Wikipedia:Help desk/Archives/2012 October 31

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October 31[edit]

Collapsible list[edit]

It seems that Collapsible list doesn't work if I add a link in the list that includes "=". Are there anyways to fix it?


-- talk-contributions 01:05, 31 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Sure, use {{urlencode}}, e.g.
List
    • [Whatever you did went wrong: you transcluded Template:Urlencode instead of the magic word {{URLENCODE}}. Title]

LeadSongDog come howl! 05:17, 31 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Then I must hide that link from displaying?-- talk-contributions 06:30, 31 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]
A different way is to use the "1=item one|2=item two" format shown at Template:Collapsible list/doc#Syntax. -- John of Reading (talk) 08:05, 31 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]
Oh, so simple. Thanks :)-- talk-contributions 09:00, 31 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Facebook groups for gay Mormons[edit]

Greetings,

I am writing to you to ask if Wikipedia will consider special circumstances and allow what would probably not generally merit inclusion per the normal guidelines to be submitted into Wikipedia.

I represent several pro-gay Mormon forums on Facebook. We are the parties that coordinated the nation-wide Mormons for Marriage Equality showings at various Gay Pride Parades this summer and fall. We did this because we, active Mormons, are attempting to come to the rescue of our own gay children that are intimidated and silenced into great desperation and often suicide. I believe our gay-suicide rates are higher than any other group in the country, especially when so many go entirely unreported (the family knew that the deceased took his/her life because of severe depression likely caused by rejection and intimidation that they themselves were practicing and so do not reveal to anyone the nature of the depression as the death is reviewed and made public). Such people are also not mourned; no one wants to encourage sympathy for gay people in our community which wants to appear very righteous. Our group is asking new questions; the answers imply that those suicide deaths tragic, preventable, and WRONG. We ask questions that are often considered "heretical" in Mormon-land: "What is God's Plan of Happiness for His LGBT children?" By asking these questions we are essentially rejecting much of Mormon doctrine on this topic as incomplete and needing additional revelation. This is a stunning critique for a Mormon to make of the leadership, and several of us have been in or are barely avoiding church "court" which can excommunicate us from the faith of our fathers.

Part of our problem is that many of the suffering gay people we are trying to reach finally DO reach out for help, but they only find the Mormon church's DECOY -- it is called Mormons Building Bridges --- and it seeks to increase sympathy and understanding but it actively deletes posts by gay children and adults who are expressing hurt, bewilderment, or pain, and especially deletes or bans people who ask for fair treatment. That forum does not want any of the regular, traditional Mormons who visit to understand the depth of the pain that current policies are causing the gay children. Gay folks are leaving that forum in more pain than they started, confused that the Mormons who seemed so inclusive and kind in the summer no longer want to talk about real issues (it's because they are talking to decoys). Because so many gay Mormon kids are on the edge already, this is really dangerous. The Mormon Church has us out-maneuvered. They have significantly longer reach and resources.

We are finding ourselves cut off from those we would like to serve. By necessity the facebook groups are locked and invisible to the general facebook community. Still, by word of mouth we are able to help many children and young adults come to peace with themselves as God made them. We often arrange for "advocates" as the child may come out, so that the child is not thrown out of the home or if rejected, has somewhere to go.

So, even though our group would likely not usually meet your standards to create a new entry, we are asking for special allowance to do so. In my opinion, the Mormons Building Bridges group would not be able to prevail upon you to open a similar entry for themselves *because* they are merely a forum supporting the Mormon Church's current views.

We will only talk about our group. We would avoid controversy as much as we can.

We are trying to save lives, by helping the desperate to find those who want to love them as is. That's us.

