Wikipedia:Help desk/Archives/2011 July 13

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Help desk
< July 12 << Jun | July | Aug >> July 14 >
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.


July 13[edit]

Removed and replaced article for this day in history. July 12th[edit]

I noticed that an article was removed from the listing "this day in history" for the first time ever.

There was an article about the Lydda Expulsion and subsequent Death March that occurred during the '48 Arab-Jewish War.

I noticed it at approximately 9:15am EST, when i went back to read it later that day, it was removed and replaced by an article depicting Hezbollah aggression.

Once again, I find it odd that an article depicting a group's aggression was replaced later by one depicting that same group's victim hood. Especially since I've never seen an article removed from the "This Day in History".

I wonder what could have propelled that change. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 99.135.56.229 (talk) 00:04, 13 July 2011 (UTC)[reply]

It was changed here and explained here. I think it's common to change entries. PrimeHunter (talk) 01:48, 13 July 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Gadget Request: Quick Diff Viewer[edit]

Is there a gadget or user script which can view diff quickly without reloading? --Merry Rabbit 01:57, 13 July 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Something like WP:Navigation popups? It allows you to quickly see the diffs on your watchlist by simply hovering the cursor over the (diff). Calmer Waters 03:17, 13 July 2011 (UTC)[reply]
Thanks but I mean I want to preview the diffs while I am editing. --Merry Rabbit 08:03, 13 July 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Can someone find a reference saying that John_Mahoney is British-born? Neptunekh2 (talk) 03:09, 13 July 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Found this {{cite web|url=http://www.tribute.ca/people/john-mahoney/3074/|title=John Mahoney Bio|year=2011|publisher=Tribute Entertainment Media Group|accessdate=13 July 2011}} Calmer Waters 03:33, 13 July 2011 (UTC)[reply]
The article already says that he is born in England -and it and provides sources!!!!!!!!!! --Elen of the Roads (talk) 10:54, 13 July 2011 (UTC)[reply]

how do you use images[edit]

This is an example picture.

How do you use images,I can't Ethanate1 (talk) 05:00, 13 July 2011 (UTC) — Preceding unsigned comment added by Ethanate1 (talkcontribs) 04:58, 13 July 2011 (UTC)[reply]

I'm assuming you want to upload an image. First, make sure you are familiar with the image use policy, the non-free content guidelines, and the non-free use rationale guideline. Then, choose "Upload file" from your toolbox. You may need to click toolbox to open the dropdown menu. Follow the instructions on that page to upload an image. Ryan Vesey (talk) 05:05, 13 July 2011 (UTC)[reply]
(edit conflict)
Depending on what you are asking about exactly, you may want to read Wikipedia:Uploading images, Help:Visual file markup, and Wikipedia:Image tutorial. Please note that Wikipedia can not use pictures hosted by outside websites. They have to exist here in the English Wikipedia or the file repository for all Wikimedia projects: Wikimedia Commons. If you wish to upload an image refer to Ryan Vesey's reply above. If you wish to insert an existing picture into a page, use the following code:
[[File:Example.jpg|thumb|Caption text]]
Just replace the portions marked in red with the appropriate file name and caption. The example image at the right, for example, is produced by using the following code:
[[File:Araucaria_heterophylla_needles.jpg|thumb|This is an example picture.]]
You can also tell us which image you would like to use and where, and maybe we can demonstrate how to do it for you.-- Obsidi♠n Soul 05:29, 13 July 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Sneaky vandalism?[edit]

Hello. Can someone please revert the vandalism on the first line of our article about Ariana Grande (permalink to vandalism for future reference)? It's very strange...I can't seem to find that added line in the page's edit box. Perhaps it's somehow linked to a template. Looking through the page's history, that vandalism has been on that page since the end of June, despite being semi-protected and several auto-confirmed users' revisions.--el Aprel (facta-facienda) 05:27, 13 July 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Already gone, by this cool dude. A person who has been editing Wikipedia since October 28, 2010. (talk) 05:35, 13 July 2011 (UTC)[reply]
The vandalism was in the {{pp-blp}} transcluded template. Bwsmith84 removed the template therefore the vandalism in it was no longer visible in this article. DMacks (talk) 05:49, 13 July 2011 (UTC)[reply]
Ah, thank you. I was very confused by what was causing it.--el Aprel (facta-facienda) 05:51, 13 July 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Paying a bill[edit]

how do you pay bills from the uk londonbelēn

I suspect, based on your question, that you found one of our over 3.6 million articles and thought we were 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 for asking questions related to using or contributing to Wikipedia itself. Thus, we have no special knowledge about 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.-- Obsidi♠n Soul 07:45, 13 July 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Can i update some software information for ESC(Electronics System Cooling), Its not there in this website?[edit]

