Wikipedia:Help desk/Archives/2007 April 3

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April 3[edit]

Browser homepage[edit]

Is it possible to make Wikipedia the homepage of your internet? —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 68.106.218.120 (talkcontribs).

Click "Tools"..."(Internet) Options". Enter the URL in the appropriate box. For more info, please consult the reference desk. Xiner (talk) 00:09, 3 April 2007 (UTC)[reply]

in others, use the preferences menu and enter the same URL in the Home URL box - this works in Firefox and Konqueror on Linux and other OS. Not sure how to do this in IE7 so others may need to update this. Please remember also to sign your messages using 4 tildes (~). Thanks. Thor Malmjursson 00:12, 3 April 2007 (UTC)[reply]

If you use Firefox, go to Tools -> Options... -> Main and click "Use Current Page".
If you use IE 7, go to Tools -> Internet Options -> General and click "Use Current".
Hope that helps. Hersfold (talk/work) 00:14, 3 April 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Passover[edit]

I think that Passover (the Jewish holiday) should be listed as a current event (its starts tonight, April 2, and lasts eight days). I also think it should be one of the featured articles over the next couple of days since it's an important and current holiday. 68.244.84.119 00:22, 3 April 2007 (UTC)Girl[reply]

Unfortunately, the featured articles that are displayed on the main page are chosen well in advance, sometimes by months. Also, the article on Passover has not been rated as a Featured Article, so would not be chosen for the main page anyway. I believe it was mentioned on the main page on April 2nd, however - you can't see it now because the Wikimedia servers operate on UTC time, which is five hours ahead of Eastern Standard. Hersfold (talk/work) 00:39, 3 April 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Disambiguation pages for something with multiple spellings? (e.g. Gustavus Adolphus)[edit]

Hi, all--

I noticed that there doesn't seem to be a disambiguation page for the name "Gustavus Adolphus". (Yeah, I'm reading 1632. So what? Shut up. I'm telling mom.)

I think there's a need for that page, since someone looking up "Gustavus Adolphus" could be looking for any of a number of things, including:

The problem is, as you can see, there are many ways to spell the name. There seem to be three main ways:

  • Gustaf Adolf: The Swedish spelling
  • Gustav Adolph: The usual way those names are rendered in English
  • Gustavus Adolphus: The latinized rendering of the name, very frequently used for the 30 Years' War general, and for things named after him

There are other ways besides, though, like the French variant "Gustave Adolphe" (e.g. Gustave-Adolphe Hirn), and the German version "Gustav Adolph" (e.g. Gustav Adolf Hohenlohe).

So... how should the disambiguation pages be structured? I can think of two good ways offhand.

  1. Create a single disambiguation page for all spellings, most likely Gustaf Adolf (which currently redirects to Gustaf VI Adolf of Sweden) . This page would list all people or things using any variant of that name; thus, both Gustavus Adolphus College and Gustaf Adolf Sellin would be listed there. Other spellings of the name (Gustav Adolph, Gustavus Adolphus) would redirect to that disambiguation page.
  2. Separate disambiguation pages for each of the main spellings. Thus, the Gustaf Adolf page would list Gustaf Adolf Sellin but not Gustavus Adolphus College, and the Gustavus Adolphus page would do the reverse. All the Swedish kings would be listed on each of those disambiguation pages. Less common variant spellings would not be listed on any page (I don't think there's enough demand for a Gustave Adolphe disambiguation page all by itself).

I'm happy to build the page or pages myself, but I want to do it the right way! Is there a policy for this kind of thing? My inclination is to use approach #1: Build a single "Gustaf Adolf" disambiguation page, and list everyone and everything there, whether they spell it with an 'f', a 'ph', or a 'phus'. -- Narsil 01:07, 3 April 2007 (UTC)[reply]

