Wikipedia:Help desk/Archives/2011 July 6

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July 6

Our Stories Films information

The information displayed is inaccurate. The page needs a complete overhaul, please could you assist us in doing so.

Thank you — Preceding unsigned comment added by Ourstoriesfilms (talk • contribs) 00:02, 6 July 2011 (UTC)

The OP seems to be referring to Our Stories Films. Dismas|^(talk) 01:28, 6 July 2011 (UTC)

I see that somebody has posted to your talk page about conflict of interest and your unacceptable username. Your best course is to create new personal accounts, and then post to Talk:Our Stories Films, disclosing your connection with the subject and explaining what changes you think should be made to the article - with citations to independent reliable sources. --ColinFine (talk) 07:23, 6 July 2011 (UTC)

Books Go Poof - Is There Light At THe End Of This Tunnel Or Is That Let Another Train?

Hello all,

I'm not going to take a lot of anyones time here because I can taste ground enamel in the back of my mouth so I'll get strait to the point:

I had begun to use the Book Creator to gather research rather that my previous approach of just squirting it into Acrobat and editing offline. Not pretty, but it worked. Book Creator seems to have worked alright, so I made the decision to forge ahead undaunted. I am still getting strait to the point - those are just some fun facts to know and tell.

I just spent over four hours preparing handouts and lecture notes, and as one who more or less charges (or at least is paid) by the hour, I was impressed. As I began to finish, adding some bibliography so I could download the work and take it to the next stage of slides and lecture and study guide, your server blew a socket. traceback through the TCP log indicates that is all that is was, one minute it was there, the next, the little Delete This Page from your book (owtte) red thingy was gone, and I was there looking at a nice picture of a Greek bust and coming summarily unglued. If anybody has any ideas about how one deals with this, that would be dandy. If not, the next question will be along the lines of how my Foundation gets its donation back.

I will just sit here, having thanked you all in advance for your sage advice and refrain from my remarking on my recent study about Wikipedia.

With hopes somebody knows where all that work went, I do most certainly remain,

With Best Regards

WikiMinstrel (talk) 01:16, 6 July 2011 (UTC)

If the book is not visible at Special:Book then I'm afraid it is lost. Only autoconfirmed or confirmed users get an option to save books at Special:Book. I have confirmed your account so you can save periodically in case there are problems again. Hopefully you can reconstruct the book faster than the original creation. Your browser history may help you find pages you have visited. PrimeHunter (talk) 02:46, 6 July 2011 (UTC)

edit conflict

I don't know where else to ask this, but sometimes I have self-edit-conflicts. Why is that? A person who has been editing Wikipedia since October 28, 2010. (talk) 04:08, 6 July 2011 (UTC)

The most likely reasons for this is that you have several browser tabs or windows open simultaneously and edit the same page in more than one. That or you use the back button to go to the edit page rather than clicking on an edit link. Stuartyeates (talk) 04:17, 6 July 2011 (UTC)

I have been saving, clicking “Stop”, then saving again, is that a problem? A person who has been editing Wikipedia since October 28, 2010. (talk) 05:40, 6 July 2011 (UTC)

I have also been saving, then hastily typing extra info in, and clicking Save again while it is loading. That's the problem, right? A person who has been editing Wikipedia since October 28, 2010. (talk) 05:43, 6 July 2011 (UTC)

I find the explanations and examples at WP:Edit Conflict very useful - does that help explain what happened? CaptRik (talk) 07:57, 6 July 2011 (UTC)

Yes. Also, recently I have been clicking Save, without any other clicking or typing, and having edit conflicts with myself. I only typed the info, saved, and conflicted. I am sure it is myself that is being conflicted. Is that a bug/glich/crash? A person who has been editing Wikipedia since October 28, 2010. (talk) 16:11, 7 July 2011 (UTC)

Maggots are also known commonly as gentiles

Why is it other than what may be perceived as political correctness and erring on the side of caution that no mention of this word ‘gentiles’ appears in the wiki explanation on maggots? It is certainly the word frequently used in Europe when purchasing these items in bait shops for fishing. The word is actually 'GENTIL' but becomes 'Gentiles' in plural form. I would hate to think that this fact is omitted for no other reason than the same one for changing the words to popular nursery rhymes. Even if this fact was included with an explanation as to why it is no longer commonly used would make wiki a more comprehensive reference don't you think? Michael Shea.

