Wikipedia:Help desk/Archives/2010 October 26

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October 26

how to transport content

I have written the content for an article in a word document which has all the hyperlinks ( for the references). Now when I put this text in wiki edit page, all my links are gone, all I see is just a plain text version. Is there any way when I copy the text from my word to wiki editor, then my hyperlinks for the text also get copied?

Keepgoingraj.arora (talk) 01:49, 26 October 2010 (UTC)

Unless you used some kind of special program, you'd just have to type your stuff in wiki markup (i.e., using [[link]] for internal links, '''bold''' for bold text, etc.). Hope this helps! --- cymru lass ^{(hit me up)}⁄_{(background check)} 02:05, 26 October 2010 (UTC)

HOW TO EDIT "Pablo Picasso"

To whom it may concern:

If we want to edit and add the following contents into article "Pablo Picasso", but it's autoconfirmed editting item, then how to edit it and is it allowed to do so?

Impact upon China’s most famous contemporary artist Zhang Daqian

You would use the template {{Edit protected}} on the talk page of the article and then provide what you wanted added to the article. At that point, someone would come along and apply your edit, if they thought it was a good edit. Dismas|^(talk) 03:51, 26 October 2010 (UTC)

The fact that Picasso influenced this person might belong in the article about them, but not necessarily in the article about Picasso. --Orange Mike | Talk 13:27, 26 October 2010 (UTC)

can't reply to an email that was sent to us about an item we are selling

Tonight we recieved an email about a horse we are seeling. We tried to reply to the email and it keeps coming back as not deliverable. Any suggestions? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 67.142.171.23 (talk • contribs) 05:49, 26 October 2010

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 ~~ 05:56, 26 October 2010 (UTC)

Scripts

It seems that any time I use Mozilla Firefox to edit Wikipedia, none of my scripts in my monobook.js works. Whenever I use safari, they do work. This is a bit of a problem since one of my scripts, igloo, isn't compatible with safari, but is with Firefox. I've tried purging the page, bypassing my cache, and clearing my cache, and nothing has worked. Anyone have any suggestions? I dream of horses (T) @ 06:00, 26 October 2010 (UTC)

(edit conflict) And now none of my scripts are working in Safari, either.

Note that any script that is listed under "gadgets" in user preferences (like twinkle and friendly) still works. I dream of horses (T) @ 06:31, 26 October 2010 (UTC)

Conflict of Interest - Article Request

Hello,

We have created the following page: User:Integrity_Watch_Afghanistan/Integrity_Watch_Afghanistan but since we are members of the same organisations, we have a conflict of interest and we have tried putting it through 'request an article' but not quite sure whether that succeeded. Could you please help us and let us know how someone can review or rewrite if they find it worth while?

Thank you in advance,

IWA —Preceding unsigned comment added by Integrity Watch Afghanistan (talk • contribs) 06:27, 26 October 2010 (UTC)

I've removed some excessive promotional material on that draft, but it could be a promising article. Could you follow the directions at WP:BFAQ#COMPANY and find at least two independent reliable sources? Thanks, Goodvac (talk) 06:38, 26 October 2010 (UTC)

POTATO SEEDS

PLEASE ADVISE ME ON WHAT TO DO WITH THE POTATO FRUIT AFTER FLOWERING ETC AND PRODUCING LIKE A TOMATOE HOW DO I GET THE SEEDS OUT FOR SOWING FROM THE FRUIT BEFORE IT ROTS - DO I DRY IT OR WHAT? MANY REGARDS —Preceding unsigned comment added by KAREN LISA HARDY (talk • contribs) 06:50, 26 October 2010 (UTC)

Use a small seed drill, or sow by hand. Let blight and beetle do their worst. The most susceptible seedlings will die. Mark the most resistant with a brightly painted stick. These may look susceptible in the early breeding cycles but that's ok. They will be more resistant than all the others. Pull out all the others. Let the bees cross-pollinate all the selected plants. If Colorado beetles are likely to devour the plants before they set fruit, either hand-pick off the egg custers and beetles or protect with Bt or natural pyrethrum. The object is to harvest the potato fruits which are the result of pollination.--Monterey Bay (talk) 07:10, 26 October 2010 (UTC)

Practical Joke

Hello, Please take a look at my user page and my talk-page.I have created a banner called You have new message.I have used it for completely harmless purpose.It just itself redirects to Practile Joke article.It is nothing more that a small funny prank.Though, User:Goodvac removed it.I think he means that I have misused the Wikipedia Interference.But, I have not any such intention.I love that banner-trick very much and wants to keep it.Please help me.Max Viwe | Wanna chat with me? 07:40, 26 October 2010 (UTC)

