Wikipedia:Help desk/Archives/2011 October 3

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Help desk
< October 2 << Sep | October | Nov >> October 4 >
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.


October 3[edit]

Does anyone have any other information about Sonny Bonos family back in detroit, Michigan area?[edit]

My name is Gerald Marowski and for years, my grandma told me that I was Sonny Bono’s third cousin. Here name was Vincenza Bono and had five brothers and sister. Their names were Anna, Antoinette, Angeline, Dominic, and Anthony. My great grandmother’s name was Giuseppa Bono (Maiden name Collica) and Great grandfather name was Ignazo Bono. I also know that they came over from Polarmo, Italy around 1905 and he was originally a shoemaker by trade and ended up working at Ford Motor Company for around 24 years. They also live in the Detroit metropolitan area and the story goes that Sonny Bono's father decide to move to California for some reason and I never got a chance to meet anyone from that side of the family. If anyone might know for sure if the names I mentioned are related to Sonny Bono at all, it would be great to know for sure if we are related. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 98.209.149.20 (talk) 03:19, 3 October 2011 (UTC)[reply]

I suggest you try asking at the Humanities reference desk. Some of the volunteers there like to tackle history questions and may be able to help you. -- John of Reading (talk) 08:37, 3 October 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Account and article information[edit]

Hi. I have many questions regarding the status of my account after it has been unblocked. I would also like to seek assistance to review my article before posting to Wikipedia and having my account blocked/banned. Who and where should I go to for help? I am a newbie to the system and tend to get confused on how to use it. Your help is much appreciated. Thanks Xpathy (talk) 04:43, 3 October 2011 (UTC)Xpathy.[reply]

I'm sorry your editing experience got off to a bad start. As long as you steer clear of writing about your company again, your account is in good standing and any efforts you make in improving this encyclopedia will be welcome. I suggest you explore some of the pages mentioned at Help:Getting started, and that you submit your draft article using the Article wizard. When you get to the final tab, headed "6. End", choose the "Submit for review" option. Please feel free to ask more questions, either here, or on your talk page, or on my talk page. -- John of Reading (talk) 08:03, 3 October 2011 (UTC)[reply]
There are many useful links in the warnings on your talk page, so please read them. If you have specific questions, you can ask them here. For a general tutorial on editing, try WP:Tutorial. If you are wanting guidance on creating a first article, try WP:1st, and for what to do after you've created a user space draft, try WP:SYMUD. If you want feedback on the draft, WP:FEED. Remember that in your unblock request you said "I will not write about the company to avoid any further problems.". - David Biddulph (talk) 08:04, 3 October 2011 (UTC)[reply]


If I feel that the judgement was unfair, which section could I request for help or advice? I've gone through a few sections and it seems that I'm not looking in the right place. Your help is much appreciated. I will go through the links for the draft and ask further questions when needed. Xpathy (talk) 04:28, 7 October 2011 (UTC)Xpathy[reply]

Redirecting an article[edit]

I recently created Bronte House, Bronte, but someone redirected it to Bronte House, deleting the suburb. I though it was worth mentioning the area in the title. Are there any guidelines on this? — Preceding unsigned comment added by Sardaka (talkcontribs) 08:00, 3 October 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Wikipedia:Article titles is the formal policy. It would seem to support the shorter form, since you say it's only to make it more explicit rather than to avoid confusion among others with same name. Consider the reader who is looking for this topic--is he more likely to look for a page called "Bronte House" or more likely to first choose to look for one with the extra information appended? DMacks (talk) 08:04, 3 October 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Use image in English Wiki. which has been uploaded to another language Wikip.[edit]

Hi, I was trying to use this image in the following article: Chandrashekhara Kambara but it looks like the image has been uploaded to KN language wikipedia. It cannot be added to the EN wikipedia just using the image=Kambara.jpg syntax. So how do I go about it? Thanks! - Niri M / ನಿರಿ 08:07, 3 October 2011 (UTC)[reply]

