Wikipedia:Help desk/Archives/2012 March 24

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March 24

BTOLA Pty Ltd reads like a classic advertorial

AfD or not to AfD? A question about bio-fuel on the Ref Desk caused me to come across the above article which read to me like a classic advertorial. When Googling for more info on them I found that this appears to be a paid-for-article: “Hi. I can help you. I wrote article about Poltava en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ Poltava, and Alwaleed Almarzooqi en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ Alwaleed_Almarzooqi Also my last project is about BTOLA company en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BTOLA_Pty_Ltd” -emphasise mine. See bottom of page on Freelancer website:

www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=http:%2F%2Fwww.freelancer.ph+1506965&source=web&cd=3&ved=0CDIQFjAC&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.freelancer.ph%2Fprojects%2FArticles-Article-Rewriting%2FWikipedia-Article-Writer-Company-Article.html&ei=thRtT46MEJLU8QON7Om_DQ&usg=AFQjCNGq7gYYd9hNPa_3m8RTDWcJSZxjrw&cad=rja

I'm a bit of an inclusionist but I think that as it stands, its a rotten article. --Aspro (talk) 00:47, 24 March 2012 (UTC)

Deleted A7 by User:Orangemike. Dru of Id (talk) 02:16, 24 March 2012 (UTC)

Thanks folks. Another editor found yet another non-article by same editor; which has now evaporated into the cybor -either.--Aspro (talk) 19:30, 25 March 2012 (UTC)

Laura Marano

I recently added some additional info in regards to the Biography of actress Laura Marano. The source of this addition came from a LISTED source (IMD: Internet Movie Database) in the References tag that usually follows all Wikipedia articles, but yet the entry was deleted by a site administrator claiming it was a "pooly referenced source". I know Wikipedia prides itself on accuracy of all sources and facts, but I don't understand how a listed source can be sited as "poor" if it's part of the page's list of references. Trust me, I'm not offended as I aware any changes will be verified by the site, but could someone please clarify how a listed source can be sited as "poor"? Sounds a little hypocritical to me. Thank you. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Dmac3014 (talk • contribs) 02:17, 24 March 2012 (UTC)

We don't consider the IMDb to meet our standards of a reliable source, since much of the modern-day content, in particular, is contributed by the subjects themselves: performers, film companies, etc. (I oughta know; I've got an entry in there, as does my daughter.) --Orange Mike | Talk 02:25, 24 March 2012 (UTC)

IMDb is an external link and not a reliable source in Laura Marano. There are differences in the requirements. IMDb comes up so often that we have a redirect to information about it: WP:IMDB. PrimeHunter (talk) 04:13, 24 March 2012 (UTC)

"CROSSROADS NOVEL"

Good day! ^_^ Can you give an article about "Crossroads" novel by Mary Ting (as well as, the author)? Thank you. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Alexapinay (talk • contribs) 03:07, 24 March 2012 (UTC)

You can request articles at Wikipedia:Requested articles but beware that there are a lot of requests and no way to predict whether one of our volunteer editors will make an article. If you consider to make articles yourself then see Wikipedia:Your first article, Wikipedia:Notability (books) and Wikipedia:Notability (people). PrimeHunter (talk) 04:05, 24 March 2012 (UTC)

Name display issue

Hello! I am a teacher and have created a Wikipedia Project for my students. I am trying to assign peer reviewers from the class for each others articles. Only some of the students names are displayed when I select "assign reviewers". Why aren't the remainder of the students on the class list showing up? Thanks for all help! WebFlower1 (talk) 04:28, 24 March 2012 (UTC)

(added section header)--Canoe1967 (talk) 04:59, 24 March 2012 (UTC)

I don't know the "assign reviewers" feature. Where can you select it? Is your project Wikipedia:Ambassadors/Courses/PSY471History of Psychology(Davis) or elsewhere online? Where is the class list? PrimeHunter (talk) 05:11, 24 March 2012 (UTC)

can you cut the monster tables ?

Hi - a problem I've just found again as in many wiki comparison pages is monster tables with too many rows and columns so I have to keep scrolling left and right and up and down to try to make sense of them - and then give up because it's too hard.

One I looked at just today [[1]] has 3 tables and the last one is just huge and horrid and provoked this contact. If you look at it, many of the cells are one word in a much bigger box, so the table is a very wasteful, ineffective and inefficient way of displaying useful information to the reader if they can't make much sense of it in a 19 column by 34 row table - if I shrink it to see the whole table on one screen the text is too small to be useful and all I see are masses of color with tiny print and mostly wasted space.