If there are multiple spellings for a given name, you can create redirects that point to the actual article like so:
#REDIRECT [[Actual article name]]
{{R from alternative spelling}}
If there are other people with the same name, like seems to be the case here, you should probably instruct those alternative spelling redirects to send people to the article on the most notable person, then place {{For|other people and places of the same name|The guy's name (disambiguation)}} at the top of that article. You should then create that disambiguation page listing those other people and places.
Hope this has helped. I think I basically restated most of your post. Hersfold (talk/work) 01:32, 3 April 2007 (UTC)[reply]
Sounds good! So I'll create a page Gustaf Adolf (disambiguation) listing all the Swedish kings, and various other people and things named after them (however they might be spelled). I'll have Gustaf Adolf and Gustavus Adolphus point to the article on Gustavus II Adolphus, the most famous of those kings by far. And on the pages for various Gus Dolfies, I'll put in a pointer to the DAB page, as you suggest.
Thanks much for the help! -- Narsil 18:33, 3 April 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Start a page[edit]

how do i start my own page?

Hi,

I'm the biographer of Peetie Wheatstraw, the Devil's Son-in-Law, and I've spruced up his entry several times before. This time I was trying to add my biography of Peetie to the reference note (a secondary reference based on my book), and all I succeeded in doing was erasing the former note, a reference to Paul Oliver's Blues off the Record. My own book is The Devil's Son-in-Law. The Story of Peetie Wheatstraw and His Songs (Chicago: Charles H. Kerr & Co., 2003; 2nd edition). My apologies!!

Paul Garon

First, sign your posts by typing ~~~~ after all of your comments, second post a question by clicking the + at the top of the article and third read the header before asking how to start a new page becuase it tells you how. (If this is two separate posts I apologize to the later for the bluntness. Your apology is accepted, thanks for your contributions! Scottydude talk 02:15, 3 April 2007 (UTC)[reply]

A question[edit]

What will Wikipedia do when there are no more articles to be featured?

I think it's impossible to "run out" of articles to be featured. Even if we "really" do run out of articles, we can always reuse a featured article more than once. -- Hdt83 Chat 03:23, 3 April 2007 (UTC)[reply]
The correct answer was "CHAOS!" Thank you for playing!
lol. :D -- Hdt83 Chat 08:47, 3 April 2007 (UTC)[reply]
The end of the world? Luigi30 (Taλk) 16:32, 3 April 2007 (UTC)[reply]
Then we would have to have featured featured articles, featuring the best of the best (which would then be the norm). --LuigiManiac 16:48, 3 April 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Pam Pinnock[edit]

Pam Pinnock article was accidentally deleted while attempting to remove message tags which interrupted the reading of the article. can you please restore article? —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 72.145.150.250 (talkcontribs).

Looks fine now. -- Rick Block (talk) 04:28, 3 April 2007 (UTC)[reply]
It is not possible to accidentally delete an article; its contents can be removed, but that is easily fixed. Adrian M. H. 14:54, 3 April 2007 (UTC)[reply]

question[edit]

how do i create an article?

Have a look at Wikipedia:Very Frequently Asked Questions, which is also linked to at the top of this page. -SpuriousQ (talk) 06:14, 3 April 2007 (UTC)[reply]

To hyphenate or not to hyphenate,[edit]

that is the question I asked here a long time ago, when the answer was "go for it". But I just keep seeing so many places where hyphenated words just aren't. Maybe because I'm looking for it, but it seems like more instances are missing than using. What I'm whinging about are things like "mini series" and "non Serbian". Those are just the ones in the last hour, others have read much more strangely. I tried looking for style guides, but ended up only with Wikipedia:Manual of Style (dashes) which doesn't fit the bill. Can you point me to any reassurance I'm not fighting against some (un)written rule, e.g. colour/color? (and yeah, I could go another few months on another "go for it" :-) Shenme 06:41, 3 April 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Go for it! (I agree both of those should be hyphenated; please proceed.) — Knowledge Seeker 06:47, 3 April 2007 (UTC)[reply]
  • Isn't it "miniseries" (without a space or a hyphen)? I'd say consult Strunk's Manual of Style if you have access to a reasonable library, or if that is not an option consult a dictionary. I'm sure a lot of these cases aren't half as ambiguous as they seem to some people. According to the rules I learnt about compound words "non Serbian" should have a hyphen. - Mgm|(talk) 07:53, 3 April 2007 (UTC)[reply]
  • It really depends on a lot of things. The British and Canadians tend to hyphenate way more than the Americans, for instance - a single word may be hyphenated or unhyphenated differently from article to article. WilyD 13:49, 3 April 2007 (UTC)[reply]
Actually, I think Americans hyphenate more. If you read the BBC website, you'll be hard pressed to find hyphens. Hyphen talks a bit about it, but I'd say try to use less. As an American, I'm cutting my usage of the punctuation mark and finding it more visually pleasant. Xiner (talk) 20:39, 4 April 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Planning techniques[edit]

