Wikipedia:Help desk/Archives/2013 September 8

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September 8[edit]

Not-quite-promotional talk page comments[edit]

What is the general "thing to do" when dealing with talk page comments like the one on Talk:U.S. Sheep Experiment Station? --TKK! bark with me if you're my dog! 01:15, 8 September 2013 (UTC)[reply]

It doesn't seem to be leading to a discussion about the maintenance or accuracy of the article, so I would tend to say that you could remove it per WP:NOTAFORUM. Dismas|(talk) 01:29, 8 September 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Hi, You have Armageddon and "the final" Great Tribulation backwards. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 64.203.199.180 (talk) 02:49, 8 September 2013 (UTC)[reply]

I'm not sure what you think is in error. Please raise the issue on the article's talk page. RudolfRed (talk) 03:24, 8 September 2013 (UTC)[reply]
Jehovah's Witnesses and the United Nations#Current teaching says: "They believe this act of divine intervention will be Armageddon, the final part of the Great Tribulation." This looks correct to me. It does not speak of "the final" Great Tribulation. The sentence clearly means that Armageddon is the final. PrimeHunter (talk) 08:17, 8 September 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Using a picture from another Wikipedia[edit]

Hi, what is the method/procedure for including, in an English Wikipedia article, a picture from a Wikipedia in another language? 86.148.155.23 (talk) 03:14, 8 September 2013 (UTC)[reply]

It depends very much on the picture. If the picture is on Wikipedia Commons, then using it here is no problem. What's the picture in question? Howicus (talk) 03:48, 8 September 2013 (UTC)[reply]
It's called Wikimedia Commons. PrimeHunter (talk) 08:06, 8 September 2013 (UTC)[reply]
I do not think there is a way to directly include a picture from a Wikipedia in another language into the English Wikipedia. However, you may want to review Adding images to articles. For example, Polarlicht 2.jpg is located in Wikimedia Commons at https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Polarlicht_2.jpg but can be shown here in English Wikipedia by posting [[File:Polarlicht 2.jpg]]. Additional parameters can be added to control the displayed image, such as displaying the image to the right of the screen or at a size of 100 pixels. -- Jreferee (talk) 08:58, 8 September 2013 (UTC)[reply]

George Abiah Hibbard[edit]

George Abiah Hibbard was a writer, artist, and librarian. He was born in Buffalo, NY, January 8,1858 to George Boardman Hibbard and Abiah Thompson Hatch (Hibbard). He grew up there and after graduating from Harvard University (1880) and Columbia University Law School (188?), returned home to work very happily (according to him), until retirement, at the Grosvenor Library. He was a librarian and editor of its quarterly Library Bulletin. He began publishing in the 1880s, but by World War I had virtually ceased for reasons not yet discovered. In total, he published a few articles and about 120 short stories (some of which he also illustrated). Many of these having been placed in the leading magazines of that era. He also produced five books. Iduna, and Other Stories (1891); The Governor, and Other Stories (1892); and Nowdays, and other Stories (1893) were short story collections of his early work. And Lennox (1896) and The Story of Buffalo (1920) were short non-fiction books about cities. He died on July 3, 1928. (Note: in 1920 Harvard did a small booklet called something like "40 Years Later." It featured short articles by its 1880 graduates, reporting on what they were doing and had done. The essence of the above article is a summary what Hibbard said in his commentary.) — Preceding unsigned comment added by 216.227.90.178 (talk) 06:36, 8 September 2013 (UTC)[reply]

The above appears to be source to 40th Anniversary Report Harvard College Class of 1880 (1920). Hibbard would have provided the text to the 40th Anniversary Report himself. Sources used in Wikipedia articles should be independent of the topic of the article. In other words, information George Abiah Hibbard writes about himself is not the best source information for a Wikipedia article on George Abiah Hibbard. See WP:GNG. Regarding your post above, do you have any specific request from the Help Desk? -- Jreferee (talk) 08:42, 8 September 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Sub-sub pages[edit]

Dear Wikipedia experts: After reading Wikipedia:User pages, I am not sure if sub-sub-pages are acceptable: for example, User:Username/Drafts/Firstdraft, User:Username/Drafts/Seconddraft. Please enlighten me. Thanks! —Anne Delong (talk) 16:53, 8 September 2013 (UTC)[reply]

WP:UP#SUB says "Hierarchies of subpages are also possible". - David Biddulph (talk) 17:00, 8 September 2013 (UTC)[reply]
Yeah, I'm not aware of any policy that says whether you can in user space or not, or any precedent from discussions, but I don't see why it would be a problem as long as the sub sub pages are consistent with the other rules on userspace. Monty845 17:02, 8 September 2013 (UTC)[reply]
They're most certainly acceptable - just keep it organized in a way you like it :) ~Charmlet -talk- 17:28, 8 September 2013 (UTC)[reply]
Thanks. I came across an Afc duplicate submission where the user had moved his draft to User:Drafts/Filename, and I was going to suggest moving it to User:Username/Drafts/Filename so that it would still be associated with the same user, but wanted to make sure that I was within policy. —Anne Delong (talk) 23:48, 8 September 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Addition to an article about retired Canadian tenor Jon Vickers[edit]

