Wikipedia:Help desk/Archives/2007 October 18

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October 18

Editing

I have changed something about Paul Revere for reasons that i have, i would have changed it back to what it was before in about 3 days so by Saturday and someone changed it back to what it was. What can i do to stop that —Preceding unsigned comment added by Jessie2289 (talk • contribs) 00:35, 18 October 2007 (UTC)

It appears that you removed a large portion of the article (the edit in question is here). That is considered vandalism and was reverted. Even if you intend to remove it, it is still vandalism. NASCAR Fan24^{(radio me!)} 00:45, 18 October 2007 (UTC)

Siting pages

How does one site bibliographical information for a Wikipedia page?

                                      by 65.54.97.194 00:55, 18 October 2007 (UTC)

Hi. It's not clear whether you are asking about providing citations for information in a Wikipedia article, or citing a Wikipedia article somewhere else. If the former, please see Wikipedia:Citing sources, Wikipedia:Citing sources/example style and Wikipedia:Citation templates and it would be a good idea to read Wikipedia:Reliable sources first, so you know what sources are acceptable. If the latter, you can access citation information by clicking on the "Cite this article" link which appears at the bottom of the toolbox menu on the left hand side of any article.--Fuhghettaboutit 01:01, 18 October 2007 (UTC)

The French and Indian War

How did the colonists react to the French threats —Preceding unsigned comment added by Wenlirui (talk • contribs) 01:33, 18 October 2007 (UTC)

Welcome to the Wikipedia Reference Desk. Your question appears to be a homework question. We apologize if this is a misevaluation, but it is our policy here to not do people's homework for them, but to merely aid them in doing it themselves. Letting someone else do your homework does not help you learn how to solve such problems. Please attempt the problem yourself first. If you need help with a specific part of your homework, feel free to tell us where you are stuck and ask for help. If you need help grasping the concept of a problem, by all means let us know. Thank you. GlassCobra 02:45, 18 October 2007 (UTC)

trying to add my link to already published article that already contains my name.?

Here is the link to the link I am trying to edit http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_psychic_challenge I was one of the mentioned psychics on the show and I am trying to add my link like 3 other psychics did, but it will not add my website link. I have tried several different times. But need your help please. Any advice would be welcomed thanks —Preceding unsigned comment added by 76.169.217.121 (talk) 02:42, 18 October 2007 (UTC)

Actually, more likely than not, none of those psychics' links belong there. I'll go and take them out. GlassCobra 02:58, 18 October 2007 (UTC)

Citing and use of "accessdate"

when citing a website, by using {{cite web}}, am I correct to assume that "date" is the date the page was created, and that "accessdate" is the date I looked at the webpage. So for example if I looked at a webpage today written July 22 2004, I put that date under "date" and today's date under "accessdate"?

I ask because I'm doing an article right now and every time I make a reference, a particular user comes along and changes the reference so that the "accesssdate" is the date the webpage was written, and deletes the "date" tag and the date I put in under "accessdate". If I've been doing references wrong, then so be it, but for as long as I've been doing them, and from what I see from every other citation on Wikipedia, I'm doing it right. -- Matthew Edwards | talk | Contribs 03:16, 18 October 2007 (UTC)

Yes, you are using the accessdate and date parameters correctly. See Template:Cite web#Required parameters for more information. --Silver Edge 03:26, 18 October 2007 (UTC)

Thankyou. Can I ask what I can do about this other user who keeps changing the references? (The page is List of 7th Heaven episodes, and the references I'm talking about are those in the section headed "Seasons". -- Matthew Edwards | talk | Contribs 03:31, 18 October 2007 (UTC)

Would it be considered vandalism by the user (I don't want to say her name here) -- Matthew Edwards | talk | Contribs 03:35, 18 October 2007 (UTC)

Vandalism requires bad faith, and I don't think that was the intent. It's probably a misunderstanding. Leebo ^T/C 03:42, 18 October 2007 (UTC)

I've reverted the changes to reflect proper date (the article didn't even exist in 2004, so accessdate could not possibly have been back then lol), and I've left a nice note for the editor in question explaining the issue, with a link to the template's documentation. Ariel♥Gold 03:44, 18 October 2007 (UTC)

Thanks everyone. And thanks, Arielgold, saves me a job! :) -- Matthew Edwards | talk | Contribs 03:58, 18 October 2007 (UTC)

How do I find what's happened to a page that used to be there, but now seems to have disappeared?

