Wikipedia:Help desk/Archives/2007 October 9

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October 9

Manual of Style on Using Examples

I remember reading a policy once regarding the use of examples/anecdotes within articles which stated that they must be kept to a minimum and used only to ilustrate a point "(eg saying apples and stop signs are red rather than giving 100+ cases). Can someone link me to that page, I need to review it with regards to an edit I made 58.164.33.106 00:07, 9 October 2007 (UTC)

The Manual of Style is located here. Neranei (talk) 00:09, 9 October 2007 (UTC)

Are you able to direct to the section which discusses using examples, I've scrolled through the manual and can't find it... Perhaps it's in a submanual or another section of the site entirely 58.164.33.106 00:18, 9 October 2007 (UTC)

Wikipedia:Manual of Style (command-line examples) (shortcut: WP:MOSCOMM) talks about command-line examples (obviously), but that may not be the kind of example you have in mind. --Teratornis 17:38, 9 October 2007 (UTC)

Here is a list of all the Manual of Style pages. It's actually somewhat hard to find a complete (hand-edited) list anywhere. --Teratornis 01:01, 10 October 2007 (UTC)

Static Copy of Wikipedia

I'd like to get an HTML copy of the English Wikipedia for offline use. Does anyone know why this page:

http://static.wikipedia.org/downloads/September_2007/

seems to have everything BUT "en"? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 72.196.243.193 (talk) 00:48, 9 October 2007 (UTC)

It's pretty huge. Maybe the conversion of the dump to HTML isn't done yet. To tide you over, here's a link to the April copy: [1]. — User:ACupOfCoffee@ 02:11, 9 October 2007 (UTC)

square root of 1.44

$Insertformulahere$

The square root of 1.44 is 1.2. <math>\sqrt {1.44}</math> renders as ${\sqrt {1.44}}$ PrimeHunter 10:07, 9 October 2007 (UTC)

The \sqrt marker is only used to insert a square root symbol, not to calculate a square root. After all, you would not want to see ${\sqrt {1.2}}$, as that is neither what you typed nor a correct calculation. 128.227.68.119 11:52, 9 October 2007 (UTC)

Google Calculator can compute square roots, for example this interwiki link: Google:sqrt(1.44)= displays the result: sqrt(1.44) = 1.2. --Teratornis 17:35, 9 October 2007 (UTC)

Deleting Notices

How do I delete a notice on a page that someone wrote that should not be deleted? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 24.237.195.92 (talk) 05:04, 9 October 2007 (UTC)

If you mean Jessie Benedict then it has already been deleted. You can see the reason at [2]. Some links which may be useful: Wikipedia:Criteria for speedy deletion#G10, Wikipedia:Attack page, Wikipedia:Biographies of living people, Wikipedia:Notability (people), Wikipedia:Deletion policy, Wikipedia:Why was my page deleted?. You are only allowed to delete notices of suggested deletions if they say so, and only {{prod}} says so. PrimeHunter 10:16, 9 October 2007 (UTC)

WikiProject banners

Are you allowed to put them before you are approved?Kfc1864 talk _{my edits} 05:37, 9 October 2007 (UTC)

Are you referring to starting or joining a WikiProject, which one, and which banner to put where? PrimeHunter 10:03, 9 October 2007 (UTC)

WP:PROJGUIDE#Article tagging may be helpful, but the question is too vague for me to tell. --Teratornis 19:28, 9 October 2007 (UTC)

I am starting an Useried Wikiproject that's still in its proposing stage.Kfc1864 talk _{my edits} 03:49, 10 October 2007 (UTC)

Wait until everything is in order. If there isn't enough interest in the project, then you'll end up having to do twice the work. Titoxd^{(?!? - cool stuff)} 04:31, 10 October 2007 (UTC)

Thanks, everyboy.Kfc1864 talk _{my edits} 10:30, 10 October 2007 (UTC)

Adding New Article

I just want to add several new articales on Wikeipedia.How can I do it? Thank you. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Pvsdilhan (talk • contribs) 06:30, 9 October 2007 (UTC)

Before creating an article, please search Wikipedia first to make sure that an article does not already exist on the subject. Please also review a few of our relevant policies and guidelines which all articles should comport with. As Wikipedia is an encyclopedia, articles must not contain original research, must be written from a neutral point of view, should cite to reliable sources which verify their content and must not contain unsourced, negative content about living people.

