Wikipedia:Help desk/Archives/2009 January 30

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January 30

Putting an article on Wikipedia

I'm a highschool student and did a corporate profile on a family friend's company for economics class. I was hoping to put that article on wikipedia as part of my presentation. Can someone help me? Bhakim (talk)bhakim —Preceding undated comment was added at 00:01, 30 January 2009 (UTC).

Please read WP:Corp, WP:Spam, WP:RS and WP:YFA for guidance. The draft article on your user page would probably be speedily deleted as spam or because it does not assert notability. – ukexpat (talk) 00:29, 30 January 2009 (UTC)

The draft reads like an advertisment. That style of writing can't go on Wikipedia. And unless your assignment was to write an advertisment, your teacher won't like it either. And the "we" language looks like it was copied from a press release. If it was copied, your teacher will call it plagiarism. —teb728 t c 04:55, 30 January 2009 (UTC)

Where do I enter text?

I created an account, clicked on my email web link, went to Wikipedia and clicked on Edit this Page. The only place I that came up to enter anything was a single line in a box appearing over a box and "this is a minor edit." I filled that in in the short space alloted and hit save this page, and it didn't take. How is someone supposed to contribute something if you don't give them a place to do that? PS: I was not asked to sign in after I registered and came back to the page I was trying to add to (Iron Eyes Cody). jimmcacoe —Preceding unsigned comment added by Jimmcacoe (talk • contribs) 01:47, 30 January 2009 (UTC)

If you managed to enter this question in, then you did the same thing you'd need to do to edit an article. It works EXACTLY the same way. It sounds like you had a page loading error the first time you tried it; probably just a funky connection. I would recommend that you try again, and you should probably do OK. --Jayron32.talk.contribs 01:51, 30 January 2009 (UTC)

It sounds like you filled out the edit summary field which is a single line above "This is a minor edit". There should be a much larger box for writing or changing text above the edit summary field. Wikipedia is a wiki where you can edit what others have written, so when you click "edit this page" the box is normally full of existing text you can edit. Some new users find it hard to believe you can just change article text written by others. If you don't write or change text in the big edit box then there is effectively nothing to save, so clicking "Save page" becomes a null edit which is not recorded. As Jayron32 says, it is possible your browser didn't load the larger box. PrimeHunter (talk) 02:37, 30 January 2009 (UTC)

Portal talk:Formula One

Don't know if this is the right place, but does anyone have any idea why there are no incidental edit tabs on headings at Portal talk:Formula One? The table of contents is only there because I manually forced it. As you can imagine, it does make editing the page a little more complicated. Thanks in advance, Apterygial 02:30, 30 January 2009 (UTC)

The problem is that the talk page contains several transclusions of Portal:Box-header, in a discussion of colour schemes. Since this is designed to be used on portal pages, one of its functions is to suppress the ToC and section edit links. Algebraist 02:38, 30 January 2009 (UTC)

Wow. Can you think of any way to override that? Apterygial 02:43, 30 January 2009 (UTC)

If the transclusions are no longer needed, nowiki them. Otherwise, subst them and remove the magic words __NOTOC__ and __NOEDITSECTION__ manually. Algebraist 02:44, 30 January 2009 (UTC)

Cool. Thanks. Don't you just love Wikipedia? Apterygial 02:48, 30 January 2009 (UTC)

No. Algebraist 02:52, 30 January 2009 (UTC)

Really? I wasn't being sarcastic. Apterygial 02:53, 30 January 2009 (UTC)

It looks like you can keep the TOC and edit links by giving parameters |TOC=yes |EDIT=yes to Portal:Box-header. PrimeHunter (talk) 03:06, 30 January 2009 (UTC)

Even better. Thanks for the help. Apterygial 03:50, 30 January 2009 (UTC)