This is the help desk, for asking questions about or on Wikipedia. You may post this question at the Wikipedia:Reference desk. Also I suspect, based on your question, that you found one of our over 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. A person who has been editing Wikipedia since October 28, 2010. (talk) 05:45, 6 July 2011 (UTC)

The word you are looking for is "gentle" without the "i". See wikt:gentle#Noun. -- John of Reading (talk) 07:08, 6 July 2011 (UTC)

As to why that word does not appear in Maggot... Based on the talk page and a very quick scan through the article's history, I think the reason it doesn't include the word gent or any variation is that no-one's thought to add it. You're welcome to do so yourself. Adrian J. Hunter^{(talk•contribs)} 07:11, 6 July 2011 (UTC)

By the way, it's core policy here that Wikipedia is not censored. Wikipedia aims to use neutral language, but not to suppress ordinary words for fear of causing offense. Adrian J. Hunter^{(talk•contribs)} 07:21, 6 July 2011 (UTC)

Can I post a completed article to get feedback here? Just want to make sure that the article is Wiki correct and that it does not get deleted?

Can I post a completed article to get feedback here? Just want to make sure that the article is Wiki correct and that it does not get deleted? — Preceding unsigned comment added by Nadirhasan (talk • contribs) 04:38, 6 July 2011 (UTC)

No, but you can either show me a link to the article, or type the name of the article here, and I will respond and check. Also, please remember to sign your comments with four tildes (~~~~). Thanks, A person who has been editing Wikipedia since October 28, 2010. (talk) 05:41, 6 July 2011 (UTC)

It would be better to create the article first using the Article wizard. Then you can follow the directions at Wikipedia:Requests for feedback, which is a page especially for getting feedback on newly-created articles. Adrian J. Hunter^{(talk•contribs)} 07:01, 6 July 2011 (UTC)

Thanks for the Feedback Adrian.

Nadirhasan (talk) 02:19, 7 July 2011 (UTC)

Transwiki a template

I would like to use Template:Fmbox on my personal wiki. Problem is I have no how to do so, everything seem to break when I try to import templates because of their dependency on other templates. 74.33.120.35 (talk) 06:05, 6 July 2011 (UTC)

See mw:Help:Templates#Copying from one wiki to another

Other than that, this is a MediaWiki issue, I'm afraid. I suggest you see MediaWiki's Help Page instead. You can also try asking in the MediaWiki Users site.-- Obsidi♠n^Soul 13:58, 6 July 2011 (UTC)

An update I did is visible only to me

Yesterday I updated one entry http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Invenio but unfortunately the updated version is available only to me.

Other users (and myself with another PC) still see the previous version.

I have updated entries before and never had such an issue.

What is the problem?

Thanks in advance (Redacted) — Preceding unsigned comment added by 128.141.28.51 (talk) 06:36, 6 July 2011 (UTC)

Are you using internet explorer? I have noticed multiple times where edits do not appear using Internet Explorer, especially if a transcluded template is involved. Ryan Vesey (talk) 06:44, 6 July 2011 (UTC)

Your edits appear correctly in the history of Invenio. Occasionally server glitches cause problems like what you've described. I've just purged the article, which will hopefully clear up any problems. Adrian J. Hunter^{(talk•contribs)} 07:05, 6 July 2011 (UTC)

Thanks, it works now! Just for info, I had done the first update at midday with Firefox on Ubuntu(Linux) and then last night saved again (the updates would appear in Edit mode...) with IE and Windows. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Fcosta23 (talk • contribs) 07:20, 6 July 2011 (UTC)

Dechra Pharmaceuticals PLC

To whom it may concern,

Please note that the following paragraph on Dechra Pharmaceuticals is incorrect and should be removed. The information does not relate to Dechra.

An 'elite' division held in a secret, tropical location strive for continued success under strengthened management simply known as Q, L and S. This location has recently held an awards ceremony to showcase the most innovative advances in AI analyts. This site has become renowned for its automated systems and concise, clearcut decisions that have created overwhelming success in this part of the world throughout the 23rd Century.

95.177.27.204 (talk) 08:30, 6 July 2011 (UTC)

The vandalism to Dechra_Pharmaceuticals appears to have been removed [1]. CaptRik (talk) 09:19, 6 July 2011 (UTC)

'Quarter-Final' vs 'Quarterfinal'

Hi. I have been having on-going discussions in various places regarding how 'quarter-final' should be written on this site. The format varies on different pages & in some cases, it varies on the same page. Having done some research & received replies from others who have researched this, it appears that 'quarterfinal' is the American English version whereas 'quarter-final' is the English version (although Collins, an English dictionary, appears to prefer 'quarterfinal'). I want to try to come up with a standard for this site but I realise this is both a) picky and b) a pain to maintain for the administrators. HOWEVER, if I was to edit pages myself to change the format to 'quarter-final', would I be in the wrong? I have tried doing this a number of times on the Wimbledon Championships pages but my edits were reverted. Not knowing the rules, I undid the revert a number of times & was politely (and correctly) put in my place.

