Wikipedia:Help desk/Archives/2011 September 6

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September 6

Searching for plain English tutorial on how to write an article for Wikipedia

I am trying to write an article for Wikipedia, but am frustrated by episodic partial instructions, presumption of knowledge about how Wikipedia works and Wiki-jargon. Is there a simple, straight-forward, plain-English tutorial describing how to write an article for Wikipedia? Please send me the link, if you have one. Thank you. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Kygeode (talk • contribs) 00:15, 6 September 2011 (UTC)

See WP:YFA and WP:DEV. But remember these policies and guidelines: WP:OR, WP:NPOV, WP:V, WP:RS, WP:N and WP:BLP. You can start an article using the article wizard. -Porch corpter (contribs) 00:23, 6 September 2011 (UTC)

Title interference

I can't create a redirect from Dedication stone to Cornerstone because there's already a Dedication Stone. Clarityfiend (talk) 00:41, 6 September 2011 (UTC)

You can do it by clicking on Dedication stone, but why do you want to make the redirect? Cornerstone does not mention dedication stone in the article at all. GB fan please review my editing 01:19, 6 September 2011 (UTC)

This arose from a question at Wikipedia:Reference desk/Miscellaneous#Not exactly a cornerstone. With a lot of ghits, I figure it's worth a redirect. I'll add a redirect hatnote to the orphan Dedication Stone as well and probably a mention in the main article. Clarityfiend (talk) 02:27, 6 September 2011 (UTC)

Outdated Editing Critique banners on top of articles

I don't know what the technical Wikipedia term is for those things, but at what point do they get removed? And who removes them? Can anyone do it if the banner is no longer relevant?

I'll give as an example the article [[1]]. The editorial banner twice states that the article has "Appalling English" and requires major revision, and this is dated 2007. In the years since that was put on the top of the article, the article has been cleaned up, and it reads well to me anyway. Why is that banner still there? Leaving those outdated editorial banners stuck to the top of articles for years on end gives the reader the impression that the reader needn't bother reading any further, since the article is supposedly a mess, and these editorial banners are the first thing that they see when they open the page.

What is the process for removing them? I've seen many outdated ones.

OttawaAC (talk) 02:23, 6 September 2011 (UTC)

Yes, if you feel that the banner no longer applies, you can remove them yourself. Dismas|^(talk) 02:47, 6 September 2011 (UTC)

editing ungenerous statements and reports

Please I need somebody to cantact me about the bias PAUL BARRESI page. [contact information removed] — Preceding unsigned comment added by 173.51.109.243 (talk) 02:54, 6 September 2011 (UTC)

We use talk pages to discuss articles. Paul Barresi is semi-protected. Click the "View source" tab for instructions on how to suggest changes. If you represent him then you can also see Wikipedia:Contact us/Article problem/Factual error (from subject). PrimeHunter (talk) 04:43, 6 September 2011 (UTC)

reporting articles

I saw an article once that had a disclaimer on the top of the page that read: Article needs to be revised for use of too much jargon. Needs citation"

How do you go about reporting a page such as this? — Preceding unsigned comment added by Acasiarabbit (talk • contribs) 03:08, 6 September 2011 (UTC)

You would put the {{jargon}} template at the very top of the article. Simply click on the edit link at the top of the article, at the top of the editing window type in {{jargon}} on its own line (including the curly braces on either end), and save the page. Dismas|^(talk) 04:30, 6 September 2011 (UTC)

Darcy-Weisbach Equation

I posted some info about a solution I made to this equation. (I posted it in the Darcy-Weisbach Equation article)

Although I know I am right, I want to learn how to post correctly. I deleted all my lines and will learn how to format it before I post it again.

