0tab.js, a very helpful wiki user script. Just go to Special:Mypage/monobook.js, hit the "Edit this page" tab and paste the script into the edit box, then save. Bypass your browser cache and it's all done. :) You'll be able to edit the top section of any article without loading the entire lengthy page. All the best, PeaceNT 18:14, 8 November 2007 (UTC)

Thanks for that! I used to have a similar script that stopped working one day. After that I couldn't find another script that didn't include a lot of instructions that only a javascript genius would understand. Dismas|^(talk) 18:34, 8 November 2007 (UTC)

yikes!

i didnt realize my entertainment question got posted and included a personal enlink and email - ho can those be removed asap??? i still have the question! new to wiki...sorry! —Preceding unsigned comment added by 75.80.170.2 (talk) 18:38, 8 November 2007 (UTC)

I've blanked the email address, so it's no longer visible to casual readers, but it is still in the edit history. Only an admin can actually delete the edit so no one can see it in the history; I assume one will be along soon to help you out, if not I'll go looking for one in a few minutes. --barneca (talk) 18:45, 8 November 2007 (UTC)

Actually, removal of an edit from the history cannot be done by an administrator - it requires a special tool known as "Oversight" which is only used in very specific and extreme circumstances, as removal of edits from the history is technically against the terms of the WP:GFDL. You can go to WP:RFO to request the application of this tool, but be aware your request may not be granted. Since it involves personal information, it probably will, but I'm just warning you. Hersfold ^(t/a/c) 18:55, 8 November 2007 (UTC)

)clarify) But an admin could delete the edit so only other admins could see it, right? I'm just assuming this would be good enough for 75.80's purposes, although I'm probably putting words in their mouth. Of course, another editor and I have commented in that section now, probably making things much more complicated for any admin that wants to try to clean up... --barneca (talk) 19:00, 8 November 2007 (UTC)

Oversight would be required, because deletion of that 1 revision would require the painstaking restoration of every other revision but the one that needs to be removed. I think blanking is acceptable. Leebo ^T/C 19:51, 8 November 2007 (UTC)

Barneca: Admins can delete entire pages, which clears the whole history, but they don't have the ability to selectively delete revisions. We'd have to lose the whole Help Desk and start it over again if an admin did this. Oversight users are able to target specific revisions, but as stated, they then have to restore every subsequent revision that did not contain the offending info, making things very difficult and possibly screwing things up anyway. Once an edit has been removed in that manner, yes, it is only visible to other Oversights (not admins, unless they happen to additionally hold an oversight flag). You might want to check out WP:OVER for more info. Hersfold ^(t/a/c) 00:01, 9 November 2007 (UTC)

True, admins can only delete entire pages, but they can select which revisions they want to restore. Potentially an admin could restore all versions except a single problem edit. This is of course doing it the long way around, Oversight does not require deleting the entire page first, but it is only used in very specific and important cases. Raven4x4x 07:56, 9 November 2007 (UTC)

Thanks Raven4x4x, that explains it, and the world makes sense again. I've seen admins delete a single revision restore everything except a single revison before, I just didn't know the mechanism they used to do it. So the problem here is, the history of this page is so long, it would be a significant pain to restore all but one revision. Thanks all, I learned something new today. --barneca (talk) 13:31, 9 November 2007 (UTC)

NPOV: Pakelika

I added a NPOV tag on the page, but this page is a mess of outrageous claims and unsourced material. The 'artist' (I use that term loosely) appears notable, but this page is incredibly biased. What can be done other then adding a tag that will presumably be ignored by frequent editors of the article? --EndlessDan 19:40, 8 November 2007 (UTC)

Remove unsourced claims after a reasonable amount of time - forcing a discussion on the page's discussion page. -- kainaw™ 19:48, 8 November 2007 (UTC)

But it's all unsourced (other then his name). Do I just remove paragraphs? --EndlessDan 19:50, 8 November 2007 (UTC)

Since you just added the tag today, I'd give it some time. Start a discussion on the talk page (if you havent already) You've already started a talk page discussion and if that doesn't help, delete the unsourced info (the whole paragraph if necessary). But again, wait a while. - Rjd0060 21:29, 8 November 2007 (UTC)

Contradictory problems while creating an account

I tried to create a Wikipedia account, and chose a username for it. It told me that the username was already in use.

I wondered if perhaps I had already created an account with the same username. To find out, I asked it to email me my password. The response was that the username was not in use.

So which is it? Is the username in use or not? How do I find out? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 24.225.135.233 (talk) 23:03, 8 November 2007 (UTC)

We can't do anything unless you provide the username you tried to sign up with. Alternatively, you can go to Special:Logs, click "User creation log" in the drop-down, and type the username in the User: box then click Go to find out for yourself. NF24^{(radio me!}_{Editor review)} 23:25, 8 November 2007 (UTC)

Alternatively, search this page for your username. ::Manors:: talk to me 23:37, 8 November 2007 (UTC)

an image is uploaded - how do i get it displayed on wikipedia?

i have taken the photo. the photo is of my own art work. i give it freely to everyone to do what they want to it/with it.

i thought i had clicked on the correct license template, i have waded through pages of copyright law and still no success. Please help. The faq are equally baffiling. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Bayswater73art (talk • contribs) 23:39, 8 November 2007 (UTC)

If the photo is entirely yours, you will need to release it under a free license such as GNU, GFDL or Creative Commons. Go to upload file, then click it is from somewhere else. In the license drop down select your chosen license in the own work part. ::Manors:: talk to me 23:44, 8 November 2007 (UTC)

The image you uploaded has no licence, If it is entirely your own work this licence would be a suitable one:

File:Snapshot of Bayswater Road on a Sunday 2007.JPG

your text here

{{GFDL-self}}

To display the image you uploaded on a page use the following code:

[[Image:Snapshot of Bayswater Road on a Sunday 2007.JPG|thumb|200px|right|your text here]]

This produces the image to the right --->

If you wish to change the image size change the "px" value

If you wish to change the caption alter the "your text here" bit

If you wish to change where the Image is you can replace "right" with left or center.

Г^edʃtǁcɭ 23:54, 8 November 2007 (UTC)