Wikipedia:Help desk/Archives/2009 June 26

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June 26[edit]

Proper copyright license for image of non-living person[edit]

Resolved

What would be the proper copyright tag for an image from this article, if used to illustrate that article on Wayne Allwine? The closest I could think of was Template:Non-free promotional, but that doesn't seem quite right since the article isn't really promoting a product. Is there another one I should use, or would that one be acceptable?--Unscented (talk) 00:04, 26 June 2009 (UTC)[reply]

You can use {{Non-free fair use in|Wayne Allwine}} Make sure to reduce the image quality.--Fuhghettaboutit (talk) 00:21, 26 June 2009 (UTC)[reply]
Thanks.--Unscented (talk) 00:30, 26 June 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Advice regarding how to structure articles[edit]

USA basketball is an organization responsible for national basketball teams representing the US. There is an article, USA Basketball, understandably short, because there are both men's and women's team. That page leads to a Men's page, which discusses the Olympic and FIBA teams (but ignores other teams). That page also links to a Women's page discussing some of the women's teams.

Here's the problem - the title of the Women's page is USA women's national basketball team. While all the teams within their purview are national teams, the term "national team" is also used to mean just the Olympic(and FIBA World championship) teams. There are other teams, such as the U19, Pan American, Jones Cup and World University teams.

The World University Games start next week, so I would like to add the World University rosters and history somewhere.

One option is to create a separate page for each team and link all pages back to the parent USA Basketball page. Another option is to discuss all the women's team within the women's page. I prefer the latter approach (partly because the Jones Cup teams are already there), but it would require a change in the article title to something like USA Basketball women's teams. I suspect that can be done with a move, but moves create their own set of issues, so I want to get some advice from veterans. (I note that if the title simply had a "s" at the end - "national teams" - I could rewrite the opening section to note that the article is discussing all the teams) --SPhilbrickT 00:28, 26 June 2009 (UTC)[reply]

You should discuss your thoughts and plans on the article talk page(s) and/or Wikipedia:WikiProject Basketball and/or Wikipedia:WikiProject Sports. —teb728 t c 00:58, 26 June 2009 (UTC)[reply]
Thanks, I'll try asking there.--SPhilbrickT 11:46, 26 June 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Infobox: Books and Wikicommons images[edit]

The image that is making trouble.
The image that is making trouble.
  • I just created Play Ball: Stories of the Ball Field as a part of my working try to fix up King Kelly's article. The image to the right is the public domain cover so I uploaded it to Wikicommons, but when I try to put it in the image space for Infobox: Books I just get text (as you see on the page now). Any ideas? Staxringold talkcontribs 01:17, 26 June 2009 (UTC)[reply]
That ibox requires the full image syntax: [[File:King Kelly Play Ball 1888 front cover.jpg|150px]]. I fixed it. – ukexpat (talk) 02:25, 26 June 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Removing stamps from envelop.[edit]

I have problem remove some stamps from the enveops,though put hot water.Please help me. SLJ

This page is for questions about using Wikipedia. Please consider asking this question at the Wikipedia: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. You could always try searching Wikipedia for an article related to the topic you want to know more about. I hope this helps. -Optigan13 (talk) 01:37, 26 June 2009 (UTC)[reply]
I'm sorry, but the help desk isn't here for that sort of help; we're here to help you use Wikipedia. You might try asking at your local post office. Hersfold (t/a/c) 01:38, 26 June 2009 (UTC)[reply]
The Reference Desk may be able to help. – ukexpat (talk) 02:19, 26 June 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Editing special pages[edit]

How do you edit/request edits to a special page? Anxietycello (talk) 03:09, 26 June 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Which page?   — Jeff G. (talk|contribs) 04:45, 26 June 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Nominating an article for Deletion[edit]

The page on Stephen Grasso is an orphan page about a living person that contains peacock language ("honed his skills") and was created by a now non-existant user named BarryKane whose only contribution to Wikipedia consists of creating the Stephen Grasso page. I susopect that this is a self-prmotion page, and am not sure how notable the subject is. I would hope that someone reading this message who has more experience with nominating pages for deletion would check this out. I have no horse in this race, but the page just doesn't look right to me. I rarely edit here, so i am not asking for help on doing the work myself, just hoping that a helpful person who reads this will forward the information someone of competence. Thanks. Catherineyronwode (talk) 04:06, 26 June 2009 (UTC)[reply]

I tagged it for deletion.   — Jeff G. (talk|contribs) 04:39, 26 June 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Prisons in Ohio,[edit]

A couple of prisons I noticed you don't have listed are Orient Correctional Institution, and Grafton Correctional Institution... —Preceding unsigned comment added by 99.164.110.27 (talk) 04:14, 26 June 2009 (UTC)[reply]

You could write something about them at WP:AFC or WP:RA, as appropriate.   — Jeff G. (talk|contribs) 04:56, 26 June 2009 (UTC)[reply]
See what happens when we search for them:
That finds some mentions in these articles:
etc. --Teratornis (talk) 06:08, 26 June 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Advocate for a refugee in Netherlands from Iran[edit]