Thank You (Redacted) -Harrell Geron (talk) 03:46, 6 September 2011 (UTC)

I have removed your email address - Answers will be provided on this page. ^Avic_ennasis @ 04:35, 7 Elul 5771 / 04:35, 6 September 2011 (UTC)

Replied at User talk:Hgeron. -- John of Reading (talk) 07:20, 7 September 2011 (UTC)

Anthony Stanislas Radziwill

In this article you accidentally list the date of death as July 26, 1999 the third time you list the date. This was the date of John-John's death. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 198.228.192.181 (talk) 04:05, 6 September 2011 (UTC)

I fixed it in [2]. The false date was actually July 16, 1999 which is indeed the death date of John-John. Thanks for notifying us but you can also edit articles yourself. See for example Help:Editing. PrimeHunter (talk) 04:37, 6 September 2011 (UTC)

Improvement to Hinuism Article Swami Nigamananda

Dear friends,

I need your help to improve the article Swami Nigamananda. Could you please help me on this regard ? Few parts of this article need to be rewritten again to comply with Wikipedia's quality standards. Hoping for your work and help!

Regards Dcmpuri (talk) 04:14, 6 September 2011 (UTC)

You can post at Wikipedia talk:Hinduism-related topics notice board. The chances to find other editors interested in this topic area might be best there. Toshio Yamaguchi (talk) 12:17, 6 September 2011 (UTC)

Your messed up resetting passwords

OK, so I was a bad boy and forgot my password. I did it over and over again until I had to write a CAPTUA of different words. Finally couldn't get in, requested to reset password. The email arrives, I go to reset the password and your software says "You have failed too many log in attempts- please wait" (Remember I have a new temporary password at this time) so this massively sucks. You need to kinda make it easier to make resetting it more common sense. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 76.22.114.76 (talk) 05:51, 6 September 2011 (UTC)

How can I find my last posts and talks on my user? I sent talks to the editors and now there are no sign of them

Hello,

How can I find my last posts and talks on my user?

I sent talks to the editors and now there are no sign of them. Since I have been asked to approach a different user, I don't want to write it all again and therefore I am looking for my sent posts.

any chance of retrieving them?

thanks,

Gil — Preceding unsigned comment added by Gil Abramovich (talk • contribs) 08:26, 6 September 2011 (UTC)

Whom did you contact and which account did you use? Your contributions here shows no contributions to any talk pages. Did you use another account? Did you perhaps make these posts without being logged in? Toshio Yamaguchi (talk) 08:41, 6 September 2011 (UTC)

I guess that the OP may have been talking about his contributions to Talk:Booclips, a page now deleted. See the OP's talk page (which also explains to him how he can get the data back). - David Biddulph (talk) 08:54, 6 September 2011 (UTC)

EMANI SANKARA SASTRY

In the Article on Sri Emani Sankara Sastry, Mrs. V. Saraswathi, who is one of the 5 sisters and the youngest in the family {the age difference between Sri Sastry and Smt. Emani Saraswathi (maiden name Kum. Emani Saraswathi)WAS 5 1/2 YEARS}, has been shown as being a disciple of Sri Sankara Sastry - this is not correct. Mrs. V. Saraswathi, was a gifted and talented Veena player; she learnt her music from her father Sri Emani Achyutha Rama Sastry the same guru (and father) of Sri Sankara Sastry. Mrs. V. Saraswathi won a Gold Medal at the age of 8 from the Sangeetha Nataka Akademi, Chennai (some time in 1936-37) for her Veena recital. Mrs. V. Saraswathi was an 'A' Grade Artiste (Veena Player) of All India Radio, Hyderabad and she retired from that place. The details can be verified from the records of All India Radio, Hyderabad. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 59.184.42.46 (talk) 09:16, 6 September 2011 (UTC)

I suspect, based on your question, that you found one of our over 3.7 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. Rcsprinter (talk) 09:31, 6 September 2011 (UTC)

The use of the {{Astray}} template above is obviously incorrect. This question is directly about a Wikipedia article.--Fuhghettaboutit (talk) 10:59, 6 September 2011 (UTC)