The specific page I was looking for was the one on "Idea Management" —Preceding unsigned comment added by 203.32.177.5 (talk) 03:21, 18 October 2007 (UTC)

Idea Management was deleted because it had "No independent reliable sources". --Silver Edge 03:31, 18 October 2007 (UTC)

To expand on this: One of Wikipedia's three principal content policies is verifiability. If a page does not have reliable, third-party sources such as news articles, magazine articles, books, etc., written about it, then its notability can not be verified. Also review what Wikipedia is not for more information, as well as the help page. Hope that explains the issue! [[user:ArielGold|

Bios vs. memorials

I am confused about the writing and eventual use of wikipedia as a potential forum for discussing those that has passed. Specifically, what is the difference between a bio and a memorial? While I believe to know the answer, I wrote what I thought was a bio on Charles Gordon Dunbar, a prominent Canadian statistican and bon vivant, only to have it deleted as memorial only. Ironic as Charles Davidson Dunbar, after whom Charles Gordon was named, is given bio status. Second, if my original article (on Charles Gordon) fits the bio def'n, how do I get it reconsidered for wikipedia entry? Thanks for all the great work!!!--Celticboydave 04:24, 18 October 2007 (UTC)

According to the AfD discussion, the "memorial" part was only mentioned once. The main issue was the lack of verifiable material from reliable sources establishing the subject's notability. I've found one mirror site that still has your article on it, and I would have to agree - it reads like a "memorial" and not a "biography", because it doesn't make any claim about Charles being a notable figure, and reads more like the "he was a good man" speeches you give at a funeral than the neutral style that Wikipedia requires. Charles Davidson Dunbar, on the other hand, does require some cleanup, but has many claims to notability such as, for example, being the best in his field (military piper), and receiving a prestigious medal (the DCM). Charles Jnr's only claims to fame, according to his article, were working for a major Canadian advertising executive, and being fairly popular in a number of pubs. Confusing Manifestation 04:38, 18 October 2007 (UTC)

registered user

How can i became a registered user with wikimapia —Preceding unsigned comment added by 164.100.147.134 (talk) 06:28, 18 October 2007 (UTC)

• Click the red Wikimapia link in the top left hand corner at http://wikimapia.org and select login/register. - Mgm|^(talk) 09:54, 18 October 2007 (UTC)

EPABX

Why do we use sometimes AC power supply and sometimes DC power supply whwn we quote EPABX for a customer? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 122.160.64.235 (talk) 07:49, 18 October 2007 (UTC)

Have you tried Wikipedia's Reference Desk? They specialize in knowledge questions and will try to answer any question in the universe (except how to use Wikipedia, since that is what this Help Desk is for). Just follow the link, select the relevant section, and ask away. I hope this helps. --ais523 08:40, 18 October 2007 (UTC)

copy right(copy a text from my PhD thesis to Wiki)

Dear Sir/Madam,

I noticed that the Sandbox modeling (physical or analogue modeling) is missing in Wiki. Can I copy a text from my PhD thesis and create and add this page to WIKI?

All the best

Faramarz —Preceding unsigned comment added by Farnil (talk • contribs) 10:55, 18 October 2007 (UTC)

• I hope you don't mind, but I changed your userpage. You can link to articles within Wikipedia with a lot less code-writing. As for your question: No, I don't think it's a good idea. Not because of copyright issues. It's relatively easy to prove you have the copyright, but in all likelihood, your thesis won't have the writing style required for an encyclopedic entry. It's better to use the sources of your thesis as references and use the text of your thesis to build an article from scratch. - Mgm|^(talk) 11:05, 18 October 2007 (UTC)
• I speak as an individual, not claiming that I represent anyone or Wikipedia. To submit some text on Wikipedia, you have to release your text under the GFDL. If you are ok with this then you can submit it. If its style is not encyclopedic, other editors may delete it or modify it. NerdyNSK 22:43, 18 October 2007 (UTC)

pronunciation

I continually come across symbols in Wikipedia that are intended to advise me of the pronunciation of a word. Unfortunately I have absolutely no idea of what sounds these symbols signify. I am sure that among linguists & scholars this 'alphabet' is perfectly comprehensible, but suspect that many readers are as baffled as I am. Would you please advise me where (presumably in Wikipedia itself) I can learn to read these symbols & may I suggest such a reference be provided on pages where it is used. Peter harlen 12:05, 18 October 2007 (UTC)