I need to find a Netherlands GLBTI support organisation to refer a client from Iran who has a visiting visa to Netherlands Geoff Heaviside 210.15.217.235 (talk) 06:35, 26 June 2009 (UTC)[reply]

This page is for questions about editing Wikipedia. Please consider asking this question at the 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. You could always try searching Wikipedia for an article related to the topic you want to know more about. I hope this helps. Excirial (Contact me,Contribs) 06:47, 26 June 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Sport soccer[edit]

Where do I get Soccer rules —Preceding unsigned comment added by 41.242.29.253 (talk) 26 June 2009

Did you get a chance to look at our article on soccer? TNXMan 07:45, 26 June 2009 (UTC)[reply]

GFDL compliance following cut&paste copy[edit]

Resolved

Bringing this here, where I suspect there are more eyes and more knowledgeable people: An eagle-eyed contributor on the New Contributors' Help Page has found this year-old edit, which copied and pasted a big chunk of Polyvinyl chloride into Vinyl chloride without attribution. This isn't a move, so I guess it's not susceptible to WP:HISTMERGE. Is there anything we can/should do to preserve GFDL compliance after this edit? Gonzonoir (talk) 08:16, 26 June 2009 (UTC)[reply]

It's not a move strictly speaking, but it's the same kind of problem as in WP:HISTMERGE. The simplest "fix" would be to document what happened on the Talk:Vinyl chloride page. See WP:HISTMERGE#A troublesome case, which isn't exactly the situation you describe, but says:
  • "An appropriate procedure for such a case is to forego the history merge, and instead handle the situation much like a normal merge; put a note pointing to the other version of the page on the article's talk page."
Also see WP:SPLIT and WP:MERGE. --Teratornis (talk) 21:11, 27 June 2009 (UTC)[reply]
Thanks Teratornis. Have done as you suggested here. Gonzonoir (talk) 09:49, 28 June 2009 (UTC)[reply]

I am Tanya Chalkin's manager trying to edit and correct and add to Tanya Chalkin's biography and informatiom.. it wont let me save her bio pls help thanks[edit]

I am Tanya Chalkin's manager trying to edit and correct and add to Tanya Chalkin's biography and informatiom.. it wont let me save her bio pls help thanks Tancat11 (talk) 10:42, 26 June 2009 (UTC)[reply]

It looks like another editor believed your edit was vandalism, and reverted it. I took a look at your edit, and I don't think it was vandalism, but there are a few issues with it:
  • You added a huge load of text to the start, repeating some points that had already been made in the article;
  • You added the text right at the start, before "tags" which should come first (tags indicate the status of the article, and help editors to improve the article);
  • Most importantly, however, as Tanya's manager you almost certainly have a conflict of interest. My advice would be to post on the article's talk page, and let other editors make the changes you propose.
Cheers, This flag once was redpropagandadeeds 10:55, 26 June 2009 (UTC)[reply]
As a further note, the text you added was a complete copy of the biography on tanyachalkin.com. Since the content of that website is copyrighted, this is against Wikipedia:Copyrights. Chamal talk 11:03, 26 June 2009 (UTC)[reply]

spam[edit]

Since signing-up to wikipedia I have been bombarded with spam from, among others, meyuoaoai@wikipedia.org!

  • This isn't because of signing up to wikipedia. I have a couple of e-mail addresses which aren't connected with wikipedia which get spams from xxxx@wikipedia.org. you would probably have got those e-mails even if you hadn't signed up to wikipedia. PhantomSteve (Contact Me, My Contribs) 11:42, 26 June 2009 (UTC)[reply]
    • A further thought: as Excirial said, it's quite easy for spammers to fake the domain name - not only do I get e-mails from wikipedia, I also get e-mails from banks I've never had dealings with (including those in other countries), and even from myself... and I know that I didn't send those ones! PhantomSteve (Contact Me, My Contribs) 12:32, 26 June 2009 (UTC)[reply]

SineBot[edit]

Anyone noticed that SineBot appears not to have been working the past couple of days? I have reported it on the Bot account's talk page. – ukexpat (talk) 14:16, 26 June 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Yes, it's been on leave since yesterday. I thought maybe it was down for maintenance or something but apparently it's not working today either. Chamal talk 14:19, 26 June 2009 (UTC)[reply]
Wouldn't it be better to have all talk pages signed automatically (and for those few users who prefer not to sign, turned off in user preference)? I'm astonished at the time spent (wasted) encouraging people to do a task that is perfectly suited for a computer.--SPhilbrickT 15:49, 26 June 2009 (UTC)[reply]

The plagiarism of (not by) Wikipedia[edit]