Sincerely,

Mungagungadin1971 (talk) 07:09, 31 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]

We cannot allow any exceptions to the notability rules - if we allow yours it would create a precedent which would force us to allow all "noble causes". Please see WP:NOBLE. Sorry. Roger (talk) 07:33, 31 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]
At Talk:Homosexuality and The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints you could suggest a mention at Homosexuality and The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints#Support organizations. You have a conflict of interest so you shouldn't add it to the article yourself. PrimeHunter (talk) 12:39, 31 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Credit[edit]

My name is Peter Neil and I directed two films that are on here. One is titled "Im Calling Frank' and the other is 'Il Barbiere'. Ho can I attach my name and short bio to these films? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 108.65.46.190 (talk) 07:41, 31 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Please post the links to the articles concerned - I can't find anything under the title's you've mentioned. Articles about films would normally mention the director but for the director to be notable as an individual requires that there be sufficient good quality published source material available that discusses you in sufficient detail. The rules covering biographies of living people are particularly strict. Roger (talk) 07:57, 31 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]
Im_calling_frank and ... ? ~E74.60.29.141 (talk) 11:27, 31 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]
IMDb would help qualify for "notability", wouldn't it? I'm Calling Frank on IMDb.
Director Peter G. Neil on IMDb 74.60.29.141 (talk) 11:39, 31 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]
No, IMDB is a user-created site and so, like Wikipedia, it is not a reliable source. See WP:IMDB.--ukexpat (talk) 14:14, 31 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]
It's not only that IMDB is not reliable but also that anyone who is even remotely connected to a film has an IMDB entry. I've worked on a couple small films and have an IMDB entry. Though I am nowhere near notable enough for inclusion here. Dismas|(talk) 15:57, 31 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Unique articles/article talk pages edited[edit]

Looking at the Edit Counter, I can see how many unique pages an editor has contributed to. I am only interested in article/article talk pages. Is there a way I can find out how many unique article/article talk pages an editor has contributed to? Dlv999 (talk) 12:00, 31 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]

There are many different edit counters at Wikipedia:WikiProject edit counters but I don't know their features. PrimeHunter (talk) 12:30, 31 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Fixing Incorrect Redirects[edit]

Generally I fix something in Wikipedia when I'm looking for help and Wikipedia doesn't have the answer. (Though sometimes I refer to my Encyclopedia Britannica Yearbook collection to provide additional references. But I digress (see Max Shulman)).

My problem today is with "Data normalization" which is a redirection page to Database Normalization. This is in error. Database Normalization is a special case of Data Normalization. "Normalization" is actually canonization (or canonicalization if you prefer), the process of reducing something to its canonical form.

I encountered this because I am designing a computer based training class on COBOL secure defensive programming and the issue is "Input Validation" and proper input validation requires that the input data be normalized prior to validation; e.g., translating various character encodings into a single character set. This is "Data Normalization" not "Database Normalization."

So. I don't know how to go about fixing an incorrect redirect. Is it as simple as just changing the redirection page? I am willing to write a new article for "Data normalization" but I am busy right now. I would like the current "Data normalization" page deleted until I (or someone) can write a new article. How do I proceed? Softtest123 (talk) 12:16, 31 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Yes, you can just edit the redirect page after clicking "Redirected from ..." on the target page. See Help:Redirect#Creating and editing redirects. You can change the target or turn it into an article. Like for all other pages, only administrators can delete a redirect. See Wikipedia:Redirects for discussion for how to nominate a redirect for deletion. PrimeHunter (talk) 12:26, 31 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]
Thanks. I'll try to find the time today to create a stub article. I think I need to leave the page there because it will need an explanation on the talk page. Softtest123 (talk) 13:20, 31 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]
I imagine each page should also have at the top one of those For [the other thing], see: [link] Or perhaps See also at the bottom would be better, since most people arriving at the page would understand the distinction. ~E:74.60.29.141 (talk) 19:07, 31 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]
AKA a hatnote, see {{About}}.--ukexpat (talk) 18:57, 31 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]
If you're starting from a situation where the redirect is incorrect, then it may not be safe to assume that readers would understand the distinction. (What is obvious to the experet isn't obvious to the layman.) A hatnote would seem more appropriate than a "See also". Naturally if a new article is being written it will need references to reliable sources to justify its content. - David Biddulph (talk) 19:16, 31 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]
I'm surprised there isn't already an adequate article on the subject; just about any form of data can be 'normalized' in some fashion. I added a brief definition regarding "other forms" with a 'More' template linking to a sub-list. Almost adequate for now? ~E:74.60.29.141 (talk) 20:25, 31 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]

wrong date of birth[edit]

