Wikipedia:Help desk/Archives/2012 May 5

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May 5

Graphics Questions

I have a picture of a bird that I think is better than the current picture used. I don’t want to offend the person who took the original picture by replacing it. Is there a protocol used to evaluate the pictures and use one or the other by consensus, or do I just replace the picture? Also, I have uploaded pictures of birds before, and on them are the species name, date and place taken, as birds may look different during different times of the year, and in different locations. When I uploaded the picture with this data on it, someone edited it off of the picture (more than once). I feel this is important information that needs to be part of the picture, and not lost if the picture is re-copied out of wiki commons. Is there a policy about not having any typed data directly visible on pictures? BBODO (talk) 01:17, 5 May 2012 (UTC)

Yes, the preference is to not include any text on the photo, see WP:IMAGES. As for suggesting a new photo, I think you would upload the photo to commons, and then use the article's talk page to suggest a new one, and see what others think (or, just be bold and make the change if you think its better) RudolfRed (talk) 01:26, 5 May 2012 (UTC)

RudolfRed, I don't see anywhere in WP:IMAGES that says that, though I agree with it. BBODO, you should record that important information in the Image description page when you upload it. --ColinFine (talk) 12:20, 5 May 2012 (UTC)

Wikipedia main page problem

Dear Sir/Madam,

As a honorary user of wikipedia, everyday i check on the main page for interesting news and articles including the "on this day" section. Today is a world known day of Vesak Full Moon poya day. It is the day that Lord Buddha was born, became enlightenment, and passed away. Just want to know why such an important day is not mentioned in the "on this day" section.

Thanking you, Sanjaya.... — Preceding unsigned comment added by 112.135.75.236 (talk) 02:11, 5 May 2012 (UTC)

The problem is that the "On this day..." section refers to historical events based on Gregorian calendar date. Vesak is based on the lunar calendar and falls on a different date each year. It is also a holiday, rather than a historical date and is not exactly appropriate for this section. --Daniel 03:25, 5 May 2012 (UTC)

Can't locate my submission

I clicked "Save" on the bottom of my submission page for Shawna Russell after I was finished with editing. But now I can't locate it in "My Contributions" when I log in. Have I done something wrong?Clifdoyal (talk) 02:33, 5 May 2012 (UTC)

There is no article titled "Shawna Russell". If you are trying to create an article, read WP:YFA Cresix (talk) 02:37, 5 May 2012 (UTC)

I understand how to write and edit an article, but after I clicked on "Save Page" my article went away. What did I do wrong? — Preceding unsigned comment added by Clifdoyal (talk • contribs) 02:42, 5 May 2012 (UTC)

As Cresix said, there is no article for Shawna Russell. Please verify the article that you are trying to edit and try again. swinquest (talk) 02:47, 5 May 2012 (UTC)

Wikipedia_talk:Articles_for_creation/Shawna_Russell. Do you have a verified source to cite for her birthdate?--Canoe1967 (talk) 03:16, 5 May 2012 (UTC)

Image

I plan on uploading an image located here, problem is I don't know the license, and other images, such as File:Kwik-e-mart-7-11.jpg, are similar, is there a license i could use to upload — Preceding unsigned comment added by TBrandley (talk • contribs)

That image has no licensing information and since you don't know its status, you are required to assume it's non-freely copyrighted. The 7-11-Simpsons photograph was uploaded by the person who took the photograph, so they were the copyright owner and therefore had authority to freely-license it or release it into the public domain. You have no such authority. There is also fair use, which allows us to use certain images even though they remain non-free and copyrighted, but you have to meet all of the requirements of Non-free content criteria and here, surely you cannot meet criteria 1 for no free equivalent, because anyone can go and take a photograph tomorrow. Therefore, a free equivalent could easily be created. In short, I don't see any way you can validly upload that image unless you have verifiable information that it is actually freely licensed or in the public domain.--Fuhghettaboutit (talk) 03:19, 5 May 2012 (UTC)

Wow, serendipity. I see you created the article Fugget About It:-)--Fuhghettaboutit (talk) 03:27, 5 May 2012 (UTC)

I took a look for a suitably freely-licensed image you could upload to the Commons, but only found this, which I don't think is what you're looking for.--Fuhghettaboutit (talk) 03:53, 5 May 2012 (UTC)

Info about username

Hi, I am an active user on other Wikipedia projects and I would love to edit on English one but I unfortunately cannot because my global username is taken —not used though— here. Is there something you can do? Thanks. 109.10.33.64 (talk) 06:18, 5 May 2012 (UTC)

Yes; the page you need is Wikipedia:Changing username/Usurpations. -- John of Reading (talk) 06:47, 5 May 2012 (UTC)

