Wikipedia:Help desk/Archives/2010 January 1

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January 1[edit]

Incomprehension[edit]

I am at a complete loss as to how to insert a "citation needed". I find the whole thing completely incomprehensible.

MB Bailey Dairyhouse (talk) 01:34, 1 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Type {{fact}}, {{cn}}, or {{citationneeded}}. Intelligentsium 01:35, 1 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]
It appears from your edits like [1] that you want to respond to a Citation needed request and not make a request for a citation. See Wikipedia:Citing sources and possibly {{Cite journal}}. Place the citation code right after the statement you are referencing, on the same line. If your reference satisfies the request then it can replace {{Citation needed}}. Don't sign article edits with ~~~~. That is for talk pages. PrimeHunter (talk) 02:14, 1 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Why did you delete what i added?[edit]

On the events page of december 31 I added a relevant event, which was true to the maximium information released at the time, the event was the shooting in a finnish shopping centre, yet when I look later it has been deleted, I have no idea why? You say we can edit your webpage so why aren't you letting us? Please email me an explanation at Email address removed —Preceding unsigned comment added by 94.197.152.198 (talk) 02:02, 1 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

You'll have to give a specific article title. Also, we don't email answers to questiosn posted on the reference desk. Someguy1221 (talk) 02:07, 1 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]
Portal:Current events/2009 December 31 still has the Finnish shooting on it. Nanonic (talk) 02:17, 1 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]
Click on the "history" tab to see the page history. I guess you refer to [2] which was removed in [3]. If the mention is linked to the article Espoo shopping mall shooting then perhaps it will stay. The edit was not registered to the same IP address as your post here so you probably have a dynamic IP address. PrimeHunter (talk) 02:29, 1 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Wikipedia helping criminal activity[edit]

Does it matter to Wikipedia, when people place articles on the web site, that is aiding their criminal activities, Does the law actually matter to Wikipedia?

when it comes to accurate information,i am only trying to make the information wiki has correct —Preceding unsigned comment added by 58.168.73.158 (talk) 02:56, 1 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

You'll have to be wayyyy more specific. Someguy1221 (talk) 03:02, 1 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]
The post here is the only edit registered to that IP address so we cannot see what you refer to. PrimeHunter (talk) 03:18, 1 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

How do I get this article locked out to IP editors & new users? It is frequently smacked with vandalism of the same type. Thanks. FieldMarine (talk) 03:23, 1 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Normally you'd request at WP:RFPP, but this request would be declined; the page hasn't been edited since November and the vandalism was light enough that it could be handled by watchlisting alone, if it continues at the same rate. Someguy1221 (talk) 03:28, 1 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

This is recurring; see prior to February 2008. It's the same guy with the same comment over & ovrer again about a person from the unit, a CWO. FieldMarine (talk) 03:38, 1 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Requests for semi-protection need to have high levels of IP vandalism and need to be recent vandalism. There is no reason why it should be protected at the moment.
(edit conflict) If it's one specific editor, then warn the user (using something like {{uw-test1}} or {{uw-vand1}}) and if they persist report them to WP:AIV. Cheers, — Deontalk 03:45, 1 January 2010 (UTC)1[reply]

The person has been warned many times, but keeps using a new IP address & adding the same comment. FieldMarine (talk) 03:48, 1 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Maybe raise this over at the administrators noticeboard for incidents. If they think there is sufficient evidence (which there may not be), they can contact a checkuser and have the IPs checked and correlated (technically any user can do this with some knowledge of how IPs are mapped, but if vandalism is involved an administrator is the best person to contact). — Deontalk 05:49, 1 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

I count 55 incidents of vandalism sinceOctober 14, 2007. IMHO, this seems excessive & disruptive. Thanks! FieldMarine (talk) 14:44, 1 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Protect Cablevision[edit]

You guys may wanna protect that page, cause I can guarantee there will be TONS of pissed off customers who will vandalize this article, due to the fact that they just dropped the Food Network and HGTV from their lineup as a result of a dispute over money between CV and Scripps Network (owner of FN & HGTV). 24.189.90.68 (talk) 08:53, 1 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks, but we don't protect pages pre-emptively. There's not much activity on that article, let alone disruption. If it does go as you say, then it will be protected. ≈ Chamal talk ¤ 09:46, 1 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Delinking dates[edit]

Question: Is it preffered to delink dates in articles? Or to delink dates in the references of the articles? I noticed a robot doing that (here), that is why I ask — Ark25 (talk) 10:32, 1 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

See the link provided in the editsummary of the edit. WP:MOSUNLINKDATESTheDJ (talkcontribs) 10:58, 1 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Administrator[edit]

How do you nominate another user so they can become an administrator? —Preceding unsigned comment added by Gigogag (talkcontribs) 13:48, 1 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

