Wikipedia:Help desk/Archives/2010 June 3

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June 3

LA Rams - My Father?

To Whom It May Concern,

I am interested in creating a page within the LA Rams section of my father, who played for the Rams during the 50's, and who is not listed. Is this ok to do? Where can I go to reference? My father has his memorbilia from the time he played with the Rams but I did not know where to look to see if there is an actual place to reference that he did indeed play for the Rams. Can you please help?

Thanks BT 00:19, 3 June 2010 (UTC) —Preceding unsigned comment added by Booaug11 (talk • contribs)

I've asked over at Wikipedia:WikiProject National Football League to see if anyone can help you. Bencherlite^Talk 00:25, 3 June 2010 (UTC)

It's pretty hard to see whether your father meets our inclusion criteria if you don't tell us his name.--Fuhghettaboutit (talk) 04:04, 3 June 2010 (UTC)

He played for the Rams, so he "competed at the fully professional level of a sport" and meets the criteria, see wp:ATHLETE. ErikHaugen (talk) 16:19, 7 June 2010 (UTC)

If he played for the Rams, it's pretty likely he meets the standard of notability. However, we do need at least a name to you pointed in the right direction. — DeeJayK (talk) 15:06, 3 June 2010 (UTC)

Say your father's name is Don Simensen. You can just type in: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Don_Simensen (see the _ there in between the name parts) then get started. You can look at other football players' pages to get ideas about page organization, etc. A google search should yield some kind of references, which you should include from the beginning, since wikipedia places great importance on making sure that articles about people are backed up, see wp:BLP for more on this. Have fun! ErikHaugen (talk) 16:19, 7 June 2010 (UTC)

Stadler Image

I messed up the File:Stadler.jpg image (please revert my edit). I apologize for the mix up. I saved the image I wanted under Lewis-Stadler-NIH.jpg

Thanks NorwalkJames (talk) 00:47, 3 June 2010 (UTC)

Done. Bencherlite^Talk 00:56, 3 June 2010 (UTC)

remove this pic

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Hospitalized_child_with_IV.JPG

the childs weenie is showing, please remove this picture before some nasty assholes get ahold of it.

Wikipedia is not censored. – ukexpat (talk) 17:54, 3 June 2010 (UTC)

be alert! ip address stolen

please disregard all actions from the ip i owm so far. That was not mt, and is similar of id theft in nature. i will try to change my ip address, etc b —Preceding unsigned comment added by 209.236.250.213 (talk) 03:33, 3 June 2010 (UTC)

As it says on the talk page for this IP address, if this is a shared IP address, and you didn't make the edit, consider creating an account for yourself so you can avoid further irrelevant notices. -- John of Reading (talk) 07:56, 3 June 2010 (UTC)

How to place my article on another blog on Wikipedia?

How to place my article on another blog on Wikipedia?

i have created a article on blogger.com.

i tried to place the same content on wikipedia; but it goes under speedy deletion.

How could it may be possible again... successfully? —Preceding unsigned comment added by Ydeora (talk • contribs) 08:14, 3 June 2010 (UTC)

The article was deleted under G12 category of copyright violation. Please see WP:COPYVIO. -Reconsider! 08:16, 3 June 2010 (UTC)

Ther'es a much deeper issue that the article is fundamentally unsuitable for Wikipedia. As an encyclopedia, Wikipedia merely quotes, paraphrases, and summarizes content that has already been published by reliable sources (genereally peer-reviewed publications from journalists and scientists). Wikipedia does not publish personal opinion or original research (including original analysis and conclusions, even if the base information is unoriginal). Someguy1221 (talk) 08:19, 3 June 2010 (UTC)

Image shrunk to a point

What is wrong with the second photo in this article? I see the first normal, and the second is shrunk to a tiny vertical bar about the size of letter I. I'm on Firefox/Win7. East of Borschov (talk) 09:07, 3 June 2010 (UTC)

I saw the same problem. I threw a size in parameter into the image syntax, which seems to have fixed it. I think (and if someone wants to jump in with a correction, that would be great) that because the original image is so large, the software doesn't render a thumbnail for it. TNXMan 11:49, 3 June 2010 (UTC)

1,712 × 2,288 pixels isn't big at all, weird things usually start at far larger sizes like 20-MB panoramas. East of Borschov (talk) 13:31, 3 June 2010 (UTC)

Which Language is it?