I assume you're referring to the International Phonetic Alphabet. You could try reading the article, and see if there are any links there that will help you with learning the sound of each character. Leebo ^T/C 12:12, 18 October 2007 (UTC)

"requesting on forgot password" - originally from RfF

I am recently created an account on 11-10-2007, but in this i am forgot my password. In this please help me and my e-mail address <email removed> —Preceding unsigned comment added by 121.246.233.130 (talk • contribs)

Hi. First of all, I don't think this is the right place. Try the Wikipedia Help desk. Second, please do not give us your email address. This makes it public on Wikipedia and very public throughout the Internet, making you a potential target for spammers. We can reply through whatever page you editted on, or through your talk page. Third, please sign your comments using 4 tildes. A tilde looks like this: ~ . You are welcome to edit without an account, although using an account has its benefits. Next time, if you choose to create a new account, please make a password that is hard to guess but easy for you to remember, or check the "remember me" box. I am going to post this comment at the Help Desk, so you will probably find any answers there. ~AH1^(TCU) 12:48, 18 October 2007 (UTC)

If you gave an email address when you created the account, you can retrieve a new password by going to Special:Userlogin, typing in your username, and clicking on 'Email new password'. --ais523 12:50, 18 October 2007 (UTC)

Could an admin lend a hand in helping me stop a scam?

Bit of a long-winded title, but hey ho.

What this post here's about is a scam underway in which a share trading company based in Geneva phones British homes, offers to sell them x number of shares, takes their money, and then dissapears, usually with a fairly large chunk of their life savings.

The latest scam involves a company, AA Energy Systems, who don't as yet have a Wikipedia page. Now, what I would like to do would be to write a page for them, all in typical Wikipedia fashion, add a paragraph at the bottom explaining that their name is being used for a scam, and then have an Admin protect it from further editing, so the people orchestrating the scam can't edit out my warning paragraph, or edit the page to their advantage.

I appreciate that this sort of thing isn't quite what Wikipedia is about, but at the end of the day, t'would be an extra paragraph that could save someone £40,000, and wouldn't that be worthwhile? - unreadablecharacters 13:01, 18 October 2007 (UTC)

Hi. It sounds like a noble cause, and an article about the company and its documented scams, if notable and verifiable by reliable sources, would certainly not be inappropriate, but protection of the article in that way isn't consistent with the Wikipedia:Protection policy, which preserves the core concept that Wikipedia may be freely edited by anyone. The best you could probably do is monitor the page for unconstructive edits, but, of course, even then you'd need to be careful not to guard against good faith contributions. Overzealous page monitoring is also against policy. Finally, we do have to be sure that the article is neutral in tone. We can say "SoandSo has been cited X number of times for fraud", but we can't say "SoandSo is a rotten huckster". :) Good luck. --Moonriddengirl ^(talk) 13:36, 18 October 2007 (UTC)

On the other hand, protection is probably not needed. Anyone who reverts a documented paragraph about the scam will be leaving tracable evidence for the authorities. -208.226.76.43 20:31, 18 October 2007 (UTC)

User page name calling

A random user left me an offensive message. How would I report this? --Endless Dan 13:08, 18 October 2007 (UTC)

I've reverted the message. The comment was borderline: offensive, clearly a violation of our expectations of civility, but probably not ban-worthy at this point. Take a look, though, at WP:CIV and the suggestions there when civility is abandoned. --Orange Mike 13:15, 18 October 2007 (UTC)

Thanks again Orangemike. I mentioned this yesterday, but I'm definitly not popular in WP:PW. For future reference, when someone violate WP:CIV how should I handle it? I'm not trying to get folks banned, but I don't want to be bothered either. --Endless Dan 13:19, 18 October 2007 (UTC)

Wikipedia:Civility sets out some general responses. We do have specific templates for this. I left a personalized message at the user's page on this occasion, but ordinarily use the {{subst:uw-npa1}} hierarchy set out at Wikipedia:Template messages/User talk namespace. --Moonriddengirl ^(talk) 13:22, 18 October 2007 (UTC)

Thank you Moonriddengirl. I will remember that page in the future. --Endless Dan 13:25, 18 October 2007 (UTC)

I've had to use them more often than I care to remember. :) --Moonriddengirl ^(talk) 13:26, 18 October 2007 (UTC)

How can I embed a youtube video in a wiki page?