As I said at my talk page, using the banner to trick others qualifies as a spoof of the MediaWiki interface, which is prohibited by WP:SMI. Goodvac (talk) 07:42, 26 October 2010 (UTC)

While I believe you're right, Goodvac, this identical "trick" has been used by many people without challenge, and I suspect that a discussion will be necessary to clarify if this is allowed or not. GiftigerWunsch [TALK] 08:41, 26 October 2010 (UTC)

It has already been discussed extensively, see for example Wikipedia talk:User pages/UI spoofing. It's very clearly covered by the wording in WP:SMI which I think was originally written exactly to stop this practical joke. Others have been told to remove it. I have personally told at least one user to do it and he complied. Don't break rules just because you have seen others get away with it. PrimeHunter (talk) 12:20, 26 October 2010 (UTC)

The current language results from Wikipedia talk:User pages/Archive 7#Prohibition on shock value, which was sparked by an incident where a user was linking people to Adolph Hitler and Nazi Germany through their joke banner (see here). It was not intended to prohibit relatively innocuous uses, since past discussion was not to prohibit them; the "strongly discouraged" language resulted from that earlier large discussion--a phrase that is irreconcilable with "prohibited". The language added more recently, "Inappropriate internal or external links that unexpectedly direct the reader to unreasonable locations", was not intended to contradict "strongly discouraged" but to rope in a wide variety of more clearly inappropriate spoofing, like the one that ended up at ANI.--Fuhghettaboutit (talk) 12:42, 26 October 2010 (UTC)

@PrimeHunter, I left a note with someone who used this trick before as well to rather different effect, it was ignored. This was several months ago when I was rather less confident with the rules. WP:SMI also only "strongly discourages" simulating the interface, rather than outright forbidding it, so presumably consensus isn't 100% clear on this. Perhaps a discussion should be started to alter the wording to prohibit simulating the interface in this sort of way, if consensus supports it. GiftigerWunsch [TALK] 14:53, 26 October 2010 (UTC)

It would be desirable to get more explicit consensus on this. Goodvac (talk) 20:11, 26 October 2010 (UTC)

Looking back at User talk:Extra999/Archive 1#Fake new messages banner, I only said: "The practical joke on your user page is strongly discouraged by Wikipedia:User pages#Simulated MediaWiki interfaces." The user removed it.[1] PrimeHunter (talk) 21:22, 26 October 2010 (UTC)

Hra petville

Dobrý den,už nevím kam se obrátit vaše stránky jsou tak složitě napsané že se v tom nikdo nevyzná.Mám problém z hrou petville,všem okolo se objevila v hlavním menu cesta ven z vnitřku baráku a ještě nákupní košík mám nejvyšší level ale rychle mě dohánějí protože v té zahradě jsou bonusy, chci se proto zeptat co mám udělat pro to aby mi to fungovalo taky,pokud jsem na jiné stránce omlouvám se ale prosím pomožte mi. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 78.102.153.129 (talk) 09:05, 26 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. Maybe Petville's own website can answer your question. Gonzonoir (talk) 09:20, 26 October 2010 (UTC)

Downloads

• Are there any other tools like Huggle which I can download?Please give me complete list of Wikipedia tools that can be downloaded on Computer.Max Viwe | Wanna chat with me? 11:42, 26 October 2010 (UTC)

I know a couple but I'm sure there are more. I know about igloo and STiki, which was the tools I used to have a go at while reverting vandalism. I thought I've seen a link connecting those Anti-vandalism tools together in the welcome-anon-vandalism-fighter template. I'll have a look. Minimac (talk) 12:02, 26 October 2010 (UTC)

Here it is! Minimac (talk) 12:05, 26 October 2010 (UTC)

Link error on my userpage

One of my links in the "My Backlog" section of my userpage is not working. (Well, it did this morning but not anymore) Anyway, here's the details:

These links link to a random article which automatically goes to the article with that specific maintenance template. I know that this link and this link works, but the link I use the most, which is this one, doesn't appear to work, and instead, it brings up a message saying "random article redirects to a random article in a category. Could not get an article matching these conditions.". I checked on my userpage history, and no-one changed the text. I looked at the original category, and realised it hasn't been moved either. Is this a technical problem? Minimac (talk) 11:56, 26 October 2010 (UTC)

Category:Copied and pasted articles and sections currently contains no pages but many subcategories. You can add &subcats=1&d=2 to the url like the other two if you want to include subcategories. PrimeHunter (talk) 12:08, 26 October 2010 (UTC)