Hi,

I want to send a link to Wikipedia to a Japanese company. It would be best if I could send them the Link to the Japanese article, but as I know neither Japanese nor Chinese I am not able to tell the difference between the two languages, so I dont know which article to send them. Is there a way to see the English names of Languages in the Language selection on the left hand side of an article the syombols dont't help too much and I would not want to send the wrong language link to my Japanese associates.

best regards from Germany, Lars 62.206.11.162 (talk) 10:07, 3 June 2010 (UTC)

Hello Lars, there is two other ways to tell. Japanese Wikipedia's language code is "ja", while Chinese Wikipedia is "zh", so if there are links to both the Japanese link will always be listed first. Secondly, if you rest your arrow on the link and look at the bottom of the browser's window, you can see where you will be taken should you click. The link to Japanese Wikipedia will be http://ja.wikipedia.org followed by the article name in Japanese. :Or, you can tell us the English name of the page you want to send and we can tell you the proper Japanese link. Xenon54 (talk) 10:18, 3 June 2010 (UTC)

The List of Wikipedias at Meta may also be helpful for identifying Wikipedia language codes in future. Gonzonoir (talk) 10:33, 3 June 2010 (UTC)

A Japanese link will usually but not always be listed before Chinese. The links appear in the same order as in the page source. There is no automatic sorting by MediaWiki but some bots sort the source when they edit the page and discover links in the wrong order. PrimeHunter (talk) 11:08, 3 June 2010 (UTC)

By the way, Japanese (日本語, [nihoŋɡo] ^ⓘ) should be sorted under N and not J in the language links. Languages are not always sorted by the spelling of the language code. PrimeHunter (talk) 11:12, 3 June 2010 (UTC)

Thanks a lot, that helped. With more and more languages added wikipedia might consider an english description for the languages. regards, Lars —Preceding unsigned comment added by 62.206.11.162 (talk) 12:13, 3 June 2010 (UTC)

meta:List of Wikipedias is linked from the main page and shows the English name with a link to an English Wikipedia article about the language. PrimeHunter (talk) 12:47, 3 June 2010 (UTC)

Wrong name of article

Dear moderators, the page http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foydor_Pavlov-Andreevich should be titled as 'Fyodor Pavlov-Andreevich' (not Foydor), as this is the correct name of the person who is this article about. That was accidental mistake. Could you please rename this article. Thank you in advance! —Preceding unsigned comment added by Ekrylova (talk • contribs) 10:19, 3 June 2010 (UTC)

Hi - I have moved the page for you (which effectively renames it). Once your account is autoconfirmed you will see a "move" tab at the top of each page and will be able to make actions like this yourself. Gonzonoir (talk) 10:31, 3 June 2010 (UTC)

There are a few issues with the way the article is written - I have added some issue tags to the article. Gonzonoir (talk) 11:29, 3 June 2010 (UTC)

Background color no longer uses my Windows setting

Until today, the Wikipedia boxes where you can type (such as the one I'm typing in to create this post) were colored as per my Windows preferences (a light blue, to make things easier on the eyes). Today they started showing up as white all the time. Why did that change, and can I change it back? Thanks. --Auntof6 (talk) 11:30, 3 June 2010 (UTC)

Are you using the new interface? That may have something to do with it. Try clicking on "Take me back" at the very top of a page, which should disable the new features and try editing again. TNXMan 19:15, 3 June 2010 (UTC)

No, I haven't been using the new interface, but your reply gave me an idea. I switched to the new interface, and the edit window was once again in my preferred color. I then switched back, to see if that might reset something, and now the window is white again. --Auntof6 (talk) 21:47, 3 June 2010 (UTC)

Hmm. Well, I can point you to the new interface feedback page, but I don't if they'd be able to help (and I've just about hit the limit of my technical knowledge). Have you tried the computing reference desk? They may also be able to figure out the issue. TNXMan 22:01, 3 June 2010 (UTC)

