Wikipedia:Help desk/Archives/2008 March 21

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March 21[edit]

The Bolles-Brendamour Company[edit]

I recently acquired a bicycle headtube badge with this company's name on it. It was a sporting goods business in the 1920's and '30's in Cincinati,Ohio. I am looking for more information on the company and the bicycles they sold. I would imagine the bikes were built by Schwinn or another company and rebadged when sold at the sporting goods store. Anyone know of or have ever seen a bike with the Bolles-Brendamour name on it?

The Help desk is for questions about Wikipedia itself. Try the Reference desk instead. Good luck! --Tkynerd (talk) 00:03, 21 March 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Editing a page[edit]

Hey i want to add a person to notable alumni list for South Pasadena High School but don't want to have it considered vandalism . do i just write it in there or do i need to show something to prove it

It would probably be best to add some documentation showing why the person is notable (unless it's obvious), and that they did go to the school. Best, --Bfigura (talk) 00:40, 21 March 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Merely adding a name to an article such as you intend should/would never be considered vandalism. Remember to be bold. Wisdom89 (T / C) 01:03, 21 March 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Quite correct. Add sources if you have them, or can get them easily, but otherwise, don't worry about it. Cheers, --Bfigura (talk) 01:06, 21 March 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Many non-notable people are added to lists of "notable" alumni of schools or inhabitants of places, probably often by themselves or their personal acquaintances. If they don't have an article or a verifiable assertion of notability then they are often removed quickly. And many names are so common that you cannot even guess who it's supposed to be. PrimeHunter (talk) 02:23, 21 March 2008 (UTC)[reply]
See Wikipedia:WikiProject Schools which among other things says: "Notable alumni — Provide a bulleted list of notable alumni with a short description to explain why they are famous. Alumni without their own Wiki articles should always have third-party references." PrimeHunter (talk) 02:29, 21 March 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Problem bolding[edit]

I am having a problem bolding the name Stewart Shining in his article.--TonyTheTiger (t/c/bio/WP:CHICAGO/WP:LOTD) 05:03, 21 March 2008 (UTC)[reply]

You had an extra apostrophe with Sports Illustrated. --CWY2190TC 05:06, 21 March 2008 (UTC)[reply]

copyright tag for mug shot[edit]

what kind of copy right tag would i need for a booking photo from jail ?

05:23, 21 March 2008 (UTC)

{{Non-free fair use in|name of article }} probably. More help can be found here.— Ѕandahl 05:32, 21 March 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Incorrect. Many images taken by government employees are considered to be in the public domain. See Image:Larry Craig mugshot.jpg for one example.--The Fat Man Who Never Came Back (talk) 05:46, 21 March 2008 (UTC)[reply]
I don't mean to contradict but I believe that is not always true see Image:Waynegacy.jpg. Sorry to say I ran across this one awhile back and noticed the copyright tag.— Ѕandahl 05:51, 21 March 2008 (UTC)[reply]
I suspect that when the booking Police Department can be clearly identified, we can make a case for the image being in the public domain. Here are a few celebrity mug shots with Public Domain tags:
--The Fat Man Who Never Came Back (talk) 06:00, 21 March 2008 (UTC)[reply]
The first two (Nicole & Paris) are from the L.A. county sheriff's office which releases to the public domain , Gotti is a federal mugshot, Brown, the source is about.com. Perhaps someone who is expert on image policy could say for sure and we don't know which image the user is asking about.— Ѕandahl 06:18, 21 March 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Actually we do a page on that Template:Non-free mugshot.— Ѕandahl 06:25, 21 March 2008 (UTC)[reply]

its the mugshot of jonsboro shooter mitchell johnson after his latest arrest.Sickero (talk) 08:59, 22 March 2008 (UTC) its on the page already[reply]

Delete an article[edit]

i created a page defining a term "Straight Bat",now its put up for Speedy Deletion. Should i be deleting(if yes,how) or will the Admins do it?

