Wikipedia:Help desk/Archives/2012 January 9

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January 9

unlock ipod 2nd generation

yes my daughter has forgot your passcode to unlock her ipod. Now she has lock herself out forever.Where,how would i go to unlock it is there a web site i could go to please email me (Redacted) Thank you — Preceding unsigned comment added by 50.101.34.18 (talk) 00:11, 9 January 2012 (UTC)

I suspect, based on your question, that you found one of our over 3.8 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. Adrian J. Hunter^{(talk•contribs)} 00:30, 9 January 2012 (UTC)

WP:Unusual requests. The Blade of the Northern Lights (話して下さい) 07:30, 10 January 2012 (UTC)

Perfect! Goodvac (talk) 07:33, 10 January 2012 (UTC)

Notability concern

Hello. I am not currently a registered user of Wikipedia. I was considering joining to create a new entry, but I have a concern with the item's notability. I have read the FAQ's and I have not come to a conclusion on whether my entry would be suitable or if I am just wasting my time. My entry would be over fourdown.org. It is a website and social community devoted to professional wrestling. There are almost 20,000 active users on the website, so I felt that it was justifiable to add it to Wikipedia. However, I am almost sure there is no notable news coverage to speak of concerning the site. If it was to be a solid entry, I would not know what sources I could use to get is past the notability guideline. Is there any way to get help for this? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 173.195.141.205 (talk) 03:49, 9 January 2012 (UTC)

You've seen WP:WEB already, I assume? Anyway, speaking from experience, for a fansite to become notable generally requires that the fansite gain enough official acknowledgement that it starts being treated as a news source on the topic by the associated media. If that hasn't happened, it's probably not going to pass muster due to lack of sources. --erachima talk 03:58, 9 January 2012 (UTC)

The worst thing would be to spend a good deal of time and effort creating an article which then gets quickly deleted for lacking notability. Wait till the community gets some attention in reliable sources.Tigerboy1966 (talk) 13:12, 9 January 2012 (UTC)

Journalists vs. reporters

How, if at all, is Category:American reporters distinguished from Category:American journalists? - Jmabel | Talk 04:25, 9 January 2012 (UTC)

See Journalist. Reporters are a subset of journalists. For example, a anchor/presenter is also a journalist, but not a reporter. An editortial writer is also a journalist, and also not a reporter. A commentator is also a journalist, and still not a reporter. Think of journalist as a category of job like "physician", where as "reporter" would be like "pediatrician"; a specialist job within the larger category of "journalist". --Jayron32 04:59, 9 January 2012 (UTC)

Capital Cities by Altitude

This article has an error in the sorting. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_capital_cities_by_altitude When you sort by altitude, either by meters or by feet, it sorts incorrectly. For example, it would put the following in order, which is obviously incorrect: 5, 6200, 7, 7500, 8. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 67.176.139.230 (talk) 09:38, 9 January 2012 (UTC)

Here is the help page for sorting tables but I can't make heads or tails of it. Dismas|^(talk) 09:53, 9 January 2012 (UTC)

I think the answer is that the first row (Bolivia) contains text. See Help:Sorting#Examples, where it says: "The sorting mode becomes numeric if the cell of the first data row contains number only (comma and full-stop used in number formatting are accepted as number)."--SPhilbrick(Talk) 13:29, 9 January 2012 (UTC)

I tried moving Bolivia to the second row, but that didn't seem to work. I removed Bolivia, and it sorts fine, so this confirms that Bolivia is the problem. This is short of a solution, but identifies the problem.--SPhilbrick(Talk) 13:34, 9 January 2012 (UTC)

Moving Bolivia to the second row was supposed to work but it appears sorting is currently buggy. I have posted to Wikipedia:Village pump (technical)#Problem with sorting in wikitable. PrimeHunter (talk) 15:28, 9 January 2012 (UTC)

I also tried replacing the Bolivia entries with <span style="display:none">3640</span> 3640 (and 2750) <span style="display:none">11,942</span> 11,942 (and 9,022) which I thought should work, but did not.--SPhilbrick(Talk) 16:07, 9 January 2012 (UTC)

Bolivia's always confusing with capitals, since it has two of them. What if we just gave the country two lines: one for La Paz, and the other for Sucre? Nyttend (talk) 06:45, 12 January 2012 (UTC)

Download PDF Is Broken

When I do the following on the left side "Print/export", then "Download as PDF", it appears the service is currently broken. I have no idea where to report this issue, thus reporting it here.

I tried getting a PDF of the main page http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Page and some other pages, including logged into my account and logged out, and they all give this error.

