Wikipedia:Help desk/Archives/2012 January 10

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January 10

right of entry

Does a regulated tenant have a legal right to refuse strangers entry into his home? I have lived in a privately owned flat undisturbed for 24 years, and the landlord now wishes to sell his property via an estate agent. Have I the right to know the identity and occupation of a potential buyer who visits my home to view it, even though he/she is accompanied by an estate agent representative? Instead of having my home invaded by strangers, could I supply photographs of the inside of my home?

Wikipedia is not a source for legal advice.--v/r - TP 00:42, 10 January 2012 (UTC)

Help: I want to delete my own photo-comments from photo-files.

When I upload/alter photos to Wikimedia, I have to make a comment stating why I am changing the original. How can I change my comment after I have submitted it? I uploaded a (apparently misrepresentative) picture of a music artist and have been harassed by them and their management for 4 years to remove it. I don't know if I can delete it. I tried to over-write it, and that worked. But the comment, I did not want all of it to be public. How can I change it? — Preceding unsigned comment added by Jesangel (talk • contribs) 00:25, 10 January 2012 (UTC)

Which photo and what exactly is the situation?--v/r - TP 00:40, 10 January 2012 (UTC)

Giorgia_Fumanti.jpg .. is the image in question. The management contacted me 4 years ago regarding various fan complaints that have been made online (not on wikipedia), and the links to these comments. He asked me to remove it, and I thought I wasn't able to, so I tried to upload new pictures, hoping that the use of it would be diminished. They have contacted me by phone, email, Facebook and myspace, repeatedly over the past 4 years. The artist herself sent me messages regarding the image, just before Christmas recently. I researched any alternatives, and I thought the best thing was to re-write over the original. My reasons for re-writing over the original photo are partially visible in the English Wikipedia photo page.. but ENTIRELY visible with the Spanish version of the photo page. I feel that they will only harass me more once they see that comment, and especially if international media come across it. I didn't realise it would be publically visible to anyone on the web. Jesangel (talk) 03:07, 10 January 2012 (UTC)

There are only two uploads by you. File:Giorgia_Fumanti2.jpg and File:Giorgia_Fumanti3.jpg. Is there something wrong with either image?--v/r - TP 03:10, 10 January 2012 (UTC)

The user is speaking of a file at Commons: File:Giorgia_Fumanti.jpg. - Purplewowies (talk) 03:27, 10 January 2012 (UTC)

Yes, and Thank you Purplewowies. Jesangel (talk) 00:06, 12 January 2012 (UTC)

What comment are you asking about? To be honest, I can see no problems with any of the photos, no extra comments, no undesirable text, and no problems with the Spanish language article es:Giorgia_Fumanti either. The older version of the image (File:Giorgia_Fumanti.jpg) was uploaded with the description "Singer Giorgia Fumanti on November 2007, in Richmond, BC, Canada" but even if that is wrong in some minor detail, it is hardly "misrepresentative" and the kind of thing that would lead to fan complaints and 4 years of harassment from the singer's management. And anyway, that text can easily be modified by clicking edit on the Commons description page linked above. Astronaut (talk) 11:17, 10 January 2012 (UTC)

I just had a look at the spanish page and it looks like the text I was looking to change, has been changed. I didn't do it, but I'm happy for whomever/whatever changed it. And thank you for telling me that about the commons edit page, I didn't realise I could do that. I wish I knew how to completely delete the old-version which seems to still be stored there. Jesangel (talk) 00:05, 12 January 2012 (UTC)

Migrating page after a similarly named page has been deleted

I created the page Drew_Berry_(animator) (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drew_Berry_%28animator%29) last year. At the time there was a page for another person, Drew_Berry (http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Drew_Berry&action=edit&redlink=1), so I was forced to use the (animator) clarification. The Drew_Berry page has now been deleted so I think it would be appropriate to migrate the Drew_Berry_(animator) page to Drew_Berry, leaving a redirect at Drew_Berry_(Animator). I just wanted to check that this is appropriate. Thanks for your help Vsolomon (talk) 00:30, 10 January 2012 (UTC)