It worked! Thank you very much PrimeHunter. Minimac (talk) 14:49, 26 October 2010 (UTC)

how to delay

Resolved

 – Template aligned as requested, resolving per discussion on my talk page. GiftigerWunsch [TALK] 14:46, 26 October 2010 (UTC)

how do i delay the potd template to the right in my user page, beside the featured article paragraph? thank you-- ♫Greatorangepumpkin♫ T 12:18, 26 October 2010 (UTC)

Do you mean you want it to be aligned to the right? GiftigerWunsch [TALK] 14:20, 26 October 2010 (UTC)

yes please-- ♫Greatorangepumpkin♫ T 14:23, 26 October 2010 (UTC)

I've just used a table to do this; I hope it looks how you wanted. It looks like there is already some wikitable formatting in place which I'm not completely familiar with so I didn't want to touch, so it may be a messy way of doing it, with mixed html and wikitable formatting. It works though. GiftigerWunsch [TALK] 14:27, 26 October 2010 (UTC)

"Burn" page causes Firefox to crash, how weird is that?

I attempted to view the page entitled "Burn" (to find out about the differences between 1st-, 2nd- and 3rd-degree burns), but a fraction of a second after the page loads--enough time for me to see the picture of a burn on a hand--Firefox crashes. I have successfully reproduced the problem three times.

The problem does not occur in Internet Exploder (sic.). 173.178.34.20 (talk) 12:34, 26 October 2010 (UTC)

It does not crash Firefox on my computer. It is probably something with your computer. ~~ GB fan ~~ 12:42, 26 October 2010 (UTC)

The problem has magically vanished. How weird is that? Anyway, thanks for testing it out. 173.178.34.20 (talk) 13:02, 26 October 2010 (UTC)

Searching tool

hello,

im searching a tool, that replace the redlinks with an article, like dab solver. are there any? thank you-- ♫Greatorangepumpkin♫ T 14:06, 26 October 2010 (UTC)

I trust you're not planning to unlink redlinks indiscriminately - see WP:REDDEAL. I suspect there is no such tool, since it would naturally be mentioned on the Red link page. -- John of Reading (talk) 18:59, 26 October 2010 (UTC)

desi arnez sr. high school

Hi, I read the article on Arnez. I see his family fled to Miami. Can you tell me what high school he attended and when? Thank you. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 72.185.233.189 (talk) 14:55, 26 October 2010 (UTC)

Have you tried the Miscellaneous section of Wikipedia's Reference Desk? They specialize in answering knowledge questions there; this help desk is only for questions about using Wikipedia. For your convenience, here is the link to post a question there: click here. I hope this helps. TNXMan 15:18, 26 October 2010 (UTC)

want to edit Carl Franklin's site

I worked on Punk listed in his filmography. I have recently (Oct. 23rd) seen "Bless Me Ultima" as a play in Clovis, New Mexico. In the program it mentions that the filming that I even saw happening a week ago in Sante Fe as I drove by the Art Institute there, was this book/play being made into a movie directed by Carl Franklin, per SanteFeNewMexican.com. Since you are both asking for verification and new information about this writer/director, I thought listing his current production was appropriate. I have never tried to add or edit anything before on wikipedia, though someone has also posted a page about me. It seems that the categories I would edit: writing and filmography additions are not allowing me to add this to them. Question is then how can I do these "edits"? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 67.209.205.155 (talk) 16:37, 26 October 2010 (UTC)

I've responded on your talk page Rojomoke (talk) 17:37, 26 October 2010 (UTC)

Phone number policy

Resolved

I have been unable to find a policy or a guideline covering publishing of phone numbers. I reverted an edit which added a number, but after thinking about it for a bit I was not sure if this was appropriate. Can anyone point me to a policy/guideline that covers this issue (and related, such as email addresses, etc.)? -- Scjessey (talk) 18:24, 26 October 2010 (UTC)

WP:NOTDIRECTORY is what you need, I think. TNXMan 18:35, 26 October 2010 (UTC)

Specifically point #3. GiftigerWunsch [TALK] 18:37, 26 October 2010 (UTC)

Conversation and rationale about this is covered in a Village Pump archive, which may shed some light. Wikipedia:Village_pump_(policy)/Archive_61#Addresses. Hope that helps! -Rob ROBERTMFROMLI ^TALK/_CNTRB 18:38, 26 October 2010 (UTC)

Thank you all for your help. :) -- Scjessey (talk) 19:03, 26 October 2010 (UTC)

Perhaps the oversight policy? -- Bk314159 (Talk to me and find out what I've done) 23:26, 26 October 2010 (UTC)

Not in this context — the person added a phone number for contacting a university to that university's article. Nyttend (talk) 02:13, 28 October 2010 (UTC)

Odd Templete Issue

Can someone please take a look at the Nav Template on the Pain (musical project) page? When you click to edit, view or discuss, it takes you to the Nav Template Template:Pain --dashiellx (talk) 19:02, 26 October 2010 (UTC)

Fixed diff -- John of Reading (talk) 19:06, 26 October 2010 (UTC)

Thanks! --dashiellx (talk) 19:14, 26 October 2010 (UTC)

|frameless|alt=|

When I upload an image from Wikimedia Commons to a Wikipedia entry this appears on the article page, above the image: |frameless|alt=|.