Therefore, my question is: Am I allowed to change 'quarterfinal' to 'quarter-final' on pages without my changes being undone? Obviously this also applies to 'semifinal' vs 'semi-final'. This probably seems like extreme pedantry to most people but it is something that I am passionate about!!

Any comments would be very gratefully received. Thank you. FingersLily (talk) 08:31, 6 July 2011 (UTC)

I *think* that the consensus is that each article is allowed to have its own variation on words based upon national language differences, but it must be consistent within each article. In case you've not seen it, Wikipedia:Manual_of_Style#National_varieties_of_English seems to cover this. CaptRik (talk) 09:27, 6 July 2011 (UTC)

Thanks CaptRik. That link does help to clarify. The problem here is that, if I were to change examples to my own preferred format, would I be in the wrong & would my changes be undone? There were issues with the Wimbledon_2011 page in that both styles were used on the same page. When I pointed this out, everything was changed to the style that I do NOT like. I would like to change this page but fear that I would get into trouble & find my changes undone. What is the rule regarding this situation? FingersLily (talk) 10:51, 6 July 2011 (UTC)

I would suggest you need to raise a discussion on the specific article's talk page to seek consensus for changing it. And unfortunately you (and everyone else) should then abide by the consensus even if it goes against your personal opinion. CaptRik (talk) 11:33, 6 July 2011 (UTC)

Here's a modest suggestion: how about, since you said there were different variations, use the non-dashed version (“quarterfinal, semifinal”) on American tournaments, and the dashed version on other tournaments? In this case Wimbledon is British/English I believe so it would be dashed. Thanks, A person who has been editing Wikipedia since October 28, 2010. (talk) 21:51, 6 July 2011 (UTC)

Wikipedia:New_contributors'_help_page

Resolved

What happens to Wikipedia:New_contributors'_help_page? Why is there a redlink? I answered a question in IRC a few minutes ago and get this link saying that the page doesn't exist. Either remove that box, or change the link to an existing page! mabdul 09:53, 6 July 2011 (UTC)

Nice linking job Manytexts (talk) 10:20, 6 July 2011 (UTC)

? I copied it from the URL :p mabdul 11:32, 6 July 2011 (UTC)

I guess you mean the link on "Ask a question about a practical problem you have". The page was moved and somebody deleted the redirect without checking WhatLinksHere. The link has now been changed to the new page name. PrimeHunter (talk) 11:45, 6 July 2011 (UTC)

It's amusing that the project page is fully protected, but neither of the transcluded pages that make up all its content is fully protected. —teb728 t c 11:53, 6 July 2011 (UTC)

Yeah, thanks. That was the problem. mabdul 17:07, 6 July 2011 (UTC)

middletons black and mild

Is there anyway i could get yall a better profile pic for middletons black and mild.better than a black an mild in a shit ash tray with electrical cords an a empty box in the back ground.it just seems a little cheap as if only poor ppl smoke them.it just seems there has to be a more artistic pic out there or i could take a better one an send it to wikimedia.

Just linking to the article for everyone... Black & Mild And to answer your question, you could take a better picture and upload it. See WP:UPLOAD. Note though that you'll need an account first. --Dismas|^(talk) 10:46, 6 July 2011 (UTC)

Why do so many Wikipedia place pages read like a travel brochure or real esate broker's article

I think the soundness of Wikipedia's content is being severely damaged. Many place sites are written by real estate brokers and travel guides. I can barely figure out how to post here let alone edit elsewhere, I'm just wondering what is being done. I try and look up information about a place in Thailand and all it talks about is what a great place it is for Westerners to retire and how the housing there is a hot commodity and the locals are known for their friendliness. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 4.252.210.19 (talk) 10:52, 6 July 2011 (UTC)

Wikipedia is always a work in progress. Most editors dislike advertising and will remove it on sight; there are several policies about this. If you could tell us which article(s) you think have been written by real estate brokers and travel guides, perhaps we could try to do something about it. Astronaut (talk) 12:01, 6 July 2011 (UTC)

More generally, many articles about places are written by local residents using their "local knowledge", and reflect how they would like their places to be seen by outsiders. That may not be how it's supposed to be, but that's the way it is. Ghmyrtle (talk) 12:10, 6 July 2011 (UTC)

The problem, as outlined by Ghmyrtle, is that most such articles are created by local residents and not a lot of other editors see them. Adding to the problem is that there are a limited number of experienced users in Wikipedia, and we can't keep track of all articles easily. Nonetheless, we do try our best to fix such issues if we find them, or at least alert the main contributors to reword what they had written.