Sure, I took care of it for you.--v/r - TP 00:38, 10 January 2012 (UTC)

Thanks for such a quick response! That's great :) Vsolomon (talk) 05:12, 10 January 2012 (UTC)

finding an old contributor

Can anyone give any info on this old account? [1]

He did some good work in 2008 on membrane pages. Just want to talk to him or leave a message if possible somehow. Both his pages are gone though. Please don't share any supersecret info, but if possible to let me know if account went into some inactive bin or the like (or if public change of account).

TCO (Reviews needed) 05:07, 10 January 2012 (UTC)

He has email enabled. If you enable it at Special:Preferences then you can mail him at Special:EmailUser/Alexdruz. I have no idea whether he still reads mail at the stored address. You could also be optimistic and create his talk page. It has been 3 years since he edited but many users log in without editing. PrimeHunter (talk) 05:31, 10 January 2012 (UTC)

Thank you.TCO (Reviews needed) 05:38, 10 January 2012 (UTC)

You're welcome. I'm not sure which pages you mean in "Both his pages are gone", but his user and user talk page have never existed. Somebody has to create them like all other pages. PrimeHunter (talk) 05:48, 10 January 2012 (UTC)

Joe Greene (American football) template font bolding

There is some problem with Joe Greene (American football)'s template fonts such that bolding is not readily observable.--TonyTheTiger (T/C/BIO/WP:CHICAGO/WP:FOUR) 05:32, 10 January 2012 (UTC)

What template fonts are you talking about? Does it have to do with this edit of yours? If so, his name is bold in that template on my end. Dismas|^(talk) 05:37, 10 January 2012 (UTC)

I am on my backup computer for a few days while my primary is in the shop. I can not see the bolding on any templates on his page.--TonyTheTiger (T/C/BIO/WP:CHICAGO/WP:FOUR) 15:19, 10 January 2012 (UTC)

I see bolding everywhere I expect it. PrimeHunter (talk) 21:22, 10 January 2012 (UTC)

I have a better understanding of the issue. I have been adding {{1973 All-Pro Team}}, {{1974 All-Pro Team}}, & {{1975 All-Pro Team}} to the relevant pages. I have noticed that several Pittsburgh Steelers have some sort of formatting issue. In particular I have noticed that the ones that have {{Pittsburgh Steelers}} (Lynn Swann, Joe Greene (American football), Jack Ham, Jack Lambert (American football), Mel Blount) have the following issue, while L. C. Greenwood and Andy Russell (American football) did not. I think that the Steeler template is making the font smaller on all other templates' text. On the computer I am looking at that make the bold imperceptible. Can you confirm this?--TonyTheTiger (T/C/BIO/WP:CHICAGO/WP:FOUR) 04:15, 11 January 2012 (UTC)

The smaller text is caused by the use of {{Navbox}} in "Succession & navigation boxes" in some of the articles. Compare these two:

I see smaller text in the second version but I see bold in both versions on "Offense", "Defense", "Special Teams". If you increase font size (try Ctrl++) then perhaps you will also see bold in the second. PrimeHunter (talk) 15:29, 11 January 2012 (UTC)

I don't see the bold in the latter on my backup computer. HP says my primary will be back tomorrow. I also see the problem at Reggie White. I am sure I am not the only reader who is having this problem. How can we help the reader benefit from the bolding of in these templates that identify the subject of the article and other formatting bolding.--TonyTheTiger (T/C/BIO/WP:CHICAGO/WP:FOUR) 00:22, 13 January 2012 (UTC)

{{Navbox}} reduces the font size. The mentioned articles have navigation templates using {{Navbox}} inside the Succession & navigation {{Navbox}}. This reduces the font size twice so it becomes too small. Use {{Navboxes}} instead for Succession & navigation. PrimeHunter (talk) 03:03, 14 January 2012 (UTC)

Gabby West "Gabrielle D West"

Hi- On my wiki page it islisted that I was born in Bismarck ND. That is incorrect. I was born in Los Angeles, CA. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 174.254.21.14 (talk) 08:29, 10 January 2012 (UTC)

I have corrected this. Thank you for bringing this error to our attention. Goodvac (talk) 08:38, 10 January 2012 (UTC)

Login option - how to bypass "Logging you into other wikis" page?