tell about the cost benifit analysis

  • You probably get more response if you are specific about what you want to know and if you say "please". Have you tried Cost-benefit analysis? - Mgm|(talk) 09:01, 3 April 2007 (UTC)[reply]
The end of his sentence got cut off. It was supposed to read, "Tell me about the cost benefit analysis, Dr. No." With a Scots accent. Anchoress 09:04, 3 April 2007 (UTC)[reply]

United Kingdom vs. Scotland, England, ...[edit]

Please note I am not trying to start a debate, but find out the state of debate and policies! I often see editors changing references from "United Kingdom" to "Scotland", "England" (and doubtless this is done for Wales and Northern Ireland, but I've never seen it happen). And I regularly see editors changing from Scotland and England to United Kingdom. I have no view on which is correct, but I am concerned that these changes, and doubtless later changes back, do not proceed from policy or consensus, but simply individual editors deciding what is right. In that way it seems a little like the endless reversions and counter-reversions of "color" versus "colour", but at least there is a policy to deal with this.

I tend to revert changes as simply using Wikipedia to make a point, but editors tend to justify their edits by claiming they are making these articles consistent with the rest. Or by stating that either the United Kingdom is "not a country" or that Scotland, England etc. "are not countries" (views not supported by United Kingdom)So, my question is, is there any policy, guideline, project or consensus to back up these changes, and if so, which direction is the "blessed" change? Notinasnaid 09:36, 3 April 2007 (UTC)[reply]

  • I'm afraid this particular debate is a can of worms that probably won't get to concensus. The thing is that United Kingdom refers to the country while Scotland, England, etc refer to particular parts of the country. I believe you should mention someone's nationality in an article (hence the country name), but something could be said for including more detailed areas too. For example, the fact he's Scottish would be particularly relevant in the article about David Tennant. What I'm wondering is why anyone would believe they're mutually exclusive. - Mgm|(talk) 10:02, 3 April 2007 (UTC)[reply]
    • That is an excellent point. There are many cases where (e.g.) Scotland, United Kingdom could reasonably be used. Less clear when e.g. the point of contention is a single flag. However, without wishing to weigh into the debate, I should emphasise that United Kingdom supports the idea of "country within a country", that is that it is proper to refer to either the container or the element as a country. (Doubtless this is a consensus of much longer history than Wikipedia, and perhaps we should learn from it. But I'm not sure what we should learn). Notinasnaid 10:13, 3 April 2007 (UTC)[reply]
      • The UK isn't a country is it? I thought England, Scotland, Wales and Ireland were the countries and the UK is just a coalition of them. 82.19.22.126 18:19, 4 April 2007 (UTC)[reply]
    • Please read the first paragraph of United Kingdom and constituent country. I only know what it says. Notinasnaid 07:36, 5 April 2007 (UTC)[reply]
      • Just to be sure everything has been satisfactorily explained, in descending order of most inclusive to least:
        • British Isles: All of The United Kingdom, Ireland, and everything else on those islands (Not to be confused with "the British Islands")
        • United Kingdom: All of Great Britain (e.g. Wales, Scotland, England), and Northern Ireland
        • (Great) Britain: The island as a whole that contains Wales, Scotland, and England
        • England, Scotland, Wales, etc: Individual components of Britain.
I think this site does a good job explaining everything. Also check there if you want to see where the isle of man, etc. falls. --YbborTalkSurvey! 14:54, 6 April 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Warnings - escalation policy ?[edit]