It's not only a matter of dislike though, it's a matter of policy. Anything that sounds promotional is forbidden in Wikipedia (see WP:SOAPBOX). If you find that the tone of an article (including geographic articles) is inappropriate for an encyclopedia, you are more than welcome to reword it or remove the blatantly promotional parts (see WP:NPOV). Be bold, all of us are volunteers here. -- Obsidi♠n^Soul 13:34, 6 July 2011 (UTC)

You could also add the tag {{tone}} to the top of the article which inserts this text:

Rmhermen (talk) 16:22, 6 July 2011 (UTC)

Notification of subject

I notice that when someone is discussed at a public forum like ANI, it seems to be the thing to do that the subject is notified on his/her talk page. Just for my curiosity, is there a guideline on such notification? —teb728 t c 11:12, 6 July 2011 (UTC)

At the top of WP:ANI, it says "You must notify any user who is the subject of a discussion. You may use {{subst:ANI-notice}} to do so." GB fan (talk) 11:20, 6 July 2011 (UTC)

See also Wikipedia:Notification although it is only an essay. PrimeHunter (talk) 11:28, 6 July 2011 (UTC)

Thanks to both of you. —teb728 t c 11:47, 6 July 2011 (UTC)

RMS AMP

Can you please specify equalent amps for 1RMS Amp. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 122.171.17.108 (talk) 11:56, 6 July 2011 (UTC)

Welcome to Wikipedia. Your question appears to be a homework question. I apologize if this is a misinterpretation, but it is our policy here not to do people's homework for them, but to merely aid them in doing it themselves. Letting someone else do your homework does not help you learn nearly as much as doing it yourself. Please attempt to solve the problem or answer the question yourself first. If you need help with a specific part of your homework, feel free to tell us where you are stuck and ask for help. If you need help grasping the concept of a problem, by all means let us know. CaptRik (talk) 11:59, 6 July 2011 (UTC)

Article idea - South African artist named Portchie

There is a rather prolific, famous, current artist in South Africa named Portchie. Seems like a good Wikipedia subject. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 69.211.98.199 (talk) 12:26, 6 July 2011 (UTC)

You are welcome to request an article on Portchie at Requested Articles or create one yourself. However you must ensure that it meets Wikipedia's criteria for inclusion.

The links on the Requested Articles page should help you proceed. CaptRik (talk) 12:30, 6 July 2011 (UTC)

How about alerting to folks over at Wikipedia talk:WikiProject South Africa about this too. He is indeed a well known artist and I get the impression that SA artists are sadly underrepresented on WP. Roger (talk) 12:58, 6 July 2011 (UTC)

just a help i can do

what is Cherophobia (fear of fun) ? you dont have any information about it — Preceding unsigned comment added by 210.212.246.46 (talk) 13:33, 6 July 2011 (UTC)

Wikipedia is not a dictionary, I'm afraid. There are virtually an unlimited number of phobias, and we can't really have an article on all of the variants. Cherophobia is just exactly that - the fear of fun and happiness. The symptoms, etc. are the same for all phobias though. I suggest you see the article on Phobia instead.

You can also try asking this question at the Science Reference Desk. Cheers.-- Obsidi♠n^Soul 13:41, 6 July 2011 (UTC)

ELECTRIC POWER

I put a Electric tester in a socket's neutral,it shows zero voltage.we know that Alternating current is a sinusoidal.i.e.,for positive cycle it travels in one direction and for negative half cycle it travel in opposite direction.according to this,is phase and neutral reverses for every cycle in a socket or not? if not how electrons flow in a conductor for A.C. Also in d.c. vsnkumar (talk) 14:13, 6 July 2011 (UTC)

The neutral lead stays neutral, while the hot alternates positive and negative compared to it. Comparing the two, the current reverses each half cycle, but not both compared to ground/earth. DMacks (talk) 14:20, 6 July 2011 (UTC)