Dear sir ,

If we write ESC ,its showing different types in ESC but not the Electronics System Cooling. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 59.99.236.11 (talk) 09:30, 13 July 2011 (UTC)[reply]

ESC (edit | talk | history | protect | delete | links | watch | logs | views)
The ESC page is a disambiguation page designed to help readers find the article they are looking for. Since there is no article on Electronics System Cooling, it should not be added to the ESC page. If you'd like to write this article, here's some standard advice:

A Wizard is available to walk you through these steps. See the Article Wizard.

Thank you.

You will need to first register an account, which has many benefits, including the ability to create articles. Once you have registered, please search Wikipedia first to make sure that an article does not already exist on the subject. Please also review a few of our relevant policies and guidelines which all articles should comport with. As Wikipedia is an encyclopedia, articles must not contain original research, must be written from a neutral point of view, should cite to reliable sources which verify their content and must not contain unsourced, negative content about living people.
Articles must also demonstrate the notability of the subject. Please see our subject specific guidelines for people, bands and musicians, companies and organizations and web content and note that if you are closely associated with the subject, our conflict of interest guideline strongly recommends against you creating the article.
If you still think an article is appropriate, see Wikipedia:Your first article and Wikipedia:How to write a great article, and please consider taking a tour through the Wikipedia:Tutorial so that you know how to properly format the article before creation. An Article Wizard is available to walk you through creating an article, but you will need to create an account to use it. if you don't wish to do so, you can submit a proposal for an article at Articles for Creation. -- John of Reading (talk) 09:48, 13 July 2011 (UTC)[reply]
See the articles in Category:Computer hardware cooling, especially Thermal management of electronic devices and systems. ---— Gadget850 (Ed) talk 10:08, 13 July 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Reliable source?[edit]

This biography of Emme is nearly identical to the biography that was left on my talk page by someone who claims to be the subject of the article. So, can I use the PBS.org link as a source? I'm not feeling really good about it but figured I'd ask. Thanks, Dismas|(talk) 10:49, 13 July 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Wikipedia:RS/N maybe? -- Obsidi♠n Soul 19:59, 13 July 2011 (UTC)[reply]
I've had horrible luck getting a response from any of the other supposed help page, notice boards, and such in the past. Nothing seems to get the volunteerism (and number of readers) as this Help Desk. But if I must... *shuffles off* --Dismas|(talk) 20:25, 13 July 2011 (UTC)[reply]
Aye, had one there that faded into archive oblivion. :( -- Obsidi♠n Soul 20:50, 13 July 2011 (UTC)[reply]

flagellar undular movement[edit]

If the euglena want to move rightside undulations occur in which direction.13:15, 13 July 2011 (UTC)sarala — Preceding unsigned comment added by Sarala nri (talkcontribs)

Have you tried the Science 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 13:15, 13 July 2011 (UTC)[reply]

sorting error[edit]

I have discovered a bug in the site software that percentages in tables are not sorted correctly. They are treated as text rather than numbers. So that a set of percentages {5%, 10%, 3%, 1%) in a column are sorted as: 1% 10% 3% 5% An example can be seen on the page: List_of_countries_by_external_debt

One simple solution would be to pad all percentages with leading zeros, but it is not an aesthetically appealing solution. Rather, the more complicated solution would be better: change the sorting code so that percentages are correctly treated as numeric data rather than string data. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 204.29.13.62 (talk) 15:31, 13 July 2011 (UTC)[reply]

If you click on the "sort" button for this column several times over, you will see that the software cycles through four sort modes - upwards by value, downwards alphabetically, upwards alphabetically, downwards by value. There are ways round this, but as far as I know they involve editing each article that has such a table. See Help:Sorting. -- John of Reading (talk) 15:53, 13 July 2011 (UTC)[reply]

When creating sortable tables, there can be issues with how a column sorts. See Help:Sorting for a complete overview.