Articles must also demonstrate the notability of the subject. Please see our subject specific guidelines for people, bands and musicians, companies and organizations and web content and note that if you are closely associated with the subject, our conflict of interest guideline strongly recommends against you creating the article.

If you still think an article is appropriate, see Help:Starting a new page. You might also look at Wikipedia:Your first article and Wikipedia:How to write a great article for guidance, and please consider taking a tour through the Wikipedia:Tutorial so that you know how to properly format the article before creation. PrimeHunter 09:56, 9 October 2007 (UTC)

Robert Eringer page

I just wrote a page- read the tutorials and have proper citations- but when I select the preview and save page buttons, only a portion of my page shows up. Did I format incorrectly? Please help or tell me where to go so I can learn and then fix what I have done wrong.

Thanks for your time and help.

--FrankEThomas 07:03, 9 October 2007 (UTC)

You're editing a specific section, in which you clicked the edit button that pops up for specific headings. When you preview your edit, only that section appears. If you wish to edit the entire article at once, then click on the "edit this page" tab at the top. Sephiroth BCR ^(Converse) 07:05, 9 October 2007 (UTC)

Thanks for getting back to me so quickly. However, if you got to the top where it says "edit this page" you will see all my other text that just isn't showing up. I am making sure to go to edit this page rather than edit via the individual sections yet the rest of my typed text still won't appear. —Preceding unsigned comment added by FrankEThomas (talk • contribs) 07:14, 9 October 2007 (UTC)

The problem was that all the ref tags were closed incorrectly. They were all written as <ref><ref/>, but they needed to be like this <ref></ref>. That's why the page wasn't appearing; as the first ref tag wasn't closed properly the software was treating everything after that tag as being part of the reference. There also needs to be a <references/> tag under the References section to make everything show up. Raven4x4x 07:38, 9 October 2007 (UTC)

Thank you so much!! I can't believe I missed that. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 68.6.46.133 (talk) 14:59, 9 October 2007 (UTC)

Deleted article

Hi Helpdesk,

There used to be a link to the following article:

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

But now it seems to no longer exist. Why was this page removed? I could see nothing in the logs.

Thanks,

P.

The deletion log for the page is here, and here is the deletion discussion which is referred to in the log. It seems the conclusion was the page did not meet our notability guidelines. Raven4x4x 07:30, 9 October 2007 (UTC)

How to undo an error when editing an article

I was adding information to the Deakin University article and was trying to add a reference afterwards, i wasnt sure how to add it correctly with a hyperlink so i deleted it and accidentilly deleted the entire reference list on the article, i wasnt sure how to un-do this, it was an accident though, totally unintentional, so if someone could tell me how to undo it or could undo it that would be great. thanks —Preceding unsigned comment added by Wiki-nivi (talk • contribs) 08:40, 9 October 2007 (UTC)

Click on the 'history' tab at the top of the article to see a list of edits and previous versions; you can click on the (undo) link next to that edit to cause the edit to be undone. See Help:Reverting for more information about reverting and undoing edits. --ais523 08:42, 9 October 2007 (UTC)

LogIn ID & Password now Inoperative ? John A. Mehring - dukedom.

Have been logging into your site for many months.. Suddenly, it is not allowing me entry...??

John A. Mehring <contact details removed>—Preceding unsigned comment added by 76.5.106.116 (talk) 09:57, 9 October 2007 (UTC)

Is Help:Logging in of help? If not then please say your user name and be more specific about the problem. PrimeHunter 10:46, 9 October 2007 (UTC)

Casino Royale (1967 film)

This film article is well written and well referenced. It has been on the — Wikipedia:Good_article_nominations#Media list since 12 September 2007 — one month !

Can somevbody please go look at it and , hopefully, pass it for GA status ?

Tovojolo 11:02, 9 October 2007 (UTC)

Firstly, today is October 9, which means that it has been less than one month. Secondly, there are many that have been on there longer (50+ days) because of a backlog that we are trying our hardest to remove. I have a nomination up there too, and mine has been up there since September 3, 2007 which IS more than one month. It will be gotten to when it gets gotten to. Cheers, CP 22:40, 9 October 2007 (UTC)

Russian Translation (TV political detective)

Hi, I have a problem with my "Russian Translation (TV political detective)" wiki page - it looks like an existing but not could be found bu search machines and if opens looks like "delated". May be? I'm vrong with some wiki rules or copirights? then tell me? please, what possible violations are? Mutargim 11:47, 9 October 2007 (UTC)

I answered you on the article talk page where you've previously ask this question. Martial BACQUET 12:15, 9 October 2007 (UTC)

hacked page

your page: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Night_of_the_Long_Knives has been hacked by someone ... it's now displaying a jolly roger pirate flag.