I think I have this figured out. It had to do with IE 8 compatibility view. With it on, I get the color I want. With it off, the background is all white. We live and learn! --Auntof6 (talk) 12:37, 7 June 2010 (UTC)

COI question

Hello, I'm organizing a conference on Rudyard Kipling's 'The Absent-minded Beggar', and wanted to link to this at the bottom of 'The Absent-minded Beggar' page. This might promote the conference (in Bristol, Uk). I believe, though, that the fact that there was a conference on this poem is of interest; and the conference website adds information about Kipling in general, and the poem in particular. The conference is non-profit making. I'd be glad of advice re COI, and have read the Wikipedia page. Postrestant (talk) 12:12, 3 June 2010 (UTC)

Thank you for asking. From my reading of the Wikipedia policy on external links I don't think a link to your conference would be appropriate. The policy is much stricter than many contributors realise - I've just edited The Absent-Minded Beggar and deleted five of the links. -- John of Reading (talk) 14:28, 3 June 2010 (UTC)

I'm still a little unsure (and please note that some of the links you deleted have been reinstated). But I guess that it's a question best left until after the conference, as then the potential coi is dramatically less. Thanks for your help.82.32.3.192 (talk) 15:37, 3 June 2010 (UTC)

General Aristide Razu

Resolved

 –  – ukexpat (talk) 20:41, 3 June 2010 (UTC)

Thanks for the tips.Sounds very complicated .So I have to provide birth certificates ....etc.?to the following addresses(!?)

Andrei —Preceding unsigned comment added by 89.114.127.23 (talk) 14:49, 3 June 2010 (UTC)

No, ColinFine's point, above, was that the sources have to be mentioned in the article. So far the source has only been posted at the help desk. Before you copy the text from your user page into the article, you must add the note of where it came from - please add the book title, author, publisher and publication date.

Before copying the text into the article, however, we need to work out whether the book is copyright. I hope another editor can chip in with some help on this. -- John of Reading (talk) 15:48, 3 June 2010 (UTC)

The copyright experts are here--SPhilbrickT 16:22, 3 June 2010 (UTC)

Thanks, I've posted there. -- John of Reading (talk) 16:47, 3 June 2010 (UTC)

Lady Gaga

Hi

I am wanting to know if Lady Gaga starred in Days of our lives as Mimi Lockhart and if Lady Gaga really is a man. Jade Neil (talk) 15:45, 3 June 2010 (UTC)

You may want to check our article on Lady Gaga. If you cannot find the answers there, you may also want to ask at our reference desk, where they specialize in answering specific questions. This desk is for questions about using Wikipedia. TNXMan 15:46, 3 June 2010 (UTC)

Wasn't that Farah Fath? ErikHaugen (talk) 16:24, 7 June 2010 (UTC)

figure it out episodes

How to make the figure it out episodes viewable? Can you do that? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 24.7.208.202 (talk) 17:25, 3 June 2010 (UTC)

I'm not sure what you mean. Would you like to add a list of the episodes to Figure It Out? Or would you like to watch the episodes (in which case, you are not on the correct webpage to do so)? TNXMan 18:43, 3 June 2010 (UTC)

General Aristide Razu's resources

Well here is about the Army part of General Aristide Razu

http://www.panoramio.com/user/2365578

And here is about the nationalized properties of his in Romania 2010,due to the corrupt/communist regime in Romania.

http://www.panoramio.com/user/2560742?with_photo_id=17073997

As about th battle of Marasesti told by Constantin Kiritescu ,as the whole Romanian War of 1916-1919,nobody knows anything since the book cannot be found in any book shop in Romania.I searched for it for months at antique dealers,and I only found out about it through family notes. Not even the Army Leaders do not know much about it as i asked them.Strange ain'it?

