Wikipedia:Help desk/Archives/2010 October 10

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October 10

List of Blocks

Where do I find a list of blocks? Such as, page blankign, gibberish etc....

WP:COI user warning

What did I screw up here? Why doesn't the code for the user contribs work? Dismas|^(talk) 01:28, 10 October 2010 (UTC)

You need to substitute the template. I've fixed it for you. Goodvac (talk) 01:35, 10 October 2010 (UTC)

Ah! Don't know why I didn't think of that. Thanks! Dismas|^(talk) 01:43, 10 October 2010 (UTC)

2 articles that need cleaning up

Hi! Could someone please clean up 2 articles I've created? The first one is about an young adult Novel Called More_than_Weird. The Second is a Israeli-American movie call The_Seventh_Coin. Someone please clean them up. Thanks! Neptunekh2 (talk) 03:31, 10 October 2010 (UTC)

Crossing out history entries

I'm wondering how it is possible to cross out a history summary as seen here. Why is the deletion log for this article not logged on the deletionist's history here. Thanks for any helpful advice, SwisterTwister (talk) 03:54, 10 October 2010 (UTC)

See the last paragraph of Help:Page history#Using a history page. Deletions (and some other actions not considered normal edits) are seen by clicking "logs" on the contributions page. It's seen here. PrimeHunter (talk) 04:08, 10 October 2010 (UTC)

Article Issues

Dear Wikipedia,

I recently edited parts of an article ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Overdrive_(transportation) ) but it appears to have been deleted / reverted ..... Why???

Thanks

ps: i may of used the name Davey2010 to edit the page but not sure sorry...

03:58, 10 October 2010 (UTC)

The page history at [1] shows your edit was reverted with summary "Rm some bias". See Wikipedia:Neutral point of view. PrimeHunter (talk) 04:13, 10 October 2010 (UTC)

• Ah ok thanks mate

Davey2010 (talk) 05:38, 10 October 2010 (UTC)

Autopatroller removal

Is there any way to turn off my autopatroller userrights automatically granted me under the admin package? I find it sometimes a hindrance that actually stops me from making certain edits. Specifically, when I come across a new page, I may wish to move it to a a better title, make some tweaks, but not have the time then or the inclination to do everything necessary for what I'd consider a complete patrolling job—stub tagging, adding categories, possibly prodding or taking to AfD after looking for sources and so on. Because once I touch a page with any edit, it's automatically marked autopatrolled, instead I do nothing because that's better than doing half a job and then having the page marked as patrolled, thus escaping a more thorough review.--Fuhghettaboutit (talk) 05:03, 10 October 2010 (UTC)

Your description here doesn't seem to match the description at Wikipedia:Autopatrolled, which says the right will only affect pages that you create, marking them so they don't need patrolling. I realise this doesn't answer your question. -- John of Reading (talk) 07:17, 10 October 2010 (UTC)

I'm also an admin with automatic autopatroller rights. I just made a dummy edit to Porte Maillot (disambiguation) and it was still marked as unpatrolled at Special:Newpages afterwards. PrimeHunter (talk) 13:19, 10 October 2010 (UTC)

It has since been marked patrolled by another editor.[2] PrimeHunter (talk) 14:12, 10 October 2010 (UTC)

Huh. So I've been laboring under a misunderstanding but there's a reason. Whenever I edit a new page the link to mark [Mark this page as patrolled] disappears. That's the reason I thought I was autopatrolling by making any edit. I just made edits to two unpatrolled new articles (one I marked as minor, one I did not to see if that possibly made a difference) and on both the patrol link made it vanishing act (but neither were marked as patrolled by me in the patrol log). Does this happen to you guys as well? It doesn't seem to be a useful thing, seems likely to cause the confusion I had in others, and I see nothing about it at Wikipedia:New pages patrol/patrolled pages. Maybe this is [another] error resulting from my mix of monobook tools?--Fuhghettaboutit (talk) 15:09, 10 October 2010 (UTC)

