Wikipedia:Help desk/Archives/2009 August 24

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August 24[edit]

harry potter book order[edit]

I don't know where to report this, so, here I am. The list you have of the order of the Harry Potter books list "Harry Potter and the Philosophers Stone" is incorrect. The book is titled "Harry Potter and the SORCERER'S Stone". —Preceding unsigned comment added by Luvicebears2004 (talkcontribs) 00:30, 24 August 2009 (UTC)[reply]

The book was renamed for the United States. The name used is the original name where it was originally published. -- kainaw 00:32, 24 August 2009 (UTC)[reply]
See Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone. Apparently we Americans never heard of the philosopher's stone. ---— Gadget850 (Ed) talk 02:54, 24 August 2009 (UTC)[reply]

RE: experienced adminstrator available?[edit]

The following discussion is closed. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made in a new section.

I'm having a problem with my living biography page where a group is trying to discredit me through wikipedia.

How can I find an administrator to help?

I've contacted a couple of administrators who helped last time but have not yet heard back.

--Barbbiggs (talk) 02:06, 24 August 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Your edits came across as grandstanding.Please do not accuse people of attempting to discredit you. It is a simple case of trying to improve the encyclopedic value of Wikipedia and limit soapboxing. Any thoughts on the article from anyone (including admins if needed) are of course appreciated.Cptnono (talk) 02:17, 24 August 2009 (UTC)[reply]
This has been crossposted to WP:ANI. Lets keep the discussion in one location. Please make any comments at the same thread at WP:ANI rather than here. --Jayron32 02:24, 24 August 2009 (UTC)[reply]
The discussion above is closed. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page. No further edits should be made to this discussion.

What is up with the strange colouring of text....[edit]

In these articles? Tsuen_Wan_Station and West_Rail_Line?----occono (talk) 02:38, 24 August 2009 (UTC)[reply]

In the stations, the rail are colorized, so they portray it in the article. Encyclopedic? Not sure. Helpful? Indeed. –túrianpatois 02:41, 24 August 2009 (UTC)[reply]
I can't find how they did that in the Soucre though.----occono (talk) 02:43, 24 August 2009 (UTC)[reply]
{{HK-MTR_lines}}. –túrianpatois 02:44, 24 August 2009 (UTC)[reply]
Thanks.----occono (talk) 02:45, 24 August 2009 (UTC)[reply]
I like the idea of using the colours for the different lines, but the problem with using red is that it looks like the article it is linking to does not exist! -- PhantomSteve (Contact Me, My Contribs) 09:39, 24 August 2009 (UTC)[reply]
It's a different shade of red from the redlinks, but not much. Who then was a gentleman? (talk) 18:19, 25 August 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Deletion[edit]

I did an extensive re-edit on the "Puddle of Mudd" article with massive updates with many newly added external links and proper article headlines, punctuation and so on.

Someone deleted what took me over 4 hours. There was absolutly no reason whatsover on why that was done. They put the article back to it's disorginized impropper state.
How can I get my re-edits back? —Preceding unsigned comment added by IronArc1 (talkcontribs) 03:39, 24 August 2009 (UTC)[reply]
Discuss it with the other editor at Talk:Puddle of Mudd. —teb728 t c 05:00, 24 August 2009 (UTC)[reply]
It's usually better to make a few small changes to an article at a time, and wait for a few days to see how other editors react. Making lots of changes all at once without discussing them first is aggressive editing. There's nothing wrong with being aggressive (i.e. bold) but it invites others to be aggressive right back. Wikipedia has 47,334,904 registered user accounts and a similar number of unregistered contributors, so it is very easy to offend someone by changing just about anything around here. The more drastically you want to change something, the more it pays to discuss your plans first on the talk page. Remember, when you extensively change another editor's work, you are potentially dissing them. It's nice to have some idea how people are going to respond to that before you plunge ahead. --Teratornis (talk) 19:26, 24 August 2009 (UTC)[reply]

confused about how to transfere page i have created[edit]

hi, i dont know how to transfere the page i have created, on "tom budge" i am not sure where it is in my wikipedia local/username, i just go to "my contributions" and there is a list of changes i have made to the page and i access it from there, but i wants to transferes its to THE WIKIPEDIA, so that when somone types "tom budge" on the regular interenet then my page about him in wikipedia will appear.....someone help, thanx —Preceding unsigned comment added by TigerGleeson (talkcontribs) 04:43, 24 August 2009 (UTC)[reply]