Render server error
An error occured on the render server: RuntimeError: command failed with returncode 256: ['mw-render', '-w', 'rl', '-c', 'cache/04/04e9e5f2586231af/collection.zip', '-o', 'cache/04/04e9e5f2586231af/output.rl', '--status', 'qserve://localhost:14311/04e9e5f2586231af:render-rl', '--template-blacklist', 'MediaWiki:PDF Template Blacklist', '--template-exclusion-category', 'Exclude in print', '--print-template-prefix', 'Print', '--print-template-pattern', '$1/Print', '--language', 'en'] Last Output: 2012-01-09T09:41:04 mwlib.options.warn >> Both --print-template-pattern and --print-template-prefix (deprecated) specified. Using --print-template-pattern only. 1% reading /tmp/tmpfXrv7_/revisions-1.txt 0% error removing '/tmp/tmpfXrv7_' Traceback (most recent call last): File "/home/pp/local/bin/mw-render", line 9, in <module> load_entry_point('mwlib==0.13.0', 'console_scripts', 'mw-render')() File "/home/pp/local/lib/python2.6/site-packages/mwlib-0.13.0-py2.6-linux-x86_64.egg/mwlib/apps/render.py", line 211, in main return Main()() File "/home/pp/local/lib/python2.6/site-packages/mwlib-0.13.0-py2.6-linux-x86_64.egg/mwlib/apps/render.py", line 176, in __call__ writer(env, output=tmpout, status_callback=self.status, **writer_options) File "/home/pp/local/lib/python2.6/site-packages/mwlib.rl-0.12.9-py2.6.egg/mwlib/rl/rlwriter.py", line 2176, in writer r = RlWriter(env, strict=strict, debug=debug, mathcache=mathcache, lang=lang) File "/home/pp/local/lib/python2.6/site-packages/mwlib.rl-0.12.9-py2.6.egg/mwlib/rl/rlwriter.py", line 245, in __init__ self.tmpdir = tempfile.mkdtemp() File "/home/pp/local/lib/python2.6/tempfile.py", line 318, in mkdtemp _os.mkdir(file, 0700) OSError: [Errno 31] Too many links: '/tmp/tmpE0yC1_' in function system, file /home/pp/local/lib/python2.6/site-packages/mwlib-0.12.17-py2.6-linux-x86_64.egg/EGG-INFO/scripts/nslave.py, line 37''

• Sbmeirow • Talk • 09:50, 9 January 2012 (UTC)

Looks like someone fixed it. If it break again today, then I'll report it here. • Sbmeirow • Talk • 13:43, 9 January 2012 (UTC)

About Music director Johnson wkipedia--ame

Late Johnson was a harmonium player in the begining and later he became a well known VIOLINIST.After that he became good player in Piano accordian, flute,drums, thabla, dolak etc. He didnt use guitar at that time.Finaly he became one of the best keyboard player. In Chennai during recordings of Devarajan master and other music directors he used Violin and keyboard. In your wikipedia he is shown as a player in harmonium and Guitar, which is incorrect. This statement is by one of his close friends...Mr.Atlee DCunha, Thrissur. (Redacted) — Preceding unsigned comment added by 59.93.12.209 (talk) 11:09, 9 January 2012 (UTC)

I've added violin, flute, accordion and drums. The piano accordion is my favourite instrument, so I was very pleased to add that. Thankyou for raising it here - I was previously unaware of Johnson, and I am glad that I have had a chance to find out about him and his work. - Bilby (talk) 15:13, 9 January 2012 (UTC)

Renaming Templates

I want to rename the template Template:Nebraska city to Template:Nebraska City, Nebraska, as it relates to Nebraska City, Nebraska. How do I go about this? DandyDan2007 (talk) 11:54, 9 January 2012 (UTC)

The instructions at Wikipedia:Moving a page apply to templates as well. The move will leave behind a redirect from the old name, so articles using the template with its current name will continue to display correctly. -- John of Reading (talk) 13:37, 9 January 2012 (UTC)

Not sure where to put this

Resolved

I've never dealt with this before, a spelling error in a Wikipedia ad (the second "Antarctica" is incorrect). Just happened to come across it. Ideas? Calabe1992 14:28, 9 January 2012 (UTC)

I posted a request here--SPhilbrick(Talk) 14:43, 9 January 2012 (UTC)

Why thank you. Calabe1992 14:44, 9 January 2012 (UTC)

 Done Thanks to Obsidian Soul for quick work --SPhilbrick(Talk) 14:53, 9 January 2012 (UTC)