I have previously found on Wikipedia trending information regarding number of hits (per specific entry) per given time period, number of modifications, etc. But I have forgotten where! Where do I locate such data as the number of hits an article receives? Thanks! —Preceding unsigned comment added by 204.84.245.1 (talk) 04:27, 30 January 2009 (UTC)

Go to "history" (one of the tabs at the top of article). There you can find "page view statistics" and "revision history" which will help you find what you want. Apterygial 04:43, 30 January 2009 (UTC)

Can't seem to add image, odd things happen

I'm trying to add another image to Strap-on dildo in the Common uses section, namely Image:Wiki-pegging.png from the Pegging article. However, whenever I attempt to add the image, not only does the image not show up, the entire next paragraph is missing as well. Any ideas? Thanks, Bushytails (talk) 05:47, 30 January 2009 (UTC). (PS: WP:NOT#CENSOR - I'm just asking for editing help, not trying to start yet another debate!)

Image:Wiki-pegging.png is on MediaWiki:Bad image list. I don't know why it also makes the following paragraph disappear. PrimeHunter (talk) 12:11, 30 January 2009 (UTC)

email

what's flagged massage? —Preceding unsigned comment added by V4HFO (talk • contribs) 06:22, 30 January 2009 (UTC)

If you are thinking of Wikipedia:Flagged revisions then it is not about email? PrimeHunter (talk) 11:47, 30 January 2009 (UTC)

I would imagine the original poster is referring to email messages in Microsoft Outlook or another similar email client. Basically, messages with a flag on them signify that they have been marked for follow-up — i.e., you or someone else have told the program, "I need to do something else with this later." (This sort of question, incidentally, is best suited for the reference desk — the Help Desk is for questions about Wikipedia. Cheers, Hermione1980 15:08, 30 January 2009 (UTC)

Correcting error in a Help page copied from Meta

While reading Help:Edit conflict, I clicked a link in the See also section to Wikipedia:Village_pump_(technical)#Lack_of_notification_of_edit_conflict. This took me to the top of the current VP(t) page, because it has no section by that name (i.e., this is a broken #link). A search of the VP(all) archives did not find the section. In trying to track down the intended link target, I discovered that the help page was copied from Meta, and the link was [added to Meta] on 23 Nov 2008. Looking in the VP(t) archives around that date, there was still no section by that name, but I did find what I think was the intended target, Wikipedia:Village_pump_(technical)/Archive_50#Now that's really, really weird. My question is, should I fix the link in the copied WP page, or on Meta? If the latter, is there a documented process for re-copying it back to WP:Help? - Unconventional (talk) 06:35, 30 January 2009 (UTC)

Just fix it on both. Algebraist 10:30, 30 January 2009 (UTC)

It was actually added on 6 August 2007 [1] and referred to this section. I don't think there is currently reason to link to that section. PrimeHunter (talk) 12:00, 30 January 2009 (UTC)

An idea about Computer Game Articles.

Resolved

 – ukexpat (talk) 15:45, 30 January 2009 (UTC)

Hello to everyone. I think I have an idea concerning the Computer Game Articles, that is why don't we publish Cheat Codes to the games along with the article, by creation a new section 'Cheat' along with it? Day by day Computer Games are becoming more famous, and many are interested to know the Cheat Codes in many games. So, can we publish them? I think this will enrich the articles and more users' attention and interest will be attracted towards Wikipedia. Anirban16chatterjee (talk) 07:14, 30 January 2009 (UTC)

Last time someone asked something similar, this was the response. - Jarry1250 ^{(t, c)} 07:50, 30 January 2009 (UTC)

Thank you Sir, for taking your time in answering my question. Best Regards. Anirban16chatterjee (talk) 08:04, 30 January 2009 (UTC)

Publishing a submitted article to the World Wide Web

Dear Sir/Madam,

How long does it take for a submitted article to be visible and available on the Internet, and/or after a Wikipedia search for the specific information submitted? —Preceding unsigned comment added by DivinityFamily (talk • contribs) 08:40, 30 January 2009 (UTC)

Anything submitted to Wikipedia is immediately visible on Wikipedia, and will be searchable on Wikipedia. If you are thinking about visibility of information on Wikipedia via external searches (e.g. Google) this can be anything from a few hours to days to never depending on a variety of reasons. Pedro :  Chat  11:50, 30 January 2009 (UTC)

I see that you have a draft article in your user space at User:DivinityFamily - it's not really an article until it's moved to the mainspace. Let me know on my talk page if you need help formatting it a little better and then moving it to the mainspace.

