Wikipedia:Help desk/Archives/2012 January 31

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January 31

I need help with adding info to a page.

Bicycle sharing system

Im new at editing pages and such and would like help from someone who has more experience if I can. Id like to contribute to my school community sponsor by adding our comminity bike project into the "Bicycle sharing system" page. On the page theres a table with all the participating cities. Id like to add Bay st. Louis, Ms to that list, in the US of course. The name of the project is "BAY BIKE PROJECT" and it was started on October 6, 2011. heres a link to facebook owners page. https://www.facebook.com/pages/Bay-Bike-Project/177959978950238 if someone could add this to the table of cities id me much appreciated. if you could email me at (redacted) to let me know, id be so happy. thanks guys. -JESSE- — Preceding unsigned comment added by 173.17.35.69 (talk) 01:35, 31 January 2012 (UTC)

I removed your e-mail address. RudolfRed (talk) 03:45, 31 January 2012 (UTC)

Has your project received coverage in the media? Have a look at the other entries on that page; they are compiled from information that has been published in news reports. -- John of Reading (talk) 08:01, 31 January 2012 (UTC)

The wiki on "Sciatica"

I wanted to contribute to the wikipedia article on Sciatica, but was unsure how to word it. One of the "causes" of sciatica that is not listed, yet should be, is pregnancy. below is a sample article I have written:

Pregnancy

Sciatica may also occur during pregnancy. This is often the result of the Fetus applying pressure to the sciatic nerve at the bottom of the spine by either sitting, pushing, or extremity spasms. While most cases do not directly harm the Fetus or the Mother, the indirect harm comes from the numbing effect on the legs. This numbing often leads to loss of balance and falling, which will directly cause harm to both Mother and Fetus. There is no standard treatment for pregnancy induced Sciatica, outside of bed-rest and application of heat.

As I am neither a member, nor am I particularly skilled at articulating the point. I believe that this is important to add. My concern for this is personal. My Girlfriend whom is currently pregnant, is suffering from Sciatica directly tied to her pregnancy. I have enclosed a link so that this may be verified.

http://www.americanpregnancy.org/pregnancyhealth/sciaticnervepain.html

This looks like it may be good information, but the correct place to discuss this would be at Talk:Sciatica. If you could repost exactly what you wrote here, and write it there instead, it will reach the correct people who have an interest in improving that article. --Jayron32 03:53, 31 January 2012 (UTC)

Article feedback request

I created an article in my userspace titled, | "Effort Administrator." Now, I have not yet submitted for review and a move to the mainspace for two reasons. First, there was a previous version of the article that, upon doing research, I found was deleted under the speedy deletion criteria of notability and copyright violations, so I feel that I should ask for feedback first to make sure my version is ok to publish. I believe I meet the notability and sourcing requirements adequately, and I know I did not copy anything, so I am requesting feedback on this. However, (second reason) in visiting the "Request for feedback" page as suggested by the article titled, "So you made a userspace draft," it states it is an inactive page, and that I should post my requests here at the help desk. Yes, I know I could edit a few pages and get auto confirmed and move the article myself, but because a version was deleted before, I thought it would be wrong to do that, so here I am. I want to start editing on a regular basis, and I realize that I picked a strange one to start with, but I have been trying to edit other articles under Computer Security project, and I would like to create the articles in red under the same topic as Effort Administrator. So I guess I want to know whether I should be contacting the original editor who deleted the page? Should I auto confirm and move it myself? I am wondering what the best way to go about this would be. Thanks for your suggestions. JC.Torpey (talk) 04:34, 31 January 2012 (UTC)

I have taken a quick look and made some edits to the formatting to comply with the house style. As for the content, the "Technical requirements" section reads a bit like a user manual and may not be appropriate for an encyclopedia. – ukexpat (talk) 14:10, 31 January 2012 (UTC)

I looked at the changes made to the formatting, and I do apologize for missing the capitalization part of the MOS. I will remember that for future articles. Otherwise, I changed the Technical requirements section, took out the very specific requirements, and rewrote the basic compatibility information. Would appreciate another look. Thanks for your help! JC.Torpey (talk) 19:02, 31 January 2012 (UTC)

Looking better but the tone is a little "Marketing 101" rather than encyclopedic. I have removed some of the puffery, but it needs more work: for example, using the word "solution", as opposed to product or service, is marketingspeak; similarly "...the integration typically results in online implementation of the entire methodology...". You may want to take a look at other product articles to see the kind of language they use. – ukexpat (talk) 19:17, 31 January 2012 (UTC)

OK, I went through it again and cleaned it up. To be honest, the "marketing" tone was not intended, and I had no idea it would be construed as that. It's become a habit to use that type of terminology, as I write about the tech industry constantly. That said, I simplified each of the sections after reading through a few software articles. Maybe this type it'll read OK? Thanks! JC.Torpey (talk) 23:08, 31 January 2012 (UTC)

I have now moved it to Effort Administrator. – ukexpat (talk) 14:59, 1 February 2012 (UTC)

Thank you, Ukexpat. I noticed that another editor changed the punctuation of some references and suggested I use the cite template in the future. I am used to citing AP style, so some of the added punctuation comes from that. However, I am studying the changes, in addition to the MOS, and will use these suggestions in future articles. Thanks again for your help! JC.Torpey (talk) 17:03, 1 February 2012 (UTC)

Capital lettered acronyms in page titles

Hello,

A couple of years ago I made a page on the International Network for Bamboo and Rattan (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Network_for_Bamboo_and_Rattan) which also has the acronym INBAR. When searching wikipedia or the web with "INBAR", one gets the page of http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inbar. Is there a way to make a case sensitive page entitled INBAR (when I search for it it always defaults to the Inbar page) and then make a redirect? Or perhaps a disambiguation page for Inbar/INBAR?