I don't know anything about Cricket, but the proper thing to do would be to merge the article into the appropriate Cricket article, such as batsman, and then replace Straight bat with a redirect (#REDIRECT[[Batsman]]) Mac Davis (talk) 07:06, 21 March 2008 (UTC)[reply]
I have proposed to merge Straight Bat into Batting (cricket). Straight Bat is tiny so I only mentioned it on Talk:Batting (cricket) for now and not on Batting (cricket). PrimeHunter (talk) 16:53, 21 March 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Due to a sockpuppet/vandal, the Lost TV Series article has been moved to a nonsense type of name article. I don't know how to change it back to its proper name. ----Ðysepsion † Speak your mind 06:28, 21 March 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Somebody please let me know what the hell is going on over there, after it's over. 07:08, 21 March 2008 (UTC)
Thanks for the alert. The vandalism has been unwound, the vandal blocked and the article semi-protected (just reporting, not by me).--Fuhghettaboutit (talk) 10:56, 21 March 2008 (UTC)[reply]

My external link gets deleted by another user for his own selfish gains[edit]

Dear Sir/madam,

I have a question here to clarify on the inclusion of an external link on a page of Wikipedia. The user who deleted my link to my webpage claimed that the page in question is generic and filled with ads. The ads are adsense ads and related to the content. The content in that webpage is unique because the procedure described in the article was taught to me by a top ENT specialist who helped me recover from my illness. So I would like to share this with all who may visit Wikipedia on the related topic.

Is there a regulation in Wikipedia which says that relevant original content sites which happened to have adsense ads on it cannot have an external link placed?

This user who deleted my link did so for his own selfish interest because he has included his/her own generic website link also filled with adsense ads. It is a case of the pot calling the kettle black. So I too retaliated by doing the same, i.e., deleted his/her link as well.

If it is against the TOS of Wikipedia, I rest my case and will not insert my link anymore. However, if it is not, then I would like to find out how I can stop this vandal from deleting my link time and again.

I would be very happy if you could clarify if I have done something against the TOS of Wikipedia.

Warmest regards,

Marcus—Preceding unsigned comment added by Sgomnipotent (talkcontribs)

Our guidelines for external links are pretty strict; neither your link nor several of the others that were there met these standards, so they've been deleted. Wikipedia is not a directory of links. Generally, neither you nor anybody with a financial interest in a website (yes, that includes AdSense ads) should be adding links to that website; we call that "spamming" and don't take kindly to it. --Orange Mike | Talk 15:19, 21 March 2008 (UTC)[reply]

History on NAFTA creditng stating NAFTA was the #1 priority under Clinton's admin. changed[edit]

The history on NAFTA has been recently changed. Seems the changes were made very quickly when Senator Obama raised issue with Senator Clinton's political campaign rhetoric that she oppossed NAFTA. A few days ago the history stated NAFTA was the #1 priority in Clinton's administration. The language has been conveniently changed and I would like to know how readers can locate "who" changed the "language" within the past several weeks and "how to reinsert the language" or the process in "debating" the change with the person "who" changed the history of NAFTA in a convenient manner after the information had been on site for years.

I would like to how acquire a reprint of the language as it stood prior to the recent changes.

The fact that changes were "quickly" made and the #1 priority language in the original document indicate the changes are strictly political expediency as can now be documented with the release of Mrs. Clintons log book.

Thank you.

Thank you.

If you want to know who made what edit to the article, you can click on the History tab located at the top of the page. You will see all edits made to the article there. When you click 'diff' on the left, you can see what was changed in a specific edit. AecisBrievenbus 15:15, 21 March 2008 (UTC)[reply]
I looked at some old revisions of North American Free Trade Agreement and didn't find a claim that NAFTA was the #1 priority in Clinton's administration. The examined revisions said the same as the current: "In the United States, NAFTA was able to secure passage after Bill Clinton made its passage a major legislative priority in 1993." PrimeHunter (talk) 16:34, 21 March 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Skrewdriver article[edit]

this article seems to have a biased point of view, that of a white nationalist. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Sickero (talkcontribs)

The band had a biased point of view; the article seems to do a pretty good job of impartially describing what they stood for (scummy though that may have been). --Orange Mike | Talk 15:24, 21 March 2008 (UTC)[reply]

User Name[edit]

How can i change my user name, whilst still being seen as the author of any pages i have created?