Also as sources for the nationalized properties 1.Guvernul Roman 2.Inalta Curte de Casatie si Justitie,Bucuresti 3.Primaria Bucuresti 4.Primaria Birsanesti +Primarul Comunei Birsanesti/Bacau 5.Primaria Constanta si Primaria Amzacea 6.Ministerul Culturii,Bucuresti 7.Arhivele Statului Roman 8.Gospodaria Partidului Comunist Roma 9.Sc Herastrau Nord S.A. etc.—Preceding unsigned comment added by 89.114.127.23 (talk) 18:15, 3 June 2010 (UTC)

Andrei —Preceding unsigned comment added by 89.114.127.23 (talk) 17:59, 3 June 2010 (UTC)

Hello. Your sources need to be put into the article you are writing, not posted here on the help desk. Wikipedia:Citing sources explains how to do this in an acceptable format. Also, please remember to sign your posts here and on any discussion pages you edit (but don't sign any edits to articles themselves). You can do this by typing four tildes - ~~~~ like this - at the end of your comment, and the software will do the rest. Karenjc 19:21, 3 June 2010 (UTC)

Well,thanks for the tips, I think making an article on ...is like making a program ,a bit. Aristiderazu —Preceding unsigned comment added by 89.114.127.23 (talk) 21:08, 3 June 2010 (UTC)

Yes. And writing templates is even more like writing programs, but with a much weaker syntax than most scripting languages provide. And there is no debugger or lint tool for wikitext. It's like writing programs without an Integrated development environment. But we have a pretty good Help desk. --Teratornis (talk) 07:10, 4 June 2010 (UTC)

I can't get to mobile mode!

I went on to wikepedia on my Iphone and I can't get on mobile version. Please Help! —Preceding unsigned comment added by 166.137.14.206 (talk) 18:37, 3 June 2010 (UTC)

The wikitech:Server admin log says that the system administrators made some changes to Wikipedia's mobile gateway, including some to the DNS system that temporarily rendered Mobile Wikipedia unavailable. You can wait some hours for the DNS changes to propagate or you can try the address http://mobile1.wikimedia.org/ or http://mobile2.wikimedia.org/ for now. PleaseStand ^(talk) 19:43, 3 June 2010 (UTC)

Does http://en.m.wikipedia.org/ work? Or take a look at Wikipedia:Enable mobile version. – ukexpat (talk) 19:40, 3 June 2010 (UTC)

The server has been heavily overloaded, and now it's reachability is almost 0 because of the system maintenance. Hopefully it will be fixed soon. —TheDJ (talk • contribs) 20:20, 3 June 2010 (UTC)

Parsing Wiki XML Dumps ver0.4 just got tough

Hello, I am trying to parse Wikipedia XML Dump using "Parse-MediaWikiDump-1.0.4" along with "Wikiprep.pl" script. I guess this script works fine with ver0.3 Wiki XML Dumps but not with the latest ver0.4 Dumps. I get the following error.

Can't locate object method "page" via package "Parse::MediaWikiDump::Pages" at wikiprep.pl line 390.

Also, under the "Parse-MediaWikiDump-1.0.4" documentation @ http://search.cpan.org/~triddle/Parse-MediaWikiDump-1.0.4/lib/Parse/MediaWikiDump/Pages.pm, I read "LIMITATIONS Version 0.4 This class was updated to support version 0.4 dump files from a MediaWiki instance but it does not currently support any of the new information available in those files."

Any work arounds would help me get to the next level. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 122.167.71.155 (talk) 19:32, 3 June 2010 (UTC)

You should probably ask this at the tech hangout. – ukexpat (talk) 19:38, 3 June 2010 (UTC)

Aurora Organic Dairy - factual errors in content

After several attempts to edit the Wikipedia entry for Aurora Organic Dairy continue to be reversed by Wikipedia users, we ask that Wikipedia editors correct this entry for its numerous factual errors and apparent bias. The following represents the errors in the existing article ... correct information follows the ellipses.

Aurora Organic Dairy is an American company, based in Boulder, Colorado, which operates large factory farms, each with thousands of dairy cows, in Colorado and Texas. ... Aurora Organic Dairy operates five organic dairy farms in Colorado and Texas. It's organic dairy herds range in size from approximately 900 milking cows up to 5,000. (strike "factory farms" as that is a subjective term and has no clear definition as a descriptor for these farms).

