Wikipedia:Help desk/Archives/2011 April 4

Help desk
< April 3	<< Mar | April | May >>	April 5 >

Welcome to the Wikipedia Help Desk Archives
The page you are currently viewing is an archive page. While you can leave answers for any questions shown below, please ask new questions on one of the current Help Desk pages.

April 4

Naming of article

Should the word Final in 2011 Cricket World Cup Final start with a lower case or upper case? My interpretation of WP:MOS suggests it should be lower case. However, many cricket and FIFA Final articles like 2010 FIFA World Cup Final all have upper case. Thanks! --Jovian Eye _talk 01:25, 4 April 2011 (UTC)

See also Wikipedia:Naming conventions (capitalization). If all of "2011 Cricket World Cup Final" is considered a proper noun then I think it should be "Final". If only "2011 Cricket World Cup" is considered a proper noun, and "final" is just an addition, then I think it should be "final". I don't follow cricket but I consider a FIFA World Cup Final an event by itself with upper case "Final" looking appropriate, like all articles in Category:FIFA World Cup Finals. PrimeHunter (talk) 01:51, 4 April 2011 (UTC)

Cricket finals don't have their own category but all 10 finals linked in {{Cricket World Cup}} are upper case. PrimeHunter (talk) 01:54, 4 April 2011 (UTC)

World cup final would be lower case since it does not refer to a specific event; 2011 Cricket World Cup Final is a specific event thus capitalized. ---— Gadget850 (Ed) ^talk 02:30, 4 April 2011 (UTC)

Thanks, I guess that answers my question. Jovian Eye _talk 04:34, 4 April 2011 (UTC)

Problem with signature

It seems that whenever I sign my posts with the standard four tildes, my username is not linked in blue and instead appears as plain text. Moments later, the SineBot or one like it fixes it to "The Proceeding Unsigned Comment...". It should happen here, seeing as I will only submit this after previewing the result. Bbqsauce13 02:42, 4 April 2011 (UTC) — Preceding unsigned comment added by Bbqsauce13 (talk • contribs)

And there it is. I really don't understand it. If anyone could help, it would be highly appreciated. Bbqsauce13 02:44, 4 April 2011 (UTC) — Preceding unsigned comment added by Bbqsauce13 (talk • contribs)

In Special:Preferences be sure that "Treat the above as wiki markup" is not checked. —teb728 t c 02:50, 4 April 2011 (UTC)

Ah, that would seem to be the problem. I'm not quite sure how that happened, to be honest. Thank you for your help. Bbqsauce13 (talk) 02:53, 4 April 2011 (UTC)

Creating a button

Anyone have some code to make some clickable text take the form of a button (but without using <inputbox> which is no good for my purposes)?--Fuhghettaboutit (talk) 03:00, 4 April 2011 (UTC)

Simplest way would be to use an image with the |link= parameter. You really need to tell us more. ---— Gadget850 (Ed) ^talk 03:05, 4 April 2011 (UTC)

(edit conflict)

Click for a sausage:  ? —using just [[File:Glass_button_red.svg|14px|link=Sausage]]  Chzz  ►  03:06, 4 April 2011 (UTC)

Ha, not that kind of button! A button like this one:

More specifically, I want to make the following link appear as a button and still work:Click here to contest this speedy deletion.--Fuhghettaboutit (talk) 03:15, 4 April 2011 (UTC)

How about something like Click here to contest this speedy deletion? —teb728 t c 03:43, 4 April 2011 (UTC)

Good suggestion. I've used it and it's definitely better than just plain text.--Fuhghettaboutit (talk) 04:00, 4 April 2011 (UTC)

I made one; just screen-grab, crop, upload. (ie File:Button contest speedy.png) - it won't resize or anything though. If you wanted that, you'd have to use css styles, I guess.  Chzz  ►  04:49, 4 April 2011 (UTC)

Amazing effort Chzz but I don't know how to make that work with the intended link above. i.e.,

<center>'''[[File:Button_contest_speedy.png|link=[{{fullurl:{{TALKPAGENAME}}|action=edit&section=new&preload=Template:Hangon_preload&preloadtitle=This+article+should+not+be+speedy+deleted+because...+}}]]'''</center>

does not produce a working link.--Fuhghettaboutit (talk) 05:07, 4 April 2011 (UTC)