See Wikipedia:Changing username. Dismas|(talk) 11:42, 21 March 2008 (UTC)[reply]

changes to page[edit]

hi,

i made some changes to the page http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guy_Verhofstadt stating a more realistic image of this person. yet, i do not see the changes. (21 march 2008, from this ip).

how can i make this permanent, since most information on the page (as it was) is simply half-truth. many of his "good" things (eg: "generation pact") are in fact verry, verry bad and this should be stated. under verhofstadt we lost most of our prestige and wealth, things that we feel today. as 24% of the population can not pay their medical expeses (and others).

what did i do wrong? i simply try to get the truth out there, since this guy is really, really NOT who he seems to be on the current wikipedia page. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 81.243.25.190 (talk)

<email deleted for privacy>

You edits were reverted per WP:NPOV and WP:OR. George D. Watson (Dendodge).TalkHelp 12:55, 21 March 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Hi, please sign future edits by typing four tildes (~~~~) after your post. As articles can be edited by anyone on Wikipedia. Edits are only permanent until they are edited again (if you get what I mean)...It seem your edit contained too much of your own point of view. For wikipedia guidelines on this subject see WP:POV. Happy editing --Camaeron (t/c) 12:57, 21 March 2008 (UTC)[reply]
From Wikipedia:Verifiability: "The threshold for inclusion in Wikipedia is verifiability, not truth. "Verifiable" in this context means that readers should be able to check that material added to Wikipedia has already been published by a reliable source. Editors should provide a reliable source for quotations and for any material that is challenged or is likely to be challenged, or it may be removed."
Your edits might have been true but that is almost irrelevant. What matters is whether the facts are referenced and verifiable through reliable sources. If you add true facts without any reliable sources then your edits likely will be removed. If someone else adds facts that you know are false, but are supported by references to reliable sources, then you cannot delete them. So go find reliable sources for all of your edits and add them as references. Sbowers3 (talk) 13:56, 21 March 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Also note Wikipedia:Biographies of living persons which is especially strict about unsourced negative claims. Do not add them again. PrimeHunter (talk) 16:19, 21 March 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Edits[edit]

I made some changes to an Article, but I was wondering if I really need to put a "reference" next to it. It really looks ugly having all those (litte tiny numbers), next to it. after the sentence. please respond.!!! Thank you!! Dwilso (talk) 13:14, 21 March 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Information put into an article must be verifiable. We evidence that by putting in citations to reliable sources. Those "ugly little numbers" are the price we pay for verifiability. --Orange Mike | Talk 13:21, 21 March 2008 (UTC)[reply]
It might help if you gave a diff of the article in question, so we could give some more specific advice. If you have introduced new facts to the article, then yes, you should cite a source. If you do not, somebody may well put a [citation needed] tag on it. If you do not have a source you can cite, then you might want to consider doing that yourself if there is any possibility that the fact could be disputed. On the other hand, if you have not introduced any new facts, that is, you are copy editing for style, readability etc., then there is no requirement for references. Note that it also acceptable to add a reference at the bottom without it appearing "in-line". For instance, if you have used a source for general background and it is not specific to any one sentence. SpinningSpark 15:28, 21 March 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Oggcodecs: Help in getting this to work.[edit]

I have carefully read all the instructions on how to get WikiPedia to play the sound files.

I've cleared out the earlier file for the Ogg executable and downloaded the stable executable file...

oggcondecs_0.71.0946.exe

...then opened the file and watched as it was installed. All of which looks perfectly normal each and every time I've tried to do this over a couple of years.

The thing is how does one get the WikiPedia sound files to play?

I've just double clicked on what looks like the proper blue link on the screen. When I do that all that happens is that I am directed to the install the above file again.