Infobox shopping mall

Hey. On the Template:Infobox shopping mall, I would like there to be a "logo" option added but it is protected. I have asked the community on the template's talk page (where 2 people had brought up the topic a few months earlier than me) and on the wikiproject talk page but no one has responded. There would be no harm done because it would be optional, only included if added to the template in the article. Could someone please add this or discuss it here? Thanks. Chicken-7 ^talk 08:51, 30 January 2009 (UTC)

You can get an admin's attention by putting {{editprotected}} on the template talk page. — jwillbur 21:17, 2 February 2009 (UTC)

Moulsford - Award Winning Restuarant Link - Spammer

Hi there

I was lucky enough to go to a great restaurant in Moulsford, Oxfordshire - The Beetle And Wedge Boathouse Restaurant.

The restaurant is steeped in history and is apart of the fabric of the village of Moulsford

Because of this I wanted to add the website link to Wikipedia within the External Links for Moulsford.

However, it appears that I have been almost blacklisted as a Spammer - which of course I am not - I just wanted to add a link that will enhance the page for Moulsford.

Please can you advise as to why I have been branded a Spammer and how to proceed?

Can anyone help?

Many thanks —Preceding unsigned comment added by Charleyvince (talk • contribs) 09:27, 30 January 2009 (UTC)

I think part of the problem is that you're adding it not just to the Moulsford page, but also to the pages on the Thames Path, Jerome K. Jerome and Oxford. Simply adding external links basically makes it look like you're spamming links to that site. I suggest you read this page on external links to see

Incidentally, it is a nice pub / restaurant. I remember stopping in there one night a few years back whilst passing it on a boat trip down the Thames, and exiting a few hours later rather the worse for wear..._Gb^T/c 10:15, 30 January 2009 (UTC)

If the restaurant is notable enough it would have its own article and that might be justified in linking to the site. However there are plenty of good restaurants in Oxfordshire. The restaurant has a history, but it is cerainly no longer a real pub now and as such is a great disappointment to many passing walkers and boaters. I quote "But I cannot tell you what little likeness today's posh road-house Beetle and Wedge bears to Wells's comfortable Potwell, for it saddens me too much...." and "it took me three miles, and a bit more to get over my dudgeon about the Beetle and Wedge. But I did." from the guide published by English Heritage published 2003. Any article about the restaurant would have to reflect this view. Motmit (talk) 12:00, 30 January 2009 (UTC)

Expanding existing article

I have just subscribed and am wondering whether it is possible to expand an existing article. How do I do it? Thank you for your help. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 137hs (talk • contribs) 09:53, 30 January 2009 (UTC)

Simple, just click the "edit this page" tab button above the page and start editing. But please also see WP:NOTABILITY, WP:MOS, etc. E Wing (talk) 10:10, 30 January 2009 (UTC)

• E Wing forgot the most important link. Assuming you're editing an existing article. Notability will already be established and MOS is something you'll learn along the way. Instead, if you want to expand existing articles, the most important thing to keep in mind is to make sure you cite your sources so other editors can check where you got your information from. (English references are preferred, but not required, so if you can read it, you could cite a French newspaper to back up your facts) - Mgm|^(talk) 10:58, 30 January 2009 (UTC)

I left a welcome on your talk page with many useful links. --—— Gadget850 (Ed) ^talk - 13:23, 30 January 2009 (UTC)