You have already done it. Type "Tom Budge" in the search box and your article should come up. If you are talking about a google search, external search engines will take a while to find the page and index it. There's nothing we can do about this but wait. It may take a few hours or days, but it will eventually happen. ≈ Chamal talk ¤ 04:48, 24 August 2009 (UTC)[reply]
The Wikipedia page does show up in Google.--SPhilbrickT 12:51, 24 August 2009 (UTC)[reply]


THANK YOU FOR YOUR HELP, I FEEL MUCH CALMER NOW ;)!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1 —Preceding unsigned comment added by TigerGleeson (talkcontribs) 00:41, 25 August 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Help editing a page[edit]

I need help editting a page correctly, is there a number I can call to speak with someone? —Preceding unsigned comment added by Jasenghospital (talkcontribs) 09:09, 24 August 2009 (UTC)[reply]

No, there is no number you can phone! You can leave a message here, explaining what you are trying to do - there are plenty of willing helpers here! -- PhantomSteve (Contact Me, My Contribs) 09:42, 24 August 2009 (UTC)[reply]
For background on this request, please see User talk:Jeff G.#Jaseng_Hospital_of_Oriental_Medicine and article Jaseng Hospital of Oriental Medicine, which needs verifiable references from reliable sources. Thanks.   — Jeff G. (talk|contribs) 13:21, 24 August 2009 (UTC)[reply]
Would you be more comfortable creating article ko:자생한방병원 and having someone else translate to English? If you still wish to call, please see Wikipedia:Contact us/Article problem/Factual error (from enterprise). Thanks.   — Jeff G. (talk|contribs) 13:30, 24 August 2009 (UTC)[reply]
Note that the username: Jasenghospital may violate Wikipedia:Username policy#Company/group names. --Teratornis (talk) 18:41, 24 August 2009 (UTC)[reply]
That user has already been blocked, and article Jaseng Hospital of Oriental Medicine is now being considered for deletion at Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Jaseng Hospital of Oriental Medicine.   — Jeff G. (talk|contribs) 03:54, 25 August 2009 (UTC)[reply]

spelling list[edit]

Is there a spelling list to help with the national spelling bee? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 13:29, 24 August 2009 (UTC) (talk) 70.104.234.163[reply]

Per Scripps National Spelling Bee#History, "The official study booklet is available free online" at Spell It!.   — Jeff G. (talk|contribs) 13:48, 24 August 2009 (UTC)[reply]
And if you have other non-Wikipedia-related questions, please see the Reference desk. The volunteers there will be happy to assist you with any question not having to do with editing Wikipedia. Xenon54 (talk) 14:05, 24 August 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Social Security Benefit Questions[edit]

I understand there is a social Security Benefit Program that exists that is not publicized or made know to the public. But it involves a 2-page form that can be completed, then taken to the SSA office and it has the ability to increase your Social Security Benefits.

Now I have called the SSA office and no one there seems to know about it, which is typical for a government agency and I was told this would happen.

Does anyone know of this program? I understand only a few hundred people accessed it last year.

—Preceding unsigned comment added by [[ —Preceding unsigned comment added by THawley (talkcontribs)

Have you tried Wikipedia's Reference Desk? They specialize in knowledge questions and will try to answer just about 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. hmwitht 16:30, 24 August 2009 (UTC)[reply]

This sounds like it may be an urban legend. TNXMan 16:38, 24 August 2009 (UTC)[reply]
I agree with Tnxman307! Unless you can provide a name of either the program or the form, then I would assume so too. Unless of course, you mean the Dupability Clause 2(i) - which requires form GULL-i-BLE. -- PhantomSteve (Contact Me, My Contribs) 16:53, 24 August 2009 (UTC)[reply]

My Watchlist takes ages to load today.[edit]

Anyone know why this might be?----occono (talk) 17:07, 24 August 2009 (UTC)[reply]