Amazing this could go 4+ years before it was noticed...Nyttend (talk) 06:46, 12 January 2012 (UTC)

Dramaout

When is the next wiki dramaout? Von Restorff (talk) 15:02, 9 January 2012 (UTC)

It appears from WP:DRAMAOUT that none have been planned since July 2010. A suggestion on the talk page got no responses. PrimeHunter (talk) 15:35, 9 January 2012 (UTC)

Of course it hasn't been updated, they're probably all commenting over at WP:ARBCOM. I think it might be high time for another one of these. UltraExactZZ ^Said ~ Did 21:12, 9 January 2012 (UTC)

OK, thanks, I am going to plan one. Von Restorff (talk) 21:55, 9 January 2012 (UTC)

Donator's email address changed

Hello Wiki,

I make a monthly donation of USD 5.00 to Wikipedia via my Mastercard. At the time of setting up the donation arrangement, I filled in my paypal domain email address (<redacted>). Since I am not working at paypal any longer, I need to change the address to my personal email address : <redacted> Can somebody please help me out with this ?

Thank you & Regards

Manish Jain (phone # removed} — Preceding unsigned comment added by 223.234.190.165 (talk) 15:09, 9 January 2012 (UTC)

At the head of this page it says: "For your own security, please do not provide your email address or other contact details." I've removed your addresses. - David Biddulph (talk) 15:13, 9 January 2012 (UTC)

And I have removed the phone #. – ukexpat (talk) 15:15, 9 January 2012 (UTC)

I'm not sure what to do but you can try emailing givingwikimedia.org, an address mentioned for other things at foundation:Frequently asked questions. PrimeHunter (talk) 15:42, 9 January 2012 (UTC)

Articles for creation/Daniel Snowman

This page has been reviewed but not accepted. The banner at the top of the page says: 'Your submission did not meet Wikipedia's criteria, but if you can address the issues found in the review, you are encouraged to make improvements and resubmit it.' I can't seem to find any review... where should I be looking? JNBSmith (talk) 16:06, 9 January 2012 (UTC)

There doesn't seem to be any review. The user that declined the submission didn't even leave an edit summary as to why the submission was declined. Aamuizz is the editor that declined the submission, you should ask them on their talk what the problems with the submission were. GB fan 17:04, 9 January 2012 (UTC)

See the pink notice at the top of Wikipedia talk:Articles for creation/Daniel Snowman. – ukexpat (talk) 17:07, 9 January 2012 (UTC)

I would have thought Wikipedia talk:Articles for creation/Daniel Snowman should say where the review is (in the pink tag at the top), but it doesn't. Why not ask the reviewer Aamuizz (talk · contribs) for their reasoning on their talk page. You might find Wikipedia:WikiProject Articles for creation/Reviewing instructions a useful talking point with Aamiuzz. Astronaut (talk) 17:23, 9 January 2012 (UTC)

OPTIMIZATION

Definition of OPTIMIZATION: an act, process, or methodology of making something (as a design, system, or decision) as fully perfect, functional, or effective as possible; specifically : the mathematical procedures (as finding the maximum of a function) involved in this.

I am looking for assistance with the the word Optimization as I would like to use it as part of my Company's name.

I am looking to start a company and we intend to be effective as possible in what we offer or find the maximum function, so as to add the best value possible to the end client.

Optimé is from the Latin root optim which in English means “to be the best.” Is this accurate? And would it be accurate for me to call my company "Optimé Group" or is "The Optimé Group" more suitable?

Are you able to provide me the translation for Optimization in other languages? 202.156.10.13 (talk) 16:44, 9 January 2012 (UTC)

This page is for help with using and editing Wikipedia. We're not here to help you choose a name for your company. fredgandt 16:47, 9 January 2012 (UTC)

You can ask language questions at Wikipedia:Reference desk/Language. PrimeHunter (talk) 16:54, 9 January 2012 (UTC)

External links to celebrity interviews

A number of pages about celebs, such as this one, have a long list of external links to magazine interviews with the subject. Interviews do not seem to be specifically prohibited in WP:EL, but they rarely contain encyclopedic content. (What little encyclopedic content they do have could simply be added to the article, referencing the interview.) Should I check each one individually or can I just zap the lot?--Shantavira|^{feed me} 17:09, 9 January 2012 (UTC)

If you think the article can be improved with content from any of these sources, and you have time to make the changes, please do so. But any source that doesn't help the article and doesn't provide useful information should probably not be linked.Vchimpanzee · talk · contributions · 18:59, 11 January 2012 (UTC)

Page not appearing in Categories etc.