I have no idea how to get rid of it. Obviously, I'm doing something wrong. Help! —Preceding unsigned comment added by KSJinRVA (talk • contribs) 20:03, 26 October 2010 (UTC)

Fixed. Bencherlite^Talk 20:10, 26 October 2010 (UTC)

Note that this happened because some infoboxes add their own image formatting code and require an isolated file name as parameter. The documentation page for the infobox, in this case Template:Infobox criminal, will usually show the parameters. Your code would have worked outside an infobox. PrimeHunter (talk) 21:30, 26 October 2010 (UTC)

Many, many thanks to you both! KSJinRVA (talk) 13:02, 27 October 2010 (UTC)

Solitaire

WHATS THE BIG DEAL ABOUT DOWNLOADING A CARD GAME (SOLITAIRE) IF THERE'S A FEE TO PAY JUST LET ME KNOW. THANK YOU JERRY CAMPOS <email removed> —Preceding unsigned comment added by Jerry campos (talk • contribs) 21:36, 26 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. (I have removed your email address to protect your privacy) -- John of Reading (talk) 21:42, 26 October 2010 (UTC)

Elephant

I have a project for school and I need to know wow facts about the elephant. Something that it does or has thats unusual or out of the ordinary. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 98.65.230.47 (talk) 23:16, 26 October 2010 (UTC)

Hi, you should check out the Wikipedia article on Elephant. If you still have any questions which are not answered there, please come back and ask and we'll try to help. Goodvac (talk) 23:18, 26 October 2010 (UTC)

Perhaps you might want to check out the Reference Desk? -- Bk314159 (Talk to me and find out what I've done) 23:25, 26 October 2010 (UTC)

But note Wikipedia:Citing Wikipedia#A caution before citing Wikipedia. You don't want to make claims like "Elephant population in Africa has tripled over the past six months". PrimeHunter (talk) 23:44, 26 October 2010 (UTC)

Editing music articles created by the band themselves

I've been doing some editing on band articles. Just removing red links mainly or (for example) a House music DJ who ended up in the reggae artist list. What are the guidelines for bands that create an article about themselves and then in their discography provide links to album articles that they created that contains only a track listing, date release and picture of the cover. It doesn't make sense when the external links they provide usually lead to their Discog or MySpace profile for them to have a link to a whole Wikipedia page dedicated to a single album release. If a band release 10 albums that would end up generating 11 pages including the main article. Many of the bands are local and not fulltime musicians and seem to be seeking exposure and trying to increase their Google rank. I have nothing against these bands since they may have a large local following that would warrant inclusion but can I request pages that they created for each album release to be removed or incorporated into their main article.

Sluffs (talk) 23:40, 26 October 2010 (UTC)

See Wikipedia:Notability (music). PrimeHunter (talk) 23:46, 26 October 2010 (UTC)

thanks. The Notability guidelines are very clear about this matter. Sluffs (talk) 00:11, 27 October 2010 (UTC)

Is this a template?

Resolved

 – Thanks!

Hi, I try to help out here at HelpDesk when I've got time... so, I have a question, as either due to senility, or lack of coffee, or such, I cannot find this... Is this:

"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..."

...a template? I've seen various of you use it. If it is a template, apologies for me not being able to find it. Would appreciate if someone pointed out which template it is. Best, Rob ROBERTMFROMLI ^TALK/_CNTRB 23:41, 26 October 2010 (UTC)

As it says in a hidden comment, it's {{astray}}. Algebraist 23:44, 26 October 2010 (UTC)

Ah... the one place I didnt think to check (and never saw, as I have only been editing by section). Thanks Algebraist! Best, Rob ROBERTMFROMLI ^TALK/_CNTRB 23:47, 26 October 2010 (UTC)

Here are three other possibilities which may useful in the future: 1) Just below the box at top of the help desk is the link How to answer. 2) Searching the template namespace for part of the text like this (may not work in quotes if punctuation is included). 3) I usually write it in edit summaries [2] but not everybody does. PrimeHunter (talk) 00:00, 27 October 2010 (UTC)