If the image has a free license, it should be transfered to commons so that every wikipedia site can link to it easily. If it doesn't (and I don't see any source or licensing tags on that page to help verify its status), I'm not sure our licensing guidelines smile on embedding it in an article here in en.wp. In the latter case and if the image meets en.wp WP:NONFREE requirements, you could upload it directly into en.wp with appropriate non-free tags and link it as usual (but again, without a known origin beyond "some random person uploaded it to kn.wp" I don't think it meets en.wp requirements for sourcing). DMacks (talk) 08:18, 3 October 2011 (UTC)[reply]
Thank you very much, DMacks. I'll check with that uploader. - Niri M / ನಿರಿ 08:23, 3 October 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Mulatto[edit]

i signed up here to tell you i find the term "Mulatto"highly offensive and i cant believe you have a page up describing this term like its cool with the people themselves. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Scorpiusjones (talkcontribs) 11:36, 3 October 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Wikipedia is not censored – we have Nigger, Faggot, Slut, Bitch among other controversial articles. I also don't understand how it is "offensive".--♫Greatorangepumpkin♫Heyit's me 11:42, 3 October 2011 (UTC)[reply]
Wikipedia is not censored. You gain nothing from erasing history except forget and repeat it again, and the terms themselves are discussed objectively. @Greaterorangepumpkin: Mulatto means "Little/Young Mule" in the original usage. So yes, it is very offensive. -- Obsidin Soul 12:08, 3 October 2011 (UTC)[reply]
The poster has a point. I think we should have an article on mixed black and white ancestry that describes that this was historically called mulatto, but that the term is considered a highly offensive, racially charged epithet by many (as it is), not use that term as the description for people of this ancestry except in the context of the section describing its past usage, use {{Main}} for that section, and have a separate article on the word Mulatto, describing controversy over the word's use and historical context of its use. After all, this would be seen by many as akin to having an article on (insert neutral racial or ethnic group name) called (insert word considered an epithet).--Fuhghettaboutit (talk) 21:36, 3 October 2011 (UTC)[reply]
Hm... a proposed move then?-- Obsidin Soul 03:24, 4 October 2011 (UTC)[reply]
Move to what? Mulatto seems supported by WP:COMMONNAME and WP:PRECISION over for example Mixed black and white ancestry. PrimeHunter (talk) 14:29, 4 October 2011 (UTC)[reply]

citation provided for Nietsche's aphorism on "Kindness":[edit]

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

I can't figure out how to provide the missing citation for the Wiki article on "Kindness", but here it is:

Nietzsche, Friedrich Wilhelm. "On the History of Moral Feelings," Human, all too human: a book for free spirits. Aphorism 48. [Original: Menschliches, Allzumenschiles, 1878.] Trans. Marion Faber with Stephen Lehman. University of Nebraska Press: First Printing, Bison Books, 1996.

Valérie C. Kaelin

99.231.227.19 (talk) 13:14, 3 October 2011 (UTC)[reply]

I have added it for you. For a tutorial on how to add references, please see WP:Referencing for beginners. You might also be interested in registering an account instead of editing under an IP. It makes editing easier, as you can keep track of your contributions and whatnot. -- Obsidin Soul 13:46, 3 October 2011 (UTC)[reply]


Polite request for help with question numeration[edit]

Apologies about this, but in the "Official Wikipediholism Test", in the section "Where you edit Wikipedia", I seem to get numeration wrong, so that now the last seven questions in this section are labelled 1-7 (there are now more than 15 questions in this section). I seem to recall from years ago that there is a quick and easy way of putting numbers in correct order by a list (such as a list of questions on a questionnaire) - am I right? Any help will be appreciated. By the way, the muddling up of the numbering of questions in this section of the questionnaire was not all my doing - you can see that there is a question at the start of the test which should not be labelled 1 but is, and that was before I added my questions. Many apologies about this, but when I tried to put some more questions in the — Preceding unsigned comment added by ACEOREVIVED (talkcontribs) 14:17, 3 October 2011

Wikipedia:Wikipediholism test (edit | talk | history | links | watch | logs)
OK, I'll have a look at it... -- John of Reading (talk) 15:07, 3 October 2011 (UTC)[reply]


Many thanks, I see you have now tidied up this questionnaire. ACEOREVIVED (talk) 21:02, 3 October 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Render Server Error since October 2, 2011[edit]

I try and try and try to get some articles rendered to PDF format. Only Render Server Errors keep happening over and over again. Doesn't matter when I try. The article itself is OK but never renders (Try Verst or Kansk or Mikoyan MiG-35 ). What's going on?