Agreed, although it would be probably be more appropriate on the articles talk page. As a sidenote, in my opinion the use of the Astray template should be deprecated. Toshio Yamaguchi (talk) 11:05, 6 September 2011 (UTC)

Toshio: See Wikipedia:Templates for discussion/Log/2011 August 28#Template:Astray.--Fuhghettaboutit (talk) 11:19, 6 September 2011 (UTC)

I'm not quite certain what you are saying. Is it that the link to Rao Balasaraswathi Devi in the article on A. M. Rajah, listing her in the section on Female Playback Singers is incorrect and/or that she was not the co-singer on Amdala Rani as listed in the discography?--Fuhghettaboutit (talk) 11:14, 6 September 2011 (UTC)

It's about Emani Sankara Sastry#Admiration which says: "Other disciples of Emani are: V. Saraswathi, ...". The poster is saying that V. Saraswathi was not a disciple of Emani. I haven't been able to find sources. PrimeHunter (talk) 15:54, 6 September 2011 (UTC)

Bad linking between Wiki pages of different languages

I just read the swedish-language wikipage for "färsköl" - beer that has not been pasterized or filtered. That wikipage had a link to the English-language article on the same topic - or so I had expected. However, when I followed that link I came to a wiki article titled "Green Beer Day". Both articles are about beer in general, but still the link is bad. What to do? 46.236.70.107 (talk) 09:47, 6 September 2011 (UTC)

At the bottom of the Swedish Wikipedia page you should find an interwiki link in the form [[en:Green Beer Day]]. That is what specifies that the Swedish article link to the English Wikipedia and to what page. It looks like there is no English article to link to and so you should just remove the link. I have done so from the English article.--Fuhghettaboutit (talk) 10:53, 6 September 2011 (UTC)

I removed the iw link in the Swedish article. Unless it had been removed promptly (after the iw link in Green Beer Day was removed), the interwiki bots would have kept readding the link to the en.wp article. Deor (talk) 12:30, 6 September 2011 (UTC)

I can't find anything at List of beer styles or Beer style that would be a suitable equivalent; however it may be worthwhile for someone to translate the article from Swedish to English; it seems an obvious hole at en.wikipedia that could be easily remedied. --Jayron32 16:28, 6 September 2011 (UTC)

Deleted page

On the page - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1993_FINA_Short_Course_World_Championships_-_Men%27s_100m_Backstroke - my name, Craig Ford, is in red. When I click on itit tells me that it was deleted: 20:43, 3 September 2011 HJ Mitchell (talk | contribs) deleted "Talk:Craig Ford" ‎ (G8: Talk page of a deleted page (TW))

I wasn't even aware it existed butr I'd like to know why it was deleted and what it contained.

Thasnkyou,

Craig Ford. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 124.197.20.231 (talk) 10:21, 6 September 2011 (UTC)

If you click on the red link you'll see that the page was deleted under criterion WP:G5, referring to contributions by blocked or banned users. In this case the user was Heymantalent (talk · contribs), blocked as a WP:SOCK. - David Biddulph (talk) 10:37, 6 September 2011 (UTC)

The deleted article is still visible in Google's cache. -- John of Reading (talk) 10:43, 6 September 2011 (UTC)

So probably a different Craig Ford. - David Biddulph (talk) 10:48, 6 September 2011 (UTC)

Definitely a different Craig Ford. I have changed the swimmer redlinks to piped links to Craig Ford (swimmer). PrimeHunter (talk) 21:17, 6 September 2011 (UTC)

Copyright photo?