Uncyclopedia

Hi, I think uncyclopedia is guilty of copyright infringement for having pages like wikipedias. It looks just like an article from wikipedia, but it is full of blatant nonsense. It may be helping to give wikipedia a bad reputation. You should file a lawsuit against them. Thanks, have a nice day! — Preceding unsigned comment added by 72.18.52.99 (talk) 14:54, 6 July 2011 (UTC)

Isn't everyone entitled to make a wiki about whatever they want to? Wikis aren't exclusive to Wikipedia. Uncyclopedia might have unfunny garbage (as bad as some of the later work on ED by people who had no idea of good humor. Sir William Matthew Flinders Petrie | Say Shalom! 15:16, 6 July 2011 (UTC)

It's a parody and quite harmless (at least it's not as vicious as the "humor" in the former Encyclopedia Dramatica) as long as you keep in mind that it's meant to be nonsense. Just don't mistake it for Wikipedia. It's also hosted by Wikia, Inc., a company founded by Angela Beesley and Wikipedia cofounder Jimmy Wales.

Furthermore, Wikipedia is completely free. Content in Wikipedia can be reused and redistributed (even for commercial purposes), provided that you credit the source. As long as they aren't claiming the copied content as their own work, they are not committing copyright infringement.-- Obsidi♠n Soul 15:23, 6 July 2011 (UTC)

(edit conflict)They look similar because they both use the free MediaWiki software. There are many, many sites that use a similar format. You're right that people sometimes confuse other sites with Wikipedia – last year this page received many complaints about Wikileaks, which has nothing to do with Wikipedia. Adrian J. Hunter^{(talk•contribs)} 15:25, 6 July 2011 (UTC)

• About copyright infringement: see Idea-expression divide. Making a site that looks similar to Wikipedia is not a copyright violation, because Wikipedia does not copyright its overall look and feel. However, some elements of Wikipedia's design are copyrighted, such as the Wikipedia logo, but Uncyclopedia does not use that.
• About confusing one Web site for another: when people deliberately try to make a bogus site masquerade as a real site, it's called phishing. Criminals do this to trick people into entering their bank account numbers, passwords, etc. But this involves much closer similarity between the real site and the bogus site than exists between Uncyclopedia and Wikipedia, and the people who created Uncyclopedia are not trying to commit fraud.
  • Sometimes people can be easily confused, though. We have an {{Astray}} template which creates a standard response to Help desk questions that seem to come from people who write to us as though we are the people or organizations featured in Wikipedia articles. A contributing factor might be that Google places Wikipedia articles high in its search results, so people might come to the Wikipedia article first before going to the organization's own site.

The lesson is that we should always pay attention to the real identity of whatever site we think we are viewing. --Teratornis (talk) 16:55, 6 July 2011 (UTC)

New category - African American Women

A category, Category:African American Women, was recently created. I can't put my finger on it but it seems wrong to me for some reason. Besides the fact that it should be "women" and not "Women". Like if this cat were needed, then we'd have it already. Additionally, there is no Category:African American men. So before I put this up for CFD, does anyone else know of a guideline or policy that this goes against? I've poked around but couldn't find anything that really stuck out as being good enough a reason to put it up for CFD. Dismas|^(talk) 14:57, 6 July 2011 (UTC)

I can't see much reason for it either. Are race and gender categories done for any other group? Also, is it proper use of African American (Black person from the US) or all Black people as African American? Sir William Matthew Flinders Petrie | Say Shalom! 15:18, 6 July 2011 (UTC)

I agree, there is currently a List of African American women by the same author at AfD. Quasihuman | Talk 15:25, 6 July 2011 (UTC)

Have tried to nominate the page but just won't delete

Hi, have tried nominating this page but is still online. Still appears in google: File:Bart_hendrikx.jpg Please delete this page. No Wiki page attached.

Why does it need to be deleted? Dismas|^(talk) 15:25, 6 July 2011 (UTC)

That image is on Commons and appears to have been validly released into the public domain, so there are no grounds for deletion. – ukexpat (talk) 15:28, 6 July 2011 (UTC)

new article developing a subject already covered in part by an existing article

Sorry if this question has been asked before ; couldn't find the answer.

