Wikipedia:Help desk/Archives/2010 March 13

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March 13

How can I edit this template?

Hi, I want to edit the template on the People's Republic of China – Afghanistan relations article. How can I do this? Thanks. EasternAryan (talk) 00:28, 13 March 2010 (UTC)

If you edit the page, the first line is:

{{Infobox Bilateral relations|Afghanistan–China|Afghanistan|China|filetype=svg}}

The name of the template is Infobox Bilateral relations— enter that into the search box as Template:Infobox Bilateral relations. Here is a convience link: Template:Infobox Bilateral relations.

If you have never edited a template, then you need to discuss any changes on the talk page. ---— Gadget850 (Ed) ^talk 00:35, 13 March 2010 (UTC)

The template is protected— only admins can edit it. Please discuss on the template talk page. ---— Gadget850 (Ed) ^talk 00:36, 13 March 2010 (UTC)

(edit conflict) Which template? The article transcludes several. For example: {{Infobox Bilateral relations}}, {{Foreign relations of Afghanistan}}, and {{Foreign relations of China}}. How you edit a particular template depends on what you want to change. Some changes require editing the input data to the template, in an article which transcludes the template. Other changes require editing the template code itself, which will also affect all the articles that transclude it. What specifically do you want to change? See Help:Template and WP:EIW#Template for general information. --Teratornis (talk) 00:38, 13 March 2010 (UTC)

I was referring to the template at the top of the page. Thanks. EasternAryan (talk) 00:51, 13 March 2010 (UTC)

Thanks, but I'm still not sure how to do this. I want to use this image for the template. Can you please make the change for me and then I'll see your contribs and see how you did it. Thanks. EasternAryan (talk) 00:50, 13 March 2010 (UTC)

The image you uploaded: File:Afghanistan - People's Republic of China Locator.PNG does not follow the naming convention in the template documentation. See Template:Infobox Bilateral relations#Usage, item 2. However, the template accepts a map= parameter for files with different name styles. I will try that unless someone else beats me to it. --Teratornis (talk) 01:03, 13 March 2010 (UTC)

I have corrected the template to use an alternative to the default map (using | map = , as Teratornis has said above). Intelligentsium 01:06, 13 March 2010 (UTC)

Yes, you beat me by a few seconds. To EasternAryan, see the diff. This did not require any change to the {{Infobox Bilateral relations}} template itself, only to the input parameters. So the template being protected was not an issue here. --Teratornis (talk) 01:10, 13 March 2010 (UTC)

External links deleted

We entered references/link to site in the External Links section of several individual pages to an award-winning documentary that those subjects participated in. We received a desist notice from one of your editors who also took those links down. As the postscript notice indicates he is not required to reply, we thought we'd ask the help desk what the issue is as well. We modeled our entries on existing ones (ie: "Video of [x] with the Dalai Lama from the documentary [title]" that appears on that subject's page links directly to that documentary's home page.) What's wrong with saying "[X] discusses [subject] in the documentary [title]" linked to this documentary's home page? Please advise. Thank you. Getdirty2008 (talk) 00:44, 13 March 2010 (UTC)

Your actions look like they are spamming (repeatedly linking the same link over multiple pages). Please look over our external links guidelines to see which types of links we accept in "external links sections". Also look over our conflict of interest guidelines if you are personally related with the material you are editing. Basically, you shouldn't link to websites which you are affiliated with. Wikipedia is not meant to be used for promotion. ThemFromSpace 00:52, 13 March 2010 (UTC)

Thank you. The intention was to highlight THEM (the subjects) as it is their accomplishments and expertise on view in what we were linking to. For what it's worth, the doc is made by a non-profit, so no monetary gain motive. Doc is also airing nationwide in U.S. shortly and influencing policy in the EU, so it seems by visibility alone their involvement in it would merit a reference in an encyclopedia. Last question: If not by the doc or the subjects themselves, how do documentary links wind up in Wikipedia pages to begin with? Thanks again. Getdirty2008 (talk) 01:25, 13 March 2010 (UTC)