Could you therefore look at some guidelines for the use of such comparison tables - e.g. make it fit on one screen (especially the width/number of columns) with a readable font size, or break it up into multiple tables with maybe repeating headers every 15 rows or so - so the information becomes useable rather than totally alienating ?

Thanks if you would, as a fellow volunteer I much appreciate the wonderful resource you provide and support, Best Wishes, David — Preceding unsigned comment added by 110.174.58.10 (talk) 05:10, 24 March 2012 (UTC)

I just left a note on the article talk page. Seems wide to me as well.--Canoe1967 (talk) 05:38, 24 March 2012 (UTC)

Edit automatically removed, should I re-post?

Hello. the information I added to Comparison of DNS blacklists was legitimate and well formatted. The automated system removed it though. How can I add the information again without the system removing it? I'm afraid if I try again with the same information, the system might ban me or something. The entry to be added was for the dnsbl mailer.mobi, info can be found at www.mailer.mobi. Can you please help? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 122.148.145.149 (talk) 07:21, 24 March 2012 (UTC)

You could make the edit again; ClueBot won't revert to itself. I don't know if your edit was okay for the article in question (it's late here and I just don't feel like reading much right now). If you add the information again and it's not okay, someone else will remove it. You wouldn't get blocked for two "bad" edits (especially since they're good faith), and ClueBot cannot block you. - Purplewowies (talk) 07:43, 24 March 2012 (UTC)

I reported it as a false positive to the cluebot. I could edit your stuff back in if you wish?--Canoe1967 (talk) 07:55, 24 March 2012 (UTC)

That would be wonderful if you could as I'm still very much getting used to how wikipedia editing works, many thanks and kind thoughts — Preceding unsigned comment added by 122.148.145.149 (talk) 09:04, 24 March 2012 (UTC)

Check to see if I did it correctly?--Canoe1967 (talk) 09:22, 24 March 2012 (UTC)

Many thanks for your help and assistance! I greatly appreciate it --122.148.145.149 (talk) 13:38, 24 March 2012 (UTC)

Where are deleted articles?

How can I get the text of deleted articles?

This includes merged articles (whose content is promptly deleted after the merge).

I am getting the impression that WP is the bookburners' wet dream: No text copies remain after the book burning. OlavN (talk) 09:46, 24 March 2012 (UTC)

Only Admins can see the text of deleted articles; but on request, they will usually userfy a particular deleted article for you to work on it. --ColinFine (talk) 10:44, 24 March 2012 (UTC)

See Category:Wikipedia administrators who will provide copies of deleted articles. Dru of Id (talk) 12:42, 24 March 2012 (UTC)

Disappointingly, most deleted articles consist of "nj; afnjk;a" or "My brother eats poo" or "The Scrotums are the best band currently performing at the Dog and Duck in Camden High Street" or adverts for Joe's Ice Cream Parlour, or copypaste of entire websites (usually in broken English). If you want the content of a deleted article, just drop me a note of the name and I'll email it to you, unless it was deleted as a copyright violation. --Elen of the Roads (talk) 13:14, 24 March 2012 (UTC)

If there are articles where the content was merged from one article into another and the original article was deleted, there is a potential problem there from an attribution standpoint. If the article was merged and the original article was redirected then all the original text is in the history of the redirect. GB fan 16:14, 24 March 2012 (UTC)

Viewing a list of pages I have made

How do I see a list of all pages (templates, categories, portals, regular articles, etc.) that I have made? Allen (talk) 13:49, 24 March 2012 (UTC)

Normally the answer would be this tool, but it seems to be running very slowly today. -- John of Reading (talk) 14:49, 24 March 2012 (UTC)

On a related note, Is there a way to to limit the Special:Contributions/Morriswa to limit display only to those post that have that black "N" in front of it (such as via that mysterious "tag filters" option?). -- Uzma Gamal (talk) 15:20, 24 March 2012 (UTC)

I don't think that's possible, Uzma Gamal (unless someone else knows something I don't). ItsZippy ^{(talk • contributions)} 15:47, 24 March 2012 (UTC)

Can we eliminate redirects from the list if it's possible?— Vchimpanzee · talk · contributions · 19:40, 27 March 2012 (UTC)