How can I embed a youtube video in a wiki page? I realize I can put a link to a youtube video in the page, but I'd rather have the video embedded within the page, to be viewed without having to leave the page. Jfmxl 13:36, 18 October 2007 (UTC)

Wiki doesn't support that, and it is bad idea anyway. Post link, or if it is free video, you can upload it in OGG Theora format. Suva Чего? 13:46, 18 October 2007 (UTC)

But please don't link to YouTube images videos which violate somebody's copyright. Corvus cornix 18:44, 19 October 2007 (UTC)

Fixed the above message. Images are copyrighted too, but not the business YouTube is in. - Mgm|^(talk) 21:04, 22 October 2007 (UTC)

Image Deletion

On image:4th CAG at USMC War Memorial August 2004.jpg -- how do I delete version dated 06:29, 26 September 2007? I want to only keep version 06:39, 26 September 2007. FieldMarine 14:29, 18 October 2007 (UTC)

You don't really need to delete it, as I see you uploaded a newer version, which is logged on that page. - Rjd0060 14:57, 18 October 2007 (UTC)

Thanks...however, when you enlarge the image from the article, you get the older version that should be deleted. FieldMarine 15:08, 18 October 2007 (UTC)

It could be cached on your computer (your web browser sometimes keeps copies of images to avoid downloading them more than once). See bypassing your cache. --h2g2bob (talk) 16:12, 18 October 2007 (UTC)

Kernel problem

what means kernel 32 error? thanks —Preceding unsigned comment added by Tukulija (talk • contribs) 14:45, 18 October 2007 (UTC)

I don't think that is a question about Wikipedia. You should try the Reference Desk instead. - Rjd0060 14:54, 18 October 2007 (UTC)

problems

how can you e-mail this site to your e-mail address? —Preceding unsigned comment added by Neyowifey25 (talk • contribs) 15:33, 18 October 2007 (UTC)

It is unclear what you mean. You cannot send an article as e-mail; Wikipedia does not provide that feature, and is unlikely to in the future. You can, of course, copy the URL of any given article and e-mail that wherever you wish. --Orange Mike 15:42, 18 October 2007 (UTC)

See WP:EIW#News for some things you can sign up to receive in e-mail from Wikipedia. If you want to read Wikipedia offline, see TomeRaider. --Teratornis 16:18, 18 October 2007 (UTC)

The easier way is simply to copy and paste. NerdyNSK 22:49, 18 October 2007 (UTC)

What browser are you using? IE has an option to do this. Corvus cornix 18:44, 19 October 2007 (UTC)

how to revert to previous version

List of inventors is being vandalized right now.

I don't know how to revert the edits back to a clean version without having to 'undo' each one - there are a bunch of them.

Also, this person probably should be warned/blocked, but I'm nervouse to do it wrong.

thanks, NatalieOne 16:30, 18 October 2007 (UTC)

• Click on an edit you trust (in this case, by Acroterion). The older version appears. Click on Edit this page. Save. — I have now done this for you, and I think that the anonymous vandals have already been warned. Thanks very much. Bessel Dekker 16:33, 18 October 2007 (UTC)

Sidebar links

I have "underline links" activated in my settings. Until today, that caused all links except those on the left-hand sidebar to be underlined. Suddenly, it's causing them to be underlined too. I preferred how it was before, with the sidebar links not underlined, but with everything else underlined. Is there any way I can restore this appearance, through settings, monobook, or something else? -Elmer Clark 16:42, 18 October 2007 (UTC)

The following is untested, but will hopefully work:

.portlet li a {text-decoration:none;}

Add the code to your monobook.css, bypass your cache, and post back here to let us know if it worked! --ais523 12:04, 19 October 2007 (UTC)

It ended up reverting back to normal on its own, but if I have the problem again I'll be sure to try that - thanks! -Elmer Clark 20:06, 23 October 2007 (UTC)

Adding Cast name

Hello,

I wanted to verify how to add my name to the cast list of "Indecent Proposal" You can verify me on IMDB