Wikipedia pages are typically built by editors not personally affiliated with the subjects. This is done to help maintain a neutral point of view, a core content policy. We try not to link to documentaries from articles that are not specifically about the documentary. If links like this currently exist it is common to remove them. Also, being a non-profit isn't an exemption from our external link guidelines. The guidelines are focused on keeping only links that have encyclopedic significance. For example, I can link to the Red Cross from the Battle of Avignon article. That link is to a nonprofit and a "good cause" but it clearly doesn't add any encyclopedic value to the page. ThemFromSpace 01:30, 13 March 2010 (UTC)

Sikes Senter Mall

<text of post removed as blatant copyright violation of internal pages of this site> —Preceding unsigned comment added by 76.0.112.189 (talk) 01:09, 13 March 2010 (UTC)

The sentence:

• "With approximately 80 specialty stores to choose from, you will be sure to find something for everyone."

reads like promotional language, which we don't allow on Wikipedia. On Wikipedia, we don't want just content, we want reliable published sources. See List of largest shopping malls in the United States for some examples of shopping mall articles that haven't been deleted yet. If you want to start a new article about Sikes Senter, see WP:YFA and Wikipedia:Requested articles. Articles which mention the mall already include:

• Wichita Falls, Texas
• 1979 Red River Valley tornado outbreak

The mall is probably notable enough for an article, but we will need reliable published sources for footnote citations. You could also ask for someone to create the article on Wikipedia talk:WikiProject Texas. --Teratornis (talk) 01:24, 13 March 2010 (UTC)

I have removed your post as it was composed of copyrighted text. You may use external websites as a source of information, but not as a source of sentences. Thanks.--Fuhghettaboutit (talk) 02:33, 13 March 2010 (UTC)

NPP help: odd disambiguation pages, and more.

Resolved

 –  – ukexpat (talk) 16:26, 13 March 2010 (UTC)

Hello! I was doing WP:NPP, and found two disambiguation pages that weren't labelled as such, and weren't formatted correctly. I don't know how to fix them:/

Newton Heath (1878)

The Wednesday (1867)

Second, how should this be tagged? Is it worth fixing? Is it WP:PRODable? Help, please:)

Saeb(talkjorn) 05:13, 13 March 2010 (UTC)

The folks at WP:FOOTIE may have a view about the first two, but IMHO they should be redirects to the team articles, maybe to the history sections. I have tagged River Viiperi for A7 speedy deletion. – ukexpat (talk) 05:21, 13 March 2010 (UTC)

Update: I have boldly redirected the first two to their respective "history of..." articles. River Viiperi has been speedily deleted. – ukexpat (talk) 16:26, 13 March 2010 (UTC)

Link to section title containing []

Just now I attempted to link to WP:MOS#Quotation marks, but that didn't work because the section title is actually "Quotation marks[R]". I was able to construct the link I wanted by doing WP:MOS#Quotation marks.5BR.5D, but using hexacimal is hideously counterintuitive. Is there a better way to form a link to this section? --208.76.104.133 (talk) 05:55, 13 March 2010 (UTC)

There is a template in the section title doing that. See Wikipedia talk:Manual of Style#Register. ---— Gadget850 (Ed) ^talk 13:18, 13 March 2010 (UTC)

about presenting an article.

respected sire,

i'm very glad that i am also a member of the wikipedia.i have many articles regarding life sciences,histor,technology and many more.i want to publish some of my projects.please guide me!

your's sincerely, vaishnavi. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Vaishnavi7 (talk • contribs) 06:02, 13 March 2010 (UTC)

I've reformatted your question to remove the spaces at the beginning of lines. This makes it much easier to read.

