Wikipedia:Help desk/Archives/2010 June 14

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June 14

Why am I not autoconfirmed?

Resolved

 – Account has passed the 4-day mark and user has uploaded images -- John of Reading (talk) 15:49, 14 June 2010 (UTC)

I'm new at this so you'll have to give me a break. I'd like to upload images but I'm not autoconfirmed. It has been 4 days and I have 30 plus edits. What else might be the problem?

Randyschroeder 14:23 14 June 2010 —Preceding undated comment added 14:27, 14 June 2010 (UTC).

• For the benefit of anyone looking and wondering, Randyschroeder's account was created at 14:29, 10 June 2010 (UTC) - the post here was 6 minutes before they were autoconfirmed! When the guidelines say that an account will be autoconfirmed at 4 days, it means 4 x 24 hours = 96 hours! -- PhantomSteve/talk|contribs\ 18:28, 14 June 2010 (UTC)

That happened to me too - I was only seventeen minutes away when I asked, I think. |:-) ~ QwerpQwertus ·_Contact Me_·_Talkback_· 04:06, 15 June 2010 (UTC)

Does anybody know how to bypass Chrome's cache?

I use Google Chrome, and nobody seems to know how to bypass the cache. I need to so I can view prose-size checking software for copy-edit-backlog-fest '10. How does one do so???? 2D Maestro ^{Serbia Suburbia} 00:27, 14 June 2010 (UTC)

You would normally ask this at the Reference Desk, but it is an operation needed on Wikipedia: Wikipedia:Bypass your cache. ---— Gadget850 (Ed) ^talk 00:31, 14 June 2010 (UTC)

prjects on commercial mathematics

i am unable to find my project on commercial mathematics. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 115.117.186.186 (talk) 04:18, 14 June 2010 (UTC)

do you mean the article Commercial mathematics or Wikipedia:WikiProject Mathematics? Kayau Voting IS evil 04:57, 14 June 2010 (UTC)

WATERBURY , CONNECTICUT PICTURES

I HAD A SHOCK , I REQUEST YOU SEND ME BEATIFUL PICTURES OF WATERBURY, CONNECTICUT. BEAUTIFUL PICTURES OF CONTRA COSTA COUNTY, OFF SAN FRANCISCO CITY. BEAUTIFUL PICTURES OF LOS ANGELES CITY, CALIFORNIA. ACTUALLY , I ALREADY BUY SINGLE FAMILY HOMES IN THESE THREE COUNTY. I HOPE I AM NOT BLUFFED BY SOMEONE THERE HAVE YOU EVER HEARD OF PEOPLES WHO GOT MONEY LOST IN THESE AREAS. SEND ME PICTURES THAT I CAN KEEP THE EMAILS THANK YOU FROM <email removed> —Preceding unsigned comment added by 210.24.221.154 (talk) 08:22, 14 June 2010 (UTC)

We are not Wikimedia Commons. Picture-related questions go there. The URL is at http://commons.wikimedia.com/wiki/Main_page. The direct link is here. Kayau Voting IS evil 09:07, 14 June 2010 (UTC)

Hello and welcome to Wikipedia! For future reference, writing in all caps is perceived as rather rude, like shouting. It is also hard to read. This is the Help Desk of Wikipedia, where we answer questions about Wikipedia. Your question appears to be about house-buying scams and/or photographs in an area of the US. This is not directly relevant to Wikipedia; as such, may I suggest you ask on a website like this? If you have any more queries, do let me know. Regards, {{Sonia|ping|enlist}} 09:14, 14 June 2010 (UTC)

LOL, I don't think even the most points-hungry Yahoo user would provide somebody with photos. In Hong Kong Yahoo Answers is called Yahoo Knowledge+. :) Kayau Voting IS evil 09:37, 14 June 2010 (UTC)

They could easily provide links to photos on other sites, I've seen it done. (What's your YA profile called, if you have one? I want to add you as my contact...) {{Sonia|ping|enlist}} 09:46, 14 June 2010 (UTC)

Activate Window XP

Dear Sir/Madam

Can you please help me; I need to Activate my Window XP I've tried to call your Tollfree number and you Land line number but it is not working

Kind Regards Luyanda Bokwe —Preceding unsigned comment added by 196.25.53.227 (talk) 09:19, 14 June 2010 (UTC)