I feel sure that where I'm going wrong is something too simple for words and have avoided sending this cry for help on this matter for that reason. However, I give in. It has me beaten and I need some directions. My computer o/s is XP + SP2 and has all of the latest upgrades. While I'm no expert in IT matters I don't have bother installing applications and such.

I use Real Player and all of that works fine.

Regard, Harry Sigerson.

VLC media player. George D. Watson (Dendodge).TalkHelp 20:30, 21 March 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Download it here: [1]. George D. Watson (Dendodge).TalkHelp 20:31, 21 March 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Edit reverted[edit]

I wrote on this book what was printed on the back of the book itself and apperantly this was a problem why? —Preceding unsigned comment added by Johan1954 (talkcontribs)

Do you mean you created an article that repeated what was on the back of this book? If so that's a copyright violation, and since you wrote it, a potential conflict of interest. Wisdom89 (T / C) 15:05, 21 March 2008 (UTC)[reply]
The article 79 Park Avenue (novel) was speedy deleted because it was seen as blatant advertising for the book. If you disagree with this, you may request a deletion review. If you need help with this, you can leave me a message on my talk page. If the subject is notable enough for a Wikipedia and you can write a neutral article showing how the book is notable, you can be bold and create a new article. But if you are indeed the author of the book, as Wisdom89 suggests, it would be best to wait until someone else comes along to write an article about the book. AecisBrievenbus 15:12, 21 March 2008 (UTC)[reply]
The "article" was a simple repetition of the back-cover blurb from the paperback edition; that's certainly going to be spammy enough to trigger deletion (and of course, it was a copyright violation as well). --Orange Mike | Talk 15:15, 21 March 2008 (UTC)[reply]

italic font problem[edit]

For some reason, all type in an italic font on Wikipedia appears on my screen using letters which appear 2 characters earlier in the alphabet. e.g. the word 'editor' appears as 'cbgrmp'.

I'm using an Apple Mac OSX (v10.4.11).

How can I correct this? Thank you.

Column3

  • Seems like a browser issue. However you can ask over at WP:VPT which deals with technical problems. GtstrickyTalk or C 17:19, 21 March 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Yes thanks - was using Safari, but seems OK using Firefox. I'll check out font encoding on Safari.

Share marketing[edit]

Hi I want to invest share, In which company share is best and tell me something about share market.

This is the help desk for using the encyclopedia Wikipedia. We have encyclopedic articles like stock market but we don't give investment advice. And anybody with Internet access can reply so I wouldn't trust my money with the answers anyway. PrimeHunter (talk) 16:03, 21 March 2008 (UTC)[reply]
This page is for offering assistance to users with basic wikipedia operation. You may want to try your question at the reference desk. Wisdom89 (T / C) 16:01, 21 March 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Policicy changes at methodone clinics.[edit]

Dear Wikipedia, <personal plea removed>

Very Sincerily, Thomas Urso <email removed>

I am sorry, but Wikipedia is not a place to promote your views, and the Help Desk is for asking questions about using Wikpedia only. -- Kesh (talk) 16:06, 21 March 2008 (UTC)[reply]

H. P. Grice not listed as "Alumni of Corpus Christi", Oxford[edit]

H. P. Grice not listed as 'Alumni of Corpus Christi', Oxford.

Dear Editors of Wikipedia,


I'm researching on H. P. Grice and would think his 'pride and joy' was to have been a Scholar of Corpus Christi, Oxford. However, the wikipedia entry does not mention this. I wonder if you could redirect this to someone who may be able to add that information?

Thanks,

J. L. Speranza, Esq. <personal info removed> — Preceding unsigned comment added by 76.28.29.129 (talk)

What is the exact name of the page you would like to be changed? Corpus Christi College, Oxford#Notable former students and fellows lists Paul Grice = H. P. Grice. PrimeHunter (talk) 17:44, 21 March 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Adding An Article to a Disambiguation[edit]

I want to write an article on something but there are multiple articles with the same name and I have no idea on how to add a new article to those disambiguations. Please help me.