The nominations happen at Wikipedia:Requests for adminship. Please read and follow the instructions at Wikipedia:Requests for adminship/Nominate. --Mysdaao talk 14:15, 1 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]
Before nominating someone you should be well aware of what RfA contributors look for and hope to see in a admin candidate and look for and hope not to see in an admin candidate. Many users nominate themselves or are nominated by another when they have no reasonable chance to ever pass an RFA at the time because of their experience level or other factors. The RFA process can be very harsh and people are often traumatized by a failed nomination process that could have been avoided if they knew in advance that they were not likely to succeed.--Fuhghettaboutit (talk) 14:45, 1 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Notability[edit]

Resolved
 – Mysdaao talk 19:07, 1 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Where can I go to ask about the notability criteria per wp:prof? I have made an article for a university professor, Viacheslav V. Nikulin, with over 65 peer reviewed publications[4] and two published books[5]. He's also mentioned in B. H. Yandell's "The Honors Class: Hilbert's Problems and Their Solvers" as being a major contributor towards the solution of Hilbert's 16th problem[6]. ~~ Dr Dec (Talk) ~~ 15:10, 1 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

You can make a request at the noticeboard for discussing biographical articles at Wikipedia:Biographies of living persons/Noticeboard. You can also ask at the more general Wikipedia:Requests for feedback or ask the members of Wikipedia:WikiProject Biography/Science and academia for guidance on the WikiProject's talk page. --Mysdaao talk 15:41, 1 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]
That's great, thanks. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Dr Dec (talkcontribs) 15:52, 1 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]
You're welcome! --Mysdaao talk 19:07, 1 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Moving[edit]

Hi ,

Please suggest , how to move this page from (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Richfriend/new_article_name_here ) to article.

How to move the page from work in progress page, to article for public view.

Regards, Sri —Preceding unsigned comment added by Richfriend (talkcontribs) 15:19, 1 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Sri, you will be able to move pages when you are autoconfirmed, which happens automatically when an account is at least four days old and has made at least ten edits. Your account is over four days old and you have currently made nine edits. Make one more edit to any page on Wikipedia, and you will be autoconfirmed. Then you will be able to move the page to an article by pressing the "move" tab on the top of the page and typing the name you want the new article to have. --Mysdaao talk 15:32, 1 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]
Articles
Accounts
Richfriend (talk · contribs · deleted contribs · blacklist hits · AbuseLog · what links to user page · count · COIBot · user page logs · x-wiki · status · Edit filter search · Google · StopForumSpam)
JoostVoeten (talk · contribs · deleted contribs · blacklist hits · AbuseLog · what links to user page · count · COIBot · user page logs · x-wiki · status · Edit filter search · Google · StopForumSpam)
Srideep TestPlant (talk · contribs · deleted contribs · blacklist hits · AbuseLog · what links to user page · count · COIBot · user page logs · x-wiki · status · Edit filter search · Google · StopForumSpam)
212.79.63.131 (talk • contribs • deleted contribs • blacklist hits • AbuseLog • what links to user page • COIBot • count • block log • x-wiki • Edit filter search • WHOIS • RDNS • tracert • robtex.com • StopForumSpam • Google • AboutUs • Project HoneyPot)
67.174.111.71 (talk • contribs • deleted contribs • blacklist hits • AbuseLog • what links to user page • COIBot • count • block log • x-wiki • Edit filter search • WHOIS • RDNS • tracert • robtex.com • StopForumSpam • Google • AboutUs • Project HoneyPot)
Returning blocked spam/advertising sock account Richfriend (talk · contribs). JoostVoeten (talk · contribs) claims "I'm working for Testplant..."[7]. Use of wikipedia as a vehicle for advertising and promotion for "Testplant" software. See Spam case--Hu12 (talk) 18:24, 2 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

I am a new contributor. I may have named my new article incorrectly[edit]

Resolved
 – Moved by User:Fuhghettaboutit. Intelligentsium 22:11, 1 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

A couple of hours ago, I "saved" an article named Santa Biondo. However, I may have mis-named it. When I open "my contributions", the title appears as User:AllanVLacki/"Santa Biondo"

Is this an error? If so, can you fix it for me?