{{#tag:imagemap|
Image:Button contest speedy.png
default [{{fullurl:{{TALKPAGENAME}}|action=edit&section=new&preload=Template:Hangon_preload&preloadtitle=This+article+should+not+be+speedy+deleted+because...+}}]
desc none
}}

 Chzz  ►  05:25, 4 April 2011 (UTC)

You rock.--Fuhghettaboutit (talk) 11:44, 4 April 2011 (UTC)

Mind if you guys let me try this one? Thanks. E Wing (talk) 04:26, 8 April 2011 (UTC)

WikiProject Dentistry -- Inactive??

Someone has listed this project as inactive since Nov 2010, but article talk page assessment boxes have only recently featured "this is now inactive," and when I deleted the tag from the project page, the "inactive" boxes have not reverted. Please help. DRosenbach ^{(Talk | Contribs)} 04:31, 4 April 2011 (UTC)

To change the talk page assessment boxes, you need to undo the last edit to Template:WikiProject Dentistry. It may then take a few hours for the change to ripple through to all the talk pages. -- John of Reading (talk) 08:55, 4 April 2011 (UTC)

Thanx! DRosenbach ^{(Talk | Contribs)} 11:38, 4 April 2011 (UTC)

Simon Gales

I have tried to add the artists website as an external link as it has the series of "Focus/Unfocus" works that directly apply to the last paragraph of the article. I have had permission from him to do this and even to upload one of the Focus/Unfocus "Equator" images into the text (though I would prefer to do the latter later when I have read more about the rules concerning it).

Selag (talk) 05:40, 4 April 2011 (UTC)

For some reason, when you tried to add it, you also changed other parts of the page - adding ''Italic text''[1] and changing a section heading [2].

That is why your edits were reverted.

I have now added the external link [3].  Chzz  ►  05:45, 4 April 2011 (UTC)

Editing

Madam, Sir, On the Wikipedia page on "Gavrilo Princip" <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gavrilo_Princip>, his religion is described as "(none) Atheist". This is not thoroughly accepted and is offensive to atheists.

While trying to edit to correct it, I could not.

Therrefore I request for technical help.

Many thanks

RoyalHumanist —Preceding unsigned comment added by 81.62.84.169 (talk) 06:52, 4 April 2011 (UTC)

I have changed the information box to match the book quote more closely. To edit the information box you can click the "Edit" link at the very top, where it says "Read / Edit / History" -- John of Reading (talk) 07:03, 4 April 2011 (UTC)

calibri font

Could you advise if one could have a letter prior to 2007 in a times roman font and have it printed out in 2007 in a calibri font (Inadvertently) Regards

Jpeg101 —Preceding unsigned comment added by 124.184.161.227 (talk) 08:13, 4 April 2011 (UTC)

This page is for questions about using Wikipedia. Please consider asking this question at the Computing reference desk. They specialize in answering computer 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. —teb728 t c 08:39, 4 April 2011 (UTC)

What do you mean by frequency of a circuit?

Frequency generally means number of oscillations per second.But how is it related to a circuit? I would be very much thankful if i get a brief explanation. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Mindreader007 (talk • contribs) 08:54, 4 April 2011 (UTC)

This page is for questions about using Wikipedia. Please consider asking this question at the Science 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. -- John of Reading (talk) 08:57, 4 April 2011 (UTC)

Reading a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike article

what should ido to read a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike article —Preceding unsigned comment added by 59.88.72.128 (talk) 11:39, 4 April 2011 (UTC)

I am not sure if I really understand your question. I guess you are talking about a Wikipedia article. Everything on Wikipedia is free to read. There arte no special requirements to read something here on Wikipedia. If this doesn't answer your question, please feel free to ask again. Toshio Yamaguchi (talk) 11:50, 4 April 2011 (UTC)

Problems with reference desk (and other) pages

Per this, this and this, there are persistent problems with Reference Desk pages (and some other pages) being incorrectly edit-protected and/or out of date by several days. I haven't seen any indication that anyone in a position to address this problem is aware of it or looking at it, so I thought I'd mention it here too in case anyone cares... —Preceding unsigned comment added by 86.184.104.111 (talk) 11:51, 4 April 2011 (UTC)