One of the articles I watch had an external link added which had a whiff of spam about it. Sure enough the webpage was offering holidays in the location mentioned in the article. I checked the users contributions and found 8 similar edits within the past week. They had received no warning, so I posted a level 2 notice and undid the links. Was this correct, or do we have to work through each level ? Thanks John 12:01, 3 April 2007 (UTC)[reply]

There is no rule that requires a graduated response; this is something for the editor posting the warning to decide. I've started with level 3 and level 4 warnings in extreme cases; I've even reported registered accounts at WP:AIV even though they had no warnings because they seemed to be vandal-only accounts (e.g., blanking the Main Page Article).
One of the main points to consider (in my opinion) is whether the account has any constructive edits. If so, a more graduated approach is called for. Similarly, if the vandalism is minor, it's improper to start with a high-level warning. On the other hand, a single purpose account that appears to be only for vandalism should get a higher-level warning immediately, to encourage a editor seeming vandalism in the future to escalate further with warnings or go to AIV. -- John Broughton (♫♫) 12:37, 3 April 2007 (UTC)[reply]


Thanks for the info. ! The user had made a couple of small constructive edits to other articles, even ignoring the small amount of information given to justify the links in some of the articles concerned, so that was why I opted for level 2 rather than 3. I reasoned that due to the number of occurances, level 1 was inappropriate. Good to see that WP policies are naturally easy to understand :-) - thanks. John 13:01, 3 April 2007 (UTC)[reply]

User Account Removal[edit]

How do I remove my information and user name? I no longer wish to participate. Thank you. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by Flash19901 (talkcontribs).

Since you have contributions, we cannot delete your account due to the terms of the GFDL. However, if you no longer wish to participate, all you have to do is stop logging in. You may change your username if you wish at Wikipedia:Changing_username. Sorry you don't wish to continue, but please come back if you change your mind. Hersfold (talk/work) 13:06, 3 April 2007 (UTC)[reply]
To request that your user page and talk page be removed place {{db-author}} on both pages. Hope you change your mind. Scottydude talk 16:11, 3 April 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Adding Photos[edit]

I want to add a photo to a site I created, but I do not understand what's meant by "gallery" or how to paste a photo into the screen.

To add images into Wikipedia articles then you cannot copy and paste the picture, you have to upload it properly via Special:upload then copy and paste the code, so if the image was called hi.jpg you would add into the article you wanted to insert it into [[Image:hi.jpg]] then for it to be aligned to the right and for it to be 200 pixels in sixe you would add [[Image:hi.jpg|200px|right]]. For more information see WP:IMAGE and Uploading images. That should help! Tellyaddict 13:19, 3 April 2007 (UTC)its very easy and just try hard[reply]

Talkheader usage[edit]

What's the current consensus guideline for using {{talkheader}}? I seem to recall reading somewhere that it shouldn't be put indiscriminately on every simple discussion page, and instead only after people have spent some time discussing the subject instead of the article, but I can't seem to find that now... Lenoxus " * " 13:16, 3 April 2007 (UTC)[reply]

I think it can be used on any article talk page, providing there is not one their already, if you look at the very bottom their is a User talk page header if you wish to use that for your User talk page. That should help! Tellyaddict 13:21, 3 April 2007 (UTC)[reply]
The template page recommends that you not use it unless necessary. This is probably becuase it places more emphasis on the template if only viewed on the necessary pages. Scottydude talk 16:09, 3 April 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Article about my family name?[edit]

I would like to publish a brief article about my family name as it is quite unique and I would like to see if there are any more people out there who share the name or could add more information about the name and its origins.

However, is this allowed under the rules for posting an article or not? It may fall under ythe category of self-promotion in a sense, although that really is not the intention.

Any information you could provide would be greatly apreciated

Thank you in advance

Harburt 13:18, 3 April 2007 (UTC)[reply]

See WP:NN, this should help you, however if you do create it make sure it is written an international like view an does not say things like The name of my family is..., see more about remaining neutral at WP:NPOV. That should help! Tellyaddict 13:23, 3 April 2007 (UTC)[reply]

School Shared Ip Address[edit]

Where can I find the template to place on user/use talk pages telling other uses that the IP address is a school IP?