In addition to the recitals listed under Mr Vickers, my husband Richard Woitach, now retired Metropolitan Opera conductor, accompanied Jon Vickers on the piano in several recitals in both New York City and in Canada. Their performances appear on several CDs. Sincerely, Jeryl Metz Woitach (Mrs Richard Woitach) — Preceding unsigned comment added by 72.229.47.153 (talk) 18:44, 8 September 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Opera Canada noted in 2001 that Richard Woitach was a former Metropolitan Opera conductor and longtime collaborator with Jon Vickers.[1] The Globe and Mail noted in 2005 that Jon Vickers's 1979 performance with pianist Richard Woitach at the Guelph Spring Festival was one that would "long shine in the memory."[2] There's a lot more information about your husband. The topic of Richard Woitach meets WP:GNG. I'll get an article on him started. If you would not mind, please post his birth date, birth place, parents names, high school, college, relation to any famous people, and a sentence or two about his early life before college related to music below. Also, is this about your husband? -- Jreferee (talk) 21:48, 8 September 2013 (UTC)[reply]
Also, if you have a photo or two that you would like to appear in the Richard Woitach article, please upload them to commons.wikimedia.org and post a note on my talk page at User talk:Jreferee to let me know that they have been uploaded. -- Jreferee (talk) 23:04, 8 September 2013 (UTC)[reply]
(When uploading photos, be careful to read the copyright and licensing information.) —Anne Delong (talk) 23:50, 8 September 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Font and heading text[edit]

First off, in Editing a page,is it possible to use and larger font? Secondly,how do we change the heading text to capitalize a name? — Preceding unsigned comment added by Econantkrohn47 (talkcontribs) 20:12, 8 September 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Words that are all capitals are considered shouting in Wikipedia, and are only used in special circumstances, such as acronyms. Larger text is mainly used for section headings, such as those in List of Bates College people, and are created with two or three equal signs before and after the text. Large text in paragraphs or lists wouldn't be appropriate. —Anne Delong (talk) 23:58, 8 September 2013 (UTC)[reply]
Using a larger font than normal in a talk page (via markup) is now considered an even more annoying form of SHOUTING than the use of all caps. (I made that change to the talk page guidelines after getting consensus when an editor who should have known better did that for emphasis, and gave the editor a WP:TROUT "for creative shouting".) As Anne says, using larger text is done for headings, and is there done with equal signs rather than markup (two or three or four). Use of larger fonts is otherwise also inappropriate in article pages. Robert McClenon (talk) 00:48, 9 September 2013 (UTC)[reply]
If you just want the text to appear larger to you so it is easier for you to read you can do that in most browsers by holding down the control key and using the scroll wheel or by control + and control - to enlarge and shrink, control 0 will return to default size. RJFJR (talk) 14:31, 9 September 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Link to YouTube[edit]

I rarely get these right. My instinct is almays to mistrust links to YouTube. Is this one ok? I fixed the lesser problem of the link referring to the subject by 1st name. But what about the propriety of the link in the first place? David in DC (talk) 20:33, 8 September 2013 (UTC)[reply]

In short no. It has a standard YouTube license (Click on "Show More" to see it.) At a minimum, it needs a compatible license. Even then, we have to checked other things. --SPhilbrick(Talk) 21:42, 8 September 2013 (UTC)[reply]
Thanks. I've deleted it. David in DC (talk) 22:16, 8 September 2013 (UTC)[reply]
@Sphilbrick: @David in DC: WP:EL does not speak of the freeness of the content that is linked to; content just needs to be not a copyvio --Guerillero | My Talk 01:04, 9 September 2013 (UTC)[reply]
Good point.--SPhilbrick(Talk) 21:43, 9 September 2013 (UTC)[reply]

|accessdate= requires |url=[edit]

I just noticed this error appearing on a page I worked on in the past. My citations including an accessdate, but I did not include a url. The reason for this was because I was using books in a library. I appreciate knowing a date that a url existed may be more useful than knowing what day I went to the library. My question is what should I do next? Has it been decided that the accessdate applies only to a url, or should the template allow for non-url accessdates? Periglio (talk) 21:40, 8 September 2013 (UTC)[reply]

  • The reason that the |accessdate= is intended for URLs and web content only is that web content is subject to change or be deleted. When is the last time you saw the text of a book change after it was published or have you ever seen all copies of a book get deleted? I'm not aware of any special ink that changes the content of a book and I'm unaware of any mass book burnings that have eliminated all copies of a book in centuries... Technical 13 (talk) 21:53, 8 September 2013 (UTC)[reply]
  • It sounds like you're using Template:cite web for a book when you should probably be using Template:cite book which has different fields. Dismas|(talk) 23:04, 8 September 2013 (UTC)[reply]

I was using Cite book which includes accessdate amongst its parameters. Reading the template instructions now, it is quite clear that it is only used in conjunction with the url. In my defence, I think it was probably ambiguous 3 years ago :) Periglio (talk) 06:21, 9 September 2013 (UTC)[reply]

  • I've done similar things before. I've used the same policies/guidelines/etc to back up what I'm doing and put them in edit summaries and such. Then one day someone calls me on some detail that I know was there when I started using them as my defense... years ago. But it's since been removed, amended, etc. Dismas|(talk) 06:49, 9 September 2013 (UTC)[reply]
There have been a few other articles for which that has occured. See Category:Pages using citations with accessdate and no URL, there are about 44,000 articles with that problem.Naraht (talk) 18:33, 9 September 2013 (UTC)[reply]