There seems to be a server problem. I tried to download those three articles as PDF. At Verst and Mikoyan MiG-35 it says "Render server error - An error occured on the render server: system overloaded. please try again later." At Kansk it started generating the document but stopped at 1.20% progress. Toshio Yamaguchi (talk) 17:38, 3 October 2011 (UTC)[reply]
I posted at WP:VPT#PDF generation does not work. Maybe someone over there knows what's up exactly. Toshio Yamaguchi (talk) 17:49, 3 October 2011 (UTC)[reply]
It's probably connected with the impending rollout of MediaWiki 1.18 --Redrose64 (talk) 17:52, 3 October 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Messed up a table[edit]

Hi, I was working on Insane_Clown_Posse_discography#Guest_appearances, and I messed up the table after 2008, and I couldn't figure out how to fix it. Can anyone help? WTF (talk) 15:08, 3 October 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Yes, that does look a mess. Does this change look like what you wanted? If so, you can see from the diff what I changed. - David Biddulph (talk) 15:32, 3 October 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Ottawa Fire Department[edit]

Hi There,

Great information on the Ottawa Fire Department. Just one change that you can add. We now have an Fire Investigations Office now located at 1700 Blair Road, Ottawa, ON Canada K1B 4E6 that has 8 full-time Fire Investigators.

Thank-you Jimmy D. Fata — Preceding unsigned comment added by 192.234.223.100 (talk) 15:19, 3 October 2011 (UTC)[reply]

It seems to be already in the article. Unless I'm misunderstanding something.-- Obsidin Soul 13:05, 4 October 2011 (UTC)[reply]
Perhaps the OP is suggesting that it should be listed at Ottawa Fire Services#Support Offices? - David Biddulph (talk) 13:10, 4 October 2011 (UTC)[reply]
Possibly. I don't understand any firefighting jargon, heh. The references are also all dead.-- Obsidin Soul 13:17, 4 October 2011 (UTC)[reply]

I'm realy not sure I'm posting it in the right place, but, can someone answer my question there? Thanks! Ofekalef (talk) 16:24, 3 October 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Replied.-- Obsidin Soul 13:14, 4 October 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Colorado Springs Crusaders[edit]

This is the front office of the Colorado Springs Crusaders. It has been brought to our attention that Patrick Kelly is listed as our owner. this is not the truth. our owner is Ty McTyer and it has been changed and someone put i Patrick Kelly back up. He is not our owner nor does he have anything to do with our organization! if you have any question contact our office [phone # (Redacted)] — Preceding unsigned comment added by 67.177.232.93 (talk) 16:44, 3 October 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Resolved
 – by ukexpat -- John of Reading (talk) 18:44, 3 October 2011 (UTC)[reply]

i went to the Luzern page and for some reason, the name is spelled Lucerne, which is the french way, and Luzern is the german way and Luzern is in the german part of the country, therefore it should be spelled Luzern first, and Lucerne second... i checked the page for Basel, and it is spelled correctly for a city in the german part of the country, so why can't Luzern? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 124.6.181.177 (talk) 17:56, 3 October 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Wikipedia articles use the common English name, please see WP:COMMMONNAME. – ukexpat (talk) 18:01, 3 October 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Libelous/Slanderous entry[edit]

The article posted at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_sweatshop#, contains editorial language, that is libelous and slanderous in nature. The article has been edited to remove such claims, but also lacks any additional direct links to credible sources. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Chrisamichaels (talkcontribs) 18:11, 3 October 2011 (UTC)[reply]