Name: Pamela Holt

Thank you, Pamela —Preceding unsigned comment added by Pamela holt (talk • contribs) 16:48, 18 October 2007 (UTC)

replied at user talk. 71.174.226.117 17:54, 18 October 2007 (UTC)

You can click the "edit this page" button and add yourself, together with a link to your IMDB page or other reference proving that you were really in the cast list. You can do so either anonymously or under your real name (your current user account). If you choose to do that edit under your real name, then some Wikipedians may feel uneasy because we regularly have problems with people coming here and writing biased stories about themselves or bragging about how great they are. However, if your edit is factual, then I see no problem with putting information about yourself on Wikipedia, but that's just me and other Wikipedians may dislike it. Another way is to use the article's talk page to suggest including your name in the article. NerdyNSK 22:55, 18 October 2007 (UTC)

I've listed Pamela Holt for AfD. Not notable enough for an article. Corvus cornix 18:47, 19 October 2007 (UTC)

COI Question

I am a public relations professional working for the federal govt. I need to correct an error in fact on our organization's wiki page. (The director has changed, and press regularly reference wikipedia, then seek interviews with the wrong individual, or worse, write about the wrong individual without checking.) There is no talk page for my organization. No public document exists to reference the new name.

I want to be above board in correcting factual errors, and if I make changes, I'll do it from my work account and identify myself. I'm not interested in sneaky ways to make backdoor changes. But I'm concerned about tacitly making edits, because recently, govt employees have been butchered in the press and public forums for editing their own organization's pages (because that can obviously be tracked now). What is my best course of action? I've read FAQ and COI policy.

(Specifically, the "acting director" for the "Intelligence Advanced Research Projects Activity" is "Tim Murphy," not "Steve Nixon," who promoted out of the position. Tim is in "acting" status, so we aren't dropping a press release. If someone could give me a fish on this, that's fabulous, but teach me to fish too. This isn't the only factual error on pages whose organizations I represent, just the biggest headache.)

65.222.202.26 17:00, 18 October 2007 (UTC)Trey Brown

When changing factual information, especially in the presence of a real or perceived conflict of interest, you should have a reliable source to cite so that other users can verify what you're saying is true. If only people within the organization are aware of this, it can't be changed because it can't be verified with a source. You'll need a source that indicates the change, as would anyone even without a possible COI. This is definitely the right way to approach it. Kudos on taking the appropriate caution. You can create the talk page if you want to start a dialogue on the issue. Leebo ^T/C 17:04, 18 October 2007 (UTC)

While Google is not always reliable, it seems to me that these [1] sites are fairly conclusive, if colleagues are convinced? I suggest we make the change, linking to one or more of these sites. Bessel Dekker 17:22, 18 October 2007 (UTC)

Trey, I would also advise you to create your own Wikipedia editor identity, probably as TreyBrown, and practice the same frank disclosure on your User page that you have here and in your edits. You seem clear on our conflict of interest rules; would that all employees were as thorough. --Orange Mike 18:18, 18 October 2007 (UTC)

Speaking as an individual with no affiliation with Wikimedia, the best way is to update your organisation's webpages including the new director's name, then come here on Wikipedia and use your organisation's official webpage as a reference. Some Wikipedians may still feel uneasy about this because we regularly have problems with people using Wikipedia to promote themselves, but if your edit is factual and useful for the reader then I see no problem with it, although other users may have different opinion. NerdyNSK 23:00, 18 October 2007 (UTC)

clearing search history

How do I clear the history of topics searched? For example, enter "a" in the Go / Search box and it displays all the past search entries I've made beginning with the letter a, some of which I don't want another user of the shared PC to see. I've tried IE Tools / Internet Options but history still shows in Wikipedia search box. Wikithn88 17:23, 18 October 2007 (UTC).

• In Tools, isn't there an option right at the top of the scroll down menu? Sorry, mine is in Dutch, but it should read something like "Remove history". Bessel Dekker 17:27, 18 October 2007 (UTC)

• • Tools / Internet Options gives a dialogue box with lots of options. This clears out the browser's Address bar history and Yahoo! Toolbar history, but not the history in the Search box on the Wikipedia Home Page itself. Wikithn88 17:42, 18 October 2007 (UTC).
    • But Internet Options is right at the bottom of the scroll down menu. Look at the first entry at the top instead. Bessel Dekker 18:00, 18 October 2007 (UTC)

70.18.210.95 19:07, 18 October 2007 (UTC)Why was this article deleted? They are legit.