I am not an autopatroller but the same thing happens to me. If I am looking at Special:NewPages and go to a page it has the [Mark this page as patrolled], then if I edit it the link goes away. But it still shows up on the list as unpatrolled. It seems to me the link only shows up when you come directly from Special:NewPages. ~~ GB fan ~~ 15:22, 10 October 2010 (UTC)

That must be it. The links at Special:NewPages have an extra parameter "&rcid=Some big number" -- John of Reading (talk) 15:33, 10 October 2010 (UTC)

Yep, that's it. I just checked and the two pages I edited have the link still if I link to them through newpages.--Fuhghettaboutit (talk) 15:44, 10 October 2010 (UTC)

Yes, for performance reasons you only get the "[Mark this page as patrolled]" link when you have a certain url made by Special:NewPages. See bugzilla:15936. PrimeHunter (talk) 16:02, 10 October 2010 (UTC)

Okay, thanks everyone. This is sewed up. Please see this diff.--Fuhghettaboutit (talk) 17:59, 10 October 2010 (UTC)

How to Merge different Accounts registered at diff languages portals of Wikipedia

I've a user account in English Wiki with login as Chakravarthy and the current login account, ie., చక్రవర్తి in Telugu Wiki. Now, it is time for me to merge both the accounts. I have tried the Merge accounts link provided by Wiki, but it didn't really worked out.

Any clue how can I merge both the accounts? —Preceding unsigned comment added by చక్రవర్తి (talk • contribs) 06:05, 10 October 2010 (UTC)

The accounts must have the same name. See meta:Help:Unified login#Can I merge different usernames? You can request a user name change at the wiki with the wrong user name. Wikipedia:Changing username doesn't have a link to the Telugu Wikipedia and it doesn't appear to have a bureaucrat so you can make the request at meta:Steward requests/Username changes. PrimeHunter (talk) 12:55, 10 October 2010 (UTC)

editing category

I just edited this category, but the articles aren't alphabetical arranged, there just a T. Can you help me please?-- ♫Greatorangepumpkin♫ T 10:32, 10 October 2010 (UTC)

Most of the articles are being added to the category via a template: {{Etta James}}. The template specified the category thus: [[Catgeory:Etta James|Template]]. The "Template" at the end is specifying the "sort order", so every article added to the category in this way is treated as if its name is "Template" - hence everything ends up under "T" ;-)

The way round this would be to pass a param to the Etta James template: {{Etta James|Wallflower (Dance with Me, Henry), The}} (for The Wallflower (Dance with Me, Henry)). The paramter would then replace "Template" with the correct name for sorting on.

However... there seems to be a bit of category redundancy occurring. Most of these articles are already in Category:Etta James songs or Category:Etta James albums. It would seem to me that these cats should be sub-cats of Category:Etta James, and that the Etta James template shouldn't specify any category? TFOWR 10:48, 10 October 2010 (UTC)

All the articles using the template were also placed in Category:Rhythm and blues singers templates due to the template categorization. I have noincluded the categories [3] (may take a while before article categorization is automaticaly updated) and sorted the template under τ as mentioned at WP:SORTKEY. PrimeHunter (talk) 12:12, 10 October 2010 (UTC)

I have made a few other edits regarding Category:Etta James. They can be seen in my latest contributions. PrimeHunter (talk) 12:25, 10 October 2010 (UTC)

Flag not working

The flag of Wales is not working. Velociraptor888 11:18, 10 October 2010 (UTC)

Wales It looks ok to me. Roger (talk) 11:29, 10 October 2010 (UTC)

It failed for me two minutes ago in your post but now it works. PrimeHunter (talk) 11:55, 10 October 2010 (UTC)

