Wikipedia:Help desk/Archives/2009 July 31

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July 31

What Is the "Users Talk Page"?

Upon creating my new account I went to users talk and... no relavent examples or guide lines. Granted it begs for html formatting, I still can't see how User talk coincides to a encyclopedia entry nor any disscussion thread to begin with. Is there any linear example from here to there for creating a new entry in wiki? Finally does the 4 tildes render the signature entered in my preferences? Why no indication of what that formatting yields and where. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Wiki206Seattle (talk • contribs) 00:25, 31 July 2009 (UTC)

User talk:Wiki206Seattle is the user talk page of your account. Other users can contact you there. See more at Wikipedia:Talk page and Wikipedia:User page. Nobody else has edited your user talk page when I write this. The 4 tildes ~~~~ turn into a signature when you save. Your signature can be customized at Special:Preferences but that is optional. I haven't done it so my post ends with the default signature. See more at Wikipedia:Signatures. Creating a new article satisfying Wikipedia requirements can be difficult for a new user but here is some standard advice about it:

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

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

If you still think an article is appropriate, see Help:Starting a new page. You might also look at Wikipedia:Your first article and Wikipedia:How to write a great article for guidance, and please consider taking a tour through the Wikipedia:Tutorial so that you know how to properly format the article before creation. PrimeHunter (talk) 00:46, 31 July 2009 (UTC)

The Killers' page crashes Wikipanion for iPhone

Whenever I try to access the page for the band "The Killers" Wikipanion for iPhone crashes. Page works fine wheni use Safari on iPhone. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 66.167.61.118 (talk) 03:20, 31 July 2009 (UTC)

That sounds like a problem with Wikipanion then. Their support email is support at wikipanion dot net. Algebraist 03:33, 31 July 2009 (UTC)

How can I help to translate a page to another language?

I want to help to translate a page to another language. How can I do? —Preceding unsigned comment added by Yangmx (talk • contribs) 03:50, 31 July 2009 (UTC)

See WP:TRANSLATE which contains instructions for both translating pages from other languages to English and for translating English articles to other languages Wikipedias. --Jayron32 04:02, 31 July 2009 (UTC)

possible misuse of CATEGORY Speedy Deletion

I looked at Speedy Delete and it says "the only cases in which administrators have broad consensus support to, at their discretion, bypass deletion discussion and immediately delete Wikipedia pages" (are)... Speedy Delete#Categories C1-C2. C1 is "Unpopulated Categories." There are entries, so this does not apply.

C2 is "Speedy renaming" and they didn't say they want to rename the category.

In the name of not asking you to guess, the specifics are: CATEGORY name: "Gates news items" Some obvious known "gates" are Watergate, Koreagate and Travelgate. (Google shows that Gatesgate exists in England and the USA, albeit some use Gates-gate).

THIS REQUEST FOR HELP is not about Gatesgate. It's about the Category. What's wrong with the category? More importantly, WHY SPEEDY deletion . . . even The President did not say anything public right away (arrest July 16, public statement July 22).

S-P-E-E-D-Y ? ? ? Seems like an abuse of what Wiki policy says is "cases in which administrators have broad consensus."

(( Many articles have tags from 2008 and 2007. I won't pick examples. One person's "notable" is another persons "not able" to understand why (but then again, the space in "not able" and the space to store an article may have a link: Gigabytes cost today less than what Megabytes cost some time back, pre-Y2K). ))

Why rush to attack something useful (the ability to see a CATEGORY on an article and link to the CATEGORY page listing and then link to another article, as in the above -gate example) ?

I consider myself a newbie; what about the "be nice to the newbies" concept I saw somewhere? Trink24 (talk) 05:06, 31 July 2009 (UTC)

C1-C2 are the speedy deletion criteria that are applicable specifically to categories. However, there's another general set (G1-G12) that are applicable in all namespaces (article, category, files etc). The category in question, Category:Gate news items has been nominated per CSD G4, which is "recreation of deleted material". The previous one was probably not created by you since it was deleted way back in 2007 (see here), but the two must be similar. BTW you are correct about not biting the newbies, but the same Wikipedia policies apply to new and experienced editors. ≈ Chamal ^talk 11:46, 31 July 2009 (UTC)

And the "broad consensus" part simply means that there is consensus in Wikipedia that material falling under the CSD criteria must be speedily deleted, and not that admins have to wait for consensus to delete them. Deletion discussions on the other hand, decide the outcome on consensus. ≈ Chamal ^talk 11:49, 31 July 2009 (UTC)

And let's not forget that the "speedy" in "speedy deletion" refers to the process, ie a "speedy process". If the procedures imply otherwise they should be amended. – ukexpat (talk) 14:45, 31 July 2009 (UTC)

I've declined the speedy, you can see my edit here. The last discussion was two years ago and is currently being discussed at WP:CFD. TNXMan 14:55, 31 July 2009 (UTC)

Date formatting

Is there a tool that lets you format dates from m-d-y to yyyy-mm-dd in the references only? Thanks, Theleftorium 09:58, 31 July 2009 (UTC)

You could try AutoWikiBrowser. hmwithτ 14:24, 31 July 2009 (UTC)

UK English or US English?