I recently created Oxford Canadians, and added it to a few categories. However, when I click on the category, it doesn't seem to appear in them? (For example: Category:Defunct ice hockey teams in the United Kingdom) it also doesn't appear in the list of articles that the image in the article features in (File:Oxford Canadian Ice Hockey Team.jpg). It doesn't seem to be a major problem, but it seems a little strange, and I wondered if anyone has an idea as to why this might be? Harrias ^talk 17:30, 9 January 2012 (UTC)

Sometimes you have to do a null edit to force the cache to refresh. I made some minor fixes and it now shows in the categories. ---— Gadget850 (Ed) ^talk 17:38, 9 January 2012 (UTC)

Is that possibly because there were no edits on the page since it's move from User space? Or just a cache glitch? Either way, thanks for your help! Harrias ^talk 17:39, 9 January 2012 (UTC)

A purge of the cat page usually works too. – ukexpat (talk) 17:45, 9 January 2012 (UTC)

Reverse large text in Wikipedia

A few months ago, I was on Wikipedia and noticed that the text was much larger than it had been before (article text, sidebar links, everything) and the layout, consequentially, was jumbled and boxy. I've used my browser's zoom functions to try and help this, but it's definitely within Wikipedia. I've looked for a large-print or accessibility short-cut, but have found nothing.

Why is the text in Wikipedia so large, is this an update that everyone sees, or have I somehow managed to turn on this function?

If anyone has any information on this, please let me know. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Georgienne (talk • contribs) 17:52, 9 January 2012 (UTC)

It could be you accidentally enlarged the text on Wikipedia and your browser has stored that information. You can try changing it with Ctrl+- to make it smaller or Ctrl+0 to restore the size to default and see if your browser will save the changes. Or are those the zoom functions you already tried? — Bility (talk) 18:00, 9 January 2012 (UTC)

(Ctrl) + (-) worked perfectly. I can't imagine how I accidentally changed that, but thank you! Georgienne (talk) 01:02, 17 January 2012 (UTC)

Daylight Savings Time on Wikipedia

I was wondering how you can set back the time on Wikipedia. Since at some parts, Any edit around the 11:00 PM would end up being for the next day's edit. Rtkat3 (talk) 2:39, January 9 2012 (UTC)

You can set time to display as local time by enabling the gadget titled "Change UTC-based times and dates, such as those used in signatures, to be relative to local time." under the Appearance section. You might also need to specify your time-zone offset. — Bility (talk) 21:00, 9 January 2012 (UTC)

Rejection of Article

Hi,

I have twice had an article rejected, or rather not totally rejected but I was asked both times to make it more factual and less like an advertisement. The article is about the fashion brand Fabryan and its inspirational entrepreneur Samantha-Jane, who has achieved much acclaim in the London fashion scene and who is an example to all women of colour who want to make their way in the world of business.

My problem is that I do not see how it is any less factual and impartial than those articles about comparable fashion houses that have been listed, the closest comparison being that of Bunmi Koko. If I compare the two texts mine is certainly at least as impartial and is supported by references at each stage.

How do I get my article re-reviewed? After the second submission, where I had removed any unsupported positive descriptions, I was told that it had not changed. I hope that this is the right place for the question - I tried the live chat but the entry box does not appear.

Best regards

Dimmo13 (talk) 19:47, 9 January 2012 (UTC)

It's a matter of tone. One can write the best referenced article in the world, but it can still read like an advertisement. – ukexpat (talk) 20:46, 9 January 2012 (UTC)

Language like inspirational entrepreneur Samantha-Jane, who has achieved much acclaim in the London fashion scene and who is an example to all women of colour who want to make their way in the world of business is always going to kill an "article", since it grossly fails to maintain the requisite neutral point of view, and indicates rather blatantly that you're trying to advance a cause, rather than to add impartial information to an encyclopedia. If you want to advance a cause, set up your own website trumpeting its virtues. --Orange Mike | Talk 20:53, 9 January 2012 (UTC)

I agree absolutely. My article does not read like that at all, it is deliberately neutral. My comment is purely to aid understanding of why I think this article has validity. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Dimmo13 (talk • contribs) 21:11, 9 January 2012 (UTC)

The problem is that a subject must be notable, not merely interesting, worthwhile or commendable; and you've never made a convincing case for that. --Orange Mike | Talk 21:14, 9 January 2012 (UTC)

That's a tough one. I see countless Z-list actors appearing on Wikipedia and each of those articles must have passed scrutiny. Who decides that someone who has appeared in a soap is more noteworthy to the World than someone or some organization who/that has achieved prominence in a different field? — Preceding unsigned comment added by Dimmo13 (talk • contribs) 22:24, 9 January 2012 (UTC)

We decide, by consensus at an AFD ultimately, on a case-by-case basis (see WP:Other stuff exists), whether such subjects meet the notability guidelines. – ukexpat (talk) 22:37, 9 January 2012 (UTC)

Updating a bibliography

Hi

I would like to contribute to Wikipedia.

