Wikipedia:Help desk/Archives/2010 March 8

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March 8

Gadget

I proposed a gadget about a month ago here, and it hasn't been reviewed until I posted at the VPR. Could an admin go and check? THe page has been pretty much abandoned and there are multiple proposals in limbo (here's one) Thanks. ManishEarth^{Talk • Stalk} 01:22, 8 March 2010 (UTC)

Using a youtube channel or video as a additional source

I did some searching about this question and did not come up with a good answer to this specific questions. I am having a difficult time coming up with sources with a well known person (for example a well known CB radio operator, well known in the CB culture) can I use a link to the persons youtube channel or a link to a youtube video. To my understanding embedding a video is off limits for obvious reasons but watch about as a external link reference? Ive been reasearching wiki policies in creating new articles and new articles on people but what if there are no really solid sources about this person. That leads me to asking to use a youtube channel as one of the sources. Thank you! --Rek4385 (talk) 01:51, 8 March 2010 (UTC)

There's no specific ban on linking to YouTube videos, but any external link has to follow certain guidelines. Please see WP:YOUTUBE for information on these types of links. YouTube videos are often copyright violations, and linking to material that violates copyright is prohibited. A person's YouTube channel is probably not a copyright violations, so it's allowed. However, it's not enough to only link to a person's YouTube videos. To establish notability, an article needs to have references to significant coverage in reliable, secondary sources. Please see Wikipedia:Notability (people) for the notability guidelines on people. --Mysdaao ^talk 02:31, 8 March 2010 (UTC)

Speedy deletion question

Resolved

 – ▒ ♪ ♫ Wifione ♫ ♪ ▒ _―Œ ^{♣Łeave Ξ мessage♣} 05:59, 8 March 2010 (UTC)

This page contains a partial answer to an essay exam question for a class I am a teaching assistant for:

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

The text of the "article" is lifted from the instructor's powerpoint slides. Does this qualify for speedy deletion and if so how do I nominate it? Thanks in advance for your help, I'm pretty new to editing-type-stuff. —Preceding unsigned comment added by AgentClio (talk • contribs) 02:00, 8 March 2010 (UTC)

If the text is a direct copy, then it is copyright infringement, and it can deleted under criteria for speedy deletion G12. If you have a URL that can be used to verify the copyright infringement, then you can request a speedy deletion of the article by placing {{db-g12|url=source URL}} at the top of Four pillars of progressivism. It might also qualify for speedy deletion under A1. --Mysdaao ^talk 02:17, 8 March 2010 (UTC)

Thanks for the answer, Mysdaao. I will try A1, because the powerpoint slides are only accessible to students enrolled in the class. Now to see if I can figure out HOW to do this... AgentClio (talk) 02:26, 8 March 2010 (UTC)

Just edit the article and put {{db-a1}} on the top of the page. Make sure to read Wikipedia:Criteria for speedy deletion#A1 to understand what qualifies under A1. --Mysdaao ^talk 02:34, 8 March 2010 (UTC)

Got it - thanks again for your help! AgentClio (talk) 02:36, 8 March 2010 (UTC)

Vandalism question

I believe that User:Uptownswampboy is inserting information about a Richard Gerard Windmann, an American jockey and bullfighter that appears nonexistent, from google and google books searches. I'm not sure whether to believe the tag placed on the discussion page of the aforementioned article, "Faculty of the University of Madrid, posting historical information of bull fighting. We are preparing the body of this page, please hold for a short duration". Can anyone advise the best course of action to take?

A lack of published sources indicates no notability is present, although an assertion of notability means the page is not eligible for A7. I would PROD. It cannot be determined whether the page is a hoax, but the fact that there are no sources is definitely a problem. Right now, we have no way to determine whether any of the information provided by the article is true. Although the claim to be University of Madrid faculty is suspicious...why would someone working for a college pick that username? Xenon54 / talk / 02:47, 8 March 2010 (UTC)

I've prodded the article, and I'll take it to AfD if it's deprodded. Deor (talk) 13:46, 8 March 2010 (UTC)

How do I get an account on wikipedia?