Which of these two ought I use, writing Wikipedia? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 83.24.56.87 (talk) 11:27, 31 July 2009 (UTC)

Any of them. The important thing is to be consistent with it and use the same type of spelling throughout an article. For example, if an article uses UBritish english, then even when you make a new edit to that article it should be in British english. See WP:ENGVAR and Wikipedia:Manual of Style (spelling). ≈ Chamal ^talk 11:33, 31 July 2009 (UTC)

The big exception being where the subject matter itself is of one or the other sort; i.e., in writing about William Blake or Ken Livingstone one should undoubtedly use U.K. English; writing about Frank Zappa or Frank Zeidler one would use U.S. English. --Orange Mike | Talk 14:31, 31 July 2009 (UTC)

Not Logged In on Main Page

After successfully logging in, every time I go to the Main Page, it acts as if I am not logged in. "Log in / create new account" is the only thing displayed at the top of the page, not the usual collection of things (my username, my talk, preferences, etc.). Other pages seem to be okay. What's going on? Truthanado (talk) 14:15, 31 July 2009 (UTC)

I know there were some database problems earlier, but I think they've cleared up. You appear to be logged in now however. Are you still having issues? TNXMan 14:24, 31 July 2009 (UTC)

I seem to be okay now. Thanks. Truthanado (talk) 14:35, 31 July 2009 (UTC)

Clarification: I knew I was logged in okay and have been editing successfully, even though the Main Page didn't think I was logged in. Maybe the Squid servers were hungry? Truthanado (talk) 14:38, 31 July 2009 (UTC)

The problem is with your local cache on your computer; which is loading the old "unlogged in" version of the Main Page. I have run into this some times, and it is a result of the way that your browser cache is set up. If you are using IE, just hold down shift while clicking the reload button to clear the cache; you can also reconfigure the way your browser uses its cache to access content. For other browsers (Opera, Firefox, Chrome) there exists similar procedures for fixing the problem. --Jayron32 19:01, 31 July 2009 (UTC)

Were you using a link to get back to the Main Page, or using your Back button? If the Back button, you would have been seeing what the screen was showing you the first time you went to the page. Who then was a gentleman? (talk) 20:37, 3 August 2009 (UTC)

About MacNeal Hospital in Berwyn, IL

Hi.

I did a search about MacNeal Hospital and the results came back as either a link to a different Hospital or a list of Hospitals in Illinois.

When I clicked on Hospitals in Illinois, I got an alphabetic listing by name. I scrolled down the list and went to the "M"s. When I clicked on MacNeal Hospital, I was redirected to a different hospital -- University of Chicago -- which is not related to MacNeal Hospital.

Can this be corrected in your system?

Are there any material in your databases about MacNeal Hospital?

Thank you. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 70.131.54.30 (talk) 15:03, 31 July 2009 (UTC)

I don't see any material currently in Wikipedia about MacNeal Hospital. It doesn't mean you can't create it though! You can register an account and create an article or make a submission to the articles for creation page. If you can provide well sourced information that shows why the hospital is notable, we can help you out. As for the current state of the page, MacNeal Hospital currently redirects to the other page. If this is incorrect, let us know. TNXMan 15:11, 31 July 2009 (UTC)

movie mahabharat made by Pitar burk

please send me information to get the film mahabharat made by pitar burk.my mail id is <blanked> —Preceding unsigned comment added by 115.184.234.241 (talk) 15:25, 31 July 2009 (UTC)

Hello. I suspect, based on your question, that you found one of our roughly three million articles, and thought that we were directly affiliated in some way with that subject. Please note that you are at Wikipedia, the free online encyclopedia that anyone can edit, and this page is a help desk for asking questions related to using the encyclopedia. Thus, we have no inside track on the subject of your question. You can, however, search our vast catalogue of articles by typing a subject into the search field on the left hand side of your screen. If you cannot find what you are looking for, we have a reference desk, divided into various subject areas, where asking knowledge questions is welcome. Best of luck. TNXMan 15:38, 31 July 2009 (UTC)

I think wrong information is posted on Bobby Charlton's profile...