You removed multiple sources, including one from Newsweek. That one supports the general themes in the article, specifically uses the topic-phrase, and even actually mentions some specific examples by name. On its face, that reliable sourcing meets our standard for verifiability--wikipedia is actually forbidden from hiding non-flattering material about various subjects as long as it is sourced (see WP:NPOV). If you have sources that contradict/dispute the sourced claims or have other information on the matter, they too can be added. DMacks (talk) 18:28, 3 October 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Can I change a redirect?[edit]

Currently, the redirect MWAM goes to the cancelled VH1 television show Megan Wants A Millionaire. I recently created the article on Man With A Mission, a current Japanese band where MWAM is their direct abbreviation that they themselves use. Is it alright for me to change the redirect to point to this band and just do an About template at the top of both pages to the other article? Essentially, i'm just asking if I have to start a discussion somewhere to point a redirect at a different article, especially when it is an article I created. SilverserenC 18:50, 3 October 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Either the acronym should point to one of them and that one have a note advising about the other, or the acronym itself should just be a list of articles that the reader can choose. I don't know which (if either) of these two topics is the major one a reader would likely want (i.e., how to pick for the direct-link approach). The band does not sound highly notable yet but the TV program does not sound like it has as strong a claim to the acronym as its identity. Might want to give a heads-up on the current target's talk-page--if they can't find some sourcing demonstrating acronym use there, you're in the clear. DMacks (talk) 19:00, 3 October 2011 (UTC)[reply]
Okay, done. I left a note on the talk page, changed the redirect, and left About templates on both pages. Thanks for the help. SilverserenC 19:12, 3 October 2011 (UTC)[reply]
I've messed with your hatnotes, Silver seren. The one on the Megan Wants a Millionaire article seemed useless, since it's extremely improbable that anyone who gets to the article by typing the words "Meagan Wants a Millionaire" in the search box is really looking for the Man With a Mission article. Deor (talk) 03:49, 4 October 2011 (UTC)[reply]

LOGIN TROUBLE[edit]

I'm having trouble logging on to my account. I get a message saying user name does not exist. HELP please. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 68.42.64.117 (talk) 18:52, 3 October 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Does anything at Help:Logging in#Login issues and problems or Help:Logging in#What if I forget the username? help you? -- John of Reading (talk) 18:57, 3 October 2011 (UTC)[reply]

No, nothing here helps. I've had an account here for a few years....don't understand why my username is being refused? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 68.42.64.117 (talk) 19:04, 3 October 2011 (UTC)[reply]

What's your username? TNXMan 19:04, 3 October 2011 (UTC)[reply]

The Play button does not work on IE 9[edit]

I'm trying to click the play button on IE 9 for this page, but the file is not playing correctly. Works fine with Firefox and Chrome. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Sound/list — Preceding unsigned comment added by 173.60.91.98 (talk) 19:28, 3 October 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Have you tried updating your plugins for IE?-- Obsidin Soul 13:06, 4 October 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Added a refrence[edit]

I added a reference may i remove the post that tells me i have ten days to add a reference or my article will be deleted? Repisme (talk) 19:53, 3 October 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Mem Kennedy (edit | talk | history | protect | delete | links | watch | logs | views), now at Afd. – ukexpat (talk) 20:57, 3 October 2011 (UTC)[reply]
The notice you are referrring to says "Feel free to edit the article, but the article must not be blanked, and this notice must not be removed, until the discussion is closed". You are welcome to state your views at that discussion; but I suggest you read WP:IRS very carefully, because looking down the list of references in the article, not one of them appears from its name to be both reliable and independent. (I haven't followed any of them, so there may be one or two which are reliable and independent, but most of them are certainly not). --ColinFine (talk) 23:50, 3 October 2011 (UTC)[reply]
The earlier notice to which the OP referred was a WP:BLPPROD, but that has subsequently been replaced by a WP:AFD. - David Biddulph (talk) 00:00, 4 October 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Need expert in South Africa that can help with Wikipedia.[edit]

I need help loading details of a person who has and is achieving in the field of science and business and animal care. I would like some one who is a expert in Wikipedia to please help me . It seems this person I am trying to load is blocked. All the points are facts that can be verified. It's not a self promotion page but noting achievement that is getting attention world wide.