In answer to your question: you are very welcome to bring your expertise to Wikipedia, but please make yourself familiar with Wikipedia's policies and procedures, which are rather different from what you may be familiar with. In particular, you should probably not post existing articles you have written, as it is likely that they will be unacceptable either for reasons of copyright, or because they contain original research, or they are not in a style appropriate to Wikipedia. I would suggest that you either find articles on subjects that interest you and see how you can improve them; or join one or more Wikipedia projects. :Welcome to Wikipedia. --ColinFine (talk) 12:33, 13 March 2010 (UTC)

Offensive edit summary

Resolved

I'm reporting myself for adding (what is probably considered to be) an offensive edit summary yesterday to Early Islamic philosophy. I added a subsequent edit to the same page to apologise for that, but I assume it would be best to remove the summary (or the entire edit) if that were possible. My apologies for this and I'll try and remember not to edit while upset in future. –Syncategoremata (talk) 07:27, 13 March 2010 (UTC)

Hi Syncategoremata. The procedure for getting an edit removed is to request suppression at Wikipedia:Requests for oversight, via the email address listed there. I am not sure it's really necessary to suppress this edit and its summary, especially as you've already made a dummy edit to add an apology to the page history, but your apology is a mature and sensible gesture in any case. FWIW, I couldn't (from a casual read) quite understand why those references annoyed you so much in the first place, but that would be a matter to talk up on the article's talk page. Thank you. Gonzonoir (talk) 08:58, 13 March 2010 (UTC)

Thanks for suggesting that I add something to the talk page to explain the edit, especially as I didn't even manage to type in a complete edit summary. If anyone complains, I'll request suppression as you suggest. Many thanks for your reply, Gonzonoir. –Syncategoremata (talk) 09:24, 13 March 2010 (UTC)

You're welcome.

No access from particular IP

Dear

My Computer can't access your website. I go to another ISP, can access this website. What's problem?

Thank —Preceding unsigned comment added by 117.120.25.211 (talk) 08:51, 13 March 2010 (UTC)

I'm sorry, you have not given any information by which anybody can help you. --ColinFine (talk) 12:39, 13 March 2010 (UTC)

We can't help you unless you tell us the blocked IP. The simplest solution is to create an account; see Wikipedia:Why create an account? ---— Gadget850 (Ed) ^talk 13:08, 13 March 2010 (UTC)

It sounds like a specific Internet connection is unable to retrieve any page from wikipedia.org. An account does not help on this. You can see the IP address of the used connection at http://www.ip-adress.com/. On Wikipedia you can see it at Special:Mypage when you are not logged in. A problem with IP's starting with 175 is mentioned at Wikipedia:Village pump (technical)#Entire ISPs unable to read Wikipedia. PrimeHunter (talk) 17:13, 13 March 2010 (UTC)

Dsipute resolution

Ok, we've attempted to reach consensus on talk page, third opinion isn't appropriate as there are about6-7 editors participating, when we asked for RfC the commentator actually got involved in the edit war. Both informal mediation cabal and formal mediation have been proposed and rejected by some editors, is there anything else we can do? DharmaDreamer (talk) 10:06, 13 March 2010 (UTC)

The user DharmaDreamer placed a "Retired" notice on his user page on 14th March, 2010, after a sockpuppet investigation against him was started. Just fyi. ▒ ♪ ♫ Wifione ♫ ♪ ▒ _―Œ ^{♣Łeave Ξ мessage♣} 09:10, 14 March 2010 (UTC)

Christina Dior Page

why was this page deleted? it was not negative and had many references to different sites which provided information and evidence about what was written. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 115.64.25.43 (talk) 10:43, 13 March 2010 (UTC)

According to the deletion log, it was deleted as "G11: Unambiguous advertising or promotion". Please read that link, and also WP:What Wikipedia is not. --ColinFine (talk) 12:45, 13 March 2010 (UTC)

Gadget to display disambiguation links?

I've seen on another Wikipedia a very useful gadget that highlights all links to disambiguation pages. Does the English Wikipedia have something like that? Or, if it doesn't... is it possible for a computer DAU like me to import the gadget to my English-Wikipedia preferences? (I still haven't understood what exactly the monobook is about... maybe that's how to do it?) Thanks, Ibn Battuta (talk) 12:58, 13 March 2010 (UTC)

Add this to Special:MyPage/monobook.js"

importScript('User:Anomie/linkclassifier.js'); // Linkback: [[User:Anomie/linkclassifier.js]]
importStylesheet('User:Anomie/linkclassifier.css'); // Linkback: [[User:Anomie/linkclassifier.css]]

The follow the instruction at the top of that page to bypass the cache.