Add text: The company also operates an organic-dedicated milk processing facility in Colorado where it ... packages private-label, store-brand, organic dairy products for many of the country's grocery chains. (strike: largest grocery chains, as the customers vary in size from national to regional. Also strike the names of retailers, as this is not an accurate or exhaustive list, therefore no customers should be listed).

The company ... (strike: was founded) transitioned to 100% organic in 2003 and was subsequently run by Marc Peperzak and Mark Retzloff (Aurora Dairy Corporation had been operating as a conventional dairy business for nearly 30 years prior to its transition to organic. Marc Peperzak was the founder of that business and he partnered with Mark Retzloff to run the organic-dedicated milk production and processing company, Aurora Organic Dairy) as a combined farm and bottling plant situated on a sloping plain north of Denver. In 2005, this had 5300 cows (strike: not relevant, as the number of cows at any given farm will change depending on consumer demand, production needs, etc. ... could say that the Platteville, Colo. farm currently has approximately 900 milking cows on the property. At this time, the organic standards of the new company were already causing squabbles with other organic producers.[1] ... strike this last sentence, as it is subjective and not relevant to an overview of the company.

The Cornucopia Institute, a Wisconsin-based farm policy research group representing organic and family-scale farmers, complained to the USDA's Agricultural Marketing Service about their livestock management and organic practices. In particular, it was alleged that their cows were not allowed to graze upon pasture and were instead kept in feedlots or buildings. This was said to be contrary to the National Organic Program which the AMS administers.[2] ... strike this paragraph ... while it may be true that this activist group made claims about Aurora Organic Dairy, these claims were one group's attempt to attack this company and the claims are false. As proof that these were false claims, the USDA's National Organic Program confirmed that allegations made by Cornucopia were only allegations and NOT findings of fact stated an Associated Press clarification, which ran on the AP Wire 2/18/08: DENVER (AP) _ In a Jan. 17 story, The Associated Press reported that the U.S. Department of Agriculture had found more than a dozen violations of organic standards by Aurora Organic Dairy. In April 2007, the USDA had said it "identified willful violations" by the dairy of the Organic Foods Production Act. The agency and the dairy signed a consent agreement in August under which the dairy agreed to change some of its practices, and the agency said its complaints were resolved. In a follow-up interview in late January, USDA Deputy Administrator Barbara Robinson said the consent agreement had settled the complaints without a final determination that the dairy had violated the Organic Foods Production Act.</ref>:</ref>.

In August 2007, Aurora was sanctioned by the United States Department of Agriculture after the agency's investigators found 14 wilful violations of federal organic law. The agency considered decertification and then placed Aurora on a one-year probation. The company agreed not to sell as organic milk from cattle that may not have been raised organically.[3] An agreement was reached by the USDA and Aurora which resulted in Aurora agreeing to reduce the size of its herd and provide cattle with pasture grazing during the growing season.[4]... strike this paragraph, see above reference to the Associated Press clarification. There were no findings of fact regarding "willfull violations" and the USDA confirmed the allegations made by the Cornucopia Institute were allegations, not findings of violations. Therefore, this pargraph is false, biased and misrepresents the Consent Agreement between Aurora Organic Dairy and USDA.

In June 2009, a court dismissed lawsuits against Aurora, grocery chains that sold Aurora's milk, and QAI, a certification body.[5]

Cornucopia filed additional legal complaints against Aurora in 2009, claiming that Aurora does not provide sufficient grazing for its cattle, as required by regulations. According to Cornucopia, Aurora planted "substandard crops that are planted on an annual basis," not providing sufficient year-round grazing for cattle. Aurora responded by saying that Cornucopia's new claims were identical to those that were brought up in 2007, and were summarily dismissed.[4] ... strike this paragraph as, again, this is part of an attack by the Cornucopia Institute on Aurora Organic Dairy and is based on the subjective opinions of those involved with Cornucopia Institute, rather than based on reality of Aurora Organic Dairy's operations.