Hi, quick question. There used be an option on the login page "log in to other mediawiki projects". By unticking this it was possible to return directly to the page you had been on prior to logging in and avoid being stranded on an intermediate page that says "You have successfully signed in to Wikipedia as "ComhairleContaeThirnanOg". For help using Wikipedia, please see the help page. Logging you in to Wikimedia's other projects: (what's this?)"

I now can't see any way of bypassing this nuisance page. Is there some trick to it or are we stuck with it? Thanks. ComhairleContaeThirnanOg (talk) 12:47, 10 January 2012 (UTC)

The page you describe is shown due to "Unified login". Some limited info about it (with relevant links) is given at the end of "(What's this?)". I know of no way to avoid unified login, but then I personally wouldn't want to. Underneath the icons for the other Wikimedia projects, there will be a link to take you back to the page you were on when you logged in, so not too much trouble. fredgandt 13:03, 10 January 2012 (UTC)

Thanks. ComhairleContaeThirnanOg (talk) 13:23, 10 January 2012 (UTC)

File:Sardis_synagogue_pavement.jpg

I am so sorry if I am putting this in the wrong place but I'm afraid I got completely lost in your "Help/Guideline" pages. As I know the author of the picture I referring to also did! I only hope that this helps in making a correct decision on the matter of this picture's deletion or otherwise.

Re: The picture "Sardis Synagogue Pavement" submitted by User:Aussieturk79 to be found at ~ http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Sardis_synagogue_pavement.jpg

My understanding is that the original author of this picture is Dick Osseman who maintains a gallery of his pictures where this one can be found at ~ http://www.pbase.com/dosseman/sardis_turkey&page=all

My conversations with the author suggest he is very open to usage on Wikipedia as long as his copyright is acknowledged. His public email address is available at ~ http://www.pbase.com/dosseman/profile. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Philip2uk (talk • contribs) 15:07, 10 January 2012 (UTC)

Permission limited to use only on Wikipedia is not sufficient, the copyright release must be for all purposes otherwise we cannot accept the image and it will have to be deleted. If the copyright owner is prepared to grant an acceptable release, please ask him to follow the process at WP:IOWN to communicate such permission. Hope this helps. – ukexpat (talk) 15:23, 10 January 2012 (UTC)

Language redirect issue

Wikipedia always redirects wiki pages in Chinese to Simplified Chinese for Hong Kong users. However, Hong Kong uses Traditional Chinese. May Wikipedia please redirect Chinese wiki pages to Traditional Chinese for Hong Kong users by default? Thank you very much for your help. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 1.64.175.237 (talk) 15:25, 10 January 2012 (UTC)

I don't know Chinese but I saw Chinese Wikipedia#Solution. If you create an account (very easy and doesn't require you to give any personal information) then you can select your preferred variant at zh:Special:Preferences. PrimeHunter (talk) 16:20, 10 January 2012 (UTC)

If you are asking about Chinese Wikipedia, that is a separate project from English Wikipedia with its own policies and guidelines. (For what it may be worth, there is also a classical Chinese Wikipedia, but it has less than 1000 articles.) —teb728 t c 19:47, 10 January 2012 (UTC)

I see. Thank you so much PrimeHunter and TEB728. I just think the redirect mechanism is a bit nonsense. It used to be okay several months ago. Let me contact Chinese Wikipedia. Thanks. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 112.118.180.138 (talk) 16:09, 11 January 2012 (UTC)