I think it's already been mentioned at the technical section of the Village Pump. – ukexpat (talk) 15:57, 4 April 2011 (UTC)

The third of the OP's links is to VPT. Unfortunately no one is responding there. -- John of Reading (talk) 16:06, 4 April 2011 (UTC)

Fair use of non-free book pages on Wikipedia

What is the right place to start a discussion in order to reach a community consensus on the following problem: I think that per § 107 of US copyright law the use of low-resolution images of book pages or parts thereof for identification and critical commentary on the book or its contents on the English-language Wikipedia, hosted on servers in the United States by the non-profit Wikimedia Foundation, qualifies as fair use under United States copyright law. The current community consensus seems to be that images of book covers may be used for identification of a specific book. I don't think there is a consensus on the use of scanned pages from inside a book. Where can I start a discussion in order to reach a community consensus on this? Toshio Yamaguchi (talk) 13:34, 4 April 2011 (UTC)

If you are asking about specific applications of Wikipedia's fair use policy, located at Wikipedia:Non-free content, then you should ask those questions at Wikipedia:Media copyright questions. If you are looking to institute a change to said policy, then you may want to ask at Wikipedia:Village pump (policy). --Jayron32 13:52, 4 April 2011 (UTC)

Thanks Jayron. I will bring the question up on Village pump. Toshio Yamaguchi (talk) 14:00, 4 April 2011 (UTC)

Disappearing Messages

When I go to my watchlist, there are messages at the top of page. They disappear before I can read them.

Please what do I need to do to get them to stay visible? I'm sure there must be a setting for this but I can't find it in settings. Thanks, Wanderer57 (talk) 15:35, 4 April 2011 (UTC)

The only way I know to get those messages back is to delete any browser cookies you have from "en.wikipedia.org". This worked for me just now. You will have to log in again after deleting the cookies. -- John of Reading (talk) 15:50, 4 April 2011 (UTC)

...but I've just realised that you can also read them if you change your browser settings temporarily to disable JavaScript. -- John of Reading (talk) 15:54, 4 April 2011 (UTC)

Removal of "nofootnotes" and "Orphan" status.

I saw this added to the top of my article "A. J. Casson Award": This article includes a list of references, related reading or external links, but its sources remain unclear because it lacks inline citations. Please improve this article by introducing more precise citations where appropriate. (April 2011)

I added the inline citations. Can I remove this "nofootnotes" myself now please?

Also, I hope I resolved the "orphan" issue as there are now 2 articles that link to the one in mention. How does that go away? Can I remove this as well? The Criteria section of Wikipedia help states: One or two incoming links may be sufficient as long as they are relevant.

Thank you. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Artisforme (talk • contribs) 16:18, 4 April 2011 (UTC)

If you believe you have resolved the issues with the article, you may remove the tags. Also, just to make a minor correction, it is not "your" article. It is Wikipedia's article. See WP:OWN. --Jayron32 16:33, 4 April 2011 (UTC)

The templates on top of the page do not go away automatically. They are usually removed by an editor, if the issues they point out have been addressed. However in this case I think the templates are appropriate. Toshio Yamaguchi (talk) 16:39, 4 April 2011 (UTC)

Interesting, I didn't get an e/c message here. I am curious why. Toshio Yamaguchi (talk) 16:42, 4 April 2011 (UTC)

Thank you Jayron32 - I am new to this and will not refer to it as "my article". Thank you Toshio - is there any reason why I can not remove the tags? I have two different opinions here. Who can do this? I am not sure who to ask. You mentioned "in this case the templates are appropriate". I believe the issues have been resolved. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Artisforme (talk • contribs) 17:32, 4 April 2011 (UTC)

I've removed the tags: the "no footnotes" tag no longer applies, and any editor who thinks the referencing still needs improving could add a tag more suitable for the current version of the article, e.g. "More footnotes" or "refimprove". The article is no longer an orphan by the usual rule-of-thumb, since it is now linked from 3 other articles. To answer your question Artisforme, yes, you may remove tags like these yourself if you feel the issues have been resolved, but if another editor feels the tag removal was premature they may reinstate the tags. In cases where tag removal may be controversial it might be best to discuss it on the article's talk page first, but I don't think that's necessary in this case, so I just went ahead and removed the tags. Contains Mild Peril (talk) 19:08, 4 April 2011 (UTC)