Why was this page deleted: The Smith Bros. aka the BEATSMITHz. All of their work is legitimate and verifiable. The Smith Bros. aka the BEATSMITHz page, should not have been deleted. They are a legitimate production team. It's not a fan site, it's an information site. If this is the case then all of the artists they've worked with, as internally linked and noted on the page, should be deleted also. [2]

[3]

[4]

You can read why the article was deleted at Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/The Smith Bros. aka the BEATSMITHz. It can be recreated, but should conform to guidelines on notability, noting the requirement for verifiability through reliable sources, and tone. --Moonriddengirl ^(talk) 19:30, 18 October 2007 (UTC)

Oh, and note, please, that it should not be recreated under that title, unless the duo's official name is "The Smith Bros. aka the BEATSMITHz". It doesn't seem to conform to the guidelines on naming. --Moonriddengirl ^(talk) 19:33, 18 October 2007 (UTC)

A quick question

Can I trust Wikipedia with its articles? --Question Bloke 19:42, 18 October 2007 (UTC)

Wikipedia:Researching with Wikipedia is the best answer to that question. Criticism of Wikipedia is also helpful.--chaser - t 19:45, 18 October 2007 (UTC)

You might also be interested in Why Wikipedia is so great and Why Wikipedia is not so great. Hersfold ^(t/a/c) 20:38, 18 October 2007 (UTC)

You can trust no one, not even academic journals. Errors and bias may be everywhere, even in scientific peer-reviewed papers. On Wikipedia, articles that have been appeared on the main page or haven been given featured status are usually more reliable, while articles that don't attract much attention seem not to be so good, especially if the first author was biased. NerdyNSK 23:05, 18 October 2007 (UTC)

Deletion

I recently created a page for Southern Hills Baptist Church, a prominent Southern Baptist Church in south Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. I figured it would be a great addition to Wikipedia because of the number of people attend. It would be great to get to learn about the history of the church, the former pastors, and current numbers. It was "soeedy deleted" because it contained nothing that explained why it was significant. I just created it!! Give me a little bit to finish my thoughts. Geez... can I get it back? I'd like to continue to update it and eventually explain why this church is influential in its area and how it is positively affecting the world. Is there any reason I can't remake the page, and if I do.. will it just be re-deleted? —Preceding unsigned comment added by Jwojo13 (talk • contribs) 20:23, 18 October 2007 (UTC)

I have placed the contents of the deleted article at your user page. I will leave a note on your talk page within a few minutes to give you some pointers on how to develop this into an article consistent with Wikipedia's guidelines. --Moonriddengirl ^(talk) 20:26, 18 October 2007 (UTC)

links underlinded when I log in.

When I visit wikipedia without logging in, all the links are blue but not underlined. When I log into my account, all the links are suddenly underlined. How can I make this not so? I do not want them to be underlined.

Tangytoad 20:58, 18 October 2007 (UTC) Tangytoad

Go to Special:Preferences, click the Misc tab, and select a different option for "Underline links." --Teratornis 21:03, 18 October 2007 (UTC)

Before you log in, your Web browser software on your PC controls the appearance of links. When you log in, the appearance of links is controlled by MediaWiki, the software running on Wikipedia's servers. NerdyNSK 23:06, 18 October 2007 (UTC)

How can one import math in Word or HTML or LaTeX

I've been looking for quite a while and can't find a way to upload a physics topic I have written an article on for Wikipedia. The original article is in Word, but I have also exported it to HTML. When I tried your quick and dirty converter (cutting HTML and pasting) into Wiki-whatever, all the equations got lost. I can also export the Word file into LaTeX, if necessary.

There are 21 main equations, plus lots of equation-like symbols throughout the text. Re-writing all this in your text box with the suggested math symbology would be a very time consuming effort I'm not into.

Is there any way to simply upload what I've already done?

I want to augment a stub that is only 3 paragraphs or so to 3-4 pages of completeness on the topic.