I don't know what causes it but I was going to ask the same question a few minutes ago. Kotiwalo (talk) 17:19, 24 August 2009 (UTC)[reply]
I think it was (for some reason) related to the toolserver being down earlier today. Firefox kept telling me "Connecting to toolsever.org..." when loading my watchlist. It seems to be fixed now. Xenon54 (talk) 18:01, 24 August 2009 (UTC)[reply]
Yeah, it's gone now. I have had brief periods like this before but this is the longest one so far. Kotiwalo (talk) 18:26, 24 August 2009 (UTC)[reply]

author of an article[edit]

is there any way to get in touch with the author (I believe there is only one author in this matter) of a new posted article? Many thanks, Tim WallachTwallach2 (talk) 17:32, 24 August 2009 (UTC)[reply]

If you click on the history tab at the top of the article's page, you'll see everyone who contributed to the page. If you then click on the relevant talk link, you can add to (or create) the editor's talk page. -- PhantomSteve (Contact Me, My Contribs) 17:35, 24 August 2009 (UTC)[reply]
For more information see Help:Page history, Help:Talk page, and Wikipedia:Talk page guidelines. --Teratornis (talk) 18:32, 24 August 2009 (UTC)[reply]

is this vandalism?[edit]

can the constant, disruptive, erratical editions of someone that doesn't speak the language, after he/she was properly warned, be regarded as vandalism?--camr nag 17:54, 24 August 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Maybe. To which article were you referring? If someone doesn't have a good command of English, it's important to assume good faith and try to help them out. TNXMan 17:56, 24 August 2009 (UTC)[reply]
Is this editor aware of the Wikipedia in his or her native language? A constructive resolution would be to persuade the editor to contribute to that Wikipedia. Once you get past the top ten or so Wikipedias, the rest tend to be small and in much more need of new contributors than the massive and well-established English Wikipedia. --Teratornis (talk) 18:31, 24 August 2009 (UTC)[reply]
yes, he contributes to the italian (his native wp) but he also does so to the english and the spanish wp, in a more disruptive way. (btw, those 3 are in the top 10).--camr nag 23:32, 24 August 2009 (UTC)[reply]

photos[edit]

How do I upload a photo —Preceding unsigned comment added by NOnAMER123456789 (talkcontribs) 20:03, 24 August 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Your account has to be autoconfirmed before you can upload images to the English Wikipedia. You can upload to Wikimedia Commons at http://commons.wikimedia.org right away and use the image here. See more at Wikipedia:Images. PrimeHunter (talk) 21:04, 24 August 2009 (UTC)[reply]
I have written very detailed instructions on picture uploading on my User Page at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Arpingstone/Sandbox - Adrian Pingstone (talk) 21:20, 24 August 2009 (UTC)[reply]
You cannot just upload any picture you find, however. Pictures you did not take yourself are likely under copyright, and with a few exceptions, should not be uploaded to Wikipedia as their use in most cases would violate our Image Use Policy. If you did take the picture yourself, you are free to upload it; however as noted the best place to do so is at Commons to allow it to be used at all related Wikimedia sites. --Jayron32 02:17, 25 August 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Editing introductory paragraph for topic[edit]

How do I edit the introductory paragraph and the photo caption? Slow Lorises have NEVER been native to Greece...They are exclusively from Asia. Also, the antique drawing is of a Bengal slow loris (Nycticebus bengalensis). —Preceding unsigned comment added by Lorislady (talkcontribs) 20:37, 24 August 2009 (UTC)[reply]

You can click the "edit this page" tab at top. See more at Wikipedia:Lead section#Editing the lead section. PrimeHunter (talk) 21:01, 24 August 2009 (UTC)[reply]
Interesting to note that the Greece 'fact' was added here, a few days ago. I will remove that unreferenced addition, check the users other edits, and perhaps question them about it.  Chzz  ►  01:00, 25 August 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Help with reverting vandalism[edit]

Hi there. I'm not sure what to do. The same IP keeps redirecting the page Manufactured band to Jonas Brothers. This is clear vandalism and I've reverted three times but I'm not sure what the process are to report this minor act (yet persistent) vandalism. Thanks. »—Mikaytalkcontribs 20:55, 24 August 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Report them at WP:AIV. Edit the "user reported" section and use the IP template and add maybe one or two instances of their vandalism, and an admin will get along to it directly. Cureden 20:59, 24 August 2009 (UTC)[reply]
Thank you. :) »—Mikaytalkcontribs 21:00, 24 August 2009 (UTC)[reply]
No problem. :) Cureden 21:02, 24 August 2009 (UTC)[reply]