Userboxes

Can someone help me set up my userboxes in an organised manner? Thanks in advance. Tharthandorf Aquanashi (talk) 14:32, 24 March 2012 (UTC)

At User:John of Reading/Userboxes I wrap each one in a fixed-sized "div" so that the arrangement adapts to the available screen width. Example:

<div style="width:250px;height:55px;float:left">
{{User:UBX/Twinkle4}}
</div>

-- John of Reading (talk) 14:42, 24 March 2012 (UTC)

Hidden category for articles containing living people

I know we have a hidden category for articles that include living people where those people aren't the main subject of the article. I've used the category before but I can't seem to find it today. Cloveapple (talk) 17:05, 24 March 2012 (UTC)

Are you refering to Category:Biography articles of living people on talk pages? Category:Hidden categories doesn't contain any with 'living' that seem to be what you're referencing, or it may have been merged. Dru of Id (talk) 17:27, 24 March 2012 (UTC)

No, it wasn't that category. It was for situations where a living person was a secondary focus in the article. Maybe it doesn't exist anymore. Cloveapple (talk) 19:42, 24 March 2012 (UTC)

Template {{BLP}} may be added to the talk pages of BLPs and other articles that secondarily contain material about living persons. However, that template does not use a hidden category. -- Uzma Gamal (talk) 08:16, 25 March 2012 (UTC)

There is also {{BLP others}}. It doesn't add a category but like all templates, uses can be found at Special:WhatLinksHere/Template:BLP others. PrimeHunter (talk) 12:45, 25 March 2012 (UTC)

Possible legal threat ?

I have received a mail from the user TXDERBY (talk • contribs) regarding the article Soap Box Derby where he has copied his comments from Talk:Soap Box Derby and then at the end said

This historic and special children's sport should not be used as a forum to mislead, harass, and slander others for sadistic pleasure. What can be done to prevent the text from being reposed ever again (by Wickipedia or legal action taken by the parties slandered on this site?)

I have posted the relevant templates but due to this mail, Can someone please enlighten him about this on TXDERBY (talk • contribs)(his talk page) , thanks regards -- ÐℬigXЯaɣ 18:30, 24 March 2012 (UTC)

User blocked. Ruslik_Zero 18:41, 24 March 2012 (UTC)

Using non-WP narrative style

I would like to use language that is in a narrative style derived from the source of the item being described. This would obviously violate WP's style guide, and I was wondering if there was a 'tag' or 'flag' that I could add, something like: "WARNING: the following uses narrative which does not conform to Wikipedia's Style Guideline, and is intended...". Of course the terms and phrases could be in quotes, but this would quickly become annoying to the reader and look messy, and the narrative would be an amalgam rather than citable quotes. E.g.: nefarious nabob or bombastic bamboozler used to describe a character, using obscure terms, etc. -- (This is for an article on 'Upsidaisium' relating to 'Rocky & Bullwinkle') ~Eric F 184.76.225.106 (talk) 19:56, 24 March 2012 (UTC)

That trick never works! We take our Manual of Style fairly seriously, and any such entry, however well-intentioned, would be deleted posthaste. --Orange Mike | Talk 20:57, 24 March 2012 (UTC)

Okay. (Dagnabbit) ~Eric F 184.76.225.106 (talk) 23:39, 24 March 2012 (UTC)

Such an article likely would be tagged with a template from Wikipedia:Template messages/Cleanup and someone eventually would get around to acting on the tag. Also, there is an upsidaisium article. -- Uzma Gamal (talk) 07:25, 25 March 2012 (UTC)

Yes, that is the article that I'm in the process of editing. Anyway ... it was just a thought (I'll figure out a way of doing this within WP style guide, etc.) -- Assistance on page appreciated.