This page is for questions about using Wikipedia. Please consider asking this question at the Computing reference desk. They specialize in answering computer 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 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. Kayau Voting IS evil 09:35, 14 June 2010 (UTC)

I suspect, based on your question, that you found one of our over 6 million articles and thought we were 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 for asking questions related to using or contributing to Wikipedia itself. Thus, we have no special knowledge about the subject of your question. You can, however, search our vast catalogue of articles by typing a subject into the search field on the upper right 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. {{Sonia|ping|enlist}} 09:49, 14 June 2010 (UTC)

Dark matter question/hypothesis

I am no mental giant however, it seems to me that maybe the "evidence" for dark matter is merely a visual perception gone awry. A PBS or Learning channel broadcast showed time and space as an interwoven fabric and then placed the earth on that fabric and likened it to a large ball on a trampoline. Then it showed how the moon is like a smaller ball and would roll toward the earth and circle it instead of running into it. What I am getting at is the fact that time space is stretched or dilated by mass. When you look at a galaxy is there a way that you are compensating for the fact that the outer stars are very, very far away from the inner stars and are likely not in the same time space as each other? Thus causing distant observers to arrive at the idea that there has to be some unseen mass affecting/causing the velocity difference? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 98.240.114.204 (talk) 09:30, 14 June 2010 (UTC)

This page is for questions about using Wikipedia. Please consider asking this question at the Science 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 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. Kayau Voting IS evil 09:34, 14 June 2010 (UTC)

Adding Commons images to en Wiki categories

Is there a way of adding a Commons image (such as File:CissoidOfDiocles01.png) to an en Wiki category (such as Category:Images of curves) ? I became interested in whether this was possible after participating in this recent AfD discussion. I tried creating an en image description page with the single line "[[Category:Images of curves]]". This added the image to the category, but then User:Fastily deleted the en image description page with the reason "F2: Corrupt or empty file, or a file description page for a file on Commons", so back to square one. Follow-up discussion at User_talk:Fastily#Commons_image_files_and_en_categories suugests that there is no other mechanism for adding Commons images to local categories in language Wikis, so it just can't be done. Is this correct ? Does anyone know of any previous discussion or guidelines on this issue ? Thanks. Gandalf61 (talk) 11:11, 14 June 2010 (UTC)

The categories here only apply to files in this wiki, not to files in other projects such as Commons or the Esperanto Vikipedio; so, no, you can't do what you were trying to do. --Orange Mike | Talk 14:03, 14 June 2010 (UTC)

Sorry, I should have been clearer in the wording of my question. I know that a Commons image can technically be assigned to an en category by creating an en image description page. For example, here is an image picked at random from Category:Featured pictures, where the image file is on Commons, and its en image description page just contains a Featured Picture tag and a POTD tag - click on "edit this page" to see the 2-line en image description page (and a random sample shows this is a common method for our Featured Pictures images). But the assignment of a Commons image to an en category by creating an en image description page containing just a category line (rather than templates that indirectly assign to an en category) seems to be deprecated. Why is this ? Is the correct use of en image descriptions pages for Commons images discussed anywhere ? Gandalf61 (talk) 14:32, 14 June 2010 (UTC)

... and the more I look, the more examples I find of Commons image files that have an en image description page which assigns them to an en category - File:Oystermouth Castle.jpg, File:Gamma distribution cdf.png, File:Philipp IV.jpg, File:BenFranklin Waterspout 1806.jpg. So what gives - is this allowed or deprecated or what ? Gandalf61 (talk) 16:00, 14 June 2010 (UTC)

Wikipedia:Wikimedia Commons#Categorization says: "Please do not categorize Commons files on Wikipedia but rather help commons by categorizing them there." PrimeHunter (talk) 23:42, 15 June 2010 (UTC)

Well, that can't be the whole story, because there are clearly examples of categories that are useful and necessary in en Wiki but not appropriate in Commons. Category:Featured pictures is an example - an en Featured Picture is not necessarily a Commons Featured Picture. And what if you want to have Commons and non-Commons images in the same en category (not every image can be moved to Commons) ? Gandalf61 (talk) 09:10, 16 June 2010 (UTC)

Presumably it refers to categorization that would make sense at commons such as categories concerning the subject of the image and not concerning its use on a specific project. See also WP:CSD#F2 and WP:CSD#G8. PrimeHunter (talk) 11:43, 16 June 2010 (UTC)