Translating for wikipedia

I have studied English and German at university. I'd like to translate English and German articles into Italian, which is my mother-tongue but I don't know how. Could you help me, please? thanks! —Preceding unsigned comment added by 79.18.159.115 (talk) 11:49, 30 January 2009 (UTC)

• See Wikipedia:Translation. You might want to make an account which makes it easier to translate and create an entirely new article in the target language. - Mgm|^(talk) 12:14, 30 January 2009 (UTC)

Debt Schemes

how do i use cnx nify as a benchmark for comparing performance of debt schemes —Preceding unsigned comment added by 195.229.237.38 (talk) 15:01, 30 January 2009 (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. Also, please note that the Reference Desk will not do your homework for you. TN‑X-Man 15:26, 30 January 2009 (UTC)

Gender

Since when does 'my preferences' have 'gender' as a field? What does it do exactly if selected and how is it relevant encyclopedia-wise? -- Mentifisto 15:23, 30 January 2009 (UTC)

Beats me. Even though my username sort of gives it away, I'm curious to know what it has to do with anything. TN‑X-Man 15:39, 30 January 2009 (UTC)

That has to be very recent, I didn't spot it a couple of days ago when I was looking at my prefs. Maybe the folks over at the techie village pump can shed some light on it. – ukexpat (talk) 15:39, 30 January 2009 (UTC)

This was added to MediaWiki in r46424, to fix Bugzilla:13040. It's necessary to allow the software to properly address the user in some languages. I don't think it has any effect in English. Algebraist 16:10, 30 January 2009 (UTC)

An example is Spanish - User: is now either Usuario (for males) and Usuaria (for females).  GARDEN  16:19, 30 January 2009 (UTC)

Incidentally, I just went to es.wiki — I think someone needs to translate the new addition to the interface, because it's still in English over there. Hermione1980 16:27, 30 January 2009 (UTC)

I think there's a better way to do this at the developer level, but any es.pedia admin can fix this by changing the relevant MediaWiki: pages, such as es:MediaWiki:yourgender. Algebraist 16:33, 30 January 2009 (UTC)

unknown file type

I am at my wits end on this issue! I downloaded Internet Explorer 8 and when I try to access most Wikipedia pages, it tells me that the page is an unknown file type and asks me to download it or cancel it. I can't read half of Wikipedia. I can't even get into the Wikipedia page that answers this question! It is in the archives for April 2008 but I can't get in to read it. How do I get this to stop? Microsoft is evil! —Preceding unsigned comment added by Wbelcher (talk • contribs) 15:37, 30 January 2009 (UTC)

Does this happen when you try to edit pages? If so, check your Wikipedia preferences and uncheck the box that says "Use external editor by default". TN‑X-Man 15:38, 30 January 2009 (UTC)

Is it complaining that ".php" is an unknown file type, or something like that? If so, Internet Explorer is probably thinking that ".php" is some kind of file that needs to be handled with an external program, even though the Content-Type header of the page should be text/html. Is IE8 an extremely new browser that MediaWiki isn't totally aware of yet? --Elkman ^(Elkspeak) 17:10, 30 January 2009 (UTC)

I doubt, php been around for quite a while now. This problem is usually caused by a wayward preferences selection as Tnxman307 has described. – ukexpat (talk) 18:53, 30 January 2009 (UTC)

New edited information not appearing on article page.

Resolved

 – Hardisonn has since edited the page. PrimeHunter (talk) 20:18, 30 January 2009 (UTC)

I inserted a sentence containing an external link to the A R. Ammons article page about 10 minutes ago. But it is yet to appear. 15:59, 30 January 2009 (UTC) —Preceding unsigned comment added by Hardisonn (talk • contribs)

Hmm. The article A. R. Ammons does not show any edits since January 25th and your account only shows one edit (to this page). Did you hit "save page" after editing? TN‑X-Man 16:14, 30 January 2009 (UTC)

Subnetting and IP Address Classes

please tell me abouut subnetting and IP address class. i am a beginner to the field of networking —Preceding unsigned comment added by Zahoorap (talk • contribs) 16:45, 30 January 2009 (UTC)

Have you tried the Computing section of Wikipedia's Reference Desk? They specialize in answering knowledge questions there; this help desk is only for questions about using Wikipedia. For your convenience, here is the link to post a question there: click here. I hope this helps. Algebraist 16:49, 30 January 2009 (UTC)

Copyright??