Help any one in South Africa. We need a person we can even pay to upload and maintain info on Wikipedia . But must be of good proven repute.

Thank you. Melissa. 19:58, 3 October 2011 (UTC)~ — Preceding unsigned comment added by 196.210.139.221 (talk)

How about making a request here? – ukexpat (talk) 20:13, 3 October 2011 (UTC)[reply]
You would probably have a better response if you post your request to the South Africa WikiProject. BTW, your mentioning paying someone to edit tends to set off a whole bunch of red lights - please read and understand WP:COI, WP:NPOV and WP:ADVERT before you make any changes to any article. Roger (talk) 08:49, 4 October 2011 (UTC)[reply]

name entered in her deatils are not correct[edit]

Kiani was born in Rawalpindi, Pakistan and grew up in Lahore. She is the third of three children to Khawar, a principal of a local government girls school. When she was three years old, her father died from natural causes, and thus the family were left to fend for themselves. Kiani has spoken about the difficult experiences of not having a relationship with a father during her childhood. Her mother, was nevertheless, very brave throughout their upbringing, she added. Khawar began working as the principal of a government all-girl school while Kiani and her older siblings were growing up. After her father's death and the resulting loss of financial support, the family had to use the school as a temporary home. Kiani and both her siblings had a talent for music, and so her mother enlisted her in the Pakistan National Council of the Arts. Kiani then performed in front of a crowd of a thousand people at Liaqat Memorial Pindi Hall. At an early age, she began showing an interest in singing and music. Whilst living in Rawalpindi, she went on to study at Viqar-un-Nisa Noon Girls High School Pindi. She represented Pakistan in International Children Festivals in Turkey, Jordan, Bulgaria, and Greece, winning various medals along the way. She also used to be on Khalil Ahmad's Rang Barangi Dunya; a weekly musical show for children. Kiani thanked her family for being supportive in her singing career, citing them as "patient and enthusiastic with a heart of gold". The family moved to Lahore when she was in eighth grade. She enrolled at Kinnaird College and due to her exceptional academic performance, she earned a Masters degree in Psychology. Kiani still dreamed to become an singer, and signed on to Lips Records in 1994. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 182.185.193.2 (talk) 20:14, 3 October 2011 (UTC)[reply]

I think this is the link: Hadiqa Kiyani. Bus stop (talk) 20:23, 3 October 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Good faith user who writes only in Spanish[edit]

Hello, I came across a user, User:Rodrigozjaaa, who has contributed to a few Mexican football club articles. Unfortunately all his contributions are in Spanish. I don't think the user is trying to be disruptive but his efforts have the same effect. I've welcomed the user with an English-Spanish template but I don't speak Spanish well enough to more than that. Could someone please explain to him what he is doing wrong or otherwise give advice? Thanks. LovesMacs (talk) 22:34, 3 October 2011 (UTC)[reply]

You could try asking for help at Wikipedia talk:WikiProject Spain or Wikipedia talk:WikiProject Mexico. -- John of Reading (talk) 11:19, 4 October 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Represenative Les Gara[edit]

Representative Gara's page is accurate except in one respect. The article alleges he votes for increased spending. In fact, spending has gone up every year since he has been in teh legislature, and he has taken issue with those increases in spending by voting against almost every budget that's passed, citing the failure to prioritize and keep costs down.

The Anual budget vote (there is a Capital budget and operating budget)can be found on the state of Alaska's BASIS system. You can call 907 269-0111 to gain public access to it. For example, this year Gara voted against a near record capital budget of roughly $3 billion, stating it was far too large. He has voted against most, but not all capital and operating budgets, on this gound.

So this clause in tha biographical description is inaccurate. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Energy10 (talkcontribs) 22:54, 3 October 2011 (UTC)[reply]

I have removed it [1] per your post and WP:BLPSOURCES. PrimeHunter (talk) 23:42, 3 October 2011 (UTC)[reply]