Music Genre

It relation to a recent edit,is there such a music genre called AOR?, Gobbleswoggler (talk) 16:28, 14 June 2010 (UTC)

AOR used to mean "album-oriented rock" - the bands that made concept albums like The Wall. It probably means something completely different now. -- kainaw™ 16:32, 14 June 2010 (UTC)

(edit conflict) According to AOR, there is a format called Album-oriented rock. Is that to what you were referring? TNXMan 16:33, 14 June 2010 (UTC)

The article has a completely different definition that what I stated. The article states that AOR is a radio station format, not a type of music. -- kainaw™ 16:39, 14 June 2010 (UTC)

Actually, I can see the connection to genre - a rock band that focuses more on the total album rather than singles. The disambig page also lists "adult oriented rock" or arena rock. TNXMan 16:42, 14 June 2010 (UTC)

Interwiki links between the nine Language RDs

I was recently delighted to discover that there are now nine Wikipedias with a Language reference desk: ar/en/es/fi/fr/he/hu/jv/nl. But not only do most of them not link via interwiki to each other ("in other languages") -- Hungarian has the most, with seven others, and French as yet has none -- I can't figure out how to add them. Is this action restricted to Admins? How to proceed? -- Deborahjay (talk) 17:49, 14 June 2010 (UTC)

If you edit the Language reference desk page you will see the inter-wiki links near the top. For example the Spanish one is [[es:Wikipedia:Consultas/Consultas lingüísticas]]. The page isn't protected so you should be able to add more links there. The syntax of the other wiki's pages will be similar. -- John of Reading (talk) 18:11, 14 June 2010 (UTC)

I see in the English that they're indeed near the top - unexpected, since usually they're at the bottom over or under the cats. However I've failed to find them in any of the other languages, from which I'd hoped to lift the rest (since English has only three and it's a hassle to construct them manually), when I open their pages in Edit. -- Deborahjay (talk) 18:48, 14 June 2010 (UTC)

On the Spanish and Dutch pages, the interwikis were misplaced (I attempted to fix them -- if it was reverted, just search "[[en:" on the edit page). On the Indonesian one, they're at the bottom. On the Hungarian one, they're on a subpage that's transcluded in. The French one, as you noticed, doesn't have any. Calvin 1998 ^(t·c) 19:24, 14 June 2010 (UTC)

Thanks, I'll check those out. Meanwhile I've left messages including all the relevant syntax (written with nowiki tags) on the Discussion pages in the French and Spanish and will do Hebrew next. For the others I can do the same though will have to write my message in English. Good faith rules! -- Deborahjay (talk) 19:33, 14 June 2010 (UTC)

Identifying the original contributor of article text

Is it possible to track back and identify the original contributor of text from an existing article? There is information in the Thomas More article with no source verification listed which I believe is incorrect. If the original contributor could be contacted I might be able to verify whether the existing information is verifiable. So far I have been unable to verify. Upton Upton Rehnberg 17:58, 14 June 2010 (UTC) —Preceding unsigned comment added by UptonRehnberg (talk • contribs)

Have you checked the history of the page? If you click on the "history" tab at the top of the article, you can see everyone who has contributed to a page. TNXMan 18:08, 14 June 2010 (UTC)

IF you want to find who contributed an exact part of text, you could maybe try WP:WikiBlame? —Duncan^{What I Do} / _{What I Say} 05:31, 16 June 2010 (UTC)

move-ing on...but not sure i did it right!

I have done my 10+ edits and been a user for 4+ days. The MOVE box and downward arrow appeared. It said rename article. I took off the user name, and left the article title Alex Binnie (Tattoo Artist). But it still doesn't seem to be out there. Am I missing something?! Help for a first-timer continues to be appreciated!Statenisland777 (talk) 19:20, 14 June 2010 (UTC)

It can be found here. Somebody renamed it to follow Wikipedia convention.Calvin 1998 ^(t·c) 19:29, 14 June 2010 (UTC)