I appreciate your help! Nice to see the tags gone. Thank you. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Artisforme (talk • contribs) 13:48, 6 April 2011 (UTC)

Cannot move page over redirect

After a discussion on City of Bradford the consensus was to move to City of Bradford Metropolitan District. I cannot do this because it says the page exists. It is only a redirect page and I have done this successfully before. It has been on the list of requested moves for a while. Why can't I move it and what should i do? -- Q Chris (talk) 16:42, 4 April 2011 (UTC)

I guess the redirect page would have to be deleted before the article can be moved. Toshio Yamaguchi (talk) 16:45, 4 April 2011 (UTC)

You can list the page at Wikipedia:Requested moves and have the people there take a look at it. Toshio Yamaguchi (talk) 16:49, 4 April 2011 (UTC)

It has been listed there for some time. As I have said I have moved articles over redirects before, and I can't delete a page as I am not an admin -- Q Chris (talk) 16:59, 4 April 2011 (UTC)

This one needs to be posted at Wikipedia:Requested moves because the redirect has more than one entry in its history - see WP:MOR. -- John of Reading (talk) 17:03, 4 April 2011 (UTC)

I blanked the talk page then moved it.

Whoa! You've moved it to City of Bradford Metropolitan District) with a trailing round bracket. Better wait for an admin to sort this one out... -- John of Reading (talk) 17:10, 4 April 2011 (UTC)

Ooops. sorry. Now moved it to have a . on the end - still wrong but better until an admin can sort it. -- Q Chris (talk) 17:14, 4 April 2011 (UTC)

For future reference, I believe what you could have done is tag the redirect with {{db-move}} (explaining and linking to the move discussion in the template), wait for an admin to delete it, and then perform the move. Deor (talk) 02:49, 5 April 2011 (UTC)

Semi protected pages and Internet Explorer 8

I've just updated to Internet Explorer 8 and discovered an interesting little quirk - I can't edit semi-protected pages. When I open a page the cursor appears for a split second then vanishes and the text box is locked. Attempting to type produces no response, other than to scroll down with the space bar. I can type into the page summery box, however. Has anyone else encountered this? Is there a fix for it? Cheers TheRetroGuy (talk) 16:57, 4 April 2011 (UTC)

The tech section of the Village Pump is the best place to ask this. – ukexpat (talk) 17:17, 4 April 2011 (UTC)

I just tried IE8 with a non-admin account and have no problems editing a semi-protected page. ---— Gadget850 (Ed) ^talk 17:36, 4 April 2011 (UTC)

Will repost at the Village Pump. Don't know why it's started doing this. I have no problems with Firefox or Google Chrome. If it can't be fixed I guess I'll just have to change my browser. Cheers TheRetroGuy (talk) 18:12, 4 April 2011 (UTC)

Editing another editor's talk page comments

According to WP:Etiquette: "editing another editor's signed talk page comments is generally frowned upon, even if the edit merely corrects spelling or grammar." If I catch an editor deleting their previous comment (for the purposes of hiding that fact that he was using profanity in that comment) am I allowed to revert it, as I believe it should remain a matter of the public record? 99.231.176.65 (talk) 17:34, 4 April 2011 (UTC)

Editing or deleting ones own comments is generally permissible, but frowned up on as it can make a discussion hard to follow. The generally agreed practice is to redact problematic comments, see WP:REDACT. However there are a couple of non-issues here, firstly profanity is not strictly speaking against the rules as long as it's not a personal attack or intentionally uncivil, secondly, the comments themselves are still visible in the page's history, so they're not really removing it from public record, only admins or oversighters can do so. Rehevkor ✉ 17:53, 4 April 2011 (UTC)

From WP:TPO Simply deleting others' comments on your talk page is permitted, so removing one's own comments from your user talk page is permitted in this instance. However, it is frowned upon to edit others' comments on talk pages not your own.   ArcAngel   (talk) ) 18:09, 4 April 2011 (UTC)

ArcAngel: they were on an article talk page, not a user talk page 99.231.176.65 (talk) 18:59, 4 April 2011 (UTC)