Eye Doctor

Intended Recipient, I have went to the Eye Doctor and was Diagnosed with Low Eye Solution Accoutability of which this problem causes me to Sleep Walk (Travel Immortal) of which the Condition was Diagnosed as not Bad enough to have Non-Over the counter Mediciene. If anyone knows of a Solution of over the Counter that will work like a Non-Over the Counter Mediciene please E-mail me at(<redacted>).I have also posted this on other Wikipedia sites of Non-Felon district.Thank You for any and all help.Please do not send any faulty cures.Sincerely Eddie Billings Jr —Preceding unsigned comment added by 99.62.104.20 (talk) 12:56, 10 October 2010 (UTC)

Sorry, Wikipedia does not give medical advice. Also, your e-mail has been redacted. -- Bk314159 (Talk to me and find out what I've done) 13:37, 10 October 2010 (UTC)

Where to Report

If a user picks up four warnings for vandalism then they are reported to WP:AIV. Where would a user be reported if s/he had picked up {{uw-chat1}}, {{uw-chat2}}, {{uw-chat3}} and {{uw-chat4}}? — Fly by Night (talk) 13:24, 10 October 2010 (UTC)

WP:UTN categorises the {{uw-chat}} series in the same "unconstructive edits" class as the clear vandalism warnings. AIV would appear to be the place to report them, although for myself I would consider a final personal, non-templated approach on their talk page as a last-ditch attempt to get the message across, provided the edits in question are just irrelevant chattery and not something more damaging. Some people just don't seem to get WP:NOTFACEBOOK, but there's a case for trying one last time to help them do so before calling in the cavalry. Karenjc 14:58, 10 October 2010 (UTC)

Thanks for the advise. I wasn't going to report anyone. It was a question over at WP:WQA. A user was reporting someone using talk pages as forums and wanted an admin to step in. I told them to use the warning templates, but wasn't sure what they should do if the user repeated the chat. Thanks again for the info, I appreciate it. — Fly by Night (talk) 18:10, 11 October 2010 (UTC)

CANT STOP LEAVES ON THE LINE

I have heard some poor excuses over the years, but the one I heard yesterday, from one of you’re ticket collectors takes the biscuit.

Trains can stop at Sutton Parkway station to pick up passengers for Nottingham, but only so many can stop to drop them off on their return. And what is this brilliant excuse?. Why leaves on the line. Of course

So a train that is going from Nottingham to Worksop can stop at Sutton Parkway were as a train only going to Mansfield Woodhouse has difficulty stopping and starting. You must think we have all fallen off a Christmas tree. Whoops, they have leaves as well don’t they.

So now you get people to Nottingham but they can only get back by changing trains at Hucknall or Kirkby in Ashfield. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 86.136.232.139 (talk) 14:47, 10 October 2010 (UTC)

Hello. I suspect, based on your question, that you found one of our over three million articles, and thought that we were directly 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 a help desk for asking questions related to using the encyclopedia. Thus, we have no inside track on 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. ~~ GB fan ~~ 14:54, 10 October 2010 (UTC)

As an online encyclopaedia, Wikipedia doesn't run any trains anywhere, I'm afraid. You might get a more helpful response from the company that actually runs the trains serving those stations, which appears to be East Midlands Trains. Their website is here. Karenjc 15:05, 10 October 2010 (UTC)

See also Leaves on the line -- John of Reading (talk) 18:22, 11 October 2010 (UTC)

image problem

Whenever I refresh my sandbox, at least one image will not work. Why on earth is this? Velociraptor888 15:08, 10 October 2010 (UTC)

Looks like something is wrong with the servers today; see #Flag not working just up from here. That little Welsh flag has been invisible for me too, some of the time. -- John of Reading (talk) 15:40, 10 October 2010 (UTC)

I've got exactly the same problem with several images I have uploaded today. I've noticed that both PNG and JPG are affected and some other user's images are also affected. I have images that were loading fine all morning, but then suddenly stopped loading this afternoon. So these non-free images no longer appear (or only sporadically appear) on two articles I have written today, namely Camelot (video game) and Frenzy (Micro Power video game). Regards, Green Lane (talk) 16:42, 10 October 2010 (UTC)