John —Preceding unsigned comment added by 64.30.8.3 (talk) 12:36, 9 October 2007 (UTC)

Vandalism reverted by User:Jedibob5 [3] (what an innovative name!). x42bn6 Talk Mess 12:41, 9 October 2007 (UTC)

IE warning message when playing video

Discussion moved to the technical village pump.

Articles

how to insert an article? —Preceding unsigned comment added by Localhands (talk • contribs) 13:21, 9 October 2007 (UTC)

Please see Help:Starting a new page or check the Very Frequently Asked Questions. Hersfold ^(t/a/c) 14:00, 9 October 2007 (UTC)

linking link to correct existing wikipedia page...

If the item is underlined red it shows up as edit/create page, but if i search wikipedia the page exists. how do i send the link to it's right page not create a new one. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Kay444 (talk • contribs) 13:30, 9 October 2007 (UTC)

It probably means that whoever typed the link spelled it wrong of didn't capitalize certain letters. You can go back to the article and copy the title and then replace the name of the red link with the title of the article. If you need any further help WP:LINK might be able to help. ~ Bella Swan 13:35, 9 October 2007 (UTC)

Images

how can i add an image?? eg- the profile image for that star?? eg- hiten tejwani has no image and i wish 2 add 1- how do i do this? —Preceding unsigned comment added by HK 01 (talk • contribs) 14:10, 9 October 2007 (UTC)

See Help:Images and other uploaded files. PrimeHunter 14:17, 9 October 2007 (UTC)

Hi and welcome. Firstly you will need to register an account to be able to add the images. When you've done that you can go to Wikipedia:Upload (or you will see a blue link in the left hand boxes towards the bottom) to actually upload your file. To include it within the article you'll need to put something like the following in :
[[Image:YOUR IMAGE NAME.jpg|thumb|right|250px|DESCRIPTION OF YOUR IMAGE]].
Hope that helps. Pedro :  Chat  14:17, 9 October 2007 (UTC)

Parking garages and vulnerability, and security

how do I find information on the vulnerability and the security used for parking garages? I also need to know what countermeasures that could be used to prevent crime. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 71.169.38.202 (talk) 14:11, 9 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. PrimeHunter 14:15, 9 October 2007 (UTC)

Account deletion

how do you delete your account? —Preceding unsigned comment added by - lilchickxxx (talk • contribs) 16:21, 9 October 2007 (UTC)

You can't (the software needs to keep a record of everything everyone has done, and deleting an account would mean that there would be no user associated with an edit). You can, however, simply stop using the account you have at the moment - there's no problem with doing that. See also m:right to vanish and Wikipedia:Username#Deleting your account. --ais523 16:26, 9 October 2007 (UTC)

Felix and the Fruit Monsters

Felix and the Fruit Monsters is an early 1980's computer game for the BBC Micro and Acorn Electron home computers.

Although it is a sequel to Felix in the Factory, it is infact a Pac-Man clone, whereas the original Felix game was a platformer.

Felix and the Fruit monsters never recieved the same success as the original, and neither did Felix meets the Evil Weevils, the third game of the trilogy.

Felix and the Fruit Monsters was released in the 1982-1984 era. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Arbiter2007 (talk • contribs) 16:50, 9 October 2007 (UTC)

Did you have a question, or are you suggesting this article be created? If so, please see Requested articles or Help:Starting a new page and Wikipedia:Your first article. Hersfold ^(t/a/c) 17:16, 9 October 2007 (UTC)

Deleting an article I created

A few years ago I created an article about myself. I thought it would be helpful for people who use Wikpedia as a reference. It was recently tagged with questions about verifiability and neutrality. That being the case - and since I created the article and I don't want it any more - will somebody please delete it? Louantonelli 17:06, 9 October 2007 (UTC)Lou Antonelli

Wikipedia is under GFDL license. When you wrote your article you agreed to license your contributions under this license. Unless this article has not been modified yet, you can add {{db-self}} on the top of the article, but if someone else has edited the article, it will not be deleted. Martial BACQUET 17:12, 9 October 2007 (UTC)