~AnGel~ —Preceding unsigned comment added by Angellust (talkcontribs)

  • Create the article and name it with an identifier ie John Doe (singer) or John Doe (artist). Once the page is created it can be added to a disambiguation page for the name. GtstrickyTalk or C 17:22, 21 March 2008 (UTC)[reply]
If you say the wanted name and what the subject is then we may be able to give more precise advice. PrimeHunter (talk) 17:47, 21 March 2008 (UTC)[reply]

mouseover problems[edit]

I am not sure if my monobook has been corrupted. Now, when I do a mouseover on footnotes it no longer enables me to read them. Instead, I see links like Midway Airport#cite_note-Mdcfshot.--TonyTheTiger (t/c/bio/WP:CHICAGO/WP:LOTD) 18:44, 21 March 2008 (UTC)[reply]

I guess that by "my monobook" you mean:
since nothing else at Special:Prefixindex?namespace=2&from=TonyTheTiger looks promising. I have no idea about the problem you report, but you could try these general troubleshooting steps:
--Teratornis (talk) 19:16, 21 March 2008 (UTC)[reply]
My monobook was recently corrupted and refreshing several times fixed it. Try that. George D. Watson (Dendodge).TalkHelp 20:27, 21 March 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Try clearing your web browser's cache --h2g2bob (talk) 23:07, 21 March 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Purge, clicking that might fix it. George D. Watson (Dendodge).TalkHelp 16:04, 22 March 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Translation of sources[edit]

Resolved

If a source that is wanted for an article is not in English, say it is a German magazine or a Spanish newspaper or a Russian book, does it have to be available in a translation in order to cite it as a source?

If so, who counts as a "reliable source" for a translation?

Thanks, Wanderer57 (talk) 18:58, 21 March 2008 (UTC)[reply]

We assume good faith in translations. The standards, otherwise, are as for an English-language source. --Orange Mike | Talk 19:12, 21 March 2008 (UTC)[reply]
See WP:RSUE. --Teratornis (talk) 19:22, 21 March 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Visitors[edit]

Resolved

How do i find out how many people have visited a certain page?

You could use this site as it records Wikipedia's article traffic statistics. AngelOfSadness talk 19:38, 21 March 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Top contributors to this page[edit]

Resolved

Per link, the Help desk has had 104973 edits to date. Here are the top non-bot contributors by number of posts:

  1. MacGyverMagic 2963
  2. Teratornis 2410
  3. PrimeHunter 2312
  4. Fuhghettaboutit 1380
  5. Notinasnaid 1121
  6. Dismas 1065
  7. Ais523 1010
  8. Lostintherush 937
  9. Hersfold 807
  10. Leebo 664
  11. Rick Block 658
  12. Adrian M. H. 623
  13. Kesh 575

Compare to:

--Teratornis (talk) 20:21, 21 March 2008 (UTC)[reply]

I'm coming for you! PrimeHunter (talk) 00:21, 22 March 2008 (UTC)[reply]
I had considered suggesting you need a wikibreak. You know, take some time off, recharge your batteries, and let me get a few hundred edits ahead. Actually the above rankings overstate my tenuous hold on second place since I have more edits marked "minor" on the Help desk than you do. All seriousness aside, I'd like to commend all the Help desk volunteers for making this thing work. I also thank all the users who wrote the help pages and other tools we use to answer questions. Even though the Help desk is still somewhat difficult for very new users (a little bit of wikitext editing is necessary just to ask a question), it looks to me like we do a pretty good job of answering even the most obscure questions rather quickly, and that's very good for the project as a whole. --Teratornis (talk) 02:40, 22 March 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Holy crap, I'm actually in the top 20? -- Kesh (talk) 02:46, 22 March 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Mystery: New article is first search result in Google, now result does not appear at all.[edit]

Greetings,

Our article came up first in Google searches, now it does not come up at any ranking. It's completely gone.

I realize this question has to do with a Google search result, but I'm wondering this:

Can the way an entry is edited impact Google's treatment of the article?