I wish to create an article on 'Random art' which I have researched somewhat ; but some description of random art (albeit dated) already exists under "applications of randomness". I guess I could add to the latter but isn't it rather long already ? I feel that an extended article is less user friendly. Thank you.— Preceding unsigned comment added by 83.197.135.35 (talk • contribs)

No problem creating a separate article, but you will need to create an account first. General advice follows:

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. – ukexpat (talk) 15:32, 6 July 2011 (UTC)

You might also propose at the existing article's talk-page the idea to split off the content on this topic and expand it into its own article (WP:Splitting article). DMacks (talk) 15:39, 6 July 2011 (UTC)

Watchlist the contents of a category

Perhaps I am missing it, but is there a way to watchlist the contents of a category? For example, I've recently decided to start adding photos to articles that are near me. Now unless I go to the category page and review the list, I don't know which ones are new requests and which ones are stale, when a new photo request comes in, or a request for a photo gets satisfied. If this is a technical limitation of Wikipedia, I'll head over to the Idea Pump to propose this as an improvement. Thank you for your time Hasteur (talk) 15:33, 6 July 2011 (UTC)

I use

this

which is a specific example, I think you can make your request using:

this

Let me know if it doesn't do what you want.--SPhilbrickT 15:44, 6 July 2011 (UTC)

I may have gotten ahead of myself - I have used it, but it doesn't seem to be working now.--SPhilbrickT 15:50, 6 July 2011 (UTC)

(e/c) Hi Hasteur. I only know of one way to monitor the content of categories and I find the ability invaluable. I'm not 100% sure this will work in the vector skin (I use Monobook) Anyway, this tool will add category changes to your watchlist. Go to your personal JS and add the code importScript('User:ais523/catwatch.js'); Then create the page User:Hasteur/WatchedCategories.js. Place there

var WatchedCategories=new Array(
 
 // Place categories in this list. There should be a comma in all rows
 // but the last; make sure the names start with a capital letter, have
 // the correct case for all other letters, and don't have Category:
 // before them. This watchlist cannot be kept private (that is, other
 // users will be able to tell which categories you are watching).
 //
 // After editing this list (either for the first time or if you change
 // it later on) you will need to bypass your cache.
 
 "Name of category (do not prefix "category")",
 "Next category name",
 "Last category name has no comma"

 );

Make sure to then bypass your cache. Note that many user who have tried this needed to log out and restart their browsers before it would work, even after bypassing the cache. Note that this apparently does not play well with Internet Explorer; if you do use that, dumping all your temporary internet files may get it to work.--Fuhghettaboutit (talk) 15:45, 6 July 2011 (UTC)

We have a Winner! This is exactly what I want. I use modern browsers (FF& Chrome) so it'll work just fine for me. Only downside is it doesn't show Removals...Hasteur (talk) 16:48, 6 July 2011 (UTC)

How about Special:RecentChangesLinked? DMacks (talk) 15:48, 6 July 2011 (UTC)

Clueless question about the article table I am using as a model

I'm trying to make a table on one of my sandbox pages and I'm using the sortable table in Aurealis Award for best fantasy novel as my starting model since it's very close to what I need. Most of it is acting the way I expect, but I'm not sure what to do if I don't want an item red-linked. For example in the Aurealis table "Dirk Strasser" and "Equinox" are red-links. How would I write that same little bit of wiki code if I didn't want them to be links at all? Cloveapple (talk) 15:52, 6 July 2011 (UTC)

Text in a double square-bracket is a link. So "[[foo]]" becomes "foo", whereas anything else is just plain text, just like all the normal text you typed in this message. If you remove the brackets, the linked text becomes "just text". See Help:Link for extensive details and special features. DMacks (talk) 16:01, 6 July 2011 (UTC)

I'm familiar with double bracketed links within Wikipedia, but this table seems to be using something else that I don't understand. There are no double square-brackets on "Dirk Strasser" and "Equinox" in the table on Aurealis Award for best fantasy novel yet they are red links. If somebody can explain to me how I could change the table code so those two example items are not links, then I'd understand how to fix the table I am working on. Cloveapple (talk) 16:13, 6 July 2011 (UTC)

Ah, an entry encoded as {{sortname|Dirk|Strasser}}? The documentation for the {{Sortname}} template explains how to control the linking feature. DMacks (talk) 16:18, 6 July 2011 (UTC)

Thank you so much. That was just what I needed. Cloveapple (talk) 16:30, 6 July 2011 (UTC)

copyright infringement

I am the same author or copy writer for my website and my new Wikipedia page John Shoemaker Tulsa Photographer it only makes sense that I would use some of the same information, is that a copyright infringement on your self ? Please help Best Regards John Shoemaker Photomakers Photomakers (talk) 16:49, 6 July 2011 (UTC)

See Wikipedia:Donating copyrighted materials. Be careful of WP:COI though. DMacks (talk) 16:54, 6 July 2011 (UTC)

Yes. Simply put, copyrighted content can not be used in Wikipedia. Whether you own it or not does not matter, if it's not free, it can not be used (except for very rare exceptions). See Wikipedia:Copyright violations. If you're willing to donate your text for free to everyone, however, see Wikipedia:Donating copyrighted materials.

