Wikipedia:Help desk/Archives/2008 May 5

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May 5

oops...

Resolved

I was making changes to one of my subpages, and accedently created a new template. Where can I go to get this deleted? Thanks! You're dreaming eh? 00:11, 5 May 2008 (UTC)

Tag it with {{db-author}}...... Dendodge.Talk^Help 00:13, 5 May 2008 (UTC)

 Done by TenPoundHammer, deleted immediately...... Dendodge.Talk^Help 00:18, 5 May 2008 (UTC)

Admin

1. . Have any admins ever been vandals before they became admins?
2. . There are many admins whose only interest in life is...well, their adminship. Interactive Fiction Expert/Talk to me 07:52, 5 May 2008 (UTC)

I don't know of any, but please do not make statements like "...admins whose only interest in life is...well, their adminship". It can be seen as quite offensive, especially as adminship is no big deal and we're all working on a volunteer project. But anyway, rant over. :) Also, please note that this page is for asking questions about using Wikipedia only, and that this question should ideally go to Wikipedia talk:Administrators. Thanks, PeterSymonds | talk 08:00, 5 May 2008 (UTC)

See Wikipedia:Help desk/Archives/2008 April 15#Vandals who become good editors. PrimeHunter (talk) 09:34, 5 May 2008 (UTC)

Wikipedia certainly has to be a major interest in one's life, if one is going to become much good at editing on Wikipedia, and avoid most edit warring and content disputes. People who don't care much about learning Wikipedia are unlikely to get far beyond correcting simple typos in articles. In any case, I'm proud of my obsession with Wikipedia, and such knowledge and skill as I may have gained thus far, because I'm largely convinced that Wikipedia illustrates the future of work. (Soapbox ON) In light of peak oil and the ongoing oil price increases since 2003, the cost of physical transportation fueled by petroleum continues to rise, and may rise catastrophically over the next several years as world petroleum extraction falls ever-farther behind demand. Simultaneously, Moore's law continuously reduces the cost of moving information over wires. Wikipedia is one of the most successful examples of remote collaboration yet invented. Therefore, the more one learns about how to function effectively on Wikipedia, the more one prepares to maintain productive employment in the near future, when personal travel is likely to decrease drastically. (I.e., when people who think they have to fly and drive all around to physically meet with customers and coworkers to get things done begin losing out to competitors who figure out how to move the same information over wires.) Wikipedia itself will not be a general-purpose platform for telecommuting, but Wikipedia is excellent for learning how to use wiki software, and the skills carry over directly to corporate wikis. I apologize for my wildly POV digression, but I felt an overwhelming urge to advise other Wikipedians to be as proud of their obsession as I am - I'm certain as day this is not all a complete waste of time, and it shouldn't be long before the people who mock us will be begging us to teach them. Move bits, not bodies! (Soapbox OFF) --Teratornis (talk) 16:44, 5 May 2008 (UTC)

GMT

Resolved

Why does Wikipedia use GMT? Why doesn't it use the timezone in which its headquarters are located? This is basically two questions, just so you know. Interactive Fiction Expert/Talk to me 12:08, 5 May 2008 (UTC)

It uses UTC, so the time in watchlists etc will be different in other time zones. We see it in GMT, but a North American will see it in the Pacific Time Zone or another (I think there are seven or something). PeterSymonds | talk 12:11, 5 May 2008 (UTC)

(ec) It doesn't use GMT, it uses UTC, which is not quite the same. UTC is convenient for a global presence, as time-zones are defined in relation to UTC, and it is independent of any move of headquarters. DuncanHill (talk) 12:12, 5 May 2008 (UTC)

Explain weather Dev can rely on EC law to claim the seven-day study period he wants to take ?

Moved to WP:Reference desk/Humanities. Please remember that this page is for asking questions about how to use Wikipedia. Thanks, PeterSymonds | talk 13:17, 5 May 2008 (UTC)

Why I can not post a link to Privatebanking.com portal on "Private Banking" page?

Dear Wikipedia,

I do not insert advertising or spam, I merely point out where to find more resources about private banking , similarly to Euromoney that seems to get special treatment from you.

Could you please explain why the Euromoney links are fine on the "Private Banking" page, and the link to privatebanking.com portal which is more relevant and unbiased is not OK? Do I need to pay 'donate' for the link?