File:Tony Sanchez.jpg has a clear AP/Harry Cabluck credit in the corner, but has been uploaded by User:725edwards who claims he is the copyright holder. As User:725edwards states his real name is Steve Boudreaux, and has already been warned for uploading copyright images, I assume this is another. Where do I report this?
Arjayay (talk) 12:47, 6 September 2011 (UTC)

I've tagged it as a copyright violation, and speedily deleted the equivalent image on Commons. It's so blatant a copyvio I can't believe it lasted six days. Powers ^T 13:16, 6 September 2011 (UTC)

Guide for young editors

Does know where the guide for young editors is? I recall there being an essay somewhere. Yaris678 (talk) 13:09, 6 September 2011 (UTC)

Wikipedia:Guidance for younger editors ? Gandalf61 (talk) 13:20, 6 September 2011 (UTC)

For info, there are redirects at WP:YOUNG, WP:GFYA (?) and (because I just created it) WP:GYE. – ukexpat (talk) 20:08, 6 September 2011 (UTC)

Cool. Thanks guys. Yaris678 (talk) 11:41, 7 September 2011 (UTC)

Moving new draft article to wikipedia

I am a new registered user and cannot simply "move" my user draft article to wikipedia--I've attempted to follow the directions on the Wikipedia:Requested moves page but it is very difficult to follow. How can I request my draft article be placed? I want to use the appropriate coding and request. I appreciate your assistance. — Preceding unsigned comment added by MEStony (talk • contribs) 13:50, 6 September 2011 (UTC)

I'm sorry MEStony, but I'm afraid the draft article, currently at User:MEStony/Journal of Personal Selling & Sales Management, is not yet ready to be moved to article space. From a quick look, I see three main problems:

• You've not yet demonstrated that the journal meets Wikipedia's requirement of notability, detailed at Wikipedia:Notability.
• The first sentence appears to be a direct quote from http://salesmanagement.org/about, which is copyright text. Please see Wikipedia:Copy-paste.
• The article sounds promotional in tone, which is in part due to the copied text. But it may also be because you have some affiliation with the subject you're writing about. Anyone needs to exercise extreme caution when writing about, for example, their employer, as it is difficult to uphold Wikipedia's requirement of neutrality in these cases. Please see Wikipedia:Conflict of interest for more on this topic.

Adrian J. Hunter^{(talk•contribs)} 14:13, 6 September 2011 (UTC)

David Willey

I want to know what to do to get the David Willey entry going without the "This article has issues" thing at the top of the page. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 150.212.101.245 (talk) 15:12, 6 September 2011 (UTC)

The box you see at the top of David Willey indicates there are issues with the article (formatting, lack of citations, etc.). The box should stay there until the issues are corrected. TNXMan 15:16, 6 September 2011 (UTC)

What you need to do to get the box removed is to address the issues listed in it! Find the required references and add them (see WP:CITE and WP:Referencing for beginners); and rewrite it so it reads like an encyclopaedia article (see WP:TONE). If the other suggestion is correct that you are affiliated with David Willey, then you should also read WP:Conflict of Interest, and probably confine yourself to putting material on the talk page.

When you believe that all the issues have been met, then you can remove the warnings (or indeed, if one is met, you can remove that one from the 'multiple issues' template at the top of the page). But explain why you think this is appropriate in the WP:Edit summary or on the WP:Talk page, and be prepared that other editors may not agree that the issues have been met. --ColinFine (talk) 20:05, 6 September 2011 (UTC)

Vacillating Bot !

Hi ! Please can someone put this Bot out of its misery ? Wikipedia:WikiProject_Color/Assessment#Assessment_log_.28updated_by_bot.29 It changes its mind every day and reverts yesterday's change ! Thanks ! --195.137.93.171 (talk) 15:25, 6 September 2011 (UTC)

Thank you for reporting this. I've left a message at User talk:CBM#Vacillating Bot !. -- John of Reading (talk) 15:57, 6 September 2011 (UTC)

Well spotted. I've passed the comment on to a few relevant talk pages. - David Biddulph (talk) 15:58, 6 September 2011 (UTC)

I have fixed the cause of the confusion: [3]. Celadon (color) was turned into a redirect. Talk:Celadon (color) still had it as Stub-Class while the redirect target is Start-Class. PrimeHunter (talk) 16:03, 6 September 2011 (UTC)