A far more important thing to consider though, is that promotion is strictly forbidden in Wikipedia. Please do not use Wikipedia for advertisement. As an encyclopedia, only topics which reach the minimum threshold of notability can have an article. As the owner of the website who will benefit from the creation of the article, you have a strong conflict of interest and should not be writing about it. (See also Wikipedia:Best practices for editors with conflicts of interest)

Your username is also in violation of Wikipedia's username policies, please change it (or abandon it and make a new one) as soon as possible. (See WP:CORPNAME and WP:UNC). -- Obsidi♠n Soul 17:14, 6 July 2011 (UTC)

Easy way to tell when a user was last active

I'd like to do some recruiting for a revived translation Wikiproject. I have currently gathered the names of around 600 users that have affirmatively signed up in the past for various Spanish translation efforts, plus there are thousands of spanish-speaking users as indicated by userboxes. I'd like to send notifications only to active users to decrease spam, but it would be too much work to manually click on the contributions for each user to see when each last edited. Is there any automated way to do this, or am I out of luck? Calliopejen1 (talk) 17:02, 6 July 2011 (UTC)

Where is your list? You can check rather quickly using the API. — Bility (talk) 18:04, 6 July 2011 (UTC)

Well, I just went through the first 600 manually. (Kind of depressing how few of them are still active.) The others I just wanted to take from broad language/location categories. I think I would like to do the following categories, for users with at least 100 edits since the beginning of the year, plus the most recent edit April 1 or later:

• Category:User es-N
• Category:User es-5
• Category:User es-4
• Category:User es-3
• Category:User es-2
• Category:Wikipedians in Argentina (and subcategories)
• Category:Wikipedians in Mexico (and subcategories)
• Category:Wikipedians in Peru (and subcategories)
• Category:Wikipedians in Puerto Rico
• Category:Wikipedians in Spain (and subcategories)
• Category:Wikipedians in Uruguay (and subcategories)

Would this be doable? I'm not sure what volume of users would fit the criteria. The criteria could be made more stringent if they generate too many hits. Calliopejen1 (talk) 18:35, 6 July 2011 (UTC)

Yeah, you can iterate through a category and check each user's contributions for those criteria using the API. You can even send out emails with it. :D — Bility (talk) 21:58, 8 July 2011 (UTC)

Challenge of uncited allegation in CenterPoint Energy article

This newbie wants to follow protocol, so I raised a question about the CenterPoint Energy article on it's talk page and am also posting this message about a recently posted edit under the Hurricane Ike Power Outage section of the CenterPoint Energy page. Specifically the paragraph reading "Currently, Center Point Energy employs rogue agencies and companies to force conversion to their energy providing service, without consent from the consumer. The company will continue the harassment after the consumer has switched back to their chosen provider." If I understand this claim, it is factually incorrect (and in fact impossible). In the deregulated Texas electric market, CenterPoint Energy is an electric Transmission and Distribution Service Provider (TDSP), which owns the power lines and poles, reads meters, and restores power when it goes out, but does NOT sell electricity. CNP delivers electricity on behalf of dozens of Retail Electric Providers (REPs), from which Houston-area consumers can freely choose. So no matter which REP sells electricity to a consumer, CenterPoint Energy delivers it. Consumers can change REPs whenever they like, but CenterPoint Energy is the sole TDSP in the Houston area. It makes sense for TDSPs to remain regulated monopolies since it would be impractical (and unsightly) to have dozens of sets of powerlines and poles. As an employee of CenterPoint Energy, I don't want to unilaterally remove that paragraph, but as I've noted, it is not only incorrect, but impossible, in addition to being uncited and not neutral in tone.

You can find a map of TDSPs (or TDUs - Transmission and Distribution Utilities) in Texas at http://www.puc.state.tx.us/industry/maps/maps/tdumap.pdf, which shows CenterPoint Eneryg's electricity delivery service area around Houston.

CNPsteve (talk) 17:03, 6 July 2011 (UTC)

CenterPoint Energy (edit | talk | history | protect | delete | links | watch | logs | views)

It also violates Wikipedia's Neutral Point-of-View policies. Feel free to change it or reword it, although be careful not to do the opposite (i.e. don't paint them in glowing terms as well, as that is also not neutral). You can also simply remove it, as it is uncited, though I recommend you post your reasons in the article's talk page.