Please tell me how do I create an account and watch info from your site. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 68.49.111.226 (talk) 02:38, 8 March 2010 (UTC)

Registering an account has many benefits, one of which is a dedicated page, called a watchlist, that notifies you of any changes of pages you "watch". Head over to Wikipedia:Register, then I suggest you read the Tutorial. Xenon54 / talk / 02:41, 8 March 2010 (UTC)

As for how to create an account, you can do it here. --The High Fin Sperm Whale 03:27, 8 March 2010 (UTC)

Error on your main page (wrong item in "on this date")

Resolved

 – ▒ ♪ ♫ Wifione ♫ ♪ ▒ _―Œ ^{♣Łeave Ξ мessage♣} 05:57, 8 March 2010 (UTC)

On this date:

German instrument of surrender was signed on May 8th, but is appearing for March 8th. I did not see March 8 in the page, so I do not know how to fix it. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Jmwarshay (talk • contribs) 03:12, 8 March 2010 (UTC)

Thanks. It has been fixed in [1]. Errors displayed on the main page can be reported at Talk:Main page. Things on the main page can only be edited by administrators. PrimeHunter (talk) 04:09, 8 March 2010 (UTC)

Inquiry...

Hello Sir/Madam,

With due honor i wish to appreciate your services and ask a visa related question. Am a successful business man in Cameroon who wish to take a vacation by going on a touristic tour to Singapore, Kosovo, and Georgia. please i understood this countries were visa free for a Cameroonian. so i will like to know if there are still visa free for a Cameroonian this year 2010???????. 'If yes', what is required on entry the countries listed above?????.

Best Regard: STEPHEN <redacted> —Preceding unsigned comment added by FRUERIC (talk • contribs) 09:51, 8 March 2010 (UTC)

You might find what you are looking for in the article about visa. If you cannot find the answer there, you can try asking your question at Wikipedia's Reference Desk. They specialize in knowledge questions and will try to answer just about any question in the universe (except about how to use Wikipedia, which is what this help desk is for). I hope this helps. Spitfire^Tally-ho! 09:53, 8 March 2010 (UTC)

Same User name (Login) for all Wikipedias

I created my account back in May 2006, and at some time since then made a change so that my User name logs me in to all Wikipedias (and some sister projects, though IIRC not all...?). This is quite relevant because I edit in several languages. MY QUERY: is this now automatically applied for all new accounts? If not, how is it activated? I simply couldn't remember, retrieve, or guess the name of the procedure (which is also why I failed to raise it on a search of the FAQ). -- Thanks, Deborahjay (talk) 11:49, 8 March 2010 (UTC)

Hi! The instructions are part of metawiki, so you'll find them at meta:Help:Unified_login. - Bilby (talk) 11:53, 8 March 2010 (UTC)

redirections to other languages and using Tables "in common"

dear all,

we want to build a wiki wit several languages and have to use some TAbles with informations, we don't want to fill for each language, so we need the way to use centralized Space for the Table ( for example the english Wikisite "OS-Kompatibility" and want to make redirects this site from ( for example german Wikipage. the redirect "#redirecten:OSCOMP" is not working, even a redirect to external pages does not work ( one idea was to use the Wiki as autoforwarder to drivers-Page)

at this moment we are using the german "OS-Kompatibitlität" Page for translating the legend of the Table... as little workarround... but we have some tables, that need no legend and there it makes no sense.

please help!!!

thanks, Christian —Preceding unsigned comment added by 217.7.83.50 (talk) 12:18, 8 March 2010 (UTC)

At the moment the Mediawiki software doesn't support cross-wiki redirects, if that is your question. Soft redirects are the workaround used on Wikipedia and most of its related projects, see {{Soft redirect}}. – ukexpat (talk) 14:13, 8 March 2010 (UTC)

The note at the end of the Alice in Wonderland section

Someone has left a note at the end of the entry for Alice in Wonderland section outlining all the film/television adaptations of the book and state that the 2010 Tim Burton / Disney movie is not one.