Thanks, --Aiyda 13:30, 3 April 2007 (UTC)[reply]

It is at Template:SharedIPEDU. Add {{SharedIPEDU|institution|host=proxy.example.edu (RDNS optional)}} to the page. Adrian M. H. 13:50, 3 April 2007 (UTC) u can add pics also like this[reply]

Someone is deleting my articles without telling me![edit]

Please Help Me!

I think someone is deleting almost every article I made today. And the worst part is, this user isn't leaving messages about why he or she is deleting these articles. Somehow, I relly, really wish he would stop deleting my articles without telling me.

Please leave a message, whoever you are. Thank You.

Signed, Supermiggelo 13:34, 3 April 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Given that any deleted articles will disappear from your contribs, we will need a lot more information before an answer can be provided. Initially, I would estimate reasonable actions, as per AGF. Adrian M. H. 13:35, 3 April 2007 (UTC)[reply]
Looking at your contribs for today alone, I can see six articles that you created; they all exist. So how many are you missing? Adrian M. H. 13:39, 3 April 2007 (UTC)[reply]
Although it is good etiquette to tell the creator when an article is going to be deleted, I've forgotten the template, though. On another note, nobody owns articles on Wikipedia. x42bn6 Talk 15:04, 3 April 2007 (UTC)[reply]
  • They probably provided a reason in the edit summary which appears in the deletion log. I suggest you look there. - Mgm|(talk) 16:22, 3 April 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Ugh - my fault. I didn't realise these were all from one author. They were a dozen or so sub-stub articles containing the name of a song, the name of the artist and an infobox with the name of the song, the name of the artist and a picture of the single cover. All deleted under standard Wikipedia rules with deletion summaries. But I should have realised/noticed they were all one person's work. I've apologised to the editor on his talk page and also pointed him at our criteria for inclusion. Sadly, there are more that will need deleting (or rapid expansion).   REDVERSSЯEVDEЯ  08:40, 4 April 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Gah! Can't find expander syntax...[edit]

Hi, I'm not a new editor, but I wondered if anyone could tell me how I make a box (like an infobox, table, whatever) with one of those little '[expand]' buttons on it, so that it just appears as one line, then the user clicks that and it appears as the full thing. I'm trying to reduce the size of my Desk, and putting stuff into Expand boxes is all I can think of. If the reply could be posted on my Talk page, that'd be good - I'll probably forget to check here. Thanks! —Vanderdeckenξφ 14:05, 3 April 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Do you mean the show/hide javascript?

<div class="NavFrame" style="clear:left"> <div class="NavHead" style="style declarations here if applicable">Title here if applicable</div> <div class="NavContent" style="whatever you want"> Content goes here </div> </div> </div> You can style that pretty much how you like, and surround it with an outer div as well. It even works in tables. Ignore the spacing issue; can't fix that when using nowiki tags. Adrian M. H. 14:36, 3 April 2007 (UTC)[reply]

contributing to the style discussion page[edit]

I would like to have asked about how to use German nouns, say Hausfrau, in an English article. All German nouns start with a capital letter but that could look very spikey in an English sentence. Do you tell us anywhere how to insert comments? Sorry but it was all a bit above my head. Martin Tucker 14:15, 3 April 2007 (UTC)[reply]

The nearest thing is Wikipedia:Manual of Style (text formatting), Wikipedia:Manual of Style (capital letters), and Wikipedia:Proper names. I cannot find the article that I particularly wanted, which relates to languages. Adrian M. H. 14:31, 3 April 2007 (UTC)[reply]
If you want a comment seen when editing, add it like an HTML comment: <!--Comment goes here--!>. Luigi30 (Taλk) 16:31, 3 April 2007 (UTC)[reply]
The second exclamation mark is redundant. Adrian M. H. 20:14, 3 April 2007 (UTC)[reply]

New topic[edit]

I want to start a new category. Currently you have the topic of "Patent Trolls" I want to explain the opposite phrase "Patent Pirates. How do i start a new topic? Chatsworthbob 15:15, 3 April 2007 (UTC)[reply]

WP:VFAQ#How do I create a new article?. However, patent pirate already exists. x42bn6 Talk 15:19, 3 April 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Otheruses template[edit]

I have recently been having trouble with IP user 86.152.203.212 regarding use of the {{otheruses}} template: [1] [2] [3]

He has explained himself at Talk:Wigwam (Chicago). I do not believe he is correct.