Dab links will now show with yellow background. See User:Anomie/linkclassifier.css for a list of the other link colors. ---— Gadget850 (Ed) ^talk 13:05, 13 March 2010 (UTC)

Awesome!!! Thanks so much! I'm afraid though that I'm not sure yet how to get links to "never existed" articles back to their previous red, and "clicked-on" links to their previous darker blue, too? (Or is "red" now used for a different type of link?) Could you help me out with that? ~sorry smile~ Again, thanks so much!! --Ibn Battuta (talk) 13:29, 13 March 2010 (UTC)

A tad more complicated. Edit Special:MyPage/monobook.js, remove the line for linkclassifier.css, then bypass your cache. Open User:Anomie/linkclassifier.css for editing, copy it, then open Special:MyPage/monobook.css and copy the CSS to the end. Now you can customize it— see Wikipedia:Link color for the standards. Ensure you save and bypass.---— Gadget850 (Ed) ^talk 16:07, 13 March 2010 (UTC)

Navigation popups gadget: loads more kbs?

Does enabling the navigation popup gadget increase the amount of kbs I download per page? That is, does the gadget "preload" all the previews for links on each page, or does it load them only when my cursor hovers over a link? Either way, any idea how many kbs we're talking about? (Sorry, I often use slow internect connections. Plus I usually pay per volume I download, and if I use Wikipedia a lot, it obviously adds up...) Thanks, Ibn Battuta (talk) 13:03, 13 March 2010 (UTC)

No, it only downloads when you hover over the link. —TheDJ (talk • contribs) 13:29, 13 March 2010 (UTC)

Do gadgets require additional resources?

Does enabling user gadgets generally require additional resources? That is, how do the servers deal with gadgets? Probably they use at least a little additional computing power to compute every time which (non-default) gadgets every user has checked, correct? Do they additionally "double" certain processes, e.g., first load the default of a page/skin/etc. and then override it with the version the user wants to have? Is that even something noticeable to user in forms of download times, download volume etc.? Or noticeable for the servers (due to the sheer volume of Wikipedia user activities worldwide)? Thanks, Ibn Battuta (talk) 13:08, 13 March 2010 (UTC)

Absolutely. Each page requires a lot of calculation to deliver to a user. The simplest and fastest way to get a page is by logging out, since all anonymous users get the same cached version (from squid servers). All logged in users work directly on the main servers. That stuff gets cached at many subpoints of rendering, so parts that can be reused, are reused. Even page layout, the system caches a version for each combination of preferences a user has active. With the amount of users we have, the amount of possible different configurations is dwarfed compared to the amount of users. —TheDJ (talk • contribs) 13:40, 13 March 2010 (UTC)

Talk pages: see if "real" comments? ("filter out" templates?)

Is there any way to see if an article talk page contains "real" comments/questions/etc. (i.e. not the meaningless flood of templates like quality assessment etc. :o)) without having to open that talk page each time? I often find myself checking talk pages to see if a certain thing about the article has already been discussed, only to find that the talk page is empty except for templates that are utterly irrelevant to the article details. I wonder if I can avoid having to make these checks, i.e. if I can see beforehand if a real talk (!) has been started on the talk page? Thanks, Ibn Battuta (talk) 13:19, 13 March 2010 (UTC)

• To the best of my knowledge there is no way to find out without lookign at the talk page. DES ^(talk) 23:36, 13 March 2010 (UTC)

• Go to your Preferences link at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Preferences. Click on the Gadgets link and under Browsing Gadgets, enable Navigation Popups. This gadget, once enabled, will allow you to hover on any kind of link within Wikipedia and give you a quick preview of the link. ▒ ♪ ♫ Wifione ♫ ♪ ▒ _―Œ ^{♣Łeave Ξ мessage♣} 08:25, 14 March 2010 (UTC)

Use of pictures

For a book named New Worldorder I intend to use some picture from wikipedia sites. Is this allowed. Perhaps I can sent you a cpoy of the book if you send me you emial adres. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 193.203.220.15 (talk) 13:12, 13 March 2010 (UTC)

For a book called New Worldorder I used some picturese of Wiki-sites. is this allowed?