We have repeatedly tried to post a brief description of Aurora Organic Dairy that is very neutral and unbiased, but provides factual information about the company. We suggest you adopt that version rather than try to rewrite the current one as shown above, as it would require a complete rewrite due to the numerous factual errors and bias with which it was written. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Sonjatuitele (talk • contribs) 20:24, 3 June 2010 (UTC)

The first place to try to addresss this is the article's talk page, inviting the other editors of the article to participate and attempt to reach consensus. This is even more important as you have a conflict of interest and should not editing the article yourself. Also please note our policy on shared accounts. – ukexpat (talk) 20:39, 3 June 2010 (UTC)

new page

Today i realized there is no wikipedia page for A Very Potter Musical. It is a popular fan-made musical on you-tube that deserves its own page. Either someone should make one or please tell me how to make a page. Thanks —Preceding unsigned comment added by 68.197.124.87 (talk) 22:06, 3 June 2010 (UTC)

A Wizard is available to walk you through these steps. See the Article Wizard.

Thank you.

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 Wikipedia:Your first article and Wikipedia:How to write a great article, and please consider taking a tour through the Wikipedia:Tutorial so that you know how to properly format the article before creation. An Article Wizard is available to walk you through creating an article, but you will need to create an account to use it. if you don't wish to do so, you can submit a proposal for an article at Articles for Creation. TNXMan 22:07, 3 June 2010 (UTC)

Note that an article on this topic was deleted last summer as the result of an AfD and that recreations have been speedied three times since, the last time only a little more than a month ago. I'd think hard before creating a new article on this. Deor (talk) 22:31, 3 June 2010 (UTC)

In case it is not clear why these have kept being deleted, look at notability again: only if you can find multiple non-trivial references in independent reliable sources would the subject be notable enough for a Wikipedia article. --ColinFine (talk) 23:16, 3 June 2010 (UTC)

I just noticed that A Very Potter Musical has also been salted, so if anyone wants to create an article about it, he'll have to take the matter to deletion review first to seek a consensus that such an article would meet our guidelines. Deor (talk) 17:27, 4 June 2010 (UTC)

Photographs?

What's the protocol for putting pictures into articles? Can we use publicity shots, or do we have to clear the copyrights to use pictures? Regent of the Seatopians (talk) 22:45, 3 June 2010 (UTC)

The long answer is at Wikipedia:Image use policy, but the short answer is that freely licensed and public domain images must be used wherever possible, and only where free alternatives are not possible can you use something copyrighted that requires a fair use claim, which includes publicity shots. Confusing Manifestation(Say hi!) 00:04, 4 June 2010 (UTC)

TFA - What is the point of this?

Hi. Why do I get the following notice when editing today's featured article:

Yes, you really are editing Wikipedia right now!

Cyclone Gonu is Today's featured article. You are actually editing it and if you press Save, your changes will be publicly viewable – immediately. Vandalism and test edits are swiftly removed by Wikipedia volunteers, so please do not waste your time and theirs by saving changes which do not improve the article. Of course constructive changes are welcome – but know that vandals will be blocked from editing.

Use the Sandbox for test edits, or go to Talk:Cyclone Gonu to make comments or suggestions. See the Tutorial on how to get started editing. We are excited to have you contribute! Thank you.

Is this really nessecary? I'm an experienced editor here and this notice is rather distracting so is there a way to turn it off for TFA? Thanks. ~AH1^(TCU) 23:09, 3 June 2010 (UTC)

Perhaps someone at Template talk:TFA-editnotice would be able to explain it better, but I think the idea is that a big warning notice might help to deter silliness or vandalism from those unaccustomed to Wikipedia but who are tempted to hit the "edit this page" button and try things out when their favourite subject is showcased on one of the most popular websites. You can turn it off by following the instructions at Template:TFA-editnotice/doc. Bencherlite^Talk 23:18, 3 June 2010 (UTC)

The Citroen Visa Forum

Dear Sir/Madam,

I am trying to remove my website from the blacklist but it is not happening. Is there a way that a Wikipedia Moderator/Admin can do this for me. The web address is:

www.visaforum.freeforums.org ( I cannot link it because of the blacklist)

It is not a spam website and it is there only to promote the great little car. I would like to put it into the links section of Citroen Visa:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Citroen_Visa

Can you help me please. Regards.