I am not the only person who this person is disagreeing with [4] [5]

I don't want to end up in a 3RR situation. Please advise. TonyTheTiger (talk/cont/bio) 16:19, 3 April 2007 (UTC)[reply]

This is what I would do, so it is only my opinion. If someone could have clicked on the page Wigwam they could believe it redirects to Wigwam. So I would have at the top of the page the link to wigwam disambig. This may not seem necessary, but I used it for Jason Wood, as there is three Jason Woods on here, they are all displayed as Jason Wood on pages that link to them. i.e. Jason Wood, Jason Wood, Jason Wood. From those links, you can't tell at first look where they redirect to, so it may be useful to have a disambig link at the top. Any questions, please do not hesitate to contact me Asics talk Editor review! 16:49, 3 April 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Disambiguation[edit]

I have created a new page called "George Feyer (pianist)". There is already a page called "George Feyer" which is about a different person [a cartoonist].

How can I set up a disambiguation page, so that a search for "George Feyer" will offer a choice of "George Feyer (pianist)" and "George Feyer (cartoonist)"?

At the moment, a search for "George Feyer" goes automatically to the cartoonist's page, so no one will know that a page is available for the pianist too.

WP:DISAMBIG has the answers. x42bn6 Talk 18:37, 3 April 2007 (UTC)[reply]

I am sorry. I forgot to sign my last message. I have read the disambiguation page, but I am afraid I just don't get how to set it up. Would you mind pointing out to me the relevant part, or copying and pasting it here? Thank you. Emj999 18:55, 3 April 2007 (UTC)[reply]

I'll edit the articles in question. Xiner (talk) 18:58, 3 April 2007 (UTC)[reply]
Thank you, Xiner. That's very kind. But if you have a moment to explain to me how to do it, that would be very kind. I'd love to learn too. Emj999 19:09, 3 April 2007 (UTC)[reply]
  • If you go to WP:DIFF and learn how to compare two versions of a page, you can see exactly what changes Xiner made and you'd learn something extra in the process. - Mgm|(talk) 19:16, 3 April 2007 (UTC)[reply]
And when you're done, learn to WP:REVERT so you can fend off vandals. Xiner (talk) 19:22, 3 April 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Log-in issues[edit]

I am using Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.1; en-US; rv:1.8.1.3) Gecko/20070309 Firefox/2.0.0.3, and every time I log in, it logs me back out before I can do anything. My user name is NicholsPro. Can someone please help me. I've tried clicking remember me, and my cookies are enabled. I'm lost.

Thanks, 69.19.14.39 19:02, 3 April 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Side note: If you are User:NicholsPro, please log in before posting. Thanks. Xiner (talk) 19:15, 3 April 2007 (UTC)[reply]
Try logging in using the secure server. Mr.Z-mantalk¢Review! 19:18, 3 April 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Disambig[edit]

People here have been very kind, especially Xiner, helping with my disambiguation issues.

I see that the article in question ["George Feyer (pianist)"] is now referenced on the "George Feyer" article, so that someone who searches "George Feyer", looking for the pianist, and ends up on the wrong page, can be directed to the right page.

But what I want to be able to do is set it up as with the example "Leslie Howard". If one types "Leslie Howard" to do a search, a page will open, offering three choices - actor, musician, and equestrian. From this page, one then makes one's choice as to which one wants.

This is how I want the Feyer page to work. As it is at the moment, a search for "George Feyer" goes directly to the cartoonist's page, with the pianist's page being offered only seemingly as a subsidiary.

Can this be done? Thank you!