Finally, I'm not sure about this Help Desk thing, and hope I can find it. I was told to go to my talk page and input the need help text (which I did), to get someone who would chat with me right there. Well, when Idid that I then got a message that said input your question below, but there was no text box in which to input the question! I clicked on another link and ended up here. Not so user friendly for a newcomer.

Thanks for any help. Bob108 21:02, 18 October 2007 (UTC)

Hi Bob. Wikipedia has disabled the usage of some HTML markup on its pages in order to keep it clean. If the HTML that you tried to paste did not work, the only way to put the equations in Wikipedia is probably through the suggested math markup. Sorry about that. --דניאל - Dantheman531 21:55, 18 October 2007 (UTC)

• Wikipedia allows LaTeX formatting. See Wikipedia:LaTeX. - Mgm|^(talk) 22:03, 18 October 2007 (UTC)

• Do be aware, though, that Wikipedia is not a place for original research of any kind. --Orange Mike 23:22, 18 October 2007 (UTC)

Keeping non-English text.

I have been attempting to add material to the "Polyushko Pole" page.When I preview the page after my additions I see that some of the original text (see below) in Cyrillic has been changed to all question marks. I don't want the page to lose this valuable material, so I did not proceed with my changes. How can I make tha changes without destroying previous material? Thx Louis Fried

Полюшко-поле, полюшко, широко поле,
Eдут по полю герои,
Эх, да красной армии герои.

Девушки плачут,
Девушкам сегодня грустно,
Милый надолго уехал,
Эх, да милый в армию уехал.
—Preceding unsigned comment added by Llfried (talk • contribs) 21:22, 18 October 2007 (UTC)

• You may be using a Web browser software package that doesn't support UTF-8, or you may have loaded the wrong font packages on your PC. There is also a slight possibility that the text in the Wikipedia page, or more accurately its MySQL database entry, is wrongly formatted, although this is very rare, and it is 99.99% sure that the problem lies on the client PC. Try using another PC to edit that article. NerdyNSK 23:10, 18 October 2007 (UTC)

• You can edit a single section by clicking the edit link to the right. You can edit the lead by first clicking the edit link for the first section and then replace section=1 with section=0 in the browser address bar. Click "Show changes" to get an idea whether there are problems. If you see red characters in places you haven't edited then don't save. You can suggest changes on the discussion page for the article, but some pages get no replies there. PrimeHunter 23:42, 18 October 2007 (UTC)

Help?

Hi, umm... I just received a message from a Wikipedia user. How do I delete it? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 68.92.149.78 (talk) 21:28, 18 October 2007 (UTC)

What you received was a warning, regarding your unconstructive edit to Mouse. Notices and warnings are given to help you understand policies and guidelines on Wikipedia, and to guide you to help pages, as well as the sandbox where you can experiment. While you are free to remove these messages, it is preferable that you archive them. Also, know that they will remain in the history, and if you continue to edit disruptively, there is a chance that you could be blocked temporarily from editing. Please review what Wikipedia is not, and the help pages to learn how to help the project. Cheers, Ariel♥Gold 21:52, 18 October 2007 (UTC)

You can delete it by clicking the "edit this page" tab at the top. However, it is a serious warning that you received. Deleting messages from your talk page is allowed, however archiving is preferred. - Rjd0060 21:53, 18 October 2007 (UTC)

Even if you delete it, it will remain in the page's history for everyone to see. NerdyNSK 23:11, 18 October 2007 (UTC)

It's possible that they may be referring to the new messages notification bar, from what I understand, even though Bug 9213 is resolved, there still may be some minor caching issues with anons, causing the bar to get "stuck" on certain pages. At least that's the impression I've gotten from Wikipedia:Administrator_intervention_against_vandalism/Bug_ID_9213#Fixed.3F, which is now resolved. Though all first hand tests that I've preformed have suggested that 9213 is completely resolved. In which case, try bypassing your cache (press ctrl F5, should work on all browsers)--VectorPotential^Talk 23:59, 18 October 2007 (UTC)

Article about John Hersey, author of Hiroshima

The last sentence of the article is redundant. The same information is already in the second paragraph. The reference used in the last sentence might be used as source for the second paragraph. However, the source code for the article contains many elements that I do not understand, so I didn’t edit the article. --Phillicia Cattertails 21:33, 18 October 2007 (UTC)

I've fixed this. Thanks for noticing it! You can learn more about how to format citations at WP:CITE, and WP:FOOT, as well as how to place references into templates (that allow for a more standardized look, as well as adding additional information) at WP:CIT. Cheers! Ariel♥Gold 21:56, 18 October 2007 (UTC)

• Are you sure this is not a case of Wikipedia:Summary style? - Mgm|^(talk) 22:01, 18 October 2007 (UTC)

Does deleting the "unencyclopedic" template from a page count as Vandalism?