I have seen that the bibliography of Terry Bisson is listed as 'Incomplete – to be updated' http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terry_Bisson.

I would like this to be my first project.

I have been unsuccessful trying to follow your online guide as to how to achieve this. Do you have anyone who could teach me by email?

Cheers Matt M G Webster (talk) 19:54, 9 January 2012 (UTC)

Replied on your talkpage, M. G. Will you be attending Chattacon, WisCon, Chicon or ICON (the Iowa one) this year? We could chat in person. --Orange Mike | Talk 21:16, 9 January 2012 (UTC)

Billabong International page

Hi there,

Seems someone is using your site to spread mistruths. The Billabog International page indicates the company is on the verge of bankruptcy. It has actually forecast EBITDA of $70m to $75m for the half year just completed. Seems whoever has edited your page on Billabong is making michief.

Please review your page and remedy the error. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 58.174.28.43 (talk) 20:22, 9 January 2012 (UTC)

Good catch, an IP added that statement, which was not backed up in the given source article at all. I've removed it. Cheers, — Bility (talk) 20:54, 9 January 2012 (UTC)

Help, please

Here is my issue. I am editing, trying to clean up List of statues, which is, in my opinion, a bit of a mess. I have decided to make it more-or-less a list of statues that have wikipedia articles about them. This is pretty consistent with a lot of other wikipedia lists. Or failing a link to a specific statue, an item on the list needs to link to an article that includes a picture or some discussion of that statue. So, for example, in the Singapore section of the statue list there is a listing of a statue of Stamford Raffles. I added the name of the sculptor, to give the listing some meaning. However the link to Stamford Raffles in the list takes us to an article that includes a nice picture of the statue under the sub-headng Founding of Singapore. My question is, how do I get the link to Stamford in the statue list to go right to the Founding of Singapore section? This will allow the link to serve a useful function as opposed to links to Queen Victoria, for example, an article that might make no mention of a particular statue of her. I am intending (including some discussion on the discussion page) of removing that sort of link. Einar aka Carptrash (talk) 20:38, 9 January 2012 (UTC)

Do it like Stamford Raffles#Founding of Singapore. There is help on links at Help:Link. —teb728 t c 20:47, 9 January 2012 (UTC)

Thanks a lot for your speedy and "right on " (as we used to say in the 60s) reply. Carptrash (talk) 20:55, 9 January 2012 (UTC)

Previewing a draft article

Hi. I'm having trouble previewing a new draft article I'm working on. I was using the Article Creation wizard to draft a new article and whilst I can edit the page under the edit tab, I can't see any finished result once I preview or save. I think it may be something to do with the template summary box I tried to use at the start of the article?

Any help greatly appreciated, thanks, Jbro68 (talk) 22:27, 9 January 2012 (UTC)

The formatting needed fixing, which I have done. – ukexpat (talk) 22:33, 9 January 2012 (UTC)

Too kind, thanks for your help, cheers Jbro68 (talk) 22:48, 9 January 2012 (UTC)

article about Cyrus Eaton

Hi. I have been revising and improving an article about Cyrus Stephen Eaton for the last few years, and today attempted to post a major revision, based on more recent reading. However, several of my deletions and revisions have apparently been rejected by someone. This is for me an ongoing project, one which I am trying to gradually improve in my spare time. However, my efforts will cease altogether, and the article now online will be left in a very inadequate state if I am unable to revise it gradually. I am confident that everything I have written can be supported, and am willing to supply exact references as time permits, but not all at once. How do I contact the person making the decisions about this?

Garry Eaton — Preceding unsigned comment added by Garry Eaton (talk • contribs) 22:49, 9 January 2012 (UTC)

There is no one person; content is determined by a consensus of editors, including you. A good place to discuss the article would be on Talk:Cyrus S. Eaton. Revising it gradually is good thing, but with each addition you need to verify with reliable published sources. —teb728 t c 23:05, 9 January 2012 (UTC)