Wikipedia:Help desk/Archives/2012 February 11

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February 11

Wrong date

You have the wrong date of — Preceding unsigned comment added by 74.82.64.17 (talk) 01:27, 11 February 2012 (UTC)

Wrong date for what? Which article? When you report a problem, you need to give as much detail as possible, otherwise, it can't get fixed. RudolfRed (talk) 02:32, 11 February 2012 (UTC)

If you are talking about the date header immediately above your post: Wikipedia is a project used in all the world’s time zones. For a project-wide time we use Coordinated Universal Time. This means that for location of west longitude the date changes early, and for east longitude it changes late. —teb728 t c 03:27, 11 February 2012 (UTC)

The Ox-Bow Incident

I found an error in "The Ox-Bow Incident" article and have zero idea how to fix it. In the section which lists all of the cast members, Matt Briggs is listed as Judge Daniel Tyler. When one clicks on the Matt Briggs link, it takes you to a Matt Briggs born in 1970, a writer -- certainly NOT the person who played the judge in the 1943 movie. I then tried a search just to see if the correct Matt Briggs was in Wikipedia, but there isn't another one who is listed. I wouldn't know how to change the name from the blue hyperlink to what it should be --- in red? In regular black? Is there really a link to the correct Matt Briggs and it's easily fixed? I am hoping someone reading this WILL know how to correct it and will do so. Thank you for your attention. Johngalt2788 (talk) 01:30, 11 February 2012 (UTC)

Fixed. I replaced [[Matt Briggs]] with [[Matt Briggs (actor)|Matt Briggs]]. This changes the link to Matt Briggs (actor) while keeping (actor) from showing behind his name. Jarkeld (talk) 01:58, 11 February 2012 (UTC)

ip redirect

I'm being redirected to the Spanish wikipedia even though I have "en" as my preferred language on my browser. I think it is because of my IP address.

How do I avoid it? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 201.141.238.83 (talk) 01:56, 11 February 2012 (UTC)

What are you entering that gets you to Spanish Wikipedia? A Google search? A favorite of http://www.wikipedia.org/? or what? Does a favorite of http://en.wikipedia.org/ get you to English Wikipedia? —teb728 t c 02:27, 11 February 2012 (UTC)

I use the search engine from Opera:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Search?search=%s

--201.141.238.83 (talk) 05:43, 11 February 2012 (UTC)

That search targets the English-language Wikipedia. For the Spanish-language Wikipedia try http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Especial:Buscar?search=%s -- John of Reading (talk) 09:39, 11 February 2012 (UTC)

Are you referring to the search box in the upper right corner of the Opera browser? Are you sure the address is set to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Search?search=%s with en and not es at the start? Click the little triangle in the search box, "Manage Search Engines...", select Wikipedia, click "Edit", click "Details", and check that the Address field says http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Search?search=%s. The Query string field is not needed. PrimeHunter (talk) 13:15, 11 February 2012 (UTC)

Exactly, it's that box. I double checked and it seems that Opera changed it to the Spanish Wikipedia when I upgraded it. My bad.

Thanks for your help. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 201.141.238.83 (talk) 21:10, 11 February 2012 (UTC)

michael socha

Hi I noticed that there was no reference to Michael socha being in shank, why is that and can u put something on his page please? Thank you — Preceding unsigned comment added by 94.197.127.126 (talk) 04:29, 11 February 2012 (UTC)

A good place to propose that would be Talk:Michael Socha. —teb728 t c 06:19, 11 February 2012 (UTC)

Finding why a file was deleted

Hi, I know I have asked a similar question before, but I'm afraid I forgot the answer. In http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Scrabble&action=edit&oldid=310631066 there is a reference to a file "scrabble board in play.jpg". How do I find when, why and by whom this was deleted? 86.160.210.161 (talk) 04:31, 11 February 2012 (UTC)

The file was deleted here because the same image was on the commons with the same name. If you click on File:Scrabble board in play.jpg you can see the deletion log. The file was deleted on Commons because it was derivative work. You can click here, commons:File:Scrabble board in play.jpg, to see the deletion log and here, Commons:Deletion requests/File:Scrabble board in play.jpg: to see the deletion request on commons. GB fan 04:47, 11 February 2012 (UTC)

GB fan means Commons:Commons:Deletion requests/File:Scrabble board in play.jpg. How about an admin undeleting the local File:Scrabble board in play.jpg? —teb728 t c 06:14, 11 February 2012 (UTC)

Thanks. Originally I tried going to Scrabble board in play.jpg, but I did not see any deletion log, just a message "You must be logged in to upload files...". File:Scrabble board in play.jpg is exactly the same: no log, just an error message. Any ideas why that would be? I think this is what happened before, and this is why I got confused, but I don't recall the explanation... 86.160.210.161 (talk) 12:54, 11 February 2012 (UTC)