Perhaps you can send me your email-adres to sen a copy of the book

My adres is <email redacted> —Preceding unsigned comment added by 193.203.220.15 (talk) 13:14, 13 March 2010 (UTC)

See Wikipedia:Reusing Wikipedia content. ---— Gadget850 (Ed) ^talk 13:27, 13 March 2010 (UTC)

Wikify

What is the defination of "wikification" (I am asking because recently an article I created Mediastinal lymphadenopathy, was editied by another user, who used the edit summary "wikify"). Immunize (talk) 13:49, 13 March 2010 (UTC)

Take a look at Wikipedia:Glossary#Wikify. Basically it's adding Wiki-markup to articles to make them look better, and usually comes in the form of internal links, although in this case the user bolded the title and added a stub template as well. Xenon54 / talk / 14:04, 13 March 2010 (UTC)

Cover picture for book

Hi, I want to make an article for Paul Bowles' book, The Delicate Prey and Other Stories (http://books.google.com/books?id=LHOZPwAACAAJ&dq=the%20delicate%20prey&source=gbs_slider_thumb) and I can't find a picture of the cover in the commons.

Is it acceptable to save a picture from google images or amazon and upload it? I have the physical book so I could take a picture of the cover, but then it would look like a picture of the physical object

Ice Truck Killer (talk) 17:02, 13 March 2010 (UTC)

General image advice message follows.

• If you want to add an existing image to an article, add [[Image:File name.jpg|thumb|Caption text.]] to the area of the article where you want the image to appear – replacing File name.jpg with the actual file name of the image, and Caption text with a short description of the image. See our picture tutorial for more information.
• If you want to upload an image from your computer for use in an article, you must find out what the proper license of the image is. If you know the image is licensed under a free-license, upload it to the Wikimedia Commons instead of here, so that all projects have access to the image (sign up). If you are unsure what license the image takes, see the file upload wizard for more information. Please also read Wikipedia's image use policy. I hope this helps. – ukexpat (talk) 21:18, 13 March 2010 (UTC)
• Amazon dos not hold a copyright on their cover images, so copying from them is legally the same a scanning on your own. Book covers are normally copyrighted and cannot be uploaded to the commons, but can usually be used here under fair use on an article about the book. I recommended use of the file upload wizard. DES ^(talk) 23:33, 13 March 2010 (UTC)

Forgotten password

Dear Wiki helpDesk, Hi, I'm just not clever anough to log in.

My username is astro3 It won't take any password I input. I have been logged in before, so it tells me 'username already in use' if i try to add a new one. Is there any way I can get a new password, or use my old one? If not, do I have to start with a new username?

Hoping someone may read this, Yours nick kollerstrom

<e-mail redacted> —Preceding unsigned comment added by 89.243.175.72 (talk) 17:08, 13 March 2010 (UTC)

Hi Nick. If you entered your e-mail address when you signed up enter your username in the Username box and then click "E-mail new password". This sends along a password reset e-mail to the address you associated with your account. If you don't receive the password reset e-mail (either because you didn't specify an e-mail or the e-mail you specified doesn't work anymore), then unfortunately there is nothing else we can do and you would have to create a new account. Xenon54 / talk / 17:13, 13 March 2010 (UTC)

There is no email address registered for User:Astro3. Special:Contributions/Astro3 shows no edits since 2005. Passwords never expire. If you have forgotten your password then you have to create a new account. PrimeHunter (talk) 17:22, 13 March 2010 (UTC)

Page not coming up when doing a Search

When I searched for my submission which was made nearly a year ago, it did not come up. I looked up the submission under my name and a pertinent keyword phrase. The article was showing as a contribution under my profile.