As an editor with an admitted conflict of interest (honesty is always much appreciated), please read this Wikipedia:Best practices for editors with conflicts of interest as well if you're planning to expand the article. And please source any new additions. The article desperately needs references. See WP:REFBEGIN if you don't know how.-- Obsidi♠n Soul 17:21, 6 July 2011 (UTC)

Some other articles have related content: Deregulation of the Texas electricity market and Electricity provider switching relate directly; Renewable Energy Certificates (United States) relates peripherally. REPs and RECs are somewhat hard for ordinary people to grasp, as the electricity customer continues to consume the same grid mix of electricity as before, while purchasing an abstract property right to electricity from a particular supplier. In the case of RECs they represent the environmental attributes of particular green energy sources, sold separately from the physical electricity, thus functioning as a type of carbon offset for electricity. Anyway, we need to make sure the various articles for companies that participate in a deregulated electricity market square with the higher-level articles that describe how the market works. See Wikipedia:Summary style for advice on how to keep related articles coherent with each other. In general, when editing articles on Wikipedia, one should try to read the related articles to see how the particular article should fit in with the overall structure of knowledge on the topic. --Teratornis (talk) 19:05, 7 July 2011 (UTC)

Deleted Picture

Can I reupload a picture that has been deleted? — Preceding unsigned comment added by Mnaeymir (talk • contribs) 18:34, 6 July 2011 (UTC)

It depends on why the picture was deleted. If you can give the exact filename you uploaded before, I can check to see why it was deleted. Sometimed, pictures are deleted for inadequate documentation (all uploaded pictures need certain information such as the source, copyright status, etc. etc.) Furthermore, sometimes the picture itself cannot be accepted at Wikipedia. Please review Wikipedia's image use policy for more info. But if you tell us the name of the picture, someone may be able to give you more information as to why it was deleted. --Jayron32 19:54, 6 July 2011 (UTC)

Racist and Harassment of Iberian in Wikipedia

Genetic history of the Iberian Peninsula (edit | talk | history | protect | delete | links | watch | logs | views)

Dear Mr. Wales:

I have edited more than once the article about Genetic History of the Iberian Peninsula. In my genealogy I have two grandparents from Iberia; my educational background includes History and Anthropology.

I edited the article more than once, because the information is not scientific and it is racist. For example, the article implies that Iberians are 99% African, this is not true; before my editing the article had sections, where the Iberians were described as being 1%> African. I consider this racist harassment of Iberian people.

Racist people like members of Nazi/Arian organization want to limit membership in groups; the case of Nazi Germany comes to mind, where the Christian German said that they were the only Europeans. If Wikipedia wants to declare the Iberian people none European, please let me know.

I am writing to the founder of Wikipedia, in a rational way. If Mr. Wales would like to answer this message, I will discuss my point of view rationaly.

Jack Email: (Redacted) — Preceding unsigned comment added by 98.234.85.152 (talk) 21:27, 6 July 2011 (UTC) — Preceding unsigned comment added by Jack Robert-Smart (talk • contribs) 21:30, 6 July 2011 (UTC)

I think you misunderstand what Wikipedia is. See Wikipedia:Role of Jimmy Wales.

In no part of the article is it stated that Iberians have 99% North African genetic origins.The section on >1% simply lists the different locations in the Iberian peninsula with a North African Y-DNA admixture greater than 1%. It does not, for example, list Gascony, a historically Basque region, which has 0%. The values range from 2.3% to 14.7%, with the latest genetic study in 2007 showing an average North African male genetic admixture of only 5.6%. All of this is mentioned in the article with accompanying sources you can see for yourself. And 5.6% is a bit far from your impression of 99%.

"European" is a purely geographic term and does not reflect genetic heritage. You are falling for Hitler's trap by believing in his Aryan delusions in the first place. Why would it matter if Iberia had a greater amount of North African Y-DNA markers than say... Germany? It's natural given its proximity to N. Africa and the history of Moorish invasions.

The important thing here is that all those information are cited to scientific studies. Please do not remove sourced information. You can add opposing views if you can find another study contradicting the results of the cited sources. But please do not write essays or opinion in the article page itself. Use the talk page instead to discuss issues. Furthermore, original research is not acceptable, I'm afraid. All information in articles must come from a reliable published source (personal experience and opinion does not matter as they are not verifiable).-- Obsidi♠n Soul 22:31, 6 July 2011 (UTC)