This is someone's opinion and factually in error. It is indeed the same story, with a change at the start and end, but otherwise the same story. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 74.7.234.234 (talk) 15:30, 8 March 2010 (UTC)

Thank you for your suggestion regarding Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. 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 15:36, 8 March 2010 (UTC)

Articles to edit and SuggestBot

Resolved

 –  – ukexpat (talk) 17:15, 8 March 2010 (UTC)

Hi, I know a real person runs SuggestBot and they have other stuff to do besides working on Wikipedia, but my username has been up there for about 4 weeks now and there's still no suggestions, even though it says on the page 'you'll get a reply within a week and probably sooner'. Why is this? When I do get my suggestions, where do they go?

Also, is there any articles that need spelling changes and cleanups? If so can anybody recommend some or show me where the list is. Thanks. Chevymontecarlo. 16:53, 8 March 2010 (UTC)

The bot operates sporadically. You could start with Category:All articles needing copy edit - that should keep you busy for a while! – ukexpat (talk) 17:01, 8 March 2010 (UTC)

(edit conflict) Check out Category:All articles needing copy edit, as there is a huge backlog of articles that need help. TNXMan 17:02, 8 March 2010 (UTC)

OK, thanks for the links. Maybe I should be more patient when it comes to SuggestBot! Chevymontecarlo. 17:03, 8 March 2010 (UTC)

Actually, four weeks is quite patient, and it was nice of you to recognize that what you wanted was run by a real person who volunteers. Glad you are willing to help, and it sounds like you’ve been pointed in the right direction.SPhilbrickT 13:36, 9 March 2010 (UTC)

Accidentally deleted content in sandbox Template: X5

I have been particularly stupid and deleted the content on the Template: X5 page. As this was a sandbox page I thought it woudl rejuvenate - will this still happen? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 195.59.157.65 (talk) 18:15, 8 March 2010 (UTC)

It will get regenerated by a bot. The bot checks every few hours, so it'll happen. --Mysdaao ^talk 18:28, 8 March 2010 (UTC)

I checked your contributions. You've done nothing like what you say you have. Did you by chance use some other login/user name? ▒ ♪ ♫ Wifione ♫ ♪ ▒ _―Œ ^{♣Łeave Ξ мessage♣} 18:32, 8 March 2010 (UTC)

I have regenerated it.[2] Previously Template:X5 was maintained by User:ClueBot II but it has not edited since February 25. I have posted to User talk:ClueBot Commons#User:ClueBot II not editing. PrimeHunter (talk) 18:37, 8 March 2010 (UTC)

hoe to add a profile

Hi

I ould like to add my father ti wikipedia. Former pro soccer player highschool and college all american and Navy seal —Preceding unsigned comment added by 68.171.234.97 (talk) 21:19, 8 March 2010 (UTC)

Wikipedia does not have "profiles", it has encyclopedia articles. If your father meets the notability guidelines at WP:BIO he may qualify for an article but you should not write it because of your conflict of interest (and you would also need to register an account). To request that the article be created, please post at Articles for creation. – ukexpat (talk) 22:03, 8 March 2010 (UTC)

The most helpful thing you can do is to provide reliable published sources about your father. On Wikipedia, the raw material for new articles is not merely what we know, but what we can provide sources for. This is very different than the way most people think. Most people think in terms of what they know (or believe), but most people are not consciously aware of the origins of most of what they know. Fortunately, computers make it easier to search for the sources, if published sources are available somewhere. --Teratornis (talk) 22:11, 8 March 2010 (UTC)

Changing an existing image

I updated the range map image on the Coyote article, but I am unsure if there is anything incorrect in the way I did it. I simply saved the old file, altered it, uploaded the altered one and changed the filename in the article. I'm hoping that since the existing image seemed to be licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0, that this image is fair game for this type thing, but I really have no experience with images or media licensing on wikipedia. If someone would take a peek and let me know if I need to do anything that would be great, thanks. Beach drifter (talk) 22:30, 8 March 2010 (UTC)

You would probably get a quicker response at Media copyright questions. – ukexpat (talk) 22:46, 8 March 2010 (UTC)