Misstagging of articles is pretty common (pepole make it a redirect and then don't update the class on the banner for example). Is this going to be a problem for all these articles? --Kumioko (talk) 16:52, 6 September 2011 (UTC)

The bot operator has been notified at User talk:CBM#Vacillating Bot ! which links to here. I don't know whether it is a more general problem but you could post there if you are concerned. PrimeHunter (talk) 21:09, 6 September 2011 (UTC)

The problem is not about the redirect; it's that the same talk page was marked as Stub-Class and Start-Class for the same wikiproject [4]. The rating of the page that the article redirects to won't matter; each talk page is considered independently. But if the same talk page has more than one rating for the same project the bot will think the page is reassessed each day, just based on the way the code works out. It turns out to be a pain to detect this situation while trying to be memory efficient (particularly for the Biography project) so the bot just works through the error. It's really a case of invalid input leading to strange behavior which is not "strange enough" to worry about. It would be possible, in principle, for someone to make a report of all articles that have this sort of problem, but again it is hard to do efficiently because of the scope of the tagging system. usually people notice the problem because the article keeps coming up as reassessed, like this one did. — Carl (CBM · talk) 22:26, 6 September 2011 (UTC)

OK, my guess was wrong. {{WikiProject Color|class=Stub|importance=low}} on Talk:Celadon (color) placed it in Category:Stub-Class color articles, but also caused the talk page to transclude Talk:Celadon (color)/Comments which was in Category:Start-Class color articles and Category:Mid-importance color articles due to missing colons in category links. I have added the colons: [5]. PrimeHunter (talk) 23:24, 6 September 2011 (UTC)

How to create a new page in Wikipedia namespace?

I want to create a new page in Wikipedia namespace. This page is intended for listings of specific templates which should later be reviewed by volunteers. What is the correct procedure for creating such a page? (See also WP:VPR#Transform WP:IB into something more useful). Toshio Yamaguchi (talk) 15:45, 6 September 2011 (UTC)

Isn't it as simple as Wikipedia:whatever your page name is, and click on the red link (or click on "edit this page" if you put the page name in the search box)? - David Biddulph (talk) 15:51, 6 September 2011 (UTC)

I think I will draft the board in my userspace first and then try to get some input before moving it into mainspace Wikipedia namespace. Whoops, obviously WP namespace is not main namespace. Toshio Yamaguchi (talk) 16:01, 6 September 2011 (UTC)

Farmville

I am trying to inform ZYNGA about a problem I am having with FARMVILLE, (I can't send or ask for help and equipment and it has taken over 3 weeks since I reported this last time). Can you assist or give me the correct e-mail address to inform them. Thank you. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 77.97.68.108 (talk) 16:36, 6 September 2011 (UTC)

Have you had any luck with this page? It doesn't look like they have posted an email address, and would only like inquiries to go through this form. —Akrabbim^talk 17:07, 6 September 2011 (UTC)

Replacing photo

Hello,

Sorry to trouble you, but it's been a long time since I did any editing, and I don't understand how to replace an existing picture on a page with a different one, in this case simply because the one I have [and own] is a much better, more representative picture.

Thank you very much.

Michael Bedwell (talk) 18:32, 6 September 2011 (UTC)

• If you want to upload an image from your computer for use in an article, you must determine the proper license of the image (or whether it is in the public domain). If you know the image is public domain or copyrighted but under a suitable free-license, upload it to the Wikimedia Commons instead of here, so that all projects have access to the image (sign up). If you are unsure of the licensing status, see the file upload wizard for more information. Please also read Wikipedia's image use policy.
• If you want to add an image that has already been uploaded to Wikipedia or Wikimedia Commons, add [[File:File name.jpg|thumb|Caption text.]] to the area of the article where you want the image to appear – replacing File name.jpg with the actual file name of the image, and Caption text with a short description of the image. See our picture tutorial for more information. I hope this helps. TNXMan 18:36, 6 September 2011 (UTC)

Withchurch

I 'D LIKE TO KNOW HOW TO GET WITHCHURCH (HAMPSHIRE-ENGLAND) SINCE THE AIRPORT HEATHROW,(LONDON).WHAT MEANS OF TRANSPORTATION I HAVE.