  • Columns that mix alpha and numerical data will sort alphabetically— this can be resolved by using {{nts}}.
  • When using general text with and without wikilinks, use {{sort}}.
  • To sort dates, use {{dts}}.
  • For sorting names in the format last, first use {{sortname}}. ---— Gadget850 (Ed) talk 21:14, 13 July 2011 (UTC)[reply]
I've go ahead and done the substitutions to List_of_countries_by_external_debt and while the last column works, I can't get the one next to it quite right. I've added nts templates around everything and put ntsh templates prior to the N/A's. It isn't text sorting in the next to the last column but it seems it text sorts everything with a , in it (because of a value > 999)in that next to the last column. So anyone have any ideas?Naraht (talk) 15:06, 14 July 2011 (UTC)[reply]
In the generated HTML page I am seeing stuff like
<td><span style="display:none">&<strong class="error">Expression error: Unrecognised punctuation character ","</strong></span>45,097</td>
so the {{nts}} template must be misbehaving. -- John of Reading (talk) 15:30, 14 July 2011 (UTC)[reply]

coord missing[edit]

What is the template {{coord missing}} used for?

Wikipedia articles about places tend to have a "coordinates" link at the extreme top right, so that you can jump from the article to a map. The {{coord missing}} template marks an article where these coordinates have not been worked out yet. -- John of Reading (talk) 19:26, 13 July 2011 (UTC)[reply]
...there's lots more on this at Wikipedia:WikiProject Geographical coordinates. -- John of Reading (talk) 19:30, 13 July 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Show Page[edit]

7/13/11

I created an account today. what do I do to create my Show Page?

Maria Headd [details removed] — Preceding unsigned comment added by Maria Headd (talkcontribs) 19:23, 13 July 2011 (UTC)[reply]

If you are referring to an article about the radio show that you mention on your user page, please don't. You have a conflict of interest and are strongly advised not to create such an article. If your radio show is notable (Wikipedia's inclusion criterion) someone else will write about it eventually. – ukexpat (talk) 19:32, 13 July 2011 (UTC)[reply]

The article entitled "Music"[edit]

Hello, Wikipedia. On your article entitled "Music", there is a problem. You do not, in the case of the periods of music in history, state that there is no definite consensus on the beginning and ending of a period in music history by musical historians. I propose multiple, equally purfunctory solutions. The first being, that at the start of the "History" section on the "Music" article, there is a message posted stating the uncertainty in listing the beginning and ending of a period in music history. The second solution is, in the parentheses which hold the supposed years of a period, the word "approxamately" (or an equally suitable abbreviation) be placed preceding the supposed years. Using both would be very appreciated, but using neither would be a grave error in the supply of information on music history. I have appreciated using your website, which I have been doing for seven years now, and only send this complaint because the aticle in question has been restricted to editing due to vandalism, otherwise I would simply make the changes myself.76.7.162.160 (talk) 20:24, 13 July 2011 (UTC)[reply]

You have very valid concerns. However, the proper place to raise your concerns is at Talk:Music. It is much more likely to generate a robust discussion and result in improvements to the article if it is discussed there. --Jayron32 20:30, 13 July 2011 (UTC)[reply]

What do you do with snippet sources?[edit]

I am currently in a semi edit war with an editor over the existence of a Further Reading section in an article. The sources included in the section are this and this and the article is Lewontin's Fallacy. I created the section and added those two sources because they are snippet views and I do not know exactly what the rest of the page in them says, so I certainly can't use them as actual references because of that. What I generally do with such citations is to add them to a further reading section, in order for them to be used as inline citations sometime in the future when there is a user who has access to the full source. My question here is, where else would these sources go? The user is stating that I am trying to boost the source count, when all i'm doing is including sources that are discussing the topic. If multiple users could respond to this question, I would appreciate it. SilverserenC 22:04, 13 July 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Recognizing that Wikipedia:Further reading is still proposed, not yet accepted, I'd say given the admonition "large part, if not all, of the work should be directly about the subject of the article" and all you have is a snippet, there is no way one can be certain that most of the book is about Lewontin's Fallacy. In fact, it is almost certain that it is not.
I do applaud the notion of bring this potential reference to editors attention, some of whom, might have it, have access to it, or be interested in obtaining it. However, I think the proper way to do that is a note on the Talk page, nit an entry in a Further reading list.--SPhilbrickT 22:28, 13 July 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Moving an article from my sandbox[edit]