(edit conflict) The move was successful; you did it right. I have moved the page again to Alex Binnie (tattoo artist) to comply with the Manual of Style guideline on capitalization in titles. While we're looking at that page, some of the sources may need formatting or removing altogether (as unreliable sources), for example numbers 3, 6, and 10, at a very quick glance. Reliable sources are needed to prove the notability of this person. Intelligentsium 19:33, 14 June 2010 (UTC)

thanks...it's just i have had a hard time getting my head around the process, and appreciate knowing i'm moving in the right direction. I had a look at 3, 6 and 10...3 is just a link to a general directory, and not massively important, but does direct the user to different articles, 6 is a bmezine link to the history of the Gauntlet (now defunct)-it seemed to fit my general knowledge of the institution- it was the center of the popularization of piercing today, really, from the 70's to the '90's, and 10 just seemed a straightforward movie site cast and credits listings- in this case better than imdb, which i usually use for my research elsewhere. I appreciate the concerns raised. Do you think I have answered them ok?! thanks for moving the page to the appropriate style. Now is the process for an administrator to review it? Is that what you just did? If that is approved does it go public?Statenisland777 (talk) 20:58, 14 June 2010 (UTC)

Medals

HMM 263 award state many that I can not validate where did you get the information about the awarding of those military medals? Thanks <email removed> —Preceding unsigned comment added by 71.114.37.202 (talk) 19:30, 14 June 2010 (UTC)

This information was added in December 2007 by Looper5920. I've asked your question on this editor's talk page since I can't find a source for the award list. (I've removed the email address from your question to protect your privacy.) -- John of Reading (talk) 20:32, 14 June 2010 (UTC)

The editor has replied -- John of Reading (talk) 19:17, 15 June 2010 (UTC)

page view stats - down sharply

I've looked at the page view statistics of about eight various articles, and the page views are down sharply for the last two or three days. Is this sharp drop-off real or some sort of technical problem? Bubba73 ^{(You talkin' to me?)}, 20:04, 14 June 2010 (UTC)

It is technical. You are not the first to notice, several have asked for a fix at the the talk page of the stats tool, who is regrettably no longer active. It is being looked into. Calvin 1998 ^(t·c) 20:27, 14 June 2010 (UTC)

It is a great tool. I use it frequently. Bubba73 ^{(You talkin' to me?)}, 22:49, 14 June 2010 (UTC)

Link to a picture within an article

Is there a way (if yes, how?) to link to an image which appears inside an article? I am expanding Glossary of Japanese swords and would like to add something like: see pic to some of the descriptions, where "pic" is a link which takes the reader to the location of the image in that article. The article is going to be much longer, so it would be a good feature to have.bamse (talk) 20:30, 14 June 2010 (UTC)

Put a colon in front of the file name, like this: [[:File:Katana diagram.svg]] You can then pipe it like any other link, e.g. pic — jwillbur 20:38, 14 June 2010 (UTC)

Oh, I just re-read the question. If the picture already appears in the article, you can put an {{anchor}} before the image and then link to it (from within the same article) like this: [[#anchorname|pic]] — jwillbur 20:44, 14 June 2010 (UTC)

Thanks a lot. Works like a charm. bamse (talk) 21:51, 14 June 2010 (UTC)

Edit Count and Oversight?

When a user's edits are Oversighted, are they also removed from the edit count? As of this writing, my edit count showing in my preferences shows 8019, however certain tools like X!'s counter show 8035. The only think I can think of to explain this (other than tool error) is that the oversighted edits are not counted locally in my preferences, but are counted via toolserver tools. (Presumably because the oversighted edits are still there for Oversighters and Devs, and the tools have direct access to that API.) ^Avicenna_sis @ 20:57, 14 June 2010 (UTC)

I don’t believe that is the difference. My preference count differs from the Toolserver count by 106, but I don’t, AFAIK, have any oversighted edits.SPhilbrickT 21:33, 14 June 2010 (UTC)

They could be plain old deleted edits (including edits on a page that was deleted in its entirety). Those tend to be invisible to edit counters as well. Confusing Manifestation(Say hi!) 23:35, 14 June 2010 (UTC)

I dunno. I have hundreds of deleted edits, so I don't think that is it. I also had two of my edits oversighted since the first post, and the difference remains the same. *shrugs* ^Avicenna_sis tb? @ 20:29, 3 Tamuz 5770 / 15 June 2010 (UTC)

Aristide Razu

Hi,

Whoever made the article about my great grandfather to look more presentable ,thank thou. I've also added the translations of Oituz and Marasti Battles. Aristiderazu (talk) 22:03, 14 June 2010 (UTC) Aristiderazu

It is very nice that you want to thank the person helping you. However, it is highly unlikely that they are reading this page.