Deleted Kaseya Article

I have a rewrite of an article that has been deleted and I would like to have it reviewed and posted. Can you tell me what to do? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 173.45.194.71 (talk) 16:40, 10 January 2012 (UTC)

Where is the draft of your rewrite? All previous attempts to write an article about Kaseya were deleted for being promotional. Roger (talk) 16:57, 10 January 2012 (UTC)

(edit conflict) The response to your undelete request is at Wikipedia:Requests for undeletion#Kaseya. You can see the deletion log (covering the 4 deletions) at Kaseya. You could try producing a user space draft (in a subpage of a user account) and asking for review. - David Biddulph (talk) 17:00, 10 January 2012 (UTC)

I have taken the advice and have posted a draft in the user space. Thanks.Menollyk (talk) 16:29, 13 January 2012 (UTC)

Contacting Wikipedia monitor?

There is an article that violates the undue weight aspect of the NPOV. The section Alternative theories and controversies in the article on birds completely violates the Giving "equal validity" stricture, by containing a sentence which presents Alan Feduccia of the University of North Carolina citing two references.

There is not one shred of scientific evidence to support Feduccia. All scientists who study bird evolution agree that they are descended from dinosaurs. Both references are to articles shown to be totally incorrect by numerous published follow-up papers in peer reviewed scientific journals. I have one peer-reviewed published article which demonstrates that the theory of Feduccia is not science.

I want to get this sentence removed from this and related articles. It is impossible to edit the bird article to conform with the equal validity stricture, as the Feduccia partisans are implacable. The Bird article and related need to be locked down to prevent their being used as a platform to give undue weight to a non-scientific invalid theory.

To whom do I appeal to present the evidence that what I said above is correct? — Preceding unsigned comment added by Nwbeeson (talk • contribs)

You start by taking it up on the talk page of the article in question. That's always the first step. (We have no "monitors": just editors like yourself, some of us with a few extra tools.) --Orange Mike | Talk 17:23, 10 January 2012 (UTC)

Forgive the brevity of my comment. I'm tired. Wikipedia:Verifiability, not truth fredgandt 17:24, 10 January 2012 (UTC)

Actually not applicable. WP:DUE and WP:FRINGE are both more relevant as the OP said. Nonetheless I believe the wording conforms to both. The section correctly identifies Feduccia's views as controversial and very much in the minority. Given the sheer controversy he has stirred up with his book, the media coverage on it, and the way creationists have (as usual) latched on it as a propaganda piece (ignoring the fact that Feduccia's views are still within evolution). it would be more undue to completely eliminate any mention of him. -- Obsidi♠n Soul 17:45, 10 January 2012 (UTC)

WP:DUE says, "significant viewpoints that have been published by reliable sources, in proportion to the prominence of each viewpoint" and verifiability, not truth says, "that material added to Wikipedia must have been published previously by a reliable source. Editors may not add their own views to articles simply because they believe them to be correct, and may not remove sources' views from articles simply because they disagree with them." I am not proposing my point of view, nor wanting to delete Feduccia because I disagree with him. I know that Feduccia has published in a reliable source. But not all such publications are valid. There are hundreds nay thousands of papers in "reliable sources" which are now known to be wrong. As near as I can tell Feduccia is supported by two and only two papers published by reliable sources. Both papers have been shown to be wrong in dozens of follow-up papers published in reliable sources and demonstrating beyond doubt that the Feduccia paper is in error. I have nothing to do with these papers pointing out the errors.

WP:FRINGE says, "reliable sources must be cited that affirm the relationship of the marginal idea to the mainstream idea in a serious and substantial manner." Fudducia is absolutely not affirmed in a serious and substantial manner. Quite the opposite. There are dozens of articles in response to his papers showing that they contain substantial errors and that their conclusions are wrong.