Emj999 19:21, 3 April 2007 (UTC)[reply]

For two people, this would be overkill. Please see WP:disambig#Page_naming_conventions. Rest assured that this is perfectly normal and do not make anyone lesser than the other. Xiner (talk) 19:27, 3 April 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Ah, I see. Thank you. I didn't know that "overkill", as you put it, was an issue here. But now that you mention it, I can see that the creation of an entire extra page, for just two names, might be a waste of server space. [I only had the idea in mind because of the "Leslie Howard" example I mentioned (which contains only 3 names) and was my frame of reference on this.] Anyway, thank you very much for all your help. I look forward to learning more, and contributing further. Emj999 19:38, 3 April 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Absolutely. Please do stay around; there are many more strange rules here. Xiner (talk) 22:32, 3 April 2007 (UTC)[reply]
Check out the very long list of strange rules here: User:John Broughton/Editor's Index to Wikipedia. There might be more than two notable George Feyers, in which case eventually three or more of them might have articles here, and a disambiguation page would become merely "kill" (rather than "overkill"). If you really want to put all George Feyers on an even footing, you could Google for the name: google:"George Feyer" and see if you find a third notable one (well, not so fast; I scanned through the first few pages of search results and they seem to be fairly evenly divided between George Feyer the pianist and George Feyer the cartoonist, with other George Feyers seemingly crowded out). As some disambiguation pages have red links, you would not necessarily have to start articles for notable George Feyer numbers three and up, if you find some. --Teratornis 22:49, 3 April 2007 (UTC)[reply]
Nice! Xiner (talk) 22:58, 3 April 2007 (UTC)[reply]
If there are 5 people with the same name, putting notices on top of the article to point people there becomes messy. That's when a separate disambiguation page is useful. - Mgm|(talk) 07:50, 4 April 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Jesse K.[edit]

Excuse me, I am the user JK31213 on Wikipedia and I'd like to have a word with whomever is SAYING that I am editing all these pages. I have recieved multiple warnings over the past few days which then I was not even online once during that period of time. I would really like this to stop. Now...I know i make a lot of edits to articles but specifically not the ones you guys pinpointed me doing.Jk31213 21:09, 3 April 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Looking at your talk page, most of the warnings/notices were from a long time ago (the most recent was February), which means going through a lot of article history to prove/disprove. However, this shows that you did at least contribute to France, though I haven't really got the time to check the diffs for that page to see whether the warning was justified this diff shows your edit, which deserved to be reverted, certainly. The warning was maybe a bit marginal. Anyone with more time than me could easily verify your claim either way. In my experience, it is rare for editors to apply warnings without at least some justification (AGF). If you have genuine cause for complaint, you should first approach the editor in question via their talk page, remembering to be polite. Adrian M. H. 21:48, 3 April 2007 (UTC)[reply]
  • Are you sure no one else is using your account? Also, your username looks like one which can be easily confused with another should something like User:Jk31231 exist. - Mgm|(talk) 07:47, 4 April 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Templates[edit]

Hi, I know this is pretty anal, but I cant figure out how to get the wikiproject member templates to align properly on my userpage. Can anyone fix it for me or tell me how the alignment works? Thank you, VanTucky 21:17, 3 April 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Hi; I stacked them vertically in a div on the left for you. Let me know if you would like them repositioned, or bordered, or anything like that. Regards, Adrian M. H. 21:38, 3 April 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Citation[edit]

where can i get a citation

Could you elaborate a bit more? As in, do you want to get a citation for an article? x42bn6 Talk 22:20, 3 April 2007 (UTC)[reply]
  • If you want to cite Wikipedia as part of your work, you should look for a "Cite this article" link in the toolbox on the left of your screen. - Mgm|(talk) 07:44, 4 April 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Categories[edit]

How do you get rid of the recursive subcatgories as seen at Category:BLP Check? Mahalo. --Ali'i 21:26, 3 April 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Nevermind... got it. --Ali'i 21:29, 3 April 2007 (UTC)[reply]

New Page[edit]

Where do you click to create a new article?

To create a new article, simply type the name of the article you want to create in the search box, and if the article doesn't exist, click the "new article" or edit button and you create a new page. -- Hdt83 Chat 21:54, 3 April 2007 (UTC)[reply]
For more information please see Help:Starting a new page

How do I update the website link listed in the "background information" for a musician?[edit]

The website link on the right hand side box (under Background information) is incorrect (the one on the main text is correct). How do I update this? I only know how to update the information on the main site, but not in this box on the right hand side?