I think it is a great thing that you want to thank them, so, if you don’t mind, I’ll show you how.

At the article Aristide Razu, click on the "History" tab. There you will see that someone named Eugen Ivan has been editing the page. You will also see the word "talk" next to their name. If you click on it, you will be brought to the talk page of that editor, and you can thank them there.

Just in case you aren’t regularly following this page, I’ll also post this at your talk page.SPhilbrickT 22:24, 14 June 2010 (UTC)

Ok.Thank you for the hint SPhilbrick .I posted some layer of thank you to Eugen Ivan.Aristiderazu (talk) 21:17, 15 June 2010 (UTC) Aristiderazu.Still everything seems complicated in Wiki,though.That is to me.

User Name to Name

Is there a directory or index to get from user name to person name and possibly email address? Upton Rehnberg 22:30, 14 June 2010 (UTC) —Preceding unsigned comment added by UptonRehnberg (talk • contribs)

No, most users are anonymous. Some few either have their real name as their user name or list their real life details on their user pages. You can email any user who has email enabled by clicking on E-mail this user in the toolbox links on the left side of the page.--Fuhghettaboutit (talk) 22:38, 14 June 2010 (UTC)

Copy and paste?

What the heck happened to the special symbols bar??? It says "copy and paste" rather than clicking on the letter to insert it. Did Wikipedia bail out? Is it unemployed? Or is it some error in changing? 2D Maestro ^{LRTW L4L} 23:02, 14 June 2010 (UTC)

Furthermore, why are "show" tabs gone? 2D Maestro ^{LRTW L4L} 23:17, 14 June 2010 (UTC)

By "special symbols bar", do you mean the new vector toolbar or the bar under the edit summary field? I am fairly sure that the latter runs on client-side ; it will show copy-and-paste if you do not have JavaScript enabled on your browser or computer. As for the advanced toolbar, I thought it ran on server-side JavaScript; you may want to post an enquiry on WP:VPT if enabling JavaScript and/or switching browsers does not work. As for your second question, see this discussion. Intelligentsium 00:21, 15 June 2010 (UTC)

In fact, it seems both may have been caused by a mistake on the part of one of the developers; from the VPT discussion: "[s]orry for the disruption. I was . . . trying to fix the bugs with the bottom inserttools and a few other elements . . .". Intelligentsium 00:26, 15 June 2010 (UTC)

Oops, did I make a mistake?

I just wrote that Finnish politician Mari Kiviniemi has two children, Hanna and Antti. The article already said that she has 2 children but I added the name. Everyone knows who Hanna and Antti are. However, Wikipedia rules say that children are not to be named. The same thing with the British Prime Minister's children. Their names are in Wikipedia for all to see.

Should Hanna and Antti's names be oversighted? Or should we accept that the rules are probably meant for less famous people? Suomi Finland 2009 (talk) 23:02, 14 June 2010 (UTC)

I assume the names of the children were publicly available, therefore it is not oversightable information. By the way, if you genuinely believe that information posted on Wikipedia is oversightable, you should not be posting that information (or a link to it) to a public forum like this one but rather go to Special:EmailUser/Oversight to report the issue. PleaseStand ^(talk) 00:00, 15 June 2010 (UTC)

See WP:BLPNAME The presumption in favor of privacy is strong in the case of family members of articles' subjects and other loosely involved, otherwise low-profile persons

So should Hanna and Antti, as well as the British Prime Ministers and any other children be secret? I tend to think not but BLPNAME requires it. Suomi Finland 2009 (talk) 00:44, 15 June 2010 (UTC)

As a rule, family members do not need to be named ("He has 2 children" would be sufficient), unless the children are notable in their own right. I wouldn't think that oversight was necessary, as the names are almost certainly available in a reliable source (like a newspaper). -- PhantomSteve/talk|contribs\ 07:04, 15 June 2010 (UTC)

What should be done if for a University President, the names of his wife and children are given?Naraht (talk) 22:36, 15 June 2010 (UTC)

What's up with Collapsible tables

do they work? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Collapsible_tables —Preceding unsigned comment added by 24.176.132.87 (talk) 23:25, 14 June 2010 (UTC)

They were broken for a few minutes Wikipedia:Village_pump_(technical)#Collapse_option_seems_dead.3F. —TheDJ (talk • contribs) 23:58, 14 June 2010 (UTC)