Please let me know and I will pursue this further according to your advise.

Sincerely

PBsam (talk) 13:44, 5 May 2008 (UTC)PBsam

That URL has been blacklisted by the spam filter, usually meaning someone was spamming links to that site. You can request it's removal here if you wish. Nobody can add the link while it is on the blacklist. Stwalkerster [ talk ] 13:54, 5 May 2008 (UTC)

Hello. Euromoney is a news website about banking, whereas privatebanking.com is a financial advice website which offers a service. That's the crucial difference, and that's why the privatebanking.com link is unacceptable. Please see WP:EL for more information. Thanks, PeterSymonds | talk 13:52, 5 May 2008 (UTC)

Dear Wikipedia,

I can’t agree with your assessment. Euromoney sells magazines, advertisement and a number of other services. The ads can be seen right on their landing page same as on privatebanking.com site. They do offer services in similar fashion as we do; hence if there is a difference it is that they offer a much larger palette of services than we do as Euromoney is a large corporation while we are a smaller company. We actually worked with Euromoeny with helping collect data for polls and promoting their seminars.

However; what we offer at no cost (and Euromoey does not) is the world’s largest database of private banking firms.

We believe that this is relevant to users seeking information in private banking and as mentioned this is offered at no cost whatsoever to the internet user.

To summarize, if you see no problem with Euromoney being linked there should definitely be no problem whttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Watchlist

My watchlistith a link to us.

Please I ask you to weigh these facts and reconsider.

Thank you.

PBsam (talk) 16:14, 5 May 2008 (UTC)PBsam

The issue of cost isn't really relevant. Wikipedia is not a vehicle for advertising, and all external links must comply without our policy on external linking. This site would appear to not pass item 14 of "Links normally to be avoided". Best, --Bfigura ^(talk) 17:06, 5 May 2008 (UTC)

Privatebanking.com is about advertising; it says so: "Toronto, Canada, privatebanking.com is the world’s most comprehensive internet portal, advertisement platform and social network medium for the private banking and wealth management industry." That is why it's in the blacklist. Euromoney is not an advertising platform, but a site devoted to financial news. PeterSymonds | talk 17:09, 5 May 2008 (UTC)

A lot of site guests have free access for a global search engine of private banks in the world. And we do not ask users to register or paid for this services. Site guests can access our database for free, and even can write a email to bank representatives for free. Yes, for banks it s paid service, but for standart site guests - all services are free. So we supposed that our link in Wikipedia will be very helpful for our site guests.

Thank you.

PBsam (talk) 17:23, 5 May 2008 (UTC)PBsam

Note This user has been indefinitely blocked as a sockpuppet

Shading columns in a table

I am familiar with shading rows and cells in a table. Are there commands for shading columns (at Jesse_Jackson,_Jr.#Election_Results)? I want it to look like Jim Bunning.--TonyTheTiger (t/c/bio/WP:CHICAGO/WP:LOTM) 13:51, 5 May 2008 (UTC)

Just shade every cell in the column, I'm not sure there is an easier way. -mattbuck (Talk) 00:21, 6 May 2008 (UTC)

Problem with an edit I made at the science reference desk

Resolved

Hi, I added on to a topic I created on the science reference desk called "Power to weight Ratio". After saving, only the first sentence appears at the bottom of the section, and it's bordered by a light-blue, dotted line. When I look at the edit section, my whole post is there, but not in the saved edit. What happened, and can someone fix it, please? Thanks so much for the help! MoeJade (talk) 14:00, 5 May 2008 (UTC)

Yeah, you'd indented with the spacebar; that's what created the problem. If you want to indent, use the colon :, and the more you want to indent, the more colons you use. For example:

:Hello ::Hello :::Hello ::::Hello (in columns)

renders:

Hello

Hello

Hello

Hello

Thanks, PeterSymonds | talk 14:06, 5 May 2008 (UTC)

O.k. Thanks for the quick reply! MoeJade (talk) 14:28, 5 May 2008 (UTC)

That's what we're here for. :) PeterSymonds | talk 14:31, 5 May 2008 (UTC)

Also see: Help:Editing and Help:Wikitext examples, in particular Help:Wikitext examples#Organizing your writing which shows examples of lists and indented paragraphs. And a side note to PeterSymonds, you can show your wikitext example a bit more clearly by indenting the first line so it preserves your line breaks, like this:

:Hello
::Hello
:::Hello
::::Hello

--Teratornis (talk) 16:52, 5 May 2008 (UTC)

Account

Resolved

Dear Wikipedia, I think someone is using my account because they have been changing things in my name, I don't like getting blamed for what I haven't done. Please could you resolve this problem as quickly as you can. signed, Greanak (talk) 14:29, 5 May 2008 (UTC)

Your userpage and user talk page is open to edits -- and vandalism, unfortunately -- from anyone. It doesn't mean your account is compromised, though. I'll keep an eye on it, but if you experience this again, either remove the content or undo it following the instructions in the link. Thanks, PeterSymonds | talk 14:57, 5 May 2008 (UTC)

I've blocked this account for vandalism. See the user's talk page if you're curious. The account may or may not have been hijacked, but whoever asked this particular question is the one doing the vandalizing, so this thread is just trolling. --barneca (talk) 15:01, 5 May 2008 (UTC)

Ah, okay, thanks Barneca. PeterSymonds | talk 15:02, 5 May 2008 (UTC)

MoS question - date range

Experienced editor here with a MoS question - is there a better venue to ask this? Let me know if so. Regarding this edit, where the editor changed the date range from "350-500,000 years" to "350,000-500,000 years". I've looked through the MoS for ten or fifteen minutes and can't find anything regarding this exact situation, either in the date section or number section. Anyone have any enlightenment for me? Tan | 39 14:51, 5 May 2008 (UTC)

Well, I have no concrete answer, but I should think the second one is correct. In the articles I write, it wouldn't be appropriate for me to list someone's date of birth and date of death like "1930–87", so I suppose in date forms the full form should be used. I suggest you go to WT:MOS and ask, but I'm pretty sure that's how it should be. PeterSymonds | talk 14:55, 5 May 2008 (UTC)

I would tend to agree that 350,000-500,000 would be more correct as its unambiguous. 350-500,000 could mean "(350 to 500)-thousand" or "(350) to (500,000)" -- ShinmaWa^(talk) 16:16, 5 May 2008 (UTC)

Featured Template

Resolved

I'm just wondering about this, because I havn't come across featured templates. So where can I find the highest standard for a template? TeePee-20.7 (talk) 14:56, 5 May 2008 (UTC)

Templates aren't given a quality rating I don't believe... The only things that are: are articles, lists, portals, media, and topics. There's certainly no place to nominate a template for a quality rating, anyway. Thanks, PeterSymonds | talk 15:07, 5 May 2008 (UTC)

Yeh I knew that because like I said I have never seen one which has been. But you still didn't answer the second part of my question. Is there a place where I can find the highest standard for a template? TeePee-20.7 (talk) 15:13, 5 May 2008 (UTC)

Oh, sorry, I thought you meant a list like WP:FA. In short, no, because there's no page listing the "best" templates on Wikipedia. You could ask at Wikipedia talk:Template namespace and see if they have an answer. Thanks, PeterSymonds | talk 15:37, 5 May 2008 (UTC)

...or if I've got it wrong again, and you're asking how to create a good template, here's a good link to Meta: [1]. Sorry, PeterSymonds | talk 15:39, 5 May 2008 (UTC)

Oh okay, well thankyou for your help. I also remembered another question I wanted to ask but I'm not sure if you would know it so hopefully there is someone in here that does. But the question I want to ask is: Do template or categories or anything else of similar nature also get reviewed in an article, when an article is being reviewed for feature status? TeePee-20.7 (talk) 15:47, 5 May 2008 (UTC)

I've written four so I should know. :) Basically the categories are checked, but not scrutinized. Obviously if there was a blatantly wrong category (eg. Category:Cars on Winston Churchill then there would be a problem. However, they aren't required to be alphabetised or anything. Templates are a bit like that too, and some editors object to too many templates (it's usually not a reason to oppose at FAC), but a balance is required, so they don't stand too prominently and thus taking something awa from the text. Thanks, PeterSymonds | talk 15:52, 5 May 2008 (UTC)

Oh okay, hmmmm I wonder why categories and templates don't recieve so much scruitiny. I think we should have a quality system setup for them aswell. Oh well, something else for the wikipedia community to think about in the future! BTW congrats on the FAs! :D TeePee-20.7 (talk) 16:08, 5 May 2008 (UTC)