Even if he is dead, he surely was not the one who passed away today. The introductory part of his profile is saying so.

Someone should correct it.

Thanks! —Preceding unsigned comment added by 217.40.151.219 (talk) 15:39, 31 July 2009 (UTC)

It appears someone has done so. Without a reliable source, you are correct in stating we should not list such info. Thanks for the heads up! TNXMan 15:47, 31 July 2009 (UTC)

Yes, thanks. I imagine there's some confusion with Bobby Robson. --AndrewHowse (talk) 15:54, 31 July 2009 (UTC)

Black rectangles on vandalism level images

I think a bot has somehow created black rectangles on vandalism level images. Please see File talk:Dc three 1.svg. Nunquam Dormio (talk) 16:44, 31 July 2009 (UTC)

It is possible that a bot could add a black rectangle on to a image, but it appears that the black rectangle is from the original image, since there is only one user in the File History. (I think the bot edit you were referring to was to change a license for the image, which didn't actually modify the image itself.) Thanks. AHRtbA== ^Talk 17:24, 31 July 2009 (UTC)

The image is listed at commons (see commons:File:Dc three 1.svg), but there are no recent edits that would indicate where that came from. TNXMan 17:39, 31 July 2009 (UTC)

Wow, I was wrong, it's not on the original. It must be the way Commons is displaying the image. Check out the actual hosted image. Thanks. AHRtbA== ^Talk 17:46, 31 July 2009 (UTC)

Bunk Johnson

Hello In reviewing this article, I noted that it incorrectly lists in 2 places ( headline & under photo),Bunk's middle name as "GarY" rather than as all jazz histories as "GEARY" I don't see how I can edit this so as to correct the error. <e-mail redacted> 71.249.212.186 (talk) 17:24, 31 July 2009 (UTC)

Hi, You can edit pages by clicking the "Edit" link near the top of the page. See this page on editing a page. Thanks. AHRtbA== ^Talk 17:33, 31 July 2009 (UTC)

Using MediaWiki extensions: Wiki2LaTeX

As much as I like Wikipedia, I find it hard to read an article on screen, specially if long, which annoys me a bit. I found out that I can download a pdf version of selected articles with Wikipedia:Books. Quite a step forward, but the output is far form being good from my point of view. Since I discovered LaTeX some time ago, it is the only thing I use to typeset my works in real-life, and I thought it would be brilliant to have something which turned wiki-text into LaTeX markup. And that's when I discovered mw:Extension:Wiki2LaTeX. It seems to be what I want, unfortunately I have absolutely no clue as to how to make it work. It looks like it should be installed at a local copy of a Wiki site (using MediaWiki, that is)? Can I use it in this Wikipedia, and if so, how? I am in real need of your help to get this extension working. Thanks in advance! - Keta (talk) 17:27, 31 July 2009 (UTC)

Hmm... Unless someone knows otherwise, I think this is install-only, meaning that Wikipedia would have to install this on their site for it to work. What feature do you like about the PDF? There are different themes for Wikipedia that you can use for easier reading. (See how to change your skin) Thanks. AHRtbA== ^Talk 17:39, 31 July 2009 (UTC)

Bad news for me then. Thanks for the hint on skins, but I just want content to be printed, with higher quality than the current PDF Book export, something I bet LaTeX would be able to offer me. I haven't been able to find anywhere a long text which I can comfortably read on screen. I realize it might be just me, but that's the way it is. Thanks though ;) - Keta (talk) 08:39, 1 August 2009 (UTC)

What about another approach? Could I install MediaWiki in my computer, with Wiki2LaTeX extension enabled, and copy Wikipedia content into it? It might be tough, but would be interesting to see if this is possible... - Keta (talk) 08:39, 1 August 2009 (UTC)

How to specify multiple articles in Non-free software screenshot Template

For e.g. this following screen shot is referenced in multiple articles: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Otac_yammer.png

How can I list all those articles? —Preceding unsigned comment added by Saqib (talk • contribs) 17:45, 31 July 2009 (UTC)

Figured it out. Each referencing article needs to have its own "Non-free use rationale" block. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Otac_yammer.png for an example. Saqib (talk) 17:59, 31 July 2009 (UTC)

If you want to see the links to a specific page, you can use Special:WhatLinksHere, but on Files, they have a "File Links" section. Look at this for a list. Thanks. AHRtbA== ^Talk 17:49, 31 July 2009 (UTC)