Kids virsion

Do you, or does anyone on the Internet, provide a service, such as Wikipedia, especially designed for younger students and slow learners. My student is having trouble reading and digesting the information about Issac Newton, due a lot to the larger vocabulary in the article. He has used internet before for research, but the articles he has used were not as complicated. Thank you for your help. Heaven with God 18:22, 9 October 2007 (UTC)

You may find the Simple English Wikipedia of use. This link [here] will take you to the article on Isaac Newton. Accounting4Taste 18:28, 9 October 2007 (UTC)

image searching

Some images did not appear in the alphabetical index when conducting an image search. I tried to find an image I know was in Wikipedia so that I could see images with similar names (to see naming conventions used for similar images), but the image need not turn up in the alphabetical index using “image” in the “namespace” field of the search. Any recommendations? FieldMarine 18:50, 9 October 2007 (UTC)

There are lots of search alternatives at WP:EIW#Search. It's hard to answer a vague question, so if you could give us one or more specific examples of what you want to search for, someone could try some search options and see how they do. For example, you can search Wikipedia with Google and often that works better than Wikipedia's built-in search function. Also be aware that an image could have been deleted for any number of reasons. See WP:WWMPD, but that's about pages and articles; I don't know how much of that applies to images. Except that Wikipedia has lots of deletionists, so stuff disappears from here all the time. I would imagine everyone who uses Wikipedia as a reference tool very much has had the annoying experience of looking for something they saw a few months ago, only to find it's not there when they look again, or it's been edited into something completely different. --Teratornis 05:50, 11 October 2007 (UTC)

How do I get in a Wikiproject?

Hi, I'd like some advice on how to get in a wikiproject?

Thanks, Alex RossiAlex Rossi 18:51, 9 October 2007 (UTC)

Hello Alex! There's really nothing to it - just add yourself to the list of members. Many Wikiprojects are very informal, so just edit the "Participants" section of their project page and you're in! Just participate in some of their discussions so the other members get to know you and you know what's going on, and you'll be well on your way. Hersfold ^(t/a/c) 18:58, 9 October 2007 (UTC)

recommended template

I recommend adding the following Infobox template for Sculptors, but do not know how to add it.FieldMarine 17:16, 9 October 2007 (UTC)

Infobox Sculptor |image= |caption= |name= |nationality= |birth_date= |birth_place= |death_date= |death_place= |significant_works= |awards= |

We have an existing {{Infobox Artist}} that I believe serves most of the articles on sculptors - you could just use that. If you're really interested in creating a separate one (note that it may be considered redundant), you can copy the code from {{Infobox}} and use it to build a new template at {{Infobox Sculptor}}. Hersfold ^(t/a/c) 19:04, 9 October 2007 (UTC)
Thanks!FieldMarine 23:31, 9 October 2007 (UTC)

Semi-autonomous

what is semi autonomous —Preceding unsigned comment added by 202.163.91.68 (talk) 19:03, 9 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. Hersfold ^(t/a/c) 19:04, 9 October 2007 (UTC)

Semi-autonomous on Wikipedia means using tools which involve edits made by using special software like AWB. These edits are partly automatic, and partly user input. For example, a spellchecker may fix errors on pages automatically, but require user input to pick the right word. --h2g2bob (talk) 02:02, 10 October 2007 (UTC)

References

Supposing one has a reference that can be used for a whole article. Should one have in-line citations of it at the end of every paragraph or should it just be mentioned at the end of the article or what?--Phoenix 15 19:06, 9 October 2007 (UTC)

Presumably (well, hopefully), you'll have other references as well, so I'd suggest an inline citations, but only as needed (see Wikipedia:When to cite). If you have another source that provides the same info, use it instead, unless the main source provides more, then use both. So that you don't have to copy the whole code multiple times, remember to add a name="foo" parameter to the first instance, then use <ref name="foo"/> each time thereafter. I hope that helped/made sense. Hersfold ^(t/a/c) 19:31, 9 October 2007 (UTC)

Thanks, I used that before I asked but now I've got two references that count a b c d e f g h i j k. Should I just mention them? where?--Phoenix 15 19:56, 9 October 2007 (UTC)

display of equations in articles

It is taking forever to download the png's in many of your math articles and at the end of all of the downloads, they don't display. I get the little "text" explanations of the equations (W = \frac{(N-k)}\frac....).

Specifically:

The "Levene's test" article has two equations, the first one long, the second one short. After waiting many seconds for all of the png's to download, The second one displays as an image. The first one does not.

That was the first time.

The second time I opened this article, I get none of the equations displayed, only the text coding for them.