The reason I'm asking is that I'm trying to tag Imaginationland#Character References in Imaginationland as unencyclopedic, since that's what it quite obviously is. However, everytime I try to add it, it gets removed by an anonymous editor. If it qualifies as vandalism, I can keep adding it. However, if it does not, then I cannot because that violated 3RR. Any help, both on the question as well as fixing the article would be greatly appreciated. Dlong 21:48, 18 October 2007 (UTC)

According to the edit history, you (User:Dlong) haven't made any contributions to that page. To answer your question though, if the template is justified (properly used) and somebody keeps removing it (especially an IP user) that would be considered vandalism. - Rjd0060 21:51, 18 October 2007 (UTC)

Thanks for the answer. That helps. I actually have edited the page quite a bit, but there are a ridiculous number of IP users editing the page, so it's been pushed quite a bit back. Dlong 21:57, 18 October 2007 (UTC)

Oh, there you are. A couple pages back. I see that a lot of IP users edit that page. Hmmm. I am going to be leaving a comment on your talk page in a minute, so you may want to check that. - Rjd0060 21:58, 18 October 2007 (UTC)

Perhaps you can try discussing in the article's talk page. For me, an edit is vandalism if it destroys the educational value of an article or removes parts of it that should be there for legal reasons. Does the unencyclopedic tag adds educational value to the article? I say yes because improving the reader's understanding of the level of reliability of some material is part of the education process. So, yes, if someone keeps removing that tag lots of times, and there are obvious reasons why the tag was put there in the first place, then its removal is vandalism, unless the person(s) performing the tag's removal sincerely believe that you added them for no good reason, in which case the proper way to handle the issue is to discuss on talk. However, given that the other editor is an anon IP, the chances are that you have statistically more probability of being on the right side. NerdyNSK 23:21, 18 October 2007 (UTC)

WXXS Article Renovation Request

76.118.247.91 22:29, 18 October 2007 (UTC)

I am the person who wrote the article for WLTN-AM, WLTN-FM, and WXXS. I notice someone re-wrote my WLTN-AM and WLTN-FM articles to make them both look more encyclopedic. Whoever did that did not do so for my WXXS article. I left some comments toward the bottom of the WXXS Discussion Page. For any of you Wikipedian critics out there who enjoy renovating articles to make them look more encyclopedic, I am letting you know that just because I wrote that article doesn't mean it's all mine. I have its current version saved on a Microsoft Word document. If you feel like it, please read the WLTN-AM and WLTN-FM articles, than the discussion page and see if there's a way you can re-write it to make it sound non-objective. The station has no website and no contact information, nor does it have online record of its format but as Mr mark taylor noted, it takes personal listening. I stayed at a motel room for 5 weeks last fall recording it and the format I considered for it after consistent, thorough listening was Diverse Hot AC / Top 40 Variety. This is because they instead of playing only the Mainstream Top 40 they also play the billboard hits from all the different seasons of all the years past of the mid-1990s through the early 2000s. The Mainstream Top 40 still gets its airplay on WXXS Kiss 102.3 but I noticed (as a physical listener of the station) that the hours of 3PM through 9PM on weekdays (late-afternoon-through-early-evening listing period) are the hours when the current Mainstream Top 40 songs get their airplay on WXXS Kiss 102.3, usually all at once (like a New Music segment). Since there was no way to cite that detail, I left that (and many other little details) out of the article. I strive to not make my articles look too much like advertisements but need help (as you will see if you read the article).

If there are no sources to verify the info in the article, the info should not be there. "I listened to it myself" is not a source and could be considered original research, which is not allowed here. Mr.Z-man 22:53, 18 October 2007 (UTC)

Perhaps you can reference some government's licence allowing these stations to operate, just to prove that they at least exist in reality. NerdyNSK 23:26, 18 October 2007 (UTC)