Red links take you to a creation page; but only logged in users can create a page. That is why you get the message. For a previously deleted page, logged in users sometimes get a deletion log to suggest that the not recreate a deleted page. BTW Scrabble board in play.jpg is not a file but the title of an article that has never existed. —teb728 t c 17:48, 11 February 2012 (UTC)

Well, it seems that the file has now been undeleted.* But, pursuing the original question, is there no way then for non-logged-in users to tell if an image has been deleted, and, if so, see the log? I'm sure I used to be able to do that. I've remembered that one method might have been to click on "what links here" and look for the log, but now I don't seem to see that option for non-existent files. 86.160.210.161 (talk) 18:08, 11 February 2012 (UTC) *Well, the image was visible (twice, very large) on this page when I previewed my reply, but now it's gone again. Not sure what is going on...

THe actual images went away because a : was put infront of the filename, that makes it a link rather than the image showing. GB fan 18:21, 11 February 2012 (UTC)

If you go to Special:Log and then put the name of the page or file into the Target box you can see all the logs for that page. GB fan 18:23, 11 February 2012 (UTC)

...or Commons:Special:Log for Commons —teb728 t c 18:31, 11 February 2012 (UTC)

I have undeleted it but tagged it for delayed deletion. The public domain tag was not appropriate since it is derivative work so it needs a fair use rationale and it needs to be used in an article or it will be deleted again. GB fan 18:18, 11 February 2012 (UTC)

Thanks, and thanks for the links to Special:Log and Commons:Special:Log. That must have been what I used before. It saddens me that so many images are deleted from Wikipedia just for want of a box-ticking exercise. What seems to happen over and over again (though I'm not clear if this is exactly the case here) is that someone forgot to tick the right box when they loaded the image in 2004, then five years later someone puts a notice on that user's talk page (who's long since gone), and when there is no response in a week, just deletes the image, without making any attempt to complete the administrative procedures themselves. It's crazy. So much has already been lost this way. 86.160.210.161 (talk) 20:21, 11 February 2012 (UTC)

This is more than a box ticking exercise. It is a case of an editorial decision on the scabble article. Someone who is familiar with that article will have to decide if the image is appropriate for the article today. If it is decided the image is beneficial to the article then someone will have to explain how it meets all the Fair use criteria. Since I have never edited the scrabble article before and don't know much about scrabble I am not the person to do those things. If you are interested in the article you have the ability to update the article and do the fair use statement. GB fan 23:12, 11 February 2012 (UTC)

Auto Confirmed

Hello,

I have been using Wikipedia for greater than 5 years and I am a donor. I cannot seem to become confirmed so that I may upload images. I have created Gamma Spectrograms (very difficult) to add to the Uranium pages and I cannot figure out how to become "allowed" to upload. I have made edits before and my account is older than ten days.

What must I do to contribute my content?  :(

P.S. I have read the how-to's and I still am at a loss, which is probably my fault. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Lotus253 (talk • contribs) 05:00, 11 February 2012 (UTC)

Auto-confirmed status is granted after ten edits and 4 days on a named account. —Jeremy v^_^v ^Bori! 05:14, 11 February 2012 (UTC)

You could ask to be confirmed in WP:PERM or you can simply make 7 more edits to any articles to be auto confirmed.--Hallows AG (talk) 05:40, 11 February 2012 (UTC)

If you cannot think of any good edits to make, you'll soon find some spelling mistakes to fix if you use one of the searches at Wikipedia:Lists of common misspellings/P. -- John of Reading (talk) 09:33, 11 February 2012 (UTC)

In other words, become a WikiGnome.    → Michael J Ⓣ Ⓒ Ⓜ 23:39, 13 February 2012 (UTC)

Thanks for the information. I will look for errors, but it is unfortunate that I have to spend my meager time searching for spelling errors when I have valuable content to add, such as gamma spectrograms of various common radioactive elements, which each took my 24 hours to make. It's sort of like having to do Wiki 7 favors in order to be granted the right to give them a some free and nice...

-Tom

Wiki Admin upsurping power

Hi,

If a Wiki Administrator is using overusing their power is there a process to revoke their rights?

Mike Rosoft (review of his talk) page has shown disturbing trends.

I am asking Wiki for help in fixing this. I am losing faith quickly that this Wiki admin is not bias. Also, because this event was reported in the news and on many different stations, I am perplexed why it could be remotely considered "unnotable".

What can I do?

