Wikipedia:Help desk/Archives/2012 September 18

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September 18

Show Currently Viewing User

Is there a way for a show the currently "viewing" user in Wikipedia using something special or a magic word? Sort of like Special:MyPage or Special:MyTalk, except all it does is show the username (or if anonymous, the IP address). For example, I could place something like {{CurrentlyViewingUser}} and it would automatically update it to whoever is viewing this page (in this case, me or you). This could allow users to make boxes in their user/talk pages that say something like "Welcome to my page, (Viewing User's Name)". Is this possible? User talk:76.10.241.86/Sign 06:40, 18 September 2012 (UTC)

You can substitute it when saving a page with {{subst:currentuser}}, but as noted here, there isn't a good way to do it with wiki markup, because it would break caching. There a couple of MediaWiki extensions that do it [1] [2], but they're not enabled here. You could write some JavaScript… —Kerfuffler  harass
stalk  07:02, 18 September 2012 (UTC)

I don't think it can be done with JavaScript either, because the software does not allow your JavaScript to run when I view your page. That would open up a big security risk. -- John of Reading (talk) 07:06, 18 September 2012 (UTC)

I've actually seen JavaScript spam on WP that did run in my browser. I was most unhappy about it. But it's probably not supposed to work. —Kerfuffler  harass
stalk  07:08, 18 September 2012 (UTC)

Thank you both. User talk:76.10.241.86/Sign 07:32, 18 September 2012 (UTC)

Page lost several sections - no deletion found in history

Hi,

The page 2008–2012_Irish_financial_crisis has lost several sections from the bottom starting from 'See Also' and 'References'. These were there on 8th September version. The page was edited on 03:28 18th September (the most recent edit), but the edits do not show these sections have been deleted, however viewing the current page clearly shows these sections are missing and displays 'Cite error: There are <ref> tags on this page, but the references will not show without a {{Reflist}} template or a <references /> tag'.

Please help explain what has happened.

I've fixed the error. A </ref> tag was missing, so that the software thought the rest of the article was part of the footnote. -- John of Reading (talk) 08:42, 18 September 2012 (UTC)

Many thanks! — Preceding unsigned comment added by John a s (talk • contribs) 11:04, 18 September 2012 (UTC)

Collapsible List has been mucked with (broken)???

I have a personal page which uses a Collapsible List, as follows ~~

Markup	Renders as
{{Collapsible list|bullets=yes|expand=yes |title=CDC Disease Info lookup |framestyle=background-color:#EEF |{{CDCDiseaseInfo|typhoid_fever}} |{{CDCDiseaseInfo|shigellosis}} |{{CDCDiseaseInfo|ecoli_o157h7}} |{{CDCDiseaseInfo|/////}} (A-Z Index) }}	CDC Disease Info lookup CDC Disease Info typhoid_fever CDC Disease Info shigellosis CDC Disease Info ecoli_o157h7 CDC Disease Info ///// (A-Z Index)

except of course the parens are curly brackets.
Before editing this page today, it was perfectly fine.
Now, the [hide] link is stepping on my title, and so is the first bulleted item.
What the heck is going on?
— Mwr0 (talk) 10:00, 18 September 2012 (UTC)

Possibly worth noting that even the examples at Template:Collapsible list are exhibiting the problem. —Kerfuffler  harass
stalk  10:11, 18 September 2012 (UTC)

I started a discussion at Template talk:Collapsible list#Borked?. I took the liberty of reformatting the example so we can see the markup and rendering. ---— Gadget850 (Ed) ^talk 10:19, 18 September 2012 (UTC)

 Fixed A problem with the HTML5 switchover; now fixed. ---— Gadget850 (Ed) ^talk 16:30, 18 September 2012 (UTC)

Yay and Thank You! I have never reported a problem on the web that got fixed so fast. I did EDIT and SAVE and my page is fine now. — Mwr0 (talk) 21:35, 18 September 2012 (UTC)

Trolling

Just describe what is the exact meaning of trolling here in one sentence. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 123.201.218.116 (talk) 10:54, 18 September 2012 (UTC)

"In Internet slang, a troll is someone who posts inflammatory, extraneous, or off-topic messages in an online community, such as a forum, chat room, or blog, with the primary intent of provoking readers into an emotional response or of otherwise disrupting normal on-topic discussion." - from Troll (Internet). Trolling is what a troll does. You can read our article for more information. --Colapeninsula (talk) 11:44, 18 September 2012 (UTC)

Wikipedia List available for download

Hello,

I was wondering if the Wikipedia featured lists was available in a format that can be downloaded other than PDF and in one spot. Any help would be appreciated. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 110.174.199.97 (talk) 12:01, 18 September 2012 (UTC)