Dear Wikipedia

there is an Arabic page about the young comedian actress Eman Al sayed the date of birth isn't wright, the wright one is 7april1980 and it dosn't respond when I correct it please tell us what to do

and this is the page

http://ar.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=%D8%A5%D9%8A%D9%85%D8%A7%D9%86_%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%B3%D9%8A%D8%AF&stable=0&shownotice=1

thanks Naglaa' — Preceding unsigned comment added by Naglaayounes (talkcontribs) 13:12, 31 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Hello, Naglaa. The different language Wikipedias are all entirely independent, and the English one has no jurisdiction over the Arabic one; furthermore, different Wikipedias can have different rules. If this happened in the English Wikipedia, I would suggest you look at the history of the article and see which editors had reverted your change, and what reason they gave; but I cannot read enough Arabic to tell if there is anything useful there. Again, in English Wikipedia, changes like this are often made by editors who do not understand the importance of reliable sources, and other editors revert the addition of unsourced material; but I don't know whether this might be what happened here or not. --ColinFine (talk) 13:54, 31 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]
Also, I assume the ar.wikipedia would have a help-desk, which might be able to give more specific guidance, right? ~E 74.60.29.141 (talk) 18:29, 31 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]

wild flowers[edit]

Hello, I want to know how to look up wildflowers that i have taken pictures of, but don't know there names. Thanks Mary Lou Reed — Preceding unsigned comment added by 216.106.19.248 (talk) 14:34, 31 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Hi there - Try using link. Just click on the camera symbol in the search bar, then click "upload an image". Hope this helps, Mdann52 (talk) 14:39, 31 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]
If that doesn't work, there are also websites that let you input a flower's colour, number of petals, habitat and so on and they suggest possibilities: the more information you give, the closer you will get to an answer. For example, [1], [2], [3]. (The first two are UK flowers only). You could find one that covers the country in which the pictures were taken and give it a try. - Karenjc 14:49, 31 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]

another Luis Alberto Ojeda[edit]

Luis Alberto Ojeda

Born: Chicago, IL

Education: Lake Placid High (Lake Placid, FL), Bemidji State

Date: April 12, 1966

Businessman and Philanthropist — Preceding unsigned comment added by 71.84.176.78 (talk) 15:49, 31 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Luis Ojeda (edit | talk | history | protect | delete | links | watch | logs | views)
There are likely numerous "Luis Ojeda"s in the world. Not all of them are notable enough for inclusion in an encyclopedia. Dismas|(talk) 15:55, 31 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Hiding a Live article[edit]

Hi, While trying to change the name of my sandbox, I somehow made my article Green Links (project) live. It was only half-finished and I was wondering how I make it hidden again without it just being deleted? I guess I forgot that a page rename is the same as a page move in the case of Wikipedia.

Thanks for any suggestions.

Jmil158 Jmil158 (talk) 19:57, 31 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]

It appears that User:Toshio Yamaguchi has moved it into your userspace for you (User:Jmil158/Green Links (project)). SassyLilNugget (talk) 20:08, 31 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]
Yes, as SassyLilNugget says, the article is now in your userspace where you can work on it. Btw., if you want to have a link to your subpages at the top where My talk, My preferences etc appear, let me know and I can explain how to get that. I use that myself and I find it very useful. -- Toshio Yamaguchi (tlkctb) 20:18, 31 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Oh, thank you both very much for the help.

Jmil158 (talk) 20:34, 31 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]

adding picture to article[edit]

i have uploaded a picture in commons - http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File%3AOli_Ahmed_%2C_President_-_LDP.jpg & would like to have the picture displayed on an article on Oli Ahmed. however i have no clue how that can be done. can u please help. btw i took the picture myself of Oli Ahmed and give permission for free usage and free copy right — Preceding unsigned comment added by Deshpremi313 (talkcontribs) 23:51, 31 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Here is valid image code: [4]. But using an infobox like {{Infobox minister}} with an image would be better. PrimeHunter (talk) 00:19, 1 November 2012 (UTC)[reply]