We created a new article for Fay Chung.

Within 24 hours, a Google search for "Fay Chung" resulted in the article above coming up first.

Now, it does not come up at all. Anywhere. It disappeared. Even if wikipedia.org is searched specifically using "site:wikipedia.org", her entry does not appear. Other entries with her name do, but not hers.

Now, there were some edits back and forth on her name, and other edits, naturally, but is there something we did that might have caused Google to ignore it completely?

I'm posting a similar question at Google.

Thank you!

69.86.112.236 (talk) 20:21, 21 March 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Hi, nothing wrong with the articles, google has several search algorithms, so when you made it, they used algorithm X, now a few days later they changed to algorithm Y which is maybe more sensitive to new articles, in a few days or weeks, most if the algorithms will accept the new article, best thing is to be patience. CheersMion (talk) 20:28, 21 March 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Thank you. Seems reasonable. But I'd understand better if the article dropped 10 places in the search. But it's simply gone.
Please don't name, rename or edit articles to get better Google placement - and don't formulate them to advertise for politicians who are on election in a week. I have removed some of the unsourced advertising [2] but the article still seems far from Wikipedia:Neutral point of view. It doesn't have a single negative word about her and could use work from somebody who knows the topic better. PrimeHunter (talk) 23:54, 21 March 2008 (UTC)[reply]
OK, thank you. There also may be an answer to my question in there, but I'm not sure. The article was coming up first in a Google search for "Fay Chung", so the edits had nothing to do with getting better Google placement. Primehunter takes us to task for naming/renaming for better Google placement. Whether that was our intent or not, if Google also thought we were trying to get better placement, would it penalize us by eliminating the search result entirely? If yes, does anyone know for how long it's banished? Thank you! --Pelety (talk) 19:13, 22 March 2008 (UTC)[reply]
I currently get the article in Google on Fay Chung Wikipedia but it's either missing or way down without Wikipedia in the search. I don't know why and I don't speculate about Google hits on pages I edit. That you do gives a hint that you want people (like Zimbabwean voters maybe) to see this piece of political advertising instead of other information when they search information about her. That's not really the idea of Wikipedia. PrimeHunter (talk) 22:18, 22 March 2008 (UTC)[reply]

problems with reflist. citations at University of California, Riverside[edit]

Resolved

Hi, I don't know if I can describe this problem correctly, but I added some citations to this article today, and when I click the in-text cite link it redirects me to another reference in in reflist. Refs 80, 105 and 106 are giving me this problem specifically. As far as i can tell, the refs are formatted correctly. Please help. Thanks, Ameriquedialectics 20:25, 21 March 2008 (UTC)[reply]

That's puzzling. I looked at WP:FOOT to see if it has any clues. WP:FOOT#Style recommendations warns against using ref tags within transcluded templates. I notice that the {{Infobox University}} in the article has a bunch of footnotes in it. You might read the warnings in WP:FOOT#Style recommendations and follow the links therefrom to the illustrative examples, and see if any of that applies to the University of California, Riverside article. Be aware that when it comes to markup problems, the problem that you see on a page is not necessarily close to the actual markup code problem. That is, an error on one part of a page can manifest itself in some other seemingly unrelated part of the page. Tracking down the exact location of such an error can sometimes be maddening. You might need to copy the article to a user subpage, and try simplifying it by cutting out sections of the article until the error goes away. That is, if the references that generate incorrect footnote numbers in the article work correctly on a user subpage that contains only, say, a few sections of the article, then you can be fairly sure nothing is wrong with the footnotes themselves. Something else on the page is messing them up. For example, maybe those footnotes in the {{Infobox University}}. --Teratornis (talk) 21:22, 21 March 2008 (UTC)[reply]
WP:FOOT#Style recommendations seems to be talking about references that are actually within a template, rather than references one passes to a template. Either way, you might try making a subpage copy of the article, and see if deleting all the templates from the subpage copy causes the remaining references to number correctly. --Teratornis (talk) 21:31, 21 March 2008 (UTC)[reply]