Hi there, 110! First, browse to the featured list. In the sidebar (to the left), you should see a section called "Print/export." Right now, your only options are to Create a book (which could be an eBook, for reading on your iPad/tablet/etc), PDF (as you said), or "Printable version." If there's a specific type of format you'd like to save the page as, you could theoretically save the printable version and them convert it to any format you'd like (using your computer), but I'd need to know what format you're trying to convert to first. Happy editing, Theopolisme 01:23, 19 September 2012 (UTC)

creating article

Hello! I want to create the following article: Servigliano prison camp. It won't let me because it's in a list of Italian concentration camps (which links to the village article, not the camp!). There is no article about it, so I don't understand why it won't let me create it. Thank you! FoCuSandLeArN (talk) 16:29, 18 September 2012 (UTC)

What exactly do you mean by "it won't let me"? There's an article, Servigliano, as you say, about the village, but there's nothing stopping you creating Servigliano prison camp and changing the link in List of World War II prisoner-of-war camps in Italy. Rojomoke (talk) 17:27, 18 September 2012 (UTC)

(edit conflict) I don't see why you should be unable to create Servigliano prison camp. Just a wild guess: Are you confused because there are both blue and red links at List of World War II prisoner-of-war camps in Italy, and the Servigliano entry has a blue link to the municipality Servigliano and not a red link to Servigliano prison camp? See Wikipedia:Starting an article#How to create a page for ways to create a page when you don't already have a red link to it. If you create the article then link it in the camp column at List of World War II prisoner-of-war camps in Italy. PrimeHunter (talk) 17:32, 18 September 2012 (UTC)

thanks to both of you. i have a lot to learn still! FoCuSandLeArN (talk) 15:56, 8 October 2012 (UTC)

Why is this image so big?

Why can't I shrink the large image of Humphrey Lyttelton on the Amnesiac (album) article? It's using the same formatting as the other images on the page. Popcornduff (talk) 17:57, 18 September 2012 (UTC)

The 300px parameter is the width of the image, and this is a very tall and narrow image, which is why it is outsized. I changed the size parameter to 300x300px, the first number imposes a height restriction as well, which brings it back into scale. Does that help? --Jayron32 18:25, 18 September 2012 (UTC)

Great! Thanks a bundle. Popcornduff (talk) 19:54, 18 September 2012 (UTC)

Erroneous facts about our client Aaron Zigman that can affect his career

We are Costa Communications who represent Aaron Zigman and I need access to his main page to correct the erroneous facts that are listed. How do I gain access to the main paragraph to edit it? — Preceding unsigned comment added by CostaCommInc (talk • contribs) 18:07, 18 September 2012 (UTC)

If you can tell us which information is incorrect and a link to a reliable source which shows it to be incorrect, we can help you fix this! --Jayron32 18:23, 18 September 2012 (UTC)

{ec} Please read WP:COI to explain why we would prefer you to discuss the changes first rather than make them directly. Also, you may not be aware that we don't permit role accounts on Wikipedia. Accounts must represent an individual, not an organisation, so if you want to edit any other Wikipedia articles you will need to do so personally and create a new account with an appropriate username. I've left a message about this on your talk page. Thanks. - Karenjc 18:32, 18 September 2012 (UTC)

Citing sources without pages

I'm trying to cite an online interview transcript that does not include page numbers. I've been able to use "|nopp=y" and "|at=" successfully to override the "p." in the full length citation using the Cite Web template, but it doesn't seem to work with the shortened footnote template. For example, sfn|Oral history|at=Tape 1 (surrounded by the double brackets) displays simply as "Oral history", and sfn|Oral history|page=Tape 1|nopp=y becomes "Oral history, p. Tape 1". Should I be formatting the code differently, or is there another template I should use instead? Thank you in advance for your help. LLPPK (talk) 20:12, 18 September 2012 (UTC)LLPPK

This is where it pays to read the template documentation. For {{sfn}}, use |loc=. ---— Gadget850 (Ed) ^talk 21:25, 18 September 2012 (UTC)

Oh, that's where it was hiding. Perfect! Thanks so much! LLPPK (talk) 15:38, 19 September 2012 (UTC)LLPPK

Question a fact

How does one question something in an article? There are two related articles which contain questionable material, which I believe I would have first hand knowledge of. However, given certain imprecision in timelines, I cannot be 100 percent certain, but certain enough to want to question how it was referenced or attributed. But I'm not an editor, so apparently have no access to querying through the "Talk" page. The Talk page is full of editors closer to the main subject, so it would be a question to them. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 134.186.23.164 (talk) 21:12, 18 September 2012 (UTC)

Everyone is an editor here. You should be able to edit the talk page, and that's the best place to ask. Just click the “Talk” tab at the top of page to go to the talk page, and then click the “Edit” tab. If you're not getting a response and you're certain it's wrong, you can also add {{citation needed}} in the article. —Kerfuffler  harass
stalk  21:19, 18 September 2012 (UTC)

See more at Help:Using talk pages. PrimeHunter (talk) 21:24, 18 September 2012 (UTC)

To broach a new subject in a talk page, use the “New Section” tab — Mwr0 (talk) 22:08, 18 September 2012 (UTC)