Allan LackiAllanVLacki (talk) 20:21, 1 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

I presume you used the article wizard? You created a user subpage, wherein you may work on it without it getting deleted (with some exceptions). I see User:Fuhghettaboutit has do so for you. Intelligentsium 22:11, 1 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]
Thank you for your help! Allan Lacki

I got a message saying my edits would be subject to a filter[edit]

Hello --I just edited and updated an entry about myself William Upski Wimsatt. There were major errors (wrong birth year, misspelled name etc) and a lot of out of date information. When I saved my entry, I got an auto message flagging my entry as having triggered a "filter" having to do with promoting an organization. There was a place to contest this decision (my edits were factual, non-controversial, non-promotional, etc), but I can't find the link anywhere. I tried to look through everything with the word filter in it... Thank you!Billywimsatt (talk) 20:21, 1 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

An automated filter correctly identified you as having a conflict of interest. You are strongly discouraged from editing the article about yourself, except to correct unambiguous factual errors. These corrections must be backed up by citing reliable sources. Xenon54 / talk / 20:29, 1 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]
However, since you were correcting unambiguous errors, that's fine, and your edit was saved, the notification message was just for your information. Prodego talk 20:32, 1 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Good day, can please anybody "mercyfull" put this file an commons? Im want use him in other language versions of articles... many thnaks --77.48.153.172 (talk) 20:49, 1 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

I can't actually access Commons, but I think you'll find the file here: commons:File:001.Nicolae Ceausescu la varsta de 15 ani in 1933.jpg? SpitfireTally-ho! 21:30, 1 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]
No, that's a different image. I'll move it. —TheDJ (talkcontribs) 22:03, 1 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]
 Done commons:File:János Kádár (fototeca.iiccr.ro).jpgTheDJ (talkcontribs) 22:08, 1 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Original research[edit]

How do I insert the Original research note into articles? Note: I don't mean the template. Thanks. Ahead 3 (talk) 21:22, 1 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Do you mean like so: "experiments have shown that the great white shark preforms a barrel roll before attacking.[original research?]"?
That is a template, located at Template:or, to use it simply put {{or}} at the end of the sentence that you think is original research. If this is not what you mean please say so below. Regards, SpitfireTally-ho! 21:27, 1 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

start[edit]

How do I start a page about myself and publish it? —Preceding unsigned comment added by Mmellino (talkcontribs) 21:31, 1 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

I'm afraid that's against Wikipedia policy. why don't you try myspace, or some other such social networking service? Hello, My Name Is SithMAN8 (talk) 21:33, 1 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]
Further reading: WP:AUTO, WP:COI, WP:NPOV, WP:Notability (people). Intelligentsium 22:14, 1 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]
(e/c) For the reasons why, see Wikipedia:Autobiography. In a nutshell: the article will probably focus on how great you are (against our neutral point of view policy), even if you don't intend it to, and the article will likely have personal anecdotes (original research and unverifiable information are always prohibited). If you were notable enough to have an article - meaning in Wikipedia's eyes, you are important enough to deserve an article - chances are someone would have written one. There are several alternative websites that are not affiliated with Wikipedia, such as Wikipopuli, that have less stringent inclusion guidelines and encourage people to create biographies of themselves. Xenon54 / talk / 22:19, 1 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Is there a way to find those articles that have two assessment characteristics? (i.e. High Importance, Stub) or such[edit]

Sounds like a job for CatScan. You can find the tool here. (The toolserver seems to be down for the moment.) Under "Wiki", type "en" in the box. Then in the "search in category" box, type one category (e.g. Category:Top-importance articles). Then select "for pages by category" and type in the other category (e.g. Category:A-Class articles). Then hit "Scan" and after a while a list of all 12 pages in those two categories will appear. Xenon54 / talk / 23:59, 1 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

search suggestions[edit]

Could somebody please tell me how I can make my article name appear in the search suggestions? I wrote an article and it is not listed in the search suggestions, and I am not so sure what I should do.

UniversityoffelicityUniversityoffelicity (talk) 23:06, 1 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

See WP:SEARCH. It can take a week or longer for Wikipedia to index an article. It can be reached immediately with the GO button.--162.83.137.52 (talk) 23:11, 1 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]
.. but it usually takes a day, so check back tomorrow. --rainman (talk) 23:18, 1 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

William Songer[edit]

william songer stoke by nayland was not arthur wakefields brother in law william was a servant of the wakefield family read the history and make it right this man william Songer was my ancestor who was a pioneer in new zealand —Preceding unsigned comment added by 86.0.88.199 (talk) 23:20, 1 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Please use a descriptive title in future questions.
Thank you for your suggestion regarding Stoke-by-Nayland. When you feel an article needs improvement, please feel free to make those changes. Wikipedia is a wiki, so anyone can edit almost any article by simply following the edit this page link at the top. The Wikipedia community encourages you to be bold in updating pages. Don't worry too much about making honest mistakes — they're likely to be found and corrected quickly. If you're not sure how editing works, check out how to edit a page, or use the sandbox to try out your editing skills. New contributors are always welcome. You don't even need to log in (although there are many reasons why you might want to). --Mysdaao talk 01:22, 2 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]
I would suggest that you have indepedent, reliable sources for the information, showing that the current information is inaccurate, or someone could just remove it! Alternatively, discuss this on the article's talk page. f your information is in a published book, then mention which book and page(s) the information is on, so that it can be verified -- PhantomSteve/talk|contribs\ 12:26, 3 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]