Font problem

Whenever I type something in verdana (I'm doing it right, honest), it comes up with arial. Why is this? 89.240.73.221 (talk) 18:08, 31 July 2009 (UTC)

Type where? In a Wikipedia edit box? – ukexpat (talk) 18:10, 31 July 2009 (UTC)

In the Sandbox. 89.242.142.85 (talk) 08:43, 1 August 2009 (UTC)

You have to include this in font tags, something like <font face="Verdana">Example text</font> which produces Example text. Don't do this in articles though. ≈ Chamal ^talk 09:26, 1 August 2009 (UTC)

Footnote question

I wanted to add a reference to an article's References section and then add a footnote in the text pointing to the new reference. I was able to add the reference () but when I tried to add the footnote I got an error message along the lines of "Cite error: no text has been created for the reference named XXXX". I looked at the Help:Cite Errors page but wasn't able to figure out what I had done wrong.Redound (talk) 20:21, 31 July 2009 (UTC)

New footnotes made with the <ref> tag is automatically added to the references section (they are all displayed by the {{reflist}} template). Calvin 1998 ^(t·c) 20:26, 31 July 2009 (UTC)

I moved the new reference (without the ref tags) to the Sources section as it was not clear to which particular section it related. – ukexpat (talk) 20:57, 31 July 2009 (UTC)

How do I embed the results of Special:WhatLinksHere in an article?

How do I embed the results of Special:WhatLinksHere in an article? —Preceding unsigned comment added by Saqib (talk • contribs) 21:36, 31 July 2009 (UTC)

If you're talking about a transclusion I'm almost 100% sure you can't for special pages. See Help:What links here • S • C • A • R • C • E • 21:50, 31 July 2009 (UTC)

Special pages are generated directly by the MediaWiki software and cannot be transcluded. What are you trying to do? ---— Gadget850 (Ed) ^talk 21:54, 31 July 2009 (UTC)

See: Help:What_links_here#In-page_list_of_backlinks. But I can't seem to get it to work. Any thoughts? Saqib (talk) 00:09, 1 August 2009 (UTC)

Your post does sound like you are looking to transclude the results, and I'm finding it hard to think of any use for that, especially in an article, but if, possibly, you are asking how to make a link that will always take a reader to the current whatlinkshere results for a specific article, then it would be [[Special:WhatLinksHere/ARTICLE NAME]] (which link can be piped to another name of your choosing). Cheers.--Fuhghettaboutit (talk) 22:41, 31 July 2009 (UTC)

By saying "the results" I figured he/she was trying to transclude • S • C • A • R • C • E • 00:15, 1 August 2009 (UTC)

I don't think you can do it in Wikipedia. See [1] and [2] for some 2006 versions of help pages. The latter says: "Some special pages can be included, such as Newpages, Wantedpages, Allpages, Prefixindex, and Recentchanges". I don't know all details of the current situation but apart from the no longer updated Special:Wantedpages, I could include the mentioned pages in a test. PrimeHunter (talk) 11:47, 1 August 2009 (UTC)

explaination

hi, i have made a page called (SamuTorrents.com), after while some of the admins deleted it, and i didnt understad why, Im admin on samutorrnts site, and we thought making page here will suport out site for who looking for it on search,, can i know the reason or deleting, i really will be grateful if some one told me what i did wrong?, and if i can do it again or not? and if yes, what i should prevent in future to not deleted again??

thank you in advance....--Sarah.gkhia (talk) 23:14, 31 July 2009 (UTC)

See the message on your talk page. There is a link there to get an admin to restore it to your user space. You can then improve it until it is suitable for inclusion into the main space. Note that the article has to be notable to stay in main space see WP:NOTE - it was tagged for deletion because it was not notable.  Ronhjones  ^(Talk) 23:18, 31 July 2009 (UTC)

HI, thanks for fast reply, im just super confuse coz im new here, and most of what u say i cant get its option, but i will try now and hope i can reach, thanks once again --Sarah.gkhia (talk) 23:31, 31 July 2009 (UTC)

Your can sign you posts by typing ~~~~. Also you can find out about something after it was deleted at the deletion log. Such as the deleter, date, the reason, etc. Also, you can request a admin restore the page with User:Sarah.gkhia/ prefix if you would like a copy • S • C • A • R • C • E • 00:19, 1 August 2009 (UTC)

Another link for future, similar situations: WP:Why was my page deleted? hmwithτ 03:41, 1 August 2009 (UTC)