Thanks! TS — Preceding unsigned comment added by 87truthseeker78 (talk • contribs) 09:24, 11 February 2012 (UTC)

This appears to be related to recent edits at Brentwood High School (Brentwood, Pennsylvania) which attempted to add sensationalized news reports regarding an incident by stupid kids. All schools have students that occasionally run amok and an encyclopedia (Wikipedia) should not be used to record such incidents. If a reliable secondary source writes about a string of incidents relating to the school (that is, showing a trend over an extended period), then a mention in the article might be worthwhile, but not now. Re the question, a genuine incident would be raised at WP:ANI but reporting this event would not obtain the desired result. Johnuniq (talk) 09:41, 11 February 2012 (UTC)

The problem of this article has indeed been reported at ANI, and another admin has semi-protected the article to prevent further disruption. - David Biddulph (talk) 09:48, 11 February 2012 (UTC)

• The content I had removed was written in an unencyclopedic manner: one part of the section attacked the school on its handling of the incident, the other argued against the first. That's not the way to write encyclopedic articles. - Mike Rosoft (talk) 09:53, 11 February 2012 (UTC)

What to do with a particular redirect?

Would it be considered a good idea to add WP:POOP to the shortcuts at the target page? If not, which of the criteria at WP:RFD#DELETE would apply to this redirect? Toshio Yamaguchi (talk) 12:19, 11 February 2012 (UTC)

Nothing has to be done. Many shortcuts are not listed on their target page and that's OK. You can click "What links here" and then "Hide links" (sometimes also "Hide transclusions") to see all the redirects: [1]. PrimeHunter (talk) 12:45, 11 February 2012 (UTC)

Thanks. Toshio Yamaguchi (talk) 15:10, 11 February 2012 (UTC)

major religion

The major religion in Nepal is Hinduism, Buddhism comes in second rank. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 2.218.188.43 (talk) 12:39, 11 February 2012 (UTC)

Yes, that's what Nepal#Religion and Religion in Nepal say. If you have seen a Wikipedia article saying otherwise then please name it. PrimeHunter (talk) 12:48, 11 February 2012 (UTC)

Can I write an article about Gaynor Sports, Ambleside. UK

Hi Can I write an overview on Gaynor Sports? They are the best known and longest serving retailer of "outdoor" leisure products in the UK? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 86.170.211.254 (talk) 13:17, 11 February 2012 (UTC)

You can, provided you have access to independent reliable sources. If you are personally connected to the subject (work there or the boss is your brother, etc) please take note of the conflict of interest guidelines. The article you write may not contain anything that promotes the subject and must be written from a neutral point of view. Roger (talk) 13:37, 11 February 2012 (UTC)

Undo move

As a non-admin, can I undo this move, and, if so, how?--Bbb23 (talk) 15:28, 11 February 2012 (UTC)

The redirect created by the move has no other page history [2]. This means any autoconfirmed user can move the page back. There is no "undo" link for moves. You can make a new move and choose the old title. PrimeHunter (talk) 15:40, 11 February 2012 (UTC)

(edit conflict) WP:MOVE#Undoing a move says you can go to Special:Log, where it says "Target (title or user)" type in Shoeing and then click revert. Toshio Yamaguchi (talk) 15:46, 11 February 2012 (UTC)

Having virtually no experience in moves, let alone "unmoves", I feel uncomfortable. What I'm really doing is challenging the move by the other user. Is there a good way to address this without my just doing what PH says or what TY says? It doesn't help that the move I am unhappy with was done by an admin (not as an administrative function, though - the admin was involved), either. Reading the section linked to by TY even addresses "move wars". Recommendations?--Bbb23 (talk) 16:08, 11 February 2012 (UTC)

You could make a formal move request, maybe starting with something like:

== Requested move ==
{{subst:requested move|Shoeing}} The move from ''shoeing'' to here was under discussion but was moved two days ago before consensus had been reached (see conversation above), so I am seeking more input through this request....(and continuing here with your rationale for your preferred title).--~~~~

Completely apart from this advice about how to dispute the move, I think the move to the current list title makes sense. Unless you could show that shoeing is not a neologism, the subject needs a descriptive title and it does appear to me to be a list of shoe throwing incidents predominantly. I don't like shoe throwing as a title because that could be about any shoe throwing, failing to capture the boundaries of the subject as a descriptive title (though the idea at the discussion that this falls afoul of WP:NOTDICT I cannot make sense of at all; that addresses content, not titles).--Fuhghettaboutit (talk) 16:46, 11 February 2012 (UTC)

Thanks very much, Fughettaboutit, both for the suggested approach and the substantive comments. I'll ponder on the issue a bit more. My problem is I often get hung up on procedural fairness rather than whether the ultimate result is "correct".--Bbb23 (talk) 17:11, 11 February 2012 (UTC)

You're most welcome, and don't let my comments stop you. Discussion is good.--Fuhghettaboutit (talk) 17:47, 11 February 2012 (UTC)

Random page, but with guidelines?