CecilieNH 22:28, 3 April 2007 (UTC)[reply]

You are probably trying to edit the input data to an infobox template. See Help:Infobox. We can give you more specific help if you tell us the name of the article you are trying to edit. --Teratornis 22:33, 3 April 2007 (UTC)[reply]
Fixed (Ben Adams). Xiner (talk) 22:34, 3 April 2007 (UTC)[reply]
Duh, I forgot to check Special:Contributions/CecilieNH to identify the unmentioned article. --Teratornis 03:54, 4 April 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks! CecilieNH 22:39, 3 April 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Do you also know how to add an image in the same right hand box under Ben Adams? CecilieNH 22:45, 3 April 2007 (UTC)[reply]

You add more parameters to the text. In short, it means add the following to the infobox:
| Img = Your image on Wikipedia
| img_capt = Caption
Take a look at Template:Infobox musical artist and the text below, on the full template, for an idea on ow this works. x42bn6 Talk 23:31, 3 April 2007 (UTC)[reply]
Taking a wild guess by looking at the short list of CecilieNH's edits, maybe CecilieNH needs to read this stuff too: Help:Contents/Images and media. Uploading images has its own set of pitfalls, like everything else on Wikipedia. --Teratornis 04:03, 4 April 2007 (UTC)[reply]

wikipedia is international in scope[edit]

where does it formally say that in wikipedia policy? i see it on user pages but cannot find a page that formally establishes that fact. NoClutter 23:15, 3 April 2007 (UTC)[reply]

WP:NPOV#Bias? Xiner (talk) 23:33, 3 April 2007 (UTC)[reply]
How about item 10 on WP:10T? Granted, I quibbled with the wording in my comments on the article's talk page, but the article says: We want you to imagine a world in which every single human being can freely share in the sum of all knowledge. Wikipedia#Language editions says, more accurately I think: Wikipedia has been described as "an effort to create and distribute a free encyclopedia of the highest possible quality to every single person on the planet in their own language". The source cited is none other than the Great Leader himself. --Teratornis 04:22, 4 April 2007 (UTC)[reply]

making pages[edit]

How do you actually create a page, if it does not exist, or has a link to another page relating to it?Mysterygirl5565 23:22, 3 April 2007 (UTC)[reply]

See Help:Starting_a_new_page. Xiner (talk) 23:24, 3 April 2007 (UTC)[reply]
When I started a corporate wiki, a coworker asked me to add a link: "Start a new page" to the MediaWiki:Sidebar page, so the link would appear in the navigation box in the default skin. Adding such a link to Wikipedia might eliminate some repetitive questions from new users about how to create a page, but I can see why Wikipedia does not add such a link, given that Wikipedia deletes 2,000 articles per day. There are evidently lots of new users who figure out how to make new articles before they figure out the complicated requirements for articles here. So, Mysterygirl5565, if you have not edited lots of articles yet, you may want to read Wikipedia:Why was my article deleted? before it happens rather than after. --Teratornis 05:30, 4 April 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Link Wiki to my web page OK?[edit]

I have a page in Wiki which I link to my website. But I notice that the link is in user editing mode, when I want it to be in regular non-user non editing mode. Can this be done? JohnClarknew 23:28, 3 April 2007 (UTC)

Erm, you have three choice that I can see: regular, editable mode; fixed version; or editing mode. Xiner (talk) 23:37, 3 April 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Help[edit]

I need someone to rv Ralf Loire's edits [6] & [7] to the last revsion: Revision as of 12:33, April 3, 2007 by 70.74.35.252 (I edit anon sometimes, & I edited with 70.74.35.252). He changed my edit with out discussing it, and MOS dictated my change. Please reply on my talk page as I won't be checking, expecially with the ergency of this matter, thank you.100110100 23:40, 3 April 2007 (UTC)[reply]

I agree with the the edits you made and restored the majority of your work. Good luck with the rest of it. Hersfold (talk/work) 02:26, 4 April 2007 (UTC)[reply]