I suspect, based on your question, that you found one of our over 3.7 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. TNXMan 18:36, 6 September 2011 (UTC)

Have you tried the miscellaneous section of Wikipedia's Reference Desk? They specialize in answering knowledge questions there; this help desk is only for questions about using Wikipedia. For your convenience, here is the link to post a question there: click here. I hope this helps.--Fuhghettaboutit (talk) 20:02, 6 September 2011 (UTC)

Listening to Word Pronunciations

In Wikipedia articles where a word appears followed by a speaker symbol and phonetic spelling should one be able to click on the speaker symbol and then hear the word spoken out loud? If so, what must be done to enable this feature? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 70.240.149.32 (talk) 19:49, 6 September 2011 (UTC)

A speaker symbol like at Muammar Gaddafi can both indicate audio (the first speaker) and a written pronunciation (the second speaker). Some articles will only have one of them. For audio you should either hear sound (with the proper software and hardware) or be taken to a file page like File:Ar-Muammar al-Qaddafi.ogg where you can play the sound. See Wikipedia:Media help. PrimeHunter (talk) 21:06, 6 September 2011 (UTC)

Perhaps we need a different symbol for pronunciation. Yaris678 (talk) 11:47, 7 September 2011 (UTC)

i.e. One symbol for audio and another for phonetic spelling. Yaris678 (talk) 11:49, 8 September 2011 (UTC)

Doctor

You list of doctors is incomplete. What about doctor of psychology? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 63.131.21.10 (talk) 20:02, 6 September 2011 (UTC)

I've noticed that you went ahead and did the change yourself. Thank you for being bold and doing so- Wikipedia is always improving, and we welcome any contributions that you or anyone else wishes to make. --Slon02 (talk) 20:12, 6 September 2011 (UTC)

Archiving Comments on one's Userpage

I have had quite a lot of comments on my userpage now - is there a way in which I can archive comments? Many thanks in advance for any co-operation. ACEOREVIVED (talk) 20:05, 6 September 2011 (UTC)

Does WP:ARCHIVING help? – ukexpat (talk) 20:10, 6 September 2011 (UTC)

If you put this:

{{User:MiszaBot/config |maxarchivesize = 250K |counter = 1 |minthreadsleft = 4 |algo = old(7d) |archive = User talk:ACEOREVIVED/Archive %(counter)d }}

at the top of your talk page it will archive everything older than 7 days and always leave at least 4 items on your talk page. GB fan please review my editing 20:13, 6 September 2011 (UTC)

Thank you to both of you, that is extremely helpful, and also for being so quick with the replies - I had not seen the link that Ukexpat suggested, but I hope it will give the information I need. Many thanks, ACEOREVIVED (talk) 20:25, 6 September 2011 (UTC)

Thank you, I have tried - I have tried to do as both of you have suggested, but I am having no joy. The difficuly is, when I go to the comments on my userpage, I seem to get a blank screen whenever I press the "Edit this page" icon. What am I doing wrong? Thank you for any help, ACEOREVIVED (talk) 10:28, 7 September 2011 (UTC)

I moved the template to the top of the page where the documentation the bot, User:MiszaBot/Archive HowTo says it should be. Also the bot only runs once a day, User:MiszaBot/Archive HowTo#After you have set up archiving so it might be tomorrow before it archives you page. GB fan please review my editing 10:55, 7 September 2011 (UTC)

Many thanks for doing that, it seems to be working now - I did have to take a while to see that I would have to click on hyperlink "1" to access the archived material! Sorry about that but you appear to have done a great job, so thanks a million. ACEOREVIVED (talk) 20:23, 8 September 2011 (UTC)