The "Random Article" link will serve up a random Wikipedia article, no matter what it is. Many times, I get a stub or disambiguation page. Is there a random page selector that will only choose from a certain type of article? For example, if I wanted a random article that was not a stub? RudolfRed (talk) 20:16, 11 February 2012 (UTC)

Right, or you get one of the 50,000 articles in the series "bus stops of the USA", or whatever it might be. I've often thought there should be a "Random Interesting Article" feature! 86.160.210.161 (talk) 20:26, 11 February 2012 (UTC)

Please see Wikipedia:Village pump (proposals)/Archive 61#Random Article improvement.--Fuhghettaboutit (talk) 20:48, 11 February 2012 (UTC)

Wayne Rooney

Wayne Rooney is a footballer — Preceding unsigned comment added by 88.88.233.130 (talk) 20:41, 11 February 2012 (UTC)

Yes he is, and we have an article on him at Wayne Rooney.--Fuhghettaboutit (talk) 20:50, 11 February 2012 (UTC)

Welcome to Wikipedias help desk. There is an article about Wayne Rooney when you click here. If you have any questions or suggestions regarding the article, feel free to edit it (click here to read more) or you can make suggestions on its talk page here. You might also want to read this page containing some introductory information regarding Wikipedia. Best. Toshio Yamaguchi (talk) 20:55, 11 February 2012 (UTC)

Green and Red numbers on My Watchlist

(diff | hist) . . User talk:AnkhMorpork‎; 19:38 . . (+784) . . Dlv999 (talk | contribs)‎

Does this mean 784 people have viewed this edit?
Best Wishes

AnkhMorpork (talk) 20:49, 11 February 2012 (UTC)

It means that 784 bytes were added in the edit. If it was red then it would have a - sign before it and mean that 784 bytes were removed in the edit. See also Help:Watching pages#How to read a watchlist. Cheers.--Fuhghettaboutit (talk) 20:54, 11 February 2012 (UTC)

Jordan McCabe

You really need to add Jordan McCabe to Wikipedia. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 107.10.64.202 (talk) 21:02, 11 February 2012 (UTC)

Who is Jordan McCabe? If he is notable (and therefore covered in reliable sources), then you can use Articles for creation to submit an article. Alternatively, you can follow the instructions at Requested articles to request an article's creation. ItsZippy ^{(talk • contributions)} 21:52, 11 February 2012 (UTC)

Unreviewed article

Resolved

In an article I created in December, I still have a template identifying it as an unreviewed new article, although several editors have already made contributions. How can I get rid of this template? Clicking on 'ask for feedback' leads to a service which is not active. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Sw1818 (talk • contribs) 21:24, 11 February 2012 (UTC)

 Done I've removed the template. WP:FEED is an inactive project due to the lack of contributors giving reviews--Hallows AG (talk) 22:57, 11 February 2012 (UTC)

Thanks! — Preceding unsigned comment added by Sw1818 (talk • contribs) 10:29, 12 February 2012 (UTC)

Blue type overused

Everyone at Wikipedia does great work. Why is it necessary to use so many blue words that are not really links at all? "Bluing" a word for a defination of that word is not necessary. It probably matters to no one but myself, but there you have it. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 24.12.12.68 (talk) 22:52, 11 February 2012 (UTC)

The Manual of Style guideline is at WP:MOSLINK#Overlinking and underlinking. If you find an overlinked article, you could add a {{overlinked}} tag at the top. —teb728 t c 00:03, 12 February 2012 (UTC)

What do you mean "blue words that are not really links at all"? Links to Wikipedia pages show up as blue (by default), and links to external websites also show as blue but with an additional symbol. --Colapeninsula (talk) 10:13, 13 February 2012 (UTC)

In the case of a definition, the link might be to Wiktionary and is a different shade of blue because it is another Wikimedia project.Vchimpanzee · talk · contributions · 22:26, 13 February 2012 (UTC)

• True, but those external links are subject to the same overlinking rules as the internal ones. We should only link to a definition when it's really needed. - 194.60.106.17 (talk) 12:49, 14 February 2012 (UTC)

Bureaucrat criteria

Hi. I'm wondering if it's necessary to be an admin to submit an RfB. I'm not considering either, but I was just curious after reviewing various Wikipedia processes. dci | TALK 23:12, 11 February 2012 (UTC)

There is no official restriction - non-admins can apply for Bureaucratship. However, it is generally accepted that someone who is not an admin will not become a 'crat, seeing as they will have no experience of adminship. ItsZippy ^{(talk • contributions)} 23:29, 11 February 2012 (UTC)