ah, yes ... now that you all remind me, have seen that very problem before, and Gimmetrow (talk · contribs) knows how to fix it ... will ping him. SandyGeorgia (Talk) 21:44, 21 March 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Not sure now ... that other problem is described here. That's not the same error at UCR. SandyGeorgia (Talk) 21:47, 21 March 2008 (UTC)[reply]
I give up; I left a note for Gimmetrow (talk · contribs). The first broken ref is number six, in the infobox. SandyGeorgia (Talk) 22:03, 21 March 2008 (UTC)[reply]
It appears to be a global issue, the report at the village pump is here. -- ReyBrujo (talk) 22:25, 21 March 2008 (UTC)[reply]

I just fixed a pile of formatting errors in the ref tags and they seem to working fine now (the names in ref tags should be quoted). Take a look and see if you are still seeing errors. - AWeenieMan (talk) 22:46, 21 March 2008 (UTC)[reply]

There was a bug in the code, which is now fixed, so everything should be working again -Steve Sanbeg (talk) 22:50, 21 March 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Many thanks to all who responded. Ameriquedialectics 20:57, 22 March 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Vaccine controversy[edit]

Resolved

I edited this page adding to the the headings of safety and individual liberty. I have sources for all information added and cited these sources as well. They are now gone in less than 4 hours. Please advise.--Amberhenderson63 (talk) 20:29, 21 March 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Your edits were probably reverted. George D. Watson (Dendodge).TalkHelp 20:33, 21 March 2008 (UTC)[reply]
They were reverted by User:Hardyplants with the edit summary 'are you sure this is what the refs say????' Algebraist 20:44, 21 March 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Your edit was incorrect. The government settled the case, but did not agree that the vaccine caused her autism. They agreed that the vaccination likely aggravated a pre-existing condition (encephalopathy, if I remember correctly). The autism developed later as a symptom of that condition. -- Kesh (talk) 22:32, 21 March 2008 (UTC)[reply]

How do you get a picture deleted?[edit]

need to know how Talk

Which image is it that you want deleted? - Milk's Favorite Cookie 20:41, 21 March 2008 (UTC)[reply]
(edit conflict) Tag it as MfD using a relevant template. George D. Watson (Dendodge).TalkHelp 20:42, 21 March 2008 (UTC)[reply]
              HN99CcarasC 4xCleanGrl.jpg
It should be deleted shortly. - Milk's Favorite Cookie 20:44, 21 March 2008 (UTC)[reply]


  • you agree it should be deleted
Why should it be deleted? It's been IfDed with the reason 'Has no reason to be on wikipedia', but it's not on Wikipedia. It's on Wikimedia commons. Algebraist 21:19, 21 March 2008 (UTC)[reply]

well wikipedia owns all of them, and I need help and this was the only place I knew to get help> I am a new wikipedian

Wikipedia does not own all of them (they're owned by the Wikimedia Foundation). If you want help on commons, you could try the commons help desk. Algebraist 21:47, 21 March 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Editcountitis[edit]

Resolved

Is there a way to see who has the most edits on a particular article? Clarityfiend (talk) 20:55, 21 March 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Yes. See WP:WPEC. Algebraist 21:10, 21 March 2008 (UTC)[reply]
The WikiDashboard is the one your probably want - see the results for Barack Obama, for example, here. I believe the data is slightly out-of-date, though. x42bn6 Talk Mess 03:35, 22 March 2008 (UTC)[reply]
WikiDashboard seems to be very much out-of-date, at least as far as Casablanca (film) is concerned, but it confirms what I suspected. I am the edit king of that article. Thanks. Clarityfiend (talk) 04:49, 22 March 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Watchlist preferences[edit]

Resolved

Hi. Could someone please ask the developers to modify the watchlist preference "Add pages I create to my watchlist" so that only article pages are watched? Most of the time I "create" a user talk page when I leave a comment for a new user, and I don't want to watch them. Thanks. Imagine Reason (talk) 21:47, 21 March 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Hi there. To request changes to the MediaWiki interface in Wikipedia, you can leave a note at Wikipedia:Village Pump (technical). Developers check it often to see what they can do to help. Cheers! -- ReyBrujo (talk) 22:49, 21 March 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Ferdinand A Brader edit[edit]

I've been building the article on Ferdinand A. Brader.