Done, thanks! 109.10.33.64 (talk) 07:14, 5 May 2012 (UTC)

You need to look back at the Usurpations page and address two of the points raised: the missing confirmation link, and the notification at User talk:Mcdonalds. -- John of Reading (talk) 07:31, 5 May 2012 (UTC)

Yes, thanks. Done! 109.10.33.64 (talk) 07:39, 5 May 2012 (UTC)

I think the confirmation link needs more work. You need to log in to the French wikipedia as "Mcdonalds" and add a note to your French talk page saying explicitly that you added the section at en:Wikipedia:Changing username/Usurpations. Without this, there's no 100% proof that the edits from 109.10.33.64 are from the French user "Mcdonalds". -- John of Reading (talk) 11:01, 5 May 2012 (UTC)

Yep. I hope new confirmation link will be okay. 109.10.33.64 (talk) 18:30, 5 May 2012 (UTC)

BIOGRAPHICAL ARTICLE WITH INCORRECT INFORMATION AND PLAGIARIZED MATERIAL

Dear Wikipedia,

I re-edited and updated an incorrect and partially plagiarized article about me on your page. Your 'Editor', PBurka, deleted my changes (which were accurate, cited references, and contained updates about the last thirty years of my career, and removed inaccurate and potentially damaging material.) Portions of the original article were taken out of context from an interview on my blog and are potentially very harmful to me.

If you do not replace my changes and ask PBurka to please allow them to stand, I request that the entire article be removed. I do not approve of the material or the writing.

Very truly yours Nancy Beiman — Preceding unsigned comment added by 75.23.254.221 (talk) 08:21, 5 May 2012 (UTC)

It looks like you have a conflict of interest here. There is no prohibition in editing articles about yourself, but there are restrictions. I see the article had to be tagged with a conflict of interest tag. AndieM (Am I behaving?) 09:07, 5 May 2012 (UTC)

PBurka added a {{COI}} tag and nothing else.[1] Your writing is still in the article. PrimeHunter (talk) 11:03, 5 May 2012 (UTC)

Failed redirect

Have tried to create a redirect from Somatic countertransference to Body-centred countertransference but have botched it somehow: can someone do a clean-up please? Jacobisq (talk) 10:28, 5 May 2012 (UTC)

Done.--GoP_T^C_N 10:33, 5 May 2012 (UTC)

User box

Hello, I was just wondering how to create a user box with your interests and all of that. I've tried looking it all up here but I still need a little help, I'm unsure how to create one. Woofy (talk) 12:16, 5 May 2012 (UTC)

Section title added See WP:Userboxes. --ColinFine (talk) 12:30, 5 May 2012 (UTC)

Edit conflicts with no conflicting edits

I've had this happen occasionally and never understood what's going on: I make an edit, get an edit conflict screen, and the only apparent difference in the "Differences" screen near the bottom is that one side has the code as my edit would have left it, and the other side has the code as it was just before I made my edit. This just happened at WP:AN — the "Proposed topic ban of User:DeknMike" section was getting long enough that I decided to add a three-equals-sign header to the bottom so that people could have a more convenient edit button rather than reading the latest discussion and then having to go all the way to the top. Accordingly, I edited the section, added the header and typed an edit summary, and clicked "save", whereupon I was presented with the edit conflict screen. The only differences between the two sides of the screen is that the left "Your text" side has a blank line below the bottom of the previous code, and below that, the three-equals-sign header that I was attempting to add. Why/how does this happen? ErrantX edited a different section of the page at apparently the same time, but (1) I don't see how that would affect anything, as I was just editing one section, not the entire page, and (2) if that would have affected it, why didn't his edit show up on the "Stored revision" side of the edit conflict display? I've gone back and completed the edit; the diff is exactly what appeared at the bottom of the edit conflict screen, except of course the addition is now on the right side instead of on the left. Nyttend (talk) 12:26, 5 May 2012 (UTC)

Colebrook, New Hampshire

I am one of the Historians for Colebrook, New Hapshire. How do I get in touh with the person who wrote the article on Colebrook to offer my services? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 69.24.13.249 (talk) 14:41, 5 May 2012 (UTC)

Go to the article on Colebrook, then click the tab at the top of the page which says "history". That page displays every single editor and IP address which has ever edited that particular article from its inception. If you wish to communicate with any of these editors, click the "Talk" link for that editor and leave a message on their talk page (but do remember to sign your edit by clicking the signature icon at the top of the edit window, or by inserting two hyphens followed by four tildes ~ ! --Orange Mike | Talk 15:12, 5 May 2012 (UTC)

Unless you need to discuss something with a particular editor, a better plan is to open a discussion on the article's talk page Talk:Colebrook, New Hampshire, so that anybody interested in that article will see your comments. Alternatively, if you have uncontroversial, referenced information to add to the article, just be bold and edit the article. I'm not sure if "one of the Historians" means some sort of appointment in the community: if so, you should read WP:COI as well. --ColinFine (talk) 17:52, 5 May 2012 (UTC)

Minute to Win It "View Blueprint" links don't work!