Am I missing something in the publishing process? Is there a place to add keywords to an article for a search?

Thanks for your response.

17:18, 13 March 2010 (UTC)~ —Preceding unsigned comment added by Karen980 (talk • contribs)

You've created the article on your userpage, but you have not yet moved it to articlespace and made it a "live" Wikipedia article. As a result, the article will not show up on searches. Looking over your article, you may be notable but you have not cited any reliable sources backing up your claims (See WP:YFA and WP:Referencing for beginners). In addition, Wikipedia strongly discourages you from creating articles about yourself or people you are close to. Instead, try requesting the article at WP:RA. Thanks, liquidluck✽talk 18:47, 13 March 2010 (UTC)

Actually the page history [1] shows it was created as a real article at Karen I. Hirsch but moved to the user page by another editor. See also Wikipedia:Autobiography. PrimeHunter (talk) 23:01, 13 March 2010 (UTC)

What is wrong with the star?

What is wrong with this star, it does not show correct?: User talk:Fanoftheworld#Thanks a lot. Fanoftheworld (talk) 17:28, 13 March 2010 (UTC)

The wikilink was not closed with ]] so the final }} was not interpreted as the end of the template. PrimeHunter (talk) 17:35, 13 March 2010 (UTC)

Pronunciations

Wow, no disrespect, but takes forever to get to asking a real question. The article on Maori was fascinating but your pronunciation symbols are unpronouncable even to someone as gifted in languages as me. Sorry for the ego effect, just would love to learn how to prounounce names from different cultures than my own without always scratching my head and feeling stupid for wondering if I'm doing that name justice. Thank you very much for your time. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 98.234.154.137 (talk) 18:40, 13 March 2010 (UTC)

Hi there, I'm confused as to the symbols and general method of pronouncing names, words, etc. outside of my own sadly underdeveloped American experience. I'm gifted with languages but need a common reference point to utter correctly and would love to more thoroughly revisit the Maori entry capable of pronouncing the associated terms more effectively. I love your site and was an early supportor of free knowledge. I also commend you for tightening up your spell checking, as it were, of facts associated with information catalogued on your site. I just don't know how your pronunciation symbols and presentation work. Please help. Thank you very much for your time.98.234.154.137 (talk) 18:45, 13 March 2010 (UTC)

Wikipedia uses the International Phonetic Alphabet. See WP:IPA for a pronunciation key. Intelligentsium 18:50, 13 March 2010 (UTC)

For most purposes, you may find Help:IPA for English easier to use. Deor (talk) 20:23, 13 March 2010 (UTC)

Wikipedia's Help desk requires the questioner to know some basics of how to edit here. This can be difficult for users who are new to Wikipedia and have never edited on a similar wiki before. Wikipedia is a do it yourself system, and thus it can be harder to get started with than something you could learn in a classroom setting. Of course, anyone is free to offer classes in how to use and edit Wikipedia. There aren't many such classes, perhaps because virtually every experienced Wikipedia user was able to learn Wikipedia by reading the friendly manuals and trying stuff. --Teratornis (talk) 08:05, 14 March 2010 (UTC)

Ancestry

I just found an old paper I posible am related to the late Bishop Dees, My name is Dallas len Dees, of woodstock, Georgia, I would like to talk to anyone who can shed some light on this matter. My e-mail is <redacted>. Please some one help me, I don't know how to use this computor. Thanks. Contact me any time. My phone number is <redacted>. God Bless. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 72.145.246.71 (talk) 20:07, 13 March 2010 (UTC)

Please do not include contact details in your questions. We are unable to provide answers by any off-wiki medium and this page is highly visible across the internet. The details have been removed, but if you wish for them to be permanently removed from the page history, email this address.

This page is for questions about using Wikipedia. Please consider asking this question at the Miscellaneous 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. Deor (talk) 20:29, 13 March 2010 (UTC)