Is there a place (such as a project or group) somewhere within Wikipedia that discusses plagiarism from Wikipedia? I'm interested in the question of whether Wikipedia can actually be plagiarized (saw an example at List of plagiarism controversies, saw one in the NYT 24 June). If an author grabs a paragraph and pastes it in her book, by the time the book is printed, the paragraph could be edited so that there's no longer a close enough correlation to call it plagiarism. Or it could be deleted altogether. This seems like an interesting philosophical problem. Cynwolfe (talk) 14:17, 26 June 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Maybe the talk page of WP:REUSE? – ukexpat (talk) 14:30, 26 June 2009 (UTC)[reply]
Wikipedia is liscenced under GDFL and recently under CC-BY-SA. This means that any content on wikipedia may be copied, adapted and even sold. Under the new CC-BY-SA liscence the only condition is that any content used from wikipedia is a) Shared alike (Meaning that adaptions must be shared under the same liscence) and b) Wikipedia must be attributed (mentioned).
As for violations masked by edits, we can find them trough wikiblame and the page history which contains a complete copy of each page modification since it was placed. Excirial (Contact me,Contribs) 14:32, 26 June 2009 (UTC)[reply]
Will copy this and take the discussion to the talk page of WP:REUSE. Cynwolfe (talk) 15:36, 26 June 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Protected Title (Novarra) -- how can I reuse it?[edit]

I was wondering how I get a page up that was deleted in the past.

Someone else wrote a "Novarra" article a couple years ago and it was deleted. I have reviewed how to write an article and have tried to abide by the guidelines. I have wrote a new version of the article entitled "Novarra Inc". Unfortunately I didn't know I had to ask permission to resubmit it as "Novarra". I have already moved/uploaded the page not realizing till I tried to entitle the page "Novarra" that it wouldn't work or that wasn't the correct process. Is it possible to change the "Novarra Inc" page to "Novarra" after you have reviewed/approved it?

Please tell me how to proceed so when someone does a search, "Novarra" will come up with the new "Novarra Inc" page.

Thanks Scotter353 (talk) 20:10, 26 June 2009 (UTC)[reply]

It seems that the page you are refering to has been salted - a procedure used to prevent continuous recreations of a page. I made a WP:RFPU request to have it unprotected, so for now the only thing that can be done is waiting till its either granted or denied. If it would be unprotected it can be used as any normal page, including page moves and redirects. Excirial (Contact me,Contribs) 20:19, 26 June 2009 (UTC)[reply]

How do I move a new article from my user page to the "live" Wikipedia??[edit]

How do I move a new article from my user page to the "live" Wikipedia??

In order to create or move a page, you must have an autoconfirmed user account. An autoconfirmed account is any user account that has made 10 edits, and has been around for at least 4 days. Alternatively, if you do not want to register, you can make a request at WP:AFC. Excirial (Contact me,Contribs) 20:23, 26 June 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Column width[edit]

Resolved

I know this is easy, but I can't figure it out, and I have read Help:Table

In 2008–09 Connecticut Huskies women's basketball team#Player stats, I want to widen the first column. I've tried width=150, width=150px, style="width=width=150px" in several places, and nothing works. Well, except for the right way, and I haven't stumbled on it.--SPhilbrickT 20:32, 26 June 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Done. I set the width to 250px as 150px yielded about the same size. Just look for the 250px and change it in case you want a smaller or larger column :). Excirial (Contact me,Contribs) 20:46, 26 June 2009 (UTC)[reply]
I'm not seeing it working. Note the second line, with "Renee Montgomery". I want the column wide enough so her name is on one line. I changed 250 to 500 and it didn't change. Assuming px is pixels, something is wrong. I even tried 1000, no change.--SPhilbrickT 21:22, 26 June 2009 (UTC)[reply]
Remove the table width and let it set itself. If you really want the names to not wrap, span it with <span style="white-space:nowrap">. ---— Gadget850 (Ed) talk 01:14, 27 June 2009 (UTC)[reply]
That is because the table width is set to limit itself to width="80%". That section means that the table's maximum width will use 80% of your total page to display its contents. Since im working on a 1680x1050 resolution, 80% is more for me then for someone who works at 1024*768. The solution? remove the 80% and see if it changes enough. Otherwise the only option is to set your screen resolution higher as a smaller resolution can't be used to add more content to it. Excirial (Contact me,Contribs) 09:29, 27 June 2009 (UTC)[reply]
Removing the width worked. Thanks.--SPhilbrickT 11:43, 27 June 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Where to find current Wikipedia usage rankings?[edit]

Isn't there a Wikipedia page that summarizes rankings of the most searched terms/articles/events for the day or week or month? If so, where do I find it? If not, would you consider adding it? --Cwright003 (talk) 21:25, 26 June 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Try poking around in the sites linked at Wikipedia:Statistics#Automatically updated statistics. It looks as though the "THEwikiStics" pages linked there, in particular, contain some of the information you're looking for. Deor (talk) 00:46, 27 June 2009 (UTC)[reply]
See http://stats.grok.se/. Excirial (Contact me,Contribs) 09:35, 27 June 2009 (UTC)[reply]

adding an entry[edit]

how do I add an entry to Wikipedia for a new subject/person?

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. Algebraist 22:42, 26 June 2009 (UTC)[reply]