99.231, you are going to have to point us to the specific instance you are talking about; since speaking in vague terms is unlikely to be helpful. There's too many posibilities to say whether the specific event you had in mind is good or bad or indifferent. We can't speak in general terms in a way that will be reasonably accurate to a specific situation. --Jayron32 19:51, 4 April 2011 (UTC)

How soon after did they delete the comment? They may have realized they made a mistake and self-reverted. I don't think there's anything wrong with that. No, you should not revert it back. If you're filing a report to ANI, just link to the diff. A Quest For Knowledge (talk) 19:55, 4 April 2011 (UTC)

what is the best way to introduce a "reliable source" in an article?

Dear Help Desk

Where do you insert a "reliable source" into an article that has been marked as "needs reliable source"? Should I put it in the beginning of the article? At the persons name? What's best? — Preceding unsigned comment added by Bobeejay (talk • contribs) 18:35, 4 April 2011 (UTC)

Whichever part needs the source (everything that may be disputed needs sources, particularly when it's about a person). See WP:REFB for referencing help. Zakhalesh (talk) 18:38, 4 April 2011 (UTC)

Magic words for first character?

I'm looking for a way to do a certain operation with templates and I can't quite figure it out. If someone can help me that would be great; otherwise, is there a better place to ask?

Given an expression (say in {{{1}}}), return the expression without an initial minus sign.

What I'm trying to avoid is {{#expr:abs({{{1}}})}} which would turn "-1/2" into "0.5" rather than "1/2".

Ideally I'd be able to distinguish between

• Literal negative numbers
• Expressions that evaluate to negative numbers
  • ...of the form -foo
  • ...of some other form
• All other expressions

CRGreathouse (t | c) 20:04, 4 April 2011 (UTC)

I found the village pump (technical) where I have asked this question. CRGreathouse (t | c) 20:55, 4 April 2011 (UTC)

Editing page as an authority

Hello! I work for an organization whose page on Wikipedia is outdated. I would like to edit the page with information that cannot be changed, or edit the page as an authority--is this possible? Thank you! —Preceding unsigned comment added by 99.14.228.137 (talk) 21:17, 4 April 2011 (UTC)

You are free to update and expand upon the article, but make sure the information is neutral and well sourced. Other people will still be able to edit the article, however. See, WP:OWN. BurtAlert (talk) 21:22, 4 April 2011 (UTC)

It is important that you also read WP:COI and WP:ORGFAQ before doing this. Not only are you not an authority for that page, there are few people less appropriate than you to edit it.

Having said that, if there is information that you think should be updated, you are very welcome to explain this (and your connection with the subject) on the article's talk page, with the independent reliable sources in which one can verify the information. --ColinFine (talk) 21:39, 4 April 2011 (UTC)

When you speak of yourself as an authority, perhaps you mean you have information which is not published elsewhere. But Wikipedia has a policy of not including information unless it can be verified from published reliable sources. —teb728 t c 22:09, 4 April 2011 (UTC)

William Styron

The article on William Styron does not mention that he received the Pulitzer Prize 1968 for his novel "The Confessions of Nat Turner". Can someone update this article (as I am not interested in being an editor). —Preceding unsigned comment added by 199.126.224.125 (talk) 22:19, 4 April 2011 (UTC)

Do you have a reference? Like...a newspaper article, or in a book, or something? If so, please put all details here - title, date, page, author, etc. - that's what we need; a reliable source. Thanks!  Chzz  ►  22:21, 4 April 2011 (UTC)

Please ignore my previous comment. Styron's Pulitzer is mentioned, but not prominently. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 199.126.224.125 (talk) 22:35, 4 April 2011 (UTC)

The Lord of the Rings (theatre)

Anyone have any idea why the image is not showing up in the infobox? I can't see anything wrong with the syntax and Wicked (musical) uses the same infobox template and is showing it's image just fine. Exxolon (talk) 22:43, 4 April 2011 (UTC)

Looks like the "image_size" is required, it is filled in on Wicked, although incorrectly. Rehevkor ✉ 22:48, 4 April 2011 (UTC)

Thanks - added that info to the template parameter notes. Exxolon (talk) 22:53, 4 April 2011 (UTC)