I added some info not so long ago on the Hoffmann Kiln article, and it was removed from a user who is at war with me (the story is on my talk page). It was sourced information (citation included) but if I revert his revert of my edit, it can lead to a ban because he's already reported me. I'm just asking for advise as I don't know what to do now, I'm confused. GrumpyGuts (talk) 17:30, 30 January 2009 (UTC)

Replied at Talk:Hoffmann kiln#Copyright violation. PrimeHunter (talk) 19:50, 30 January 2009 (UTC)

data warehousing

Why datawarehousing is failing now a days?????????Swati903 (talk) 17:39, 30 January 2009 (UTC)

You might find what you are looking for in the article about Data warehouse. If you cannot find the answer there, you can try asking your question at Wikipedia's Reference Desk. They will be glad to try to answer questions about anything in the universe (except about how to use Wikipedia, which is what this help desk is for). I hope this helps. Algebraist 17:43, 30 January 2009 (UTC)

publishing an article

Hello,

I am trying ot write a short article on an island that i could not find on your website. How do i know when my article reaches approved standards? see article below. Can this be posted as article or as a stub?

Dellis Cay is a 560-acre private island located in the Turks and Caicos Islands Archipelago. This island sits south of Parrot Cay and north of Pine Cay. Dellis Cay is located a few miles from Providenciales and accessible by a 20-minute boat ride. This private island got its name from the Dellis family who lived on the island and earned their living by way of sponge farming in the 1950's. The Mandarin Oriental Hotel is expected to open up a property in the middle of 2010.

The islands of the Turks and Caicos Islands are a British Dependant Territory found in the Caribbean. This chain of islands are situated just 575 miles southeast of Miami, 30 miles south of the Bahamas, and 90 miles north of the Dominican Republic.

References:

[1] [2] [3] [4]

i have placed the article on my sandbox, but i do not know where to go from there.

please advise.—Preceding unsigned comment added by Lskippings (talk • contribs)

Didn't we go through this already? The page will have to be moved to the mainspace, but before we do that, you should add your references otherwise someone will almost certainly nominate it for deletion per the WP:AFD process for not being notable. Even though places are almost always notable, it can't hurt to have the refs in there from the start. – ukexpat (talk) 20:20, 30 January 2009 (UTC)

Tables

Hi! I'm in the midst of editing the article on the state of Vermont, and I want to increase the column widths for the "temperatures" table so that the type fits better. How do I do that? Thanks! Ronaldomundo (talk) 18:46, 30 January 2009 (UTC)

Presumably you refer to Vermont#Climate. See: Help:Table#Setting your column widths. For more about tables see WP:EIW#Table. --Teratornis (talk) 19:14, 30 January 2009 (UTC)

• Here is an example. Change the column header line

! Jan

so that it has the width parameter, like this

! width="100"| Jan

That will make the Jan column 100 pixels wide. The reference page is Table_markup. Good luck, —Noah 19:20, 30 January 2009 (UTC)

creating a page

how do I start a page and who has control over what is placed on it  ??? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 63.237.252.130 (talk) 19:51, 30 January 2009 (UTC)

You will need to first register an account, which has many benefits, including the ability to create articles. Once you have registered, 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. – ukexpat (talk) 20:13, 30 January 2009 (UTC)

Also, please note that no one owns articles once they are posted on Wikipedia. See this page for more info. TN‑X-Man 20:17, 30 January 2009 (UTC)

I know this is the wrong place.