Somehow, he has become a "European artist"

Although he was born in Switzerland, no works by him done in Switzerland or any other part of Europe are know.

Only works he did after imigrating to the US in or around 1870 are know. He worked in the states through 1895 than seemingly vanished.

How can I get him listed as an american artist?

Thanks,

Darwin

[[Category:American artists]] is what you should add him to. George D. Watson (Dendodge).TalkHelp 22:53, 21 March 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Ferdinand A. Brader was added to Category:European artist stubs by placing {{Euro-artist-stub}} in the article. See also Help:Category. PrimeHunter (talk) 23:10, 21 March 2008 (UTC)[reply]
(ec x 2) Hi there. The article is categorized that way because it includes the {{euro-artist-stub}}. I am not sure, but I think it is classified that way because he was born in Europe, regardless of where he may have produced his works. Maybe you could edit the talk page of the article, creating a new section (just like you did here) to ask if it is fine to use the {{US-artist-stub}} instead of the European one. However, as I said, I am almost sure it is due his place of birth and not his adopted country. Cheers! -- ReyBrujo (talk) 23:11, 21 March 2008 (UTC)[reply]

List of accounts?[edit]

Resolved

Is there a list of account names? I'm curious (on sock-watch, actually).Gladys J Cortez 22:40, 21 March 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Special:ListUsers could be. -- ReyBrujo (talk) 22:43, 21 March 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Also, the user creation log is at Special:Log/newusers --h2g2bob (talk) 22:55, 21 March 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Thanks!Gladys J Cortez 23:15, 21 March 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Edit page info not showing up on main article[edit]

Resolved

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Forensic_entomology:_schools_and_organizations

This page has all the information on the edit page, but when looking at the main article it jumps from the middle of one paragraph to the middle of another and does not show any of the content in between. Is there something wrong with the way the edit page is formatted, or any other suggestions to get the missing info on the main article. Lauren Kalns (talk) 22:42, 21 March 2008 (UTC)[reply]

A reference was broken (started but did not end). Already fixed. -- ReyBrujo (talk) 22:48, 21 March 2008 (UTC)[reply]

confirmation email again[edit]

Resolved

I could not get back to edit my question from the other day.

WP claims to send the confirmation email, but it has failed on two systems (including Yahoo). It is not in the spam filters, and I do not believe it was sent. I tried generating it multiple times from my preferences. Can I have an address to contact someone who can "git er dun"? Zaqry (talk) 23:20, 21 March 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Are you sure you set up your email in your Preferences? There's no one else who can change it for you.
If it is set up correctly, it can sometimes take a couple days for emails to reach you. It's not the most reliable communications method in the world. -- Kesh (talk) 23:31, 21 March 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Your former post is at Wikipedia:Help desk/Archives/2008 March 17#confirmation email where I wrote that I got a confirmation mail immediately both at a Hotmail account and my normal account. If there is a spam filter or other problem blocking the confirmation mail then it may also block other mails. One of the ideas of the confirmation mail is that people can only set an address where they at least once were able to receive mail and react. PrimeHunter (talk) 00:12, 22 March 2008 (UTC)[reply]

As I said the confirmation email is not in the spam filters (would not resemble spam anyway). It is supposed to be sent immediately. I don't believe it is being sent. There is one place to tell where to send it and it appears very clear how to set it up. I will check one more idea. For now, I don't believe it is being sent.

Ok, its resolved. The first email system had an unknown problem, and I think the switch to yahoo requiring an intermittent save step that I did not notice.

Glad it worked for you! Also, please remember to sign your comments by typing four ~ symbols at the end. -- Kesh (talk) 13:04, 22 March 2008 (UTC)[reply]