I have an article in my sandbox and it is complete and ready. I cannot find how to upload it? Am I missing something?

Please help. Thank you.

Westby100 — Preceding unsigned comment added by Westby100 (talkcontribs) 22:36, 13 July 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Hello. Please edit your draft and place the following code at the very top of the page: {{subst:AFC submission/submit}}
Then click save. If successful your draft should now show a big yellow box at the top giving additional instructions. This template submits your draft for review by more experienced editors (thereby making it less likely for the article to be deleted immediately if moved into mainspace with unfixed problems).-- Obsidi♠n Soul 23:40, 13 July 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Articles number excluding lists and outlines[edit]

How many articles does WP have without lists and outlines, that is "standard" encyclopedic subjects?--178.181.53.42 (talk) 22:42, 13 July 2011 (UTC)[reply]

That number may be impossible to count, as Wikipedia's database does not distinguish between list articles and non-list articles. They are all counted as "content pages". See Special:Statistics. --Jayron32 22:59, 13 July 2011 (UTC)[reply]

A strange, seemingly pointless page[edit]

Hi. this page has been created in 2005. It seems to have had no legitimate edits, and was recently (May 2011) redirected to Sexual intercourse. Is its purpose legitimate? Sentient Planet (talk) 23:14, 13 July 2011 (UTC)[reply]

  • In my opinion, yes. In vernacular English in certain regions, the term "I'd hit it" apparently gains sexual connotations. Wifione ....... Leave a message 23:26, 13 July 2011 (UTC)[reply]
    • It should probably be listed at WP:RFD. There's no impending need to have redirects for every slang word in existance, indeed I am pretty sure that guidelines recommend against it. I can't fathom that anyone who was trying to get the information in the article titled "Sexual intercourse" would type the phrase "I'd hit it" in order to get that information. Its obviously an unneeded redirect. --Jayron32 23:28, 13 July 2011 (UTC)[reply]
  • (e/c) It's an interesting question. The redirect isn't useful to people who already know they want to go to the Sexual intercourse page; it's potentially useful for people who want to know what the phrase means. In theory, I can imagine the possibility of a legit article on the phrase (several common slang phrases have articles on the history/use/etc of the phrase (and no, I wasn't even thinking about The Article About A Campaign Which Shall Not Be Named). However, if there isn't an article there, what do we want to happen if someone types that into the search box? A red link? Maybe. A link to sexual intercourse isn't really high value; it doesn't mean the same thing, and there's nothing in the sexual intercourse article to explain the term. IMHO, if there is a redirect here, a better target is sexual slang, which is at least a marginally helpful hint. I'm going to boldly redirect it to sexual slang, but an RFD isn't a terrible idea. --Floquenbeam (talk) 23:41, 13 July 2011 (UTC)[reply]
  • I did a spot check of page view statistics and the most that I saw was five in one day. Many days it had no hits. That being said, redirects are cheap. They don't take up much space on Wikipedia. Initiating an RFD would take up time and space. I'm not saying that you shouldn't take it to RFD (Redirect discussions are cheap too). I'm just saying that it wouldn't be the end of the world if you didn't. Ryan Vesey contribs 06:57, 14 July 2011 (UTC)[reply]
Are you sure those five people weren't just us checking it? :P "Cheap" doesn't encompass "misleading", hence why we have RfD's in the first place.-- Obsidi♠n Soul 07:37, 14 July 2011 (UTC)[reply]
I'm positive, unless you had this discussion last September. Under the new redirect, I don't think that it is necessarily misleading anyways. Ryan Vesey contribs 14:56, 14 July 2011 (UTC)[reply]