But does someone with permission want to clean up the article LOL. Cluebot seems to have missed it... Elemael (talk) 20:22, 30 January 2009 (UTC)

Cluebot got it, but of course anyone can revert vandalism. Oops, unless it is semi-protected. – ukexpat (talk) 20:25, 30 January 2009 (UTC)

You cannot edit that article until your account has existed for four days. And if cluebot got it explain the ROFLs... lol! Elemael (talk) 20:31, 30 January 2009 (UTC)

The last edit I see in the edit history is this one by Cluebot, fixing the vandalism. – ukexpat (talk) 20:40, 30 January 2009 (UTC)

I know, but I definetly saw numerous repeated ROFLs 8:30 this evening, and they were not from my browser cache. Looking at the history, Cluebot cleaned up circa 12:30. Weird... Elemael (talk) 20:43, 30 January 2009 (UTC)

There was no vandalism as of 8:30 UTC. However, you might be confusing Wikipedia's UTC time with your local time (maybe you're in eastern Canada or Brazil). Admiral Norton ^(talk) 20:50, 31 January 2009 (UTC)

Adding a timestamp

How do I add a timestamp to a comment or signature? I want to add it to my sig so that it will show the current time and date each time I add a contrib. Thanks. — Jclu (talk) 20:29, 30 January 2009 (UTC)

This is already done automatically. Adding four tildes at the end of a comment automatically places your signature with a timestamp. Just like this -> TN‑X-Man 20:35, 30 January 2009 (UTC)

Whoops! Did you mean the current date and time? If that was the case, the only way I can think to do that is by having a transclusion in your sig, which I don't think is allowed. TN‑X-Man 20:38, 30 January 2009 (UTC)

There's an option in "my preferences" to add a UTC clock to the upper right corner of the toolbar; I find this handy since I don't happen to live in Greenwich Time. --Jayron32.talk.contribs 20:47, 30 January 2009 (UTC)

No, transclusions are not permitted in sigs - WP:SIG#NT.  – ukexpat (talk) 20:49, 30 January 2009 (UTC)

• It's kind of pointless to include a timestamp in a signature when adding for tildes to a post already yields a timestamp. So just add them to your comments. Having them inside your signature doesn't have any advantages to begin with. - Mgm|^(talk) 21:45, 30 January 2009 (UTC)

History of searches

Where can I get a list of topics I've searched in Wikipedia? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 96.51.213.156 (talk) 20:51, 30 January 2009 (UTC)

• I am relatively certain that this is not possible. H₂O Shipper 21:02, 30 January 2009 (UTC)
• You cannot get this information from Wikipedia but your browser might have stored which pages you have visited. PrimeHunter (talk) 23:18, 30 January 2009 (UTC)

• While Wikipedia doesn't have such a feature, you can easily look into your web browser's history. If you are using Internet Explorer, click on the yellow star, which appears in the upper-left area of your screen. If not selected, click the History tab. There you can look, among many things, your Wikipedia searches. If you have Firefox, simply go to History from your menu bar. --71.190.86.94 (talk) 23:36, 30 January 2009 (UTC)

THat's assuming you have IE7 or higher. In IE6 or below, the History is in the Options menu. - Mgm|^(talk) 00:27, 31 January 2009 (UTC)

Changing Case on Article Title

How does one change the case on an article title? For example, someone started an article called "John Smith foundation" but the actual legal name of the entity is "John Smith Foundation" — what is the process to keep all the content but change the lower case of "f" on foundation to upper case "F"?

Thank you. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 71.139.50.13 (talk) 22:57, 30 January 2009 (UTC)

If you were logged in and autoconfirmed, you could simply move it. I've done it for you. If you have any future questions about an article, please include the full and actual article name. Don't disguise it, as that forces whomever is answering your question to look through your contributions and possibly have to guess at what article you are talking about. Luckily, that wasn't the case here. Xenon54 (talk) 23:02, 30 January 2009 (UTC)