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

When you click on the "View Blueprint" link on the Minute To Win It games, they come back as "Not Found

The requested URL /minute-to-win-it-blueprints/Regular/Level 01/Candelier (Head to Head).avi was not found on this server.

Additionally, a 404 Not Found error was encountered while trying to use an ErrorDocument to handle the request." 99.160.192.120 (talk) 17:39, 5 May 2012 (UTC)

Read the message immediately under the Table of Contents. Cresix (talk) 17:51, 5 May 2012 (UTC)

Help with avoiding a redundancy

If in an article I have a statement that is appropriate in two different sections of the article, should I include that statement in both sections? The specific statement in question is the last sentence at Wieferich prime#Connection with the abc conjecture and the sentence before the last sentence at Wieferich prime#Connection with Mersenne and Fermat primes (the one with cite no. 29). -- Toshio Yamaguchi (tlk−ctb) 18:21, 5 May 2012 (UTC)

Moving a page from a "Wikipedia:" to a normal article

When moving my sandbox, I accidentally moved it to "Wikipedia" instead of a normal article and now there is "Wikipedia:" in front of my article title. I went back and moved it to just a normal article but now that is just a link to the page that has "Wikipedia:" in front of the name. The title of the article is Martyrdom in Iran. How do I fix it? — Preceding unsigned comment added by Tg8765 (talk • contribs) 19:03, 5 May 2012 (UTC)

When you move a page, it by default leaves behind a Redirect that points to its new location from the old title. When you tried to move the article a second time, you apparently moved your sandbox (which now only contained a redirect to the Wikipedia: location) while you should have moved the article residing at Wikipedia: - don't worry, such mistakes happen to everyone, and they are easy to clean up :) I moved your article to the correct location in article space. -- Ferkelparade π 19:18, 5 May 2012 (UTC)

Movie-'Amazing Grace'

In the movie of Amazing Grace, they use a tactic of going to parliment with a law unknown law called 'Lusus de kippier' (sorry spelling may not be right. Anway this law, which roughly translated means "we cheat" means they will approcach a bill being passed on ships which are French, but have an American flag on can not be touched, or searched, but if they pass a law saying those ships are falsifying their status ie: they are not American but French, then that would mean they could be boarded & their cargo checked. In this fashion it was said in the moive that they could bring about the down fall of the Slave trade. Now my question is: Is this a true fact? I can't find it in any of the synopsis of the movie? Please let me know if it's true? R. Campbell Posting the results on Amazing Grace movie page would be wonderful as I can read it there. Thank you for all your help. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 41.54.81.113 (talk) 21:28, 5 May 2012 (UTC)

I suspect, based on your question, that you found one of our over 6 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. Cresix (talk) 21:32, 5 May 2012 (UTC)

• This page is for help with using or editing Wikipedia. Post your question at the reference desk, specifically, in your case, the Entertainment section, where knowledge questions should be posted. Regards, —{|Retro00064|☎talk|✍contribs|} 21:47, 5 May 2012 (UTC).

Difficulty opening Wikipedia using Windows Internet Explorer

For the past week or so, when I try to open Wikipedia using Windows Internet Explorer, I get the following screen:

Wikimedia Foundation

Error

Our servers are currently experiencing a technical problem. This is probably temporary and should be fixed soon. Please try again in a few minutes.

You may be able to get further information in the #wikipedia channel on the Freenode IRC network.

The Wikimedia Foundation is a non-profit organisation which hosts some of the most popular sites on the Internet, including Wikipedia.

It has a constant need to purchase new hardware. If you would like to help, please donate.

---

If you report this error to the Wikimedia System Administrators, please include the details below.

Request: GET http://cp1005.eqiad.wmnet/, from 255.255.255.255 via cp1005.eqiad.wmnet (squid/2.7.STABLE9) to ()

Error: ERR_INVALID_URL, errno [No Error] at Sat, 05 May 2012 23:24:01 GMT

If I do succeed in entering Wikipedia, the first or second time I go to a new page, I get the same message. The only thing I can do is exit Wikipedia and try entering again. This problem does not seem to occur using AOL to access Wikipedia. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 67.101.182.136 (talk) 23:41, 5 May 2012 (UTC)

You should report this problem at the village pump: WP:VPT RudolfRed (talk) 23:42, 5 May 2012 (UTC)

You might try clearing your cache. See WP:BYC. Cresix (talk) 23:47, 5 May 2012 (UTC)