 Done ~Eric F 184.76.225.106 (talk) 00:17, 28 March 2012 (UTC)

Page layout problem

Hi, at Katakana, there is, a short way down the page, a grid titled "Katakana base characters". According to the source code (and, I believe, the original author's intention), this should be adjacent and to the right of the heading "Language-independent script". However, in IE (IE9 at least), it is incorrectly shunted down the page so it is adjacent and to the right of the text in the next section, "Japanese syllabary and orthography". Does anyone know how to fix this in a way that will be friendly for all the significant browsers? 86.177.107.165 (talk) 20:43, 24 March 2012 (UTC)

Fixed in [2]. However, this solution with {{stack begin}} reserves the same width for the three boxes to the right and the infobox is wider, so there is some blank space to the left of the two below boxes. PrimeHunter (talk) 21:31, 24 March 2012 (UTC)

Thanks, it's a shame about that blank space, but I guess at least the table now appears in the intended place. I appreciate your help with this. 86.177.107.165 (talk) 21:40, 24 March 2012 (UTC)

Policy/guideline query

Is anyone aware of whether there is a policy or guideline against a pattern of editing across a large number of articles which is intended to systematically push a certain POV? I seem to remember reading such a policy, which I thought was headed something like 'Campaigning edits', last year but am unable to locate it now. Many thanks.Rangoon11 (talk) 20:45, 24 March 2012 (UTC)

If they are trying to push a point-of-view, then wouldn't that fall under the WP:NPOV policy? RudolfRed (talk) 21:10, 24 March 2012 (UTC)

I'm not sure. This is a situation where a single edit forming part of the campaign may appear reasonable, but from the series of edits viewed as a whole - e.g. the same edit done across thousands of articles - it is clear that a POV is being pushed. An example would be the addition of 'European Union' to the infobox of companies based in EU countries. This is non-standard, we generally just have Town/City + Sovereign state. Done once in a single article it may look innocuous, done in a thousand articles in turn it is clear that a POV is being pushed in a form of campaign, the edits are being done purely to emphasise the status of the EU (this is just an example by the way, I have not seen anyone pursuing such a campaign).

I seem to recall reading something which dealt with this.Rangoon11 (talk) 23:53, 24 March 2012 (UTC)

Are you referring to efforts to include an Environmental Record section in policymaker, corporation, and organization articles? -- Uzma Gamal (talk) 07:15, 25 March 2012 (UTC)

No, that is pretty standard and isn't something I was referring to.Rangoon11 (talk) 15:12, 25 March 2012 (UTC)

Problem with Mahon Tribunal page

Hello,

I haven't begun to learn the basics of editing yet, so I ask that you look at this page:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mahon_Tribunal

and change it so that it no longer states that the Tribunal was established by Hitler.

Thank you. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 71.212.54.151 (talk) 21:01, 24 March 2012 (UTC)

Looks like it's been fixed now. Thanks for bringing it up. RudolfRed (talk) 21:06, 24 March 2012 (UTC)

X!'s Edit Counter

Not sure if this is the right place to post this but I wanted to make others aware that this edit counter isn't working right. When you go to it you get a "replication lag" message. Now I am used to seeing that and it usually goes away after a few hours but it is now over 5 days that it has been there. I can't remember the username of the editor who took this counter over after soxred retired so if any of you can notify them that would be most appreciated. If it can't be fixed at all that is too bad as I always liked viewing the pie chart mmmm pie. Thanks for your time. MarnetteD | Talk 23:12, 24 March 2012 (UTC)

It's a wider problem. See Wikipedia:Village pump (technical)/Archive 120#Toolserver replication lag. PrimeHunter (talk) 23:36, 24 March 2012 (UTC)

Thanks for the update and the link PrimeHunter. MarnetteD | Talk 00:50, 25 March 2012 (UTC)

Request renaming

Request renaming of File:Smallville -Season 8 -1.jpg to File:Smallville -Season 11 -1.jpg. Thank you very much.--NeoBatfreak (talk) 23:34, 24 March 2012 (UTC)

Done. Is there reason to leave a redirect if Smallville is changed to the new name? PrimeHunter (talk) 23:43, 24 March 2012 (UTC)

It is because of my error in typing the file's name. I don't know if you watched the show before, but after 10 seasons on television, Smallville will return as a comic book series titled Smallville Season 11. I mistyped the file as Season 8 image instead of Season 11. I just don't want to make people thhought that's a season 8 image.--NeoBatfreak (talk) 23:55, 24 March 2012 (UTC)

OK. I have deleted the redirect at the old title. PrimeHunter (talk) 00:02, 25 March 2012 (UTC)

Sounds to me that you haven't watched the show before. You have missed a cool show of about a young Clark Kent's 10 years journey to becomes Superman. The comic book series sets after the show ended, ofhow Clark adjusting the life as a superhero.--NeoBatfreak (talk) 00:21, 25 March 2012 (UTC)