More screwy stuff is going on. The entire search feature of the site appears to be down.--Fuhghettaboutit (talk) 18:19, 10 October 2010 (UTC)

The Wikipedia site became unavailable for me for a few minutes, but when it came back on, the images I mentioned have started working again. Whoever or whatever fixed it - thanks! Green Lane (talk) 18:33, 10 October 2010 (UTC)

I had problems with images nor showing a few hours ago, but then it got better.--SPhilbrickT 20:38, 10 October 2010 (UTC)

Is it possible to specify who can edit a page and who can not?

Hello, I am trying to use wikimedia together with phpBB3. I see there is a phpBB mod that allows the authentication in mediawiki based on a phpBB3 usergroup.

Now, this would solve part of my needs. What I'd like to know if it is possible to set mediawiki in a manner where a page, or group of pages (category, for example) can be edited only by a certain usergroup. To make you understand better, in my forum I have some public forums and some hidden forums. I can decide who can read the hidden forums, adding the username to a usergroup.

Therefore, if I want to use the mediawiki platform, may I decide that a certain group of people can edit pages A, B, and C, while another group of people can edit only pages X, Y, and Z?

Thanks in advance for your kind reply.

94.37.133.222 (talk) 16:15, 10 October 2010 (UTC)

This page is for help with the English Wikipedia. You want the MediaWiki support desk. Algebraist 16:18, 10 October 2010 (UTC)

EDIT: I have found this: http://www.mwusers.com/forums/content.php?141-Editing-Restrictions-101-Part-I and it could serve my purpose. Any feedback or suggestion from your part is however still welcomed. If you could point to me tutorials or something more friendly than the MediaWiki Technical Manual would be great. :-) —Preceding unsigned comment added by 94.37.133.222 (talk) 18:10, 10 October 2010 (UTC)

Thanks for your reply, I'll definitively go to the support desk. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 94.37.133.222 (talk) 18:11, 10 October 2010 (UTC)

There might be a suitable extension to MediaWiki which would do this - see mw:Extension Matrix/AllExtensions for a complete list -- PhantomSteve/talk|contribs\ 08:57, 11 October 2010 (UTC)

See mw:Manual:Preventing access and mw:Extension:NamespacePermissions. In MediaWiki it is easier to control access to entire namespaces than to individual pages. For example, on Wikipedia the MediaWiki: namespace is only editable by users with sysop rights. If you don't like the MediaWiki manuals, there are also some books linked under WP:EIW#MediaWiki. --Teratornis (talk) 16:45, 12 October 2010 (UTC)

White House E-Card

Intended Recipient's,I wanted to share with our community that our White House President Obama sent me a letter in the via mail this year of which i am very grateful for the attentive attention bragging of such attentiveness that i have shown as his Communitier. Sincerely Eddie Billings Jr (felon) —Preceding unsigned comment added by 99.62.104.20 (talk) 16:40, 10 October 2010 (UTC)

This is a help desk for questions on how to use Wikipedia. Do you have such a question for us? Karenjc 16:47, 10 October 2010 (UTC)

This seems familiar... TFOWR 17:25, 10 October 2010 (UTC)

General reference desk service

Why doesn't wikipedia have a page for asking questions related to any topic ,whose answers may be posted by any specialist in that topic from anywhere around the world. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 124.253.226.204 (talk) 17:58, 10 October 2010 (UTC)

Wikipedia does not employ or have any special access to "specialists", it's open to "any user that feels like contributing". The idea of a forum for questions on various topics (not directly related to Wikipedia usage or suggestions for article improvement) is a good one though. And so we already have the Reference desks exactly for that. DMacks (talk) 18:02, 10 October 2010 (UTC)