See WP:EIW#Feature. In addition to featured articles, the Editor's index mentions featured lists, pictures, portals, and sounds. "Featured" suggests something we would show off to the world; since templates are rather arcane technical features of Wikipedia, the general public might have difficulty appreciating a template's excellence of coding. A template might impress members of the small community of template coders, but I'm not sure how much it would do for Joe Websurfer. We do have some barnstars that acknowledge the technical skill of the people who code templates. Thus an indirect measure of template's "quality" might be the number of barnstars conferred on people who worked on it, but obviously that falls well short of a quality evaluation of our templates generally, since the conferring of barnstars is up to the whim of individual users. --Teratornis (talk) 16:18, 5 May 2008 (UTC)

(outdent) Well, categories are just there for joining a set of articles together, so there doesn't need to be that much scrutiny. I agree about templates, though; I personally dislike them, especially too many of them, so maybe a "template review" can be established at some point. PeterSymonds | talk 16:11, 5 May 2008 (UTC)

Aright well thanks for your help, adios. TeePee-20.7 (talk) 16:20, 5 May 2008 (UTC)

tuberculosis

Moved to Wikipedia:Reference desk/Science. Please note that this page is for asking questions about using Wikipedia only. Thanks, PeterSymonds | talk 16:30, 5 May 2008 (UTC)

New Look

When I'm editing wikipedia, I feel that some operations are restricted. Any chance of a New Look Wikipedia? Britishrailclass91 (talk) 18:37, 5 May 2008 (UTC)

If you're referring to protection, we will sometimes protect pages from editing to resolve disputes or prevent vandalism. If that's not what you meant, but you have a suggestion for how we could improve, you may want to post it at the village pump, where the community at large can comment. Hersfold ^(t/a/c) 18:39, 5 May 2008 (UTC)

Redirect request

Resolved

Could someoen create C&C KW and redirect it to Command and conquer 3:Kane's wrath? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 193.120.116.179 (talk) 20:06, 5 May 2008 (UTC)

Hi, thanks for your interest. However, please request new articles at Wikipedia:Requested articles. You can also get an account to do write it yourself. Please note, though, that details and sources are required for your request to be fulfilled. If it's created, ask the creator to create the redirect for you. Thanks, PeterSymonds | talk 20:09, 5 May 2008 (UTC)

Right, sorry, gotcha. It was a typo so it looked like a non-existent article.  Done

I Would Like to Delete My Article

Resolved

How do I delete my own article, Estrella by newland?

MartzPR (talk) 22:50, 5 May 2008 (UTC)

Just type {{db-author}} on the page and an admin will delete it. Thingg^⊕⊗ 22:51, 5 May 2008 (UTC)

I Can't Use the Edit Toolbar

I visit the wikipedia by web proxy because of the Great Firewall of China. Only part of the icons are displayed but others are just X.

How can I solve this problem, by editting my Edittoole.js? --Siriudie (talk) 23:50, 5 May 2008 (UTC)

See Wikipedia:WikiProject on closed proxies - they have a list of proxies you can use, and they should work. Calvin 1998 ^(t-c) 23:59, 5 May 2008 (UTC)

That is pretty strange - I suppose you should try bypassing your cache, and trying again. Calvin 1998 ^(t-c) 00:10, 6 May 2008 (UTC)

I used Ctrl+F5 but it doesn't work. I think the problem is the URL of the icons. The URL of X such as bold button is "http://www.proksim.net/skins-1.5/common/images/button_bold.png", and "www.proksim.net" is the web proxy I used. The URL of correct icons such as Redirect button is "http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/c/c8/Button_redirect.png". I think it is the reason.--Siriudie (talk) 00:23, 6 May 2008 (UTC)

I think you are absolutely right, Siriudie. The broken icons from BOLD through HR are added via JavaScript like this:

addButton("/skins-1.5/common/images/button_bold.png","Bold text","\'\'\'","\'\'\'","Bold text","mw-editbutton-bold");

The other icons are added via another means. However, if I'm reading this correctly, your broken icons are part of the base page structure and not imported via monobook or any other user-edittable theme. You may have to bring this up at the technical village pump. -- ShinmaWa^(talk) 02:20, 6 May 2008 (UTC)