I received three Wikipedia reasons for including Feduccia, and his ideas completely and utterly fail them all. This is not my opinion but the conclusions of litterally dozens of papers published in reliable sources in response to Feduccia. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Nwbeeson (talk • contribs)

At any rate, this isn't the place to discuss it. Talk:Bird is that way. --Philosopher ^{Let us reason together.} 08:17, 11 January 2012 (UTC)

Bot on the loose

Can someone help me with the Viktorija Rajicic article. I tagged it for a third AfD, but information came to light that the subject was notable. I removed the article from the AfD list, I archived the AfD discussion and I removed the AfD template. For some reason, snotbot came along, replaced the AfD tag, unarchived the AfD discussion and have me a {{uw-afd1}} warning! Can someone help me close this AfD? Cheers. — Fly by Night (talk) 17:29, 10 January 2012 (UTC)

The bot was only doing its job. I have closed the AfD; with the nomination withdrawn and no !Delete votes, I believe this qualifies for a non-admin closure. -- John of Reading (talk) 17:54, 10 January 2012 (UTC)

Thanks for that. The bot was doing what it had been instructed to do. Whether that is what is should have been doing is another matter entirely. There were delete !votes, which were withdrawn (along with the nomination itself) when new evidence came to light two days ago. Thanks again for your help. — Fly by Night (talk) 20:44, 10 January 2012 (UTC)

Sandbox 2

How can I move/copy the page I want to edit into the sandbox? — Preceding unsigned comment added by Tolindsey (talk • contribs) 17:41, 10 January 2012 (UTC)

If you just want to practice, you can cut and past any text you wish into the sandbox. However, if you actually want to edit an article, you can simply click on the article's 'edit' tab. Astronaut (talk) 18:06, 10 January 2012 (UTC)

^Copy* and paste... don't blank the article :) --lTopGunl (talk) 07:29, 11 January 2012 (UTC)

Executions at the Tower of London

What is the term used to describe the giving of a purse of gold by a noble personage to an executioner in order to receive a quick and 'clean' beheading? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 86.146.241.14 (talk) 19:18, 10 January 2012 (UTC)

Not bribery or tipping, but another term?. Von Restorff (talk) 19:22, 10 January 2012 (UTC)

Have you tried the Language 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. PrimeHunter (talk) 21:25, 10 January 2012 (UTC)

Advice for page content regarding listing businesses

Can someone advise me if the recent edits to this page fall within wiki guidelines? The page Boyle, County Roscommon a user has listed businesses. Is this normal for a town page?

Any help provided would be much appreciated.Agent4776 (talk) 21:16, 10 January 2012 (UTC)

The whole list is inappropriate per WP:NOT and I have removed it. – ukexpat (talk) 21:25, 10 January 2012 (UTC)

How can I change a name in a category list for a redirect

There is a category Air defense groups of the United States Air Force. Air Defense Groups in the 1970s were briefly active and continued the missions of Radar Squadrons that both preceded and succeded them. Because of the lack of notability, I have inserted their brief histories into the Wiki articles on the ststions where they were located, such as Othello Air Force Station and created a redirect page, such as for the 637th Air Defense Group. Can a category be added to a redirect page, or can only the redirect be on that page. If not, is there a way to have the listing on the category page reflect what would be refelected by an entry like 637th Air Defense Group?

I have edited the redirect so that it is included in Category:Air defense groups of the United States Air Force. -- John of Reading (talk) 08:29, 11 January 2012 (UTC)

article on phila school for performing arts

originator was Doctor John R. Vannoni....he got the idea...found funding grants and was with the project for over ten years...story needs telling and credit where credit is due stiltskinrex Stiltskinrex (talk) 22:29, 10 January 2012 (UTC)

If this is the Philadelphia High School for the Creative and Performing Arts there is already an article, though its History section is in need of expansion: if you have reliable sources, you are welcome to add information to it. (I am guessing that "Phila" probably means "Philadelphia": local abbreviations aren't terribly helpful in an international encyclopaedia. --ColinFine (talk) 00:09, 11 January 2012 (UTC)

Yes, Phila is a US slang way of writing Philadelphia. Dismas|^(talk) 00:45, 11 January 2012 (UTC)