The third time I clicked on the "analysis of variance" link in the Levene's test article, got the analysis of variance article with all of the equations, went back to "Levene's test" and this time all of the equations are now displaying as images.

What is happening?

19:19, 9 October 2007 (UTC)richard dowling < email removed for your security - read notice at top of page >

It sounds like your browser's just getting confused due to the lengthly downloads. If you create an account, you'll be able to change your preferences here to specify how you want to view math equations - always as images, a combination of text and images, or just plain text. Hersfold ^(t/a/c) 19:36, 9 October 2007 (UTC)

Erasing an inadvertent quote sign from a page title

Hello,

I just created a page for Sandy Tatum, the lawyer and amateur golfer.

Unfortunately, the page I created is called "Sandy Tatum.

(i.e.: it includes a preceding quote mark).

Can someone please tell me how to remove this?

Thanks,

Mkieran 19:27, 9 October 2007 (UTC)

Michael Kieran

You can do this by using the move function. I have done it for you, so now the article is at Sandy Tatum. Leebo ^T/C 19:31, 9 October 2007 (UTC)

Account recovery

Sevaral months ago I've stopped using the e-mail account I used to register on Wikipedia. Unfortunately, I was unaware of this fact and clicked on the button "E-mail new Password" what caused the password to be changed and e-mailed to the old e-mail address. What can I do to recover my username/account? Since I was receiving e-mails from Wikipedia forwarded from that account to my gmail account (which I still have) I have lots of e-mails to prove that I'm the real owner of my Wikipedia Username.

Domingos Soares Neto (Domingos)

Unfortunately, if you no longer have access to the email account you registered, the system is unable to give you your password. Nobody has the information for your account, so being able to prove your identity won't do any good, unfortunately. If you think you can remember what your user name was, you can try searching for it at Special:Listusers, but if you cannot remember the password, you will have to create a new account. Once you have done so, you can leave a note on your old account's user page noting that it is/was you. Hersfold ^(t/a/c) 21:43, 9 October 2007 (UTC)

I guess the user is User:Domingos. If you have an idea what the old password may be then note that it should still work after you have clicked "E-mail new Password" but not used the new password. PrimeHunter 23:29, 9 October 2007 (UTC)

Yes, that's true. Your old password will still work. Raven4x4x 02:15, 10 October 2007 (UTC)

Login problems

Hi, I am a registered user but forgot my password. But I cannot let me send a new password because my registered email address doesn't work anymore. I have to change my email address ... but I cannot login.

Best regards Thg

Hello. If you forgot your password and that we are unable to send you a new one, you have to create a new one I'm afraid. Unless you provided a SHA committed identity on your user page. Did you? Friendly. Martial BACQUET 22:02, 9 October 2007 (UTC)

Hello, I'm not sure what SHA is, so probably not. If I create a new account, can I then rename it into my old name? I don't want to loose my name, since I am registered with it on two other wikipedia language sites. Isn't it easier, I send to some wiki official my new email to replace the old one? But to whom?

Only you can edit from your account with your password. A 'wiki official' (admin) can't change your e-mail address for you in your account. ~ Bella Swan 22:32, 9 October 2007 (UTC)

Who can I contact ?

Who can I contact to tell them that the original author gave explicit permission to use her work on wikipedia and it is NOT an infringement of copyright!76.103.217.38 21:59, 9 October 2007 (UTC)

page is Alamo, CA

Steve

I don't see any problems on the page, was it an image that you were talking about or something else? I checked all the images on the page and none of them seem to have problems. ~ Bella Swan 22:03, 9 October 2007 (UTC)

There's a tagged section on the page. I'll answer on the user's talk page --h2g2bob (talk) 01:36, 10 October 2007 (UTC)

adding an article about myself

Hello A number of authors with a particular publishing company have been waiting for our publicist to enter articles for each of us in Wikipedia. So far she has not done so. We wondered if we could do the articles ourselves. Is this possible?

Technically yes (though it is strongly discouraged), however, you need to make sure each subject's article is notable, written according to the manual of style, has a neutral point of view, does not create a conflict of interest**, and follows all of our policies. Most importantly, see Wikipedia:Autobiography. If you want an article about yourself, I suggest you wait for them to be written by your publicist. Though I could be wrong. SmileToday☺(talk to me , My edits) 22:46, 9 October 2007 (UTC)

And be aware that your publicist is just as bound by the strictures of our conflict of interest rules as you are yourselves. --Orange Mike 01:18, 11 October 2007 (UTC)