What's the best thing to do?! Many thanks :)

Rattandy (talk) 09:03, 31 January 2012 (UTC)

If there is only the two of them, hatnote them to each other.--Wehwalt (talk) 09:10, 31 January 2012 (UTC)

I have placed a hatnote at Inbar.[1] PrimeHunter (talk) 11:45, 31 January 2012 (UTC)

Sandbox operation

Hello,

I'm working to become a new contributor and I have two questions:

a) Somewhere in my Wikipedia studies thus far I read that I can use a sandbox to develop an article. Yet when I am in such a page, I can't see how to save my work without making it generally available for editing before I am ready to publish it. How can I write an article without being forced to do it all in one work session? I have images and footnotes to add in and I just can't devote an entire day at a shot to do this. There must be some way to work on an article over a few days and save changes before it gets published to the encyclopedia. How is that acomplished?

b) I have an image for which I have permission from the owner to use in my article. If I post it to the commons area, won't that mean everyone can then use it?

Many thanks...

Steve Wheeler — Preceding unsigned comment added by July5ly (talk • contribs) 17:38, 31 January 2012 (UTC)

As far as the sandbox goes, you can use one in your userspace (something like User:July5ly/Sandbox). While the sandbox generally will not be edited by others, it is still publicly visible. TNXMan 17:43, 31 January 2012 (UTC)

And re b), yes, because permission to use just on Wikipedia is not sufficient. Copyright releases must be for all purposes. See WP:IOWN. – ukexpat (talk) 17:48, 31 January 2012 (UTC)

Article appeared to be missing info, but it was there all along?

Can anyone shed light on this issue? At least one other user and I couldn't see credit ratings info in the sidebar. I now can, after a bit of faffing. Many thanks. -- Jcpren (talk) 18:39, 31 January 2012 (UTC)

Since there were no changes made to the article that would cause the info to reappear, I can only imagine it was a caching issue. TNXMan 18:42, 31 January 2012 (UTC)

It was removed 30 December [2] and restored 17 January. At the bottom of a page you can see when the version you are viewing was last modified, for example "This page was last modified on 31 January 2012 at 16:47." PrimeHunter (talk) 20:58, 31 January 2012 (UTC)

Please make the biography of the living person Herbert Guðmundsson semi protected because somebody just recently put slander on it wh.

Please make the biography of the living person Herbert Guðmundsson semi protected because somebody just recently put slander on it! — Preceding unsigned comment added by EFFG (talk • contribs) 18:43, 31 January 2012 (UTC)

It was a single case of vandalism 4 days ago. The vandal has been warned at User talk:Ingasorens. It takes more to semi-protect an article. See Wikipedia:Protection policy. Requests are made at Wikipedia:Requests for page protection. PrimeHunter (talk) 20:50, 31 January 2012 (UTC)

Vertical bar!

Resolved

A somewhat esoteric matter and yet one that bares practical significance for me as an editor: How do you produce the |-sign on the standard Microsoft keyboard? I know, it's found to the top-right between Backspace and (+/=). But when I press the combined Shift+(|) it would type a tilde (~). I must switch to the Hebrew mode each time I need the (|). :-( Is my keyboard totally f***ed-up? Thanx, 31.210.183.246 (talk) 20:51, 31 January 2012 (UTC)

I don't think Microsoft has anything to do with it. The pipe character | is right below the Backspace/Delete and just above Enter on QWERTY keyboards. Dismas|^(talk) 21:24, 31 January 2012 (UTC)

It can be in many places on QWERTY keyboards as keyboard layout shows. Your keyboard and keyboard driver may not match. Try ⇧ Shift or Alt Gr in combination with each key. See also Wikipedia:Piped link#Use. PrimeHunter (talk) 21:30, 31 January 2012 (UTC)

Thank you very much. 1. What's [Alt Gr]? (I know about [Alt]). 2. Any idea still about how to match my ketboard driver? (I have similar bug with " and @ that function inverted!!) 31.210.183.246 (talk) 22:04, 31 January 2012 (UTC)

AltGr key. - Purplewowies (talk) 22:12, 31 January 2012 (UTC)

The people at Wikipedia:Reference desk/Computing may be better to help. It may help if you can show a photo of your keyboard or describe where you see symbols, and say which operating system and language version you have. I see your IP address is in Israel. PrimeHunter (talk) 22:18, 31 January 2012 (UTC)

The system used here is an XP Home. Should I post my question at "Wikipedia:Reference desk/Computing"? 31.210.183.246 (talk) 22:33, 31 January 2012 (UTC) (Funny, when coming to sign with the four ~'s I just press the alledged |-key which generates the tilde instead)

Yes, try at Wikipedia:Reference desk/Computing. That really is a better place to get a more focused audience who is likely able to help you better. --Jayron32 23:59, 31 January 2012 (UTC)

Thanks. Done this, and added a picture of the keyboard in question. 31.210.183.246 (talk) 00:19, 1 February 2012 (UTC)